The Human and The Shadow Part 33
Spring time of Ooo
This Chapter is sort of a filler and also a informative one to add a bit more context. So some side stories and a bit of romance :)
Fire Kingdom
In the throne room of the fire kingdom a grand party was being thrown in honor of the engagement of Finn and Phoebe. Although none of the Ice Family could attend nearly everyone else had aside from various royalty and Flame citizen elites the party consisted of Bonnibel, Bubba, Belle, Finn, Fionna, Marshall, Marceline, Hope, Lumen, Hunter, Huntress, Jake, Lady, Ivy, Flame King, Flare, Light, Lily, Baby Phoenix, Roselinen, Jay and Bonnie.
In one corner of the room stood the girls all looking at the ring and talking to Phoebe about how Finn had asked her. They were all saying how sweet and romantic it was of him and that they couldn't wait for the big day. In the other corner it was the guys who while also finding out the details from Finn were treating it a very different way.
"Wait so dude... how long were you planning this?" Marshall asked confused about why the human had gone through so much effort.
"Well just short of a year I suppose... although it took me a few trips to gather some supplies for it." Finn replied sheepishly. He hadn't realised he'd have to tell everyone about it.
"Bro you did good man! I'm proud of you, once upon a time you thought taking a girl on a dungeon crawl was a date but now look at you. Soon you'll even be enough to reach tier 15" Jake laughed loudly. Finn blushed quickly and looked over at Phoebe. Jake didn't notice the look but Bubba, Marshall, Lumen and Hunter all noticed straight away. The four all smiled to themselves and understanding completely they all decided to keep quiet till their friend was ready to talk about it.
"I think what you did was lovely Finn, I'm sure Phoebe loved it"
"Yeah Finn Bubba's right, That sounds awesome I bet it looked amazing" Lumen agreed.
"Thanks guys... I was worried she'd say no to be honest with you"
"Aha that flame chick would not say no to you Finn man, you could have asked in any way and she'd have said yes cause she loves you." Marshall corrected.
"...Wait Dad? Then why aren't you and Mum married?" Hunter asked confused. He had always wondered why his parents were still unmarried but didn't really find the right chance to ask and felt this was the best chance he'd had so far.
"Wait me and Fi aren't married? That's odd..."
"Maybe you 'asked in any way' and she said No?" Jake teased the Vampire King. Usually Jake would avoid any action that could make such a scary person annoyed but since the start of the party Jake had been in high spirits and also drunk quite a bit... he was drunk. Marshall was a little irritated at the comment and determined to prove the dog wrong. He turned to the girls group and then yelled to them.
"Hey Fi" Fionna and the girls looked over.
"Yeah Marshy?"
"Wanna do me a solid and marry me too?" Everyone in the room stopped and stared at the two, this was the most casual and unusual proposal any of them had heard. All the girls instantly thought that Marshall was an idiot and the guys were holding back their laughter.
Fionna smiled at him, "Sure but I'll leave you in charge of planning and stuff"
"Will do Fi... oh and it's cool if you wanna tell the girls about that thing as well"
Marshall turned back to the guys with a smug smile on his face. Finn stared at him in disbelief, Bubba was face palming while Jake and Hunter were laughing.
Over on the girls side of things the group were all cheering for Fionna.
"Sorry about that Phoebe, stealing your day and all?"
"Don't worry about it Fionna but what is this thing that Marshall mentioned?". Phoebe replied. Everyone of the girls looked at the Fionna curiously and all wanted to know what was going on.
"Well.. You've all met Hunter now and you know that me and Marshy have a son in the future... well truth is... Hunter is 16 and comes from 16 years and 8 months in the future." Fionna rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly trying her best to deliver their news. Marceline who had been there to hear the news the first time smiled as she looked at Bonnibel whose brain went into overdrive.
"Fionna... if that's the case... that would mean that following a normal birth cycle... you conceived Hunter... a month ago... that would mean... your pregnant now?" Phoebe and Bonnie suddenly looked at the drink Fionna was holding, Orange juice rather than champagne.
"Yes... that seems to be the case... I'm pregnant.." Phoebe suddenly pulled Fionna into a hug congratulating her, followed by Bonnie, Roselinen and Flare.
"She's PREGNANT?" Finn asked Marshall shocked. He knew things like this would soon happen to them all but he still couldn't believe.
"Yup, in that beautiful bod over there is my baby boy who will grow up to be the coolest kid ever" Ever since Marshall had found out about Hunter and met him he had been a bit of a... jerk. He was so happy and proud that he had begun to tell near enough anyone about his son.
