He-Man and Duncan looked at
the sorceress who had just given her warning. She suddenly seemed strained and
sweat had formed on her forehead. What had just looked simple and harmonious
now looked like a fight. He-Man was
still standing in the center of the old throne room and felt the sword of power
in his hands begin to vibrate. The energies that had conducted it into the
fortress seemed to become unstable.
"Duncan!
The Force is getting out of control," he shouted to his old friend who was
just looking back and forth between the two for a second, confused. But his
state of shock did not last long.
Hastily he
ran back and forth between his machines to make some adjustments.
"Sorceress!
We have a phase deviation in the interdimensional quantum structure. The
measurements are at 912 Hakstrom. We are losing the connection to our goals! he
shouted to both of them. "He-Man! We need more energy or the portal will collapse."
He-Man
grabbed the handle of his sword with both hands and tried to keep it calm with
all his strength. His huge upper arms were tense to tear as he tried to
stabilize the blade. Duncan needed more energy or all the inhabitants of
Etheria would die or be lost forever.
" BY
THE POWER OF GREYSKULL. i have the power" he shouted to get another energy
boost.
Deep under
the castle the power awakened anew. In a huge chamber full of floating
crystals, there was a place where the source of Greyskull's power was stored.
The combined energy of the Sages of Eternia. Once upon a time they were the
chosen advisors of King Greyskull. When he died fighting Hordak, he transferred
all his power to his most trusted advisors. Over the centuries, more and more beings
had proven worthy to join the council. Over the centuries this had become a
sphere of pure power that had absorbed the souls of the deceased council
members. This energy, combined with the mystical power of King Greyskull, had
accumulated such tremendous power that it could not only transform Adam into
He-Man, but also command the fate of the entire galaxy.
The
sorceress was one of the descendants of the protectors of Greyskull. She alone
knew of the ancient history, that King Greyskull and one of her own ancestors
had once been a couple. Therefore, it was their duty to ensure that Eternia and
the inheritance of Greyskull were safe. She had already taken a step in that
direction. Her child with Duncan had the power to watch over Greyskull in the
future.
When He-Man
invoked the magic words, the source awakened to new life and let a small part
of his power flow into the sword of power. Ancient powers filled the ancient
castle as He-Man felt a huge amount of magic flowing through the sword into his
body. Until now, he had rarely wielded such power. His normal form as He-Man
was in most cases quite sufficient but deep in his mind he had always felt that
he had only scratched the surface.
Duncan
stared at the monitors of his machines.
"What
on all the gods?" he shouted as one scale after another exploded. The
energy the prince was just summoning was just overloading all his systems. A
look at the sorceress, however, showed him that it was nothing bad. With her
wings spread wide she held herself in the air and with her hands she channelled
the forces that He-Man released. Lightning struck her graceful body and yet
they did not seem to harm her.
"Keep
it up! The connection is stabilizing again! The next wave will come right
through" he shouted and had to rely on his instinct as a weaponsmith as
all his instruments had burned out.
While the
portal still flickered here and there but seemed otherwise stable more and more
of the rebellion came through the portal. Immediately She-Ra was not with them.
Surely she wanted to be the last to leave.
But Duncan
slowly felt that there was not enough time. Never before had he seen He-Man out
of breath, never before had he seen He-Man's arms tremble. And yet he saw just
that. He couldn't even imagine the enormous effort He-Man had to put up with to
keep the sword stable. But all that made He-Man sweat was nothing that would
please the Master at Arms. He realized what the other two would never admit to
each other. They would not be able to save them all. He could only prevent that
the portal would collapse in itself and the refugees would be sent back. But if
they couldn't come to Eternia and couldn't go back, maybe there was a way to
take them to another place.
"Duncan?
What are you doing" asked the sorceress in horror as she noticed Duncan's
energies being redirected. She could feel with one blow how the tunnel between
Eternia and Etheria split. What she had previously perceived only roughly she
now felt more than clearly. The tunnel had not only been created between the
two worlds, but it had got cracks that led to other worlds. Suddenly she
understood what Duncan was up to. It was a hard, logical and strategic
decision. A decision she probably never would have been able to make herself.
