Chapter One

"Twenty-Four Hours"

The stars twinkled above him as if nothing had changed. He-Man checked his chronometer. It was almost midnight. Twenty-four hours. He needed to get into Grayskull and take down Skeletor in order to prevent the Master of Chaos from taking its power. Only twenty-four hours . . . to change the planet that had already changed so quickly.

Yesterday . . . yesterday felt like a dream. Hordak and King Hiss battled it out, unleashing incredible powers. Hordak fought on the side of angels, using the sacred power of the Elders to once more banish the Snake Men to the Void. In the end, Hordak succeeded and all but King Hiss and his personal sect of warriors were banished.

Eternos and Brightmoon were both freed. All that was left to do was clean up the mess, which most importantly included the Sorceress remaining at Grayskull's throne when the Great Eye opens. Such an easy task. He-Man knew, though, in his heart that it would not be so simple. He asked Man-At-Arms, Teela, and all of the Royal Soldiers they could muster to keep an eye on Grayskull until the time came.

Of course, He-Man's gut feelings came to manifest. Immediately following the Snake Men's banishment, Skeletor made his move. He somehow gained teleportational power and a robotic army and unleashed them both on Eternos, taking it quickly.

He-Man was knocked-out just as the robotic army seized the Palace. When he awoke, he was dizzy and found himself out the walls of Eternos, laying low in tall weeds next to the river. Battle Cat had apparently pulled him out of Eternos, and kept him hiding in the tall grass for a while.

When He-Man stirred, he had accidentally shifted enough of the tall grass to catch the attention of Trap-Jaw and Two-Bad. Battle Cat pushed him down and played the role of the decoy, giving He-Man time to escape into the Evergreen Forest. As he made his way from Eternos, He-Man had received a short message from Man-At-Arms and Teela. They were still alive, but under siege.

Hopefully, they were still alive at this moment. Losing them would be . . .

It still felt like a dream to He-Man.

Now, in the present, He-Man waited for confirmation of his greatest fears. Perched at the top of a cliff, He-Man looked out at the holosphere - a gigantic transmitter used by Eternos. Skeletor would most likely feel the need to gloat about the victor over the forces of good.

Indeed. The holosphere slicked on, producing a blue-lit image of Skeletor as he stood at the throne of Grayskull.

"People of Eternia," he began with a wave of his hand, "the war is over. My forces are victorious. The Sorceress of Grayskull is my prisoner and her powers are joined with mine. Let this be my first decree - " he said with arrogance, "- those that do not pledge themselves to me shall be destroyed! The new age begins . . ."

He-Man turned away as the visage of Skeletor faded. Anger filled his heart. Twenty-four hours now. Not a lot of time to save the universe. He started down the cliff, hoping to reach Castle Grayskull by early morning.

"He-Man . . ." came a high-pitched and very familiar voice. He-Man spun around - and found Orko floating towards him from the bushes.

"Orko!" He-Man cried, feeling a surprising amount of joy reach him. The Trollian flew over and hugged the great warrior. "I'm so glad to you're alive."

"Me too."

"How did you escape Eternos?"

"I . . . um . . ."

He-Man nodded. "You ran away."

Orko looked ashamed. "I'm sorry, He-Man, really. It was just . . ."

He-Man shook his head and placed his hand on Orko's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Orko. I'm glad to see you. In fact . . . I need your help."

Orko looked up, surprise in his eyes. "You do?"

"Yes," He-Man replied. "I'm going to Castle Grayskull. If you didn't hear, it's fallen to Skeletor. I'm going to do everything I can to retake it. But I need your help, Orko, so listen very carefully."

"Uh-huh," Orko answered, nodding.

"I need you to go to Avion and get to Stratos' wife, Delora, and his sister, Hawk. As a representative of Eternos and a member of the Royal Court, I'm placing the responsibility of getting their help in your hands."

"Me?!"

"Yes. You are to get to Avion, and very swiftly arrange for Avion and Insectia to launch an attack on Eternos. Given the circumstances, I'm sure they'll commit. After you reach Avion and get an answer, you'll need to make for the Great Towers immediately. I'm concerned about them. It's there that I want you to start your second task."

Orko gulped. "SECOND task?"

"Yes," He-Man answered. "When you get to the Great Towers, go to Grayskull Tower and find any and all book regarding teleportation. I need you to open up a portal to Etheria and get She-Ra and the Heroic Warriors that are there and have them come back. We're going to need all the help we can get."

