Chapter 1

A biting wind threw hard ice-flakes at Teela's rosy face.

Ahead of her, and indeed around her, rose the peaks of the South Polar Cap. It was a maze of blue and green islands, floating in the lapping waters, ever changing as the winters froze them together and the summers melted them. Sun and wind and water sharpened the peaks into razors, and she had to navigate carefully lest she'd be tricked by the soft-looking snow.

The wind had picked up. Dark clouds covered the sky, not letting a ray of sunlight through and turning the world steel gray. The snow that fell was not the angel-looking wads that would fall on a cozy winter morning, but little sharp discs of jagged steel that felt like they could slice the skin open. So far they were still few, surfing down from the clouds on strong gusts, but the young warrior could see the heavy clouds would soon burst open like over-stuffed pillows. Her skin had started sporting goosebumps an hour back, when she had neared the mountains that marked the southern end of the Great Continent, but she had shrugged the discomfort off as a mere annoyance, testing herself to see how much she could stand. It was only the last ten minutes, as she flew over the trench of water south of the mountains, that the chill had become stronger, announcing her drawing close to her final destination.

Now, Teela finally admitted defeat and started to check for a place to land.

Adam had told her that when He-Man and Stratos had visited the North Polar Cap and first met the Kulataks they hadn't worn much more than their loincloths. Teela had believed she could stand the same temperatures just as well, but born and raised on the tropical Fertile Plains she now realized she had been naive. Too late had she realized that Stratos' feathers had protected him well from the cold, and He-Man had according to eyewitnesses been outfitted with another armor – small, but no doubt imbued with magic that kept him warm. Teela had neither of those possibilities, and she was thankful her father had known better.

"You're crazy." he had said while she prepared the wind raider on the palace courtyard. "You have no idea how much you are underestimating the cold."

"I'll be fine, Father." she had reassured. "It's just a short trip, and you have trained me well for temperature shifts."

"That sort of training won't help you in extreme areas such as the polar regions. You must take some warm clothes with you."

She had relented, if just to put his mind at ease. But once again she had come to realize how much she had overestimated her training. Thankfully it was a minor if embarrassing mistake.

The sensors on the instrument panel were beeping occasionally, adjusting the heating in the seats and calculating the balance to handle the frigid winds. The radar showed a few blips – lifeforms, whatever lived here. Fish, she supposed, but the Masters had discussed the possibility that intelligent life may live down here in the south as well.

For the longest time, the people of Eternia had believed both polar caps were vacant of life. After all, what could survive in such harsh, cold climates? No greenery could grow here, no herbivores could graze and no predators could hunt. The discovery of the Kulataks had turned every academic mind upside-down. While the Kulataks were careful to maintain their own ways and traditions, they realized they were no-longer protected by obscurity, and they were ill-equipped to face the dangers of Eternia with what limited knowledge they had of the rest of the world. Trade lines had been swiftly established, supplying the Kulataks with technology, information and to form alliances, and supplied Eternia with precious eternium – the strongest alloy in the world. Man-At-Arms was still exploring its full capacities, and the Kulatak warriors and sages bolstered the defenses of this world.

So it was inevitable that eyes would turn south as well, to the Southern Polar Cap. No doubt their enemies were eyeing any possibilities that could be found here, so the Masters had to act first. And Teela had immediately volunteered.

This would be an excellent opportunity for practice, she thought. The sensors her father had installed in the wind raider could detect life forms and raw materials, and the thought of the challenges she would have to overcome to reach and examine them sent prickles of anticipation through her chest. She doubted she would find another lost civilization, but if she did she trusted she had observed enough court meetings and visiting ambassadors to guide her through. And she had her trusted staff attached to her belt.

But it was blasted difficult to find a good place to land. She had expected all this to be a difficult experience, yes, but she had … kind of imagined the difficulties would begin after she had landed. But wherever she looked there were only slopes and edges. The wind made her shiver, her bare arms were beginning to sting, and she had to snivel now to keep the snot from running.

Aha! There, in front of her!

A shape of a darker gray than the surroundings grew out of the mist. Another iceberg, she assumed a first, but this one became far larger than any of the others: No ends could be seen, the fog curtained its mass. It towered above her as she flew closer, a massive gray wall with horizontal cracks.

With some effort, the young warrior managed to find a flat outcrop sticking out from the wall which could fit her wind raider and landed. She left the engines running – she was only getting dressed before she continued. The sensors kept beeping, with a blip, blip, on the radar that indicated there was an animal nearby. She jumped out of the vehicle and almost immediately slipped on the ice, but caught herself by bracing against the raider.

First lesson, she thought to herself, grinning, Mind your step!

With a firm grip on the wind raider to support herself she stepped over to the backseat, and dug for her extra clothes. Leggings, shirts and a coat, gloves and socks and more and more, all manner of protection, all of it carefully picked out by Man-At-Arms. Now she just had to make sure the fabrics weren't blown out of her hands while she …

SNAP!

Startled she looked down.

A large crack had formed under the vehicle.

It was too heavy.

