Masters of the Universe - A New Vision

[wolfsfang]

as soon as we can afford one we shall send it right over, should be with you in about 99 years

Part 4: Cringer, We’re Not In Eternos Anymore

Adam’s head was throbbing. He wasn’t sure what had just happened. It seemed like something had gone wrong during the teleportation. The last thing he remembered was the terrible winds and holding onto the sword of power as tightly as he could... until it flew out of his hands. Smacking himself on the head, Adam thought two things. Firstly, how could he be in a situation like this, again, without his sword? The other thing that crossed his mind was that hitting himself in the head when he might be suffering a concussion isn’t the best idea.

Stumbling to his feet, Adam saw that Duncan was still down, but Teela was helping him to his feet. Seror was up and looking around, likely trying to figure out where they were. Cringer seemed to be cowering behind a bush as always... and once again Adam was reminded of the fact that he had lost his sword. Great. That`s all they needed. Not only were they lost in the dark hemisphere but they lacked the power of He-Man to protect them. What else could go wrong?

Sir Seror walked back to the main group and said, “The horses got spooked and ran away. There’s no way for us to catch them.”

Nodding to himself, Adam had gotten his answer. What else could go wrong? The horses ran away. So not only were they lost and vulnerable in the dark hemisphere, without the benefit of He-Man potentially saving them, but they had to walk too. What was next?

Teela said, “Don’t look so glum Adam. We’ve got some good fighters and I am sure that when they find out that we disappeared that your father will send help. I bet that before we know it, He-Man will be here to help out.”

Listening to Teela, Adam silently vowed to never ask himself the question, “what can go wrong next,” again.

Duncan cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention. Looking at Adam, a glint of annoyance in his eyes, he said, “We can’t wait for He-Man to save us. We need to find a way to get to safety. Sir Seror, do you think you can use your magic to figure out where we are?”

Taking a deep breath, Seror said, “Yes, I think I can. I’m primarily trained in combat magic but I have had some training in other areas. It’ll take me some time but I believe that with some meditation I’ll eventually be able to determine where we are on the map.”

“Good. While you do that, Adam and I will survey the area and see if we can find anything to eat. Teela, stay here with Sir Seror and guard him during his meditations. And Cringer... he’ll continue cowering in the corner.”

With their tasks assigned, they went off to work.

Walking away from the campsite, Duncan waited until he and Adam were too far from the others to be heard. Turning to Adam he said, “Where’s your sword?”

Sighing, Adam said, “When Sir Seror started the incantation I got nervous. I felt like there was something wrong so I pulled out my sword so that I’d be ready for whatever we were to face. But then the wind picked up and things went sorta crazy. I wasn’t able to hold onto the sword and I think it flew out of my hand just before we were sent here. I’m so sorry; I didn’t want to get us into this mess.”

Patting Adam on the shoulder, Duncan said, “Adam, as a leader you need to remember that not every decision made is going to be the right one. I wanted you to take into consideration the responsibilities that came with leadership so I asked you what you thought about leaving when we did, but the truth is that I would have made the same decision. I have no idea what happened but I am not aware of any precedent for this. We all make mistakes from time to time.”

“But you seemed like you were annoyed when you saw that I was missing my sword.”

“Well I was certainly not happy about it, but can you blame me? I have no idea what kind of danger we’re in. The power of He-Man would certainly be a comfort right now. But I wasn’t angry at you, I was angry at the situation. You were right in wanting to be prepared but sometimes things outside of our control happen. “

“Thanks Duncan, I appreciate your vote of confidence.”

With a slightly mocking bow and a smirk, Duncan says, “My pleasure, my liege.”

Looking around, Duncan then points towards a clump of mushrooms nearby and says, “They’re safe to eat. Let’s pick those and see what else we can find to eat. Also keep an eye out for wild boars. I believe that they’re common in this area and with Cringer we’ll need the meat.”

Sometime later, once Adam and Duncan had returned with a bundle of mushrooms and a freshly slain boar and made lunch, Sir Seror stood up from his meditation and said, “I believe I know where we are. But I need the map.”

Duncan unfolded the map of the dark hemisphere and placed it flat on the ground. Kneeling down by the map, Sir Seror pointed to a region that was a few hundred miles away from the Chiropteran village. Strangely, they weren’t near any warp points. He had no idea how they ended up where they were. But there was a warp point about three days ride away, which was unfortunately a pretty long walk. However, things weren’t entirely bleak. Although the maps of the dark hemisphere were incomplete in places, it seemed like their travel route was relatively safe as there was no reason to think that Skeletor’s had much interest in these regions.

