He-Man grappled with Skeletor; the fourth jolt had sent them tumbling over each other, and they were now locked in a wrestling match, with He-Man trying to reach his sword, and Skeletor grasping for his staff, both off which had been lost when the second makeshift quake had rattled the place. He-Man finally broke loose and grabbed his weapon, then raced for the energy wall again. He slashed down with the Power Sword, and the energy split apart around it, deflected by the sword’s magic. The split spread outward until the field collapsed completely. Looking down the remainder of the corridor, he realized he had been less than thirty feet from a small chamber at the end of the tunnel. Dust and rubble were falling from it’s ceiling, and there was a distinct rumbling sound growing steadily louder. At first, there was no sign of Fisto, but then He-Man saw him, the two Thenurians tucked under his arms, dodging the rain of debris as he made his way out. Fisto charged down the corridor as the structure started shaking again; this time, though, it wasn’t impact tremors from his fist. The walls themselves seemed to be vibrating of their own accord, and the rumbling was now a dull roar. He-Man motioned Fisto past, then bolted after him. The stone chamber was collapsing, and the corridor was following suit. Skeletor was nowhere to be seen as they burst back into the main chamber. The support columns were groaning, and one of the huge statues was teetering back and forth. The entire place was quaking, and the huge cracks forming in the floor and walls told He-Man the temple had little time left.

The battle had ceased, as snake men, henchman, and heroes alike started evacuating. Man-E-Faces had his arm around Duncan’s shoulder; the older man steadied him as they made a hasty path for the front entrance. Teela spotted He-Man and Fisto, and shouted to the others, “There they are!” She started toward them, but He-Man waved her back. “Get everyone out! We’ll be right behind you!” Teela gave a quick nod, and moved to catch up to the others. Ror, Greystar, and Ram Man waited until she was even with them, then joined the race from the temple. He-Man and Fisto brought up the rear; Weldon had gotten down and was keeping pace with the warriors, but Gwildor was still under Fisto’s left arm, grunting as he bounced up and down in the larger man’s grip.

A loud crack drew He-Man’s attention, and he glanced back in time to see one of the two main support columns buckling. “Get everyone out!” he said to Fisto, then raced over to the collapsing pylon. Fisto started to protest, but He-Man cut him off, “Go! Now!” The bearded warrior grimaced, and set Gwildor down. “Take him, and get going,” he said to Weldon. The Thenurian nodded, and grabbed Gwildor’s arm. Fisto ran after He-Man, catching up just as Eternia’s champion braced his shoulder against the shifting column.

“I told you to go!” He-Man said, straining against the huge stone pillar.

“I’m picking up bad habits from Teela,” he replied, adding his shoulder to the effort. The pillar stopped sliding, but it was still splitting apart. He-Man looked over to the entrance; Blade was just hobbling out, but Teela and the others were still several yards short of their goal. The two strong men felt the column start to shift again. It was cracking in too many places for sheer strength to reinforce it, and they knew if it went, the entire building would go, as well.

Suddenly, they felt a strange tingling, and the column started to glow slightly as the shifting stopped. They looked over to see Gwildor holding the Cosmic Key, the small attachments on its crown twirling and spinning. “I’ve got it in a temporal field; it’s frozen in time, but the reality breakdown is already starting to destabilize it.”

“In other words, move it, heroes!” Weldon, standing beside him, bellowed.

He-Man and Fisto let the pillar go, and shot forward, each grabbing a Thenurain on the way. The columns glow started to dim, and the whole building trembled.

*********************************************************

Outside the temple, the snake men and Skeletor’s henchmen had already taken off into the woods, but the heroic warriors stood outside the entrance, waiting for the four still inside. “We’ve got to go back in,” Greystar said, heading back towards the temple doors. Teela was right behind him.

Duncan grabbed their arms and pulled them back just as the roof started caving in. The walls began to crumble, and the whole structure fell in on itself.