"Well not quite the coolest but still cool" Finn pointed out. "After all Light is basically the coolest, awesome power, super strong and can even run a whole kingdom by himself".
"Oh... really?... but not main hero of Ooo material? But you know I think Hunter on the other hand is" Light flinched at Marshall's comment and Hunter whispered to ignore him in his ear.
"Marshall that's not true... I don't know why future me decided Cloud should be Ooo's hero but Light is amazing and he's much more of a Hero now than I have ever been. He's not just strong, he's brave, smart and kind. He may not be the future hero yet but I promise you this... the new timeline your son comes from will be one where my son is a hero even you have to recognise." Finn said confidently, Light smiled and inside he felt a great deal of self-hate and loathing disappear. "Maybe Hope was right...". Light decided to leave the two Dad's to their conversation which had turned into a three way deal with Jake adding in his input.
He walked over to the girls group to Hope and asked her to dance. She happily accepted and flew over to him where the pair went to the dance floor.
"Do you think...?" Bonnie asked. Phoebe and Marceline looked at each other and smiled massively. The pair snuck closer to the dance floor to watch their children.
Unbeknownst to Light and Hope their mothers were now eavesdropping on them.
"So what do I owe this pleasure then Light? Is this 'for the mission' too?" Hope asked sarcastically as she danced beside him.
"No... It's just... I've been thinking?"
"Oh really? That's dangerous... Don't think too hard otherwise stupid idea's may come into your head."
"I deserved that... I'm sorry okay... I know there's nothing going on between you and Cloud, I know it's Belle that likes him and I know that I've been an idiot too focused on what I wasn't than what I am..." Hope looked at Light's face and could see that he was being sincere. Marceline who was invisible and Phoebe who was in flame form on the candle above them were both surprised but interested in the gossip that they had uncovered. "So Bonnie's little girl likes my baby bro... this is gonna be interesting" Marcy thought knowing that Bonnie would be very interested in this information.
"Yes you deserved that and more... All you've done is repeat what I said to you the other day. It doesn't make up for what you did to me Light..."
"I know it doesn't... I'm sorry... I never expected it to end up like that... I just... I didn't know what else to do..."
"Light... I was crying... I was upset... I'd just found out about half of my powers and the voices that come with the darkness were beginning to drive me insane... I was scared I didn't know what was happening was normal for my powers till I spoke to my dad but instead of being there for me... instead of helping me what did you do? You left... you went back home to carry on playing the perfect son for your Dad and what was it you said? 'Maybe Cloud can help you?' You pushed me away when I needed you... even though knew its you that I love!" Hope struggled to keep her voice from showing too much hurt and anger. Marceline suddenly felt the urge to pour a lot of water on Light after hearing what her daughter had to go through but also was now curious as to why Lumen had never mentioned this part about his powers. Phoebe on the other hand felt that maybe her son needed lessons in how to treat girls better and not make similar mistakes to his dad.
"I can never apologise enough for that... I was stupid, childish and a massive jerk... Magic man even told me that he'd never seen anything so jerky in all his years of being the biggest jerk there has ever been. I pushed you away... yes... I left you when you needed me... yes... all so I could try to prove something to my dad... yes... but I was wrong about this time travel mission... my Dad and your Uncle over there are arguing about whose going to be Ooo's new hero in the future me or Hunter... and when I heard them say it... suddenly I realised I didn't care if it was me anymore... I know from this trip and from before that my Dad loves me and he knows how strong I am otherwise he'd never let me and Lily come back her... But what I know more than anything... is that what I want is to be able to go back to the future and be there by your side as someone who loves you too." "Smooth" thought Phoebe and Marcy as they carried on listening to their children.
"Wait so now you want to be with me? what the junk? Why? Cause daddy said your good enough? forget it I don't want to be only good for you when you decide." Hope turned her back on Light and left the room.
Midway through a corridor leading to the kingdom she broke down crying, Marcy and Phoebe were both still watching in secret and were about to help when Light appeared in front of her. Hope looked up at him confused.
"How did you do that? That was like my shadow morphing?"
"Yeah... It's something I was working on to show you... remember when we use to train and you told me about how it feels to shadow and light morph... that you feel your whole body becoming either and flow with it... well I thought about it and the ability flame beings have to send their images to any flame... and I came up with flame morphing... I wanted to show you... I wanted to show you how strong I am... Its not just my Dad... He's part of the reason I don't think a lot of myself but I wanted to be strong enough that one day I could say I could protect you... Your so amazing Hope, with or without powers... your smart, funny, interesting, cute, beautiful and just so amazing... I just felt like I had nothing to offer you... but... since being here it's made me realise... that I was just being stupid and it was holding me back... like my Dad who would go to the depths of a volcano to show my mum he loves her or Marshall who knows that Aunty Fionna loves him to the point he feels like he can ask for marriage like that... I know I love you and I know you love me too... and even if it takes going to the bottom of the ocean or the depths of hell..."
