The original reptilian city of Septarsis lays deep within the Forest of Certain Death. A large, gated off community of Septarians governed by Seth, second by Toffee, is a community of lizards with a pretty bad reputation for maintaining hostility towards outsiders, especially ones of the Mewnan kind. The Septarians are viewed by others as brutes, but are actually very sophisticated and intelligent beings that are feared because of their regenerative powers as well as their pension for ruthlessness.
The most intelligent of the bunch is no doubt Igginaus Rogannien, a pale green Septarian with a hunched back and rather homely features. However, none of those technicalities matter to him. All that matters to Iggy is the pursuit of science and knowledge, which is something he'll never see if he has to continue being stuck in the gated community of Septarsis, isolated from the world. In a tall castle looming high above Septarsis, Iggy the scientist is about to make a break and get out of Septarsis once and for all. Seth does not like this, not one bit.
Iggy: No time. No time for last minute preparations, gotta move. This thing will fly. This thing... WILL fly.
Iggy straps himself down into the seat of his genius bird-like contraption and pulls the stick shift, flipping some switches, and slamming his boot down on the gas.
Iggy: Come on, come on.
Iggy can feel the heat of Septarsis, beating on the door of his dorm as he tries to make his escape. The bird starts to accelerate down the runway with freedom right before his eyes. It's a mighty windy night and perfect for the kind sail that Iggy had wants for his flight. Just as Iggy makes it halfway down the runway, gaining speed, a boot smashes the door open, and a bunch of Lizards, along with Seth come storming in.
Seth: You're a damned fool, Iggy! You'll be back! I'll bet my life on it! You'll be back!
Iggy isn't a religious man, but boy does he pray that his prototype won't fall apart on him. As he reaches the open air, the bird takes off, into the sky. Iggy lets out a loud cheer of laughter.
Iggy: Ha ha! WOO! I've done it! I have achieved flight! Goodbye Septarsis! Hello life... What the? What was that?
A loud shake can be heard from the outside.
Omnitraxis Prime: Where do you think you're going, Septarian?
Spells are being shot from the ground, a large blue skull-like face, a massive creature grabs the bird contraption mid-air, in retaliation, Iggy hits all the thrusters, plowing through the creature. Behind him, he can hear the cockpit being pried open, two long snakes hiss as a tall, crystalline creature boards the vessel. Iggy, rising quickly from his chair, stumbles over to the edge of the cockpit, kicking Rhombulus out, causing him to plummet until he falls to the ground. A third intruder, a woman wearing a yellow dress, is on top of the bird trying to melt her way in from the roof.
Iggy: So Miss, you like heat huh? How about some exhaust fumes?!
Iggy punches down on the breaks, causing the bird to emit large black clouds of gas, blinding and suffocating Hekapoo, and forcing her to evacuate the top of the bird. Before him, on the ground far ahead of him is his biggest threat. Queen Solaria, wand in hand, sends fireballs crashing from the sky. The bird contraption is pelted over and over. Iggy begins losing control and altitude as the bird hurtles towards the ground. Solaria jumps over the bird contraption as it crashes, into the ground behind her, and she lands gracefully, brandishing a stern look on her face. The bird contraption is totaled.
Queen Solaria: Igginaus Rogannien of Septarsis, you are hereby charged with the illegal possession of magic by outside Mewnan royal forces. Your punishment, death!
Iggy pries open the cockpit to find Solaria pointing a wand right at his face. Quickly, he backs in as Solaria fires a molten rock into the cockpit door, blasting a giant hole in it. Iggy sprints out of the contraption for dear life. Using a makeshift projectile throwing weapon, Iggy fires back at Solaria, who in returns fires a green laser spell at Iggy, severing several of his fingers. He staggers as the laser hits him, turning around where yet another green laser hits Iggy in his right eye, popping his eyeball right out of its socket. Iggy continues to sprint for his life as Solaria fires one last spell, causing an explosion right at hiss feet, sending him hurtling into the air, and blowing off one of his legs. Iggy lays there, helpless.
Iggy: No no no. Please, stop. Please, stop. Don't kill me, please.
Iggy lays there, clenching his arms over his head in cover, pressing his eyelids together and gritting his teeth in vain that his pursuer will just disappear. After nearly a minute of silence, Iggy opens his eye and turns himself over to find that his enemies are indeed gone, and he is alone. He looks in every direction and can see nothing but miles of nothingness as he lies in the plains of grass. Wreckage of his invention is spread across the plains in the distance, the body reduced to a flaming pyre.
Iggy Pulls himself along the dirt like a helpless slug, over to a piece of his invention that had fallen off in the crash. He grabs the large piece and climbs his way over to a tree. Using his weakened arms, he digs his claws into the bark of the tree and uses his feeble and diminishing strength to stand up. He uses the piece of his contraption under his armpit to use as a crutch as he hobbles his way, defeated, in the opposite direction of his journey. He retreats, back to Septarsis. At the gate stand two guards. They sneer at him in grave disappointment as they open the gate to let him in. On the inside is Seth, arms folded and eyes glistening like a snake with a mouse caught in its sight.
Seth: What the hell happened to you?
Iggy: Solaria. It's Solaria... the Magical High Commission. They claimed I was using "magic".
A sudden explosion occurrs off to the side, guards are flung into the air. Furious, Seth grabs Iggy by the collar of his coat, pulling him in threateningly.
Seth: YOU LET YOURSELF BE FOLLOWED?!
Seth throws the Septarian to the ground and pulls out two long, hook-like scimitars from their sheaths, preparing for battle. Iggy is once again left in the position of having to crawl across the ground like a pathetic work. All he can see are the heels of various anonymous figures running past him in random directions. Explosions come from each and every angle as chaos ensues, his previous pursuers engaging in battle with the Septarian forces. Hekapoo alone takes on several Septarians at once, utilizing her superior agility to kick punch and cut her way through the forces like melted butter. Rhombulus merely crystalizes everyone around him, and Omnitraxis utilizes his sheer size to belt and throw Septarians in all different directions.
Seth engages in hand to hand combat with Solaria, clashing scimitars with wand-turned-sword, while also exchanging punches and kicks at each other. Seth knows that he cannot let Solaria get distance on him, because at range she could potentially become far more deadly. Toffee lunges at Solaria, daggers in hand, and she roundhouse kicks him to the ground. Seth, distracted for a second, makes the mistake of allowing Solaria just enough room to convert her wand back to its standard form and she begins throwing projectiles across the open air.
