Episode:
6: Undaunted Eclipse
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As Adam delves into the creation of the dangerous Seal of Arybailos, Moon's suspicions reach their maximum about his and Star's behaviour. Eclipsa reveals the intricacies behind magic, and Adam makes a revolutionary breakthrough.

Unlike last time, Adam actually did stick to his word. He remained confined to that bed until morning, as instructed. There wasn't much point in going back to Eclipsa anyway, given she'd agreed with Star. The only option would have been to head to the library and continue to figure out a way home. However, Eclipsa likely would expect this and prompt him to return to bed regardless. Rather, Adam chose to lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling, until he inexplicably fell asleep.

The following day was mostly more recuperation for Adam. Though he was out of bed, he was still recovering. Infuriatingly, this meant there was an eye on him constantly to ensure he didn't have another collapse. It felt like the very walls had eyes on them wherever he went. As annoying as that was, he understood the reason. He had definitely been working himself to the bone – after all, he could barely cast a few spells without gulping for air when he fought Star.

His schedule had been flipped upside-down because of that princess.

She helped him tailor his day around getting the proper sleep he needed. Not something he asked for, but Star wasn't willing to hear it anyway. At least she didn't try to stop him training with Eclipsa. Instead, she moved things around so he'd train at a good time where he would still have enough sleep. Most of his free time remained consumed with finding a way back home. Sometimes Eclipsa was free for that, too, but Adam didn't want to take up too much of her time.

Adam didn't have a proper position in the regal household, so it was easy to fit this stuff in. His time wasn't occupied by any obligations, only the stuff he chose to do. Often, he spent time hanging out with Janna, and recently, Marco. There was a few times Star asked him to go with her and Marco on some escapade as part of her daily princess errands. Adventures weren't really his thing, but he still agreed to it. Mainly, he would agree whenever he'd hit some sort of roadblock in his research, or he was bored of training. Or both.

As the Mewman had expected, Star was now accompanying him to all his training sessions with Eclipsa. She seemed less interested in the research of intermultiversal travel – probably because anything that didn't include simply bright colours and explosions was too beyond her. Nonetheless, she remained vigilant in making Adam get proper sleep and rest.

One major downside of having her around during training was that he couldn't discuss the Seal of Arybailos.

It was poor timing, really. Star had discovered them right after he had revealed the existence of the spell to Eclipsa. The whole point of that was so he could get advice, but now he could rarely get it during training. The only chance came during library sessions that the Queen of Darkness was seldom present for. He managed to squeeze in practice of the spell a few times – still unsuccessful, but he felt he was making progress.

To his surprise, Star never complained about his primary employment of Dark magic. He suspected that was because she had used the Dark Arts as well, and she'd be a major hypocrite if she criticised him for it. Not to mention, Eclipsa would likely take offense to the implication that all Dark magic (and therefore all its users) was evil. If she did make that claim, of course, Adam was ready to point out the illogical belief in that stupendous superstition.

One thing Star did point out, though, was that about the Magic High Commission. If they found out about his use of Dark magic, they would declare him evil and come for his arrest. Adam wasn't afraid of them, but he wasn't so arrogant to assume he could take them all on at once.

He couldn't destroy Rhombulus's crystals, couldn't take even a single of Hekapoo's clones, and couldn't combat Omnitraxus's space-time transcendence. All in all, it didn't seem like a fair fight. Even if Moon, for no logical reason at all, sided with him, chances were that he would still lose.

There was one mounting problem with Star's current plan, though.

'Star? Adam? Where are you going?'

Adam and Star froze halfway out the doors from the royal dining room. They turned reluctantly to see Moon sitting precisely in place at her seat, with a plate of half-eaten food in front of her. River sat beside her, while Marco looked up, puzzled, with food still in his mouth.

The two of them had taken advantage of a momentary distraction during lunch to leave the room. The meal was wrapping up and the servants walked in, ready to take out the plates. Star considered this was the best time to sneak off to Eclipsa.

Apparently not, though. Moon had a keener eye than either of them had anticipated.

'Uhhh…just gonna get some practice done,' Star quickly claimed. Technically, this was true, just not the whole truth.

'Yeah, just being proactive,' Adam said with a confident smirk. Moon's eyes narrowed.

'Alright then,' she supposed, staring down Star with eagle eyes. Once the Queen looked down, the two of them ducked out of sight and hurried away.

As the two of them walked through the corridors, they kept an eye out for the guards watching them.

'Star! You've got to be more careful!' Adam warned in a hushed tone.

'It's not my fault Moon saw us!' The princess insisted, hunching her shoulders.

'It won't be long before she catches onto us,' he predicted. Adam exhaled pointedly. 'Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar?'

'Only a few times, maybe,' she replied, receiving a sceptical look from Adam.

'Aaaand another lie.'

Star paused and stared at her walking feet dejectedly for a moment.

'I see your point.'

'You're just fortunate Moon let us off the hook this time,' scorned the Mewman, as he reached over to the door handle and pushed open the double doors. He took a quick glance to the guards stationed at opposite sides before walking through.

'I think we're in the clear now,' Star alerted him, now unable to spot any guards around. Adam nodded and pointed a hand at the air before him. A shiny golden portal formed a few feet away with a whooshing sound. The two of them walked through the portal, the gateway shutting behind them.

The moment they arrived in the basement of Eclipsa's tower, the two visibly relaxed.

'I'm glad you could make it,' a voice addressed from behind them. Adam and Star both collectively jumped in shock.

'DON'T do that, Eclipsa!' The princess complained, putting a hand to her chest to feel her heartbeat.

'Well, I didn't mean to give you a fright,' replied the Queen of Darkness with a mischievous smile.

'We got held up at lunch,' Adam cut in, his brow hardening seriously.

'I suspected as such,' she replied, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

'Well, now that we're here,' said Adam, glancing back at Star. 'We should get started.'

Eclipsa responded by reaching down by her side and picking up a mass of books from the library and plonking them on the nearby table. Star yawned at the mere sight of all of them, though Adam merely rolled his eyes. He walked over and sifted through the pile.

'Hmm…' he hummed, reading over the titles.

"Beyond the Scope of Space-Time" was the first one he saw. He hadn't read this one yet, admittedly, but a quick skip to the contents page didn't fill him with much hope. There was little detail on multiverses or dimensional bridges. Nor did it address the actual theoretical magic behind any of it – instead it mostly referred to concepts of higher spatial dimensions. That was a concept that was only mildly linked to the topic given that it opened up the possibility for longer dimensional bridges.

