FYI: I'm not apologising for that pun in the chapter title.

Episode:
1: Fatal Beginnings

In his quest to master his magic, Adam makes a reckless decision.

When Adam described the training timetable as "tough", he was invariably wrong. No, the training wasn't simply tough, it was brutal. There were times when he thought he'd faint from exhaustion alone, but somehow did not. Adam was even more out of shape than he thought he was. Maybe this had something to do with him having previously spent a lot of time simply hiding in his bunker.

There were days where Glossaryck would have him cast spells whilst hauling heavy weights on his shoulders. Or had him fight him, but with some frustrating additive that made it harder for him to fight the magical creature, like only being allowed to cast a certain type of spell or having one of his hands tied behind his back.

However, he did make progress. He managed to create his own spell!

Two, actually. Ropes of Binding finally worked for him, allowing him to restrain his opponents. Although eventually Glossaryck had to disappoint him by telling him how Moon Butterfly's Neon Whip Spell did a very similar thing. As for the other spell, he called it "Spectral Aim". It caused numerous spectral arrows to be fired at the target. He was able to control their holistic trajectory while they were in mid-flight at will, too. Excellent for crowd control, really, but it was hard to control any one arrow independently from the others. Unless he chose to summon only a single arrow.

In reality, the Spectral Aim spell was his attempt to replicate what he did to kill all those knights back in the Groundlands. Except, in this case, he would be summoning the arrows, rather than simply controlling pre-existing ones.

He also managed to learn a bunch of new spells. Plus, he expanded upon the Crimson Comet spell. He created an upgraded version, called Crimson Comet Inferno. Instead of summoning one fireball, Crimson Comet Inferno sent numerous fireballs at the target.

Without Janna, rest her soul, Adam initially had no idea what was going on in the Butterfly Kingdom. The most he'd gotten were snippets from other contacts he had in other kingdoms. Lilacia Pony Head in the Cloud Kingdom told him she'd heard that the Butterfly Princess had gone crazy after losing her Book of Spells. He hadn't been surprised to hear that.

Fortunately, Glossaryck proved useful by introducing him to the All-Seeing Eye Spell. Dark magic didn't scare him, so he cast the spell without much hesitation. Sometimes, he even kept the spell going overnight.

Unfortunately, he didn't really find out much information. A sentient mind was sometimes needed for that, and the only sentient mind he had rooted in the Butterfly Castle was now dead. However, it did help with surveillance. Queen Moon was no closer to finding him than she had been since he stole it. Almost certainly, this was down to the fact that Moon didn't even know he had been the one to steal it. Like Star, Moon thought Janna had taken it and paid with her life.

Inevitably, they came to the conclusion that she either didn't steal it, or she had an accomplice. Star had insisted to a group called the "Magic High Commission" – some kind of magical regulation patrol – that she knew Janna had taken it, and the only explanation was that she had someone helping her. It was an easy conclusion to make from Star's perspective, considering Janna had never once denied that she had taken the scissors or Book of Spells. It also aided her case when Star found out that the legend around Bon-Bon was entirely made up by Janna to get her away from Mewni.

So, rather than argue any further, they opted to take her at her word.

It was not like they were even able to find out who he was or where he was. When Star had cast the All-Seeing Eye to find out, Adam had been momentarily scared. Fortunately, Glossaryck told him that he was able to shield the area from the reach of the spell.

Glossaryck's magic seemed to eclipse that of any Butterfly. Unfortunately, he was forbidden to harm his liege or any of his previous lieges, without the person's consent. Nor was he able to artificially bolster his liege's power, as he was merely a magical guide and trainer. He also seemed to have a higher perception of reality, almost if he knew when his help was necessary and when it wasn't. His motives and actions often confused Adam, but to the little red man's credit, he was very direct with his advice.

Not having his contact in Mewni was still crippling though. Janna could get specific details on things, while the Eye could not tell him, only show him.

Soon after he stole the Book, he made a small grave for Janna. He couldn't bring himself to go back to the graveyard to collect the skeleton, and honestly, he didn't think he should. The girl's parents would much rather have appreciated knowing what happened to their daughter than the body never being found. Instead, he conjured a stone block and used magic to carve the name into it.

Janna had been his age at the time, he recalled, so he more or less estimated her birth year.

Adam hadn't started this whole thing without knowing there'd be casualties. Casualties were a foregone conclusion, and a necessary one at that. You can't win a game of chess without sacrificing a few pieces, after all. It was easy, sometimes, to see those deaths as a means to an end. It was easy to shut out all those feelings of grief and rage and focus on what really mattered. Despite knowing that, knowing that casualties were inevitable and necessary, he still couldn't get the image of Janna's burned skeleton out of his mind. It was just something so different when someone he knew died.

