Tales of the Alternate Universe

Chapter Twenty: Lich

Finn backed away, dragging his trembling legs along the wreckage that once was his family's farm. Possessed by fear and uncertainly, the boy found it hard to think straight, especially because of the constant whispers haunting his weak young mind. Mertens heard himself whimper like a baby, his powers had failed him twice against the demonic beast that was now looming upon him, once again.

His friend and loyal pet Jake had been bathed in the mutagenic goo that the frozen bomb left after exploding. It gave him monstrous powers, turning the dog into a raging demon, whose only lustful desire was to consume the life of all living beings. Shortly after the beast's rise, the farm boy didn't have to think it twice in order to use his newly gained ice powers to protect his life and his crown.

An ice blast was launched against the horned-monster, freezing its mighty claws and muscles in no time. Sadly, it only took Jake a few seconds to expand his body outwards and break himself loose from the hardened ice. A powerful roar followed said action, pervading Finn's surroundings with a dreadful stench. The now wizard boy covered his nose with his flesh arm and summoned a sharp ice lightning with his robotic one in the hopes of slashing the beast's head off.

His attack was easily avoided by the frightening creature, who simply received an irritating scratch on his left upper arm. Beholding the immeasurable strength of his enemy, Finn collapsed onto his knees, knowing that there was nothing else for him to do. His powers of ice and snow had been defeated.

The young wizard remained terrified on the ground to face the personification of evil itself, while he awaited for his inevitably doom, alone…

"Yo! Gigantic evil…ugh…thing! Prepare yourself! Here comes BIG DESTINY!"

The outlandish-like human plunged towards Jake's skull from out of nowhere. His hands quickly got a hold of one of his horns, causing the monster to lean and fall onto the ground, spreading several fissures on its surface due to the impact.

"You have just been knocked down by Big-D!" the cocky human declared, "Now go cry on your mommy's skirt, beast!"

With silent growls and the sound of his sharp claws digging wide trails on the earth, the dog-hybrid rose menacingly, shading the little light on Big Destiny's field of vision with the large shadow of his massive body.

"Dang it…" the leader of the D-gang cursed, "Why am I always wearing shades?" he took his funky glasses off and stared at them, ignoring how Jake's horrid breath began to blow his long orange hair in every possible direction. "Oh yeah, style…"

Those were the last words that Big Destiny could pronounce before the yellow beast's knuckles smashed him into the air. "Ugn… Ya better hurry, Firefly!" he shouted as his body flew across the darkened greenish skies. "This guy's not just any stupid villager!"

Flanna jogged from behind of a giant ice shatter, her eyes locked on the towering monster that once was Finn's joyful golden puppy. Jake leaned his torso backwards, unleashing a deafening battle cry as his fists pounded his chest fiercely. He was getting ready to charge over Big Destiny, hopefully giving Flanna some time to grab Finn's hand and drag him out of the danger zone.

The girl shook her head in an attempt to stop herself from watching the terrifying beast and focus on her real target, the Mertens boy. A faint smile graced her lips as the distance between her and Finn diminished. He looked exhausted but he seemed to be okay, and that was the only thing that mattered for her.

"Finn! C'mon, let's go while he's distracted!" she encouraged him, pulling his sleeve.

The farm boy's head remained hung down and unresponsive, causing Flanna to kneel by his side with concern. Wishing to have a better glance of his face, the girl reached out for his chin. Then, she held his face on her hands and stared straight into his eyes. They looked cold and distant. Some locks of his blonde hair had streamed out of his bear hat, making him look even messier than he already was. Flanna noticed that his skin was growing paler, almost getting a bluish hue. She realized that his stare wasn't the only thing cold on him. As she held his face gently, Flanna felt a freezing sensation running down her spine. Finn was frozen, but he looked normal… How come?

"Finn, are you okay? Finn?!" the boy didn't react, but she wasn't going to give up. "Finn, it's me Flanna! Can't you listen to what I say?!"

A gleeful smile on his face showed how much had his mind digressed from their present time. "Flanna? Flanna!" Finn said in excitement, "She's back! Flanna is back!"

"Yeah, I am." she replied oblivious of his mental state. "Now let's go to—!"

"See Jake? I told you she was just a little bit late!" the boy exclaimed as he turned to glance at the ragging demon behind him. "I knew she'd come…"

"Finn?" Flanna whispered in confusion. She placed her hand on his cheek once more and forced him to look back at her. "What do you mean 'she'd come'? I'm right in front of you!"

"Jake got mad because he thought that Flanna would never make it in time, but now that she's back we can have our date! Everything will be fine now… Everything will be…" Finn trailed off as his eyes rolled towards the ground.

"Finn?!" the red-haired girl called him back from his trance in a terrified manner.