"Portalling 101" felt slightly insulting to have been handed to him. After going through numerous books about portalling, Adam had previously skipped over this one the first time he'd seen it. By now, opening portals to him merely required thought impulse alone. He didn't think he needed to go back to the basics. Then again, Eclipsa would not have considered giving him this obviously basic book if she didn't think it had some use. Considering it, he set the book aside.

Adam went through the next few books with a quicker pace. Star came over and gawked at the sheer length at some of them, but didn't say much else. Most of them didn't really catch his eye, though he still skimmed through them to see if there was anything he could refer to later. This was the third set of books Eclipsa had scoured the library for him, and valuable information seemed to be infrequent and brief. Nevertheless, he was grateful for the Butterfly's efforts.

The last book, though, was completely unrelated. It was called, "Advanced Arcane Mechanics". Adam didn't even know that was an area of mystical science, but the very name gave him the impression of something very complex.

'You know what?' He finally spoke up, looking at Eclipsa, whose bright expression had not changed. 'I think we should focus on magical theory today. It might help with my understanding of magic.'

Eclipsa nodded.

'Sounds good, dear.'

'You gonna help or what?' Adam asked Star, shooting her an annoyed glare.

'Uh…' she stumbled, as she watched him file out the books on magic theory. 'Well, I think I'll just watch. Y'know, to supervise 'n' stuff.'

Adam narrowed his eyes at her but otherwise turned back to the Advanced Arcane Mechanics book and opened to the contents page. After that, he began browsing through the book.

'Huh…interesting.'

'Hm?' Eclipsa prompted.

'This bit about quantum magic,' he said with an intrigued hum, running his fingertip across the line he was reading. 'Magic is a fundamental force with an exchange particle called a "mystion". Spells are essentially quantum interactions where a positive or negative mystion – for Light and Dark magic respectively – facilitates the intended effect on the environment. Most of the properties of a mystion are unknown, though. And nobody knows how the various branches of magic – Battle, Illusion, Alteration, Transmutation, etc. – are different with regards to the exchange of the mystion.'

'After magic was discovered a millennium ago, a lot of scientific research was put into determining its inner workings,' Eclipsa explained, now sitting on a seat on the opposite side of the table to him. 'Few Butterflies were studious enough to read into these details, however.'

'Well, I'm not like you Butterflies,' the Mewman retorted with a smirk.

'You certainly aren't,' the Queen of Darkness admitted with a similarly mischievous smile. Adam maintained the look before returning to his book and line of thought.

'So…spell-casters influence these arcane interactions, right?' He asked, receiving a nod from his superior. 'Well, that means we essentially manipulate the mystions. Therefore, if we could consciously control them, then there are endless possibilities! I could combine spells into one, modify others, create very advanced spells, create new Instinctive magic…the list goes on, really.'

'Fascinating,' Eclipsa mused, rubbing her chin in consideration. 'It's purely theoretical, but I suppose…it is possible. Nobody has ever done it before.'

'First time for everything,' the teenager supposed, shrugging his shoulders.

'I'm confused here,' Star spoke up. 'Don't you already control the…the vista-cons?'

'Mystions,' corrected Adam, indifferently. 'Yeah, we do control them but indirectly and not consciously. We control them holistically but not individually. If we can understand the intricacies of these fundamental interactions, and control magic on a quantum scale, then we will have greater mastery over magic as a whole.'

Star stared at him blankly. The Mewman sighed and looked back down at his book.

I didn't think she'd understand, he thought derisively.

'Maybe there's some way to create mystions without casting a spell?' He wondered aloud, glancing up at Eclipsa. She shrugged her shoulders.

'Perhaps, but mystions aren't visible to the naked eye. There would be no way of knowing if you had succeeded.'

Adam flicked through the pages of Advanced Arcane Mechanics for any ideas.

'Hmm…maybe there's some way of…making them visible…' he mused aloud, humming in thought. After a few moments, he looked up at his mentor for answers.

Only to find that Eclipsa was just staring at him with a bright, almost inspired, smile on his face.

'What?' He asked blankly.

'I've never seen someone look at magic the way you do,' Eclipsa admitted with a proud smile. 'I must say…it's impressive.'

'What is?' The teenager enquired, frowning. 'All I've done is read the books.'

'No Butterfly has ever needed to put such precision into the spells they created,' the Queen explained, as Adam continued to read the book. 'Star and I…we are naturally talented in magic. To create spells…well, we rarely need to do more than point and think.'

'I don't have that luxury,' said Adam. 'More advanced spells require precise calculations and research to work. The more basic spells I can create on a whim, though.'

'How many spells have you made so far?' Star spoke up, frowning in intrigue.

'A few,' he replied, looking upwards in contemplation.

He wasn't going to mention the Seal of Arybailos to her. Not just because he didn't want Star to know, but also because he hadn't successfully cast that spell yet. Adam also wasn't going to bring up the spells he had conceived but not made yet. The Dream Entrapment and Truth Binding spells fit that category.

Finally, the Mewman spoke up.

'There're the Ropes of Binding and Spectral Aim spells. Both of those are Battle magic, though I guess you could say the Ropes count as Creation magic. There's the Tornado Torpedo, too, that's also Battle magic. The Total Silencing rune, Evaporation Matrix…uh, and I made a more powerful version of the Crimson Comet – the Crimson Comet Inferno.'

Adam frowned as he mentioned that last one.

'Wait…Crimson Comet Inferno…' he repeated. 'Crimson Comet Inferno! That's it!'

'What do you mean, my dear?' Eclipsa asked in confusion.

'I modified the Crimson Comet spell to make a more powerful version,' the warlock identified. 'In other words, I managed to manipulate certain mystions to slightly alter the effects.'

'So if you can study the spell you made, you can figure out what you changed,' Eclipsa realised, nodding. 'And therefore, figure out a way to control each singular mystion.'

Adam nodded in agreement.

'It's mostly just conjecture,' he confessed. 'But it would certainly help me get better at magic. Possibly enough to take on Dark Star.'

Eclipsa sniggered slightly. When Adam looked up at him in surprise, she held a hand to her mouth to hide it slightly.

'That's what you call her?' She teased.

'Marco came up with it,' Star spoke up, a confident look on her face. 'I dunno; I like it.'

'It's a great name, Star,' Eclipsa assured, trying to contain her laughter.

'It works for me, I guess,' Adam supposed, disinterested in the conversation. 'She certainly is dark.'

Eclipsa's humorous expression slowly faded away.

