So I said, while staring into nothingness,"Are you going to teleport me to Adventure Time?"
The cosmic entity in front of me nodded.
"Any purpose?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I want to see what changes you can make," the entity said bluntly.
"Hey, I know I didn't ask before, but… how did I die? I don't remember much."
"That's how dying works," the entity replied. "It's completely normal, so relax."
…
I stayed silent for several seconds.
"Well, whatever," I said with a shrug."And who am I going to become, exactly?"
"The Ice King," it said casually.
...
"With sanity?"
"With sanity," it said, smiling.
"Will I have memories? Any powers?" I asked, now a bit worried about who I was about to become.
"You will have absolute control over ice, as it should be. Mmm… I'll also give you knowledge that will help you on your adventure, your body will change into something better, and aaaand…" The entity tried to remember.
"Sounds fine to me, honestly," I said. "It's not like I could remember or ask for anything anyway."
"Oh, right," I said, as if recalling something important.
"Go ahead, ask," the entity said, opening its arms.
"I want the Ice King I go into to be… how should I put it… a puppet. I don't want him to actually have a soul. I don't want to take over or truly steal someone's body, you know?"
…
The entity stayed silent for several seconds.
"You're the first mortal," the entity said, "who worries about that. Very well, I'll give you some details about your new adventure."
"First: you will be impossible to fully control. You may allow yourself to be controlled, but you can break free whenever you want. You'll have regeneration, though it will consume your magical energy—nothing unusual. And you won't be in the normal Adventure Time timeline: there may be both small and major changes. It's your responsibility to decide what to do next."
"I understand," I said seriously.
"Well, I don't think you need anything else," the being said, sounding calmer now.
A portal appeared beside the entity, and it simply gestured for me to step through—which I did.
As I walked forward calmly, I heard it one last time:
"Oh, right. You'll be teleported right when Flame Princess wants to beat the crap out of you."
"Son of a—" I didn't finish, as I was already being teleported.
"Haha, idiot," the being said.
…
"And now what do I do…" the entity muttered.
"Well, let's go see that guy," it said while opening a screen dramatically."And let's watch Adventure Time."
The Ice King was calm as he looked at a note that had just arrived.
"I'm an idiot," he said, gripping the note in anger. "Flame Princess, you will be defeated—"
He didn't finish, because suddenly he froze in place.
…
…
…
Suddenly, it was as if his mind recalibrated. The consciousnesses that once lived inside the crown vanished; some of them even said, "thank you very much."
…
He looked at his hand, clenched it, then relaxed it.
"Damn," he muttered while staring at the note. Out of nowhere, another headache hit him, even stronger than before. Along with his ice control, countless techniques flooded into his mind.
…
"Damn," I said, realizing through these memories that in this world, Betty had been put to sleep by Truck-kun.
"So what the hell do I do now?" I muttered, grabbing my head.
"ICE KIIIIING!" a shout echoed.
…
The Ice King looked up, completely confused, until he remembered: he had arrived right in the middle of the fight between Flame Princess and the Ice King.
"Damn Finn," I thought, but I noticed I hadn't changed form yet—though I knew I could, thanks to the spells learned over the years.
"Whatever," I thought as I slowly walked forward, while Gunter hid himself in my beard.
"Farming aura," I thought, looking out from my ice-pine house.
When I reached the doorway, I saw Flame Princess floating in the air, angrier than ever.
"Old green creep," she shouted furiously. "You dare send me letters, huh? Say it to my face!"
…
The Ice King simply stared at her as he stepped outside his house.
As he walked, he kept his eyes fixed on Flame Princess, who was still glaring at him with rage.
"This will be good to see how much control I really have over my powers," I thought, beginning to float using ice magic without even relying on my beard. I looked far away with my weird, demonic eye and spotted Finn watching us through binoculars.
…
I looked back at Flame Princess, who was boiling with anger because I hadn't answered her.
"Disrespectful brat," I said in the Ice King's voice, but more serious than usual. "You've dared to enter my domain many times just to beat me up, for no reason. But today…" I said as clouds began to cover the sky. "Today, brat, you're going to leave with a nice spanking."
