"Go! NOW!" Star yelled above the confused murmurs of the crowd. She and Marco began stepping closer to Vartek and Ludo as Janna, Jackie, Fergusson, and Alfonzo began herding people towards the exits in mass.
"What?" Vartek asked playfully, "Am I not allowed to play with them too? That's really just not fair, Butterfly." His words were practically venomous, but he spoke them with collected coyness as he knew he held the upper hand. One swipe, and it was a hundred dead. But that wasn't like him. He wasn't like her. He didn't kill innocent children.
Not that they needed to know that, though.
"I guess you were right," Star whispered to Marco. "You ready to get this over with, boo?" Marco gave her a quick nod, both turning back to Vartek and donning a look of malice.
Vartek stepped forward, the stage creaking under his weight as Ludo stood angrily by his side, wearing a less than intimidating face. Star pulled her wand from her dress, holding it ready, as Marco pulled his scissors from his jacket, extending them into a flaming longsword.
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Vartek," Star spat, eyeing him down, daring him to make a move. "You're coming with us. And Ludo, you're going back through that portal. Now."
Vartek smiled. "Oh, I agree, Butterfly. We can do this the easy way. But I know you won't, and frankly, I'm just thrilled to show you what I've been up to."
Neither Star nor Marco liked his smile, and there were still students and faculty trying to make their way out of the gym.
Janna and Jackie guided people out as fast as they could, with Fergusson and Alfonzo directing everyone to the streets. A young woman in a blue dress ran past Alfonzo, holding his gaze for a moment before he shouted "Jag Kommer att hitta dig. Var försiktig!" Over the noise.
Vartek watched carefully as the last of the students were evacuated, the doors closing behind them. Now alone with the two people he had originally come for, he stepped off the stage and landed heavily on the wood floor. Ludo simply stayed put, watching the ordeal unfold.
"It took me some time to get back here, I'll admit. But I've been...occupied. Unfortunately, it looks like so have you," Vartek casually pointed out, slowly unsheathing his flickering green scimitars as he stared at Marco. "Are you ready?"
Marco grasped his blade tight, feeling the warmth of the blue flames swirling over its edge. "I'm going to open a portal. You can be civil, and we can fight on the other side, or we can make you. Your choice," he stated in a commanding tone. He knew he and Star could take them, but not without there being gross amounts of collateral damage. Vartek continued to grin before motioning for Ludo to approach.
"Here, there, it makes no difference. Though I suppose I could use some more room than this slum. Lead the way, boy."
Marco carefully cut a portal to his right, stepping back as Star walked through. He motioned his blade towards it and eyed Vartek. The septarian nodded and walked through, tailed closely by Ludo. Marco was the last to enter, closing it behind himself and stepping onto the cold bare rock of the desert they had migrated into.
The sand and rocks were tinged red from iron, and all around them were massive outcroppings that rose and fell with the terrain.
"Now," Vartek began, dragging him scimitars against the rock, the blades digging sparks as he walked, "I have only one thing to ask before I take what I came here for. What has she told you?"
Star and Marco, both gripping their weapons, shared a hesitant glance before turning back to him, their glare just as intense as before. "What has who told us?" Star asked shortly. "Gonna need more to go on than just that, buddy."
"Merina. What has she told you? Has she told you why I'm here?" Vartek growled. He knew the answer was no. But he remembered the conversation well.
Merina had called him back to the Land of the Passing, her shrine growing more powerful by the day. She went on and on about the brats, how they were different, how he should be careful, and how they would save him. He had told her he didn't need saving. But she did. And that's what he would do, by any means necessary. It would only be a matter of time before he had to start getting desperate, so best to hurry before it was too late.
"Yes," Star answered, earning a pause and a shocked expression from Vartek and Ludo alike. "And she didn't just tell me, she showed me. Everything."
Vartek watched carefully for a moment before letting his tension ease, an elegant smile creeping across his face. "You little brat. Lying won't get you mercy, but I'll give you an A for effort."
"I saw everything, Vartek. I saw what she did to her, and what Nebula did to both of you." Stars expression was unwavering, but she spoke with sincerity. Her mind wasn't set on giving Vartek a chance at redemption, but rather to make him come quietly.
