"
By the power of Grayskull!
" Adam commanded as he raised his sword above his head. As always, the effect was immediate and rather dramatic: an enchanted bolt of energy struck his weapon, traveled its length, then imbued the young Eternian prince with the legendary powers of the greatest champion the universe had ever known.
He-man.
While Prince Adam was rather comely among other mortals, his alter-ego was as manly a man as there had ever been. He-man's huge muscles in his arms and legs bulged and rippled with a power beyond any mere man and he had used his incredible strength to defend the innocent civilians of his home world more times than he could even remember. But, despite his phenomenal might, his heart was full of compassion and generosity for others. Never did Eternia's hero turn down a request for aid, no matter the risk or the reason. For more than a dozen years, Adam/He-man had successfully maintained this dual existence with only a few close calls.
But time changes things, for both good and ill.
Among those whom He-man called his friends, new challenges and paths to be taken opened up. While the heroic warrior still enjoyed the company of most of them from time to time, the change he felt most acutely was Teela's elevation to the Guardian of Grayskull, replacing the Sorceress in that role. He had known of her impending ascension for some time but had always assumed it would not be for many years, perhaps even after they would have been able to marry and raise a family of their own. Adam's experiences as He-man always served as constant reminders of how the life of a hero can be a bit lonely but nothing had prepared him for the look on Teela's face when she took into herself the very essence of her mother, the Sorceress. Adam/He-man saw his friend's eyes shining with surprise, then pride, followed by love and sadness. How each felt about the other was clear but it was to be a love denied them for destiny required them for higher callings.
The greatest triumph for all Eternia had come when the notorious villain, and He-man's arch-enemy, Skeletor, had been finally brought down and forever imprisoned in the Purity Crystal of the Starlight Peaks and would only be released after fully and truly renouncing his evil ways.
However, the victory had come with a high cost: King Randor, Adam's father, lost his life while using his body as a connection between the crystal and Skeletor. Queen Marlena, Randor's wife and Adam's mother, was devastated by the news. After mourning his passing for a month, Queen Marlena did her best to rule Eternia in her husband's stead but her grief was too great for her to shoulder. The following year, to the day, death re-united the king and queen.
Prince Adam was now alone.
And he was going to be crowned king of Eternia.
With no family left around him, and consulting Teela before he did anything, Adam made a startling announcement before all of Eternia. He told everyone: "
I
am He-man!" To prove his words, he transformed right in front of those who had gathered at the palace for his proclamation and those who were watching the broadcast at home.
The crowd went crazy with excitement. They could scarcely believe it! Eternia's greatest hero was going to be their new king!
Adam had been prepared for a possible insurrection from the populous, not an impromptu celebration that lasted for a week. While there were a few individuals who felt they had been lied to, the vast majority looked at their soon-to-be ruler with an even greater sense of pride then when he had been just Eternia's champion. The ranks of the imperial guard reflected this as many young people joined to show their unwavering loyalty toward their leader and their world, just as He-man had done so many times before.
Now, a week before
King
Adam's coronation, which would also mark the second anniversary following King Randor's death, the mighty warrior was answering a call for help. Fifty of the imperial troops instantly volunteered to go with him but He-man just smiled and told them:
"Thank you all, but I think I'll handle this one myself. Besides, I could use a little time alone."
With that, He-man got on his sky-sled and rocketed into the sky.
It felt good to be soaring above the clouds.
While He-man took his new position of ruler seriously, he did have to admit that he was going to miss being able to throw himself into the fray of battle when his service was needed. His friend and mentor, Duncan, was still working on new inventions that would give the imperial guard impressive powers, thereby increasing their effectiveness against threats and giving the Eternian champion the chance to be an effective king.
Of course, there was also the matter of finding a queen to rule by his side.
He-man sighed and shook his head. He had forgotten one thing when he decided to reveal his secret to the world: just about every eligible woman would be more than willing to be his queen, which was quite the conundrum. He knew for the most part that their hearts would be in the right place but he doubted that any of them truly knew what they would be in for if he chose one of them. True, once the royal guard was trained, equipped, and ready, they would be able to handle all but the most extreme of emergencies. But there would be times that he would need to put himself in harms way and those times would prove to be the most stressful for his queen.
Besides,
He-man mused,
I want my queen, my wife, to love
me
. . .not just the image of He-man.
A light on the sky-sled's console began flashing and beeping and the vehicle's radio started to crackle with static. He-man made a slight course change to left then to right. Correspondingly, the light would flash brighter or dimmer and the static intensify or diminish.