Looking at the others standing there, Duncan said, “We’ve got a lot of travelling to do. Once we’re done with lunch we better get started.”

Part 5: Gloomy Wanderings

For the last day and a half Adam and his companions had been walking towards the warp point. He couldn’t help but feel on edge during this time. The dark hemisphere seemed to go from being gray in the day to black at night. Its bleakness was terrible and it seemed to be playing tricks on Adam’s mind. He kept on getting startled at nearby noises, always expecting a shadow beast to jump out and attack them. The fact that Cringer kept on literally jumping at the shadows wasn’t helping either. Thus far the trek had been without incident but the fact that it would be well over a week before they reached the warp point was weighing heavily on Adam’s mind.

Eventually nightfall came and they decided to set up camp. Just as Sir Seror was about to start a fire, Teela said, “What is that in the distance?”

Peering into the distance, Seror said, “That glow… it seems like there’re torches in the distance.”

Waving over Duncan, Seror said, “Does the map show any villages or settlements around here?”

Shaking his head, Duncan says, “No. The maps aren’t very detailed though so it is possible that stuff is missing.”

“We need to find out what that is. It might not be safe.”

“I agree. Teela, you’re the stealthiest of us. Do you think that you can get close enough to them without being spotted to tell us what it is?”

Nodding to her stepfather, Teela said yes. Kneeling down, she picked up handfuls of soil and rubbed it along her bare arms and face, making her harder to see from a distance. Picking up her staff and sword, she turned to walk towards the light.

Just before Teela left them, Duncan placed his arm on her shoulder and quietly told her to be careful.

[wolfsfang]

Part 6: Introductions

Normally Duncan was pretty hard to unnerve. He’d been through countless battles and been witness to more death than any man should ever have to face. Almost nothing could cause him to show worry, but some things could.

Pacing back and forth, Duncan was agitated while waiting for Teela to return. He knew of her destiny and how important it was for her to be able to be a strong warrior, but much of the time he wished that she didn’t have that burden on her shoulders. She had always wanted to help and be one of the protectors of Eternia, but Duncan still wished that things could be different.

Adam could see how nervous Duncan was. He quietly walked up beside him and placed his hand on Duncan’s shoulder. Duncan stopped pacing and looked at Adam.

“Duncan, you’ve seen her fight. She’s one of the most naturally talented soldiers that Eternos has ever produced. There’s no way that she’ll be taken by surprise and if there is danger, we’re close as well. I don’t think there is anything around here that you, Seror and Teela won’t be able to best. And if there is, remember, you got me and Cringer to help out as well.”

That last statement brought a smile to Duncan’s face. He said, “Adam, you should give yourself more credit. I know that your laziness is an act. You’re not as polished as the other fighters but you’ve got a lot of talent, even without your ‘special advantages.’ I’m sure Teela will be fine, I just wish she’d get he--.”

Then Duncan was interrupted by a call from Teela. Quickly turning back towards the glowing light, he could see her waving them to come forward. Moving quickly to join her, Teela said, “That glowing light is torches from a human village. It’s really run down and old, but I spoke to some of the people and they seem pretty friendly. They said we could go there for a meal and even spend the night.”

Looking towards the village, Seror said, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I think that we can handle just about anything thrown at us and if they wanted to hurt us we’d be outnumbered anyways. We might as well go and see what this place is like.”

“Yes, I agree. Teela, take the lead.”

Following Teela, Duncan and the others walked towards the village.

Part 7: Kadroh

Adam was very happy to be sitting in a village dining hall instead of being out in the open in the dark hemisphere. The village itself was in very poor shape and practically looked haunted, but it was still a lot less unnerving than being outdoors. Also, even though the village was looking pretty shabby, the people seemed to be in good spirits and were glad to have visitors. Another bonus was that the dinner looked pretty tasty. It sure beat eating whatever they could forage in the wilderness and at least he didn’t have to eat it while watching vampires chug goblets of blood.

