Chapter Four – "The Line"

Orko floated to the door, shaking in the pouring rain. His red robes were soaked and his hat hung around his face in a sopping, wet mess. His small, blue hand knocked on the iron door and he waited impatiently for an answer.

The door opened after a few long seconds. Standing there was Kareen, the young lover to Malik, the wizard of Stone Mountain. She smiled at the visitor, her dark hair framing her pale face.

"Hello Orko. The Sorceress told us you were coming. Come in, come in. You must be freezing."

"Just a little bit!"

Kareen put her hand on his shoulder and could feel the wetness of his robes. "Why don't you use your magic to dry yourself?"

"Um . . . I would, but last time I did that, I caught myself on fire."

Kareen smiled affectionately at the little Trollian then whispered a small spell. A warm feeling swept of Orko as magic dried his robes and warmed his bones.

"Thanks!" he yelped.

"Anytime, Orko. Now, I expect you're here to talk to Malik?"

"To be honest, Kareen, I don't know what I'm doing here. Things are pretty bad. Teela has switched places with Vipera!"

Kareen nodded. "We heard."

Orko blinked. "You did? Well, why didn't you do you something about it? Come and help us."

"Silly, that's why you're here. You're going to help in our place."

"I don't . . . understand."

Kareen patted Orko on the back. "You will, little one. Now why don't you go up to the library and wait for Malik? He'll help put you on the right path."

Night-Stalker and Stridor rode across the Sands of Time, heading towards the Great Towers. He-Man and Skeletor had gone most of the way without speaking to each other. But as the morning sun began to rise and the two of them began to feel tension growing, Skeletor spoke.

"The Great Towers. Something of a marvel," Skeletor remarked.

"That's something strange, coming from you."

Skeletor snorted. "I don't mean their existence, muscle head. I'm talking about their return. History seems to be creeping up on us. Have you noticed that?"

"You were the one that released the Snake-Men."

"True, He-Man, but there's more than just that. Hordak, the Fallen Elder, returned to Eternia. The Great Towers restored - granted, my hand was in on that, but it was Hiss' idea. Shokoti, stepping out from her tomb. Morgoth, the Energy Beast, the Dark Cloud . . . all legends, all myths. Returning. Even the Ancients and now Vipera. History is coming alive all around us, He-Man."

He-Man nodded. "True . . . but what about it?"

"An observation, that's all," Skeletor then said. After a moment, he spoke once more. "Have you ever heard of 'Rohana'Rota?' It's a Preternian phrase describing the final battle between good and evil."

"I . . . yes. Yes, I have."

"Perhaps, then, the reason that history is coming alive and all these immense figures around us are returning is because we are moving ever closer to Rohana'Rota."

He-Man perked an eyebrow. "Why are you telling me this?"

"There is a final battle coming, He-Man. You and I both know this. I am beginning to think it is the battle to end all battles."

"Again . . . why are you telling me this?"

"I just want you aware of the stakes. Face the facts. You and I are far stronger than either would like to admit to each other. When it comes down to the final battle, it will be between us."

He-Man shook his head. "No. I don't believe that. Not one bit."

"Oh?"

"I believe we are reaching the end of history. I believe that we are entering into the future and these recent events have been the end of past." He then turned his head completely to Skeletor. "There will be no final battle. It will simply be me bringing you to justice."

Skeletor shook his head and He-Man could tell he was frustrating the villain. "Believe what you want, fool. Your delusions shall be your undoing."

"Let me ask you a question, Skeletor. What happened to you?"

"What are you talking about?" snapped Skeletor.

"With the except of a few incidents on Etheria and the final battle with Hordak, you've been quiet here on Eternia. Ever since you were interrogated by the royal about Keldor."

Skeletor straightened and He-Man could feel his nemesis grim. Skeletor chose his words carefully. The name Keldor was nothing to him anymore.

"I haven't changed, He-Man."

"I don't believe that."

"And just why is that?"

"Because this entire trip, you haven't taken the chance to attack me. Something has happened to you, Skeletor, and I think it's been building longer than just your capture. It seems as thought it's been building since the whole Christmas incident or maybe even reaching back to the ordeal with Jewel of Amara."

Skeletor sneered and fired a bolt at He-Man. He-Man easily deflected the bolt with his Sword of Power and it struck the ground harmlessly.

"You could have launched a stronger attack, Skeletor," He-Man continued. "And let's face facts, you haven't been protesting this alliance between the two of us that much."

"Neither have you."

"Well, I don't have much a problem with it. I get to keep an eye on you this entire time and I'd rather do that than not know what you're doing. But you . . . I remember the problem with Evilseed. You practically had to be at death's door to join us."

"Times change, He-Man. Accept it. I understand that at certain times, the two of us must regrettably join together against our common foe. There are more advantages to it than your simple mind realizes."

"Such as?"

"This is an opportunity to understand my enemy. You have opposed me so long that I have decided to try and understand you. For example . . . why is it a mighty warrior like yourself serves a simpleton like King Randor?"

He-Man sighed. "King Randor stands for peace and justice. He would gladly give up his life to protect his people. He is fair and wise."

Skeletor scoffed. "If you only knew the truth about your beloved king, He-Man."

"And just what truth is that?"

