Origin of a Hero

by Tracey West

  Groaning, Adora picked herself up from the forest floor. She had landed in a small clearing. She looked up, but she didn’t see or hear the skiff.

  “Ugh,” she said, touching her head. “Catra?”

  There was no answer. A glow on the other side of the clearing caught her eye.

  Is that a … sword? she thought. Weird place for someone to store a weapon. She crept closer.

  The sword didn’t look like any weapon she’d ever seen in the Horde. This sword was beautiful, with a blue gem embedded in the golden hilt. The sword itself was forged from a silvery blue metal that gleamed softly in the dim light.

  She reached out to touch the hilt …

  Whoosh! A huge beam of pure white light shot out of the sword, knocking Adora backward. She gasped as images appeared in the bright light surrounding her. They came quickly and made no sense. Lights … swirling colors … the cry of a baby … and finally, a cloudy image of a majestic woman holding the sword, her hair and cape flowing behind her.

  Then she heard a voice … a voice that she somehow knew did not belong to the woman with the sword.

  Balance must be restored. Etheria must seek a hero. Adora …

  “Adora!”

  Adora’s eyes snapped open. Catra was leaning over her with concern on her face.

  “Catra? What happened?” Adora asked, slowly sitting up.

  “You fell out of the skiff after you drove it into a tree,” Catra replied.

  “No, you drove it into a tree!” Adora protested.

  “Up for debate,” Catra said. She held out her hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

  I must have gotten knocked out, Adora realized, and had some crazy dream.

  But when she stood up, she saw that she was in the same clearing as her vision. It couldn’t have been a dream!

  “Wait, where is it?” she asked. “Where’d it go?”

  “What?” Catra asked.

  “There was a sword,” Adora said. “It was right here. I tried to touch it, but it got really bright.”

  “Are you brain damaged?” Catra asked in alarm. “Don’t be brain damaged! Oh, Shadow Weaver’s gonna kill me!”

  “I’m not brain damaged!” Adora insisted. “It was here. I saw it.”

  “Well, there’s nothing here now,” Catra said. “So come on, let’s go!” They hopped onto the skiff and sped back to the Fright Zone.

  * * *

  The next day, Adora attended training sessions as usual, but flashes of the vision she had seen kept popping into her brain. That night, Adora stared at the bottom of Catra’s bunk, unable to sleep as the strange images played on a loop in her mind.

  You conked your head when you fell, she reasoned. That’s probably all it is.

  But she could still hear the whispers. They grew louder and louder.

  Stop it! she told herself. She rolled onto her side and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the noises to stop. But the whispers became more urgent, and then one clear voice rose above them.

  Adora … Adora … ADORA!

  Adora bolted upright in bed, sweating and breathing hard.

  I have to go back to those woods.

  She quietly slipped out of bed and pulled on her uniform. Then she left the barracks.

  “Hey, where are you going?”

  Catra had followed her out and was now sleepily rubbing her eyes.

  “Back to the woods,” Adora told her. “There’s something I need to figure out.”

  Catra’s eyes widened. “What?”

  Adora spotted a security robot at the end of the hall and quickly pulled Catra behind a pillar. It passed by them without noticing.

  “What is wrong with you?” Catra hissed. “You’ve been acting weird ever since we got back from the woods. Are you sure you’re not brain damaged?”

  “Look, Catra, I know I saw something out there!” Adora replied. “I just need to get another look. It feels … important, somehow.”

  Catra nodded. “Sounds good! Let’s go!”

  “No, I don’t want you getting in trouble on my behalf,” Adora said firmly. She glanced down the hallway and then broke away from Catra.

  “Just cover for me, okay? I’ll be back before anyone knows I’m gone,” she said.

  “Adora!” Catra called after her, but she didn’t follow.

  Adora made her way back to the Whispering Woods. She didn’t have the skiff this time, so she pushed her way through the thick underbrush, trying to find the clearing. Leaves and twigs snagged her hair as she walked.

