Chapter 16: Glimpse

Even after managing to escape from their confinement, the narrow halls of Windar made Finn, Jake, and Ice King feel as if they were still trapped. Technically this was the truth, but the entire structure as a whole required little study to know it was always intended to be built as some sort of prison. The human dreaded to think what it was like in its heyday, when it was not ruled by mindless and tortured beasts. But the idea of it being either better or worse now was debatable. Either way, there was no denying that this was and still is a place of evil.

So far they had managed to avoid running into any Mongos patrolling the halls. It was odd, to say the least. Where had they all gone? Were the Witch's forces really not as strong as they initially thought? Maybe most of them stayed behind in Oldtown. Somehow, it was doubtful that this was the case. Nevertheless, they kept moving forward, determined to find Huntress, defeat the Witch if necessary, and get out.

'Simple enough,' thought Finn as they walked. He hoped that would be the truth, but after their quick capture in Oldtown due to the Mongos' overwhelming numbers, things would probably not be so clear cut.

The human's footsteps echoed through the halls, which made him uneasy that their enemies would hear them before they had the chance to surprise them. Jake's soft paws gave no such effect, but the real cause of noise was Ice King's beard flapping up and down in order to keep him afloat.

"Ice King, can't you just walk?" Finn asked.

"But my legs hurt from sitting on the hard ground so much," he whined.

"Your beard is gonna give us away."

That was a sentence Finn thought he would never have to say in his life. Even Jake seemed slightly amused by it. Despite his annoyance, Ice King ultimately did as he asked and stopped flying, now walking normally beside the two heroes.

When they came to a corner, Finn firmly placed his back against the wall while slowly peeking his head around the corner. He was only able to scout ahead for a few seconds before he needed to hide his head again, but even with the short amount of time he had to look, what awaited ahead was clear. Mongos.

Two of them. Not much of a problem except for the fact that Finn had no weapon to defend himself with against their sharp claws. Jake could have probably just stretched out his arm finish them off with a single blow, but the halls were still too narrow for a proper swing from any direction. And one side of the walls had a row of windows which, is shattered on impact, would create too much noise. As much as he hated it, if they wanted to keep moving without waking the entirety of the fortress and be chased by a bloodthirsty army, they had to rely on Ice King to take them out from afar without being seen.

"Ice King, you think you can shoot some ice spikes at those guys from here?" Finn asked in a whisper.

The wizard chuckled. "Can I shoot…Stand aside and let me show you how it's done, baby."

Finn and Jake did as he said and took a few steps back, allowing him to stand at the edge of the corner. He raised his hand and it began to glow, signaling that he was ready to unleash bolts of ice. Then, after taking a quick breath, he jumped out of the corner, but instead of ice being hurled towards the Mongos, the only sound present was Ice King's own shriek of terror as one of them leaped at him.

Finn was the first to react. As the ice wizard struggled to push away the monster trying to bite him, the human kicked it away with such force that its body went through and shattered one of the windows decorating the hall, allowing the extremely cold winds from outside blow in along with countless snowflakes.

The other Mongo followed quickly, but Jake punched it away with his enlarged fist before it was able to reach either Finn or Ice King.

"So much for being stealthy!" Jake said, shouting against the loud howling coming from outside.

Finn helped Ice King stand from the ground and turned to his brother. "We better split before more of them show up!"

Jake and Ice King followed closely behind as Finn led the way. Several other Mongos were patrolling the halls and blocking their paths, but a quick mix of brawn, size, and magic disposed of them quickly enough. Whenever they ran into a flight of stairs, they always took the route leading further down, hoping that they would be able to find their way around easier if they made it to the castle's main hall. But the further they went, the more Mongos there were patrolling their path forward.

In a stroke of good fortune, one of the halls was decorated with shields and weapons hanging from its walls. Finn grabbed the most reasonably sized blade he could find, along with a small rounded shield, which was a bit rusted but did the job when it came to defending from enemy attacks. The sword definitely needed some sharpening as well, but it was a lot better than trying to fight with his bare fists.

After kicking one last Mongo through a wooden door, the three of them now found themselves in Windar's main hall, immediately spotting Huntress lying face down on the ground while the Witch of Tears remained seated on her massive throne.

"Huntress!" Finn exclaimed as he dashed to help his fallen friend.

"Dude, wait!" shouted Jake, but the human would not listen.