To remain alert, the whole party had decided to stick to drinking water. While eating and drinking, they found out that the village was named Kadroh. Its origins lay in the distant past and the village elder said that they had had little contact with outsiders and were totally unaware of recent events involving Skeletor. This didn’t surprise Adam given that they weren’t near to any of the major trade routes and their location was a pretty miserable place to visit. But he was still happy to be surrounded by friendly people and decent food. He’d also get a more comfortable sleep this evening than he had the last couple of nights. Although the village was not travelled enough to warrant having an inn, they had been told that they could sleep in the stable and that accommodations would be set up to ensure that they were comfortable.

Taking another gulp of water, it then occurred to Adam that his head was feeling pretty heavy. Looking to the others, he saw that Duncan was shakily trying to stand up and that Seror was rapidly blinking his eyes. Turning to Teela, Adam tried to stand up but fell backwards out of his chair. All Adam could think was, “What the hell is going on?”

The last thing that Adam saw before passing out was a group of men rush in with a metal net that they tossed over a struggling Cringer.

[wolfsfang]

Part 8: Dungeons Also Suck

Adam awoke cold, wet and sore.

Looking up as his vision came into focus; he could see a man in a black robe who was wearing a reddish clay mask was standing over him with an empty bucket. Looking to his side, he heard the splash as another robed man threw a bucket of cold water over Sir Seror to wake him up. Adam tried to stand up and noticed that his wrists were chained to the wall. Glancing at the others, he saw that they too were chained and that they had apparently been disarmed as well. Sir Seror didn’t even have his armor on.

Suddenly Adam felt a sharp pain across his right cheek. Turning towards the direction of the pain, he barely had time to prepare himself for a second slap across the face. To his right he heard Duncan shout, “Leave the boy alone!”

Staring at the man who’d hit him, Adam saw that he too was dressed in a robe but his was different. It was primarily black but it had what looked like a reddish bat design on it. His mask was different too. Adam couldn’t tell what it was made out of but it seemed like it was made from the skull of some sort of animal and then painted with the same red bat design. In his left hand he was holding a very old, leather bound book.

“What do you want with us? Are you allied with Skeletor?”

Turning his head downwards to look at Adam, the man said, “I wasn’t lying when I said that I had never heard of Skeletor. We really do get very few visitors.”

The voice sounded familiar. He was the village elder.

“And this is how you treat them?”

With a slight shrug, the village elder said, “Pretty much.”

Duncan then shouted, “Where’s Teela?”

“She’s going to be sacrificed.”

“What?”

“Most of what we told you earlier was true. We don’t concern ourselves with the affairs of the outside world. But the part we neglected to mention was our worshipping of Kadroh.”

Incredulously, Adam said, “You worship your village?”

The man responded, “Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. We worship our dark master, he whom we named this village after. He is the one that left us with this book of darkness.”

He then gestured towards the book that he was holding.

“What does the book say?”

“That is not for the uninitiated to know.”

“Then why do you have to sacrifice Teela?”

After asking this, it also hit Adam that he had no idea where Cringer was and wished to rectify that matter.

“She and the green tiger are to be sacrificed as a means of pleasing our dark master. This has been our practice for centuries. We seldom get visitors, and the few we get tend to be Snakemen, but when we do their blood is spilled in honor of our dark master and we then feast on their flesh. Given the rareness of visitors, we frequently find ourselves needing to use one of our own villagers.”

That solved the mystery of Cringer’s current situation. It was not an answer that Adam wanted.

“And what the hell is this supposed to accomplish?”

“When our master is sufficiently pleased he will return.”

“You’ve been doing this for centuries and he’s never come back. Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?”

Without warning, the elder punched Adam in the left temple. Reeling backwards from the blow, Adam’s back hit the wall and he crumpled to the ground. The village elder then said, “Your time will come as well,” and then left with his two followers.

Adam wanted to shout something at them, but he saw Duncan give him a look that pretty clearly meant, “Shut up.”

Silence descended upon the dungeon. Eventually, Duncan quietly said, “I wanted to make sure that they all had left before speaking. I don’t think anyone is right outside the cell.”

Seror said, “Do you have any idea how we can get out of here?”

Duncan nodded and said, “I have a thick wire sown into my shirt.” He then proceeded to tear his shirt open and pull out the wire, using it to pick the locks on their manacles.

Seeing Adam’s clear surprise, he said, “I always carry something like this around with me in case we find ourselves in this sort of situation. It pays to be prepared.”