  “What are you doing out here, Adora?” she muttered to herself. “Catra’s right. This is crazy. There’s no sword. You just got hit on the head a little too hard. You should just go back home and forget about all of this …”

  Then she spotted a large gash cut into the side of a tree—could it have been made when the skiff crashed? She moved the leaves aside to see a bright light.

  Excited, she followed the light into the clearing—the same clearing she had been in last night! There, still buried in the dirt, the beautiful sword gleamed brightly. She stared at it in awe.

  Then two figures stepped into the clearing. One, a boy carrying a bow and arrow. The other, a girl wearing a purple outfit and a sparkly blue cape.

  Is she … a princess? Adora froze, shocked.

  “Horde soldier!” the girl yelled.

  Adora bolted for the sword, but the princess reached it first and grabbed it. Then she vanished in a shower of sparkles and reappeared on the other side of the clearing, still holding the sword. Adora charged at her, but the princess tossed the sword to the boy. He dropped his bow and arrows to catch it but panicked as Adora whirled to face him.

  “Give me the sword!” Adora yelled.

  Pop! The princess teleported again, landing on Adora’s back and pulling her hair. Adora yanked the princess off her and then grabbed a bola—a cord with a metal ball on each end—from her belt and threw it at the boy’s ankles. He tripped, falling forward, and the sword dropped from his hands.

  “Stand down!” Adora cried. “I don’t want to hurt you!”

  “Since when do Horde soldiers not want to hurt anyone?” the princess asked.

  She threw a sphere of light at Adora’s feet. It exploded into sparkles, and Adora couldn’t see anything for a few seconds. When she could see again, the princess was heading for the sword. Adora tackled her, and the two of them wrestled on the ground.

  She’s strong! Adora realized. But of course she is … she’s a princess. Now if I can just …

  In the struggle, she managed to get one hand on the sword.

  Whoosh! An explosion of energy burst from the sword, knocking Adora on her back and sending the other two tumbling.

  All Adora could see was intensely bright white light.

  Then it faded to black.

  Adora blinked. She was standing inside a room that seemed to be made of glimmering stones. Light reflected from every surface. She spun around and saw the hologram of a woman—the woman she remembered from her first vision. White eyes glowed on her purple face, and she wore a long, flowing purple gown.

  “Hello, Adora,” the hologram said.

  “Who are you?” Adora asked. “What’s going on?”

  “My name is Light Hope. I have been waiting a long time for you. But I could not reach you until you forged your connection with the sword.”

  “You sent the sword?” Adora asked.

  “The sword is meant for you,” Light Hope replied.

  A hologram of the sword appeared between Adora and Light Hope. Adora reached for it, but her hand passed right through it.

  “Etheria has need of you, Adora,” Light Hope said. “Will you answer its call? Will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?”

  “What are you talking about?” Adora asked. “What is—What’s Grayskull? You’re not making any sense! I don’t understand.”

  “You will,” Light Hope promised.

  The vision began to break apart around them. Light Hope
faded away.

  “Wait!” Adora cried.

  Light Hope disappeared.

  What just happened? Adora asked herself as the Whispering Woods came back into focus.

  She discovered that her hands were bound in front of her and the princess and the boy were leading her through the forest. The princess was holding the sword.

  “Hey, she’s awake, Glimmer!” the boy said.

  “What happened?” Adora asked. She didn’t like being tied up, but she was desperate to know more about the vision.

  “Quiet, Horde spy!” the princess named Glimmer snapped. “I ask the questions. How did you make it this far into the Whispering Woods?”

  “I just … walked in,” Adora replied. “And I’m not a spy!”

  Glimmer snorted. “Sure, sure. You just so happened to find yourself in the Whispering Woods, just like you happened to try and steal the sword.”

  “It’s not yours!” Adora protested. “I found it first!”

  “The Whispering Woods is under the Rebellion’s protection,” Glimmer said. “You were lucky to make it as far as you did.”

  She turned to the boy. “Come on, Bow. Let’s get this spy back to Bright Moon, where she can be interrogated properly.”

