Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. It’s time once again for a trip to Eternia, where the endless battle between good and evil continues. Join Ibentmyman-thing and Matthew K as they bring you a brand new story featuring some of your favorite Masters of the Universe characters. Welcome to Eternia…
Zodak was hovering a foot above the floor in his Mystic Mountain temple when the bright light invaded his home, his surroundings, and his concentration. It was a luminescence of such palpable intensity that it rendered his eyelids useless.
His first instinct was that he was under attack, as impossible and fool-headed as he believed the concept, and he planted his feet and awaited the next volley.
But it didn’t come.
Still, he sensed something.
He closed his eyes. Are you there?
He waited no longer than a moment before the answer came. It happened on Eternia as well?
How far reaching was the light?
Galactic.
We should meet, Zodak thought, impressing the urgency he felt in his nerves into his mental communication.
He reached a hand out, and his staff launched from its perch on the wall. His helmet clicked into place over his dark features, obscuring the troubled expression on his face. And then he took a step, and left the Mystic Mountains and his home behind, and entered Outerverse.
Outerverse existed in a corridor that shunted sideways from the Hall of Infinity in the House that chambered the universe, a fractal offshoot that could only be accessed by those in whom the cosmos ran deep, and who in turn resonated in harmony with the Cosmos. It was a shifting phantasmagoria of shapes and colors and pathways that one could easily become disoriented by or lost in. It was not a place where many had been, but as a meeting place for Cosmic Enforcers it served well.
Zodac was waiting for him, hovering in the Infinity Chair. He was solemn and calm as always.
“Eternia and Etheria have gone mystic dark,” Zodac said calmly.
“You saw the light?”
Zodac nodded.
“You know who it was.”
“There’s no proof,” Zodac said and was standing beside Zodak in an eyeblink. “I’ve cautioned you against your temper.”
“And I’ve warned you about complacency. Come, Zodac. Light? As far reaching as the entire galaxy? It’s the renegade and you know it.”
“He wouldn’t have the power.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“Why don’t you just ask me if I did it?”
The Zoda spun at the sudden voice where no voice should have been. Strobo was not looking at them. He was instead staring at the wonder of shapes and colors that danced in the fringes of the Outerverse.
“Why would we believe…” Zodak began, but stopped when Zodac placed a calming hand on his shoulder. He shook it off. “Why would we believe anything you say. You still wear the helmet of the Enforcers but you’re no longer an Enforcer. Just another lie.”
Strobo finally turned to them. The black orbs of his helmet gave no sign of emotion, and his voice was cold and flat. “I am still an Enforcer, though I don’t enforce the ideals you supposedly represent. And I don’t care about your opinion of me.”
Zodak raised his staff. “Oh no?”
Zodac tried again to still his former pupil, but he was too late, and already Zodak unleashed a barrage of energy at Strobo. But the one time Enforcer made no move to protect himself. It rippled on the shining surface of his armor and dissipated without effect. He looked down top see the energy dispel itself into the Outerverse.
“Ever the fool,” he said. “Did you immediately jump to me without thinking it through? Why would I silence magic of all things? Why would I telegraph my actions with a light show? Why would I care what happens on these planets?”
The Zoda did not respond. Zodak was no longer feeling as sure of himself, but his anger still seethed. He wished for a fraction of his cosmic brother’s fabled composure but found his anger surging instead of quelling.
“Return to the fold, brother,” Zodac said finally, his voice calm, his words measured. “All can and will be forgiven.”
“I don’t need forgiveness. The transgressions were never mine,” Strobo said. He raised a hand and snapped a finger, and the swirling play of light in the Outerverse ceased. Blackness took them over, except for a dim light that glowed from his chest, allowing the three of them to see each other. The Zoda stood amazed by the display. “Ask yourself a question, brothers. If I can with a snapping of fingers silence the storm and the fury that swirls here in the Meeting Hall of All Things, do you really think I would play at thievery and light shows to amuse myself with two child-planets?”
Their silence answered him. “You don’t seek an Enforcer, brothers, whether you think him a renegade or not. If you had thought to look beneath the surface you would see the working of a God behind this.” He raised a hand and snapped the fingers again, and the swirling current was restored.
Strobo was gone.
“Do you believe him?” Zodac asked, ever calm.
”I do,” Zodak replied with no small effort. “A God, though? Why here, why now?”
“Inscrutable. A God willing to play with mortals.” Zodac claimed his chair again, and hovered in solemn contemplation. “Not since long ago has this happened. Deities have no concept of limitation. He has removed the two brightest players from the board. Without magic, Skeletor has been humbled, and He-man has been rendered inert.”
“And I suppose you will say we should not interfere?”
Zodac turned the glossy orbs on his pupil. “Only if the Gods overstep, my brother.”
