Roosevelt staggered, clutching his chest, as Verne’s cannons smashed his heart in a mighty blast.

“You, like the House of Usher, are fallen,” said Poe with a tiny smile beneath his tiny mustache.

Roosevelt shook a ham-sized fist. “You have destroyed my human heart, but I still have the heart I ripped beating from the chest of a dragon and stuffed into my body as a backup!” He leapt onto his Rough Rider Rhinocerus and gunned the engine with a kick to the beast’s flank. “I will find bigger guns, and then I will be back for you!” He disappeared back in time.

Poe stood victorious at the end of all things. He linked arms with Verne, who had a silly smile on his face. Poe looked morosely into the black hole as it swallowed the last remnants of the world, leaving only Verne’s airship.

“Now the Conqueror Worm has won,” said Poe.

Just as he spoke, a darkly gleaming mystic staff shot out of the black hole.

“Impossible,” breathed Verne, catching it in the mechanical arms of the ship. The staff began to tremble….