I don't own He-Man. This is an AU and I warn that this story will be dark and is the reason why I am giving this an MA rating for its violence and character deaths.
Chapter One- The Spell
Skeletor chuckled evilly as he tapped a page in a spell book. "This spell is perfect, Evil-Lyn," he said to the dark sorceress who was the only one in the Throne Room of Snake Mountain. "The only question is who to use it on."
"Why not He-Man?" Evil-Lyn suggested. "A spell that increases in strength and gradually turns the victim evil. Surely even He-Man would succumb to it."
"I disagree. He would most likely be able to find a way to break it. But that does give me an idea: Prince Adam."
"Yes." Evil-Lyn smiled. "Perfect, Skeletor. With Adam under your control, Eternia will be yours."
"Yours as well, Evil-Lyn. I intend to have you as my queen."
"I am honored."
Skeletor turned to his view screen and waved a hand over it, activating it and focusing on locating Adam. His search wasn't long: The magic of the view screen quickly showed the Evergreen Forest and Adam walking through it, alone. The image faded and Skeletor laughed. "Excellent. He's alone in the Evergreen Forest. Now is the time to cast the spell." Skeletor raised his Havoc Staff and in a flash of lightning, he vanished from Snake Mountain…
…and reappeared behind a tree where he watched Adam come closer, unaware of an ambush. A bit closer, he thought. Closer…now! He stepped out in front of Adam, who paused in his tracks and his body tensed slightly. "Skeletor," he said in a tone of surprise and alarm. Adam took a few steps back before he turned and ran, intending to find a safe place to transform into He-Man before facing Skeletor. He had only gone a few paces before he felt a beam hit him in the back. He cried out at the hit and whirled around to demand an answer, but the villain had disappeared.
He ran a hand over his back, but felt nothing unusual. It seems nothing happened. Does that mean that whatever it was supposed to do fail? Adam shook his head and decided to dismiss the incident as he headed for home.
Meanwhile, Skeletor reappeared in his Throne Room, Evil-Lyn still seated at the table. "It is done," he announced. "It will take a few days for it to be fully absorbed into Adam's body. Once it has, I will test its effectiveness; as in an appropriate test. Of course, I will keep an eye on Adam in order to find the perfect test."
Adam had forgotten his encounter with Skeletor by the following day. The evil villain was also being inactive in trying to conquer Eternia or capturing Castle Grayskull which meant that He-Man was not needed and Adam found himself spending his time with either his royal duties or his combat training with Teela. He decided to let a little of his true skills show so that Teela would be proud that all the training sessions was finally paying off. "Very good, Adam," she praised after Adam pulled off a surprise move that defeated her.
"Thanks, Teela. All those lessons finally paid off."
"They sure did." She raised her sword, ready to practice again and Adam did the same.
"Captain!"
Both prince and guard captain looked over as the lieutenant guard ran up to the pair. "What is it?" Teela asked.
"Captain, there are reports that some of Skeletor's robots are flying around near one of our mountain villages and are led by Beast Man."
"Scramble a squad lieutenant. I'll be right there." She turned to Adam as the guard hurried off. "I'm afraid we'll have to end our lesson for today."
"I understand. Go ahead, Teela." Once Teela was out of sight, Adam took off for the hanger, grabbed a Sky Sled and took off as fast as he could for the village. He planned to get there first, change to He-Man, and deal with the robots and Beast Man. I only hope the village hasn't been badly damaged already.
Skeletor laughed as he watched Adam fly toward the village. "The false report worked, Evil-Lyn. Your illusion spell made the villagers panic and alert the palace. I'll send Trap Jaw to delay Teela and some of the guard from getting to the village. Once Adam has landed, I'll trigger the spell I cast a few days ago. There's a network maze of caves not far from the village and I'll plant a suggestion in Adam's mind to head there after the attack and hide in the very back cave."
"Brilliant, Skeletor."
"Of course it is." Skeletor turned back to the view screen to watch the prince fly closer to the village. He saw Adam head for a row of rocks that blocked his view of the village and Skeletor thought, Excellent. Now to activate the spell. Adam…transform and terrorize the village. Afterwards, head to the network maze of caves situated to the north.
He watched as Adam stiffened and then sprouted a coat of brown fur all over his body, his feet formed into paws with extended claws while his legs bent into the shape of a wolf. A furry brown tail sprouted out of the base of his spine. His hands grew fur and each finger grew a sharp claw. A muzzle of sharp teeth grew out and a pair of pointed ears appeared on the top of his furry head. His eyes glowed red and he growled low in his throat before leaping over the rocks and charging into the village.
The view screen blinked off and Skeletor leaned back in his seat. "Now that he's transformed, Adam will follow my every command and once he's destroyed a few villages, the evil within him will start to grow."
"A wolf," Evil-Lyn said with surprise. "I wasn't aware the spell was to turn him into a wolf."
"Yes, a wolf; an evil one. It'll take time for Adam to become evil, but it will happen."