'You know, you rarely speak of what this "evil" version of Star was like,' the Queen of Darkness noticed, a puzzled look brewing in her eyes. Adam's eyes narrowed on hers. She was looking at him as though he was some mystery to solve, some jigsaw piece to put together. He didn't know how he felt about that.

'It's not a fun topic, Eclipsa,' Star chimed in, an oddly annoyed tone in her voice. The former Queen in question glanced at her, frowning.

'Dark Star killed my best…and oldest friend. Right in front of me,' Adam revealed reluctantly, training his eyes on the table rather than on Eclipsa. 'She's not all sunshine and laser puppies over there. She's a psychopath. I've watched her incinerate hordes of innocent people – Monsters and Mewmans alike. She even killed my Janna…in cold blood. Now that world doesn't have Janna anymore…and it was mostly my fault.'

'I saw it,' Star said quietly, her eyes wide and unfocused. 'It was…terrible.'

'That's the world I grew up in,' the teenager responded, pursing his lips.

'And yet…you still work with us?' Eclipsa questioned with a muted voice, after a few seconds of pregnant silence.

Adam frowned.

'What do you mean?'

'You told me all these terrible things that the other Star did,' she elaborated. 'And yet…here you are, working with someone with the same face. Does it not…hurt you? To see her face every day, but know you can't do anything. Doesn't it just…eat it away at you constantly?'

'Yes, it does,' the Mewman confessed, looking over at Star. 'I look at you and I can't see any difference. Not physically, anyway. You're just…the same. A part of me wants to kill you – maybe by instinct.'

'So why do you do it?' Eclipsa inquired, catching Adam's attention again. 'Why even become her ally? Why let yourself suffer like this?'

He looked down, his eyes pensive in thought.

'Because it's right,' the teenager said with a low voice. 'Star was right. It wasn't fair how I was treating her. Even with that, I can't just make all that pain just disappear. I just can't register a difference between Star and Dark Star. Every time I see her face, I think of everything I saw and lost…but Star doesn't deserve that treatment. So I'll bear that pain if it means the world is a little bit fairer.'

'That's one of the noblest things I have ever heard,' the former Queen of Mewni praised, her mouth agape in awe.

'It's easier for me to work with you,' the teenager admitted, his eyes flickering back to Star, who remained rooted to her seat. 'I didn't know the other you. I learnt your spells, sure, but it's easier to distinguish between you and her because –'

'You don't associate my face with any trauma,' Eclipsa finished, prompting a hesitant nod from her student.

'Yeah…' he confessed, averting her eyes.

'Maybe we should take a break from the books for now,' the Queen of Darkness suggested. 'How about the two of you spar together?'

Adam looked at Star questioningly at the idea. She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a wary smile. Reluctantly, the Mewman sighed and rose out of his seat.

Wiping her brow, Princess Star staggered into her bedroom and promptly fell onto her bed. She took in several gulps of hot air to mediate her fatigue. All the training with Adam had left her worn out and exhausted that she'd honestly forgotten if she had any other commitments afterwards. Right now, all that the princess wanted to do was catch her breath.

'Tired?' A voice asked from nowhere.

Star yelped, instantly jumping off her bed. She turned to see Marco, comfortably sitting at her desk with his feet resting on the worktop.

'Marco…' she realised breathlessly, breathing a sigh of relief. '…don't scare me like that!'

'What have you been doing for the past four hours?' The squire asked, with an adamantly interrogative look on his face.

'I've just been training – wait, did you say four hours?' The magical princess stared at him in confusion, wiping some more sweat off her brow.

'Yeah…I was starting to wonder where you'd gone.'

'I was just training with Adam,' she claimed, sinking back down onto her bed. 'I guess I…lost track of time.'

'Moon's been looking for you,' the squire revealed, casually rocking his chair from the desk with his feet. Star perked up at the mention of her mother.

'What? Why?'

'Not sure. She just wanted to know where you'd run off to.'

Tiredly, Star rubbed her eyes and rolled over on her bed. She didn't really care right now what her mom wanted. Knowing her mom, it was probably some pointless politics that the queen wanted to bore her mind with. Moon never seemed to understand that Star, despite her efforts to be the best princess, still aspired to live a normal life. Moon probably didn't even remember what it was like to be a teenager – to live a normal life. It was strictly professional at all times for her, with no in-between.

It took maybe fifteen minutes before Star had finally caught her breath. Gently, the princess rose from her bed. Frowning, she spotted Marco sitting patiently at her desk.

'So…you finally gonna tell me the truth?' He inquired confidently.

'Uh…what are you talking about…?' Star asked nervously, averting his eyes.

'You're a terrible liar, Star,' Marco deadpanned. 'Where have you really been going? Don't think I haven't noticed how you've been sneaking around with Adam.'

She pivoted her foot on the spot, twiddling her thumbs to distract herself. Star kept her head down, unwilling to answer his question or even meet his gaze. Marco was not impressed by her reluctance, nor was he particularly pleased about being deceived like this.

'Star?' The Latino prompted, his voice getting harder and harsher. 'Tell me.'

'Okay!' The princess admitted. 'I've been helping Adam get home…'

'That's it?' Marco interrupted, jerking his head back in surprise in its innocuousness.

'…with Eclipsa,' she finished awkwardly.

'Oh.'

'Yeah…' the girl said hesitantly. 'Eclipsa's been teaching Adam magic and helping him figure out a way back home. Most of the time, I'm just there watching and…supervising, I guess.'

'And you don't want Moon to know about it,' the teenager figured out, folding his arms judgementally. Star shook her head to answer his question. 'Well, why couldn't you tell me?'

'I wanted to!' The princess yelled, clenching her fists at her sides. 'Adam said not to. He said that if too many people knew then Moon would start to get suspicious.'

'She already is suspicious!' Marco argued pointedly. 'She wanted me to keep an eye on you!'

'She's not that suspicious,' Star dismissed. 'She probably thinks I'm up to something. I'm always up to something!'

Marco folded his arms, unconvinced.

'What if the Magic High Commission finds out he's been using Dark magic?'

'Actually, their technology reads his Dark magic as Light magic,' Star informed him passively.

'And how long until they realise that?'

'Hopefully, never.'

'You don't know that, Star!'

'No, I don't!' The girl exclaimed, her voice booming through her bedroom. Marco was instantly silenced. 'Adam is stuck here and I promised I would help him get back home. Eclipsa can help him too, and I'm not about to get in the way of that. If she wants to teach him Dark magic, then fine. Dark magic isn't all evil!'

