1° Pov ????
I would normally consider myself to be a reasonable person, a calm and reasonable woman in her early thirty years of life but after dying In a car accident and waking up in the body of a recently deceased woman I really think even the most level headed people would have problems with staying calm.
Luckily I was not most people, it was not like I was feeling calm per see It was more like I didn't feel any need to panic but that didn't matter.
What mattered was the fact that I was in unknown territory, in a stranger's body, and possibly in a completely different universe, how did I know that? Well, the small, three eyed thing in front of me that vaguely resembled a lizard but certainly wasn't one was proof enough.
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3° Pov
Looking around herself -and ignoring the strange animal in front of her- the newly resurrected woman saw destroyed triangle-shaped tents, analyzing the area she was able to tell that there was a battle recently.
If the destroyed landscape wasn't enough to tell her that, the dozens of burning bodies on the ground certainly were, trying to get up the woman quickly lost balance and fell to the ground after feeling a strong pain shooting through her left leg.
Adjusting her position she sat on the ground and looked at the place where the pain had originated, seeing the wound she grimaced, she could see her bone poking out of her skin, and a good chunk of it too.
Gathering her courage she closed her eyes and touched the bone while waiting for the inevitable pain to come, seconds later she felt something, but it certainly wasn't pain, it was more like a gentle warmth.
Opening her eyes the woman saw an
orange flame burning in her hand, blinking rapidly as if not believing what she was seeing she inhaled a good portion of air... and promptly screamed.
"Aaaaaaaaaa!". She shot out from the ground, the fact that she wasn't feeling any pain from her left leg didn't even register on her mind.
"Take out! Take Out! TAKE OUT!". She screamed while running in circles shaking her hand in a hope to extinguish the fire burning it.
She was panicking, waking up in a different place after apparently being killed was one thing, being burned alive was a completely different thing, at least when she died she didn't feel anything.
The woman continued to run in circles when suddenly her hand started to glow, she didn't know what was happening but she certainly didn't expect the fire on her hand to shot itself forward hitting the sandy ground and creating a gigantic chunk of glass.
Looking at what she had done the woman stopped running in circles and very slowly brought her still burning hand towards her face, looking closely she could see that the fire was not actually harming her, now that she was calm she was able to feel her hand again, surprisingly she wasn't feeling anything more than a slight warmth.
"Wait warmth?". She said and immediately looked at her leg, contrary to what she was expecting to see her leg was now, healed?.
Staying frozen in place for some more seconds to woman wielded her eyes, it couldn't be, could it? it was certainly not impossible but she would have to test it first to be sure.
Lifting her hand she concentrated and just as she wielded it the fire got out of her hands and started to dance in the air, looking at the orange flame she couldn't help but smile.
Dismissing the fire the woman started to walk towards the glass structure she had accidentally created, finding a good angle she blinked and looked at her
reflection.
She had short hair that didn't even reach her nape, small wisps of fire were being released from the end of her hair that now was red, fortunately for her, her skin was still dark, although the light Orange at the end of her fingers was starting to worry her.
Ignoring her possible mutation the woman continued to examine herself, round-shaped face, golden eyes and she was relatively sure she wasn't that tall before touching the Spir-.
Suddenly the woman dropped to the ground, holding her head with her two hands she fought back the tears that threatened to form in her eyes, and then she remembered.
