Episode:
14: Warpshift

Trapped in the Negative Multiverse, Adam and Star must navigate through Negative Mewni in hopes of finding shelter. Star is forced to come to terms with the fact that Adam may be a cold-blooded killer.

That night, the two of them were hunched around a campfire Adam had constructed for them. He had made it without using any magic, probably to show Star that it was, in fact, possible to survive without extensive use of the arcane arts. Truly, she wasn't concerned; right now, she cared only about warming her hands against the soft flames.

True to his word, Adam had indeed found them shelter for the night. As he had stated, it was the entrance to a cave, perched atop a small cliff just poking out above the canopy layer of the Forest of Certain Death. From where they were, Star could see clearly how the forest stretched out for miles, retreating into the horizon far away. It surprised her to see the stars twinkling in the inky blue night sky, considering the swirling Great Solarian Storm nearby. She could see it off in the distance, burning ominously into her retinas.

An unsettling feeling sunk in her stomach whenever she looked at that thing.

All they had for an evening meal were some Gold'n Crispz packets Star was able to conjure with her depowered wand. Adam didn't make any comments on the quality of the meal, only occasionally placing a yellowish-green chip in his mouth. She assumed he was used to suffering on much worse diets during his time in the Negative Multiverse. The thought occurred to her that she had rarely seen Adam eat much at dinner times in the castle.

Star slipped her arms around her legs and shifted her knees up to her face.

'How did you manage to survive around here?' she murmured through her knees. 'Everything's so…cruel.'

'Heh,' he hummed cynically. 'You haven't seen nothing yet.'

'Do I even want to know?'

'For starters, you should keep your head down at all times,' replied Adam, his hardened glare just barely illuminated by the flickering flames. 'The Forest of Certain Death is crawling with deathmoth nests. The deathmoths like to come out at night. I've seen them reduce flesh to bone in seconds. They're attracted to light sources.'

'Great, now I won't be able to sleep tonight,' Star complained, looking worriedly about the cave.

'Oh, don't worry, we're safe in here,' he claimed, transfiguring a nearby rock into a pillow and lying down. 'This cave is full of shadowbeetles. They're completely harmless, but they prevent anything from growing around here. And their shadowy aura tends to ward away most creatures.'

'You're sure? So, I'm not gonna wake up and find…I dunno, my tongue being torn out by killer rats?'

'Fine,' he snapped, rising to his feet. He held up his hands around the entrance, as his star mark began to glow. 'Muffliato. Silencio. Manes noctis, exaudi clamorem meum. Ab oculis emissitiis defende nos. Delenire nervos et sensus lenire. Expensis non parcis…'

A translucent orb expanded out from his hands, bathing them in its bright white protection. A calming essence washed over Star's entire soul, sluicing her of all her concerns in an instant. It was almost like Adam had placed a heated blanket around her shoulders and assuaged her that all her trouble would, very soon, evaporate.

'There,' he said, sinking to the ground next to her. 'Just some protective charms to hide us from any…prying eyes. They also have a rather nice side-effect of soothing your heart and soul.'

'Ahhh…that feels nice,' she mused, resting her head against Adam's pillow. Rolling his eyes, Adam created another one. 'Where'd you learn this stuff? Eclipsa?'

'Queen Moon, actually.'

'I'm surprised Mom had the time of day to teach you. She never teaches me anything.'

'I asked her to teach me some Restoration magic a while ago,' the warlock replied. 'She only got around to it last week. I'm pretty rubbish at it, but I can do the basic stuff.'

'Well…you seem pretty good…to me,' Star said, stifling a yawn.

'Get some sleep, Star,' he advised, laying back onto his pillow. 'You're going to need it.'

Nodding, Star decided to pack it in for the night and get comfy. She snapped her eyes shut and let out a placating sigh. She allowed her mind to surrender to the lull of sleep, to allow her mind to wander into a silent realm governed purely by her imagination. She wasn't sure Adam was going to get much sleep, despite the pillow he had. He was too committed to survival in this place.

For the longest time, Star had kept it off her mind the fact that Adam's world was crueller than she ever thought possible. Seeing it for herself, even just a small slice of it, had been an eyeopener. And it wasn't the only thing her eyes had been fully, truly, opened to. She knew Adam's intention all along had been murder. Cold-blooded revenge. Maybe she turned a blind eye to that because she believed that Dark Star deserved it. Maybe because she liked Adam whenever he wasn't acting on bloodlust and revenge. Regardless, after spending so much time with him, Star had forgotten the most crucial and most blatant aspect of him.

Adam was a killer.

He had to be, in order to survive. He'd said it himself; it wasn't something he hid away from. Sure, the guy definitely wasn't proud to have killed people, but it was something he waved off as simply as doing your chores. It was so easy for him to take a life. Between the motion and the act, all he would have to do is blink before he claimed the life of somebody he didn't even know. It was almost like a currency to him, a trade of death for his own survival.

Did he feel any guilt over the people he had killed? Did they sleep in his mind, like ghosts, pressing into his subconscious? Did they drive his actions, or were they nothing to him?

Perhaps Star would never know. It was just…unnerving. All this time, she had known that Adam was morally grey. He never really tried to hide his opinions, or the murky side to his personality.

Nevertheless, watching him execute those knights without restraint, before carrying on as though nothing had happened, had shook her deeply to her core. She struggled not to use the word "murder". Her mind remained occupied with harried questions.

How many people had he seen die?

