A/N: This is my first story, so cut me some slack, okay? But not too much, I thrive off any reviews you give me. This author's note is written long after this chapter, so I can tell you guys that my writing improves drastically as you go along. I think with Chapter 7 I'm at or just below my usual standards. Anyways, enjoy, review (especially review), and... do some third thing. Whatever.

The Portal

Just a normal day in the land of Aaa. Clear blue skies, bright shining sun, and still blue waters. In a valley near a mountain range, a boy on fire and a human girl were standing next to a giant heap of burning wood (or really anything at least slightly flammable). The girl was wearing a bunny themed hat, which exposed one blond lock of hair. She had on blue clothing and a green backpack. The boy was completely made of fire, with a ruby in his chest and in his boots.

"Thanks for helping me build my new house, Fionna. It's pretty rad." Flame Prince said.

"No problem dude. I'll see you later." Fionna answered, smiling. "Come on, Cake!" she called. A white cat with coffee- brown spots came up.

"So, how'd your date go?" Cake asked.

"It's not a date! I told you Flame Prince and I are JUST BROS." Fionna replied, her cheeks blushing a little.

"Riiiiiiiiiight…" Cake replied, but she didn't pursue the subject. As the two adventuresses walked home, they started talking about what they should do with their day, when suddenly, with a loud sucking noise a portal appeared before them. It was pure black and appeared to be swirling slightly. When they looked at it, they felt fear course through their veins, but they were adventurers, and were used to fear and shrugged it off.

"Whoa!" they both said in unison.

"That portal looks totally mathematical! We should like jump in and explore it and stuff!" Fionna yelled excitedly.

"Yeah!" Cake agreed, and they jumped in the portal. On the other side, it was pitch black. Everything was thrown into total and complete darkness. Not a shred of light existed here, and the girls, even though they were actually touching, couldn't see each other. The darkness was… all consuming, almost… alive. It was enough to scare even the bravest of heroes. (Or, in this case, heroines.)

"Le-let's go back!" Cake said shakily.

"Ye-yeah…" Fionna agreed, and they jumped backwards, thankfully going back through the portal. They both looked shaken and scared as they lay on the ground. They laid there for a minute or too, feeling the warmth and light of the sun.

"Hey Cake, we should like get Flame Prince and the other guys and go back through there!" There's probably some pretty cool junk just WAITING to be found in that place." Fionna said excitedly. "It would be totally RIGHTEOUS!"

And so the girls went to gather up their friends. Would they regret this moment or thank glob for it in years to come. Probably both.

-The Next Day-

Fionna and Cake stood before the portal, this time with some of their friends. Flame Prince was there, as was a guy who had pink skin, hair, and clothes, and amazingly protested that he WASN'T gay. Shocker, am I right? The other guy was floating and holding an umbrella to shield him from the sun. His skin looked like it hadn't seen sunlight for a thousand years, which was probably healthy considering the bite marks on his neck that denoted him as a vampire. The pink guy (that REALLY makes it sound like he's gay…) walked up to the portal and looked at it. "Prince Gumball, what are you doing?" Fionna asked.

"Trying to see if I recognize the portal…" he muttered deep in concentration.

"Wellllll… do you?" Fionna asked impatiently.

Gumball thought for a second, then said "It mi-"

"Can we get on with it?" Marshall Lee the Vampire King asked, rudely interrupting Prince Gumball. "I mean come on. It's a portal. It leads somewhere. Is anything else really necessary?" Marshall asked impatiently.

"Yeah he's right!" Fionna yelled. "Too much talking, not enough action!" (AN: Amen sister!) With that she jumped straight into the portal, leaving the others to follow her. Once they were all through the only source of light was Flame Prince. They all looked around curiously at walls and the floor thrown into focus. It looked like a temple of some sorts from all the carvings, and Prince Gumball identified the stone as sandstone.

"Think we should press on?" Fionna asked. Before anyone could agree, a gust of wind swept through the room, chilling them all to the bone. A hissing noise was heard from the distance, and it seemed to come from every direction. The adventurous party did not know it, but that was their first and last warning.

