Chapter 29: Divided

The sky was growing dark as the sun began its decent behind a far off mountain range. The fading light only made it harder to see the temporal anomalies riddling the grasslands, to the great annoyance of the human driving a red pickup across the plains. Finn was doing his best to swerve around various objects floating in midair or pitfalls created by time-space impacts. It was like being on an obstacle course.

The young man called to PB, who was sitting next to him studying abnormal readings on her watch.

"Can you find him?"

The princess nodded, even though the human never took his eyes off the road ahead.

"His teleportation distance is limited with the damage he's taken, the best I can tell he's only about a mile ahead of us."

Finn narrowed his eyes, trying to see Astrum's beaten form jumping through space. Sure enough, there was a dark figure vanishing and reappearing consistently, dashing away from its pursuers. The hero shifted up a gear and pressed harder on the gas, causing Bubblegum to get nervous.

"Finn, we can't just barge through those levitating rocks."

He only continued to accelerate, reaching for the lever behind the steering wheel. At first it looked as if he was just going to turn on the windshield wipers but instead he pulled it down and to the right, making a strange noise emanate from the front of the truck. Before anyone could ask what was happening, the panels of Hot Daniel's front end popped off and flew to either side of the vehicle, revealing what appeared to be heavily reinforced metal plating underneath.

Peebles' eyes grew wide.

"Where did you find the time to do all this?"

Finn scoffed.

"I've had years to do this."

The young man then proceeded to ram straight into the floating debris in front of the red pickup, smashing it to pieces and sending the bits flying in all directions. Those in the air quickly dodged them, avoiding getting pelted by the shrapnel. Marcy waved her fist in Finn's direction.

"Hey, watch it weenie!"

The human sent a quick apology then floored the gas again, barging through the rest of the hovering matter that had been ripped from the ground. Progressively, they were catching up to Astrum, who was still using what remained of his molecular powers to hold his grievous wound together. Jake suddenly figured out where the precursor was heading.

"Dude! He's headed for the tree fort!"

Everyone was chocked.

"Why would he go there?" Ferrum asked.

Finn thought hard for a minute along with everyone else. Then, it hit him.

"He knows that I'm always getting into dangerous fights. I'll bet he thinks he can find something to heal himself at the house."

The human turned to PB.

"Prubs, take the wheel."

The candy ruler looked at him like he was crazy.

"What! I can't drive!"

Finn patted the woman's shoulder.

"Sure you can, it's just like riding a bike."

Peebles frowned.

"I've never ridden a bike!"

The hero rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um…it's like processing nuclear waste while sewing?"

That was the best he could think of, figuring the steering wheel like the valve on a pipeline and the pedals like a sewing machine. And he knew that PB had done both of those. To his delight, the princess seemed to understand.

"Oh…ok, I'll give it a shot."

While Finn climbed into the back from the open window, the pink lady scooted over and gripped the steering. For a moment, Hot Daniel bean to swerve back and forth, causing the human to almost lose his balance. Eventually though, she managed to straighten out the path and the vehicle remained stable.

Finn looked to his friends as he pulled his infinity sword out of his pack.

"Jake, FP, Solara. Slingshot!"

The human's bro stretched his arms into the air, where the two fiery ladies took hold of them and positioned themselves on either side of the front of the truck. He then walked back until he was against the tailgate. Finn hopped down from the roof and placed himself against the yellow dog, giving a thumbs up. With a nod, Jake released the tension of his arms, flinging himself and the young man forward, firing the hero at high speeds toward Astrum's retreating form. Meanwhile, Marcy caught the dog's flailing body while he retracted his limbs.

As Finn rocketed through the sky, he kept his eyes on Astrum, of whom he was quickly catching up to. The dark precursor was too desperate to even turn and see how close his enemies were, which was bad news for him. The shooting young man raised his sword, preparing to drive the blade into the weakened being and end him.