Hope just stared at Light as he finished explaining everything to her. She had never heard him talk like this before or so openly declare how he felt. Marceline felt that the boy had done enough to apologise and Phoebe felt that she would be having a conversation with Finn about Light's future as clearly he developed some sort of insignificant feeling issues.
"...I don't really know what to say Light..." She started to wipe away the tears from her eyes when she felt his warm hand brush away the tears. She watched water vapor rise from her cheek and she grabbed his hand knowing that even one drop of water stung fire elementals.
"It's okay Hope... I'll dry away any tear... its kinda like a special power I have" Light said making her laugh.
"I think being an idiot is your special power"
"Well... someone has to have that power and since I use it so well it may as well be me"
"Just shh" Hope put her finger to his lip and then pulled him in for a kiss which he returned. Their lips separated but the two stayed hugging. Light lifted them both by using his powers and then started to hum a song and dance together.
Marcy and Phoebe decided to leave their kids alone and headed back to the party. There they found Finn and Marshall having an arm wrestle on Jake who'd turned into a table. Hunter was laughing at the trio and cheering them on while Bonnie and Bubba were trying to get the pair to stop. Somehow Lumpy Space Princess had snuck in and was now eating all of the food on the table and the rest of the guests were now taking bet on the duo's arm wrestle. Marcy looked around to see Fionna being the announcer.
The party lasted well into the night and somewhat through the next day and was remembered as one of the biggest celebrations in the Fire Kingdom history due to LSP inviting every single person from her endless contact list. The group headed back to their homes and on their separate adventures of either training or just living their lives. To some it could be called the true calm before the storm but the residents of Ooo intended to enjoy every second of peace they were allowed.
At Marceline Cave - Hunter and Marshall
A few days after the party Marshall had insisted on staying at home to get some packing done while Fionna, Marceline and Hope went to go shopping in the Candy Kingdom and while Lumen was in his kingdom. Once everyone else had left Marshall flew down onto the roof and decided to just chill while he got the chance.
"Hey Dad you busy napping or are you free?" Marshall looked down to see Hunter standing staring back at him. He'd been borrowing some of Marshall's clothes till he could get some made to deal with his transformations that he liked so the two now looked more like brothers than father and son.
"Hey... I'm over 1000 years young me why would I need to nap?"
"I dunno maybe living with all these girls is getting the better of you" Hunter laughed. He flew up beside Marshall and sat down.
"Maybe it is but what about you?"
"What do you mean what about me?"
"Huntress Wizard?"
"Oh... she said she had something to do in Wizard City so she headed there for the day"
"I don't mean where is she I mean whats going on between you two?"
"Going on? ha ha... nothings going on Dad we're just friends?"
"That spend all day together?"
"Yes!"
"Hunter... just out of curiosity where have you been staying since you turned down living with us?" Marshall had asked excitedly if Hunter wanted to live with him and Fionna who were soon going to move into the tree house as Finn was moving to the Fire Kingdom but the young half demon had turned the offer down.
"Well I usually just sleep wherever in the future, Mum moans at me for it but I like sleeping in trees and stuff it's more chill for me but I've been staying with Huntress, she sleeps like a log"
"YOUR LIVING WITH HER!?"
"Yeah?... Whats wrong with that?"
"How can you be so normal with that? I know you may know her in the future but to her your a stranger and your living with her?"
"Yeah it was her idea and Dad the first time I met her was last week, in my future there is no Huntress Wizard that I've ever heard of?"
"Wait so she doesn't exist in the future?"
"To be honest I've been trying to find out that myself. I asked the other future children and none of them remember her either and Belle basically has read all of her mothers accounts on Wizard City's residents. Belle mentioned that there was a large decrease in wizards around this time but said there wasn't a definite cause."
"Sooo... You and her are just trying to find out what happened to her?"
"Oh no... she doesn't know about any of this?"
"Then why do you think she wants to spend time with you?"
"I don't know... she said something about hard meat not getting eat and that I'm something that keeps meat harder? and then she mentioned her powers?"
"...She's probably one of the more sane wizards I've ever met... maybe that's what she means Hunter?"
"What do you mean Dad?"
"Wizards tend to go insane because of their powers... but she's quite sane because she avoids anything that would make her soft enough for the powers to consume... Maybe shes saying that your someone who makes her stronger and more sane..."