"̶P̵l̴e̴a̴s̷e̷ ̴d̶o̵n̸'̵t̷ ̷g̶o̶"̴.̵
̵
̶"̶I̸ ̸h̷&̴%̵$̷ ̵t̴o̷,̷ ̵t̷?̴-̴ ̷r̴e̷a̸d̷&̵%̶*̵?̷ ̸s̶8̷-̴&̵%̷e̵d̶ ̷a̵ ̴g̷&̴%̵@̴n̸9̸?̶c̶ ̵a̶£̶€̵¥̶@̸t̸ ̸o̸f̸ ̸m̷@̴&̵$̷€̴π̵l̶ ̶e̴∆̵¥̷£̵@̷y̴ ̷o̸n̴ ̴t̴h̴a̴t̸ ̵a̶&̴$̴*̵,̶ ̵p̴&̶@̵#̷%̶¶̶s̸ ̸I̵ ̶c̷a̶n̸ ̷e̵^̶®̴n̴ ̶r̷e̵%̶@̷&̴#̸?̸e̴ ̶t̵h̸e̷ ̶s̸p̸i̴r̸i̸t̸ ̶e̷m̸b̸e̶r̷ ̶€̵£̶d̵ ̷j̴%̵@̶n̵ ̶t̷h̷?̶ ̴f̷&̶$̷∆̴t̵ ̷a̴¶̴^̷©̸@̴*̴t̶ ̶t̵h̵e̶ ̶E̴v̶i̵l̵ ̵H̵o̶r̵d̵e̵!̷"̸.̴
̴̶"N̵O̷!̴ ̸I̴ ̴W̵I̸L̴L̷ ̴N̴O̵T̷ ̵L̷O̸S̷E̷ ̵A̴N̴Y̸O̷N̶E̸ ̵E̵L̷S̶E̶,̶G̷U̵A̴R̴D̷S̵ ̵S̸T̵O̵P̷ ̸H̵E̴R̴!̵"̴.
̷"F̵Y̴R̵E̶N̷A̶A̶A̷A̵A̶!̶"̵.
Memories, feelings, and flashes invaded her mind making the woman freeze in place, unmoving like a statue, suddenly, seconds later she jerked backward, now
she finally remembered.
"Fyrena, that... that is my name".
Fyrena was her name, she wa- is a citizen of bright moon, more specifically a scientist and, she had always dreamed of joining the rebellion and fighting against the Horde.
Unfortunately, there was not much little a non-combatant scientist like her could do against the horde besides reverse engineer their technology, invent useful gadgets for the resistance and occasionally study first one's tech, but when she found weird readings of what looked like a Runestone in mount candila she couldn't pass up the chance.
The spirit ember had been thought to be a legend but at the time she thought that if it really existed she could try to connect with it and finally fight against the horde, after that her memory started to get a little bit blurry.
She knew for a fact that she had not remembered everything yet, memories of a past life she had lived in another world prevented her from recovering her memories from this life, well at least she knew enough to understand what had happened to her.
Horde soldiers had also detected the surge in energy and had come to the place to discover what was causing it, they found her, and then they fought, well at least she tried to fight, after killing half of the soldiers and being shot in the shoulder, leg, and thorax she had lost any hope left of getting out alive and so she tried to explode herself together with the horde soldiers with one of her personality made grenades.
Unfortunately, a soldier had noticed it and decided the best way to avoid the grenade was to rush at her, break her leg with a good hit of his weapon and tackle her to the ground.
That... Didn't go well for him, he didn't realize they were atop of the ruins of a castle, and that she had already pushed the button, the explosion killed him and made the ground bellow them break, it was a big fall but she managed to use the horde scum's body to protect herself from the fall.
Luckily for her, she had fallen directly at the resting place of the spirit ember, unfortunately for her, the runestone was covered in a dome of molten steel with small holes through it.
Even worse the horde soldiers started to search for her, so when she saw the runestone glowing she didn't think twice and dashed towards it.
She remembered the feelings, that was the moment of truth she would either die by fire or she would become a princess and finally defend etheria, she wanted power but she wanted power for a purpose beyond herself.
She touched the
spirit ember and begged for it to lend its power to her, not for the sake of growing stronger but to defend her home and protect the ones she loved.
There was a light and then nothing, she didn't remember what had happened but she was sure there was fire, explosions and a gigantic amount of rage involved, she was gravely injured, died, her heart was... Destroyed? but the spirit ember revived her that she was sure of.
But she came back different, now with a new set of memories and... Well, firely hair she had become more than just an etherian scientist, she had become something just like Queen Ângela, not an Angelic being but a... Elemental being, more specifically a fire elemental.
