Fallen Kingdom
On a distant planet, a black and red sky polluted the atmosphere. Within a vast field of an olive grassland, the lifeless and bloodied bodies of many warriors laid where they fell. They were piled, filthy, and scarred bodies of soldiers from Grosbeak. Within the sea of death, a few several soldiers from the opposing force, stood and sat around in exhausted states. Their bodies ached and hearts waned in confidence and motivation. Even with dwindling faith, the soldiers' loyalty was to Danaus, a small kingdom fighting a hopeless war.
In the center of the madness, sitting on a rock, was a seventeen-year-old Star Butterfly clad in royal armor. She looked down at her gauntlets, covered in blood that wasn't her's. She couldn't get the screams of the people she killed out of her head. Her mother said to take the ones that surrendered as prisoners but not a single enemy gave in. They fought to the bitter end with a rage and malice that consumed them whole. Star swore that she saw some that didn't look like they were of Mewni.
Star felt herself tremble. The living hell of the war was killing her psyche. She couldn't remember the last time she smiled. She wanted to give up, to cut their losses and abandon their land. Perhaps search for a new one and prosper. Grosbeak was much too powerful a force for a small kingdom like Danaus to triumph over. The kingdom was as good as lost anyway. Why don't they just give up and retreat? Why must they sacrifice all these lives for a lost cause? There has to be somewhere they could go.
The princess looked around her feet, seeing a lifeless body of an enemy soldier. This particular soldier posed a huge threat to Star's men. They killed more than a dozen allies alone and even damaged Star a bit. This one enemy was stricken with the effects of dark magic. Their face was contorted to one of a beast and their limbs deformed into weapons of death. To their trepidation, Star and her mother had to face a number of these soldiers. They thought only the Butterfly family discovered the usage of magic. How did Grosbeak have forces that could harness this power?
A sense of a powerful being rose Star's head. Her mother, Moon Butterfly, approached with a somber demeanor. The queen wore her own royal armor and tied her hair into a long braided tail. She was covered in just as much, if not, more blood than Star was. They look at each other in silence, speaking with their fatigued eyes. Star didn't want to show weakness but knew it was foolish to keep fighting. She had to say what was on her mind. It could change the very outcome of this horrible endeavor. Star winced from her internal struggle. Say it.. Say it!
"The moment this war was inevitable," Moon spoke out, to Star's surprise, "I knew victory wasn't possible.." There was a deep sadness in the queen's eyes. Eyes filled with fear, regret, and pain. "As we speak, a dense band of Grosbeak forces closes in on us. They'll be here in about an hour." Star stands up, feeling more and more dread pile on.
"Then let's have Danaus retreat, mother!" She told her with a desperate plea. "If I stay here and hold them off with the rest of our troops, we can make the time for you to evacuate the kingdom!"
"Absolutely not. That's out of the question." Moon contradicted with a stern tone.
"Why?!" Star asked vexed. "We've lost so many and you said it yourself, we cannot win!" Moon looked away, not wanting to give up on whatever she had planned.
"You will not give your life for mine." The queen took a deep breath. "You will go and I shall stay." Star was taken aback by her mother's proposition.
"B-But you're the queen! You're the one the people of Danaus look to for guidance!"
"Not anymore." Moon gave her a grim look. "I am past my prime. You have surpassed me in power long ago." The royal approached her daughter, pushing her feelings. "Now you must do so as a leader." Star shook, afraid to take on the torch.
"I.. I can't.. I.. I'm not ready.."
"Star.." Moon put a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "You have developed into an intelligent woman. You have studied all your life for this responsibility. I have seen to that.." A noticeable pained expression overtakes her. This, with the long-awaited praise of her mother was enough to make Star cry. She looked down, trying her best to keep her emotion from bursting out. "You must protect your home, Star. Protect it at all costs."
"..Okay.." Star quietly let out, bringing a proud smile to the worn queen's face. She hugs her daughter for the first time in years.
"I'm so sorry I put all of this on you." Moon told her softly. "But no one else can do what you can. I'm so proud of you.."