Seth leaps and dodges away from her as Toffee rebounds, going in for another attack by grabbing Solaria from behind and locking her into a full nelson. Seth charges at Solaria, who proceeds to charge back towards him after she flips behind Toffee, turning the tables and causing Seth to thrust his scimitars right into Toffee's chest. Seth his horrified as Solaria kicks Toffee to the ground, incapacitated. Solaria then executes two very deft bolts from her wand that disarm Seth. She proceeds to then beat Seth to the ground in a series of curb stomp attacks, leaving him helpless.
Seth looks around, seeing the corpses of his friends and family, his children, and his close friends. Septarsis is ablaze like the fires of hell. Buildings crash to the ground around him. All that can be heard is fire and screaming as the scene of horror unfolds around him. Seth falls to his knees, his face filled with blood as he stares into the face of the Monster Carver herself, a literal devil Queen. Her green eyes bare into his soul as she aims her wand directly at his heart.
Seth: What are you waiting for? Do it! End me! Kill me now, witch!
Eclipsa: MOMMY, NO!
Solaria, distracted by her daughter, prematurely fires her shot of magic, piercing right through Seth's heart. He falls to the ground, laying in a pool of his own blood and tears with a frozen look of terror on his face.
Solaria: What is my daughter doing here?!
Hekapoo: I have no idea, your highness.
Solaria: Hold your fire! We're leaving!
Rhombulus: Your highness? Shouldn't we check the bodies?
Solaria: No time! I must take my daughter away from this filthy lizard hell hole!
Seth just lays there motionless, his face capturing all the carnage before him. For nearly a minute he lays there until his lungs find the strength to once again draw air, then with a large gasp, Seth breathes life once more. He writhes on the ground, coughing, Smoke fills his lungs with sulfur as he breathes in the inferno formerly known as Septarsis. The town is littered with debris and the bodies of Septarians, hundreds of lives destroyed by magic.
Seth: Cough, cough. Toffee!
He climbs to his feet, staggering over to Toffee, turning his fallen comrade over on his back. He looks at his face which is pained by Seth's scimitars.
Toffee: A little help?
Seth: Yeah, right. Of course.
Seth helps Toffee to his feet. He grips the ends of the scimitars, and with his foot on Toffee's chest, slides the blades out of his flesh, leaving two 6 inch wounds right in Toffee's abs.
Seth: Look for survivors.
Toffee: Yes, sir.
The two sift through debris as they look for any remaining Septarians. Very few are found under rubble. Seth beholds the bodies of his wife Marilyn and his children as they lay there motionless from the horrible magic that went right through their brains, destroying any chance at regrowth. Seth, as battle-hardened as he is, still can not maintain composure at having to find his family dead. He kneels there for nearly a minute as he mourns their loss. Toffee is more fortunate however, to find Emerald, his fiance, whose arm is sticking out from under the debris of the house. She is badly injured by the collapse of the house on top of her, but it appears that, ironically, the houses' implosion has actually saved her life by preventing the Magical High Commission or Solaria from entering and killing her with magic.
Emerald: Toffee! I'm in here!
Toffee: Hold tight! I need help lifting this up.
Toffee runs over to Seth, whose still in kneeling in grief.
Toffee: I found her! I found Emerald. She's buried under rubble but I can't lift it by myself.
Seth doesn't respond.
Toffee: Please! I need your help!
Seth rises. With the look of pure despair engraved into his face, he follows Toffee over to the rubble where Emerald lays crushed, and they each take one end of the massive concrete slab, hoisting it into the air allowing for Emerald to climb out. Gratefully, Toffee embraces his wife, smiling and filled with relief.
They continue to look. As they enter one house, Seth and Toffee scavenge for salvageable and survivors and rummage to try and find anything still worth keeping. In the corner of a room is a dresser that has fallen over. Seth opens it.
Iggy: Ah!
Seth: You!
He lifts the sniveling Septarian into the air by the collar of his coat, slamming him against the wall.
Seth: Do you have any idea what you've done?!
Iggy: I got everyone killed. Septarsis is ruined and everyone's dead and it's all my fault! I'm so sorry! Please! Please forgive me!
Iggy slides against down to the floor, bawling his one eye out in sorrow for what he'd done.
Toffee stares at the groveling husk of a man now curled onto the floor. Seth stands fully erect, fuming and breathing through his nostrils, trying to hold back the will to slaughter Iggy where he lays. He clenches his fist and the embers of fire illuminated off his hated-filled eyes.
Toffee: Seth?
Seth looked at Iggy, pupils dilated like an animal set to kill.
Toffee: Seth!
Seth snaps out of it, looking back at Toffee.
Toffee: He's not worth it. We need to go, now. This building is collapsing.
Seth leaves the building through the barely stable doorway, passing Toffee. Toffee looks down at the miserable creature on the ground and shakes his head in pity. Emerald and Toffee hoist the creature up to his foot. The quartet continue their search, finding only a small handful of Septarians remaining: two children, a brother and sister, a pencil-necked gentleman who worked as a painter, and a lowly, gawky farm woman. That is all that was left of the original Septarsis. As the remainder of the buildings collapse, Septarsis is no more. It is reduced to a smoldering pile of ruins that lays deep to the far east of the Forest of Certain Death to this day. In modern day it has since become a historical landmark in Mewni.
Seth, Toffee, Iggy and the others take one last look at their former home, and depart for for a new place to call their home, somewhere far away from Butterfly Castle, but still on the continent.
Toffee: Where to, Commander?
Seth takes out a map from his back pocket, laying it down on a rock. He drags his long black fingernail northwest.
Seth: It's a stretch, but we're heading northwest, directly under Ponyhead Kingdom. We're making a sharp curve as we approach Castle Butterfly, passing it entrely. Then we're going to set up camp right along the coast. There is an outpost near the sea where other Septarians have set up fishing grounds called "Squall's Greet". We're going to meet up with the commander of that settlement and deliver them the terrible news. There's no way they can turn us down.
The group begins their long trek. They continue to converse as they hike through the forest.
Toffee: Who exactly is the commander of this "camp"?
Seth: A really good friend of mine, General Reginald Alshain.
Toffee: The Falcon himself?
Seth: The one and the same. Of course, he abandoned that name after injuring Queen Solaria in battle, leaving her with her long scar across her chest. It's a miracle that the man lives today. Among monsters, he is considered a legend.
Toffee: But Alshain is one of "them". He's a sycophant. How are you so sure we can trust him?
