Marco started making his way to the blacksmith. He went the opposite way of Queen Moon. This was his first time in this part of the castle. Well there was also when he wanted to give star the cereal, but that was with a portal. The hallways were long and mostly empty, besides a few decorations and portraits hanging on the walls. There was nothing too distinct to set them apart form one another. For this reason Marco tried to remember exactly how they came here, with little success. 'First turn left, second left, third right and I'm lost. Great.'
He was met with a dead end. The hallway he was in ended with a room at the end of it. To the right and left were a number of doors, each looking the same and probably leading to another guest room. They were all locked, he tried getting in. Even the windows were useless, you could only see a big chunk of the castles wall from this angle. 'Who'd want one of these rooms anyway? You can't see anything.' Marco was annoyed at the uselessness of the place. 'Like seriously, why is there a room just hanging out of the tower? It makes no sense, no privacy, whoever stays there will have acrophobia for life and it looks ugly.' He was really annoyed by the strange room, but he couldn't put a finger on why. Perhaps it was the strangeness and the absurdity of it.
Deciding that there was nothing and no-one of use here Marco went back. This time he would try the other hallway. 'So I went right, that means that I need to go right again. Or, if there's nothing down there either, go forward then right then left. I think that's the way I came.'
Unfortunately there was noting in that corridor either. Only difference was the decorations. While the first one was plain, if you can even say that about a royal palace, this one had a theme to it. The windows were stained glass. Aqua blue representing water, with all kinds of animals and plants strewn about. There were fish, sea weed, crabs and jelly fish. Marco wan't sure if it was supposed to be the sea or some lake, most of the things were so ambiguous and could live in either salt or sweet watter. The wall were much the same, a great big mural that was a continuation, of the scene on the windows. 'That probably took a long time to finish. Those things are so detailed.' Marco thought looking at the mural, 'Wow, that fish has scales and eyes!' He marveled at the detail present on the stained glass masterpiece, much greater than should have been humanly possible. Then again in a world filled with magic, monsters and impossible events it was little surprise that something like this could exist. Still, magic or no magic it was beautiful.
Marco gazed at the art pieces for a little while longer, but then remembered that he had a job to do, if he could find his way out. Regardless he set out into another trip around the labyrinth. This time he stopped at a stairway, quite a wide one, that led up. Now he didn't know what level he was currently, but the stairway led at least five meters up, which seemed to be quite high and strange to make an upper level. It peaked Marcos curiosity and he headed up. At the end of the stairs there was a single light blue door with a snowflake on it, he opened them and...
"COLD! COLD! AHH what the hell!" Popsicle man slammed the door shut, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "How is that even possible? You can't just change temperatures so suddenly."
As soon as he opened the door he was blasted with a gust of cold wind, well below freezing temperature. It couldn't have been a freezer, it was too far from the kitchens, as far as he was aware, and it would be impractical anyway. So why, and how, did they have something like this here? One thing was for sure, Marco wasn't going to open that door again. Instead he shook the snow off of himself and went back downstairs to continue looking for the exit. 'I don't even know which way I came now.' He thought sadly 'I'll try a few more time then I'll try to call for someone. If that fails then the only thing left to do is to use my scissors .'
The next one was a dud as well, different motif though. This time it was a forest setting, with similar decorations as the water one, but this time there were some plants and trees around. It was nice, a bit dirty with leafs on the floor, or that could have been a part of the decoration. Also the carpet was actual grass growing out of the, what must have been, dirt floor. It was interesting and the grass was kept short, which meant that someone, the staff, must have been maintaining it. That means that there could be someone close by, a maid or ... a grounds keeper. 'I should probably leave soon, this place is really strange.'
Much like the cold door that had a snowflake on it, Marco was in front of another one now. Only this time it was red with a picture of a flame and there were cracks on the floor, with red light emanating from them. He knew what it meant, he wasn't dumb. It would be the same like when you opened the oven and the hot air came out, but probably ten times worse and could melt his face off. 'Nope, no thanks. I like my Marco rare, not well done.'
He had no luck with the next hallway either. This one ended in a garden, there were no rooms or benches to sit on. There were only 6 rows of plants, all inside a long and somewhat wide rectangular pots. The room seemed bigger than the others, it also might have just been the fact that that the space where the rooms would have been was used for the garden. Which posed a question, how big were the rooms themselves? 'There were around 3 rooms each on either side, not counting the one at the end. That would mean that depending how far they wen't back...' Marco's eyes widened in realization. "They're bigger than my house! Not to mention this place is huge with all of these plants AND has enough room to easily walk between each row."
