OMEN
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"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
― Edgar Allan Poe
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The noise of the nearby waves splashing the shores of Echo Creek beach aroused Star from her sleep on the sand. Groaning softly, the Princess of Mewni opened her eyes and willed her head upwards, looking out at the calm waters.
Smiling to herself, Star laid her head back down on the sandy ground and looked up at the clear blue skies above her, for most of her life she was used to Mewni's pink skyline…Earth's blue skies were always a joy to look up at. That's what she loved about Earth. How different it was compared to her home world Mewni.
Then there was the people of Earth.
"Star!"
Speaking of which.
Turning her head to the left, Star saw her best friend Marco and, his girlfriend, Jackie waving over at her from the parking lot not too far.
Ignoring that annoying pressure in her chest that was unbearable, oddly whenever she saw Marco and Jackie together, Star smiled brightly and slowly got to her feet, stretched and began to walk towards the two. As she reached the stairs leading up to the parking lot, she saw Marco and Jackie walking back into town. Wanting to catch up with the two, Star quickly trotted after them.
Almost like someone had turned on an air conditioning, Star felt the warm air around her suddenly grow cold. But she ignored the sudden cool breeze and tried to catch up with Marco and Jackie…but…something was wrong. Marco and Jackie only got farther from her despite her walking faster than them. Looking at the ground, Star realized that, somehow, she was not moving!
Her blue eyes widening, Star looked up as her best friend and his girlfriend continued to get farther and farther from her. That pressure in Star's heart increased…and she tried to scream out to Marco and Jackie. But no noise left her lips.
As Marco and Jackie disappeared from sight, Star felt tears roll down her cheeks…and she slowly stopped trying to run…and fell to her knees, knowing she was going nowhere.
The cold air returned and with it the black clouds began to cover the blue sky. Looking up at the sky, Star felt a strong gust of cold wind blow passed her, knocking Star off of her feet and sent her flying through the air.
Before she could react, Star felt her entire body smash into the ocean water.
Desperately Star attempted to swim back to the surface but an unnatural current of water knocked her further underwater, the surface of the water becoming distant each second. Closing her eyes, Star let the water take her body further underwater, resigning herself to her fate…
As the darkness further engulfed her, Star felt something grab her hand.
Opening her eyes, Star saw someone holding her hand and helping her reach the surface. Seconds later, Star reached the surface of the ocean gasping for air. After swimming back to shore, Star rolled onto her back and took a deep breath in relief. But as Star began to take in her surroundings…her eyes widened when she saw the pink sky line…of Mewni?
Standing to her feet Star looked at her surroundings, confused. How did she end up back home? The only way to traverse Dimensions were by using a pair of Dimensional Scissors like Marco's…
Frowning, Star looked down at the river she had come out of. She recognized it…looking southward relief washed over her when she saw the Butterfly Kingdom in the distance. Walking in the direction of the Kingdom Star stopped when she saw a girl with raven colored hair who was about her age standing a yard away.
Getting closer to the young woman, Star was about to speak to get the girl's attention until the girl looked back at her. Star stopped in her tracks upon seeing the girl's face…which looked just like Star's.
Staring at the girl, confounded, Star was not sure what to make of this. The raven haired girl simply smiled at the Princess of Mewni, and proceeded to walk towards the Kingdom. Recovering from her shock, Star quickly ran after the girl.
Like before, back on Earth, Star felt the more she ran, the farther the raven haired girl went ahead of hers despite walking. This time, at least, Star was moving.
The raven haired girl entered the city around the Butterfly family's enormous castle. What caught Star's attention as the followed the girl: was that there was no one in the city…the question of where everyone was popped in her head, but the princess was more interested in catching up with the Raven haired girl despite that mysterious detail.
Maybe everyone in the kingdom knew she was back? Yeah, that had to be it…she did have a reputation.
As she neared the Castle gate, Star saw the raven haired girl stop in the front of the grand entrance. Star smirked as she neared the woman…but the cold air she had felt moments before being knocked in the ocean on Earth returned caused her to stop in her tracks. Looking up at the girl she was following…she realized now that the girl now looked to be in her mid-twenties.
Before Star could comprehend what was going on…the woman's shadow suddenly began to crawl towards Star with a will of it's own and morph into a circle around her.
What next caused the blood in Star's cheeks to turn cold. Shadowy figures began to rise from the ground, almost like the undead from the Lucitor Kingdom! Each shadowy figure appeared to resemble monsters that plagued Mewni, but were baseless.
Pulling out her Wand, Star held up her family's royal heirloom and prepared to cast one of her spells.
Something was off…the Crystal Star of her Wand was not glowing. Looking up, Star saw the shadows rush her. Dodging a strike from one of the shadows, Star felt the wand in her hand suddenly vibrate and change shape. Looking at her wand, she saw that it now resembled a sword hilt with a beam of pink light taking the form of a saber, not quite different from Queen Solaria the Monster Carver's version of the Royal Wand.
