Chapter 10
Starlight Breaker
The Queen of Mewnie lightly nodded at the High Commission, as if she had accepted a cold fate. Hekapoo whispered something to Rhombulus, he silently agreed. The crystal man used his powers to continue unfreezing Eclipsa. Everybody watched as the prison melted slowly, releasing its eternal grip. The convicted queen waited patiently. Besides deadly seriousness, not a single emotion surfaced on her face. With Eclipsa's legs completely unfrozen, Rhombulus ended the melting process.
Instead of a perfectly cut stone, the crystal prison looked like a transparent pedestal. The Queen of Darkness gracefully leaped from it and landed next to Star and Moon. Long gloves, purple hat, dark dress, all of her clothes was in perfect shape, as if she got dressed up this morning. She gave the crystalized monster a short silent gaze.
Eclipsa extended both hands at the Queen and the Princess. An invitation to begin. Star looked at her mother, the woman looked back. Something inside was pushing her to ask Moon if she was ready. An unwavering determination was written on the Queen's face. She extended her arm and took Eclipsa's hand.
Star smiled lightly. No longer uncertain, she did the same. With the other, the Princess took Moon's hand under her own.
Something deep down commanded Star's eyelids to lower. For a brief moment she saw the other two women also entering into a magical trance. Then, the memory faded away. All of her senses stopped registering the outside world.
Suddenly, Star was a million light years away from home. In a place full of rainbow-colored clouds, twinkling stars and brightly burning blue sun. Somehow, being here felt simply right.
She opened her eyes. The other universe vanished instantly, leaving fading visual remnants. When Star's vision cleared, she recognized the faces of her mother and Eclipsa. Just like that she had left Rhombulus' dimension, and returned. The detachment may have lasted a millisecond, but felt like a century.
All of the three Butterflies' cheeks were glowing with white light. Between them stood an oval-shaped portal. The space around its edges was getting distorted. Instead of whirling waves, it was filled with a picture of the same universe Star had witnessed. Never before she had seen such a dimensional rift. Probably nobody but the Queen of Darkness had.
- So, this is where Toffee is? - Star asked without taking her eyes of the rift.
- It is a pocket dimension. Created by the spell that makes Toffee immortal - Eclipsa explained.
- Wait! - Moon looked upset. - If Toffee dies while Star is inside, won't the spell end and the dimension fall apart?
- That's why you and I will keep it stable long enough for her to escape - the curly haired woman turned at Star - Once Toffee is no more, you will have to act fast and find your way back to the portal. We won't be able to keep the dimension stable for a very long time.
- We will keep it for as long as she needs - the Queen protested.
- Got it - with both hands Star picked up the Book of Spells. - Kill Toffee, save Mewnie, be back before dinner.
She tossed the book through the dark portal. A much deeper version of the rift's swallowing sound echoed.
- Star, wait - Moon put one hand on her daughter's shoulder. With the other she called the only mewnian knight left.
The man quickly made his way to the Queen and the Princess. Kneeling before Star, with both hands he presented his sword to her.
- You are going need this more than he will.
Star mentally scolded herself. What kind of warrior princess goes in battle without a weapon? "One day, when I'm as strong as mom" she thought and picked the sword.
Armed with determination and a blade, Star realized it was time to go. Looking back at her mother, the Princess wondered was there anything she could say to calm down the woman. Eclipsa seemed to be concerned as well. Their cheeks were still glowing from the magic usage.
- Go, Star - Moon broke the silence. - Stop Toffee. Come back to me.
- When I return, - with one leg, the Princess stepped inside the portal - Mewnie will be safe once again.
With confident smile, Star continued through the dimensional rift. She heard excited Rhombulus yelling to her to kick Toffee's something. When the crystal man finished his sentence, the Princess was somewhere else.
XXX
Star reemerged on the other side, in a completely familiar world. Colorful nebulas, millions of star lights, giant blue sun, all the same as the reflection from the portal. The same as the vision she had.