Unbeknownst to Marco, while he was too busy being jealous of guest rooms, one of the plant's was slowly moving its vine towards his leg. It wasn't very fast and he could have escaped by just walking away, but Marco made the mistake of taking one too many steps in its direction. As soon as he was too close it wrapped itself around his ankle and pulled hard. Marco fell on the floor, dazed , and tried to get up. He couldn't though, the plant kept pulling him towards it slowly but surely. The plant, as Marco found out, was horrifying with it's pointy teeth like dentures and the sweet smelling nectar oozing out of it pores. The vines were so different form the flower, while they were thin and normal looking the actual thing was nowhere close to normal. What with it's giant over-sized pitcher plant head and rows of pointy teeth, line in rows like that of worms. It was terrifying, yet so inviting. It's grip was too strong to remove by hand so Marco used his scissors to cut the vine, glad that they worked like normal scissors as well. He quickly got back to his feet and narrowly dodged another plat that was lowering itself on his head. It was time to leave this room and find a way out one way or another.
Taking a minute to catch his breath Marco decided to walk around yelling. This was his plan B, not the best but worth a shot.
"Hello, anyone there!?" Was the first of many calls for help, fruitless in the end.
After walking trough the never-ending corridors and yelling for someone, without anyone answering, Marco gave up. It had been fifteen minutes and not a single sole heard, or was heard. So he tried for the last time, knowing it would be pointless, to call for help. "Is anyone, living or dead, present in my vicinity. If so pleas make yourself know." Marco said, bored out of his mind.
"Ok, that's it. I'm done" He suddenly said and took out his scissors. Then proceeded to open a portal and walk to the ballroom.
Except he didn't. He tried to, but it felt like walking into a brick wall. The portal was there alright, but there was something wrong with it. Usually when he opened a portal it would feel like walking trough honey. Thick, sticky and took some effort the first time you tried it. This time it was solid. There was nothing different about its looks, but when he tried to go trough it it wouldn't budge. Putting his hand on it confirmed it, the portal was warm to the touch but strangely solid.
"Huh. That's a first." Marco said closing the portal and opening another one, again to the ballroom. "That one must have been a dud."
"Ok, that's bad." He said, holding his hand on the new portal. Again solid as a rock. "Um... I'll try another place. Yea! I'll try the gardens."
Nothing different occurred. Another solid portal, even after three tries. "Where can I go? Where can I go!?" he asked himself while pacing in a circle. "The kitchen!" He said with excitement, but then realized, "I don't know where they are. Damn it! Ok, think. Where can I go within the castle where there are people." At this point Marco was in full panic mode, he couldn't remember where he went in the castle that there would be some people.
"This is really bad," Marco was starting to hyperventilate, "Stars room should work. Yea,yea. Stars room is good, she can even show me where the blacksmith is." He said, panic evident in his voice.
"Alright, take a deep breath. You don't want to freak Star out." What he actually meant was 'Don't look weak around star. Imagine how she would laugh at you if she found out you got lost and panicked'. Taking a deep breath and composing himself, Marco opened a portal to Stars room.
"Hey Star, I kind UFF!" He barely put his hand in when he was assaulted by something. It hit him square in the stomach and knocked the air out of him. It hurt, whatever hit him it was big and heavy enough to leave him sprawled on the floor. A few moments later Marco got up on one knee with a bit of effort. "Ahh, what was that? It just came out of nowhere." 'Well not nowhere, it came out of the portal. But why? It was definitely Stars room, so why did she throw something at me. She couldn't have know it was me, or anyone for that matter.'
He then looked over at the offending item. It was a book, not just any book. As it turns out it was The book.
"Should't have been surprised," Marco deadpanned, "ditching responsibilities as usual." He shook his head and picked it up.
With a sigh he opened the portal to Stars room again, without having things thrown at him this time.
"Star, I think you need this...Wait." he started to say, then stopped as soon as he felt the portal - it was solid."No, no. NO! Why does this keep happening!?"
Frantically Marco tried to open another one, and another one, then one outside the castle. Nothing, they were all solid. There were no other places to try, besides Earth, but that was kind of far. 'Think, where else in Mewni have I been to? Forest of Certain Death? Nah, not suicidal enough.'
'Let's see, St. Olgas? Last resort, it's much better now, but still no thanks.' Where could he go? There were surprisingly few places in Mewni he's been to outside of the castle. There's the bird kingdom, the problem was it is a neighboring kingdom and he couldn't just go and say 'Sorry to pop in unannounced, I got lost in the castle and couldn't get out. See you at the ball!' Same for the underworld, not to mention that he didn't know how to get out of there without scissors anyway.
"That only leaves one place." Marco sighed and opened one last portal, this one he was sure would work.
Placing his hand tentatively on the new portal he took a breath and pushed trough.
Star was not having fun. Being stuck in her room was bad enough, but having to read the stupid rule book was even worse. There was nothing, and she really meant NOTHING, interesting in there. All boring roles like :'Don't slouch, keep a proper posture. Be in the spotlight, you are the host and should be readily available. Do not spread lies and falsehoods, only if they are beneficial to the queen and Mewni.' They were all so boring. There was even a whole section dedicated to proper manners! She already knew those, every princess did. She just chose not to follow all of them, she did have some decency not to talk with her mouth open and some such.
