Hi everyone! This is my first attempt at doing this, so apologies for any errors.

I've always liked the idea of switching the main and side characters in an established universe and letting the often nameless supporting roles have their moment in the limelight.

So here it is – the story of Jarik, a veteran of the Royal Guard, played out amidst a clash of good and evil.

Chapter One

"Throw down, damn you!"

Jarik eyed his opponent carefully and knew he had no other choice. His years of experience as a royal guard had put him in this position more than once, and he knew what he had to do. Stalling for time was merely delaying the inevitable. With a clenched fist, he prepared to make his move.

"I said, throw down!"

Jarik closed his eyes, and opened his fist, letting the pair of die he was holding clatter on to the table.

"Flower of Mercy and a Tarnished blade! I win again!" came the mocking shout from his opponent.

Jarik opened his eyes and looked at the two small hieroglyphs that had signalled his defeat.

"I don't know why I play Two-die Champion with you, Dacker" Jarik smiled courteously at his opponent. "You always beat me."

Dacker returned the smile and picked up his ten sided die. "Because on cold nights out here in the Evergreen Forest, there is little else to do," he suggested.

"That's probably true," Jarik grinned, scratching at the edge of his grey moustache which had barely even been a sprinkling of fluff back when he had started his training to be a Royal Guard. Dacker on the other hand was still young and built like the back side of Grayskull itself, almost as wide as he was tall, with muscles that – if only in appearance – rivalled any of the Masters of the Universe.

Jarik, whilst still well built and strong as an ox, was more slender, especially as he grew older.

Sure, he could still match most of the younger recruits in tests of strength and speed, but he knew that the best of his days were fast moving behind him.

Reaching for his pike-staff, he stood and nodded at Dacker. "I'm going to patrol the tower. I could do with stretching my legs."

Dacker stretched uncomfortably within the confines of his armour and took a log from the pile to place on the fire. "Send Ray down here, I could do with another opponent," he said as Jarik scooped his long grey ponytail on top of his head and pulled his blue-grey helmet on. He grunted a reply as he started his ascent of the stone staircase that spiralled around the inside of the watchtower they were guarding.

He had counted eighty-five steps in an ever decreasing circle around the inner wall when he reached the door at the top of the tower and the cold air hit him like a spiked club as he emerged onto the ramparts. He immediately missed the warmth of the fire he had left behind as he closed the door behind him.

All around the tower, as far as the eye could see the evergreen forest sparkled with frost under the light of the full moon, and somewhere in the distance the call of an owl sounded against the still night air.

"Take a break, Ray-Dun." Jarik said as he approached the guard from behind. His words became a small cloud of fog that hug in the air as he spoke, and he frowned at the guard who stood unmoving at his post. "Go warm yourself by the fire," he insisted warmly. "I'll take over here."

Ray-Dun, one of the few guards who had served as long as Jarik remained still, pike-staff held at his shoulder, seemingly staring out into the distance.

"Ray, what's the matter with you? Stand down. I have the tower. Go warm yourself." Jarik said, drawing closer. "Ray, can you hear me, old frien—"

Jarik's words froze in the air as he drew close enough to see that Ray-Dun's bulky fur-lined armour sparkled with frost, and as he hurried to his friend's side he could see the man inside it was barely a dry husk of the person he had been, his face contorted into a burned look of sudden horror.

"What in all of Eternos?" Jarik cried, reaching out to help his friend, who crumbled to dust under his touch. "Dacker! Dacker get up here!" he called out as the sound of hollow armour falling onto the stone floor echoed into the night.

Armed and ready for action, Dacker launched himself through the door and onto the ramparts just seconds later, ready to face whatever threat Jarik had seen.

"Look!" Jarik said, kneeling down to inspect the dust-filled armour that sparkled in the moonlight.

"What the—" Dacker's breathless words were cut off by a howl that sounded like it belonged to both man and machine combined that filled the air around them, sending an icy shiver down Jarik's spine.

In the distance, the treetops shifted and swayed, and one look with his Thermo-scope was all Jarik needed to see where the howl had come from.

"Look! To the east!" he said, prompting Decker to follow his gaze. As the tree tops moved aside, they could see the top of a monstrous robotic form, almost as tall as the trees themselves making its way through the forest. With another howl, a shoulder cannon rose into place, and a bolt of intense white energy was fired with an eerie silence at a startled flock of birds which turned to dust and fell from the sky under its deathly touch.

"We should inform the Masters," Dacker said urgently. "You are faster than me, Jarik. Take a Sky-Sled. I have watch on the tower. Go!"

Without another word, Jarik launched himself down the spiral staircase so fast that he barely kept his balance as his boots smashed against the wide stone steps. He charged through the ground floor of the tower and out of the door to the clearing where three Sky-Sled had been landed.

The flying machines were each no longer than he was tall, and – as they were designed as an aerial assault vehicle - were little more than a flying energy blaster below a falcon-like figurehead strapped to a turbine, with a seat to perch on and hand grips to control the throttle whilst your own body-weight steered the craft.

Although delicate in their controls, and easy to over-manoeuvre, they were the first aerial vehicle you learned to fly as a trainee, with only a few of the more skilled pilots going on to learn how to handle the much larger and much faster Wind-Raiders.

Jarik was one of those few, and knew that a Wind-Raider would get him to the palace a whole lot faster than the compact flying gun he had in front of him. But it was all he had, and without missing a step, he jumped onto the nearest machine.

Two pushes of the right-hand footplate roared the turbine into life, and a squeeze of the throttle launched the machine into the air almost immediately.

Jarik leaned to his right and banked sharply as he rose above the trees in the direction of the Royal Palace without looking back.

The roar of the creature broke through the air once more, audible even over the roar of the Sky-Sled's turbine engine that howled and whistled as it accelerated.

Ignoring the needle-sharp pain of the icy wind against his skin, Jarik flew harder than he had for many many years, all the while hoping that the creature hadn't turned back to the tower where Dacker now stood alone.