FAMILY TIES

Ziggy's Corner: My first attempt at He-Man fanfics. I've been a fan of the series for, lol, well since I was five years old, and saw my first He-Man figure at the house of a family friend. I went right home with my parents, took out some paper, drew my own characters, cut them out and played with them, until I got a huge selection of them for Christmas 1981! Hehe, I think my mom was tired of me using all the paper for my own figures ;).

Then of course came the cartoon series, and the live action movie. By that time I had around fifty some figures, and I had finally driven my mom to decide enough was enough. I never did get that Tower of Power aka Eternia set, oh well.

At any rate, this story takes place in the MOTU or 2002 series. I've really liked this series, too bad season 3 was never made. I would have loved to see the battle with the Horde other than the one cameo that was made. I liked how they did Skeletor's back story as well, though I missed the episode which saw him gain his new name, and his skull face thanks to Hordak.

LOL anyway getting to the point of the story, it's a way to explain Teela's origins. Yeah we all know who her mother is. BUT just who is daddy? Duncan said he was a great warrior … and for you old school fans, there is a hint to her origin in this story too. Lol sorry, didn't mean to talk so much. Anyway, on with the story!

Eternia: 23 years ago…..

Teela'Na looked down with soft compassion at the man laying in bed. The man had survived the Battle of the Plain of Perpetua, leading a legion of the Elder's best soldiers against a large group of trolls and giants which had gathered to destroy their human neighbors. Many good men and women had given up their lives, and he had nearly done so as well, had an arrow shot at him, not dipped and only hit his hips, instead of his heart, as it was intended.

He smiled up at her, looking at her beautiful eyes, her soft red brown hair, her delicate lips. It was as if a goddess had brought him back from the dead. Or perhaps he was dead, and this was heaven. "Have I told you, how very beautiful you are?" he asked, his voice harsh, dry from lack of moisture.

Teela'Na laughed and blushed. "Only the last twenty or so times." She smiled and giggled as the man blushed. "But you really shouldn't talk so much. You need your rest."

"I could rest forever in your eyes," the soldier said. His hair was black and cropped close to his head. He took comfort in her laugh, and laid back as she place ointment on his wounds. "How many of us are left?" he asked.

"Thirty, I believe," she said. She noticed the sorrow in his eyes. "You were very brave though. I would have never guessed that someone like you had so much talent in magic."

The enemy had just about overwhelmed them. Most of the legion was nothing but corpses, bleeding along the dark grounds in the plain. The soldier had a talent with sword play, in fact there was no one better in all of Eternia, save for Lieutenant Randor who could match him with dual blades. That brought him back to reality for a moment… his officer. "Randor," he barfed out.

"He's fine too. In fact, he's spoken quite fondly of you. It was because of his testimony that we know what happened." Again he smiled at her words, and then it was as if he was being transported from this bright hospital, with its soft reds and blues, to that horrid plain yet again, the shadows covering him. He was back in the Dark Hemisphere.

He'd been hit in his hip, and dropped to his knees in pain, watching a massive group of soldiers heading for his unit, was had lost hope, and was beginning to retreat upon the loss of their leader. They were going to be decimated now. Their ranks were broken, there were way too many holes in their lines. The trickle of enemy forces would become a flood.

He wasn't going to let that happen. His men, they counted on him. The enemy would not defeat this boys and girls. The soldier stood to his feet, or as he would later describe it, was thrust to his feet by very strong, cold, invisible hands. He held out the palm of his left hand, and as energy surrounded him, he smirked, and sent a wave of wind back at the trolls who were charging. The energy slammed into them, knocking them off their feet, to his horror, some of them falling off the cliffs surrounding them, and pushing the ranks back.

His men saw what happened, and determined not to let the moment slip past, rushed forward, the pendulum swinging the other way now, as the Eternian heroes pushed the enemy back, and sent them into full retreat.

He didn't know where that energy had come from, some part of him liked it, but it also horrified him as well. It reminded him of his real home. In fact, all the area around Eternia's Dark Hemisphere reminded him of his true home. And it reminded him of why he left there.