However, Finn's attack was stopped by a most unlikely source: a massive black wing.

From afar, the human's friends gasped. Astrum noticed the clang from the blocked hit to his back and turned around. He looked at the scene before him with irritation.

"Finally."

The dark wing belonged to a massive bird, who was staring at Finn with wide yet sinister eyes. Its skin looked like the cosmos, a black canvas filled with thousands of stars. As the momentum from the hero's attack had been halted, he began falling to the ground. Luckily, he managed to land on his feet, albeit rather painfully.

Finn gazed back at the entity hovering above him, now gently flapping its dark, star-filled wings.

"Hooo!"

The human was absolutely shocked.

"Cosmic Owl!? What happened to you?"

The divine bird didn't answer, instead choosing to pull back its wings before throwing them forward with wind-breaking force. Instantly, the very atmosphere seemed to shake. Finn found it hard to keep standing, taking a knee while using his sword for support. Looking back to the sky, the human was astonished to see multiple star-like objects growing from the darkening twilight.

The rumbling increased, as did a now detectable thundering. The growing objects were glowing bright orange, and appeared to be covering a large area as they came. It wasn't until Finn recognized the phenomenon was a meteor shower that a terrified expression came to his face.

"Oh. My. Grob."

The massive barrage of falling rocks was unavoidable to the hero, who knew that even the splash debris from the meteors would surly blow him to pieces. He panicked, completely frozen in place. The young man closed his eyes, waiting to be pulverized. However, a second later, he was violently grabbed around the waist and shot forward. Opening his eyes, Finn saw Flame Princess embracing him, tightly holding her arms around her man.

As the meteors neared the ground, FP struggled to begin dodging the flaming rocks. Enormous explosions filled the air as the shower impacted the ground with devastating force, blowing out massive chunks of the grasslands' dirt. The fiery girl focused all her energy into swerving and turning, desperate to avoid getting leveled by a space boulder.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had managed to stay out of the range of the bombardment, helplessly stopped at the edge of the destruction as they watched Finn and FP moving quickly through the raining fire. Everyone was tense; praying that the couple could evade every blow, for just one was enough to finish them both.

Finn got an idea and held up his sword with one arm.

"FP, carry me underneath, I'll slow down any that get close to us."

The fire elemental acknowledged and moved the human to her chest, where he positioned his head to be able to see the sky. With a bit of orientation, he began swinging temporal blades at any meteors that were likely to strike them. The rocks were split in half and levitated silently, cooling quickly and beginning to produce a cloud of steam.

After an agonizing trial of evasive actions and accurately timed swings, both teenagers finally exited the radius of the shower, tumbling to the ground exhausted. Their friends had gotten the initiative to drive around to the side where their companions now lay. As Hot Daniel grounded to a halt, the whole crew ran (and floated) up to them.

PB immediately checked to make sure they had no burns or other injures. As far as she could tell, they were just tired. The group let out a sigh of relief as the princess voiced this news. Slowly, Finn and FP managed to sit up, breathing heavily.

"Man, this is so not math. What the heck was up with Cosmic Owl?"

The young man's question was likely wondered by all, and so Solara stepped forward, a grim look upon her face.

"Astrum has corrupted him with a Shard. I'm afraid that it also gave him limited control over the deity, forcing it to work with him."

The friends all cursed the dark precursor, before Finn suddenly remembered something."

"Dang! We let him get away!"

He turned to look in the direction of his home. Unfortunately enough, the hero could just see Astrum's form blow away a section of the wall and enter the tree fort. The young man glared.

"He just keeps making this more and more personal. Come on, we've got to catch up."

The human stood up, having recovered significantly from the earlier activity. Flame Princess also got up, giving her fiancé a strong look.

"I'm coming with."

At first Finn was reluctant, but he knew better than to doubt his lady. He nodded and accepted the hand she was offering. The hero looked back to his friends. Jake gave a thumbs up.

