Subternia (Revelation)

Subternia as it appears in Masters of the Universe: Revelation.

Subternia was the land of the dead, the Eternian version of Hell. As such, it was the opposite of Preternia, the Eternian version of heaven. Subternia was ruled by Scare Glow.

There was an old Trollan nursery rhyme concerning Subternia, which went as follows:

"You cannot make your living in the land of the dead, my dear, The only wealth you'll need to bring is the currency of fear...  Flea before your mind goes mad, trust not what Subternia shows,  Terror fuels the fires of Hell, who's lord is called Scare Glow.

History
500 years before the time of He-Man, King D'Vann Grayskull had to forge himself a new weapon, and traveled to Subternia to request a special kind of dark ore he obtained from Scare Glow. Tho obtain the ore, a bargain was struck between the two, the details of which have yet to be revealled.

Some time after magic had begun to fade from Eternia, causing the world to slowly rot and die, a small band of warriors entered Subternia through a gate at the Crystal Sea. Evil-Lyn temporarilly added the top of the Havoc Staff to the skeleton and armor of a headless guardian in front of the gate, triggering it to open up a large crevasse with a long stairway leading down.

Once inside, the group of warriors were split up and all had to face their greatest fears, some of them in familiar surroundings. Evil-Lyn and Orko found themselves in a Subternian illustion depicting Orko's home dimension of Trolla, specifically the Academy of Magic. Beast Man, Andra and Roboto appeared to be in the remains of a battleground, where they spotted Shadow Beasts in the distance. Teela faced the lord of Subternia himself, Scare Glow, whom she mistook for Skeletor for a moment.

Teela told Scare Glow she came looking for one half of the Sword of Power. Scare Glow agreed to give it to her in exchange for her fear, as well as the safe return of her companions. With a snap of his fingers, Teela entered the Well of Darkness, where she fought an illusion that resembled a red eyed version of He-Man. His mocking words took advantage of the fact that Teela still felt betrayed by the fact that Prince Adam never told her about his secret identity.

Evil-Lyn and Orko arrived at the Spell Spring, the never ending source of all Trollan magic, but found it to be completely dry. Orko realized that all the Trollans were gone and Evil-Lyn concluded that meant that the loss of magic was fast spreading across the universe. Orko might well be the last Trollan left. Orko told Evil-Lyn about his youth, and she revealled to him that she wasn't born with the suffix "Evil" in front of her name. Shadows of Trollans suddenly appeared out of nowhere, being drawn to the Spell Spring, where they combined to form a giant Shadow Beast. Evil-Lyn had just used up a bit of magic in her wand, and when she held it up against the Beast, the wand failed her. But when they combined their magic, they were able to defeat the giant Shadow Beast.

Meanwhile, their companions were fighting apparitions on the battlefield, and each one of them saw their enemies in a different way. Andra thought she was fighting zombies, while Beast Man only saw Fire Bats. Roboto however, was able to see through the deception and recognized their opponents as powerful Shadow Beasts. Andra used her mechanical know how to boost Roboto's power, allowing him to defeat the Shadow Beasts with a burst of blinding light.

Teela's opponent admited to being fear itself rather than He-Man, and soon afterwards transformed itself into a younger version of Teela herself and finally turned into Scare Glow. Teela denied him his prize, as she had learned to control her fears and the Dark half of the Sword of Power appeared in front of her. When she did this, Teela was unaware that a magical mark appeared on her forehead, but Scare Glow certainly did notice.

The companions were reunited, having all defeated their fears. Evil-Lyn demanded that Teela give her the sword, so she could use it in combination with her wand and open a gateway to Preternia by calling upon the allmighty Zoar with every last bit of magic she could conjure. But before they could pass through the gate, Scare Glow reappeared and caused stone tentacles to grow out of the ground and grab each of the Warriors by the leg and stalagtites to drop from the cavernous ceiling. This time it was Orko who conjured up all the magic that still remained in him, but stoping the stalagtites from falling and redirecting them at Scare Glow. While his friends and companions freed their legs, Orko used all the magic he had left to stop Scare Glow from advancing. Evil-Lyn attempted to help, but her wand was still not working. Beast Man picked her up and carried her trough the portal. Scare Glow was able to grab Orko's scarf, and both of them disappeared in one last explosion, leaving only a small scrap of Orko's garment to cross over into Preternia with the rest of them.

Trivia

 * In the 200x continuity, Subternia was the collective name of all underground regions on the planet Eternia.

Dark Horse prequel comic

 * Masters of the Universe: Revelation No.1 (Dark Horse Comics)

Netflix series

 * Poisoned Chalice (mentioned)
 * The Most Dangerous Man in Eternia (mentioned)
 * Land of the Dead
 * The Forge at the Forest of Forever (mentioned)