A/N: Disclaimer: Don't get used to these ultra-quick updates. Being snowed in for the last five days has lent me a bit of extra time. :-) (In other words, if you're someone who only checks in once a week, you might be behind by a chapter.)
Kelley--Sorry I forgot to answer your question earlier. Spirit was magically changed into Swift Wind permanently in one of my earlier stories, so he could go be with his family on Unicorn Island on Etheria.
"Stratos!" Duncan yelled in horror as the flying man fell from amidst the trees. He sighed in relief as Buzz-Off caught Stratos. Duncan paid for his inattention as a heavy blow to his left shoulder knocked him to the ground.
"Forgot about me, eh?" Clawful snapped his two huge claws together and grinned. In the next second, he was out cold on the ground.
"And I guess you forgot about me," Hawk grinned. He helped Duncan to his feet. "Are you okay, Man-at-Arms?"
"I'll survive," Duncan grunted. He and Hawk turned to face Trap Jaw. Duncan raised his sword out of habit, but Trap Jaw simply bit it off.
"Try this one," Hawk challenged, swinging his glowing cutlass at Trap Jaw's laser arm.
"Gladly," Trap Jaw muttered even as he maneuvered himself into position to grab Hawk's cutlass with his mouth. As he did so, however, Hawk activated his power ring on his other hand and hit Trap Jaw hard. The villain flew backwards and lied motionless near some bushes.
"It's terribly rude to come to someone's home and try to steal the source of their power," Hutch tsked at the heroes. "I'm surprised at you, He-Man. One would think you would have better manners, after all the times Keldor tried to take Grayskull's power."
The evil from the chamber behind them surged hot against their backs. An irritation rose up in He-Man and She-Ra, quickly developing into anger. He-Man shook his head hard, trying to disperse the feeling, and She-Ra glanced at Keldor, confusion crossing her face as she felt the fury well up for no reason—fury at Keldor and Lyn.
"Don't listen to him!" Keldor ordered. "He'll try to turn us against each other, and the evil magic will cloud our judgment!"
He-Man stared hard at Damien, who grinned evilly, and gripped his sword tightly. "It won't work," He-Man said, a hard edge to his voice.
She-Ra took a calming breath and focused on the fact that Keldor was her lost uncle. The anger slowly faded.
"Party pooper," Hutch pouted at Keldor.
"Well, what do we do with them now that we have them?" Marzo asked, studying his fingernails nonchalantly.
"You don't have us yet," He-Man retorted. "Six on three...seems the odds are in our favor."
"One would think," Hutch said, then he let loose with a blast of magic at Malick. The wizard, unused to combat, was unprepared, and the stun beam hit him directly. "Oh, look, five to three," Hutch said with feigned sadness as Malick fell. Waves of remnant power flowed over the others; He-Man and She-Ra only felt a breeze, but Lyn and Keldor sensed the power behind it, and exchanged dismayed glances.
"Malick!" Teela cried, moving to stand over him protectively, not even noticing the breeze.
"Get us out of here," She-Ra hissed to Keldor, having caught his look.
"We won't have another chance at this!" he argued desperately.
Lyn sent a blast of magic from the Ram Stone within her, focusing it beneath the three attackers. They fell into the crevice that suddenly appeared, into a cavern below. "We only have a few seconds. Come up with a better plan quick." Lyn ducked down to heal Malick.
"We've got to pull out," He-Man said, shaking his head. "This isn't working. Until we know how to shut down this chamber for good, we're only putting ourselves and the others at risk." He only hoped Duncan and the others were all right.
"You're giving up?" Teela asked, shocked.
He-Man and She-Ra exchanged glances. Usually things seemed to work out for them, and Grayskull's wisdom guided them, but neither of them was experiencing a sense of what needed to be done to shut down the nexxus, and obviously Lyn and Keldor weren't either.
"We can't risk innocent lives," She-Ra said, with a fleeting look at Lyn.