And that was the reason why she could always rely on him. He was able to make
decisions that could not come from the heart.
"He-Man.
On my mark you have to drop the power. Prepare yourself for a tremendous
discharge," she said with her gentle, graceful voice and He-Man nodded to
her. It had long become clear to him that closing the portal would be extremely
painful.
Meanwhile
in the entrance area of the big chamber.
Orco
floated in the door frame and watched the spectacle. So far he had only been
responsible for leading the refugees out of the fortress, but that wasn't
enough for him. He absolutely wanted to help. But what could he do? Here Man at
Arms, He-Man and the sorceress were at work. Who was he against such a team? A
little spellcaster, a joker and a little lackey. Never before had he regretted
it so much as in this moment that his magic was so chaotic.
"Chaotic?
CHAOTIC! That's it! Of course" he shouted in a good mood. It was so
simple! He just had to use a little magic and the problem would be solved! He
would seek advice from a master of chaos! If he would understand the Chaotic
Nature of his magic then he would be much more powerful. Theoretically, his magic
was equal to that of the sorceress, after all, his ancestors had brought magic
to Eternia in the first place. But the power of his people was hard to master
and Orko was one of the last of his kind. In the great wars with Hordak many of
his relatives had been killed. And so there were no true masters left to teach
him. But maybe there were others of his kind on Etheria. He only had to shout.
"Hibli
ho and hibli do!
Bring me a
Master of Chaos to this Place, one with a friendly face.
Someone who
can show me some new Tricks,
and maybe
even how to talk to chicks!"
he squealed
his magic together. The last one was just because he couldn't think of anything
else that rhymed with tricks.
He focused
his spell on the portal without considering what he would do with his chaos
magic in this spell. But that's how Orco was.
And his
spell found a master of chaos. Someone who had internalized the essence of
chaos as completely as no other would ever do.
And then
came the boom. Orcos eyes widened as the huge body of He-Man flew past him and
smashed through 2 walls of Greyskull. He pricked up his ears and then heard at
least 1 column, 2 tables, 11 plates, 21 knives and forks and probably 2 buckets
of water fall over. But who counted that so exactly? The sorceress had given
the signal to He-Man and the indicated discharge had probably been even more
violent than they had all thought. Orco even forgot the spell he had just cast
and flew hastily to He-Man. But there was only the young Prince Adam left. When
he had returned the power, the transformation had been finished. Fainted but
unharmed the prince lay there and He-Man's body had probably absorbed most of
the damage before he had transformed back.
Duncan and
the sorceress also came to them and while the sorceress took care of Adam,
Duncan looked at Orco.
"Did
anything strange happen while we were focusing on the portal?"
"Did
it happen? No. No! Why would something happen" Orco squealed uncertainly.
"Well,
then please make sure people get to safety before they realize He-Man and Adam
are the same. The last thing we need is a Horde spy who knows who Adam
is."
"You
don't think there's a spy there, do you?" Orco asked, horrified, nodded
and flew up to his head height where he saluted severely. "I' ll take them
away immediately" then he flew away and giggled almost crazy.
Duncan
looked after the little red whirlwind and wondered why the little magician had
to laugh so crazy. That almost sounded creepy. But he knew that the little one
was a little crazy.
"How
is he?" he asked in the direction of Adam.
"He
will be fine. The transformation only started after he fainted. If Adam had
been knocked through these walls, he would be dead now. But we should bring him
back to the castle. Can you do that? I need to rest. I .... I feel
strange."
"Is
everything all right?" he asked his former lover worriedly.
"Don't
worry about me Duncan. Eternia now needs your help more than I do. We have to
find out where people have gone. And what went wrong with that spell." The
winged beauty smiled gently and then went deeper into the castle.
Something
had changed. But she couldn't see what it was. Something in the way Eternia
reacted to Greyskull, or the other way around, had changed. The vibrations had
changed. The way the magic pulled through Eternia. It was almost like putting a
new stone in a steady river. The way of flowing was changed by this stone, even
if the river was still flowing in the same direction, everything was different.
She would
meditate to fathom the problem. A dialogue with the source would certainly help
her.