"Don't talk like I won't see you again!" Star pouted as she held her mother. "I'll come back for you and we'll protect Danaus together." Moon yielded her words and just embraced their bittersweet moment. The two give each other encouraging looks as they break away. Star expands her large wings and begins to levitate.
"I love you." Her mother tells her with a shaky smile. Star felt herself flinch from the dire way she spoke.
"..I love you." Star takes off, not holding back on her rush to the kingdom. Moon watched her daughter fly off like a rocket, losing sight of her in moments.
"Even with how hard I pushed your power to grow, it wasn't enough." Moon silently said to herself. "If only we had more time for your usage of dark magic to grow." A look of determination formed on the queen's face. "Perhaps this final push will be enough.."
Star tore through the clouds on her approach to Danaus. As she spotted her home kingdom, she descended at the castle gates, alarming the guards positioned at the sides of the entry.
"Princess Star! You've returned!" The guards approach, ready to serve.
"Quick, tell Higgs to meet me in the War Room immediately." Star commanded with strides into the castle. One of the guards complied and headed off to his duty. As Star travels through her home, she passes by a large painting of her at a young age, her mother, and her father. It fills her with resolve, ready to make the difficult decisions to ensure a future for Danaus.
The princess enters a spacious room with a large wooden table in the middle. The table had a map of Mewni on it. Various points of battle, strategies, and blockades were pointed out. Star looked at it, knowing where their path of retreat should be. She had developed this plan of retreat behind her mother's back, knowing that the queen's pride would make it difficult to agree.
"Princess!" A young girl with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair enters the war room with a kneel. She wore a black tunic, a blue cape of a royal assistant, gray leggings, and brown boots.
"Higgs, it's time for the plan of retreat." Star told the freckled girl. Higgs stood up and gave a face of confusion.
"What?.." The girl thought for a moment, coming to a possibility that gave her a sense of foreboding. "Wait, where's the queen?!"
"Mother stayed at the battle point to make time for us to retreat." Star wrote on the map with a quill, tracing their path. "So let's not waste another second." Her voice had a layer of frustration.
"We can't leave without the queen!" Higgs put her hands on the table and looked into her superior's eyes. "What the hell is a kingdom without a leader?!"
"She's not queen anymore." Star gave her a piercing stare before looking back down at the map. "She gave it up to me before I flew here." Her voice weakens, the sadness of her mother's words made it so. "I'm not gonna lead this kingdom through a lost war. This fight, will not be the end for Danaus." Higgs looked at her sincerity for a few seconds before standing up straight.
"Yes, ma'am." She sharply steels for an order. "What must I do?"
"Gather the Royal Guard and have them evacuate every citizen." Star's gaze was unflinching, giving Higgs a spark of confidence. "Have them gather only the bare essentials. We leave immediately."
"Yes, ma'am!" Higgs obediently bows and leaves the room in a hurry. Star watched her go. When the princess reached the age of fifteen, her mother found it necessary to hire an assistant. Even though Higgs is a couple years older than Star, the hired girl had no problem following orders from the younger royal. In fact, their relationship was more unprofessional than meets the eye. They would have slumber parties rather often and have gotten to know each other well. Higgs was a very brash girl and was very passionate. She was the first friend Star had in years.
As the retreat act played out, more and more civilians packed their necessities onto carriages and cattle. Upon Star's command, the caravan of innocents traveled through a path to sanctuary. There was a number of royal guard units placed within the convoy for protection. Star flew up high, making sure to get a proper view of the exodus. Once her caution was put to rest, Star descends toward the front of the caravan and lands next to a leading Higgs. She was riding on a large ox-like creature.
"You got this, right?" Star asks her assistant as she lands. Higgs was looking at the map in her hands, letting her mount do the walking. The retreat path was rather elaborate. The sanctuary that Star had decided on was on a trek through the Hazy Mountains. It was as difficult to navigate through these mountains, as the name implied.
"Yes. Seems simple enough. Just have to.. just have to watch out for that.. Okay.. Definitely don't want to mistake that for that.. Uh.." Her disjointed speech slightly worried Star. "I do! I do! You can count on me." The princess smiled at her.