Teela swallowed hard as she thought of the baby Lyn carried. She-Ra was right. Their only idea had failed. They didn't have enough knowledge to fight this battle today after all.
Keldor caught the exchange and gripped his staff tightly. 'Truth, why aren't you speaking? Tell us what to do, please!'
There was a rumbling from below, and Marzo and Hutch re-appeared at the edge of the crevice. "I would suggest you run," Hutch said pleasantly, touching his fingertips together in eager anticipation. "I'm afraid you've made Damien angry."
The entire mountain began to shake, rocks falling loose. Keldor and Lyn looked at each other hopelessly and grasped the arms of the others, then transported them outside, just beyond the eastern entrance, behind a cluster of rocky spires--scarcely a dragon's length from the base of the fortress.
"Blast it!" He-Man swore, driving his fist into the ledge opposite of Snake Mountain. Lyn was easing Malick to a sitting position, and they both looked up in surprise at the hero's rare display of temper.
The force of He-Man's punch seemed to reverberate throughout the area around them, a few pebbles breaking loose from the ledge above. Keldor glanced up, taking in the always-darkened sky, then scanned the area, tense. The trembling under their feet continued—trembling that was caused by more than He-Man's blow.
"Temper, temper, He-Man," jeered Marzo, appearing in front of Snake Mountain. "Maybe this will cool you down." He raised his hands and uttered a word that He-Man didn't recognize.
"Get out of the way!" warned Keldor as he raced into the path of two huge whips of ice ripping from Marzo's outstretched hands with incredible speed. Lyn threw up a shield to block Marzo.
Keldor spun his glowing hands in front of his face and the jagged ropes of ice curled up in a funnel of air and solidified into a great ice arrowhead. "Amateur," taunted Keldor, desperately hoping to appear as unfazed as he was striving to appear. With a flick of his wrist, Keldor flung the man-sized icicle directly back at Marzo. "You provide me with the ammunition to fight against you." Marzo screamed in outrage as his sleeve was pinned to the side of Snake Mountain.
While Marzo battled Lyn and Keldor, Hutch eyed She-Ra and He-Man like they were pieces of deliciously prepared meat. "Now you're mine," he said with a malicious grin. He let out a blast of red magic. Malick shoved Teela out of the way, sensing the evil power in the spell. He-Man and She-Ra both raised their swords to block it, but the spell engulfed the swords, heating them. He-Man's and She-Ra's hands began to burn.
"Don't drop the sword!" He-Man called to She-Ra, who nodded, her teeth grinding together in pain.
"Teela!" Malick called. He directed a ray of magic at her, and she slanted the beam to intercept Hutch's ray. Strengthened by the Sword of Truth, it disintegrated the spell, but Malick could feel his strength fading. 'Serena, I need more power,' he sent to her.
'You shall have it.'' A refreshing wave of power renewed him, and he quickly sent a spell towards He-Man and She-Ra to heal their hands.
Marzo had yanked his arm free and now he was creating a huge ball of energy. "This will finish you both!" he snarled.
Lyn and Keldor created shields once more as Marzo launched the glowing ball at them. It hit their shields with a strength neither had ever experienced, throwing them backwards. They soared through the air, over the heads of the others into the side of the cliff behind them.
"Lyn! Keldor!" Teela raised her arm and fired a few freeze rays, which Marzo deflected with one hand. She nearly lost her balance as the ground vibrations grew stronger.
She-Ra and He-Man crossed swords, managing to send Hutch's latest attack back at him. Hutch ducked, and it blasted a hole the size of an attak trak into the side of Snake Mountain. "You'll have to do better than that," He-Man taunted him.
Lyn and Keldor got to their feet unsteadily. Malick teleported beside them and sent a healing spell through them. "We need to escape," Malick said. Lyn and Keldor nodded and joined hands with Malick, prepared to teleport them all back to Grayskull.
