Chapter Text
Adora ignored her arm and the high pitch mechanical wine of the skiff's motor behind her trying faintly to catch her breath. The throttle was slammed forward to the farthermost position as she rocketed the ship out of the Fright Zone.
Bellow her laid flat dark plains of grassland which stood out for miles in a perimeter around the Fright Zone. Hordak destroyed all forest in the area to make the Fright Zone less vulnerable to attack.
Still he had been delayed once he had hit the Whispering Woods. The magic which resided within the trees and land fought with him in a way no Princess or Kingdom ever could. For all his mechanisms and machines were dulled and broken upon attempting to chop away at the vegetation. His tanks were swatted and smashed by the branches and his soldiers repelled by the creatures which lied within the deep and changing twists which made up the thousands for square miles of the area.
It was as if the woods held their own immune system and were repelling Hordak as a virus is eventually defeated from a body.
Adora kept these facts in mind as she ran her way towards the tree line; the wind battering her hair open the open breeze. Nervousness pricked at her once the tree line finally came within sight, she took one hesitant look back towards the Fright Zone, noting the little ships which had begun to pursue her.
Adora’s heart sank as she took in a deep breath before looking back to the whispering woods.
She couldn't go back now she had to go through she had to escape.
The tree line advanced upon her quickly, as Adora slowed down the skiff slightly to look for an opening. The engine downshifting before turning to an idle.
A strange feeling came upon a door similar but not all too different from the magic that shadow Weaver, similar to the magic that she had experienced in the Black Garnet chamber.
Before her Adora saw the trees morph and mangle so in a dance as they parted leaving a path for her but not quite large enough for the skiff.
Relief and wariness bubbled up in equal measure as Adora, roughly jammed throttle down placing the machine into idle with a halting screech. She stepped out to look at the opening in the woods with caution. It was a mangled cacophony of vines etched into the shape of a door. They wriggled slightly and shined with a faint blue bioluminescence which shined.
Adora was suspicious of the entrance, she had never heard of such easy access granted to the woods by any other Horde Soldier. They had all been expelled upon contact by strange magic.
This could be a trap for her. She heard motors in the distance.
One quick glance back told her that the pursuers were gaining on her. She had no other options. Instantly she slipped off the machine started running towards the path.
Upon entering the forest, the temperature instantly to a comfortable cool as Adora kept running and running forward not noticing the vines and branches of trees behind her coiling and covering the entrance to the forest blocking her from escaping.
She ran and she ran as far as she could until she couldn’t run anymore.
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Cat’ra shrugged through the pages of her latest lesson half paying to the attention to the dusty old book that laid before her spouting out something about mathematics or whatever. Even on her shifting day it seemed her mother was keen on keeping to her lesson schedule.
Her mind quickly wandered to her favorite subject, the stories of the great heroines and heroes of Etheria. She especially loved stories of the mighty She-Ra and her dragon vanquishing evil all across Etheria and saving princesses in need.
The corner of her eyes her tracking pad glowed, the faint indicator catching her attention and drawing her attention away from her studies.
Cat’ra stood up from her makeshift desk casually waking over and picking up the device, looking carefully over the sleek glowing screen.
Etheria’s technology was not like the Horde’s which relied solely on had manufactured electricity, borrowed or burned from something else. Etheria’s tech was much less brutish and more subtle; drawing and interfacing naturally with the magic which exuded itself along the planet’s surface.
The pad revealed a massive power source which instantly peaked Cat’ra interest, as she flipped around the settings of the tracker pad observing the magical signature.
It appeared to fade in and out among the different locations.
It was near a first one’s ruin that her and her mother had found years ago in one of their many walkabouts. the compound had been fun to climb on but was ultimately heavily sealed off, even the magic that her mother could express through the tiger’s eye was of no use in getting the structure to activate.
What peaked Cat’ra interest is that the energy signature was similar to her mother's own runestone yet far more powerful.
Cat’ra looked out her window to the Whispering Woods beyond the ruins was not too far from their current location. Her mother preferred for them to move around nomadically, relying on several known shelters and hiding placed within the woods themselves. Generally, they lived off the land only venturing into local villages for Cat’ra to play with other kids and to receive supplies that they couldn’t make or hunt themselves.
Her mother in this area was known as the protector of the Woods the lone lioness standing guard against any horde interruption which the woods did not handle first.