The rift behind her was fill with Eclipsa and Moon's worried faces on a background made of crystals. Star found the reflection to be a great family portrait.
The floor beneath was constructed from tiles, a little wider than her boots combined. Each of the tile was half transparent, except for their golden glowing edges. The only slightly brighter tiles were the ones beneath Star and the Book of Spells. Perfectly flat ground made of translucent bricks continued straight to the endless horizon. The perfect infinity of the landscape was disrupted by a dark green entity. It was too far from Star to make out its details. No that she needed any.
With caution, she kneeled before the book and opened it.
- Huh? Where am I? - Glossaryck looked confused.
The Princess raised a finger in front of her lips.
- We're inside Toffee's pocked dimension.
- I... I have memory of this place.
- Of course you have. Didn't you help Eclipsa create it?
- Create? - he raised an eyebrow. - No, no, no. I was here when I was inside Toffee. Wait, did you say Eclipsa?
- Yes, I want to know that too? - a third voice joined the conversation.
Startled, Star raised her head at the horizon. Toffee was slowly coming this way. Wearing an emerald-colored full plate armor, he had the alien-shaped help under his arm.
The monster stopped close enough for both to see each other' faces, yet too far to start a battle. Hardly a coincidence.
- Hello, Princess. Is Moon too busy burying her loyal subjects?
Trying to keep her cool, Star raised up casually.
- Somebody has to prepare the kingdom for celebrating "Toffee is dead" day.
- Let's not turn it into a Butterfly funeral - the lizard man started to circle around. - Tell me, did my mother helped you get in here?
- Look, - the girl crossed her arms - I came here to kill you, not exchange notes on motives.
- Even if your motives are pure, that doesn't mean hers are. Don't trust that wretched witch. Unlike us, she is only after her own interests.
- It this the part where you start explaining why are you doing this? Isn't that too much of a bad guy cliché for such a "cunning" monster like you?
- Oh, but am I the only villain? - Toffee stopped walking around and looked at the Princess. - What about your family? You took our land with swords and magic. What about my mother? She kidnapped me from my real parents and tried to turn me into a tool for her own goals - the monster took a deep breath. - But you are not like them, Star. There is a better way to end this than one of us ending up a corpse.
- After everything that happened in the last few days, you want me to let you go? On, this is gonna be good.
- Stop acting like a child for a moment! - irritated, Toffee yelled at Star. He took another deep breath and calmly continued - Eclipsa has her own plans for Mewnie. Plans that neither I like, nor would you. That's why I tipped off your Magical High Commission. But now, my mother is free and whatever the Queen of Darkness is after, she must not have it. Let me reincarnate, and I will help you kill her. For the future of all monsters and mewmans.
Star was not sure if Toffee really wanted to prevent a disaster on Mewnie, or was trying to manipulate her to save his own skin. Nobody would give Eclipsa the title "Queen of Darkness" just because it sounded cool. The more Toffee's explanations echoed inside Star's head, the more they sounded reasonable.
It does not matter.
- You made me destroy my wand and tricked Ludo into stealing the Book of Spells from me.
Star kneeled down without looking at Toffee.
- You drained the magic out of the High Commission and the universe.
She picked her sword from the glowing ground and raised up.
- You took the lives of innocent people and tried to kill me, my friends, and my mother.
Staring back at the monster, she pointed the blade at his face.
- No matter how this ends, I am not letting you live.
Disappointed, the lizard man put on the emerald helm. A menacing dark red light shined from where his eyes were supposed to be.
- Poor choice.
He prepared a blade of its own. The sword ignited and the whole weapon got covered in jade-colored flames.
- Don't say I never gave you a way out.
The monster charged furiously at Star. She also dashed at him, leaving trail of light. Both blades collided centimeters away from their target's heads. Using both hands, Toffee raised his sword and made a heavy vertical slice. Star hopped sideways leaving the air behind her cut in half. Taking advantage of the situation, she swung at the lizard man's right wrist. The blade jumped from the emerald gauntlets, leaving a scratch and a loud ring.