Flame Princess, furious, charged straight at me.
I did the same, rushing toward her.
Both of us shot through the sky. A red light and a blue one clashed across all of Ooo: a furious princess versus a king who was only just discovering what he could do.
As the Ice King dodged the fire attacks thrown by Flame Princess, I thought:
"What technique should I use? I don't want to hurt her like the original Ice King would, but—"
Before I could finish the thought, she launched a massive fire attack. I could only protect myself by surrounding my body with ice, forming a sphere.
…
…
I looked at my hands, then at the shield I had summoned. A few drops of melted ice fell, but it was still standing.
"Impressive," he said to himself as he began making several hand movements.
"Snowmen, come to life," I thought, as dozens of snow people began forming all around us.
Flame Princess noticed and froze for a moment in confusion, but quickly started burning them down.
Taking advantage of her distraction, the Ice King flew around the area, not without noticing that Finn was still watching us.
"Son of a bitch," I thought as I rapidly fired several ice beams at Flame Princess, hitting her multiple times.
"AAAH!" she screamed in pain.
I quickly manifested more ice in my hands and hurled it at her. She didn't hold back either, launching fire wildly in return.
Both attacks collided in midair until, all of a sudden…
They vanished.
And KABOOOOM, a massive explosion sent the Ice King flying back toward his kingdom, while Flame Princess was thrown into a forest.
Flame Princess recovered quickly and, together with the entire forest, set it ablaze, making her figure grow even larger and stronger. Meanwhile, I was lying in the snow, slowly getting up as I looked at my beard.
"Quack," Gunter's voice echoed.
"My little one," I said as I petted the penguin. Many memories rushed into my mind, but I quickly shook my head and looked back at the monstrosity standing before me.
I blinked once, twice, three times as I stared at the colossal being in front of me.
"Well," I said as I put Gunter away and cracked my old bones, "an elemental is showing off, huh?"
"I can't fall behind," I said, quickly doing four squats, which made Flame Princess look at me in confusion.
"Guess I'll have to show off a bit," I added while making several hand signs.
Flame Princess noticed and tried to rush toward me, but it was already too late.
A dragon, as large as Flame Princess herself, appeared—made of solid ice. It floated behind the Ice King in an imposing manner.
Perspective shift.
"Am I really doing the right thing?" Finn said to himself one last time as he stood on a chunk of ice from the Ice Kingdom.
"Eh, they'd both forgive me anyway," he said casually, as if he hadn't just caused a war that could turn nuclear.
He raised his binoculars and looked toward the kingdom.
He saw Flame Princess arrive and start yelling at the Ice King, as usual. But what wasn't normal was seeing the Ice King calmly step out of his ice-pine house and stare straight at her.
Finn watched as he slowly descended from his home and began walking around Flame Princess. They talked for several seconds—a conversation Finn couldn't hear—but what he did notice was the moment the Ice King stared directly at him… before turning his gaze back to Flame Princess.
Then they started fighting.
Honestly, Finn had never seen the Ice King fight in a way that wasn't for fun, and that worried him.
"Would Flame Princess lose? No! She told me she'd win…"
Minutes passed, with fire and chunks of ice raining down. Finn was amazed by the sheer level of power… and deeply concerned.
"Will the Ice King be okay?" he thought, until he saw the Ice King summon countless snow people, distracting Flame Princess. Then, in a flash, he moved from his position, and when he did, both of them unleashed a powerful blow. It was no surprise that they were both sent flying.
Just when Finn thought the fight was over—after seeing Flame Princess grow gigantic… the Ice King shocked him by creating a massive, floating dragon made of pure ice.
A magnificent aura.
Perspective shift.
"Brat," the Ice King said in his sharp voice. "Last warning before I do something I'll regret."
Flame Princess only roared in fury and quickly grew even larger. With a powerful burst, she charged at the Ice King—but he leapt onto his dragon's back and flew straight toward her.
Calling it a battle of titans would still fall short.