Ludo looked up at Vartek, confused at the conversation before him. "Who's Merina?" He asked quietly. "Is that your girlfriend?"
Ignoring him, Vartek took a step forward and pointed a blade at Star. "You know nothing, brat. What I sacrificed to bring her back, what it did to us. And what I'll do to fix it." Leveling his blade at Marco, he flashed a sneer once again, motioning for Ludo to take position at his side. "But that's not your fault, nor does it matter. When the dust settles, I'll leave with my prize. And you'll be too broken to stop me."
There was a flash of light, and a rush of searing hot air before Star even knew what was happening. The dusty sand blew around her before clearing to reveal Vartek and Marco locked in combat, both seething as they held their blades against the other. Green scimitars sizzled against the blue longsword, steaming the air between them.
Vartek released the pressure on his right hand and twisted around, pivoting his blade for Marcos's head, but the boy ducked before contact could be made. Marco pushed his elbow up into Varteks, forcing the scimitar higher before delivering a fierce kick into the septarians ribs. Vartek flew backward into a roll and stood, glaring at Marco. The two charged back to one another as Star nodded and aimed her wand at Ludo.
"Ludo, you don't have to be here. We won't mess with whatever you're doing, as long as you leave right now," she demanded, earning no expression from the avian before her. As the clangs of metal echoed around her, Ludo shook his head.
"I can't do that, he won't let me," Ludo whispered, glaring at her as his frown slowly turned into a grin. "Besides, this is what I was born to do!" He yelled, slinging his wand in front of him, sending a wave of green magic forward before it exploded at Stars feet. She dove back and launched a volley of explosive cupcakes at him, only to watch as they turned rotten and harmlessly squished against the ground.
Ludo fired another blast of green energy at her, but this time she was ready. Morphing her wand into a crystal blade of her own, she used its edge to cut straight through the beam, sending two bolts of energy around her in a whirlwind. Both halves screamed past her and buried themselves deep into the rock face to her back, erupting into balls of fire.
As the dust cleared, Ludo prepared for another shot only to see Star rushing forward with a massive pink hammer that sizzled in anticipation. He tried in vain to outrun it, but was pummeled high into the air by the hissing weapon.
"Sorry, Ludo! But I kinda need you to leave!" She yelled after him.
A blue fireball whizzed by her, exploding against the rocks as Vartek went screaming past soon after. Marco rushed past, trailing his sword behind him in a line of indigo flames. Vartek brushed the bits of red sandstone off his shoulder before ducking under a swipe that cut through the rock like butter.
He sent both blades forward, hoping to skewer the boy alive, but a lightning-fast sideswipe parried both blades to the dirt as a knee shot up to meet his chin. His head shot back, clanging into the rock as Marco fell back into a portal. He emerged twenty feet in the air before jutting his sword forward and sending a torrent of fire down at his foe.
Vartek shook his head in time to see the incoming missile of flames and cut a portal in front of himself. The fire whizzed right through before shooting up out of the ground beneath Marco's feet. Vartek sneered at the small victory, but it was lost as Marco blasted himself out of the smoke, unharmed, and swung his blade hard, biting into the steel of his scimitars.
'These little brats!' He thought to himself as he pushed the boy back, driving a heavy kick into Marco's ribs. 'You think you hold a candle to me?!'
While Marco stumbled backward, Vartek swiped for his midsection as the boy leaned forward and parried the blade above his head. Lunging forward and diving into a portal, Marco quickly closed it behind him and left his enemy in silence. Vartek looked around, waiting for any sign of him before seeing a single portal open above his head.
He smiled at the boys' carelessness and made to catch whatever strike would come, but was alarmed to see a dozen more portals open around him, creating a dome of portals in every color. There was a split second of stillness, as Vartek tried to cut a portal of his own, before Marco shot in through one portal and immediately out through another. Vartek felt a gale of warm wind rush past him as a new laceration appeared in his armored shoulder.
Before he could even register the damage, Marco returned again, and again, and again, shooting past him to deal a small amount of damage at breakneck speed. Vartek barely had time to react to any of them, getting slammed back and forth by an enemy a quarter of his size.
