CHAPTER ONE

"A New Beginning"

Closer to the center of the universe than anticipated; settled on a spiral arm of an unnamed galaxy; held in a comfortable orbit by a quite average star; beneath three moons that spin ever-so-precisely in orbit; and kept in constant check by the forces of the universe - is the planet known as Eternia.

Sweeping across a hemisphere of darkness; holding course over a number of incredible desserts; swaying above mountains of both ice and mysticism; flying through two rich forests; shooting across an ocean teeming with life; and coming into a light hemisphere and a fertile continent - is the kingdom known as Eternos.

Through cities and towns and villages of the ever-strong kingdom, there is a place called the City of Wisdom. A portion of a capital city devoted sheerly to education.

And for Emily, daughter of King Adam and Queen Teela, it was just another place to try and fit into.

That, and she's just happy to be done with her week here. Not that she liked to complain, but well, Emily had just had a rough week. Her first week back to school after a summer of tromping through the Mystic Mountains with her family and already she was having trouble finding her place.

Emily pulled her curly, black hair back into a ponytail as the final bell was rung from the bell tower. Most of the students were stopping by their dorms before heading off to their homes in regular villages and cities in the Eternos Kingdom.

What was Emily going to do? She was going the Palace to dress frilly with her family and try to pretend to care.

Sighing, Emily entered her small room in one of the Girl's Dorms. As she started gathering things up, a picture on the top of the small fireplace caught her eye. It was from last year. A family portrait. There she was, standing front and center while the rest of her family stood around her with fake smiles. Not as fakes as hers, though.

There was Addison. Her older half-brother. Captain of the Royal Guard. She always felt that the two of them were two of a kind. While everyone - EVERYONE - loved Addison, it was established quite early that since he is only the adopted son of Adam, Addison could not get the throne. In a way that he never admitted, that made him a sort of outcast among the royal family. Not that anyone loved him any less, but there was no way that he could get the royal throne.

Now, her older sister Amelia, well . . . she was next in line for succession. In Emily's eyes, it didn't matter that she was the firstborn of Adam and Teela - she could get the throne by just being just who she is. Perfect. And damn proud of it. Not that Emily didn't like her sister, but she came off as more snobby than friendly. Amelia knew everything and anything. And more and more often it seemed that she was constantly correcting Emily.

Then there was Joshua. Emily's older brother by about five years. He was big, strong and had his mind in the clouds all of the time. He loved to goof off with his friends and play all sorts of full-contact sports. Totally Emily's opposite.

Emily locked her door as her mind drifted to her parents. There wasn't much to say about her Mother - Queen Teela. She used to be a warrior and had a very large number of accomplishments and adventures that she would constant talk to Emily about. Sometimes she felt like her Mom was pushing into becoming just like her. Emily didn't like that at all.

Then . . . there was Dad. Emily sighed and brushed a stray hair away as her father entered her mind. King Adam was the most important man in all of Eternian history. And Emily was blessed - or cursed - with being his youngest daughter. That was the bane of her existence.

She was new here to this school and every single day someone came up to her ask about it. About He-Man and She-Ra. About being the Princess of Eternia. And Emily had just about had it - she came here to get away from all of that.

But, she supposed, at least things were calming down. No one had said anything to her about it yet today, so she was hoping that after the weekend, everybody would be ready to realize that she didn't care about her royalty or anything relating to her parents old teenage and tween years.

Of course, that little precious dream of hers was shattered as soon as a scrawny boy a few feet away grabbed his friends arm and pointed to her.

"Look! It's her!"

"Oh no . . ." groaned Emily.

"Yeah! Ask her!"

"No way man. You ask her!"

Emily rolled her eyes, the two boys obviously not realizing she could hear their every word. "But, man, you're the one that said that - "

"WHAT?!" Emily yelled, spinning to face the pair. "What do you want?!"

The two boys were a bit startled by this, but quickly recovered. "Are you really the Princess?"

"Yes," she replied with a deep, grunting voice. "Why?"

"Have you ever seen you Dad, like, turn into He-Man and kick someone's ass?"

Emily, frustrated with this, threw up her arms in sheer anger. "Oh, for the love of - my Dad hasn't done that in twenty-five years! If you had half a brain, you'd freakin' know that!"

