Bretheren Arcanum Book III: To Dream...

Chapter 1: A Fall and a Tower

The winter snow fell peacefully on Eternia. In Eternos City, the citizens were preparing for the winter holiday, including one certain, magic-casting Trollan named Orko the Great. At this particular moment h was perched on a rafter in the main hall of the Palace, watching his friends below gathering decorations, waiting for his moment to help.

A slightly mischievous sparkle flickered in his eyes when he saw Prince Adam, his best (human) friend carrying in an armload of greenery for the ceiling. He drew out his wand from within the folds of his robes, and with a quiet chuckle casted a simple spell. The greenery leapt out of Adam's arms - startling him enough to make him gasp in surprise - and began hanging itself in the proper places. Then Adam laughed, catching sight of the Trollan and his dancing wand.

"Orko!" Orko laughed too, the greenery following every motion of his wand until it was all hung.

"Beats using a ladder," he commented back, as he began to float down to join them.

But suddenly he felt as if something had hit him in the back - no, in the stomach - no, in the head, all at once. I was like a blast from a concussion spell at point blank range. The sensation made him wobble mid-air, nearly dropping his wand, and then do a very un-Trollan like thing: fall. His friends' alarmed shouts sounded very far away, and all sensations were numb. And as such, he didn't feel himself hit the ground, and was engulfed in blackness.

ooooooooooooo

When Orko opened his eyes, he got the distinct feeling they'd been closed for a long time. He thought for a moment, trying to remember what had happened.

I hung the greenery, and then... The memory returned strongly. The jolt that seemed to come from within as well as without, and falling. He thought with a bit of surprise that such a fall should've hurt, but felt no pain, further strengthening his notion of much time gone. He lay in his bed, in his room, his wand on the nightstand within easy reach.

"How do you feel?" came a female voice. Orko looked to see a woman with red hair and in yellow clothes approach: Teela, Duncan's daughter and a good friend.

"Okay, I guess." He slowly sat up, feeing for any injuries and finding none. "Trolly-molly, what happened?"

"You just moaned suddenly, and fell straight down," she answered. "Fortunately, Cringer was napping below you, and you landed on him." As if on cue, the green gold-striped tiger entered with Adam.

"Yeah. You scared the daylights out of me," commented the tiger.

"Out of all of us," Adam agreed. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure." Orko rubbed his head under his hat. "I felt... something. Like getting his by a really, really big gust of wind, for less than a second. Or - " He paused as a memory resurfaced. "It was almost like when Dregan - you remember him, right - used some sort of ability to boost his power, only more so. I - I think it was a pulse of magic energy." Feeling a little alarmed, he quickly pulled out his Gate Cube from the pocket he always kept it in and examined it. None of the other sides were flashing. "Trolly-molly, that's a relief. Whatever it was, they're okay."

"Hmm..." Adam gave Orko a look that he understood. The prince was going to see the Sorceress. If Orko had felt this disturbance, changes are she did too, and might know what it was.

"Maybe a walk would clear my head," Orko said as he floated off the bed and picked up his wand.

"I'll go with you," Adam offered quickly. He smiled lightheartedly. "Can't have you going missing again. C'mon, Cringer." Cringer whined slightly, having a funny feeling where this would eventually lead, but followed as the others left the room.

After a quick stop for a coat and such for Adam, they left the castle and immediately left the city itself. Within a short time they were at Castle Greyskull, the home of the Sorceress. The instant they saw her, and her slightly pale complexion, they knew she had felt it too.

"Given that you are here as well, Orko," she said, "I don't have to ask why you've come."

"Do you know what it was?" Adam asked.

"Not exactly." She took a deep breath, seemingly to steady herself, then caused an image to appear in the air, one of an onyx tower. "The magical surge originated from this point, when this tower appeared. What exactly summoned the tower into being, or who controls it, I cannot say for certain."

"Y - you don think it was Sk - Skeletor, do you?" asked Cringer, trembling.

"No. Look." She zoomed the image in at the base of the tower where the villain himself, with a bunch of his lackeys, were seemingly trying to approach the tower. But whenever they tried to get more than a yard from it, it shocked them badly.

"We'd better go see what this is, before Skeletor figures it out," Adam commented, drawing his sword. Cringer moaned.

"I knew this would happen."

"By the Power of Greyskull, I am He-Man!" Adam called, holding the sword high. Lightening flashed, and he was transformed into his alter ego. He pointed the sword at Cringer, who cowered, but he couldn't avoid the ray of power aimed at him, changing him into the heroic Battlecat.

"Grrrr, lets go!" growled the feline mount. He-Man dropped into the saddle, and he, Orko, and Battlecat raced to the tower.