Wandering through dark corridors

Tallstar blinked twice. This woman used a name that sounded like Shera's battle cry . Plus, she looked so much like Adora… No, like She- Ra … She was tall and strong and beautiful, she could almost see the young woman radiating an inner glow. In fact, Starla was almost glowing of awe, and her brother was pretty close too. She herself had the biggest shock since learning about the death of this Horde Prime

"So it's true. Horde Prime was not the ruler of the entire known universe!" She gasped, not hiding her surprise. The individual who wore glasses and had a strange implant in his head smiled indulgently, arousing her reluctance, and said.

"That would be difficult considering the scale of the universe. There are tens of thousands of empires and millions of civilizations in it. Even the oldest dragons and liches knew only a handful of its secrets." His tone was matter-of-fact, if a little condescending.

"Dragons? Like him?" Starla pointed to the silver reptile, but he interrupted the discussion.

"My name is Alatar and I'm not a dragon, but a dragonkin. Typical dragons are much bigger... and it's not true that dragonkin riders exist." he said firmly, and the masked girl added, wagging her tail to the rhythm of the words.

"There are debates among scholars as to whether Alatar is a small dragon or a plump Dragonkin."

Lady Cala laughed softly.

"Our friend Eti has a very specific sense of humor." said the aristocrat

"I have no sense of humor. And to you, I am Mrs. Eterna. And don't listen to Stinka, she is a person of universal hatred and contempt throughout the galaxy. Eti or Eterna interjected in a strangely dull voice. The blue-haired woman in the armor gave a short, jerky laugh." Tallstar had the strange feeling that the sense of the joke was escaping her. She coughed and asked.

"What are you here for? What are you looking for here?"

The blue-haired woman smiled at her, it was a lovely smile, and said.

"My name is Dilayla. Our captain received the distress call and decided to help. I agree with her decision, as do Lady Cala, who seems to be the leader of this research expedition. Now we want to find out what's lurking in the place where the Dawn Flower was worshiped…" she said until Arkan-tar cut in.

"Judging from the carvings on the door, some aspect of the Inheritor was also worshiped here."

"We should take a look at this door though," she thought, then asked.

"Dawn Flower? Inheritor?"

"The Dawn Flower is Serenae, and the heiress is Iomadae. You know, the sword, the luminous hair, it glows." Dilayla explained, touching the golden symbol on her neck representing a golden sword surrounded by rays of light. Starla took a deep breath and asked in delight.

"Do you also have your own She- Ra ?!"

They all looked at her confused, but Jewelstar interjected.

"It seems to be someone similar to the Iomdi who are worshiped on Eridani. I didn't know it was known elsewhere." There was undisguised resentment in his voice. The aristocrats of Eridani were especially bad for him.

"Iomadae, like Serenae, is worshiped in many places, as are many other gods. Triune, Eloritu , Shelyn, Besmara , Nyarlathotep." the learned-looking individual was saying, but Lady Cala interrupted him.

"Let's put the religious discussions aside. I'm sorry if this sounds bad, but could you please introduce yourself and explain why you're here?"

"We're freedom fighters. Previously we fought Horde Prime , and now we fight his successors. My name is Jewelstar and these are my sisters Tallstar and Starla. " They nodded when they brother pointed to them." We're here for the same reason as you. he explained.

The members of that bizarre expedition also introduced themselves, although the white-haired girl did it through the masked one.

"That means we're probably the first people from our part of the galaxy you've met..." her brother said and felt a bit embarrassed, then suddenly remembered something. "Not counting Wrongs Hordaka ... and Emily! what about them? They're doing fine?"

A masked girl named Eti spoke up.

"Wormdak is laze with Doky upstairs, but he's as stupid as ever, and the Dumbot is doing dumb thins on the most gorgeous ship in the galaxy, but I don't know why you're interested in them." It's a shame to bother with them.

