Tomb

"My name is Tung Lashor, I am not afraid of you, Meow-ru . No more. Whip!" came from the side of the Datapad that Tung Lasshor was holding and showing his subordinates a cartoon featuring the character he was based on. In her opinion, the series was quite stupid and belated propaganda, which was published after the end of the Cold War between Veskarium and the Pact Worlds. The main villains were vampiric Pahtra who laughed while making "Meow meow meow meow" and the dim-witted Veskarian general Gerok , who, for some inexplicable reason, commanded mostly the Skittermaders. There were, of course, nice, if terribly inept, Pahtra villagers even among the Thunder Reptiles was one Vesk, a technomancer named Egrux. Apparently the original version takes place on the lost Golarion and instead of Skittermanders there were Goblins, but she hasn't seen a single part of the Original Series. However, the new series was liked by all Aspis gang members, who cheered when Tung Lashor appeared on the screen and hissed when they saw Meow-ru . Surprisingly, the fact that he based himself on a character from the series only made his subordinates respect him even more. It was as cute as it was stupid. Huntara, sitting next to her, looked at her old enemy with emptiness in her eyes. Some truths are better left unknowing...

They were driving Crusher into the desert with Tung Lashor and his most devoted subordinates. What disturbed her companion more than her former rival's presence was that he had begun to treat her with the typical for office workers passive aggression, instead of the hostility she was accustomed to. Well, the wide universe had its dark and annoying sides.

The tomb was located among rocky hills. They were thickly covered with thorn bushes with thorns as sharp as steel razors. At first they tried to make their way on board the Crusher, but she decided there was too much risk of puncturing the tires, so they continued to make their way on foot. They did this surprisingly well, but the bigger problem was the iron-beaked, three-eyed birds and the three-headed snakes that fed on them. The latter reportedly grew up to ten meters in length. When they had around two meters, they left the dense bush and hunted almost everything. Fortunately, they were not poisonous and only bit one of Tung's subordinates. It was fortunate that her wards weren't here, or the Etherians would have learned a new word, "uncontrolled bushfires."

When they reached the site where the tomb was supposed to be, they set up camp. Then Tung arranged to watch the series together with his companions, and she and Huntara drank Ashrak , a green, slightly sour drink made from the leaves of a bacterivorous shrub growing in the caves of Atrax . It was refreshing and stimulating at the same time. She was going to sell it on Victory Day. She'll make some money out of it, and above all, they'll have a great cover. She bought it on Saltmarsh for this very purpose, although she did not expect that she would sell it on Etheria, but who could have guessed that it would not be a place cursed by devils and demons, a place of evil. She even had to admit that you liked the planet, even the damn wasteland. Maybe if the locals like this drink, then maybe they will settle here with their kids and open Ashrak drinking houses? It won't be difficult to bring it here since she already knows how to get here. She will then be a pioneer, the first businesswoman from outside the empire who will open her own business here.

In the evening, she invited Huntara into her sleeping bag. She wasn't exactly her type, but she had to admit she was experienced. They spent some nice moments together, more than a few. Tung's Lashor's subordinates didn't notice anything. She suspected they wouldn't even notice that someone was trying to steal them. They got up early before everyone else, it turned out that the leader of the Aspis liked to sleep in. Well, you can see that his corporate culture has disappeared in this aspect. They took their time and prepared breakfast, very relaxed.

"These kids... they're not yours." Huntara asked and grimaced, understanding what she said and explained. "I know you're not their mother, because neither their age nor their... species match. Only... they look like you were choosing them one from… different realms, like a chef who buys different pieces of meat to make a pie... Damn, that sounded bad. I mean, they're so different. From themselves and from you."

She smiled and started telling the story to the woman sitting next to her.

"Alatar comes from a middle-income family from the suburbs. Lilka was born on a farm, and Itel grew up in a small settlement in the forest..."

"And this cat-like... Eti." asked the Princess of the Crimson Wastes. She smiled sadly and after some thought, she said.

"Eti... she is a mystery in itself. She was very hurt. I guess your Catra too." She asked and looked questioningly at the warrior. Huntara frowned.

"All of us in the Horde lived in one big barracks with a factory added to it. But if it was hard for us, for Catra it was... She, just like Adora and the rest, was a Cadet. An orphan who was supposed to become the perfect Horde soldier. She was trained for military service from childhood. They were treated brutally there, they didn't know many normal things like holidays, family and stuff like that. They were only taught fighting and loyalty, and everything was managed by this dark bitch.

