Nia groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a very familiar ceiling. Her ceiling. She glanced around and found that she was indeed inside of her room, in her own bed. She slowly sat up and rubbed her head. What was going on? Why was she here and not in the monster kingdom?

The last thing she remembered was her brother walking away from her in the arena and then… nothing. She got out of bed and stumbled forward. A look of surprise made its way across her face. She felt… weird. Not tired or weary, but weird. It was like that feeling when your leg was asleep, but across her whole body.

"Princess Nia?"

She looked over and saw Visas, her mother's handmaiden, standing in the doorway. She was holding a tray of food in her hands. "Visas?" she asked. "What am I doing here? How did I get back? Where is everyone?" she asked, walking towards her.

She stumbled, but Visas quickly stepped forward and caught her. "Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Take it easy there. Everything is okay now," she assured.

Nia groaned. "What happened?" she asked again.

"I… I don't know all the details. But… look, I think it might be better if your mom explained it to you. Just stay here for a second. I'll go get her," she said helping her stand back up. Once she was sure the princess was stable, she made her way out of the room and rushed to go get the queen.

Nia grit her teeth and rubbed her temples. Why was she so off? What was wrong with her? After taking a few moments to gather herself she noticed something on her dresser. It was… a note. With a skull seal on it. Her brother's cheek emblem. She quickly reached down and took it, opening it up and looking inside.

"Dear Nia,

I'm sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye in person. But I didn't have time to wait around."

The moment she read the words her heart sank. He… he left. He really had left. He didn't even stay around to say goodbye either! She felt a mix of emotions shoot through her. Sadness, anger, confusion. She wasn't supposed to know how to react to this. She just woke up two minutes ago, and this was the first thing she had to read!

She sat back down on the bed with a sigh and lowered her head. She wasn't sure if she should be mad at him for leaving, mad at herself for losing, or mad at herself for trying to force him to stay. What had she been thinking? Even if she had managed to beat him, he wouldn't have been happy. She would have just… locked him up somewhere he didn't want to be.

After another moment, she decided to look through the rest of the letter.

"I'm pretty sure you don't remember what happened, and honestly I'm not too sure myself. My father wouldn't give me the details. He said your secrets were yours to keep. I hate not knowing, but he's right. You're better off asking mom about the details. We filled her in on what happened so she can explain everything I guess.

My father did tell me something crazy was going to happen. Something… bad is coming. So I need to go with him. I have to be ready. I know you feel like I was abandoning you for my father, and I know no matter what I say I can't change how you feel. But I am coming back. Because I'm still your big brother, and I will always be there when you need me.

For now though, I need a little time away to be ready. And hey, you always said you wanted to prove to me you could stand on your own. This is your chance… I'm proud of you Nia. Every time I worry or doubt you, you always prove to me just how much stronger you're getting. I can't wait to see how much better you are when I get back.

Love, your big brother. Asterossa."

Nia sniffed, her eyes getting watery as she folded the letter back up. He… he was still proud of her? Even after all of that he was still proud of her? Why?

She suddenly heard the door open and quickly looked up to see her mother. Star offered a small smile and waved towards her. "Hey there kiddo. I see you're finally up," she said before entering. "How you feel-" She stopped when she saw the note in her hands. "…oh… I guess you read it already… So what did it say?"

Nia just sat there for a few seconds. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her arm and hung her head. "What happened?" she asked. "I don't remember anything."

Star looked a little concerned. "Sweetie, are you sure you don't want to talk about-"

"I'm sure. Please just tell me what happened."

Star was quiet for a moment, and then sighed. She didn't think it was a good idea to force her into talking about her brother right now. She would open up when she was ready. She took a seat beside her on the bed. "You… awakened a power inside of you. A power you got from your father…" she muttered.

Nia's eyes widened. "My father?" she asked, confused. Her mother had never talked about him. The one time she asked about him her mother got this… look on her face. This painful and sorrowful look. She had decided not to bring it up again after that.

"I was planning on telling you this when you were a little older, but I never thought this would happen so soon," Star said, palming her face. "I just… oh this is such a mess."

Nia turned towards her. "Who is he?"

"A powerful being from Earth."

"Wait?! What?!" Nia asked, jumping up. "I-I'm half human?!"

"No! He wasn't human. He was someone who… this is so hard to explain," she said struggling to find the right words. "Look Nia, you're powerful. So much more powerful than you know. When you were born he was worried his family might… come for you."