"Don't worry dude, we'll keep the shiny bird busy. Go get that son of a toot."

The teens nodded and flew into the air, quickly aiming at the tree house. As the couple slowly shrank in the distance, the gang turned their attention to the skies, searching for the dark-infused owl. It was quick difficult at this point, as night time had arrived and the stars were coming out. The bird's new appearance would provide the perfect camouflage.

"Wooo!"

The group spun around to see the cosmic being floating before them, a stoic expression in its eyes. Everyone fired whatever they could at the deity, hoping to cause some damage. Sadly, the corrupted entity simply shielded its body with the powerful set of wings it possessed. None of the projectiles even made a scratch. PB cursed under her breath.

"It's no use. We can't battle a divine being, no matter how coordinated our attacks are."

Even Solara agreed with this declaration, floating back toward Hot Daniel.

"We have to leave. Go on, I'll hold him off as long as I can."

Everyone looked with concern to the Ancestral Flame.

"No way! We can't just leave you to fight alone."

Ferrum's protest was ignored by the angelic woman, who turned to face Cosmic Owl while also sending some flames to beckon her friends toward the truck. Regrettably, they knew there was no changing the precursor's mind and piled back into the vehicle. They drove off while Solara brought up a massive wall of flames in-between her and the great bird.

A moment later, she sent the wave of fire crashing down onto the being, seemingly burying him in an inferno of blue ribbons. Taking advantage of the distraction, the fiery lady shot off in the direction her companions had fled, staying behind in the likely even that the god-like bird was unaffected by her attack.

This was confirmed when Cosmic Owl phased into view right in front of the precursor. He opened his beak and began charging a form of energy in his mouth. Solara reacted and swiftly brought up an enormous shield of flames, hoping to block the shot, for if she dodged it, it would continue on toward her unsuspecting friends.

CO fired his energy, which came in the form of cosmic rays, easily piercing the Ancestral Flame's barrier and aimed straight at her. Unable to move fast enough, Solara closed her eyes and held her arms up defensively, hoping the hit wouldn't be fatal.

Lucky for her, it never came at all.

A secondary energy blast countered Cosmic Owl's dissipating both streams before the former could harm the precursor. Solara looked up to the source of the blast, as did the corrupted deity. The woman gasped, disbelieving in who had come to her rescue.

A little ways down the road, Jake gazed back in concern to see if the angelic lady had gotten away from the incredible power of the darkened owl. His eyes went wide as he witnessed the Flame's newest arrival. He quickly tapped everyone on the shoulder with his stretched out hand and fingers.

"Guys, look!"

Peebles braked and edged the truck to slide to the right, stopping at an angle that allowed her to see along with the rest. The gang was astonished. A few yards above Solara hovered a pinkish robed figure, wielding an elegant blue energy sword, and holding a serious look on each of its four faces, which were contained in a prism levitating slightly above its shoulders.

"Oh my Glob! It's Glob!"


Finn and Flame Princess made it to the breached tree fort, immediately entering through the hole Astrum had blasted into it a few minutes ago. The teens landed on the debris filled floor and instantly were on guard. The house sounded empty at first, but eventually they heard the smashing and rummaging of bottles from another room. Quickly, they followed the noises, dashing through the tree's hallways and toward the weapon room.

As they reached their destination, they found a trail of silver blood leading though the doorway inside. Knowing Astrum was present, the two brought themselves against the wall and carefully peeked in.

Sure enough, the greatly wounded precursor was frantically searching through a stash of Finn's magical potions, looking for anything that could improve his condition. He was noticeably frustrated, angrily smashing that which wouldn't help him. Finally, he stopped and carefully took hold of a rather fat green bottle. Finn recognized it immediately: his secret stock of cyclops tears.

