It was on the desolate and arid planet of Nemesis that Scorpina finally found the whereabouts of Rita Repulsa and the rest of her entourage. Hiding in the alcove of a rock face high above a gorge, she watched as the paralysed forms of Rita and her crew were carted into the centre of a circle of soldiers, all who had their heads swathed in white fabric and their bodies cloaked in beige robes. Also, by their sides and on their backs, they carted sheaths containing various forms of bladed weapon. The Mark of the Sorcerers was embroidered on their shoulders and on a headband that ran around their forehead, holding their headdresses in place.

Scorpina herself was swathed in a light cloak, camouflaging her against the rocks.

“Bring the Cylinder!” she heard one of the soldiers say after a moment.

Two men rolled a giant, metal canister into the circle and up-righted it before the whole group.

Though paralysed, Scorpina could easily see that Repulsa was fully aware of what was going on, life still telling in her eyes.

A soldier, that appeared to be the ringleader, now began to pace around Rita and her crew; “Rita Repulsa, daughter of Master Vile and subject of the wicked Dragon of Nim,” he declared, “You and your band of followers have caused much disruption and terror during these wars that have so beleaguered us these past centuries, but now you have committed the ultimate injustice - you have robbed us of our valued leader. For this and your many other crimes, you and your loyal followers are hereby sentenced: from now until the end of time, you are to be set afloat in the cosmos within the cramped confines of a Zithium Cylinder. You will be in a suspended but fully conscious animation, and will be forced to suffer the same, torturous fate that the great Zordon now must - as they say, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…” The ringleader halted, his grey eyes glancing over each of the Emperor’s subjects with disgust, “I hope you enjoy the rest of your miserable existence, and I pray that your Nimian overlord soon joins you.”

Scorpina’s brow furrowed - it would seem that Zordon’s capture and loss had pushed the Forces of Light to their limits, and they were now dealing out punishments just as harsh as those that their enemy employed. This was a true sign of the effect the wars were having on people.

Suddenly, the ringleader clicked his fingers; “Hina, Shiva, cure their paralysis - the rest of you, prepare to join me in sealing the cylinder and giving them the gift of eternal consciousness whilst they reside in it. Let us pray that never the canister is opened again…”

Scorpina swallowed, her hand tightening into a fist; “Goldar…” she murmured, staring at her boyfriend for what could be the last time. She had the impulse to charge them, but reason told her there was no way she could take on a whole group of what looked like mages of the Clan of Sorcerers themselves, the most powerful of the Light wizards. Her heart dropped - she was helpless…

She watched with reluctance as two female forms walked forward and together cured the five aliens of their paralysis; each blinked and heaved in great breaths of air, but, before any of them could even recover their bearings, they were marched into the giant cylinder of Zithium that would prove their home for as long as the Gods and Fate saw fit.

The huge lid was set upon the cylinder, taking the strength of five of the assembly to lift it, before this same five, including the ringleader, then stood around the canister, raising their hands palm-to-palm with one another, and chanted a slow, steady spell.

“No…” Scorpina gasped, her body coiled and ready to spring; her common sense only just managed to hold her back.

The rim of the mighty cylinder glowed until, with an almighty hissed, it was forged shut. The beings within were then trapped, set in their suspended animation, and no spell cast even by Rita would now be able to get them out - Zithium was notoriously impervious to magical attacks.

Scorpina watched as the whole group of sorcerers finally gathered together and, with all their strengths, set the cylinder soaring into the heavens and out into the depths of the universe. Only the Gods knew where it would be headed now… To try and find it would be the needle in a haystack scenario multiplied by a factor of ten.

With a great sigh, Scorpina eventually took her leave of the scene and began to make her way back to her Emperor to report.

* * * *

The group of soldiers walked into a cave, near the gorge.

The ringleader pulled his white hood from over his head, breathing the cool air around him with relief; it was Lexion; “Well, she’s gone…” he sighed, “I hope she enjoys her fate. Now, at least, we can rest a little easier.”

“Shame it’s not easy enough,” Hina said, removing her white hood to reveal a beautiful, plain visage and long locks of auburn hair.

“Yes,” Shiva concurred, a tall woman with short, white-blonde hair and sharp blue eyes, “We’ve still got the Dragon himself to contend with.”

“Without Zordon, we are still vulnerable - the Emperor will know this,” added Ninjor, a youth from the same planet as Zordon, sporting the same black hair and green eyes, “We have to make a more long-term strategy to combat the Emperor. With or without Rita Repulsa, he is still too strong.”

Lexion sighed, shaking his head as the rest of the gathered soldiers of light removed their headdresses and sat down across the cavern floor to rest; “Why did Zordon have to fall the one time we needed him most?”

“There is still hope,” Shiva said, “There always is.”