The thought of being the same as Queen Ângela excited her, she was not 100% sure why but she could guess, after all, who wouldn't want to be like her, Queen Ângela THE role model for all Princesses and Queens of etheria, intelligent, polite, calm... Beautiful.
Even after the princess alliance failure she hadn't given up on Ângela, she knew the Queen was stronger than even she thought, and for that she would never fail to support her.
Shaking her head Fyrena walked towards the ruins crater and jumped down, the spirit ember was now freed from its metallic prison but now that begged the question, how would she bring the runestone with her?.
"
Tying it with a rope would be impossible, it would simply burn, I could try to fly to the top with it but I have an impression I can do something better". Fyrena whispered to herself.
Sitting on a rock she supported her elbow on her leg while putting her chin on her fist and started muttering to herself again.
"
How do I move this thing efficiency? I'm currently on Mount Candila, which means I will have to literally walk to the other side of the world to reach Bright Moon, which means I will have to go through the fright zone, which means that Shadow Weaver will sense my runestone and try to steal it but what other option do I have?".
"If I go north the wildlife will kill me, I know almost nothing of survival in the wilderness and the only kind of civilization I will find will be villages if I'm lucky, in the end I would reach the kingdom of snows, and that would be at least two months by foot, if the cold doesn't kill me first".
"If I try to get a boat then I will either be busted by Horde patrols, a passing serpent, or I will be robbed by pirates since Salineas only cares about itself and its own sailors".
"
Cutting through the sea and navigating close to the edges would be a good idea if not for the initial threat of beast island, not only that but if attacked I will have to use my newly acquired powers, powers of which I can only throw fireballs, fire jets with and heal myself".
"Ironically the safest way is through the Fright Zone, more danger but also more resources, more people but also more information, more enemies but more practice, and finally the cherry on the cake, Vehicles".
"If I manage to get my hands on a single skiff then I can go through half of the desert in a single day, Won't have enough fuel to do anything else but it will be doable, the farther away I get from the horde the better".
"I will also have to analyze the Moonstone if the memories of my past life are correct, and they probably aren't since I do not remember seeing myself in that show then the Spirit Ember was created by the first ones, if true then this could be either good or bad".
"Talking about Runestones I have to ask why the moonstone floats, really magic is a mi-". Fyrena suddenly froze and as if hit by a realization she slowly turned her head and looked at the Spirit Ember.
"If the moonstone can float, why can't you?". She asked herself while at the same time answering the same question, in hindsight, it was very obvious, she should have realized it sooner.
Lifting her hand Fyrena concentrated and very slowly commanded the Spirit Ember to lift itself from the ground, and just like she wield it the Runestone obeyed her command by floating meters from the ground and starting to orbit around her.
Seeing this Fyrena smiled and once again created small jets of fire bellow her feet, flying above she reached the surface, the Spirit Ember following her every move.
Putting her runestone on the ground she extinguished the fire on her camp and started to search for supplies, water, food, armor? huh, she would need the horde scum's armor wouldn't she, all of them were slightly melted because of her fire but it would have to do.
After that Fyrena put the supplies in a sack and called the Spirit Ember to her again, flying slightly above the ground she looked around.
"The horde soldiers arrived here using tanks, now let's see if one survived the battle".
Flying slightly above the ground and looking at the vast desert for some seconds Fyrena found what she was searching for, a horde tank.
Landing on the tank she opened the hatch and threw her sack of supplies inside it, unfortunately for her the door wasn't big enough for her runestone to enter, fortunately for her, she had fire magic.
'
Does that make me a fire bender?'. A quick thought passed on her mind.
Closing her fist Fyrena summoned her fire and concentrated on diminishing the flame, the fact that she had to stay still through two entire minutes of intense concentration proved that she didn't have even a single drop of control of her power, she would have to be careful not to end up as the last Queen who possessed the Spirit Ember.
The level of destruction she could cause if she lost control would be catastrophic, there are few powers more destructive and dangerous than fire after all.
It could be used for some other things but the fact was that primarily, fire served only to destroy and consume all on its path.
