In the depths of the earth
"Does anyone hear me!" She called to the wall of stones standing immovably before her. No one answered, except for an echo and a loud sigh from that lousy sorcerer. So she formed fists of ice and began to hit the boulders with them, but they didn't even budge. She snarled and created a great ice hammer and swung it furiously, not stopping even as dust started raining down on her head. She finally broke off and stood panting heavily.
"Stop yelling or you'll throw rocks on our heads and they'll crush us this time… maybe that's what you want?" asked the sorcerer in an irritated voice.
"Why would I want something so awful!" She screamed as she ran up to the red-haired woman. Scarlett sighed.
"At best, we'll starve to death. Although I saw some underground animals and mushrooms here, so maybe we'll have something to eat and there are several lakes and moisture drips from the walls, so we'll survive somehow." she said, and the sorcerer laughed grimly. She remembered the spiderbird and the toothed frog and shuddered.
"But our sources of light will eventually run out and we'll be left alone here, trapped in impenetrable darkness... I told you that I don't know the spell that creates light...? I found them useless." Scarlet laughed again, but the laugh was devoid of hilarity. She felt a cold sweat bead on her forehead. She hadn't been afraid of the darkness in a long time, but to be trapped in the dark for… forever? It was too terrible to think about. She looked hard at Scarlet and said pouring all the confidence she still had in her heart into her words.
"We'll get out of here! We will find a way out, if not ourselves, then our friends, yours and mine, will come to our aid!"
The sorceress smiled sadly.
"You have great faith in your friends!" she said thoughtfully. She pursed her lips and called out.
- Of course! They will always help me. I do not doubt about it!
The sorceress snorted softly.
"They don't even know if we're alive, not to mention they probably have to take care of themselves." she said resignedly. "People behave like that."
She shook her head furiously.
"Not true! We're not like that, and I'm sure your friends won't leave you here either!" she cried out because she didn't want to… and she couldn't believe anything else. Catra was so brave and strong, Netossa was almost always the best Rebel general, Lance and George read almost every book in the world, and Entrapta is the smartest person in the universe! And then there's Melog, a true Magicat. Why wouldn't they save us all... and then we'll drink hot chocolate... with marshmallows!" she explained to the sorcerer, although she was almost sure that they had no marshmallows. The red-haired woman thought for a moment and said smiling strangely sadly.
"Yes, indeed, my friends will certainly not fail to save their friend Scarlet." she said with a strange bitterness in her voice.
"You really talk really weird sometimes." She muttered under her breath, but the sorcerer heard her and snorted.
"May our friends hurry before we run out of light or something worse finds us here." Scarlett murmured.
"Are you trying to scare me like some kid? I'm Princess Frosta, ruler of the Snow kingdom, even that stupid Horde Ultimate calls me the Dread Ice Bane! I'm not afraid of anything!" She shouted at the woman, who shook her head indulgently.
"If you knew as much of the dark secrets of the universe as I do, you wouldn't be so tough, especially in the ruins of a city built by an ancient race." She heard the conceited amusement in the sorcerer's voice.
"And how would someone raised by the Horde know anything about such things?" Adora said the cadets didn't even know what a birthday was. she said, holding her sides and trying to look down at the former member of the Horde, who looked at her with her green eyes.
"Who said I learned all this in the Horde? The universe is old and immeasurable, even Etheria hides dark secrets that the sages of Mystacor never dreamed of... On the other hand, our beautiful planet is a secret built on a secret based on lies mixed with distortion." Scarlet said philosophically.
"You know, I didn't know Shadow Weaver very well, but I have a feeling she'd sound just like you." She looked sideways at the People's Rebel member, who smiled crookedly.
"I've been hearing it a lot lately, apparently there's something to it."
She winced at the sorcerer's words, then rolled up her sleeve and looked at her watch with the illuminated dial. They'd been here three hours now, and she wondered anxiously when the batteries would run out, when she'd empty her canteen and have to refill it with that stinking cave water, when she'd starve to hunt those terrible birds and toothy frogs...
