And the Heavens Opened

  				By Hordak Alpha

	The Year of Darkness had taken quite a toll on the world of Eternia.   The Titan Gods had plunged many civilizations of the world back into pre-technological ones where pure and utter devotion to the Titans was required if any member of a society were to survive.            Technology was strictly forbidden in most of the cultures created during the Year of Darkness.

         The city of Eternos had been the last possible defense, according to the perspective of the Eternians, against the Titans and the only thing standing in the way of the Titans taking Eternia across the threshold of the dark ages of the past.                 In a fairly selfish maneuver Skeletor, the former dark lord of Snake Mountain, had severed his alliance with Eternos and made his move to totally usurp Castle Grayskull and it’s power out of  Goddess Teela’s hands and claim it all for himself.                  In the devastating wake of Skeletor’s ascension Eternos was razed and mostly destroyed under a surprise attack from Skeletor’s minions.        

Due to the shared situation of intended terror under the Titans, the people of Eternos did not expect the betrayal of Skeletor’s forces so early on in the conflict.               Many fled while those that were left behind were either killed by Skeletor’s forces or captured and forced into servitude by the Titans.                          

   All of this, however, had been foreseen in an ancient prophecy by the ancient and lost peoples of Antwat Gar.         The destined final battle of Eternia’s modern age did take place.      Equipped with armor and a sword constructed by the Antwat Gar, He-Man returned to Grayskull and battled Skeletor within the very heart of the castle.        At battle’s end He-Man had reclaimed the Power Sword and deposed Skeletor, stripping him of his Grayskull powers.                   After this event Castle Grayskull disappeared completely from the world of Eternia.         He-Man, too, disappeared without a trace as did She-Ra, who had been aiding in a conflict on Etheria.      

    During the course of a single year the survivors of Eternos fled into the vast and dense Vine Jungle and created a new civilization close to the razed village of Vulnar.        The new civilization, New Vulnar, is all that remained of modern culture and technology.          Randor and Marlena of Eternos governed this new kingdom.                 The only forms of technology that existed were the weapons, gear and vehicles that had been managed to be taken from Eternos shortly after its destruction.           A new breed of warrior, trained in the ancient ways of the Vulnar, had spent the year making daring attacks against the civilizations governed by the Titans in a desperate attempt to wrest power from the god-like conquerors in the hope to destroy their rule completely.              The forces of New Vulnar had been unsuccessful to inflict a major blow until the day the heavens opened and the entire course of the conflict was changed completely.

	On the far side of Eternia’s sun existed a sister world completely hidden from eternian eyes by the intense sunlight.    This world was the dark planet Infinita.            Infinita had once been a world as beautiful as Eternia had been.     Centuries of constant wars had decimated the planet’s beauty and reduced it to a dark vision of its former self.       Oceans of water were scarce having been replaced by oceans of radioactive sludge.           Mutated beasts and creatures continued the conflict of long ago, constantly fighting against each other but having forgotten the reasons of conflict during the centuries.     Infinita’s destiny was about to be fulfilled when the heavens opened.          The planet’s purpose and goal would be changed forever.

Bone clubs and razor sharp blades clashed into battle with loud, furious blows of rage.         The beasts and creatures that fought each other had no sides and no brothers or sisters in unity.     All that existed were beasts and creatures fighting against each other for reasons that had become primal and instinctive to them after centuries of warfare.         A powerful radioactive thundercloud boomed over the conflict of this day and spat lightning and fire.                       The clouds opened and a jumbled mass of bone and flesh was spat from the heavens.        The mass thunderously landed in the center of combat. 

	At the scene of impact all of the beasts and creatures ceased their conflict for the first time in centuries to gaze at this unexpected arrival from the heavens.                    The beasts and creatures took their weapons up and stalked towards the jumbled mass in order to investigate.            Lightning and fire spat from the heavens once more and brought life to the mass.                The bones and flesh twisted about to form a being.           The being rose to his feet.          The eye sockets of his skull glowed crimson as he surveyed his new surroundings.

 “Where have the Ancients placed me?” asked the being, “What cesspit have they hoped to incarcerate me on this time?”