Lexion nodded slowly, “I know… I just need guidance. I need someone to show me the way.”

“I’ve had enough of all this hiding and running,” Aries said, one of the few remaining Sorcerers from the pillaged and ravaged galaxy of M51, “I say we strike hard at the Emperor and finish it all. We’ve come this far - we’ve caught Rita Repulsa and her band! We must keep going! It’s what they’d least expect!”

“You mean teleport to Nim? Have you any idea of the size of the forces at the Emperor’s disposal? Have you any idea of how powerful he is?” Ninjor rejoined.

“I do know - but we once said the same of Rita! Lexion, please! We must do this - for Zordon!”

Lexion sighed, gripped by indecision; “I don’t know,” he murmured.

“Aries has a point,” Shiva nodded.

“But no one’s ever infiltrated Nim before!” Ninjor continued, “Not without being caught!”

“Who’s even tried in the past few years?” Aries posed, “No one would expect it! As long the Dragon lives, this war will go on forever.”

Lexion closed his eyes, rubbing them over with his hands; “He’s right…” he said grudgingly, “The Dragon must die… Zordon’s counting on us.”

“This is not the way,” Ninjor murmured quietly, shaking his head.

“Our fellow Sorcerers and freedom fighters are upholding the fight on other fronts,” Lexion said, “Now’s our chance to strike at the core of these mad conflicts.”

“With Rita gone, he’ll be on his guard!” Ninjor disputed.

“Not so…” Aries countered, “Seeing as we’ve lost Zordon, his guard is likely to be more lax.”

Ninjor saw that he was losing the battle and just looked down with regret; “This is a bad idea,” he muttered, “So bad…”

* * * *

The Emperor was stood up on the roof of his highest tower, back in his fort on Nim. His red eyes scoured the horizon, his clothes rustled in the wind and his hair blew about his head.

He turned as he sensed Scorpina approach; “My dear,” he nodded, “You bring me news, I hope.”

She bowed, “Yes, my Lord. It is worse than I feared - Rita and her entourage have been cast adrift in a Zithium cylinder prison.” She shook her head, “A huge band of sorcerers sent them flying into the cosmos, though I know not where. I wish I could have stopped it…”

“Only a fool would rush a band of sorcerers alone,” he mused, “You could do nothing. I’d rather know you came back here empty handed than became the sixth prisoner of those wizards…”

He turned back to the horizon and said no more.

Scorpina frowned, “Is something troubling you, your grace?”

He nodded solemnly, listening to the wind as it whistled by his pointed ears; “I have been visited by a shaman, a man who once predicted my father‘s end. My father disputed his words, but look what happened to him…”

Scorpina listened to him silently.

The Emperor flexed his fingers out, his claws revealing themselves from beneath his skin, “He has told me of a Prophecy, a Prophecy forged by the mouths of the Gods, a Prophecy, he says, which spells out my own fate.”

He turned to Scorpina and slowly began to pace around her, his toe claws clicking against the flagstones; “An Emperor of Darkness and a Sorceress of Light will combine the two forces of the ultimate might. Love and devotion will there entwine, morality and sin in fission. From this the Saviour will arise and shine with the white emission. The Saviour will turn green with evil until the Five free him from hate. The Dragon of Darkness shall the Tiger then fight, until they unite, securing the universe’s Fate.”

Scorpina looked down, confused, “That’s quite a riddle, my lord.”

“Isn’t it?” he smirked, looking up at the blood red skies. He then shrugged and said, “I will not dwell on the matter - that would be unhealthy. I shall do as my mother would have done and merely say ‘Come what may’.”

He turned and nodded to Scorpina once more, and she bowed, taking her leave.

* * * *

Aboard their mothership, hovering in Nemesis’s orbit, the group of sorcerers prepared themselves for their excursion, gathering their weapons and focusing their minds. Ninjor tied a bandana round his head, keeping his lengthy hair from out of his eyes; “I really am not up to this,” he murmured to Shiva as she sharpened her dagger blades.

“You must be,” she said, “Or we will fail.”

“I can’t make my mind do what my heart is not set on,” he insisted, “Zordon wouldn’t have done things like this… Aries is such a hothead.”

“We can only try,” she continued, not wanting to take sides in the debate.

“Do we even know that the Emperor is at home?” he asked, pulling on his gloves, “And how are we going to draw him out?”

“We’ll find a way,” she replied.

He sighed, “You don’t know either,” he stated blandly, pacing away down a corridor.

“We go in and we go in for the Dragon alone,” Lexion said to those who had arrived ready on the bridge, “Whoever finds him, alert the rest through whatever means possible - telepathy may be best. We will converge on him as one and do away with him. In and out as quickly as possible, you understand?”

The small group nodded with varying amounts of enthusiasm.