Threatening roar left Toffee's helm. He tried to end Star with a single swing. She carefully evaded the attack. A series of hulking slices followed. Each of them missed the girl, leaving trails of dark fire. The last one was heavier than the rest and Star dodged it with a graceful sideway spin. She prepared the weapon to strike at the monster's exposed back, but a burning sensation shifted her focus. A jade-colored elbow collided with the Princess' face, sending her on the ground.
First Star saw the lower left corner of her dress getting charred by a green flame. Next, a menacing figure swung down its burning blade. She ignored the increasing heat and parried the attack with her weapon. Toffee's strike slowed down, but it did not stop. The burning swords had come close enough to leave only distorted images for Star to see. With both hands on the handle, she pushed away and titled the blade sideways. Leaving a scarping sound, the monster's weapon almost instantly slid down and collided with the ground. Star folded her legs and kicked Toffee's sword away.
The spinning blade made an arc of light in the air and fell back in its owner's right hand. Star had already put some distance between her and the lizard man. One quick swing and a burning piece of cloth fell from her green dress. She noticed the left sleeve was also getting burned up and ripped it off. From head to toe, the Princess was covered in sweat.
- You can't win, Star - Toffee taunted her. - I had three hundred years to master the art of swordfight. And you had what, six? Seven? Ten tops.
Using the remaining sleeve, Star wiped the sweat from her forehead. In the girl's mind echoed Moon's criticizing remark of the "not-princess-like" act. She prepared the blade.
- Let's dance, ugly.
The Princess charged Toffee's position with a battle cry. Anticipating the attack, the monster took a defensive stance. At the last second he changed his grip and went for the first strike. Star had to both shift direction and kneel to avoid the burning blade. Then she leaped through the remaining firestorm and landed on Toffee's left pauldron. Both her legs wrapped around his armpit in a tight lock. Star raised the blade with both hands and sent it down at the emerald arm. The mighty swing cut all the way through the lizard man's limb.
Without his arm, Toffee had problem defensing against attacks from the left. Star landed back on the ground and immediately assaulted the monster's vulnerable side. He had to turn his entire body to parry. The Princess kept shifting positions and striking from the left. Toffee was having a hard time keeping up. Most attacks hit their intended target, but lacked the power to pierce the jade-colored plate.
Star stepped to the monster's weaker side again. Before she could land another blow, a pale blue arm grabbed her by the throat. With a panicky swing she cut off the limb and distanced herself from the monster. Panting heavily, Star noticed the lizard man's left arm was growing back.
Until now the girl believed Toffee's regeneration was part of Eclipsa's spell. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
- Now do you realize what you're dealing with? - he let the burning blade rest on his right shoulder.
Toffee's regeneration didn't stopped Star from obliterating him before. This time, she had to find a way to do it without the wand.
- Glossaryck! - Star called to the little man.
Far away from the action, Glossaryck was sitting on the opened Book of Spells. Up until now, he silently watched the fight.
- I'm watching.
- Find a spell strong enough to kill Toffee, easy enough for me to cast.
- Wand or no wand?
The Princess adjusted the blade in front of her.
- What do you think?
- Ah, right. No wand it is.
- Great. I'll buy us some time.
Leaping forward, Star went on the offensive. The monster met a storm of quick strikes. Each swing left a scratch on his armor, or a fast-healing cut on the unprotected arm. Each attack or two Toffee followed with an attack of its own. One almost burned Star's eyebrows. Another rained fire on the ground, igniting her right boot. With one hand she unzipped it, then dodged a swing headed for her head. Comically jumping around, she finally took the half melted boot off.
Star noticed the incoming burning sword too late. Parrying the attack with only one hand did almost nothing to stop it. She barely managed to tilt her head and avoiding getting stabbed in the face. The heat made her left cheek turn straight red.
- Star! I found the spell you asked for - Glossaryck sounded much closer than before.
With both hands, Toffee tried to pull his sword back for another attack. Star used a tiny moment of opening to attempt cutting off his hand. Instead she made a deep cut on the wrist. The pale blue fingers lifelessly let their grip on the sword. It took Toffee a second to recover his balance.
