I was never sure of Skeletor as a true villain. The man was purely driven by dreams of power true, but honestly he had little desire to actually crush Eternia beyond ruling it. He did not really care about anything than his own personal power. I took bits and pieces from the 80s and 200X series plus of course some other story arcs discussed by creators. Anna of course is all mine with the new Masters.

Agree or disagree, and I am happy to hear opinions, I took him where I wanted, and now of course I come to the homestretch of my story. Fate unfurls its tendrils on the Champions and the final truth will be revealed to the Masters. We will get there when we do, so this is not the end quite yet.

As always I do not own the universe of He-Man and the Masters, but I did attach a lot of my ideas to fun plot holes they left in the transmissions ;)

Eternos Palace - Throne Room

Orko could feel it getting worse. He had thrown all he could at the pervasive feeling draining not only magic, but actual life force from people. They had been getting tired and down no matter what he had done.

He had cast what spells he could here, but he had spread himself thin by sending She-Ra an enhancement spell to enlarge her and Battle Cat's effect. The result would be far less strain on the heroes for their battle, but would leave him weakened against the rest of attack around him. He was barely scraping even and knew the rest of Eternia would be worse.

He had lost his innate ability to float but was reclining on the throne to hide it.

I can't beat it, I really am at my limit. The thought was almost more depressing than the strain of Hordak's insidious magic. How was the blasted warlord even doing this? His magic was always powerful, but never on the level of say a God...

"By the Elders!" that was it! He felt his ears twitch as the adrenaline gave him a fresh surge of life. Serpos! That was how he was doing this! Nearly 1000 years bound within and the warlord had used the time well. Not only learning the magical nexus of Eternia to his own advantage, but enhancing his own skills by using all of Snake Mountain as a magnifier!

The magician really was feeling his age now. All he had done was find his way home to Trolla and enjoy life, his enemies had become insanely stronger and nearly destroyed the kind world of Adam and Grayskull.

Suddenly the whole world shifted. One moment Orko felt his magic straining against Hordak, then he shot up out of the throne as the pressure vanished.

No not vanished, it is just reduced, as if something of equal strength was pushing it back. The only force left on Eternia that could do that would be...ADAM! He immediately felt out but there was still only the faint sensation of Hordak, but now it was getting less and less. Why would it do that without something pushing it back?

The realization had the magician scrambling within his red robes for his new wand, relatively new. After all what was a few hundred years between wands? Working quickly he cast a spell he would never dream of doing bare handed, and a familiar swirling portal appeared in front of him. He was in such a hurry he made it a tad larger than planned.

The whole room froze as the image resolved and for a moment Orko thought he was looking at the past and not the present. The Well of Darkness was blazing in light, but not the light of lava or crimson, but a pillar of emerald energy was screaming from where the altar should have been. If it was still there he could not tell because a silhouette had resolved for him.

His eyes watered as tears formed. There was no mistaking that shape that stood in front of the magical fount. The sword upheld in his firm grip and blazing blue energy encircling him. If not for the present form of Hordak and his minions, Orko would have thought his senses addled.

The man looked up and again unlike he intended, the words were heard by all rather loudly.

"I HAVE THE POWER!" a full smile bloomed under his scarf and full blown laughter echoed in his high pitched voice back at him.

"Who is that?" the shocked voices echoed the same question and Orko was happy to oblige them. After a year of Grayskull and She-Ra the description had made the rounds again. The image grew and filled up with only the well muscled form of his oldest friend.

Blonde hair was close cropped to the skull as glacial eyes looked out of the pool. The nearly bare chested man was beyond well muscled, he was a walking mountain of tanned skin with only a cross of leather straps meeting the yellow backed red cross at the middle. Simple bracers matched the red furred boots and loin cloth. The recognition was immediate and the stunned looks of the whole room were something else to see.

It had been a long time since Orko had seen it, not since the last time at least, or when She-Ra returned. The name began as a whisper but it rose quickly into a roar, over and over and Orko finally felt the force fighting Hordak as the the warlord called his power to confront his old nemesis.

"He-Man...He-Man...HE-MAN!" The hope filled the room and Orko almost joined until his sharp eyes noticed something behind his old friend but chose not to recast the pool. His own eyes saw her.

She-Ra was collapsed behind He-Man and there was a rent in her bodice covered in blood, yet her stomach seemed whole. He knew from long experience only Grayskull could heal a Champion like that. Floating slowly backward he cast a quick spell to leave the pool up and then recalled his own magic for his next trick. He had not tried this in a few centuries.

