Chapter 2 – Changes

The moment Xander finished yelling, everything changed. Everyone who was looking on the outside noticed a gathering of clouds in an instant, as if a sudden storm would hit them. But instead of a storm, the only occurrence was that a giant bolt of lightning was released from the clouds, and it hit the top of the school building.

The lightning crossed the ceiling without causing any damage and it hit the tip of the sword in Xander's hand.

The young man was suddenly engulfed in the energy of the lightning, and he disappeared in a white glare. The magic imbued in the sword and the invocation of power caused a massive change into Xander's body. He grew a feet and a half, and his muscles jumped up, and he suddenly had the body of a bodybuilder. His hair grew up and it reached his shoulders, and his skin suddenly acquired a dark olive tone, as if he had spent the entire summer on the beach. And his face changed, to an older version of his, something he might look at mid-thirties. The garish clothes disappeared, and they were substituted by some kind of leather boots, armored braces, and an armored vest, in its center displayed the same symbol etched in the sword. Luckily, he would realize later on, he was wearing some sort of leather leggings, and not furry underwear.

"I HAVE THE POWER!", he yelled, holding the sword with two hands, parallel to the ground. The sensation of power was... amazing. Overwhelming. Engulfing. Incredible.

The light disappeared, and the clouds outside dispersed, as if it never were.

The towering giant that appeared in Xander's place made Giles jump several feet back, searching for some weapon, any weapon. Not that it would do any good. By his size, Giles concluded that he could break a man in half without a sweat.

The giant spoke. "OhmyGod...ohmyGod...ohmyGod... it WORKED!" his voice a deep bass, quite different from Xander's.

Giles looked at the man again, and he noticed that..."X-xander?"

The giant man looked at Giles, and grinned furiously. "Yeah, G-Man, it's me."

"W-what happened?"

Xander looked at the sword and grinned again. Suddenly, all seemed clear to him, and he felt quite different. He now knew so many styles of sword fighting it wasn't even funny. And unarmed combat... well, strength aside, he could give Buffy the time of her life. In an almost studied motion, he placed the blade on his back, and it locked on place, magically held to his vest.

"It seems I'm one of the Heirs of Power." Xander-giant answered, looking at the other sword.

"Heirs of Power?" Giles sat down again, still cleaning his glasses.

"Well, Giles, I still don't know about the past, or how these swords came to be here on Earth, but, if the information on the cartoon is correct, I think I can explain some things."

Giles noticed that even Xander's speech pattern seemed different, more... mature.

"Go on, please."

Xander sat at the other side of the table, and he crossed his hands on the tabletop.

"Well, the cartoon is called He-Man and The Masters of The Universe. It tells the story of a planet, located in the center of the galaxy, called Eternia. This planet is a most peaceful one, and the people looked like a mix between the Middle Ages and Star Wars. They dressed as peasants and kings while flying machines that would put airplanes to shame. It was ruled by a wise and good king called Randor, and his queen was an Earth woman, an ex-astronaut called Marleena."

"So, what does it have to do with you?"

"I'm getting there. This place was also ruled by magic and the greatest magic of all was kept in a castle, called Grayskull. This castle was watched by a woman, called the Sorceress. There is one evil being, called Skeletor, which coveted the power of Grayskull to himself. With the help of a bunch of stupid, yet powerful henchmen, he always tried to gain it. Only one thing stopped him, He-Man."

"He-Man? Who's He-Man?" the story was too confusing, but the basics were easy: Evil side, good side.

"Well, right now I could say that I'm He-Man, or an incarnation of him. He-Man was the defender of the secrets of castle Grayskull, and secretly he was also Adam, prince of Eternia, son of Randor and Marleena. He was called the most powerful man in the Universe."

"P-powerful? How powerful?"

"Well, from what I remember from the cartoon, and from what I'm feeling running through me, if it was structurally possible, I think I could easily lift this entire building and throw it to the other side of town."

"Holy Mother of God." Giles dropped his glasses to the floor.

Xander, or better, He-Man, looked around and rose from the bench.

"Look, Giles, people must have seen the lightning, meaning that in a few moments, one of the Scoobies is going to come through that door, and I'm not ready to explain that yet."

Giles looked at him, and nodded. "Ok, where are you gonna hide? Seven feet men wearing a sword in their backs are not exactly easy to hide, even in this town."

He-Man grinned again, and answered. "Easily, into my old, frail, Xander-sized body."

He returned to the same point in the room where the transformation took part initially, and raised the sword again. It was almost comical, he couldn't lift it fully, it would cut through the ceiling, but it would work.

"MAY THE POWER...RETURN!" he yelled, again.

It was almost like putting a VCR to rewind, watching the scene. The tip of the sword glowed again, and another lightning flared, this time in the direction of the sky. The light engulfed He-Man, and his appearance changed back, to that of Xander Harris.

Xander looked at the sword, the feelings still running through him. He still could remember some things, such as combat, but it was mostly residual, like his memories from Halloween. But one thing he knew... He motioned the sword to his back again, as if locking it back in his He-Man armor, and it disappeared, the instant it 'locked' into place.

"How..." Giles asked with the suddenly disappearance.

"Spatial displacement. The sword is still here, only hidden in a pocket dimension. Part of the magic."

Xander sat up again. Before he could utter a word, a red-haired hurricane flew through the library's door.

"GILES!"

-To be continued -