The poor girl didn't deserve to die. Then again, most of the people the Butterflies executed didn't deserve it. As much as he would have liked to, Adam couldn't sit around and grieve about his fallen friend all day. Brutal training regimes aside, he had to honour her sacrifice. He couldn't do that by crying all day.

That wouldn't be what Janna would have wanted anyway.

Over the two years, Adam had come to see that Glossaryck was right about his estimate. He was not a natural at magic in the slightest. Though he lived in a dimension full of magic, it wasn't like magic had ever coursed in his veins before. He wasn't royalty; he was a commoner whose life had already been ripped away from him. The mere fact that he initially was unable to even create his own spells was particularly telling.

Casting Crimson Comet with relative ease (though the spell had at first been very weak) and using magic by instinct was probably just because he was part magic.

Despite his lack of talent in magic, Glossaryck still told him he was impressed by his perseverance. Adam failed his spells a lot, especially in the beginning. Nevertheless, he picked himself back up and tried again. And again. And again. Until he got it right.

Could that be considered perseverance? Or was it simply sustaining foolishness? He'd considered both possibilities with equal pertinence, but he knew it was stupid to claim it was foolish. He was doing this for a cause. One of the simplest causes. Revenge. Revenge was not foolish.

Casting spells wordlessly had perhaps been the only thing that was actually easy. It was almost identical to speaking the word; it was just that he said the word in his head. Glossaryck said a skilled caster merely had to imagine what they wanted to do, and the spell would work for them without even saying the incantation in their head. Adam wasn't quite there yet, and sometimes, he found, it was easier to speak the spell aloud than think it.

Now, at the culmination of the two years, the teenager was trying something he had never succeeded in before.

Opening portals to other dimensions. Without the scissors.

The first time he had even found out he could do that was particularly jarring to him.

Adam was sitting on the grass on his lawn, practising Levitato on objects that got exponentially heavier. Levitato was one of the simplest spells one could cast, but levitating multiple, heavy objects at once took skill. A skill Adam had previously tried, and failed, to learn.

Levitato, he said in his head.

The lightest weight, 90kg [1], floated into the air. Slowly, he caused the next weight to levitate up in the air. Soon, the next one rose, and then the next. The final weight that remained was the 500kg weight. His hand was shaking and vibrating as he made the gesture to cause it to move up into the air.

A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face.

Inevitably, Adam could not handle it. All the weights collapsed to the ground, the blue aura that had surrounded them dissipating, as though they had never even been there to begin with.

Taking a few exhausted breaths to recompose himself, Adam wondered just how much of this he could handle. He'd seen Queen Moon lift whole houses with the same spell. He was struggling to lift a few weights.

His eyes crossed to his lap. He could make out the outline of the dimensional scissors in his pocket. The scissors could open a portal to almost anywhere. Though most dimensions were patrolled by Butterfly knights, there were some that were largely untouched.

Earth was one of such dimensions. Mewni came to some kind of truce with Earth decades ago. There was not much information on the details of it, but Adam had heard whispers about something called "nuclear armageddon". Apparently, this had been why Mewni had not invaded and taken over Earth at any point.

Maybe I need a little break, he considered. After all, this had been the first time since he was a child that he could travel to other dimensions. Yet, here he was, with dimensional scissors, and he wasn't even using them.

Adam reached inside his right pocket and produced the dimensional scissors. Opening them, he was about to use them when he was rudely interrupted.

Inexplicably, Glossaryck decided to appear by his side and smack the scissors out of his hand.

'Ow!' Adam complained, rubbing the reddening back of his hand. 'What the hell did you do that for?'

'Why are you using the dimensional scissors?' He asked placidly. The Mewman frowned at him matter-of-factly.

'To open a portal to another dimension…?' Adam answered with a sanctimonious tone in his voice.

'No, I mean, why are you using the dimensional scissors, when you don't need them?'

'What do you mean?' He questioned bewilderedly. 'How else am I supposed to travel to other dimensions?'

'…By opening them yourself?' Glossaryck replied with the same sardonic tone Adam had previously used.

'I can't open portals to other dimensions without dimensional scissors, Glossaryck.'

'Yes, you can, Adam. You just don't know how to yet. Obviously.'

'Are you going to teach me?'

'Yes, but, it's not as easy as learning a technique.'

'Why not?'