“Look!” Ror shouted, pointing at the entrance as it, too, fell apart. He-Man and Fisto were literally airborne, having leaped out through the doorway just as it collapsed, Gwildor and Weldon in their arms.

“Thank the Sorceress!” Duncan exclaimed, placing a hand on each man’s shoulder. “Good job, lads.”

“We sure know how to throw a party,” Ram Man observed, staring at the newly made ruins. He rubbed his chin, and then realized something. “Uh, did anybody grab those stone things on the way out?”

“He-Man, did you or Fisto get them?”

“I had a couple of other things to worry about,” Fisto answered, thumbing at Gwildor and Weldon. “Besides, they were locked in place, and white hot. I couldn’t move them.”

“Then we’ll have to get an excavation team together,” Duncan said. “Malaktha’s probably familiar with these temples, so…”

“Don’t bother,” Greaystar cut him off. “The stones aren’t here any more.”

“How do you know?” Teela asked.

“Because we blew it, people,” Greystar answered, his voice distant. “We may just have killed three worlds.”

****************************************************

Orko had been pacing back and forth since He-Man and the others had left, if one could actually pace while floating several feet above the ground. “Take care of the vehicles until we get back,” Duncan had said, then turned and headed off with the others before the Trollan could protest.

“Stuck with the crummy job again,” Orko lamented aloud. It always seemed that he was left with these sorts of duties, as if this were all he was capable of. He loved his friends fiercely, but there were times they infuriated him. His magics, he knew, didn’t always work as he intended, something that puzzled him no end. Back on Trolla, he was one of the most powerful wizards on the planet, equal in the eyes of his people to a Man-at-Arms or a Teela. But from the moment he came to Eternia, his spells seemed to take on a mind of their own, much to his own frustration, and more often than not, Duncan’s. There was something about this planet, this dimension that played havoc with his abilities, making him look the fool. If only his friends could have seen him defeat Nikrok the All Powerful, or single handedly vanquish the One Eyed Demon of Glorth, they wouldn’t relegate him to baby-sitting battle rams...

Orko’s internal griping came to a sudden stop as a strange tingle ran down his spine; he’d never felt anything quite like it before, and a feeling of inexplicable dread washed over him. He heard a low rumble off in the distance, and realized the vehicles were shaking slightly. The vibrations continued, and the rumbling grew stronger. He wondered if he should investigate, but knew he’d hear no end of it if something happened to the vehicles while he was gone. He wrestled with the decision for a few moments, then heard a loud crash off in the distance, coming from the same direction the others had taken. He hesitated no longer; his friends might be in danger, and screwy magic or not, Orko the Great would be there to help.

He had flown only a short way into the woods when he heard someone coming; he was about to call out, but heard a familiar growl. He ducked into the high branches of a nearby tree, and watched silently as Beast Man and Trap Jaw ran by below. He couldn’t catch everything the pair was saying, but he made out enough to worry him, something about a temple collapsing on He-Man and Fisto. He waited a moment for them to pass out of sight, and then shot ahead into the woods. He had gone only a few more yards when he plowed straight into Duncan, knocking him over.

“Orko! I thought you were guarding the vehicles!” Duncan scolded, raising himself from the forest floor.

“I heard this big crash, and then Beast Man said it fell on He-Man and fisto, and I thought you needed my help, and…”

He-Man held up a hand. “Slow down, Orko. You were talking to Beast Man?”

“No, he was talking to Trap Jaw; I was listening as they ran by. What happened? Are you guys alright?” Orko asked, noticing Greystar’s shoulder and several other wounds his friends now carried.

“A little worse for wear, but we’ll live,” Teela assured him, then turned to Greystar. “Won’t we?”

“If we can undo what we just did, maybe,” he replied, sitting down beside the raider, his face unreadable. “We need to get back to Grayskull. Things are going to be getting bad fast.”

“Something obviously went wrong back there,” Duncan said. “What are we facing now?”