Skeletor didn't answer. After a few seconds, he quickly moved the direction of the conversation. "I do not understand why anyone would give up their own life for others. No one deserves that price. If they get themselves into a situation like that, it is up to them to find their own way out."

He-Man decided not to touch on the point that Skeletor himself nearly sacrificed his own life to save the two Earth children a few years ago.

"That was one of the pillars of Hordak's teachings," Skeletor then added.

"The path of darkness seems quite the self-fish road."

Skeletor's tone turned ominous. "In darkness, there is strength. Evil is just another path to power."

"One that comes at the cost of others."

"A small price to pay. And what about you, He-Man? You can't have much of a life since you spend it saving others and stopping me all the time. The path of light and good is a fool's quest. I asked you once, He-Man, if the path of good was as lonely as evil? Is it?"

"That . . . is none of your business."

Skeletor's jaw moved into a smiling position.

"We're here."

The two came to a halt near the Great Towers. Snake-Men lined the windows and their banners hung from the front.

He-Man sighed heavily. "It pains me to see it like this, under the control of forces of evil."

"I'll be sure to kill you before I take it over, then," cackled Skeletor.

"They've spotted us," warned He-Man.

"How can you tell?"

A huge explosion erupted nearby, tossing both hero and villain against the hardpan. Another missile launched from Central Tower, this one blocked by Skeletor's force shield.

"Come on!" shouted He-Man and ushered Stridor onward. Skeletor was right next to him. As He-Man deflected missile and energy blasts, Skeletor retaliated with his own energy attacks. Stridor and Night-Stalker's own self-defense weapons kept away on-coming Snake-Men.

Soon, they arrived at the base of Viper Tower, the mouth of which was still releasing a beam to the White Hole some miles off to the east.

"All right, how do we - "

Before He-Man could answer, the hardpan around them exploded in a whirl of dust and dirt. The Meteorbs then appeared: Crocobite, Dinosorb, Gore-Illa, Orbear and Rhinorb. They rushed towards He-Man, Skeletor, Stridor, and Night-Stalker in their robotic forms. Despite their bulky appearances, they were quite fast.

Skeletor and He-Man did their best to defend themselves, but were quickly overrun. Orbear had dispatched Skeletor's Havoc Staff and Crocobite had his teeth embedded in Skeletor's arm. Dinosorb had bashed He-Man's head and Gore-Illa was pounding him. Rhinorb was standing ready to stampede.

But before any of them could continue their attacks, there was a suddenly loud thunderous noise. The ground shook. He-Man looked to the sky and watched as five new Meteorbs came flying towards them.

"What is this?" he asked aloud.

The five new Meteorbs landed just a few feet away, attracting the attention of the attacking Meteorbs.

"They have found us!" shouted Orbear.

The new arrivals transformed from their egg-like shapes into their robotic modes: a lion, a humanoid robot, a tiger, a cat, and mastodon. They rushed forward and immediately engaged their counterparts.

"What on Eternia going on here?"

Breaking from the fight, the humanoid robot leapt up and landed right in front of He-Man and Skeletor. Skeletor snatched up his Havoc Staff and made to attack him. He-Man, however, stepped in front of Skeletor.

"You are He-Man?" asked the Meteorb.

"Yes. And you are?"

"I am Cometoid. My allies Astrolion, Ty-Grrr, Comet Cat, and Tuskor have been tracking these renegades for two of your years. When we learned that a ship was headed to Eternia, we realized that we never checked Eternia. We knew of Etheria, but never even considered Eternia."

"What ship is headed here?" asked He-Man.

"Emissaries. That is all we know."

"We'll deal with that later, He-Man," Skeletor stated, looking at the beam of energy that continued to pour of Viper Tower's mouth. "We're running out of time."

At that moment, it began to rain laser fire. The renegades Meteorbs pulled out of combat and headed back to the Great Towers. Skeletor raised a force field around himself, He-Man, and Cometoid.

"The Meteorbs are in the employ of an enemy of ours named King Hiss. If we join our forces, we should be able to stop all of our enemies."

"Agreed then. What would you have us do?"

He-Man pulled out a communicator. "Take this and hide yourselves. I'll contact you in a few hours and let you know the plan."

"Understood."

The Meteorbs, the new arrivals and possibly new allies, transformed into their egg-like comet modes and took off into the noon sky.

"You trust too easily," Skeletor scolded.

"I told them nothing of our plans. But I know the Meteorbs. A few them tried to assault the Hive a few months ago. A few among those new arrivals were the same kind that helped She-Ra and I defend the Hive."

"It's doesn't matter right now," Skeletor then said. "Right now, we must have one goal."

"Do what you have to do quickly," He-Man snapped as he watched Snake-Men pour out of Central Tower.

Skeletor sneered, but then lifted up his Havoc Staff. A perfectly calculated bolt of just the right kind of energy fired out and struck the beam. The beam grew brighter for just a moment, and then dissipated.

As the Snake-Men continued out, Skeletor and He-Man jumped back onto their robotic steeds and rushed off to the east, quickly outrunning the laser bolts from the Snake-Men.

"I'd like to know just why it was they had the two of us do this together," Skeletor grumbled.

"Because I'm here to keep you in line."