Brightmoon ghosts

Brightmoon lost a spare bedroom and gained a lumber-room. Officially, the Fright Zone Document Depot], but it was actually a lumber-room where documents that no one cared about were stored.

Beyond her.

She knelt by a pile of folders and flicked through them nervously, while the Melog paced around as annoyed as she was. She was looking for… She didn't know what. Mostly something about Adora and… about herself.

She asked Scorpia to provide all the documents regarding the cadets and Scorpia complied to her ask and sent her six skimmers loaded with briefcases. And she apologized anyway that some of the documents had been burned during her "argument" with Hordak. But what was important survived… So for the last few weeks she spent all her free time rummaging through the papers. She was looking for answers, though she didn't know what questions she should ask.

It all started with a question about customary medical examinations. Though in the old days all cadets routinely went through them, Adora would not agree to them now. She was afraid of what other dark secrets her origins might hold. She understood her. Her fiancée's legacy held secrets whose discovery nearly led to the annihilation of their home, as well as many other planets. She did not know what else they could have done to Adora. She however submitted to the tests with a bit of amusement, because what could they discover that she herself would not have known for a long time. And here she was surprised, and she hated being surprised.

Genetic testing showed no relation to the other feline humans found on Etheria, and moreover, it bore traces of genetic manipulation at an extremely advanced level. When she heard from Entrapta "Isn't it fascinating?" she felt her vein was about to burst. In the past, she probably would have gone to destroy something or take it out on someone. Now, however, after ten minutes of breathing exercises, she managed to calm down. She asked Entrapta to gently ask Hordak if he didn't accidentally create her as he was trying to create a new body for himself. She received a response, accurately quoted by the purple-haired woman, that he would never have created her by accident or on purpose. She believed him. He's only managed to create something alive once, and that was imp.

In fact, it shouldn't surprise her. She was fitter, faster, and smarter than most beings she knew. She had claws that could cut metal. and… "And He considered me as his host. He who for millennia inhabited only identical clones." And that was what terrified her. At first she thought it was because he sensed the evil in her, and then she just tried to forget everything. However, after research, she decided that she needed to look for answers. To calm her anxiety, she decided to find out as much as possible about her background, and there was no better way than to go through the records of the cadet school.

She should have been aware of level the bureaucracy of the Horde. She was in charge of her for several months and everything worked out. Somehow. Some of the responsibilities she simply left to Scorpia or a host of nameless officials, and by the end it all fell apart anyway. She didn't care, in fact she absolutely didn't care about anything by then, and if the war had gone on any longer, the whole machine would have fallen apart... just like her.

She should admire the perfection of the Shadow Weaver system. Everything was designed so that in the end every key regulation had to be approved by the second-in-command. This made it really hard to remove her. Twice it was attempted, of course, in much less spectacular fashion than she did, and each time those who tried to replace her met with terrible punishment.

Many saw Shadow Weaver as a powerful sorcerer, a ruthless schemer, a skilled commander, or even a great teacher, but few realized her immense talent for management. She had no idea where she acquired this skill. All that was known in Mystacor was that she came from the Isles of Sorrow, an archipelago somewhere on the equator. It is said that the rulers of that place repeatedly demanded the expulsion of their fugitive citizen, but the authorities of the sorcerers' guild always refused, saying that it was not lawful to banish someone who only sought safe haven. When she found out about it, she couldn't stop laughing, laughing through her tears.

Now she had to deal with the legacy of Hordak's right hand. She was a little uneasy to see that absolutely every aspect of their lives had been documented. Every disease, every quarrel and who likes whom. They knew all their advantages and disadvantages, their height and weight. Their potential. To her surprise, Cobalt gave her very good grades and spoke highly of her, so she felt a bit of sympathy for her former trainer. It is a pity that he was temporarily unavailable, because he was sitting in Drill together with Lonniebthe rest.

Of course, Shadow Weaver did not fail to record every punishment that was meted out to the cadets. Both these official or private. And she always found a logical-sounding justification. She wondered how much the sorcerer believed in what she wrote, and how much she wanted to justify her cruelty to herself? There was something painfully fascinating about her absolute meticulousness in recording everything she had done to them. Her fines file was obviously the thickest, though she was surprised to find that several people had almost caught up with her for fines, which weren't that bad after all. Such a Scarlet regularly got extra guard duty or toilet cleaning. She didn't know her very well, she must have deserted and holed up somewhere in the crimson wasteland. But as for the punishments privately administered by Shadow Weaver… She remembered every single one that had happened to her. It was hard… Once upon a time, she probably would have gone into a rage and done something terrible or self-destructive, but now she had Adora by her side. She could cry in her fiancée's arms with Melog hugged at her legs.

