Chapter Text
It was late at night. The kingdom of Dryl moved quickly at the best of times- robots didn’t need to sleep, after all- but in Princess Entrapta’s sanctum (well, it was really her old workshop, but she thought ‘sanctum’ sounded classy), there was a positive whirlwind of work.
Entrapta herself was investigating an old piece of First Ones tech, a wide dish she assumed to be for receiving- and, more importantly- storing messages. Helping her was Hordak, who was looking over some jumbled-looking code on one of the many screens dotted around the work station, and Wrong Hordak, who was standing in the corner with a plate of tiny cupcakes.
“Hey, Hordak? Any progress on that code?” Entrapta gave him a nudge with a tendril of hair.
“This would be much faster with someone that actually speaks First One fluently.” Hordak grumbled. “Nevertheless, I believe I’m making progress”
Entrapta rolled her eyes. “I already told you, dummy. Adora’s coming over tomorrow, and science can’t wait until then.” She plugged a set of wires into the device holding the dish, causing yet more screens of data and diagnostics to blink on.
“Ah!” Hordak pounded his fist on the desk triumphantly.
Entrapta winced at the loud noise. “You ok?”
“I’m very sorry, it’s a habit.” The tips of Hordak’s ears flushed red with shame. “However, I believe I’ve translated an important portion of the code.” He tapped a screen with the tip of his claw. “Here, it contains instructions for outputting a message. Something to do with… Brother? I believe that says hologram?”
Wrong Hordak trotted over. He did the endearing little squint Entrapta had noticed both brothers do when they were concentrating as he scanned the lines of code. “Yes, that does say hologram, brother!” He winked.
“Thank you, brother.” Hordak turned to Entrapta. “This line of code states this receiver outputs messages as holograms. And therefore, to see the message data it holds-“
“We need the right output device! Thank you Hordak, you’re a genius!” Entrapta gave him a quick hug, then began reshuffling wires- within a few seconds, blue lights had blinked to life on the device, and a glowing blue form had taken shape in the middle of the sanctum.
It was that of a young man, kneeling on the floor. His light hair hung limply around his thin face, his teeth gritted with pain. A sword was strapped to his back with a leather cord- a short sword that looked strikingly familiar, though Entrapta couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, only panting as if to catch his breath.
“Fascinating,” Entrapta whispered, pen and paper at the ready.
“Hello. My name is Prince Adam, and if you’re watching this message, Eternia has fallen.” Tears had begun to stream down the boy’s face. “I wasn’t enough to stop him. These past few weeks, he’s gotten far stronger, I can’t explain why, and now…”
There was the noise of a pounding door somewhere just outside the hologram.
“I don’t have much time. He won’t stop until he’s killed every Eternian in the galaxy. Please, if you’re seeing this, prepare your defences, or start running. And-“
The pounding grew louder.
“Adora.” The young man grew frantic. “If you’re somehow hearing this, I’m sorry. Sorry I didn’t find out you were alive sooner. Sorry I didn’t question the lies they fed me. Sorry for not being a better brother.”
He stood, and it was only then Entrapta noticed the huge gash in his side- even through the blue monotone of the hologram, she could make out a dark ring of blood staining his shirt. He drew his sword.
“But I won’t die today. Come at me, Skeletor! By the power of Grey-“
The hologram shut off. The sanctum was left in total, stunned silence.
“What the heck?“ Wrong Hordak was first to break the silence.
“I need to take more notes!” Entrapta said, hurrying over to the device. “Hordak, Wrong Hordak, can you guys make that play again?”
“We could,” Hordak began, “but- no that can’t be right.”
“What‘s wrong?” Entrapta asked.
“The date this was sent. This code says it was only sent... a few hours ago.”
“Meaning…” Entrapta gasped. “There are more First Ones out there!”
“More importantly,” Hordak said, tightening his grip on the desk. “So’s whatever it was that killed them.”