Chapter Text
“Ok, sooo before we gooo.” Entrapta said to Queen Angela, Micah and Catra, “You’ll need to be aware that Sindri can be irritable when he's hungry. He loves to set things on fire, so to prevent that I made sure to include a fire extinguisher with edible foam!” She points to the bag that one of the guards was holding. “I included 3 flavors, though he seems to enjoy the watermelon flavor the most and remember to switch out whoever feeds.”
She leans in to poke Sindri on the nose, he tries to grab at her finger cooing, “You’re a greedy little feeder aren't you! Yes you are! Mommy's little nosferatu.” Entrapta paused when her data pad beeped and sprang to life, “Sorry to chat and run, but this First Ones tech won’t discover itself! Nope, can’t, since it’s, you know, tech , not people, so it needs a princess and I plan to be that princess!” She gives Sindri a quick kiss on his forehead, receiving a giggle from him before heading off into the H.A.C in a scramble. She waves goodbye to the four of them while the loading door closes and takes a seat as the transport began to take off. Hordak sat across from her smiling and she smiled back, “I hope we have as much fun as they do!”
“With any luck maybe Sindri will light Catra on fire for me.” Hordak murmured half-seriously, smirking when Entrapta snorted at that as they made their way towards the Crimson Wastes to see exactly what the drones might have uncovered.
THREE HOURS LATER
Entrapta rode on the back of Emily alongside Hordak and a small number of troops he picked out to accompany them made their way towards the site where their scout drones had gone silent. Entrapta checked her data pad again, tempted to check in on Perfuma or Catra, but kept deciding against it, telling herself they could handle it.
“Entrapta?” Her head snapped up to look at Hordak, he looked at her. His brow was raised with a curious expression, Entrapta responded with a smile, but that only caused him to frown. “You know, after all the time you spent convincing me that the princesses were safe, you seem more worried than me.”
“No, I’m-” His eyes narrowed and she sighed, “Fine, maybe a little bit.”
Hordak placed his hand on hers and smiled only slightly so, “If you're so worried you should check on them.” Entrapta shook her head.
“No, if I call it would show that I don't trust them, plus I already sent several messages detailing ways to contact us if something goes wrong or if Sindri and Ahriman wanna see me.” She smiled at Hordak, “I just don't know if it was too early to leave them with the princesses. What if they hurt someone or if something happens…”
Entrapta continued on, naming different concerns or issues that might come up in her typically panicked, rapid way. Her hair whipped dangerously around her as they walked, and her cheeks flushed, but as always Hordak simply smiled as she continued listing her issues
“You know, if it was up to me they would have stayed at Dryly with captains Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio. At least I trust them...” There was a small ‘Yes!’ in the background from who he could presume was Lonnie, “At least to some extent … But you pushed me to have a little faith in the princesses and of course …. Catra! ” Hordak hissed out that name with cold hatred which caused Entrapta to snort.
“Oh she's not that bad! I mean yes she did lie to you countless times over; got me sent to Beast Island; she activated the portal we were working on that was unstable and would have destroyed our entire reality. Oh! Not to mention she’s almost ruined all of the meaningful relationships she’s ever had. Almost at least. Where was I going with this?” Entrapta scratched her head a little, which only caused Hordak to sigh. “Oh right, that Catra isn’t that bad.” She clapped her hands together, “Even though she’s done all those bad things and made so many mistakes, so have we. I mean, We built that magnificent portal that you tried to conquer the world with, even if it was for a good cause.” Entrapta continued to ramble for a bit longer.
“Entrapta, the point?” Hordak asked with a raised brow, making Entrapta chuckle.
“Sorry, just wow, we are all a mess when you think about how many things we’ve all done.” She laughed a little, the rest of the group chuckled as they continued onward through the desert. “But with Catra as she is now, she’s trying to do better and I mean it. With the twins she’s protective, caring and kind. She helps me whenever I need help even when I don’t want it, and Scorpia helps bring the best out of her, like how we do for eachother! Granted it's still Catra so there’s always a chance of trouble, but that’s more from her picking a fight with someone trying to cause trouble rather than her trying to get higher in the ranks or to spite Adora like she used to, plus...” She smiled widely, “Sindri just loves her soooooo much!” She giggles while Hordak groans rubbing his face, “Either way, as long as she's trying to do better I’ll give her a chance, besides I heard from Scorpia that Catra might want to have a kid of her own later! I can’t wait to see that! All the new experiments I can conduct, ohhh...” Entrapta noticed a surprised and horrified Hordak along with the soldiers who were displaying mixed emotions from the words she had just spoken.
“I think it's time for a change of subject.” Hordak said wanting to talk about anything besides the concept of that creature spawning another of its kind.
