Chapter XVII: The Forgotten days VI


A thunderous clash was what was expected when the forces of Eternia battled the accepted represents of evil. He-Man. Skeletor. A clash that often shook the ground.

This though was a clash that came from the sky and made its presence felt upon the earth as two larger then life forces clashed and like so many previous causes, the reasons for it was just as petty.

'You will do well to educate your "children" Granamyr! They can either respect, or get off my land!' growled owl like beast.

'My Children need passage to migrate' Countered the Great Lord of Dragons. 'They cannot make their way when it is blocked by an overzealot!'

'Your a fool to word me as a zealot and even more of a fool to fight' The giant winged guardian burst into speed and thrust it's wings forward, apart from the thunderous sound of a heavy clap by the wings was a fired volley, whistling sound of heavy wind directed the dragon, intended as a warning as the shot went past. The Guardian didn't think of where it struck only that it caught Granamyr's attention, which it did and dismissive to the warning.

'I do not fight, I simply win'

In return the dragon breathed a staggering amount of fire making the bird take drastic action as it lit below on the ground. This was the dragon's own warning shot and rather than take heed, the response of the other was escalating a very serious possibility of direct conflict.

This did not go unnoticed to her, had the conspiring presence of destruction been a falsehood and not an inevitable reality she would had or got He-Man to step into this, the anger between forest guardian whose woodlands extend to the walls of Grayskull, and the Lord of Dragons have been well known, but there are too many threats and she cannot remain Grayskull's walls throughout, she had to take risk and reach out. Too much was at stake.

She flew, narrowly avoiding a spew of fire and violent winds from both would be combatants, originally she came as close as she did and called for the attention, but their own pride and anger was narrowing their world perspective, in their minds nothing else matters, she would change that. A summon of her power called for a pillar of light, it would not cause harm but act as a obstacle, firing high and in between the two catching them by surprise. They looked down, their world view widened and saw the Sorceress of Grayskull matching their hardned looks with her own. She flew slowly to them, as they perched on the ground.

True to form Granamyr, insistent by its own pride, spoke first before anyone else had the chance.

'You may speak'

The forest guardian Viragor, scoffed at what he heard. An indication of how far things deteriorated, there was a time when Owl and Dragon were more mutual in thought and behavior. The sorceress was straight to the point.

'This clash does the land and yourselves no favors.'

'With all due respect' The owl felt insulted by this feeling of outside intervention. 'I have never hindered the affairs of your castle, why hinder the laws of my great forest?'

'Great Guardian of the forest; Viragor. It is true you have never intervened on Grayskull, or asked why, but you know if you were to, you know we listen and respect our wishes. Moss-Man is part of our council, you know we listen to the forest, tend to it, but what you are doing is undoing what your title suggests.'

'Undoing? I am guardian of the forest. I know how to care more-'

The owl saw the damage, small pockets of fires newly lit, trees bent and snapped under strong pressure of wind created by his own thunderous clap of his wings and animals running scared. That part wounded him. The dragon said nothing but he still saw the aftermath of what a petty squabble escalated to.

'But the dragons were drinking too much of the water in the forest' he Sorceress privately feared this, both sides were now giving their own mitigating excuses.

'They would have drunk less' Snapped the Dragon at the Owl. 'Had you not been so stubborn on your boundaries, flying round the entirety of the forest is too much for my own without needing water'

Sorceress held her hand out no magic, just the call for everyone to pause. They did.

'Respecting a boundary is important but so are the needs of others. You cannot simply wall off migration and not expect some to make a break when the route you gave them was too long.'

Her gaze turned to Granamyr, making him aware.

'But also Lord of Dragons know you simply cannot use might solely for gain, no matter how justified you feel it is. You should have come to us and we would debate, settle it just as it should on Eternia'

'Why should I? Eternia's council cannot comprehend the thoughts of a dragon, what do I owe to them?'

'You owe nothing and the council would never expect you to be indebted, but we show compassion all the same just as Eternia's prince did to one of your own'

'I know about him, Adam is no member of your council'

'He is the avatar of Grayskull, the founding ruler of Eternia. Adam holds key to Gayskull's great spirit reborn as the champion known as He-Man. You may not care about the latter but you do remember the days of Grayskull.

There was a pause from the Dragon, he couldn't deny what was said, but he was unhappy, originally thinking an old deal was broken.

'No scripture has ever recounted this'

'It was at your request'

'Than how can you possibly know this?'

'Because I carry the cycled lives and memories of the sorcerers before me, including that of one you known as Veena.'