The beasts and creatures were puzzled by the words that were spoken by this new being.     The language spoken had not been heard by infinitian ears in centuries.    

The being had no flesh upon his head.    The weathered skull was all that remained of the face of a man who had long since died.        Just this living corpse, caught between the worlds of life and death, remained with the darkest of spirits in its possession.

  The curiosity of the beasts and creatures all at once ceased.    The beasts and creatures suddenly moved as one to destroy this odd life form.    

    “You dare move against me?” asked the being, “A mistake you make, you primal wastes.”

   With the motion of a hand the being unleashed a shockwave of invisible energy that sent all of the beasts and creatures to the ground in a simultaneous maneuver.

“Grovel before me, pitiful beasts.” said the being, “Kneel before your new master, so says Skeletor!”

     		  The vast corridors of the Vine Jungle were relatively quiet being one of the only real safe havens from the gaze of the Titans.    Deep within the Valley of He existed the long razed and charred remains of the village of Vulnar, former home to the now extinct warrior tribe of Vulnarians.           Just a few miles north of the dead village existed a dense gathering of trees and jungle with vines of growth wrapped about each and every tree.               The ground may have been devoid of civilization but the trees above  contained within the northern growth of jungle consisted of huts constructed by the escapists from Eternos and others who escaped the wrath of the Titans.          Grasses, leaves and other vegetation had been used to construct the roofs of each tree hut while the buildings themselves had been constructed entirely out of jungle wood.                Every single tree within the northern growth was full of these huts.             Long and sturdy vine rope bridges stretched between each of the huts so that all residents of this tree-top city could traverse to each and every hut.          This tree-top city was known to its citizens as New Vulnar.   

     Guard patrol in New Vulnar was extremely high  after the last attack New Vulnar forces has incurred upon a Titan civilization.       Each guard had green and black camouflage mud paints smeared over their faces and bodies so that they could blend in with the tree-top leaves that they peered through.          Armor for these guards was fairly scarce so they wore improvised armor constructed from dried and tanned leather hides taken from various jungle creatures that mostly ended up as part of the jungle city’s food rations.           

The guards each carried two weapons, a long spear with sharp, bone protrusions on both ends and a photon blaster salvaged from Eternos.              Technology in New Vulnar was scarce and the former denizens of Eternos had been set back a few hundred years into a way of life that was still fairly alien to them even after having lived through it for a year.       The technology that had been salvaged from Eternos by the rebels were mostly what they could carry on their persons such as photon blasters, mechanical binoculars, communicators,  gas grenades and several other small devices and survival gear.              The vehicles that had been salvaged were in a very small quantity.         The people of New Vulnar possessed four Wind Raiders and two Attack Traks, formerly three but an Attack Trak had recently been lost during an attack on a Titan outpost.          These vehicles were carefully hidden away down within the jungle underbrush under the cover of hand-made camouflage nets made from jungle vegetation.

       On this particular day Captain Teela had decided to take a casual stroll through the jungle tree-top city to check on her guard emplacements.      Teela had changed in skill and attire over the course of the past year.     Green and black camouflage mud paints were smeared over her face and the entire length of her body.          The only clothing she wore was leather hide loin-cloth and bikini top.           This sort of attire was mostly worn by the jungle warriors of New Vulnar for that it left them unhindered in motion.        Teela’s red hair had grown long and tangled since she had no time to devote to personal grooming for she was on alert day and night.         The concoction of green and black mud’s Teela wore on her body somehow affected hair growth on most of her body making it so none grew at all.       The only body hair she had was the tangled mess on her head that flowed down her back in a long, tangled red mane, along with the hair of her eyebrows and her pubic region.         

    As Teela walked across one of the vine rope bridges her collapsed staff, which hung from her waist suspended by a vine cord, scraped along the vine railings.      She moved cautiously and quietly as she walked for New Vulnar could be discovered any day now by Titan loyalists that made daily treks through the coverings of the Vine Jungle in search of the rebels.  Not much sound came out of New Vulnar because of the fear of being discovered by unfriendly forces.     

