ACT III: Solarius, the Monster Carver Chapter 5: The Last Stand

Just Outside the Forest of Certain Death

The full moon. Most people from Mewni considered it comforting, beautiful, and even romantic. But for the warrior king, it served only as a reminder of the night his mother died. Countless nights were spent laying awake, wondering if there was anything he could have done to prevent it. Now, as he lay on his berth, watching over his slumbering companions, he couldn't help but repeatedly relive the entire memory. Jeshica had offered to take his place to let him sleep, but he refused. His nightmares were much more vivid.

Instead, he chose to wait for the monster horde to make their move. Unfortunately, Solarius wasn't very patient, and quickly grew bored. He snaked his hand under his chest piece and pulled out a tattered piece of paper. Unfolding it revealed a colorful drawing that immediately brought a smile to his face. He folded it up again and tucked it back under his armor. Still bored, he reached for his knapsack and grabbed his harp.

"This one's for you, my boy." He sighed, strumming the chords. "~ Leaves from the vine, falling so slow ~ like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam ~ little soldier boy, come marching home ~ brave soldier boy, come marching home ~"

For a brief moment, the king felt just as he did fourteen years ago. As if he were back in Eclipsine's bedroom, rocking him to sleep as he sang that wonderful song. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Solarius had lost so much throughout his life, and accumulated so many regrets. But in spite of all the misery and pain he lived through, he always had Eclipsine; his pride and joy. Just thinking of how intelligent and strong his own son was made him believe that his efforts weren't in vain. And after this final battle, Solarius would finally have all the time in the world to watch his son grow up to be a great king.

Sadly, the moment was ruined by a slow, sardonic clap. Solarius dropped his harp, jumped to his feet, and drew both of his swords. The monsters came out from the shadows; each and every species present for the duel. But before anyone did anything regrettable, the kappa Klevis pushed his way through the crowd. "Now, now, let's calm down, gentlemen." He said with his usual tact. "Remember; we are here to settle the conflict between Mewman and Monster once and for all. King Dragonfly, shall we review the agreement one final time?"

"Indeed." Solarius reluctantly put away his weapons just as his companions woke up. "As agreed, I have brought only a few witnesses to the battlefield of choice."

"I can see that." Klevis nodded, surveying the surrounding area. "Second item; we have each selected a representative to battle one another to the death on behalf of the other's respective species."

"And whoever is left standing will determine the fate of Mewni." Solarius concluded. "If the Mewman wins, the monsters are to remain in the Forest of Certain Death. And if the monster wins… you can have my kingdom."

"Wonderful!" Klevis smiled, crookedly. "So… who is the lucky Mewman? Who will represent you?"

"I will, of course." The king pointed to himself. "And where is your representative?"

The crowd of monsters split apart, creating a straight path for the monsters' champion. Solarius' eyes widened in shock as the tall lizardman came strutting down the path. "Greetings, your majesty." He bowed, facetiously. "I am Mors Caput."

"You… it's you." Solarius clenched his fists. "You killed my mother."

"Ah, that's right." Mors grinned, sinisterly. "I do recall dining on royalty before. It was so delicious, I just had to have it again!"

Solarius angrily turned away from the beast, realizing that he was trying to get a rise out of him. As Caput went about preparing himself, Solarius went to consult his friends. "I don't like this." Rhombulie said, immediately. "Those lizardmen are invincible! They can grow back from scraps!"

"You have to call this off, Solarius!" Jeshica begged. "They've planned this! They knew you couldn't defeat a lizard without the scepter!"

"I can't give up, now." Solarius refused. "If I turn back now, the monsters will never retreat!"

"But it's a lizard!" Hekapoe reiterated. "How can you hope to beat him?!"

"... I'll think of something." Solarius assured the group as he picked up a battleaxe to add on to his dual swords. Two frogmen drew a circle for the battle, giving it a twenty foot radius for equal ground.

"Two men enter… one man leaves." Mors cackled. "I'm going to enjoy… peeling your juicy flesh off of your muscles!"

With that, Solarius made the first move. He swung his axe with both hands, knowing that it would entice his opponent to back away. Mors tried to go around, but the king wouldn't let him. With lightning reflexes, Solarius finally dug the axe blade into Caput's chest and used it to throw him to the other side of the ring. He gripped his weapon hard and rushed again.

The lizardman rolled out of the way just in time. The axe was stuck in the ground, giving Mors enough time to regenerate his lost flesh. He slashed at the king's back with his razor-sharp claws, covering his palms with blood. "Hm. Funny; I thought it'd be blue." He snickered and lapped it up.