"I was worried 'caused she left alone, you know? Heh… The silly girl, she thinks she's stronger than she really is… But that doesn't matter. Flanna is back now and when I see her, I'll play her a song on my flute!" Finn eyed her again. "I won't let her leave alone ever again… This time I will protect her, and mom will be proud of me…Yeah…when I see her…"

"But I'm right—…"

Flanna gave up on insisting, it was useless. Finn was too far gone now. The crown had taken him faster than expected. She heard Big Destiny begging her to hurry up and the merciless roars of the yellow demon beast in the distance. It pained her to deceive Finn by taking advantage of his mental condition, but she had to take him away from there as fast as possible.

"You will see her..." she said, tears clouding her eyes. "I can take you to her, I just need you to give me your hand…"

The red-haired girl flinched at the frozen touch of his mechanic hand. Finn had never used that arm with her. It was cold and tactless…too uncaring for her. Whenever he'd touch Flanna, Finn always used to make himself sure of using his human hand. He would have never dared to miss a chance of feeling her skin on his… What if someday they couldn't touch each other anymore? That was the risk that the old Finn would have never taken, but this Finn wasn't even aware of whom she was.

"What are ya waitin' for? Hurry, before I forget Flanna's song!" Finn muttered impatiently. "I'm kinda forgetting everything pretty fast lately…"

"Right, sorry… Flanna is waiting for you over here! Hurry, follow me!" the red-haired girl replied.

They ran across the bleak landscape for a few miles until Finn decided to make a sudden stop.

"Wait, we're forgetting about Jake!" he shouted.

Flanna turned to him with a look of bewilderment. "Jake?! Forget about him, he's gone!" she clenched her jaw. "H-he ran away or something…!"

"No, he didn't." Finn replied with a shrilling voice as he faced the beast solemnly. "The whispers… They say that we should call him for what he really is…an undead being…a Lich…"

"W-what are you…?" the red-haired girl let Finn's hand go when she noticed that he was staring at her with one eye. It gave her goose bumps, her lips quivered. She never thought that she'd ever feel afraid of Finn.

"You lied to me, didn't you?!" the crowned boy shrieked, "You weren't taking me to Flanna! You just want to fool me! The crown…! The power of the crown…that is what you seek, isn't?!"

"No…" Flanna denied, backing away from him in a cautious manner. Her breath left her lips in the form of small puffs. The cold was getting intense. "No, you're wrong, Finn!"

"There's…No….Finn…!" he cried, summoning icy gusts around him. "The secrets of the ice and snow were bestowed upon me! I am the chosen one! I am the only savior left in this miserable planet, and I will protect it with the power of FROST!"

Finn made a sudden turn and unleashed his wild freezing fury against the incoming attack of the Lich. Flanna fell back in astonishment, she hadn't seen the giant horned-skull coming behind them. Thankfully Finn did, or was it the crown?

The ice crept over the monster's body, but it was certain that being frozen wasn't going to stop him for long. The red-haired girl was paralyzed, in both fear and awe. She couldn't move a muscle, not even to run away from the deathly beast that was only a few inches away from her.

"What are ya waiting for?!" Big Destiny's voice echoed as he got closer to the scene. "Run for your life!"

Seeing that Flanna was unable to react, the orange-haired man dashed through the Lich's frozen hind legs, ducked the young ice wizard, and managed to grab her in his arms just before the ice on Jake's body exploded in a rain of sharp crystals.

Big-D managed to save his and Flanna's life just by mere luck. A large curved piece of steel lying not too far from them was ultimately turned into their only shield from the colossal showdown between the undead beast and the newly-made ice wizard, which had just been restarted.

"Oh fudge! Can't you feel that burning sensation all over your body?!" Big Destiny exclaimed as he examined the piece of steel closely. "This thing was part of the bomb! We must be completely irritated by now!"

"Irradiated…" Flanna corrected coldly.

"Whatever, it's bad news anyway!" he fixed his eyes on her. "And what the heck was up with you out there? Why didn't ya run or somethin', Firefly?!"

"I…" Finn's icy stare flashed through her mind. "I was just…Finn…he…he's not the same anymore, I was too late to save him…"

The anger and disappointment of Big Destiny's face faded away. "Oh…"

"My father was right…" Flanna clutched her knees close to her chest and sighed in grief. "He said I was a foolish girl, building castles in the air without considering that... the higher you take them, the faster they crumble… What was I even thinking?" she chuckled, "that I could just run away from everything, go back to Junktown, find Finn, marry him and live happily ever after?"

The red-haired girl giggled faintly. "Guess I did… And dad was right, I'm a fool…" she sighed, "My life is just a bunch of junk…!"

"Hey, careful there!" Big Destiny scowled. "You don't really want to believe all that messed up stuff you just said, right? 'Cause I know everything about being foolish, Big Destiny is in fact the biggest fool in the world! —And you, Flanna, are not even half as foolish as I was! So stop talking trash and go save the world or somethin'!"

"What do you mean 'was'?" Flanna asked intrigued. "W-wait a minute, did you just call me by my name?!"