"Laugh while you can," Hutch smirked at He-Man, as he continued his attack of fire, which She-Ra blocked by turning her sword into a shield. "You'll all be dead soon."
"You mean I've lost my 'no-kill' status?" He-Man asked as he deflected another blast from Marzo. The force of it sent him back a step. "I'm so hurt, Hutch."
The rumbling from Snake Mountain suddenly intensified, breaking everyone's concentration. Keldor, Lyn, and Malick dropped their hands as all of the heroes looked up in horror. Marzo and Hutch also stopped their attacks for a minute, watching with delighted anticipation.
"By the grace of Eternia," He-Man breathed.
Before their eyes, the snake wrapped around the mountain closed its tremendous mouth, blinked its glittering eyes, and ever so slowly pulled itself away from the stone mountain. The carved rock of the snake became blood-red scales, and when the snake turned and hissed at them, they could feel its hot breath even from several hundred yards away. It slowly moved forward onto the level area just in front of them, its body grating along the rock of the mountain as it unwound itself.
"Like we said, you made Damien angry," Marzo said with a self-satisfied smile.
The tail of the snake pulled away from the mountain, ripping open the walls that had concealed the nexxus. Lyn pointed to the now-open chamber in horror.
"The fire--the power--is gone!"
"Three guesses where it ended up," said Malick grimly as he pointed to flames now dancing in the snake's eyes. It curled in front of them, its tail rattling as it reared back and hissed, the noxious fumes causing them to nearly gag. He-Man took a breath and blew the fumes away from them all, even as the ramifications of what had happened began to sink in.
Damien had taken the power of the nexus and possessed the snake.
"He could go anywhere," Keldor said, horrified. "He can take that power anywhere in Eternia and destroy anything and everything."
Kobra Khan, Spikor, Tongue Lasher, Whiplash, and Two Bad exchanged looks as they caught sight of their three fallen comrades. "Break!" hissed Kobra Khan.
Kobra Khan and Whiplash disappeared into the green forest growth almost instantly. Duncan cursed under his breath at that fact.
Tongue Lasher and Two-Bad pulled out two blasters each and began firing wildly at the heroic warriors, sending them diving for cover. At the same time, Spikor let out a roar and charged at Mekaneck, swinging at him wildly with his fists. Mekaneck's head dodged this way and that until he had the misfortune to dodge directly into a stun ray from Two-Bad.
Spikor turned his attention to Duncan. "Now I've got you," he said in his halting voice, a wide grin on his face. He lunged forward. Duncan dove to the side, and a light mist surrounded him.
"Khan!" Duncan rolled out of the sleeping mist, only to be met with the sight of Whiplash's tail coming down straight for his head. There was nothing he could do.
Keldor glanced at He-Man. "We have to stop him now. We have to neutralize the power."
The snake--Damien--lunged downwards, directly at Malick. She-Ra shoved Malick out of the way and He-Man sliced at the snake with his sword, barely brushing the scales. Damien reared back and prepared to strike again.
Seeing the great serpent looming above them, Keldor called out to Malick, "You must send power through the Sword of Truth. Only massive amounts of power can affect that thing. And Grayskull's power, purified by the sword, may harm the creature the way my touch did." Keldor maintained his shield around himself and Lyn and he frantically ran through strategies telepathically to rid themselves of the distraction that Marzo and Hutch's attacks were causing.
Damien sensed Keldor's shield and shifted his direction. He burrowed into the ground, disappearing completely.
"That's not good," He-Man muttered.
A flash of light caught Teela's eye, and she barely deflected Marzo's blast. "These two are getting annoying," she grumbled to the others.
A rumbling under their feet gave warning to the five heroes, and they jumped into the air in two different directions. Lyn and Keldor found themselves facing off against Marzo and Hutch, while She-Ra, He-Man, and Teela landed on a low rise. In the spot where they had stood, Damien burst out of the ground with a triumphant roar.
"Fools," he hissed, positioning himself to strike again. "I will prevail."
