I've written stories... I've showed them to the world - Ooo, Aaa... plenty of other dimensions Jake ripped portals into. I saw colors - I saw many kingdoms with many forms of government tyrannical and benevolent, mostly tyrannical - power corrupted even the noblest of races - I saw forms humanoid and eldritch - a few places were so dark and eerie that we "noped" out of there as Jake would tell me.
All that time, I felt Marceline slowly drift into emotional oblivion. To us it felt like years - to her it was mere minutes, but every trip seemed to wedge us apart a little further. I was eventually called "Finn the Jumper" because I traversed realities like humans on Earth drove to nearby villages. It felt like going to Earthen supermarkets - often I'd appear five minutes later with tons of exotic goods. Marceline was amazed the first few times, but by the thousandth reappearance from beyond, it grew tiring. I was mostly oblivious to the mental impact out of sheer excitement - even that wouldn't last.
We want answers to the misery. We cast the truth spell on the Multidimnsional Cleaver and make the necessary preparations. It beats me why the "truth spell" is considered black magic. Maybe it was a mistake.
Jake takes the cleaver and cuts a hole into the multiverse. We run into the portal.
... spinning, spinning... colors beyond comparison... psychedelics... wondrous maj-
We're here.
Wait.
This doesn't look right. It's nearly pitch-black here. The breath leaves my lungs at an alarming pace... the saliva on my tongue starts to ominously bubble. Immediately, a protective sphere of atmosphere is cast from Jake's wand and I catch my breath. Whatever happened here... the air was stripped clean, the stars were blotted out... and in the distance...
Aaa.
I speak out asking if anyone's alive, but then remember that this place is in a hard vacuum. I pull out my strong flashlight and turn it on, facing it in front of me. I see a perfect facsimile of the palace. Everything is perfectly organized, but the quiet... that eerie quietness... I hear nothing - the most deafening silence.
We walk into the palace and head towards the library. Something tells us that the book regarding the Multidimensional Cleaver is wedged somewhere in here. We spend what feels like forever scanning the shelves. Jake points to the side and sees a binding with the words "The Secrets of the Cleaver". He grabs it and we hightail it out of the dimension, back to our own.
"The weenie now knows," says Marceline in a cold, ominous tone, catching both Jake and I off-guard. "It was only time before you'd know, Finn. And here I was, hoping I could forget that forever after is a lie." I don't know what she means, but... my gut tells me that it's in this small book.
I open it up to see merely a couple sheets of paper, both with ominous statements.
It reads:
DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CAST BLACK MAGIC ONTO THE CLEAVER.
EACH SPELL OF BLACK MAGIC BRINGS **IT** CLOSER... WHAT IS IT, MAY YOU ASK?
IT ISN'T. IT DOES NOT EXIST. IT RENDERS WHAT EXISTS FROZEN IN LIFELESS DARKNESS.
**IT CANNOT BE STOPPED - EVEN THE LICH FEARS THE END OF ALL THINGS.**
The second page reads as such:
I HAVE FORETOLD THE END OF ALL THINGS, SIR FINN, THE ARBITER OF DEATH.
YOU HAVE BROUGHT GREAT CALAMITY TO THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS.
YOUR LOVED ONES WILL FREEZE IN PLACE AS YOU WATCH IN HORROR.
MARCELINE IS NO MORE.
YOUR ONE AND ONLY LOVE - GONE.
BUT FEAR NOT - YOU WILL LIVE ON FOR ETERNITY, YET YOU SHALL REGRET EVERY WAKING MINUTE.
ONLY YOU CAN GO ON TO A NEW DIMENSION.
LOOK AT THIS PAGE AND SAY THESE WORDS:
"I, FINN, SHALL BEGIN ANEW."
A wave of dread hits me like a tidal wave. Nightfall comes and I walk out to the porch with Jake and Marcy. She sits next to me closely and we watch the night sky.
We witness the first star to disappear. "How long do we have, darling?"
"Probably an hour," she says tersely, swallowing dark emotions.
I don't know why I'm not panicking... perhaps it's the omen of unavoidable tragedy that renders fear useless. I rummage through my thoughts... wait...
*This spell converts a spell meant for one into a spell meant for two...* I speed off into my room and start running through my personal spellbook. I scour the index for the spell. Before I run out of hope, there it is... Catch... it's only effective for 15 seconds.
Time goes from being slow to being like a crawl... I swear I can pick out individual Plantock times passing... Eons pass before the end of time is at our doorstep.
The wind starts to pick up. "How long do we have, darling?"
"Probably a minute."
I hold the spell book in front of Marceline's face and point out the spell I was thinking about. She looks at me with incredulity but then runs her fingers together. "Let's do this..."
15-
"ONE TO...
14-
"TWO SHALL...
13-
"THIS SPELL...
12-
"BECOME!"
11-
The cleaver omen starts to glow brightly - we scramble to open the book. Everything gets darker and the wind starts to get violent.
10-
"I, FINN...
"I, MARCELINE...
9-
"SHALL BEGIN...
8-
"ANEW!"
We watch the trees and buildings collapse under the tempest brewing - the lights all go out, and with a solemn wave, Jake says, "Goodbye bro."
7-
A faint glow starts to appear around us, capturing us in its sphere.
6-
5-
4-
3-
2-
1-
A loud clap.
Then there is light.
"I shall meet you again, weenie... I was a Vampire Queen... I shall live with you again sometime... Reincarnated..." I hear a frail voice to my side. Marceline.
Rapidly aging.
"Until lat-e-r..." She... evaporates into thin air... her ethereal form quickly darting off into the horizon, along the seemingly endless plain. I stare in that direction for what seems like days, but it is merely minutes. Then it dawns on me.
The omen was correct, but it was also a lie. Marceline is more than Marceline. That was merely her vampire form... She's immortal like me.
It crosses my mind look at myself - if she was reincarnated, does that mean I was as well? I look down at my form, feel my blonde hair... longer... I run my hands up my chest... not flat.
Not flat... not flat... not flat... I run off in direction the dust went and eventually come across a perfectly pristine Aaa. There I see Marceli... wait, that's Marshall. What the hell... I'm... FIONA?!
"Looks like you've seen a ghost - you were stuck in the Cave of Lives Past for three days now," chuckles Marshall in the distance, the voice ringing, but also close by my side.
"... I lived a freaking lifetime... felt too real to be a dream... everything was the same but... we were all the opposite gender." He laughed at my observation.
"By the way, pal of mine's been practicing some... *black magic* hehehe," he chuckled, putting emphasis on 'black magic'.
"WE GOTTA STOP HIM!"