How many people had he killed? Had he simply moved on?

Or worse…had he lost count?

Truthfully, Star didn't think she really wanted to know the answer to that question. Since spending time with him back home, Star rarely had to consider the kinds of things Adam might have done in his past in order to survive. Now that they were trapped here, it really couldn't escape her notice any longer.

In the hours since they arrived in the Negative Multiverse, Adam was entirely focussed on survival. It almost surprised her that he still remembered how to survive in this world, considering he had not had to worry about finding safe shelter, avoiding the vicious wildlife, or finding suitable food. Then again, this had been his life for a very long time. What bothered her most was how much he had changed, in such a short span of time, in order to ensure their survival. It was a lot like how he had been when they first met: no nonsense, no time for humour, sole focus on the mission.

In all honesty, it scared her. How far was he willing to go to get them back home? How low would he stoop?

After finding no answers to her questions, Star's troubled mind was soon eroded away by the promise of sleep. Her mind soon fell to the land of dreams, enveloping her mind in inky blue darkness. As her mental faculties drained away entirely, she felt her subconscious being dumped into an all too surreal dream.

Star opened what she felt were her eyes, and found herself, once again, in the ruins of the Butterfly Castle. She panicked for a moment, terrified that she might turn around to find Toffee standing over the dead bodies of her beloved friends and family.

Alas, that was not what she found. She was standing outside the throne room to the castle, next to Tom, Marco, Kelly and Janna.

Tom looked a few shades fierier than usual, as though he was primed to explode at a moment's notice. His fists were clenched at his sides. Sparks of imminent flames flickered around his fingers.

Kelly had her huge sword drawn; her hands gripped tightly around the handle. She bore a determined glower, but not the kind Star was used to seeing. No, there didn't seem to be any kind of enjoyment in her eyes. She was not going into this apparent battle with a love for battle…she was doing it purely out of necessity.

Marco and Janna looked markedly different. Both of them seemed incredibly reluctant, like they were trying within every fibre of their being to pull themselves away from the inevitable necessity of their actions. Janna's cheeks were red and blotchy, her eyes red, bloodshot and welling with tears. Marco was much the same, only far more withdrawn with his emotions. Which was strange, given how expertly Janna could usually hide her emotions.

'Do we…really have to do this?' Janna uttered, her lips quivering fearfully.

'We're left with no choice,' Marco replied sadly.

'Yeah, we've let him go on long enough,' reasoned Kelly, shifting her sword in her hands.

Do what? Star had tried to say, but no words came out. To whom?

'Star?' Marco called. Star turned to look over at the squire, her mind filled with strange fuzziness. 'Are you okay? I know you didn't want to do this.'

'Yeah, yeah…I'm fine, Marco,' she heard herself say, letting out a huge sigh. 'Let's just get this over with, okay?'

'Star, he might not see it now, but we're trying to help him,' Kelly spoke up, reaching forward to lean on the throne room doors. Star nodded, and Kelly pushed open the doors and entered.

One by one, the group followed after her. Marco was next, followed by a still reluctant Janna. Star felt her own limbs move in a trance, compelling her to follow the trio into the throne room after them. As she stepped inside, she took notice of her surroundings.

The throne room was damaged, much in ruins like the corridor outside. However, its damage was characteristic. The walls were comprised of burnt and charred brick, the paint cracked and melted; there were numerous unnatural, gaping holes in the walls from which ominous smoke rose gently; several mysterious seals were burnt into the ground, many Star didn't recognise, but one of them she did: the Seal of Arybailos. All the hallmarks of a magical attack. And who was the one person who could cast the Seal of Arybailos?

Sure enough, standing at the back of the room was Adam. His back was facing them, staring out the ornate glass window that overlooked all of Mewni. His arms were clasped around his back, his back tall and straightened, looking like Toffee's long-lost son.

'As expected, the lambs come to the slaughter,' Adam mused, his tone icy and snakelike. He turned his head and side-eyed them. 'Kelly. Good to see you.'

'I wish I could say the same,' Kelly replied flatly, glaring at him. 'I'm sorry that we have to do this, Adam, but you've left us with no choice. You're a danger to society.'

'And why is that? Because I eliminated the people who got in my way?' the Mewman challenged. 'You can't wage a war without casualties. As a warrior, I would have thought you'd understand that.'

'It's worse than that, Adam,' Marco argued angrily. 'Your methods are…brutal. I've seen it. Even Eclipsa's scared of you.'

'I don't see her with you.'

'Because you took control of the entire kingdom!' Tom snapped.

'Yeah, you know why she isn't here!' Star yelled at him. 'You threw her in the dungeons! Along with Mom and Dad!'

'Oh, so you people complain when I do kill and complain when I don't? There's no pleasing you, is there?'

'Leaving your own friends to rot in jail is just as bad as killing them!' cried Marco, scowling at him. 'You've gone too far, Adam. Ruling the Butterfly Kingdom? Seriously? You're giving Dark Star a run for her money!'

Adam's slate-grey eyes widened slightly at that comment.

'Is that what you all think?' he interrogated, still refusing to face them. 'Even you, Janna? Your silence speaks volumes, you know. In the end…even you betrayed me.'

'I didn't want to,' she said. 'I tried…I really did…to get you to understand. But you…you just wouldn't listen.'

'You're absolutely sure this is what you want?' Adam questioned gruffly. 'You won't even consider my point of view?'

Janna shook her head.

'Not this time.'