Greystar got back up, none too easily, and stood before the assembled heroes; he looked tired, somehow older than when they first saw him scant hours before. He looked down for a long moment, then said, his voice quiet and low, “We’ve got a worse problem than we did before, people. We…I just screwed things up royally.”

Fisto spoke up immediately. “I interrupted Hiss while he was casting the spell; that’s what we were there to do, right?” There was an urgency in his words.

“My mistake.” Greystar took a deep breath. “I never thought that Hiss was a big enough idiot to try something so risky. I thought…” He paused, and collected himself. “I thought Hiss was using the stones to gradually draw magic from the three worlds into himself, something he attempted centuries ago. But he wasn’t doing it the way I thought. The spell I assumed he was using would have been transferring the power to him slowly as time went by, until he finally ended the process with a spell to bind the power to him. Stopping that spell would have automatically started the reverse process, draining the power back through the stones into the planets, restoring everything to normal.”

“But that’s not what he was doing?” Teela asked.

Greystar grimaced. “No, he wasn’t. There’s another approach, a dangerous one only a power-hungry fool would try. He was using the stones like storage batteries, allowing the power to build up in each with no outlet for it. Once they reached full charge, he would cast the spell to pull all of that energy into him at once.”

“What’s the advantage of one way over the other?” He-Man asked.

“The transfer of energy actually uses up a small amount of the magics being stolen,” Greystar explained. “The gradual transfer leaves you with a little less power in the end, as it’s a constant drain on the magic; transferring it all at once uses up less of the power in the long run, because it only takes one burst of energy. The first way, the stones pass the power along for a set period of time, then they stop automatically. The second way, he needed a two-part spell; the first part basically turns the stones “off” manually, because they won’t stop on their own. The second would have transferred the power into him and returned the stones to their original resting places. There’s a catch, though: the first part of the spell can’t be interrupted in any way. One mistake, one misspoken word, and you’ve got a disaster.”

“Is there that big a difference in the power level for him to take that risk?” Duncan wondered.

“He would have the powers of a god either way,” Greystar replied. “The little bit of extra the second spell would give him would be negligible to anyone but Hiss.” His eyes grew dark, and there was an angry edge to his voice. “Any risk, any atrocity is worth it to him if it means power, no matter how little.”

“So what happened when I interrupted him?” Both of Fisto’s hands were clenched tight.

“The spell went out of control. The stones weren’t shut down; they’re still absorbing the magics of all three planets, and will continue to do so. The problems we’ve been having will get worse; physical laws will fall apart.” Greystar looked down again.

“How bad will it get?” Teela asked, already suspecting the answer.

Greystar didn’t look up. “Physical laws governing everything around us will deteriorate and fail. Eventually, the very forces that hold molecules and even atoms together will give out.”

“So before long, we all come apart at the seams,” Ror observed. “Not something to look forward to.”

“Every living thing on all three worlds will be dead long before that. Duncan already noticed some small changes in normal chemical reactions. That will get worse, too. And every process in a living organism that keeps it alive is a chemical reaction.” Greystar finally looked up, and met each of the hero’s eyes in turn. “We have to get those stones back and re-cast the spell, the right way this time.”

“You said the stones weren’t at the temple anymore,” He-Man said. “Then they must have returned to their original locations courtesy of the spell, right?”

Graystar shook his head weakly. “The spell was botched; the stones returned to their respective worlds alright, but ancients only know where.”

“So we have to track them down,” He-Man concluded. “Gwildor, could the key home in on them?”

The Thenurian looked as his device and sighed. “Normally, yes; I actually had a chance to take a reading with the key before we went into the temple. Separating the frequencies for the stones from the background energies and magics wouldn’t be too difficult. But the reality breakdown is affecting the key like everything else. I doubt it would be very reliable right now.”

“And magic is being affected, too,” Duncan said. “I noticed Skeletor seemed to be having some teleportation problems back at the temple.”