"Ah, that sounds so familiar..." Bina said in a thoughtful voice. "Eti and I... we were all brought up similarly. You see, we, thousand sisters, are clones of our father, kind of like Horde Prime's clones. I was created eleven years ago."

"What?" Huntara asked with horror. Hearing what she rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm a thirty-year-old woman, mentally and physically, although with my kids I feel like I'm sixty. Tell me about this dark bitch, how you described her so nicely." she took another sip of Ashrak, but it was good in the morning. Huntara shrugged uncertainly and said.

"Her name was Shadow Weaver. I didn't know her well. She was a powerful sorceress, the mistress of shadows. She commanded the entire Horde as Hordak's right-hand woman. She was mean to everyone, but to Catra... I don't know much about it. I don't know this girl that well, just like that hag. She always held Catra close as if she was her right hand, her acolyte. But she was treat like the dirt, tormented and humiliated. Catra overthrew her, and Shadow Weaver sought refuge in Brightmoon. The last time I saw her was at Glimmer's coronation. Her damn mask was cracked, but she was still ashamed to show her ugly face. Dark spells apparently twisted her like that. She used to be a teacher in Mystacor, but she messed up some terrible magic. She used to be a Saihe like your Itel, but then she became a monster, with a scarred mouth, fangs and claws. She was still damn pretty powerful. In the Fright Zone she was always surrounded by darkness, but in Brightmoon she acted like a fucking lady. Fuck, it's a good thing that bitch died . - Huntara said and spat Ashrak -green saliva.

"Yeah. It is good" she said quietly, feeling shivers of anxiety. The description reminded me of Miss Daisy, only she wasn't corrupted by dark magic and, above all, she was alive. But for the rest of the meal, she couldn't shake the ominous feeling. When Tung Lashor finally began to slowly wake up, Huntara asked in a low voice.

"What's going on with this Aspis? What is this?"

Bina sighed, it wasn't easy to explain to someone from a planet like this, but she had to try.

"it's like a Trade Houseor a guild, only larger, with its influence covering the entire galaxy. They trade in everything, absolutely everything, even weapons of mass destruction and sentient beings, if it is profitable for them and is at least theoretically legal." Seeing Huntara's shocked look, she added, smiling sadly. "The galaxy has its dark sides. And Aspis is one of the darkest. They are willing to do anything for profit if they can get away with it, even murdering an entire colony or selling out its inhabitants. Employees are constantly indoctrinated and often groomed from childhood. They only buy the company's products and only marry their co-workers. And when they want to change jobs, they are burdened with such debts that they will not get out of them for three generations, unless they return on their knees, then they will be accepted, but they will have to start everything from the lowest rung. Tung Lashor's was probably someone like that was probably something like that, and apart from the indoctrination, he had always been a fool. Well, these people either die first or become leaders. This probably doesn't reflect well on society. There is also this Azlanti thread, but more about these bastards another time..."

Huntra may have been the toughest warrior on Etheri, but even she wasn't ready to face the horrors of galactization.

"Do you…"

She waved her hand.

"Come on. I served a deranged, tyrannical father, who was no better than Horde Prime, but I'd rather die than work for those scum... I have principles."

Tough warrior spat and said

"I hope they never reach Etheria." Said the Princess of the Crimson Wastes, but she smiled half-heartedly. She showed the portable stove, a tube of sharp paste, her weapon and even her shoes.

"Too late. It was all produced by Aspis Consortium. They are already here."

Huntara looked at her with horror.

She read the pieces maps and looked around the shallow basin. In its center there was a rainbow-colored steaming pool from which a surprisingly pleasant scent emanated. She knew enough of the Wasteland to know it was a bad omen, so she wrapped a rag around her face, as did most of the Tung Lashor gang. And Bina put on a helmet to protect her from all poisons and miasmas. They did the right thing, because when it turned out that one of the gang members, a hyenoman called Bob with a mane of dyed green hair, did not wear any protection and fell to the ground and started rolling, howling in terror. He shouted about a winged warrior with a fiery sword. It sounded strange, a bit sily, but Bina and Tung looked at each other worriedly.

"Okay, so what do we do?" she asked, looking at the others. Bina saluted and said.