Lady Cala looked at Eti as if she were an unruly child and translated.

"Wrongdak, as he is now called, is upstairs helping Doctor Quin , our technician, break into Horde Prime's spire , and Emily is on the ship to keep an eye on him."

Jewelstar nodded in understanding, and Starla smiled brightly , but there was one thing that bothered her.

"Why did you come here? To Prime's empire ? If He hasn't reached you, it must be much better here than in the ruins it left behind."

She had the impression that Arkan-tar and Alatar were a little confused, but Lady Cala smiled proudly and began to speak in a beautiful sonorous voice that captured hearts.

"My family has lived on Carurystal since time immemorial, and our ancestral home is Grayskull Castle. However, we are not from there, for we came to this world from a place called Etheria , and our founder was Mara ... who died defending this planet ... Actually, she was even called She-Ra, princess of power."

The answers to the questions that had been occupying her mind for some time were slowly taking shape, but she didn't like the shape. "Clones, how ironic. I ruined my life serving one of them. Hordak gave his life, and the lives of thousands of others, just to please his maker. This woman...These women, at least, had enough strength and determination to kill their Father... Is it yours family custom?" she thought , and anxiously realized that it was probably true. "The implications are hard to grasp. Catra... She must have some connection with this Jantar... Did he create her. Did he create them both?" she thought frantically as she wandered these dark and gloomy corridors of the abandoned monastery. Catra was always so strong and fit, almost like Adora. She never sensed any power from her, but she was always her best student. For a time, she even wanted to make Catra her's right hand and acolyte ... Although contempt and hatred for her almost daughter never allowed her to appreciate the girl. See her true potential. "Did you do that too, Jantar? Didn't you think that your children, beings you so carefully shaped to live in fear of you, would fight for their future? Will they pay you back for all the harm you've done them? For all the pain and humiliation they had to suffer?" she thought about the man who died not long before she gave her life. There was a secret to it. "If you created Catra and Eti, why did you do it?" she asked herself this question over and over again without finding any sensible answer. Neither Catra nor Eti were like Bina and Lady Ka, who were clones of this mad scientist, even minus the feline features. Eti was a mystery in itself. Evidently, everyone was aware of her unusual origin, but tried to hide it, although in a galaxy full of such diverse races, the cat girl should not arouse any surprise. The pieces of the puzzle were slowly falling into place, but too slowly, she couldn't afford to wait for everything to work itself out. Fortunately, she had her ways of getting information…

She had been in the monastery once in her long life. It was two years ago on Carurystal, when she visited a similar shrine belonging to the followers of Pharasma . It was just a courtesy visit to make sure that the monks living in House Grayskull's land lacked nothing. Even then, however, she did not visit the monastery buildings, such matters never interested her, although, of course, the higher powers were interested in her much more than she would like. The inhabitants of this place must have believed until the very end that their goddess, this Serenae, would save them. But apparently she had other plans. The gods always had other plans, as she had learned on this damned quest.

The sight of the planets ravaged by Horde Prime shocked her more than she would have expected. Adora and her friends took a cursory tour of the Empire during their journey and were horrified by what they found, but she didn't talk to them about it, there was no time for that then. She knew what a horrible monster Horde Prime was, even bigger than other monster she had helped train. She expected what she would see, thanks to the reports provided by Crawling Chaos, but to see is to believe. She finally understood how close Etheria was to become ashes. It was now that she finally realized whose side she was really on. Of course, now she served a being so completely alien and terrifying that most of her planet's inhabitants would not believe in her existence. All she could do now was fight to prevent more tragedies. She could only count on Nyarlathotep to keep his end of the bargain. So she was at the mercy of a powerful and distant being, like those unfortunates in the convent. "How could I feel better than them? There is still much pride in my dark heart."

"Don't worry, Miss Daisy! Any despicable Bugs who tries to bite you will surely die from the blows of my axe!" Lilka shouted and made a swing over her head, almost cutting Rechiza down . Itel ordered the red-haired girl with a look to be quiet. Walking slightly behind, Ireanis paid no attention.

