Fear, that was the best way to explain an instinctual reaction produced by the body when meeting something it could not understand.
Jeff had met that type of monster today. Something he could not understand. The moment those eyes had turned away from their queen and met his, it was like his world was stripped of everything.
It was like falling into a deep red pool of blood, it was like seeing a vortex of countless souls drowning, burning and being torn apart…
It was the birth of fear within him!
With that small spark, and with the current connection of the Gnomes as a result of their Giant Gnome mode, that fear spread like ink on a white shirt. From Jeff to the entire colony of Gnomes, they all felt that all-encompassing fear consume them.
The result of this was a complete shutdown from them. Their bodies going a pale white as the giant gnome formation crumbled down.
The gnomes were defeated
Adventure Time...
"…and I better not see any of you around these parts again or next time, I won't be so accommodating. "The tables were turned and Marceline was now the one talking arrogantly.
She had her arms crossed, her head raised high at a tilt and her voice rich with contempt.
But the gnomes, alteast the one that had gone through whatever Marceline had done to them, had zero fight left in them. They looked down weekly. Some still a ghastly white, others trembling even at this moment. And another, one Finn knew was rolling on the ground looking like his soul had left his body.
"Shme....bulock."
This gnome that could not utter any other words was of course among this group equally beaten and pale. In fact, he looked to be in horrible condition, twitching every now and then while saying his name silently to himself.
The current gnomes were truly pitiful, but their current state was well deserved. It was either these or having their soul sucked out and in his opinion, this was clearly the better option.
"Yes Ma'am, we understand, we'll make sure to stay as far away as possible."
Jeff, like the others had been completely conquered with fear. His head was lowered not even daring to look up. He felt those blood red eyes look down on him and could only shiver, cold goose pimples rising along his body.
If he could Jeff would travel back into the past and give himself a slap! What had they been thinking, wasn't he looking for death. He recalled his past insults and mockery and could only shiver both in fear and anger.
A slap wasn't enough, a thorough beating was what that past fool needed.
His only source of relief though was the fact that at least they had come out of this ordeal alive.
"Shme…bullock."
…Barely alive, but that was better than being dead. And to Jeff, the leader of his race, that was good enough in his books.
"Also make sure to stay away from my friend Finn. And apologize for bothering him before you leave."
"Yes, were very sorry for disturbing you Miss Finn. We hope you'll forgive us."
At this point Jeff just wanted to be on his way. He would agree to anything Marceline said just to quickly get away from those red eyes looking at him. Seeing the blonde-haired kid nod at their apology only brought relief to him.
"Finn is there anything you want to add." Marceline finally turned to ask Finn, satisfied with the response the gnomes were giving her. Seeing the obnoxious arrogance breaking into these fearful trembling was truly satisfying. A small evil part within her was doing jumping jacks.
Finn turned at Marceline's words, thinking over what else he could say or add to the conversation.
The situation was deeply strange to him. What exactly had Marceline done. He already was aware of how pathetic the gnomes were. The highlighted weakness in the original Journal was a leaf blower! This was a clear example of their potential.
But what had Marceline done. Even with his senses, Mikael had felt nothing. Was it simply because whatever had happened had not been direct at him. That could be a good explanation. But it was truly strange.
He would think about it later.
"Hmm." He suddenly had an idea, his eyes turning to look at the Jeff with an amused smile on his face. He brought his open palm forward while making a gimme motion.
"That Diamond you have on you, gimme it." Finn's eyes were shining quite brightly. Wasn't it normal to get loot after completing an adventure. Well, getting to know Marceline might have been good enough for him but Jeff didn't know that. And it was free loot.
Jeff could only stare mouth open and eyes wide with shock. This was blatant robbery. Even the grey skin had only beaten them up, but this one wanted to even take the clothe from their back.
How shameless!!
His immediate denial of even thinking of handling over the diamond was because Jeff was very much aware of what Finn was talking about. It was the Diamond that made up the set of the ring he carried, and it was infact quite a large piece!
The fact that this was a sacred gnome artefact passed down within Gnomes and only worn by the Gnome queen only made his denial make even more sense.
And it was as clear as day that the blond-haired girl wasn't going to be their queen so his refusal was even more prominent.
"Now listen here kid, this is out sacred gnome Heirloom…" Jeff started shouting with righteous indignance enough that he had forgotten his fear and raised his head up high to stand his ground.
It was then his eyes met those swirling pools of red once again looking at him. He again saw the images of swirling wailing souls as if trapped in an endless pull of blood and immediately, the sudden defiance that had grown within his heart was quickly crushed.
Heirloom, artefact, sacred Gnome ring. That all could go to hell! Wasn't his life even more important.
"Take it, I would be honored for you to have it miss." Jeff quickly took out the ring and handed it over, his earlier stupid courage quickly discarded for self-preservation. Couldn't they just make a new ring, despite this one being in the clan for at least a century and maybe even more.
He was definitely not crying, yes that was sweat!
As a leader, he could only despair at his previous blindness.
