Star hurt. Like training with the kingdom's guards hurt, going three rounds with a gang of monsters barefisted hurt, having to sit through math class hurt. That last one was probably an exaggeration considering how truly painful Earth's education system could be.
Star did struggle after she did wake up to rise. Instead she clawed around herself, hoping to grip something to pull herself up. Only thing around was that sweet cape she picked up from the floor above and some more cloth attach to some heavy object.
A heavy object that groans. A heavy object that sounded a lot like someone she knew, "Marco?"
Her eyes pulled open but she couldn't tell the different. Either way all she could see was black. She held up her wand and felt. She felt some a sliver of magic that surrounded her instrument and lit something.
There was a crystal, similar to the ones from before but this one instead was stuck in the ground like a light post. It gave her enough light to make out the boy. He was clean with no sign of blood on his face. He was okay, "Marco."
The blonde princess shook him and in return he let in a deep breathed. He coughed and regulates his breathing, "Star?"
He cracked his eyes open and caught sight of a shy smile.
"Miss Henious." he frowned and jumped to his feet. He adopted a stance. "Where's that creep of her's?"
Star met her back to his and the partners looked around but couldn't make sight of their enemy around the perimeter that the crystal's light provided for them.
"You're stepping on him" a raspy whisper came out from underneath their own noses.
Kneejerk reflexes lead the Diaz boy's foot to striking the goblin's side. He went tumbling forward. The duo regrouped, readying themselves against any possible assault.
"Please I beg you, no more." the man pleaded.
"Dude, I don't know if you noticed but you just flung us down a hole." Marco accused the man.
"I was only trying to follow my lady's orders." The man pushed off the ground but his arms were skinny. His overall strength betraying the actions of a man who was justing tossing Marco around, "You must understand that I would not have engage in such roughhousing under my own volition."
Star relaxed her guard as the man's arms gave out and he fell on the floor once again. She reached out to the minion slowly. There was a tug on her other arm.
She turned her head around. Marco was holding on to her hand. He shook his head, "Don't"
There was an exchange if looks and the earthling groaned.
Marco threw her hand away and Star bent down to assist the one eyed man up, "I got you."
"Thank you kindly miss." It sounded like he really meant the gratitude. "You don't know how much this means to me."
"Well try to remember that next time you slam me against a wall." Marco crossed his arms.
If the hunchback heard the boy's comment than he chose to ignore it, "Where are we dear?"
Star's eyes wandered the area but even with the light that the crystal provided there was very little in the way of visibility, "I don't know."
She raised her wand and there was pink sparks which shot off from the wand, dying before they reached the ground. There lit another crystal, a light post like the last. Then another and another. Light travelled down the void. The crystals were erected in two lines parallel to each other, creating a path.
What could be seen were pillars and steps that started going up in front of them but nothing else. There was still much of the room still shrouded in darkness. It was more thanks to how massive the room must've been then how little light the crystals were admitting.
"There're stairs this way." Star gestured, "First step outta here is to go up."
Marco held her back and he looked at Gemini, "You first."
"Oh right. Thank you, how polite." The man spoke cheerfully, despite the look in Marco's eyes containing no politeness. At least not towards him specifically.
"Are you sure about this Star?" he staged whispered in the princess's' ear. Panic stood as an obstacle of him trying to keep the lumpy man from hearing him, "That guy dragged us down here and then suddenly he's all buddy buddy."
"I might be taking a bit of a risk." Star agreed, "but he's a bit too sad to be a real bad guy. Flailing around like some little turtle man."
"This guy's dangerous, Star."
"Come on Marco, we've made friends with sketchy people before." Star reassured him.
"Like who, Lobster Claws?" It was a bit hard to bring up, but Marco has learned to be a bit less trusting over the year.
"No, like Bullfrog." The princess countered leaving her friend without a rebuttal as she skipped after the newest member of their adventuring party. Diaz followed reluctantly behind her.