Seth: Reginald was appointed by Sargo Avarius over 20 years ago to oversee the peaceful transfer of power. He was just the guy there to keep everyone in check. He served a bit under that vain fool, Jushtin too. We met a good while back, and he basically told me that as long as we were cool, he was cool. He wanted no funny business. And he didn't play favorites either. He heard both sides of the story and made his judgment then and there, and he was always right. He was also the first to see Solaria for what she was, and that's pure evil. He was right to get outta there while he could. He's since used his influence to build a rather impressive outpost along the western shores. I've been keeping in contact with him ever since.
Night falls as the travelers reach their halfway mark. They set up camp right on the outskirts of the forest against the mountains. Seth and Toffee bag some game on the way there and the farm girl properly skins the creature. The artist is charged with setting up the spit and campfire. Toffee brings the flint and within moments a nice fire is made along the mountainside. As he sits between the exchange of chatter and banter, Iggy is noticeably quiet, staring at the ground and not even touching his meat that at that point has stopped sizzling on the bone.
Seth stares at him.
Seth: You're gonna eat that, right? That lovely woman went out of her way to prepare that meal for you, so I know you're gonna eat it.
Iggy takes the large meaty leg and rips a large piece off and starts chewing away awkwardly at it. He doesn't even want it, but he doesn't want to do anything to set Seth off.
Toffee looks at the both of them, worriedly, trying to stir up conversation to break the awkward tension.
Toffee: So, uh, lovely beast we have here. Nearly 45 kilograms that beast was.
Seth: Yeah, he was a tough guy to take down. Fast bugger.
Seth continues to stare at Iggy while speaking, his gaze never once breaking from Iggy's face as the fire glistening off them. Iggy on the other hand, doesn't have so much as a twinkle left in his remaining eye.
Seth: So, they did a number on you, huh?
Iggy stares at the ground.
Seth: Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't be rude by ignoring me, Igginaus.
Iggy: Y-yeah.
Seth: I wanna know what happened. Why were you followed by Solaria and the Magical High Commission? Tell me, honestly.
Iggy: Y-you would believe me? Even after all that I got us into?
Artist: Wait? This is his fault! Why in the world are we_
Seth: SIT. BACK. DOWN! I'm asking the questions, and I want them answered. You're a coward Iggy. You're a deserter. But there's one thing that I KNOW you're not, and that's a liar. So tell me, what the hell happened back there?
Iggy: A-after I escaped aboard my avian aircraft, So-solaria and the Magical High Commission tried to attack and breach my ship. They tried to claim that I was using illegal magic to engage in flight.
Seth: You? A mage? Right, and I'm a fat, wart covered toad.
Iggy: They don't understand anything. They're so wrapped up in all their hocus pocus nonsense that they can't even understand the complex mechanisms of science!
Seth: They thought that bird thing was magic?
Iggy: I spent years calculating the velocity, the physics needed, the necessary weight support, everything I did a lot more than just dance around with some stick and yell some spells! I'm insulted!
Seth: Yeah, I saw you working on that thing for quite a while. I thought it was supposed to be some elaborate scarecrow or something.
Iggy looks at Seth in confusion.
Seth: That was a joke.
Iggy tries to force a laugh.
Iggy: Ha, ha ha ha ha!
Seth: It wasn't funny, Iggy, and you know it. Don't be a brown noser. I just want to talk to you.
Iggy: Right.
Seth leans back, laying on the ground with his hands folded behind his head as he gazes at the beautiful star-filled night sky.
Seth: What IS magic anyway?
Iggy: Huh?
Seth sits back up into his original Indian style positioning in a slightly hunched over posture.
Seth: You're a smart guy Igg; what in the world IS magic? Surely your science can wrap itself around that. Toffee, do you know what magic is?
Toffee: All I know is that it sucks, and that it hurts, really bad.
Seth: But I mean WHAT is it? Energy? Some sort of life force?
Toffee: I've seen a Queen use that wand to conjure a three-headed cat out of thin air. How could you possibly define that with science?
Iggy: We know that inter-dimensional travel is possible with magic, and that it is capable of defying any real world physics by the standards of any known physicist.
Seth: But do you think it could be studied?
Iggy: Anything can be studied with the right willing subject, but I doubt a magic user would willingly subject themselves to my study for scientific purposes. It does quite honestly fascinate me though. I've always been jealous of the elusiveness of magic, with regards to the knowledge of magic towards monster folk.
Seth: Interesting.
Iggy: What are you getting at?
Seth: Oh, nothing I suppose. Just stirring some hypothetical conversation is all. It's time we slept. I thank you very much, for your lovely beast, Miss. And I bid you all a good night sleep. We rise at dawn. So rest well, all of you.
Farmer: It was a pleasure to serve you, Seth.
The fire is doused and the tents are pitched. Iggy lays in his sleeping bag, pondering. He closes his eye and just allows his mind to wander. He starts thinking about the implications of the science of magic all night, and for every question he thinks he has the answer to, there is another 10 that it raises. Iggy decides that upon the morn, the first chance he gets to interact with a library that the first thing he's heading for is the history section. He knows very well the inaccuracy of the historical depiction in books, is well aware of such bias, but realizes that even though such books are filled with anti-monster propaganda and lies, that interwoven between them are truths about not only Queens, but their magic.
The sun rises on Mewni and the group sets off in continuation towards the outpost on the northwestern shores. Seth and his group are on high alert as they turn around the perimeter of the Castle on a large diameter. They no longer feel safe knowing that Solaria, or someone that knows Solaria could so easily confirm the survivors of the Septarsis onslaught to be alive. On the horizon the lizards can see Squall's Greet, a stone-walled gated off town. There are two guards at the door: a round, one-eyed creature with large disgusting warts and tumor-like muscular arms, and a beady yellow-eyed fellow with an axe-like face. Seth approaches.
Short Guard: What be your business in Squall's Greet, stranger?
Seth: I am Seth of Septarsis. I've come to see the guy running this place.
Axe-Face: We never received word of outsiders coming to the post. Be gone with ye!
Toffee goes to draw his weapon in retaliation for their insolence but Seth raises his hand, ordering Toffee to remain at ease.
Seth: It's pretty unfortunate that your leader doesn't trust you two with such pertinent information. I insist. You, axe-boy, go in and get your leader. Say Gecko wants to speak to Birdie.
Axe-Face: Gecko? Birdie?
Seth: He'll know what it means. Now go. I won't ask again.
Axe-Face: Fine "Gecko"! I'll get this "Birdie" for ya.
He enters in the gate and the time between his departure and his undignified return is but a minute. They all stand there waiting awkwardly. Axe-Face is then thrown through the gate to the ground and out steps a bird man, The Falcon, General Reginald Alshain in person.
