Chapter 6
Etheria, the past
While Solaria and the Guardians of the Gemstones make their way back to Argonia, King Kroma finds himself lost in a strange haze. None of the warriors can forget their ordeal in the Kingdom of Snows. Kroma especially holds onto the words from the Moth Lady. The Dragon Queen is under his nose. He can't help but wonder if this was a warning. He wonders how much he could possibly know of his love Solaria. What if she is the Dragon Queen? He can't understand it, but he doesn't feel right.
Solaria begins to notice something off with Kroma. The trip home is full of silence. Everyone is battle worn, tired from the endless fights against the various barbarians and creatures of the world. Something is very odd though about Kroma, Solaria is certain of this. Returning home in silence, Solaria mulls over what this could possibly mean. She can only hope that life is running smoothly in Argonia.
Miles away from the golden girl and her warriors, the real Dragon Queen sits on her throne awaiting the arrival of one of her barbarians. Running on time, Lunamera grins as a swarm of bugs come out from the walls and ceiling melding together in front of the ornate throne.
Soon enough Moth Lady is fully formed and ready to answer her queen, "They are returning home my queen." A face so cold rests behind the plaster as Lunamera sighs, "All of them?" Moth Lady nods before adding, "The Golden Girl and her Guardians are very strong, but it makes no difference. I have already implanted one of my bugs into Kroma. At this very instant he is most likely thinking that his mistress is the vile Dragon Queen."
Lunamera smiles, "Perfect. Let my dear king know the error of his ways. No one disrupts my plans." Moth Lady tilts her head, "What of your daughters? When do you want them dead?" Sitting up straight, Lunamera sighs, "I've changed my mind. I will not be requiring the aid of the barbarians to destroy my daughters, for I will be killing them. Soon." Both wicked women laugh. Moth Lady offers up any other assistance for her Dragon Queen.
"No my friend, you have done more than enough. It is times like this that I wish you were my blood sister Moth Lady." The two women stare at each other. They have known each other for a long time, and Moth Lady has always been able to offer any help for the Dragon Queen. As the two continue talk of their devious plans, one of the Star Sisters happens to listen to every single word.
Starla stands close to the door to the throne room and covers a hand over her mouth. She is shocked by the words coming from her mother. "She wishes to kills us. Our own mother." Unable to hear any more, Starla rushes from the throne room to find her sisters.
In a panic, Starla disrupts both her sisters from what appears to be a restful day. Jewelstar and Telescopa both appear worried, "What has upset you so?" Catching her breath, Starla races her words over each other, "I can't explain, I just know that we have to leave this place." Telescopa isn't so sure, but Starla insists, "My sisters, trust me. Please. We have to leave." Jewelstar inevitably asks the most important question, "Where are we going to go? We've never even left this kingdom…" The answers are not simple. They don't know what to do, but since Starla knows the true nature of their mother, the only thing on her mind is making sure her sisters are safe. Everything is suddenly clear, their lives are in danger.
Days pass for the kingdom of Argonia and soon enough Solaria and the Guardians return with the King. In this time Solaria knows that something is completely estranged between Kroma and her. She notices growing hostility from him and none of his behavior is making sense. As the Guardians split off to take care of their own personal needs, Solaria tries to talk to Kroma for a brief moment.
He shrugs her off, "I want to see my daughters. I don't have time for this." Solaria stands still trying to understand why he has changed and what she could have done wrong; the logic does not compute. While Kroma goes off to find his daughters, Solaria heads to the throne room to talk with her sister.
Upon entering the throne room, Solaria notices Lunamera pacing the floor in her signature black body suit. "Lunamera, what are you doing?" Solaria asks in concern though her words fall prey to her sister's mood swings. Lunamera snaps at her golden sister, "Leave me be! Where is my king? Something has happened…"
Before anything else can be said, Kroma throws open the doors to the throne room and rushes in with fear in his voice, "Where are they? Where are our daughters?" Solaria places a hand over her mouth and turns to Lunamera. The queen stands still before slowly offering an answer, "I do not know. They have been missing for a few days. I fear they have been taken by a barbarian." Lunamera can only hope this fate is true, since she truly has no inkling as to the whereabouts of her three daughters.