Their footsteps seem to track miles. They went up the stairs over to run into a hallway. At the end of the hallway was more stairs that led downwards. They went both left and right some passages. Marco had a sneaky suspicion that they they had passed through some of the halls a couple of times.
They only has the strategy of going up until they reach the surface but with the twist and turns there was no way to tell if that actually got them any closer to an exit. For all they knew they on whatever floor they began on, maybe even lower underground, "Star how long do you think this'll take us?"
It wasn't as if they had all day exactly. Though considering how free ranged his folks were they wouldn't worry as long as he got home until dinner.
"Not too long." She looked around. One hallway looking not too different than another. Star bit her lower lip, "I think."
This was obviously going to take some time and there wasn't much Marco could do but follow the his friend and their suspicious guest. He guessed that he could continue to keep an eye on the hunchback man, but for however long they had been trudging along it was enough that Marco was bored waiting for Gemini to show signs of betrayal.
At least there was artwork that lined the ways. Colored titles forming scenes of action and adventure. They were nice to look at. One that Marco liked was one particular piece featuring a bald headed woman in heart shaped armor fighting off a towering monster.
The monster looked like some sort of manticore. It had the lion head and sharp bat like wings that a manticore would have. The similarities ended there. Instead of lion like claws that a manticore would have, this monster had serpents head's jetting out from it's wrist. Five from each arm arranged in a way that you could imagine each one as fingers. Final weird detail that would definitely not be on a manticore was the long face that was grafted onto the monster's chest. It looked human. Probably wouldn't look abnormal if it wasn't replacing some manticore pecs.
Marco would say that the design was rad. He would take a picture of the wall if he wasn't in such a dire situation or if he wasn't missing his phone.
This was just not his day.
"So." The princess of Mewni broke the silence that had grown among the group, "Gemini?"
"Yes m'am?" The man marched on, giving a little waddle as he moved. He showed no signs of exhaustion even though it must take him twice the effect to match their speed with his nubby little legs.
"Hows the…" whole going homeless thing going for you? Was that what she was going to ask? She couldn't imagine how awkward that would be.
"How was…" brainwashing all those girls? Couldn't really ask that either.
"What do you do for fun?" Star finished. She took a brief second to congratulate herself for thinking of a harmless question for the short man.
"Oh not much of anything these days."
The answer was brief but Star was determined to bring life into the conversation, "Oh come on. There gotta be something you like to do."
"I'm afraid that I'm too old to move about and do much of anything." Star wanted to mention how he didn't seem to have trouble with motion currently nor did he have much trouble going toe to toe with a much longer teen.
"Well If I do have the chance," the man relented, "I do enjoy listening to a bit of music."
"Oh what kind of music?" Star pressed on. She then shook her head and dug into her purse. "Nevermind nevermind. I'm gonna play something. Tell me what you think."
Space unicorn, soaring through the stars.
The music bounced echoed against the walls from the small electronic device in Star's hand.
Gemini blinked, or maybe he blinked. Star couldn't really tell because of the strange glowy eye piece that he wore. He paused either way and then gave a hearty laugh. "Oh what a delightful jingle."
"Wait wait wait. Since when did you have my cell phone?" Diaz stepped between the two.
"Since this morning." Star answered. He should've known considering this wasn't exactly the first time she had borrowed the device. One day he really had to see if he could sign her up for something. Like a prepaid phone or whatever.
Marco slipped the cell from his best friend's hands. "We should call someone."
"I already tried that Marco." He dialed in his home phone anyway and proved Stat correct, "I think it might be the crystal. Normally I can get a signal as long as it's on the same plane as my wand but right now it's getting nothing. "
"When did you-?" When did she try out the reception? Marco was sure that he stuck by her the entire time
"When you went to the bathroom, couple halls back. My compact isn't getting a signal neither."