'Very well,' he uttered, a ghost of sadness lingering in his tone. 'I'm merely warning you that, if you cross this line, you'll become my enemy. And I dispose of my enemies. Quite humanely.'

'Enough talk!' cried Kelly. 'You're going down!'

With that, she leaped forward, swinging her enormous sword in his direction. Adam remained mostly still as the Woolett hurtled through the air towards him. It was only when she came within a metre of him that he nonchalantly raised his hand and immobilised her in a mystical amethyst aura.

'You didn't think it would actually be that easy, did you?' Adam taunted, turning around to face her. He casually swiped his hand aside and sent the girl careering into a nearby wall.

'You'll pay for that one!' cried Tom, angrily throwing fireballs at him, as Marco leapt into the air to kick him in the face. Adam casually sidestepped the fireballs and raised a purple forcefield that Marco slammed into a second later. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Star immediately sent a stampede of Warnicorns his way. Nonchalant, Adam opened a golden portal and redirected them onto Tom, who was soon trampled under their weight. Three down, two to go.

'Rainbow Fist Punch!' yelled the princess, projecting a large, fluorescent fist towards the Mewman.

Adam effortlessly blocked the strike with a forcefield before immobilising her with Natural Overload. One of the vines he conjured snatched the wand out of her hand and threw it across the floor. Several more vines seeped out the ground and restrained her hands, arms and legs. Star, who by now had long since forgotten this was a dream, felt herself become instantly powerless, and not simply because Adam hit her with a Calysto Beam. Much like anyone in any dream, Star felt incredibly fuzzy. All her mental and physical faculties failed her, her energy drained from her, and everything became hazy.

'It didn't have to be like this,' Adam stated icily. 'But you're in my way. And I don't like when people get in my way.'

He raised his hand, and it began to glow green, ready to incinerate her with a Solarian Blast. However, Adam never got the opportunity to cast the spell, because someone hit him round the side of the head and knocked him out.

Perturbed, Janna staggered back, dropping the fragment of rock she had used to knock him out. Tears ran down her face. Her eyes were deeply red. A small pool of blood formed around his head, and she realised she had done more than merely knocked him out. She had killed him.

'Oh god…I…I swear, I-I didn't mean to…' she stammered, wrapping her hands over her mouth. 'I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…'

'Me too.'

Janna practically jumped when she heard that. Abruptly, Adam's body on the ground flickered and disappeared, revealing itself to be nothing more than a magical illusion. She blinked. Adam appeared behind her, a solemn look on his face. Janna tried to move, tried to do something, but Adam was far faster and far smarter than she was.

Star watched helplessly as Adam reached around Janna's head and snapped her neck.

'JANNA!' she screamed, until her throat ran raw. As she felt her mind being drawn away, back to reality, she heard Adam utter a few, final words.

'Only human.'

Star awoke with a jolt. She was immediately bombarded with rays of light from the morning sun, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut. She grimaced as her head was enveloped in a headache. Holding a hand up to her head, she groaned as she opened her eyes and adapted to the intense light. Bright yellow light shone in through the opening down the road, tracing the contours of the cave walls. She could see from this point in the cave that the sun was piercing through the thin clouds, blanketing the whole forest in a bright, golden hue. Star looked around curiously.

Adam was missing. In his place was a dingy pillow, still crumpled under the shadow of his weight. The campfire had long since fizzled out, soft strands of smoke rising from the ashen wood. Down by her side, there was a strange mass of large rainforest leaves, tied together with straw to form a kind of makeshift hood.

Star reached over and picked it up. The material felt oily and smooth, kind of bristly. Analysing its crude make and haphazard stitching, the princess pulled a displeased face.

'Ugly,' she muttered, dropping it onto the ground. She reluctantly got to her feet and clambered towards the cave entrance. Adam was nowhere to be seen, nor was there a trace of where he had gone.

Hesitantly, Star stepped out onto the cave entrance plateau overlooking the forest. She looked around desperately for her Mewman friend.

'Adam?!' Her voice echoed through the forest but yielded no response. 'Where are you?!'

A ruffling of feathers overheard appeared to answer her question. Baffled, Star looked up to see a black mark running across the sky. Her eyes adjusted to focus on the finer details, and she realised that it was a flock of birds circling her far above.

Except, they weren't normal birds. They were huge, easily twice the size of a typical raven. Their owlish, beady eyes burned red, nothing but evil behind the wide pupils. They squawked in unison a terrible, ear-piercing caw that rattled her eardrums. Their jet-black feathers were long and razor-sharp, like a thousand tiny daggers attached to their backs. They possessed equally sharp talons, comprised of some kind of organic metallic-like material. They snapped their beaks threateningly as they swooped down to attack her.

Star attempted to retreat back into the cave, but the swarm of crows met her first.

'Gah!' She desperately flailed her arms to try to swat them away.

Star reached into her bag and produced her wand, throwing spells in aberrant directions. Her spells were exceptionally weak on low power but should still be serviceable to deal with a few carnivorous birds. However, try as she might, the birds were too fast for her to hit. They sliced several cuts into her arms and legs, though fortunately her own Mewman resilience prevented the gashes cutting too deep.

She felt a sharp pain on her face as one of the murderous crows pecked one of her heart-shaped cheek marks. Star yelped, instinctively smacking the bird away with the blunt end of her wand. The crow retaliated, headbutting her with all its might.