Well of Darkness

It was flatly impossible. All the scenarios, all the possibilities he had played out, and certainly Skeletor himself was never in doubt, so how...how was this possible?! Hordak barely deflected a pathetic attack by the half alive Mystic Warrior. Even he could tell Zodac was fading even as he stood there, but it mattered little, the infernal ghost had achieved his goal.

That was not a spirit or half summoned golem, it was the blasted hero himself. The traitorous mage had somehow used the Talisman of Separation close to the intent Hordak himself intended, but instead of dispersing Grayskull as it would have if the sword had been used as a conduit by himself. What mystified him was where the power of Adam had come from, why was it still on Skeletor when it should have had no grip left at all?

Only the mage himself could done that. That selfish, greedy, and power mad mage had willingly held onto the burden of that power? It would have been crushing to someone like him, like acid in his veins, so how could he have held on?

"You just don't get it, do you Hordak?" the sweating form of Zodac was barely standing with his staff in his hands. He had not used an once of his power since that last burst after Leech was knocked clear. He could just see with his eyes the warrior was fading. Whatever force brought him back had not granted him the same life force he had given his old minions.

"What drivel are you spouting, you are done for and that pathetic hero is severely outnumbered, so please enlighten me on your wisdom of the ages," he sneered at the smirk beneath the fool's helm. Even with this turn of events he had planned for the worst. Even as they spoke he heard the cries of the rebels as they were crushed under his thralls. Wait, the tones had changed.

Whirling the warlord saw the impossible. Everywhere he looked the thralls were falling, their eyes dimming as his connection was weakened. Realizing far too late what He-Man had done, Hordak saw the confirmation as the emerald pillar continued to flow out of the Well of Darkness. The blasted hero had re-enacted his act of 1000 years ago. Even now it was shattering his control web that had spread over the whole of Eternia.

The laughter of the already dead warrior infuriated him even more!

"You fought so long and so hard for your goal, thinking of Skeletor as a tool, a tool that would not change or alter, but he was a man," Zodac stood tall on his own, seeming to relish every word. "What did you think, that She-Ra and Grayskull would just lock him away and ignore him?" Zodac suddenly had to hold his side as the laughter in creased. His complete lack of fear made Hordak's blood boil.

"And what could a pathetic girl child and that tiresome Sorceress possibly do to change that half dead mage?" he knew the depths of that man's ambitions. He had reveled in his tenure as the Emperor of Eternia. He had killed, conquered, and crushed without the slightest remorse. He had rifled through every corner of that skull and found only what he needed and no more.

"The key was the "pathetic girl" as you put it Hordak," Zodac seemed to find joy as his words hit home. Hordak tried to sneer off the comment but he saw it in his mind's eye, the Sword of Protection twirling in the air then slamming into She-Ra's gut. The look on Skeletor's face of rage and defiance to shock and something hard to see with just a skull, but it was almost as if he could now. Skeletor had cared about the girl! He wanted her to live!

"IMPOSSIBLE! He was the most selfish and power hungry mage and brought about the end of the Elders and fought Grayskull at every turn!" he denied the reality even as that infernal hero continued to channel his power into Eternia.

"Quite right Hordak. He was selfish, he was power hungry, but have you forgotten? He always sided against you!" Zodac advanced on him. Hordak backed up out of instinct as his own memories triggered. He remembered calling Skeletor so long ago, when He-Man had first appeared and tried to make the mage fulfill his end of the bargain that gave him his new life. Instead he had smashed his temple and forced him to go to Etheria.

His mind seemed to betray him as he remembered too late the very trap nearly 1100 years ago that he had tricked Skeletor into bringing both he and He-Man together in Snake Mountain right at the peak of the ritual on Etheria and bridge the two world forcibly. He had put his own ideals on the mage, but what if it was not just self preservation that had motivated him, but actual desire to...protect...this accursed planet?!

"At last Hordak you understand, it was in his own way and for his own reasons, but the blood of Grayskull always stood against you, Skeletor just had to remember he had the choice," Zodac waved his hand back to the impossible scene of the Well of Darkness now crawling in emerald light once again. "He was never a Champion, but he would do anything to achieve his goal. He chose to defeat you Hordak and in doing so followed that path knowing the consequences, Keldor was redeemed and you shall fall!"

