Chapter 20
Adora sat on the stairs in the main gardens of Bright Moon, admiring the big round robot on legs Entrapta had fixed up. It was the only place big enough for it, and Entrapta was running several tests so she needed a big open area to experiment. She had fused a First One's crystal to the core processing unit, which gave it more functionalities. It could scan the environment and detect threats, it could kill threats, it knew how to fight, it had an alarm, and it could draw magic from the earth to super power its laser. When it stomped, it released a wave of magical energy that could either heal the land or blast away an enemy. Not bad.
Entrapta's hair elevated her from the ground as she observed the movements of the bot, speaking into a recorder. After activating its scanner, she found that the information was automatically uploaded onto her computer and she could even use it as a camera, so that the Rebellion could survey the land from afar. Queen Angella asked if she could make more bots like this, with the right materials and proper testing, she could. However, she would need more First One's artefacts so the Queen was sending a small team to a nearby First One's temple to scavenge the ruins.
Meanwhile, Adora was supposed to be heading off to train with Light Hope, to better understand She-Ra and her power. Yet she could hardly find the will to move, all she wanted to do was be near Entrapta. It was the one place people wouldn't bother her.
She was still hung up on Catra and the whole destiny thing. It was a hard pill to swallow, the idea that in a world of free choice, she had no choice. Regardless of whether or not she was She-Ra, she should be allowed to choose her life for herself.
"Adora," Bow said from behind her. She turned to look up at him, the golden bow on his back shining in the morning light. "What are you still doing here? I thought you were leaving for the crystal castle?"
"I am, I was checking up on Entrapta and the bot," Adora said. A lie, she had been there a while. She stood up. "Suppose I should get going, be back soon, Bow." She left, head held high until she was out of sight and it hung with defeat. Her white flag was raised.
Adora left the Bright Moon castle, venturing deep into the Whispering Woods. Now, she actually had no idea how to get to this place because she can't remember how she even got there the first time. She remembered feeling really sleepy, then her hands were painful, and she woke as a bright, glowing, eight foot tall woman with abs tougher than stone. Arms that can lift an entire castle and legs that could crush a watermelon between them. Not that she hated the form, it's just that it was a shock.
The woods were terrifying and foreboding. Shadow Weaver used to tell her horror stories about it. The gist of all those stories were, everyone who went in, never came back out. It was as if the woods swallowed people whole.
Adora entered the woods, creatures and magic whispering through her blood. Her own magic spoke back, reaching out almost. The mangled and twisted trees often moved, the land with it. There came a point where she realised she was walking in circles… again. So she stopped and listened to the woods.
"I need to find the crystal castle," she said to the trees, flowers, bushes. The trees groaned as they parted, a light coming from somewhere deep within the woods. It was as if the woods were showing her the way. She followed the signals from the woods, being sure to be respectful of the land, and eventually boot thudded on solid concrete. The ground had carved first one's symbols leading towards the crystal castle.
That was it, no turning back now. Now was not a time to be dwelling on the past, but instead pressing forward. Everyone else had made their choice in life and it was up to Adora to fulfil a destiny. But she's not going to help the people of Etheria without first understanding She-Ra. The gem on her sword hilt glowed the closer she got to the door of the castle.
"Eternia," she said. The castle's symbols glowed a bright white and the door slid open, allowing her into the cavernous room of crystals. Inside, she walked to the circular area, where the stone pedestal for her sword was. "Light Hope?" she called out.
Light hope appeared behind her, making her jump out of her skin out of fright. "Welcome, Adora," she said with a small smile. "It is good to formally meet you finally. I have been waiting many years to train you."
Adora straightened her jacket. "How long have you been here?"
"Many thousands of years," she said with a smile, joy in her electronic eyes. "It is in my programming to train She-Ra, I have met many She-Ra's over my time but it has been a thousand years since another has set foot within this castle." Oh, okay. Interesting. Light Hope seemed talkative, perhaps she could wiggle answers out from her.
"Who programmed you?"
"The First One's as you call them, back when they settled Etheria. After the original She-Ra, Grayskull needed someone to train the new She-Ra's. He made me." Grayskull… Adora knew so little about that prominent figure in the history of her own people.
"What happened to the She-Ra before me?" She asked cautiously. Teela Na refused to answer this question many times.
Light Hope's face fell, sullen like a wet autumn morning. "She tried to save Etheria from a threat beyond the stars. Her first plan failed so she put us in despondos, a shadow dimension where that threat could not reach us. She perished unfortunately, but at least Etheria is safe here."
But for how long? Adora didn't want to say that because this hologram of a programmed lady was already depressed, no need to depress her further. "I'm sorry, I can tell you two were close."