'This is risky, Star,' the squire complained. 'If Moon finds out, then –'

'If,' she cut in. 'What? Are you gonna tell her?'

'No!' Marco retorted vehemently. 'I'm just saying…Moon doesn't trust Eclipsa as it is. The second she finds out she's been teaching Adam Dark Magic…there won't be a chance in the Underworld that she'll give her a second chance!'

'I know that. That's a risk I have to take.'

Her best friend sighed pointedly and got up off his seat. He began pacing fervently about the room. Star leaned her shoulder against one of the posters of her bed and watched him striding across the room worriedly.

'I'll keep this secret for you, Star,' he assured her, though he seldom looked at her as he spoke. 'I don't really trust Eclipsa, though. Do we even know why she turned her back on the kingdom?'

'She fell in love with a Monster, and nobody respected what she wanted.'

'Okay, but about all the things they said about her?' Marco asked, turning to pace in her direction. 'You've seen some of the spells she made. They're pretty dangerous, Star.'

'Most of the things people think she did are just rumours,' the princess dismissed. 'Eclipsa isn't a bad person. She pursued Dark magic in the name of knowledge.' She scratched her forehead in thought. 'Besides, no magic is evil. Only the people who use it can be.'

For once, Star was actually glad for something Adam had said to her. It certainly was quotable advice.

'What about Adam?' The squire proposed. She frowned.

'What about him?'

'He's learning these spells to fight Dark Star,' he reminded her. The Butterfly Princess merely shrugged her shoulders, not understanding what he was getting back. 'So he can go back home and fight her.'

'So? What's your point?'

'He's going to kill her, Star,' the Latino pointed out. 'Are you sure you're okay with helping him do that?'

Star took the time to consider what he was saying.

She had known for a while now that what Adam wanted, above all else, was revenge. As fair as he tried to be, he had no interest in being the better man in the situation. He refused to kill innocent people, of course, but Dark Star certainly wasn't innocent. In that aspect, it didn't matter to him the potential moral implications of murder. The way he saw it, this was rightful retribution.

Star was different. She didn't like killing people; it was something she avoided wherever possible. The only person she remembered vividly killing was Toffee. Was the situation really that much different from Toffee? She sure hated Toffee for all he did to destroy her life.

Adam didn't have qualms about killing people. If it were the only option, he'd take it with little hesitation. Sometimes, there was no other way. In the Negative Multiverse, Adam had said, it was kill, or be killed. There was no other way of survival. It was a harsher reality than Star knew; it was one that she never wanted to experience. Although killing was necessary to him, it wasn't like he ever enjoyed it or found happiness in it.

Except when the topic of the Dark Butterflies ever came up. Especially Dark Star.

There was always this…homicidal gleam in his eye whenever she spoke about it to him. As though he was imagining all the complex ways he was going to hurt Dark Star. Honestly, it looked as though, if under enough pressure, he might finally snap and try to kill her. It was rare, so rare Star hardly noticed, but she honestly wasn't sure why it didn't scare her as much as it maybe should have.

It was a categorical fact: Adam was going to kill Dark Star, one way or another.

Star was enabling that by helping him. It might have been a bigger pill to swallow a year ago, but right now, she understood his intentions much more. Even if she didn't agree with his brutalised intentions towards Dark Star, it really wasn't that much different from Toffee. After all, she incinerated him beyond any measure of regeneration.

'Yes,' the Butterfly Princess finally answered reluctantly. Instantly, Marco stopped pacing and stared at her. 'It's not like I haven't killed anyone before. I killed Toffee.'

'Star, that's different –'

'Is it?' She interrupted. 'I didn't just kill him because there was no other option. I wanted to. I wanted to kill him, Marco. Toffee tried to destroy my family, why wouldn't I want revenge for that?!'

'I get it, Star,' he insisted. 'But you're not like Adam. You're kinder and fairer. You've always wanted the best for people, and you always do everything you can to make people happy. That's one of the things I admire the most about you, Star. You're selfless – your first instinct is to think about other people.' Star looked down with a reluctant smile, blushing slightly at the praise. 'Adam isn't like that. He's doing this all for himself. For revenge. He's not the kind to sacrifice himself for the greater good. People like that rarely end up being the hero.'

'Look, Adam may not be doing this for some noble goal, but he's not evil.'

'I didn't say he was evil.'

'You implied it.'

'No, what I meant was –'

'Oh, there you are, Star,' a voice interjected, ending the conversation. The princess in question turned to see her mother, Queen Moon, standing at the entrance to her bedroom.

Star exhaled exasperatedly.

'Hi, mom,' she greeted frustratingly.

'Where have you been?' The Queen asked, folding her arms.

'I told you; I was training with Adam.'

'For four hours?!' Moon criticised, gesturing discontentedly at her daughter's dishevelled form.

'I lost track of time!'

Moon frowned and stepped into the room. Star walked up to her, doing her best to beam up at her despite her interrogating gaze. She analysed her daughter's appearance, hoping to find some indication of the truth.

The Queen's eyes widened when she spotted something. On Star's shoulder, there seemed to be tiny fragments glinting in the sunlight. She looked closer, prompting an awkward look from Star. Moon ignored it.

Ice crystals. Definitely.

Ice on her shoulder. There was only one spell – only one spell-caster – Moon knew would cast that kind of spell. It couldn't be anybody else.

'Hmm…okay,' Moon acquiesced, stepping backwards. 'I trust you, Star.'

'I know it sounds stupid, but – wait, what did you say?'

'I said I trust you, Star,' the Queen repeated indifferently, glancing questioningly at Marco. Marco nodded his head to let her know he was right to trust Star and that, apparently, he hadn't discovered any suspicious activity. 'If you say you got distracted, then I believe you.'

Star breathed a sigh of relief.

'Whew…thanks Mom,' she acknowledged, wiping her brow in relaxation. Moon nodded and left the room.

It had been during dinner three days later when Queen Moon found the time to pull Marco aside and out of sight of anyone. She made sure they were not in earshot of anyone, specifically Star or Adam. Marco looked confused at first, so Moon spoke first.

'Are you sure you found out nothing about Star's activities, Marco?' Moon inquired, once they were out of earshot of Star.

'Nothing, Moon,' he assured her. 'Star isn't up to anything. She is just…really committed to her training with Adam.'

'That doesn't sound like Star,' the Queen criticised.