Solarius growled once he finally pulled his axe free and swatted his opponent away. This time, Mors was more than winded; his rib cage broke and punctured one of his lungs. Injuries such as that took much longer to heal, but still the monster stood his ground. Solarius could see that Caput was weakened, and prepared for another attack.

But while he was at such a distance, Mors drew a simple dagger and expertly threw it into Solarius' arm. Taken by surprise, the Mewman king lost his grip on the axe and stumbled onto the ground. The axe had gone out of the ring, making it out of bounds, but Mors still had both of his weapons.

The dagger seemed to be designed to hook into the victim's muscles, unable to be pulled out. Solarius decided to ignore it and work through the pain. With his axe gone, he drew both of his swords and sliced off Mors' left arm. Soon afterwards, he leapt over his enemy and sliced open his belly. But before he could do any more damage, the king felt a strong sickness overtaking him. He dropped his swords and fell to his knees while Mors' wounds quickly healed up. Looking back down at the knife, Solarius was shocked to see his veins turning black.

"You… you poisoned me!"

"Yes… yes, I did." With the snap of his fingers, Caput commanded ten other monsters to step forward. Four of them went to hold the Commission back while the remaining six kicked and clobbered the warrior king into the ground, worsening his condition. By the time they had grown tired, the ground was soaked with royal blood.

"Ha, ha, ha! Look at the hero!" Mors laughed as the four other monsters kept the Commission pinned. "You thought you could come onto my land, and oppress my people! Now… why don't you just lay there and watch while we eat your people…" The sinister villain stomped on Solarius' back before slowly marching out of the circle, leaving the king to cry into the dirt.

"I'm sorry, Eclipsine…" He whimpered. "I wasn't… I wasn't strong enough… I… I…" His eyes widened in terror. He was patting around his chest piece, but the paper wasn't there. His eyes frantically darted around the area until he spotted it just a few feet away; it must have fallen out from that last punch. Struggling against the pain, he crawled over to the paper, hoping to see him one last time.

"Well, well. Found some lingering strength, eh?" Mors cackled and snatched up the paper first. "What's this?"

Against all odds, Solarius managed to reach out and grab his enemy's wrist. "Give… me… that!"

Caput slapped the defeated king to the ground and opened up the paper. That vicious, threatening smile only grew wider as the vile lizardman showed the drawing to his men. It was a crude drawing of the king and his son walking through a garden. And at the very bottom of the paper were the following words; "I love you, Daddy. Eclipsine Dragonfly. Age 8."

"Boys… you can kill any Mewman you want." Mors announced, never once looking away from Solarius. "But this boy - this Eclipsine - is mine."

Something snapped inside of Solarius at the sound of those words. It wasn't enough that the lizardman had killed his mother, and was about to pillage his kingdom, but now he had just threatened the most important person in the king's life. That particular threat caused a chain reaction inside the king's heart, and by extension, his body.

Jeshica was the first to notice it. The other members of the Commission were too busy worrying about the monsters, but she hadn't taken her eyes off of her brother. And what she saw was something she thought would never happen. For the first time in his life, Solarius' cheek marks were glowing.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the heavens, drawing the attention of everyone gathered. By some miracle, Solarius managed to ignore the pain and rise back to his feet. The king grit his teeth together, clenched his fists, and threw his head back to scream up into the heavens. In the blink of an eye, his skin changed into a bright red pigmentation, four extra arms sprouted from his torso, a pair of wings grew from his back, and two antennae formed on top of his head. His entire body radiated with so much pent up magical energy that it was almost too intense for the naked eye. There was absolutely no denying it; Solarius had finally unlocked his mewberty form.

His first act was to charge at the monsters surrounding his friends, and throw them away from the wagon. Next, he grabbed a sword in each hand and spiraled towards the beasts, slicing them to shreds. Two slimemen got lucky enough to extend their arms out and hold him still. But just as a conjoinican was about to strike, the king took a deep breath and puffed a strong breath of fire. The conjoinican and both slimemen were burned to a crisp, leaving Solarius free to continue.

Caput could hardly believe his eyes. All that time spent obtaining the poison so that he could easily overpower Solarius had all been in vain. His entire plan was unravelling before him. But he wouldn't allow it. He tackled the king back into the dirt circle, biting and punching and kicking as hard as he could. Suddenly, two hands held Mors' jaws shut, while two more blocked both of his fists, and yet another two hands conjured up a firebolt that blasted the evil monster off of his foe.

Caput's skin was scorched. The fireball had bored a hole all the way through his chest. After a few chokes and coughs, the monsters' champion regenerated and stood up. But Solarius had also recovered. "Why…?" The reptilian growled. "Why won't you die?!"