She didn't find much about her origins. Too seldom did she take damage, much more often she caused it herself. All the doctors, however, were amazed at the efficiency of her body. They claimed that they had met only one equally capable person, namely Adora. She knew it perfectly well. There was only one document that surprised her, her genetic research done right after Adora found her in that tiny cardboard box. Dr. Moors, a person who was then involved in genetic research of the inhabitants of the Fright Zone. He found that her genome showed signs of hybridization, primarily human and another he couldn't recognize. In addition, several more genes were added, including a sequence he described as "Remarkable." He concluded the study with the statement "Chimera or Mutant, further research needed." However, they were never made. Soon after, he was transferred to a remote outpost by Shadow Weaver. Of course, she didn't do it for her. She guessed that the doctor must have been too interested in Adora, so he had to disappear. He was lucky anyway he wasn't sent to Beast Island, or some terrible accident didn't happen to him.

There wasn't much else to be found in the medical reports about her, nothing significant anyway. She found out she had a mole on her right buttock (Adora confirmed) or when she was losing every milk tooth. Still, it was better than she found about her fiancée. All medical reports and test results are gone. She was absolutely sure Shadow Weaver was responsible. If anyone found out who Adora really was… She wasn't sure Hordak would be able to kill a child in cold blood, but it would certainly weaken the sorcerer's position. She only wondered if she hid all the files in her fabled secret archive, where she was supposed to hide her dark secrets. No one had ever seen it and perhaps it was just a myth. She should talk to Hordak, he knew more about Shadow Weaver than anyone else, but she hadn't spoken to her former master in person in years and wished she will never do.

In fact, she should be glad she has a secret past like Adora. And that they have something else in common. After all, it didn't change anything in her ... their life? Perhaps she should do as her fiancée advised her and burn it all down. She was looking for useless answers here only because she was nervous before the wedding. But… "He was considering me as his next carrier… Out of the billions of beings he encountered, he chose me. Not Adora, who is one of the First ones and She-ra, but her. Why?" She touched the scar on the back of her neck where the chip had been.

She shook her head. She had been reading a report from ten years ago that Cadet Kyle had diarrhea for five minutes. Apparently, her brain was defending itself from reading about her former colleague's stool. She yawned and got up. She'd done a cursory cleanup, she'd have to sort out the papers tomorrow, because almost certainly none of Brightmoon's servants would have mastered the Horde's cataloging system. He understood him with great difficulty. Another way Shadow Weaver could make her life miserable even after death. She suspected that the sorcerer's adoration of bureaucracy stemmed from the fact that she had to control absolutely everything around her. She had to convince Hordak that thanks to the bureaucratic apparatus he would be like Prime, he would know everything. She shook her head in amazement.

Only a few days ago, she would have gone to Adora and slipped quietly under the covers...or deliberately woken her up to "spend some time together", but she had flown off with Scorpia and Perfuma to Icarius, and would be back in a few weeks. She would love to fly with them, but even without her newest "hobby", she had a lot of work to do. Mostly because of the approaching Victory Day. It's been almost five years since the three-decade-long war ended and Prime's rule over the galaxy ended. A day of great happiness and joy. On this occasion, it was decided to organize a great festival in Brightmoon, to which all inhabitants of Etheria and even beyond were invited. There will be great food, a show of the wonders of technology and magic, an exhibition showing the beauty and wonders of other planets, a meeting with the heroes of Etheria ... And most importantly, a double wedding. Queen Glimmer and Royal Techmaster Bow, and Adora, or rather She-Ra, and Grand Marshal Catra. She had no idea why anyone would be interested. As it turns out, apparently half the planet waa. And such a big event required special security measures. This was what she was supposed to do.

And that was why she should go to sleep, because tomorrow would be unlivable, but she didn't really want to. So she decided to make a tour of the castle. She left her cluttered junk room and, unseen, she and Melog wandered through the spacious corridors.

After the war, Brightmoon Castle became partly a ghost castle. One of them was her together with Melog. The Queensguard turned out to be a bunch of incompetent idiots who were fit only to present themselves nicely in armor. She couldn't believe how Hordak or Shadow Weaver hadn't infiltrated this building when even Scorpia and Emily had managed to sneak in undetected. After taking over as Grand Marshal, the first thing she did was fire three-quarters of the guards and rearm them. Modern armor and shock lances based on the Horde's old shock batons gave them at least minimal combat value, but she preferred to test them regularly by sneaking around after dark anyway. Besides, she enjoyed it.