'Star's been through a lot lately,' Marco pointed out. 'She saw first-hand what the Dark Butterflies are like. She's determined to put a stop to them now. And you know what Star's like when she sets out to do something.'

'It's impossible to change her mind,' the woman completed, rubbing her chin in thought. 'Even so, the other day…four hours training? I'd expect Star to get bored in that time.'

'Star's dedicated,' he claimed, shrugging his shoulders. 'She's not up to anything.' Moon merely glared at him.

'You know, Marco…' she said with a low voice, glaring down at him. 'If you are lying to me, then the stocks await you.'

'I'm not lying!' The teenager squeaked.

'You'd better hope so,' the Queen scathed, before turning to leave. Marco watched Moon walk away with an exhausted look on his face. Tiredly, he walked away towards his own room.

Adam frowned.

'So she just…walked away?' He inquired, folding his arms. He glanced at the three other people in the room.

'Yeah, I think she bought it,' Marco claimed, scratching his scalp in uncertainty.

Following Marco finding out, he too chose to tag along to "supervise" what Adam was up to. Unsurprisingly, the warlock in question had been very much against that. He repeated exactly what Star had said – his presence would more than likely draw suspicion. However, there was little he could do to change the squire's mind on the matter.

Star had reluctantly supported Marco, pointing out that it was now much easier to cover for each other. They could just claim they were all hanging out.

Adam liked Marco, so he was willing to let it slide. Nevertheless, he knew that Marco thought he was morally murky at times. Not that it bothered him too much. Marco didn't trust him greatly, but the two had been starting to form a proper friendship.

It was an agreeable compromise. However, the Mewman was adamant that they wouldn't let anyone else in on the situation. Adam might have considered Janna; however, she was currently on Earth, so it wasn't necessary to tell her.

Currently, they were all seated at a table in the basement of Eclipsa's tower. It was their typical meet-up location.

'I don't know about that,' Star admitted. 'Mom doesn't usually "trust" me like that. It was a little weird when she said that.'

'Moon is intelligent,' Eclipsa reminded them. 'If she thinks you are up to something, she will not stop until she discovers what it is.'

'Well, I think we delayed her, at least,' Marco supposed, shrugging his shoulders. 'She asked me to keep an eye on Star; I told her I saw nothing.'

'Except Moon knows you're close with Star,' Adam argued, prompting a small blush on Marco's part. 'It wouldn't surprise me if you lied to her to keep Star's secret.'

'So she doesn't trust me?' Star inquired, glancing down at the table in disappointment.

'Well, would you?' Eclipsa asked her humorously.

'Yes!' She insisted, folding her arms petulantly. The Queen of Darkness merely raised a sceptical eyebrow. Star quickly crumbled under her gaze. '…no. I wouldn't.'

'Now that that's out of the way,' Adam spoke up, rising out of his seat. 'I think I've finally cracked the mystion spell.'

'This quickly?' Eclipsa inquired sceptically. 'I have to say I'm impressed.'

The Mewman nodded indifferently and reached down by his side to produce a large book. Star read the book and frowned. Advanced Arcane Mechanics: Volume II. She hadn't known there was a second volume to the original book.

'Initially I overlooked it, but I was reading it over last night when it hit me,' he mused, opening the book and flipping to the right page. Adam threw down the book at the table in front of Eclipsa and pointed to a passage on the page.

'Mystions were detected using the Trace Method,' Eclipsa read aloud, primarily for the others' benefit. 'The Trace Spell can be used to force the mystions to give off a signature that can be picked up through their special gamma wave frequencies. The incantation, "mystion revelio", releases the mystions into the environment.'

'Exactly,' Adam agreed with a smile. 'The Trace Spell allows us to detect the mystions.'

'You would need special equipment to pick them up,' Eclipsa identified, reading over the passage again.

'Not if I modified the spell to give off light instead of other EM waves,' the Mewman told her, folding his arms victoriously.

'Are you sure that would work?'

'It sounds possible,' Marco chipped in. 'Light is just another type of electromagnetic wave. All he'd have to do is adjust the frequency of the wave they give off. Light has a lower frequency than gamma rays.'

Star stared at him in surprise.

'What?' He questioned. 'I do pay attention in class, you know.'

'I think this could work,' Adam decided, walking to the centre of the room. He glanced between the two Butterflies. 'I'm gonna need both of your help here.'

Star and Eclipsa got up out of their seats and walked over to the part of the room where he was standing. Adam directed them to stand at both his sides, forming a triangle shape between them. The two Butterflies stared at him expectantly.

'Okay, hold your arms out like this,' he instructed, stretching out his arms and holding his hands flat. The two Butterflies did as he commanded, such that their palms were level and less than an inch apart. 'Repeat with me three times: mystion revelio.'

'''Mystion revelio,''' all three of them repeated in unison. '''Mystion revelio. Mystion revelio!'''

Nothing happened.

'Well, that was lacklustre,' Marco hollered.

'I don't see any mystions,' Star identified rather obviously, looking about the room for any traces.

'Perhaps you should tell us how you were going to change the frequency of the Trace, Adam,' Eclipsa suggested, tilting her head in inquiry towards the teen.

'Well, I've thought about how I did it with the Crimson Comet Inferno,' the Mewman disclosed, dropping his arms back to his sides. 'I just had to focus on how I wanted to change. It felt like I was…drawing more mana out of me to change the effect. It was like…painting over a canvas, or something. I just needed to focus.'

'It should be easier for us,' Eclipsa claimed, looking at Star. 'We don't have to consider any calculations; it is merely thought and instinct.'

'All the same, it will still need all of us,' Adam identified, looking pensively between all three of them. 'Are we ready?'

The two of them nodded one after another. Adam breathed in and closed his eyes. He filled his mind with every metaphor and every piece of advice Glossaryck had given him over the past few years. It was all about dipping into the magic cauldron and drawing out every ounce of mana he had.

Paint over the canvas, Adam, he thought. Change the image; keep the paint.

Exhaling one more time to increase his resolve, he began to call upon the magic deep within him.

Adam felt the power of magic surging through his nerves. Every extremity of his body was set alight with its grandiosity, electric with the energy of the arcane arts. He knew then he was more than just a Mewman – he had been gifted by chance with an extraordinary ability that could make the gods jealous. In essence, he was in control of a fundamental force of the universe that allowed him to manipulate the fabric of space-time.

'Whew…okay…' he said aloud, raising his arms again. 'Alright, let's try this again.'

'''Mystion revelio. Mystion revelio. Mystion revelio!''' All three of them chanted.