Alshain: Seth. It's been quite a while.
Alshain is a tall bird man, dressed fairly casually, but still embracing his jacket of medals, in his desperate attempt to retain his honor after his rank was stripped of him. He speaks in a gravelly, raspy Mewnan (English) accent.
Seth approaches Alshain. They exchange a hand grab.
Seth: Too long in fact.
Alshain: Welcome to Squall's Greet! So, this is all that's left of Septarsis? This is quite unfortunate.
Seth: Word travels fast.
Alshain: Yes, when people lose lives, families. It spreads like wild-fire.
Seth: It was Solaria, and the Magical High Commission.
Alshain: That bloody psychopath that dares to call herself a Queen? She'll stop at nothing until were all dead!
Toffee: So, you're the Falcon I've heard so much about.
Alshain looks at Toffee with a serious look.
Alshain: We don't call me that 'round here, lest we draw attention here. It's bad enough I got the lot of you here. She hates you, you know.
Seth: Judging by that scar I'd say she hates you more.
Alshain: Yeah well, I paid her back but good.
Seth: It's quite the settlement you have here.
Alshain: It was more, but she saw fit to bully other monsters from our outpost. They're no longer with us.
Seth: And they call US monsters.
Alshain: Come, to my office, we shouldn't be out in the open like this. Those two, and the children can stay in the inn 'cross the street.
Alshain points across a stone street to a small rural looking joint with barn trimming.
Alshain: 3 or 4 beds. Younguns may have to share. You three, come with me.
Alshain: First I'd like you to meet my son, Percival Archibald Alshain.
Percival: Good evening sirs, I'm so sorry for the tragedy at Septarsis.
Seth: We're just glad to be alive, thanks.
Alshain: My son here is running the inn. He takes care of the town when I'm away. Follow me, gentlemen.
The lizards and the bird men ascend a flight of stairs in a narrow hallway.
Alshain: I apologize on behalf of the crippled gentleman with you.
Iggy: I'll be fine. Just let me take my time getting up there.
Alshain: Of course.
All the men are upstairs in a wooden office: a wide, mostly empty office with a carpet, a desk, a few wooden chairs and a fireplace with an iron kettle filled with bubbling green liquid and vegetables as well as a few windows. Alshain lounges at his desk in a beat up leather chair. He kicks up his feet on the desk and lights a pipe of tobacco.
Alshain: You gents don't mind, do ye?
All: No.
Alshain: You, cripple, take a seat, lad.
Iggy is relieved to be off his tired leg for a bit.
Alshain: Let me see, son.
Iggy: See what, sir?
Alshain: Your eye, man, let me see your eye. I wanna see what's under that green mop of yours.
Iggy pushes his greasy green hair to the side, showing his empty eye socket. He shows his hand, his appendage-less stump of a right hand, as well as his missing left leg, where his pant leg had been cut and tied into a neat knot.
Alshain: Heavens... SHE did this to you, didn't she?
Iggy nods.
Alshain: I am so sorry, to all of you. Something has to be done about her. It's heresy for me to even conspire aloud. It feels as though the walls have ears anymore. I'm utterly paranoid I tell ye. Anyway. I welcome you to my town, or, what's left of it. Make yourselves at home, mates.
Toffee: Wait. You said something must be done. What do you have in mind?
Alshain: You tell me, Toffee. I'm all ears. But be quiet. We shant speak above more than a whisper about such things, you hear me?
Toffee: Loud and clear, er uh, quiet and clear.
Alshain: Right. Toffee, come see me if you have any "propositions". I will hear. I will listen. Can't automatically agree, but times are desperate, and action needs to be taken, and soon.
Seth: Of course. And thank you so much for your hospitality, Birdie.
Alshain: No problem, lads.
Alshain swings away at the smoke he's filling the room with with his pipe.
Alshain: Cripple, I got an_
Iggy: Iggy, sir. My name is Iggy.
Alshain: Right. Iggy, many apologies. I have a room downstairs. Not much, Just a stack of hay and a pillow. Only downstairs accommodations I have 'round here I'm afraid.
Iggy: It'll be perfect sir. Thank you.
Seth ventures out to a local pub to do some scouting for potential fighters. Much to his surprise, Seth has found that the town isn't particularly filled with fighters, so much as elderly, and common-folk monsters. He realizes he may have to enlist some outside sources if he is to come up with any sort of formal plans for action. Toffee has gone out to scout some game for a meal, as a gift to the town for their acceptance into their civilization. Iggy, on the other hand, heads straight to the library, looking immediately into the history of the Butterfly Family. Even if he can find only their accounts to go by, Iggy is very good at finding truth among lies. He begins his research into magic.
He also purchases an empty book for which to write down notes and entries. That night, the Septarians each find dorm in the homes of previous residents of the townsfolk that had been taken by Solaria. Iggy makes the best use of Alshain's downstairs cot, which is just as Alshain described, save for a desk with a weak lantern on it. Iggy is just relieved to have a relatively normal bed after several days of lacking in any proper sleep. He no sooner lays his broken body on the hay and he's out like a light, taking his long coat and draping it over his body like a blanket.
The Septarians continue to live there for a couple weeks, with Seth noticing that town are freaked and worried. Iggy collaborates with the Septarian artist they brought with them to come up with some sketches. He commissioned the artist to design new limbs for him, an absurd request that the artist merely finds hypothetical. Iggy is extremely vivid in his description of the prosthetics he wants and the artist, despite being a mere painter back home, comes up with some designs that Iggy finds very visually pleasing. With a smile, the first he'd had in a long time, Iggy hobbles along his way to talk some miners into lending him some mineral ore and the use of their forge in exchange for services that, at the moment, seem vague, but he insists he will indeed pay their debt.
Iggy: Fellas If you allow me some portion of your iron, silicate, and copper mineral collection, I would need but a small portion of each, perhaps 3 ingots of such, I will repay you through with my services through technological prowess.
A big, hefty, burly miner with hairy arms steps forward, a cyclops, uglier than an old potato, steps forth to question Iggy.
Miner: Oh really? What can a gimped lizard offer us?
Iggy: Funny you should ask. I'm quite handy with such equipment, and perhaps with new limbs I could create some new, far more effective tools than these here simple blunt objects.
Miner: New limbs? Buddy, why don't you just grow em back? Ain't that what you guys are good at?
Iggy: Not when they're blown off with magic. Believe me, I wish that I could merely use my natural regenerative powers to reclaim my lost limbs. But alas, that just doesn't work for me anymore. I mean, it's hard enough. I have no more peripheral vision. I've bumped my snout on several corners on the way here. Also, it's not as easy as it looks having to retrain my brain to write left-handed. I fully regret not embracing ambidexterity in my youth. And lastly, the simple task of mere movement, it's not working for me having to use a crutch to pathetically hobble around. I can't live like this.