Apparently, he learned, Randor had seen the spectacle, and reported it to their superiors. Not only would it result in Randor's promotion, but it would also lead to Duncan Drisdos and his own promotions as well. He was a lieutenant now, as was Duncan. And Randor was a Captain. Not a bad bit of publicity, though he would have loved to seen most of his men gain some respect too.

Of course it did not matter. He was safe, and in the presence of true beauty. Ambition was for the foolish, to be content was enough. "That is good."

"How long have you know about your abilities in the mystic field?" she asked, finishing up.

His body grew tense. "I'd rather not talk about that," he said, his tone cold for this first time. He looked at her face, and his shoulders slumped as he frowned. "I… I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Its just that I honestly didn't know I had any such abilities, and in all reality, I'd rather forget about it. Such power is not to my liking."

It took a few moments, but she smiled, and then laughed, her voice the sound of angels. "I do understand. And that's to be admired."

They looked at each other, and smiled, neither realizing how their meeting would change the world.

Eternia: 21 years ago…

He paced back and forth, sweating as he waited for her to arrive. What if she had said no? Would he be able to deal with that? He'd dealt with many things in the past two years, most of which he could deal with. He, like Randor before him, was now a captain. There had be other wars fought. With each campaign he grew more, and more recognized, and he liked it. People saluted him, acknowledged him for his bravery and genius, and while he started to bask in this glow, he knew he only had to come to Teela'Na to have that glow pushed back.

"You think too much sometimes," Randor teased his friend. "She's a beautiful woman, and I doubt she's capable of aging, do you?"

"Such a question, from my best friend," he said, looking at the other man. "And hopefully, best man, should she say yes."

Randor laughed and punched the man he had come to consider a brother in the shoulder playfully. "The two of you, should make quite the couple. I imagine your children will be quite the handful."

His friend smiled, and shrugged. "What can I say? I just hope they have her looks."

Teela'Na stepped out of the shadows, smiling. They had grown close these last couple of years, in fact she had honest thought nothing would have ever come as close to her love of her late husband, but as days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years, she learned she was wrong.

He was a handsome man, and in many ways, he reminded her of Greyskull. Both were strong willed, both were determined to see innocents protected. Both were skilled in mystical arts. She missed her old husband, feeling his arms around him, though from time to time she believed she could still sense him.

This new beau was perhaps even stronger in the arts than Greyskull, and growing with each passing week. Many a time after the defeat of yet another adversary to freedom, he'd slip off someplace in the Dark Hemisphere, and stay there. Doing what, she didn't know and she admitted that bothered her. He feared the power growing in him, and tried to shy away from the praise of the people, yet with each day, seemed drawn to them both as well, as if glory and he were magnetic opposites.

"You love him, don't you?" Teela'Na jumped and turned to face the oldest of the Ancients.

"I didn't hear you approach," she said.

"You are embarrassed to be away from the Castle again too," he said, his elderly eyes studying her.

"Is this an Inquisition?" she demanded, pushing them away from the eyes of the two men just around the corner.

"You tell me," the old man said with a sly, yet smile. "Its fear of betraying Greyskull that conflicts with you, isn't it?" She shot him a look that made him take a few, unsteady steps back, and then sighed. "I thought as much."

"He knew the life you live would be a lonely one," the female elder said, approaching the two of them. "My dear, do not worry. He'd not hate you for loving another."

"I am his wife, how could I possibly betray him?" she asked, tears as blue as Eternia's skies, rolling down her cheeks.

"You are not, nor can you be the wife of a dead man," the male elder said.

She spun on her heels and glared at them. "He's not gone."

"Not spiritually perhaps, but he is gone physically," the female said. "My dear, he would not hate you, for searching for companionship. And if he did, he'd have me giving him an earful." The elderly woman smiled as the young sorceress laughed.

"I ask you again, my queen, do you love him?" the elderly male asked.

"I do," she began. "But my duty…," she started.