Star was subsequently knocked off the plateau, sent crashing painfully through the canopy layer of the forest. Her descent was slowed down by various twigs and leaves, although their sharp ends stabbed her in several places. Inevitably, she slipped through the layer and began to fall through the air again down to the forest floor.

'Aaaaah!' she yelled, fumbling to catch her wand as it fell out of her hands. 'Bunny Rabbit Blast!'

Her wand spat out a weak beam of rabbits down at the ground. Her spell managed to slow her descent, but certainly couldn't break her fall entirely. She was caught off-guard when her spell broke, due to low power mode on the wand.

Star hit the ground with a loud thud. Groaning in pain, she clutched the side of her head. She was covered in mud, with a few stray twigs sticking out her long blonde hair. Dissatisfied, the princess plucked the various leaves and twigs out of her hair, frustrated by the tangled strands of golden hair.

Typical for Adam to disappear like this. Not like she was still sleeping when he wandered off, defenceless against vicious birds that wanted to peck out her eardrums. Couldn't have left so much as a message, no, because that was too much effort for him!

Now, she was lost down in the Forest of Certain Death. Sure, Star was knowledgeable of the geography of the forest from her multiverse, but she didn't know how much it differed from the Negative Multiverse. Not to mention the incalculable danger that lied within the forest that threatened to end her life at nearly every turn.

'Pegasus feathers…' muttered Star. She glanced down and her eyes widened. 'Footprints!' Indeed, a set of Mewman-size footprints lay fresh in the snow, leading deeper into the forest. They looked about Adam's size. 'Well…I guess I don't have anything left to lose.'

She rose to her feet and inspected the trail. It led off to the right, through a small clearing through the forest. Swarms of sonar bugs and other insects Star failed to recognise scuttled absentmindedly around the trees and bushes, mostly keeping to themselves. If she avoided them as much as she could, then hopefully she would be good to go.

Wary, Star began to make her way through the forest. She accidentally stepped on something, and it snapped. Glancing down, she saw it was a stray bone lying on the ground. In fact, there was a series of assorted skeletons strewn across the forest floor.

'Okay, that's not creepy at all.'

As Star made her way through the forest, she did her best to avoid much of the fauna that might attempt to harm her. Or worse, skip all formalities and snap her neck. That seemed to be Adam's modus operandi, at least.

She shook her head. Adam was a killer, beyond a shadow of doubt, but did that mean he was a bad guy? She certainly hoped not.

Then again, Adam had just disappeared and left her defenceless inside the cave. It had been difficult for her to fall asleep in the first place, given the infestation of shadowbeetles and the lurking danger of deathmoths. Sure, Adam putting up those Restoration wards had been greatly helpful in lulling her into sleep, but he could have at least told her where he was going.

Star waded through the thick leaves hanging from the low branches of the trees. She thanked fate that only half of them were razor-sharp. She was already laden with enough cuts from those blasted crows.

A crack of thunder echoed throughout the forest. Star looked up as a dark purple filter descended over herself and her surroundings. A thick plume of evil, blackened green clouds spread ominously across the sky above, blotting out the sun. Star's eyes widened. The Great Solarian Storm was passing over. From the way Adam described it, it was pretty much death incarnate.

I better move quickly then.

Star shuffled hurriedly after the trail of footsteps leading further into the Forest of Certain Death. An uneasy feeling racked her spine as a crackling of thunder, followed by flashes of green lightning, emanated from the clouds above. It was almost like the Storm itself was ordering her to get a move on.

A wicked vine caught her ankle and caused her to trip. She fell and nearly faceplanted onto the muddy, bony grounds, but the princess was fast enough to catch herself. She looked back and saw that a particularly angry plant had tightened its grip around her leg and pulled on it.

'Get off!' she cried, staggering her leg away. It took three tries before she was able to break from the hold of the plant. Once she ripped out her ankle, the plant humbly retracted away from her.

The princess rose to her feet and patted herself off. She was covered in mud, and she suspected her cuts were going to get infected. No mind. As long as she found Adam, she would be fine.

'Yeah, that's right! Stay back!' Star declared confidently. She spun around and nearly ran into another plant. She stepped back and her jaw dropped in awe.

It was a huge, beautiful orchid, standing tall and strong against its hostile surroundings. Its petals encompassed a plethora of bright and vibrant colours, mixtures of serene blue, ecstatic yellow and jovial pink. Its great thick stalk was brilliantly green, not a single blemish across its organic, hairy surface. Star beamed in wonder at the sight of the truly stunning flower. As she inspected it, she thought to herself that perhaps she had been right all along. Perhaps the Negative Multiverse was not quite as evil as Adam had claimed.

Of course, as I am sure you are expecting, fate liked to play cruel games with our resident princess.

A powerful emerald bolt of lightning struck the orchid direct from the heavens. In an instant, the once beautiful flower was transformed into a massive, vicious Venus flytrap. It was like something straight out of Little Shop of Horrors.

'AH!'

The flytrap used its vines and seized her by the ankle. She was held aloft, hanging upside down and flailing through the air. The flytrap slammed her into a tree and bared its sharp, pointy teeth.

'Oof!' Star groaned, rubbing her stomach in pain. She slowly got to her feet and pointed her wand out in front of her. 'Strawberry Cupcake –'

'NOM!' happily exclaimed the flytrap, as it bent down and casually ate her wand.

'Oh, for fu–' she began, before the angry plant yanked her off her feet and threw her into its mouth.