      Teela reached one of the various guard towers which sat within the branches of many trees.     She crawled across the branches and reached two of her guards.

  “How are things up here?” asked Teela, “Quiet?”

      “Very much so, Captain.” said the female guard.    

      “Too quiet,” said the male guard, “there hasn’t been a single Loyalist patrol for several hours now.”

            “They could be planning something then,” said Teela, “I am sure that if the Titans would allow them to, the Loyalists would love nothing more to raze the entire jungle and pry our charred and broken remains out of the aftermath.”

      “Wait, Captain,” said the male guard as he peered through his mechanical binoculars,   “a group of three is coming this way.”

     “Let me see.” said Teela.

       The male guard handed Teela his binoculars.        Teela looked through them and increased the magnification so she could see.    Through the digital display lenses Teela made out the figures.        The first figure, which traversed ahead of the other two, was tall and lean, clad in black armor and wielded a large double handed axe.        The second figure was hunched over and concealed in a red hooded cloak.       The third figure wore silver armor and brandished an energy bow.        As for facial features or species type Teela could not make them out for the figures were shrouded within the shadows.

“A small scouting party,” said Teela as she handed the binocs back to the male guard, “A warrior, a mage and an archer.     Nothing to worry about.”   

        The cover of jungle growth within the tree-tops completely hid New Vulnar from observers from the air.    The vegetation coverage also hid the jungle city from observers of the ground.           Teela and the two guards watched as the scouting party of three passed by right under their tree and away down a path back into the shadows.          The guard outpost where Teela now occupied was located at the very western edge of the tree-top city so the Loyalists were now safely away from the city where they could be ambushed.

“Should we send a pursuit party to ambush them, Captain?” asked the male guard, “The more Loyalist scouts we slaughter the less there are to patrol through the jungles.”

   “No,” said Teela with a subtle wave of her hand, “I want to take out these Loyalists myself.”

    “All alone?” asked the female guard, “Surely you cannot be serious, Captain.”

      “I’m definitely serious,” said Teela as a twinkle of excitement shone brightly in her piercing blue eyes, “I can handle them.”

      “But, if a mage occupies the Loyalist party as you say, you could be in danger,” said the male guard, “I urge you to reconsider.”

    “Sorry,” said Teela with a grin,   “I’m doing this alone.     I was the keeper of Castle Grayskull shortly before its disappearance so I do know how to defend myself against mystic forces even though I no longer possess mystic power.”

        Teela crawled down the tangle of branches and made her way back across the vine rope bridge.      After a quick trip to the armory hut,   Teela scaled down a moss covered jungle tree and went to ground level in pursuit of the Loyalist party.          Teela had honed her stealth skills down considerably and taught the same skills to all of the jungle canopy city’s guards.         She had used what skills Adam had taught her of Vulnarian fighting and stealth arts to create a training program that would hone anyone she taught into a full fledged stealth warrior.      

        The tracking skills of Teela were very exceptional.      By just observing overturned leaves and dirt on the ground she was able to follow the Loyalist party’s path.             Teela came to a halt within the shadows of the brush as soon as she came to the Loyalists.             The Loyalist scouting party had decided to stop for a rest and created a small camp.          A camp fire flickered to life as the archer ignited branches and tinder with a quick blast from his energy bow.     

     “Why do the Titans keep sending us into this forsaken growth?” asked the warrior, who sat cross legged before the camp fire.

     “Our Titan gods believe that the insurrectionist forces hide somewhere within this vast jungle valley,” said the mage,   “How else can they always strike attacks upon our forces in the Fertile Plains and swiftly disappear from sight?”

    “The days of the rebels are numbered,” said the archer, “The forces of our masters grow stronger and more powerful day by day.”

     “The rebels are merely a force of small insects compared to our civilization,” said the warrior, “Praise the Titans.”

         Teela watched this exchange of words between the members of the scouting party in complete silence from her spot within the jungle brush.       She reached into her gear pouch and pulled a small spherical flash grenade.         With a swift toss, Teela hurled the flash grenade through the air and into the camp fire.                 As the flash grenade detonated and unleashed a blinding flash it sent out a blast wave of camp fire flames.