“Could be; he popped into the corridor ahead of me when I went after Fisto, but was awfully close to the wall when he did; he didn’t seem too pleased about it,” He-Man agreed.

“There’s got to be a way to narrow things down,” Ror insisted. “Greystar, you seem to know everything about the stones and the spells. Give us something.”

“Afraid I don’t know everything,” Greystar said sadly. “I’m a fair wizard myself, but I can’t seem to isolate the stone that’s still here on Eternia. Too much ‘intereference,’ if you can call it that.”

“You’re a wizard?” Duncan said, though he didn’t appear to be surprised. “You hadn’t mentioned that before.”

“No reason to ‘til now,” Greystar brushed the subject aside.

“Interesting,” Duncan said under his breath, then returned his full attention to the matter at hand. “There has to be something distinct about the stones; something so powerful has to have some quality strong enough to pinpoint even with our current problems. Did anyone notice anything when the stones went out of control, anything at all?”

Orko piped up. “It gave me the willies.”

“Duh, yeah, me too. Course, havin’ the roof comin’ down on you can do that,” Ram Man offered.

“No, I mean it really gave me a weird feeling when I heard all the ruckus,” Orko explained. “A little like the time I accidentally stuck that fork in Man-at-Arms’ beam ray...”

Duncan frowned at the memory, but then his eyebrow rose. “You felt the stones,” he said slowly.

Greystar’s eyes lit up for the first time in hours. “The stones’ link to the other universe! Of course! We said before the dimension the stones channeled their energy into must be Orko’s universe. That link must give Trollans a natural affinity for the stones!”

“So Orko might be able to trace the stones,” Duncan picked up the train of thought.

“Yeah, but Orko’s magic never works right when reality’s not falling apart,” Ror pointed out. “How reliable is it going to be now?”

Greystar stroked his chin. “Orko’s magic is based in a different reality, with different rules; that’s why it doesn’t operate well here on Eternia. But it also makes him less susceptible to the breakdown of our natural laws. He may not be affected to the extent the rest of us are.”

“But if we’re going to find all three stones, we’ve got to get to the other worlds, as well. And that’s not going to be easy. If Skeletor has trouble teleporting around a temple, how are we going to go to another planet?” Teela pointed out.

“Not an easy task,” Greystar answered. “But between the Cosmic Key, the magics of Grayskull, and whatever other power we can muster, we may be able to open a gateway to Etheria and Earth. It’ll be dangerous, though, and there’s no guarantee the return trip will be any less so. Or even possible, for that matter.”

“We don’t have a choice.” Fisto had been silent for a while, but now spoke with voice faltering slightly. “I don’t have a choice. I did this when I stopped Hiss; whatever the risk, I have to put it right.”

“If this mess is anyone’s fault here, it’s mine,” Greystar said, “not yours. I…”

“I think Hiss had a little something to do with it, too,” He-Man said, interrupting. “Who’s responsible isn’t important right now; saving these worlds is.”

“Exactly,” Duncan agreed. “We need to act quickly, and save the recriminations for another time.”

“Point taken,” Greystar said, nodding at Fisto.

“Concentrate on the task at hand,” Fisto nodded back.

“But how are we gonna use Orko in all three places?” Ram Man wondered aloud. “There’s only one of him.”

“For which I am eternally grateful,” Duncan said, winking at Orko. “But he’s not the only Trollan.”

“If we can get a gate open to Trolla, as well, Orko, could you bring us some help?” Greystar asked.

“You bet! My uncle Montork’s one of the most powerful wizards around! I’m sure he’d be glad to help.” Orko’s ears turned slightly red, “And there’s one other person I could ask, too.”

“Alright, we’ll need to send a small team to Earth,” He-Man said. “Myself, Duncan, Teela, Orko and Gwildor would be the best suited for that; we’re more familiar with that world.” He looked at Duncan, who nodded. “Ror, you too. You’ve been around the Queen long enough to know something about her homeworld.”

