He-Man,
Duncan and the Sorceress stood in the throne room of Castle Greyskull and were
discussing the latest developments at Eternia. Especially the arrival of Hordak
was a problem. Skeletor's old master was not a mortal being like Skeletor was.
His magical power was equal to that of the sorceress and usually he had a
seemingly endless number of soldiers. Even though the scanners had only
detected 5 ships so far, Duncan assumed that it was just a vanguard to spy out
what was going on before the main force arrived. With the new entanglements on
the planet and Skeletor's new city, the danger was great that it would come to
a two-front war. Of course there was also the possibility that Hordak and
Skeletor would fight each other on blood. At all events they were not the best
friends. But the problem with this scenario was the fact that the winner of
this fight would have the combined troops of Hordak and Skeletor. Even in the
best case, if they decimated, this force could be greater than that of Eternia
defenders.
Normally
Adam did not use the power of He-Man for such meetings, but the sorceress had
asked him to do so. The reason for this would surely be revealed soon. However,
Adam had already noticed that in his mystical warrior form he gained not only
in strength and endurance but also in tactical foresight and fighting
techniques.
"So
sorceress. What do you think" asked He-Man with his soft deep voice.
"I
fear I will be forced to reveal more than I had hoped. About you, the story of
Greyskull, Hordak and Eternia." She sighed and took a seat on the golden
throne that stood at the end of the huge staircase.
"Sorceress?"
Duncan asked confused.
"It's
about the past my old friend. And our future. The reason why Hordak is so
obsessed with this planet is the fact that he's already been defeated 2 times
here." She said gently and looked down on her two friends.
"Twice"
Duncan asked even more confused.
"Hordak
was driven from Eternia by Duncan and the Masters shortly after my birth. Since
then he wasn't here anymore" He-Man asked curiously.
"That
is true my friends. But it is not his first visit here. He was in this world
many hundreds of years ago, before Rancor's house was even built, before the
Council of Wise Men.
"The
Council of the Wise has existed since the earliest records of our people. They
were the ones who formed the capital and the empire and on the day of Keldor's
betrayal they simply disappeared and left the empire to King Rancor."
Duncan pondered the history of his people.
"
That' is how it is Duncan." The sorceress nodded gently and summoned her
wand in her right hand. The glowing ball at the end of the wand lit up and
projected an image into the throne room of Rancor's fight against his brother
Keldor. "But this is only part of your history. There were civilizations
before the Council and one of them built this castle here. I will not go into
everything now, but a long time ago, long before my own birth, one of my
ancestors lived here at the side of her husband. King Greyskull."
With
another swing of her staff one could see a slightly modified version of He-Man
and a much more powerful version of Battlecat. He-Man opened his eyes, as did
Duncan. Even the Sword of Power was the same. As a second weapon, this warrior
wielded the sword of She-Ra.
"That's...
me?" He-Man asked astonished.
"This
is King Greyskull. When Hordak attacked Eternia, he set out to find a way to
stop this army. He found a representative of Orcos people who gave him three
tasks. King Greyskull filled them all and realized that the power he was
looking for had been resting in him for a long time. When he faced the Horde
alone, he could ban Hordak from Eternia, but at the risk of his own life. My
ancestor swore at that time that she would guard the power of Greyskull. For
the king had transferred his powers to his most faithful friends before his
death. These became the Council."
"Wait.
Is that to say that the members of the council already lived from this King
Greyskull at times" Duncan asked astonished.
"No.
Because death is part of life and life is part of death. But whenever a member
of the Council found his end, his essence, his soul so to speak, wandered back
to Greyskull and from here a new worthy soul was chosen to become part of the
Council. Over all these long years, Greyskull's power grew, which finally
caught the attention of Skeletor. The Council recognized that it could not
continue to exist in its present form and so the last of them withdrew
completely from the world and returned to Greyskull as energy."
"So
this is where my power comes from? I am turning into a new King Greyskull"
asked He-Man.
"Yes
and no He-Man. You may look like King Greyskull, but you're not him. You are a
power of good and purity. Adam, Prince of Eternia, and the collected essence of
Greyskull. This is where your power and your heart come from. And that's what
will protect you in the months and years to come because we are facing dark
times. Maybe we have condemned Eternia to doom itself by trying to save
Etheria."
With these
words she stood up and walked down the stairs. She now seemed a little more
tired than usual. Her graceful, angelic body still seemed full of power and yet
it was noticeably different.
"We
changed the fragile balance of power on Eternia when we brought parts of other
worlds to Eternia. The darkness became stronger and I can feel a budding
corruption. The presence of Hordak and Skeletor will even reinforce it. And I
also have a bad feeling about this Tower of Stark."
"So
we' re standing on the abyss" Duncan asked cool and direct as always.
"Not
necessarily. Eternia still has powerful and strong heroes. The light hasn't
gone out and will flicker brighter through our actions. Furthermore, I have
noticed that we have also led worthy souls from the other worlds to Greyskull.
They are now part of the council and are at my disposal with advice when I need
them. One of them has made certain suggestions that I don't fully understand
yet but based on what you have told me about the Tower of Stark, they seem to
refer to this place."
