Just a heads-up here: this fic is formatted somewhat like a TV show. Multiple chapters will constitute one 'episode'. Each episode has its own largely self-contained story that connects to the main storyline. In short, this means this fic will, overall, be long. Hence why I have split it into two volumes. This is Volume I.

Episode 1: Fatal Beginnings

A wandering hermit in the wastes of a desolate planet finds an artefact that will change his life forever.

As he traversed through the dense blackened forest, he considered what direction he was going in. Was this east, or west? It was hard to tell when the thick clouds above blocked out the position of the sun. Looking up, he could see the clouds swirling and twisting together, flashes of lightning flickering inside them. He breathed in and silently counted how many years that storm had been brewing. Probably too long.

Longer than he'd ever known, for sure, so why was he counting?

Sighing, the figure reached into his pocket and produced a compass. He looked closely, but the ends of the compass spun perpetually, never resting on any compass direction. After shaking it, he was dismayed to see it still had no effect. Wanting to smack himself on the forehead, he sighed again.

Compasses didn't work here, not in this part of town. Not when the magic was so dense.

Truth be told, Adam had expected this. He'd heard about the incident here, and he needed to investigate. Perhaps, there would be something he could use in his future endeavours. After all, the castle had to contain something in its depths that had survived the cataclysm.

Or perhaps, this was all some stupid fool's crusade.

Adam's foot collided with a rock, snapping him out of his thoughts. He watched as it skidded across the lands. Sickly pale green light shone down upon him, pushing away the shadows of the trees. Looking up, the young man could see the forest had ended, and the rocky mountain lands had begun.

Exactly where he had wanted to be.

A huge crater, a hundred meters across or so, stood before him. Smoke still billowed from the seething remains of stone that had been left behind. If he looked closely, Adam could make out part of a roof of a castle lying on the ground far away from the blast radius.

His foot tripped on the rock he'd kicked earlier. Instantly, the man lost his balance, and he slid down the hill towards the crater. Managing to stick his hands out, Adam caught himself before he could face plant. Raising himself upright again, he stepped towards the edge of the crater.

His eyes widened. He spotted something at the bottom of the crater.

A charred skeleton. Flames looked to have licked the edges of the bones. It was a small set of bones, almost appearing like a child's set, but it clearly had developed to that of an adult.

The widening in Adam's eyes turned to a grim stare. He slid down the crater, veering ever closer to the burnt corpse. Inevitably, he found himself at its feet. Kneeling down, Adam carefully lifted the bony forearm and looked more closely. It was so small and weak in his hands; he was worried it would snap with only a tiny bit of pressure.

One close look confirmed his suspicions.

It was definitely a Kappa's skeleton. He'd heard rumours of what had happened to the Kappa, but he wasn't hoping to see it for himself. However, he couldn't be surprised, knowing the culprit's penchant for this kind of stuff.

He looked up at the smouldering pile of ash and rock that was Castle Avarius.

Is this what the Butterfly Princess called "collateral damage"?

Adam should have known. First-hand, he had seen the kind of destruction she could cause. She could turn entire cities to ash and then claim it merely "got in the way" of whatever Monster she happened to be crushing.

He collapsed against the side of the crater. Eyes fixated on the skeleton; Adam coughed on the smoke.

Having seen his fair share of death, he wasn't exactly scared of the blackened pile of bones that lay before him. However, he certainly wasn't any less disgusted by it. Was there any worse way to die than at the hands of a vicious Butterfly?

Rubbing his forehead, he wondered what he even expected to find here. The Butterfly Princess had caused the destruction of this entire castle, and it was rather unlikely she'd spared anything with such a powerful spell.

Then again, Adam had hoped her apathy towards the place led to her leaving things behind because she cared little for what became of this castle.

As he mulled over the nightmare that was Mewni, he began to notice a bright green light shining from between the rocks. Looking up, he noticed it began to brighten. Shuffling off the rock and stumbling to his feet, he nearly tripped as he approached the bright green light.

Hastily, he waded through the rocks to reveal what was hidden beneath. His eyes began to focus, showing him what the green light really was.

