Hey guys, RJ Writing Ink here. Sorry I can't come up with an introduction for this chapter, but as you can guess, I'm running behind schedule. So, let's just dive right into everything!
"Hmmm...nope! Hmmm...not it! Hmmm...close, but not quite," Glossaryck said aloud as he proceeded to toss yet another Cornitos chip off the bed and onto the floor of Comet's bedroom. "It's always such a struggle to find one," Glossaryck sighed. "But it's worth it, in the end."
"Glossaryck, if it's that much of a problem, then why don't you pick one and eat it already," questioned Comet as he sat on the floor in front of the monitor he had his UGC plugged into. "Also, you're getting chips everywhere."
"Comet, there's only one corn chip that's ever worth eating," Glossaryck countered without even turning to face his student.
"But you've been at this forever, Glossaryck!" Comet said, his tone meant to exaggerate how long he'd been sitting in his bedroom like this. "I thought this was supposed to be practicing my magic today, but all you've been doing is rummaging through bags of corn chips. It's boring! I have other stuff I could be doing right now!"
"Oh, right. Like you're so busy right now," Glossaryck sardonically replied as he looked through chip bags.
"I am," Comet refuted before gesturing to himself, showing that his body had spawned a pair of extra arms and hands that he was putting to work. While his primary set of components kept their hands on the controller as the Prince of Mewni played a round of Smash Bros, the additional appendages were working off to the side with some sheets of paper and drawing utensils, scribbling down drawings, notes, and the like without Comet taking his eyes off the screen.
"I'm multitasking in the best way possible," Comet told his teacher. "I'm trying to complete a perfect 9.0 difficulty run in Smash Bros, but I'm also coming up with new ideas for spells to add to the Book later. That's how I got these extra hands." The Mewman got the idea from seeing Nico Robin from the hit Shonen manga, One Piece. She had the power to create clones of various body parts, and Comet realized that this was perfect to help him do more things at once. "Many things I've learned about on Earth have been a great inspiration for creating spells, you know."
"I do not doubt it," Glossaryck told him. "But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't neglect the work of your predecessors, and that is why we must train. So, no video games. Time to get off that thing."
"How is that fair?" Comet protested. "We're not even training right now because you want to find that alleged perfect chip. If I don't do something, I'm going to get bored, and boredom is something that I have a zero-tolerance policy towards!"
"Look, Comet," Glossaryck said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "if waiting is too much for you, then feel free to practice your magic without me."
Groaning at this, Comet got up from where he'd been sitting (and ending the extra-hands spell), said, "Fine," and shuffled toward the Book of Spells. "What are we going to learn about today?"
"Tell you what: pick one for yourself," Glossaryck dismissively said.
"Pick one?" Comet repeated, wondering if he heard the little blue man right. "Any chapter I want?"
"That's what I said."
"And you're sure my old man would be cool with that?"
"There's a lot of things I do with you that your father would disapprove of," Glossaryck freely admitted. That was all that Comet needed to hear.
"Ohohohoho! Let's see what we can find in here!" Comet said as he rolled up the sleeves of his aqua-blue hoodie and got ready to dive into the Book. Taking the massive tome in his hands, Comet began to skim through the pages, looking for something interesting to learn.
"Let's see here," he said to himself as he found his way to King Solarius' chapter. "Nah...it's too violent. And racist," Comet said as his disdain towards the Monster Carver rose again. Choosing to go back a little further, Comet found himself in King Skye's chapter. "I've already read this part several times." He found himself at the start of the adult section of Festivius chapter, eliciting a blush from him. "No...I can't read this stuff in the middle of the day!" Skipping over to Gibbous' chapter, the disdain on Comet's face returned. "No, thank you, Gibbous. I don't trust you after the Monster Arm incident."
As Comet continued to skim through the Book of Spells, Glossaryck kept looking through the Cornitos for his so-called "perfect chip." When he didn't find one, he would flick them onto the ground for the Laser Puppies (and Coryn) to eat, much to Comet's dismay. The last thing he wanted was for the animals to get a taste of people's food...at least more than they already had. Or attract ants. He didn't want ants in his room.
After several minutes of searching, Glossaryck finally floated out of the Cornitos bag. "Yes!" he exclaimed, hovering in the air, holding up a chip in reverence. "The perfect chip!" Indeed, the chip was perfect looking. It had perfectly symmetrical sides, the right amount of salt and flavor bits, and no odd angles. It was the treasure that Glossaryck had been looking for.
Meanwhile, Comet had found what he had been looking for. "Ohohohoho! What is this!?" he asked aloud as his eyes fell upon a specific section of the Book of Spells that looked familiar, though he couldn't quite put his hand on it. It was a closed-off section of the Book, locked behind these spectral blue-looking chains underneath the visage of a school. Comet had no idea what it was supposed to be, but he knew one thing: it looked cool. Therefore, he must read it!
"Yo, Glossaryck! How about we look at this bad boy?" Comet said as he moved the Book in front of his magic teacher. Instead of going along with what he promised, Glossaryck's eyes widened as he looked upon the page.
"Nope!" Glossaryck then promptly grabbed the Book and got it away from Comet. "No, no, no, heck no! Not that chapter!"