'Opening a portal with scissors is like tearing a hole through the universe,' he explained, doing a scissors cutting action with his fingers. 'Opening a portal with your magic is like bending space-time and creating a pathway between them. It's harder, but it's faster, and does less damage to space-time. The portals you create can also go to any dimension, whereas your scissors cannot. Plus, when you travel using portals you created, you are virtually untraceable.'

'And I can create them from any range,' he deduced.

'Yes, I see you're catching on,' the guide complimented. 'Be careful not to open too many portals at once. You will weaken the space-time continuum.'

'That sounds…dangerous.'

'Extremely,' he confirmed with a sceptical raise of his eyebrow. 'You could destroy the fabric of the universe. Or you could open a singularity to a space outside the multiverse. You could end up anywhere! Then what would you do?'

'I thought you were trying to convince me to learn it!'

'I am. By telling you the danger.'

Adam sighed. 'Can you just tell me how to do it?'

'I certainly can.'

That particular conversation had been three weeks ago. Adam had not yet been able to form a fully-fledged portal. Glossaryck never failed to encourage him to try again, though. By "encouragement", it was more stoic platitudes that it was, in fact, possible. In fairness, Adam believed him when he said he could do it. The magical guide clearly knew what he was talking about, so it would be wise to believe him.

That, and, whenever he tried any of the methods, he managed to conjure something. At first it was just a few sparks, but eventually he was able to make tiny, half-formed portals.

So, yet again, Adam was trying to do it. He was sitting in the centre of his room, cross-legged. His arms were half-outstretched at his side, his elbows resting on his thigh. His middle finger and thumb were bent so that they touched, as though he was about to snap his fingers.

Breathing in and out slowly, he kept his eyes closed and began to focus on his target. He imagined the magic within him, a cauldron of glowing yellow liquid. Adam visualised himself reaching deep into the magic and bringing forth the magic soup he was otherwise unable to reach.

In front of him, a small yellow spark appeared in the air. It started to spiral, like a web, steadily forming a golden portal. Slowly, it began to grow in size.

Adam opened his eyes and smiled at the inchoate portal. He maintained a normal breathing pace as he focussed on maintaining it. As his vision began to narrow on the portal, he failed to notice what was moving closer to his ear.

'What are you doing?' A voice shouted inquisitively in his ear. Immediately, Adam's concentration broke.

'AH!' He yelped, recoiling away from him. 'Glossaryck! I almost had it!'

'No, you didn't,' the guide deadpanned. 'You're trying too hard to open a portal.'

'I don't understand.'

'Opening a portal is a simple process,' he pointed out, miming a portal with his hands. 'It's difficult to learn, but once you can, you always will. Don't overcomplicate it. Reach into the magic and pull it out. Bend the rope and let the two ends meet.'

'Whew, okay,' Adam agreed, taking a breath to recapture his composure. He closed his eyes again and tried to think of the problem more simply.

Bring together the ropes. Connect this point in space-time to somewhere else. Simple, quick. Don't overdo it.

Beginning to feel magic pouring into him, Adam reached out and formed a fist. It was a strong rush that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He felt himself reach into the magic and call upon its power, allowing it to flow into his mind. All sense of his surroundings soon faded away, even the mere proprioception of his raised arm. Whether Glossaryck was even still beside him, he could not determine.

Opening his hand completely, he heard a vaguely whooshing sound. He opened his eyes.

A fully sized bright gold portal had formed in front of him, engulfing most of the room. A one-hundred-kilowatt smile spread across his face.

'I did it!' Adam exclaimed, rising to his feet. He turned to see Glossaryck had gone. His ebullient expression briefly dropped. 'Thanks, Glossaryck.'

Slowly, the young warlock made his way towards the portal. He poked his arm through with caution. Smiling, Adam stepped through it. His foot found ground in the form of the grass above his bunker home. Looking up, he once again saw the Great Solarian Storm in the sky. Hundreds of years, that storm had been raging.

Adam turned and balled his fist, willing the portal to close. He opened two more portals, facing horizontally parallel with each other. Opening his right palm, he whispered an incantation, waving his other palm around his hand. A bright, purple ball of light formed in his hands.

Smiling to himself, he threw the ball at the bottom portal. In less than a second, the ball fell out of the top one, propelling it into the one directly below. Steadily, this process repeated, causing the ball to speed up, faster and faster, until the ball disappeared from sight.

Adam laughed at the sight. Endless entertainment.

He decided to add more portals. Slowly, he moved the portal on the ground slightly to the right, before adding a few new portals adjacent to the previous ones. They were aligned in a vertical zigzag pattern.