"No, Catra will definitely not leave me here! She's my friend" she thought, though she wasn't so sure in her heart. Finally, she said some mean words to her, similar to the ones she had said to her at the very end of the war, when she didn't yet know that Cat Girl had joined the rebellion. Then she hit her with an ice fist very hard, and now she was very close to doing it again, having previously allowed Scarlet's magic to paralyze her and thus Lonnie badly injured Netossa's hand. In fact, she was imprisoned here through her own fault for not helping her friends in the fight, and she is the princess of the elements, the strongest of the invincible eight! "No, that's not true. I've never been a Dread Ice Bane. I'm just a little Frosta that no one remembers. Even my friends have probably forgotten about me." She thought bitterly as tears welled up in her eyes. She glared angrily at Scarlet. "It's your fault too! Yours and your stupid magic, she thought, and now she really wanted to punch her in the stupid red head!" Were it not for the fact that they were trapped here together and both sailed on the same ice floe, she would not fail to do it.
"Why don't we look around instead of standing here like these ice pillars?" she asked the sorcerer, who looked at her in surprise.
"That's a pretty good idea. But aren't you afraid that your friends or my friends will break through this wall and not find us?" Scarlet asked with bored curiosity.
- No, you know how good Catra's sense of smell is, you grew up together! And then there's Melog. she said to the sorcerer, who looked a bit confused
"Yes, I remember Catry's sense of smell well, very well ..." said the red-haired woman, and hearing these words she shrugged her shoulders.
So together they set off into the impenetrable dark corridors.
Scarlett felt worse and worse. This place… its aura began to slowly overwhelm her. She felt as if invisible tentacles were entwining her soul and mind. Given where she was, it was highly likely. It could have been some sort of defense system created by the Elder Things to disable enemy sorcerers who dared cast spells in their city. Or maybe it was some astral entity that had broken loose when Entrapta was trying to hack the planet's geomantic web and was prowling the ruins of the ancient city. Though it's equally likely that it was fear. She was afraid that she would be imprisoned here for daemons knew how long, but also that she would not be able to return to her true, natural form. She didn't know if Lonnie would be willing to risk her life to save her. Scarlet was the only sorcerer the People's Rebellion had, but was that reason enough for anyone to put themselves at risk for her? After all, even the Scarlet that the cadets knew from the Fright Zone wasn't very popular, and Scarlet the Sorceress wasn't very trustworthy... But if Lonnie or anyone saw her in her true form… she loathed it herself, but it was the only thing she didn't feel as if she was walking in a foreign, uncomfortable skin. Once Lonnie learns her true identity, not only will she lose her position in the People's Rebellion, but she will also cease to be of use to Creeping Chaos, so it will have no reason to keep her promise, and the only person who was important to her will remain dead.
There was, of course, a problem with the Ice Princess. The girl radiated hope and blindly believed that her friends would save her… Perhaps she was right. After all, she was the princess and ruler of one of the greatest kingdoms and had a runestone. It was too valuable to just leave it here. On the other hand, even being a princess didn't protect against abandonment, Entrapta knew best.
But the girl will be a problem if she has to assume her true form. Even if he doesn't throw his fists at her, he can tell someone about her secret. So she seriously considered whether she might have to murder the girl. She may have been a brave warrior and princess of the elements, but with a lot of luck and a bit of trickery, she would be able to take Frosta's life... Only she wasn't sure if she could kill her in cold blood. She wasn't a murderer. She had already taken life, and sometimes, but always from an enemy who wanted to hurt her himself. And this girl had done nothing wrong to her, though she and Lonnie had attacked her and her friends. He was a good kid, honest and likeable, who had done nothing wrong in his short life. She would very much not want her dead, and hoped that Creeping Chaos would grant her this favor… though who in their right mind counted on the mercy of the Outer God?
"You think we'll meet these old thing here. Frosta finally broke silence.
"Old things?" she asked, not following the girl's reasoning.