Teela once again allowed Malick to pour magic through her. Lyn was across the clearing now, but still within Teela's line of sight. She pointed her sword at the white-haired woman, and Lyn in turn sent a beam of pure white power lancing across Damien's blood-red scales. A line of green hissed and bubbled from the cut and a sickly green smoke rose from the room. Damien roared in pain and thrust himself toward Teela.
Malick broke off from feeding Teela power as she dove out of the way. The wizard used his power to produce a brilliant flash, causing Damien to rear back in pain, screeching.
"You'll pay for that!" Though temporarily blinded by the light, he had a snake's sense of smell, and he struck at Teela once more.
"No!" He-Man shoved Teela back and came up under Damien's jaw, She-Ra copying his movements on the other side of the snake. Together they punched the snake as hard as they could, sending him soaring backwards into Snake Mountain. Rocks tumbled down around the base of the mountain.
"That'll teach you," She-Ra smirked.
Marzo and Hutch, having evaded a spray of falling boulders, emerged from the smoke rising from the many cracks spreading across the barren land. The two of them raised a group of stones and sent them hurtling towards Lyn and Keldor, who used their own magic to stop them in mid-air.
Damien continued his attack Teela and the Sword of Truth—the tool that allowed Lyn and Keldor's spells to sear through his stony hide. Teela, He-Man, and She-Ra were forced to scatter as Damien slammed to the ground and disappeared under it, this time into one of the many tunnels that riddled the foundations of Snake Mountain's grounds.
He-Man and Teela backed away from a sinkhole that appeared just in front of the small rise they were standing on. "He's destabilizing the whole area," Teela called out, horrified. "If he keeps this up, he won't have to kill us. The earth beneath our feet will swallow us whole!"
As if to prove her words, the ground shook once more, but this time, the section almost directly under them began to collapse in on itself. Before Teela could react, He-Man had lifted her into his arms and sprang upwards to the cliff above them. She-Ra launched herself into the air as well, backwards rather than upwards, landing a good several hundred yards away.
They were just in time. The small ledge they had been on fell into the crater created by Damien. Fortunately, it had not affected the area near Lyn and Keldor, who continued to battle Marzo and Hutch in a colorful display of magic.
Damien lunged for Teela again. He-Man punched the snake in the head, but without She-Ra's added power this time, Damien merely went slightly off-course. He quickly re-grouped. This time Teela stumbled as she tried to scramble out of the way, and Damien dodged He-Man's slash.
'We've got to get rid of Hutch and Marzo so we can help!' Keldor sent to Lyn.
'I'm open to ideas,' she returned dryly.
'Distract them Lyn. I'm going to try something,' Keldor sent.
Lyn pulled on the power Malick was feeding into her and sent a blast that turned a large chunk of Snake Mountain into a cloud of dust. Caught up in that dust, Marzo and Hutch began coughing heavily.
Keldor placed his hand on one of Malick's outstretched arms to draw even more power to himself. Soon he created a glowing portal the size of a small child on the ground near the base of the mountain.
'We have to get them in the portal,' Keldor sent urgently to everyone. He meant to send the message to She-Ra only, expecting He-Man to keep Damien busy, but after using so much power at once, his control on his thought projection slipped a bit.
'Little busy!' He-Man snapped back as he dodged the snake's gaping mouth. Damien was incredibly fast, and was still intent on him and Teela. 'Sis, help them out, would you?'
She-Ra cast a worried glance at her brother as he and Teela fought against Damien, but nodded. The sooner they got rid of Hutch and Marzo, the sooner they could all focus on the real threat.
Keldor, Lyn, and Malick had been forced behind shields under a fierce assault by the still-coughing Hutch and Marzo. She-Ra raced to their side behind a rock outcropping, skidding to a halt. She hesitated, then drew her sword as an idea came to her. "Sword to icemaker!" she called. Using the machine, she covered the ground around Hutch and Marzo in a solid sheet of ice.
