Chapter 7: The Rediscovery of Castle Grayskull
Following the realization of the Horde's return, the leaders of Eternos took serious action to mobilize their defense forces. Randor was quickly instated as King, and one of his leading battle comrades, Duncan, a skilled warrior and inventor, was promoted to the position of Man-At-Arms and given the command of the Royal forces. Together they defended the city from numerous attacks, from the Horde and other warlords. Xazrog and the Horde were undoubtedly the strongest of all the evil forces, and much of Eternos City was destroyed in the battles. It was clear that Xazrog's forces would take over Eternia in no time, at this rate, as Randor's forces began to weaken and diminish in number.
As Xazrog conquered more and more kingdoms across Eternia, the regular warlords on the planet began to weaken, their forces nowhere near as strong as the Horde. A major turning point in the Great Unrest occurred when a strange young scientist named Galen Nycroft, who had trained at the City of Lights under his mentor Sortech, bribed the warlord Prahvus into stealing a powerful device called the Ergon. The City of Lights was the epicenter of Eternia's technology, a great city of machinic complexes and advanced industry in which many of Eternia's technological advances were instigated. Sortech was the city's leader and its most skilled scientist, and the Ergon was his greatest invention- a special device that could provide Eternia with unlimited technological power. Nycroft, who had a brilliant mind but was also overly ambitious and excitable, felt mistreated by Sortech, who considered his inventions and desires to be born of insanity rather than genius. To overcome his master and lead the City of Lights himself, Nycroft seduced Prahvus into stealing the Ergon from Sortech, promising to aid him as master scientist if he helped him kill Sortech. By this point, with the strength of the Horde rapidly increasing, Prahvus had formed an alliance with various other warlords to complete his conquest. Together with his allies, Prahvus was beamed by Nycroft to the City of Lights, where he seized the Ergon, overpowered Sortech, and with Nycroft's help created deadly machinery with incredible power, which he set upon the Eternians. But this newfound boost to the warlords' strength did not last long, for the events at the City of Lights caught the attention of Xazrog, who stormed upon the city with his Horde. Xazrog now had a whole host of robotic Troopers at his command, along with numerous powerful machines and vehicles, exceeding that within the City of Lights. Technological chaos ensued with Xazrog's attack, until the City of Lights was engulfed by a massive explosion, destroying most of its buildings and machinery, as well as many of the warlords themselves. The Ergon was lost in the explosion, and Nycroft fled the city.
With most of the warlords now defeated, things were made much easier for Xazrog and the Horde, as now they had only Randor's forces to worry about. And while Randor's forces were strong and possessed much magic and technology of their own, they could not maintain their strength against the Horde for long and would undoubtedly be defeated soon. Keldor struck a deal with Xazrog that he would rule from the throne of Eternos while Xazrog sought out Castle Grayskull, which would be all Xazrog's once it was found. But while he feigned disinterest in Grayskull, Keldor knew that once the great castle was uncovered, he would rise above Xazrog and take it for himself. Xazrog continued to conquer numerous kingdoms across the planet, and it looked as though Eternia was about to collapse under the rule of evil for the first time in centuries.
Randor kept calm on the exterior, but inside, was fraught with concern over the planet's future. Amidst all the chaos he was already causing, Xazrog was sure to bring the dreaded Prime himself into the battle before long- what kind of destruction could result at the intervention of the God? Recalling the legends of the Ancients, Randor knew there was only one hope for Eternia- Castle Grayskull. But Grayskull had long since vanished into the realms of legend, and no-one knew of its whereabouts- for all they knew, it may no longer be standing.
But as the battle raged across Eternia, a courageous young peasant girl, from a small village in one of Xazrog's kingdoms, took it upon herself to find the ancient fortress of mystery and power. Her name was Teelina. Shortly before the Great Unrest began, Teelina had married a great soldier, who had left home to fight in the war. Since he had left, she had given birth to a daughter, whom she named Teela, but had been unable to tell her husband the good news while he was away fighting. Teelina was subject to daily torture at the hands of the Horde, to the point where she would endure it no longer, and decided that she must take action herself to put a stop to this mayhem. She recalled the ancient legends of the great battles of the Elders of Eternia and the power of Grayskull, which had defeated the Horde when they had last invaded Eternia, thousands of centuries ago. She knew that Castle Grayskull could be Eternia's only hope. So she bade farewell to the people of her village, and set out, with Teela, into the great wide open, to find the fortress with the power to save Eternia.
Teelina's journey was long and difficult, for no-one knew the whereabouts of Grayskull, it was not marked on any map, and many people believed it was nothing more than a legend. She had to stop from time to time in towns and cities, and beg for money on the streets. She had to sleep rough night after night, except on the occasional fortuitous evening on which a hotel owner would allow her to sleep for free in his lodgings. All that kept her alive throughout this time was her anger at what Xazrog's forces were doing to her world, along with her determination to save her daughter, her husband, and her planet.