Finally cutting a hole through the top of the tank Fyrena took the Spirit Ember and put it inside, more specifically on the back of the vehicle.
Entering the tank she looked at the controls, the thing was much more advanced than anything of her past life but luckily for her, she had already 'dissected' -as she liked to call- horde tanks before, driving one would be a breeze.
Turning around Fyrena took the remains of the part of the tank she had cut and once more attached it to the top by slightly melting the metal, she briefly noted that she wouldn't be able to do such a thing yesterday.
'
More than magic the runestones also give enhanced physical abilities'.
Sitting on the tank's chair she stomped on the pedal and started driving forward, she would go back to Bright Moon with the Spirit Ember or her name wasn't Fyrena Sunstera.
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[Fright zone, Despondos, Year 994, Hordak's throne room]
Opening the metallic door Shadow Weaver entered Hordak's Throne room, she had just seen a very interesting recording of the horde battalion she had sent to Mount Candila.
"Lord Hordak". She said while slightly bowing her head.
"
Shadow Weaver, report".
"As we suspected there really was a Runestone in Mount Candila, unfortunately for us, we were unable to obtain it".
"
So, the mission was a failure?"
"Not yet".
Hordak raised his eyebrow ."
What do you mean?".
"While we were unable to retrieve the runestone we discovered something much more valuable". Shadow weaver said while using her magic to bring a pad to hordak's face, pressing the button with her magic she started the video.
"Stray up ahead". A female voice sounded from the pad.
"A Scout perhaps?". Another answered.
"No, but it is cer- WHOA!". The woman shouted after almost being hit by a laser beam.
"It's a hostile KILL HER!"
The soldier didn't bother to respond and simply aimed his weapon and fired at the unknown hostile.
"
Go to the point Shadow Weaver, I don't want to waste my time watching a thirty minute video of nothing but incompetent soldiers being held off by a single rebel".
"Yes lord hordak". Shadow weaver answered while at the same time speeding up the video.
Hordak continued to look at the pad with a calm expression on his face, he wanted to do nothing more but punish those soldiers, unfortunately for him, all fifty of them were dead according to Shadow Weaver.
Prime knows such a failure would never be accepted, his elder brother would not only kill the clone responsible for the operation but also destroy whatever planet they were on.
Failure is
unacceptable, and much like insubordination should be rewarded with death, he knew that, he was the living proof of that after all, but not anymore.
His body may be imperfect but he would prove to prime that he
is not worthless, he would conquer etheria by following his brother's example, and when he saw what he managed to do he will bring him back to the collective, to the light, his light.
Unfortunately, he couldn't simply kill Shadow Weaver, torture her? Yes, he had done so before, kill her? No, he still didn't know where Mystacor was located.
The mages had somehow removed that knowledge from his second in command's mind and until he discovered where exactly the place was located he could neither extract the secrets of magic nor replace Shadow Weaver.
Looking at the pad in front of him Hordak made a curious face, Shadow weaver had returned the velocity of the video to normal, which meant something was about to happen.
BOOM!
A grenade exploded in the air, Hordak would've been impressed by the explosion if he wasn't contemplating the stupidity of one of his soldiers.
*Crack*
The group bellow the blond woman's feet craked in dozens of pieces making her fall through the hole in what would be a fatal fall if not for her quick thinking.
Looking through the camera of the deceased soldier hordak saw the woman run towards what looked like a ball of molten steel and put her hand through a hole in the structure.
"Please". He heard the woman speak for the first time. "I beg you, if there is a higher power, if you can hear me please... Lend me your power and allow me to protect this world, I will do anything and pay any price, I will even give you my life if necessary so please... Give me the strength to defend Etheria against the Horde".
The video suddenly got silent, Hordak couldn't hear the sound of the woman's rapid breathing, he couldn't hear the sound of his soldiers aim their weapons at the woman, and for one second he thought the pad might've glitched.
He was proven wrong when a second later the dome of molten steel exploded in Orange light forcing him to shield his eyes even though he was watching the scene from a pad.
