Magic of Etheria

Chapter 41 | King of the Trolls

A/N: CW minor character death

My first impression of Spikeheart was not an overly comforting one. It was similar to the Crimson Waste; a desolate, dead place. Filled to the brim with jagged mountains and harsh rock that reached far into the sky, but not high enough to penetrate the glaring green of the net encircling the planet. The silence was deafening, save for the sound of wind howling between the jagged, sun-kissed peaks of the expansive mountain range before us.

'So, uh, not be a downer on an honestly great day where absolutely nothing has gone wrong so far, buuut,' Swift Wind drawled, clacking forwards on the rock face below us to peer over the edge of the cliff we were standing on, 'where the hay are we even going? There's nothing here.'

Bow stepped forwards, holding the tracker pad out in front of him again as if that might somehow help. 'Before Glimmer came back to get us, Micah warned me that this area could be a technological dead-zone. Frankly, we're lucky that I'm getting a signal at all. No-one has lived in this part of Etheria for centuries. At least, no-one with tech.'

'So what do we do?' I asked, glancing around the surrounding peaks, 'can you still trace the signal that Hordak detected?'

Bow grimaced, looking back at me over his shoulder with an almost apologetic expression. 'Kind of? Whatever Horde Prime is doing to the planet, it seems to be creating some kind of electromagnetic force around Etheria, which is allowing me to sort of, maybe, be able to trace the signal. But it's not accurate at all. It's going to give us a general direction, at best.'

'Well then,' Glimmer announced, stepping forward and grabbing Bow and I by the arms, 'what are we waiting for? Let's follow whatever it is you're picking up and see where it takes us. It doesn't look like the drones have reached this part of Etheria yet, so we have some time to find wherever it is the signal is leading us.'

'We should still hurry,' I said, climbing up onto Swift Wind's back as he lowered himself down. 'Catra's out here somewhere, and Etheria's still under attack. The faster we stop this, the faster we find Catra and the faster we help our friends.'

When I looked back, I saw both Bow and Glimmer exchanging a very snug looking hug. Both of them had their eyes closed and seemed to be smiling softly, while just soaking in as much of the other as they could.

'Uh... guys? World-ending event going on, right now, everyone's counting on us?'

Glimmer sighed, pulling back from the hug just enough to get lost staring into Bow's eyes. He smiled back, utterly content, and reached up to fiddle with the earring that Glimmer had given him before we'd left for the Fright Zone.

'We should get going,' Bow whispered, his hesitance to break the moment seeping through into his body language—making no move to pull away either.

'Yeah,' Glimmer sighed, 'I guess you're right.' Then she kissed him, quickly, on the lips, before teleporting both of them behind me onto Swift Wind's back.

Why had Glimmer given Bow her earring? And why were they choosing now, of all times, to be super clingy despite the world literally ending (again) and all of our friends fighting while Catra—

Wait.

Catra... My pin... Engaged...

Oh.

OH!

'Wait! Did you guys—?!'

'Everyone ready?!' Swift Wind yelled abruptly, then proceeded to not wait at all for an answer before launching into the air and soaring through the sky. He went up, higher and higher, until he was weaving between the peaks of the jagged mountains of Spikeheart.