Hey! Another weekend update for you guys, as usual. Before anything else, let's start!
Prismo gazed at the viewscreen, depicting the unconscious heroes. The Lich had been vanquished, but evil would always rise again. Prismo knew this better than most; in many parallel universes with minor differences the band of heroes would fail in stopping the Lich, leaving him to destroy the universe. The story wasn't over for them yet, however. He watched as the Flame Princess awakened, looking around. Prismo sighed as the girl noted the absence of the boy and the crown, looking shocked, and moving to awaken the dog and the others. He watched as the group frantically searched the Iaculis, finding nothing. He watched as the girl questioned Mem-o, who responded with a melancholy shake of his head, then opening an exit portal. The first two to leave were the pair from the other dimension, holding hands, and offering condolences to the fiery princess, whose flames were becoming more and more dull. He watched as the bubblegum girl and the Vampire Queen exited, leaving the girl and the dog. They both sat there for a few minutes, followed by the dog standing and exiting, leaving the girl to remain there, thinking. Tears ran down her face, leaving burnt tracks on the floor where they fell. Finally she stood, walking down through the halls of the Iaculis, past the partially healed breaches and repair robots working frantically. She walked, and walked, and Prismo watched and watched. Finally, after the longest time, Prismo shut the screen off. If he was all-powerful, why could he only affect things through the wishes of others? He was restricted to being a watcher, a waiter, a conduit for the desires of others. Heck, he wasn't even able to leave this room! He was just stuck here, watching and waiting for all eternity. He had seen countless disasters, millions of deaths. Some wishes were for a better future, some for a worse one. The past one, well, it had been rather ambivalent. He could see what the future could look like from this point on. The fiery girl would become the new hero of Ooo, much as Finn had been in the first universe, before that first wish that had set off this timeline. He could see it now, she would bring a new era of prosperity and peace, with difficulties that were overcome, where evil hid from the light of her flames. She would claim the throne of the fire kingdom, as she had did in the first universe, and lead it into a bright future of truth and light and finally, at an age of 47, leading the conversion of the fire kingdom to the first fire republic, an institution that would attract many fire-immune species to join it, leading to a new era of industry and freedom that many citizens of the fire kingdom had never experienced. He could see that the thoughts of Finn gnawed occasionally at her thoughts, but were replaced by thoughts of duty and responsibility. Finally retiring from her official position as government and hero at 59, she continued to guide the fire kingdom, continuing the era of prosperity. Evil remained, but only in the shadows, hiding. He watched as she aged, never finding another to replace Finn. Finally, she died peacefully in her sleep, at 95, one of the longest lived fire elementals ever, which was especially astonishing because the more powerful the elemental generally mean less long of a lifespan. Prismo sat back, contented that at the very least, it ended well, turning the monitor off. Or did it? A sensation of unease came across him, and he turned the monitor on a second time. Looking at the next few centuries, he watched as the band of heroes who originally had defeated the Lich were eliminated one by one, seemingly through natural causes. An anti-candy serum mistakenly spilled in the laboratory, garlic accidentally added to a basket of strawberries. The dog was arrested on a trumped-up charge of bike theft from decades ago and died while in jail. Kingdoms fell into disrepair, and many areas became more and more dangerous. Major trade routes dried up, and people fled for the safety of the kingdoms. For a time, the fire republic stemmed the fall into darkness, sending its army to guard many surrounding kingdoms. This culminated in the battle of the tree house. The tree house had become a memorial after the death of the Flame Princess, where soldiers of the fire army were traditionally inducted. In the presidency of Ignacio III, an army of monsters, some escaped nightosphere demons, and bandits formed a coalition, stopping their low level plans of raiding travelers and attempting to destroy the tree house, a symbol of good and righteousness. The combined Fire and Candy Kingdom armies met there, under command of Peppermint King and General Pyris, the brother of the now deceased Flame Princess, assisted by the Hyooman coalition, lead by the daughter of Susan Strong. The battle went well at first, but enemy reinforcements arrived and the battle line broke, first among the banana guards but rapidly spreading to the hyoomans, unused to the outside surface as they were. Peppermint King and General Pyris regrouped inside the tree house, where the highly disciplined fire kingdom soldiers and Gumball guardians remained. After a long siege, evil necromancers succeeded in raising an undead dragon. The dragon quickly destroyed the Gumball guardians, then turned its attention on the tree house, while undead armies marched below with the brigands and the demons. Peppermint King cast a spell, using his life energy and the many "favors" owed to him by the more powerful beings in Ooo, destroying the dragon from the inside out. The undead began to overrun the remaining Fire Kingdom troops, although resistance was strong. Finally, four were left, General Pyris, an alchemist, and two guards. The guards rapidly fell, leaving just Pyris and the alchemist, who rapidly was consumed fighting a demon. Pyris, seeing the battle was lost, kneeled, sending a message mentally back to the fire kingdom, warning of the defeat. As he was struck down, and as the flames were cast on the treehouse, leaving it burning, a green spirit rose from the ruins, obliterating a huge area with a magical explosion. This marked the last time the Fire kingdom guards attempted to bring peace, contenting themselves to holding their ever-decreasing in size republic as kingdoms fell around them. Finally, they fell too, leaving Ooo in the holds of chaos and death.
Prismo reared back in shock. He thought good had won! The Lich had been defeated! But in reality it only postponed the fall leaving this for later. He wished he could do something. But what? He remembered the last thing the Cosmic Owl said before he left after the last game night:
"Everyone who is in the time room gets a wish."
He had thought it was a strange thing to say, but now, now it might be worth a try.
"I wish…"
And as he completed the sentence, he knew it had worked.
Author's Note: Wow! This has been an amazing time guys, and I'm sooo sad to see it end. But I think it's natural or otherwise I'll end up rambling.
The key to writing adventure time, I think, is writing it like a role playing game, asking, what would I do? And if you think of a modification, even if you're midway through writing something, change it. Don't take too long on plans. Plans are good, but the true essence of writing stems from the heart.
By the way, look for the sequel to this story, "Forks in the Road", which I'll be posting probably before Tuesday or Wednesday.
I haven't met all my goals with this story, for example I wanted enough review to reach the front page filtering for Finn and Flame Princess most reviews first. I also wanted to be reviewed by SCIK at one point, but no, I don't really know why I haven't. But there have been many things I achieved, which I have been happy about. I did manage to make it to the third or fourth on page two filtering for Finn and Flame Princess sorted by reviews. And I've had many amazing reviewers, like Ooobserver and Riset36, who have stuck with me as I've taken you all on this journey. And with people as supportive as you, it doesn't really matter whether I've succeeded with my goals or not. Because our journey is complete, my friends, but it's never really over. As long as you keep on writing, reading, and reviewing, the journey is never over. It's only just begun.
