Fallen Stars.

She looked at the falling stars smiling slightly. Being able to enjoy this view was one of the few perks of what the queen had done… what Glimmer had done. "She's not our queen anymore and she won't be if she continues act like this." She thought as she looked at the small obsidian crown she had placed on the balcony table of delicate red stone. The crown was as black as her skin and had many sharp arms that shot upward like blades. She wasn't very impressive, not at first glance. It had no decorations, and no jewels were placed in it. Just a perfectly polished piece of stone. However, when someone looked at it, they could see that it absorbs light, as it does now, when it absorbed the glow of stars sparkling in the sky.

- Don't you find it strange, Neutrino, that we were called Stars sisters, even though we've never seen real stars? - Halo's voice came from behind her. She turned and said.

- No one saw them ... - She said and then corrected after thinking about it - Almost no one.

Her sister sat in an ornate wheelchair made from a converted chair made of wood that was harder than steel. Halo laughed sadly and looked at her. One eye still glowed with a red inner glow, but the other was gray and dead, as was the entire left side of her body. „A gift from the Shadow Weaver" she thought bitterly. The "living" half of her body was pinkish red and shiny, which further emphasized the enormity of the harm that the accursed sorcerer had done to her. Her fiery red hair was long and unkempt. She tried to take care of them herself, but it was not easy with one good hand. Besides, she often neglected her appearance, wallowing in her sadness and research.

- What are you writing? she asked her sister, seeing that she was holding the nib in her hand, bent over a sheet of paper.

- Reply to the wedding invitation. - She answered without stopping typing.

- It's the seventh. Now I think she'll understand that there's no point in trying again, and she'll stop the pathetic kindness. - She twisted her mouth into a contemptuous smile

- She'll stop it, because I'm writing that I agreed to come to the wedding, on my behalf and on yours as well. - Halo said softly. Her voice wasn't as beautiful as it used to be, though it still had a certain melody to it. But the song within her was dark and full of pain

- Why? She continues to deny us our justice! - she shouted, and the whole balcony trembled with the strength of her voice.

- And he certainly won't give it to us if we sit on our islands as if we're hiding from the world. She should see what has been done to me. What has been done to us! - Her sister's voice was enough to make her feel her own pain and rage, though it was only a shadow of what was in Halo's heart.

- Well, I'll have to order a new dress to made. I don't feel like wearing what I wore to Frosta's ball. - She said before biting her tongue. Her sister experienced those events very bad, and she was not surprised. It's been since Glimmer's kidnapping that the war has flared up with renewed vigor... "And now we're going to damed Catra's wedding! Do they really not understand how absurd this is?!"

Halo only had full control over half of her face, but she smiled very serenely, which was extremely rare in the post-battle era.

- Everything will be fine, you have nothing to worry about. I have…good feeling. - said gently the youngest of the Star sisters.

- I'm glad...- She answered cautiously, unsure how to understand Halo's words.

- Really... I'm no longer the same scared woman who cowered in her own chamber for three weeks after that Scorpion blew up the pillars in the ice palace. No, my wounds have… healed. - Her sister touched the gray half of her face clumsily with a half-dead hand. She shuddered at the sight.

- Scorpion-woman will be there too. She is now a princess and married Perfuma. - she recalled, sitting across from her sister.

- It could be fun. Scorpia is said to be a very nice woman. Sociable and open. I'd love to reminisce about the old days. I'll tell her some stories. You know about the battle and dark magic, about the fate of her relatives. You think she'll like them? And Perfuma... She loves beauty so much, so she'll have something to look at, won't she Neutrino? - Halo laughed bitterly loud and bitterly. She didn't like it when Halo was in this mood, and she'd been in it a lot lately. She could be very unpleasant then and could hurt others, even those who cared about her. But she wasn't going to talk her out of going to that stupid wedding. Let all see what has been done to them. "But they won't see everything, they won't see what happened to Pulsar." She thought bitterly.

- Well, this will be our little revenge. - She smiled with a feeling of bitter triumph.

- The time for a big revenge will come to... - Halo smiled mysteriously.

- You think they'll give us Hordak eventually? We have nothing against Catry, so we should let her alone. - he said thoughtfully, fearing where this conversation was heading.

- You know who I'm talking about! - Halo called out and stood up, leaning on her only good arm.

- She's dead! - she replied sharply to her sister.