At the beginning of the invasion, Prime, Brightmoon fell virtually without a fight, so it suffered minimal damage, which was later repaired. The town of Brightmoon below has nearly doubled in size since the end of the war. This was due to the former members of the Horde who decided to look for work in the capital, but also thanks to the refugees who came, or were brought by Adora aboard Darla, from various corners of the Prima Empire. The town of Brightmoon thus became the most cosmopolitan place on all of Etheria. And also the safest. As she looked out the window, she saw a shimmering energy shield dome. Created by Horde technology and a bit of Entrapta's genius, it was able to stop even intense orbital bombardment. Glimmer was very proud of it, much more so than the anti-aircraft artillery that was mounted on the walls, but it won her over when she said you couldn't just defend yourself. Sometimes you also need to be able to bite back. They planned to create such a defense in every major settlement on Etheria. It will take time though. Fortunately, the industrial production of the former Fright Zone, now the land of the Scorpions, has been restored to at least partial efficiency. This was especially important now that Drill had been lost to the People's Rebellion.

The loss of the Drill… She looked toward where a mighty mountain range stretched beyond the horizon. "When did the fissures start to appear?" she thought. The first year after the war was full of uncertainty, but also hope. It wasn't easy, but they managed, and the next two years were the happiest time of her life. And then the subjects from all over Etheria came with the demand that the Queen should hide Etheria again, that she would take away the stars and everything would be as before. A shocked Glimmer said that even if she could have done it, she would never have done it, so they all dispersed disconsolately. Then, The Star Sisters seceded the Star Isles, claiming that they still had not received justice for the Pulsar's death and Halo's maiming during the time of the first alliance. There was little they could do about it, since Hordak had exiled himself to Beast Isle. There had been no legal execution on Etheri for three hundred years, so no one would comply with their demands anyway. And then Lonnie led the People's Rebellion to "overthrow the ailing regime of the princesses and put power in the hands of the people of Etheria." At first, no one took them seriously until Castle Crypto was captured by a large force of former Horde soldiers. The inhabitants of Dryl, abandoned years earlier by their princes, paid her homage. They couldn't get her out of there, not without bloodshed. Comrade General Lonnie won some support. She demanded the punishment of the former leaders of the Horde, i.e. Her, Hordak and Entrapta, as well as all clones, the removal of the rule from the princesses and the complete isolation of Etheria. That's why they had to be especially careful. No one has died so far, but many people have been injured, some seriously. They didn't know what to do with it. It was said that at night she meets with strange winged creatures who spoke a strange buzzing language, but she considered them as fairy tales as stories about dragons, vampires or devils.

hinking, she stood in front of a mural depicting Queen Angela. Brightmoon has been mourning for many years. First after King-Consort Micah, then after the queen who had ruled here for over three hundred years. She had never met the woman, not face to face, and now she wondered what she would think of her daughter befriending the former de facto leader of the Horde, even entrusting her with command of an army? "She's gone, so thinking about it is pointless." But her spirit was felt everywhere. She was aware that she was responsible for her death ... Unless she met a worse fate. Glimmer had tried to ask Entrapta two years ago if she could rebuild the portal, but Entrapta had started fiddling with hers fixtures, pretending she hadn't heard what the queen was saying. She was not at all surprised by the behavior of the inventor, the previous time when the portal was built, the world was almost annihilated.

Looking at the mural, she decided that she would be able to talk to another person she knew was awake now. She went to the former Shadow Weavers garden. In the light of the stars and the dark moons, the great terrace looked quite lovely. After the death of the sorcerer, they decided that they would let the plants grow freely, the gardeners were only supposed to make sure that nothing withered. Glimmer asked asked that one bed of daisies is left here. Neither she nor Adora had any idea why, it was some kind of secret between the two sorcerers. Watching nature reclaim this place, she felt a bit of vindictive satisfaction. Like bureaucracy, Shadow Weaver loved gardening because it was about control and order. The plants could be pruned and shaped as they pleased, always obeying the will of the gardener. She wanted to know her charges just as much. If they disobeyed, she trimmed them...

She shook her head. That mean woman had died five years, and she still thought about her almost every day. She was casting a shadow over her life and the lives of everyone she met. Bow once joked that the name Shadow Caster would suit her better, but then Adora seriously agreed with him. She was another Brightmoon ghost, her personal ghost. She didn't believe in ghosts and souls and things like that, at least for most of her life. The people of Etheria believed in different versions of life after death. A better place, reincarnation or union with the universe. She was brought up with a distaste for spirituality, and what she experienced instilled in her cynicism and distrust. She had always believed that death was the end of everything. This thought filled her with bitter comfort, for oblivion would bring her an end to the torment that was her life. She wasn't so sure of anything now. However, the dark sorcerer will always accompany her. She will feel her presence in the wounds she carried in her heart. Fortunately, Shadow Weaver had faded into darkness and she would never see her again, but there was another ghost in Brightmoon she intended to visit.

- Hello, Catra. - Mikah called to her, turning away from the beautifully decorated precious telescope. He could sense her and Melog, because he always surrounded himself with protective spells when he was about to engage in something that required attention, or just to rest.