The crew talk among themselves for a bit before returning to Iggy.
Miner: Okay. We'll give you a little ore for now, but before we offer you any more, we want to see some examples of this so called "technomological prowess" or whatever you call it.
Iggy: Anything! I'll make you anything, just name it.
Miner: Well, it gets very dark in this cave.
Iggy: I can make lights.
Miner: Lights? You mean like candles or torches?
Iggy: No, I mean far better lights. Electrical lights.
Miner: Electrical lights? What are you talking about?
Iggy: A mere single iron ingot and copper and I can create your light source, of course, provided I can use your tools, I can make it.
Miner: Are you trying to get this town in trouble, with all your talk of electrical lights and magic?
Iggy: It's not magic! It's not. It's science. I promise you there is no witchcraft or Butterfly magic, just science.
Miner: Alright. You better not be ripping us off lizard boy, or you'll wish Solaria finished you off, you hear?
Iggy: Loud and clear.
Iggy is elated with excitement to begin his experiments again, and this time, so long as he can keep his work a secret, he can get it done. The Septarians continue living at the outpost for a few months. They'd grown to accept life there, like a new home. Things are finally starting to wind down for them. Seth has begun training the strongest of the village the art of Septarian fighting with hook-like scimitars, getting in touch with the local blacksmith, he's begin manufacturing such Septarian scimitars, exchanging trade secrets with the blacksmith and generating interest in their market. He trains them to fight with the swords, how to embrace the agility of Septarian martial arts, the art of making use of such agility when combined with the use of the scimitars makes the local townsfolk a pretty big threat to outsiders.
He and Toffee teach the men how to strategize. Newcomers would arrive into town looking for training on a weekly basis, and the town starts to grow. Iggy uses the town's resources and equipment to create new limbs for himself. The people of the town are astonished at his work, and in a response that honestly shocks him, the townspeople requests that Iggy uses his knowledge to become the town's teacher. He is elated at the prospect of passing his knowledge onto others, and excitedly accepts the offer to teach the townsfolk the art of electrical engineering.
Over the course of 3 months, Iggy has written a new book, "Science is Not Magic: An Introductory Course on Electrical Engineering". Iggy would later down the line have the book published and it would become a best seller all over Mewni even to this day. Those months pass, and for a brief period of time, the Septarians enjoy their new lifestyle. However, a looming threat is on the horizon. It is published in a local paper that yet another town of monsters has been decimated by Solaria for the mere rumor that the town was staging a monster up-rise against the Queen. It is then that Reginald realizes the possibility that Squall's Greet could be taken down at any moment.
They need a plan, and fast. Fortunately, for them, Iggy has been working on a pretty big deal of an invention, and he intends on producing a few of them. It is in the middle of this week that Iggy calls Alshain as well as his companions to the center square to reveal his new invention. On the table before them, in Iggy's room, which has since been more modified to Iggy's liking with such things as a bookshelf already filled with books he had power read, and a couch, Iggy has placed on the table some bumpy objects underneath a red tarp.
Iggy: Gentlemen, I've used my vast knowledge in technology and made a breakthrough, based on a previous invention which I had actually used in self-defense against Solaria herself, I reveal to you, the Geothermite Utilizing Neutralizer!
Alshain: G.U.N.?
Iggy: Yes, G.U.N.
Alshain: And what exactly do you propose we DO with these G.U.N.s?
Iggy: Well, it launches projectiles, specifically, heated rocks and molten ore, in rapid succession. I chose this type of ammunition because it's readily available for consumption.
Alshain: Remarkable! How do we test 'em?
Iggy: Not in here, that's for sure. Let us go outside.
The crew walk outside towards the area with the training dummies, that's filled with soldiers training, which Alshain orders to evacuate the area for testing.
Alshain: Okay. Am I holding this thing right?
Iggy: It's upside down.
Seth: You hold it like this?
Iggy: Yes, that is correct. Hand is gripped around the stock. The index finger is used to pull the trigger back. This generates the heated chamber, which cooks the ammunition, and releases the heated ammunition at high velocity directly towards the target.
Toffee: So the heated rocks launch out of the front hole like this?
Iggy: Affirmative.
Alshain: Out of curiosity, my friend, approximately how far will these projectiles travel?
Iggy: These are relatively new and, I would honestly recommend using them no farther than say, 5 meters back.
Alshain: 5 meters, not quite stealthy at that range but I suppose far enough to avoid magic.
Iggy: The ammunition will travel farther than 5 meters. However, at that range, you risk losing accuracy, as then you have to account for travel speed, falloff damage as well as the gravitational pull.
Alshain: Can the lack in accuracy be corrected?
Iggy: By aiming higher I suppose, but that would require much experience with the weapon.
Seth: Iggy, how much of this ammunition can you create within, say, 24 hours?
Iggy: I could generate roughly 300 rounds of ammunition, or 100 rounds for each of you in that amount of time. I'm curious though, would you really need that much? The ammunition could become quite cumbersome at that quantity. With later revisions, I suppose I could come up with a lighter weight alternative, but these are practically prototypes, and the only advantage we have is that Solaria would never in her life be likely expecting technology this far advanced.
Seth: Stand back guys. I'm unleashing this beast.
Seth executes his first firing of the G.U.N. and decapitates several of the dummies before him, setting several on fire and completely knocking over another.
Seth: Oh ho ho yeah, I like this thing.
Iggy: I'm glad you approve sir.
Seth: It's a bit cumbersome though, and it kicks like a mule.
Iggy: Oh that's because you're not holding it right. You see, the butt of the stock is meant to be tucked under the armpit to reduce recoil.
Seth: I see. Well, thanks for making me look like a damned fool.
Iggy gets defensive. His new robot eye pulses, and that's when it actually hits Seth just how weird Iggy looks now. With assistance from the Artist, Iggy has come up with prosthetic limbs that he has surgically attached to his nerves allowing for movement. His eye has been replaced by a particularly creepy robot eye that bares no life force from it. The appendages on his right hand have been restored and Iggy has taught himself to not only write with both hands, but with his new robot one just as well as his original hand. His leg is no doubt the most odd and interesting looking of the new additions, almost chicken-like in design, made of reinforced hardened iron, and hollowed as much as he could get it without compromising integrity, resulting in a leg that in't as light as he liked, but tolerable to move in. From the base extends three long toes for maintaining balance. This leg will inevitably be replaced as access to harder and lighter metals such as titanium become commercially available.