- Because Adora and Catra say so?! They didn't even give us her body for us to spit on! - The youngest of the Star Sisters screamed so loud that everyone in the ruby castle was now feeling a piercing pain.

- There is no body, because there is nothing left of her. With the release of such power ... We both felt it ... - Halo tried to calm down. She fell back into the cart, but seemed triumphant.

- We felt something different. I remember it as if a dark force beyond imagination reached here and took something. I'm telling you, Shadow Weaver is alive and laughing at us all! - Halo shouted, a little quieter this time.

- The dead are dead, that's one of those things that will never change. - She said to her sister and put her hand on her shoulder. But she just gave a short, jerky laugh.

- Oh... If you'd seen it, I've seen it. You knew what I know. - She felt what I feel. she said indulgently, as if to a child

She turned away from her so that Halo wouldn't see that she was afraid. She was worried about her. "Shadow Weaver, if only you were alive... If only you understood what you've done to us!" she thought, but answered her sister.

- Enough of this. She's dead, nothing can change that. You won't get your revenge. Forget everything and move on. - she drawled to her sister, trying not to evoke the Voice of Terror.

- We'll see Neutrino. The future will bring the truth. - Halo said quietly.

She couldn't talk to her sister anymore. Not when she was in that mood, which she was almost constantly. She stared at the falling stars for a moment. Reportedly, this phenomenon was much more common on Etheri, as the planet was in gravitational balance between the two suns and often passed between the outer clouds. She had heard that on other planets, their inhabitants considered shooting stars to be the tears of higher beings. Some even said that any wish made upon seeing this "tear" would be granted. "If so, many must indeed weep for our planet... Or maybe we are the chosen ones of the universe and all our wishes will come true" she thought and felt a cool wind. It was blowing from the southwest. From the Isles of Sorrow. "She came from there." She turned to her sister, who was drying a sheet of paper.

- I have to go. As far as I'm concerned, I agree to go to this damned wedding, too. I need to talk to Glimmer about how she envisions the future of our planet. Plus, there are a few people I like. Spinnrella, Prince Peekablue, even little Frosta, though she's not so little anymore... We swore to protect her, remember?- she asked Halo, who burst out laughing.

- Well, she's proven she can handle trouble, even when she brought it on herself. But it will be nice to see how she has grown and how she is doing. She's more powerful than ever. We've all gained power. But what lies there, there in this darkness above us. -. her sister said. - We don't know if we'll be able to defend ourselves again, even with She-Ra's help. They don't even know... But I'll be prepared. - she said and looked into her eyes. There was a mysterious glow there, something that had not been there until recently. If it helps you, sister, she thought sadly. She walked over to Halo and gave her a tight hug.

- Take care, little sister. I'll come over to you before the wedding. I'll show you my dress and you'll tell me what needs to be improved. And don't forget your own dress… But now I must visit the Pulsar.

- Tell her I greet you. Believe me, he will understand. Hello said quietly. - She left her sister in the ryby palace.

Since the end of the war, old Horde skimmers have revolutionized transportation. But she was using something much more interesting and… less reminiscent of Hordak and his cursed right arm. She smiled at the sight of the Galactic Horde's small captured gunboat. The ship was fast, elegant and stylish. Ship had reprogramed autopilot to listen to her voice, and she could fly it anywhere in Etheri, even take her into space. "Maybe that's a good idea." She thought as she entered the ship, which she had painted in the color of gleaming obsidian. "To visit other worlds. To see something that none of us have ever seen in any of these lifetimes. Maybe then Halo would know that the Shadow Weaver wasn't lurking in the dark" she thought as the craft moved away.

In theory, there were four Star Islands, Obsidian, Ruby, and Pearl, and the Spire in between, but only the first three had true inhabitants. Each of them had belonged to one of the Starsisters for as long as the people of Etheria could remember. But the Spire was shared. Their legacy was kept there. Rising more than three hundred meters above the waves, the structure of black, red, and white stone was unmistakably the work of the First Ones. Entrapta wanted to examine her, but Hordak's mistress was forbidden to go anywhere near the Isles under threat of severe punishment... even the ultimate. They allowed Bow to see the remnants of that ancient civilization that lay on their islands, but not even he was allowed to approach the spire. The ship moored at the air harbor. They used to go here on Isle-manufactured magnetoflyaers and supplies were delivered to a second harbor just over the water. She was actually surprised how well the Galactic Horde's ship and the First One's building matched. One of her Custodians explained that there were a finite number of reasonable technical solutions, and she chose to believe him for lack of better answers. Someday she would have to look at this mystery, as well as many others related to their legacy, but that was the future, now she had to deal with something completely different ...

