Chapter IV: The Third Ghost
Keldor sat on the bench for what seemed like an eternity, he was thinking about the choices he had made and if they were the right ones.
"What I have done to abandoned here?" he asked himself as he buried his face in his hands, he thought about Lynn had told her husband and felt the dread truth, he was a slave to his lust for power and Hordak's chains were wound tightly around weighing his soul down, preventing from reaching happiness, that fact drove him deeper into despair and making his loneliness all the more unbearable.
While he was sitting there, he saw a strange being wearing a black hooded robe with red lining with a large red bat with a death's head on the chest, the garb of the ancient Shadow Priests, float toward him.
The beings face was shrouded beneath its hood and only its red eyes could be seen; it hands were blue in color, other than that no distinguishing features could be seen.
"Are you the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?" Keldor asked the being as the figure approached him.
The being nodded in affirmation, staring at Keldor with its unblinking red eyes.
Keldor looked at the being and was filled with fear, a fear worse than anything he has experienced so far; it was an overwhelming feeling of dread as if he was staring straight at the messenger of Death himself.
"You are to show me the shadows of things that have not happened but will as time marches on, is that so?" Keldor asked trembling before the ghost.
The ghost nodded again in response to the question.
"Dreadful specter of the future, I fear you more than any other apparition I have met" Keldor said meekly, a feeling of death surrounded the spirit like an aura and like a contagion it spread to everyone in the area. "But I know your purpose is to do me good and as I hope to another man from what you show me, I am willing to bear your presence; will you not speak to me?" Keldor asked trying to muster enough courage to make eye contact with the ghost.
The being said nothing and pointed forward with his finger indicating to Keldor to follow him.
"Yes of course, night is waning fast and time is of the essence, lead on," Keldor said as he got up and followed his new guide.
The ghost raised his hand and soon Keldor was surrounded by mist that clouded his vision, it was cold and made him shiver greatly as it covered him like a death shroud.
When the mist cleared Keldor found himself on the streets of Eternos, he looked around and saw two beings, one covered with orange fur with a white face with blue markings under his eyes and another with blue skin with a green face, a mechanical arm and metal lower jaw wearing a red and sliver helmet, walking in front them.
"When did was it decreed?" the furry being asked his friend.
"Last night, I believe, after he was wounded after his attack on the Hall of Wisdom," the blue skinned being told his friend.
"When is the banishing ceremony, Trap-Jaw?" the furry being asked as his associated.
"Tonight, Beast Man but I don't a single being who would go to it," Mr. Trap-Jaw told his friend.
"I would go to it," Beast Man replied happily.
"Really?" Trap-Jaw asked
"That is if they provide me with a meal," Beast Man replied jovially as they walked away laughing.
Keldor turned to the spirit, "Have those two no respect for the condemned?" He asked enraged by their disrespectful attitude towards the poor soul of whom they spoke of, "Spirit, I know those men their associates of mine, tell me of whom do they speak?" Keldor continued to tell the silent specter.
The spirit did not answer but just raised his hand and took pulled the shroud of mist over Keldor once more.
When the mist dissipated Keldor saw that the spirit had transported him to an abandoned corner of the city, where a man with black hair with a streak of gray with a goatee and wearing black armor, black pants, and a red cape is meeting with two old women and a skeleton in a purple cape wielding a glowing scythe.
"What do you bring for Marzo today?" the man, Marzo, asked his three guests in a thick accent as they approached him with three bags slung over their shoulders.
"I brought his bed sheets," a woman wearing red robe that concealed her face with a hood so that only her glowing yellow eyes showed, Shadow Weaver by name, said he threw her bag in front of Marzo.
"Why, Shadow Weaver, I hope he was lead away when you took him," Marzo exclaimed as he took the bag, opened it, and marked what and how much Weaver brought in.
"He wasn't, but he won't be needing them where he's going," Weaver chuckled as she gave Marzo another set of items.
"You mean you took down his bed curtains rings and all with him still in the house?" Marzo asked in shocked as he examined them,
"It's not my favorite thing do, but if he wanted to keep them he should have been more kindly and don't worry he wouldn't be heading where he's going," she exclaimed
"My dear, you were born to make money" Marzo laughed as he placed the bag behind him in a pile and hand five gold coins and two silver ones to Weaver.
What have your brought Scorpia?" Marzo asked the second woman she wore black and red armor and had pincers for hands and a scorpion's tail.
"His spoons, they're silver you know," she said as she handed them to Marzo.
"He's cheap these are silver-plated, it won't even fetch an Eternian bronze coin on the market, but I will give you two bronze coins for them," Marzo said examining them.
"TWO BONZE COINS?" Scorpia asked enraged by the offer.
"It's a weakness I have, I always give more to the ladies, but ask for more and I'll only give a half a bronze coin," he warned her.
"Very well," Scorpia acquiesced as Marzo handed her the two coins
"What about you Scareglow what have you brought for me?" Marzo asked his the skeleton.
"His cape, made from the finest Eternian silk," Scareglow said as he stepped forward, set his scythe on the ground and produced a long purple cape.
"This will fetch a pretty coin," he said as he handed Scare-Glow three silver coins as payment.
"And to think I was going to bury him in it," Scareglow replied as he took the money laughing.
Keldor want to say something, but the sight of seeing people profit from someone's death horrified him to the point of speechlessness.
