You're Such An Idiot

Chapter 26-Adora

I must have heard him wrong. It can't be the First Ones. The First Ones are gone, Prime wiped them away, he told me, it... it can't be.

"What?" whispers Glimmer, shocked. "The First Ones? But... I thought they were all dead and that Adora was the last of them!"

"No... they were not defeated, not all of them" Hordak replies. "If Horde Prime had found out I failed my mission..."

"What mission?" asks Entrapta, worried.

"Do you remember when I confessed I was a clone? When Horde Prime discovered a defect in my system he sent me on a suicide mission, together with other defected clones. We were supposed to ambush the last, strongest group of First Ones soldiers. We were severely outnumbered, which is why it was almost impossible to succeed. But I knew that if I found a way to win, I would have regained his trust and approval. I gave my all in that fierce battle, I saw the rest of my brothers die, I was the last one standing. I was bathing in glory as I beheld the ultimate limits of my power, as I crushed those soldiers like insects... I was unstoppable. But one of them, a skilled scientist like most of the First Ones, managed to open a portal while his comrades held me back. He got onto a ship and took all the people he could with him during the battle. The soldiers that were fighting me tried to retreat back to the ship, but I was so hungry for blood I would not let them escape. The ship was hovering and ready to go through the portal, the soldiers tried to reach for their comrades already on board. Some of them were left behind, I killed them, but the others were safe and about to take off with the ship. I was so blind I thought I could take all of them down by myself, so I followed them: I managed to jump on the ship right before it took off. I was hoping to take them by surprise, but... I was reckless, and I underestimated them. They had prepared a trap inside the ship, a strong electric field that activated as soon as it detected the chip on my neck. I was paralyzed, completely powerless, and fell to the ground. After that... they made me their prisoner. They studied me, conducted experiments on me... painful experiments... they wanted to discover a way to defeat Horde Prime and they thought I would be the key. But they found no weakness that could be used against Prime. They kept traveling in space for weeks, months, trying to run from him. Prime must have believed they were wiped away by my squadron. He took all the credit for it... But this does not matter, now. What I am trying to say is that I was sent to Etheria... by them. I did not 'fell through' a portal, as I remembered: I was pushed through one. The First Ones realized I had no use in their ship, so they came up with another plan, now I see... I see what they have done... all of this... it all went according to their plan"

"Plan? What plan?" I murmur, feeling my heartbeat accelerating and an unpleasant sensation growing in my stomach.

"Can you not see it?" Hordak growls. "This was their plan to defeat Horde Prime, and it worked! I was stranded on Etheria for a precise reason: they knew I would have found a way to contact Horde Prime, they had been studying my brain for months, they were sure about my loyalty towards him, so they left me here, using me as a bait..." He clenches his fists, hard enough to make him shiver. "I did exactly what they thought I would do: trying to conquer Etheria, opening a portal to reach Horde Prime, and... of course, the ultimate weapon, the final piece of the puzzle was you... Adora"

I gulp, freezing. I find it hard to control my heavy breathing, but the fear is growing like a monster inside of me, eating my insides. "What... what are you talking about?" I whisper in a trembling voice.

"They brought you to me... you were not 'kidnapped' from your family, they were the ones who decided you would become their weapon, their She-Ra. I overheard them while I was on the ship: they had been experimenting with the Heart of Etheria for years, and She-Ra was the key to activate it. They knew I would have found a way to bring Horde Prime to Etheria and that he would have discovered the magic of the Heart. His greed is indeed predictable. I see now, this is such a perfect plan... they manipulated me, all along... I brought Prime here, She-Ra defeated him by setting the magic free, and now... they have no enemies left. They have everything they wanted: the magic set free, their greatest opponent gone. And now they are coming to reclaim this planet, and they are coming to reclaim their She-Ra"