Star was disgusted when she was slathered in the magic plant's saliva. She was flipped around in its mouth, over and under its tongue. Enraged by her own embarrassment, she angrily punched the creature's tongue. The flytrap whined in pain and smashed its mouth down, pushing her onto her back. She groaned against the force pressing against her.

'Argh!'

She pushed up against her fleshy roof as hard as she could, opening up the flytrap's mouth little by little. The princess looked down the flytrap's throat and spotted her wand at the back, near the tonsils. Star crawled over to it, slipping down its throat. She managed to grabbed hold of it, but she almost fell further down the flytrap's oesophagus. She grabbed hold of the back of its throat, activating the plant's gag reflex.

Choking, the Venus flytrap spat her out moments later. She was thrown onto the muddy ground, covered in plant saliva. In truth, the saliva was more like sticky resin or waxy cuticle. The plant roared at her again and attempted to grab her with its lianas again.

Star shuffled away until she hit a tree. She looked around her desperately for a solution until she saw a skull on the ground next to a few stray vines. The flytrap reached out with its arms slowly, but surely, towards her. Glancing at the raving flytrap, Star grabbed the vines and began tightly wrapping the vines around the thick skull.

Once she was done, the princess jumped to her feet and reluctantly stepped towards the angry plant. She swung her makeshift mace in a small circle and regained her confidence.

'Eat this!' Star yelled, whacking the Venus flytrap over the head with all of her might. The flytrap gave out one final roar before collapsing onto the ground, dead. Or unconscious. She wasn't sure.

The princess heaved in several gulps of air, before scurrying away from the Venus flytrap in the direction of the footsteps. As she ran through the forest, though, loud pattering against the canopy layer above. The thunder of the Storm intensified ferociously over the forest.

Star looked up at the canopy ceiling as dark green rain began to seep through the cracks between leaves. She froze, curious but equally confused. A single emerald droplet dripped through the branches and landed on her shoulder. It left behind an ominous dark green blotch on her skin.

'Urgh…' she seethed, as the rain began to sizzle. A severe glow of pain pulsed through her entire body, setting her nerves on fire. 'ARGH!' She fell to her knees, clutching the sizzling burn.

Abruptly, a blast of wind racked through the trees, prying open the canopy layer and removing her protection. Star hurriedly cast Bulla Spiro. Her wand lacked the power to produce a full bubble, so she only managed to create a roof over her head.

Slowly, the princess rose from the ground. She held an arm against her brow to block the wind and looked out for Adam's footsteps. She was helpless to watch as the wind shifted the land, causing the trail to fade away and flatten into imperceptible mud and twigs.

'Adam?!' cried Star, staggering through the trees against the intense wind. 'ADAM! WHERE ARE YOU?!'

She began wandering aimlessly through the forest, trying to find some solace against the heavy wind beating against her back. Through the carnage, she spotted a great big stone structure standing tall in the forest. It was supported by a large archway, providing potential cover from the rain. Given how weak her spells were right now, Star knew she had little to lose if she took cover under there.

Star scuttled at a harried pace over to the stone structure, dodging the blasts of wind and rain that threatened to burn her. As she took cover underneath the stone roof, she fell back against the stone wall and panted for air. Her bubblegum pink forcefield dissolved around her.

At this point, she had to accept that she simply could not catch a break. It wasn't just rain. It just had to be acid, too!

The princess groaned as she clutched her arm, trying to soothe the dull pain emanating from her shoulder. She listened the pattering of the rain on the weathered rock outside, waiting for the Storm to pass. The stone seemed entirely unflinching against the acid rain, like a sentinel against the darkness.

She looked curiously around the stone shelter, heaving her breaths to distract herself from her pain. Her eyes fell on a small circle of twigs in ground in the middle of the rocky shelter. Curious, the princess limped over to it and inspected its details. Four windswept, vaguely spherical rocks lay nestled in the mud and twigs, neatly arranged around the rim of the circle. Baffled, Star picked up one of the rocks and spun it around her fingers.

Much like any child with immense naivety, Star failed to recognise that curiosity invariably killed the cat. Even as the rain outside began to die down to presumably safe levels, Star's bad luck had not ended yet.

A low hissing noise echoed throughout the stone shelter. The rocks began to rumble, fragments of rock slipping of the archways around her. Star stood up and looked around in horror.

'Oh, you have got to be kidding me.'

The sections of rock began to shift. For a second, she thought she was seeing things, but her suspicions were confirmed when the whole rock structure began to detach and move. It funnelled into a snake, slithering inwards to face her. She was met by two onyx eyes and a cracked set of stone teeth.

Of course. It couldn't just be a simple, stone shelter against the Great Solarian Storm. Instead, it was a massive stone serpent. And Star had gone and messed with its eggs.

The stone serpent hissed and rammed into her stomach.

'Oof!' she heaved; the wind was instantly knocked out of her. She was thrown out of the stone structure, hitting a nearby tree with a loud thud. Her wand clattered to the ground in front of her.

The serpent roared, bringing Star back to reality. She crawled desperately towards her wand, as the creature slithered towards her. Pumping with adrenaline, the princess pointed her wand in front of her.

'Rainbow Avalanche!'

Unfortunately, the tragedy of Star's wand's low power mode struck again. She was only able to produce a trickle of rainbows, spurting out the crystal in the wand. It didn't even hit the creature, instead it splashed onto the floor rather unimpressively. Star sighed.

'Crap.'