A second was all Star was hoping for.
She dived forward and landed behind the monster. Lying on her back, the Princess changed the grip on the sword. With the might of every fiber in her arms, she pierced Toffee' left lower leg guard, the muscles it protected, and the leg guard again. The lizard man gave an agonizing scream and fell on his knees. Star left him struggling to remove her sword and dashed at where Glossaryck was.
- Nice one - the blue man greet her.
Breathing heavily, she kneeled behind the Book of Spells.
- Show me the spell.
Glossaryck pointed at one of the pages. From top to bottom, it was full of words and one incomprehensible image. There must be at least a dozen lines of descriptive text.
- Glossaryck! I can't even read the name, let alone cast it.
- Well, of course not, but there is a way you can use the spell without knowing it.
- Really?
- I must warn you, it's very dangerous. You must agree to not blame me in the case of-
Star threw a quick look at her enemy. Her sword was halfway out of Toffee's leg.
- Will it work?
- Of course it will. But Star, listen-
- I don't have time to listen! Just do whatever you need to do.
The tiny man rolled his eyes and turned at the spell's page. The crystal on his forehead lit up. A magical beam hit the page, instantly disintegrating it. Star was shocked.
- Glossaryck! What the he-
Glossaryck faced the Princess and start projecting the same beam at her forehead. She sat silently, as if her mind had gone somewhere else. When he was done, confused Star gazed at him.
It kicked in.
The hearts on her cheeks started to glow. Then her eyes became bright as the blue sun. Gravity lost its power over Star, she was floating above the transparent tiles. Her long blonde haired danced wildly as if it was under water. Light spread from its roots to the end of each strand. Every single one of her veins lit up at the same time, forming a bright web all over her body. Quick breaths made the light coming from her mouth tremble.
Star felt the whole power deep inside her trying to burst out. An uncontrollable magical discharge.
Toffee had just pulled out the Princess' sword, when he saw a star shining stronger than any other. She had turned her gaze at the monster as well. From thin air, two bright magical circles formed. Each inscribed with mystical words, each rotating in different direction. Star spread her arms and dipped inside them. Gently she pulled out two pink glowing orbs, made out of pure magical energy. She brought them in front of her, joining them into a sphere of unstable concentration of force. She lowered the pink ball, pointing at the emerald creature.
Wave after wave of pure magical energy burst from the sphere. At the last moment Toffee crossed both swords above his head. Barrage of giant waves engulfed him. One after another, they crashed into the monster. To Glossaryck's surprise, the lizard man's block was spreading the spell away from him, creating an unaffected pocked.
Each wave pumped shrank the magical ball a little. The barrage was getting weaker. Toffee was still resisting, barely hit by the attack.
For each arm Star had, two more grew. They dipped in the rotating circles and pulled a magical charge of their own. Adding the first two made the pink sphere widen up to its original size. The last two charges made the magical ball big enough to cover up the girl's upper body. Her hands were shaking from forcing control over it. The space around was becoming more distorted by the second.
Star let the unstable magical orb float. Two calm words left her mouth:
- Starlight Breaker.
The ball launched itself at where Toffee stood, immediately crashing into the ground. Glowing pink explosion covered the scenery, leaving magical particles behind in the form of dust clouds. Deafening sound echoed heavily across the dimension.
The web of light had disappeared from Star's body. With Glossaryck's magic no longer active, gravity pulled the Princess back. Falling on her back, she landed next to the Book of Spell. The flow of her own blood was leaving a burning sensation.
- I really miss my Narwhal Blasts - Star said with painful expression.
- You probably won't be able to use any magic for a month.
- That was one hell of a trick you got there.
- Well, the spell was supposed to stop him with only two hands.
- So... that last part, it was all me? - puzzled, she winked multiple times.
- Star - suddenly Glossaryck sounded much serious.
- What?
- We're not done.
A dreadful feeling slowly overcame the girl. She looked at where the magical energy sphere exploded. When something there moved, her nightmare got confirmed.