  Bright Moon! I can’t let them take me there! Remembering her training, Adora assessed the situation and made a plan. First, she had to get out of her handcuffs. Then she’d have to find some way to escape her captors. The boy called Bow had a bow and arrows. She’d have to outrun them. Then there was that sparkly princess, Glimmer. How far could she teleport? What other powers did she have?

  While Adora calculated this, they marched on through the woods.

  “You’re positive we’re going the right way, Glimmer?” Bow asked.

  “I know what I’m doing, Bow!” Glimmer snapped, but Adora could tell she was confused. She kept staring at a display pad and frowning. “Can you please just trust me for once?”

  “You know I trust you,” Bow replied. “But I’m starting to get a little freaked out. I mean, I pretty much grew up in these woods, and I’ve never seen this part of them. I’ve heard stories about weird stuff out here.”

  “It’s fine, okay?” Glimmer insisted. “Just let me figure this out.”

  “Okay, okay,” Bow said.

  Frustrated, Glimmer teleported away. Bow turned to Adora with a friendly smile.

  “Sorry about her,” Bow said. “Usually she’s really nice.”

  Yeah, right, Adora thought. As if nice princesses exist.

  “Not much for talking, huh?” Bow asked.

  “I prefer not to swap pleasantries with my captors,” Adora replied coldly.

  “Fair,” Bow conceded. “Suit yourself.”

  They reached Glimmer, who had transported on top of a boulder. She peered into the distance and then consulted her display pad.

  Adora glanced from the evil princess to the friendly boy next to her. He didn’t seem like a vicious rebel.

  Maybe he’s lost, too, she thought.

  “You know she’s a princess, right?” Adora asked. “How can you follow her? Princesses are a dangerous threat to everyone in Etheria.”

  “Is that what Hordak told you?” Bow asked.

  “Well, I thought it was just common knowledge,” Adora replied, shrugging. “Princesses are violent instigators who don’t even know how to control their powers.”

  As if on cue, Glimmer let out an angry scream and teleported yet again. See? Adora thought.

  Bow smiled. “You’ve never actually met a princess, have you?”

  Adora shook her head. “Not in person, but—”

  Glimmer gasped, and Adora and Bow hurried to catch up to her. She was frozen in place, staring at the remains of what Adora assumed had once been a village. It was scorched black.

  “What happened to this place?” Adora asked.

  “Don’t play dumb with me!” Glimmer said. “I bet you were part of the raiding party that did this.”

  “What are you talking about?” Adora asked. “The Horde didn’t do this!”

  Glimmer grabbed Adora’s arm and led her to a broken-down robot. Painted on the side was the unmistakable logo of the Horde.

  It … it can’t be! Adora thought, her mind reeling. The Horde doesn’t destroy! We are fighting against the tyranny of evil princess rulers!

  “You’re a heartless destroyer, just like all the rest of your people,” Glimmer said. Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes.

  “I am not a destroyer!” Adora protested. “Hordak says that we’re doing what’s best for Etheria. We’re trying to make things better. More orderly.”

  “This is what’s best for Etheria?” Glimmer asked, her voice choking as she gestured toward the burnt-out village. “Ever since the Horde got here, it’s been poisoning our land, burning our cities, destroying everything in its path. And you’re a part of it. How’s that for orderly?”

  She angrily marched away from Adora.

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” Adora said. “The Horde would never do something like this.”

  “Did you really not know any of this?” Bow asked. “I mean, your army is called the Evil Horde.”

  “Who calls us that?” Adora asked.

  “Everybody!” Bow replied.

  This can’t be true, Adora thought. Maybe it’s a trick.

  Her eyes returned to the Horde logo on the robot.

  It doesn’t make sense!

  “The Horde rescued me when I was a baby and gave me a home,” she told Bow. “They’re my family. You don’t know them like I do.”

  “Or maybe you don’t know them like you think you do,” Bow said.

  Adora shuddered. Could that be possible? The idea was frightening.