Quietly walking to the dungeon door, Duncan tests the door knob and sees the door is unlocked. After all, there’s no need to lock the door when all the prisoners are chained to the walls. Slowly opening the door, he peered around the corner and saw a guard standing at the end of a long hallway. Signaling to the others to wait, Duncan crept down the hallway and then without warning, grabbed the guard from behind and snapped his neck. Bending down to take the man’s sword, he tossed it to Sir Seror and said, “Okay, here’s our plan…”



Part 9: Finding Their Friends

Adam followed Sir Seror through the darkness towards a distant building. His magical senses were picking up a sense of foreboding from there, almost a dark energy. Adam was puzzled that he had not picked it up earlier but Seror suggested that the villagers might have some low level magical training, enough to shield the aura of the temple that they were walking to. Adam asked why they were good enough to block Seror’s senses and Seror admitted that as a combat mage he wasn’t very well trained in the other aspects of magic. Furthermore, now that he knew that there was something to look for, it was easier to pick up on.

Nearing the building, Adam didn’t like the plan. Duncan was worried that the ritual would take place very soon and that they had extremely little time to free Teela and Cringer, too little time for them to be able to go and search for their weapons. This meant that freeing them was up to Seror and Adam, while Duncan tried to find their belongings and organize a means of escape.

Although the villagers individually posed little threat to them, they were badly outnumbered and Adam was worried about the fight that would transpire once Cringer and Teela were freed. Seror told him to just calm his mind and deal with the challenges as he faced them.

As they neared the ancient temple, they saw that a large group of people wearing identical black robes and clay masks were headed towards it as well. Needing a place to hide, Adam spotted a trapdoor and dove into it, with Seror close behind.

As soon as Adam had entered the small room, he wished he hadn’t. They were surrounded by corpses. Some were of beings long dead, nothing left but bones. But others were newer. He felt suffocated by the stench of putrid and rotting flesh and nearly vomited. Seror grabbed him by the shoulder and put his hand over his mouth, signaling that he had to remain silent until the villagers passed.

Trying to rid his mind of the awful smell, Adam took a slow and deep breath, looking around the room that was dimly lit by the torches outside the trapdoor. The bones were clearly not all human. A lot appeared to be Snakemen and one even seemed to be a Caligar.

Adam shuddered as he thought about all the horrible pain and suffering that had gone on here over the centuries. He had no idea what could drive people into such depravity and was disturbed that no one had ever stopped them. But what could they do? Even if Teela was still alive, they were just 4 people and a terrified cat. There’s no way that they could overpower the whole village and even if they could, then what? How could they possibly change their ways of thinking when the evil was so deeply instilled? Sadly, Adam knew that there was nothing that he could do. The best they could manage was to save Teela and Cringer and escape. Perhaps his father could think of a way to stop this twisted cult.

As Adam was pondering their situation, Seror gently tapped him on the shoulder and then whispered into his ear.

“Adam, stay here. The mass of villagers has passed us but I see a couple stragglers. I’m going to get their robes and masks for us so we can sneak in.”

Nodding, Adam watched as Seror grabbed what looked like a thick Caligar femur bone and crawled out through the trap door. Waiting in the shadows, Adam heard a couple of dull thuds. Moments later, Seror was quickly moving towards him with the bodies of two of the villagers. Tossing them and the bone down the trapdoor, Seror handed Adam one of the robes and masks to put on. He then whispered to Adam, “Those two will live but when they wake up they’ll have pretty bad headaches.”

Now garbed in the robes and masks of the villagers, Seror stopped Adam before walking into the chamber of the main ritual. Surprised Adam said, “What?”

“Listen, we don’t know what will be in that room. There’s a chance that Cringer and Teela are dead already. If they are, we quietly leave.”

“And leave them behind? How can we do that?”

“Adam, there’s no point in starting a fight for nothing. We’re here to save them. If they are already dead, there’s nothing left to save and the best thing we can do to honor their memories is escape and get back to Eternos where we can return with a force to make sure that this never happens again.”

Adam did not like it but Seror made sense. He nodded his acceptance.

“Also, stay close to me. We need to get near to Teela and Cringer to free them. I have the sword from the guard with me but I think that the other cultists will be unarmed. Given that they are to be sacrificed, my guess is that the village elder has some sort of weapon. We need to get it away from him. When we do, I’ll find a way to distract and fight off the cultists while you free our friends. Got it?”

With a gulp of nervousness, Adam nodded once more and followed Seror into the temple’s main chamber.