The Owl stayed silent observing the rare look of surprise from the Dragon, perhaps stumped where a long held assumption about Eternians being limited had tricked him into thinking a sorceress was nothing but ceremonial, and that he was perhaps surprised to learn his word was still remembered and kept even after Grayskull's passing.

'I am impressed, somewhat, that you can recall the days of that far ago'

'Cycle. Destiny. History. They have intertwined long with the role of the sorceress, but they did not start Veena's. My knowledge goes deep, enough to know that conflicts like this only leads to a long road of bitterness...and that there is something else. Something draws near to Eternia'

The owl looked weary, the way the Sorceress spoke about it made him believe with a disturbed sense that there was a connection.

'That 'star' that came from the sky all of a sudden, it was so bright and strong, but it didn't look normal, it was of immense size and for some deep within I felt...emptiness.

'And what caused it is coming here on this you must take my word'

'Where is this avatar of Grayskull now?' While it's true the Dragon acknowledged Grayskull, his opinion of Adam was still somewhat less.

With a tap of her staff the sorceress showed surroundings and location of a facility that had crumbled to the ground. 'He is trapped within and is beyond my reach, I cannot stray too far from the castle'

'I know the area, I will find Grayskull's vessel' Granamyr got ready to take flight but revealed teeth behind it's lips.

'I am only doing this because you know Grayskull, I may not be so obliged to in the future'

It flew up, a slow orbiting flight picking up momentum before there was enough strength where it burst into speed across the sky. The Owl looked to the Sorceress.

'I am presuming you need my help'

'I will need you to assist with the masters, a monster has been set loose towards Grayskull. It is known as Molkrom'

'But That's one of Hoardak's creations! Has he-'

'He has not returned, the power of the Elders has shown me it's escape, by someone who wishes Hordak's favor.' She knew who it was, that Evil-Lyn was hellbent in creating a distraction to revive Hordak, but till He-Mn was found then the defence of Grayskull was the priority.

The Owl thought about it, it was brief but all the dangers and risks were assessed till it nodded it's head. 'Very well I shall help you and the masters, let us go'


Far from the burning plains , the scorched aftermath of battles and lives lost, wasa fire covering part of a land, it was though covering something. A barrier, a purple shield of energy, it's summoner, the present Tyrant of Eternia, Skeletor, breathed heavily his arm holding the shield that kept away the heat and physical touch of the fire. He was tired, beat down but ultimately still enraged,the red pupils from the eye sockets of his skull face burned. The flashing glimpse of that snake who flanked him, shot him down, that-that

KHAN!

If there was a surviving snake from the earlier battle it may have wished to play dead should have it heard the screaming anger of Skeletor. The shield blasted away, an aura of pressurized air whipped across the land burning out any nearby fires, his anger dropped a little, it didn't change anything. He was still alone, that he was long use to.

He knew where they were going, the snakes didn't have many homes, if anything their revived king, Hiss would come make use of snake mountain again. Admittingly Skeletor had a admiration for pragmatism, often viewing himself as one, but he still envisioned Eternia to be his. The so-called king of snakes had his chance, this was not his generation or time to command.

Summoning the knowledge of magic, the mental focus, allowing him to let his body rise above the ground. It was not by much, the Havoc staff as well helped with the distribution of magic, and flew over the land, the shield brushing away the brought up dirt and wind that would be sweeping at his face. He did not accept death when his face was melted away by Eternia's false king, he did not lie low when more people of the land rallied behind the banner of that wretched He-Man, so he will not accept defeat. Not now. Not ever.

Facing Hiss again was not a motivation, but wanting the chance to repay Khan was.


AN: Not a great chapter but I have been off this for far too long, in all honesty work on my own xcom comic and work offline meant I was sidelined, looking back this has spawned into a large storytelling project. Ideally I like to be consistent and aim for scheduled upload and finish but we'll see. It's not building directly from chapter 16, but will get to that at some point.

This chapter builds on the sorceress story that was first setup in chapter 5 (V)

Also this picks up from chapter 11 (XI) in regards to Skeletor's supposed fate. He also showed levitate, being able to low fly by that is in speculation territory. To also add in the show Adam helped a Dragon, which was remembered by the dragon itself in the episode later on.

(Yes by the date of this post 'Thundercats roar' has debuted…

All I'll say is that children's shows should be memorable and inspirational. Look at Gravity Falls as a modern example. Action, funny and not talking down to its target audience.

The 80's was corny, not going to lie about that but TC's music and action was top stuff, I don't think there is anything from 'roar' that will make kids like it. Could be wrong but I think they did a lot wrong so I'll leave it at that.)