He Man And The Masters of The Universe (2002 AU)

Sleep can be a most tricky thing. It is a time when dreams and nightmares rule over the wandering subconscious of our minds. They are always truthful to a degree, but most often times those truths are the ones that are most hidden deep down hidden within a carefully spun web of fantasies that are created by our own minds. Teela Na, better known as the sorceress of castle Grayskull knew this well enough, and yet, despite all her vast power and wisdom, she was still very much subject to the spell like sway of dreams that can take hold over us all when succumbing to sleep. On this particular night like many recent nights, as she lay nestled in the warm embrace of fur spun sheets and the straw filled mattress of her own bed deep within the driary halls of castle Grayskull, the sorceress’s dreams immediately brought forth thoughts and memories that she had not experienced for five long years.

Yes, the seemingly ageless woman told herself with bitter recollection, it was roughly five years ago, when ancient yet alien darkness the at the time peaceful world. This particular malevolence hailed from another Dimension and galaxy far the one that had known. These invaders were unlike anything Eternia had ever seen…wiielding both forms of Magic and technology unheard before heard of on the both futuristic and medieval world.

The invaders were not of any particular singular race of people or world, simply being known as the Horde. No one truly knew where they had originated from or how they had come to be, they had simply always been or so it seemed. The Horde had never been seen on Eternia…and had most likely had stumbled upon the remote and semi-primitive world by sheer coincidence. The Horde had never ventured into this sector of Space, so far and cut from the rest of their Multi-galaxy spanning empire. The Horde had never journeyed to this distance edge of the Universe and with good reason as do so would mean cutting them off from the rest of the empire.

The Horde had never truly ventured this far off from their home system…especially when doing offered minimal gain for so high a risk; the Eternians were unprepared and almost immediately overwhelming the native defenders with their foreign magicks and advanced alien technology.

The conflicted between the Eternians and the Horde had lasted several long months that nearly extended to half a year, with severe losses on both sides with casualties numbering in the lower hundreds of thousands. Presumed among them was the young daughter of the late Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Eternos-a minor Duchy located near the Royal capital, Lord Jason and Lady Mara, who was the Soul Flame of the young heir to the throne, Prince Adam, who was only two years old, the time. The Duke and Duchess had past away seven years prior to the invasion but their young daughter, Adora-who, their Majesties had taken in the orphaned girl as Marital Adoptive under Eternian Law that had her contradictory becoming an adoptive daughter of the King and Queen, and also the proxy daughter in law.

The young girl had not been kidnapped…or at least no definitive evidence that pointed to the young princess had been kidnapped, she had simply vanished without any tangible trail or trace as to where the young girl had disappeared to. The King and Queen had launched several searches for the missing princess but alas all proved to be nothing but a series of fruitless endeavors that lasted almost half a year. To spare their son and themselves, the bitter pain of Adora’s loss…both Randor and Marlena all but officially decreed that Adora’s name was not to be mentioned in the presence of the Royal Family…especially the at time, Eleven year old prince Adam.

The young prince, himself mentally suppressed all memories of his missing ‘Little Sister’ with his subconscious either rewriting his certain memories or completely erasing the memories entirely with his family and everyone else close to him accommodating his new condition.

*****

Naturally time past with five years passing in what seemed like the blink of an eye, on prince Adam’s sixteenth birthday, the young man having been gifted the sword of power as he was destined to, the young prince becoming the mighty He man, the ‘most power man in the universe’ alongside his ever loyal pet sabertooth tiger, whom the young prince affectionately named Cringer for his timid and often cowardly behaviour, but with the aid of the sword of power via their shared spiritual connection transforming him to become the fearless Battle-Cat. Alongside a whole host of friends and allies continued to defend Eternia and the innocent, his parents initially unaware ultimately learned the truth of his dual identity and almost automatically came to terms with it. At first the young man hesitation with revealing the truth to them out of fear what, his parents would potentially do out of fear or hatred, but it was not in their nature to pressure their son into giving up his powers or his duty to his fellow masters:

All of this filtered through the Sorceress’s unconscious mind as they as formed like the strings of a tapestry loosely beginning to stitch together, the disjointed images of the past carefully weaving in and out of each other as only dreams were often wont to do. But there was something else to these ‘dreams’ that made them feel like more than simple flights of the subconscious fancy, semi-vivid glimpses of another place that was too alien and bizarre to be anywhere on Eternia. The Sorceress was almost overwhelmed by the flashes of places that she had never been or individuals that she had never met before, all on a strange alien world that was burning with a war. Forests, Villages and towns were razed, with Flashes bright and colourful areas quickly appearing and then disappearing in blazing flame right before the woman’s eyes, before they could really register in her mind., leaving the dream sorceress with mixed feelings of confusion and horror. She had never before dreamed of these various other places with such distinctive detail and gruesome clarity before and did not know why she doing so now? These nightmarish images quickly began to spin faster and faster, details quickly blurring together into a meaningless mix of colours and undefinable shapes, colours and meaningless that made the seemingly ageless woman’s turn with a low, throbbing sensation. A foreign yet at the same time strangely familiar energy began to faintly pulse in an erratic beat of rainbow hued power the sorceress, as she restlessly tossed and turned in the silk linened sheets of her bed. The spectral power soon burst like an explosion miniature supernova in a low toned crescendo of rainbow hued magic, instantly startled the sorceress awake in a thick, cold layer of sweat.

The sorceress’s eyes quickly darted around the corners of her own chambers as if instinctually searching for an intruder.”what does it mean?” The hawk woman quietly asked, whether to herself or to the silent walls of the room not even the sorceress was sure, before quickly looking around at every corner of the gothic bed chambers, the woman immediately feeling another dying sizzle of unfamiliar magic in the still air. ash quickly stood up from the medium sized bed quickly pushing aside aside her silk linen bedding, Teela Na not truly knowing why…but still, for some unknown reason felt oddly compelled to immediately find the source of the strange alien energy that she felt tingling along the porcelain surface of her skin.

Still, Dressed in a pearl white nightdress, her auburn red hair faintly drooping down in cascaded waves just barely surpassing her shoulders and upper part of her back, the woman half mindsdly wandered the empty, drafty halls of the ancient gothic castle that semi-fueled her powers. Consciously unaware of the cold stones of the gray cobblestone and limestone tiles floor lightly brush against the bare soles of her feet as she found herself hypnotically drawn towards whatever it was that had disturbed her peaceful sleep. The Sorceress abruptly stopped before a immaterial mirage of a sword across between a short hilted greatsword and slightly thinner bladed bastard sword that was near perfect replica of the sword of power.

The Sorceress was fully awakened by the almost spectral vision, her crystal lake eyes immediately widened in a mix of shock, uncertain reverence and excitement as she hesitantly reached to the apportion.” Could it be,” she softly questioned just beneath the breath.” After all these years?” The sorceress pondered quietly to herself with a very hopeful wisp of a smile.

*****

The sword quickly vanishes in a dissipated haze before quickly being replaced by the image of a dimensional rift abruptly opening in the middle of a seemingly random Rocky Mountainside Forest caked with semi-heavy layers of snow and ice.

“Hmm, I wonder?” The Sorceress softly hummed to herself in piqued suspicion.

The Sorceress quietly watches as a large band of what appeared to be refugees fleeing some prior unknown catastrophe soon poured out of the rift, which soon closed quickly behind them.

The Sorceress could immediately sense that these wayward new arrivals to held both good and ill omens for Eternia.” I must alert their Majesties and the Masters at once.” She says before quickly shifting into her Hawk form Zoar.

Kaaaa!! The mystical Hawk briefly cries out before quickly flapping her wings in a series of hurried, urgent motion. The bird knowing that she had no time to waste.

*****

The Sorceress read of this only in the dusty, sand-scraped papered tomes buried deep within the most forgotten sections of Castle Grayskull’s labyrinth-like library. Ancient texts that spoke of another sword equal yet different to the Sword of Power that granted the young prince of Eternia the power to become He man that the sorceress had thought only to be merely legend and myth…but now Teela Na began to wonder if there was more to it than she initially thought?

The female Hawk quickly soared out of the nearest window with another loud Kaw! Sound before swiftly hurrying to the Royal palace to alert the King and Queen as well as the Masters of her visions.

The Sorceress could not help feel an ominous sense of foreboded inevitability, as if the precarious balance that Eternia had hung over the realm for what essentially felt like a full lifetime…was soon to become undone and replaced by something far worse than Teela Na dare imagine.

The snowy-capped mountains of the northern Eternian province known as Xradis were a silent testament to the rugged, natural beauty of the remote planet. Prince Adam sat half mindedly and somewhat distracted, with the young man staring out hazily at the sprawling and forested rocky landscape that was caked in a somewhat thick surface layer of snow and sleet, with Adam's lake blue eyes somewhat narrowing out of a mixed expression that bordered on sharpened focus and mind-numbing boredom.

Adam's ever-loyal pet Sabertooth tiger, Cringer, softly purred like the overgrown house cat that the other Masters often accused the feline of being.

"Hey Adam,” The familiar voice of Teela Nu, who, despite being the same as Adam, was already the Captain of the Royal Guard.” Are you doing alright?”