'Oh my god…'

Lying on the ground was a glass-like shard. It was a piece of a star; one end had been cut off in an erratic lightning bolt. It was a pale green, matching the skies above. It lay on the rock and mud, discarded.

Is this… a piece of Star Butterfly's wand?

He'd heard the story about the events that unfolded at Castle Avarius. Princess Butterfly had destroyed her wand to incinerate Toffee, the leader of the Resistance. Most people would call this stupid, destroying the instrument of her magical presence. However, considering she didn't need the wand, and it restored itself soon afterwards, it was a fair trade to her.

What Adam didn't know was that, when destroying the wand, there could be shards. This one seemed to emanate major magical energy, too.

Intrigued, he tentatively reached down towards the star shard. It glowed and shone with magical intensity.

His finger made contact with the crystal.

Then, suddenly, the shard brightened to full intensity. He was nearly blinded by the strength of the magic. A powerful shockwave enveloped him, nearly blowing him back, if it hadn't been for his contact with the crystal.

Wind whipped against his dirty black hair. Ashy waves smashed against the sides of the crater, sending fragments of rock catapulting into the air. The ground beneath his feet cracked and splintered, opening up crevices into the deep blackness of the earth.

Steadily, Adam's finger began to glow. Great green vines of light began spreading across his skin. Concerned, he tried to remove himself from the object, but found himself glued to it. The magic spread through his existence, permeating his mind and binding him to the crystal.

Adam barely stifled a scream as the magic enveloped him completely. The last thing he could perceive was a huge magical explosion of emerald light.

Sometime later, Adam coughed. His slate-grey eyes opened gingerly at first, scared to allow the light back in. Slowly, but surely, he opened his eyes. The everlasting pale green sky met his eyes with poignant stoicism. The Great Solarian Storm above remained twisting and turning in ferocious fashion.

Adam groaned and sat up. Rocky remnants lay scattered across the crater, identical, albeit in different positions from before. New cracks adorned the ground, through which he could see nothing but blackness.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted the scattered remains of Ludo. The skull had fractured against the craggy side of the crater.

Memories came flooding back to him. The star shard. The emerald magic.

A sharp, splitting pain pulsed in his right palm. His eyes snapped to his hand, the hand that had touched the wand crystal. In his hand, an outline of a star had been singed. A stench of burning flesh invaded his nostrils.

A star. A thought hit him like a stampede of Warnicorns.

Worriedly, Adam jumped to his feet and searched for the star shard. He dug through the rocks around him, hoping to catch a glimpse of the magical glow. It had been right beside him, he recalled. He can't have passed out far from where it was. After all, the item seemed keen to keep him stuck to it.

The shard of Star Butterfly's wand remained nowhere to be seen.

Adam thumped the ground, sending a wave of ashy rock an inch into the air. That shard could have been useful. If he could tap into just a fraction of its power, then he'd finally have a chance against the insane Moon and her deranged family of brutal warmongering psychopaths.

Rather, he'd gone and blown his one opportunity for revenge. Allowing himself to fall onto his back, thudding against the rock, he stared up at the war-torn sky.

How long had he been at this? He shook away the question. Of course he knew, he remembered every second of his life since the Purge. Hard to forget, really. Perhaps, the universe had decided this was fate. The Butterflies would rule eternal, and the opposition, like him, would wither and die under their iron grip.

No. Adam berated himself for even thinking that. He couldn't give up. He'd be insulting the memory of his parents.

Breathing out gruffly, he began to pick himself up.

It was at this moment, unfortunately, fate decided to play a cruel trick on him. Or at least, it seemed like it.

The sound of vigorous galloping permeated the air around him. The ground began to vibrate, the world coming to life. Adam glanced down, noticing the small fragments of rock bouncing up and down at each gallop.

Rising to his feet to the noise, he looked up at the edge of the crater to see something he really wished he hadn't. A charge of Warnicorns came barrelling down the hill, all fully armoured and mounted by Mewman knights.

They stopped short of the crater.

How did they get here so quickly? He wondered desperately.

'You there!' A soldier barked. 'State your name, rank and intention!'

'Uh…' he stumbled, trying to come up with an excuse. 'I could ask you the same question.'

That remark awarded him several arrows fired at his feet.