"Maybe that's true but Dad? Didn't Hope's dad cure Simone and the Ice wizards of their insanity do you think its something he could do for the other wizards?"
"Now you mention it Hunter maybe your right... we should pay your Uncle in law a visit I think" The two Abadeer men flew out of the cave and went to head for the Shade Kingdom... except neither of them actually knew where it was since they had never bothered to visit it. In the end they went to the Candy kingdom and convinced Belle to come with them since she was interested in the possibility of curing Wizard Insanity with Magic light powers. Her mum didn't approve stating that magic was still just a flawed science.
Wizard City
"Huntress... just give in to the power and imagine what you could achieve..."
"Come on... just let me in... for old times sake..."
"Huntress... listen to my whispers..."
"Or maybe we should ask that Boy if he would take the powers from you"
"My minds voice may ring true all it likes but the powers that bind me to be hard will not ever get its hands on him"
"Oh that's right... you like this boy don't you Huntress... you think he keeps you strong but he will be the one to bind you to this earthly realm"
"There is nothing wrong with the Earthly Realm, just because the Forest Spirit wants to severe ties with it doesn't mean I do."
"Maybe so but he will make it so you never get that choice... A time is coming where you will learn that you need our powers to survive and that Boy will not protect you"
"Hunter is a guardian of Nature who is loved by it as much as he loves it, I will not need he's protection as I shall protect him... I want to be the one who protects him"
"If that is so then you will need our powers even more why do you continue to resist your birth right?"
"I would like to assume the world works in mysterious ways... now I don't know what it is that is making you want to talk so much these days but I have something to do... someone in Wizard City has been causing trouble to the Wild Woods and I intend to find out who and why?"
"Okay Huntress... a time will come when you need our power... but remember that sometimes the answers you seek will just lead to more questions".
The Huntress was grateful when the voices quieted down as she had to always be on her guard to not show them any weakness they could exploit. She had learned that each Wizard with true power or at least an artifact of power would be riddled with the voices who try to sell them their power for the cost of ones mind. She had to stay strong in order to avoid losing herself like others she had seen before her.
Meanwhile, else where in Wizard City a group of people sat in silence waiting for their final member. When he had arrived he took his seat and delivered the news.
"The bait and trap is set... soon we will have the Huntress deliver herself to our very hands and when she does we'll push her over reason and have her join us..."
"Once she joins us... she will understand... her death is necessary for us to bring about the evolution of Wizard kind."
The Shade Kingdom
Lumen was sitting in he's room channeling his power. Ever since returning from the trip to the past something had been bothering him. In his powers there was now a lot more dark than there was light whereas after speaking with Bella he realised she was the opposite. She had told him that the darkness had gather these weird lights that her body absorbed which made her powers more light based. He made a dark and light energy ball in each hand and channeled the power trying to balance himself more but every time he tried for some reason the light would spike out and destroy the dark energy ball and he couldn't work out why a portion of his light powers were out of sync. He was about to try again when he felt a presence behind him. He shadow morphed and held a blade to their neck.
"Got ya' Marshall" Lumen said smugly.
"Not this time light-bulb" Came a voice behind him. He looked at who he was pointing his blade at and found it was Hunter he turned at first to see nothing and then Marshall turned visible with a big grin.
"You learnt to hide your presence?"
"Yeah after you kept showing me up I went to hang with the demons that use stealth in the Nightosphere and got them to teach me"
"That's kind of cool but also... you really hate to lose don't you?"
"Yeah well anyway I'm just tagging along but Hunters got a question for you" Lumen looked down at Hunter but the boy was already in the room behind them looking at some of the artifacts that Lumen kept there. There were several swords and a pair that looked exactly like his blades, which Marshall assumed was what he based them on, a weird crown that was completely white but had black jewels that seemed to have black smoke coming from them.
"Yo Lumen whats with this crown?"
"Oh that's the Royal crown of the Shade Kingdom... I've never really tried it out as it sorta creeps me out a bit but it's suppose to boost my powers or something so I've been thinking of trying to work out what magic is used to create it"
"Do you reckon it's like a Wizards artifact or like Simon's crown?"
"In what way?"
"That it'd make you crazy and that you'd hear voices?"
"...Well probably yes" Marshall was a bit surprised by this he had thought the odds of the crowns leading to insanity was low.
"Really? Light-bulb why would you put that on if you know what it will do?"
"Well the voices come anyway to anyone who had both light and dark powers... It was the same for the past Shade King and for Bella and Hope"
"Wait Hope gets the voices too?"