Toffee was a living wreck. His lower body was completely gone. The shattered emerald helm had only one half of it still standing. With only his right arm left, he struggled to pull what was left of him. Somehow the lizard man had evaded most of Star's devastating attack.
The Princess raised as fast as her damaged muscles allowed. With painful steps, she clumsily ran towards the monster. Toffee's body had already started to regenerate. He pulled himself closer towards the only weapon left - the jade burning blade.
With the only boot left, Star pinned down the lizard man's arm and grabbed the sword. Her hands immediately started screaming from the skin getting scorched. It was almost as bad as the agony she felt with every breath. She ignored the burning up sensation and continued raising up the blade.
The swing Star made was as determined as it was precise. Tormented yell relieved her physical pain a bit. The sword landed, separating Toffee's head from the rest of his body. All living processes died instantly. Using the sword again, she cut off the monster's only arm. Every emotion she felt was getting dominated by the sensation of burning up. With a heavy breath, Star raised the blade for a third strike. The searing pain became too much to bear and she dropped it behind. Instead the girl kicked Toffee' lifeless body.
- And stay dead for a change!
Her hands looked and felt badly burned. Once she was out of here, Lekmet would have no problem healing them up. But first, Star had to leave this dimension. And leave it fast.
XXX
Two burned hands made tossing the book back through the portal an unpleasant experience. Even the slightest movement through the air was doubling the sensation of burned skin. Star let her hands rest still until the pain faded to more tolerable levels.
Staring back at the portal, she found it looking a bit different. Eclipsa and Moon were both missing from the portrait. Alerted, Star decided to cut her resting time. In preparation, she clenched teeth and jumped through the rift.
As expecting, moving through dimensions with burned skin was an awful experience. Pain spiked from the red hands all the way through her arms. Star felt it for only a moment, before she was stunned from the picture before her.
With cheeks still glowing and arms crossed, Eclipsa was only one standing on the crystal ground. Around her lied the mewnian knight and all five members of the Magical High Commission. Eyes closed, light breaths and no visible injuries indicated they were unconscious.
- What have you done? - Star asked, while trying to hide her fear with anger.
- Is Toffee dead? - Eclipsa ignored the question.
- Yes he is. Now tell me, what you've done to my mother!
The Queen of Darkness closed her eyes. Both spades on her cheeks turned back to their cold purple color. The dimensional rift behind Star instantly vanished.
- Her? - Eclipsa looked at Moon's unconscious face. - Don't worry, I just helped the Queen get an early nap. As the others.
Puzzled, Star raised an eyebrow.
- Why?
- Come on, dear. We both know the moment you return Rhombulus would put me back in the crystal. And before I leave, I wanted to have a little talk you. Alone.
- Alright, I'll bite. What do you want to know?
- It's not about what I want to know. It's about what you should learn.
- Huh? - the Princess was completely lost.
- I can see through you, my child. You have a great magical power inside. But something is bothering you. Something is stopping you from pulling it out - she put a hand on her chin. - I've seen it before. Did you get hurt by someone close to you?
Star knew well what Eclipsa was talking about. Someone had indeed hurt her in a way, she had never experienced before. It was a secret she buried so well, that she had forgotten all about it. And yet, the Queen of Darkness had read her like an open book. It made Star feel vulnerable.
- None of your business! - she sounded more troubled than she would have liked.
- Whatever the issue is, Star Butterfly, it would be for the best to resolve it as soon as possible - Eclipsa crossed arms again. - For one day, I will need you to lend me you power.
- You think I would just help you like that? I've been in Rhombulus' crystals as well, but being frozen for three hundred years really did a trick on that brain of yours.
From behind her back, Eclipsa pulled out dimensional scissors. The Princess recognized them as the ones Pony Head had given to her.
- You don't have to understand now, for when the time to help me comes, you will.
Calmly, the Queen of Darkness cut through the background, opening a rift. She gave Star warm look.
- Until we meet again, my child.