'I am not playing around, boy!' The soldier persisted angrily. 'We saw the explosion! Explain yourself!'

'You see…' Adam stalled, as his mind came up with something. 'I'm just a weary traveller, um… I was hoping to cross the Groundlands…to, uh, sell my copper to the nearest village.'

'Why are you in this crater?'

'I saw the huge green explosion. As a traveller, you must understand that it piqued my interest.'

'These are forbidden lands, boy,' the knight pointed out. 'A weary traveller must know you cannot cross the Groundlands.'

'I did know that…' he claimed, smacking the back of head abashedly. 'It's just…it was…interesting.'

'You are profoundly reckless!' The knight scolded. 'And a terrible liar. Men, take aim!'

'No wait!' Adam pleaded.

'Steady!'

'Please! I'm innocent!'

'Fire!'

Unable to save himself, Adam covered his eyes with his arms. He heard the whipping of arrows skidding through the air towards him. He waited for the end to come. He waited to be met with his mother and father. He waited and waited.

And nothing happened.

Steadily, Adam removed his arms from his eyes. He allowed himself to view the sight before him. He couldn't believe it.

Hovering before him, mere inches away from his face, were the arrows that should have killed him. Glowing mystical purple energy, the arrows had been stopped with a power he had definitely seen before.

Looking towards the Mewman knights, he could see they were just as shocked as he was. Even behind their helmets.

'This is not possible,' the leading knight said with a low voice. 'This is the magic of the Butterfly.'

Adam looked around desperately, expecting, or hoping, to see a Butterfly some distance away, casting the spell. It must have been, but there was no reason for a Butterfly to save him. Looking around, he found nothing. Nothing in the nearby vicinity to suggest a Butterfly was casting magic. Because he was.

'I don't…what?' He mumbled in shock.

'He's stolen magic!' A knight yelled.

'He is tainting the well!' Another added.

'Knights,' the knight leader addressed, his voice shaking. 'Charge!'

In an instant, the Mewman knights on their Warnicorns were speeding towards him with unparalleled force.

'Wait-wait-wait!' He pleaded, stretching his arms out in a halting position.

The knights didn't stop. However, neither had the arrows.

Less than a second after Adam had outstretched his hands, the arrows swivelled around to face the charging men. With speeds outclassing the Warnicorns, they zipped towards the knights. Each one impaled themselves through the heads of their steeds, burrowing through. Once they ended them, they sped through the heads of the knights who rode on the Warnicorns, all in one smooth motion.

The lifeless bodies of Mewmans and Warnicorns skidded to a halt at his feet.

Adam stepped back, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. He stared at his shaking hands.

The outline of a star glowed yellowish white in his hands. It was the same shape as was burned into his right hand, and the same shape as Star Butterfly's wand. Magic. He had just cast magic.

So many questions permeated his mind that he couldn't keep up. Adam was sure he'd faint, but nevertheless, he persisted.

One thing was sure to him, however. He had to run. There were several bodies at his feet, and soon enough, Queen Moon was going to wonder why one of her pillaging parties had not reported in on time. He couldn't stay here.

Adam turned and ran.

Adam knew he was getting better at this. He had to be, right?

'Crimson Comet!' He yelled, sticking his arms flat out. A bright fiery ball erupted from his hands, speeding across the room towards his training dummy.

The dummy was fireproof, for the most part. The ball of flames collided with it with great enough force to slightly edge it sideways. The fabric was singed, but otherwise remained untouched.

Adam walked up to the dummy and padded it down to ensure there were no flames hiding beneath. As he returned to his practicing spot, he wished he were actually skilled at this.

"Crimson Comet" was about the only spell he could do.

Ever since the incident at Castle Avarius two weeks ago, the young man found he could cast magic. He didn't know how exactly, only that the star shard had imbued him with this power. It was good news, he supposed, since he could now potentially stand a chance against a Butterfly.

If he practiced enough, that is.

After the whole incident, he ran back to his hideout. It was an old bunker his family had constructed, in times of crisis. It was somewhere on Mewni, some hidden location far from any prospecting Butterflies. It was small, but homely. The only window he had to the outside world was a small rectangle cut out in the stone, which most times shone in a purplish tint into his room.