She didn't like Lady Cala going with the other group, along with Eti and Rosie. Her ward could be extremely cruel. Rosie once had already defeated Cala , and Eti seemed to be as formidable as Catra, but she doubted that even with Dilayla's help, she would be able to face Calamity's true form . She could only hope that her companion would focus on their mission and not be distracted by her weaknesses.

She looked at Lilka and smiled kindly at her, realizing that she had a great opportunity to get information.

"Miss Lilka, how long have you been traveling together like this?" she asked, trying to sound as friendly and innocent as possible.

"It can be five years." said the redhead, adjusting the ax on her shoulder.

"And how did such a brave orc like you travel with a human woman, two elves, a dragonkin, an intelligent fish and… who exactly is Eti?"

"Eti is a shooter who shoots. It even shoots well. And I… Because you see. Beyond the seven cosmos lived the great and mighty orc Wagar . He was big, brave and strong even for an orc, and every orc is big, brave and strong. And he was very bored until he heard that there is a Swarm in space, they are such big bugs. And when he heard about it, he took a giant leap through the cosmos. Only it was a big and long jump and it made him very tired so when he landed on Kesler then he couldn't take all the Swarm by himself so he joined Igzar such a dire Pahtra who took him to such a camp and... There was this girl and she.. Her family was killed by the Swarm.. She was so small and weak, but you know what Wagar did ? You know!." suddenly Lilka stopped and turned sharply towards her and started screaming. "He repair her!" He saw a real orc in her and pulled her out and said. "You are an orc" and it was true! And together they killed thousands of worms, but there were too many and he said that it is now up to me to bear the honor of the Horde and now I do!." A tear ran down the girl's cheek and Lilka sniffled. The story of the redhead, although seemingly absurd, was so sad and tragic that even her stony heart ached. But she had one more question to ask.

"And Eti wasn't with you then?" she asked and the girl shook her head and said.

"No, Igzar brought her to us on Atrax…" she started in a sad voice, and then Itel also turned towards them and jumped at her with the summoned blade.

"Stop asking her, you old hag. Can't you see I'm about to cry because of you?" the elf shrieked, and she resisted the urge to unleash dark magic to punish the Solarian's impertinence , but the girl added. "Why do you want to ruin our lives?"

She felt all the power drain from her. She looked down and mumbled a soft "sorry." Rechiza stopped, bent her head back and started yelling at them at the top of her lungs.

"Could you guys shut the hell up and focus on finding that fucking archive? We are in a monastery cursed by devils and demons, located in the former territory of the most wicked empire, and we are heading towards a place so terrible that the World's Wound seems like a kindergarten… " She didn't finish as Ireanis interrupted her.

"Oh, we're looking for an archive! They should be that way." said the silver-haired sorceress. The Lashunti looked at her silently.

"How do you know. she asked in a grim tone.

"I've been to many Serenae monasteries, and they're all the same... And then I found the blueprints... you know, because while you guys were talking upstairs about these wise things, I followed the need... and I had to wipe myself, but there's really nothing to worry about, because it's all here!" she tapped her head. The Solarian and the Twister groaned in unison and walked in the direction the sorceress had indicated. She looked at her thoughtfully. "Maybe I just found the perfect source of information…and moonshine."

"Who the hell is this She-Ra?" Dilayla thought as she studied Lady Cali. "If it has anything to do with that bitch, I don't like her anymore." The three people in the monastery stared at the aristocrat with a mixture of astonishment and delight, as did Wrongdak, though less ostentatiously. Admittedly, they were a bizarre bunch, but they seemed likeable. At first glance, she recognized the victims of war, those whose fortunes forced them to become soldiers. In essence, they resembled Bina 's kids , though there was no bitter hopelessness in them, as if these adults retained more hope and faith in the world than a bunch of kids. She wondered what had happened to them to keep so much… innocence?