"Yeah she came to me future me it seems when she was about 12 saying that these voices had started in her head and it seems like its just an side effect of being born with such strong powers. Simon said that future Cloud has a similar problem but he's voices are actually helpful since he's body is the host"
"Can't you cure the voices and make them stop Lumen?" Hunter asked losing confidence in their plan.
"Well for artifacts like crowns and stuff yeah you can but on people I haven't managed to find a way but since I know what Hope has had to go through I'm going to work on it."
"...So could you cure say... like the Wizards of Wizard City of the powers that make them insane?" Hunter asked hopeful. Lumen looked up at Marshall with a smile, they had the same thought instantly.
"So Hunter... any particular Wizard in mind?"
"Yeah Huntress Wizard"
"Oh.. so whats up with you and her anyway?"
"Why does this keep getting asked there's nothing going on!"
"Sure thing kiddo" Marshall said laughing.
"Anyway I'm not 100% sure it would work on them but we can try anyway... but you know with you 2 here I think it would be a shame to not try the crown on at all don't you think?" Lumen asked curiously. All 3 turned to the crown and all wondered what it would do.
"I think you should try it light-bulb... could be cool... and you taught Hope that light thing too so she can fix you if it goes bad right?"
"Yeah... I'm sure she could..."
"Dudes... I'm not too sure about this... doesn't it seem sort of unsafe..." The three looked at it in silence again.
"In science there is always risks but personally I think that you should try it on Mr Lumen... for science obviously." The boys looked down to see Belle looking back up at them. She had at some point changed out of her purple dress into a black one with a white bow. She had white ribbon in her hair and white shoes.
"Rad get up lil-B since when did a gummy royal have a fashion sense?" Marshall asked shocked.
"I don't know.. I just thought it was cute and a lady from one of the stores said since I was a royal guest she'd let me have it... hey Hunter... do you think Cloud would think I look cute... well... no he probably wouldn't I'm being silly" Belle blushed violet in her cheeks and looked crestfallen so Hunter tried to cheer her up.
"You know I'm sure Cloud wouldn't think you looked cute... I'm sure he'd say you looked beautiful and the Ice dudes waiting for you to come back I'll let you know, he did ask me to make sure your okay after all" Belle looked up smiling and blushing even more. She managed to mumble something that no one heard then ran from the room.
"Did you make that up?" Marshall asked.
"Nahh he did ask me to look after everyone but I didn't need to add that.. Plus although I promised not to tell her Cloud really does like her but he just doesn't have much in the way of socialising skills since he spent half he's life in the mountains training, its why he likes you so much Dad as you make it so he doesn't feel that awkwardness..."
"Well ain't I awesome" Marshall said proudly.
While Marshall and Hunter were talking neither noticed that Lumen had picked up the crown and had put it on. His clothes changed from the black jeans and white shirt he was wearing to the complete royal trench coat, white under armor and not just his clothes had changed. He's hair which was was usually just above his neck had grown down to below his shoulders and he's usual blue eyes were now bright red. His skin changed back from humanly pink to a dark grey no one had ever seen before. On the outside he's appearance had completely changed but inside Lumen's mind he was currently sitting in a white room that had two black chairs one was him and the other was a figure surrounded completely in black.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you my Prince, you have been neglecting me for far too long if you ask me..." The voice of the shrouded figure seemed to be giving off that it was sulking.
"Who are you? and Where am I?"
"Me? I'm the entity of the crown so to say, I'm the light magic of the Shade King given to him by the Princess of Light"
"...If your light magic why are you a shadow?"
"...in a white room if something was white would you see it?... no... so this is a way to make me more visible to you but why are you ignoring my comments? Why did you not take the crown before now?"
"Well it kind of crept me out... like it looks weird and has black smoke coming off of it... that's weird..."
"...My Prince... please tell me you didn't put our existence at risk... because of a fashion statement..."
"...I didn't?"
"You, my prince, cannot lie to save your life... regardless of your reasons you have endangered the Kingdom and without the crowns power your dark magic has grown out of control hasn't it?"
"How did you know that!?"
"...Your powers were given to you by founders of our worlds... the Darkness and The Light... the crown was forged and bathed in the tears of the Angel of Light that fell to the world, given it power to bath you in light. However without the crown you have been recklessly gathering dark powers from remnants of the Darkness... as such your powers are out of control. While you wear the crown your body is healing itself... but as a drawback that darkness is currently in control of your body and is now on its way to destroy the last few pieces of the Angel of Light's power" Lumen stared at the expressionless individual suddenly confused about everything they had done so far...
"Since when is there an Angel? and you know about the Darkness?"
"If you had put me on at your coronation you would know everything... but let me tell you the beginning..."