“Ummm, can you tell us about Skeletor?” This question surprisingly came from Kyle, he was standing beside Lonnie, a bit nervous at the thought of asking his boss something that might get him in trouble, but instead Hordak simply nodded in response.
“There's not much I can actually say about this being, you see in Horde Prime’s empire there were legends we had studied or learned about from the conquered enemies and empires that came before us.” He seemed to frown a bit thinking on the subject, “One of these lost empires was the Eternian Empire, what Horde Prime believed to be the people before the First Ones, he was a bit obsessed with them and from some conflicts with the First Ones we did get some verification that the First Ones were exiled from Eternia, by those that they called the masters of the universe for defying them and breaking their rules.”
Hordak snorted at what he just said thinking it was ridiculous and foolish, “Supposedly, the Eternian’s hid themselves away from the rest of the universe for reasons they couldn't tell us.” Hordak saw the confused expression on Entrapta’s face and smiled, “At first we just thought they refused to tell us, but we soon realized those who truly did know, couldn't say a word. There was a safeguard put in place, if one tried to speak the truth then their mind would be wiped clean of all information regarding Eternia. This both angered Horde Prime and fansicanated him. That strange, mysterious power and the people capable of using said power became one of his obsessions. To hide away from the rest of the universe, Horde Prime wanted to know more, he wanted to know what else these Eternians were capable of.”
“Soon enough though we found one that didn't have that safeguard. An old man who had maddened with time, decrepit; he was a walking corpse. His skin greyed and cracked as though it were made of ash, within the cracks on his body was a pulsing glow of deep purple, the same fate befell his eyes...” Quieter, and fighting the urge to look over his shoulder for the Prime, he went on, “He was… Fragile and falling apart but he knew something . And Horde prime Wanted to know it, too.”
Lost in the memories of Prime, Hordak went quiet and slowed, lips pursed and eyes boring straight ahead emptily.
“Hordak?” Entrapta asked concerned, and then flinched when his gaze snapped to her suddenly and almost feral. Smiling softly, she reached out with a tendril of hair to touch him. He recoiled, of course, but she persisted and he eventually relented with a quiet sigh. Worried, she asked, “What happened? You, uh, spaced out for a minute there.”
Hordak took a deep breath before exhaling softly, “While horde prime considered it a trick of some kind, I now understand what happened was magic. The old man wasn't old when we found him. No, in fact he was young, almost as young, I believe, as Kyle-”
“That’s pretty young.” Hordak turned a glare on the speaker who murmured a little apology and shrank back a bit.
Sighing, he went on, “But over the course of four days he aged rapidly, far too rapidly to be possible biologically, in fact, much to the intrigue of Horde Prime. So, he decided to bring him to the throne room to… Speak . But once the prisoner reached the center he let out a horrid scream before turning to ash before us. In his place was a black figure with eyes as red as fire… And a message.”
Hordak looked to the others as they reached the area where the drones indicated the vault was located and allowed them to get started on uncovering it. While they worked, Entrapta watched as Hordak’s gaze went distant for a long, quiet moment. It was a familiar gaze, now, like from before, with his lips pursed and eyes boring forward but seeing nothing.
He was remembering, she’d figured out, wrapping a gentle tendril around him in case he needed her but otherwise leaving him be.
xxxXXXxxx
The black figure stood before the intrigued and bemused Horde Prime and Alpha, its purple eyes looking somehow boredly and curiously around the room before locking onto the throne. Or, more importantly, the one who sat atop it, one elbow on the arm of his throne and his chin resting gently on the top of his curved knuckles.
“So you’re the one that I've been hearing whispers about... Horde Prime.” The figure’s voice was distorted strangely, like its appearance. Smoky, in a way, and broken up. Like a comm line through a mile of static and fog, an old memory that Prime hadn’t realized he still had in his head. Bowing at least somewhat mockingly, though it was hard to tell from its form, the Black Figure said, “It is truly an honor to meet someone that could make those wretched pests cower so easily.”
Horde Prime seemed to smile at the figure’s words, leaning his head back regally. Voice curious Prime spoke as the strange thing straightened, “I must say using another living creature as a simple host is both inventive and new. How in the name of Prime did you get him to agree to it?”
“It really wasn't that hard. I simply offered him a new beginning in life, just as I offer you the same.” The figure said with a sickly sweet tone. Prime’s eyes narrowed at the implication, from what he had seen, but the figure spoke regardless, unperturbed by the man’s glare. “My master knows what you seek and wishes to help you achieve it, and to rule the universe and bring everlasting order as you wish.” The figure clasped it hands together behind its back, “ In fact, my master also knows about your second desire. The quiet one that you keep only to yourself”
at these words horde prime's eyes narrowed on the figure his smile gone replace with a deep frown as he tapped his talons on the arm of his chair
“And how would he know about that exactly?“ He growled out, voice sharp and hard and face empty of the curiosity that had once filled it. Frowning deeply and tapping his talons on the arm of the chair, he added, “And why would he offer so much?”