- Hello Mikah - she smiled slightly when she became visible again - May I sit down - she asked, and the sorcerer nodded. She sat down on one of the three chairs around the table.

- Did you find what you were looking for? - he asked, stroking Melog's head. She shook her head.

-No, but I found a lot of things I didn't want to find, and now I'm tired. - She rubbed between her eyes.

- But you're too excited and nervous to sleep. - I know that. - He smiled sadly. - Though I've never been in your situation. - You have the right to feel bad. - said the sorcerer, sitting down opposite her.

She nodded.

- I thought I had it all behind me. And this wedding. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad me and Adora are getting married and everything, but... I'm scared. Maybe if we didn't make it an interplanetary event.

She saw the sadness in the sorcerer's eyes as he began to talk.

- I understand you. When me and Angela got married, it was a big deal too. The first royal wedding in Brightmoon in three hundred and fifty years. And with an ordinary mortal, an ordinary sorcerer. Angela wanted to show everyone that this is the will of their queen and no one has the right to question it. It was then that the first alliance was made. I guess it's a good thing Glimmer didn't decide to make some kind of interplanetary agreement along the way.

- She considered it, but she wouldn't have had time to settle everything with our allies before the anniversary. - she murmured and yawned. They sat at the table in silence for a few minutes

Many would argue that there should be hatred between the two of them rather than friendship. Mikah had every right to blame her for the death of the wife he loved so much. After the War, she asked him for forgiveness, but he had every right to refuse it. For what do the words mean? She had every right not to trust him, for he was a sorcerer and the ward of the one who had hurt her so much. But he forgave her, and a friendship developed between them. This was because they didn't really know each other before. Mikah had never met the old Catra, he knew her as she is. He had not known her hatred and self-destructive rage directed at everyone around her. And she heard more about him only on board the Darla. She had a general idea that Queen Brightmoon had a husband, but that was abstract knowledge to her. For almost everyone else, he was a symbol, their heroically dead king, whose death became proof of the evil represented by the Horde. Even Adora saw him like that. When they looked at him, they did not see a living man, but a ghost, someone who was supposed to be dead. She, the one who gained a new life after the War, saw in him a tired man who had lost almost everything.

Mikah sipped the weak wine from the goblet. She looked away. Because of Shado Weaver, she never drunk alcohol. The sorcereres had a penchant for the nasty, and officially illegal, tech-department moonshine, and she got even worse than usual when she drank it. She didn't want to risk becoming like that. Adora also rarely drank. She had a very weak head, and while she became adorably dorky when drunk after the events of the nanovirus, they were a little afraid to let her get into that state. Bow only drank alcohol on their trips with the Sea Hawk, and he usually got very sick afterwards, and Glimmer liked a glass of wine sometimes. Mikah, however, drank quite often, although he was still far from the border of alcoholism, but the queen asked her to keep an eye on him.

She looked at the beautiful telescope.

- Why are you doing this, actually? The starlight that reaches us dates back thousands of years. They are only shadows of a long-gone past. - she asked frowning as Melog sniffed the device

- Someone has to describe all the stars visible in our sky. Other civilizations have had millennia to do this. We have to make up for it," he replied with a friendly smile.

- At least let Entraptta build you a modern telescope. He'll probably design you a better one while you're brushing your teeth - she said skeptically.

-It's a gift from Empress of Eridani. It belonged to a great astronomer. He had survived the years of Prime's occupation in hiding, it would be foolish to lock him up in some closet now.

She reached for the book on the table. Its title was "A Thousands of Thousands Masks". There were dark shapes on the cover.

- Shadow Weaver would love to read it.- she said, wincing. "We are coming back to her again"

Mikah smiled mysteriously.

- If she had read this, our lives would have been completely different. But she couldn't do it. It was written in Dreadcore, Mystacor's dark brother, and the only copy was in George and Lance's library.

- What is she talking about? she asked and yawned again.

- About the mighty being called Nyarlathetop and theirs infinite faces.

She snorted contemptuously.

- Someone like those Iomdi and Sereni people they talk about on Eridani?

He nodded cautiously.

- In some way. - he said slowly.

She put her feet on the table, feeling the exhaustion slowly taking over. Melog jumped on the table and cuddled up to her legs. She looked at the sky.

- You think the stars... That they are right? - she asked.

- Fortunately not. - he said, covering her with his cloak. - I'll go to the valley of Shattered Armors in the morning, but tell Glimmer I'll be back for the wedding."

She nodded and closed her eyes. But before Mikah left, she asked

- Have you forgiven her? I did, but only because she died. It's easy to forgive the dead. - and she fell asleep.

This chapter was originally supposed to never be, but I thought it would be useful to return to the old heroes, and I also needed to write down for myself what the situation on Etheria looks like.