Adam felt a fizzle of energy exploding from his fingertips. It wasn't painful, but it was definitely concentrated. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

Their hands emitted brilliant yellow orbs of light, like organised fireflies. He looked up and watched as they spilled out from their fingertips and elegantly floated upwards towards the ceiling. Adam smiled at his success, as he watched the glowing fireflies dance around the room.

'Woah…' Marco marvelled, prompting the two Butterflies to open their eyes and drink in the sight of the glowing particles.

'Mystions,' Eclipsa recognised, giggling as they zipped past her ear with a slight gust of wind.

'Glowwwwyyy,' Star gaped, reaching out to touch some of the bright mystions. They whizzed around her fingers, causing her to feel a delicate tickle on her fingertips.

'Awesome…' Adam gawked, a bright thousand-kilowatt smile stretching across his face.

This could help me cast the Seal properly, too, he considered,

'Quite fascinating,' Eclipsa described in wonder.

'I just need to…' Adam's voice trailed off as he reached up with his hands towards the mystions above. He began twisting and manoeuvring his hands in such a way as to instruct the movement of the mystions.

The bright yellow globes immediately collected together into a denser trail. At Adam's command, they slithered through the air like a bright elongated worm. The now singular snake of mystions flowed through the room before slowing down to hover above his head. Marco came over and reached up to touch the glowing balls, but Adam slapped his hand away.

'Don't mess with them!' He snapped, briefly glaring at him.

'Sorry…' apologised Marco, abashedly rubbing the reddened back of his hand.

'All I have to do is separate one of them,' the Mewman said aloud, ignoring Marco's complaints.

He reached up and touched one of them, immediately causing it to increase in brightness. Carefully he pinched together his index finger and thumb, drawing it aside like a silk trail. Bringing his hand down, he presented the mystion between his fingers to Eclipsa.

'Viola!' Adam declared happily. 'One mystion.'

Eclipsa beamed at him.

'I have to say, Adam: when we first began training, I really never expected that –'

'That's far enough!' A voice yelled from the back of the room.

In an instant, the two double wooden doors were blown open, nearly flying off its hinges.

Dreading the truth, Adam reluctantly turned to see who it was, frowning in confusion. The mystion between his fingers slipped away and joined the floating mass of particles above. Slowly, the entire moss of mystions dissipated, fading away until there was no trace behind.

Queen Moon, decked out in full battle armour, stood in the blown out doorway with a particularly apoplectic look on her face. Her hands were glowing with ominous mystical blue energy, coursing through her veins.

'Runa Remova Imperia', she spoke gruffly, causing the invisible barrier around the room to pulse with white reverberations of energy. Adam watched helplessly as a hole in the barrier appeared in the dome above that quickly expanded until the entire rune collapsed around them. [12]

Had Star not been petrified in fear, she would have commented humorously that she now knew how to remove a rune. She probably wouldn't remember anyway.

Instead, the princess stepped in front of her mother's view and held out her hands in surrender.

'Mom, I can explai–'

'Explain?!' Moon cut in. No room for debate. 'What is there to explain?! Because it looks like you've been practising the Dark Arts with Eclipsa!'

'Well…' Star stuttered. 'Yes, but actually, no.'

'This was my idea,' Adam defended, folding his arms indignantly.

'How long have you been doing this behind my back?!' Queen Moon demanded of him.

'That doesn't matter,' Adam dismissed.

'TELL me!' Moon repeated wrathfully.

'About three weeks,' shrilled Marco, his voice hollering about the room. Adam glared at him for answering. 'What? She's terrifying!'

'Now, now, Moon,' Eclipsa interrupted, moving over to stand in front of Adam. 'Let's not get hasty here –'

'You are corrupting their minds with your Dark magic, Eclipsa!' She cried, pointing her glowing hands towards the Dark Queen. Immediately, Star skidded in front of Eclipsa and held out her hands to protect her.

'No, Mom!' She insisted.

'Star…' the Queen addressed sadly, attempting to move around her. However, the princess continually moved to block her path. 'Ugh, Star, get out of the way!'

'Eclipsa hasn't done anything wrong!' She argued. 'She just wanted to help Adam get home! It's not like you have done a very good job of that!'

'I have done everything I can!' Moon suddenly yelled at her. 'I have consulted the Magic High Commission. I have looked through all the magical knowledge I could find. I have even looked in Underworld texts to find something of anything to figure this out. I have tried. What have I told you about jumping to conclusions, young lady?'

Before Star could say anything, Adam intervened.

'You didn't tell me about any of this,' he pointed out, glaring at her.

'Because I've yet to find anything conclusive,' Moon claimed protectively. 'Once I do, I will tell you!'

'Really?' He scoffed. 'Because Eclipsa and I have managed to get somewhere!'

'With the Dark Arts,' the queen identified in disgust.

'Yes, and?' Adam prompted impatiently. 'It's gotten us further than you have.'

'Dark magic is evil.'

'Is it?' He questioned. 'Why? What makes it so "evil" in your mind?'

'It can cause extreme harm,' Moon argued, looking down at him. 'It can be used for many dastardly means. I have seen first-hand the damage it can do.' She reached over and pulled away one of her metal gauntlets to reveal her hands. A deep black-purple rash marred her skin, similar to the kind Adam had seen on Eclipsa's hands.

'What the…?' Star questioned, staring at her mother's horrifically scarred limbs.

'This is the damage that Dark magic can do,' Moon warned, the glare on her face turning a shade paler.

'"Can" do,' Adam pointed out with an equally strong glower. 'I don't see how this is any different from Light magic. Light magic can cause harm. Light magic can be used for evil. Magic is just magic. If people use it to do evil, then they are evil. I should've thought that'd be obvious to you.'

'He's right, you know,' Star pitched in, much to Moon's dismay.

'You should not trust Eclipsa,' Queen Moon persisted. 'There is no telling the destruction she can cause. She abandoned her kingdom once; you think she would not do so again?'

'I know what she did,' Adam told her dismissively. 'Maybe you people shouldn't have forced her into that position and actually listened to what she wanted. Eclipsa cares about people – Mewmans and Monsters. From where I'm standing, you're the problem here.'

'You are messing with forces you do not understand,' the Queen continued stubbornly. 'And you, Eclipsa, truly have proven yourself to be the Queen of Darkness. I cannot have such germinating darkness infesting my kingdom. It is my responsibility to train Adam and you will not be infecting his mind with your evil!'