“You need me, you’ve got me.” Ror looked at Gwildor, the key, and then He-Man. “Besides, somebody needs to keep a close eye on him.” He glared at Gwildor.

“I’d like to volunteer for that one, too,” Man-E-Faces piped up. “Never know when you might need an actor’s talents in a strange place.”

“Are you up to it, Man-E?” Duncan asked, concerned. “You took a pretty solid hit back there.”

“If you can patch up my image projector, I should be fine. Just had the wind knocked out of me.” He managed a smile.

“You had more than that knocked out of you,” Weldon said.

“I’ll be fine in a few minutes, really.” He looked to He-Man.

Man-E was obviously not going to be dissuaded, and He-Man thought his skills might very well come in handy. “Welcome aboard, Man-E.”

“I’ll head to Etheria to find She-Ra,” Fisto offered.

“Good idea,” Duncan said. “Ram Man, you get back to the palace, and gather whoever is available.”

“I think we need to stop there on the way to the castle, as well, Duncan,” He-Man added.

Duncan nodded. “Right. We’ll all rendezvous at Grayskull.”

“Sounds like we got a plan,” Weldon beamed. “May not have a chance of working, but we got one.”

Greystar tried to give him a withering look, but couldn’t suppress a small grin. “Always the optimist.”

“Realist, big guy. The word is realist. But, hey, I’m still going along with it, aren’t I?”

“And me, too,” Gwildor added.

“Lucky us,” Ror said flatly.

*************************************************

He-Man set the wind raider down in the empty courtyard behind the main building of the royal palace. In the back seat, Weldon finished tending to Greystar’s wound, muttering about being to old to play hero like this. Duncan and He-Man jumped out of the front seats, and headed for the rear entrance.

“I’m not sure how much of our transmissions to the palace got through, so I’ll update your father in person, then meet you back out here,” Duncan said as they darted down the hallway.

“Just tell him the world may be coming to an end and we’re in the middle of it,” He-Man came back, a wry smile on his face.

“ And then he’ll ask me what else is new,” Duncan replied, turning sharply down a side corridor.

He-Man raced to Adam’s room, and ran in. He touched the light controls, and softly called, “Cringer?” He heard a low grumbling from behind the bed, and trotted around. The large green tiger was sprawled out on the floor in a rather undignified position, happily mumbling in his sleep; He-Man could make out something about a twenty-pound steak, but not much else. He prodded the cat with his foot. “Cringer!” he said, a bit more emphatically.

“Urm, yes, I’ll take just a few fish with that,” Cringer said, smacking his lips. His eyes slowly opened about half way, and then he spotted He-Man. Both eyes immediately snapped shut, and he began to snore loudly.

He-Man poked his friend harder. “Cringer, I know you’re awake. We need Battle Cat.”

“Leave a message with me, and he’ll get back to you in the morning,” Cringer answered, eyes still shut.

“Okay, I wanted to do this the easy way, but…” The hero raised his sword, and started, “By the…”

“Oh, all right,” Cringer sighed, scrambling to his feet. “But can we do it out in the hall? It’s hard getting through that door as Battle Cat, you know.”

“Okay, there’s no one out there right now,” He-Man said, shaking his head. “We’ll do it your way.”

He ushered the cat out into the hallway, then tapped the lights off and closed the door. “Alright, now can we get started? By the…” He-Man stopped, and looked around, and just caught sight of a green tail disappearing around the corner. “Got me again; he’s getting better,” he groaned. He raised the sword a third time, and said in an exasperated tone, “By the Power of Grayskull!”

Still barreling down the hallways, Cringer sensed a familiar tingle down his spine. He had turned and twisted through the corridors as much as he could in the short time he’d been running, hoping to avoid another fur raising adventure. The tingle got stronger, and he turned his head to look back just as a bolt of eldritch energy shot around the corner. He skidded to a stop and sat, resigned, his shoulders having barely enough time to slump before the power overtook him. Bathed in the energy from the Power Sword, Cringer felt his body start to expand, his muscles thickening and tightening. His fear quickly faded, and he began to revel in the surge of strength flowing through him. Cringer’s worries were gone, replaced by the raw courage of Battle Cat.