Adam briefly glared coldly at the young woman, but his expression immediately became solemn as he answered with an almost fake-sounding half sigh.” Yes, No, honestly, I have been asking that myself lately.” The young prince joked with a faint-sounding laugh and wary smile that barely hid the tiredness in his lake-blue eyes that showed in the almost visibly darkened rings of his eyelids.

Teela hesitated for a moment before issuing a question that came out in a tone that was more timid and somewhat mousy than the young prince had ever heard the young redhead speak.” Is-is it because ‘that’ dream again?" Teela had quietly hoped that the young prince had forgotten that particular dream, a dream that, according to him, felt like one long repressed memory...or perhaps several fragmented memories haphazardly stitched together in a loosely comprehensive series of events, with the key factor connection being a young girl, who's age and appearance altering from age to subtle physical characteristics...the only key characteristics that seemed unchanging was her golden blonde hair and bright, Sky-blue eyes.

******

Teela awkwardly looked away from Adam's conflicted gaze, with her morphing into a grim and almost visible sense of guilt; Adam wanted to question the young woman about what exactly was bothering her...the rugged semi-military multi-terrain vehicle that they immediately came to a sharp and alarming stop with the two and other Masters feeling the sudden turbulence of the patrol wagon abruptly stop in the middle of the rocky pathway.

"Duncan, what hells happened?" Fisto semi-angrily questioned his younger brother, his expression plainly revealing that the man was just itching to punch someone with his giant metal hand.

Man-at-Arms grimaces as he plainly states what, to even the most casual observer, is the obvious." We're surrounded,"

The other Masters immediately spotted that the Battle tank was surrounded on almost all sides by strangers dressed in weird and almost alien clothing that hinted at the individual not being known on Eternia; A man wielding a metal bow and a single arrow." Come out with your hands up... no weapons!" the young man ordered with the string of his bow lightly pulled back ready to loose the arrow at the slightest misstep.

Teela Nu instantly snared dismissively at the archer's warning.” He can’t be serious?” The teenage captain guard stated, but was quickly proven wrong as the young Archer quickly fired what at first glance appeared to be an ordinary arrow but abruptly exploded like a medium sized flare or flash bang with the force of an extra strength handgenade that nearly overturned the heavy duty armoured vehicle.

“Damn?” Fisto cursed just barely beneath baited breath and tightly gritted teeth, the man immediately using his massive, cybernetic prosthetic hand to catch both his niece and the young prince at once.

Cringer lightly brushed his side gently brushed up against Prince Adam, the young royal quickly turned to Man-at-arms and make a rather snarky suggestion.” I think that we should do as they say, Duncan?” Teela Nu immediately wanted to go out and show these would be assailants why she and her companions were called ‘Masters’.

Duncan firmly placed a hand on his adoptive daughter’s shoulder with a firm but protective squeeze.” Teela don’t be reckless.” Man-at-arms urged with a cautious tone.

Teela Nu was somewhat reluctant at first, but ultimately relented.” Fine,” she uttered through somewhat gritted teeth.

The four heroic warriors plus Cringer quickly exited the overturned Battle-wagon with their hands raised and unarmed, the sole exception being Adam-who refused to part with the sword of power.

Teela quickly rolled her eyes, but secretly grew more respect for the young prince for this.

*******

The Masters soon found themselves immediately surrounded by the strangers, who were surrounded in all sides. The Archer from earlier quickly stepped forward flanked by two young women that appeared to be no older than Adam and Teela, who are both exactly sixteen years old in Eternian years; Adam’s eyes were immediately glued to the beautiful blonde hair young woman, who was dressed in what appeared to be a one piece swimsuit style outfit with a sword that was nearly an exact replica of Adam’s sword of power.

The Masters immediately recognized that the young blonde was the new arrivals’ leader. The young woman casually walked over to greet/interrogate the Masters.” Which one of you is in charge?” She questioned, her tone straightforward and somewhat curious.

Man-at-arms immediately stepped forward with suspicious scowl.” I am. My Name is Duncan. tell me, stranger-who are you and where have you come to Eternia?” The man says, his tone curious and somewhat probing as he quickly eyed the young woman up and down, her face close resemblance to the late Grand Duchess of Eternos.

“Master Duncan?” The young woman uttered softly, her voice thick with familiar surprise and almost disbelief.

Duncan's brow outline immediately creased with suspicion."Do I know you?" Man-at-arms instantly questioned with somewhat narrowed eyes.

The young blonde lightly nodded affirmatively before quickly reaching into the pale white blouse's undershirt.

