Chapter Two: "The Prophecy"


As ambassadors and emissaries came from afar to Brightmoon Kingdom, a light fog settled on the Whispering Woods. The world was still in the throes of adjustment. When the darkness had overcome the world, it was early winter. Now, it was late spring.

It was in regards to this business did a woman arrive in the Whispering Woods. She was tall and well-built. Her skin was not that of flesh, but was grass. Huge leaves were her hair. The woman's name was Ferna, the guardian of the plants.

"Ferna!" shouted Perfuma when the woman arrived.

Perfuma had been speaking with Moss Man and the Woodsman before Ferna arrived.

"Who?" asked the Woodsman.

"I don't know."

"I wouldn't think you would," Ferna said. "Despite you being my Eternian counterpart. As you were given the task by Skytree to serve as guardian to the Eternian plants, as was I given the same basic mission for Etheria. There are some differences, but generally, you are my equivalent."

"I see," Moss Man replied, a little surprised.

"I'm a little confused," confessed Woodsman. "I assumed Perfuma was the Etherian guardian."

"You assumed wrong, sapling," Ferna chided.

"I'm merely a beautician. I help Ferna."

"And now, child, I will need your help once more. The plants need to adjust to the world as it is."

"Of course!"

Perfuma and Ferna rushed off deeper into the Whispering Woods. In their wake, Woodsman and Moss Man looked at each other.

"Fascinating," Moss Man regarded.

"No kidding."


Adora waited in the darkness of the Crystal Castle. Evening had come and night was soon to arrive. Outside and below, emissaries from all sorts of kingdoms were arriving in Brightmoon to learn what had happened to their world. That task was up to Glimmer, as Angella was still recovering from her extensive injuries. Far off on Unicorn Island, Swift-Wind was being reunited with his son and mate.

The Queen of Eternos sat and waited in the main chamber of the Crystal Castle, where she had spent most of the past five years. Despite her overwhelming joy at the restoration of Etheria, the lack of Light-Hope's presence troubled her. He was the reason the darkness was gone and even though he had warned her that it may just be the end of him, she had held out to the hope that he would be returning.

There had been times during her prolonged stay here that Light-Hope had gone missing, but even then, he was simply in the deep underground chambers. Adora explored them when she came here – and he wasn't there.

It was at that moment, the doors to the Crystal Castle came flying open. Glimmer walked in with Bow and Castaspella behind her. Laid out on a floating board was Queen Angella.

"Glimmer? What is going?" asked Adora, a little upset to find them barging right in.

"It's my mother," Glimmer told her. "She's not getting any better. We need that fish we found deep in Skydancer Mountain!"

Adora nodded. "I will fetch it. Remain here."


Just as far above did the doors to the Crystal Castle open, but so below did the doors of the Dark Palace. Skeletor walked into the chamber that was home to Dark-Hope, the evil counter-part of Light-Hope. Behind Skeletor came Shadow-Weaver, who had told Skeletor of the location of this place. She immediately began to pick up the pieces of the tablet that had – almost six years ago now – been shattered.

Within twenty minutes, all of the pieces had been reassembled. Skeletor tapped each one of the pieces with the Sword of Darkness. The pieces all came together, fitting perfectly in their correct positions.

Skeletor read off the words on the tablet, the incantation at work. Sigils that stood around a small circle on the ground began to light up. The circle then lit up with green energy. Then, with a noise like thunder, a shaft of pure black smoke roared up from the circle. A pulsing red light could be seen in the heart of the smoke. Dark-Hope had awakened.

"Has my time come? I sense great evil washed over this world . . ." Dark-Hope hissed.

"Indeed it has," Skeletor said. "I have come to release you, great Dark-Hope. But first, I have a question for you."

"Ask it," Dark-Hope responded.

"You defeat Light-Hope . . . then what happens?"

"The power of good of this world feeds into me."

"And what of Eternia?"

"I care nothing for that world."

Skeletor did his best impression of a smile and turned to Shadow Weaver. "She shall be your avatar."

"So be it."