Hordak finally rallied his rage and unleashed his full power at the Mystic Warrior. He never even raised his staff but smiled as the energy blasted him into particles. More of his army was falling as the emerald light began to visibly spread, snapping the connections to his thralls. He sneered at this turn of events but he was not done yet. There was no one between him and He-Man. The hero was far too busy fighting the mammoth battle of saving Eternia itself to defend his body. He would die again, and this time Hordak would make sure he could never return!

She-Ra felt like she was floating. Her body felt far away, yet she was still connected to it. Darkness had been closing in, but then she had felt something embrace her, it had been so warm and gentle and eventually light returned to her. She felt so tired, as if she had been on a marathon training session with the Sorceress, Pyth, and her Mother all at once.

Suddenly she felt pin pricks of pain in her back, as if something was poking her uncomfortably from behind, followed by the feeling of cool hands on her shoulders. The feeling increased, as did the feeling of weight to her body. The light was filling with shadows, but she realized it was the world coming into focus. With it came back her hearing.

"...She-Ra come on. He-Man needs you, Hordak is coming," she smiled at the wobbly voice of Orko. Always insisting he was never a Master, yet always where she needed him and doing the most brave acts. Adam had always said that Orko was perhaps the greatest hero of Eternia but no one, not even the magician, would believe it.

The feeling of pinpricks became the very rough feeling of stone and she realized not only was she alive, but intact. Orko was healing her more than Grayskull had, or perhaps Grayskull had done all it can just to pull her back from the brink. She saw the Sword of Protection next to her, covered in blood, her own. Instinct made her hand shoot to her abdomen, but while she found broken cloth and gold wire, her skin was whole.

Sighing with relief she stood up far too slowly. Orko floated next to her, still holding on and infusing strength into her. His words only now sunk in and she stared in awe in front of her.

A massive form she had seen only through a scrying pool once before now stood in the flesh. He was actually sweating and breathing, it was not just a spirit or magic manifest, and he held the Power Sword firmly in his tanned hands. The hilt was still twisted open and emerald light was flowing through it and over back of them into where the altar had been.

She instinctively knew it was not Skeletor transformed. Confirmed when she saw an ancient husk with a far too fresh yellowed skull not far from the neck near by her. She saw the right arm was upraised and knew part of what he had done. For reasons she could not name she smiled, the man that had brought so much suffering had saved them all and she was proud of him.

She was still moving too slowly and she knew it was dangerous to rely on it, but she saw Hordak flowing over the ground towards them and had no choice. Raising her own sword barely above her she called out once more.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!" golden energy enveloped her and her fatigue fell away, only then did she notice Hordak's drain was gone. Quickly dismissing the power she stood whole in clothes and self again.. She rushed in front of He-Man and faced the author of her nightmares. The warlord slowed and his pale face was flushed with rage. She found that quite amusing.

"What must I do to kill you forever girl? This will be the last time and I promise you He-Man will fall shortly after you, I am Hordak and I am forever," his crimson eyes flared and she quickly held her sword up and deflected his attack. She was not fooled by her vigor, she was still exhausted and this would not last, but she would not move from this spot.

"Funny Hordak, I believe you told He-Man something similar, right before he sent you into the spirit prison for 1000 years," the jab caused the warlord to strike harder, but he was sloppy. She smiled wider and he kept shooting at her, trying to around her to his real target. At last he closed his eyes and drew to a standstill. He had been treating her as a nuisance and now he would fight her in earnest.

"I hope you enjoyed the life I gave out to you child, it ends NOW!" crimson energy shot out and she was ready to deflect, but this time it simply enveloped her. She knew what was coming and felt her body set on fire. Every cell was lit up and the pain was terrible, time seemed to stretch and then just as suddenly it let up.

She slammed her sword into the stone and looked up through sweat slicked bangs to see the might warlord of the Horde, the evil mastermind behind all of Eternia's woes, fighting with a bright blue blanket! The contradictory scene had her giggling, but that hurt a lot. She tried to move but her body rebelled, and she knew she was at her limit. She tried to force her body to obey but the last few weeks of fighting Hordak with magic, and her near death, had left her empty.

"That is enough She-Ra, I will take it from here," the deep voice instantly soothed her and she happily fell. All the stress went out of her as warm hands caught her and gently laid her down. She could see the smiling face and glacial eyes looking at her warmly and with gratitude. "Orko take care of her, I will end this now."