As she uttered that curse, the stone snake smacked the wand out of her hands, seized her by its teeth, and hurtled her up into the air. She was thrown up past the canopy layer of the dense, blackened forest.

'Woah…'

As she rose high up into the air, she was mesmerised by the sight of a shimmering lake in the distance. It glittered with the reflection of the Great Solarian Storm, like water pastel colours of green and purple flowing across the waves. A large fishing town bordered the opposite edge of the lake, looking surprisingly clean and well-maintained. It was just beyond the destructive reach of the Storm, untouched and evidently populated.

Life wasn't supposed to exist freely in the Negative Multiverse, right? Adam had made it clear as much. Yet, there it was, not too far away.

Unfortunately, Star didn't have a chance to mull over the existentialism of her place in the universe, or the purpose of life within it. She reached terminal velocity within moments, and she began to fall back down to the ground again.

'Aaaaaaah!' cried Star, flapping her arms about desperately.

She attempted to flutter her tiny wings to weaken her descent. Instead, the contraction of her avian muscles flared up the pain in her shoulder burn, causing them to become temporarily vestigial. Star continued to plummet to the ground with her limp wings flapping about in the wind.

This was it.

There was no other option than going Full Butterfly mode. At this point, it was the only way to save herself, and would allow her to fight this stone creature at full power. Even if it meant risking detection.

Right as she was about to transform, though, she felt her fall abruptly cease. She was surrounded by a protective blue aura of Levitato, stopping her in the air. Gently, the princess was lowered to the ground, and she was met with her saviour, whom she could not be surprised by.

Adam stood at the foot of the forest, clad in a dark leaf hood and gloves, with an arm outstretched. His star mark was glowing visibly through his leafy gloves. He was carrying a large sack in his other hand; the contents of which Star couldn't discern. On his face, there was a particularly irate expression darkening his frown. Not that she noticed all that much. Gently, he lowered Star to the ground behind him.

Calmly, he walked forward to approach the rocky serpent. He set down the bag at his side and picked up a nearby rock. He waved a few hands around the rock, using magic to shape it into a smooth stone, before using more magic to engrave several intricate ruins into it. The serpent remained calm and passive as he did this, simply staring as Adam bowed to it and approached.

Adam presented the runestone humbly to the creature, holding it above his head politely. The serpent responded in kind, ducking his head below Adam's hands, for him to place to the stone upon his head. As the Mewman put the runestone on his head, it was subsumed into the creature and became a part of its exoskeleton. The stone snake gave a low hum of content, before returning to its original position as a static, passive stone shelter.

Once that was over and done with, he turned to face Star. Only to immediately be met with an attack hug.

'There you are! I thought I'd lost ya!' Star exclaimed happily, letting go of the hug. 'Thanks for saving me!'

'Yeah, so what the hell do you think you're doing?' retorted Adam, folding his arms indignantly. 'Why'd you leave the cave?'

Star blinked.

'Well, I woke up, and you were gone,' she said awkwardly. 'And then I got attacked by crows, and they knocked me into the forest. I saw your trail, so I went to look for you.'

'Star…' he uttered, rubbing his eyes with his index finger and thumb. 'A swarm of murdercrows patrols this part of the forest this early in the mornings. I told you to keep your head down!' She threw her hands up in surrender.

'Hey, you just disappeared on me! I didn't know what to do! Where were you?'

'I went out to look for some wumpafruits,' Adam said, walking over to the bag he had set down by a tree. He pulled it up to show her the bright, tropical fruits inside. 'They only grow at specific times early in the morning, but they're the best fruit you can get around here. You're welcome, by the way. I could have just got you some Fickleglow berries. Nutritious, but very sour. But no…I decided to treat us for once.'

'I'm grateful for that, Adam, I really am,' prefaced Star. 'But you should have told me. At the very least, you coulda warned me about the murdercrows or that…stony snake thingy. What even was that?'

'A lapisnake. If you don't wanna piss them off, you have to be respectful,' he answered reluctantly. 'Look, Star, my intention was to keep you safe at all times so you wouldn't ever run into danger without help.' He sighed and continued his next sentence under his breath. 'I should have expected you to ignore me and nearly get yourself killed.'

'Hey, I heard that!'

'I don't care.' He glanced in the direction Star had come. 'We should get back to the cave.'

'No need!' declared Star. 'We can go to the fishing town at the lake nearby.'

Adam frowned.

'There isn't a fishing town nearby. If you're talking about Lake Polaris, nobody's been able to build there because the Storm is always causing problems, destroying infrastructure and mutating the fish.'

'I'm telling you: I saw it. I know what I saw. Please, just trust me on this, okay?'

He hummed sceptically, raising a dubious eyebrow.

'Alright,' acquiesced Adam, with a great deal of reluctance. 'I guess it can't hurt to look for it.'

'Thank you,' the princess appreciated, nodding in the direction of the lake. 'I think it was this way.'

'I know where Lake Polaris is,' retorted the Mewman condescendingly, walking off into the forest. Star rolled her eyes but nevertheless followed after him with bated breath.

On the way, Adam was for the most part silent. He was intensely focussed on making sure they avoided danger at all costs.

Star kept behind him, as he instructed, which she felt might have been the best option. He managed to keep her out of the way of most of the dangerous wildlife. Lurkers, flying sharks, dullhounds, stalkers, wranglers, and all manner of dark and twisted creatures populated Negative Mewni, either having been created by the Red Queen, Dark Moon, in her insane Transmutation experiments, or by the Great Solarian Storm. Star was impressed Adam had managed to keep them out the way of all of them without tactical gear. Unless those weird hat and gloves he was wearing counted as "tactical".