"Fionna, this place is creeping me out!" Cake said, shaking with fear and clinging to Fionna's leg. Just then another hissing noise, louder this time, came from all directions. Bright white eyes appeared. Fionna drew her sword. Marshall took out his axe bass. Flame Prince made fireballs appear in his hands. Cake, obviously scared but trying to be brave, extended her claws. Prince Gumball just hid behind his much tougher friends. Suddenly a small black creature stepped out of the shadows. Actually it seemed to bring the shadows with it, as the creature was made out of darkness. The creature silently charged at Fionna, who swung her sword straight through it, killing it immediately. Suddenly the shadows seemed to withdraw reluctantly, as if ordered away. A path out of the room opened up. Our intrepid heroes walked through this path down a hall, encountering no more shadows, just strange symbols on the wall. Fionna's foot hit something. She picked it up and discovered it was a leather- bound book. When she opened it, she saw a very detailed picture of a large dragon, along with descriptions of just about everything there is to know about the beast.

"There's a bookmark." Said Gumball, pointing to a bookmark halfway in. Fionna opened it to that page and saw the words Darkness Incarnate in big, bold letters along the top. There was a picture of the creature Fionna had killed. It was described as very weak, but it said it was dangerous en masse. There was a picture of a gargoyle, which said Dark Minion. It was described as "offering some resistance, but still only truly dangerous en masse. Then was a picture of a large hooded, winged man, labeled Sentinel. All that was said about it was "Incredibly dangerous. Can kill 20 men with ease. KEEP MOVING." Then afterward it said The Crawler. "King of Shadows, Lord of Fear, Bane of Civilization. You see this, you're probably screwed anyway."

Fionna turned the page and saw a hastily written message. "Over 1000 men dead since start of expedition. I am the only one left I have attempted to open a portal. If I am dragged away before it opens, then I shall throw this in the hallway before the Throne Room. If found then continue down this hallway at your own peril. If you feel you cannot, do not. If you feel you can RESCUE ME."

"Whoa…" Fionna said. All of the others, who had been reading over her shoulder, looked shocked. Fionna held her sword up and said "Let's go save him!" Fionna yelled, and started to charge when she realized that her friends did not seem to want to charge into battle. "Uuuuh guys? What are you waiting for? Come on!" She said.

"That looks like some pretty serious evil…" said Marshall Lee. "I mean he says these guys killed a thousand men on their expedition! One THOUSAND trained warriors. And this 'Throne Room' is surely the center of his power." Fionna seemed to consider it for a moment, her cocky, bold grin faded slightly as the rest nodded assent.

"So are we going to leave him to die?" Fionna asked quietly. "He sent out a cry for help and-"

"Oh no…" Cake muttered quietly.

"-I promised to help anyone in need, no matter how small the problem. And this seems like a pretty big problem, if you ask me." Fionna finished, ignoring Cake. Flame Prince set his jaw and stared ahead, Marshall looked a little worried (an extremely odd look for him, he usually isn't like this), Prince Gumball looked scared, and Cake just looked annoyed. Without another word she charged off into the shadows, leaving her friends, once again, to follow her. When they reached the Throne Room, they were shocked. Visibility was better here, and they could see beyond Flame Prince's light. At the end of the room, in lieu of a throne, there was a pool of darkness. Tendrils of what appeared to be liquid darkness snaked around the body of a man, a human, and into his eyes and mouth. Instead of guards, there were statues of Sentinels and Dark Minions everywhere. It seemed… too easy.

"Well… that must be him." Fionna said quietly.

"Yeah." Said Flame Prince.

The band walked up to the man, and Fionna just took out her sword and hacked at a tendril. All of the tendrils receded immediately and the man collapsed to the floor, gasping like a fish.

"Thank you…" he muttered once he had caught his breath.

Then came a voice out of the shadows that chilled them all and sent pure fear coursing through their veins.

AN: Ohhhhhh scary? Maybe…. Not my best work, but this IS my first fanfic, so leave some constructive criticism (keyword being constructive). I promise it'll get a little quicker paced (and better quality, I know this sucks); there'll be lots of action next chapter. Also, I can't pick a name for this guy. DX Writer's block why?

Peace out

-Hydraex2