"Because… until I know that my son will be safe to live and grow…" Solarius wiped the blood from his mouth, never once taking his eyes off of the lizardman. "I can't… I won't die!"

Mors growled in exasperation. What was supposed to be an easy victory had turned out to be another exhausting, long-winded conflict. The lizardman clasped his hands together for the killing blow. "Cute trick, your highness!" He snarled, raising his fists high into the air. "But it's still too weak!"

"That's because…" Just as the two mighty, reptilian claws came down, one of Solarius' left arms reached up to stop it in mid-air. This sudden act of strength startled both the monsters and the Commission alike. The four extra arms and wings retracted back into the king's body, but his strength hadn't faltered. He was channeling all of his body's natural magic into one final spell. "... my back wasn't in it!"

So many vivid memories and emotions flooded Solarius' mind. The memory of his mother, who taught him to be kind. The memories of his father, who taught him to be strong. The memories of Jeshica, who taught him to be wise. The memories of Milo, who taught him to be persistent. Memories of Alphys, who taught him to love. And most of all, memories of Eclipsine, who taught him to be happy. All of these memories gave Solarius the strength he needed to carry on, as they reminded him exactly what he had been fighting for. The lightning bolts on his cheeks burned brighter than the stars in the sky as his body's magic channeled into his right fist. "Farewell… Mors Caput!"

Fear flickered in Caput's eyes as his opponent pivoted on his heel, shifted his torso, and thrusted forward with a mighty scream. The king's punch made contact with the lizardman's face, crushing him into the hard soil beneath them. And with a furious scream, King Solarius Dragonfly unleashed his most powerful spell, named after the best person he ever knew.

"Total… Eclipse…BLAAAAAAAAAAST!"

The spell violently exploded against the monster's skin; burning away every scrap of flesh, every piece of bone, and every drop of blood. Caput roared in agony as his entire molecular structure was being completely vaporized. Cascading shockwaves of power rippled through the air, the earth cracked open to allow hot magma to erupt into the air, and countless bolts of blinding lightning broke free from the sky. The Commission protected Jeshica from the storm, shielding her with their own bodies. The monster army held onto rocks and trees and anything else they could find, not wanting to be swept up into the mystic storm. It only lasted for a few minutes, but to everyone it felt like an eternity.

But just as suddenly as it had begun, it soon ended. As the dust cleared, only one figure was left. The Mewman king was left on his knees, with the poisoned dagger still stuck in his chest. However, the only thing left of the monsters' leader was a pile of ashes. Jeshica and her companions held their breath, unable to predict what would come next.

At last, battered, weary, but unbeaten, Solarius found the strength to stand up. Much to the horror of the remaining horde, the blood-soaked king pointed, menacingly, at them. His throat struggled against him at first, but he finally managed to force three simple words out of his mouth. "... never… come… back."

Quivering and shaking, the monsters sprinted away from the battlefield and retreated back into the Forest of Certain Death. "He did it…" Jeshica smiled, brightly. "He did it! He really did it!"

The High Commission cheered in victory. The king had kept his word and pushed back their oppressors. Hekapoe and Rhombulie danced, joyfully, while Jeshica hugged Indexia tight. But the celebration came to an abrupt stop once Solarius collapsed.

"Solarius!" Jeshica yelled, running as fast as she could. The poison had finally taken its toll; spreading throughout his body. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no! Solarius! Solarius, you can't go! We finally won! You need to come home!"

"It's alright…" His voice strained, barely louder than a whisper. "Don't you see? I did it, Jeshica…"

"W-what?"

"I-I couldn't… I couldn't save her… mom… I couldn't save her… but I saved Eclipsine… I kept him safe, didn't I?"

"... you did, my liege." Hekapoe nodded, sadly.

With a small smile, Solarius weakly breathed his final words. "Then… there's… there's nothing to regret…"

"Oh, Solarius…" Jeshica wept. "My baby brother… oh, Stump!" The prime minister buried her face into the fallen king's chest. "How am I gonna tell Eclipsine…?"

And so, King Solarius died as he lived; protecting the ones he loved from the monsters. Following his death, the Solarian Army continued to guard Mewni in honor of Solarius' memory. The king's body was given a proper burial at sea as instructed in his will. And of course his only son, Eclipsine, inherited the throne at an early age to maintain stability in the kingdom. But that is another story.

A castle stormed is a hero born,

With might as strong as steel.

Kneels the void before him,

And the crushing force he wields.

To Be Continued!

Author's note: "Mors Caput" is Latin for "Death's Head." Just in case anyone was curious.