Chapter 2: Corn
The cave was a dark, sullen setting, brooding with connotations of death and despair. It was located deep underground, and therefore there was minimal lighting, giving the whole place an almost demonic aura. A foul stench hung around the cave like a disease, unfaltering. The only sound to be heard was the faint noise of squeaking.
Rats scurried around the cave, determined looks glazing over their eyes. On each of their backs they carried solitary cobs of corn, obviously with the purpose of transporting them. One by one they reached their destination, which was an ever growing pile of bright yellow corn, draped in darkness. The rats flung their cobs onto the pile and scurried away hastily, possibly to retrieve even more corn for the ominous pile.
Suddenly, a large figure swooped down from the ceiling of the cave, large wings protruding from it's sides. It landed on top of the pile of corn and studied it, taking in every detail of the mountain of yellow.
Once Bird had inspected the corn to her satisfaction, she gave out a loud squawk. She then proceeded to scoop up a few cobs in her large beak, and off the pile she flew. Down and down Bird spiralled, until she reached the ground, flapping her wings as she made her descent. The rats around her stopped briefly to stare at this action, until they caught the vicious glare in Bird's eyes. Immediately they got back to work, and Bird landed gracefully on the floor of the cave.
Bird spat the cobs out of her beak and down on the ground, them now being covered in ornithological saliva. Eyeing the corn greedily, she bent down her neck slowly to snatch up a lone cob, until a shrill sound in the near distance cause her to flinch. She lost her footing and landed face first into the corn, squawking in shock and pain as she did so. Looking around in annoyance, Bird scanned the area for the source of the irritating sound. All of a sudden it came again, and this time words could be made out.
"It's happening again!"
Out of the darkness crawled a giant arachnid, eight legs moving forward in a sinister fashion. All the rats scurried hurriedly out of the vicinity at her entrance, their job abandoned. Bird spotted Spider entering the giant corn room of the cave, and yet Spider was not alone. On top of her rode what could only be described as the least threatening monster ever seen on the plains of Mewni. This was a short, round-headed and beaked individual, sporting a large grey beard that was tied thrice at its end. In lieu of clothes, the little monster wore a bright gold chip bag, which crinkled noisily as he rode Spider deeper into the room.
In his hand was an object of great mystery. What appeared to be a rock attached to bone was grasped tightly in the arm of this beaked monster, and he was staring at it intently with gruesome yellow eyes. In the middle of the stone, however, was half of a star, cleaved straight down the middle. And it was glowing.
As Spider reached nearer the corn pile, Ludo jumped down from his noble steed and ran quickly over to Bird, who was still slumped on the ground, face smeared with corn. Ludo didn't waste any time as he thrust his wand under Bird's beak, causing her to slightly recoil.
"Look at it, girl!" commanded Ludo, his eyes brimming with excitement and uncertainty. Bird composed herself and stared carefully down into the wand. Into its crystal.
Purple. A bright glow of dark purple was being emitted from the wand's crystal, the reflection of which could be seen bouncing off of Bird's pupils. She squinted at this, the intense light slightly burning her retinas. Ludo withdrew the wand, and once again began to study it.
"What does it mean?" he asked, to no one in particular. He began pacing slowly around the cave, his eyes never leaving the glowing wand. He then sharply turned to Spider. "And you see it too, right?"
Spider only nodded, which caused Ludo to turn to Bird. "And you too?" Ludo asked, desperation thick in his voice.
Bird, who was still recovering from the sheer glow of the wand partially blinding her, squawked in confirmation. Ludo grinned as he turned back to his wand, and gave off a small cackle.
"Aha! So I'm not going crazy!" the beaked monster exclaimed in delight, his sharp teeth flashing in a wicked smirk. "It must be good, right? I mean, purple is a good colour. Would you say purple is a good colour?"
Ludo stared over at his girls, who had now come together. Spider had, of course, crawled over to Bird, as the winged beast was in no condition to move. Spider looked at the wand, then back at Ludo, and simply shrugged with all 8 of her legs.
"Pfft, what do you know?" Ludo grimaced, as his attention was drawn back to the wand. "I'll bet it means I'm getting better at this magic stuff. That must be it! Maybe I won't need that brat's spellbook after all."
The glowing seemed to intensify, causing Ludo's eyes to widen. Almost automatically, he slowly moved his hand over to the purple crystal, and started to caress it gently. Instantly, his hand burned in searing pain at contact with the half star.
"Owww!" squealed Ludo, immediately dropping the wand and recoiling his hand. He blew on it relentlessly in an attempt to cool it down, the burning pain starting to slightly fade. Ludo winced as he looked at the palm of his hand, and saw a slight burn mark where his skin had made contact with the wand.
