The Lost Brother

THE LOST BROTHER

5/22/99

Silently, Skeletor, the lord of destruction, walked through the dark hallways of his fortress with his havoc staff in his hand. Snake Mountain had been his headquarter far longer now than he had ever planned; after all, he had wanted to conquer Eternia in no time. But now, Snake Mountain was much more than a simple headquarter; he almost called it home.
Of course, he had no sentiments for the fortress. Since the experiment which had ruined his appearance, he had no human feeling left in him, beside – hate. Hate for every human being.
Humans fleeing from him, calling him monster and detesting him, demonic creatures surrounding him and accepting him as their master because of his power, all that had made him the cold-blooded monster that he was now.
That day, however, he was sad, and his fortress seemed dark and deserted to him. He should have been happy, because Randor, the king of Eternia, had died and now, Adam, his son, was to be the new king. The prince of Eternia was still as peaceful and harmless as he had always been, so it would be easy to defeat him and take over Eternia at last, Skeletor thought.
Still, he would not have dreamt that the death of the king would touch him that much – for he himself had tried to kill him many times.
He sat down on his throne of bones heavily. The empty throne room seemed to be very dimly-lit to him, he could hardly see the end of the room.
From one side, Trap Jaw entered and asked whether everything was all right with his master. The evil warriors had noticed the melancholy of their leader, and in the depths of Snake Mountain, where the warriors lived, there was an ongoing whispering. Skeletor ordered his henchman to leave the room but did not give him an answer to his question. Trap Jaw was not content with that, but he had known his master long enough not to stay any longer. Without an answer, he returned to his chamber, which made the rumors only increase.
In the meantime, Skeletor watched scenes from the past on his magic viewscreen, which was set into the large stone table in front of him. The stone chairs that surrounded the table were empty, and again, he had a feeling of emptiness and darkness inside. He sighed, which happened very rarely, and continued to watch the pictures that appeared in front of him.

In the royal palace of Eternos, the capital of Eternia, was great mourning. The funeral of the king was being prepared, and Queen Marlena took it as a chance to distract herself from her mourning. Although she had been with her husband in the last days of his illness, his death came quite suddenly; she had always hoped that there was a possibility to save him, but even the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull had been unable to help.
Adam, the prince of Eternia, and Adora, his twin sister, leader of the great rebellion on Etheria, sat in the garden – alone. They wanted to be not disturbed and had turned down all their friends who had wanted to be with them in this hard time.

The funeral was suitable for a king. The priest himself did not speak much but let the family hold the speeches. Adam and Adora held a touching speech as well as Marlena, who lovingly said good-bye to her beloved husband.
Then, in the last row, a man who wore a black robe stood up and walked forward to the desk where the speeches had been held. The guests were visibly surprised, for there was no face or other part of the man’s body to be seen; the black robe and hood covered his body completely. Some wanted to stand up and stop the man, but there was something about him which did not allow anyone to cross his path. He stepped to the desk and started to talk.
"A great man has died." Each and every guest recognized the voice immediately, but the subtone which could be heard in it stopped them from interfering. Duncan, the Man-at-arms, leaned back, deep in thought and surprise. Never had he heard a tone like this in that voice; it sounded – sad. "He was a good and wise king. He was able to protect Eternia from all evil; neither the Evil Horde nor the lord of destruction could defeat him. There is just one goal which he never was able to accomplish: He could never find his lost brother Keldor." There was a surprised whispering among the guests; indeed it had been impossible to find the long-lost brother of the king.
"As a last demonstration of respect to the dead king of Eternia, I will reveal this secret and tell you what became of Keldor." The guests hardly stayed on their seats now, and the whispering grew a little louder. Adam and Adora looked at each other and saw that they were thinking the same. Duncan and Marlena exchanged glances as well; they seemed to expect the same as the prince and the princess. "As a matter of fact, Keldor liked the power of magic. Anyway, a fateful accident occurred while he did one of his experiments. Keldor tried to increase his power and become the most powerful sorcerer of Eternia. Therefore, he intended to transmit to himself the magic power of the greatest sorcerer that had ever lived on this planet: He-Ro. But he made a mistake – I myself don’t know what it was – and he was hit by a mighty powerbolt. This bolt killed Keldor."
The guests could hardly believe what they had just heard. Once again, Adam and Adora as well as Duncan and Marlena looked at each other, but this time in surprise; they had expected a different story. When the guests had calmed down again, the speaker continued.
"His body was destroyed; nothing of him was left. The magic power, however, didn’t get lost. It united with Keldor’s assistant, who had witnessed the whole experiment, and he became..." With that, Skeletor pulled back the hood a little and made his skull become visible for the audience.
Marlena, Adam and Adora stared at him in disbelief, while yet another whispering started among the guests. The lord of destruction stepped back from the desk and left the room slowly through a door in the back. Marlena stood up and hurried after him. Adam intended to do the same, but Adora faced her brother and shook her head lightly. Adam understood.

"Wait! Please wait!" Skeletor ignored the queen and stepped towards the exit, but Marlena was fast and placed herself in his way. "You shouldn’t try to stop me, queen. No one opposes the lord of destruction with impunity." Skeletor’s voice was as dark and dangerous as ever now. Nothing of the strange sadness which had been in it during his speech was left.
"Just tell me one thing: Why didn’t you tell us the truth, ... Keldor?" Skeletor automatically stepped back. "What are you talking about? Why do you call me like this?" His voice sounded insecure.
"Why didn’t you tell the true story?" the queen asked intransignently.
Skeletor was just going to answer something, when Zoar suddenly appeared in the palace window. The falcon landed and transformed into the Sorceress of Grayskull. Neither Skeletor nor Marlena noticed that this should have been impossible, for the Sorceress was outside her castle.
"The story is true, Queen Marlena." The Sorceress’ voice was clear and beautiful as she spoke. "In fact, Keldor died in that experiment, although even I myself have almost doubted it a few moments ago."
"But that ... that is ..." The queen looked from one to the other.
"Leave this room, queen. There is nothing here for you to be found out." Marlena obeyed the Sorceress without a word of contradiction. With a last glance upon Skeletor, she returned to the guests, where her children were already waiting. For the first time in her life, the queen felt incredibly old.

"I owe you, Sorceress of Castle Grayskull." With that, Skeletor intended to leave, but the Sorceress gave him an answer.
"Quite the reverse, Skeletor. Thanks to your story, no one will search for the lost brother any more, and the pain of having lost him will fade; for the pain of knowing what has become of him would be much greater."
Skeletor turned around angrily. "I know that! I have experienced what people said to my transformation! I felt their stones and curses!"
"I didn’t mean that." The voice of the Sorceress sounded very sad.
"But I did!" Skeletor really was about to leave now.
"Have you never wondered whether the effect of the experiment could be reversed?"
Skeletor was cut to the quick by this question, for he had done nothing else but look for a reverse spell for years. He turned to the Sorceress again. "Oh yes. But I didn’t see a possibility that was suitable for me."
Now it was the Sorceress who was cut to the quick. "To let the ones that loved you help you was not suitable?" she asked very quietly.
"There never was anyone who loved me." The sadness had found its way back into his voice as Skeletor left the room now.
The Sorceress gazed after him and said very softly, while a tear ran down her cheek: "If you but knew how wrong you are, Keldor."

Mosquitor’s Fan Fiction