An early calamity

Chapter 1

HW's Pov

HW was bored out of her mind. The Spirit of the Forest was squatting in her house and she didn't really want to see him. Things grew awkward between them since their reunion and he had the brilliant idea of letting the resident thunder boar roam free in her house.

This was a few days ago. She didn't really like leaving the forest except for when she had to go shopping or to participate in local tournaments. This time, though, she had someone to go to and that made the outside world a bit more bearable to walk in. The air wasn't as oppressive as she remembered and she quickly found herself in front of the tree house. She knocked.

"Hey HW!" Finn exclaimed after opening the door. "How's it going?"

She paused a bit before answering. "Ah, good. I guess. The spirit of the Forest decided to crash at my house and the boar followed him. So I came to crash at yours."

Finn froze for a few seconds, but quickly recovered. "Yeah, sure! Come on in." He stepped away from the door to let her inside.

She reflexively scanned the room as she stepped in. For a room at the base of a big tree, it was well illuminated. She looked at the descending sun trough the window and swiftly followed her friend in the room above.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Finn asked, checking the fridge.

"No thanks." She said, sitting under the window, directly in the sun rays. "I just need a little bit of sunlight."

She fidgeted a little, trying to find comfortable position, but ultimately decided it would be better to just lay on the ground.

Finn's Pov

Well, he certainly wasn't expecting that. They hadn't really kept contact after the whole summoning thing, it was mostly just meeting by chance when exploring the forest or when he was grocery shopping at the market. So her coming at his house, just before nighttime of all thing, came as a surprisingly pleasant surprise.

Jake wasn't there, since he and Lady Rainicorn were going on a honeymoon in the Steam Isles for a while. He would've been alone for bit so company from a friend would no hurt.

Finn closed the refrigerator at her answer and took the chili he prepared from himself. He turned around and his breath caught in his throat as he saw HW collapsed on the ground, eyes wide open. He rushed to her side, panicked, but sighed in relief when he saw her breathing calmly and looking at him with her perpetually wide green eyes.

"Hey." Her eyes widened a bit more as she saw his face. "You okay?" She asked with a tinge of concern in her voice.

"Y- yeah..." He answered a bit shakily. "I just thought you had collapsed. I didn't hear you move at all. Heh."

She just smiled. "Nah, I'm okay. I just wanted to feel the last light of the day, it's relaxing." After an instant of reflection, she tapped on the ground next to her. "Come here. It looks like you need it too."

Finn strolled over and plopped beside her. The room was getting darker by the minute and soon they could only see the pastel colors of the sky peaking through the horizon. Soon enough, both of them were plunged in darkness. Quiet snores reverberated around the room and if one looked, they would see a sheet of moss slowly growing over two body.

HW Pov

She felt the warmth of the sun before she awoke. She felt big and stuck, yet free, like a vast land covered in grass. As she opened her eyes, tough, the feeling did not disappear and she looked around in muted panic. Moss covered every corner of the room and beyond. And as weird as it was, it wasn't the worst. She could feel the moss. She had always been able to transform into various vegetal, like logs, grass and even moss, but never on this scale and even less while sleeping.

Stress started to crawl into her mind when she could feel the moss growing faster, faster, faster. She could soon feel the whole tree, its roots digging deep, becoming colder, colder, colder.

She woke up in pain. Her body of moss started to shrink back, unable to grab unto anything, before finally snapping back into her own shape. Feeling completely dehydrated, she could barely let out a rasp before going on a coughing fit.

"Cough, cough!.."

She saw Finn opening his eyes, startled, and immediately close them again because of the blazing sun. After a few more coughs, she had recovered enough to be able to see him hastily running to the sink for a glass of water.

When standing up failed, she crawled to the nearest wall and leaned on it. It was like a shock, the cold in her dream had felt so real. It was like she fell into a bucket of lava just after bathing in the rare rivers of the Ice Kingdom. She looked out the window, only to hiss in pain after looking at the glowing, nearly white orb that was floating in the sky. She tried again, this time carefully, and saw a completely clear sky, that was sometimes interrupted by what seemed to be waves in the air.

She gratefully took the offered glass and took a sip. It took a bit of effort to swallow the liquid trough her throat, but she immediately felt better after the action. Her leafy hairs visibly regrew and her skin became smooth once again.

Finally feeling better, she stood up with a blank look on her face. "Well that was a thing. I hadn't felt that dry since I tried to eat a salt rock."

Finn's Pov

He had been a little worried when he saw HW dried form next to him as soon as he woke up, but it turned out it had already happened to her, and she seemed okay with it. A smile unwillingly put itself on his face. It turned a little worried when he looked out at the blazing sphere in the sky. HW walked beside him and hummed.

"Isn't the sun supposed to be coming up from this side?" She asked, pointing at the opposite window.

His eyes widened and he ran to the window on the other side of the room. Sure enough, another definitely smaller ball of fire was just peeking out the horizon. Strangely enough, this side of the house seemed colder too. Before he could call HW over though, a blast of cold hair hit him and threw him on the ground.

"What the- !"

He jumped upright instantly and ran back to the window. Was it just him or did the Ice Kingdom seems closer than before? He squinted at the largest ice mountain of the kingdom. The mysterious orb reflected off the giant pike, making it glow brightly and the light seemed to only increase more and more. Running to the other window, he looked at the now larger sphere and looked at its trajectory, which filled his heart with dread. It was headed directly toward the Ice Kingdom.

Simon Pov, Some Hours Before

He had finally done it. With the crown's data stolen from Princess Bubblegum, he had achieved the impossible, something even his Betty failed at. Recreating a magic crown that left its mind to its wielder. Looking at the shiny thing in is hand made him feel like a child again. He was excited. Before he could change idea, he closed his eyes and put it on his head and... Nothing happened. He was about to sigh in defeat and remove it, but a sharp throb in his head made him hiss in pain and fall to the ground. He frantically scratched at the crown to take it off, but it stubbornly stayed stuck to his head. He eventually rolled down the stairs in his endeavor, and slammed violently on the space-time machine in the depths of the mountain. In his frenzy, he didn't notice Jacky, his favorite jacket, fall into the machine. He didn't notice a particularly frustrated Gunter climbing on the power source and starting to pedal at high speed, starting the machine. In the middle of the night, nobody noticed a jacket-shaped hole ripping the sky open, letting passing trough strong light. Something was approaching.