The figure only chuckled in response, its eyes shifting from Horde Prime to Horde Alpha for the briefest of moments before sliding back. “Because you've created something amazing, truly, and he wishes to see it grow. But also, and more powerfully, he wishes to remove the old masters and replace them with those more… Worthy of the position.
“And what does this ‘master’ expect in return?”
“The satisfaction of their destruction, of course.” It answered, “And of what's to come in the aftermath.”
Those final words caught Prime’s attention, brows furrowing. “What do you mean what's to come?”
The figure merely tilted its head, seemingly almost bemused, as it began to flicker and fade away. Like a candle caught in a sudden breeze. “I will only say this; those that are often deemed defects will lead to the creation of something beyond the creator’s limits. Do well to remember this, Horde. And I shall hope to see you on Etheria.”
Before Prime could answer the black figure faded from sight, leaving only a small ash pile in its place. And, for once in Alpha’s life, he saw a speechless Horde Prime.
xxxXXXxxx
Hordak sighed having spoken of the encounter... How little he knew that thing spoke of this world it knew what was coming and that unsettled him. But as he looked to Entrapta, seeing her smile going over what it could all mean, if anything, he couldn't help but smile in return as the doors to the vault were finally uncovered by the drones and they began to work on actually opening the thing.
Lonnie walked over, suddenly, and asked, seemingly on behalf of her confused team,“But wait doesn't that mean that she knew you'd end up here and… Ya know, everything else that would happen?”
“Perhaps.” Hordak said as he worked alongside Entrapta, commanding the drones to peel open the door. “But, as I've come to learn from experience...“ There was a spark followed by the sounds of gears groaning and machines whirring to life as the door began to open slowly followed by a horrible odor that hordak knew all too well filled the air “Nothing is ever that simple.”
As the doors opened fully everyone except Hordak stepped back, covering their mouths either from the odor or from the sight. Hordak could tell even normally unflappable Entrapta was unnerved by the sight and so Hordak placed his hand on her shoulder to, for once, be the one to comfort her as they took in what lay beyond the ancient doors.
Upon opening, the inside of each door had been smeared in blood, a stairway that led from the entrance down into what seemed an endless abyss of stairs and darkness where only a small fraction of it was illuminated by the light of day, and at the entrance just inches from the outside world lay a corpse.
The body that lay before them was mutilated beyond recognition, half of the left leg was missing along with the right arm, the chest and stomach appeared to have been ripped open, innards spilling out, chest cavity broken off, the poor souls spine was visible to the naked eye. The lower jaw was gone and the flesh of its face slashed so much so the bone was visible, its eyes gouged from their sockets, along with the back half of the skull crushed spilling brain matter and bits of bone onto the blood soaked stairway. The pungent stench of the corpse had wrapped itself around the group, suffocating them all with exception to Hordak and Emily.
Hordak glanced at the rest of the group, their eyes were wide with their pupils dilating from the shock, Kyle had fallen to his knees nauseating, even Emily was rattling from the horrible sight.
“Shall we?” Hordak gestured toward the stairs.
Emily opened a small hatch from her metal shell and light illuminated from it, she took point while the rest followed down the soiled steps. They continued onward, passing more and more corpses, each varying in their severity of death, some were torn apart like the first corpse they witnessed, while others suffered beheading, limbs ripped off and left to bleed out. The continued down until the light of day was no longer visible, and then the bottom appeared.
The stairs ended and the group was met with a hallway littered with more corpses, dozens of them scattered through the hall. Some were even inside the floor, the roof and the walls in contorted positions. No one spoke a word of what they were witnessing until Lonnie caught a glimpse of a strange corpse. “What is that! ”
One of the bodies that was on the ground was that of a creature, humanoid in nature, but it had no clothes, its body looked as though the moisture had been sucked out of it, eye sockets hollow, teeth blackened. It was mere skin and bones with elongated hands and claws stained by blood. “I’m not sure, but let's carry on.” Replied Hordak. There were several more of these things mixed with the mutilated corpses as they continued down the hall.
Soon they reached the end of the hall that led to a spacious room filled with piles upon piles of the deceased. The repulsive miasma of death was at its strongest at this point. There were other doors that led to different areas, but at the other end of the room from where they came was a large message written on the wall with blood that had dried and darkened in color.
His return Shall bring SALVATION