"Is to the castle, and the promise we all made. But he never asked you to stay single. And despite the powers within us, and that castle, none of us will live forever. You owe it to the planet, and to your husband, to allow someone to keep the secrets of Eternia alive and protected when you are gone."

"We're not immortal, Queen Teela'Na. Not one of us, including you. Even now, we can feel the power drain for you, slowly. Soon you may not even be able to leave Castle Greyskull without changing some kind of shape all together." The female elder looked at her queen, hoping she had not stepped on any toes.

"You are right, I must agree." Teela'Na felt a twinge of nerves strike her. She was just as nervous the night Greyskull had proposed to her. She hugged the two elders, and then turned to walk back toward the corner. She rounded it, and caught the two men off guard.

She smiled as the soldier turned to her, and restrained a giggle as he nearly fainted as to what was about to happen. "I came as soon as I could, my dear."

Blue birds flew in the air as they stood there, the skies blue as the birds, the walls red and brown. The grass below their feet was of the softest green, as Spring has come to the planet. Somewhere they could smell bread baking, and the sounds of children laughing and running around. Eternos City the capital city of the Elders of Eternia, was in the grip of a pretty decent peace.

"I … I would like to know, if you would do me the honor of being," he dropped to his knee, and looked up into those beautiful jeweled eyes, "my wife."

"I would be most honored," she said, tears of joy running down her cheeks. "I agree, Captain Keldor. With all my heart, I accept your proposal."

Eternia: 18 years ago….

Keldor looked down the window, staring at the sadness of the people. War always had a way of squashing peace on this planet. The only true lasting peace had been 1,000 years, during the defeat of the Horde and the Snake Men, at the hands of King Greyskull and the Horde respectively.

With no true villain, the planet lay in peace, until fifty years ago, when a cosmic storm unleashed much chaos. Divisions, hatreds, hunger for land… it was if the shadows which had been kept back by the light for so long, had thrust forward in a desperate, hungry surge, to finish off the light. And the elders, with so much power refused to do so much to help the planet.

"It is not their place, Keldor," Randor said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Power to change must be in the people's hands, not some all powerful force.

"Then what is the point of them even being here? What is the point of such power, if it is never to be used?" Keldor turned and shook his head.

"You've been to the Dark Hemisphere again, haven't you?" Duncan asked.

"What of it?" Keldor snapped, spinning on his heels to face the other man.

"You have been changing," Randor said, worry in his voice. "Teela'Na even has spoken to me, and…," he stopped as his best friend lunged forward and clutched his throat.

"Leave her out of this…," he growled. Keldor narrowed his eyes, and tossed Randor aside, hurrying out of the room. His mind was spinning, for years he was spending more and more time in the Dark Hemisphere. Ever since he had discovered his powers in the Battle of The Plain of Perpetua, it was like he was drawn to the area. The energy seemed alive, and alluring, promising a way to truly end the wars. But the Elders would not listen to his pleas, and his own friends were turning from him. And now he discovered his wife had decided to talk to someone else!

He soon found her, her back to him. "We need to talk," he said softly.

"Yes… we do." She looked at him and motioned for him to sit. "Beloved, things have been changing… I'm concerned for you."

"So I have been told," he said, again seeing pain in her eyes because of something he said. This time he didn't apologize. "I have heard that you have been speaking to Randor."

"Keldor, please. We need to talk," she said, beginning to cry.

"Yes we do! Teela'Na, its time we do something. We can end the wars, the two of us! We have the power, we have the people behind us! We can end the scourge of suffering in the blink of an eye!"

Teela'Na shook her head. "No, Keldor. We need to allow the people to choice this, we can't force them to do so." Gently she put her hand on her stomach, hoping her husband would understand.

"If they can't understand that we're doing this, for their own good, then its they're problem. We have the solution. We just need to act on it."

"The path you are taking with bring greater war. Even if the people were to accept it, the Elder's never would. And the army would never agree to it. You know Randor would never, nor would Duncan." She rose to her feet.