It was still light out Cat’ra noted, she would still have plenty of time to observe the power source at the temple and get back just in time for her shifting ceremony and her mother would be none the wiser.
Cat’ra looked back at the half-finished scrawled paper which mostly held erasing marks in various mathematical equations from her lessons she'd find time to do it later she had more important things to discover.
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Adora moved as carefully as she could, she was deep enough into the forest now that she was confident, she had lost the Horde, for now. All the same, uncertainty had tugged out at her, she had heard vicious stories about the dangers of the whispering woods, of horrifying beasts and unstable magic, which stalked all those who entered.
The twisting turns and paths meddled together as she wandered deeper, lined by vines reminding her of the ducts and ventilation systems of the fright zone. These vines were different though, she noted, the were wilder and more untamed. They appeared to writhe if you sat to look at them, and some even glowed colors which she couldn’t even have imagined before today.
The sounds of the forest were different too, gone now was rhythmic gnashing of metal, and replaced with interrupted and irregular sounds of life which echoed throughout the canopy.
A jolt of pain ran up her arm, as Adora refused to look at the wound driving ever forward. But it soon became clear that she was lost.
At one point she had decided to backtrack, wanting to find a more open place of the forest. Walking back to find herself in a completely different trail that she had been before, it was almost as if the shifting and molding her towards something.
Adora’s breath quickened, as the trunk of trees around her began to feel closer and more claustrophobic.
She started to move quicker again running faster and faster until she finally spotted an opening, in the vines. She jolted though it squeezing herself onto the open ground. Trying to blink away the dark spots that clouded her vision. Ignoring the black lines that wriggled among her arm.
Before her stood an ancient courtyard lined with trees that stretched out overing it providing a darkening canopy.
In the center of the courtyard stood what a appeared to a pedestal with a sword which shined even in the dark, she eyed it warily.
But something still called out to her.
Haltingly she walked across the courtyard approaching it with caution.
Cat’ra watched the girl pick up the sword from her perch in the tree silently, before glancing back at the tracker pad. That sword was definitely the energy source she had been tracking.
She watched the girl observe the blade nervously around. Before slinking back to the security of the forest. Cat’ra followed her gracefully jumping form tree to tree staying just out of her sight thinking on how to proceed.
She was clearly horde by the uniform she wore, although she was far younger than any of the other Horde soldiers they had encountered so far.
Her mother had always told her to run away from Horde soldier.
Regardless Cat’ra claws extended as the bile rose within her throat as she held her lips closed tightly resisting the urge to bluntly yell out “Horde soldier!”. That Horde Scum was after the sword, that’s clearly why she was here.
Cat’ra didn’t understand the sword or what its power possibly entailed which she did know is that it was like her mom's runestone, she also knew she was not going to let some wimpy Horde soldier take it from her woods.
She pounced from her position in the tree, but the girl had spotted her out of the corner of her eye. She held up the sword defensively to block the flying Magicat with a startled cry. Cat’ra’s claws extended clicking against the metal of the sword.
Cat’ra gave her some distance jumping back before staying out of the potential reach of the sword, but the girl did not come after her.
“Fancy running into a Horde solider here” Cat’ra snarled holding up her claws
The girl backed away slightly “I mean you no harm” Adora responded her voice shaking “If you leave me along then I’ll leave you alone”
Sensing hesitation Cat’ra smirked “Then hand over the sword”
The girl eyed her suspiciously seemingly gaining composure “I don’t think so”
“I was hoping you’d say that” Cat’ra responded extending her claws
Adora considered her options as a bead of sweat ran down her brow. Her breathing was heavy, and her heart pumped hard against her chest. Her arm wound ached; finally starting to take the toll.
She held up her sword and fighting against closing her eyes in fear as Cat’ra rushed upon her.
Her opponent was faster than her but not as skilled, she noticed quickly. Cat’ra moved to her left slashing out with her clawed foot holding nothing back. She instantly countered holding the sword up and listening to the hardened claws clanging off of steel.
Cat’ra moved now with her hands slicing at Adora who managed to parry them, swiping forward with her food knocking the Magicat off her feet before backing off.
Cat’ra whipped the dust off her with a frustrated growl, before lunging again on all fours careening her entire body into Adora’s side
The horde soldier grit her teeth as her arm flared up in pain at the strain the black mass squirming under her skin. She swung the sword at the ground in an arc ripping up tiny clumps of dirt and dust forcing Cat’ra to back off.