Kroma falls to his knees in abject terror. Weeping, the king begins to curse his actions, "Always traveling throughout the world searching for evil, when I was leaving my daughters open to attack!" He points a finger to Solaria, blaming her. Standing back in shock, Solaria begs to understand why she is to be blamed.
Feeling weak at the prospect of his daughters being possibly gone for good, the king confesses of his long standing affair with Solaria and admits to Lunamera that his love to the queen has been lessened in the years gone by, "This is my fault. I betrayed my family and now my girls are dead." Lunamera takes this scene in and relishes every moment. She does not care that her king and sister have had their own liaison; instead, she sees this as the prime chance to rid them both from her life.
Solaria feels as if something is not completely making sense. She apologizes to her sister first though, "Please understand, we were never trying to hurt you Lunamera." The queen looks at her sister with smugness, "I suppose the kingdom's golden girl isn't so golden, now is she?" Solaria shakes her head, hoping that Kroma will defend her, "Please understand, this wasn't meant to happen this way." Something continues to sit oddly with Solaria, shouldn't they be looking for the Star Sisters?
Kroma continues to weep fearing the worst. Lunamera tilts her head, "The death of my daughters is a tragedy. I feel nothing but betrayal. Absolute betrayal." Kroma shakes his head, trying to understand just how his daughters were taken while in the kingdom. None of it makes any sense. Solaria tries to understand as well, when a strange clarity begins to take form. Something is simply not right.
"My sister, why weren't we told of this?" Solaria turns to look at the queen. Lunamera begs to understand more of the inquiry. Solaria calmly continues, "If the Star Sisters were missing, wouldn't you have been greeting us at the gates; waiting for our arrival to let us know? Instead you are pacing the throne room as if you have done something wrong?" Kroma stands up a twist of feelings forming in his stomach, "It's one of you. One of you is the Dragon Queen."
Both Lunamera and Solaria stand in shock at the accusations. How could such a thing be suggested? Solaria shakes her head, "How can that be? That is ridiculous King Kroma. I am sworn to protect this world and my sister is the Queen…" Lunamera stands in silence, her face of plaster giving nothing away. Solaria looks at her king, her lover, "Is this what you think of me? That I would be some Dragon Queen, bent on sharing in the destruction of your children?" Now she is the one to feel betrayed.
Lunamera listens but is done with all this nonsense, "Shut up, the both of you. I am the Dragon Queen." Sharing in her story, the mad woman stands triumphant, pleased in her deceit, "This whole time the two of you have been gallivanting across Etheria in the hopes that you'd find some ruthless barbarian and I've been here the whole time. I am queen: The Dragon Queen. And my first order of business is to shackle you both to the inside of a dungeon for betraying me."
King Kroma stands tall, anger filling his lungs, "Stop being some innocent in all this. You have long betrayed me and our daughters. The one who needs to be locked up in a dungeon is you." The Dragon Queen steps forward, taunting the king, "I have the power. Not you. This is going to go my way." Solaria is in sadness at how evil her sister has become. This was never meant to happen, "Father would be so sad."
Lunamera can only shrug, "He's dead now. What can he possibly do? Make Etheria shake?" As the words are spoken, screams can be heard from other areas in the castle. The three stop talking and take pause. Many screams continue to rise as something strange begins to occur outside. King Kroma and Solaria both prepare for the worst, fearing the barbarians are making an attempt on the castle. The Dragon Queen merely hopes that someone has returned with the bodies of her daughters.
None of those scenarios are the case though. All three step out onto a grand balcony overlooking the kingdom of Argonia. Solaria can see Argonia's citizens running around in a state of disarray. Something is not right. King Kroma looks for the source of all this disorder. He can't see anything out of the ordinary. The first to sense it is Lunamera. She looks up towards the skies in bewilderment.