"You've got to be kidding," Hutch smirked. He began circling his hand to make the ice disappear, but it was too late. His smile disappeared as She-Ra raised both arms and slammed the ground with all her might.
Covered in nicks and scratches from landing on the sharp rocks around them as they dodged Damien's attacks, He-Man and Teela stood, swords raised, as the snake hissed at them. One of Damien's fangs had caught He-Man in the leg, causing a small cut that ached and burned. He-Man didn't need Duncan or the Sorceress to tell him the snake was venomous.
"Get behind me," He-Man ordered Teela.
"No," she said firmly. "I'm standing with you."
"Josiah needs you!" He-Man snapped, his eyes still on Damien. The snake curled back, preparing to attack, releasing an unreal hissing roar.
"He needs us both," Teela corrected him.
Their argument was cut off as Damien dove for He-Man, then, at the last second, changed directions, and this time managed to capture Teela by the leg, his strong jaws crushing her calf.
Teela's scream of pain tore at He-Man as Damien flipped his head, tossing her into the air. Damien opened his mouth wide, intent on swallowing her whole. Without a thought of exactly how he would save her, He-Man leapt upwards with all his might. He caught Teela in mid-air, his momentum taking them both away from Damien towards the top of Snake Mountain, but the snake followed their motion. With the reptile's speed, he lunged once more, his great mouth closing over the pair.
Battle Cat roared at the top of his lungs as he hit Whiplash from the side, knocking the reptilian creature away from Man-at-Arms. Lana stunned Whiplash with a laser.
Kobra Khan pushed out his hood and let the sleep gas filter out, grinning in anticipation. Swift Wind reared and whinnied a warning.
"Oh no you don't," muttered Orko, wiggling his fingers. The mist emanating from Kobra Khan's slitted hood became flowers, adorning his head in a pink-and-yellow crown.
"What?" the snake man hissed. Then he sneezed. He rubbed at his nose, sneezing several times over. Taking advantage of Kobra Khan's distraction, Buzz-Off aimed a stun laser at him and fired, hitting him easily.
Ram-Man decided he'd had enough of Spikor's roaring intimidation. With Battle Cat acting as a shield, he bounced out and slammed into the hard-shelled man, sending him into a boulder where his spikes buried themselves deep in the rock.
"I'm out of here," Two-Bad's blue head said to his purple one.
"I'm with you," the purple one replied. The two-headed beast scrambled out of the clearing, Tongue Lasher close behind.
The force of She-Ra's blow threw Marzo and Hutch to the icy floor. Once their concentration was broken, so was their attack, and together Lyn and Keldor blasted the two villains into the portal.
She-Ra turned in time to catch sight of Damien's mouth closing over her brother and Teela high above them. "No!" She didn't waste a second.
"Sword to grappling hook!" She swung the hook around and let loose, catching one of the rock spires high above on Snake Mountain. She climbed as quickly as she could. It wasn't too late, she could tell. Damien was swinging his head from side to side and throwing it back, clearly battling to swallow He-Man and Teela.
"Where exactly did you send them?" Lyn asked Keldor as she quickly melted the ice on the rock floor beneath them.
"Valley of Echoes. They can't teleport directly out of there. If they ever get out at all." Maybe it wasn't the wisest choice, given what had happened with Bedorat, but Keldor couldn't worry about that now.
"She-Ra needs our help," shouted Malick as She-Ra flung herself from the side of the mountain onto Damien's head, her sword in hand. It didn't take the others long to notice that He-Man and Teela were nowhere in sight.
She-Ra slid down the side of Damien's head until she reached the giant snake's mouth, where saliva was dripping out. Rejecting the urge to be squeamish about the disgusting liquid, she hung onto the upper lip tightly as Damien tossed his head around. She finally managed to wedge a boot in between the teeth. She-Ra pushed as hard as she could, but her hands kept slipping. "Got to…get it…open," she grunted.