The two large Mongos standing beside the throne began moving forward to attack, but instead remained in their current position with a quick raise of the Witch's hand. Suspicious as it was, Finn still carelessly knelt next to Huntress and turned her around, but was immediately forced to jump back towards Ice King and Jake in shock of what he saw.

Huntress' eyes, which were once green and vibrant enough to glow even in the darkest places, were now as black as the Witch's own. Several tendrils of the same color covered the area around them, making seem like her very life had been sucked out from them. She was breathing, but it was very weak and raspy every time her chest moved up and down.

Jake and Ice King continued to stare in shock at her condition, but Finn only became more enraged and turned to face the Witch, sword and shield in hand.

"What did you do to her?!"

The hair that was covering her face made it impossible to tell what expression she was currently making, or if she was even looking at them at all. She simply ignored the human and continued to play with the doll in her hands, which only served to make him angrier.

"Turn Huntress back to normal or I swear I'll cut your head clean off! I don't care if you look like a kid, but you aren't one!"

She stopped caressing the doll at that moment. The eerie silence enveloping the room, save for the howling of the winds still coming from outside, created an aurora of tension that enveloped everyone who was present.

"I don't like this," Ice King whispered, cowering behind Jake. "This is the part where something really bad usually happens in all the fanfictions I write."

As the Witch's head turned ever so slowly towards the human, he stood his ground and continued to stare directly at her without showing fear. But this quickly changed when she raised her left arm forward and he felt like something had wrapped itself around his throat, causing him to drop his weapons.

Neither Jake nor Ice King had any chance to react before Finn was pulled towards her at full speed, coming to a sudden halt when his face was merely inches from hers.

"Finn!" shouted Jake.

He and Ice King dashed forward to help their fellow human, but they came to a halt when both large Mongos charged forward and blocked their path. They were quick to understand why the Witch chose them as her guardians; no matter how hard Ice King tried to fly around them or Jake tried to stretch through them, their lighting quick reflexes, despite their size, were too quick to get through.

Meanwhile, Finn continuously struggled to break free from the Witch's grasp, but to no avail. Using the hand she was not grabbing his with, she took hold of his right hand and pulled it closer to her. And for a brief moment, he could swear he heard a small gasp come from her as she laid eyes on the marking etched to his skin.

She studied it for a moment, and then let go of his hand once more. The hair that was blocking her face was moved out of the way by her, and Finn's eyes widened to their fullest capacity when he noticed her eyes were no longer the same black ones she had before.

They were the ones that once belonged to Huntress.

"Shadowed One…" she said, looking surprised.

With Finn completely vulnerable and not able to fight back, she placed her hand upon his cheek, and the scorching pain that immediately followed made his scream to the top of his lungs.

"No!" Jake exclaimed while fighting against one of the behemoths. "Let him go!"

Finn's entire face felt like it was burning. But it was not the burning of fire; it was more the burning of extreme cold. As the seconds went by and the pain continued, he could no longer muster the strength to keep his eyes open and shut them, leaving him staring at nothing but darkness. And for a moment, he thought this as it. This was the end.

But then, the pain began to ease, and his heavy breathing began to slow. He could no longer feel the Witch's icy fingers grasping his head, the air around him suddenly grew rather warm, and all of the commotion with his friends calling his name turned into nothing but the soft breeze of a gentle wind. Said wind was also not as cold as the one he had experienced prior. This time, it was warm and rather comforting.

Slowly, he began to reopen his eyes, but he realized that the world around him had changed.

The stone walls of Windar were gone, along with the Witch and the rest of his friends. His feet were once again planted firmly on solid ground, despite distinctly remembering being picked up. For a brief moment he thought he was somehow standing outside in the snow, but a quick study of his surroundings proved otherwise.

The land was barren and gray, devoid of any life for miles around. There were mountains far in the distance, with surfaces that appeared as black as the night sky and shaped in such a way that made them look like the sharp teeth of a horrible beast. The sun was clouded by large clouds in the sky, but they were not rainclouds. And from the darkened sky, there was no snow falling towards the earth. Instead, it was ash.

It littered the ground in every direction, despite there being no volcano in sight that could have created it. But despite the fact that Finn was currently standing in a whole new land, the weirdest occurrence was that the ash particles were phasing right through his skin, landing on the ground normally even when he tried raising his hand to catch them.

"Wha…Where am I? How did I even…WHAT?"

They were questions he probably should have asked himself sooner, but even now he was still too dumbfounded by the current situation to properly think.