The ghost then waved his hand and once again the world was hidden from him by mist.
When the mist vanished, Keldor could see he was in dungeon, he looked around and as he did he felt the cold hand of death on his shoulder.
The spirit pointed to one of the cells where the figure of a man was sitting in the corner, as if to tell Keldor to look at it.
"Spirit I know what are showing me, that some poor soul is going to be banished and no one cared for him. Please Spirit, let us leave this place and I promise you that I will forget the message this room imparts," Keldor told his guide.
The spirit continue to point at the man and even though he did not speak Keldor could tell the spirit the spirit was getting more forceful and commanding.
"Spirit I know what you want me to do, to look at this man, but I am fearful and cannot, please Spirit let us leave this place", Keldor pleaded with the ghost.
The ghost continued to point at the being in the cell, not relenting in his silent order.
"I would spirit but I don't have the power in me to look at him" Keldor told the ghost, "please spirit show me someone who feels some emotion connected with this man's fate", Keldor insisted almost crying.
Finally, either out of frustration or impatience, the ghost raised his and ordered time and space to move again.
Now, Keldor found himself in an old worn out house, he looked around and saw a young woman with blue eyes, green hair, and what appeared to be tail feathers wearing a blue dress and a red color sitting in a corner.
She seemed worried about something and kept looking at then door and then turning to look at a picture of her with a man, her husband, in a blue battle suit with red armor and battle helmet with silver goggles.
Finally the man came home, his expression was one of happiness and fear.
"Well, Mekaneck is it good news or bad news?" she asked her husband
"Bad news I am afraid, Peekablue," Mekaneck told her.
"We're going to lose everything?" Peekablue asked her husband as she led him to the kitchen served him dinner.
"No, there is still hope, Peekablue," Mekaneck told his wife.
"If he relieves us our bills that would be a miracle," Peekablue
"It's too late for him to do that, he's going to be banished to Despondos," he told his wife.
"Then who will be in charge of our affairs?" she asked.
"I don't know, but I know he won't be as evil as Keldor, so we can sleep easy tonight," Mekaneck as he waned upstairs.
Keldor turned to his guide, "is there no one on Eternia who feels emotion, pity, and sadness at the fate of a man," hoping that there was still people who felt sadness at a such an event.
The spirit took Keldor back to Bob Tri-Klops' house. The usual air of happiness was replaced with a somber and almost gloomy feeling, almost like the feeling when gets when inside a mausoleum.
"Mother you're crying," William told his mother as his mother hid her eyes,
"My eyes are just weak the darkness does them sometimes, I don't to show weak eyes to your father" she corrected her son as he wiped her eyes.
"He seems to be going slower these days," William commented
"Yes, he always seemed to go faster with Little Lookee on his shoulders," Catra remarked.
Just then Bob Tri-Klops came home.
"Sorry I was late I had stopped by to see Lookee, I promised I would every time I could," Bob replied as he took off his coat and boots.
"Some day I'll take you, it's on the hill where he used watch the waterfowl," Bob said as he started to cry.
He looked around at his family, "but we should not grieve for this life is filled with greetings and goings and as long we are together we shall never forget Little Lookee, and remembering his meek spirit and how brave and patient he was we shall not take to fighting amongst ourselves again," he said fighting back tears.
They all nodded in agreement.
Keldor wanting to say something but before he could the spirit raised his hand and teleported Keldor out of the room to a new location.
Now Keldor found himself outside Castle Grayskull standing on a platform. He could felt the cold winds blow around him
HE looked around and saw that the Elders were also standing there and also there was the man from the cell, but Keldor could not see his face as it was hidden by a purple hood.
While Keldor was looking at this sight, the ghost led Keldor to far corner of the platform where a scroll lay on a lonely pedestal, the Spirit pointed at the scroll ordering him to look at it.
"Spirit, before I look at the scroll, answer me this: are these the shadows of things that will be or the shadows of things that may be only?" Keldor asked the ghost as he slowly approached the pedestal.
The spirit did not answer but continued to point at the scroll.
"Certain courses lead to certain ends that is a given, but if the courses change the ends must change as well," Keldor explained fearfully to the spirit.
The Spirit pointed at the scroll again.
Keldor finally got close enough to read the scroll and what he saw frightened him.
"Keldor of Eternia" he read in between his tears, "Hear me spirit, I am not the man I was, I am not the man I would have been if not for these visits, why show me this if it is hopeless for me to change," he wept at the spirit's feet.
"Spirit you nature pleads for me and pities me, please tell me that I may alter these events by a changed life" Keldor pleaded frantically.
The Spirit did not answer him.
"Hear me spirit, I will honor Christmas in my heart and will keep it all the year, the spirits of past, present and future will live within me and thrive. I will not shun the lessons you have taught me," he vowed, it was a promise that was a serious as any religious vow.
The spirit did not answer him.
"Spirit please tell me that I may erase the name on the scroll," he cried out as he pointed the scroll while pretending to erase the name with his hand.
It was then that a massive portal opened above Keldor's head, he backed away from it only to stumble in front of the mysterious being. Keldor jumped back in terror as he beheld the being's face.
The being was Keldor, but his head was changed into a levitating skull, the being stared at Keldor and declared "Keldor is dead, I am Skeletor!" and with that he and Keldor were hurled into Despondos.
"PLEASE SPARE ME SPIRIT!" he screamed as he was sent into Despondos never to be seen again.