"Blast it, no!" Keldor cried out against the idea of Teela and Adam being swallowed by Damien. He gathered as much power as he could and launched it towards the creature.
"Why is that dratted thing so focused on Teela?" wondered Lyn as she too began to send bolts of power toward the great serpent.
"It is the Sword of Truth he fears," Malick surmised, sweat pouring from his face as he relayed power to the two Truth Sworn. "And yet it is not enough to sever his connection to this world," he added in a frustrated tone.
At that moment, one of Keldor's blasts finally hit the wildly thrashing snake. She-Ra was thrown from Damien's head as he screeched in agony. Keldor's magic ripped across the snake's scales, injuring the monster in the same way his touch could. She flipped easily and landed on her feet on the ledge opposite of Snake Mountain.
He-Man took advantage of Damien's wide-open mouth and jumped out, a limp Teela in his arms, landing hard next to his sister. He barely managed to keep Teela from hitting the ground as he lost his balance and fell to his knees. She-Ra was beside him in a second, pouring her healing powers into Teela.
Keldor and Lyn appeared on the ledge, standing between the snake and the others. "Make it quick," Keldor snapped to She-Ra.
He-Man rose unsteadily, his legs aching. "That snake's saliva...it's poison."
She-Ra nodded. She had already sensed it herself. Teela was a pasty white color, her breathing shallow. "It's really strong," She-Ra gasped.
Hearing them, Lyn dropped down and added her own powers to She-Ra's, careful not to touch Teela. Damien's evil would weaken her tremendously, and they couldn't afford that right now.
He-Man turned to face Damien with Keldor, his sword flashing back and forth as the snake sent bolts of magic at them with its dark eyes.
"We've got to figure out what we need to shut down that power, or we're all done for," Keldor grunted.
"I know," He-Man rasped back. "Along with all of Eternia. A little of that Truth Sworn guidance would be welcome right now!"
"If I had any," Keldor ground out as he threw up a shield to deflect Damien's darting attack, "I would have shared it by now."
He-Man's jaw twitched as Damien broke off his attack and coiled back, his tail rattling loudly. Pouring power into the nexxus hadn't closed it. There was something more they were supposed to do, a key they were overlooking. 'The sacrifice...what could it be?' he wondered again as Keldor's fireball knocked Damien aside once more. Keldor transported himself to a ledge high on Snake Mountain, determined to defeat Damien somehow.
Inexplicably, the story Marlena had told him played about in He-Man's mind. She had said Jesus had willingly laid down his life. He-Man swallowed hard. What if that was what the sacrifice required? A willing surrender of a life, not just an accidental death in a battle? 'If I become Adam, I-' His thoughts were interrupted by Damien.
"You cannot defeat me," Damien hissed, his evil, gravelly voice even magnified by his sheer size. "I carry the seed of evil's power within me now. It is longer confined to Snake Mountain. I am invincible!"
'Seed of evil's power. Become Adam.' The words echoed in He-Man's mind, mingling together with the words of the prophecy. 'The seed of a hero must be laid down.' With startling clarity, an idea came to him. He froze for a second, and She-Ra, sensing his sudden change, looked up from where she had been trying to heal Teela. Their eyes met, and without intending to, He-Man mentally conveyed the idea to her.
"By the First Ones," She-Ra whispered. Without intending to, she stopped healing Teela, a mix of hope and fear playing on her face. "It could be."
Damien began to lunge toward the heroes only to be seared by another bolt of Keldor's magic. He hissed and thrashed and whipped his head toward Keldor, sending him ducking for cover.
He-Man bent down and pressed a desperate kiss to Teela's feverish lips, his own body weakening from the snake's poison that had entered through the scratches and scrapes in his skin. "Make sure she knows how much I love her." His eyes met She-Ra's with a hard determination.
"He-Man, what are you doing?" Lyn demanded.
