…we hear the lament of the dead…
The clone looked much more dignified than the ones Shadow Weaver had told her about. No, that wasn't the correct term. The word gorgeous would be more suitable, although kitschy would also adequate. His uniform was red-gold and would have gleamed in the sunlight. However, it was quite impractical. He had no chance of hiding anywhere other than a military parade. It was also quite heavy. On the other hand, could he expect enemies in such a place? Well, he met something more terrible than any foe he could imagine, although the bar wasn't set too high for him. He knelt by the great bronze doors, now sealed, and tried to burn them with a plasma cutter and almost succeeded. When he saw her, he put the cutter aside and grabbed the blaster, which guaranteed himself a long and painful death, because purely theoretically, he could set her clothes on fire with the burner, and she didn't want to walk around bare ass, especially in front of this feline monstrosity.
"Who are you? On behalf of the Horde Ultimate, I order you to drop your weapons." clone shoutet at her.
She gave a pearly laugh, as befitted a noble lady, and bowed courteously.
"You have had the greatest honor of your little life to stand before Lady Cala Grayskull , but that's not my real name. I must introduce myself properly" she said and jumped towards the confused soldier while she drew her blade and slashed him in the face while dodging a blaster shot. She stood behind him, green gore running down the blade of her sword.
"LOOK AT ME! GIVE ME A NAME!" She dodged again and slashed at the back of his neck before he could even fire.
" I AM CHILD OF THE KEY AND GATE!" she screamed. The clone's wounds were slight but painful. She ducked slightly from another shot and slashed harder this time, severing the tendons in her shoulder.
"OFFSPRING OF THE ONE WHO IS ALWAYS OR EVERYWHERE. She did a dance pirouette and cut a tendon in his knee, causing him to drop to one knee.
"THE SPAWN OF THE ONE WHO TRULY KNOWS AND SEES EVERYTHING!" She stabbed him in the face again, this time down to the bone.
"I AM CALAMITY AND MAY ALL REJOY AND CRY AT THE SOUND OF THIS NAME!" She hit him with the side of her hand in the frame where he held the gun and crushed it. She felt joy, the greatest since the fight with Azlanti. This is what her life would have been like if she hadn't been robbed of her destiny. The clone, whose face was equal parts pain and terror, asked.
"What are you?!"
She smiled tenderly at him and stroked his cheek.
"I am perfection incarnated." she said tenderly. Now she would have to kill him and burn the corpse, because noble Lady Cala would not be so cruel in fighting an enemy. Or did they burn it right away? She had already started to reach for the burner when there was a message from that nasty cat. She smiled and answered everyone.
"Just found a clone corpse by the vault. They're horribly torn, and his throat was ripped open." as she spoke, the fingers of her left hand lengthened, taking the form of bone claws.
"Goodbye my dear ..." and with one stroke of her hand tore his throat. Then she saw a shattered transmitter drop from the clone's hand.
"Fuck!" she roared, and all the defenses left by Horde Prime were activated...
Rechiza had the impression that he was the only sane person here. These kids she couldn't blame, they were young and ignorant of the true evil that lurked among the stars. But the rest? Did they understand the evil lurking here? She looked at Miss Daisy, who was walking next to this bumbling elf, probably fawning over her, because she was counting on free alcohol, she had already noticed that the woman had a serious drinking problem. Although, considering how much she was interested in Rosie and the crazy feline, she might have wanted other services from the silver haired girl. But she was pretty sure the grim elf knew much more than she was telling them all. She suspected that she had persuaded Lady Cala to go on this accursed quest for dark and selfish motives. She really wanted to get on that damn Etheria.
In her eyes, this whole Etheria was a Carcosa-like place. A cursed nexus of evil and horror, where only the most despicable creatures existed, weaving their dark schemes and lurking for the souls of such unfortunate fools as they. Even a monstrous and mad tyrant like Horde Prime could not defeat this Lady of Chaos. Life has taught her that you can only overcome evil with evil. She suspected that Miss Daisy was connected to this Lady of Chaos. Maybe she was even her cultist, her faithful disciple, conditioned and trained to be an obedient servant. Worse yet, she seemed to know this deranged pirate, Captain Moonshadow. She despised pirates and bandits, believed that only the most despicable people made a living by attacking others, and that the few fools who portrayed the romanticized image of these professions in the media were equally evil. She had the feeling that the only people she could trust even remotely was Arkan-tar and perhaps Doctor Quin as well . She hoped that together they would warn the Lord Admiral and he would do something about the evil coming from Etheria .
