Chapter Six

"The Journey Underground"

After a few hours, the tunnel ended yet another chamber, this one longer instead of higher. Man-At-Arms studied the map given to him by Kareen. "It seems that this is some sort of rest area. The tunnel progresses out of here and then becomes a mineshaft. It took a whole day to get down this far, so I suppose this is as good a place as any to catch some rest. Roboto? Can you handle staying up and monitoring?"

"Affirmative, Man-At-Arms. How long would you wish to slumber?"

"Five hours and not a moment more," Man-At-Arms replied, placing his pack on the stone floor. He pulled out a small plastic sheet and pressed a button on the end. The sheet immediately filled with air, forming into an air mattress with built-in pillow.

The others followed suit and soon all of them, except for Roboto, were fast asleep. It was then . . . that He-Man had a dream.

He-Man was wandering through a forest in the dark of night. He could hear voices around him, whispering and muttering in the darkness. Occasionally, there would be a shadowy figure darting between the thick trees. But they would vanish quickly.

The whispers dimmed and the night was suddenly replaced by broad daylight. A light shined through the trees, and the whispers were gone. He-Man continued to wander through the forest, and found many animals crossing his path. He then reached a tree, which stood larger and higher than any other. He placed his hands on this tree - and then looked to find that his hands were covered in blood!

He-Man was not horrified or shocked by this, and it felt somewhat . . . strangely natural. He walked from the tree and then found Hordak, Skeletor and King Hiss standing side-by-side. Each one was holding an orb that was on fire.

"He-Man . . ."

"Adam . . ."

"Rising son . . ."

At those words, the orbs exploded and a thousand million billion stars appeared around He-Man, swirling and spinning and flowing like water. The stars faded then, and then He-Man stood in darkness. The darkness faded as well and He-Man was then standing on an island in the middle of the Ocean of Gnarl.

Before him then was a huge statue of Zodak . . . and a sudden, strange thought entered his mind. A thought that was so hard to remember after it zipped through and . . .

"He-Man?"

And . . .

"He-Man, wake up!"

He-Man opened his eyes and found Teela hovering above him. In the dim light that Roboto was producing, he could see the concern etched on her face. "What . . . what is it?"

"You were wrestling around in your sleeping bag. I guess . . ." She bit her lower lip. It was something He-Man - as Adam - had seen her do a number of times when things got too awkward for her.

"I was having a dream," He-Man said. "I don't remember it now. There was . . . a forest? And a . . . stars? Something about Zodak. I don't quite remember it all now."

"Must have been one heck of a dream," Teela said, sitting back.

"Yeah . . ." He-Man replied. The dream slipped away from him now as he gazed upon Teela's beautiful face, lit by the dim light. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About four and half hours . . ."

He-Man nodded. "Why don't you try and get some rest? We still have a long ways to go and a lot to do."

Teela smiled, and then reached over and hugged He-Man. He was a bit surprised by this, considering the time they had spent apart from each other and her lack of wanting to display a lot of affection. But the memories of her feelings for him continued to surface, and she was obviously concerned about him. It was just a dream, but . . .

She broke the embrace went back to her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. He-Man smiled a bit and laid down onto his, mind processing the events everything that had happened between the two. Her feelings for him only went as far as He-Man, not Prince Adam. And, of course, she had no idea that He-Man and Prince Adam were one and the same.

Exactly half-an-hour later, Roboto began to beep. Man-At-Arms, Snout Spout, Mekaneck, and Ram-Man awoke and joined He-Man and Teela. The whole group put their packs back on and made for the next tunnel. The tunnel began with another set of steps that went deeper beneath the surface. These stairs were steeper than any of the others encountered before.

***

Orko felt uneasy as he and Battle Cat sat together in seclusion inside Castle Grayskull. They had been making reports to King Randor for the past day or so regarding the status of Snake Mountain - which Orko had been observing using his crystal ball.

But it had now been two days since He-Man and the others left for Alluray, and the storm was starting to break up and reports were saying that the energy spikes were decreasing. Orko knew automatically that this wasn't a good sign.

It meant that Procrustus didn't have the power to signal for help any longer.