"Ahhh, so boring. why do I have to read this stuff?" Star lye on her back, feet dangling off of the bed as she held the book up above her. "Most of this stuff is common knowledge, I learnt this ages ago."
Star sighed and threw the book besides her. She really didn't feel like reading it, but she had to. It was her royal duty and all that jazz.
Then a, debate-ably, great idea struck her. Taking up the book with a huge grin she started to flip the pages. 'It wont't hurt if I look at a few section I shouldn't. All knowledge is good knowledge.'
She found what she was searching for. Section, or chapter if they could be called that, written in elaborate handwriting. One of those that you find in really old books or fairy-tales. This one was a bit more ominous though, with 'Death' written as the title. The giant D was made in the shape of a scull, or was the scull shaped like the letter D? Star didn't care either way, it looked cool and much more fun that the boring etiquette lists.
"Oooh, this looks fun!" Star squealed in delight. "Ok, let's see." She cleared her throat.
"This chapter is dedicated to to the ceremonies and procedures in case matters out of the queens hands, or if she were to be forced to act, were to happen. I write for such an even had occurred in one of the feasts I, queen Vesper, have hosted. D̶u̶c̶h̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶I̶s̶l̶a̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶... Former Duchess Isla of the Water Walker dimension, vasal to Queen Vir had a disagreement with lord Baal Lucitor. I am still unaware of the whole scope or the topic itself, suffice to say matters escalated to the point of a honour challenge. Neither admitted to being the instigator. Baal won, as was expected."
There was a knock at the door. Star sat up and placed the book in her lap."Come in!"
A servant came in and bowed. "I have been sent by his majesty, king River, to inform you that they will testing the Tramofidian crystal soon. They wish that you remain inside the castle until further notice. It is unknown how long it will stay on."
Star arched an eyebrow, "The tramofawat?"
"The Tramofidian crystal your highness."
'Yeas, thanks. That helped a lot.' "I heard what you said, but what is it?"
The servant started to sweat, quickly taking a glance behind him to see if the doors were still open. "I beg your pardon, but I don't know. I was only relaying what the king said."
With a groan Star flopped on her bed. 'Ugh, so useless. Ok Star, it sound familiar, think. Termefudy, Tortiladim... Tramofidian.' Realization dawning on her face Star jumped up from the bed.
"The Tramofidian tower from St. Olgas! It's the thingy that stops dimensional portals from opening!" She puffed her chest proudly, "Heh, I know my stuff."
What she didn't know is that the servant ran out as soon as she jumped. Of course she did notice the empty room. 'Poor Theodore, first week of service and he was already under so much pressure. At least he had the manners to close the door.'
With a shrug she dived back on her bead and continued reading the interesting part of the book.
"Vir was not pleased when she found out. She challenged Baal to a duel, to avenge her client as was custom for their people. Unfortunately Baal, the impulsive person he was accepted, disregarding his wound and fatigue. His loss was inevitable, yet I cannot feel as if it could have been more merciful. The amount of cruelty was unacceptable from Vir, I am aware her sister was dead, but those are things one must accept when taking up the throne. I accepted Baal's death, yet I was honour-bound to avenge his death - this law will probably be changed soon. The battle will be within a weeks time, I will prepare in the meantime.
Now for the actual reasons for this entry, the burial ceremony for any guests, guards, champions or servants who happen to perish during the five days the celebrations last.
- For warriors or nobles with a proud history it is advisable to burn their body along with their prized possessions and representations of their past. This was impossible for Baal due to his immunity to fire..."
Star flipped to the next page. "...if their family so wishes Omnitraxus offered to crystallize their bodies and preserve them. The body will be required to stay withing the castle grounds or in Omnitraxus' dimension. This is due to the last incident, unrelated to the ball, where they sold the deceased mans body..." 'That is just disturbing and wrong.'
The next page was also filled with instructions, interestingly enough one was about pets. So was the next, "Aha!" but the one after that finally had what Star was looking for.
"Today is the day I face queen Vir, I hope for the best." There was nothing after it.
"What?! Where's the rest!?" Star started flipping trough the pages."Come on that can't be it!"
The next page had the heading F for food. That was it from Vesper, she never made another entry, and it made star oh so angry. She was really hoping for something interesting to in this basic manual, only for it to end with a cliffhanger.
Star threw the book behind her, not looking where it would land.
"Hey Star, Uff..."
Almost giving herself whiplash, Star turned her heat towards the sound. Only to find nothing there.
" I could have sworn I heard something."
Taking a few steps around the room she found nothing. Her clothes pile was still there, her boots that she took off. There was nothing out of the ordinary, not a single thing, not at all. Which was the worst thing ever. 'The book is missing!'
Frantically turning every object in the room, every piece of furniture Star futilely searched for her book. If it was any other useless picturless kindle she wouldn't care. Only this time it was a family heirloom, just like the last one that she also lost. Not wanting to anger her mother and look incompetent, Star got her boots on and ran out her rooms door. 'I probably chucked it out the window by accident. I really hope it's not ruined.'