"Your ancestor was THIS Mara? Prev She-Ra?" asked Starla, looking at Lady Cali with delight.

Their group looked at the siblings with incomprehension.

"I don't know who She-Ra was, except that she was someone extremely important to the inhabitants of Etheria. But thousands of years have passed since then. I don't know if our family line has been broken in the meantime, and even if it hasn't, it's hard to say that we are related after so many generations that separate us. " The aristocrat smiled as innocently as an absolutely guilty person could.

"She-Ra... She defeated Horde Prime . She annihilated him and saved us all." – Starla said.

"I see." Arkan-tar said and looked at Lady Cala and moved away from her almost to the other end of the corridor. "Are you talking about this Lady of Chaos?"

Tallstar snorted loudly.

"Do you really believe in this sham?"

Her brother nodded.

"Horde Ultimate is one of Prime's successors, his self-proclaimed prophet She-Ra and the Etherian princesses are his enemies, so it's no wonder he wants to portray them as servants of darkness". Arkan tar coughed skeptically, but Rosie's and Alatar's eyes lit up. "It must be this Saihe from message idea , " Jewelstar added

"Saihe ?" Dilayla asked, though she suspected what they meant.

"Well, someone like you." The man with the cybernetic eye pointed to the mercenary , who smiled and began to explain.

"I am an Elf and only a half-blood, and the one who spoke was a Drow . For this mistake, you can earn a knife in the ribs in many places."

The siblings stared at them, surprised by this unexpected lesson on interspecies relations in the galaxy.

"Saihe live on Etheri, but there they do not don't care of someone's race." Jewelstar explained .

"Oh, so these are the reverse Azlanti" Alatar muttered under his breath. Starla wanted to ask something, but Eti cut in.

"I'm a simple shooter. I see someone through the scope, press the trigger, the light goes out. We are here looking for some way to get down and find out what happened to the inhabitants of this place. I mean, what a terrible and dark fate befell them."

Lady Cala nodded and said.

"I agree with Eti." The shooter looked at the noblewoman as if she had insulted her. "Then we will find time to tell you about the beautiful and dark sides of the Galaxy, but now is not the time for that. We must solve the mystery of the inhabitants of the monastery, if only to satisfy the requirements of the law, not to mention common decency." her voice was strong, and Dilayla was reluctant to admit that the woman had a talent for leadership.

"I have an idea," Alatar said, staring at the door of the room. from which came the smell of rotting plants. "It's a hydroponic farm, so they must have some kind of fault-tolerant communication system there. I'll study its layout and be able to determine the layout of the rooms and thus locate the elevator shafts."

Arkan-tar patted Dragonkin on the back as if he were his protégé.

-You are a talented technomancer . - he praised him, and Alatar put his wings on his back.

", I took it from the comic." he said, clearly embarrassed.

"Bloody Nerd to." Eti added.

The elevator shafts were nearby. There were only two, and unfortunately, the terminals were deliberately destroyed. She and Tallstar swung open the elevator doors and swore together, seeing that they were both downstairs, and the brakes looked suspicious.

"Nice gear, where did you get it?" Tallstar looked at her power armor appreciatively .

"Uh, I bought it because it's an investment ... You know, I'm a mercenary" she said, strangely embarrassed. The other maimed woman nodded.

"Perhaps we'll fly beyond Prime's empire in the future , and arm ourselves." You can't rely on looted Horde gear indefinitely. - she said. Dilayla looked at the others, who were busy examining the control panel. She addressed Tallstar in a hushed voice.