"But, you know, he still has the sword right? He still goes around and turns into He-Man and kicks peoples asses, right?"

"Just shut up! My Dad doesn't do that anymore, you dumb-asses! Listen! I don't care about He-Man or being part of the royal family, all right? I don't care! I haven't cared ever! And don't even bother talking to me about it, because I'm not here to flaunt it around!"

Just then, there was a strangely familiar sound coming from above. Emily looked up and then immediately smacked her hand to her forehead. "Oh no," she moaned, "oh no oh no oh no."

"Hey look! It's a talon-fighter!"

The bird-like, golden airship landed right in front of Emily. A crowd began to form as a figure stood from its front seat.

"Hear ye! Hear ye!" shouted the figure. "I am Prince Joshua, son of King Adam and Queen Teela!" he shouted, waving his hands around in an over-dramatic manner. Emily shut her eyes, trying to block out the embarrassment she was feeling by her brothers showing off.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up . . ." she muttered, stepping towards the talon fighter.

"I am here for my sister, the lovely Princess Emily! She is needed back at the Palace for the greatly important negotiations between the people of Eternos and . . ." He paused for dramatic reasons. ". . .the Bear-People! Come, Emily, daughter of King Adam, and journey home with me for the weekend!"

"I hate this family," Emily whimpered, her face beet red.

Finally, Joshua turned to his sister. "Oh, and you brought your dirty underwear, right?"

"SHUT UP, JOSH!" she yelled at her brother, hopping in behind him. She smacked him on the back of the head.

"HA HA! Farewell and good journey, fine citizens!"

With that, the talon-fighter off into the clear, blue sky. "Don't ever - EVER - do that again!" Emily chided.

"Oh, come on, Em. I was just teasin' ya."

"No. You embarrassed me."

"Oh shush, little sis," Joshua replied. "You know, I don't even understand why you're going there. The best teachers and wise men on the planet taught all the rest of us at the Palace. Why you're going to school there is something I'll never understand."

"Because I'm tired of being pampered back at the Palace. Doesn't anyone realize that I'm not getting the throne and therefore don't care about any of this crap."

"It's not crap, Emily," Joshua returned. "It's traditional stuff. By the Sorceress, can't you get that through your head."

"First of all, Joshua, don't say 'By the Sorceress.' She's our friggin' grandma, not a religious symbol. Second, this isn't about traditions. It's about change. Zodak and Skeletor and all else are gone. But as far as anyone is concerned, we're still back there. Things need to change. And they're not. Because of that, I'm choosing not to become part of this."

Joshua shook his head in aggravation as he put the talon-fighter down on one of the landing pads. "That's crazy. We're royalty, Emily . . ."

"No, Josh, we're people. We should live like them. Anyways, what does it matter? It's not like I'm going to be getting anything. The throne will never belong to me."

To that, Joshua had no answer.

***

"King Jade, I understand that you want peace and isolation, but I can't help but fear for your safety," Adam pleaded with the large Bear next to him. "Yours and your people. By joining with us, Eternos can guarantee the sovereignty of your land and the protection of your boarders."

"No, King Adam," replied Jade. "You seem, my people are a peaceful sort. While we consider ourselves allies of your kingdom, we will wage war with enemies. Peace is the best way, King. Our bargaining chip is the Lambite we mine."

King Adam sighed and nodded slowly. "Well, I had to try, huh? I hope you're still on for the dinner tonight?"

"Of course, King Adam. I will journey home in the morning."

"Good, good," Adam replied. "Maybe I can still try to - "

Just then, a thunderous noise and a puff of smoke erupted from Ram-Man-At-Arms laboratory. King Jade looked highly concerned and turned to King Adam, who was releasing a sigh of relief. The Bear was a bit surprised by this reaction.

"Does that happen often?"

"Just about."

***

Addison charged down the corridor and quickly entered into the lab, his eyes searching amongst the smoke for the two figures. "Hello?!" he shouted over the roar of a mechanical engine.

"We're fine!" came a reassuring male voice. A figure appeared from the smoke, a monkey wrench in hand. He was tall and thin, wearing a slightly slimmed down version of the old Man-At-Arms armor.

"Machinesmith? What was that?"

"That was RMAA and my attempted improvement on the old Attack Track," the figure, Machinesmith, replied.