The human nodded to FP, who returned the gesture and ignited her hand. Slowly, she concentrated the flame into an orb and closed her hand around it, appearing to try crushing the ball in her fist. A moment later, it was glowing white in her closed fingers. The princess motioned for her man to stand back as she tossed the orb into the room then braced herself. Finn followed suit as a tremendous explosion erupted in the room, blasting apart anything that was in it.

A pained shout was heard as tons of glass shards were fired out of the doorway. Finn and FP swiftly stepped inside as the shrapnel subsided. The smoke cleared out once the fiery girl blasted a few flames around the room, revealing a new hole in the house. She turned to her fiancé with a frown.

"Sorry Finn."

The young man placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok FP, this place is getting old anyway."

The two focused their attention back to the destroyed section of the tree, scanning the debris for Astrum. The precursor was nowhere to be seen. With great caution, the teens stood back-to-back as they progressed through the mess. Nothing moved at all, making them think for a moment that the being had been vaporized by Flame Princess's incendiary grenade.

However, they suddenly heard a groan form down below. Rushing over to the edge of the building, they spotted a pile of wood pieces on the ground far below. Among them was the dark entity they had been searching for, struggling to even move as he lay on his back. The couple did not hesitate and jumped off the building. FP got her arms underneath Finn's shoulders and gently but quickly got them both to the ground.

Astrum looked over to his hand, which was holding the top half of the bottle of magical tears. The bottom however, was completely gone, shattered on the grass nearby with a pool of liquid gathered around it. The precursor let his rage out, roaring with hate into the air as he use the resulting adrenaline to sit up.

Finn and FP did not give him a chance to threaten, attack, or retreat. They simply charged, both wielding a blade to strike down the siphoner. Astrum sadly realized he was doomed, unable to teleport or fight back. He scowled to himself as the teenagers began to bring down their weapons on approach.

At the last second, an entire wall of skeletons shot out of the ground, blocking the two blades with their undead bodies. Naturally, they fell apart form the power of the two swings, but Astrum was spared. The precursor sighed.

"It's about damn time."

Bewildered, Finn and FP failed to evade several pairs of bony hands that grabbed their ankles from underneath the ground. At first panicking, they easily freed themselves, only to meet more grabbing hands. Soon enough, armed warrior skeletons rose from the ground, brandishing their weapons at the two teens.

Astrum suddenly felt a rejuvenating jolt in his chest. Someone was placing their bony hand to his back. Turning, he saw a horse-headed skeleton wearing a sickeningly green hat and matching long sleeve shirt. His hollow eye sockets were quick frightening, but the precursor just glared back at them.

"Why must you deities be so slow?"

The skeleton did not answer but stepped back and waved his hand through the air. Finn and FP managed to break the undead warriors apart fast enough to see the following event. Several bones rose from the earth, quickly assembling themselves around Astrum's empty arm and leg sockets. After forming into two replacements, a green aura surrounded them and instantly began growing flesh and blood to cover the bones. Finally, a layer of rotting yellow skin formed, completing the repairs to the dark precursor's body. He stood up as the two teens watched in shock. The man tested his new appendages and found that they were adequate.

Turning to the side, he exposed the skeleton man to his enemies. Finn's eyes went wide.

"Death! What are you doing!?"

The being dressed in gardening attire simply stared at the human and fire elemental, keeping an extremely ominous feeling in the air. Astrum stepped forward, cracking the knuckles of his new arm while glaring at the two before him.

"The lord of the dead is under my control. There is no hope. With the might of your own universe's gods I will annihilate all of you!"

Finn and Flame Princess bared their teeth at the siphoner, who simply pointed to the pair.

"Kill them."

Death took several steps forward, standing between the couple and Astrum. He then raised his hands, releasing a green aura from his fingers that seeped into the ground. A few seconds later, countless skeletons climbed their way out of the earth, hungrily staring at the human and fire elemental. They in turn, readied their weapons, prepared to fight off the army of the undead.