[Darth Latveria]

So.... is anyone reading this? Any thoughts or input on it?

[wolfsfang]

Part 10: The Escape

Entering the main chamber, Adam saw carnage everywhere he looked. Some of the cultists lay on the floor covered in blood, while others moaned from the broken limbs that Seror had given them. He then felt a strong hand on his shoulder, startling him, and turned to see it was Seror.

“Teela and Man at Arms are waiting outside. We thought we had lost you. When we saw that you didn’t make it out with us, Cringer came bounding in like he was possessed. I tried to catch up but there was no way I could match his speed. Grab that lunatic’s book and follow me out of here.”

Picking up the book, Adam and Cringer followed closely behind Sir Seror who was using his magic to blast anyone that got in their way. His concussive blasts were powerful and Adam could feel the thuds as the cultists were slammed into the walls. But disconcertingly, there weren’t as many cultists as Adam had expected. He could’ve sworn that there were a lot more of them.

Getting out of the temple, Adam saw Duncan sitting in the front of a covered wagon. He shouted at Adam to jump in back with Cringer and they did so without thinking. The moment they got into the wagon, Duncan got the horses to start picking up speed into a run. Looking out the back of the wagon, Adam saw that Teela and Seror were on their own horses; following close behind, but in the distance behind them were the rest of the villagers, now armed.

Adam then shouted to Duncan, “How can we fight all these people? There’s just too many of them.”

Duncan shouted back, “We aren’t. They can’t follow us. Once Seror and Teela got out of the temple, he used the same spell that he used inside the temple to scare away the rest of the horses in Kadroh’s stable. There’s no way they can keep up by foot and we’ll be in the clear soon.”

Looking around the wagon he saw that Sir Seror’s armor was also in here, likely because he didn’t have time to put it back on. Looking out the back, he saw Teela riding behind them. When she noticed that Adam was looking at her, she gave him a smile and a quick wink. That’s when Adam knew they were safe.

Feeling the adrenaline leave his system, he lay back, leaning against Cringer and closed his eyes with relief.


Part 11: It’s Good To Be Home

After escaping Kadroh, Adam and the others got to the next warp point fairly quickly thanks to the horses that they had acquired.

Arriving in Eternos, Adam was relieved to be home. He knew that his father must’ve been very worried about him since he was supposed to arrive home days earlier. But Adam also felt frustrated. He’d lost the sword of power and had absolutely no idea where it might be. He hoped it was at the Chiropteran village but he really couldn’t be sure. He’d already spoken to Duncan about it briefly and they had agreed to come up with an excuse to return there if need be, to search for the sword.

Walking into his father’s throne room, Adam wasn’t sure what to expect. He was worried that Randor would be irritated and think that maybe he screwed up and that is why they were late. But that wasn’t the case at all.

The moment that Adam walked into the chambers and his father saw Adam’s dirty and bruised face, Randor quickly ran up and hugged Adam tightly. Adam could see the relief in his father’s eyes and he thought he could even see a tear forming. Randor then ordered the guards to leave so that he could have some time alone with his son.

Randor then told Adam of what had happened in the last few days. After their disappearance, the Chiropterans had sent their ambassador to inform Randor of what had happened. Since then Randor had sent scouts all across Eternia, using every resource in his command to find his son.

Adam reassured his father that everything was okay. He gave his father a brief explanation of what had happened but to his surprise Randor told him that he didn’t need to hear it. That evening he had a meeting with Duncan and right now, all he wanted to do was spend the day with his son.

As Adam followed his father out of the door to meet his mother for lunch, Randor quickly turned around and said, “Oh, I nearly forgot something.”

“What?”

“The ambassador said you dropped your sword and brought it with him.”

Turning to one of the chests that adorned the inner wall of the throne room, Randor bent down, opened it and took out the sword of power. Handing it to Adam he said, “This is a marvelous sword. Where did you find it?”

“Uhh… I was looking through the royal armory one day a few years ago and it took my fancy. I liked the weight and balance of it so I thought that I’d take it for myself.”

“Huh. Interesting, I wonder where it came from.”

“Well dad, you know how it is around here. With all the history in this palace and the numerous wars that our family has fought in, we’re bound to collect a number of unique pieces.”

“That’s true. Good find. Anyhow, I know your mother can’t wait to see you. Let’s not have her wait any longer.”

