Eternia Origins Part 6. Preludes

 

After fleeing Hordak's temple, Skeletor meets up with Rqazz. They gather the remnants of the Horde army and retreat back to the forbidden lands. Most of the horde troopers don't make it to safety, as they are pursued by Snake Men and Eternian soldiers. 

Eternos and the other free nations have been severely weakened, and Skeletor now has a new weapon with the dark half Power Sword, but he has no army to capitalize on the situation. He will have to start over, lay low until forgotten, until he regains enough resources to continue his planned rise to power.

Over the years that follow, Skeletor meditates and resumes his studies of black magic.  As he did years before, he hides in plain sight among the people of Eternia. With a magic clay, he disguises his face and presents himself as a nobleman named Keldor, so he can visit libraries, temples, any vault of knowledge.  More than anything, he seeks to learn the forgotten history of the Power Sword. He eventually learns of it's connection to Castle Grayskull. 

He had never pondered much on the ancient dwelling where he emerged from his dimensional prison. He barely remembered it. But gradually he becomes more aware of the Castle's significance, and through his meditations realizes his own connection to the Well of Souls. Vaguely at first, and later with increasing clarity, he recalls sharing a tormented existence with thousands of Lost Souls. A plan begins to form in his mind of releasing these Souls, "his people" from their eternal damnation. They will help him, he believes, conquere not only Eternia, but the universe.

It's not a sound plan; opening the Well of Souls would also release extra-dimensional monsters from the beginning and end of time. 

But Skeletor is demented and arrogant. He doesn't see the possible consequences of his goals, and sets about finding new ways of menacing Eternia in pursuit of them. 

Fulfilling his ambitions will be no easy task, however, for new heroes will arise to thwart his efforts. 

During this phase, Skeletor's chief adversary is the Warrior Goddess turned Sorceress Teela-Na. 

She uses her magical Staff of Ka, given to her by her goddess mother Sharella, to track his every move. 

She is aided by the Men-At-Arms, who have been instrumental in fighting evil for generations. The current leader is a man named Duncan. They develop a close camaraderie.

As Skeletor focuses his efforts more and more on Castle Grayskull, the Sorceress inevitably becomes the castle's guardian. She casts a spell, summoning the Spirit of Castle Grayskull to resist evil trespassers. 

The ghost of the Elder God whose bones were built into the castle manifests itself as the Spirit of Castle Grayskull 

Skeletor tries circumvent this by trapping the Sorceress and using his magic to create a duplicate of her, intending to use the clone's power to gain passage into Grayskull. Duncan intervenes before the spell is complete. Skeletor retreats, leaving the duplicate a mere infant. 

Skeletor will come to regret this course of action, as the magically cloned daughter, adopted and raised by Duncan, will grow to become to becomes one of his strongest enemies. 

Seeing that he will need help to overcome his obstacles, Skeletor goes recruiting.