Unfortunately, the princess had forgotten about something. As they waded through the forest, a small twig rebounded past her arm and slapped her shoulder. Instantly, her burn flared up.

'Ahhh!' she seethed, keeling over in pain. Adam spun around at breakneck speed and crouched down worriedly beside her.

'Star…show you me your shoulder.' His voice was calm but perturbed. Eerily disturbed.

'It's nothing…it's just a burn,' Star rasped, groaning in pain. She moved her hand to expose a dark green spot on her skin.

Adam cursed under his breath. 'Dammit.'

'What?' she asked, rubbing the burn painfully. 'Y'know, you coulda warned me the Solarian Storm has acid rain.'

'It's not just acid, Star, it's magic acid. It burns through most things, and if it gets on you, it leaves a persistent rash. Only the canopy leaves are resistant to it.' He pointed to the leafy hat on his head.

'Oh, so that's what that's for!' the princess cried in realisation. 'How come you didn't make me one?'

'I did,' Adam replied irately. 'I left it by your pillow. Did you miss it?'

'Oh, uh…yeah…' she chuckled awkwardly, abashedly scratching her scalp. 'I kinda…ignored it. Cuz…I thought it was ugly.'

'Ugh, well we don't have time to go back and get it now,' he groaned. 'Something's not right. The Storm's blocking the way. But I know the weather patterns. It doesn't pass over until the winter. Okay…well, if there really is a fishing town on the other side of Lake Polaris, then I guess we can stay there for a while. Once the Storm passes over this part of the Farlands, we can keep moving. We need to figure out a way back.'

'Yeah, that makes sense to m–OW! AHHH! THAT HURTS!'

Star clutched her shoulder again, as the dark green spot started to spread ominously across her skin. Its colours deepened, becoming somehow even darker and crueller.

'Oh my god, I'm gonna DIE!' she wailed.

'It's okay, Star! Stay calm!' Adam instructed coolly. 'Once we get to the foot of the lake, there are some plants that grow there that I can use to make a lotion that will alleviate the pain and remove the burn.' He inspected the wound with eagle eyes. 'Hmm, a drop of that size, hitting your shoulder…you probably have about two, maybe three, hours left.'

''Til what?!' she wept in fright. 'Until I die?!'

'You're not going to die,' he reassured. 'Magic burns won't kill you unless you're drenched in it. I meant two hours until it becomes permanent.'

'What happens then?'

'That arm will just be paralysed,' he stated bluntly.

'PARALYSED? YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! THIS…THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!'

Adam rolled his eyes.

'Star…Star, look at me,' he soothed, putting an arm on her unburnt shoulder. Eventually, Star managed to stop hyperventilating and make eye contact with him. 'You're going to be fine; I promise.' He lifted up a portion of his shirt to reveal dozens of splash-shaped scars across his abdomen. 'Look: I've been burnt by the magic rain tons of times. And I survived. Trust me, you will survive too.'

The princess breathed a sigh of relief and steadily got to her feet.

'Phew,' she breathed. 'Thanks, Adam.'

'Anytime,' he said with a smile, nodding in the direction of the lake. 'C'mon. The foot of the lake isn't too far from here.'

Fortunately, the pair of them were able to walk towards the side of the lake without Star's burn flaring up again. There was a constant, dull sort of pain constantly emanating from it, but she found that the little she tried to move that arm, the less that it would hurt. Adam told her to avoid touching it or letting anything touch it, due to how sensitive the magical burn was.

By the time they arrived at the lake, it transpired that Star was telling the truth. They were standing a good hundred metres or so from the entrance to the town itself. Adam immediately skidded down to the coast of the lake, sitting among the extravagant plants and bright green grass. He set down his sack of wumpafruits, took off his backpack and opened it up.

'Huh, I guess you were right,' Adam remarked in surprise, picking out various plants, berries and other ingredients. 'I guess…it has been two years since I was last in this part of Mewni. Things must've changed. A lot of things, apparently.'

'You should have more faith in me!' retorted Star, smirking to herself.

'Mm,' he hummed in agreement, not really paying attention. He analysed each ingredient with keen detail, right up until the last berry he dropped into his alchemical pouch in his backpack. After a minute, he spoke up. 'Alright, I've got the ingredients for the antacid.'

'Good! Hopefully the town has an inn or something.'

She began to walk towards the town, but Adam stood up in her wake, alarmed.

'Hold up,' he instructed. Star stopped and turned to face him, puzzled.

'What?'

'You can't go around looking like Star Butterfly!' exclaimed Adam, waving a hand dismissively at her. 'You'll cause a riot! The last thing we want to do is draw the attention of the Butterfly Empire.'

'Well, I can't change who I am,' the princess scoffed. 'And neither can you!'

'No, but I can change what you look like,' the Mewman revealed. He held his arms towards her. 'Now…hold still. This won't hurt a bit.'

'What won't?'

'Purissima forma coeli abscondita est,' he incanted, as his glowing star marks appeared on his hands. 'Quia nunc abiit et vetatur.'

A shimmering, golden light transmitted from Star, encompassing her entire existence for several seconds before dying down again. The whole time, she maintained a pointedly confused look on her face as she felt a rush of magic coursing through her body.

'Okay…' Star commented, flexing her itchy fingers curiously. 'That felt…weird. Uh, what was that?'