"You know, those conical things with wings. mean ones." said the ice princess and snorted.
"Ah, you're talking about the Elder Things." she said, understanding what the girl was talking about. "It's possible, though personally I'd be more afraid of the Shogoths."
"Who are Shogi?" Frost asked curiously.
"Shogoths are a servant race created by the Elder Beings to serve them as slaves. Many eyes and mouths, tentacles, an amorphous shape, in a word: horror."
Frost made a sad face.
"But the many-eyed were so poor. Those Old Things enslaved them… It was kind of like the Prime clones… I know you and Lonnie don't like them, but a lot of them are quite nice. Wrong Hordak, Brother Blade, Mateo who works in Brightmoon's pastry shop. Makes delicious Eclairs. You know, maybe if Lonnie tried them ..." the girl explained, until finally Scarlet interrupted her.
"It's Lonnie who doesn't like clones, although I don't know how sincere this feeling is. My personal relationship with them is quite complicated." she answered both truthfully and very euphemistically.
"Because you know, the clones also did terrible things because Horde Prime told them to. Maybe it was the same with these Shogis, only they just look a little scary, but maybe we are scary for them too? I can be quite scary, and so can Catra. Not to mention the whole Shadow Weaver thing, that one was terrible."
She gnashed her white, even teeth, irritated by the direction this discussion was taking. She turned to the Ice Princess and growled sharply.
"You know what? When we meet Shogoth, you tell him that you want to be friends with him, and I'll start running as fast as I can. It will keep me alive and you will be tasty and everyone will be happy, including Shogoth."
The girl looked at her askance.
"You know, you're different from the other cadets I've met." she said with surprising thoughtfulness.
"What do you mean"" she asked carefully.
"I mean, I mean I only know Catra, Adora and Scorpia, but even now they don't know about normal things. For example, Catra is very smart, but she didn't know that an engagement is not the same as a wedding. And you seem to know more than most, even the very smart ones. You're like a learned sorcerer from Mystacor, but not as nice as Glimmer's Papa and Auntie, just as mysterious and a little scary as in the old legends. You're actually a bit like the Shadow Weaver, minus the meanness, the mask, and the Scars.
"Be careful girl, your thoughts are going to very dangerous places."
"Believe me, I can be very mean, especially to those who poke their noses into my affairs. she said as coolly as possible, hoping that in this way she would discourage the girl from investigating the truth, but Frosta just shook her head disapprovingly.
Finally, they reached a huge cave, in the middle of which was a large lake. It was so huge that she couldn't see the other shore. There were lots of mushrooms everywhere, and strange things she couldn't name. In the middle of the lake, or at least far from the shore, there was a strange, perfectly round island, reached by a narrow stone bridge. Or rather, a causeway, as if someone had lifted a strip of stones out of the water. However, the most important thing was what was on the island. It was a mining elevator, similar to the Drill ones, but it was crystal clear, like a structure she had once seen.
-"This was built by the First Ones! she exclaimed happily, but then added. "Though I don't know if we should be happy about it. They weren't as great and nice as we once thought. And that what Catra was saying… You probably didn't hear it… But maybe that's the way out then." She walked towards the footbridge. Scarlet followed her with a slight hesitation. They were tearing through mushrooms and that weird lichen or whatever they were. She had the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. Strange creatures, like round legless mice with bodies almost like those of worms, buried themselves in the ground as she passed them. She really hated this place. As they got quite close to the stone causeway, she heard a strange scratching sound.
"What was that? she asked in a frightened voice. Scarlet turned and said.
"I think we've got company, and it's definitely not the kind we'd like." murmured the sorcerer. When she looked to the side. her companion was looking at, she saw dozens of these horrible bird-spiders running towards them, but these were bigger, much bigger, almost as big as she was. She created a great ice hammer.
"Are you going to fight them here now?" Scarlett asked incredulously.
"Well, I'm going to!" She replied to the sorcerer, trying to sound as brave as possible. There were just so many monsters , and they were really terrible! As soon as the first one approached her, she hit him with an ice hammer that sent him flying to the opposite wall.