"I know I can. Just.. have some of the guards help if you have to." Star advised before levitating. Higgs sighed, feeling some embarrassment.
"..Yes, ma'am." She said as her princess floated away. Star examined the caravan and everything around it. The population of Danaus has dwindled greatly from the war. Hundreds of warriors, men and women, young and old have perished.
Star looked in the direction her mother was. By now, the Grosbeak forces that Moon had saw has definitely reached her. Was she still fighting? Has she somehow won already? The ex-queen barely had more than a few dozen soldiers at her aid. It was a terrifying thought but the odds were horribly out of Moon's favor.
Star closed her eyes, trying her luck to sense out her mother's power. She looked and looked, focusing her thoughts on the magic she's sensed countless times before. She couldn't find it. Instead, a majority of what she sensed chilled her to the bone. A plethora of dark magic. Nothing else stood out.
A deep anxiety took over Star. She wanted to stay with the caravan but her mother's life was in grave danger. As she looked at her traveling people and back toward her mother direction, her faith in Higgs escalated. She can do it. The citizens' safety is in good hands. Contented with this conclusion, Star flies off, under the cover of the dark clouds that plagued the sky.
Star traveled deeper and deeper into the hurricane of dark magic she felt. She couldn't see the surface as she looked down from the sky. She could only feel the horrible emotions that surrounded her. There was so much anger, so much hate, sadness, desperation, and even lust. Was it bloodlust or something else? It almost physically hurt Star to sense the surrounding feelings. She could feel herself tremble as she flew through the sky. She wanted nothing more than to just sense her mother's magic.
Suddenly, from the abyss that was below, a beam of dark magic propelled toward Star. She reactively dodged, almost brushing into the attack. It looked relatively weak compared to what she could do but it was still an attack nonetheless. Before she can do anything else, another one flew toward her. Then another. Then two more. Soon, the air under the princess was littered with blasts of dark magic flying at her.
Star did her best to avoid the attacks, pushing her maneuverability to the limit. She dodged them all for a couple seconds before one hit her on the arm. One hits her on the leg, then another on the stomach. She kept getting hit more and more until her levitation was too difficult to keep up. Star fell toward the surface, barreling at a building speed.
Star's descent pushes her through the low clouds and ends with a rough landing. The sound of cackling and yelling filled her ears. She stands up quickly, not wanting to be at a bigger disadvantage than she already was. To her horror, she was surrounded by Grosbeak soldiers, both men and women. The mob that enveloped her was thick and wide. The worst part, they all looked completely taken over by dark magic. They looked like monsters, nothing like people of Mewni.
In a swift, desperate motion, Star put her hands up in front of her, ready to fire a blast at anyone that got too close. She aimed her sights around in a panic, showing off her intentions. The enemy soldiers just laughed at her maliciously, bringing her confidence down further. Star didn't see her mother anywhere in the crowd. She could feel herself fall deeper into her despair. The malevolent foes that cocooned her were belittling her very existence.
"Princess Star Butterfly!" A distinguished voice within the crowd calls out to the girl. As Star looked toward the direction of the sound, a man in light armor, slicked back dark hair, and sharp eyes rises on a platform above the sea of soldiers. "It's about time you show yourself. How very cruel of you to leave your darling mother to fend for herself from these savages." His demeanor was patronizing yet his voice had a devilish charm. Star recognized him only as Toffee. She never knew if this was his actual name or not. As far as she did know, he was the right hand of Matilda. Even when the queen of Grosbeak was alive, Star could tell the man never appreciated her presence. He always gave the princess a cold shoulder or a nasty look.
"Where is she?!" Star yelled at him. "Where is my mother?!"