'A Glamour,' Adam replied. 'Simple Illusion magic to hide your appearance.' He nodded at her. 'Go on, take a look.'

Raising an eyebrow, she took out a hand mirror, flipped it open, and inspected her appearance.

'Woah!' exclaimed the princess.

Sure enough, the Glamour had done exactly what Adam had said it would. She was no longer Star Butterfly in her appearance, instead she appeared as a young woman with shorter black hair, light grey eyes and a particularly pale, alabaster complexion. Notably, she longer possessed the cheek marks indicative of her magicline. [36] Her clothes were different, also; her sky-blue dress had been exchanged for simple brown and grey overalls, typical of a Mewman peasant. She didn't even get to keep her headband.

'Huh, you know…I kinda look like a girl version of you.'

'That's the idea,' he replied. 'You're gonna be my sister. That's our cover.'

'Not with those cheek marks,' Star pointed out, nodding at the hexagons on his cheeks. Adam merely smirked and repeated the same spell on himself.

A similar, albeit smaller, gold light flashed over his cheeks. Once it died down, it revealed hexagon-less cheeks, ideal for blending in.

'I think that's all we need to do,' he decided, as Star put away her hand mirror. 'I am on the wanted list for the Empire, but I'm, like, at the very bottom, so I doubt anybody would recognise me.'

'Are you sure?' asked Star, tentatively.

'Quite sure,' he said, not sounding sure. 'Avoid letting anyone get a close look at that. It takes a keen eye to spot a Glamour, but you can tell.'

'You got it!' exclaimed not-Star, excitedly bouncing on the spot. 'Can't wait to explore this town!'

Adam raised an eyebrow at her enthusiasm, but ultimately shrugged it off. He set the pace for them by walking towards the town.

'C'mon…to be honest, I'm just as curious as you are.'

Indeed, he was, although perhaps for different reasons. You see, Adam's mind was already ticking to the inevitable turning of the clocks of mystery. Something had changed since the last time he was here; he was quite sure of that fact. He knew the Great Solarian Storm's circulation patterns like the back of his hand. There was zero possibility he had forgotten that the Storm passed over this part of Mewni at this time of year.

Because it never did.

Then again, Adam's practicality hushed him to the importance of such a mystery. He was not here to investigate; he was here by accident, and he'd like to leave as soon as possible. If he could figure out how to get back, he stood a chance of sealing the Dark Butterflies away from the Positive Multiverse. Once that was possible, he could start mounting an invasion of Negative Mewni, in which he would finally take down the tyrannical monarchy that had ruled this multiverse for over a thousand years.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but Adam disagreed. In this case it was best served hot, with a side of eternal torture and hellfire. If the War Games had taught him anything, it was that, as much as peace was wise, sometimes it was not an option.

When it came to the Dark Butterflies, death was the only answer.

[36] As in, bloodline, but in the sense of magic. As Star's bloodline is just a simple Mewman's but she possesses Butterfly Magic, this makes her tangentially related to Eclipsa.

Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of 'The Negative Multiverse: Volume II'!

It's getting exciting now! Some healthy lore about Negative Mewni was delved into in this chapter, and I really enjoyed it! From murdercrows to deathmoths, shadowbeetles to lapisnakes, writing about the various flora and fauna on Negative Mewni is something I liked to do. It helps make Negative Mewni more distinct from its Positive counterpart. The history is very different too, of course, which can be gleaned from the descriptions of Negative Mewni.

The Habitable Zone, as it is called, is the part where pretty much all of the scenes of Negative Mewni have taken place. This is the half of Mewni that wasn't scorched into a barren wasteland, as opposed to the Scorched Plains, which was created accidentally by Comet Butterfly. This was briefly mentioned in Chapter 6, as it's rarely that cold on Negative Mewni. Almost every location on Negative Mewni is found in either of these two large regions, but there are some places that aren't. One of them will be explored later, and the other is the Wildlands, where the Empire gets most of their food.

Star's certainly getting an eyeful of the hellhole that is Negative Mewni. She's so out of depth that I honestly feel bad for her. And I'm supposed to be the one WRITING it. But it's important she experiences it. Even if she ends up at odds with Adam over his behaviour. The nightmare she had was inevitable, really. It builds a connection the previous episode, and establishes that her fears haven't gone away, she's just more confident with dealing with it. I think that's realistic, because people's greatest fears don't just go away when somebody reassures them, all it does is give them more confidence with dealing with it. However, instead of Toffee, she imagines that one day Adam's differences with everybody else will lead them to conflict. Obviously, Star's imaginative mind overexaggerates the extent of this and takes it to the extreme - that Adam will take over the kingdom, believing he knows best, and eliminating everybody who gets in his way. And naturally, she can't help but compare him to Dark Star. (You'll notice nightmare-Adam repeats some of the dialogue that Dark Star said back in Chapter 19-20.)

It occurs to me that Adam and Star seem to squabble like siblings lol. It's my aim, really, because Adam is supposed to end up like Star's surrogate brother. However, their arguments are going to heat up in the next few chapters, I'm afraid. It pains me to write, but it's necessary for development.

Anyways, I don't really have much else to say, besides thank you everyone for your support and I hope you continue to enjoy reading my little story!

The next chapter is called "Welcome to Polaria" and will mark the end of Episode Fourteen. Episode Fifteen is called "Elementary", coinciding with the title of Chapter 15. See you then!