She watched as he hurled himself the last bit of distance as the emerald light winked out and she saw something immensely satisfying, Hordak went flying backwards as the right hook connected. His dark form flew over the armies and all froze as he roared. Every head swiveled to see who had done this and she saw a miracle. The Horde, all that remained of the normal forces and the generals newly created, broke and ran.

Pyth stared at the warrior standing grimly over She-Ra. He was not a ghost or like Zodac and Adora, he smelled the sweat on him and the feeling of life. He also saw the stark fear of his foes as they scrambled to escape him. He had never seen a reaction like this, even when She-Ra had driven Skeletor's forces back. He moved quickly to her but was stopped by He-Man. The glacial eyes were gentle but the hand was a firm wall.

"Give me a moment with her, there is one last thing to do before leaving this place and I need her," it was not a command, he had expected it, but this legend had rarely had the need for it. Nodding once, he watched as He-Man collected She-Ra into his arms and left the magician and him behind. Shrugging that there was little he could do to help here, he turned to the tattered remains of the rebels. Calls were coming in that flyers were still on their way to the kingdoms, but Orko smiled at him.

"What did you do magus?" the yellow eyes blinked at the title, but after what Pyth had seen the little Trollan do, he felt it well earned. The twitching of his ears in amusement confirmed his suspicions.

"Well with all people were doing, I thought I should do a little extra protection while I had Chlora take on the organizing of Eternos forces," he touched Pyth's shoulder and showed him something bizarre.

Batmeks screamed through the skies to Adrenos, Avion, and Eternos suddenly were smashed by red blurs. They moved so fast and quick even his snake eyes could not keep up. Then one massive one rose, ancient and definitely a matriarch if all the legends were true.

"Dragons..." he was officially impressed with Orko. The little magus had always been a legend since his return and actions at Adrenos, but this was beyond belief. The little Trollan simply giggled and shrugged his shoulders.

"She remembered me and I was able to communicate what I wanted, He-Man did her a good turn long ago and she has never forgotten although the histories forgot them," both turned their attention to the grisly task of saving what lives they could. The thralls were disturbing in their lack of injuries but still definitely dead. The rest of the battlefield was blood and cries, even his nose stung by the tang of fresh blood everywhere.

"By the Elders," Pyth shared the sentiment if not the words with Orko. Victory may have been won, but no one could call it a success.

"Is he really dead," her soft voice threw him a bit, of course actually being flesh and blood again threw him too. He still wondered what would happen when he sent the power back, because he felt exactly as he should being He-Man, meaning he was overflowing with the power of Grayskull and it was not a natural existence.

They both stood over the husk of Keldor, even in his head he called him that. His uncle may not have lived a good life, but he had made the choice at the end to defend Eternia and She-Ra. He would never admit it, but Keldor had become affectionate towards Anna and Lyn, although the latter was entirely believable to the hero. Hordak may have though he knew the mind of Skeletor, but the heart of Keldor while similar, had stood against the pure evil of the warlord.

"I think he is in a better place now, but I have no say in that area," honestly he had never really died in the usual sense, only the last few years were clear to him to be honest. A vague memory of Duncan on a battlefield but nothing since then for sure. He had been dissipating into Eternia, or maybe you just could not remember that kind of thing. He did remember all his time within Keldor and the mage had tried to deny his true desires, yet had never rejected him.

It was almost funny that after all he had done, it was Keldor that saved Eternia. Maybe the Elders had known what they were doing so long ago.

"What do you need from me?" she was still weak, but they had to make sure Hordak could not regain this place and he knew what was needed. He helped her to the smashed altar, and there it was, the Talisman of Separation still intact and ready to be used again. Keldor had shown him how it could be used in a different way and He-Man himself now knew what had to be done.

"This cannot be used again, it cannot be brought back together to threaten Eternia, but neither can it be destroyed," he picked up the pieces and brought them back over to the husk of Keldor. Before she could object he lay them on top of his body and stood back and held forth his sword towards it. He looked at her and waited.

"What will happen to him?" she looked with such familiar sapphire eyes at him, but unlike his sister there was a hardness there not of past guilt, but of war. Of the two he preferred the guilt, because ensorcelled actions are far easier to deal with than the realities of war. In this case he could not tell her because he honestly would not be in command.

"It will be up to Grayskull, but I need your help. Cross your sword with mine and repeat after me: By the Wisdom of Grayskull," he waited and he saw her look long and hard at the husk. Keldor was gone but he knew she wanted to honor him for what he had done. He shared the sentiment but the Talisman was far more dangerous, and its connection to Keldor still existed.