"Great." He muttered, the sarcasm dripping from his mouth. That made sense. There wasn't exactly time for a bathroom break earlier and if this place had facilities they haven't found it yet. Meaning Marco had to skip over a hallway to answer the call of nature. "So we're lost and we can't call anyone. I almost wish we could blast our way out."
"We can't do that Marco. This place has been in my family for who knows how long." Star backed up against the walls as if to defend them against Marco's gaze, "Mom and dad would kill me if they found out I put a hole in our camp site."
"Easy Star. I want to avoid unwarranted destruction as much as the next guy." He assured his friend. "I'm just a bit worried about getting home by dinner."
"Relax. We'll get home before school is even out."
Diaz could've argued that as far as they knew that school was already over. His phone wasn't picking anything up and so it's clock just stuck at 9, the time he had to guess that they entered the range of the dang crystal that kept them from escaping via scissors.
He guessed that Star was correct in a way because eventually they came to a door. Not a fancy looking door, just a stone one with a groove on one side. It had taken him a bit to realize that it was even a door, but when Star gripped the indent and it began to slide, he knew.
There hadn't been any doors at all in the lower realms of the royal campsite. Just long hallways, dead ends and the occasional stairway. There was always a bit of water on the ground. Sometimes it was just a moist floor and other times it reached up to his ankles. Right now there was a door, just there out in the open. Being a door.
"Oh right. The cave." His arms shot up in the air. What he could see was the dark top floor of the rough rocky interior suggested that they were soon out of the labyrinth and on their way home safe.
Of course they weren't that lucky.
As he walked over to the door the ground shook. The door slide along the wall, dust shooting out from it's frame. There wasn't anytime to slide through and before anyone knew what was going on the doorway was sealed off.
The hallway broke apart. Tiles disconnected from tiles and soon the party found themselves being spun around. They felt weightless, like they were in an elevator going down.
"Is everyone alright?" Gemini's words acted as a signal that whatever was happening to the dungeon had ended. When they looked around they found that the hallway had completely morphed from how it was seconds ago.
"Come on. Are we ever going to get out of here?" Marco didn't know exactly when he had sat down, but his butt was on the cold floor with his back firmly against a wall. He was a little bit shaken but felt good enough to complain at least.
Star lent him her arm and pulled her friend up. "It's okay, We just got to look around a bit more."
Marco would've held more faith in that statement if Star hadn't looked away from him. One arm crossed over and she rubbed her palm against her bicep.
He relented, letting out a deep sigh. Diaz looked around the newly generated halls, "Which way should we go?"
"Why don't we ask Gemini?" Star looked behind Marco.
Diaz rolled his eyes, "Why would we ask Gemini? He probably knows as much about this place as we do."
"Cause he's sure acting like he knows which way to go." She pointed at the hunchback who had long began to wander off. "Look at him go, waddling like a little penguin."
Gemini moved along the hall, moving an impressive distance considering how short his legs were. There was a quick stroke of the chin as the servant found something of interest in the tiled walls of the maze. "Interesting"
He placed his claws onto the wall and pressed, "Very interesting."
There was a spark of some sort which snapped between his fingers, but he didn't retreat his appendage. He adjusted the thing on his face. Neither Marco nor Star knew what it was exactly. His monocle? His visor? Maybe it was actually his eye. Whatever it was he gave it a twist and just stared at the wall.
"What's that?" Star peeked over the shoulder of the gremlin and got a glimpse at what was so intriguing. Gemini's hand was spreading the tiles apart, revealing nothing but bright volts which seem to hold the very walls together.
"Security and I believe it'll tell us exactly where we need to go." Gemini answered before signalled towards a direction, "Please follow me madams."
"I'm not a-" Marco stopped himself. As much as he liked the admiration of princesses everywhere, there were still some downsides to being universally known as Princess Marco. He's just learned to accept some things about traveling dimensions at this point.
The second journey didn't seem much different than the last attempt except this time around the old man would press against the walls every other time they turned the corner. It almost seemed as if he was communicating with the structure itself. Maybe he was. Marco and Star have both seen stranger things by this point. A sentient building weren't top the list of peculiar events.