He darted his head from side to side, trying to find anyone else in the area. "Hello? Jake?! Ice King?! ANYONE?!"

His voice echoed, and no response ever came. Had the Witch somehow teleported him to some place far away? Could her powers really be that great? If that was the case, were his friends still fighting for their lives while he just stood here? Or maybe…was this all in his head?

Maybe the Witch took control over his mind as she did with Huntress, and now he was trapped in some kind of mental prison. Ironic, considering he was in the process of breaking out of yet another imprisonment. It seemed there was no end to his streak of being locked up for reasons he was still unclear of. Then again, maybe he was dead and was granted an afterlife in a somewhat nicer Dead World than the one he had visited once before.

Or maybe he was entirely wrong and everything around him was beyond his understanding.

In any case, one thing was clear: Finn needed to find some way back. But where would he even start when the wasteland around him was completely unknown?

He sighed. "Great. I set out on a simple trip to Wizard City and end up getting myself and my friends locked up; we escape, only to end up locked up again; and now, for some reason, I'm left standing in the middle of nowhere. Huntress got all messed up. And I'm probably dead, along with all the others, and with no way of getting my bearings. UGH! Why must my life be so…"

Before his rant could continue, a thought returned to his mind. As he laid eyes once more on the mysterious marking engraved on his hand, he remembered more words that the Phantom had spoken to him in his slumber.

"Underneath the crow's shadow. Where there is no fire, no life…no hope. Only ash and death."

Finn failed to see most of what was said in that sentence, but one thing was clear: there was definitely ash. And if her definition of life was plants and vegetation, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Could this…be the place?" he wondered.

There were too many things to ponder all at once. However, these thoughts were overshadowed when a distant commotion reached Finn's ears. It was very faint, but it was a noise he recognized instantly no matter how far. The sound of massive wings flapping in the wind, carrying massive beast across the sky. But this was accompanied by something else. It appeared over a hill close by; a horse, red with a mane that as set ablaze with vibrant flames, carrying a hooded figure on its back.

The figure's cloak was as red as the horse he rode, and there was no need for him to be close for the shine of his sword hanging from his hip to be seen. Was he a fire elemental? Whatever the case, based on the speed in which the horse was going, it was safe to assume the rider was trying to escape from someone. Or something.

It was not long before the looming threat appeared over the same hill. It was big, about the size of an average house, with black scales covering its entire body. Its eyes were dark purple, and glowed liker beacons even from how far away and small they were. As it roared, it somehow made it look even more menacing as it showed its razor sharp black teeth.

A dragon. Although not like the dragons Finn had usually encountered during his adventures. While this one still had its hind legs, its wings replaced its front ones.

The beast breathed flames at the rider. But unsurprisingly, they had no effect on the rider or horse themselves. Unfortunately for them, the fires still served to blind the path ahead, and the rider was thrown from his saddle as his mount tripped on a rock that was in its path.

As the rider masterfully rolled to land on his feet, the dragon was able to swoop down from above and grab the horse in its maw, snapping it in half before it even had the chance to exclaim in terror, and its remaining body parts lost all of their flames and ended up turning to ash as they fell towards the ground.

When the dragon began to circle above the clouds for another attack, the cloaked figure unsheathed his sword and took a battle stance. Now being at a closer distance, Finn was able to gaze at the weapon's beautiful craftsmanship. It almost reminded him of his old Demon Blood sword from how red the blade was, but the handle and cross guard were as black as the scales of the beast he was preparing to fight. Several glowing orange runes-around four from what Finn could tell-were etched on the blade, though he could only guess as to what exactly they were for. Another detail he noticed was the satchel strapped over his shoulder, which seemed to be emanating an odd multi-colored glow from the inside.

Finn would have stepped in to help, but he had no weapon he could use to fight. All he could do was just stand and watch as the battle unfolded. Plus, he doubted he could even do anything to touch it seeing as how the ash particles were still going right through him. In fact, it was even debatable if either of them could even see him. All he could do was lay back and watch as the events before him unfolded.

The dragon came swooping down from the sky once more at breakneck speed, heading towards the hooded figure. In turn, he took a firm grip of the sword with both hands, holding the blade merely inches away from his still hidden face.

A roar filled the air as the dragon opened his maws, preparing to bite down on its prey as it descended. From how fast it was going, Finn failed to see how the mysterious figure before him could stand any chance of fighting. By this point, even he would have realized it was probably best to start running. But he was immediately proven wrong.