"What?! But you said any chapter I wanted!" Comet indignantly said. "You're going back on your word, Glossaryck!"
"Yes, I am, " the little blue man freely admitted. "But this chapter's more the exception than the rule," he countered. "That's Eclipson's chapter. It's filled with unholy knowledge and spells steeped in dark magic." He said with a serious look on his face. "It shouldn't even be in the Book. I thought I tore it out and hid it away for safekeeping. If your father found out you read it, he would freak out!"
Comet's eyes widened as he got this big grin on his face. "Okay, okay, Glossaryck, you've convinced me. For once, I wanna learn something from the Book of Spells of my own volition. Anything my old man wouldn't like has to be worth reading." As Comet tried to reach for the Book, Glossaryck moved it back further from him with his free hand.
"I'm being serious, Comet," Glossaryck sternly told him as the boy tried to reach for the Book with his arms. "Any of these spells could end up tainting you with dark magic, and if that happens, it's gonna be my ass that's on the line!"
"Fine, then," Comet simply said as he ceased his struggle. "If that's how it's going to be, then you leave me no choice but to resort to blackmail."
Glossaryck chuckled. "Blackmail. What could you possibly have to blackmail me with?"
"This," Comet smirked as he held up the corn chip that Glossaryck had been coveting, making the latter gasp.
"Wha-how, when did you get that?!"
"Just now. You should've been paying attention to the fact that I still have six arms," the Prince of Mewni smugly said as he pointed down at the extra arms sticking out of his sides, each of which was now shaking its counterpart in congratulations. "Now, if you want your chip back, you unlock that chapter and let me read it. Because otherwise..." Comet then held the chip up to his mouth, making Glossaryck gasp.
"You wouldn't!"
"You and I both know that I would, Glossaryck. Unlock it. Now." Comet then began to bring his tongue closer to the chip, making Glossaryck panic.
"Okay, okay, okay!" Glossaryck said as he threw up his hands. "I respect your cunning, kid, but I also hate you for it." Reluctantly, Glossaryck pulled a key out of his robes, and, using his feet, he deftly inserted it into the center of the skull. With a loud *clang*, the tumblers inside the lock fell into place, making the skull drop away as the chains dispersed, unlocking the chapter.
"There, it's unlocked. Now chip." Glossaryck held out his hands, and Comet hesitantly gave him the corn chip. As the little blue man proceeded to swallow the perfect chip in a single bite, though, Comet put his many hands on the Book of Spells, ensuring that there couldn't be a double-cross.
"I've held up my end of the bargain, Glossaryck. Now it's time for you to do your part," he reminded his teacher.
"Very well," Glossaryck sighed before floating over to the Book and Comet. "Move back a bit?" Comet did as he was told and gave Glossaryck some space, though he kept his eyes trained on the little man, ready to act if he did anything.
"Now, then, we'll look inside for a quick second. If it works, then we'll go from there." Comet squealed as his eyes began to glimmer with excitement. He was about to learn something really cool! Glossarcyk slowly turned the page into the forbidden section of the Book of Spells...
...only to stop when he began to buzz unexpectedly like a pager.
"Wha...?" Comet and Glossaryck said simultaneously in confusion.
"Oh, hang on, I'm getting a call from...ugh, the Bureaucracy of Magic. I gotta take this." Glossaryck then held his fingers up to his ears, making the phone gesture as he did so. "Hello? Yes, this is he speaking...what? This is..."
"Tell them you're busy."
"...this is a bad time. What? No, I mean, I can't..."
"Tell them you're busy!" Comet repeated.
"Are you listening to me? This is not a good time. This is the worst possible time! You couldn't have picked a worse time!"
"Dude, just pretend to hang up and ignore their calls! It worked in DBZ Abridged!" Comet said as he grew impatient.
"Yeah, they're not taking no for an answer," Glossaryck admitted. "They're going to pull me over any second now. Comet, whatever you do, do not turn the page until I get back!"
Before Comet could even ask where Glossaryck could be going, he was surprised to see his eyes turn black while his face got this blank, mindless expression. "Um, Glossaryck? Glossaryck?" Comet poked at Glossaryck a few times, attempting to get a reaction out of him, but found nothing. It was like Glossaryck wasn't even inside his own body right now.
"Huh. Neat." Comet said as he sat there, waiting for Glossaryck to return. Hopefully, he wouldn't be long.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Glossaryck continued to scream as he fell through the strange, interdimensional void he found himself in, to his intense dismay. He knew where he was going and what was coming, and he was not looking forward to it. Especially considering how they had not only pulled over at the worst possible time but were now responsible for him barreling towards the strange, magical tower situated in the center of this strange dimensional at high speeds. This was the Bureaucracy of Magic, headquarters for the beings that were supposed to oversee the use of magic throughout the Universe so that he didn't have to do it 24/7. Yet here they were, calling him over when he didn't want to!
Needless to say, Glossaryck wasn't in a good mood, and it wasn't going to get any better anytime soon. As Glossaryck got closer to the tower, he saw, much to his annoyance, an anthropomorphic, moose-like creature with lime-green fur, antlers, and a giant nose in a yellow security guard outfit standing outside and eating corn chips. The Moose only ceased eating when Glossaryck proceeded to slam face-first into the door to the tower before unceremoniously falling flat on his back, prompting the Moose to look down at him.