They didn't really understand what exactly was going on, but it sure beat out covering their eyes and picking a direction at random, if only by a margin. Marco didn't really trust Gemini. He couldn't say why. He just had to hope that even if the man did have some diabolic trap waiting for the duo that he would wait until they were on the surface to trigger it. Until then Diaz just had to have faith.
It felt as if the walking took hours, but unlike before there seem to be a steady progress that wasn't there before. Gemini would look at one path and shake his head before choosing another. Maybe he was eliminating the options some how. It didn't matter, after every path was taken the hall glowed brighter.
"So what exactly is this mumbo jumbo that you're doing with the walls?" Star hurried her pace. Her nose peeked over the henchmen. She watched as his claws traced against the wall.
Gemini didn't slow down, but still offered a small explanation, "Oh just honing a couple tricks I've learned from my magic studies. I noticed that this dilemma we seem to be in the center of takes a couple cues from a few tomes I've stuck my nose through."
"You study magic? I study magic." Star peeked up. Her face broke out in a sly smile. She playfully jabbed the man with her elbow, "I thought you said you didn't do anything for fun."
"I wouldn't really say that it's for fun." He didn't sound amused, "Just part of my duties under Miss Henious."
The lights weren't just the crystals anymore but the cracks between the tiles all seemed to start radiating a purple energy.
It was low at first, flickering on and off. The lights grew steady. Before they realized it the entire hall was covered in lines of purple which spread out like veins. These lines moved faster than they did, filling the cracks like overflowing water until the entire hall was bathed in the light.
When all the could see were shades of purple the hallway broke apart.
They didn't notice it at first. It happened behind them and below them. A tile shifted away from them into a green void. Then two tiles, them ten, a hundred, and a thousand. The floor broke apart, but despite nothing being able to be seen underneath them their feet seem hit something solid that allow them to tread forward.
"Star." Marco was the first one to notice. He looked down and his legs felt weak, and his stomach felt heavy. He felt like he should be falling down below. He lunged forward and grabbed onto Star's shoulder as if it would stop gravity from affecting him if it finally started to kick in.
Gemini wasn't stopping so neither did she. The princess however did offer her companion a look and a shrug indicating that she was equally lost in this development.
The void was everywhere. The dimension around them was green, offset only by brighter shades clumped into balls. They were spread around and looked like the stars would in space.
The tiles ahead swam in formation. Following each other and working effortlessly to stay ahead of the trio. They congregated into a sphere shape, turning and dancing into various circles. They moved faster and faster and when they had reach their top speed Gemini had finally stopped his march.
The tiles collided, building into bricks until there were two solid slabs in front of the group. There was a hole side by side on each slab, large enough for a human hand. Gemini reached forward and grasped one of the grooves.
"Now I do believe that this right here might our way out." He pulled and the slabbed moved away from it's partner. Between the two stones light began to crack. "At least I sure hope it is."
The servant smiled nervously. Marco felt a lump in his throat which he hesitantly swallowed. Star however grabbed the other slab and help pull the two apart. Between them a opening in space was reveal.
Right a head was nothing or at least not an exit.
It was a room full of crystals. That was it.
The floor was crystals. The wall was crystals. There was a large crystal in the center that really brought the decor together. Just kidding, it was all pretty redundant. Even the centerpiece was just surrounded by five crystal pillars in a circle.
"Where are we?" Star stepped into the room. The floor was uneven. The crystal floor was high in some points, low in others, causing the tarp she had wrapped around her to drag and almost trip her more than once.
"I do not know." Gemini admitted. He walked towards one edge of the room. He placed his palm against the wall, "Madam, the crystal here is thin. I believe that if I can get through that we might be able to figure out exactly what this place is for."