“With the Emperor dead, the Forces of Darkness will be thrown into disarray. There is no heir to his throne,” he continued, “The rest of our allies can then help in taking them all down until none remain.”

“Let’s do it,” Aries snarled, his mind fraught with memories of the plunder of his home world by the Forces of Darkness.

Lexion watched as Ninjor and then Shiva joined them; “You two ready now?” he asked.

The two nodded, though neither spoke.

“All right,” Lexion murmured, “Let’s teleport.”

* * * *

Scorpina tapped her boomerang against the wall, sitting in the shades of the courtyard in the Emperor’s fort. The air was crisp and cold, and she just wanted to be out of the way for a while - it hadn’t fully sunk in yet that her Queen and her boyfriend were gone.

Suddenly, leaping down from the level above, she saw Zedd land catlike in the courtyard, eyes alert, focused on something, but nothing on this corporeal plane…

“Do you feel it?” he asked.

She looked around, but, seeing no one else in the yard except a couple of tethered Raptors and a stable boy, gathered that he was addressing her, “Feel what, my Lord?”

His head turned to her and his eyes focused back to the physical plane, “Sorcerers,” he snarled.

She frowned, getting to her feet, “What?”

A frightening smile pricked at his lips, “Sorcerers… there are Sorcerers here on Nim, not far away… I can see them with my mind‘s eye, like a big, red blip on the Morphin Grid.” He straightened up, laughing, and rushed over to one of the Raptors; “Come,” he said, “Come and hunt them down with me… it’ll be fun.”

“Are you sure, my Lord?” Scorpina asked, rushing out into the bright sunlight and holding a hand up to shade her eyes, “You’re not mistaken at all?”

“Me, mistaken?” he chortled, “Not on these matters…”

He flung his claws through the tether of his selected Raptor beast, releasing it, and gestured to the stable boy for a bridle, “Are you coming or not?” he asked again.

Scorpina looked round again, “Shouldn’t you tell someone first?”

He found her amusing, “Tell? I’m lord of this palace and of this world - I do as I please! I have no need to leave notes around saying I‘ll be back in a couple of hours.”

The small stable boy returned and fastened the bridle about the Raptor’s head; no sooner was that done than was Zedd on its back, “Come on! Join me! Fools rarely dare walk straight into my lair,” he continued.

She hesitated, “What if it’s a trap?”

He shrugged, “I care not - I know this world better than they. I’m sure any trap could easily be turned on its head.” He clicked his fingers at the stable boy, “Gear up the other one,” he said, pointing to the remaining Raptor.

He dug his heel into the bipedal dragon and trotted across to Scorpina, circling her on the beast, “They’re on our turf now, my dear,” he said, “They’ll have to play by our rules. It’s not you alone on Nemesis this time, it’s you and your Emperor together and on your own territory.”

She vacillated and looked down. He pulled his Raptor to a halt and reached down to her, tipping her chin up to face him, “Join me.”

She eventually gave him a slow nod, “If it’s your pleasure, my Lord.”

“It is,” he smirked as the stable boy brought across the other dragon, fully harnessed, “It is.”

* * * *

“Why in the Gods name did we land in here?” Aries screamed.

The group of Sorcerers looked about themselves warily - they were in the middle of a dense forest, and one so deadly quiet, it was unnerving.

“Shut up,” Ninjor sighed, “We’re close to Dracona, just not close enough.”

“If we’d landed straight in the city centre, Aries, we wouldn’t have heads by now,” Lexion reminded him dryly, looking about the lofty trees and hanging vines as he tried to get his bearings, “Nimians are a hostile people - kill first, ask questions later.”

Aries swallowed, hardly amused.

Hina tightened her belt, “We should split up,” she said, “The longer we stay together, the more chance there is that the Emperor will sense us - there’s a lot of magic here with us all gathered together. We need to dissipate that energy a bit.”

“No one said we’d have to split up before!” Ninjor protested.

“We haven’t had time to plan, exactly, have we?” Shiva quipped.

“Enough!” Lexion ordered, trying to maintain control of the group, “Hina’s right - we’ll split up.”

He looked to Aries, “You come with me,” he said, “The rest of you, sort yourselves out.”

“Take Ninjor with you,” Hina told Shiva, giving the young wizard a push in her direction, “I’ll be okay on my own.”

Shiva arched an eyebrow, “You sure?”

Hina nodded, “Yeah.”

Shiva studied Hina‘s face, seeing the selflessness, altruism and kindness behind her soothing eyes; “If you‘re sure,” Shiva said, giving her friend a tap on the arm.

Hina smiled sadly, “I am.”

Soon, the wizards had all parted from one another and were travelling through the woods toward the edge of the forest toward the heart of Dracona, the main city itself.