"And also…" Finn again started and he saw again how his words brought a shocked fear induced expression on Jeff
But Jeff could only swallow his complaints.
"Yes miss."
"…I'm a boy. I might have this very beautiful blond hair but I'm a hundred percent a dude, so your aspirations were dead even before they begun…and very gay" Finns words were quite blunt and he said these while rubbing the diamond within his hands with great curiosity.
Crack
Finn was very sure he heard something shatter, but that was clearly none of his business currently. These diamond ring he had taken as his loot was very interesting.
"A guy… a little boy… all that work! We got beaten up… we were toyed with… for nothing." Jeff showed signs of quickly having a mental breakdown. His muttering were only growing more and more chaotic the more time passed.
"Now scram." Marceline said suddenly loudly. The small show had greatly amused her. Originally, she had thought Finn was some goody two shoes but that last bout of asking for loot and breaking the little creatures heart was pure gold. She couldn't have done it better herself!
The Gnomes already on edge did not need to be told more than that, the moment Marceline's words concluded they rushed away, some on all fours, some climbing over another. Even Jeff who had been muttering by himself having a break down was rushed away by several gnomes carrying him as they run.
"Shmebulock..."
It was a clear example of their great fear for it only took about a minute for the surroundings to be completely cleared of them. The once noisy environment was now very silent.
"Pff hahahhaaha."
The silent did not last long though. Marceline suddenly burst of in full blown happy laughter. She held her stomach tightly doubled over in great amusement. Even the eyes that once looked at the gnomes in contempt now held dancing joy and fun.
"Finn that was great! To completely break his heart like that. You little sly devil. I thought you couldn't heart a fly but you're just full of surprises!" She immediately burst out laughing again.
"Hmph, I have zero romantic interest in men."
Marceline only laughed even louder her eyes squinting with tears. She could of course hear the displeasure within his voice.
What she failed to see was his changing expression
"But off course for instance if he was a goth vampire girl with long silky black hair, beautiful grey skin and a voice like an angel. I would have immediately agreed to the proposal of marriage. In fact, I would plan the whole thing!"
Finn's smile grew wider with the sudden stop in laughter. He was even more amused by the sudden flush that rose on Marceline's neck rising upto her ears. With the tone of her skin, it was impossible to hide and only become that more prominent to spot.
"Ah but alas, where would I find such a beautiful soul! If only she was standing right next to me…" [Stare]
Marceline, unable to hide her embarrassment suddenly shot forwards towards him and in a second, he was again within her arms having his face mushed again. Her face had gone completely red again and her embarrassment was very apparent, but she tried her best to hide this.
"Hehe, you have quite a way with words Finn. Almost makes me want to squish you up and take a bite."
"Noo, please don't~" Finn complained while offering his neck with a teasing smile
"Hahahaha." This again earned him another full-blown laugh from Marceline.
Adventure Time…..
Pov: Jake
"Hey Star, now that I think about it. Have you seen Finn."
Jake had finally noticed something strange after he got over his distraction from the current battle. And the only reason for this was that after the fight between Dimension wizard and Mirror Wizard, the rest of the fight was quite subpar.
It was only now that he sensed he couldn't clearly get a read-on Finn's scent. There was something else, something even more prominent that was interfering.
"No, not since the fight started." Star shouted excitedly, but sensing Jakes change in tone she turned to look and immediately noticed his worry.
"What's wrong, do you think he's in danger." She asked her voice rising slightly at the tone. The new friend she had just made, how could she Ster Butterfly allow him to be in any sort of trouble.
"I'm not sure but I have a weird feeling." Jakes nose twitched again both in confusion and worry.
"Then let's go and look for him."
Star without waiting jumped from the both they were vaulting over the table and dropping down.
"Woah, be more careful." Jake shouted as he was pulled along from his chair.
The two quickly abandoned their post but it did not matter much. Many had lost interest in the match after the opening match. The ones still standing were mostly those who were enthusiastic about magic.
"No way Jake, saving a friend is more important!"
"Huhhhh." Jake could only sight like an old man. Kids were truly full of energy.
...
Yo guys, hope everyone is doing okay
Moving on, to not overwhelm myself I've decided to change things up a little. I will be posting 1 chapter a week with longer content form, meaning at least 2000 and above words per chapter.
But do not be dissapointed, If you want more chapter drops for the week, I will be setting a Milestone. First of my main goal is to get on the power rankings and I know we can do it, so let's give it our all
Let's start with for 300 power stones, 1 extra chapter drop. Is this number alot yes, but I belive we can do so let's do our best. If we manage to achieve this and also get into the ranking, I won't mind suffering so I can drop more chapters
We were so close last week, let's do our best again for this week guys
Other wise, for those wishing to read ahead, check out My Patron which has a 2 dollar offer for the entire adventure time collection which is currently sitting at chapter 70
https://discord.com/invite/B6PSXSrY68
patreon.com/Prof_Nuclear
If you feel like appreciating my other books also check out Myriad realms. My own twist on the infinity flow genre
Thank you for reading