   “We’re under attack!” screamed the warrior as he hefted up his large battle axe, “Prepare for combat!!!”

    The warrior and the archer circled around the mage in a protective manner.       Teela smiled silently to herself as she watched this display.

   ‘It’ll do little good, I’m afraid.’ thought Teela to herself as she continued to watch the archer and the warrior.          

        “Come out and fight us, cowards!” roared the archer, “Come out!!”

         Teela pulled a small blow gun from her pouch and a poison dart.     She put the feathered dart into the small bamboo tube and lifted the blow gun to her crimson lips.          Taking careful aim at the archer, Teela let out a short, strong puff of air.                The dart shot out of the tube and struck the archer in the back of the neck, unleashing poison into his blood stream.

    “Aieeeee!” screeched the archer as the poison inflicted burning pain that seared through his nerve endings.           

         The warrior and the mage watched helplessly as the archer fell face first to the ground as he died.

    “Little swine!!!” roared the warrior, “I shall cleave your skull with my axe!!!”

             The mage then sniffed the air for a second and then extended a long, bony finger out from under the cover of his crimson cloak.          A short burst of lightning streaked from his finger tip and exploded across the ground.          The lightning energy traveled across the ground towards Teela’s position.             Teela leapt out of the brush over the lightning energy stream as it exploded where she had stood.         The concussive force from the explosion sent her scrambling through the air where she landed directly at the feet of the towering warrior.

   “A little mud covered bitch attacks us?” asked the warrior.

       Teela back flipped away from the warrior and lit on her feet where she assumed a combat position.

      “A brave and foolish child you are,” said the mage, “Foolish to attack us alone.”

       “You are the foolish ones,” said Teela, “traversing into a territory that gives concealment to your enemies.”

       The warrior let forth a guttural roar and shot towards Teela with his axe swinging.        Teela dodged the assault and planted a firm bare-footed strike against his armored chest.       The warrior grunted as he was nudged back slightly from the blow.

     “You are pitifully weak,” said the warrior, “You cannot best me.”

                    The warrior stepped towards Teela and swung his heavy axe.       Teela leapt back, avoiding the slash, and reached behind her.      From the small of her back, Teela pulled out a short blade and brandished it in a deadly grip before the warrior.       

    “You expect to defeat me with a tiny little knife?” asked the warrior with a laugh.

       Teela just smiled and pressed an inset button on the bottom of the blade’s hilt.        A mechanical whirring sounded and the blade extended into a full length sword.        

     The warrior grunted and rushed towards Teela with his axe swinging at an angle that, if it successfully struck, would cleave Teela through the chin.                   Teela did a swift cart-wheel maneuver to the right and avoided the cleaving strike.          As the warrior was forced to go through with the rest of the cleaving slash from the shear weight of his axe blade,    Teela shot forward and stabbed her sword directly through the warrior’s chest.           

   “Ukkk.” gurgled the warrior as he vomited out a small trickle of blood.

         The warrior’s black blood tainted the tip of Teela’s blade as she withdrew back a few feet.          A flash of dim-light that trickled in through the jungle canopy fell onto the warrior’s face as he moved back an inch from the pain of being stabbed.              Teela now saw that she had just stabbed an ogre, explaining why the stab of her blade had not killed him.       Ogres on Eternia could be stabbed and shot various times before they could be killed.

   “I dare you to try that again, little bitch,” said the ogre warrior, “I want to kill you in battle.”

          Teela just stood firmly in place with her blue eyes locked in a stare with the ogre.

  “I urge you to plan your next actions carefully,” said the mage to the ogre warrior, “this little one does not intend to give you another chance of attack.”

        “Shut up and stay out of my affairs, old bastard,” said the ogre warrior, “I need not the help of a withering, diseased disciple of black magics to advise me on the ways of combat.”