"Hmmmm. . ." Eternia's hero said to himself, "The signal seems to be coming from the north, somewhere either near or in the Mystic Mountains. Whoever it is, they may be in real trouble." For a moment, He-man considered contacting Stratos, leader of the Avians who lived high up in the Mystic Mountains and were the protectors of the northern frontier of Eternia.
No
, he thought with finality.
This is probably nothing to raise that much of an alarm about. If I need to, I'll request his assistance, but not until I have to. Plus, after this week, getting out of the palace won't be this easy any more.
He-man turned the sky-sled in the direction indicated and kicked-in the accelerator.
The sun was setting beyond the Ocean of Gnarl when the instruments on the sky-sled told its pilot that the source of the distress signal was not much further ahead. The deep, ancient greenery of the Evergreen Forest was thinning out rapidly as He-man's course took him toward the base peaks of the Mystic Mountains.
Without warning, a grokk bird that had been circling high overhead, chose that moment to dive and attack what it saw as an easy meal. Its powerful claws grabbed both He-man and the sky-sled. But the lizard-like creature could not have anticipated that its hard-as-diamond talons would puncture the protective hull around the sky-sled's power core, causing it to explode. The shock wave from the blast knocked the grokk bird out, sending it spiraling toward the ground.
He-man had managed to free himself from the creature's grip but was in even greater peril than if the grokk still held him. Even though he was the strongest man in the universe, He-man was still not invulnerable. If he did not find a way to at least slow his fall, he knew he would be lucky to survive the impact. Looking quickly around him, He-man located the smoky trail spewing forth from the ruined sky-sled as it tumbled toward the rapidly approaching ground.
If I can get to the storage box on the sky-sled,
He-man thought,
I might be able to use the emergency shelter tent like a makeshift parachute and slow my fall just enough.
Pulling his arms in tight, He-man angled his trajectory to intercept his disabled vehicle. It only took a few seconds for the Defender of Castle Grayskull to catch up to the plummeting sky-sled and locate the storage hatch. With a sharp pull, He-man had it open but the contents spilled uncontrollably out into the sky around him before being lost a moment later. Fortunately, the tent was stuffed into the rear of the compartment and fit in there snuggly. After pulling the shelter pack clear, He-man released his grip on the sky-sled and focused on getting the pack open. He curled up around his work to keep the tent from flapping around like a banner in a gale, making it easier to secure it to his wrists and ankles.
As soon as he had the tent tied to himself, He-man started to slowly uncurl, knowing that if he went too fast, the tent would probably get ripped to shreds like an old rag and be of little use. Despite his best intentions, the air rushing past He-man immediately filled the make-shift parachute and popped it open with a snap. The sudden motion jerked He-man's arms and legs back and his head forward but caused no injury. The mighty warrior allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction but immediately regretted it when he looked to his left and saw a seam on the tent starting to split. While the rate of his descent had been just about halved, he was also still about five hundred feet above the outer fringes of the Evergreen Forest. At this rate, he doubted if the tent would hold together long enough for him to pierce the forest canopy.
His estimate was not far off.
Thirty feet above the top of a very old fir tree, the failing seam finally came apart like an opened zipper. As He-man plunged into uppermost branches, he whipped his arms and the part of the tent tied to his wrists up over his head in an attempt to catch the fabric on a branch or two to further slow his fall or arrest it completely. Unfortunately, the wide strip of cloth secured to his ankles was doing much the same thing and set He-man into a uncontrolled backward spin. The fir's thin branches acted like whips, stinging He-man's skin as he fell through the tree, though causing no bleeding nor leaving a mark.
It was at times like this that Adam was especially glad to have his alter-ego. Although having to sometimes put up with a bit of intense pain was still. . .a
pain
. . .he did have to admit it was better than the alternative---never feeling anything again!
Even though the impact of He-man's landing was rather hard, it was not too different from a fair number of others he had experienced. But as he started to push himself up to stand, he became acutely aware of a sharp, stabbing pain in his left thigh that felt a lot like a bee sting though many times more intense. He-man looked down at the offending wound, wondering as to the cause of his discomfort. For perhaps the first time in his heroic life, the mighty champion of Eternia blanched at what he saw. Blood was running down his leg, oozing out from around a large, finger-sized thorn embedded in his leg. As Prince Adam, he had seen his own blood many times from the numerous cuts and scrapes all children seem to acquire from play but this was the first time he had seen his alter-ego bleed.
"What the. . ." was all He-man could say in amazement.
