Chapter Thirteen: The Nightosphere

Everything was some shade of red, and fire burned everywhere. Marshall and Fionna trekked over a shifting field of broken rock; they were a pretty good distance away from their destination. "Be careful, Fionna!" Marshall was floating above Fionna, who was really doing all of the trekking.

"You know what? Right now would be a pretty good time for you to carry me!" They had to yell over the noise of the collisions of the rock. Fionna felt the weight relieved from her feet as Marshall grabbed her waist and held her tight.

"We're gonna make one stop before we get there, okay?"

"Where?"

"You'll see." They continued flying over the seemingly endless field, when they finally saw the edge, leading to a road. Approaching the end of the field, they felt the ground rhythmically rumble. Marshall darted behind a crumbling brick wall that rested just on the edge of the new found road. For a split second, before they were totally hidden behind the wall, Fionna could see the top of a giant pink being, walking down the road.

"What is it?" Fionna whispered.

Marshall quietly responded, "Just one of the many exciting creatures that live around here. You never know who she has recruited to be on the lookout for enemies. We shouldn't be seen by anyone."

"Okay," Fionna nodded her head. She wanted to look up to see the monster in its entirety, but she knew better. Stay hidden: that was their goal. The rumbling of the earth died down after a minute, and Marshall invisibly looked around the wall; he could see bat-like beings flying around in the distance, along with other random creatures mingling around further down on a sloped part of the road.

"This is where it gets tricky." Marshall could easily turn invisible and fly right past everyone, but for Fionna, it wasn't that easy. He turned to Fionna, visible once more, "Do you see that house? At the top of the hill?"

Fionna pulled her bunny ears down, so they wouldn't give their position away, leaned past Marshall, and glanced around the wall, scanning for the house. "Um, yeah, yeah I see it."

"That's where we are going to make our first stop."

She sat back against the wall, "What's there?"

"My 'connections' I told you about. The girl that helped me with your sword."

"What is she going to do?"

"My hopes are that she can help you with your terrible ninja skills." He nudged her arm, smiling.

Fionna lightly pushed him back but was again somber. She looked at the hill again, "How are we going to get past those bats? Or whatever they are." They didn't look completely like bats; their heads resembled a rabbit with horns.

"Well, I'm not sure yet." He thought for a moment more, "We could try flying below the edge of the road, above the lava...The only problem is that there are things that live in there too...hm."

"What if we disguised ourselves?"

Marshall said, "That's actually not a bad idea. It's risky, but not too shabby." They looked around at their options; all that was at their disposal was dirt and more dirt. "Okay, let's dirty you up."

"Well, wait, what's the plan? We just rub dirt on our faces?" How was that going to do anything?

"I think I will just be invisible. And yes, you will rub dirt on your face and take your hat off. That will be a dead giveaway." He reached up and slipped her hat off, her blonde hair falling to her waist. He would've loved to admire her beauty for a little longer, but they had a job to do. Picking up handfuls of dirt, Marshall started dirtying up Fionna's face, trying to make her look like some poor random citizen. He finished and looked at his work. She looked pretty bad, but her hair was still too...pretty, and her clothes were dirty, but they were still a good identifier. "Okay, we gotta mess your hair up a bit."

Fionna sighed and said, "Glob."

Marshall smiled as he began messing up her hair. He threw some dirt in there, ratted up parts here and there. Overall, she looked bad, which was good. But the clothes...He took off his red plaid shirt and handed it to Fionna, "Put this on; it will cover your clothes up."

"Um, okay." She slipped on the shirt and buttoned it up. "How do I look?"

Marshall laughed, "Horrible, but that amazing shirt makes it a little better."

Fionna rolled her eyes and asked, "Are we ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Marshall turned invisible, whispering in Fionna's ear, "Just stand up and start walking. No one should suspect anything. I will be right by your side the entire time, okay?"

"Okay." Fionna cautiously stood up and made her way from behind the crumbling wall. She looked around at the road; it extended in both directions. To her left, it headed through more rock fields. To her right, the road went on for a way and then sloped to a hill, which she couldn't see where it lead to beyond that. Over the edge of the road that sloped, she could see the lava Marshall had mentioned. Like the ocean in Aaa, she thought. She headed toward the hill, trying to look inconspicuous.

"Just stay calm," Marshall's voice was hushed, somewhere near Fionna. She took a deep breath and continued walking. Nearer and nearer she came to the busy part of the road. "Go behind the house; we'll go through the back door." Fionna followed his directions, making her way past the first set of creatures. They weren't humans, that she knew for sure. Some resembled demons, like Marshall and his mom, others looked like animals. She passed a bear talking to a bird, both looked sickly, eyes bloodshot. The slope to the top of the hill began. She made her way through creatures of all shapes and sizes. To get to the top of the hill, Fionna had to move around the giant legs of the pink monster that had passed them earlier. Around the leg, she could see what lay beyond the hill. There was a narrow bridge leading to a more populated area with more buildings. From the hill, Fionna could also look out for miles. She stared in awe at the sheer massiveness of the Nightosphere until she felt a small tug on her shirt, reminding her to keep going. The house was within reach, only a few yards away. She closed the gap between her and the house, heading behind toward the back door. The door was right there in front of her, with two creatures standing in the way.

"I don't know what the big deal is, but she's offering a reward," one of the creatures stated. He was a green, scaly, lizard, leaning against the wall next to someone else. The other looked like another vampire, with two visible dots on her neck.

"I don't know, but I don't care. The reward is probably permanent death, knowing her."

Fionna didn't know if she should approach the door. She looked around, but, of course, couldn't see Marshall Lee. She felt a slight pat on her back, telling her to go on. She walked as normally as she could to the door.

"Hey, what are you..." The vampire looked at the tattered girl confused. "Have I seen you before?"

"Um, I don't think so; I'm just trying to get in there." What else could she have said?

"Why would you want to go in there?"

"I, uh, have business to take care of."

The vampire looked at the lizard, one eyebrow raised. "Why don't you go on, I'll take care of this."

"You sure?" The lizard didn't know if he should stay for backup, not sure what threat this homeless wreck could really be.

"Yeah." The lizard walked off reluctantly, looking back one last time before rounding the corner of the house to the road beyond. Once he was out of sight, the vampire turned to Fionna, "What do you want?"