A bed sat flush against the wall, just below the window. It was a small frame, a little too small for him. The walls were adorned with nicks and marks, with multiple cracks in the stone. However, he had managed to find one decoration to adorn the walls. It was a dirty, tattered poster of Toffee, with the words "PEACE" and "FREEDOM" in white bold text. Adam had found it on the ground, underneath all the mud.

About the only bit of culture he had was a guitar leaning on the wall in the corner. His parents had thoughtfully left it there for him to entertain himself.

He could leave whenever he liked, of course. Adam had to, in order to farm his food.

Still, it was a humble existence he had grown used to by now. His magic, however, he had not grown used to.

'Ropes of Binding!' He screamed. He hoped ropes would emerge from his palms to latch onto the training dummy. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

A few sparks tumbled out his palms, but nothing otherwise occurred.

The disappearance of one of the Mewman pillaging parties did not go unnoticed, of course. His contact in Mewni had provided him with the information about it. Queen Moon sent a search and rescue team to find them, and find them, they did. They found the rotting corpses in the crater of Castle Avarius.

Most people in the Kingdom considered this some sort of barbarian Monster attack. They thought that a group of organised Monsters had ambushed them and killed them. This notion did not surprise Adam. All Monsters were evil to these people. Of course, the Royal Family ensured them that they would hunt down these Monsters and execute them.

Simple speak to calm the masses. Apparently, Queen Moon was concerned. Perhaps even scared. Butterflies could sense magic, not that she really needed to in order to tell this wasn't a simple Monster attack. The Warnicorns had been impaled through the head, but there was no visible weapon to have done this. For, the only weapon that could have, were the arrows, which were lodged into the heads of the knights.

Moon wasn't so stupid to think Monsters carefully removed arrows from the beasts' heads and then fired them at the soldiers. Especially not while the knights were riding them.

Although his contact couldn't confirm it, Adam had a sneaky suspicion Moon would ask her daughter about it. After all, she was the last known person at Castle Avarius. Not that this would even help. The girl would know nothing.

Ultimately, this unknown force of magic would scare the queen.

Adam smiled. He was proud of himself for making the cruel ruler afraid. She deserved much more than just suffering a little fear, though. If – when – he mastered his new magic, he would storm the castle and get his revenge.

He'd have Moon Butterfly's head on a pike first, of course. After all, she was the main cause of all his pain. Then it would be Star Butterfly's head next. All the pain and torment she caused him, though she probably didn't remember who he was. He was a little ashamed to admit the image of their heads on pikes gave him a wicked sense of happiness.

As he stared at the training dummy, musing over the thousand possible ways to kill Moon Butterfly, a thought came to him. He'd seen the Queen and her daughter cast quite powerful spells, but he'd also seen a few they'd cast with terrifying ease. Moon seemed fond of this laser-type spell that could burn through almost anything. In fact, she'd even be able to teach it to her daughter.

What was the name of the spell again? He searched his mind for the memory.

Queen Moon, the Red Queen, stood on a rock, overseeing the town of Salem. She was in her normal state, no need for her full Mewberty form just yet. She glanced up as her Pegasuses flew overhead, as the riders fired arrows at the Monsters below.

Bored of the slow pace this was going at, the Queen ultimately decided that she would get involved. Clasping her hands together, she began to do a spell. She deftly slid her hands in each other, spinning and turning them until they were connected at the palms. Pointing her opening hands at the village, she spoke the words.

'Solarian Blast!'

Solarian Blast. The memory of the strike came flooding back to him. It wasn't an awfully powerful spell, he recalled, so perhaps he could do it, too. If he could conjure even a fraction of Moon's power, then perhaps he wasn't so hopeless.

Exhaling to calm his senses, Adam clasped his hands together. He began repeating the movements he'd remembered Moon had done, although the young man could tell he was an amateur at it. Inevitably, he came to point his hands at the training dummy.

'Solarian…Blast!'

A violent green laser shot out from the glowing star marks on his hands. It was untamed, wild, but strong. It blasted through the training dummy in an instant, setting it alight emerald flames.