"A woman stood in the darkness; she had short black hair decorated with a small and simple crown. She had markings all over her beautiful sleek skin and wore a long red dress. She started to spread her long white wings and stared into the abyss. The angel knew she had to do what she could to get rid of the darkness. She suddenly was filled with light and began to shine in the dark. The darkness did not like the way someone had opposed on his rein on life itself. The darkness attacked the angel; she fought him off creating rips in the fabric of existence. Their battle was vast and full of danger however they only had clashed with each other twenty six times. Every time they collided their power began to swell drawing mass to the location creating a whole world. On the last collision the angel fell to the world's tired and shed tears at her loss. The tears fell to the worlds and gave life itself to the many worlds. This angered the darkness more and at that time the darkness swore that he would destroy all of these new worlds till he found the angel and end her and when he was done with her no one would dare try to take away his forever night."
"Wow... so that's why the Darkness is trying to destroy reality... to take back what he thought belonged to him... and where is the Angel? Can she not try again and beat him?"
"The Angel of Light divided her power when she fell to the worlds, She used her powers to give life with the intend to grow champions who could defeat the Darkness. On each world she left an artifact of Light that could be used to help defeat the darkness. On Ooo the artifact happened to be the water that was used when our crown was constructed however currently on Ooo at the moment there are 3 artifacts that have the potential to deal harm to the darkness. The shield, The Sword and the Princess of Light."
"Okay... so What one am I?"
"You are the Shield, you will use your power to defend those close to you. Empower them and bring the strength to push forward the Sword and the Princess"
"...The Princess of Light... It's Fionna isn't it?"
"You are wiser than you seem my Prince, How did you work it out?"
"In one of the trials we face... it said that she was Fionna Mertens, Princess of Light... So that means the Darkness knows who she is?"
"Yes, he knows who you are too which is why he tried to use the artifacts he had gathered so far and turn your sister into a weapon to kill you... however she is not the sword"
"No... The sword is Finn... isn't it?"
"Once again my Prince you surprise me... how?"
"Fionna and Finn both have a sword called The Angel Wing Sword... it gives you the wings of an Angel and both were given it to them from demons who came from an already conquered world. It seemed odd that a Demon world would have angel swords..."
"Yes exactly my Prince, They are the twin wings of Evangeline, actually considered to be one artifact they hold the power to inflict damage on the Darkness which only the Angel of Light could compare to. Finn is already aware there is more to his sword than meets the eye since it's due to that sword that either of you two are alive at the moment."
"So it's us three?... Me, Finn and Fionna... we're meant to be the ones to stop the darkness?"
"YES!... Finn the Human Hero Prince, Fionna the Princess of Light and you Lumen, the Shade Prince. You three will be the ones to deal the end to the Darkness."
"...What does the darkness look like?"
"...The Darkness comes from a time before appearance had a meaning, before there was colour or definition. The Angel of Light was the first being of form which is why when the two fought they, who were so opposite, tore reality itself. If I had to describe the Darkness it would be in a way that is hard to understand..."
"Try please... I need to know?"
"The chill at the back of your neck, the hairs that stand on end, the whisper you hear in the dark, the thing in the corner of your eye that's not there when you look. The noises you hear when alone, the footsteps you hear behind you on a silent night and the falling sensation when you wake from a dream. The Darkness is less of a thing more of a thought... a feeling... a fear... Every moment you have experience fear, every moment of paranoia, tense beating of your heart and that constant doubt in the back of your mind. If I were to define it... it would be simply... the bad things that exist where it shouldn't... for example... When people are scared of the dark... are they afraid of the dark itself or of the things they cannot see in the dark?"
"...The things they cannot see?"
"...that in most cases would be the correct answer my Prince... but The Darkness we speak of... is fear itself... It gave birth to fear, to hate, to sorrow and to pain. This is the darkness you should fear not because of what it hides but from the fact it hides nothing."
"How can you kill something like that? How can you kill a thought? a feeling? something that hides nothing and is fear itself?"
"Well to harm you... it has to be able to touch you... and to be able to touch you it will either need to create a physical form which would mean it would be the most powerful thing on this planet or force weaker others to do it for him"
"If it could become the most powerful that easily why wouldn't it just do that instead of doing things like it did to Bella?"
"Because once in a physical form... it can harm but also be harmed. That is the only time it can die. The Angel of Light fought it in it's non-physical form which is why she lost but the Darkness will send you on one more trial before it descends itself. No one has survived past the second trial without giving up... Will you be ready my Prince?"
"I will be... I need to tell the others... How do I get out of here?"