       The mage quietly watched as the ogre warrior made his move.     The ogre warrior launched forward, holding his axe out before him like a battering ram.                As the ogre warrior neared, Teela leapt into the air and landed atop the side of the axe blade.             She launched a quick heel kick to the ogre warrior’s face and then leapt forward over him with her sword held before her.                 During her forward somersault, Teela cut a deep wound into the ogre warrior’s armored back.           

    “How can you cut me?” asked the ogre warrior as he reached behind him and clutched at his wound.

 “Eternium,” said Teela, “if constructed into a blade can cut through most primitive metals.”

             Teela then rushed forward and slashed at the ogre warrior’s lower extremities.        The ogre warrior attempted to block but missed intercepting Teela’s attack.               Teela’s blade slashed upward through the ogre warrior’s ball-sac and cut through his gut until the blade stopped just above his ribcage.

     “Warghh!” screamed the ogre warrior from the pain of the cut.

      As Teela pulled out her sword the ogre warrior’s intestines gushed out of the deep wound with a wet slurping sound.            The ogre warrior dropped his axe and scrambled to put his intestines back into his open gut cavity.               Teela showed no mercy and flashed forward.       With a clean stroke, Teela beheaded the ogre warrior very swiftly.           As the ogre warrior’s dismembered head tumbled away across the moss covered ground, the heavy body fell forward into the tangled intestine mess.

      “An expert warrior,” said the mage, “my ogre friend underestimated you considerably.       It wasn’t his fault that his entire race is a cadre of slow, dim-witted oxen.”

         “That just leaves the two of us,” said Teela as she wiped the dark blood off of her sword on the ground,   “Do you care to have your blood adorn my sword as well?”

     “You must be jesting me,” said the mage with a chuckle, “My powers of dark magic will quell you before you can even make a move.”

              As a lightning stream shot from the mage’s finger tip, Teela raised her right arm before her.        Around her wrist she wore a silver, mechanical bracelet.            A flash of energy flowed out of the bracelet and came to shape a shield of pure zero point energy before Teela.        The lightning stream smashed across the pulsating sea-blue energy shield and dissipated into the air.

     “You may have powerful magic but technology will give me the edge I need to best you,” said Teela,   “I’ll give you one more chance to strike me down.      If you fail I’ll strike you down where you stand.”

    “Such a bold little one,” said the mage, “I admire your bravery but it shall prove pointless in the end.”

                 The mage waved his hands and a fire-blast surged forward towards Teela.             Teela hurriedly pressed a button on her bracelet.     The energy shield began to vibrate at an intense speed and disturbed the air as it did.                 Teela was forced onto one knee and held against her wrist with her other hand under the kick-back forces that traveled out of the bracelet.                 

The wind generated by the energy shield fanned against the flames and whooshed them back into the face of the mage.              As the mage was busy dissipating the flames Teela deactivated the energy shield and pointed her bracelet directly at him.                  With the flexing of her wrist tendons Teela activated another feature in her gadget.       Twin, thin bladed spikes launched out of the bracelet and shot through the air.       

   The mage gurgled as the metal spikes impaled him through the lungs.             Teela took this opportunity to launch herself forward.   She lashed out her sword in a deadly slash that sliced through the mage’s neck.             The severed head of the mage toppled from his body.          The body remained standing and alive.         Teela was surprised at this but remained unphased by this strange, occult, display.

              The headless body began to move towards Teela and, before it could strike, Teela pointed the top of her bracelet of gadgetry at the body.   Teela pressed another button on the bracelet and a blast of zero point energy shot forth and smashed against the headless body’s chest.             The chest exploded to pieces spreading chunks of ribcage and blood through the air.         The body then fell backwards to the ground and lived no more.

         Teela heaved a sigh of relief as she deactivated her bracelet.         “Woman-at-arms.” said Teela in a joking manner.             Her deceased father, Man-At-Arms, had taught her very well in constructing weapon gadgetry.           

        As she wiped the blood off of her sword on the ground, Orko flashed into being directly in front of her.

   “Yah!” blared out Teela, “You scared me half to death, Orko.     If I hadn’t seen it was you I might have let my sword do the talking.”

   “Sorry, Teela,” said Orko as he floated before Teela’s face,   “I just came looking for you.”

     “What for?” asked Teela.