"Then they're all blind, but Teela'Na, you are not blind, my love. I know you can see the future. Surely you can not be so blind in devotion to the old ways that you'd allow people to suffer."

"Think of the suffering of this war you plan to instigate. How long do you think the very people you'd struggle to free would support you?" Her heart was breaking. "Keldor, power is not everything. The means to an end, I suppose, but not everything."

"Power is the path to peace. Only those with power can support order and peace." His eyes softened. "Please, my love. You must see the wisdom in my thinking."

Teela'Na's skin seemed to turn green as she stared at her husband. "Don't do this, Keldor, do not challenge the set order. It will only end badly." He frowned and turned away, his blue muscles tightening. "All those trips to the Dark Hemisphere are poisoning you. What happened to the man who didn't want all that power? What happened to the man I married who rejected the mystical arts?"

"He saw the world for what it was, and is," Keldor snarled, his voice turning darker. "Teela'Na, I beg you, follow me, and we shall have glory for eternity. We are the future, you must know this!"

Teela'Na turned her back, her face flooded with tears, her hands resting on her stomach. "It is funny you should mention the future."

Keldor closes his eyes and shook his head. "I am going to bed, I don't want to continue this discussion, unless you are willing to listen."

Eternia: 17 years ago…

Teela'Na cried out in pain, the labor coming stronger. She was alone, save for the energies of the Elders. It was they, who would help her in this moment. The Sorceress pushed, and pushed again, and caught her breathe and energy for one final thrust. A small shrill cry filled Castle Greyskull. Sweat poured down the Sorceress' brow, and with what energies she could muster she rose the baby to her feet.

She had her brown red hair, and beautiful eyes. "Well hello there," the Sorceress gasped. The little girl whimpered and pouted, upset at having left the safety of the womb. She had her father's determination too. Teela'Na bit her lips, hoping that his mad hunger for power did not also fill the small frame.

"What do you plan on doing with the child?" an invisible voice asked.

She wept bitterly. Keldor and his forces had been locked away in the Dark Hemisphere, she and Duncan had seen to that. But she did not doubt that he would find a way to escape. And even if he didn't… there were still other evil forces out there. And the power that resided in the castle was too tempting. "I can not allow her to live here with me. If the castle is to survive… if Greyskull's legacy is to remain, she must live."

"So then what is to become of her?" the voices asked.

Teela'Na thought for a moment. "There is one I know who can take her." Randor, being proclaimed king by the mystics might be one, but if Keldor broke free, he'd be one of the first, Keldor would come after.

"Are you sure about this?" Duncan asked.

"I… I really must do this. I've explained why."

He could see the sorrow and desperation. "I accept, then." He cradled the baby and smiled, as she cooed at him. "But what about her father?"

"Let her know that her father was a man of great skill, and honor, who lost his memory of who he was, and might have died." Teela'Na said, sobbing a little. Duncan only understood all too well her meaning.

"And her name?" Duncan asked.

"I had not thought of that," the Sorceress said.

"She looks like a miniature you, if you do not mind me saying so." She smiled at him through the tears. "Teela should suite her just fine."

"Then Teela it is," Teela'Na said with a soft smile. She brushed her daughter's soft hair one last time, and then turned and left.

Eternia: Present day.

Teela'Na looked out from the windows of Greyskull, and thought of this day. Her daughter was about to celebrate her seventeenth birthday. Her heart beat longing for the day, she could speak with her child, as it also dreaded it. She knew the girl had a temper, and a very strong will. She could be very rebellious when she wanted too… and the Sorceress feared her child's paternal roots might be much deeper than anyone thought possible.

"It's not time yet," the voices said, their soft words trickling along the stone cold walls of the castle.

"I know, and yet…," she groaned, and sat in her chair, the same chair she had sat in for the last one thousand years, the one she sat in the day she became queen of Eternos City, with Greyskull as her king. King Hiss' venom still raged through her veins, and struggle as she might, Teela'Na knew it was only a matter of time before she would die. "Its growing harder for me to even stand up and move."