They finally made it to the archives. It was in surprisingly good condition, probably due to the still functioning airflow system. The smell of old yellowed paper permeated the room. Unfortunately, it was also huge, with thousands, probably tens of thousands, of pages of records from the last few hundred years. Most of it was probably worthless, containing ordinary information about the economic life of the monastery. The numerous books on the shelves promised more hope. Apparently, the room also served as a library. Suddenly she saw a piece of blue cloth lying on the floor that looked like a banner or a sash. But that wasn't the most important thing. For it was covered with inscriptions in the language of the First Ones. She immediately ran in that direction. She picked it up and read it aloud.
"Serenia - Friend of Mara, The She- Ra of Etheria . Honorary member of the Grayskull squadron . Priestess of the Dawn Flower."
The lashunt looked at Miss Daisy in surprise.
"This Mara, wasn't Lady Cala's ancestor , one of the First Ones?" she asked, not caring that she was revealing the private information that Lady Cala had privately given them. After all, what can these kids understand from this.
"Indeed..." began Miss Daisy, but Lilka interrupted her.
"Are you the one who reads Starlings language?" he asked with his eyes wide open.
"What language?" the Witchwarper asked.
"The language of those who built Eti's hand." said the Solarian , and Lilka took out a slightly crumpled piece of paper from her bag, on which there was a drawing of a star with a smiling face. At the end of the beams, she had metal hands like Eti's.
"This is what Starlings look like" said the red-haired girl. Miss Daisy stood behind Rechiza and when she saw the drawing her eyes widened and she could hardly contain her burst of laughter.
"So this is what you think the First ones look like?" she asked, trying to control herself. It was strange to see the amused dark sorceress.
"So, what are the Starlings supposed to look like?" Lila asked surprised.
Itel glared at her and said.
"No one, not even Dr. Sidonius, one of the galaxy's greatest minds and authority on the Firsones, can read their handwriting. The elf crossed her arms over her chest. Lashunti smiled indulgently.
"It's very interesting, because it was Dr. Sidonius who created the eyes that allow me to read the writing of the First Ones."
The elf looked at her astonished and shocked, but then Eti spoke through the communicator.
Actually, the sight of moving bodies didn't scare Eti. She had seen the living dead before, and more than once. They were even on Eox , albeit briefly. In fact, that the corpses started to move made them a lot less scary than a whole room full of murdered inhabitants. She was prepared for this sight, she was disillusioned after all. But even so, when she saw the entire hall filled with over a hundred bodies, including children, even she was shocked, although she did not show it. But the undead were just a threat, something she could deal with. She was literally made for fighting…and more, which could come in handy too. She notified everyone, especially the Grimmy team , and then told Alatar.
"Grab Sparkle Hand and go!" she cried, seeing that the white-haired girl was staring paralyzed at the place of the murder. Alatar grabbed her arm, even if she was vexing Alatar, she couldn't deny him strength, and then she took an incendiary grenade and threw it into the largest tangle of undead and immediately ran away. She instinctively squeezed her ear canals just before the explosion, but the roar was still deafening. She ran ahead, knowing that the grenade wouldn't stop the undead for long. It would be different if they were alive, fire and shrapnel were much more effective against living organisms, this knowledge was in her head ... always. She wasn't wrong, the vengeful horde of the undead was chasing them, and their eyes glowing with a cold light were perfectly visible.
"The Revenants" she thought in horror. They were the undead, whose meaning of existence was to seek revenge on the living for the fate that had befallen them, even if they were not at fault for their deaths. She grabbed the pistol and fired several times, without effect, so she reached for her rifle and Alatar touched it, charging it with a technomantic spell. Then three more undead came out of the pack, judging by their elongated limbs, knife-like claws, and cat-like fangs… so they were ghouls , or even ghasts . One jumped with its claws to her throat, but then the Sparkling Hand landed two quick blows, shattering the skull of the corpse, and with a roundhouse kick almost tore the head from the neck of another, and the third Eti hit the chest with a metal hand, almost discharging it, leaving only enough power to maintain the prosthetic barely functioning. Then she grabbed the rifle and fired it from the hip. The boost shot was so powerful that it annihilated the nearest revenant . Then Alatar spewed fire and she threw in an incendiary grenade and everything was enveloped in fiery conflagration. This slowed down the undead horde for a moment.