Marco zipped past and took another swipe for Varteks chest, but a swirling mass of green flames blasted him and the portals away. Vartek wasted no time with his opening, portaling past Marco and slicing the air just above the boy's chest, only to find a longsword waiting, and a knee to the ribs coming next.
The clangs of exchanged blows rang out as blasts of green and blue flames lit up the air. Star had seen some of it, but after deflecting another green bolt, she turned to Ludo, now upright after his landing.
'Okay, Star. Hand to hand combat is pretty much out. I don't want to hurt him, but I don't want to get hurt myself,' she thought silently. 'Unless I can just scare him into leaving, that is.'
Star grinned at him while the ground shook behind her, pulling a string of pink glimmering energy back from the edge of her blade like a spiderweb. From where she held the string, a steady bolt of magic waiting to be released.
"Last chance, Ludo. You don't know any spells, so you're just going to get hurt!" She yelled. Ludo, rather than turning tail and running, just smiled at her. "Wouldn't you like to believe that? I do know one, but I can't use it just yet!" He shouted back, firing three consecutive beams of corrupted magic.
Star only glared ahead at them and released the string of energy. It shot forward and sent the bolt of magic skimming just above the ground, before it split into three separate beams. Two found their mark, blasting two corrupted streams apart, as the third toxic beam detonated the ground at Stars feet. Her own missed shot did much the same to Ludo, blasting rock and sand alike and sending him flying.
Star rolled to a stop and stood shakily, morphing her sword back into a wand before aiming it for Ludo. "Sunshine grid!" She yelled, firing a ball of yellow energy forward.
Ludo eyed it and returned a concentrated ball of his own, but before it made contact, Stars began to grow into a wireframe that swelled until it was the size of a house, laced with spider webs of yellow light. Ludo made to run, but the beams enclosed around him and stuck like glue. The wireframe began to collapse on itself, turning brighter and brighter until Ludo was trapped in a cocoon of interlaced shafts of light, finally exploding into a brilliant burst of energy.
Vartek shielded his eyes from the solar flare, which gave Marco the opening he needed. He surged forward and sliced at Varteks armored legs, forcing the septarian into a kneel. Turning around, Marco lunged back in and sunk his blade into the rock, filling it with as much energy as he could manage before portaling out of the way.
Vartek slowly rose to his feet, bracing his scimitar on the unsteady ground before it finally burst. There was a blue flash, and a rush of hot air in every direction before a massive mushroom-shaped fireball rose into the air, surrounded by falling debris.
As he sailed up through the air, Vartek turned himself and cut a portal that sent him shooting across the ground beside Ludo. He sunk his blades into the rock, grinding to a halt beside his smoldering and struggling minion.
Vartek steadied himself, brushing off the chunks of charred Earth on his armor as Star and Marco approached unscathed. "Ludo," he said in a hushed tone, "If things start to get dicey, bring in phase 2."
"Start to get dicey?! They're destroying us!" The avian cried out. Vartek turned and faced Ludo, his green eyes burning against the darkness of the night. "Phase. 2. You insufferable little welp!"
Ludo turned back to face the two warriors approaching them, whispering to his master. "But I thought that was for-"
"Much later, I know," Vartek interrupted, sounding extraordinary calm. "But we might not make it to later, and if that happens, I want to ensure I have what I came here for."
"Had enough?!" Marco yelled from a distance, smiling at the two smoldering enemies. "Or do we have to make this uglehhh?" Star finished.
Vartek flashed them his usual, cracked sneer before letting his tail loose from around his waist. Both teens stopped and watched him carefully as he cracked his neck, his eyes now alight with a toxic green color.
"What's the usual spill? 'I'm just getting started?'" Vartek asked rhetorically before charging forward, swinging one blade into an uppercut, and the other into a jackhammer slice, carving to arcs of green fire that roared towards both Star and Marco.
But they were ready for it. Star grabbed Marcos hand, and with a strong Mewman grip, slung him into the air, letting his weight pull her lighter body up as well. As the two arcs roared past and blew a boulder into pebbles, Marco cut a portal above them to fly into.