The ball of light zipped through the portals, leaving a bright, light purple trail. Adam quickly moved the portals, adding more until they all formed a portal around him. Instinctively, he ducked, as the bright ball flew overhead, like it was in a pinball machine. Faster, and faster, it came out of portals at random, reaching the portal at the opposite end of the circle. It created an intricate pattern of sorts.

As the ball was about to fly over his head for the umpteenth time, it was stopped. The magical Mewman looked up to see Glossaryck had caught the ball. The magical guide was floating atop the Magic Instruction book.

'This is too many portals!' he warned, with a serious look on his face. 'Were you not listening? Close them now!'

'Relax, Gloss, I got this,' the amateur dismissed cavalierly, standing up nonchalantly. He raised his hand at a portal with an open palm, before closing it, to will the portal to close.

However, the portal simply remained. It continued to glow an eternal gold light. Adam's eyes widened. He tried again to no avail.

'Why isn't it working?!' He yelled in frustration.

'You've created too many; you've lost control over them!' Glossaryck yelled.

As he said this, several portals began to pop up around the field. Adam spun around, trying to keep track as more and more portals opened. He tried and tried to close them, but he could not. Even if he could, three more would form to replace it.

Inevitably, there were so many portals that they all coalesced into one. As they joined up, there was a small explosion. What was left behind was a huge, purple-black portal with a lighter mauve spiral.

Air began to get sucked through the portal. Adam felt his feet be pulled out from under him by an invisible force. He landed on the ground with a thud.

'No, no, no!' The Mewman shouted, as he felt himself sliding on the grass towards the large portal. He tried to grab onto the mud, but his fingers merely scraped through. Soon, Adam was lifted into the air and pulled back.

Ropes of Binding! He yelled in his head. Four ropes shot out of his hand, latching onto and wrapping around a sizeable branch of a nearby tree. Adam was caught suspended in the air, the force of the portal and the strength of his ropes clashing, reverberating a shockwave through his body.

'What do I do?!' The young man helplessly shrieked to Glossaryck, who was already being sucked through the portal along with the Book of Spells.

'Nothing…!' Glossaryck howled back, almost too excitedly. His voice became more echoed as he was swept through the portal, disappearing from sight.

Desperately, Adam reached out and grabbed the ropes with his other hand.

Slowly, but surely, he hauled himself towards the tree. Truth be told, he wasn't sure what to do once he got to the large tree, but he'd figure that out later. As the teenager pulled on the rope, cracks began to spread across the width of the tree branch.

Eyes widening, he tried to heave himself there faster.

From what the young man could tell, he was about halfway along the length of his Ropes of Binding before he made a catastrophic failure. Though the branch was big, the force of the portal and his strength were formidable also. Despite his attempts to be careful, the magic-Mewman hybrid pulled just a little too hard on the branch of the tree.

The tree branch snapped. His grip was lost. The Ropes of Binding disintegrated. And Adam was sent catapulting through the ominous dark portal.

He watched as the evil purple darkness swallowed him whole. As he tumbled through, he could see the brighter sky of Mewni getting smaller and smaller, until it finally disappeared from sight. Trying to turn around, to see if there was another end in sight, he found himself frozen in the vacuum.

Adam looked straight ahead again.

'Oh no.'

These words were all he could muster, before the tree branch hit him in the face and knocked him out cold.

[1] This weight would be heavy to humans, but Mewmans have enhanced strength. From Adam's perspective, 90kg would be light.

So concludes the first episode of Volume 1. I hope you all enjoyed it!

This chapter's a short one, so it's probably a lot easier to read for y'all. Future chapters are much longer than this, so as a warning, this is the shortest chapter. Then again, I hope I can keep my readers interested enough to read the longer chapters. I don't write more than 11k words per chapter though, so that's really the cap for me.

I wanted to show a different side to Adam in this chapter. The guy has been, like, full edgelord for a lot his life so for once he actually got to kick back and just have some fun like an average teenager should. Adam likes discovering new things, especially about magic, something that fascinates him. Obviously, his decision backfires and he got sucked into a portal, but I feel like it adds a bit more depth to his character. Writing OCs can be hard sometimes - they often end up like self-inserts. I'm avoiding that, or trying to, at least.

If it seems like Adam got over Janna's death fast, I understand where you're coming from. Keep it mind there was a two-year time jump so he's had some time to grieve, and also Negative Janna is going to be brought up a lot and will play a huge role posthumously on the story. So this isn't going to be the last you hear about it.

I hope those who have read this story so far are enjoying it! Leave a review if you're inclined, but obviously, that's a request and not a demand. Thanks for reading! I'll see you next time with the next chapter, which is also the start of the next episode.