"Then perhaps if might be time after all?" the voices seemed shocked, surprised that the deadly venom had been stronger than they had even thought.

"Something tells me, it is not time, but all the same, the day is much closer than what we had thought. I'd hoped that she would have at least found love, or left her teens before this would be thrust upon her." The powerful woman put her head between her knees, and closed her eyes tight. She could not allow herself to faint, or to throw up. It was not dignified, and would only be an alarm to the forces of evil that the castle was ripe for conquest.

"You found love, twice….," they reminded her.

"And lost it, twice," she equally reminded them.

"What happened to you, needn't be her fate as well, you do know this." There was a pause, as if the Elders waited to see if she'd accept their beliefs and decision. "We of course will not stand in your way. If you choice to allow her to know her destiny, it is your right and privilege to do so."

Teela'Na sat there, in pain… and in confusion. The time was coming for the past to catch up to the present. She knew she could not keep it behind much longer. Still, there was also an unsinkable, detestable feeling that something evil was approaching. Not her former love, nor Hiss. Not even Hordak. Something seemed very wrong… and in that instant her resolve gave her strength to travel down into the chambers, to sit, and meditate.

Infernos: Present time….

A darkness watched, watched Castle Greyskull, Eternia, any doorways into that world. A quarter of a century ago, just such a doorway had opened, and as she prepared her forces for an invasion to this new realm, the door slammed shut just as fast, but not before releasing just one being. Red eyes narrow within a pitch black background, surrounded by dark flames and the smell of sulfur and brimstone. The Emr Remin, mistress of this domain, empress of suffering, watched the Sorceress, trying to scan her mind for any kind of weakness… and then found what she hoped for. There was a key after all, one that could open the door, and keep it open.

A very thin pair of lips spread across her mouth, revealing twin ivory fangs. Now all she needed was a vessel… one that could open a temporary door to release her and a small group into this new world. And from there, conquest would be swift and destructive. The Emr Remin scanned the minds of the people of this dimension, and nearly choked on her laughter as she found a young, pale skinned woman with the obsession of power growing each second. "Excellent." Her two thousand years of enslavement to this realm was nearing an end. And the one who enslaved her here, would most definitely pay for it.

Despondos: Present day….

As the Emr Remin was watching, so was Hordak. The warlord smirked, feeling the same kind of evil, surrounding himself with dark energy. Evil Lyn had failed twice, but the old saying was, 'third times the charm'. Hordak closed his eyes and meditated on Evil Lyn. He could feel her hunger for power and glory. He knew she had had enough of Skeletor, wishing for a glory that could propel her to eternal power. He snorted, he did not intend to grant her that wish, but it could not hurt to play upon her hunger.

"It is time," he said to the witch, mentally. "Convince Skeletor that an attack Eternos City will divide the heroes ranks. While he is distracted, go to the fields of Greyskull, and use your energy to summon me. There is a power that is growing… its energy will help you break through this barrier."

"I felt it myself, Skeletor was a little worked up because of it. There's even been some action felt near Point Dread." Her voice felt like smooth velvet to his hears, which cased him to smile. He knew when a woman was trying to seduce him. He knew what it was to seduce… he'd have millennia to master it, and that was before he'd been trapped in this realm. All the same, her revelation that the supposedly dead volcano had come to life yet again was all the more reason he knew that it was time to make a power play.

"Can you pull it off?" he taunted.

"You forget who you are asking," she snapped, hurt a little. "Of course I can."

Hordak smirked. Such a woman… it was a shame that when the war was over he'd probably have her tossed into the Slime Pit. Ah, well. "Then do it." Time was finally on his side, just as he knew it was. He was eternal, of that he knew. And soon he was going to become a god. People would rise him to glory, and whatever this power source was that was freeing him at long last, would be the instrument of his revenge.

Well this was a fun chapter! And a long one! I am looking forward to this series. Please do know I am a slow writer and I have a lot on my plate offline, so don't expect updates fast. But if you stick with me, I think you will be satisfied! Okay then, here's to an exciting ride!