Vartek scanned the area around him, looking for any sign of the two before a massive rainbow first swatted him and Ludo twenty yards away. He rolled to his feet, Ludo failing to stop and tumbling into a rock, and looked back, barely dodging a flaming longsword that sailed over his head. It bit into the sandstone rock face behind him, but as he turned to face his attacker, it detonated, sending blue flames in every direction.
Marco ran up to him, flipping over and driving a heel into Varteks collarbone before vaulting past him and collecting his sword in a roll. He stood quickly, catching Varteks scimitar and parrying it to the sand below before leaning back in a flat jump to dodge a swing for his legs.
Mid-air, Marco drove both heels into Varteks stomach, feeling the hard steel of his armor against his shoes as he blasted the septarian with a shockwave of blue fire emitted from his feet. Vartek went tumbling, carefully falling into a fresh portal and flying out a hundred yards behind Marco.
He made to charge forward and attempt to relieve the boy of his head, but he knew that was too quick a death. Instead, Vartek placed his swords together, a thin gap between them, and forced a wheel of spinning green magic to grow. Marco turned to face the noise, and when he saw the rolling death, he readied his blade and took a deep stance.
Vartek grinned madly, the spinning ball of emerald light illuminating his face in bursts as he roared, "Let's see if you can withstand this one, boy!"
Marco gave him an unamused look, watching his foe carefully. When he realized there would be no response, Vartek snarled and spun about, swinging his blades side by side behind him as the disk seemed to flare even brighter.
With a final yell, he split his blades, the disk of corrupted magic rocketing forward with a blast of pressurized air. Marco watched as the makeshift spell loomed closer, a circular saw of magic with his name on it. He knew it was gonna be a longshot, but he might as well return in kind.
He drew in a deep breath and stuck his hand through the handle on his scissors before spinning it as fast as he could. Marco took a step back, whirling the blade around his wrist faster and faster, letting it become a blur of blue light in a fantastic circle of radiance. Over his flaming blue hair and behind his back, he led the blade around him as he recited the first Blood Moon spell he had ever heard, speaking in two of his own voices.
"I summon the power to make the Earth shake," he whispered.
"To protect a love you shall not take," he said, taking a careful step forward as the warm wind blew around him.
"Feel our strength in your dying hour!" he yelled, bringing the spinning disk of blue light around.
"BE CAST ASIDE BY OUR SOUL CRUSHING POWER!" He screamed, stopping the handle in his grasp, pointing it at Vartek. The churning blue mass, full of momentum and vigor flashed a brilliant sky blue before shooting out, displacing air and sand alike as it approached Varteks own attack.
Marco watched as the two forces were about to meet, but he could swear Vartek was…smiling?
Both disks met high in the sky, a mixture of deep green and radiant blue clashing together in momentum and centrifugal force. There was a blinding flash of light and a second of stillness, before a blast of teal-colored magic blew a hundred yards of the desert to vapor.
The tremendous ball of teal fire grew into a swirling vortex of power and energy, ripping rocks from the ground before it finally dissipated into a mushroom of smoke and falling debris. Marco scanned the smoldering crater for any sign of Vartek, but there was no need. The septarian was exactly where he was last seen, clapping slowly to himself as his scimitars stood idly in the sand.
"Well done, boy!" He called out, a vicious sneer plastered on his face, "It would seem our power works better together than I could have ever imagined! I was beginning to lose hope, I'll admit, but what a show that was!"
"Huh?" Marco mumbled to himself, completely thrown off by the unexpected bravado before him. To his left, Star and Ludo still exchanged blows in a steadily intensifying duel, but it came to a grinding halt as Vartek swiped an arc of green flames out above them, capturing their attention.
"Ludo!" Vartek called out as he cut a portal open on either side of him. "It's time. We have an answer, so let's begin!"
"Phase...2?" Ludo asked timidly, gripping his wand in his hand. He stared at Vartek, but found himself eyeing the open portals with more anticipation than for master.
"Phase 2. Let's see how well they can handle a taste of what's coming!" The septarian yelled. Ludo gave a short nod before bringing the wand closer to his face, whispering to it, "It's time to come out now. Just a few will be fine. I'll see you here."