Before Adam could protest, he felt a strong force slam against him. It was painless, but it was impossible to resist as he was moved out of the way. It had been a large pearl blue forcefield that kept him from Eclipsa.

'Moon, you can be mad at me, but do not blame th–'

'Eclipsa Butterfly,' Moon interrupted harshly. 'For your crimes against the Kingdom of abandonment; betraying your constituency; deceit; conspiracy to aid a known criminal; aiding and abetting; kidnapping of a juvenile and resisting arrest, I hereby banish you from the Butterfly Kingdom!'

She raised her hand to cast the Banishment Spell [13]. As she did so, her hand began to glow with a bright purple aura. Eclipsa stood placidly, in acceptance of the situation.

Before her hand could make contact with the Queen, however, four tight ropes wrapped around her wrist. The tension in the rope pulled her arm away with powerful force. Immediately, the purple hue of her spell faded away.

Moon turned to see Adam holding onto the ropes with determined force.

'Release…me…Adam!' The Queen yelled.

'You don't get to control me, Moon!' Adam yelled, hating how he sounded much like a petulant child. 'I make my own decisions; I've had to for years. I know what the hell I'm doing!' When Moon did not give in, he tried something else. 'Can't you see the problem here? You're all about peace, but the only person who wants to fight here is you. Look at her!' He pointed to Eclipsa.

The Queen frowned and looked at Eclipsa, who remained rooted to her spot. She had a remorseful look on her face, not a hint of resistance in her eyes. She looked frighteningly willing to accept her fate of being banished from the Butterfly Kingdom. Eclipsa looked down to avert her eyes, which instantly made Moon feel guilty.

'You've seen me fighting Star,' Adam continued. 'And I've been practicing Dark magic this whole time. Do you really think it's turning me evil?'

'I haven't been able to spot any hint of that,' she admitted, glancing away for a moment. 'But Eclipsa cannot be trusted with any responsibility.'

'She's been training me for a while now,' the warlock argued. 'Clearly, she's been doing a pretty good job. The reason why she ran away was not to hide from her responsibilities; she did it because she had no other choice. She can handle responsibility and she can be trusted.'

'And you want me to trust you?' The Queen of Mewni practically scoffed. 'You have been deceiving to me for weeks now, Adam.'

'I didn't want to lie to you, Moon,' the Mewman told her sadly. 'My goal is to get home; you have to understand that if there's any way of doing that, I will take it.'

'Magic can be dangerous, Adam,' Moon warned him sympathetically. 'I don't want you to hurt yourself in your desperation to return home. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did.'

Adam swallowed the lump in his throat when he heard that. Truthfully, he hated that Queen Moon was trying to control him to keep him "safe". He wasn't a child; he knew what he was doing with magic. If he ever encountered something he didn't understand, he already had people to consult about it.

'I understand that, Moon, but you have to trust me on this,' he abated carefully. 'Banishing Eclipsa is not going to help. Like it or not, I'm going to find a way home, even if that means using Dark magic. Can't you see that your fear of the Dark Arts is just superstition? Magic of all kinds will have side effects and costs; it's not just Dark magic. Believe me, the moment I find anything I don't understand, one of the people I will come to will be you. I'm not a stupid kid; I know when I'm out of my depth.'

Moon sighed and looked down. In truth, she thought Adam was exceptionally intelligent with a very practical approach to life. He saw Dark magic just how Eclipsa did – practical and worth of study. All knowledge being good knowledge; being a means to an end.

Yet she did not view Adam as tantamount to Eclipsa. When she thought of Eclipsa, the words "traitor" and "Dark witch" came to mind. Maybe it was the difference in age that caused her to see Adam as mostly innocent in this situation. The only part that upset her was that Adam had kept this from her. Omission of truth, from her point of view, was still a lie.

Moon's mind crossed to her first actual interaction with Eclipsa.

Granted, she'd been an ignorant teenager hot off the heels of her mother's murder, but she hadn't understood why people thought Eclipsa was evil. Their conversation had been peaceful and passive, with no hint of aggression from the so-called Queen of Darkness.

Moon had grown to believe Eclipsa had been deceiving her in some way to escape her crystalline prison. It had made sense at the time, but now that she thought about it, her mind questioned the logic. Obviously, Eclipsa had been inevitably freed from her prison. If she wanted to, she could usurp the entire kingdom in one night. Despite that, the Queen of Darkness had conceded, following the rules that had been set out for her. She had agreed to remain confined to her room except for visiting the gardens, and had never once complained.

Although, her presence in this basement had proven she had at least bent the rules that had been imposed upon her. Then again, Moon understood that, had it been her, she too would have become restless about being confined to one solitary place for months.

Eclipsa was never a hard person to read. Moon simply had latched onto the belief of her evil that she had grown accustomed to the idea that the Queen of Darkness was constantly plotting against them.

Primarily, the Magic High Commission had planted this idea in her mind. Just like they made her believe all Dark magic was evil and unspeakable.

Adam's determination to get home was both admirable and frightening to her. If she got in the way of his revenge path, she was almost afraid to think about what might happen. No wonder she was concerned about him for his use of Dark magic. Anybody who believed that the ends justified the means could easily be a formidable force when given the proper tools.

It was concerning, but with three Butterflies around, and the Magic High Commission, perhaps it was not too worrying.

Sighing deeply, Moon let her arm drop to her side. All resistance within her muscles washed away as the four ropes around her hand slid away and disintegrated.

'Okay,' she ultimately agreed. 'You are right. I don't have any right to control you or what you do Adam. If you so wish to use Dark magic to get home, and have Eclipsa train you, then I have no right to stop you. I find it hard to trust Eclipsa, but…she has given me reason lately for me to think she will betray us or run away.' Reluctantly, she nodded and stepped away. 'If all of you really believe this is the best course of action…' Adam, Marco and Star all gave her looks of determined agreement. '…then I shall take you at your word.'

With that, Queen Moon left the room.

Adam let out a huge sigh of relief at their success. He hadn't thought, in a million years, that Moon Butterfly would listen to him. Then again, his thoughts dwelled on Dark Moon Butterfly more than this version, and Dark Moon would never have listened to him, not even if he were River.

'I can't believe that worked,' Star confessed, folding her arms in scepticism.

To cut a long story short, it had worked. To some extent, that is. Queen Moon chose to back off, but she wasn't quite through with the situation. One more thing to do.

'Your Highness?' A voice greeted from behind her. Moon turned around from her spot facing the window in her otherwise empty throne room. 'You wanted to see me?'

'Yes, Hekapoo, thank you for coming at such short notice,' the Queen acknowledged with a respectful smile.

