Chapter 5


Finn's eyes slowly opened as he awoke from his stupor. His vision was still foggy, and it was very dark. All he could see were four vague figures. He couldn't even tell if they were real, let alone alive.

"Oh, glob. My head is killing me." Finn groaned as he tried to set himself upright.

The ground was hard and cold, yet strangely smooth. A subtle musty smell was heavy in the unmoving air.

"What…? Where am…?" Finn slurred, his mouth still numbed.

He flexed his fingers until he could feel them properly. His right robotic prosthetic arm twitched and clamped together as the connection to his nervous system was reestablished. Finn groaned as a wave of nausea came over him.

"Jake…you there, bro?" Finn asked as he tried his best to fight through the dizziness.

Slowly, Finn pushed himself off of the ground. He felt like his ears were full of water and his murky vision wasn't helping his poor balance.
After getting back on his feet, Finn took a moment to look around. His eyesight was still far too poor to see anything, but his hearing was quickly returning.
Through the murkiness, Finn could hear groaning, heavy breathing, and weak sobbing. Wherever he was, he wasn't alone.

"Hello?" Finn asked as he took a small step forward. "Is someone there?"

As Finn took another step, something suddenly snagged his leg and tripped him. Finn hit the ground with a loud thud, jarring his already pounding head.
The sudden pain shook the young adventure free from the numbness and fog. Finn quickly reached down his leg and found a large metal shackle bolted over his left ankle. The shackle was connected to the wall by a thick metal chain.

"What the flip?!" Finn exclaimed as he looked over the shackle. "What did -who did?!"

Finn scowled angrily as the bits of memory fell into place.

"Pig Man!" Finn shouted loudly as he pulled tightly against his leg shackle. "When I get out of this thing, I'm gonna math you up so hard!"

Despite his best efforts, the shackle would not break. After pulling and yanking the chain for a few minutes, Finn's strength quickly burnt out.

"Hey, look who's finally awake." A familiar feminine voice spoke out.

Turning his attention away from his chains, Finn felt his heart leap as his eyes fell upon the speaker. Setting in the corner on the opposite side of the room was Marceline.

"Marceline, is that you?" Finn asked, hoping that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

Marceline smiled weakly. "The one and only. Long time no see, Finn."

Marceline had been the first one to awaken from her fitful slumber. She had seen the pig masked creatures come and deliver their catches.
She had tried to roust them from their stupor but found that she too was far too weak to do much.
Fastened tightly around her wrists were shackles with some form of runes carved into the metal. The shackles were chained to the floor in front of her, binding her hands in front of her.

"F-finn…?" Another familiar voice weakly rasped. "M-marceline …?"

With a pained groan, Princess Bubblegum tried to set herself upright. Her body creaked and crackled as her stiffened form slowly loosened.
Around her neck was a metal collar that was chained to the wall. After her body had grown more malleable, Princess Bubblegum, looked over to Finn and then to Marceline. A rush of relief and dread rushed through her. Relief, because she was amongst her closest friends. Dread, because they too had fallen prey to this trap.

"Hey PB," Marceline greeted halfheartedly. "Welcome to…whatever this is."

"Hi, Princess." Finn greeted happily.

Princess Bubblegum shivered as the last of the stiffness cracked out of her.

"Where are we?" Princess Bubblegum asked with a worry laden tone.

"Wherever they want us to be…" a voice answered sadly.

Curled up on the floor in the corner next to Marceline's was a very low burning Flame Princess.

"H-hey Phoebe." Finn responded with a nervous stutter.

Flame Princess only shot Finn a glance before turning away. Finn could tell that she still did not trust him, not that he could blame her.
At least she was speaking to him again. Flame Princess had a heavy looking collar fastened around her neck. The collar was glowing with arcane runes.
A thick chain was keeping her chained to the wall. Finn had seen enough magical items during his adventures to know that the runes were fire suppression runes.
They wouldn't snuff out flames, but they would keep them from burning stronger.


"So, how did they get you three?" Marceline asked calmly, seeing no point in dancing around the issue. "Doubt you came here by choice."

Finn's face bunched up into an angry scowl as he recounted what had happened to him.

"Some pig faced guy snuck up and jabbed me with a needle full of crud." He stated bitterly as he showed her the swollen and bruised spot on his neck. "Knocked me out cold. How about you, PB?"

Princess Bubblegum sighed and turned her back to the group to show the hole that had been punched through her dress and the discolored spot on her back where her attacker had injected her with the chemical.

"More or less the same for me." She said sadly. "The intruder somehow got past the Gumball Guardians. They were hiding and waiting for me in my closet. How about you?"