Nia looked even more confused. "I-I don't get it. Why would his family want to come after me? Why would anyone from Earth want to hurt me?" she asked.

Star shook her head. "He wouldn't want to hurt you Nia. Your grandfather is a powerful being. More powerful than me, the Commission, Typhon. He might just be the most powerful being in the universe. And he's been looking for an heir…"

Nia raised an eyebrow. "My grandpa?"

"Oberon," Star said. "He's just… a jerk. And your father knew if he found you he'd want to bring you up under his wing. And he knew if he stayed here, or if you stayed on Earth, he'd track one of you down eventually. So he left. But with your powers like that, Oberon is bound to find you eventually. There was no way he didn't sense your powers waking up."

Nia waved her hands. "Whoa! Whoa, mom, you're throwing way to much at me at once! I-I don't get any of this! I thought I was just mewman! I thought I was just a regular princess! Now I'm some really powerful guys granddaughter! And I have some hidden power!"

Star hummed. "Well… I wouldn't call them hidden anymore. I bet your body feels really weird right now right?" she asked. Nia looked surprised. "That's your body adjusting to the fey part of your magic. It'll pass in a few hours."

"This is weird mom! This is really weird! Why are you talking about this like it's normal?!"

Star clicked her tongue. "Sweetie, I really hate to tell you this, but we're weird. The whole Butterfly family is just full of weirdos. Doesn't matter if it's before or after Eclipsa either. If you have the name you are in some way, a weirdo," she said bluntly. "The point is, you need to learn how to keep your power in check. Otherwise… well, he could find you."

Nia sighed and grabbed her head. "Okay… I'm still kind of fuzzy on the details, but that part I can get behind. Learn to control my magic. You can teach me that right?" she asked.

Star shook her head. "Oh, heck no. You're magic is way more powerful than mine now. Way too different too. I'd have zero idea what I was doing," she said. "No. We're gonna need to track down your father…"

Deep in the middle of a windy sand filled wasteland, a black portal opened up. Two figures stepped out of the portal and entered into the rather frightening looking dimension. Astro looked around with narrowed eyes. "This is the place?" he asked confused.

Typhon stood behind him with a grimace. "Yes, this is it. Tartarus," he said. Narrowing his eyes. Unlike the rest of the commission, Typhon hadn't been created by Glossaryck. He just… showed up here. All he could remember was this place. Hundreds of years in this place. When he finally learned how to make portals, he'd left the first chance he got. The sky was pitch black, any plant life around looked absolutely rotted and fading away, and it was unbelievably cold. "It's every bit as horrible as I remember."

Astro couldn't help but shiver. It was cold, even by his standards. "You really grew up here?" he asked looking up towards his towering father.

"I wouldn't say grew up here so much as I would survive," he said before closing the portal behind them. "I feel like I should warn you. This place isn't to be taken lightly."

The prince grunted. "You said I needed to hone my monster instincts, and this is where you did it. If this Oberon guy is really as strong as you say, I have to do this," he said.

"You realize even this won't make you strong enough to beat him don't you? Oberon is not an enemy. He is a force of nature," Typhon warned. "Even if I was at my best, I'd do little more than slow him down. If he does end up coming for her then-"

"I'll stop him," Astro said simply. "I don't care if he's a god among gods. Nobody is taking away my baby sister. Besides, this will be a chance for us to bond in the place you grew up. Father and son time right?" he asked, smirking.

Typhon smirked back. "We'll see if you feel so chipper after the first few days," he said before looking up. Astro heard a loud noise, and then turned to see an enormous mammoth like creature with black fur. It was the size of a skyscraper. How had he missed that earlier? Where did it even come from? "You're first test is to kill that thing."

Astro looked up at it stunned. "What is that thing?"

"Our dinner. Now get to work. If I had to cut in to help then I get half your portion tonight," he said taking a seat and crossing his arms. He shooed him away. "Go on now."

Astro huffed and then pulled out Ocean's Kiss. "Will it at least taste good?" he asked.

"It will not… nothing in this dimension does."

"Great…" He walked forward, his sword slung over his shoulder. He really hoped this would all be worth it. Having to say goodbye to everyone back home was just… awkward. Not to mention not being able to say goodbye to Nia. But he couldn't risk her throwing another fit and trying to stop him. He needed to do this.

If this Oberon guy really was coming, he was going to be ready for him.