"Don't ask me how I know this, but a real war fleet commanded by Lord Admiral Antares is approaching the Ravaged Zone. I don't know much about him, but he's a mercenary who made his name fighting an enemy as terrible as Horde Prime. In exchange for information and help, he should give you a lot of equipment and maybe he will help you. Just don't mention the crew we're traveling with and watch out for Lady Ka, she's a dangerous woman. Then I'll give you the bearing…" She turned around in amazement, noticing that Lady Cala had opened the elevator door with her own hand and said."I go down this shaft, let the rest go down the other one" she jumped, grabbing the support cable. The Star siblings exchanged significant glances.

"Sparkle Hand, Alatar , follow me." Eti called and started running down the vertical wall of the second shaft, and Alatar jumped next, spreading his wings. Finally, Rosie ran and stood in the elevator door, waved to them, and before Dilayla could catch her, she jumped and began to glide, falling down and glowing. The siblings still didn't look surprised.

"Is this the norm here? Because for me not. Come on, let's look for the stairs, I think I've seen one somewhere."

Calamity landed on her legs bent, though a less worthy creature would have shattered her legs. Well, perfection was the minimum she expected of herself. Her pupils dilated to purple, allowing her to see even in the deepest darkness, and she moved forward. She needed a moment of solitude to think over recent events.

Nothing was going as it should. She did not know the will of Creeping Chaos and doubted that even such a pure and beautiful mind could not comprehend it. But there were too many cases that unsettled her. First, that deaf kid who was fawning over the Shadow Weaver. It wasn't even about she ha defeat her. She couldn't use all her power without revealing her full splendour. No... The thing is, Rosie defeated her without much effort, and though she didn't admit it to Shadow Weaver, she feared that she wouldn't even defeat the girl in her true form. Who or what Rosie was, neither of them had any idea who the girl was, though the old witch had taken a liking to the girl for some strange reason. But basically, it didn't bother her. That loss was a much needed lesson in humility. There are many more powerful creatures on this quest, including She- Ra herself , so a little sobering might allow her to survive,

But this wicked cat… This girl annoyed her just by being there. She was something related to that villainous Catra , Shadow Weaver confirmed it. She did not know how the great and the wonderful universe could endure the existence of two such lousy creatures. Even the old hag didn't know it, but she had every right to hate the feline ward. Adora had usurped a destiny she didn't deserve, but this clumsy creature had stolen her place, throwing away the mission that was her very sense existence.

On top of that, that vicious bitch showed her no elementary respect. The wild brat was talking to her like any wench, and she, Calamity , had to pretend to be the benevolent Lady Cala all the time , as she most likely fell under the Shadow Weaver/ Nyarlathotep deal . And the kitty had a goddamn alien artifact, as if she deserved something other than righteous, fiery anger.

There were no words in the languages of the elder races to describe the righteous hatred that pulsed through her veins. So when she entered the next room, rich-looking, reminiscent of a vault, and saw a clone dressed in a gold-red uniform, she smiled and said.

"Let's dance?"

Rosie was secretly very happy that she and Eti were almost alone now, except for Alatar, of course. She liked Dragonkin , he was nice and interested in cool things like games and comics. And he was also glad that they were going to some enchanted place with the princesses... But Eti wasn't there and fortunately only they knew sign language and could talk alone... together

"You know, I really didn't want to go in there at the time. I didn't know you and Itel... well, you're a couple." she said as she felt herself blushing. Etilooked at her in surprise.

- But we're not couple I mean, we're just friends and we sleep together sometimes, but only a few times, that's all. Nothing else." Eti said, staring at her impassively. Rosie felt a pleasant warmth of relief spread through her body and a great weight lifted from her heart. But then Alatar called out.

"Girls, you better look here. Dragonkin peered into the room from the side, his tail stiffening with horror. As they peered inside, Rosie let out a strange gurgling sound that was her moan. The room was a large cinema where the entire community could gather. Now there were rows and rows of dried corpses… children too. Now it dawned on her what evil had happened here. Eti started talking on the communicator.

"Hey Grimmy , how are you doing with necromancy , because we have a whole room full of corpses here, and they seem to be starting to move."