However, what Adam wasn't expecting was for the laser to come bouncing back at him. The beam hit him square in the chest, sending him catapulting back against the stone wall behind him. He heard something crack, but he really hoped it wasn't any bones. Groaning, Adam looked down at his chest. The laser left a large burn mark on his chest, through which smoke and the scent of burning skin rose from. Fortunately, though, the beam did not blast straight through him like he expected.

Perhaps it wasn't possible for his own spells to kill him. Or harm him too badly.

Stretching painfully, Adam picked himself back up again.

A purple forcefield covered the area of the wall behind him. It was cracked through the middle. Adam didn't recall casting this spell, so it must have been fight or flight. He breathed a sigh of relief to know that it wasn't his bones that had cracked.

He looked down at his hands. The star outline had faded away, now that he wasn't currently using any magic. Though, the burn mark on his right hand remained permanent.

That was the second spell he'd been able to cast. Perhaps magic took some steely conviction to function. He'd poured some of the emotions from the memory of Queen Moon's assault on Salem into his Solarian Blast. Sure, the beam he'd conjured was nowhere near as powerful as Moon's, but it was something. If he practiced it enough times, he'd at least be able to fire it without the beam hitting him back.

Adam merely couldn't deny that this was promising to him. The Butterfly family wouldn't know what hit them.

Two months later, the young Mewman Adam was proud of himself for getting somewhere.

He'd mastered the Solarian Blast. By 'mastered', he meant he could cast it without hitting himself with it. It was possibly the most powerful spell he could cast, but it wasn't much compared to Moon. Or even Star. However, he was still a beginner.

Crimson Comet was his go-to at the current time. He could cast it with ease and with speed. Sometimes, he didn't even need to speak the words, only think them. The stars in his hands would light up, and the fiery ball would speed out with ferocity. No wonder the Butterfly Princess liked the spell so much.

That and she could use it to burn anyone she didn't like.

Ropes of Binding still failed him. However, Adam had managed to summon a few narwhals to torpedo his enemies. Truth be told, it was an effective spell.

What he wished he could do was create his own spells. All the ones he'd learnt so far were ones he'd seen the Butterflies do. However, he was certain that they'd created some of these spells themselves.

I mean, c'mon. Flying narwhals? There's no way that's a normal spell in the spellbook.

That's when it hit him! A spellbook!

He knew the Butterfly family had a royal book of spells. He'd seen the princess lugging it around a few times, whenever he was in the kingdom. It was big, and old, and almost certainly had enough magical knowledge to last him a lifetime.

Everything he needed was in there. There was just one small problem. There was absolutely no way he was going to be able to get a hold of it.

If he knew how to infiltrate the Butterfly Castle, he would have attempted ages ago. Sure, he hadn't had magic before, but the element of surprise would perhaps allow him to kill Star Butterfly. It was so much easier said than done.

However, he really needed that spellbook. More so than the princess. She most likely only used it to learn the cruellest spells.

Adam had to come up with a plan. Even if it took him months.

Planning he did. It took him a long time to find the right moment to snatch up the book. Opportunity, fortunately, knocked when the Butterfly Princess left Mewni. She went to Earth, apparently, a place he knew of but had never been to.

Knowing the Butterfly family, Adam was surprised they hadn't already conquered this dimension. It was hardly like any other dimension could measure up to the power and scope of Mewni. That being said, Adam had never actually travelled to other dimensions. He knew such things were possible, albeit uncommon, but when would he ever have that opportunity?

Today, apparently.

With the help of his contact in the kingdom, he was able to smuggle himself into the Butterfly kingdom. He'd studied the timetables of the staff in the castle, down to the last detail. At precisely 16:43pm, Mewman Time, nobody was present to guard the royal dimensional scissors. It was a two-minute window where the guards usually nipped to the toilet. Typically, one would take its place, but he had reliable information that the guard that was supposed to do so had eaten a particularly bad piece of corn the night prior.

The guard would spend at least two minutes vomiting in the bathroom before hurrying to his post.

He could use this time to his advantage, almost certainly. Then he could take the dimensional scissors to travel to Earth. His contact had told her he should travel to this graveyard in this place called Echo Creek.

Adam lowered himself on the roof so that he was level with the small window. Carefully, he slid through, briefly batting an eye behind him to ensure nobody had spotted him. All good so far.

