Escaping Corruption (Seasons 1-3)

S3 - The burn and The Loss

CATRA reappeared in Tír Na nÓg just in time to see Tora and Tessa awaiting her arrival by the edge of the island.

'Why am I here? Where's Danu?' She looks around nervously.

'Come inside. We'll explain everything there. If we stay out here, one of Freyjas people may overhear us.' Tora says, with an uneasy glance at the distant silhouette of the aforementioned Goddess' palace.

The three make their way across the land, and it only takes a moment before they are all safely inside the highest turret of the fortress of Namir.

'So.....?' Catra swallows uncomfortably.

'So. Danu.....Danu sort of, went missing? Alongside that, something big happened, and by big. We mean a possible apocalypse. It started in New Aether on the very first day of May. Fast-forward seven months, and boom. Hell is facing the same problems! And off the very edge of Sailineus and the Kingdom of snows.' Tessa bites her lip.

The snakey form of Morrigan rubbed against Catra's cheek in some kind of comfort.

'That's what that supposed earthquake was!' She realises, eyes widening.

'What earthquake?' Tora eyes narrow.

'Last night, I was -ahem- borrowing, a few things from Rhys. When the whole place started like, shaking really badly. And there was a fickton of screaming and banging. There was lightning and shit.' Catra frowns, raising her hand to let Morrigan slither around her fingers.

The duo share a worried look, then Tessa spins around and vanishes down a corridor.

'Err.....what's happening?' Catra braces herself for the response.

'We don't know. That's the problem.' Tora admits quietly.

'To an extent, knowledge is possible. When one only knows where to seek it.'

Catra and Tora turn to face Eris, who sports an eloquently grin expression, and one hand on her sheathed blade.

'I cannot tell you any more. But if you know where you shall seek, then seek the knowledge you shall need.' The goddess is gone a second later, as if she vaporised.

Some voice in the deepest depths of Catra's heart calls out to her.

"Truly thou is aware, I have done thy mother."

She swallows back a smirk as she approaches the edge of the tower, and sweeps her gaze over Tír Na nÓg as it stands.

Far away, just beyond the kingdoms border, a portal between realms lays hidden amongst the green.

Catra allows herself to grin at last, knowing that her brain alone could figure this out.

She thought of Aeris, stubborn, proud, and most definitely a D'riluth. And Glimmer, just as aggravating and sparkly as she acted.

They had made a choice, that once night fell over Etheria, neither of them could go back on.

Catra, on the other hand. Held much more power than any Etherian could even dream of. Their scarce imaginings alone were enough to instill both fear and awe in every one of them.

She turned back to Tora, who observes her with unease.

'Apologies to cut this short. But I must be getting back to Halfmoon. I have a mission to organise.'

She strides past him, and she does not recall exactly how she manages to get back to her palace in her aforementioned home.

She ignores the cacophony around her as she makes her way through the corridors of Halfmoon, her ears barely registering the sound over her own brilliance.

She arrives back in her chambers quickly. Locking the door behind her.

Now, she does not hold the same need to restrain her ingenuity.

Where uncertainty had swelled in her gut the last six months, was suddenly swathed in credence.

She sauntered toward her bed, gaze locked on the still steaming glass which Namir's locket had found itself in.

She winces at the burning sensation as she picks it out.

Fumes of smoke rolled off of it the second it was out of the waters reach.

She looks at it one last time, then presses it over her sternum. Displaying nonchalance as it burns through the material of her dress and buries itself deep within a hole of searing flesh.

It was agonising, no doubt, but what wouldn't she do for her people?