"And that's how it's done." she shouted, but then Scarlet screamed.
"But you sure don't survive in that way!"
She snorted at such cowardly words and crushed the nearest of the monsters to a bloody pulp, but the spiderbirds began to surround her and one of them shot a tongue at her and hit her cheek. She felt sticky wetness running down her face, and when Scarlet tugged on her arm, she didn't resist. They ran towards the dike. Every now and then she threw ice spikes behind her, knocking down groups of nasty things, but they didn't budge. When they reached the causeway, they had to slow down, Scarlet threw some magic missiles at the monsters and killed several of the creatures. While they were on the footbridge, she covered it with ice and formed an ice wall. They were halfway there when something jumped out of the water and jabbed her in the leg.
"Ouch," she screamed. She saw and saw a large penguin-like bird, but with a toothy jaw, which bit into her calf. The sorcerer threw a magic projectile at him and knocked him down. Then she took her hand, and together they ran to the island, though the pain in her leg was excruciating and tears of agony filled her eyes. She created another wall of ice and froze the water around her so the water creatures couldn't attack her, while Scarlet walked over to the elevator and tried to start it.
"I told that saber-toothed penguins exist, I hope Catra believed me!" she cried, leaning on her only good leg.
"And did Catra or Adora tell you how to start the First Ones machines? Because if not, we're going to have to stick together."
She felt despair, but with a great effort of will she controlled it. She didn't want to die, especially in such a horrible way, but if she had to, at least let Scarlet save herself.
- You go. I…I'll stay here and try to hold back as long as I can. she called to the sorcerer, feeling the monsters pressing against the barrier she had created.
"Can't you just freeze the whole lake?" Scarlet said in an annoyed voice.
"I... I can't do it. I'm not as strong as the other princesses. I could never do wonderful things like them. I've never had the opportunity to develop my full powers because, you know, ice is just ice. Nothing worth noting. I'm just stupid Frosta, the kid on the throne. I'm just a walking failure." She said and sniffled.
Scarlet stared at her blankly for a few moments, as if seeing her for the first time, and… she began to undress.
"Scarlett?" she asked confused. "What are you going to do? Do you want to fight them underwater? This is not a good idea!" she called to the red-haired woman, who had already stripped naked and arranged her clothes neatly to the side.
"Scarlet was never particularly physically fit, she would never carry you up the scaffolding to the very top. But her friend is a completely different story." she said in an almost dead voice and arched back. She began to transform. She had grown taller, two meters tall, and wonderfully muscular. She had gray skin and long gray hair. Her hands were clawed, her eyes were solid green, and her face... looked like it was made of cracked porcelain. Her face reminded her of only one long-dead person. She was so scared that she almost fell into the water.
"W-who are you." she asked, feeling that she was losing control over the ice barrier, while this strange person put on a fur coat and extended her hand to her.
"Who I am is not important right now, let's say I'm a failure for now. Said the strange being in a strong and deep voice and added. "Give me your hand and I'll carry you upstairs, but you have to trust me." She extended her hand to her. She hesitated for a moment, then offered her hand to this not-so-stranger.
After a few minutes her companion carried her up on the scaffolding. She must have been really strong because she didn't even get tired. They found themselves in a wide and dark corridor whose walls were covered with the symbols of the Primes. Everything here was made of the same crystal as the other First buildings. Entrapta once said that the structures of this ancient race had the ability to repair themselves or something. Anyway, everything here looked brand new. But the corridor ended in a lump of ice on one side, as if the glacier itself had shattered it, and the other led to a room, large and wide, in which was a kind of swimming pool. In the block of ice, she saw a woman trapped in the ice. The desiccated corpse of another woman leaned against the wall of the corridor, looking as if she was staring at her companion trapped in the ice. The woman she had known as Scarlet burst into a deep, bitter laugh.
"Looks like we'll be joining them here soon, unless we choose to be eaten..." She said in a hopeless voice.