He just hoped the info was good. Adam wasn't sure how his contact had managed to come about such specific information, but she told him that she was very observant. Creepily observant, perhaps, considering how easily she could sneak around without being noticed.

He'd known her for a couple years but was still unable to determine how she managed to do what she did. After all, she was only human. Yet, she could elude some of the smartest Mewmans. A magician would never reveal their secrets, of course, so it wasn't like he was going to find out.

Nonetheless, Adam knew he could trust her. He knew how much she despised the Butterfly's rule over the kingdom. She was willing to do virtually anything to see that goal come to fruition.

Even if it meant befriending her worst enemy.

Adam had wished she could steal the spellbook for him. However, she wasn't that stupid. Realistically, she wouldn't get much out of helping him, so the most she would do for him was what she already knew. He was mostly on his own for this task, which hadn't been uncommon since Beru died. Since he was murdered. He couldn't give up on him, or his parents. Not when the chance of revenge – of righting the evillest wrong – was on the horizon.

Looking down into the hall below, Adam could see the guard leaving his post. His breath hitched. In two minutes, roughly, the guard that would take his place would hurriedly return from his corn-induced vomiting session.

He couldn't fly.

Not yet anyway. He'd heard that Butterflies could do it, but only once they had attained a very high magical skill level. So there was a fat chance he'd be able to do it right now. Even though his spells were getting stronger, and his arsenal was increasing, he was still mostly incompetent.

As an incompetent man would do, he resorted to using other means. His contact helpfully provided him with a cable and wire to tether himself against the roof and lower into the royal vault. Every few seconds, he glanced down at his feet, ensuring he didn't slip on the stony walls.

He felt almost like a spy for the Resistance. Had the Resistance not been dissolved, Adam would've hoped he could now be a part of it. Even though he wasn't a "Monster" – in terms of species – like the rest of them.

Silently landing on the ground, Adam pressed his back against a nearby metal display case. Forcefully, he tried to keep down the shivering in his bones, though his teeth chattered slightly audibly. Had it not been for the silence of the situation, he would have groaned at his body's reluctance for cooperation.

He crept around the corner. Nobody was watching.

A metallic glint caught his eye. He turned to where his peripherals had been and ultimately spotted what he had been looking for.

The royal dimensional scissors. They were coated in a gold paint of some sort and crusted with red and blue jewels. It sat on a mount on top of a plinth in the centre of the room. It wasn't exactly well-protected, but not for long. He had to take advantage of this small window.

The sound of a toilet door opening reverberated through the hall. Adam's eyes widened.

In an instant, he bolted into a sprint. He could hear the squeaking against the floor, but if he could get the scissors now, he could escape faster than they could catch him.

His fingers clasped around the scissors, sliding into the two holes. Leaving no room for hesitation, Adam opened the scissors and tore through the air.

Earth…Echo Creek…Graveyard!

A blue portal appeared in front of him, with a blue spiral spinning into the centre. Adam threw himself through the portal, narrowly closing it behind him.

I hope you readers enjoyed this first chapter. It's a set-up for the rest, so it's on the shorter side. Us as readers are going to witness Adam's growth from the start as a spellcaster, sorta in the same vein as Luz from the Owl House. However, Adam can cast magic from the get-go, although don't worry, he ain't no Mary Sue. He's going to face a lot of problems and experience a lot of conflict. Some of my previous stories had Mary Sues, so I'm trying my hardest to make Adam a realistic, relatable, but flawed, character. Right now, he can cast, like, two spells. And both aren't even spells he made.

The concept of an alternate multiverse here is mainly because the original SVTFOE world has its own multiverse too, so I can't really do simply parallel universes. Plus, I don't just want to look at alternate Mewni, there's alternate Earth, too. That's what's hinted at the end of this chapter. However, anytime a parallel universe is referred to, it is usually pertaining to the specific dimension. E.g. Adam is from an alternate multiverse, but more specifically he is from a parallel universe Mewni. I consider the alternate Stars in Mathmagic to be alternate timelines only. (This will be relevant later when Omnitraxus shows up.)

Btw this is what Adam looks like: . /pin/997617754929464369/

Thanks for reading!