"Oh. Hi, Mr. Glossaryck, sir." the Moose politely said to the new arrival.
"Oh. Hello, Sean," Glossaryck groaned, both from the pain of hitting the door and the annoyance of the presence of the being looking down at him. This was Sean, the security guard for the Bureaucracy of Magic for the last...how long had it been? 547 years? Glossaryck didn't care.
"I'm really sorry about what happened. The transporter's not working properly right now," Sean said as he dusted Glossaryck. "However, there are free muffins in the lobby, so that's nice."
"Look, Sean, I don't really care about the transporter or the free muffins. What I do care about is that I was in the middle of something of the utmost cosmic importance."
"Yeah, but you see, the Magic High Commission really needed to see you and..."
At this point, Glossaryck just started angry-laughing as he heard about the Magic High Commission. "Ohohohoho, they want to see me about something, do they? They think that they can just call me whenever they feel like it and not bother to ask if I'm in the middle of doing something that could have massive ramifications. Is that it?"
"Um, are you alright, sir?" Sean hesitantly asked.
"Oh, I don't know, Sean? Are you good?" Glossaryck mockingly asked. "Did your flight get in at the right time, or did it get delayed because of incompetence? Are you missing out on doing something important to you because you got called into some meeting whose only purpose is to waste time? Does your boss complain to you about the one thing you're doing wrong about your job when you do everything else right? Are you mad? Are you good?" Glossaryck then started spouting out nonsense to voice his displeasure about what he was going through while Sean watched.
"Oh, Mr. Glossaryck, you're so crazy," Sean chuckled, making Glossaryck mentally groan. This is why he didn't like Sean. The guy was polite, to be sure, but he was also incapable of reading social cues. "But you're still gonna have to go see the Magic High Commission."
Glossaryck just groaned at this. "Give me your radio." Sean did as he was asked, only for the radio to emit a sound akin to that of an air horn, knocking Glsosaryck back on his butt for the second time since arriving at this wretched place.
"Yeah, the radio's not working right, either," Sean admitted. "A lot of stuff's not working right. You're gonna have to go all the way up there yourself."
Resigning himself to the fact that there was no way out of this, Glossaryck let out a sigh and said, "Very well, then." Right as Glossaryck floated his way to the door, though, Sean held out a hand.
"Sorry, sir, but no magic allowed in the building. You're gonna have to walk."
"Fine, whatever," Glossaryck grumbled as he floated down onto the ground and onto his feet. "Might as well get the search out of the way while we're at it. Freaking security these days, I tell you what."
"Glossaryck? Glossaryck? Are you in there?" Comet had been poking at the empty form of Glossaryck for what felt like hours now and had yet to get a response from him. Whatever it was that had happened to him, it left him pretty out of it.
"Hm, hm. What to do now?" Comet asked aloud as his extra arms removed his signature hat and scratched his head for him. "On the one hand, I should probably call Dad and tell him what's going on," he said as he looked in his mirror. "Or, I could look at that forbidden chapter and hope that I don't burn the house down," he said as he glanced at the still-opened Book of Spells. "Orrrrr...I could get back to playing video games and try and get a perfect run with Kirby in Smash Bros. Ultimate." As Comet looked at his UGC, the urge to game and goof around proved to be too overpowering for him to resist for long.
"Screw it! Kirby needs me right now!" And with that, Comet went back to playing his video games.
"Look, Sean, I'm telling you for the last time, this gem stays with me!"
"Mr. Glossaryck, sir, the rules state that you are not to have any magical or occult-based items on your person beyond this point," Sean argued with Glossaryck.
"Well, you let that other guy in the lab coat walk through the scanner earlier, and he had this glowing gun thing on him! So why can't I keep the gem?"
Things had not been going the way Glossaryck had wanted them to. After entering the Bureaucracy of Magic, not only was Glossaryck forbidden from using magic, he had to ditch most of the magical stuff he had stashed away in his robes and beard before going through the metal scanner. Then he had to go through a strip search as he took off his robes and got looked over by a handheld scanner, courtesy of Sean. Sean didn't drop his annoyingly polite and cheerful demeanor the entire time, which only got on Glossaryck's nerves, especially when his scanner went crazy about the gem in his forehead. Then, to add insult to injury, some tall, lanky-looking old man with spiky hair and drool on his face came waltzing in, had to go through the same stuff, and managed to go through the whole process without any problems.
Glossaryck wasn't sure, but he swore that he heard that guy say, "F**k magic, magic ain't shit, motherf*cker," as he walked past them.
"That wasn't magic he was using. That was science. There's a difference between the two," Sean stated matter-of-factly. "Now, if you would please cooperate-"
"All right, fine. You want my gem so badly, you can have it. But you won't like what's underneath it!" Glossaryck said as he began to pull the gem out of his forehead.
"Sir, I don't think that whatever's under there could be that-OH MY CORN!"
Play SpongeBob Music - Dramatic Cue (a)- /IEUXjgoI3lk
Glossaryck wasn't exaggerating when he was talking about what was underneath his gemstone. To Sean's horror, he discovered that, hidden underneath the gem, was a large, black orifice that seemed to cave into Glossaryck's forehead, from which only darkness seemed to emanate. It was like looking at a butthole but on someone's head.
