Chapter 1 - A Bad Omen
Marshall Lee was restless. He floated in circles around his bedroom, looking for something to do. None of his attempts at music had gotten anywhere, his zombie dog Schwabelle was fed and napping downstairs on the couch, and Ice Queen was off having some “personal time” with her penguins. He looked around at his room, surveying his belongings. He noted the pile of laundry stacked at the foot of his bed, and briefly pondered doing laundry.“Yeah… not gonna happen today,” he said out loud, stretching. Perhaps Schwabelle had the right idea. Marshall Lee chuckled to himself as he drifted over to his bed. Over a thousand years old, and still avoiding his household chores. As he kicked his shoes off, he looked over at his side table. A folded piece of paper sat next to his lamp. It was an invitation to Prince Gumball’s nineteenth birthday party, and the quarterly rotation of the Bubblegum Guardians. Marshall had initially been excited for the party, a chance to hang out with Fiona and Cake, and a fantastic opportunity for irritating Mr. Gummybutt himself. But he wasn’t the musical feature of the evening, and it bugged him. “Chell and Lollypop Guy will be performing all night long”, the invitation proclaimed, in bubbly pink letters. Marshall knew that he shouldn’t let something like that bother him, but he had spent the past two months working on a new set of songs, just for Prince Gumball’s birthday.
Marshall sighed and rolled over. It’s not like he had to impress Gumball or anything, he thought to himself. He just liked to show off and one-up his rivals, a personal flaw that Marshall was rather fond of. Plus, not showing up would probably annoy Gumball just as much as if Marshall had spent the entire evening teasing him. Content with that thought, Marshall fell asleep.
A strange clock hung on a damp cave wall, lit by an eerie red light. Its hands were blurry, and instead of numbers around the face, it had words and symbols. A voice echoed through the darkness, a voice that was immediately familiar, yet aged and frail.
“For as long as light shines, my dear. Forget not, the light-stone and torch. The beast comes, when the light shines no more.”
The red light flickered, silhouetting two figures sitting at a table, one hunched, the other tall and shaking with rage. The light faded as the hunched figure keeled forward, then collapsed on the ground. A thunderous, roaring laugh shook the cave, causing drops of water to fall from the ceiling. As the red light disappeared completely, one of the hands of the clock solidified, pointing at one word shining bright in the darkness. “Beltane”.
Marshall Lee jolted awake, dripping with sweat. It couldn’t be, he thought to himself, it was just a dream. He rolled over, and switched on his bedside lamp, the laugh from the dream still echoing in his ears. Marshall rarely had nightmares, and when he did they were often omens of events to come. He reached out for a pencil to jot down the message from the dream, and felt his hand brush against a warm powder. The invitation to Gumball’s party had been reduced to ash on his side table. That sealed it, he thought to himself. It wasn’t just a dream. It was a vision. He grabbed his shoes and bolted out of the window, flying toward the mouth of his cave.
There was only one man smart enough to decode the message from the vision, and time was short. The Draugur was coming.
Prince Gumball bid the last of his guests goodnight, and closed the front door of his castle, smiling. It had been a magical night. He had danced for hours, the cake was magnificent, and only two small things had gone wrong. He had even shared a slow dance with Fiona. The only surprise was a missing vampire demon, and Gumball counted that as a plus. Marshall Lee, the Vampire King, was a pain in his royal butt.
At the top of the stairs, Prince Gumball greeted Peppermint Maid, the head of the royal staff and his most trusted advisor.
“Your highness, I trust you had a most splendid evening?” she said.
“Oh yes, it was fantastic. The Duchess of Nuts says ‘hi’, by the way. Also, have we figured out why the Bubblegum Guardians didn’t rotate?” Gumball asked, walking down the hall toward his chambers. Apart from a slight incident with Lady Lemongrab trying to remove some “unacceptable” tapestries, the rotation of the guards was the only hiccup of the evening.
“We have Colonel Candy Corn on it as we speak, and, if she cannot convince them to rotate, we will call in Dr. Prince for a psychological examination.”
“Very good, thank you. Well, good night.”
“Good night, my lord.” Peppermint maid curtsied, and left. Gumball yawned, entered his room, and instantly froze. His windows were open, and the curtains blew in the wind. A dark figure stood in the middle of the room, floating a foot above the floor. It took a moment for Gumball to register who it was.
“Criminy, Marshall Lee. You almost scared the icing out of me.” He paused. “Why are you in my chambers? Here to tease me, or are you just-“
“Shut it,” snapped Marshall. Something in his voice sounded strained, and it made Gumball nervous. He reached out and flicked the light switch by the door, and the gumdrop chandelier over his bed lit up the room with a warm glow. He could see now that Marshall had tears in his eyes.
“Marshall? What’s wrong?” Gumball frowned, worried. It took a lot to upset Marshall Lee. “You can’t be mad that I asked Chell and Lollypop Guy to perform tonight. I thought they could use-“
Marshall Lee silently held out a scrap of paper, with the words from his vision hastily scrawled on in pencil. He remained silent as Gumball took the paper and read the words twice.
“What is this?” he said, confused.
“It’s a message, from a vision I had. I think the Draugur is going to return. I think…” The tears welled up in his eyes again. “I think my father is about to die.”