She crossed her sword and never broke eye contact with Keldor. Sighing that this would push her past her limit even more, they both looked one last time at the husk of Keldor and with some unseen signal spoke the words.

"By the Wisdom of Grayskull," both swords flicked open their hilts and power poured from them, golden and blue entwined as it once had been on Etheria. That time had been to stop Hordak, this time was similar and was just as dramatic. Both saw the flesh fill out as the Talisman sank into it and then the body rose with its skull to where the altar had been.

Both watched in awe as the power slammed into the stone and the lava was stilled in an instant. Emerald light blazed from the sigils and a throne of crystal rose up. The body floated down onto it and assumed a sitting position, the skull floating empty above the neck still. Then they watched as a clear crystal grew around it all and enclosed him.

The power snapped off and He-Man caught She-Ra as she collapsed. He stared in awe as Skeletor seemed to exist again, laughing from his throne. The irony was a bit amusing that his body would act as a mystery none could reach ever again. The power of Grayskull would protect it forever, he would always be remembered if not fondly. No one would ever use this place ever again.

"Thank you Uncle, and rest well," He-Man picked up his successor and turned to find her a bed and begin helping the rebels. Battle Cat roared in greeting as Lyn stood next to him. Her face was full of tears as she looked behind him but she smiled as well. He understood, Keldor had found redemption, if in his own way.

She ran a gentle hand down She-Ra's face and his own. The embrace was awkward but welcome.

"Welcome home He-Man," he felt the warmth in her voice and a smile of his own broke out. She had changed a lot from what he remembered. The playful lick of his old companion was welcome. Moving forward, the small party entered the tough job of helping the rebels lick their wounds and make their own way home as they could.

Castle Grayskull

The Sorceress sat nearly bonelessly on her throne. The scrying pool revealed a miracle after miracle and she wept with both sadness and joy. Her emerald eyes drank in the details now as her love walked the world again. She was sad he had to help the wounded like this and that it was a tragedy that returned him, but her heart sang.

The strain was gone from Eternia, he had saved them all again. The war was not over, the decimation of his forces there had not depleted Hordak. His warriors still lived, whatever broke the thralls had not affected them. Probably because their souls were bound to new bodies and not sustained as the thralls had been.

She flicked her hand and saw the cursed warlord rise from a smoking hole not far from Snake Mountain. He was not unharmed, bur far from stopped. He roared and blasted rocks all around him for sometime before turning and marching quickly back to his lair. She saw something had changed though. Snake Mountain was no longer barred to her sight.

Serpos was still there, but it no longer seemed to be connected to Hordak. He-Man had severed the link! What that had cost she could not imagine, but that alone bought them the most precious commodity they needed now. Time.

Both sides had been decimated and the return of He-Man had come at high cost in so many ways. Few would be sad to see Skeletor gone, but she would always remember seeing that moment of choice. The firming of his jaw as he raised the sword and called out to Grayskull and it answered him.

For a moment, and only she had seen it, there had not been one He-Man, there had been two. One her love in all his strength she remembered, and another with long dark hair and a goatee looked with understanding at each other. In that moment she had seen the family bond forged and shared. The older passing the torch to the younger once again as Randor had unknowingly done to Adam long ago.

Keldor walked a dark path but it was laced with the potential for light. We granted him one last chance, one last moment to choose his true destiny. He shed the darkness at the last moment of life and embraced the power of Grayskull to protect, not to destroy. He-Man is now returned as he must be and She-Ra at his side. Guide them well Sorceress as you have always done.

The words had come unbidden to her and she knew the source. The orb had been silent all these years, even as darkness fell across the world. Not one speech or vision had come from it even as Frosta and Stratos had risked all to save Anna.

Now that she felt at it, she realized the Elders had battled Hordak all this time with Adam. Grayskull now overflowed with power as it had not done since she had first ascended the mantle of Sorceress. The balance had been restored to Eternia, now it was up to them to protect it and defend it. Hordak would not be satisfied until he ruled, and they had to stop him. He could not be allowed to return to his half life and this one had to end.

Gripping her hawk staff firmly, she rose from the throne and prepared to receive wounded and Masters soon. Eternia was now free of one war on its existence, the last one by its people had yet to be decided.

As always the Champions of Grayskull had answered the call and now they must finish it as soon as they could. She sighed that that time could not come soon enough.