Screaming, Sean quickly handed Glossaryck back the red gemstone while saying, "Take it! Take it and spare me the horror!" Smirking at this, Glossaryck happily returned the gemstone to its resting place on his forehead.
"I warned you," he said, still smirking as he did so. "Now, hold the elevator!" Glossaryck then ran for the elevator as fast as he could. When it appeared that it would close before he could make it, he proceeded to jump into the air before diving directly at the door, making it through just as it began to close behind him.
"Phew! Made it," Glossaryck said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. As he got back on his feet, he looked up to see Sean looking directly down at him.
"Hello again, Glossaryck," the Moose said with a friendly smile and wave. "Top floor?"
"Yes. Top floor," Glossaryck simply said as he anxiously tapped his foot, doing his best not to lose his increasingly shortened amount of patience. Sean pushed the button for the top floor of the elevator...only for nothing to happen.
"Huh, that's odd," Sean said as he pressed the button a few more times. A few more times, he got no response.
"Don't tell me: the elevator's not working either?" a confounded Glossaryck asked.
"Oh, no. The elevator doesn't run on magic," Sean clarified. "It runs on solar power generators. It must be something mechanical. Hold on..." moving closer to the button panel, Sean pulled a key out of his pocket and proceeded to insert it into the panel's keyhole. The familiar sound of the tumblers locking into place rang out with a metallic echo as the key did its magic. Once the panel came unlocked, though, the pair were surprised at what they saw behind it. Instead of the neat and orderly set of wires, what they found was absolute chaos.
"What in the...?" Sean leaned in closer to inspect the damage, only to jump back when the live wires began to spark and crackle. "Sweet corn! What happened here?" That's when, out of the corner of his eye, Sean noticed a note hanging on the back of the panel door. Acting with great haste, Sean proceeded to snatch the note before backing away once more. "Let's see here," Sean murmured as he began to read the note for himself before letting out a worrisome gulp. "Oh, no."
"What? What? Let me see!" Glossaryck said as he jumped up and grabbed the note out of his hands to read it aloud. "It says, 'The Council of Ricks sends its regards, Motherf***kers.' Oh, you've got to be kidding me. I knew I recognized that guy in the lab coat!" Glossaryck whined out loud before crumbling the note into a ball. "All right, plan b!"
Before Sean could say anything, Glossaryck ran back to the door of the elevator and pushed it open wide enough for him to squeeze through. "Sean! Stairs! Now!" Glossaryck said in between grunts as he looked back at the Moose, who helpfully pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room. Without hesitation, Glossaryck dove for the door, eager to get this trivial issue over with so he could get back to his real job.
When he opened the door to the stairwell, though, his jaw dropped as he saw just how high up he had to go. The stairway wound around the building to dizzying heights, to the point where the magical entity couldn't even see the top.
Letting out a loud sigh as he realized that there was no way for him to get out of this, Glossaryck used magic to turn his small, spindly little legs into massive, swole, beefcake limbs as thick as tree trunks. "Look's like I'm getting my steps in for today," he grumbled as he commenced sprinting up the stairs.
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"And with that, I've got another 9.0 run in Smash Bros Ultimate! Eat it, you stupid magic hands!" Comet said as he boasted to himself about his latest victory. "Man, I am on fire today!" the Prince of Mewni proclaimed as he used his extra arms to applaud himself even more.
Comet had not planned that his afternoon would involve him sitting in his bedroom and slaying in video games or doodling spell ideas, but so far, he'd been enjoying himself. The only wrinkle in the day was the fact that Glossaryck was just floating in mid-air with that blank expression on his face for who knows how long. And as much as Comet wanted to just go and read that secret chapter of the Book of Spells that his mentor seemed deadset on avoiding, the boy knew better. That, and he got bored and moved on to other stuff.
"Hey, Comet," came the familiar voice of Marcia as she walked into his bedroom holding sets of clothes on a pair of coat hangers. "I'm going out on a movie date with Jackson later tonight," she said with a little bit of a blush on her face. "And I wanted your opinion on what I should wear to impress him. This one on the left feels more casual," she said as she held up a combination of jeans and a red hoodie. "But I think that the other one compliments my eyes and hair while also showing off my heritage," she noted as she looked at this traditional, red Mexican dress with this beautiful floral pattern around the chest and midriff area. "What do you think?" As Marcia looked back at Comet, though, she saw two strange things: first, the fact that Comet had extra arms. Second, Glossaryck was floating in the air with this glazed look in his eyes.
"Uh, Glossaryck?" Marcia approached the little blue man to get a better look. To her surprise, she saw that the magical man's eyes were pitch black; it was a little unsettling to look at if she was being honest. That feeling only increased when Marcia poked him, and he failed to respond immediately.
"Um, Comet? What is up with Glossaryck?" Marcia wasn't sure if she even wanted to know the answer. "Or why do you suddenly have all those extra arms?"
"That?" Comet asked as he paused what he was doing to look at Marcia directly. "Oh, Glossaryck's on the fritz or something. He said he was getting dragged off to some kind of meeting and that I had to wait for him to come back," the boy explained. "As for these," he said as he gestured down to his extra arms, "they're the result of a spell I created to promote multitasking. So far, I think they're a success," he proudly noted.