"Again?"

"Hey, we had to try," said Ram-Man-At-Arms, who appeared then. "I thought we could try and add some hydraulics to it. See if it could launch itself if it needed."

Addison squinted at the pair. "Why?"

Machinesmith shrugged and then looked at Ram-Man-At-Arms. "I dunno. Because."

"Is everything alright in here?" said Amelia, who entered then. She was wearing a long skirt with her shoulder-length blond hair coming across her shoulders.

"We're fine."

"Good. Then keep it down, alright? King Jade is here and I don't want you guys freaking him out. These talks are very important to my father."

Amelia eyed the trio and made a few mental notes. Machinesmith seemed to be looking irritated with her. Every other time something exploded in here, she never came down to check on things. The only reason she was down here now was because they were annoying her.

She couldn't understand how chaos could erupt so easily with Machinesmith there. He was a mechanical genius, as well as a brillant scientific mind. Graduated top of his class back at the City of Wisdom. So why did all Hell break lose every time he and RMAA get together and try to build something - which was every single day?

Adding a "just don't do it again," Amelia walked off to meet with her father and King Jade. Hopefully, her father would explain things to King Jade. Not that this was a MAJOR treaty, but it was important to King Adam, so that was good enough for her.

As Amelia walked off, a young woman jogged past here and into the laboratory. "Ram-Man-At-Arms? Your four o'clocks are here."

"Huh? Oh! Er, um, send right in."

Machinesmith looked over to RMAA. "Four o'clocks?"

"Two new members of the Defenders, Machinesmith," Addison replied. "We wanted to talk to them briefly now that all the interviews are over with."

Just then, two figures walked in. One was a gentleman in his mid-twenties with long black hair, and flowing brown robes. In his hand was a thick, bound notebook with a pen attracted to it.

"Greetings," he said, bowing softly. "You must be Ram-Man-At-Arms and Captain Addison. I am the Poet."

"Good to meet you."

"Likewise."

The other figure, a gentleman looking in his late fifties, walked forward. "My name in Horn," said this man.

"Nice to meet you, Horn," Machinesmith said proudly. "You too, Poet. What to you folks do?"

Horn smiled at the youngster. "As I already displayed your associates earlier this month, I can detect sonic waves and manipulate them using my horn." He produced a white, wooden horn. "I can even mimic noises. For example, the sound of your explosion."

"Oh no!" stopped Addison, fearing another visit from his sister. "He can find out later."

"Right, gotcha," replied the older man.

"What about you, Poet?" asked Machinesmith.

"His power is so cool!" Ram-Man-At-Arms exclaimed.

"I can create things from words," Poet said.

"What do you mean?"

Poet opened up his book and wrote the word 'gun.' An instant later, the three letters appeared in front of them, glowing. These letters then formed into a gun. The Poet held it, then with a bit of concentration, made the gun disappear into the letters, which vanished immediately.

"Wow!" Horn yelled. "That's great, son."

"Thank you, sir."

Addison smiled at the pair. "You'll both make an excellent addition to the Defenders. We'll alert you when we have our first training."

The two departed, leaving the trio behind.

"Well, this should be fun," Machinesmith said with a grin.

"It always is," Addison replied.

***

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Light Hemisphere, at a tavern known as the 'Last Outpost' - a hooded figure sits patiently in the shadowed corner.

After a few minutes, a fairly large man entered into the tavern and spots the figure. He walked over, sitting across from him.

"Where is it?" demanded the figure.

"The Valley of the Lost. On Etheria. Underground."

The figure paused, eyes flowing across the fat man. The man began to feel uncomfortable under his guise. Beads of sweat appeared on his brow, and he attempted to wipe them away. A minute went by and the fat man was just waiting for an answer. If only he could see past the shadow of the hood - if he could see the facial expression . . .

"How did it end up there?"

"Something about Hordak trying to take control of it. Teleporting it to Etheria from its prison on Eternia. But He-Man and She-Ra sent it into the depths of The Valley of the Lost. Sealing it away."

"It was untouched by Hordak's oil?"

"Um . . . uh, no."

Once more, the hooded man didn't answer. He stood up and began to walk out of the shadows of the corner.

"What . . . why did you want to know?" asked the fat man.