Just as the dragon's maws were about to close and snatch the figure away, he used his flame powers to boost himself to the side at the very last second. The only trace of him that stayed behind was the sword's blade, which was now cutting its way across the beast's entire lower abdomen all the way down to its tail, spreading its black blood all across the ground.

As the beast's severed body landed on the ground with great force, Finn could hardly believe what he had seen. An entire dragon, cut completely in half with a single swing of a sword. He had never even come close to accomplishing such a feat.

Even after being stained, the runes present on the figure's crimson blade still shined brightly through the muck. He gave it a quick swing in the air to wipe some of it away, and then cleaned off the rest with a peace of his cloak.

"Whoa," Finn said, amazed by the performance he had just witnessed. "You just took that thing out like it was nothing!"

Despite raising his voice in praise, the figure never turned his head to look in the human's direction. Instead, his gaze turned back to the sky as the sound of thunder boomed in the distance, followed by the clouds getting darker by the second. Judging by the fact that the figure took a battle stance once more, Finn could tell this was still not over.

As every cloud in the sky darkened, it became nearly impossible to see anything. If it were not for the orange glow of the cloaked figure, Finn would have thought he was going blind. But it was not only the orange glow that reassured him of this, it was also the lighting crashing from the sky.

It was already clear this was more than just an ordinary storm, but the fact that the color of the lighting flashes were purple instead of blue only strengthened the fact.

"What's happening?" Finn asked. Once again, there was no answer. He was pretty much asking himself at this point.

His question was answered no too long after. From the pitch blackness of the sky above, the purple glow of the thunder began to intensify, along with the force of the winds. It began to look like a maelstrom was forming right above their heads, but it was an illusion. It was so big that it looked like it was really close, when in fact in was far away. And as Finn squinted his eyes, he could see something come out of the center of this giant breach in the sky.

It looked like a ball of fire, but purple like the rest of the light around it. The human took several steps back, noticing it was heading right towards the cloaked figure. However, instead of moving as well, he simply remained with his sword at the ready as the ball of fire crashed several meters in front of him, lifting up hundreds of ash particles off the ground from the sheer force of the impact. Some of the dust blew against Finn's face, but even though it went right through him, he still got the urge to cough.

The cloaked figure remained in place, not having moved a single inch despite everything that was happening. As the dust settled, the silhouette of a shadowy figure could be seen through the remaining flames. But when the strange being began to emerge from the crater, Finn realized he was not looking at a shadow at all. He practically was a shadow. It was almost as if the smoke had come to life and taken a form of its own.

From the torso down, there were no legs, just a mass of black fluid that wriggled around against the earth to move the being around. From the torso up, however, he resembled a man. Defined arms, torso, a head with no visible hair; the only difference was that his face carried no humanoid features at all. Instead, underneath his piercing, purple eyes, there was what seemed to resemble the beak of a crow. And his most noticeable feature, aside from the fact that he was easily over six feet tall, were the large, black-feathered wings expanding from his back, each reaching a length of at least three meters.

But as if Finn was not surprised enough, what followed caught him even more by surprise.

As the shadowy being raised his right hand to point at the cloaked figure before him, which was as slim as a skeleton's and had sharp nails nearly three times the size of normal ones, the very same marking that Finn had on his own hand was present on it.

"Traitor," the shadowy being spoke. While there were elements of an ordinary man's voice, there was a certain distortion to it that made it sound like something straight out of a nightmare.

"I opened my doors to you. I welcomed you with open arms, and loved you more than anyone I have ever loved before. I gave you and your people the greatest gift I could ever give! And this is how you repay me?! By spitting in my face and running away with what is rightfully mine?! I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT! NOT IN MY WORLD!"

Despite the obvious anger present in his voice, the red cloaked figure did not budge. In fact, his battle stance dropped completely and just stood normally before the impending threat. Then, with one swift motion, he grabbed his hood and lifted it off his face. And "he" turned out to be a "she". But it was not just any she.

It was Flame Princess.

A more mature Flame Princess, to add to Finn's already immense confusion. She looked to be around her twenties or so. Definitely not the one he saw in Fire Kingdom a few weeks earlier. Nevertheless, the comparison of everything else was an exact match. From her red eyes, to her candle-like hair, to just her overall beauty.