    “Queen Marlena was getting worried about you after two of your guards reported your actions,” said Orko, “I was sent to find you and perhaps help you.       It seems you have taken care of everything yourself.”    

     “That I have.” said Teela, “These three weren’t very difficult, especially this mage I have slain.”       

     Orko looked down at the slain remains of the mage.  “A level 2 elemental mage,” he said, “even I could take one out with no problem.”

               Teela pressed a button and her sword collapsed back into a hand knife.             She then stuck it  back into her loincloth at the small of her back.

      “I’m sure you could,” said Teela, “I, however, used my new bracelet of defense to thwart him.”

        “Where did you get that?” asked Orko, “Last time I checked our technological weaponry was limited.”

         “I built it out of those machine parts we scavenged after the fall of the machine city a few months ago.” said Teela,   “I’ve had New Vulnar’s technical engineers construct similar machine weaponry to at least attempt to give us a semblance of the technological defenses we had in Eternos.”

          Teela and Orko’s conversation was interrupted by a massively loud thunder crack that shook the entirety of the Vine Jungle.   

   “Yiiii,” screamed Orko,   “What was that???”

    “Let’s go see,” said Teela, “It could be an attack.”

      Teela, with the help of Orko’s teleportation spell, appeared in a flash of light before a camouflaged Attack Trak.        Teela pulled the vegetation net off of the vehicle and crawled inside.      Orko followed her inside.       
           
      “Attack Trak,” said Teela, “Power up all systems by authorization of Captain Teela.”

          “As you command, Captain.” said the computer voice of the Attack Trak.    

       The tank-like vehicle hummed to life as it powered up.

         Another thunder boom split through the air and shook the jungle.

      “Trak,” said Teela, “Identify the source of those thunder booms.”
             The long range sensors of the Attack Trak sent out radar pulse waves that scanned the entire expanse of the Vine Jungle and surrounding area.

    “The source of thunder booms is coming from the Graylands.” said the Attack Trak computer.

             “Take us directly to the source at once.” said Teela.

         The Attack Trak lurched forward and then zoomed off on its armored treads across the ground in the direction of the Graylands.

   “Should we really be doing this ourselves?” asked Orko, “Shouldn’t we have a gathering of troops with us?”

         “What’s the matter, Orko?” asked Teela with a sly smile from her green and black mud covered face, “A little scared?”

       “It’s nice to know, even in this time of war, that you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” said Orko with a shudder.

           
              After an hour or so of travel across the Vine Jungle, the Attack Trak eventually reached the Graylands.          The tank-vehicle came to a halt before a vast abyss.

    “This is the abyss that once surrounded Castle Grayskull,” said Teela, “Why have you brought us here,Trak?”

         “The source of thunder boom disruptions originates here.” said the Attack Trak computer.

        “Do you detect any enemy forces within the vicinity?” asked Teela.

		“Negative,” said the Attack Trak computer,  “Enemy forces are nowhere around.”

             Teela and Orko got out of the Attack Trak as another thunder boom shook the ground.        Flashes of light began to flash bellow through the bottomless abyss.     

    “There is a strong gathering of mystic energy gathering down there,” said Orko, “I feel it in my little ole’ trollan bones.”

       “Mystic power hasn’t existed within the abyss since Castle Grayskull was here.” said Teela.  

        A thunderous roar groaned across the sky and a wave of energy shot up out of the abyss and washed across the sky.        Teela and Orko watched in amazement as the very heavens themselves opened up.         The clouds in the sky parted and a massive hole of light stretched out.        A bolt streaked down out of the hole and flashed to the stone island that rested within the center of the abyss.          Once the dazzling light had faded Teela and Orko were shocked to see what now lay within the abyss center.

   “It’s Castle Grayskull!” exclaimed Orko, “Except it looks all new and shiny.”

        Teela’s jaw dropped at the sight.         Indeed, Castle Grayskull now stood where it had for centuries until its mysterious disappearance a year before.                   The castle’s appearance was how Orko had described it.      Castle Grayskull looked as it had in ancient times.         Each stone brick that made up the castle glowed brightly in a polished light gray.