After weeks of traveling without finding Castle Grayskull, she began to wonder if she would ever locate the castle- but she could not simply give in. She kept on traveling, until one day- when she met a strange old man. She came across this man purely by accident, when traveling across a long, rocky path. The elderly man, dressed in brown robes and carrying a wooden stick, stopped her and asked where she was heading. She told him her destination, and the reasons for her determination to find Grayskull. And barely had she spoken- when the man told her the exact directions to Grayskull, and wished her luck, before going his separate way. Even to this day, Teelina does not know who the man was- but she could not be more thankful to him, as when she followed his directions, she found herself staring up at the wondrous, striking and colossal structure of Castle Grayskull.
Now she was faced with the problem of entering the castle. Was it even possible, with the Jaw Bridge raised so high, and the path blocked by the huge and deep abyss? Her journey would be even more tragic if she were to find she had traveled all this way only to find there was no entry into the castle. But she did not worry for long- as all of a sudden, a gentle and friendly female voice emitted from somewhere within the castle. It assured her that her journey had not been in vain, and welcomed her inside. Then, for the first time in centuries, the Jaw Bridge lowered, opening the way inside. The voice then warned Teelina that if she were to enter Castle Grayskull, she may never be the same again. At first she hesitated, but then she realized she did not want to be the same again- she wanted to be free from poverty and war. Carrying Teela in her arms, she walked over the Jaw Bridge and inside the great castle. She entered the throne room of the castle, where she saw a middle-aged woman sitting atop the throne, dressed in a falcon headdress, with wings attached to her back. The woman told her that her name was Kodak Ungor, and she was a descendant of the Elders of Eternia, the mantle of Sorceress of Grayskull having been passed down her family for generations. She explained that she was aware of the chaos spreading throughout Eternia, and was ready to take action. But she had been the guardian of the castle for many years, and her duty as Sorceress had almost expired. It was time for her to find a successor to bring the power of Grayskull into the war against the Horde. She felt that the ideal person to succeed her as Sorceress was none other than Teelina herself.
Teelina had proven her bravery, strength and dedication to goodness through the enormous effort she had undertaken for the sake of finding the castle to save her world. She was a true heroine. Kodak Ungor offered her the position of Sorceress of Grayskull- but warned her that if she were to take the role, she would be consigned to remaining in solitude in the castle to permanently guard its secrets and powers, and would thus be alienated from mortal life. Teelina accepted the offer nevertheless- she would stop at no lengths to save Eternia.
So Kodak Ungor took Teela from her and laid her by the steps of the throne- then she called upon the Elders of Eternia. Their spirits appeared, surrounding Teelina, in the center of the throne room. Keclar and his accomplices combined their magic powers, and forced them upon Teelina. Her mind was filled with all the sacred knowledge of Grayskul- and when the Elders had finished, Teelina emerged from the circle in the form of a falcon. This was Zoar, the falcon of force, the form which Teelina would use to scout Eternia.
She spread out her wings, and transformed back to Teelina- and then Kodak Ungor cast a spell, and the falcon costume vanished from her body and onto Teelina's. Teelina had never felt so strong before. Kodak told her that she was now the most powerful being on all Eternia, and her magic would enable her to remain eternally young- she could appear as old or as young as she wanted to. Immediately after becoming Sorceress, Teelina prepared to mobilize the power of Grayskull to aid Randor and his soldiers in their battles against the Horde. She traveled to Eternos City, where she revealed herself to King Randor, and declared her alliance to himself and his forces. Together, Randor and The Sorceress used their combined powers against Xazrog's forces in battle, and achieved a strong victory, taking many of the evil soldiers prisoner. The power of Grayskull had provided an enormous boost to the forces of good, and they were now almost evenly matched against the Horde.
However, shortly afterwards, The Sorceress received the news that her husband had been killed in the war, at the hands of Xazrog's forces. This saddened her greatly, for not only would she never be reunited with her husband, but he had died without ever having known of the birth of their daughter. The Sorceress knew she could not look after Teela on her own when she had the responsibility of guarding Grayskull, so she gave Teela to Duncan, the royal Man-At-Arms, to raise as his own daughter. She had heard of Duncan long before her husband had left her to fight in the war, as her husband himself had trained alongside him, and brought back tales of Duncan's nobility and goodness. Whilst fighting alongside Duncan herself, she had quickly developed a strong bond of friendship with him, and grown to respect him as highly as her husband had. He was the ideal man to raise her daughter.
The Horde had suffered a massive setback with the intervention of The Sorceress in the war, and Randor's forces were finally given a breathing space. Randor took this opportunity to marry his great scientist and warrior, Marlena. In the midst of the battles, the two had fallen in love, and Marlena was now pregnant. This brief period of relative calm was the perfect time for them to marry, so they could fulfill their bond before the Horde had the chance to defeat them.
But unbeknownst to the forces of good, an even greater evil was already brewing on Eternia. It was during this brief period of calm that this evil came into full force. And this great evil concerned none other than Teelina's husband... who was not dead at all. In fact, something far more sinister had happened to him.