The Land of Aaa has always been divided up among noble families. Since the Dawn of Time, the lands have been ruled over by endless Kings, Queens, Nobles and Duchies, and, of course, by Princes and Princesses alike. It's beautiful really, the way all of these creatures ruled over the lands together, with barely a war to their names. No one ever looked over at the Icy Mountains that lay in the North, and claimed them for themselves while at their own feet, sat a kingdom of their own, stretching on for miles in every direction. There was never a monarch who sat upon their throne in a haze of jealousy, looking out towards the fiery lava beds scattered in the South lands, plotting- seeking-and-craving for what they didn't have. No, every ruler had its place, and there was a place for every ruler. But of course, I suppose there's always an exception...
Right, but I'm sure none of you wish to hear such stale stories about royalty and their struggles. Don't worry, I understand, really. Politics and positions of power don't tend to tickle the fancy of many...tickle the fancy? Is that something you young kids say nowadays? I tend to forget the 'hip' and 'cool' sayings - I've lived in the land of Aaa for far too long.
...It feels like forever since I last spoke with an audience so willing to hear my tales.
You do want to hear them, don't you? Oh, come on! I promise I'll make it interesting and fun, and you'll never want it to end! I'll give you a story packed with adventure and excitement; romance and love; even the supernatural, if you'd like. What do you say? Okay, fine I will warn you that this story does contain talk about the royals. The Land of Aaa thrives on its monarchies, after all, and what kind of story would it be without that?
So sit back, and listen well, for this is a tale of the Candy Kingdom, The Land of Aaa, and how they almost fell victim to the Night- O- Sphere's reign.
But then again...that's only what the story appears on the surface.
Allegiance to The King
Fionna woke up with a gash in her chest.
Normally, Fionna might have played it off as a trick of the eyes, after all, she often fell asleep after eating too many bowls of spaghetti, and the sauce would linger on her shirt for the rest of the night, looking like a picture straight out of a horror film. That's what the gash looked like anyway: a stain of red spaghetti sauce. Only, after training under the watchful eye of her elder sister Cake, who she might add was a Cat, she knew better.
And of course, there was the fact that it hurt like Hell.
"What the stuff!?" Fionna cried, wincing as a sharp jab of pain prickled across her skin. She tried standing up, but as she did a wave of vertigo crashed over her body, causing her to keel over. The room suddenly began to look very blurry, and Fionna barely had enough time to register the fact that she had no idea where the heck she was, before she promptly passed out.
This was the start of what she believed was the worst day in her life.
.
.
.
"This is her?" a voice asked skeptically, peering down at the sight of the girl's limp body. She was an averaged sized girl, maybe on the short side, with pale skin and golden hair that peeked through what appeared to be a white bunny hat. She was wearing a light blue dress that swept to the floor in a tsunami of fabric, almost drowning her.
"Yup," came another, "she's the one. Fionna the Human, otherwise known as Prince Gumball's prized knight."
"She looks pathetic."
"What else would you expect from the Candy Kingdom?" A round of laughter followed. "No but seriously, why would our King want her?"
"Glob knows."
"Maybe he wants her as his dinner? I bet she tastes delicious!" A slapping sound echoed throughout the room's expanse. "Ow! What was that for!?"
"You know what for! If he heard you talking about stealing his meal, you'd be killed - heck, I'd probably be fed to the rats for even being near you!"
The first voice scoffed. "You're ridiculous."
"No he's not," came a new voice, followed by the sound of footsteps. They stopped as soon as they neared the girl. "In fact he's right. You two aren't giving me a reason to hurt you, are you?"
"N-no sir!"
"Good - now get out!"
"Yes my liege!" the two original voices screamed, before scrambling away, leaving the room as fast as they could.
On the ground, the girl trembled in her sleep. Her captor smiled. "Welcome, Fionna the Human, to my humble abode," he began. "I'm sure you'll learn to love it here. Not that you have much of a choice."
He laughed then, sick and cold, and everything a demon could hope to sound like.
.
.
.
When Fionna came to again, she was face to face with something out of a nightmare.
There was a young man standing before her, smiling deviously with a full mouth of teeth sharpened to a fine point at the canines. He flicked his tongue over them slowly, like he was imagining how great she would taste as a meal. Fionna's eyes went wide as she stared. He had a grey complexion, and hair the color of ravens, but the most off putting thing about him were his eyes. They were red-red-red-red - the color of rubies - and seemed to glow brightly in the room's dim lighting: demon eyes. Fionna gulped at this realization, but refused to let herself be afraid. He was nothing compared to the horrors she'd faced before. She let her eyes trail up to his head where a crown of plain gold sat crookedly atop his black tresses.
He was a King.
She'd heard stories before, about someone like him. They say he ruled over a kingdom lost on the map, where demonic creatures spent their days laughing at the expense of others, and feeding off their souls. As for the demon in front of her, well, he fed off something else entirely: blood.
Without thinking, Fionna let a word escape through her lips, "Vampire."
Oh, how the wretch smiled. "How lovely of you to point out. I'm flattered you recognized my kind," he spoke, grinning. He floated lazily towards her form, and under a different circumstance Fionna would have thought that was completely epic, but he was an enemy, and certainly not someone to think highly of (even if the ability to float was super awesome).
Fionna wanted to speak more, but ended up coughing instead. "Don't strain yourself, kid," admonished the vampire. "Relax, we've only just met, and I would hate to have you pass out before we could converse more."
Swallowing, Fionna readied herself to speak, narrowing her eyes as she did so. "What do you want from me?" She made sure to spit out the words at his feet (or the space of air under them).