Ludo shook his head. "Still remaining hopeful!" he exclaimed to himself, shaking his hand in a fast motion in order to cool off the hurt. He made his way over to his wand and picked it up by the bone handle, making a conscious effort to avoid touching the crystal again.
He looked deep into the glow of the wand. "Help me understand what this means." he whispered to his wand, to no reply. A few moments passed, and all of a sudden, the glowing began to fade. The purple light died down at a slow pace as Ludo glared at his wand in utter confusion. After a few seconds, the purple had completely subsided, and the crystal of the wand had returned to a steady shade of non-glowing green. The colour Ludo was used to.
"Why does it keep doing that?!" Ludo yelled in frustration, causing Bird and Spider to look at each other uneasily. The little monster growled as he shook the wand rapidly, the irritation evident on his face. "C'mon, c'mon! Change back, you stupid thing!"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
As quick as a flash, Ludo's neck whipped round to the source of the unknown voice. Floating mere feet away from him was a tiny blue man with a large gem encrusted in his head, a stoic look on his face. Ludo got over the initial surprise and confusion, quickly regaining his composure as he pointed his wand menacingly at the stranger.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Ludo growled.
Glossaryck merely looked at the wand being thrusted in his direction with a bored expression, and then back at Ludo. "You shouldn't be waving that thing around like that, kid. It is kind of a dangerous object. Now more than ever."
"Now more than ever?" Ludo eyed Glossaryck suspiciously, and lowered his wand. "Do you … do you know what is happening to this thing?" The bird creature pointed to the crystal of the wand.
"Not yet." the small blue man said simply, and with that, he floated over to Ludo before he could react and plucked the wand right out of his hand.
Ludo's anger flared as he realised what had just happened, waving his fist in rage at the retreating Glossaryck. "Hey! That is my magical wand! You give that back!"
Glossaryck stopped in his tracks and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning back around to face Ludo. "Look, kid. If you want to know why this thing is acting up, then I need to take a quick look at it. You'll get it back, but until then, zip it."
Ludo raised his index finger in protest. "But I-"
"Zip. It." Glossaryck mimed zipping his mouth shut. Ludo stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to handle this situation as the magical blue man turned his attention back to the wand in his hand.
"Hmm." Glossaryck pondered, staring intently into the green crystal. He licked his index finger ever so slightly and gently tapped the half star.
"Hey, watch it!" yelled Ludo, the uncertainty of the situation getting to him. "That's how germs spread, you know!"
Glossaryck ignored him. As his finger made impact with the crystal, purple began ripple slightly all across the green half star. It faded as soon as it began, making Glossaryck's brow furrow.
"Okay. Yep." he concluded, more to himself than anyone. "That is definitely not good."
Ludo looked crestfallen. "Not … good? So does that mean-?"
The beaked monster was interrupted by the sudden electrifying sound that was being emitted from the wand. Purple sparks began to fly from it as Glossaryck quickly turned it away from his face. The sound increased in volume, causing Bird and Spider to cover their ears.
"You may want to take cover for this!" yelled Glossaryck over the loud noises. Ludo panicked and jumped behind a nearby rock, sticking his own fingers in his ears.
A huge blast of purple energy came erupting out of the wand, causing Glossaryck to shield his eyes. He pointed the wand as far away from him as possible. In the direction of the pile of corn.
The blast struck the corn in an instant, creating a large exploding sound. When Glossaryck opened his eyes, all he saw was a mist of purple smoke where the pile used to be.
Ludo popped his head over the rock, still slightly trembling from fear of the sounds. "Is i-it over?"
Immediately he spotted the purple haze in place of his corn pile, and rage began to fill his eyes. "You blew up my corn!?" he yelled, giving Glossaryck a disgusted look.
If Glossaryck felt at all threatened, he showed no sign of it. He floated over to the mist, eyeing it with interest.
"I don't think so." he said quietly, and proceeded to blow air on the purple haze. It shifted position and started to fade, and in its place was the very same corn pile that Ludo had thought had been destroyed.
Except it wasn't.
Ludo stared in shock and puzzlement at the sight before him. What had once been a huge mountain of delectable yellow cobs of corn was still exactly that, with one minor detail changed. The corn was now all purple.
The rats began to timidly enter the room of the cave yet again, intrigued by the noise of the wand and the supposed explosion. They eyed the pile of corn suspiciously, noticing the change.
One brave rat out of the pack approached the pile cautiously, glaring at the mysterious purple corn in apprehension. Slowly but surely, the rat leant forwards and took one solitary nibble from a nearby cob, the other rats watching attentively all the while.