Marcia looked around the room some more, at which point she saw the Book of Spells left open on the ground nearby next to a pile of strange-looking chains and this skull-shaped lock. "And why do you have the Book of Spells out," She enquired with a cocked eyebrow. "Are you doing something you're not supposed to?"
"Why do you automatically assume that I would do that, Marcia?" Comet reflexively asked, only for Marcia to give him a look that said, "Really?" "All right, fair point," he admitted while rubbing the back of his head. "TL: DR, I wanted to look at this forbidden chapter, but Glossaryck said not to turn the page until he got back. Got bored waiting, so I went back to playing video games," he explained while his extra arms were casually doodling down drawings and ideas for more spells. "Oh, and I guess I'm also coming up with new spells while I'm at it." As he looked at the Book and at Marcia, though, Comet suddenly got this mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Umm, Comet? Why are you looking at me like that?
"You know, Glossaryck never said anything about you turning the page..."
Glossarcyk panted as he sprinted his way up the remaining stairs to the council room of the Magic High Commission, wanting to get this nonsense over and done with. He had no clue how long it took him to make his way up the stairs, but considering that he left his student alone with the Book of Spells, any second was a second too long. He just had to make his way up these last few steps and...
"Yes! Finally!" Glossaryck let out a call of triumph as he finished taking the stairs and arrived at the top floor. All he needed to do was head inside, see what was so important that they needed to bug him about this, and...he wasn't on the top floor.
"Look, I'm trying to tell you, it wasn't like the elevator wasn't on the fritz. Someone came in and sabotaged it! Can you please send someone down to fix it?" Came the voice of Sean as he sat at his desk, apparently trying to call someone regarding the broken elevator. That's when he noticed Glossaryck standing there, dumbfounded.
"Hold on, I gotta take this," Sean paused before directing his attention to Glossaryck. "Hey, Mr. Glossaryck. I probably should've warned you that the stairs aren't working right, either. Nothing's working, actually," Sean nervously said as he looked at the eons-old magical entity.
Glossaryck didn't really hear whatever it was that was coming out of Sean's mouth, though. He didn't hear anything, really, besides the fact that the stairs weren't working. And just like that, he felt this...release. Like all the frustration that had accumulated over the course of this afternoon was overflowing from his pores. And it was all telling him one thing and one thing alone:
FUCK. THIS.
Glossaryck's eyes began to glow white-hot with anger and magic as he let out a primal growl of frustration, much to Sean's concern.
"Um, Mr. Glossaryck, sir? N-no magic in the building, remember?" the Moose-Man nervously said as he gestured to the "No Magic" sign nearby...only to have said sign be atomized into thousands of fine air particles by a blast of magic, courtesy of the absolutely pissed off Glossaryck.
"FUCK YOUR RULES!" Glossaryck yelled as he held out his arms. Before Sean could even have a chance to react, Glossaryck used magic to do what he should've done from the beginning: destroy this red tape.
All at once, the room began to rumble and shake like there was an earthquake going on, except there wasn't. Using his magical prowess, Glossaryck proceeded to telekinetically lift the tower's first floor for the Burecreuacy of Magic from its base up to the top.
Glossaryck didn't say a word after this. He just gave Sean a glare that said, "You see that? That's what happens when you waste my time." As clueless as the Moose-Man could be at times, Sean managed to get the message. From now on, if Glossaryck wanted to use magic in the building, he got to use magic!
"They're...they're waiting for you inside, sir," Sean hastily said, doing his best not to piss Glossaryck off even further. Mercifully, the little blue man didn't say anything else as he proceeded to float his way into the conference hall, leaving Sean alone to look at the mess that had been made. Sighing, he said to himself, "I'm going to call someone to clean this, too."
As Glossaryck opened the pair of double doors and floated into the conference room, he found himself face-to-face with the entities which made the mistake of wasting his afternoon: the Magic High Commission.
The people who were aware of his existence tended to assume that he was this ancient entity. After all, he'd been guiding the Mewmans since they first appeared on Mewni more than a thousand years ago. However, few beings grasped how old he truly was. Glossaryck was far older than Mewni, older than most of the Universe. When magic first came into existence at an indeterminable time after the beginning of the Universe, it came into being an entity of pure magic meant to understand and teach it to the Universe. And for a time, he did that. Those were the days. Back then, he didn't have to worry about all this bullshit, and he could do whatever he wanted. But as life began to grow, take shape, and progress to the point where it could begin to think, that fun ended. More and more civilizations began to discover the concept of magic, forcing him to start taking his job as a teacher seriously.
At first, it hadn't been too much of a problem. Glossaryck felt fairly confident in his skills as a teacher. However, he failed to account for one thing: how dumb mortals could be. They started using magic for the most trivial of things like power, wealth, and other things that only mortals had to worry about. And no matter how many times he tried to guide them on the right path, he couldn't hold their hands forever. And, as sad as he was to admit, a few times, those mortals ended up destroying themselves with magic or whatever else they had created. That was when Glossaryck admitted to himself (he'd never say it, though) that this was too much work for him to do. He needed help. That's why he created the Bureaucracy of Magic to oversee its use in the Universe, and at its head, he created the Magic High Commission. And that...also proved to be a waste of time, as evidenced by the fact that they called him away like this.