The Archer quickly moved closer to his compatriot with a puzzled expression.” Adora, what are you doing?” He questioned the young blonde, who immediately revealed that she was wearing a beautiful phoenix-like pendant-style necklace.

Duncan's eyes immediately grew wide, and his face somewhat pale, his body abruptly trembling visibly as his fingers semi-subconsciously reached out for the necklace." Wh-where did you get that necklace?" Man-at-arms almost demanded in a voice that almost audibly roared with anger and grief. Adam was immediately thrown off guard by Duncan's rather extreme reaction at the sight of what appeared to be just a simple pendant.

The young prince quickly turned to face Teela Nu with a puzzled facial expression...only to find it to find that she was equally overwhelmed with sudden overload of emotion."T-Teela?" he stuttered, immediately growing worried.

Adora quickly tucked her necklace back under her collar line with a somewhat lukewarm smile and bittersweet tone of voice." It belonged to Mother, Grand Duchess Mara of Eternos...it's a somewhat prized family heirloom," the young woman states with a pained expression almost visible on her face with the faint glisten of near nonexistent tears.

Teela Nu now stepped forward, ignoring the clear warning of the Archer and young Wizardress, who aimed both arrow and mystical staff at the young redhead.

"Bow! Glimmer! All of you-" Adora quickly began to plead for everyone to lay down their weapons. The young woman immediately stepped between the two groups, quickly acting as an intermediary." Put down you're weapons!" Adora's voice was neither overtly commanding nor overly timid, but strong enough for everyone to listen.

*****

Adora immediately stepped forward to meet Man-at-arms at somewhat even eye-level with a bittersweet smile and a small, dry lump in the middle of her throat, her voice almost pitched with guilt as she spoke." Master Duncan, Tee-" she began with strong heitance, each word coming out with heavy weight that felt like a stab to the heart.

" 'Tee'? 'Master Duncan'?" Adam repeated, immediately interjecting himself into the conversation.

Adora's face instantly turned a bright reddish pink color hue around the cheeks, her expression immediately turning somewhat awkward as well as particularly curious." Who are you?" he questioned, his tone quickly hiding the immediate curiosity and almost primal attraction toward the young woman that as far as he was aware had only known for less than a few immediately seconds at best? Adora, who likewise was curious and oddly attracted to the young man before her.

With a somewhat inquisitive smile and somewhat unreadable facial expression, her long and semi-flowing that looks as though it barely went past the upper part of her back with a noticeably golden-yellow color that shined bright in the right angle of sunlight. Her eyes were a brilliant sky hue and light almond shaped outline that matched her pencil thin eyebrows. Her face was somewhat heart shaped with slightly high cheekbones and small chin, her nose was small…not quite like a button but somewhat slim that was perfectly even along her upper lip.

Her lips were kissable and seemed to be permanently set in this pouty smile, her upper lip full and bottom lip somewhat thinner.

Adam immediately took a few small steps backward, the young prince instinctively retreating to create a degree of respectable distance.” Adam,” the young man answered, his voice measured and somewhat guarded.” My name is Adam…prince Adam of Eternia, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena.” The young prince awkwardly introduced himself to Adora, whose tone and attitude toward him immediately became noticeably gentler, with a subtly bittersweet tone beginning to show.

“Adam?” Adora questioned back with an almost disbelieving tone as shyly took a few unmeasured steps forward.

Prince Adam reflexively retreated with a somewhat thrown off expression plainly showing on his face.” Yes, PRINCE Adam,” he says, putting immediate emphasis on his Royal title-something that the young man was rarely, if ever to do outside of court audiences and other formal events.

Adora was instantly thrown off by the immediate coldness, the young woman’s face automatically shifting from shock to fury, to grief and so on. The young woman confused why the prince seemed refused to acknowledge her.” Heh, you don’t recognize me do you?” Adora questioned, her voice dripping with self deprecating laugh that was half bemused and half self-criticizing.

“Father,“ Teela Nu says quickly, interjecting herself into the situation, immediately stepping in between the young prince and Adora.” Let's take Adora and a few of her parents to the palace.” The young woman immediately suggested, her tone oddly protective and affectionate as she stood in between the young prince and Adora.

“Teela, you can’t be serious?” Adam stated with a stunned expression plastered on his face.” How do we even know if we can trust these guys?”

Duncan, similar to his daughter, earlier places a firm but caring hand on the young prince's shoulder." Trust me, lad...it's best not to argue right now and just go along with it for now." he advised with a curt yet wise-sounding tone.

The young prince wanted to argue further but Adam knew that such an argument would be ultimately futile in the end. “Fine, let’s just hurry and get this over with,” Adam states with a tone of begrudging reluctantance.