The rat swallowed his mouthful of corn, and for a split second his eyes flashed a colour too quick to be seen by normal eyes. Then the rat smiled happily, and began to dig into even more of the corn pile. The other rats, seeing that no danger had befallen their comrade, eagerly joined him in the feast, stuffing their faces with the purple corn. Even Bird and Spider scurried over to get their share.
Glossaryck watched this scene unfold before him, and shrugged casually. "Looks harmless enough." And with that, he tossed the wand back to Ludo, which had now returned yet again to its normal colour.
The wand smacked an unexpecting Ludo straight in the face, causing him to fall over. He angrily rubbed his head, picking both himself up and the wand. Looking into the crystal with wonder in his eyes, he spoke to Glossaryck. "So what does it mean? The purple glowing?"
Glossaryck sighed and turned towards Ludo. "Look, little guy. Both your wand and Star's are penting up some seriously powerful and dangerous magic, for reasons that I'm not going to get into right now."
Ludo, a confused expression spread across his face, raised his finger to interject, but Glossaryck continued.
"Anyway, the only reason that the crystal of the Butterfly wand isn't tearing a rip into the fabric of reality itself is because, you guessed it, the crystal has been cleaved in half."
Ludo looked at the wand in his hand, staring at his green reflection intently. He spoke quietly, "Cleaved?"
Glossaryck nodded, pointing a finger gun at Ludo. "That's an A for you, kid. The wand can't generate enough power or magic in it's broken state to do what it wants to do. And they don't like that."
Ludo looked up from his wand at Glossaryck, evidently lost at this point. "Who are they?"
Glossaryck floated right up to Ludo and waggled his index finger in his face, causing the little monster to recoil. "Ah ah ah. That would be spoiling."
Ludo composed himself and thought on Glossaryck's words, rubbing his beak intently. Can't generate enough power in it's broken state, he thought slowly, tossing the wand over in his palm. Wait a second...
"I've got it!" yelled Ludo in excitement, jumping up as he did so. Bird, Spider and the rats paused their dinner in hearing this, looking over at their master in curiosity. Glossaryck raised an eyebrow.
"Once I manage to combine the two halfs of the wand," began Ludo as he paced quickly around the cave, brimming with anticipation, "I will have control over all of this dangerous magical energy and power. Enough power to become the most powerful creature in existence!"
Ludo let out a malicious cackle, an evil grin spread across his beak. Glossaryck nodded slowly, floating delicately in position. "Hey, if that's what you wanna do, I can't stop ya. Good luck with that."
Glossaryck began to float off towards the roof of the cave, before Ludo shouted out at him. "Hey! Wait!" The blue man turned around to meet a malevolent smirk on Ludo's face. "You think I'm letting you go that easily? You know far too much, whatever-your-name-is. And you need silencing."
Ludo pointed his wand at Glossaryck, grasping onto the bone hilt tightly. He growled in anger, causing green magic to bubble up in the crystal. Glossaryck sighed.
"Kid, for things to move along, there is another place I need to be right now. So can we just skip this part?"
Ludo smirked evilly. "Oh, I don't think so. Prepare to face destruction!"
In one large motion, Ludo recoiled his wand before giving it a big final thrust in Glossaryck's direction, the bird creature screaming maniacally all the while. Unfortunately for Ludo, things didn't pan out in the way he had expected them too.
Instead of a powerful green beam of energy being shot at Glossaryck, the energy bubbling from the wand collapsed on itself, causing a large green explosion that sent Ludo flying backwards. He was slammed against the wall of the cave and tumbled down to the ground ungracefully, ouches and groans escaping his beak all the while.
Glossaryck watched all of this transpire, a bored expression gracing his face. "Yeahhhh … so, I'm gonna … go. Yeah."
Glossaryck clapped his hands together, and all in an instant disappeared in a puff of blue smoke. Ludo grumbled in pain as he lifted his head, his eyesight dazed and blurry.
He managed to get himself to his feet, head still pounding as he did so. Angrily, he glared at the wand in his hand. "Stupid piece of trash." he hissed.
Wiping the dust from his chip bag, Ludo walked back out to the centre of the cave, staring at the pile of purple corn. Bird, Spider and the rats had eaten their full, and had now resorted to taking a post-meal nap besides the mountain of cobs. Ludo smiled wickedly.
"Oh, but you won't be a stupid piece of trash for long, will you?" he grinned hungrily, holding his wand tightly in both hands. The wand once again began to glow with the strong shade of purple, subtlely lighting up the previously dark cave. "Once I pay a certain princess a visit."