As the numbers reached into the apparent dozens however, it was beginning to seem a little hopeless for the duo. The skeletons had even climbed onto the tree house, making it quite difficult to simply blast their way out into the air. Finn looked to his fiancée.

"You feeling ok with this?"

The girl smirked back at him.

"You're the one who swore to something a while back. I intend to watch you keep your word."

The human grinned with a light blush before looking back to the approaching waves of warriors. Before a single sword could be swung however, a large object suddenly smashed into the horde of bony soldiers, knocking them away like bowling pins. Death remained stoic and looked at the impact site, while Astrum grew a stunned expression.

"What in the-"

He stopped when the dust cleared and he saw the Cosmic Owl lying on the ground, slightly dazed. The dark precursor and his corrupted accomplice swung their heads around to look in the direction the great bird had come flying from. The same was done by Finn and FP, who were overjoyed by what they saw.

"Guys!"

The whole team was approaching fast, weapons drawn and charging at the horde of undead. Along with them was a hovering being that the couple recognized immediately.

"And they've got Glob with them!"

The four faced deity fired a blast from his sword, disintegrating several lines of Death's troops. Astrum grew an agitated look as he glared at the ruler of the underworld.

"Destroy them damn it!"

The horse-skulled entity simply called forth more bony fighters, while also materializing a wicked scythe from a burst of green fire. Now armed, the lord of the undead began approaching Finn and FP, who were now slicing apart numerous skeletons and pushing back the horde along with their newly arrived friends.

PB remained at the driver's seat, using Hot Daniel's reinforced front end to easily bash through dozens of enemies. Jake began busily smashing others with his enlarged fists while Ferrum and Solara burned down countless others. Marceline bashed more apart with her bass, seeming to be having fun. Ice King shot rounds of ice lightning from the air, breaking destroying additional bony soldiers.

Death wasn't exactly paying attention. He was still calmly approaching the two teens he had set his eyes on. Finally, Finn noticed the closing ruler and notified his lady, who refocused her attention on the corrupted gardener. The two coordinated a charge, dashing from two flanks to prevent the skeleton from swiping at both of them. They successful dodged the swing form his menacing scythe and brought down their own blades to take him down.

Unfortunately, the swords simply phased right through the lord of the dead, not doing so much as scratching him. The being then quickly turned and swung his blade again, unleashing a green energy arc that headed towards Finn. Acting fast, the hero fired his own blast to counteract the attack. The temporal arc collided violently with Death's splintering both and resulting in a massive explosion that threw nearly all the skeletons several feet away and forced everyone else back.

Solara shook her head to remove the dizziness from the force of the detonation. She spotted Grod hovering nearby.

"I don't think we can win this. We're outmatched."

The Martian deity narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps, but I went out to get an old friend earlier. I just hope he shows up."

Confused, the Ancestral Flame just returned to incinerating the undead below. Meanwhile, Cosmic Owl had regained full composure and levitated into the air. He brought his wings back, preparing for another round of meteors. Everyone gasped as they noticed the stance, worried that the horrifying attack would end this battle, in favor of Astrum's corrupted gods.

Before the summoning could be completed however, a powerful yellow beam was seen heading straight for the darkened bird, who was forced to cancel his attack to block the blow with his wings. Even then, the entity was pushed back quite a ways. The Ooocians, precursors, deities, and undead all looked to the sky. All were amazed at the being who now hovered above the battlefield.

"Looks like I made it to the party just in time. Awwooo!"

Jake smiled in excitement.

"Party God! We all thought you were dead man!"

The giant wolf head grinned and floated down to the assembled group.

"As if. There's no party without me bro."

Marceline flew over to the deity and frowned.

"But what happened to you?"

The god of parties looked around and saw Ice King nervously floating nearby. Sweat was running down his face. Party God growled with a murderous look in his eyes.

"YOU! You're the reason I spend three years trapped in the orbit of Jupiter!"