There were four of them sitting on the opposite side of the massive table. From left to right, there was a mobile cabinet with an old VHS player and a crystal ball on top with the image of a massive, skull-headed figure with a body made of what looked like dark matter. A being with a gemstone for a head. A feminine-looking goat creature with bat-like wings and a brownish-gray cloak. And finally, there was a pale-skinned young man with red hair, permastubble, a black crown with a burning flame on top, and a bright orange-yellow tunic.
"Hello, Glossaryck," the young man said, speaking up. "You're probably wondering why we brought you here," he said in a very professional tone. With a gesture of his hand, he magically moved a nearby office chair to behind where Glossaryck was floating.
Glossaryck just narrowed his eyes at the MHC, not even willing to indulge them or whatever problems they were facing by even pretending to be courteous. "Children, the only thing I'm wondering is why you, grown adults who are eons old, insist on wasting my time like this."
At this remark, the gem-headed entity snapped. "Oh, heck no!" the entity shouted, revealing her voice to be that of a woman as she leaped onto the table. "Where do you get off calling us children, pipsqueak! Last time I checked, I've got dumbells back home bigger than you, old man!"
The boy spoke up again at this. "Rhombula..."
"Hektor, you seriously gonna sit by and let him insult us like this?" the gem-woman named Rhombula questioned. "This guy's asking for a lesson in manners!" she yelled as she opened up her cloak, revealing herself to be wearing a simple, purple tunic underneath. That, and she also had snakes for her hands.
"Rhombula!" Glossaryck chuckled to himself as he casually floated over the table. "Good to see you, too! What's wrong? Don't tell me you're still sore about my last visit? It's not my fault that you're so easy to fool."
At this snide insult, Rhombula snapped at pointed her snake hands at Glossaryck. Within seconds, they each began to glow with magical energy before proceeding to shoot out at Glossarcyk, briefly enveloping him in a bright light. The next thing anyone knew, he was encased in a massive crystal.
"Who's easy to fool now, huh?" Rhombula boasted as she pumped her hands in the air. Her victory proved to be short-lived, though, as the crystal began to crack open, releasing Glossary. Then, to add insult to injury, he began to yawn.
"Oh, I'm sorry, was that supposed to be an attack? Because I barely felt that."
"Oh, I'm just getting warmed up," Rhombula told him. "I knew that you'd do that, so that's why I did...this!" With a wave of her hands, Rhombula proceeded to make a column of crystals rise from the floor and ceiling and rush towards Glossaryck, meant to trap him in a pincer maneuver.
Glossaryck, for his part, merely let out another yawn as he proceeded to use both his hands to stop the crystal spires from hitting him. "Good effort, though. Finally starting to use that thing you call a brain?"
Now turning red in the face, Rhombula let out a yell of frustration. "Gah! You're always doing this to us, old man!" In a fit of anger, Rhombula proceeded to flip the conference table over and threw it at Glossaryck, who proceeded to conjure a magic, pink hand out of his gem and swat it aside. The massive table proceeded to crash into the stained glass window, breaking it apart and prompting the others to take cover, except for Hektor. He somehow managed to get himself a bag of popcorn and enjoyed what was happening.
With everyone distracted by what was going on, Rhombula attempted to rush Glossaryck, only for the little blue man to point his gemstone at her hands and make it shine brightly, blinding the snakes. Thinking fast, Rhombula back-flipped before proceeding to switch to ranged attacks, firing off a bunch of crystal shards in his direction, only for Glossaryck to begin weaving and dodging them like they were nothing.
"Why can't you take us seriously, old man?" Rhombula complained as she kept attacking the magical entity. "You're always treating us like everything we do doesn't matter!"
"Children, when you have lived as long as I have, you will find..." Glossaryck said as he continued dodging attacks while the others looked on. "...that many of the things that you consider a problem are trivial and pointless in the grand scheme of things. And instead of handling them yourselves like you're supposed to, you decide to drag me here...against my will or consent...while I'm in the middle of work...doing my job." Having had enough of his creation's tantrum, Glossaryck conjured another giant hand and bitch-slapped her into the wall.
"Oh, dang!" Hektor said, prompting the goat-woman to give a disapproving look while Glossaryck hovered over Rhombula.
"And knowing all of that, you expect me to take you seriously?" Glossaryck darkly noted as he proceeded to project a giant, magical hammer, ready to come down on her and-
"Yes, Glossaryck," came a new voice from behind them. Everyone stopped what they were doing so that they could look at the newcomer, someone that they were all familiar with: Mune Dragonfly. "That is what we are here to discuss."
Glossaryck didn't say a word at first. He merely bowed his head in respect to the King of Mewni and said, "My liege."
In the meantime, Sean proceeded to enter the room with a spare, foldable table and proceeded to bring it over to the MHC, who was currently busy sending Rhombula to a little wooden stool in the corner for a timeout.
"Something terribly wrong is happening, Glossaryck," King Mune said as he walked over to Glossaryck. "We don't know how, but something out there is draining the Universe of its magic."
"Yes, I gathered that," Glossaryck said.
"That's what I said!" Rhombula shouted from the timeout corner.
"Hey! You shut your mouth, woman!" Hektor shouted to Rhombula, who proceeded to grumble to herself.