The scene changed from below the ruins to atop of the castle, more specifically to the camera on the helmet of a ground soldier, he could still see traces of the light below but now he could see without being blinded by the orange light.
For another second the world was silent then the sound of what could only be described as a gigantic sheet of paper being ripped in two rang in the ears of the soldiers.
"Aaaaaaa!". The camera on the horde soldier's helmet quickly turned left showing the image of another soldier catching fire and rolling on the ground, trying and failing to extinguish the flames burning his body.
"Filth like you shouldn't be allowed to live".The voice of what sounded like multiple women talking sounded from above, making the soldier look up, only to see a woman surrounded by flames.
Taking the pad from Shadow Weaver's magic grip Hordak paused the video and zoomed in on the image of the woman, she had a brown skin much like that other annoying princess, Netossa if he wasn't mistaken, but the similarities ended there.
The woman's hair for example was red and magical too considering the fact that it was catching fire, no, that was wrong, her hair was not catching fire, it was fire.
Not only that but in certain places her skin became orange, the runestone had changed her physiology then? that could be a problem, he did not know much about Angelic Beings besides the fact that the queen of bright moon was one of them, was it simply her race, or had the Moonstone changed her?.
This... Could be a problem, Queen Ângela is by far the strongest being of etheria, she had become inactive after he killed her husband with his own two hands but that hadn't changed the fact that she was one of the biggest threats to the horde.
And now another princess, possibly with the same potential as her had surged out of nowhere? He couldn't possibly lose that chance.
Releasing the pad and letting it fall to the ground Hordak turned to shadow weaver.
"Put her capture at maximum priority, I want her alive at all costs, after capturing her I want you to start her conditioning as soon as possible".
"Sunstera is not like the other inmates, she is a woman in her early thirties, she will resist more than the others, the process will take more time than normal".
Hordak was about to answer, then suddenly closed his mouth.
"
Sunstera? Where have I heard that name?".
"She is the rebel's tech master my lord, the creator of hard light projections, her and her students are largely responsible for weaponizing the resistance of bright moon, fortunately, we prevented her from distributing her equipment further beyond bright moon".
"
Ah, yes, all I hear are more reasons to capture her".
"That may be my lord but If Ângela in particular ever hears about this she will mach towards the fright zone to rescue her precious rebel".
"I know the Queen, I know her power, she is merciful and hates unnecessary violence, she may have enough power to destroy the entirety of the fright zone but her ideals stop her from killing anyone".
"And she will ignore those restrictions she pulled on herself if it meant saving this woman?".
"Some say the most dangerous people are those who have nothing to lose but personally I think the most dangerous are those who are under the threat of losing everything".
"Grrrrrr, then make sure to keep the operation under the utmost secrecy, use our force captains if necessary". Hordak said while getting up from his throne and going directly towards his sanctum, indicating the end of the compensation.
"Yes my lord, I will not disappoint you". Shadow weaver said while bowing.
She waited in this position until she heard the sound of the door closing.
Getting up once again she brought the pad to her hands with her telekinesis and continued to play the video.
In it, the new princess was destroying the remains of the battalion, she had various minor injuries and normally tried to dodge the projectiles throw at her, until suddenly a horde tank fired on her back, not giving her enough time to react and punching a hole through her chest.
She watched as the woman fell from the sky with hazy eyes and vomited blood on the ground, anyone else would have given up and died, she thought as much the first time she saw the video but apparently, that woman was different.
"Until all of the horde is defeated I will not fall, until Etheria is restored to its former glory I WILL NOT DIE!".
Hate, she was different because of her hate.
Lifting her right hand the woman shot the strongest blast of fire she could manage, not only overpowering the second shot of the tank but also destroying it completely.
Alas, that action did nothing to help against the hole in her chest, now exhausted and without any power left she fell to the ground, presumably for the last time.
Or she would have if her body wasn't surrounded by golden flames, slowly healing her, it was no more than thirty seconds later that she got up from the group, disoriented but still alive as if nothing had happened.
Shadow weaver said nothing as she continued to watch, the white eyes of her mask were the only indication that she was smiling.
