Chapter Text
War had waged across Earthbread for years now. Many lives were lost, and many more were suffering from those losses. Tonight was the night that the five of them were going to end it all.
Yet, it didn’t quite go that way. The power of five soul jams was not enough to stop her, whatever she was made of. And now, all that could be done was to wait for the inevitable.
“Any last words?” Dark Enchantress called out, soul jams hovering in her hand.
The five ancients stared up at her in horror. Despite their best efforts, it had all been for nothing. She had triumphed over them, the best shot that Earthbread had at being saved.
“You won’t get away with this!” Pure Vanilla yelled, standing and facing her indignantly.
A wicked grin spread across Dark Enchantress’s face. “Aw, but don’t you see? I already have!”
Golden Cheese, Hollyberry, and Dark Cacao all got to their feet, standing behind Pure Vanilla. “As long as we don’t give up, Earthbread has a chance!” Hollyberry called out, strawberry jam running down her face.
“Yeah, so don’t think you’ve won!” Golden Cheese yelled.
“It’s still five against one,” Dark Cacao said, his purple eyes staring knives into her.
“Five?”
The four of them turned around to see White Lily standing far behind them. Her head was dipped down, making her face unable to be seen. Her hands were gripped tightly around her staff, and her body was shaking.
“White Lily?” Pure Vanilla said, compassion for his friend in his voice. “What’s wrong? What is she talking about?” He reached his hand out, but Dark Cacao held his arm out in front of him, stopping him.
He leaned over and whispered, “Stay back. There’s something wrong, I can feel it.”
The shaking grew much more violent, and before long, they could hear laughter from her mouth. They watched in horror as she raised her head to reveal the same, crimson red eyes that belonged to their enemy in front of them. Still laughing maniacally, her body began to fade, and her laughter became unrecognizable from the one laughing at them above.
The four of them stared up at her, horrified by the truth. “No…” Hollyberry whispered, magenta eyes shaking in fear.
“I believe that was enough time for you to get your final words out, was it not?” she cackled. And, throwing her hand up in the sky, a red beam from the soul jams came from it, hurtling towards the four ancients who remained.
All they could do was watch in horror as it hurtled to them. Closing his eyes, Dark Cacao braced for impact. But it never came. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see Pure Vanilla in front of all of them, holding his arms out to form a huge shield.
“You guys need to hurry!” Pure Vanilla yelled. “I won’t be able to hold this for long!”
“What can we do?” Golden Cheese asked in desperation. “Not only does she have all of our soul jams, there’s only four of us! Without our power, we’re no better than the average cookie, and not even armies of them could beat her!”
Dark Cacao raced his mind, searching for a plan. But not a single one came. He shook his head, showing he had no ideas.
A moment of silence passed through the group, the only noise to be heard being rambling nonsense from Dark Enchantress that couldn’t be made out above the beam threatening them. The shield was cracking, and Pure Vanilla faltered. Struggling to keep it up, he was shaking. Without warning, Hollyberry grabbed them all, pulling them in for a hug.
“What are you doing?” asked Dark Cacao.
“We’re all going to die here,” she said, tears streaming down her cheek. “So I might as well die in the embrace of my friends.”
The three of them stared at her in shock, and they knew. If Hollyberry has truly given up, then it’s truly the end. Without another word, they all accepted her hug. Tears rolling down all of their cheeks, Pure Vanilla lowered his arms, and smiled one more time.
“I love you guys.”
Then it struck. It was never clear if they felt pain or not, but one thing was certain.
The Ancient Heroes were dead. Every single one of them.
Dark Enchantress called off her beam, and she stared where they used to be. Rather than feeling pity for her old friends, she felt rather indifferent. “Pathetic,” she muttered, sitting on the hand of her cake wraith.
She turned to the soul jams in her hand, smiling. “Now… It's time for darkness to rule over Earthbread. We’ll rebuild this world in my image!”
A bright light erupted from the sky. She shielded her eyes, watching as something emerged from the brightness. Not taking a form, its voice boomed out.
“Those do not belong to you.”
And, before she could stop it, the soul jams flew out of her hand. She reached out, but they were far out of her grasp, and the light displayed them for their light to reach all over Earthbread.
“Who are you?!” she yelled out in frustration and anger. “What gives you the right to take those?!”
“As long as the soul jams exist, darkness can never truly rule over this land. As long as they exist, there will be someone to stop you,” the ominous voice declared. “But as for now, war has waged long enough.”