[wolfsfang]

Epilogue:

Entering one of the king’s many personal chambers, Randor told Duncan to sit down at the table with him.

As Duncan sat, the king poured two large goblets of brandy and passed one to Duncan. Taking a sip, Randor said, “Duncan, what on Eternia happened to you guys?”

Sipping at his drink, Duncan said, “I’m not entirely sure. Sir Seror said that he felt as if there was something strange with the magical auras at the warp point but we wasn’t sure what it was. Both Adam and I felt it was a good idea to still return since I’ve never heard of any accidents happening during this sort of teleport.”

“That’s very strange. Do you have any more insight since your return?”

“No. I looked through the history books and I cannot find a mention of anything similar. I hope to consult with the Sorceress soon as she might know something that I do not.”

“That’s a good idea. So what happened next?”

“The strange thing is that we arrived in a place that didn’t have a warp point which is why we had to spend a few days travelling. That’s how we found that horrific town, Kadroh.”

“Yes, Adam mentioned it to me. What’s going on there?”

“I wish I knew. We took that book of theirs and I’ve been going through it. I can’t read any of the writings in it but it looks like it might be written in an obscure Etherian language but I haven’t made any headway in translating it. What I find particularly worrisome is some of the drawings in it.”

“What drawings?”

“They’re very rough but they look a little like Hordak. Furthermore, the strange emblems seen in the book and on the leader’s mask and robed looked reminiscent of the Horde’s bat emblem. And if that’s not strange enough, Kadroh spelled backwards is Hordak.”

“So you think that Hordak created this village?”

“I really don’t know. Maybe they were already there and Hordak twisted them with his insane teachings? What’s even stranger is that they said they have been doing this for centuries. It’s possible that this has been going on since the days of King Grayskull. But there was also the dagger that the leader had. I’ve spent some time studying it and it appears to be a Horde design. The symbols carved into the handle and shape of the blade are reminiscent of some of the ancient Horde pieces that are stored in the palace.”

“That’s both appalling and worrisome.”

“I agree. What do you plan to do?”

“I’m not sure. I know that I’ll send a force to subdue them. They can’t continue doing this to people, whether they kill travelers or themselves. From what you’ve told me they aren’t very well armed. They certainly won’t be a serious threat to a properly armed force.”

“And then what do you want to do?”

“I suppose I hope to rehabilitate them. It sounds as if their minds are terribly warped. It could even be the result of some sort of magical curse placed on them by Hordak. Maybe our magical healers can help them. But there is one worry.”

“What?”

“Do you think that Hordak will get involved? A fight against Hordak is not something that we are currently prepared for. Our battles with Skeletor have stretched our resources far as is.”

“I actually get the feeling that Hordak has no interest in them. I have no idea what he did to them in the past but it sounds like he’s had no direct influence on them in a very long time. Also, from a pragmatic standpoint, I don’t think they mean anything to him. The village isn’t very big and there’re no resources of value in the region. I don’t know what his original plans for them were but I think he’s long since forgotten them.”

“Good then, it is settled. We’ll send a force there soon. Currently Sir Seror doesn’t have any pressing engagements so he’ll lead the group that is sent there. Talk to him and make whatever arrangements you feel are appropriate.”

“Yes sir.”

“Duncan, can I ask you something else?”

“Of course.”

“How did Adam acquit himself?”

“You would’ve been proud. I could tell that Adam was uncomfortable during the Chiropteran meals but he managed to hide his discomfort admirably. I don’t think anyone who didn’t know him as well as we do would have noticed.”

“Haha, no wonder. I still feel strange watching my dinner companions drink blood. What about after the accident?”

“Adam did very well. He was obviously worried but that’s natural. He’s been trained to fight with a sword but he doesn’t have the full training of a soldier. However he was able to keep his head about him and when the time came to fight he acquitted himself admirably. As you have heard, Cringer stepped in too.”

“Yes, I did hear that. It doesn’t surprise me. Cringer is an extremely nervous creature but he does love Adam. He’d never knowingly let something hurt Adam and he’ll get past his natural nervousness if need be.”

“It didn’t surprise me either. Adam has the making of a great future king. He just needs some seasoning.”

“That pleases me to hear. It is getting late, we shall talk again soon.”

“Good night my liege.”

Duncan and Randor then both left the room together, leaving their empty goblets behind.

[Darth Latveria]

So.... did anyone read the story? Any thoughts?