"Omnitraxus has been searching for the cause," Mune continued before gesturing to the crystal ball. "Omnitraxus, what have you learned?"
On the other end of the crystal ball, Omnitraxus Prime spoke, but from the MHC's perspective, it only came out as a bunch of garbled noise.
"Hello? Omni? Can you hear us?" Mune asked.
"You've gotta be kidding me...we can't even make calls now," Hektor said as he shook his head.
"Can I help?" Rhombula asked, only to be shushed by the goat woman, Lekma, who went to inspect the VCR, pushing various buttons on it. The crystal ball began to cycle through various images on the screen, ranging from a cat playing the piano, a cute jumping spider, and what looked to be some sort of tentacle-fetish content, before finally, on footage of a recycling center filled with tin cans. The sight of which made Lekma start to drool.
"Lekma, focus. Stop thinking about your stomach right now," Hektor said as he tried to get the chairman of the MHC back on track.
"Tell her I'll buy her pizza after this!" Rhombula said from the corner, only to get another rebuking stare from Hektor.
"Rhombula, I swear to Corn, I will throw you out the window if you don't shut up!"
Mune could only pinch his nose as he watched events unfold, stifling a headache he felt coming on. "You see what I mean? Everything magical in the Universe is starting to fail. We have no idea why it's happening, but...we need everyone to stay alert, Glossaryck. Especially Comet." Glossaryck raised an eyebrow at the mention of his student. "Which is why, as of today, I need you to accelerate my son's training."
Glossaryck didn't say anything for a moment, but when he finally spoke, the first thing he said was, "Really? That's why you dragged me here today? Yeah, no."
"What? What do you mean no?" Mune asked in confusion. "You've seen what's going on here."
"I mean no, your grace," Glossaryck simply said.
"Why all these riddles, Glossaryck? You were always so direct when training me."
Hearing this, Glossaryck let out a very loud groan. "Well, it finally happened. Every time, every single bloody time, a King of Mewni pulls me aside and tells me how to do my job. 'But Glossaryck, my training was different. Why aren't you teaching my kid the way you taught me? Do you not know what you're doing?' You wanna know what Glossaryck hears when they say that stuff? 'Me, me, me, me, me, pay attention to me. I'm going to pull my mentor, who's been doing this job longer than I've been alive, aside because I want to be in the spotlight again.' Or better yet, my grown kids decide to drag me away at the first sign of trouble because they're too incompetent to figure this out on their own."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING-?" Rhombula started to shout, only to be silenced by a look from Hektor. Mune, on the other hand, looked down at the floor, ashamed.
"The only one of your family to not question me was your ancestor, Eclipson, the King of the Darkness. Say what you want about him, but he had enough common sense to trust my judgment," Glossaryck continued. "Oh, and by the way, you guys, in your infinite wisdom and concern, decided to leave Comet alone with his chapter in the Book of Spells when you dragged me into this nightmare of red tape." As if to prove his point, Glossaryck banged on the crystal ball, prompting it to switch to an image of Comet's bedroom, showing an excited Comet and Marcia sitting in front of the aforementioned Book.
"Do it, Marcia! Turn the page! Turn the page!" Comet was chanting over and over.
"Oh, I'm gonna do it, Comet! I'm gonna turn the page!" Marcia eagerly said in response.
At the sight of the heir to Mewni and his companion threatening to look at the forbidden chapter of the Book, everyone else presents in the room reacted in an appropriate manner: they freaked out, Mune most of all. As Mune went to lambast his mentor for leaving his son alone with something so dangerous, though, Glossaryck beat him to the punch.
"And before you try and pin this all on me, I would like to remind you all that I said that this was the worst possible time for you guys to bring me here. But did you all listen? No. And that's because you had no faith in me or in my student," Glossaryck continued lecturing them. "And if I'm being honest, that's why I had you send Comet away from Mewni, your highness."
"I have faith in my son," Mune tried to argue, only to be silenced by Glossaryck.
"No, you don't, your highness. I have seen how strained your relationship has become over the years, and I knew where this was headed. Had I allowed Comet to undergo his training under your watch, or worse yet, allowed him to be sent to that boarding school of nightmares," Mune blushed in embarrassment at this part, "then he wouldn't have been able to flourish to the extent that he has on Earth. You would get mad at him for every perceived screw-up, which in turn, would make him grow more and more resentful until he became a threat to himself and to all of Mewni." Mune couldn't help but frown as he heard this criticism.
"Am I...really that bad as a father?" Mune hesitantly asked, eliciting a pang of sympathy from Glossaryck.
"Your Highness," Glossaryck said as he hovered close enough to put a hand on Mune's shoulder. "Mune. I know that your life has not been easy at times. You inherited the Wand at a young age, and after you lost your father..." Glossaryck hesitated, bringing that last part up as everyone in the room fell silent at this. "The less said about that, the better. My point is that you became King far sooner than you thought you would, and even though you've done far more in that time than many of your peers would be capable of doing, it came at the expense of your family. If things stayed the same, then your relationship with your son would get worse and worse until it got to the point where something might break. And the only way to keep that from happening was by sending Comet somewhere where you couldn't always watch over him and be with people who would accept him for who he was, not what he was. And while it may not look like it right now, the friends he's made in that dimension have helped him grow as a person, and he's done the same for them."