"...I was kind of hoping that since you had come here willingly you had a way out of here yourself... if you had put the crown on straight away you would have been fine but due to the darkness being too much in control of your body you are going to need outside help..."
"So what do I do until then?"
"Get comfortable?"
"...You aren't very helpful are you?"
"Whose the Prince who refused to wear he's crown? Mm? Yeah... You"
Meanwhile in Wizard City
"RUN! JUST KEEP RUNNING HE IS COMING!" screamed various Wizards as they ran for their lives.
Huntress Wizard jumped across the roof tops running towards the chaos that had taken over Wizard City. When she was nearing the giant being she felt light headed for an unknown reason so to keep consciousness she took one of her arrows and stabbed it into her hand.
"Well done Huntress... You have kept us from being absorbed by that Being"
"Absorbed? What is it doing?"
"It is taking all the dark entities that exist in the magic beings and their artifacts. By doing so the darkness within it shall grow and it will be all the more powerful."
"What is it?"
"The Boy should be able to inform you of that"
"Wait what do you-" Huntress was cut off as she came to an abrupt halt. A few roof tops away she could see Hunter and his father trying to get the being attention. She started to head towards them avoiding the debris that was falling to the ground from the houses the Being smashed up.
A group of Wizards sat in their hideout wondering what all the chaos outside was all about.
"Should we go check on it"
"No. It will be fine. We will wait for Huntress Wizard. When she comes we will end her life and use her power! WHA HA HA HA"
The rest of the group of evil wizards began to join in on the laughter at their evil plan.
Hunter and Marshall watched as the creature crushed a building beneath it's foot rending it to nothing.
"Dad... were there people in there?"
"I'm afraid so... given how that now looks flat like a pancake... we may never know who they were or what they were doing..."
"What must they have been doing to not notice the noise outside..."
"Whatever it was... doesn't really matter now..."
"Hunter what are you doing here? and What is that creature?" The two Abadeers looked up to see the Huntress. Marshall nodded to Hunter and told him to catch him up before turning to a giant bat form and starting to tackle the beast.
"Well... You know my Dad's got a female version from another world?"
"Yes?"
"And you know she has a boyfriend called Lumen?"
"Yes the Shade Prince?
"Well that's him... He kinda put on his magical crown he hadn't worn because he was worried it might have bad magic like Simon's crown and then he changed into that and headed here. He seems to be sucking out all the dark entities of the Wizards making it so, like Simon, they have control over their full power without being driven insane... But it's all building up inside of him. We have been trying to take the crown off or slow him down until his daughter Hope can get here and cure him."
"...Why would he put on his crown if he had such doubts?"
"He did it for me... I was trying to find a way to cure the Wizards here of the negative side of magic... I was mainly doing it for you... In my future you don't exist... something happened and I wanted to find out what it was... But I don't know what happened to make you disappear so I figured if I gave you complete control over your powers whatever it was wouldn't happen." Huntress stared at Hunters eyes and knew it to be true. She thought about his words and the situation and then came up with an idea.
"So... all that is needed is for him to stay put for a small amount of time? and also this something... it happens sometime soon yes?"
"Yeah if we can stop him then I think Hope will be here soon and... yes?"
Huntress Wizard looked at Hunter and then smiled she suddenly pulled him close and kissed him. When she let him go he was confused and was about to say something but she quickly struck him to the back of the head knocking him out. She turned to face the giant dark form of Lumen and exhaled deeply.
"The time has come and this is what you want our power for?"
"Yes... I always told you that you would take me when it was the end... it's now the end for us both... is that okay with you?"
"HA HA... You were an interesting host to the end Huntress, we would be honored to end with you now take all of our power!"
Huntress felt the power inside her begin to build up and it started to hurt. She started to cough up blood and trying to control it was almost causing her to faint. She decided to sing to herself to concentrate on something.
(Blew My Mind by Dresses)
"You blew my mind when we were swinging in a dream
You said, "watch me I'll swing so high I'll be stuck up in the trees"
And so ya did
I forgot it was a dream and so ya did
I left you in my mind, and wandered to the creek
Where I startled little children, and the children laughed at me
So I dipped
I went on with the day I shoulda skipped
I try to sleep but then I wake up
When you're gone, I really hate my dreams
All along, I try to live but then I think too much
Because most of the time all the thoughts in my mind get to me
I started dozing off as I walked down a city street
Oh, nobody was looking so I laid down at their feet and you were gone
All the people carried on
I try to sleep but then I wake up
When you're gone, I really hate my dreams
All along, I try to live but then I think too much
Because most of the time all the thoughts in my mind get to me
I try to sleep but then you wake me up
When you're gone, I really hate my dreams
All along, I try to run but then I can't keep up
Because most of the time all the thoughts in my mind get to me
Because most of the time all the thoughts in my mind get to me"
"We didn't know that you knew any songs like that?"