Iggy: What? What are you looking at?
Seth: Something out of some science-fiction book, I think.
Iggy: This is science fact, sir.
Alshain: He's just jealous. Iggy, what you've presented before us is indeed incredible. This invention of yours may have very well saved us, and given us a strategic advantage.
Iggy: I really hope so. I owe a lot of debt to Septarsis, and Seth.
Toffee: And me.
Iggy: Yes, of course, and Toffee.
The group continues to train on the dummies, eventually destroying them all. They laugh and bond at destroying the dummies, making jokes and mocking them as if they were real targets. For the first time in a long time, Seth and Toffee have actually taken the time to have fun. They savor the time while it lasts, as later that week, Alshain summons them to his office with some exciting news. Alshain reveals that a mole of his has come onto a lead on Solaria's actions. Apparently, that Saturday, Solaria is to board carriage and trek across Mewni in order to engage with a meeting with the Water Kingdom folk regarding various issues such as trade and commerce as well as some rumors of local riffraff that Solaria the bully has taken keen interest in.
Alshain: Gentlemen. I've received news of Solaria traveling a path along the forest that treks dangerously close to our very whereabouts. It is imperative that we strike her carriage in the middle of the night during her travel. We have these G.U.N.s, and manned scouts have discovered a hill off to the side, roughly 3 meters off the road, a place to hide in cover and ambush Solaria's carriage. She will surrounded by guards and it is imperative that our marksmanship be at it's finest during our attack.
Seth: This is fantastic news. I'm gonna make her pay for what she did to the people of Septarsis.
Alshain: We must decide on a party. How many of these weapons do you have made now Iggy?
Iggy: Between performance tweaks and building. I currently have 1 new G.U.N. completed, 2 more are in production but they're not ready yet.
Alshain: Very well, 4 will have to do. I will accompany you myself.
Seth: Are you sure? What about the town.
Alshain: Percival will take my role as commander in my absence.
Toffee: It's gonna be very dangerous Alshain, and unlike us, you don't have regenerative powers.
Alshain: I know my limitations! I won't take no for an answer! I have just as much desire to see her taste the dirt as you all do.
Iggy: I will go, if anything but to prove to her what science can really do.
Seth: Obviously I'm in.
Toffee: I as well.
Alshain: Iggy, can you have those remaining G.U.N.s finished by Saturday?
Iggy: I'll have to crunch, but it can be achieved.
Alshain: Very well. Gentlemen, we have but a short time left. Get as much sleep and mental preparation as you can. There will be no Sunday, for Sunday, the sun will not rise on Mewni!
Iggy is nervous the next few days. He makes as much ammunition as he can in that time frame, but he has metaphorical butterflies in his stomach. He dreams each night about the horrible Solaria. Toffee, Seth and Alshain though, they seethe with desire to battle her once again. Saturday afternoon, the men have become set up. The dreaded, and also anticipated night arrives. The Quartet departs from Squall's greet in destination towards the meeting location.
They dress in black, cover their faces in war paint to match the wilderness, and wear cloth masks like ninjas, a tactic that Alshain has taught them, and they wait. They sit behind a pushed over tree. Alshain looks out into the distance. His eyesight is incredible, even at night. In the distance he spots the carriage, surrounded by heavily armored guards. Solaria is inside, reading the preposterous book that Iggy had published, fuming with embarrassment over his mockery of her negligence. The carriage pulls over the hill roughly 15 meters before them.
Alshain: Steady men.
Solaria grips the book tightly as she skims through the section of the book that goes into explicit detail of the very avian contraption she destroyed.
Solaria: What rubbish.
They grip their weapons tightly.
Alshain: Almost.
Iggy clenches his eyes closed. The carriage pulls within range. Alshain gives the signal. From over the hill an eruption of fire soars over the ridge. They pelt the carriage and the guards with molten ammunition, shredding their armor and reducing them to molten corpses. Solaria, caught by surprise, leaps out of the carriage and takes cover behind it. Alshain signals to move in, ordering a flank on Solaria. Behind the carriage, she goes into Butterfly Form and ascends into the sky, diving at the Septarians, and causing Iggy to drop his gun resulting in it rolling down the hill leaving him defenseless. She grabs Iggy and hoists him into the air, beaming at him right in the eyes.
The others maintain fire on her as she equips her wand, holding it to Iggy's neck. Seth and Toffee cease fire, while Alshain pelts Solaria with a direct shot, disarming her, and the others fire upon her once more, causing her to lose her butterfly form and both she and Iggy to fall to the ground. Rebounding quickly in desperation, Solaria reaches for the curious weapon on the ground and dives into cover behind a rock.
The group approaches cautiously, and Solaria, in desperation, reciprocates the actions of the Septarians, and opens fire upon them with their own weapon. Screaming and unloading, the Septarians and Alshain outrun the fire that she quickly expends. Still screaming, the weapon goes click, she clicks the trigger several times in frustration before realizing it's spent and tosses the weapon to the ground. The trio take advantage of her lack of ammo and move in for a melee strike, Solaria draws her physical sword.
Solaria: Come at me, you amateurs! You won't have me so easily. Bring it on!
The Septarians move in on her. She sweeps Toffee to the ground, disarming his sword and dual wielding herself. She is an incredible warrior, and Seth and Alshain absolutely beat her down with rapid succession sword strikes. Iron clashes like lightning. Iggy arises from his incapacitated daze and reaches around on the ground for the first thing he can find. Solaria's wand is just within reach and Iggy grabs it in desperation. The wand transforms in his robot hand and Iggy can't believe his eyes. The wand twists and turns to that of a long, wizard-like Staff with a snake on top. He points the wand at Solaria but has no idea how it works. Using his superior intellect, he tries to think as the witch would. Utilizing what he knows about what he witnessed Solaria yell, but he can't recall the particular spell. Then he wonders. What if they just make the spells up on the spot? Iggy yells in desperation the first thing he can think of.
Iggy: Sentinel Armory Barrage!
Iggy can't even believe his eyes, before him from the dirt rises a hulking metal beast, armor-clad and furious, and has several projectile missiles shoot from his arm sockets, pelting Solaria and the other Septarians and throwing them into cover. Iggy, in shock at what he just did, sat there gripping the rod and not having any idea what to do with it. The beast has gone ravaging through the forest.
Solaria: HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY WAND WITH YOUR FILTHY CLAWS, YOU DISGUSTING VERMIN! I WILL ANNIHILATE YOU!