"Big-D does whatever he wants, and if he wants to call red-haired girl Flanna 'cause he likes the name, the heck he'll do it!"

"I think that bump on your head is starting to affect your brain…" she pointed.

"Leave Big-D's brain outta this, what I'm saying is true!" the apparently not-so-ruthless-thug protested. "You remember what I said two years ago when I last saw you…?"

"You know Firefly…" Big Destiny whispered, stopping his pace briefly. He never turned his face to glance at her. "I kinda wish I had been as brave as you when I was your age…" his shoulders shrugged. "Just saying…"

"Oh yeah…poor young Albert had it tough when he was just a kiddo…" the orange-haired man sighed. "He used to do those things that you mentioned earlier…castles in the air… And when they crumbled he simply gave up and did what the others wanted him to do, until they turned him into a fool…"

Big Destiny took off his shades and showed Flanna the first sincere smile he had ever shown to someone in years. "You see, thanks to the frigging beating that Mr. Ugly-face just gave me back there, I've finally realized that there's a big difference between a brave dude and foolish dude! They may look alike, and you might even believe that you're the brave dude until life kicks your butt and you realize that you've been the foolish dude since the beginning…"

"That's what happened to you, …Albert?" Flanna inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Ugh…that might be a good example, yes… But we're not talking about me—I mean, Albert! We're talking about you, Flanna, and you are not a fool! You want to…get this one-armed freak back and have his babies? Well, go get him then! You know why I called you brave that day? 'Cause you dared to fight against me despite your weaknesses, and you defended what you wanted! That's what makes the difference! If you just give up your dreams, you'll end up being the foolish dude! You'll end up like me!" he turned his sight away and murmured. "Time turns foolishness into evilness, you know…and it's quite easy to be blinded by evil…"

"ICE LIGHTNING!"

"ROARRR!"

The battle kept raging behind Flanna and Big Destiny. The last one peeked into the battlefield and noticed Finn's distress to free his body from under the Lich's heavy claw. Big-D noticed that the ground beneath the two mortal enemies was about to collapse and probably bury them both alive. An idea struck his brain then.

"Well, my dear Firefly... It was a pleasure to be your enemy and sidekick on this crazy ride, but I'm afraid that it's getting late…" he winked at her and grinned cockily once again. "Better leave now, don't ya think? I'll leave the road open for you and your farm freak to work on yer issues…!"

Flanna widened her green eyes in astonishment and confusion. "W-what do you mean? Wh-where are you going?"

Big Destiny put his purple shades back on his face and smirked. "Big-D has a pending date with destiny itself! Can't be late for that, can I?" he jumped out of their shelter and faced her one more time before leaving. "Just for the record, I told ya all that junk because you're still part of my property, remember?" he unsheathed his golden sword and pointed it towards the Lich. "And Big-D always takes great care of his possessions...hehe... May our paths meet again in a more friendly environment, Firefly!"

And with that, Big Destiny sprinted with all his might towards the demonic beast. He took advantage of the Lich's distraction as he struggled to crush Finn's body, in order to run behind his massive body and slash off his small doggy tail, causing him to slap the young wizard away and turn around to smash his attacker with his bony fists. The earth broke in two halves beneath their feet, swallowing them into its very bowels.

"That's it!" the crowned boy yelled, summoning jolting ice bolts onto his fists. "I shall freeze you forever within the depths of the planet, you annoying eternal beast…!"

x+x+x+x+x

Finn fell onto his back, panting heavily after his arduous showdown with the Lich. He shouldn't give them trouble now that he was sealed within his strongest ice prison. Hopefully, after the scars on the earth had healed, no one would ever even remember that a powerful mutagenic evil remains dormant underneath their feet…

He stood up once again, grinning proudly at the title that the crown had just granted him. "Yeah… I shall turn this world into my new kingdom…a kingdom of ice and whispering snow, for I have become the greatest wizard that has ever existed! I am the Ice Prince!"

"No, that's not true…" a stern voice replied in the distance.

Flanna Hacksworth was standing right behind him, aiming at the crown with the slingshot that he had given her just one night ago. Finn replied her with an indignant stare and an angry hiss, but his two devilish gestures went unnoticed. The red-haired girl fired her small weapon and knocked the crown off his head with a single shot.

"M-my crown!"

The boy yelled with a goblin-like shriek and immediately tried to get it back along with his new powers. However, a tight embrace stopped him from doing so, causing the young prince to struggle wildly in an attempt to escape from Flanna's arms. The girl just pressed him harder against her. She wasn't going to let him go. Not this time.

"Finn Mertens is not a prince or a wizard…!" Flanna cried, "He is nothing but a humble farmer and a hero!" she rested her chin on his left shoulder and whispered, "He's my hero…and I want him back…"

"I need you…"

"Please Finn…"

A tear rolled down her cheek.

"I love you…"

Finn stopped struggling, a look of awe in his cold blue eyes.

Update: Grammar checked and corrected.