"No reason. Just curious where they stashed the Energy Beast."

***

As the sun began to sink, two figures appeared upon the horizon. They streaked in towards Eternos from the north, and landed perfectly on their feet right in the center of the Palace Courtyard. Stratos felt quite a bit older as he gazed upon the growth around him.

Some of these trees were being planted when he first joined with a young King Randor. A generation later, and they were larger than he would have expected.

"Father," came the voice of his son, Talon. He was tall and much thinner than most Avions. But he made up for that in his passion for his people. "Father, why have we come here?"

"King Adam asked us to help represent Avion at this dinner. Just as King Jade is representing the Bear-people."

"I know that, father. But I'm just . . ."

"Son, I know how you feel about this."

"Do you? For generations, we've been at Eternos' beck and call. I just feel as though Avion needs to be a little more independent."

Stratos smiled and patted his twenty-two year-old sons shoulder. "You have much to learn."

Talon sighed, but didn't answer.

"Stratos! Over here!" came a call to Talon's father.

Stratos spun around and found himself facing Buzz-Off and his daughter, Stinger. "Buzz-Off! Old friend, how are you?"

"I am well," Buzz-Off returned, shaking Stratos hand. "You remember Stinger, don't you?"

"Yes," Stratos returned. "But it has been a while."

"It has, sir," Stinger said politely.

"Not since you were a larva, I believe," Stratos told her with a witty grin.

She giggled a bit. "Probably not as long as that, sir."

Stratos still smiled at the girl before introducing his son. "This is Talon. Do you remember him?"

"Yes," Buzz-Off said. "Good to see you again."

"Same here, sir," Talon replied, though a little fake. "Stinger."

"Hello Talon. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

There was a slight, awkward silence before Stratos clapped his hands and motioned for the entrance. "Well, let's head on in, shall we?"

***

Emily emerged from her room and spotted the rest of her siblings at the bottom of the stairs. She had put on a gray skirt and black top, with a bit of make-up. As soon as she saw her sister, though, Emily felt like she had just made yet another mistake already.

Amelia was done up in royal garb, making Emily look like it was just another day at school. "That's what you're wearing?" asked Amelia.

"Yeah. Daddy said this wasn't going to be a formal occasion."

"It's not. It's just . . ."

"What?"

"It's . . . well . . . you look nice."

Emily sighed heavily. "I'll go change."

"No, no," Amelia countered. "You look nice."

"I swear, Amelia, you really piss me off," Emily started.

"Hey, easy now," Addison broke in. "This isn't a big deal, alright? Who cares who wears what!?"

"Yeah!" Joshua threw in. "Look at Stratos in there! All he's wearing a pair of suspenders and shorts."

Addison smacked Joshua's arm. "Shut up."

"Hey! Don't you tell me to shut up!" Joshua threatened.

"Joshua, just . . . just stay out of it!"

"See what you made them do, Emily?"

"Me? This is all your fault!"

"Why don't you all just shut up!"

"You first, 'captain!'"

"Oh, that's real mature, 'Miss. Perfect!'"

"I am so sick and tired of this family!"

"There's a shocker!"

"Leave her alone, Amelia!"

"Hey, you leave her alone, Addison!"

"Stay outta this, Joshua. You keep getting into everybody's business!"

"Me?! Why I outta . . . !"

"Oh, knock it off!"

"You knock it off!"

"CHILDREN." A stern voice from the stairs cut them all off. King Adam stood there, looking over his offspring. "This stops now. You have problems, deal with them after the dinner. Until then, you all get along. Understood?"

No answer.

"I asked a question. I expect an answer."

"Yes sir."

"Sorry Dad."

"Yeah, sorry Dad."

"Yeah."

Adam nodded. "Good. Now go along ahead while I wait for your mother."

The four of them grudgely walked down the corridor and into the formal dinning room. Adam sighed and closed his eyes, his fingers immediately rubbing his forehead.

"Problems?" asked Teela stepping down the stairs.

Adam looked up and mustered a grin at his lovely, beautiful wife. "Just the usual, dear."

"Well, I'm sure they'll forget about them when the dinners over."

"I hope so," Adam told her, taking her hand and stepping towards the room.

Teela squeezed his hand. "There is always room for hope."

Adam just smiled at her.