They hurled attacks at each other; fire and ice spread across all of Ooo, reaching even the Candy Kingdom…
"What's going on, Peppermint Butler?" Princess Bubblegum asked.
Peppermint Butler could only stare, mouth wide open, at the cameras spread across Ooo.
"Mmm?" Princess Bubblegum said calmly as she looked at the screens… until she saw it.
"IS THAT A DRAGON?!" she screamed in total panic. "Quick, Peppermint Butler, activate all defenses for the Candy Kingdom!"
"Immediately, Princess," he replied, running off while entering Code 25FP.
Princess Bubblegum kept watching the screens in horror, until she noticed—
"King… King… ICE KING?!" she said in panic as she started dialing a number. "Hello, I know you don't want to see me, yes, uh-huh, sorry, but listen—what do you call him again? Simon is fighting and he has a freaking dragon here! Yes, come immediately, make him stop, he's covering everything in snow. Uh-huh… what do you mean the snow is reaching there too? Oh, Glob!"
She hung up just as Flame Princess was slammed into the ground. The dragon began charging an attack.
…
The Ice King stood with his hands inside his robe, calmly farming aura.
"Damn, how much aura am I going to get from this?" I thought excitedly, watching Flame Princess stare at me with wide eyes, unable to believe she was losing to me.
"If they knew the original Ice King could've destroyed them if he wanted to… even frozen a huge area before they could react," I thought, shifting my gaze toward Gunter in the distance.
I had given him one task: protect Finn.I trusted Gunter… well, the demon inside him.
Shaking my head, I looked back at Flame Princess—who took advantage of my distraction and unleashed an attack so powerful it completely roasted my entire right side.
Realizing she had let her anger take over, Flame Princess stared in horror as half of the Ice King's body turned black, beyond saving.
Finn, who was watching, froze at the sight and couldn't help but throw up. Not because he hadn't seen worse—but because of who it had almost killed.
…
"What the hell…" the Ice King thought as he looked at the burned half of his body. His nerves were useless, and his heat sensors were gone—but then he remembered the regeneration.
He quickly closed his eyes, feeling his mana drop… as his body healed.
…
Flame Princess could only stare, mouth wide open, at what she had just seen.
"I thought," the Ice King said, making Flame Princess look at him in panic, "I thought you were different from your father." His voice was filled with disappointment.
"Wait, I didn't mean to—" the princess said, but she was instantly trapped inside an ice cage.
The cage shrank around Flame Princess as she screamed in pain.
When she returned to a normal, human-sized height, the Ice King dismissed his dragon and walked calmly forward. With the upper part of his shirt gone, it was clear he wasn't just bones—he had quite a bit of muscle.
He stopped in front of Flame Princess's cage. She had turned gray.
"Why?" I asked in my own voice.
Flame Princess looked at me, confused.
"Why did you send me letters?" I asked, pretending to be dumb… or, well, even dumber than usual.
"Letters?" Flame Princess said, confused.
"Of course," I said, summoning the letter that had been left in my house. "In this letter, you even insulted my mother. That's not something I forgive," I said, staring her down and throwing the letter at her with completely fake fury.
Weak, she picked it up—and realized she couldn't have written a letter like that. She looked up at the Ice King in confusion.
"What are you staring at?" I said seriously.
"N-nothing," the princess replied quickly, turning away.
I shook my head, grabbed a piece of wood, and tossed it to her. She burned it, regaining some strength.
I removed the ice cage and calmly walked through the destruction we had caused.
"Where are you going?" Flame Princess asked.
"I need to talk to another human," I said without turning back, flying in Gunter's direction.
…
…
Flame Princess stood up and flew after the Ice King, keeping her distance.
The Ice King arrived in front of Finn, who was hugging Gunter tightly.
"You protected him well, Gunter," I said, as he replied with the most beautiful words.
"Quack."
I smiled beneath my thick beard.
I looked at Finn, who stared at me with wide eyes.
"I saw you," I said simply, grabbing Gunter and walking away calmly.
From here on, I needed to review a lot of memories—everything that had happened, and the changes that might come next.
End of Chapter 1.