". . . Okay," Orko returned, doubt in his voice.

He-Man looked seriously into Orko's eyes. "Can you do this?"

"I think so . . ."

"First thing, go to Avion, get to Delora and Hawk, apprise them of the situation and have them launch a counter-attack against Skeletor's forces at Eternos in conjunction with the Insectoids. And then, go to the Great Towers and find a way to teleport She-Ra and the other Heroic Warriors back to Eternia to help us out."

Orko nodded, feeling a bit more confidence. Not too hard, really. "I'm pretty sure I can handle it."

"And you have less than twenty-four hours to do it."

Orko nearly fainted. "Trolly Molly . . ."

He-Man placed his hands on Orko shoulders. Orko looked at He-Man right in the eyes and saw a deep, strong intensity that he had never seen before. Suddenly, Orko felt like he could do this - because He-Man believed he could.

"You have to do this, Orko, for all our sakes, I'm leaving this in your hands."

Orko nodded strongly. "Okay, He-Man! I can do it!"

He-Man smiled and patted the Court Jester on the back. "Then go, Orko. Good journey, Orko. Be fast, be careful."

Orko floated off. "I will, He-Man! Good journey!"

And with that, He-Man watched as the Trollian floated off into the horizon. He-Man took a breath as he realized that he just put the fate of Eternos in the hands of the worst Court Jester magician ever. For some reason, though, that didn't bother him at all.

***

As moonlight shined through the windows of the throne room of the Royal Palace, Tri-Klops pressed a few keys on his wrist communicator. "This is Tri-Klops to Evil Lynn. I have the hourly report."

"Go ahead, Tri-Klops."

"The city remains secured. We've still got a lot of civilians down in the stronghold, but they don't seem to be resisting. All Heroic Warriors and Royal Soldiers are in the prison."

"Good, good. What of the king and queen?"

Tri-Klops turned to the statutes of Randor and Marlena. They pair stood frozen in that form thanks to Snake Face, and had been placed in the middle of the throne room as a symbol of the Snake Men's power to the city. Now, it only served as a prison for the two.

"Trust me, Evil Lynn," Tri-Klops laughed, "they aren't going anywhere."

***

Explosions erupted behind Man-At-Arms and Teela as the raced from the looming visage of Castle Grayskull. "I hate retreating," Man-At-Arms grumbled.

"We had no choice," Teela replied. "Skeletor had already found a way into Grayskull. I just wish I knew how . . ."

"We were betrayed," Man-At-Arms deduced. "Someone in our lines must have made it into Grayskull and then found a way for Skeletor to enter. It's the only explanation."

Teela nodded, but not completely agreed. "How much time, father?"

"Twenty-four hours."

"Not a long time to save the universe."

"Nope. But we can do it," Man-At-Arms assured her. "Not a problem."

Teela smiled. "I hope you're right. I'm really afraid. This feels so much bigger. Everything does. I used to be so certain about the outcomes of our little adventures, but this time . . ."

Man-At-Arms put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Hey. You okay?"

She drew a breath. "I . . . don't know. I suppose part of me is still reeling from the coma and . . . you know, I vaguely remember . . . I don't know, some sort of dream."

"What do you mean?"

The two had stopped and stooped underneath a tall tree with low-hanging branches. Stopping like this usually wasn't a good idea, Man-At-Arms felt like this might be a good thing right now. One of those really important father/daughter moments that needed a good pause.

"Well, I don't remember the dream really at all. Except for . . . I don't know . . . there was this woman . . ." She paused and bit her lower lip in though. "Dad, what happened to my mother again?"

Man-At-Arms looked surprised and held his tongue before answering completely. "Teela, you . . . we've talked about this before."

"I know, but in my dream, there was the woman . . . I remember her. I think she was my mother."

Teela saw her father's eyes turn intense. "Your mother, she . . ."

Before he could answer completely, though, a sudden explosion blasted rocks towards them. The pair drew their weapons once more.

"They're looking for us," Teela surmised.

"Yeah," Man-At-Arms said. There was a deep part of him that felt the sudden need to tell Teela the truth of the matter. What really happened to her mother.

"We should move on," Teela then said, another explosion erupting near them.

"Yeah."

"Twenty-four hours, right?"

"Yes."

"Should be more than enough time to save the universe."