"Ending this. I understand the prophecy. It's not a life." In spite of his words, he glanced uncertainly at She-Ra.
"It's not, Lyn," She-Ra affirmed, standing next to her brother.
"Then why is he talking like it is?" Lyn asked suspiciously.
"Because it's dangerous. I'm not sure we'll survive," She-Ra admitted frankly.
He-Man closed his eyes for a few seconds, seeking Good's wisdom amidst the chaos of Damien's roars of frustration as the monster beat at five different Keldors racing around him, seeking to crush the real one.
He-Man shook his head and put a restraining hand on She-Ra's arm, glancing over at Damien. He couldn't hear a word from Good right now, but in his heart, he knew that at least one of them was still needed. "No, She-Ra. Only if mine alone does not work."
She-Ra frowned at him, and the two of them stared at each other for seconds that seemed like hours. Finally, She-Ra nodded.
"Be careful," she begged.
"I promise," he agreed. She-Ra returned her attention to Teela, blinking hard, as He-Man turned to Lyn. "Lyn, can you get me to that ledge next to Keldor?"
Lyn nodded, and within seconds, He-Man stood next to Keldor, his sword drawn. Keldor's five-man illusion dissipated and Damien gave an odd hissing laugh of delight.
"The two big thorns, waiting for me to dispose of them together," he hissed, moving about the small area level in front of the mountain, crushing the smaller stone spires as he moved.
'I still need all of you,' He-Man sent as he tensed to jump. 'You must focus your power on me when I call for it, through the Sword of Truth and the Truth Stones.' Looking down, he could see that Teela was on her feet, and he knew the time had come.
Damien struck at Keldor, who dodged out of the way. He-Man leapt onto Damien's back and grabbed hold of one scale with his hand, his sword held firmly in his other hand.
'Now!' he sent, as Damien shook his head, trying to throw He-Man.
With that signal, Malick focused his power on Teela, who sent it on to Lyn and Keldor, who in turn sent the pure white light right at He-Man. She-Ra started to raise her sword to do likewise when Serena's voice sounded in her mind. 'Not you, Adora! The universe still has need of She-Ra.'
Tears still sprang to her eyes as she watched her brother, caught up in the magical light. She took two steps forward to go to him, but Teela's shaking arms stopped her. Teela wasn't completely healed yet, and the poison was dangerous. She looked from Teela to Adam, torn with indecision.
"By the power of Grayskull!" He-Man's strong voice echoed. Impossible waves of power were drawn to him until he and the Power Sword were lost in a blinding white light. The others had to shield their eyes even as they continued to direct power towards him.
Damien twisted and writhed under He-Man, roaring. He-Man raised his sword and took a deep breath. As he had so many times before, he called out the words that relinquished Grayskull's power. But this time, there was a different meaning to the words, one that the ancient powers heard and understood.
"Let the power..."
There was a brilliant flash of white as the power crackled around the sword in anticipation of his wishes. He-Man rammed the sword through the snake's skull, completing the command at the same time.
"Return!"
Damien screamed again as the power entered him and began to overcome the evil within him.
As Grayskull's magic left Adam, the poison that had entered his body attacked, and an unreal, agonizing pain swept through him, erasing thought from his mind. It was beyond the pain he had experienced under Kaspanya's spell, from Shadow Weaver's magic, from the Obsidian Sphere. It coursed through him, breaking him in body and spirit. He slipped into blissful darkness almost immediately, and as Damien tossed his head up again, Adam's limp body flew through the air, towards the ground far below them at the base of the mountain.
"Adam!" Teela screamed with everything in her. Still weak from the poison, she had fallen to the ground again. She-Ra and the others looked and saw it was true. Adam, not He-Man, was falling from the top of Damien's still-writhing back.
"No!" shouted Keldor.
"Brother!" She-Ra cried out.
Keldor sent forth a ray of meant to slow Adam's fall, but streaks of power crackled and popped around his limp falling form.