“It looks like you’re hurting there, Horde Soldier, sure you don’t want to give up yet?” She heard the strange Magicat taunt at her.
Her vision was blurring. She heard a voice in the back of her head now it was similar to the buzzing that she had felt in the Black Garnet.
“Adora of Eternia” It said calmly “Will you fight for the honor of Grey Skull?”
“For the Honor of Greyskull?” Adora repeated out loud.
A surge of magic from the sword pulsed flooding her body with raw energy, it seeped into every single muscle and cell in a magnificent hum. Adora felt larger and faster than she ever had before under the onslaught. Her wound’s and aches were now just a drop in an ocean.
She struggled to control the pure feeling of it all, it made it hard to focus on anything. She looked back up at her foe, the Magicat girl stood there absolutely shocked seemingly almost in awe.
Had she changed so much?
Adora tried to contain the energy to control it into a more manageable form. This was all too much for her.
Before she could do anything, a great roar erupted from the jungle, as a massive lion sprung from the jungle. It was massive, the Magicat girl seemed to recognize it,
The beast studied her for a moment before the lion roared again.
Adora felt the power leave her, she felt her body shifting, as her pains suddenly became heavier once more, until she was once again Adora, she was tired leaning back down on her sword for support.
The lion stood regally before her standing above her height, studying her quizzically. In the center of its chest shown a magic purple stone shaped like a glaring cat eye staring down upon her.
It had a short black choppy mane, while the rest of its body was a short-managed cream. She also noticed the thick scar on its side.
The before her very eyes the great beast itself began to shift, forming itself now into a Magicat, far taller the girl behind her.
“It’s a rune stone” Cy’ra regarded plainly, mostly to herself.
Adora struggled back into position holding the sword back up.
Cy’ra looked over the young woman before her, now in better light. She was young, likely a similar age to Cat’ra’s twelve years. Her sword stance was proper and refined, and ridged. She had clearly been trained beyond the regular Horde soldier.
Next she called out to her daughter “Stay back Cat’ra” She ordered sternly behind her.
The young Magicat shot her mother a questioning looks before relaxing her stance and slinking backwards to a safe distance away among the trees.
The girl’s eyes flickered away from her for a moment before turning back their focus on Cy’ra.
Cy’ra regarded the girl skeptically for a moment, she was a child, a child of the Horde but a child all the same. She would not feel her vengeance today
Cy’ra gave an experimental sidestep, efficiently moving across the forest floor, watching carefully as the girl mirrored her movements. Even through the darkness of the undergrowth the girl looked anxious and defensive. She was clearly not on the attack, and without any back up around she wasn’t a threat.
It was strange though, why hadn’t the Whispering Woods expelled her.
The two danced around each other for a few moments, Cy’ra she was not using her dominate sword hand. She moved forward stealthily watching as the girl retreated ever so slightly; her movements were stiff.
They passed through a jolt of light from a hole in the canopy. Cy’ra’s eyes caught the image of singed clothing and skin on the girl’s dominate arm, it was a wound that she had been all too familiar with; the dark tendrils buried into the girl’s skin. The magical wound etched into the girl's dominant arm, similar to the very same wound that had marked her chest all those years ago.
Something was wrong here.
Cy’ra paused sniffing the air, the rancid smell of dark magic clung to the majority young girl’s body, she stunk of it, it was familiar to her.
She smelled of Shadow Weaver’s magic.
She had been touched by Shadow Weaver’s magic
A new fury burned itself into the former Queen’s gut.
The lioness now drunk in more of the young girl’s appearance; her frame seemed tiny especially in comparison to the massive sword she held. Her face was thin with dark circles under her eyes and far more burdened than a child’s should be.
Cy’ra also noted the faint two scars that lined the right side of her face, disgust flashed within her at the implications, but she remained stoic.
She was a runaway.
Cy’ra’s muscles relaxed as she put away her claws and slipped back out of her stance, before her was a scared child no more no less she needn’t frightened it further.
She could feel the confusion behind her from her daughter as well as the girl in front of her the former Horde soldier held up her sword still in a defensive stance, but she sat looser than before there was something hesitant about her gaze.
“I’m sorry for the fright my dear” She stated gently “Might we take you back to our home to get a better look at your arm?”
“She’s Horde Mom” Her daughter protested “She’s the enemy”
“Cat’ra stop” She commanded sharply glancing back towards her daughter “She’s a victim just like we are”