Guards clad in black, red, and white armor saluted her, raising their swords as she passed them. Those in white had their heads shaved as a sign of mourning for their lady. Those who served Halo, on the other hand, had the same feverish look as her sister. Once upon a time, all three of the Sworn Guards were among the mightiest armed formations on Etheria, but they suffered heavy casualties during the Battle. It took a long time to rebuild their strength, and in the case of the White Guard it was completely impossible for many years, until finally Pulsar began to accept their oaths again. What worried her the most was the condition of the Halo soldiers who seemed to share her sister's mental instability. She walked over to the narrow elevator that would take her to the lowest level of the spire, which was deep below sea level. Above there were barracks, workshops and armories, as well as many rooms whose purpose was lost in the mists of time. They were used by the guardsmen and armorers from the Isles, but the undergrounds were the Star Sisters' private sanctuary, and only the Custodians were allowed to enter them outside.

The descent below the surface took a long time, and she felt as if she could feel the pressure of huge masses of water around her. The Custodians who came here had to stop to let their bodies get used to the pressure, but the Sisters were immune to it. As she stepped out of the elevator, she saw two Custodians who had come to greet her. The Custodian transformation ritual changed the appearance of those who submitted to it. They got taller and slimmer, and their eyes shone like one of the sisters, even though they weren't subdued to either of them. They renounced their names and pasts, even their facial features became similar. They always spoke to other in the third person and seemed to have no distinguishable personality. Ever since Prime's invasion, they had begun to make her uneasy, the islands with exception of Spire thoug hardly suffering from the invasion of a deranged conqueror. So she wondered what those who had met the Horde Prima in person must feel. "Maybe I'll invite Scorpia and Catra to the Spire, I'm sure they'll appreciate our servants and their pleasant company. They will remember the good old days." she thought smirking evilly.

There were always seventy-seven custodians, and they had numbers instead of names. When one died, the one with the previous number took the place of the predecessor. And then one of the inhabitants of the Isles would start dreaming of the Spire until he couldn't take it anymore and would come here to undergo the ritual and live the sometimes extremely long life of a Custodian. To some it may have seemed awful, but Etheria held many dark secrets. A few of them nearly wiped out their world.

The sanctuary was huge, with a ceiling that danced red, purple, and white lights. Even though they were deep underwater, the air was dry here. There were many tall pilars that wound together in a spiral. Crystalline objects could be seen between the turns of the pilars. These were their predecessors, the Star Sisters from previous generations. However, the Pulsar was not placed there. Her fate was something they had not been prepared for in all the millennia since the First Ones had left.

Dressed in heavy tricolor robes, the custodians led her to a large altar carved to represent the first three Starsisters. Whenever one of them was injured or sometimes even killed, they were brought here and the ancient power of the First One's device healed them if it wasn't to late. It was something that almost no one on the planet knew about. She wasn't about to change this state of affairs. She wasn't sure if the device would help anyone else, and even if it did, it wasn't meant for strangers. "What have we done to deserve such an honor? We are only relics, remnants of a world that none of us even understood" she thought as she stood in front of her sister. Her body was shrunken and dry. She was in the fetal position with her eyes closed. Her whole body was covered with a strange growth, translucent and blue, which wanted to wrap around her sister's body and enclose it in a chrysalis. The Custodians removed it regularly, but it always came back. Nothing helped, although their resources were also limited. "Maybe if we brought She-Ra here, or even Mikah, or even someone from other planet. Hell, maybe I'd let that mad girl examine her if she was sure would help Pulsar that way." What was happening to her sister was seemingly no different from the fate that awaited them all. She seemed dead, but she was definitely alive, in some weird twisted way. She looked at the pillars and the crystalline objects within them. If you approached them, you could see that they were in fact bodies of the sisters of past... They weren't fully dead either, their successors could look into their memories if needed... When one of the Star sisters died, she created a crystalline cocoon in which it remained forever... And soon, within a few years at the most, her sisters joined her, overwhelmed with despair. And then the new Star sisters were born and the whole cycle started all over again.