Immediately she dropped the clothes and threw herself to the front seat, but too late. The ice cracked and crumbled into pieces under her feet, and the wind raider fell.

The water was too close. The only thing Teela could do was change target and she hurled herself the other way. She managed to grab what was left of the ice shelf, the cold, sharp edge cut her almost to the bone as her hands slid and she gasped, but she had enough presence of mind to endure the sting and not let go. A large splash spat droplets at her bare thighs, and glancing down over her shoulder she saw the vehicle quickly vanish into the dark waters.

Clenching her teeth she pulled herself up with some effort, leaving bloody smears on the ice shelf.

The snow seeped into her boots, making them soaking wet and turning her feet into two blocks of ice. She balled her bleeding fists and crossed her arms, trying to keep the warmth in her body. The wind bothered her even more now than it had on the wind raider, because now it had turned from an annoyance into a catastrophe. Her far too short white dress slapped around her, the whirling ice flakes cut her bare skin. The metal in her jewelries pained her as they drank the cold.

She was lost.

The Eternian South Polar Cap was desolate and perhaps life-less. Her vehicle had plummet into the deep, taking with it her clothes, her rations and her communicator – her only life-line to the rest of Eternia. She had only a vague sense of where exactly she was, and she was stuck on this iceberg, with a wall behind her and the sea in front of her.

She tried to think, forced her panic down with a great deal of iron-will. Shelter and fuel to make a fire, that's what she needed. She looked around. The iceberg had calved some time in the past: A portion of the upper part of the wall had fallen off and left a thin path that she could follow. Hoping against hope she prayed she would find a cave where she could wait for her friends to get worried and start looking for her. She doubted she could survive that long, but what choice did she have?

I will survive this, she thought firmly, trying keep her breathing calm, but the sharp, hard air was almost impossible draw into her lungs.

She started to hack teeth, and shivered out of control. She wanted to curl up and into herself, her iron-will starting to slip. The cold was painful in a way she had never been able to imagine. It was like a thousand needles were attacking her. She tried desperately to remember her training in what to do when the temperature dropped, but it was as her father had said – it was practically useless out here. In the battle of the elements versus her own will, the weather won.

"A wrap around your neck does as much good as another shirt. The blood vessels are close to the skin in your neck, and will lead warm blood to the rest of your body." she suddenly remembered her father teaching her.

She wrapped her long hair around her neck, using it as a scarf, and tried to see where she was heading. The iceberg loomed on her right side, high walls where snow got stuck and the wind battered. Occasionally lumps of snow would fall from somewhere high and land behind and in front of her, and here and there the path was cracked, forcing her to jump over cuts, or climb over a slippery boulder. It wound with a slight upward tilt, and more than once did she slip and for a few pounding heartbeats slid backwards, before getting a new grip, hands bracing against the wall, and could continue.

Around the corner, she thought to herself. Or the next one. A cave, a crack ... anything I can find.

Deep thoughts shielded her mind from anything that could make her despair. Step after step she trudged on, checking ahead occasionally to make sure the path was not cut off, and the rest of the time watching where she put her feet.

Suddenly, she stopped.

There were footprints in front of her!

They were fresh; with the falling snow she estimated they had been made only a few minutes ago. They were human feet, boot-clad and larger than her own. A man's foot? He had walked around here for a moment, the tracks went back and forth and crossed each other. But the excitement was enough to make Teela momentarily forget her freezing. What luck! Perhaps it was an explorer, or maybe someone was actually living here? She crouched and examined the tracks until she found the ones leading away. They led upwards, following the ledge which now went fairly steeply up along the ice wall. She had to thread carefully, the strong wind howled and rolled against the cliffs and tried to throw her off. It leveled out ahead, and she started to move faster. The tracks were hard to see like this, but they had rounded a corner around a cliff.

She came up, but in her eagerness she slipped.

Her numb body reacted too late. Her feet couldn't get a new grip, her arms flailed, and she toppled over the edge. She gasped, lungs filling with cold air …

… And a large shadow moved behind her and suddenly there was a vice grip on her arm. A figure draped in thick bearskins caught her, and dragged her back on the ice. Feet on the steady ground, Teela drew a shaky breath, trying to still her heart, and looked up to thank the stranger. But he had already released her and was heading into … into a high, broad crack in the ice.

A cave!

"Wait!" Teela called and hurried after the stranger. Her legs trembled violently and she collapsed just a few steps into the cave. Her knees hurt as they bruised on the hard ice floor, and she shook the bangs out of her eyes. She was usually not this clumsy ... She was loosing motor functions.

The stranger ignored her. Large backpacks lay on the floor, and a vehicle was parked nearby, covered with an anti-freeze sheet. The stranger bent over the packs and started to pick with something.

"Ah … Th-thank you f-for saving me." Teela said and wrapped her arms around her again. ""My vehi-hicle is destroyed, and I-I've lost my p-provisions, my c-c-c-communicator and my c-clothes. C-can you give m-me a ride o-out of h-here?"

The stranger stood up again, seemed to think for a moment, then turned towards Teela while felling down his hood.

"You shouldn't thank me just yet." Tri-Klops said.