"She was brave and ambitious and she didn't give up no matter what." The complete opposite of Adora then, or at least that was how she perceived herself. As someone who hides rather than fights, as someone who followed orders but couldn't dream big enough to make them. Catra was all those things, brave and loyal and ambitious and strong.
Adora used to strive to be like her, and she always put a brave face on but really she was terrified. Terrified of Shadow Weaver, of failing, of not being good enough. She never wanted to be a hero, and yet this destiny was forcing her to be one. So, for the sake of Etheria, she would put up a shield. A shield engraved with strength, courage and the will to do what was right.
"Come, Adora. We should begin training," Light Hope gestures to a triangular door off to the right hand side that slid open. The hall illuminated bright blue with First One's writing. Adora took a deep breath, squaring her strong shoulders and marched forth with determination to be the hero Etheria needed.
Catra arrived back at the Fright Zone after checking up on a nearby outpost. They had sent a distress signal on the Horde's communication lines but it turned out it was just a newbie that wanted to press the big red button. What a waste of her time.
She wasn't long through the door, having chucked her backpack in her room, when Shadow Weaver emerged from a dark, shrouded corner. As if she expected any different from her.
Catra, as Force Captain, was given her own private room, nothing to shout about, it looked the same as Shadow Weavers only smaller. It had a metal sink and broken mirror in the corner, a bed and a desk. A bathroom door to the side. Catra didn't have many possessions so her backpack had pretty much everything in it, the only thing she brought with her to that room was Adora's blanket, the one they both slept on at night. Her scent still clung to the woven threads. The only thing in her backpack was a change of clothes and an old photo of her and Adora as children. Lonnie took it for them. It wasn't anything special in the photo, just the two of them during a one on one training drill, hitting each other with sticks. Lonnie managed to capture the exact moment Catra cheated to win, the look of betrayal on Adora's face was priceless. Catra remembered it like it was yesterday. It felt like it was only yesterday.
Shadow Weaver approached, eyes narrowed on Catra, hands itching to cause pain and suffering. "You failed to bring back Adora," she said. No hello, no welcome back, no glad the outpost was fine, or anything. It was always about Adora.
"That's because your plan was half assed," Catra said, mostly to herself. She straightened properly to speak formally to the sorceress. "It was never going to work anyway, you knew she could become a massive warrior lady with power. She's called the Princess of Power for crying out loud. Also, it was not our fault what happened in Dryl. The princess of Dryl blew up her own castle."
Shadow Weaver raised a hand, a clenched fist around billowing smoke. Shadow's leaking from her blood veins. Those shadows snuck into Catra's head. She was struck with a massive migraine, a loud ringing noise, as the shadows rotted around inside her head. She cried out in pain, falling to her knees. A memory was torn from the back of her mind by dark shadows, then it was twisted, deformed.
It was a memory of her and Adora sitting atop the landing, they had just learned to climb and that was the first place they had gone to. Adora's voice and face became distorted, changed. Her once sweet smile deformed into a crooked grin with razor sharp teeth. Her once kind words were wrung out, dripping with spite and hatefulness.
That was what Shadow Weaver did, it was her favourite thing to do to Catra. She twisted her memories, changing them into something vicious because she knew that Catra's only weakness was Adora. The sorceress knew that psychologically, she wasn't fully all there and that was because Shadow Weaver had deliberately left her destabilised from when she was young. So it was easy for her to tap into any memory, distort it and it would mess Catra up.
Catra had a knack for blowing situations out of proportion. If Adora went to play with Lonnie or Kayleigh instead of her, she'd lose her mind and think she'd been abandoned. She always hated how she was second best to Adora during training, and first place during their classes yet Adora still was the favourite of Shadow Weaver. Catra had a lot of issues she needed to work through, but she didn't know how. All she knew was rage. So when something mildly inconvenient happened, she'd tear the place apart.
And now that Adora's left, now that she'd made her choice to side with the enemy, Catra didn't know what to do with herself. The only thing on her mind was capturing Adora, but not for the reasons Shadow Weaver thought.
"You failed. You've always been a failure," Shadow Weaver said. Catra took several deep breaths.
"It was your plan that failed," she said. She expected to be electrified by some dark magic spell, like she loved to do. "But I have a better plan." She forced herself to look up at the sorceress. "When do you need her by?"
"Why does that matter? I wanted her here yesterday."
"Because my plan is the slow game. You don't know Adora as well as you think you do. Me? I know her like the back of my hand. And I know how to catch her." Shadow Weaver drew back her minions, the memory returning to normal but the horrific images of Adora laughing at how weak she was would forever be ingrained into her mind. She knew it wasn't real but it didn't make it any easier to bear.