        The ancient jaw bridge of Grayskull was now a polished door of solid oak.         The jaw bridge lowered slowly and came to rest directly before Teela and Orko.              An old man in a cloak came out of the castle and now stood on the oak jaw bridge.

    “The year has passed,” said the old man, “Grayskull and the kingdom of old have returned at last.”

           Shadowy figures began to come out of the blackness of the mouth of the castle’s façade skull.              White robed men and women came to stand at the old man’s side.
              “Teela,” said the old man, “Forgive me for not taking you along but I knew that the Eternos refugees would need your aide.”

                 Teela gazed upon the old man and flickers of memory came back to her.      “You’re the old man who appeared before Adam when he was near death at Skeletor’s hands,” she said, “You match his descriptions perfectly.”

          “I am the old man that Adam described,” Said the old man, “But I go by the name of Eldor; you may address me as such.”

        Even during her rather short tenure as guardian of Castle Grayskull, Teela had no idea that the ancient sorcerer Eldor was still alive after all of these centuries.

     “What is going on?” asked Teela, “Where did you take Castle Grayskull a year before?”

      “The prophecy had to be fulfilled,” said Eldor,   “Castle Grayskull and its champions had to go away to a realm beyond your comprehension for a single year to rebuild the kingdom.”

  “Kingdom?” said Teela, “What kingdom?”

       “The Kingdom of Grayskull,” said Eldor, “or the beginnings of one.”

       “We are the new Council of Elders, dear child,” said a white robed woman, “We have come to purge darkness from the face of Eternia now and forever.”

          Soldiers with the crest of Grayskull filed out of the entrance of Castle Grayskull and many more now stood atop the roof.     

       “The army of the kingdom has been rebuilt,” said Eldor,   “The champions have trained for this day.”

            A familiar armored tiger with green fur and yellow stripes now came out of the castle with an all too familiar rider on his back.        

            “Adam?” asked Teela as tears of joy trickled down her green and black mud covered cheeks.

                   The rider indeed was He-Man, who looked regal and majestic dressed in a korodite harness of polished white.        Armored leggings and black boots completed his attire while a long, brown fur cloak draped across his shoulders.         The Sword of Power rested in a sheath on the back of the cloak.

       A winged horse now came out of the castle.     The rider was She-Ra.           She too looked rather majestic.           Her long golden hair flowed down her back in a mane.            She-Ra wore a polished white top that left her midsection exposed while a white skirt and black boots completed her attire.            A long, white fur cloak draped across her shoulders.        Her Sword of Protection rested in a sheath on the cloak.     

         “Hello, Teela.” whispered He-Man,   “I have returned at last.”

            Teela rushed across the jaw bridge and climbed up onto Battle Cat.           She flung herself into He-Man’s arms and kissed him.

         “I didn’t know what happened to you.” said Teela through tears of joy, “I…..we all thought that Skeletor had killed you and destroyed Castle Grayskull.”

            “I am sorry for that,” said He-Man, “I was forced to leave with Eldor so hastily that I wasn’t given the chance to explain all that had transpired.”

           He-Man looked over Teela’s mud covered body.

           “Interesting appearance,” said He-Man, “You are quite a mess.”

       “I know,” said Teela as she pulled at her tangled mess of hair, “I haven’t had much time to keep myself looking nice lately.”

      “You have a rather nasty stench hanging on you as well, Teela.” said Battle Cat as he sniffed the air.  

   “It is the scent of the mud based camouflage coverings she and, I assume, the rest of the Eternos survivor’s wear.” said He-Man, “It is the same stench that I used to have hanging over me during my days with the Vulnar.”

  “I remember the stink well.” said Battle Cat.  

   “You’ve got to come to New Vulnar, Adam,” said Teela, “We have built a city within the canopy of the Vine Jungle.”

      “Soon,” said He-Man, “first we must make ourselves known to the Titans and show them that their reign is about to come to an abrupt end.”

            Teela held He-Man tightly and didn’t want to ever let go.    The beginning of the end of the Year of Darkness was now at hand.