"Fortunately, I have a certain magical item... Alatar told me to buy it because i was afraid of fiery and hot things. For example, Eti grenades, solarian explosions, flaming axes, Alatar's fire breath, and endless flaming mistakes of Ireanis. It will come in handy here too."

She sprayed herself with a red substance and jumped into the water. Only Tung wasn't surprised by what she did. They waited for several long moments until the ground around them shook and an island, Bina in armor, began to emerge from the lake and waved at them.

"There was a lever there, you just had to move it." said the interplanetary traveler in a satisfied voice. There was a narrow stone bridge running from the islet to the shore, and in the middle there was a not very high stone building. Perhaps it was a tomb, although rather small. She had heard that the scorpion lords built huge burial mounds out of earth, and on the Sorrow Islands, each clan had its own necropolis where all its worthy members were buried. She had no idea who the people who buried Mara were, but they obviously had plenty of time and resources to build such a tomb. The woman there was supposedly a hero who sacrificed herself to save them all or something like that. Maybe they wanted to show gratitude for her sacrifice, or were they her friends who wanted to honor her memory in this way? The kablotka, a representative of this strange people who worship dragons or something, went ahead and checked whether there were any traps along the way, and Tung and Bina did it again. Then they started looking at the door. They did this for a good quarter of an hour until she was sweating all over from standing by the boiling lake, so she simply pushed them away, irritated and open doors. Then Tung and Bina looked at her like she was crazy.

"Traps, curses..." said the Aspis leader.

"Undead, imprisoned devils..." added Bina.

"What devils?" she asked, not knowing what they were talking about.

"Manager, they don't know much about this type of thing. I've only seen one imp so far, and he was a fake one." the head of the Aspis explained to the travelers.

"Is everyone in the galaxy this paranoid? It's just a damn tomb"

They looked at her in a way that made her feel young. Like a rookie on his first expedition.

"You know, if this Mara was someone like Adora, we shouldn't have encountered the undead, but you never know." said Bina. It was tight, but it was a tomb after all, not a place you should wander through. She was the only one who needed night vision, the others needed only a minimal light source. There was a lot of dust and some lichen, but apart from that they didn't even see any spiders.

"Stop!" she and Tung Lashor shouted at the same time, when they reached a large round room with a painting on the floor, it depicted a warrior in armor with wings growing from his back and a flaming sword in his hand.

"What is going?" Huntara asked, almost bumping into her.

"Such things are usually seen in temples. They're damn suspicious in the tomb." Bina said, thinking about how to get past them.

"Have you plundered many tombs?" the Wasteland warrior asked in a suspicious voice. She waved her hand and said.

"This is the first one, but I read a lot about it before I came here. If we stood on it, it would probably summon this guy. Looks like an Archon."

Tung Lashor nodded seriously and said.

"Stained glass golems are the worst. The First Ones loved stained glass."

Huntara began to look at them as if they were crazy. Well, the galaxy gets a lot crazier.

They crossed the room, walking sideways against the wall. There was a very narrow path specially created for this purpose. The four of them crossed it, she Huntara , Kobold and Tung Lashor , to reduce the likelihood of someone tripping. They walked very carefully so that no one even touched floor. Finally they got to the other side and found themselves in another corridor. This one wasn't long and they found themselves in a large chamber. She was different from the others. It was all covered with the markings of the First Ones, just like the ones Eti saw on her hand. The first thing that caught the eye was a crystal urn standing on a small platform. Above her, of course, was a stained glass window depicting a warrior, just like Adora was turning into...

"Aha! Stained glass golems after all." she muttered, and the Aspis chief swallowed loudly. "Okay, I have a camera on a telescopic stick. Let's see what's there." She said and started to pull out the device. They moved a little closer and then she began to spread her cane. Soon they had to keep it from touching the ground or walls, as this might activate some protection. They managed to move them close enough to get a good look at the urn. It was covered with the same inscriptions in this strange language and a painting depicting a female warrior, probably the previous She- Ra, and another one with a woman in something between a scientist's uniform and priest's robes, and another one, much taller and more dignified, but also a bit unreal. Below was a child, probably a few years old, but wrapped in blankets like a cocoon or something like that. Only there was an inscription in a language she knew, Elvish to be precise .