"Lyn, something's interfering with my spell," he shouted. Adam was only a cottage-length from the ground and falling fast by the time Malick and Lyn were able to add their spells to slow Adam's descent. The heavy thud that echoed from the ground beneath them did not bode well. Nor did the odd angle of Adam's left leg was resting in.
"We've got to get down there now," shouted She-Ra, but the dying snake lunged toward them, sending each person diving in a different direction to avoid its final strike. She-Ra threw her sword into the creature's left eye and it reared back with a fading hiss. The fire in its eye dimmed, and the snake began to crumble, large stone sections falling to the ground below—right on top of Adam.
"Adam!" shrieked Teela. "Adam's down there."
Keldor threw his arms up in the air and vanished down beneath the pile of stones. Teela tried to get up to run but fell to her knees. "You're still weak, Teela," said Lyn. She reached out to help her to her feet when another tremor hit. "Damien again?" Lyn cried out.
"No!" She-Ra exclaimed, pointing in horror. Across from them, Snake Mountain crumbled down, great boulders and chunks of stone spires breaking apart, some of it falling on the spot where Adam had disappeared under Damien's remains.
"Ancients, we'll never find them!" She-Ra said, her voice choked. "They're gone. Nooo!"
Keldor gasped as he materialized before Adam. The snake's upper jaw and head had broken away from the rest of the monster and Adam was pinned to the ground, a fragment from a huge fang through the left side of his abdomen. With a huge effort, Keldor disintegrated the pile of rocks around them.
When the tremor hit again, Keldor looked up and saw the pieces of Snake Mountain falling towards them. Instantly, he teleported the two of them out, not caring where they ended up as long as they were safe.
They appeared in a spot hidden from the others, but Keldor took no note. He had only seconds to save Adam, and that knowledge terrified him. He poured all of his healing power into his nephew, in spite of the fact that the evil poison from Damien was coursing through Adam, and simply touching Adam was causing Keldor incredible pain. Fortunately, the evil that once tainted this place had apparently died with Damien, because Keldor was able to tap into a pure magic like that found all over Eternia. And he pulled every ounce he could to him as he sought to push the vile poison from Adam's body and maintain his own strength.
"Don't you dare leave!" ordered Keldor. "Don't you do it!"
Poison began to drip slowly from the gaping wound in Adam's side, but there was no movement—and he wasn't breathing.
"Oh no, you don't," gasped Keldor as fatigue and weakness began to flood him. "If you go, you're taking me with you. I'm not going back to explain this to your father."
Keldor muttered a spell and a glow surrounded both of them. The glow faded as the spell was completed, and Keldor collapsed beside Adam.
"No!" sobbed She-Ra, still staring at the dusty pile of boulders. Suddenly she felt a ray of warmth touch her arm. She looked down, and stretched out her arm in disbelief. "The sun." She looked up. The sun hadn't touched this part of Eternia in centuries, she had learned during her studies. Another beam hit an area behind another pile of rocks down below them, and She-Ra felt an inexplicable urge to go to it. She shook her head against the silliness, but the urge grew stronger.
Glancing at Teela and Lyn, who were clinging to each other in stunned silence, She-Ra ran a hundred yards down the ledge so she could see the spot. She gasped at the sight of Keldor and Adam lying next to each other, neither moving.
"Adam! Keldor!" she screamed, scrambling down to the two men. Malick's falcon cry rang out through the crumbling ruins of Snake Mountain. "Malick! I need your help," she sent urgently. "They're hurt."
Teela and Lyn looked at each other, hope fluttering in their hearts, as they gained their footing and ran to the ledge where She-Ra had disappeared. The evil of Damien's poison had left them both weak, and they had to help each other down the steep incline, hope and horror warring within them.
She-Ra dropped to her knees and began to pour her healing magics into both fallen princes. "Don't you die, don't you dare die," she ordered them both. Malick materialized by her side and added his power to her own. Still She-Ra could sense her brother slipping away.