Everyone gasped and stared at the ice wizard, who now looked quite frightened. Party God quickly got right in the old man's face and continued his death glare.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip your little blue head off!"

The king was terrified at this point, putting his hands in front of his face. Before the wolf deity could act however, Gob suddenly floated in between the two.

"Party God, grudges can wait. We must first do our duty and protect this universe."

The hairy head growled again, but decided not to argue further.

"Fine. But when this is over the wizard is dead meat!"

IK gulped. The two deities turned back to face the threat. Death had regained his senses and was again slowly going after Finn and Flame Princess. The couple was fast however, and rejoined their allies to make their stand. Cosmic Owl rose higher in the air and began charging another cosmic ray from his beak.

Everyone braced themselves for the coming fight. Suddenly though, Marcy looked around.

"Hey guys. Where's Astrum?"

The gang's spines stiffened as they saw that the Vampire Queen was right. The dark precursor was nowhere to be seen. Before another act could be done, a small impact noise was heard. The group all swung their heads around, looking for the source. They stopped when they saw Grob looking down at his chest in shock. The others soon noticed what was wrong and gazed in horror.

Stuck halfway in the four-faced being's body, was the fiery Shard of Evil. The Martian deity just stuttered, unable to comprehend where the object had come from. Sadly, he didn't have time to remove it. The Shard quickly absorbed into his body, sealing the crack it had left behind and entering the entity's core.

"NO!" everyone yelled in unison.

Grod began to twitch and shake violently. His colors darkened, first a shade of vile crimson then a harsh tone of shiny black. Eventually, the being stopped his fidgeting and calmly floated in the air. Astrum suddenly appeared behind the whole group, catching their attention as they turned to him.

The twisted siphoner held up his hand, displaying the remaining three Shards of Evil, which levitated above his palm. PB managed to shout out a demand.

"How did you do that!?"

The precursor pointed to the group's feet.

"I didn't."

Lowering their eyes to the ground, the gang gasped in fright. A massive humanoid silhouette was spread out across the ground, encompassing the entire area beneath the team. Slowly, the shade slinked its way over to Astrum, where it stopped, as if awaiting orders. Jake's eyes were trembling.

"Prismo…"

The wishmaster was completely dark, leaving a sinister red eye as his only feature. His stare was blank, not displaying any emotion. The heroes were heartbroken at this point, seeing each and every one of their world's protectors under the influence of the dreaded Shards that Astrum possessed.

As the gang continued its despairing stare, the vile precursor suddenly waved his hand, sending the three Shards to home in on the corrupted deities. The ruby Shard from Flame King landed in what was Prismo's chest. The bone Shard from the Lich flew into one of Death's eye sockets. The purple Shard from the Nightosphere amulet was swallowed by Cosmic Owl.

The four deities of Ooo now gained malicious auras around their bodies, glowing a dark orange, a raging red, a sinister green, and an ominous purple. Astrum stepped forward and raised his hands in the air.

"You have caused me enough delay to last a dozen cycles. Now you shall perish in the most untraceable method that can be achieved."

As the dark being spoke these words, three large rifts suddenly appeared behind the heroes. Instantly, an incredible suction was produced from each one. The gang was being dragged by a massive force, unable to escape the pull of the portals. They struggled as much as they could but to no avail.

Before anyone could react, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline were suddenly dematerialized. Their molecular forms were quickly absorbed into the portal nearest them. As everyone screamed for their friends, the second portal dissembled Ice King and Jake, sucking them inside its event horizon. Hopelessly calling to their friends, Finn and Flame Princess found themselves being torn apart as well.

As the couple embraced each other out of concern and fear, their bodies were promptly dissipated and dragged into the third portal. Solara had grabbed Ferrum and was desperately trying to blast away from the portals, barely managing to equalize the strength of the suction. Moments later, Party God shoved the two fiery beings away from the rifts, causing them to hit the ground with a thud.

Astrum glared at the giant wolf head and took a step forward.