"I heard it from Hunter... His Dad was singing it to his Mum as they danced. I liked the tune of it..."
"We're going to miss you..."
The Huntress' eyes lit up green and her leaf like hair grew out of control and started to wrap around the creature. She jumped towards it and grabbed onto it. The hair began to completely engulf the two of them till it seemed to be nothing more than a gigantic bush. A green light then surrounded them and when it faded there stood a giant tree. The tree stood at the heart of Wizard City growing well into the clouds. On the branches of the tree were giant blossoms that when the wind blew them away they broke down into small ones and made it appear like there was pink snow falling from the sky.
"Hunter..."
"Hunter wake up..." Hunter managed to open his eyes but was then reminded of the pain that knocked him out. He rubbed the back of his head and then looked up to see his Dad looking at him worried.
"Hey... Dad... wheres Lumen? and What happened to Huntress.. She suddenly hit me..." Hunter looked at his Dad and realised his Dad was pulling a face he only ever pulls when he has bad news and doesn't know how to say it.
"Dad what happened?" Hunter suddenly felt something small land on his head. He picked it off and saw a pink blossom. He looked up to see where it came from and saw the gigantic tree that had grown where he last saw Lumen.
"...She didn't..."
"I'm afraid Hunter... she did... she gave into the power and was able to transform into that... I don't know if there's a way back but so far Hope can only feel Lumen's life force. She's turning him back now... lets head over there..."
The two flew quickly to the base of the tree where Hope was focusing what seemed like a beam of light at the tree. When the two landed Hope stopped and looked at them solemnly. The tree roots closest to them began to part and suddenly Lumen's body fell out. He's hair was now half black and half white and the crown on his head had faded but it now appeared to be some kind of bracelet on his wrist. Hope went over to her father and said goodbye to the other two before Shadow-morphing away. The citizens of Wizard City who were now free of insanity were all holding off dealing with their recovered pasts and freedom and instead were all forming a arrow in the air out of their magic. There were flame arrows, Ice, lightning, grass, ghost, air, chocolate, rainbow and many more arrows... each person was showing their thanks and appreciation not to the one who had cured them but the person who was willing to embrace the insanity to protect them all.
Hunter fell to the ground defeated... "I couldn't even protect one person...". Marshall put his hand on Hunters shoulder... He knew the feeling of not being able to protect someone you held dear after not being able to save Simone. Hunter stopped hearing everyone or paying attention altogether so he never noticed that he's Dad told him he'd be right back and called up Bonnie and Bubba to collect Belle from the Shade Kingdom (which they needed directions too) and come to Wizard City to see if there was anything they could do.
Hunter stared at the tree and suddenly saw a seed the size of a apple come out of the tree base. On the seed was the symbol of an arrow and when Hunter touched it he heard a voice in his head.
"Boy... We are the magic power that Huntress inherited... We have decided to save her from destruction as we feel the world would fair better with her. In this seed is Huntress however she will need time to be reborn. Find somewhere safe to plant this seed and then seal this place away. The seed will take care of itself and in 20 years time she will be ready to awaken."
"What's going to happen to you... without you she won't be complete?"
"So you would go so far to care for her and even think of us?"
"Your part of her, I'm sure she could have gotten rid of you any time she liked she was resourceful... but she didn't... and since its thanks to that she can live again I want to help her and you..."
"If we can find a host that can match her till the day she awakens we will survive but without a compatible host we shall die..."
"What about a demon that can absorb powers of dying things... with a human side that could act as a pseudo-host..."
"...Sounds like we have an interesting few years ahead of us... Are you sure you are prepared for this..."
"...Just don't talk to me when I'm in the toilet..."
"As you wish"
And there is Chapter 33 Springtime in Ooo, Huntress Wizard has left us for now and we now know more about the darkness :) if the little story that Lumen's Light Entity tells him sounds familiar it's because its the same one told in Chapter 13.
Light and Hope have fallen for each other, Marshall tops the list for most casual proposal of Ooo's History and Finn has to review he's parenting tactics
Hunter now has Huntress' powers for safe keeping
What awaits Lumen's powers when he wakes up as the Shield of Light and how will Finn and Fionna react to knowing that they are the Sword and Princess of Light.
Will the evil wizards evil plans ever be uncovered... or even acknowledged slightly?
And what will become of a sane Wizard City? Find out next time :')
Chapter 34: Girls Day Out