Marco portaled to Stars side as the two watched Vartek carefully.
"Star," Marco whispered, not taking his eyes off the portals. "This isn't like last time. Ludo had help, but I'm getting a bad feeling in the back of my head."
"Me too. We should rush em both and get this over with. No more fooling around," Star answered, turning her wand back to a blade. But before either of them could make a move, the portals on either side of Vartek erupted with activity. Someone, or a lot of someTHINGS, were charging out in mass. Over thirty creatures of completely different species, all charging on all fours, and glowing green like Vartek?
Star and Marco took a ready stance, each gripping their weapons as those things charged forward. Marco studied them carefully, trying to figure out what they were, but he couldn't tell. They moved sporadically, no coordination, they were all snarling or screaming, and they were practically in pieces, glued together by that green magic oozing out from every crevice.
He made to comment on them, but Star grabbed his arm with a force he didn't even know she was capable of.
"They're monsters…" she whispered, her eyes wide with fear.
"What? Of course they're monsters, Star! Look at them!"
"No Marco! Look!" She yelled, pointing her blade at the swarm of beasts heading their way. "They're monsters, turned into...something else!"
She was going to continue, but they were out of time. The first six-legged beast charged up to them like an angry, screeching buffalo and reared back to rake its massive claws into Marco, but it was too slow. Star dove forward, and with some hesitation, cut it clean in half.
It immediately fell silent, the new oozing fissure across its midsection slowly giving way under its weight. The top half slid off from the bottom half, and the two pieces fell to the ground in a heap.
Star grit her teeth in a hard frown, staring at the life she just ended, whatever it had been, as her eyes began to mist over with salty water. She sniffed once, gripping her blade tight as Marco rushed past her to keep the next few beasts occupied. They'd lunge for him, charge at him, try to pummel and subdue him, but their movements were sporadic and jerky. They didn't have enough control to follow through before he cut them down.
One by one, they were slain, oozing green bodies piling up and shlocking to the ground in new heaps. Star couldn't watch. She was a murderer. A monster had just fallen to her blade, because of what they did to…
"Ludo!" She yelled, charging for him in a blur. He tried to fire a volley of spells at her, but they were all parried or blocked in her blind fury. "What did you do to them?! What did you do?!"
Ludo shivered under her as she pointed her blade at his chest. He struggled to answer her, and just as he was about to tell this crazed girl everything she wanted to know, a strong hand pulled him back through a portal, planting him on the ground beside Vartek much further away. The two looked out into the distance as Star and Marco began fighting as one to take down the enemy.
"Three, two, one.." Vartek prompted, directing Ludos attention to the growing piles of bodies. There, the first monster to be cut in two by Stars blade was beginning to stir.
The corrupted green slime seemed to pull the two halves together, forcing the wound shut in a nearly perfect way, a small amount of magic still oozing from the cut. It slowly rose to its feet and after a silent few seconds, emitted a guttural cry of anger and pain that could be heard for miles.
Star and Marco turned to face the noise and were horrified to see multiple slain creatures stitching themselves back together and sounding off with screams of their own. One by one they rose from the sand, turning to face them, and one by one they charged back into the fire to be downed again.
Vartek smiled at them, watching as his special surprise for Mewni was put to the test. He had waited years for this moment. To watch the fruits of his labor begin to come to light.
"You see Ludo," he began, watching the two teens struggle to keep the feral creatures at bay, "In the future, I found a record of a certain spell. The spell of the Turned. With it, anyone wielding the magic wand could force another being to do their bidding. And by corrupting their very essence and burning out what used to make them whole, they have become undying, immortal, like Toffee."
Ludo cocked an unsure and frankly, terrified eye at his master before Vartek continued. "But, that spell isn't complete. We need to perfect it to be able to make its effects permanent, and self-sustainable. If left unchecked, the corruption will burn away the soul entirely, as it uses more and more energy. We need something to fuel the beasts we turn, so that my magic doesn't fill them completely, and destroy them. And I've just found our battery."