Skeletor walked to the edge of the chamber and looked back briefly as Shadow Weaver stepped into Dark-Hope's 'body.' Another plan set in motion. Etheria would fall to Dark-Hope, leaving the Great Rebellion and – hopefully – She-Ra out of commission. The allies of Eternos would dwindle, allowing Skeletor's ultimate goal to be even easier to reach.

He had been plotting and planning since he returned from his exile. Did He-Man have even the slightest inkling that he had returned? Did the fool know that his mortal nemesis again walked this world that they have warred across for so very long?

Skeletor returned to his ship. As he activated the controls and turned on the cloaking device, he laughed as he heard energy roaring from Dark Palace.


"Adam!"

The king of Eternos turned from Mekaneck and U-R and faced SeaHawk. His association with the pirate had always been rather brief. Adam only really knew Hawk from the quest against the Spirit of Evil, when he had been a quite bit of help in not only the restoration of Eternia, but in the protection of She-Ra. They had met again briefly during the battle against Hordak a few years ago; and he was Adora's date to Adam's engagement party.

Beyond that, however, the two were not the closets of associates. Adam had of course supported the relationship between Adora and Hawk, but what did he really know about the man?

"Hey SeaHawk. How is everyone?"

"The crew is shaken, but managing quite well," SeaHawk answered. "Listen, I need to talk to you."

"Oh yeah? What about?"

"Your sister. Adora."

Adam nodded. "I figured. Why? What's up?"

"I plan . . ." He paused, then grunted a little. "I plan on proposing to her. Marriage."

Adam's jaw fell open. "What? Really?"

"Yeah . . . yes. I love her, Adam. I really do. I've loved her as Adora and She-Ra. She's the one I want to be with."

Adam looked at SeaHawk, his mind reeling. "Okay. Well . . . uh . . . a few things, Hawk. First off, fantastic. Really. I mean that. Adora really does love you and it's great that you want to marry her. I'm absolutely certain she'll say yes."

"Good," SeaHawk replied, smiling.

"But there's, well, I can't believe I'm going to say this, there's an issue . . ."

"The whole 'royal' thing, right?"

"Right," Adam replied. He paused, a few random thoughts buzzing around his brain. "You'll have to be made King. You would have authority, although you'd come in last over the interior kingdom. There's a lot of protocol here."

SeaHawk sat down on a nearby rock. Adam sat down across from him on another rock. "What kind of protocol?"

"As of right now, Adora and I are jointly in command of all Eternos. My uncle and aunt control the western and northern portions of Eternos, though we have absolute authority over them. If you and Adora marry, the chain of authority over the entire kingdom – including my uncle and aunt – would put you above the rest of my family. However, there are challenges involved. Technically, Aunt Johanna can challenge your authority if this were to happen because you are not a blood relative. On top of that, my parents can usurp us all. And beyond that, my grandfather can remove us all from the throne."

"Wow."

"Yeah. See, it's complicated. A lot of it goes back to more feudal times of my family. Luckily, we don't have any of that anymore. Listen, the Royal Council and all them can fill you in on it after you propose . . ."

SeaHawk nodded a little. "Yeah, that's another thing I wanted to talk to you about. How does the Eternian wedding proposal go?"

"You're not going to go the Etherian route?"

"Nope. There's no set way."

"Well, okay. The Eternian way is simple. You just need two ribbons."

"What color?"

"Red for her, blue for you. It's all about binding yourself to your loved one."

"Sounds kinky."

"It's not."
"Oh. Okay, well, ribbons . . . then what?"

"Then you propose. If she says 'yes,' then you both wear the ribbons."

"Sounds simple enough."

"It mostly is."

"Then what?"

"Okay, then - "

Adam's sentence was interrupted quite abruptly by the sound of thunder. An intense wind came over them. Both of them looked up and saw a mountain of black clouds forming over the Whispering Woods and making for Brightmoon. Immediately, Adam could feel an intense darkness and evil about it all.

"Where did that come from?"

At that moment, as many people around took shelter in the castle, Ferna and Perfuma appeared.

"There's terrible danger!" shouted Perfuma.

"The plants, they're screaming out for help! That is no storm!" Ferna followed up.

Adam pulled out the Sword of Power. "Dark-Hope."