Solaria runs at Iggy who just screams and cowers, defending himself with the wand as Solaria grapples with him for it.
Solaria: GIVE IT TO ME!
Iggy: NO!
The three monsters gang up on Solaria, forcing her back into melee battle with swords. The Sentinel rebounds, lunging directly towards Toffee, forcing him to flee from the beast. Solaria battles Seth and Alshain. She kicks Seth off to the side, and Alshain continues to wail on her. He kicks her to the ground and dives for her, forcing her to roll to the side and grab the other G.U.N., shooting Alshain mid air. He falls to the ground with a giant wound in his chest. Solaria pushes him off to the side, gets up and approaches Seth. She drives the sword directly into his chest where his heart is.
Solaria: I should have made sure you and your scum were all dead! A move I fully regret.
Seth: As you should, you witch!
Solaria twists the sword in him.
Alshain: A mistake you made TWICE!
Solaria turns around, surprised, Alshain thrusts his golden dagger right into her heart. He stares directly into her eyes as her pupils dilate, with a look of pure horror frozen on her face. She returns the favor, thrusting the sword right into Alshain. Alshain turns the dagger. Solaria falls to her knees, as does Alshain. He falls backwards, coughing up blood. Seth gets up, and faces Solaria with her own sword. He plunges it into her heart as well. She knelt there, with two swords in her, staring up and growing pale in horror as her greatest enemy stands before her.
Seth: The sun will rise no more on this land. Embrace... everlasting night!
Seth kicks the golden dagger deep into her heart, causing her to spit up blood and fall over in a pool of her own life force. Solaria is dead. Toffee comes around the corner.
Toffee: Gasps* I... I think I finally lost it... Whoa. Is that?
Seth: She's dead.
Seth looks over to Alshain, whose clinging on to life.
Seth: Iggy! Come here! This man needs medical attention!
Iggy: Right away!
He comes in and with a rag puts pressure on Alshain's gaping wound.
Iggy: This is bad. He's losing so much blood.
Alshain gulps for air.
Alshain: I'm afraid this is it men. It's been a pleasure... and an honor.
Seth: Don't you do this! We're going home! We are all going home! The town is waiting! They're cheering! Don't you dare go now!
Alshain: I... I... damn you. This is... my swan song. Remember me... fondly. Do not despair that I... have gone. Live in hope... that I... am the last... Godspeed.
Reginald Alshain fades away there, with a small, but sincere smile on his beak and a single tear rolling down his face.
Seth stares at the ground. He cannot bare to see the others watch him shed any tears for those that aren't Septarian. He wants to cry, just to shed the pain, but after witnessing so many of his friends and family die, its like he's become numb to it, and finds that he cannot squeeze a single ounce of sorrow-filled perspiration out of his tired old eyes. He's just seen so much death. He puts his hand over Alshain's eyes, closing them one last time.
Toffee: DAMMIT!
He punches a tree in an attempt to redirect his own despair into anger. Toffee refuses to show any weakness, especially in front of Seth. Iggy on the other hand does not hold back. He lets it out like there's no tomorrow on the horizon. The trio spends the time to mourn their friend. They are alone in the wilderness. The sky itself can no longer contain its sadness, and it starts to rain. Iggy takes the wand and stashes it in his coat pocket without anyone looking. Toffee takes out his blade from Solaria's chest. With a single deft swipe, he decapitates Solaria's corpse.
Toffee begins walking back home to Squall's Greet. Iggy, limping, follows. Seth walks over to the corpse of Reginald Alshain. It would be dishonorable to leave his corpse there. So he decides, right then and there, that Alshain will be buried at Squall's Greet, among his family. He tucks his long green claws under Alshain's limp body, and as gently as a lamb, lifts his body. His head drapes over Seth's forearm as Seth treads forward. The walk home is much longer and wetter that the dry journey to their mission. The trio are soaked to the bone as they finally reach the town. The people rushed out of their homes into the rain to greet the heroes and see what had happened. Their smiles quickly turn to expressions of woe as the men approach, with their leader in hand.
Percival: Father! My lord, what happened to him.
Seth: Your father died a hero. It is because of him that the witch will no longer haunt us.
Percival: Solaria is dead as well?
Seth: Yes.
Toffee pulls the bag off of the severed head of Solaria Butterfly, holding the gawking head that bore a face of gaping horror and gruesomely bearing it's tongue.
Percival: My God, it's true. She's dead. She's really dead. For the longest time I feared she was as unkillable as one of you. But this celebration, I don't think we can do it folks.
Seth: Your father fought with the ferocity of a great beast. It was an honor to fight by his side. He had words. He wanted me to speak them, to all of you.
The people gather around Seth and listen closely and curiously.
Seth: General Reginald Alshain died in killing Solaria. It is ultimately because of him that she is dead today. He told me, and he tells all of you. "Do not despair of my death, but hope that mine will be the last". The last thing he spoke was "Godspeed". These are his final words.
Percival: *Sobbing lightly. My father will have a proper burial, right in the town's cemetery.
The town folk makes work preparing the burial. A fine coffin is picked by the town's carpenter and the hole is prepared by the mortician. Seth lays the corpse gently and respectfully into the coffin, folding his talons over his chest before sealing the casket. Using a pulley and rope, the casket is laid into the hole and buried. The whole town watches as the dirt is shoveled into the hole. Tears are buried under the unrelenting rain. Seth just stares into the hole. He wants to be happy that Solaria was dead and would haunt him no more, but Seth finds that he cannot feel such things as relief and happiness anymore.
Seth: You fought well, Toffee. It was an honor joining you in battle.
Toffee: Likewise, my leader and lord.
Seth: Iggy...
Iggy looks at Seth in confusion and wonder.
Seth: You fought bravely as well, even for someone that doesn't fancy himself a fighter.
Iggy: I know I have so much left to do to make it up to you, my lord.
Seth: Iggy.
Iggy: Yes?
Seth pulls Iggy into him, embracing the hunchbacked lizard in an act that confuses, shocks and startles him all at the same time.
Seth: You are forgiven.
Iggy returns the awkward desperate embrace and for a second, finds himself understanding Seth. Seth is desperate to feel something other than sadness, and Iggy is desperate to feel something other than shame. As awkward as the embrace is, neither one wants to let go of the other. They both lost so much. They both lost their homes. Seth and Iggy are almost like brothers at this point, two entirely different, nearly opposite men traveling the same hard path together. They don't want to let go, but do so only after they realize it has gotten awkward, and people are staring. The people say their farewells and head inside out of the rain. In the morning, Seth visits where Iggy and he leans casually in the doorway. He has something to ask Iggy.
