Chapter 1

Delta Squad Members:

Sergeant Titus: Sergeant

Dakir: Apothecary

Rafen: Heavy Weapons

Iagon: Flame Unit

Somwhere above the world Haven…

The Thunderhawk roared down through the atmosphere, an aura of intense heat surrounding it as it flew to the world below.

Inside, Sergeant Titus of Delta Squad turned to his three men. Each one was a long-time veteran, with a combined total of almost two thousand years in the Ultramarines. And right now, they were going to need every second of that experience.

"Alright men," he began in his gruff voice. "We've been tasked with destroying the worthless Eldar sorcerer Siu'Katan. We cannot afford to make mistakes on this mission. If he is not destroyed, the campaign to retake this world in the name of the Emperor will be halted in its tracks." He looked each of his men in the eyes. "Our lives mean nothing. All that matters now is that he is sent to be judged, preferably with a little pain on the way."

"Sir, yes sir!" his squad chanted in unison. Titus nodded and sat back in his crash seat, enjoying what would probably be his last peaceful moment for a long time. Well, the wind was howling fearsomely against the sides of the craft. Okay, so at least it's comfortable. But, then again, crash seats never have been his first seating choice…

Fine. Titus enjoyed what would probably be his last moments in a place not full of people who wanted to kill him.

Well, Iagon had been pretty sore about when Titus made him lose at thirteen…

He decided to stop thinking about it.

Finn and Jake ran away from the Ice King's castle, laughing as he shouted overly complicated threats at them.

"And I'll take your take our arms, freeze them, and use them as backscratchers!" he shouted as he shot another ice bolt. The two dodged it and kept on laughing. After a couple of minutes, once they couldn't hear him anymore, they fell to the ground laughing.

"Man, did you see his face?" Jake asked between fits of laughter.

"I sure did," Finn replied. "Man, when he saw you with that mask and hook, I thought he was gonna have a heart attack!"

"Is it safe to come out?" a small voice from Finn's backpack asked.

"Sure thing, Ladybug Princess," Finn replied. He undid the top and pulled out a small ladybug with a crown. "Now be safe out there, ya hear?"

She nodded, gave them a quick wave and flew off. Once they lost sight of her, Finn turned to Jake. "So, what have we done today?"

"Let's see," Jake began. "We helped the Candy Kingdom escort a diplomatic visitor, we did some scouting in that dungeon over by the Fire Kingdom, and we saved Ladybug Princess from that giant nerd. Pretty good; it's not even four yet."

Finn's eyes widened. "It's almost four! Oh my Glob, I have a date with Marceline at four-twenty! We gotta get home, I can't let her see me in my dirty adventure clothes!"

Finn and Marceline had been dating for about a year now, ever since Bubblegum had turned herself eighteen again and started ignoring Finn. As much as Jake appreciated Marceline for helping his bro through a tough time, she still scared him. Besides that, there was always the fact that Marceline was immortal while Finn would eventually grow old. But, Jake and Lady had made it work, so he figured those two would work something out.

On the surface, Titus's squad had faced little opposition. There had been light Eldar scouting units, but nothing serious. This had him worried. Here they were, within a bastion of their enemy, yet he had almost no defenses erected. He shook his head. Doubt was not important at this phase of the mission.

As they moved closer to Siu'Katan's location, Iagon spoke up. "Feels like we're being watched."

"Hush," Dakir replied. "I hear something."

Sure enough, Titus began to hear something too. It sounded like chanting, but he couldn't make out the words. Also, as they drew closer, he began to notice frost on the ground, despite the fact this part of Haven was supposed to be having summer right now.

Finally, they came to the spot it seemed to be emanating from. It just looked like a hole in the ground, and they probably would have ignored it if not for the chanting that was coming out of it.

Rafen looked in a bit, scanning for targets. "Clear," he announced.

They entered in an arrow formation with Titus at the front. All of them were nervous, with their weapons being targeted at every little noise they heard. Even with their augmented vision, they each knew there was a lot of ground in the cave that was concealing something they couldn't see.

After a while, their way was blocked by a massive slab of basalt. There were small runes carved into it, each seemingly dabbed in blood. Titus shuddered a bit at its presence. "Rafen," he commanded. "Destroy this unholy creation."

"Happily sir," came Rafen's reply. He calmly attached two krak grenades with remote detonator to it and led them all back a few paces. "Fire in the hole," he announced, activating the detonator.