"Listen, your son has a special power to him, and it's not just because he can use magic. Your son has the rare ability to bring people together and inspire them to be better than they already are. You've seen it for yourself," Glossaryck smirked, remembering what Mune told him regarding the aftermath of the incident with Toffee. "He's a good judge of character, but he's also different from you. That's why I teach him differently than you." Glossaryck chuckled. "I mean, that weird kid with the beanie that's friends with him was smart enough to figure that out. If he can befriend people with that kind of smarts, then imagine what else he can end up doing as he grows older? But that won't happen unless you have faith in your son to grow and learn at his own pace. And for you to have faith in my ability to raise him to be the King that he's going to be one day."
The King's frown soon turned into a smile as he then gave a silent nod of his head, prompting Glossaryck to smile as well. "All right, the lecture's over. If you'll excuse me, I have to go fix whatever damage your son's done while I'm gone. If you'll excuse me." And with that, Glossaryck poofed out of the room and away from the Bureacracy of Magic altogether.
When Glossaryck opened his eyes next, he was back in Comet's bedroom. The sun was already starting to set, indicating that he'd been in that horrible place for far longer than he intended. What's worse, he found the Book of Spells wasn't where he left it. Instead, it was on the desk, with Comet sitting in the chair in front of it. Fearing the worst, Glossaryck zipped right over to Comet, nervous to see what he might find.
He wasn't expecting to find Comet watching an episode of One Piece in his mirror, not even looking at the Book...which was also opened smack in the middle of Eclipson's chapter.
"Oh, you're back. Lit," Comet said.
"So?"
"Yep. I read it."
Glossayck gulped. "You read the whole thing?"
"Front to back. Meh," Comet shrugged his shoulders.
"Meh? What does that mean?"
"I mean, I get what the whole thing was going for, at least. Powers of darkness, forces of evil, eternal suffering on those who piss you off, blah-blah-blah. Honestly, though, I think it was a bit overrated because I've seen way darker stuff in fiction. Like that Voldemort guy murdering people to split his soul into fragments to gain immortality. That's dark."
Glossaryck just looked at Comet in confusion. "So, you don't feel anything at all?" Comet shrugged.
"I'll be honest, Glossaryck, the only real shocker was his guide to dating Monsters, but that's more out of surprise than anything. He would've fit right in with the anime crowd these days. There's a ton of anime fans who have a thing for monster girls," Comet shuddered as he realized how many anime there were of attractive monster girls there was. "At least that All-Seeing Eye spell he came up with is practical. Great way to keep tabs on things while I'm not around...or, you know, watch movies without having to pay for the tickets. Guess it just wasn't my thing," Comet admitted as he got up out of his chair.
Glossaryck silently pumped his fist as he let out a small "Yes." His faith in Comet was vindicated!
"Marcia, on the other hand..." Comet then gestured for Glossaryck to look behind him, at which point, he saw the young Human girl floating in the middle of the air at the heart of a massive vortex of dark magic, her eyes black as night as she muttered something incomprehensible.
"Yeah, she kinda lost it. Yikes," Comet said.
"Don't worry, there's a spell to fix that," Glossaryck stated. "You might wanna clear your schedule for the rest of the night, though."
"I already texted Jackson and told him why his date with Marcia was on hold."
You know, I think that Glossaryck's speech to everyone might be some of my finest work to date. I mean, it was a little incoherent, but I wanted to get the point across in a way that the show never really touched upon. That point being how strained the relationship between Star and Moon was and how it didn't really get better. It started to with the Battle of Mewni, but then Moon just started to doubt and question Star again. It was like she didn't learn to have more faith in her daughter, and look what happened!
At any rate, I had Mune get dressed down like this because I want this to really sink in well before what I have planned. He needs to learn to trust Comet more, and this is the first step towards doing so. That, and I wanted Glossaryck the chance to vent about all the bullshit he endured. I have a near zero tolerance policy when it comes to red tape.
And, suprise! We finally got to see my versions of the MHC. And while they will take cues from the show, their personalities will start to differ as time goes on. As for the voice actor's, I already have them in mind. I've got Cree Summer playing Rhombula, using her voice as "Max" Gibson from the Batman Beyond series. As for Hektor, I can only think of one person who'd voice him: Matthew Mercer, AKA Chrom from Fire Emblem, Jotaro Kujo from JoJo, Law from One Piece...I could go on. I imagine him as using his voice as Sinbad from Magi: the Labryinth of Magic, though.
Again, sorry this came out late. Lost track of time! Now then, let's get started on some
READER'S REVIEWS
LockAndKey989-Yeah, the holy water just made sense to me. And I hope this chapter lived up to your expecations.
Ted Glass-Same here. The ending could've been done better. And the marketing.
Pedro-Thanks for that! I appreciate the compliments on the realism.
You know what to do: fave and follow this story, and follow me on Twitter (JZ-Gaming), Insta (RJ Writing Ink), and YouTube (Jungoguy)
Coming up, we've got a chapter that I've been looking forward to doing, Game of Flags! Also, feel free to ask me anything about Omni. Was that our Omni that was talking to them, or was it this Universe's Omni? Find out next chapter!