"What do I want? Well, it should be pretty obvious, but perhaps I'll let you think about it. For now, I think some introductions are in order." He smiled again, or rather smirked, which Fionna couldn't help but scowl at. It was like he was mocking her.
"No thanks, I don't really care about learning the names of Turbo-Nerds like you."
The vampire narrowed his eyes. "Fine, we'll ignore the introductions. They don't matter, because I already know who you are, Fionna." Fionna's eyes widened, which only made him smirk more. "What? Don't look so surprised-" he laughed, "-you're well known throughout Aaa. Prince Pinky's favorite knight in shining armor, or apparently shining dresses. Not sure how you managed to fight me off for as long as you did wearing that."
"Fight you? I've never seen you!"
"You don't remember?" He pointed to her chest. "Take a look at that nasty gash you have. You think that just magically appeared?"
Fionna glared. The slash looked awful, the spray of congealed blood splattered across her chest, and sticking to the fabric of her dress. She had no idea how she got the wound, but hearing him say that he was the one who gave it to her made her all kinds of angry. How could she have been bested by him? "I'm tired of this," she stated. Fionna attempted to move, but when she stood up, another wave of vertigo crashed through her again. She balanced herself against the wall of the room, which was cold and hard - dungeon walls. Fionna tried not to throw up.
"I wouldn't recommend moving." He sighed. "Look, let me dumb it down for you. I gave you that cut with my axe base - yes it's exactly as it sounds - and because of that you aren't going to be able to move for awhile. I suggest you save your energy. Besides, I'm not here to hurt you anymore, what I want is something else entirely."
"Oh yeah?" Fionna spat, regaining her balance. "And what is that?"
The vampire floated across the room to where she stood, hovering in the air above her. He twirled around until his face was upside down - until his red eyes were level with her own. Looking at his face, she became aware that he wasn't as old as she originally thought. How can a King be so...childish? Granted, he was clearly older than her, but still. With the mischievous look in his eye, that replaced the previous one of horror, he looked almost friendly, like it was all some kind of prank.
That was until he spoke.
"What I want, my dear Fionna, is your allegiance."
Fionna could only stare. The vampire seemed delighted at her silence, as if he was relishing in the shocked look upon her face. He gave out a bark of a laugh, before floating away from her, and humming a little tune. "You know," he commented, "I expected more of a reaction than that. You could have at least gasped or something."
Fionna was still surprised. "You want my allegiance? What do you mean?"
"Ahh-" he nodded his head in understanding, "-you're confused." The King lowered himself to the ground, and calmly walked towards her again. Fionna didn't like the way he was always moving; it made her on edge. She wished she had her sword with her, and she guessed he must have taken it from her after their so called fight. Fionna's hands twitched at her sides, and the air beneath her fingers felt foreign without her weapon. His voice cut her out of her thoughts. "I want you to work for me, Fionna, as my loyal knight."
Fionna bristled. "How dare you even-"
"Even what?" he cut her off. "It's not really such an obscure request, is it? You act like I've said something offensive."
"That's because you have, you Dingus!"
He almost looked hurt. As if to exemplify this point, he clutched his heart. "Is that anyway to talk to a king?"
"You are not my king!" she snapped. Fionna tore her eyes away from his gaze. She needed to escape. However, upon inspection she found that there were walls in every direction - not even a door was in sight.
When she looked back at him, his eyes were glowing again. A frown replaced his previous smirk. "I would advise you not to be so tactless, especially in the presence of someone as powerful as I. If you were anyone else, you'd be killed right where you're standing."
Fionna tilted her chin up defiantly. "If I were anyone else, huh? Why do you want my loyalty anyways?"
He shook his head to get rid of the fringe in his face. "It's simple really: you're Prince Gumball's most prized knight. I would have brought your partner Cake here as well, but only one of you was needed. I need an army, you see, and only the best of the best will do."
"Well I'm afraid that's impossible."
"Oh? And why is that?" His look of anger dissolved into amusement again. She hated how quick he could change his emotions around. Fire burned in the pit of her stomach.
She made her voice as strong as possible. "I serve under Prince Gumball and him alone! As head knight of the Righteous Order, I have sworn my life to him!"
The vampire smiled. "I'm sure you have, and I'm sure a lot more too." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and fitted a smirk across his features. The suggestive tone of his voice was disarming.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked hotly, cursing as she felt heat rise to her cheeks.
"I think you know exactly what I mean." His voice was incredibly low, and the mischievous look in his eyes caused the red in them to blaze brightly. Clearly he was enjoying himself.
"No I d-"
"Do you love him?" The vampire couldn't help but laugh.
"Love!? What the - no! I don't...love him...he's my king! I respect him is all!"
"Would you ever love me like you love him?" He flipped his hair, and smiled seductively at her.
That's when she ran to punch him.
All of the pent up anger and embarrassment fueled her. How dare he make her look like such a fool! How dare he mock her King! She ran full force, but before she could do anything, her body had other plans. The vampire wasn't lying when told her she shouldn't move or strain herself. He must have spiked his axe with something, because all of a sudden her legs gave out beneath her, and she threw up whatever food she had eaten before. Glob must be mocking her, because it was spaghetti.
"I told you," the Vampire King said, "don't strain yourself." He sighed. "No one ever listens to me."
Fionna retched.
"Kid, I have no idea how you managed to be a knight, but I fought you - so I know you're good. My offer is still on the table, but I'm afraid you won't have much of a choice. I am asking you kindly now, pledge your allegiance to me, or face the consequences later."
Fionna coughed, before choking out, "Who are you?"
He smirked again. "I'm Marshall Lee, the Vampire King."
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