Marco sliced another feral beast in two, drops of burning toxic magic eating away at his jacket. Star wasn't fairing much better, her spells getting less and less potent as the monsters just kept coming.
"Marco, tell me you have a plan to beat these things!" Star yelled, firing another grid of sunshine at several monsters.
"Not really! Unless you wanna stop by Grennors place for a few weeks to catch our breath!" He returned, swinging his sword wide and burning several monsters to a crisp. He knew that wasn't really an option, but they were stuck. These things didn't die, and Vartek was just watching.
"Actually, Star, I might have an idea, but you're not gonna like it!" He yelled out, rushing to her side. The two stood back to back, downing monster after monster as they spoke.
"Okay, the new plan is the old plan. We take down Ludo and Vartek before they can make any more of these things. Can you handle the monsters for a bit?" Marco asked, turning around to look at her. She nodded slowly, her eyes betraying her bravery for the fear bubbling to her surface. She ducked and blasted another monster behind him as Marco swiped his blade over her head to burn another beast to a crisp.
The two stood up and Marco gave her a quick kiss, holding her cheek before opening a portal behind him. "Be safe, I'll be right back!" He yelled out as he fell into it, exiting behind Ludo and Vartek.
The pair turned to face him, but it wasn't anger on Varteks face. Was it satisfaction? He didn't care. He let blue flames roll over the edge of his sword as he approached as menacingly as he could, eager to finally finish this.
"Ludo, call off these things now, and you can leave. Final offer," Marco demanded, steadying his sword as he faced them down. Ludo wore a conflicted frown, but ultimately took a step back behind Vartek as the septarian unsheathed one of his blades. "I'm so excited you decided to come here, alone, boy."
"I came here with Star. If anyone here is alone, it's you. Now call of the monsters or I'll make you call them off."
Vartek shrugged and snapped his fingers, a green light flaring in his eyes as the monsters seemed to grow even more ferocious. Star struggled to hold them back but she was starting to slip as they kept on coming. Marco grit his teeth and charged for Vartek, the two exchanging deadly blows, but the septarian continued
"You didn't honestly believe you were in a position to make demands, did you, Marco?" Vartek asked, almost coyly as he parried a strike for his ribs and kicked Marco back.
Marco shook it off, glaring at him as he began stepping closer. "It's funny really," Vartek continued. "You probably think we came here for that useless spellbook."
He ignited his scimitar and grinned madly, his eyes alight with green. "When there's a perfectly good princess right. Over. There," he finished.
Without another word, Vartek slashed an arc of harmless energy for Marco before cutting a portal beside himself and charging through it. Marco felt a split second of chaos in his head before he charged after Vartek, the sand under his feet turning into glass in his wake. How could he be so stupid?! Of course Vartek was trying to separate them with these things. But why didn't he go after her earlier?
Marcos' eyes went wide as he slipped into the portal. 'We have an answer,' he thought in a screaming rage. They were testing them under the guise of a fight. And now that they knew what they needed, they were ready to take it.
Vartek emerged behind Star as a monster charged forward, raring to pummel her into dust. He readied his scimitar just as she blasted the beast away in a pink hurricane of hearts. She was only just beginning to turn around as he lunged for her, his blade cutting through the air in a heated green blur.
And then everything stopped. There was a blue light, like fire cutting through the air before Varteks scimitar shattered to pieces. Green Magic poured out in every direction like a bonfire as Marco skid to a stop just feet away from Star. The blast was enough to stun the creatures around them as Vartek stumbled into a smoldering heap in the sand.
Marco turned around, his skin still smoking as he huffed, watching the beasts that surrounded them as he took a step toward his enemy.
"I don't care what happened to you, or what you think you're going to accomplish," he spat, his hair beginning to flow in blue flames, as if he were underwater. "This ends now."
Star stood guard as Vartek turned over, sitting up and glaring at Marco. His eyes were still alight with green as he held the broken hilt of his scimitar to his side. His free hand reached out to Marco, open, almost like he was beckoning him closer.
"You're absolutely right, boy. This is the end," Vartek whispered nearly to himself. His outstretched hand closed into a fist, and Marco raised his sword above his head, ready to send this monster among monsters somewhere he could never hope to return from.