The light of the soul jams grew brighter, and Dark Enchantress was blinded. She felt her dough starting to disappear, and she yelled out in anger and fear, “What are you doing to me?!”
“Earthbread needs peace. So for as long as we can hold you… you’ll remain hidden.”
Dark Enchantress tried to get more explanation, but no voice materialized. Her mouth had been taken by the light, and soon enough, she started to lose her vision. It wasn’t long before her body was completely gone, and the light retreated to where it had come from.
***************************************
Five cookies gathered together, waiting upon the sixth. Each of them had witnessed the events of the past hour long before it had happened, and now waited for what would inevitably come to them.
A tear of light tore between them, and through it emerged a cookie with starry, purple hair. As Moonlight materialized, Millennial Tree spoke.
“As seen, you have the soul jams?”
She nodded, opening her hand. The sheer size of the starry cookie allowed each of the soul jams to sit in her hand. Even the cookies who bore such power that were much taller than the average cookie were small compared to these elemental cookies.
“These are what they were fighting over?” Wind Archer asked. “They’re so… small.”
“You forget that we are much larger than they are,” Millennial Tree replied, laughing only a bit. “And despite them being small, these soul jams hold power equivalent to ours. It’s truly a shame we never got to personally speak to these heroes.”
“Remind me again why we didn’t step in?” Fire Spirit asked. “We knew what was going to happen, why didn’t we try to stop Dark Enchantress? I mean, she’s as much their rival as she is ours.”
“This wasn’t our place to interrupt,” Frost Queen explained, reciting the words Millennial Tree had told all of them. “It would be improper use of time control to try and stop it, and even then we may not have stopped it. As much of a shame as it is, it was their time to die.”
Millennial Tree nodded. “Unlike another cookie I know, I will not abuse time control. Everything that happens happens for a reason. That’s why the future said Moonlight would retrieve the soul jams and use their power to put Dark Enchantress into a rest, until there’s someone strong enough to defeat her.”
“Now what do we do with them?” Sea Fairy asked. “You only told us what would happen until Moonlight retrieved the soul jams. What do we do next?”
Millennial Tree shook his head. “I can’t give you the exact answers, but I can guide you all on the right path.” Taking the soul jams, he distributed them, one to each of the other cookies. “These soul jams each contain part of the hero's soul. Each of you will be in charge of making sure that the soul jam I’ve given to you goes to the right successor. Trust your gut, and trust what that hero’s soul tells you, and you’ll make the right decision.”
They gathered around, each holding the soul jam. Nodding, not one cookie said another word, simply carrying out the mission given to them by Millennial Tree. Eventually, all of them left, until it was only Millennial Tree and Wind Archer left.
“Hey,” Wind Archer said. “I know you told us to trust what the hero’s soul tells us, but…”
“But what?”
“This is White Lily’s soul jam. How do we know that it won’t tell us to give it to someone evil?”
He shook his head. “I can not give you that answer. All I can tell you is that if you trust your gut, you can not make the wrong decision.”
Wind Archer hesitated, then nodded. “Then I’ll take my leave. Goodbye.”
And without another trace, he disappeared. Millennial Tree sighed, looking up at the stars above. Closing his eyes, he whispered out what was to come.
“Five are dead, four obliterated by what had become of the fifth. She has been locked away, and will remain that way for several years. There will be five again, five who have the potential to finish her off for good.”
“The first hails from a Kingdom of great glory, but not from a great childhood. Maimed by a childhood incident, they search for a way to change the future of their home’s residents rather than turn a blind eye towards it.”
“The second suffers an unjust punishment, isolating them from those they love. Wandering the cruel environment, they manage to remain loyal to their beliefs and what they stand for while their enemy infects their home land.”
“The third will want nothing to do with such power, and will try to deny it for the longest time. But as those around them become threatened by a greater being, they will take the power to keep them protected.”
“The fourth is a bird in a cage, trapped by what they always thought to be their loving home. And unless they can escape or stand up for themselves, their power will cause them to make a mistake they’ll regret for all eternity.”
“Finally, the fifth is a mere child. With nothing special about them, they will be granted one of the greatest powers of all. The power to heal any ailment. If they learn how to wield such power, they will surpass the previous soul jam’s owner.”
“But they must become five. None of them will stand a chance unless they become five. They… will be the Last Hope for Earthbread.”