Marceline smiled smugly and pulled up the remains of her shirt past her stomach. Though now healed and faded, several cross shaped marks were scattered along her stomach and back.

"It took three of those pig-faced goons to bring me down." She boasted, even though she knew that she had no right to boast. "They had to drop the cave ceiling on me just to soften me up."

She was lying, and Princess Bubblegum could tell. She knew Marceline was too proud to give her captors the credit they were due. The fact that they managed to capture her in the first place was testimony to their abilities.

"How about you Phoebe?" Marceline asked. "How did they get you?"

Flame Princess was quiet for a moment before she raised her head out from her huddled form. Her flames flickered before smoldering back down.

"I found a box in my chambers. Inside of it were photos of me, Finn, Princess Bubblegum, and you, Marceline." Flame Princess spoke, trying her best to keep her composure.

"You got a box too?" Finn asked, surprised. "So did I!"

"Me too." Marceline chimed in.

"I did as well." Princess Bubblegum stated calmly.

Flame Princess felt a twinge of anger for being interrupted, but she decided not to act on it.

"Sorry," Finn apologized, sensing her irritation. "Please, go on."

Flame Princess swallowed the lump in her throat as the memories of what had happened bubbled up to the surface.

"After I listened to the tape I found in the box, the Fire Kingdom was attacked."

"Attacked?!" all three of the cellmates exclaimed in disbelief.

"Attacked with what?!" Finn asked urgently.

Flame Princess shuttered as she recalled the things that she had witnessed.

"It was like a cloud on legs." She muttered coldly. "The lava didn't hinder it. My soldiers couldn't stop it. My kingdom…"

Fresh hot tears rolled down Flame Princess' cheeks as the physical and emotional pain of the attack tore into her again.

"They sent a magic user after me." She continued after wiping her eyes clear. "I couldn't see their face."

"Pig mask?" Marceline interjected. "Seems to be a common theme."

Flame Princess hissed as her anger swelled again. But her anger was quickly replaced by sorrow as the memory of what she had done came crashing down on her.

"They attacked me. They knew how to use ice magic. I couldn't beat them." Flame Princess spoke with a defeated tone. "They froze Cinnamon Bun, and…I."

It was too much for the young princess and she broke down into a fit of heavy sobbing. Princess Bubblegum wanted to press the question further, but a pleading look from Finn and Marceline both told her not to.

"They…gave me a choice." Flame Princess said through her tears. "Me, or my kingdom."

"A choice for what?" Princess Bubblegum asked.

"What lives and what dies." Flame Princess answered somberly. "I chose myself, to save my kingdom. You would have done the same."


A loud, earsplitting warning alarm buzzed, startling the four captives. With the low hum of electricity, several wall mounted lights flickered to life, flooding the small room with dull light. The walls were concrete, and the lights were protected by thick glass covers. The floor was tiled with a metal drain in the center.

"What's going on?" Finn asked worriedly as he stood up off the floor.

"No idea…" Marceline responded, just as clueless as Finn.

"Everyone, just stay calm." Princess Bubblegum ordered in a firm yet calm voice. "No one touch anything."

After an unnerving silence, the crackle of loud speaker coming to life echoed through the room.

"I am sure that you are wondering, why you are here." A cold raspy voice spoke. "You deny culpability, no doubt, for the circumstances in which you find yourselves."

"What are talking about?!" Finn shouted angrily.

"Yeah, what did we do?!" Marceline shouted as she thrashed against her shackles.

The speaker crackled again before the voice spoke again.

"You four have all been blessed with wonderful gifts. Gifts of strength, knowledge, longevity, and power. But you have taken your gifts for granted, and in doing so have slowly lost your appreciation for them. You have lost appreciation for how they affect your lives and the lives of those around you. This lack appreciation has lead you here. The only way you will survive is to confess to the sins you have committed. The sins that have brought you here. The sins that you have convinced yourselves were virtues. The sins that have robbed you. The sins that have blinded you. The sins that have brutalized others. Confess and face your sins. The truth will set you free. But any attempt to violate my rules will kill you. I want to play a game."

None of the four captives knew how to respond. They all had been in danger before, but nothing like this. The Lich was one branch of evil. This was something entirely different. It was an evil with a different motive, one that could not be predicted.

"Your first tests will be beginning momentarily." The voice spoke again. "Should you survive, you will be returned to this room to await your following test. Should you fail, then this will be the last time you see each other. It is your choice. Live, or die."

With the terrible sound of grinding gears and hissing pistons, the holding room began to separate to four separate directions.

"Remember, the truth will set you free."

One by one, each of the four captives' segment of the room dropped into an endless darkness. Each unaware of the hell they would find themselves waking to.


Things are about to get bloody.