'What was it you needed?' The fiery demon prompted.

'I need you to keep a close eye on Adam for me,' she requested indifferently.

'I thought the frequent meetings told us everything we needed to know,' Hekapoo disagreed, frowning in confusion.

'Not everything,' Moon claimed vaguely. 'I need you to be covert about this. Observe Adam from afar and document any erratic behaviour directly to me.'

'What for?'

'I need to know should he ever turn evil,' she informed her hastily, walking down the steps in front of her throne.

'Why? All the current data points to usage of mostly Light magic,' the MHC member identified.

'Our technology is not equipped to handle Negative Mewmans,' she commented ambiguously.

'He's using Dark magic, isn't he?' Hekapoo immediately figured out. Moon reluctantly nodded.

'I need to monitor his behaviour,' she explained. 'It wouldn't be fair to simply throw him in jail for using Dark magic. Using Dark magic alone is not a crime.'

Hekapoo bit her lip.

Queen Moon could tell she wasn't a fan of Adam's employment of Dark magic. She probably did immediately consider throwing Adam in jail the second she realised he was using Dark magic.

'I will do as you ask, Your Highness,' Hekapoo conceded, nodding respectfully.

'Thank you, Hekapoo,' Moon acknowledged with a smile.

Adam sat in the centre of his room and concentrated on the mystions in his surroundings.

After he had managed to summon the mystions earlier, he had spent the next few hours trying to do it on his own. It took him some time, but he succeeded in producing them himself. Once he'd figured that out, he proceeded to summon singular mystions at a time to master more individual control over holistic. Now that he understood how the mystions worked, he could use them to gain greater control over his magic.

All he was attempting now was to manipulate the small mystions to unlock the spell he had spent far too long trying to cast. It had to work this time, he could feel it.

'I pledge my soul to the throes of magic,' he began, with a deep, low voice. 'To enhance my power now automatic. I prepare myself to become a ghost…'

Adam opened his eyes as he felt a rumble below him. He was rising up above the ground.

'Grant me strength: the Seal of Arybailos!'

A bright purple octagram seal formed on the ground below him. It was bounded by a ring inscribed with Enochian-style runes, where each of the eight points had runes in between the gaps. The centre of the octagram was occupied by a circle with a Norse-style triquetra inside.

The very same seal, albeit smaller, appeared on his lower centre brow. It pulsed with burning purple energy bestowing, finally, its magical ability upon its creator.

Adam could feel a surge of power coursing through his veins. Intense waves of Dark magic coursed across his skin. In that moment, certainly, the young Mewman felt like the world itself sparked at his fingertips.

By the way, the Seal of Arybailos is my profile picture. If you wanted to know what it looked like.

[12] This is a spell that can remove most runes. Extent of runes that can be disabled is dependent on the magical skill of the caster. Some runes are immune to this spell.

[13] The Banishment Spell is a Seal-type Alteration spell taught to all Butterfly Queens. It places a magical trace or marker on an individual, which alerts others that they are banished from the Kingdom, as well as notifying the caster whenever the target enters the target Kingdom again. The incantation is merely a declaration of the target's crimes and their subsequent banishment.

Wow, that was a long one. A hell of a lot happens in this chapter.

I don't think it's too out of character for Moon to act how she did, almost banishing Eclipsa. This is S3-Moon, before she had the adventure with her and Eclipsa finding out about the MHC covering up Meteora. So Moon at this point does not trust Eclipsa (although, then again, she betrayed her at the end of S4 so her finding out that she's been teaching Adam Dark magic for a period of a few weeks behind her back would definitely make her angry. Moon's view of Dark magic is very much sculpted by her past, given how she used the Darkest Spell on Toffee, and it gave that black rash thingy that Eclipsa has. She's also been manipulated by the MHC into believing that a) Eclipsa is no good, and b) that the Dark Arts are inherently evil and cannot be utilised for good. Her views certainly clash with Adam quite a bit, because Adam is willing to use almost any methods that he can to try to get back home, so to him, there's nothing wrong with using Dark magic if it gets the job done. Nevertheless, I don't think Moon is totally unreasonable - despite being highly emotional at the time - so her eventually acquiescing and allowing it to continue makes sense to me. Plus, she still sent Hekapoo to spy on Adam just in case, which is definitely a Moon thing to do imo.

Going in depth about magic was interesting for me to write personally. I wanted to avoid killing the magic by explaining it, and I hope I didn't by leaving some room for mystery and the unknown. Adam's a practical guy, and intelligent, so he is the kind to strategically map out every application of his magic, rather than use it for the fun and enjoyment of it, like Star would. It makes sense to me to make magic a fundamental force in the same vein as gravity, the weak interaction, the strong nuclear interaction, and electromagnetism. In particle physics, these four fundamental forces have exchange particles called bosons which essentially facilitate the force (although the gravity boson has not been discovered yet). Magic acts in the same way, but we don't know fully how it works. Only that Dark magic involves an M- (negative mystion) and Light magic involves exchange of an M+ (positive mystion).

The main purposes of this episode were to introduce Eclipsa as a mentor to Adam; to set up the Seal of Arybailos episode; to expand relationships between Adam and Moon and Adam and Star; and to further foreshadow the oncoming moral dilemma about Adam's desire for revenge and violence towards the Dark Butterflies. That last part was a small section of this chapter, relating to a few conversations between characters that suggest or discuss Adam's motivations. Revenge is not Star's scene, although she has been prone to it herself, and the intense violence and hatred Adam feels towards Dark Star and her family is a main focal point of this fic. Inevitably, Star is going to have to come to terms with the fact that she is essentially helping to commit murder. To murder a tyrannical, evil terrorist, yes, but murder all the same. That's why I keep bringing up how Star killed Toffee out of revenge: the similarities between Adam and Star are there, but the crux of this moral conflict will be how different they actually are, and how much Star is willing to admit it.

What I really wanted Adam to be is reasonably realistic. He's just some random commoner who got hold of magic. Yeah, his parents raised him to believe in certain ideals that align with Star's, but he's nothing special without his magic. It makes sense for someone like him, who has lost so much and been treated like crap all his life, to want revenge for it. He's not meant to be the hero; he's meant to be some guy who got lucky one day. This story is going to detail his growth into a hero, but right now, he is not a hero.

Anyways, I'm running out of characters. Let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments! I love to read them! Thanks for all the support, I'll see you next time for the next episode: "The Seal of Arybailos"! Thanks for reading!