"Here lies Mara tl'a Teodosis . She was a great heroine who gave her life for each of us, may her sacrifice not be forgotten. May her beloved Light Hope find a path to freedom, and let their child Heart Gift awaken and discover the world beyond Etheria" she read it aloud and asked. "Heart Gift was probably Lady Cala's ancestor who flew to Carurystal, but who the hell was Light Hope?"

Huntara looked at her seriously and said.

"Light Hope was an AI that managed all Etheria, but Heart Gift cannot be an ancestor of someone from another planet, because Mara hid Etheria in Despondos, when she died, no one could leave her."

Bina shrugged. Women can have many children, with very different partners, and Lady Cala never swore that she was related to Mara, always saying that it was just a guess. Anyway, it didn't matter to her.

"Okay, now we have to think about how to get there and..." she didn't finish because she heard the communicator buzzing, she smiled apologetically at the others and said.

"I just need to talk to my interns." she said and went to the end of the corridor and answered it there.

"Hi, how are you?" she asked cheerfully, although she was tired.

"Hey Bina. We're flying to Brightmoon right now" she heard Eti's voice, but it was very distorted by interference. "And you know, you can find stray tanks here. They're usually lying around and whoever wants them can take them, and you know, I thought we could get one.

Her first instinct was to protest, but then she realized that since they had the crazy Crushey, the tank wouldn't be any worse, maybe they would just replace the turret on their transporter,

-"Let's think... Will you give com's to Lilka? " she asked, knowing that if her students had done something wrong, she would tell without being asked.

"Hey Bina... It's really not our fault." the red-haired girl confirmed her suspicions. She sighed heavily and just said.

"Explain."

Lilka took a deep breath and began to explain.

"Mikah was there and we found this Heart Gift, and her mom and mom are dead, and those scars on Miss Daisy's face weren't our fault. Neither do fangs and claws."

She felt her heart stop and a cold sweat broke out on her back. "It can't be her. Just not her," she thought with horror.

"Lilka, listen to me. Miss Daisy..." she was saying, but the girl interrupted her.

"I can't hear... Alatar says... mountains... Miss Daisy... everything's fine." and lost the signal. She felt panic rising. 'Is that why she was so interested in Eti... Because she reminded her of Catra ' she thought. Whatever she was going to find in this tomb, it no longer mattered at all. She had to save the children, her children. By the gods and devils, she pushed them into the monster's claws. For five years, she and Eti had been hiding from the Lord Admiral. She didn't remeber there were other monsters in the world. With a nicer voice, using sweeter words, cunning and always polite. Lady Cala must have been involved in all this too. There was no time to think about the fake aristocrat, she had to get out of here quickly and get to Brightmoon, maybe warn the queen, that Catra, or whoever handles security matters in this country. She started running towards the exit and only when she reached almost the other end of the circular room did she realize that she had forgotten about the painting - a trap. She heard a booming "Stop " and a fiery blade descended on her.

She turned and saw a tall, majestic figure in plate armor. She had wings on her back and a flaming sword in her hand. It emanated a bright light, surprisingly bright and warm. It wasn't blinding at all. He shouted "Stop" and took a powerful swing and slashed Bina , who barely dodged. Behind her, she heard glass breaking.

"Stained Glass Golem." Tung Lashor groaned despaired, but he struck with his whip. At this time, she attacked the creature with her staff, but all she heard was a loud thud as it hit the armor, and then the creature launched a violent counterattack. Taking advantage of the fact that his back was turned to her, Bina shot him several times, but without much effect. Meanwhile, the Aspis chief and Kablodka were fighting the golem. The fight didn't go well for either of them. Finally, a powerful blow knocked the burgundy-haired woman down.

"Listen, I'm not a servant of evil, and neither are you."

"You came here to plunder the tomb of Mara, the great heroine. You must die." He started to make a great swing to kill the traveler, but then she cried out.

"I don't want to rob anything. I came here to give my children peace. Now I have to save them because they are in terrible danger. Look into my heart if you don't believe me."

The creature looked at the woman for several long moments, its glow becoming more and more intense. She finally said.

"You can leave, but you better hurry."

And it melted into the floor, becoming a painting again. At this time, there was a sound of breaking glass and the leader of the Aspis called out.

"My name is Tung Lashor, slayer of stained glass golems."

Meanwhile, she ran to the injured Bina lying on the floor, who whispered.

"Shadow Weaver, I brought Shadow Weaver here." and she lost consciousness.