"Patience. First, I want you to look around. Look around at the eyes fixated on you." To her detriment, Star did so. She saw various faces. Each one casting more and more fear within the princess. "What do you see? Hate? Joy? Fear? Lust? Dark magic takes its toll on the soul doesn't it?" Star glares at him with angry teary eyes. "Upon our intelligence of this weapon that the Butterfly family seemed to specialize in, we spent years trying to conjure it. I would say the results have been unsatisfying but.. here we are.. cornering you like a filthy rat that your kind is. I suppose given the repercussions on my men, I'm satisfied with declaring it a mixed result." The dread-filling laughs and taunts of the soldiers creeps into Star's poise. "It takes a monster to kill a monster. They're becoming difficult to control, you know? Each one of them is dying to do unspeakable things to this little body of yours. And lucky for them, you're quite attractive.."
"If any of you touch me—.."
"You'll what?" The menacing leader cuts off, unfazed by Star's threat. "You'll fight back? We're hoping you will. Let's see this power that so coldly murdered our princess and queen."
"I loved them, Primrose and Matilda, I loved them!" Star cried.
"Don't say their names, you wretched bitch!" His calm face deformed to one of wrath and disgust. He quickly recomposes himself. "..Before the madness, I'll tell you this, Star Butterfly, we will take everything from you. Before your kingdom, I'll have my men take your life, your integrity,.. your innocence.." A vindictive, malicious grin spreads on Toffee's face. His eyes widen like a hungry beast. "Attack!! Defile her!!"
Immediately from this venomous command, the horde of malignant soldiers storm the young princess. Star fired her magic and tried to fly to a higher plane. One of her foes grabs her ankle and drags her back to the floor, getting a blast to the face as a response. Star fought with all her might. If an enemy was too close, she shot her magic. If her arms were restrained, she shoved. If her legs were grabbed, she kicked. She defended to her utmost, refusing to give in. She got hit, cut, stabbed, fractured, but fought and fought. In a short while however, her efforts were ceased. She was pinned on her stomach and held down by all her limbs. Her armor was yanked off and her clothes were being torn to rags by assaulting hands. She felt grasps at her scalp and invasive gropes on her body.
"Where is she?!" She roared out with teary, horrified eyes. "Where is my mother?!"
"Stop!" Toffee's voice boomed, interrupting the atrocity. The soldiers looked up at their leader, still keeping Star pinned. "You want to see her? Your abhorrent mother?" The vengeful man chuckled. "As a final request, I'll grant your wish.. Bring them out."
His words created a parting in the crowd that let a small group of soldiers through. In their hands, held up high, were spears, spears that pierced the severed remains of Moon. Star, petrified from her mother's malformation, looked on. Her mother's decapitated head wore a smile, the same smile she gave Star when she saw her off. The princess couldn't move. She couldn't even breath.
"It was terrible." Toffee stated with a laugh. "I've never seen such wickedness done to a woman. Then again, this.. disgusting creature is nothing but a monster." The man stares at Star, waiting for a response. The girl remained still and unblinking, keeping her sight on what was left of her mother. After the silence, Toffee released a sigh. "If you're just going to shut down, I'd rather just end things quick. What's worth all this grandeur if you don't even—"
Star's voice explodes out in a fiery wave of despair. She screams in misery and shakes off the soldiers that pinned her down. Other foes would quickly replace the ones that were bucked off, but those would be pushed away just as easily. Star would bang her fists, legs, and head into the ground, creating small craters. Her magic, both light and dark, escaped her body in bursts, even sparking from her eyes and mouth.
"Hold her still!!" Toffee commanded sternly. "Can't dozens of hardened warriors hold one young girl?!" His scolds did nothing to control Star. She was becoming a mad animal, too volatile and powerful to submit. "K—.. Kill her!! Stab her! Bash her head in! Anything!!" Soldiers would try to do so, using weapons, feet or hands. Blades would crack, and their bodies wouldn't so much as damage Star.
A flash of light expands from Star's body as she releases her loudest scream. The magic engulfs everything around her, destroying anything that lived. In the center of the blast, a deep blackness dwelled, emanating from the princess. Her final memory ends but her screams of agony continue on Earth.
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Pain. Pure pain.
Thanks for reading! That one was quite the downer, wasn't it?
The next chapter is the last one. Please stay tuned and see this story to the end.
Seriously, thank you all for reading. It means so much.
'Til the next and final time!
Byyyyyyyyeee!