Holding up the blade, Star wasted no time to use her weapon. Parrying a blow from the closest shadow to her, Star quickly brought the blade of energy forward, impaling her opponent through the chest. After doing so, the shadow disintegrated into a mist of light.
Ignoring the destruction of one of their own, the shadows continued advancing on Star. But Rebel Princess continued felling shadow after shadow with her blade. As time went on, the Royal Wand took on various shapes and forms. Changing into a Mace, a Bow and a spear as Star defeated more shadows.
When the last of the shadows fell, Star took a moment to catch her breath…but when she saw more shadows crawling on the ground, converging a few feet from her, Star stood up straight and held the spear out, ready to fight her new opponent.
But as the shadows converged and created a new entity…Star froze up when she saw what the shadows were forming.
Unlike the previous shadows, this one had an appearance. An appearance of an enemy she knew so little but to this day she still was uneasy about him.
Dressed in a black skintight battle armor with skull pauldrons…Star saw a raven haired Septarsis walk towards her.
It was Toffee.
Holding a Khopesh in his left hand, the Septarsis walked forward slowly towards the Princess.
While nervous, Star was ready to confront her foe. She had her wand. No amount of Regeneration was going to keep him safe!
But as Star prepared to rush forward, the Royal wand grow cold in Star's hands. Looking at her wand, Star's eyes widened in horror as the Wand's form began to become completely encased in ice…and shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Looking up from her now shattered wand, her family' most important heirloom with, with watery eyes, Star looked up to see Toffee getting closer to her.
Her nerves told her to stand her ground and fight, she was a rebel Princess after all! However, her mind told her to flee.
Following her mind's advice, Star quickly turned towards the castle entrance and ran towards it. Not daring to look back at the Septarsis.
Opening the doors to the entrance hall. Star fell to her knees after closing the doors…
Tears engulfed her eyes…she had lost her wand again…she had no idea what was going on.
Clicking of heels hitting the stone floor up on the upper balconies of the entrance hall caused Star to look up.
There she was again…the raven haired woman. Gazing down at Star as she walked across the upper balcony towards the grand stair case…her fingers grazing the stone railing beside her as she looked at Star bellow.
Grinding her teeth together and wiping the tears from her eyes, Star stood to her feet and quickly ran up the stair case to the second floor balcony. Intent on catching up with the raven haired woman. She knew what was going on! She must! And Star intended to get every question out of her.
Star followed the woman to one of the higher floors in the castle. At first Star had no idea where the woman was going…until the woman phased through a specific door…
Leading to the Grandma Room, the room where tapestries of Star's grandmothers and the past Queens of Mewni decorated the walls.
Pushing the door open, Star entered the circular room…and found the Raven haired woman facing the opposite wall, gazing at one of the tapestries.
Stomping forward, fists clenched, Star approached the woman…but stopped in her tracks as the woman turned to face her. A shadowy mist hovered around the woman as she did so.
Now…the Raven haired woman appeared to be in her mid-forties. Unlike before, the woman's hair was poofier and showed signs of greying. She was wearing a black dress, long white gloves covering her hands and a black sun hat over her head…covering her cheeks were pink Spade markings.
Star's eyes widened when she recognized the woman. Both from her memory…and from the tapestry hanging behind this woman.
Looking at Star with penetrating glowing purple eyes…was Queen Eclipsa, Queen of Shadows, herself.
Holding up her right hand, Star saw the frozen pieces of her wand, which she had left outside, suddenly appear in front of Eclipsa's hand. The former queens snapped her fingers…and all of the pieces of the Royal Wand repaired themselves back into Star's own wand. With another snap of her fingers, the wand entered Eclipsa's reach. In a flash of violet light, the Royal Wand transformed into a closed Parasol with a purple orb on its crown, adorned with raven wings.
Star looked at her ancestor…no words were able to come forth.
With her free hand, Eclipsa reached out for Star. Offering Star to take it. Smiling softly at descendant.
Looking at Eclipsa questioningly…Star slowly held her hand out towards the old queen's hand…but stopped midway. Visibly thinking.
Eclipsa began to open her mouth to speak…but what followed was only darkness.
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Star awoke with a start. Her forehead covered in cold sweat.
Looking at her surroundings…Star sighed in relief when she recognized her bedroom in the Diaz household. Her clock read 11:34 P.M. So she had been asleep for an hour since she got back from the Love Sentence concert.
Just the thought of that concert made that squeezing feeling in Star's chest to return. Frowning, Star laid back on her, the back of her head pressing against her pillow. Trying to forget the concert…
But as she closed her eyes…the images of Eclipsa's piercing purple eyes filled her mind as Star entered a dreamless sleep.