"Loved me?" she said with a slight chuckle. Her voice sounded more mature as well, though Finn could still hear traces of the old one. "Don't be stupid. You never loved me. You only ever used me for your own selfish gain!" She took the satchel with the white light within and help it up. "And you do not have any right to this! Nor do you have any right to rule over anything; especially the entire world!"

The being's eyes narrowed even more, and his fist clenched with ever-growing rage. "I have every right. And I'm still willing to share it with you. I have given you everything!"

"And yet you've also taken away my freedom! And that of my people!" She gestured to everything around her. "Look around. These fields used to be filled with lush green grass, flowing rivers, and the sun shined down on it on any day where it was not raining. Now? Now all of that beauty is gone. It's ruined, and nothing but a wasteland because of your misuse of power."

He stood closer, and she stood back in turn. "I haven't ruined anything. My view of beauty is just different than yours."

"This isn't beauty. This is just plain madness."

The shadowy being took a few more steps forward. "And what about Zorah?"

Flame Princess' expression immediately dropped at the mention of that name.

"Would you leave her behind just to go on a pointless crusade? I'm not afraid to hurt someone, even if they are close to me. You know that well."

Despite being obviously hurt, she still managed to regain her determined look, and only appeared disgusted by his words. As she allowed her satchel to hang over her shoulder once more, she raised her sword and prepared to fight once more.

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the good of the land," she said. "No matter your intentions, you are not getting the Heart back!"

It was clear the shadowy figure was enraged, and not just because of his expression. At Flame Princess' words, the lighting became even more violent, and the thunder became louder.

"So be it. One way or another, you won't be leaving Asirda with it."

The insignia on his hand glowed even brighter, and the light emanating from it began to take on a form of its own. Eventually, that form became clear, and now, as if summoned from thin air, he held a sword.

Its craftsmanship was unlike anything Finn had seen before. The blade looked as if it were crafted with the most polished amethyst in existence, its cross guard was as black as his own skin with a small amethyst pearl resting in its center, and the end of its handle looked sharp enough to bash into someone's skull without needing to get the blade itself dirty. All in all, as far as swords went, his looked to be pretty menacing.

As Finn stood to watch the two of them ready to fight before him, a disturbing thought crawled its way into his mind. One that he had considered the moment he had seen the crow marking on the shadowy being's hand, but continuously refused it. Now, there was no denying the possibility.

'Is that guy…me?'

Was it possible that the Witch of Tears' intent was to show him events that were yet to come? Was this all just some sort of vision showing events that were yet to pass? The thought of it made him shiver to the bone.

Whatever the case, there was little time to reflect on it. As the shadowy being dashed forward at full speed with his blade ready to strike Flame princess, she raised her own with just as quick reflexes to block the incoming blow. However, just as the two swords connected, a blinding flashed enveloped Finn, making him shield his eyes from the powerful rays.

Upon opening his eyes again, expecting to find a swordfight taking place, he was back once again floating in an empty void of darkness, with the only source of light available was the glowing mark on his hand.

He remained there, in the darkness, doing nothing but just staring into the endless void. Everything he had just witnessed created a vortex of infinite questions inside his mind, and none of them had a legitimate answer. Had he really just seen a glimpse of the future? Was this really the fate that awaited him? The fate that awaited everyone that was close to him as long as that accursed mark remained on his hand? There was just no logical way he could see himself as such a heartless and powerful monster.

But at that moment, continuing to look at the marking present on his hand, he realized what had to be done.

Even if his theory was wrong somehow, the marking could not stay etched in his skin any longer. This fact was undeniable. Whoever the phantom in his dreams is, whatever her intentions are, it did not matter anymore. Finn would continue on his journey to find her, but rather than seeking the power she promised, he would do whatever was necessary to get the marking removed. Permanently.

"I won't turn into a tyrant," he said, hoping the Witch of Tears and the Phantom were both listening somehow. "This is not my future! And I also won't turn into this 'Shadowed One' that people brag so much about! You hear me? NEVER!"

As his voice echoed in the darkness, a single name was whispered inside his mind. Whether it was from the Phantom of the Witch was uncertain, but it was clear nonetheless.

Keno…

Note: After giving it some thought, I've decided that the story will remain at a T rating. Any parts that I deem too mature, expect them in separate one-shots.

-Fiery Crusader: I'm glad as well.

-An Amber Pen: Thanks. I appreciate your understanding.

-Awolfx9: Will do.

Next Chapter: The Oldest Tales