They ran on, passing bend after bend. Eti was firing her plasma sniper rifle, and Alatar was firing his laser, which he overcharged from time to time. Those who ran closer were destroyed by the blows of Sparkling Hand mighty fists or the butts of her Rifle. They were about to reach the elevator shaft when they saw several strange two-legged bots with a gray horde symbol on their chest. They weren't here before. They dodged several shots and ran down a side corridor. Unfortunately, neither the undead nor the machines paid much attention to each other, apparently they shared quite anti-vitalist views. Finally, they ran up a rather narrow staircase. Running in startling silence, the undead followed them step by step. Alatar decided to take advantage of the terrain and cast a spell that made the stairs slippery and greasy. The undead began to stumble and bump into each other and they became a mass of limbs and torso. They gained some time. They climbed all the way to the top and bolted the door, hoping it would halt the chase for a while. But then she saw darkness beginning to swirl before them.
"Grimmy hurry up, because we ran into the shadows, and I don't have any more grenades ..." she didn't finish, because the door broke apart with a crash and a monstrosity that was a conglomeration of dozens of bodies began to come out of it.
Dilayla, being in armor, had to go down narrow stairs so as not to slip. For the same reason, she preferred to go ahead, because if she lost her balance, she could fall on the Star siblings or Arkan-tar, it could end very badly for them. Then she received a message from Eti and cursed . The siblings also heard this message, because she connected them to passive reception of the message. Jewelstar asked.
"Corpses are moving? Is this some kind of private code signal of yours? what does it mean?"
She raised her eyebrows at him in surprise.
"Well, that means the corpses are moving. Pretty common in places like this, I should have expected it. I should took holy water and more silver." she explained, and the three siblings looked at her completely without understanding. She shrugged and ran. As soon as she saw that the distance was enough, she called out "Attention, hold on!" and jumped. The entire staircase shuddered as its armored legs hit the floor. Without waiting for her companions, she ran ahead. Around the corner, she saw something she hadn't seen in over thirty years. Hosts of horde droids with old Horde symbols stood before her. She smiled and lowered the laser cannon on her shoulder and said.
"You don't know how long I've waited to be able to do this." And opened fire.
Itel felt panic begin to creep over her. From the beginning, this trip to the monastery seemed madness to her. Unnecessary and pointless. Eti was in danger and she wasn't there! Just that stupid Rosie. The girl could fight, But she was erratic and deaf, she must have made a noise and woke the dead!
"You must do something!" she screamed and summoned the moonblade. Miss Daisy looked as scared as she was.
"I can… I can try to move us through the void, but only twice have I managed to take someone else she said, and panic was evident in her voice. If the dark sorceress was afraid, then the situation must have been really dire.
"I can help." Ireanis said suddenly and closed a book and put it away.
"You?" Itel's voice was a mixture of contempt and disbelief.
Ireanis got confused and said.
"I know I'm a stupid drunk ... that I don't always control my power... I've had a bad time in... many years... But I was a war sorceress trained in Nantambu and I can help extend the spell. I swear I'll make it." she said in a tone as serious as she had ever heard. Miss Daisy looked at her skeptically, but sighed and said.
"I don't think we have a choice."
"I can slightly soften the barrier between the worlds, can you track them?" Rechiza asked suddenly and Miss Daisy nodded her head.
"Eti? With no problem. Grab me and don't let go for anything in the world." said the dark sorceress. Itel hesitated as the woman held out her hand. She hadn't been able to trust strangers for a long time, but she had no choice. She had to speak up for Eti. She held out her hand and Miss Daisy took it in an iron grip. Then they disappeared into the cold darkness.
The first thing Itel felt was the return of warmth, but then she heard screams and shrill wails. When she opened her eyes, she saw a terrifying sight. Eti and Alatar were fighting what looked like a mass of molten flesh, and on the other side Rosie faced a tangle of shadows. The Solarian heard the lament of the dead coming from tormented souls. Her mind was torn by the complaint of those who had been murdered on Horde Prime's orders , those who had died premature, senseless deaths unburied. She saw the torment of the inhabitants of the Monastery... the inhabitants of Kesler , whom she offended by the mere fact that she was alive... she felt the pain of her loved ones whom she had abandoned. Suddenly, everything stopped, because Rechiza summoned a luminous barrier separating them from the undead.
"Take care of them quickly, because I can't hold them for long!" the witchwarper screamed .
Miss Daisy and Ireanis leaned back to each other and began casting spells. The voice of the dark sorceress was becoming unnatural and her ears hurt from it. She summoned a dark vortex that sucked souls, while Ireanis hurled a green ray of disintegration that turned the undead monstrosity into a pile of ashes. The silver-haired Elf turned towards them smiling, although blood was flowing from her eyes, mouth and nose.
"Sometimes I can be awesome?! - she said and fell on Miss Daisy's shoulder.
"You did well." she asked Eti and the others, but the feline girl snorted.
"I survived almost unscathed the encounter with the Dread Colossus created by Lady Sorrowflame, it's child's play." She waved a metal prosthesis.