The slab shattered into pieces of black glass which the squad stomped through on their way into the chamber beyond.

Inside, there was a pool of some sort of green glowing slime. On the other side, they saw a cloaked figure, chanting while weaving complex motions through the air. Titus stepped forward defiantly, his chainsword raised and his bolt pistol at the ready. "It's over, Siu'Katan. Say your last prayers to your heathen god."

The figure's eyes raised under its hood and it made a hideous motion with its mouth that Titus assumed was equivalent to a smile. "No," it answered. "It is you who should start praying."

Titus's eyes widened with horror at the sight he saw. "Demon," he whispered. The shadow cast by the creature was not as it should be, but was rather the shadow of a hulking, skeletal creature. He got over it quickly however and targeted the creature with its pistol. "Fire at will!" he roared. His squad happily obeyed, emptying their clips just to see this abomination die.

However, it was in vain. The rounds impacted and flattened against an invisible shield an arms length from the sorcerer. Titus roared with frustration and charged at the thing, swinging his chainsword. His squad followed suite, holstering their weapons as they drew their blades and charged at the creature.

Despite the oncoming rush, Siu'Katan continued his spell. An instant before they reached him, he chanted the last words and his arms fell limp to his sides. The Space Marines paused, confused.

Rafen was the first to break the silence, speaking in something more than a single one-syllable word. "What in the blazes did he just do?"

His question was answered immediately as a massive ball of energy floated out of the pool. Siu'Katan smiled and hissed "Yesss." He then reached out a hand and was absorbed into it.

The Space Marines, meantime, had no intentions of letting that thing touch them. Each Marine grabbed some sort of handhold, trying with all their might just to keep from falling into that thing. Dakir was the first to fall; his handhold broke off at the last second and he fell in, screaming. Iagon was second, but he was caught by Rafen on his way. Titus watched with horror as Rafen's hold on the wall slowly slipped until the two went tumbling into the sphere.

Titus felt his hold slipping as the orb strengthened. With a howl of rage and frustration, he too was drawn into the void.

Finn carefully prepared himself in front of the mirror, making sure his hat and bowtie were straight. Satisfied he began to walk to the front door. "Jake, I'm going now," he shouted up.

"Just a minute, I need to get ready too," Jake replied.

"Okay." Finn then thought for a second. "Wait a minute, Jake, why are you coming?"

"Oh, um, Me and Lady got reservations at the same place. For the same time. At neighboring tables."

"Wait, bro, are you trying to play chaperone?"

"Me? No," Jake answered as he came downstairs. "Me and lady just happen to like this place…"

Finn stared at him for a second. "Alright," Jake cracked. "I just want to make sure you don't, um, how do you say, have milk and cookies with Marceline."

Finn frowned. "What's wrong with that?" he asked. "Marceline may not like the cookies too much, but we just get the red dyed ones so she can drink the red and I can eat the cookie."

"No, no, no," Jake replied. "I, I just don't want you to have the milk and cookies that you have in bed."

"No worries," Finn answered. "It gets crumbs all over the sheets and those things are impossible to sleep in."

"Sounds good," Jake replied, quickly changing the subject. "Now come on, let's go!"

On their way to Marceline's house, the two had to pass through the Woods o' Pervading Creepiness in the dark. As they moved along, the two argued a bit over the nature of the place.

"I'm telling ya man, something in this place is not right," Jake said nervously.

"Dude, grow up. It's just all these half-dead trees," Finn countered, although he too noticed something odd in the atmosphere.

"Na, it ain't the trees. There's just something here that isn't supposed to be here."

"You're just paranoi… wait, what's that" Finn started, pointing to a patch of white on the ground.

Jake looked closer. "It's frost," he answered. "Looks like the Ice King."

"No way," Finn answered. "He's in bed by now. An old man like him, he needs all the sleep he can get."

Jake looked and saw more patches, with the layers getting heavier near a large tree. "Looks like whatever it is, it's over there."

Finn squinted over. "Doesn't seem too dangerous. And besides, the only other thing that controls ice is the Lich, and we sent him off long ago."

"Yeah," Jake answered. "Ah, it'll wait until the date is done."

As the two continued, a colossal figure stepped into their path. The two looked up at it, trying to hide their shock and fear. "Looks like we're gonna be late," Finn whispered.