Seth: Hey Igg.
Iggy: Yes sir?
Seth: How did you do that last night, you know, summon that metal beast that chased Toffee all the way throughout the woods?
Iggy: I'm sorry, it was an act of desperation.
Seth: No, no, I'm not even mad. I just want to know.
Iggy: I just grabbed the wand, it transformed in my hands into something different. And I said a spell. I just made it up, on the spot, said the words aloud.
Seth: And the spell just worked? Like, it's that easy to make a spell?
Iggy: I guess so.
Seth: I wonder if that would always work.
Iggy: I'll tell you one thing, guesswork has never played a part in any of my science, that's for sure.
Seth: I just don't want to downplay any significance your performance may have had in our success last night. It might not have seemed like it, but we won last night. We did. And it was glorious.
Iggy: Yeah I'm feeling the glory, alright.
Percival comes up from behind Seth.
Percival: I need to see the three of you in the middle of town. It's important.
Seth: Alright. Lets go.
They go to the corner of town where Percival has summoned all three of them, Seth, Toffee and Iggy.
Percival: I'm sorry to have to do this, but you and your crew will have to leave soon.
Seth: What? Why?
Percival: My job now is to protect this town. With my father dead, you three become the prime candidates in taking down Solaria. You're targets. The royal guards, the Magical High Commission, they're going to investigate the Queen's death, and inevitably, they will follow your tracks back to this town, and when they get here I can't have you here.
Seth: So we save this place, we SAVE all of monster-kind from Solaria, and you're booting us out?
Percival: It's not a decision I make lightly. I'm only looking out for my people. They won't relent. They'll keep looking for the murderers until they're apprehended. Those weapons you left out in the wilderness are evidence. The ammunition he made is evidence that Squall's Greet is involved in the attack.
Seth: What?
Iggy: No, he's correct. If we must leave to protect these people, than we must do so, and soon.
Toffee: Where are we supposed to go?
Percival: All I can recommend is a place that the MHC isn't going to check.
Toffee: We came to you and we_
Seth: Enough Toffee! Alright. We understand. We'll be gone in an hour.
Toffee: You can't be serious! We're just gonna up and abandon everything we've set up here?
Seth: If we are targets, then these people are in danger.
Toffee: Then we'll fight!
Seth: WE WILL NOT HAVE ANOTHER SEPTARSIS!
Toffee:... FINE!
Toffee storms off, angered at Seth that he's allowing them to just be thrown out like that.
Iggy: What's his problem?
Seth: He'll be back. He has a long history of blowing his top and coming to realize the error of his ways.
In an hour, the three regroup and head out into the wilderness again. This time, they venture south, towards the Water Kingdom. Seth has caught wind that The Magical High Commission had already checked and left that area so he figures that will be the safest place.
Seth: We'll set up along the shore, and rent some boats. If need be, we'll get off of Mewni.
Toffee: So this is it huh, we're just gonna leave home? Our land?
Seth: It hasn't been our land in a long time, Toffee. I been thinking about it for a while. In fact. Solaria had a pair of these on her corpse.
Seth pulls from his pocket a pair of inter-dimensional scissors.
Seth: We could go anywhere with these.
Iggy: We could, yes.
Seth: I guess we'll just test em out.
Seth swipes at the air, fully expecting the scissors to cut a hole in the fabric of space and take him wherever he desired, but nothing. He swipes at the air several times.
Seth: What's wrong with these stupid scissors?
Toffee: That one girl, Hekapoo I think she's called. From what I understand, she's the one that controls the inter-dimensional scissors. She must have deactivated them after discovering Solaria's corpse and realizing they're missing.
Seth: Of course. Now what am I supposed to use these for, making paper dolls?
Iggy: May I have them?
Seth: Might as well. Worthless to me.
Iggy: They may not be worthless. I will use these, for knowledge.
The three Septarians set up camp at the base of the shore, and there they will remain for years. A young Eclipsa assumes the throne, and an era without death reigns over Mewni so long as she remained in power. The monsters had take refuge in the fact that Eclipsa is nearly the mirror opposite of her mother. The camp, over the years grows. Tales of legend spread all over Mewni between the monsters of the legendary Falcon and the three Septarians that took down the Witch Queen Solaria. For miles, many Septarians from across the kingdom flock just to see the ones that brought the endless night. The camp continues to grow and grow, eventually becoming larger than the original Septarsis.
Seth has become the great leader once again, with Toffee as his general, hes starts bringing in troops. Iggy uses his great intellect to educate other Septarians in his art of science, and over many years amasses an entire student body of fellow engineers. Seth meets with the Water-folk Kingdom and they talk terms to reach an agreement. Apparently, when Solaria was on her way to the Water-folk Kingdom, the Water-folk people were terrified of her. They were afraid that some day they too would be deemed monsters and that she would kill them all.
Seth expresses sympathy to them. And with that, Seth offers protection to the Water-folk Kingdom in return for a single thing, secrecy. The Water-folk Kingdom reaches a treaty with the Septarians. Trade deals are struck. Septarians will use the shores to clear the sea of dangerous sea-beasts threatening the Water-folk, as well as protection should a horrible ruthless Queen like Solaria ever rise again. The treaty proves to be long and prosperous. It is around this time that Iggy reveals his greatest project ever, a massive iron sea-serpent, from within would lie a city.
Iggy starts working on the project a mere day after leaving and the project itself proves to be quite daunting. The entirety of its construction spans across 10 years, with over 300 Septarian engineers, architects, and brilliant minds from all over Mewni to make it happen. They utilize their blood, sweat and tears to tirelessly make sure the project is completed. Seth, at one point, thought Iggy was crazy and that the project would not only bankrupt them, but utterly destroy the rest of them. The city hinges on science that does not even exist anywhere else in current day Mewni, earth, or anywhere else for that matter.
Finally, after the grueling 10 years, they complete the tremendous project. To cement the foundation, as well as their agreement to the Water-folk for their generosity and secrecy of the project. The outermost wall of the sea serpent is connected directly to the underground water city by a single great, thick wall. Through this, the Water-folk Kingdom is joined to the serpent. The idea behind this is that should any outsider ever see the serpent themselves, they would be led to believe that the mechanical beast was property of the Water-folk Kingdom and nothing more. The serpent is completed a mere week before Queen Eclipsa's 20th birthday. On this day, Seth finally sets foot into the completed sea serpent city. He smiles and declares it to be pure perfection, paradise, and true beauty. On this day, Seth had christens the serpentine city "Septarsis".