But there was a noise, and a pressure in Marcos chest. He heard Star scream, and he looked down.
There, sticking out from above his stomach, was the green, curved, sizzling blade of Varteks other scimitar. He slowly turned to face Star. He couldn't feel the pain in his chest, but maybe that was a good thing. He didn't want to feel it. Just the numb buh bum of his heart beating, slowly getting more distant in his ears.
She looked terrified, and angry. But Marco couldn't focus on that. He turned back to Vartek, his expression blank, save for the surprise that still hung there. The septarian was grinning, but with a far more malicious intent.
"It's just not the end for me," Vartek growled through his smiling teeth. He opened his fist once again, and from the wound in Marcos chest around his scimitar, green flames poured out in every direction.
"MARCOOOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!" Star screamed, watching as his entire body lit up in green light.
The scimitar slowly retreated from the boys back, leaving a sickly trail of green ooze seeping like sap from the long gash. Marcos skin began to darken and crack, more green light pouring out from the fissures as the once blue flames around him turned toxic green. He didn't scream, but he opened his eyes wide, showing only black voids, and two bright green pupils.
Star surged forward in a wave of fury to annihilate Vartek, but the septarian opened his hand, catching his scimitar in it and cutting a portal beside him. Star reared back with her pink mallet and swung with unmatched wrath, but before her swing could connect, Marco lurched forward sporadically, like a puppet with tangled strings, and cut through the shaft with one swing.
Star lost her balance and swung her wands handle uselessly before Marco pushed the flat side of his blade in her direction, a wall of unseen force knocking her and a group of the Turned back. He raised his blade wordlessly, with no expression of anger of pain on his face, but Vartek called him back. "Not yet, boy. I'd rather not lose my contingency plan just yet. Come," he ordered.
Marco wordlessly nodded, sheathing his blade and stepping through the portal after Vartek. Star watched the two leave, unable to process the mixed rage, sorrow, and bloodlust in proper order. As the portal closed, she grit her teeth, her hair flowing into one scorching blue flame as the ground around her began to vaporize in a circle. It steadily grew wider as she floated up from the ground, her eyes white-hot and her fists clenched.
Vartek emerged beside Ludo, who was watching the display from afar, and cut another portal beside him. "We have what we need. Let's go, Ludo," Vartek hissed, with Marco standing silently like a feral sentry beside them.
"But what about her?! She's going to-"
"Silence! Get through now or you're going to find out what she'll do!"
Ludo nodded and ran through the portal. Vartek looked in the far distance to see a massive, looming ball of radiant blue light getting closer, vaporizing the Turned between him and it. "Now, worm!" Vartek yelled. Marco nodded slowly and walked through the portal, leaving only Vartek on the rocky outcropping.
There was a whirlwind of blue energy getting closer, carving a twenty-foot trench into the ground as the ball drew closer, but Vartek couldn't help but smile. Things were finally getting good. "Goodluck, Butterfly. I promise I won't break him before I'm through," he laughed, storming through the portal himself before it closed behind him.
There was a flash of blue, and the wind stopped as the outcropping the three had been standing on ceased to exist, captured entirely by the orb of radiant light, with a young girl at its center. Stars face was twisted into one of anger and distress, as tears fell from her eyes and instantly evaporated from the heat.
With one final scream, the orb grew rapidly, blasting everything near her into oblivion. Then there was silence. Beautiful, painful silence.
To be continued in: Broken Hearts
AUTHORS NOTE
Whew. Well, that was something, huh? Wonder what's gonna happen next! Much like the show, the story now begins a new arc, in the dark. Hopefully y'all enjoyed this three-part chapter, and I look forward to putting out the next as soon as I can. Special thanks to New Yorktown, LordCornwallis, Velocious, D4rk Sid3, and some friends of mine for their support. Yall rock lol. Leave a review with thoughts, comments, suggestions, or whatevs if ya like. It honestly keeps me going and helps me figure out what works and what doesn't. See y'all in the next chapter, and please don't kill me for this one lol. BUH BYYYEEE!!!
~Mr. Ronald Reagan