Battle Cat bounded back down the palace halls to He-Man. “I thought I was going to have to chase you all over Eternos,” the feline’s burly partner said with a trace of frustration.

“You interrupted the best dream I’ve had in weeks,” the cat shot back, his voice now a powerful growl. “What’s so important?”

“The end of the world,” He-Man replied.

“What, that makes the fourth time this month?” Battle Cat said in jest.

“This time I’m serious,” He-Man responded, his voice earnest.

“So what are we waiting for? Let’s go save the place!” The huge tiger charged off down the hallway, heading for the rear exit.

One minute I chase after him to get him to go, He-Man thought, the next I chase after him to slow down. He chuckled to himself, then followed his friend.

When Duncan arrived at the throne room, he saw King Randor and Marlena with a small group of the guard’s ranking officers. Randor saw Man-at-Arms enter, and gave a short nod to acknowledge him. Marlena noticed him as well. “Go ahead, I’ll finish up here,” she said to the king. He smiled, and walked briskly over to Duncan.

The day had thus far been a growing series of problems. Reports had been pouring in of strange events, followed by raging storms and other disasters. The guard and local authorities were handling the situation at present, but resources were beginning to stretch a bit thin. Randor had already put much of what was happening together, and the short, static filled messages he had received from Duncan on his way to and from the temple had filled in more of the pieces. Randor gestured back over his shoulder. “More problems in the outlying provinces,” he noted. “We were just assessing the situation.” He stroked his beard, his brow furrowing. “How do things stand with these stones you mentioned?”

“So the messages did get through,” Duncan said.

“There’s interference on every channel now,’ the king explained, “but I think we received everything you sent. It didn’t sound promising.” 

Duncan frowned. “I’m afraid it’s going to get worse, Randor; these effects from the stones I mentioned will continue until we find them, and that’s still at least a little while off.”

Randor stroked his beard again. “This one is very bad, my friend. What are our chances, realistically?”

“We’ve got He-Man and everyone else we can gather to find the stones, so there is a chance.” Duncan paused for a second, then finished. “How much of one, I can’t say. But we’ll do all we can.”

“I know that, Duncan; I expected no less.” Randor’s expression changed slightly. “This Greystar you mentioned; what do you know about him?”

“We can trust him, Randor.” Duncan answered.

“I’m a little wary of placing all our faith in a stranger. Does anyone actually know him? ” Randor wasn’t quite convinced.

“In a way, I do.” Duncan said slowly.

“Would you care to elaborate on that?” Randor pressed on, puzzled by his friend’s reluctant response.

“Not at the moment, no,” Duncan replied carefully. “Trust me, Randor; he’s an ally. And a strong one, at that.”

Randor eyed Duncan for a moment, then nodded. “You trust him, and I trust your judgement.” He said at last, then dropped the subject entirely. “Will you need re-enforcements from the troops?”

“No, I think they’re needed more here. We’ll have some of our best people on this as it is.” Duncan concluded. “Though some prayers to the ancients couldn’t hurt any.” He managed a weak smile.

“That you’ll have,” Randor said, clasping Duncan’s shoulder. “Good luck, old friend.”

“We’ll take all we can get,” Duncan said, returning the gesture. He glanced at Marlena, saw she was now fully immersed in the guardsmen’s reports, and decided not to interrupt.

Randor noticed, and smiled. “I’ll update Marlena when we’re through here.”

“Take care of yourselves, both of you,” Duncan said.

“It’s my people I’m worried about,” Randor responded sincerely.

Duncan smiled again. Just like Randor, he thought, then quickly made his way out of the room and ran for the wind raider.