"I can handle this." Marco studded over. In one swift moment he brought his hand to his chest and then nearly broke it against rock. He ended up hissing and thinking of a couple words that would be foreign to the two otherworlders but would cause anyone from earth to blush. It really hurt most in his pinkie, he went for the karate chop and it was not his smartest moment.
The mewman walked to the boy's side and gentle guided him aside, "Marco maybe I should handle this."
He passively moved and allowed her the spot light. The princess tossed her wand and swung it in the general vicinity of the thin patch, "Hummingbird drills."
Her companions flinched, but unlike the crystals in the halls, these did not seem to absorb the magical energy to create light. Instead they just stood there being crystals. Shocks flew off Stat's wand and constructs appeared. You could call them hummingbirds, though Marco didn't know any type of hummingbird that was bright pink with blue patch. He didn't know any breed that had a steel drill instead of a beak neither.
The birds charged. They shot like bullets straight at the wall. They charged and accomplished absolutely nothing. If anything the little avians seem to just tire themselves out and bend their own bills. Eventually they stopped even trying, instead fluttering in place and exchanging looks amongst each other. Star eventually swatted her wand through them and they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Star held her family's artifact with both hands like one would hold a sword. Her back was straight and legs were far apart, braced for impact. "100% Rainbow Concentrate Beam."
Seven lights shot from the face of the magical instrument. There were the seven colors of the rainbow. They collided in the dead center of the star, creating a white line from the wand to the crystal. Where the laser met the crystal started to dip down slowly, melting.
There were stone pillars that surrounded the main crystal but in turn the crystal seemed to also engulf the stone pillars to the point that Marco had to do a double take to even realise they were there. It was almost as if the mineral had grown around the obstacle like a plant would. He wondered what exactly this room looked like without the crystal covering everything.
"It's even better than I first imagine." Gemini smiled, "Do you see those runes? They might be the center of this labyrinth. If my memory serves me then they're as good as an exit out."
"Marco you hear that? One trip home coming right up."
Marco couldn't move his foot. It was snagged on something. Taking a peek at his heel, he noticed that it was ankle deep in crystal.
"Hey, what gives?" He shouted. He didn't know if he was sinking or if the mineral was rising up, but it didn't matter and he didn't want to be stuck in it long enough to find out, "Star, I can't move. My feet are stuck. The crystals."
Confused, the girl peeked down. "The crystals?"
Her own limbs were just as planted into the gem, which seemed to move just to her shin without her even realizing it. She looked at Gemini. The man checked his feet and they seemed fine. He allow a sigh of relief out but found that he couldn't move neither. At least not from the wall. His left hand which was pressed against the edge of the room was being imprisoned. The stone first covered his hand in a web like design and it was working to cover his hand entirely. "I think it might be imperative that we hurry up."
Star didn't even bother to show that she approves the action. She casted another spell and the beam grew stronger, double then triple it size before.
Her friend tried to pull his leg from the trap but he found that as he held his leg the crystal started to spread onto his fingers. He stood back up and scrapped the stone from the back of his fingers. Some of it peeled off like hot wax. The parts that he was able to get to quickly. The rest of it started to grow onto his hands, increasing the speed that it seem to devour him.
He yelled.
Star could see the faint glow from behind where she had been melting the gem. Writing that was mewman writing mixed with other languages. As the crystal met her stomach she began to panic. She reeled her wand back and the tool shifted into a large hammer. Using the strength gifted to her she began to strike at the runes with enough might that it shook the whole room.
She swung and swung until the crystal began to crack. The striking of the hammer made her ears ring. She didn't know if that was the reason why she could no longer hear her friends screams or if he had been covered completely.
Gemini wasn't in good shape. The stone had dropped down from his hand to both his feet. It covered most of his body leaving over his head, neck and left arm completely free.
The crystal started to cover Star's shoulders, spreading up her neck and arms. When it covered her mouth, she kept on swinging. When it covered her nose, she kept swinging. It covered her eyes. She didn't need to see where she was swinging.