  A loud crashing sound from the woods up ahead interrupted her thoughts. Glimmer came tearing down the path.

  “There’s something out there!” she cried. “Something big!”

  Bow pulled out his bow and arrows. “How big?”

  Boom! The ground rocked beneath their feet, sending them all flying. Trees buckled and cracked as an enormous robot insect emerged from the ground, screeching.

  Aaaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

  Adora’s adrenaline raced as the insect turned its multiple bulbous eyes on them. One foot crashed down near Glimmer, but she teleported away. She reappeared up a tree at face level with the creature. Then she leapt onto its face, hitting it with a glittery zap.

  Pretty bold move, Adora thought. She wanted to fight, too, but she still had on those stupid handcuffs. The insect turned to her, gnashing its pincers. Bow fired an arrow made of some kind of sticky substance, and the monster’s jaws stuck shut. It fell forward, and Adora clumsily hopped out of the way, landing face-first in a bush.

  I really need to get these handcuffs off! she thought as Glimmer blasted the creature with more sparkly attacks. It snapped its jaws, breaking free from the sticky substance. Then it clipped Glimmer with one of its pincers and sent her flying into a tree.

  Bow fired a lasso arrow at the insect, pulling it back away from Glimmer as she slowly regained consciousness.

  Adora picked herself up. She needed to find something to cut the handcuffs with.

  Then she spotted the sword lying on the forest floor. She leaned down and managed to clumsily grasp the sword in her hands. She moved her cuffs back and forth against the sharp blade, trying to break them.

  “Hey, bug brain!” she yelled.

  The beast turned away from Bow and Glimmer.

  “Come on, magic sword,” Adora muttered. “Where’s a blinding flash of light when you need one?”

  The giant bug took flight and zoomed toward Adora. Desperately, she raised the sword as best she could with her hands still bound.

  Clang! The sword clashed with the metal talons of the monster. White light flashed, and the bug seemed to freeze. The sword’s blade grew brighter and brighter.

  Images flashed through Adora’s mind. The planet Etheria, hanging
in space. Strange ships flying through the sky. A city of towering buildings that Adora didn’t recognize. A bright sky over the buildings, filled with planets.

  Then she saw the majestic woman from her first vision, her face bursting with bright light. She lifted the sword about her head.

  Light Hope’s voice rang in Adora’s head. Will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?

  Somehow, Adora knew what she had to do. She raised the sword over her head, just like the woman in her vision.

  “For the honor of Grayskull!” Adora cried.

  The sword grew brighter and brighter. Adora floated up into the air, bathed in light. Her body spun, and her hair fell loose from its ponytail. The handcuffs broke apart.

  As energy pulsed through her body, Adora felt stronger than she ever had before. She could conquer anything.

  As if the robot heard her thoughts, it lowered its head and dropped to its knees, suddenly calm.

  Moments later, the light faded and Adora landed back to the ground. Glimmer and Bow were staring at her, openmouthed. She examined herself and realized she was no longer wearing her Horde uniform, but a white body suit with a skirt and a golden emblem on the front. Gold wristbands. Gold-and-white boots. She felt something on her head and reached up to touch it—a crown with a jewel in front and wings on the sides. Her hair—no longer sensible and sandy-blonde, but long and full and shining like yellow gold—flowed out behind her along with a red cape.

  Adora gasped. She had transformed into the warrior from her vision!

  “Ahhhhh!” Adora shrieked. She dropped the sword.

  What is going on?!?!

  She staggered back and fell to the ground. The energy and the strength from before left her. She was Adora again.

  Pop! Glimmer teleported to the dropped sword in a shower of sparkles. Adora lunged and they both grabbed it at the same time.

  “What did you do to me?” Adora asked.

  “What do you mean, what did I do to you?” Glimmer shot back.

  “I didn’t know being a princess was contagious!” Adora yelled.

  Bow ran in between them and put one hand on the sword.

  “Okay, okay, everyone calm down,” he said. He turned to Adora. “You wanna tell us how you did that?”