Time to bring this (admittedly very funny and awesome contest) to an end. For those who have been following: thanks for reading and even participating, it was a fun ride! Thank you for making and creating this weird and utterly surreal story, I'm awed by your contributions!
For those not in the know: I have been posting a painting of mine every week, along with a short story with some ___ blanks, that everybody could fill in in the comments. Everybody who did so got a piece of the SBD of every particular post, which was divided after payout.
It all started with Mystery Man, who then suddenly split into two versions of himself, then (one of them) found himself lost in Niflheim, and while looking for his brother, was approached by, yes - the one and only Rhas Al Ghore, with his army of creatures, and was finally saved by the Guardian of the Lake.
What remains is mashing up the final tale, using the entries from 
This was the painting, The Guardian of The Lake, and the story to be interpreted:
Everybody who was present - Mystery Man, The Green Rhas Al Ghore and His Beings all paused and held hands, in a reenactment of the archaic ring-around-the-ritual... It wasn't peace in the realm, simply a customary distraction... Reverence to tradition was what kept reality from freezing over, like so many Lakes from legend...
The Guardian of the Lake did not flinch and spoke - quietly, but with great authority: "The Order of the Silver Blood Moon hath forbidden the crossing of worlds, lest you risk disturbing the balance of the ten planes and thirteen hells. Your quest ends here man of mystery, but I shall grant you safe return to your abode."
"I can live with that, your Ladyship, thank you," Mystery Man answered, kneeling before her.
"Never!" Rhas Al Ghore shouted, while drawing his magical staff, summoning the brother to offer as a last-ditch trade, knowing his bubblegum factory's production would plummet without its manager... The brothers embraced and were too distracted to be caught up in what ensued...
The Guardian of the Lake smothered the moon and Rhas Al Ghore with icy, vein chilling liquid.
All went quiet.
Mystery Man suddenly felt a deep vibration emerging, growing stronger, dissonant yet harmonic, taking hold of his auditory senses. Now he could hear it, too. The voice of Morgan Freeman, narrating this every moment as it passed, speaking those very words you read right now...
...and then it spoke:
THe eND
EPILOGUE to Mystery Man:
It was over. Mystery Man and his twin brother had escaped from the dimensional manifold of Niflheim, only just in time being rescued by the Guardian of the Lake from the clutches of the dreaded Rhas Al Ghore and his minions.
They both felt nauseated and confused. Checking their little suitcases, they felt their job was done.
No, it wasn't! This was only the beginning. Again!
If you have no clue where this epilogue comes from: check out
Now that's a full circle!
I may do a sequel to this, but not immediately - thanks to everybody for following, upvoting, resteeming, participating, commenting, having fun, the works, really! I enjoyed doing this, did you?