Star gave one last hit before she stopped moving. The hammer receded back into the wand before it too was devoured by the jewels. The mace moved off from the wall and the small section broke off, crashing onto the ground.
Gemini was embedded in rock up to his forearm. With all the strength his frail body could provide, Gemini scratched the wall.
The teens were released from their tombs. The stones melted like wax. Star wanted to take a deep breathe in, but instead just went on a coughing fit. She could hear once again and knew that Marco was doing the same. Gemini's hand hung from the opening now in the crystal and pulled himself up, slipping out of his melting prison. He pressed his fingers against the rune and swiped crystal softened faster and before she knew it Star was completely free. She could even feel her toes wiggle in her boots.
"Sorry madam. If I had known that there had been such a diabolically contraption in this room-" Gemini huffed between his words.
"It's okay," Star didn't care much for him blaming himself and instead wanted the man to focus on allowing himself to breathe. "It's okay."
"Hekapoo?"
"Marco?" Star spun around, looking for her best friend. His voice came from behind one of the crystal pillars. Which wasn't really crystal any more. They met up with each other and Diaz pointed to the top. A stone statue rested there. A familiar woman with long hair and a flowing dress struck a fighting stance. She carried small blades in each hand as the sculpture mimicked charging against the large crystal in the middle.
"Madams I know I might have mentioned this before, but now I'm sure that these runes will allow us to escape. Just need a little time for all this muck to wash down and reveal the scripture." Gemini slide his palms against the walls. He could just make out bits and pieces of the writing behind the thick gemstone.
The other pillars became visible as the gem evaporated, revealing other figures. Some which Marco have seen during his visit with the mother of his child and some that he didn't recognize.
Star let out a puff of breath before grabbing onto Marco's sleeve. She pointed at one piece. There stood the stone figure of a bald warrior. She was in a roman skirt with a heart shape chest piece. She wielded a sword. At least Marco assumed it was a sword. It had a hilt like one but the artist whoever they were depicted the blade as a lightning bolt, "Hey look it's Grandma Solaris."
"Grandma?" Marco squeaked, raising an eye brow.
"Not like my mom's mom. She's more like my great great grand mom times a million." Star explained. "She's really important to Mewni's history. She was awesome. Like not just a great queen, but a kick ass general. Her reign was in a really dark time which she ended by killing a whole bunch of monsters."
She turned to Marco and he was just giving a look. Like he want to say something.
The princess turned away from her friend. She grabbed onto her arm. "Sorry."
"What?"
"I know that Mewni's whole stance against monsters puts you a little on edge."
Marco laughed, "No, It's just strange to hear you talk about history. You sleep through the whole chinese section back in class."
"That's because I don't know anything about Earth. This I grew up with." Star crossed her arms and pouted.
"What is that?"
There in the center of the room stood a silhouette. All that was visible was a black mess in the center of the diluted crystal, but as the room melted more details could be made out. Whatever it was it was hairy. Or maybe it wasn't. While they could make out large tufts of fur in some parts, in others they saw scales and leathery skin.
"Gemini do you know how to get out of here?" Marco shuddered.
"Almost" Gemini glided across the floor, following the symbols as they revealed themselves across the walls. "Just need a little bit more."
The creature had been standing on it's hind legs when it had been solidified. In fact it looked like it had been flexing its arms. It's biceps, pecs and neck would almost look human if it wasn't covered in thick green fur. It's head looked like a lion's, so did it's legs. Marco didn't know what was stranger. Was it the large face on the monster's gut which had a calm expression in comparison to the head on it's shoulders, the bat like wings, large enough to wrap itself with or the long serpents that shot out from it's wrist?
"Um Gemini."
"Sorry. Just hold on a moment." He zoomed to the end of the line. Watched as the crystal poured, revealing what was behind it, "It won't be much longer now."
"There is something in here."
There were soon so many cracks that there was no hope that the structure would hold in place. It was far too late for the henchman to reverse the process.
The manticore moved.