***

The walk down the stairs took hours and hours. Everyone was getting tired of not seeing the sky. The capsule-flare that had flown out ahead of them had been joined by another. The stairs were far more perilous this far down.

After countless hours, the group soon arrived at the end of the stairs to where long tunnel began. They marched down the tunnel, which slopped downwards. It was another ten hours when they reached the end of the tunnel.

The mineshaft appeared before them, heading deep into Eternia for miles and miles. On its slanted sides, they were old train tracks and pulling machines. He-Man looked to the others.

"Well, we better get to work," he announced.

The packs were unloaded and each of the group put on cliff-scaling devices. These harnesses acted like four legs that held firmly onto the wall as they went down the mineshaft. Moving down the mineshaft was slow and took long hours. Shattered Dwarf stairs could be seen as they moved farther and farther down the shaft.

After twelve hours of travel, they arrived at the end of the mineshaft . . . and into the mines themselves.

They went on and on and on, filled with shining rocks and huge boulders. It was all opened up, allowing for a full view from the rock bridge at the end of the shaft. It was here that they stopped and ate some rations, taking in the sights.

"Man-At-Arms," said Ram-Man. "I know rocks and I have ta say that we've barely gotten past the crust of Eternia. I'm startin' ta think that maybe the Dwarfs didn't go all the way to the core. Gettin' past the crust is hard stuff."

"I trust the map, Ram-Man. Don't worry."

Ram-Man nodded, but his words had instilled a certain amount of doubt into the others. After a bit more rest time, hoverboards were pulled out and they all flew across the open air of the mines. Man-At-Arms followed the map to the ledge of one of the mines.

As they entered into the mining tunnel, Roboto remarked that they had entered into their third day of travel. A solemn mood overcame them and everyone seemed on the edge as the continued on down the mining tunnel. It was a pretty flat trip, and there was evidence of mining everywhere. Abandoned picks, trucks, and shovels were littered all about them.

After many hours of walking through the tunnel, they arrived then at yet another mineshaft. Once more, the cliff-scaling harnesses were pulled out and activated. The trip was quicker, for this mineshaft was smaller than the previous. After five hours of traveling, they then arrived at a smaller mining area.

This one was half the size of the previous, but was still open-aired and had many mining tunnels coming in and out of it. They rested for a little bit, allowing Roboto to recharge and for them all to sleep in two hour shifts.

After four hours, the group of Heroic Warriors was at it again, now moving across the mines. They crossed a few stone bridges, scaled ledges, and walked in and out of access mines until they all reached the last mineshaft.

Ram-Man bit his tongue when Man-At-Arms said that they were well over half-way done with their journey. They had just now passed the crust and had entered into the Upper Mantle. There was no way they could enter into the heart of Eternia in one day.

As they journeyed what was about to be their final mineshaft, it took eight hours to reach the next set of mines. Once they reached the next mines, it was their that their hearts sank.

Over 80% of the mine area had been flooded. Man-At-Arms jaw went slack. "How . . . how did this happen?"

"We've had a lot of tremors in the past year," Snout Spout stated. "It's entirely possible that one them broke the surface and caused a nearby river or lake flowing off from Ocean of Gnarl to flood in."

"That'd be my guess," replied Teela, watching as a large fish jumped out and then fell back in.

Man-At-Arms studied the map closely. "It looks like the tunnel we need is right across here. If we could just - "

"LOOK!" shouted Mekaneck.

From the water below, figures began to step out. Mer-Man, Clawful, Whiplash, Tung Lashor, Sssqueeze, and Rattlor all appeared.

"Looks like you've come all this way for nothing!" shouted Mer-Man, trident in hand as he lead the others up onto the surface.

"Looks like they must have swam through your tremors cracks, Snout Spout," Man-At-Arms declared.

"Looks like."

He-Man pulled out his Sword of Power, ready to fight. But Man-At-Arms grabbed his shoulder. "No! You and Teela get to the tunnel! We'll take care of these guys!"

Teela began to protest, but He-Man grabbed her hand and pulled away from the Evil Warriors and the Snake Men as they made for the Heroic Warriors.

He-Man threw out two of their hoverboards, and the pair jumped on them and zoomed across the water towards the tunnel. The last tunnel to the center of Eternia.