"I have neither the patience nor the need to search for a fifth Shard. You can simply dwell in the astral plane, not to recover until all of existence is no more."

With that, the dark precursor teleported right next to the deity and grabbed him. A second later, he threw the hairy entity into the air, while Death, Glob, Cosmic Owl, and Prismo each fired a devastating energy blast at the helpless god. Solara and Ferrum watched in horror as the master of parties was struck on all sides by the vile blasts, falling to the ground defeated and severely injured. Slowly, he began to fade away.

Ferrum turned to the Ancestral Flame.

"What's happening!?"

The angelic woman gazed with despair at the disappearing Party God.

"When a deity is dangerously weakened, generally only possible after battling another god, their forms must retreat to the astral plane to recover."

The alchemist stared in horror as their last ally vanished from Ooo, leaving only Astrum and his four pawns. The dark precursor looked to his minions.

"Make sure they never return."

At his command, Prismo's two-dimensional form slithered after Ice King and Jake, Death calmly walked in to follow PB and Marcy, and Cosmic Owl flew in pursuit of the human and princess of flames. As the corrupted beings left the dimension, the three portals collapsed. Solara flew forward and glare at Astrum.

"What did you do, you monster?"

The siphoner gave the woman a stoic look.

"You're pitiful companions have been thrown through time and space. With the deities hunting them down, you can be sure that they will never be heard from again."

The Flame and Ferrum gasped in astonishment, disbelieving that their friends were gone forever. Astrum turned away.

"Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking control of this universe's time-space nexus. And don't think they can retreat to the Citadel, the portals disrupted the insignias on those fools' bodies. As for yours…"

The precursor nodded to Glob, who fired two bolts of red electricity at the fiery beings. They were unable to dodge and fell to the ground. As they painfully reached up to activate their insignias they only received a stalling spark from the symbols. Satisfied, Astrum teleported away.

Meanwhile, Grob was eying the plains around him, a strange look in his eyes.

"This planet, it is ripe for the taking."

The four-faced being pointed down to Solara and Ferrum.

"Walk away for now weaklings, spend your final days in safety. For soon, I shall unleash the full fury of Mars upon this world."

His goal declared, Gob shot himself at incredible speed into the sky, disappearing within seconds. The two fire beings slowly got up from the ground, shaken from the hits they had taken and from the Martian deity's threat.

"What can we do?"

Ferrum's voice was pleading, as if he thought Solara still had all the answers. Sadly, she looked to the ground.

"I…I don't know."

"Wenk."

The two turned around to see Gunter, stoically staring at them from the abandoned Hot Daniel. The penguin waddled over and stood next to the alchemist. Her face suddenly turned to a saddened expression.

"Wenk?"

Ferrum kneeled down to the bird with a defeated face.

"I'm sorry Gunter, but Ice King is gone."

The fire elemental was unsure if penguins could cry, but imagined that's what the little bird was beginning to do as it stood there with an expression that would make anyone feel depressed. Solara leaned down and took the devastated creature in her arms, gently rubbing its head.

"Come on," the Flame started sadly.

"The least we can do is warn every one of the coming threat."

Ferrum nodded solemnly and the three being headed for the truck. After flame shielding the inside of the cab, Ferrum put himself behind the wheel, hoping he could learn fast how to drive the machine. Solara got in the passenger's side, setting the sniffling Gunter in her lap. The alchemist cranked the ignition, causing Hot Daniel to sputter for a few seconds before rumbling to life.

As the trio headed off into the night, the stars continued to twinkle and shine as if nothing had changed, completely ignorant to the devastation that had just unfolded.


I just want to take this moment to thank all of you who have supported this fic so far. Every view and review is greatly appreciated, you guys rock! I must be doing something right if you're still reading this huge thing.

Thus concludes the first third of the story. Get ready for some serious craziness and epicness in the next arc.

Hope you enjoyed!

next:Chapter 30: Orientation