A large shiny ship is descending from the sky, the likes of which no one has ever seen. Solaria grabs hold of her sword, trying to understand what they are looking at, "We need to find the Guardians." King Kroma can only scream, "Lunamera, what have you done?!" The queen can only shake her head, "This is not from me." Her eyes remain focused on the monstrosity approaching them from above. There is nothing but metal, cool sleek metal, but emblazoned across the side of this strange ship is one menacing image: a red bat.
The Star Sisters slowly walk across the Crystal River heading towards the mountains. Their first order of business is to find the waterfalls where they can then gather some more water and food. Jewelstar sighs through the walking, "Where exactly are we going Starla?" Telescopa adds, "Yes, why are we in danger? None of what you are saying makes any sense. Are you sure you heard mother correctly? That she is indeed the Dragon Queen and that would mean that she wants us… dead?"
Starla nods, "I know what I heard." The sisters continue to walk up the river, not even paying attention to the beauty around them, their fear grips them so tightly. Jewelstar sighs, "Why would our mother want us dead? I just don't understand." Starla grows more frustrated, "It doesn't matter! You all know how strange she has been lately. We've all dealt with her anger at one point or another. I saw her discussing our death at her hands with a barbarian. What looked to be a witch. We had no other choice but to leave." Telescopa wonders what their father would have to say about this. Or even their aunt Solaria.
Being a protective sister, Starla refrains from mentioning the detail regarding their father and aunt having an affair. They have too much to attend to as it is that dealing with the dramas of the adults in their lives is simply too much to handle. No, Starla's focus is simple. Get her sisters high atop into the safety of the mountains.
Their trek reaches a check point as the roar of the waterfalls can be heard in the distance. Each sister is relieved, even though they are still scared. Once they approach the waterfalls of crystal clear water, the Star Sisters soon find themselves in company of four strangers who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. A feeling of danger washes over Starla and in an instant she is ready to defend her sister's lives from the barbarians.
Only these four strangers are not barbarians. There are two beautiful women one with hair the color of the darkest night while the other has a long blond ponytail from atop her helmet. There are also two men, one carrying a bow and arrow while the other one is covered in a fuzzy green skin. Jewelstar panics, "Please don't kill us."
The man with the bow and arrow steps forward with a smile on his face, "Come on now, we aren't going to hurt you Jewelstar. You recognize me, don't you? It's me, Bow. I know it must be a shock, but I'm alive." Bow stands there in confusion as the Star Sisters look at each other. Jewelstar whispers, "I've never met you in my life."
Bow looks towards the dark haired woman, "Catra, what is going on?" The four strangers try to understand what is happening, why don't their friends, the Star Sisters, recognize them? Starla steps forward, "I don't know what is going on, but these are my sisters. We come from the Kingdom of Argonia; our parents are the King and Queen."
Catra points a finger towards Spira, "How long were we gone? How much time has passed?" Spira explains that time moves differently in Despondos, but none of this is making any sense. Bow whispers, "Spira never met the Star Sisters. I just wish we could find some of our friends." Moss Man is quiet, taking everything in and wishing he was on Eternia. Catra demands that Bow figure something out, "You know these girls. Get them to remember."
Bow thinks about something and looks at the sisters. They seem much younger than he recalls. "Excuse me; I think I know a way that we could clear this all up. Could you take us to She-Ra and the Great Rebellion?" Telescopa crosses her arms in confusion, "Who is She-Ra?"
Everything begins to get hazy for the four travelers from Despondos. Spira steps forward completely flabbergasted that the sisters have never heard of She-Ra, "She is the most powerful woman in the universe. She is the protector of Etheria. How do you not know who she is?" The sisters become defensive. Starla folds her arms under her chest, "Excuse me, but this She-Ra person is not the protector of Etheria. That role would go to my aunt, Solaria, otherwise known as Golden Girl."
Catra's mouth drops open and she whispers, "We somehow went back. We're not on the Etheria we know. We're in the past." She looks at Bow with defeat in her eyes. The Star Sisters try to help explain just what kind of world these new guests are in. Bow looks around and feels his heart begin to beat erratically. They are in the past. He won't be finding his love at all while Catra stumbles towards the realization that finding a soul is not written in the stars.