But now it has been broken. Pulsar had been in this state for eighteen years. They lived, and she… As they approached, they felt her constant pain, but for five years, since the Heart was dismantled something else too. The feeling of hunger, powerful and insatiable. She barely heard the plea, but it was poignant, heartbreaking with grief that made her knees buckle beneath her. She didn't know what her sister wanted, but she would do anything to satisfy it. But she had no idea what to do, she felt absolutely powerless. She knelt in front of her sister and said.

- It's me, Neutrino. I hope you can hear me. It's fine wit us. It's been almost five years since Horde Prima was defeated and peace reigned. We got an invitation to the wedding from our former queen. It's a double wedding, her and the royal techmaster Bow and this Catra's and She-Ra's. Or rather Adora's. We refused at first, but Halo convinced us to agree. You know, I'm worried about Halo. Her obsession with the Shadow Weaver continues to intensify. He keeps saying that she's out there somewhere and hiding. That it's just waiting to come back and unleash her's wrath. In fact, I wish it were. Then I could capture her, but I wouldn't kill her. I would have given her a much worse fate… You know what I mean. I would take her to the Savior. She would feel the same as we feel. She would understand what she did to you, to Halo, to me... What she did to all of us...

She smiled as she saw her sister leaving. She loved her very much, but she knew that she would never understand her. He would never feel what she felt, the incessant burning cold halfway through his body not passing even for a moment. None of her incarnations had known such a feeling. It was not only pain, but something completely unnatural, as if death itself had taken half of her body. Nothing could help her. Healers from all over Ethera came to heal her, but they couldn't even understand what was really wrong with her. After the war, they invited Horde medics, and even those few medics from the old Prime Empire, but they didn't do anything. She, She-Ra herself, had also arrived, but her presence only made things worse. She felt a little sorry for this Adora when she blamed herself for doing something wrong and hurting her. Though she saw the suffering in her eyes, she order her two more times, the last time nearly dying. Then the young woman apologized to her and asked for forgiveness. Halo politely accepted the apology, but in her heart she felt hatred. For not being able to help her. For the false hope it gave her. For the fact that she was healthy and young and had her whole life ahead of her… Let her suffer, she no longer has compassion for others in her heart, except perhaps for her sisters.

But after all, she had felt better since the end of the war. She didn't toss and turn in her own bed at night. She did not lock herself in her own chamber, afraid to go outside. She didn't tremble at the sound of thunder. She found a new strength... But unfortunately she couldn't tell her sister about it. She wouldn't understand...

- Foundling, take me ... to the reading room - she called. From the shadows came a Prime clone dressed in a red livery. His hair was dyed red and slicked back. Neutrino didn't understand why she decided to make one of Hordak's brothers her personal servant, but she had nothing against clones. They had no choice, Hordak had, let alone his thousand-cursed right hand. They were just abandoned tools, as damaged as she was. She almost felt sorry for them. Almost…

The clone silently obeyed. He never said anything, he was probably a defect like the wicked ruler of the Dread Zone, but he was harmless. It was found abandoned on the beach of Ruby Island not long after they had returned from the Spire, where they had hidden behind a force field. For reasons that are difficult to understand, Prime didn't try to get the ancient building, but it's probably a good thing because thanks to the chipped Neutrino, the scales could tip to the other side...

The clone drove her to the reading room, then closed the door behind her. Then he pressed one of the red stones on the wall and a hidden passage opened. He drove her there. She found herself in a hidden tunnel that led to the vast and immeasurable dungeons beneath the palace. She discovered them soon after the War, when she heard the call, music that was painful in its truth. She promised… an end. The Foundling drove her to a dark room, her private sanctuary, then left her. She stood in front of a stone altar she had had a trusted stonemason carve, then took a small book from a hiding place. She found it recently when she was searching the endless archives of Mystacor for anything that would help her find out how Shadow Weaver gained her powers and where she escaped... Unfortunately, she found no reliable information on this subject, although she had a vague feeling that the sorcerers were hiding something from her. But she found this book, and it contained the information she needed. She were explaining the call she had heard since the full power of magic had returned. The book was called the Gravedigger's Confessions, and it was about a being called Charon, the Horseman of Death, one of the Daemon masters. She lit two black candles and began to sing. It was the right moment, for Abbaxes's moon was now full. She suddenly felt an aura of unimaginable evil that almost made her vomit, and then she heard a voice.

"Welcom my Fallen Star… We have so much to talk about."