"We
wanted to send an expedition to them to make contact." He-Man said now and
the sorceress seemed to think about it.
"My
power and tasks are limited to this place, so I can't give you any orders or
instructions..."
"Don't
be ridiculous sorceress!" laughed Duncan now amused. "There is
probably nobody on this planet from whom I would rather accept an order than
from you. You are our leader and our advisor. Your word was always good and
wise. So. You think we should stay away from this castle?"
It took a
while for the sorceress to react. She seemed to estimate the whole situation
exactly and then nodded to the master at arms. "Yes Duncan. That would be
my advice. At least for now. I will try to find out as much as possible from
here. Maybe the council can support me. Unfortunately most souls are only
limited to life on Eternia but these new souls come from other realms. Maybe
they know more than we do."
He-Man
turned to Duncan and nodded. "I think she's right Duncan. Maybe I should
talk to my father."
"As
He-Man or as Adam?" Duncan asked and He-Man answered directly.
"As
He-Man. It would have more weight. Besides, I don't want to hear from Teela
that I've changed my mind. She's just making fun of it again for the next few
days." He grinned broadly and tightened his arms in front of his chest.
"But if He-Man gives this advice my father will surely listen to me and
Adam is fine.
"And
there he is again our mighty hero." Grinned Duncan Funny.
"Hey!
I face Hordak and Skeletor if needed but your Daughter is some other Level! i
am not crazy!" he laughed back.
"I
still have to warn you He-Man. Only three people are completely safe from
corruption. That's He-Man, She-Ra and me. We are protected by the power of
Greyskull but unfortunately I cannot extend it to others. He-Man and She-Ra are
the defenders of the good. They will never fall into darkness. But for everyone
else there could be temptations if the equilibrium were to be further upset. So
pay attention to each other."
"How
serious is the situation really?" He-Man asked worriedly.
The
sorceress looked at her own wand and began to lose her thoughts before
answering after some time. "I don't think it's as bad as my words might
have suggested. The balance has not yet been fundamentally damaged. It has only
become a little darker. There is still enough light in our kingdom and the
citizens of Eternia, but above all their rulers are wise and righteous. I will
warn you in time as soon as it gets worse."
"Then
we should go back now and stop the expedition. We should also control our
defenses He-Man. I think if we both visited the front positions it would
certainly help calm everyone down!"
"That
sounds like a good idea my friend. Let's go."
"Farewell
my friends and may the light of Greyskull always watch over you."
As soon as
the two had left the castle, the sorceress sank to her throne and breathed
deeply. This session had been much more exhausting than she had thought. For
days she felt tired and dull. It must have been the darkness approaching her,
pulling at her powers. But she could rely on the wise advice of her council and
had already taken some steps to protect Eternia in case something happened to her.
One of the most effective measures was her daughter Teela. One day she might
rule Greyskull. But that day was still far in the future.
"It's
time for me to give myself to meditation" she said and rose into the air
to rekindle her magical powers.
Hordak was
quite satisfied. Under Shadowweaver's guidance, the ships landed on the planet
exactly as desired. 5 towers towered in a perfect formation and were able to
combine their weapon systems to fight attacking enemies. In the middle of the 5
ships, Hordak immediately had an altar built that he would dedicate to
darkness. This altar was the top of the pentagram that formed the castles of
Eternia. If one were to regard his ships as castles. The power of this
pentagram was bundled in the strange castle of stone and steel that had the
words Stark on the battlements. There the entire power would be sent and Hordak
would use his own ritual to ensure that this power would be changed according
to his preferences. He would continue to upset the balance if he was able. He
had not underestimated that it was almost impossible to change the balance of a
planet, but there were possibilities. But they would require his full
attention. And meanwhile he would be tied to that place. So he had ordered
Shadowweaver to go to the cities of the humans to spy there.
He trusted
that her magical abilities would guide her well and give her many opportunities
to hide or secretly spy. However, her physical body was not as flawless as her
red robe would have suggested. Under this robe she was not much more than a
shadow of her former self. Perhaps he should help her with this problem. There
were several tricks he knew to restore the body. In her case it was even
surprisingly easy, because despite all her power she was only a simple mortal.
In his own case it was much harder. However, it was also much harder to inflict
permanent wounds on him.
As he
looked to the horizon, where the sun was just rising, he smiled. Finally the
time had come to take revenge on this planet for all its defeats. First this
king Greyskull then his student Skeletor. It had been his only two defeats and
both had burdened his reputation in the Horde for all time. Surely this was the
reason why Horde Prime had ordered his end. But this time there was no retreat.
Either he would win or be defeated.
A strange
noise made him listen. He followed the sound to one of the ships where he found
Shadowweaver as she was about to turn one of the other generals into a snail.
Apparently she enjoyed it much more this time than usual as her nipples were
clearly visible. An interesting finding for Hordak, because it meant that she
wasn't immune to the change of this planet either. As always Hordak hadn't told
her everything, of course, but only what was absolutely necessary for her. It
was a test for her. Would she be able to resist the effect or not. According to
the first impression it had already happened.