ACT IV: Eclipsine, King of Darkness Part 6: The End of an Era

Dragonfly Castle, Mewni.

With his ankles and wrists chained together, Eclipsine was dragged into a large courtroom. Delegates from every kingdom in Mewni were shouting at him and yelling profanities. The Magical High Commission forced him into the center of the room and took their place with the jury.

Earlier that morning, the Spiderbite kingdom had led an infiltration mission into Eclipsine's temple, led by Hekapoe and Rhombulie. The soldiers showed no mercy in their attack, slaughtering the monsters who Eclipsine had come to know as his second family. The King of Darkness did his best to protect his son, but without the scepter he was at the end of his rope with dark magic. Hekapoe had easily overpowered him, knocked him unconscious, and stole the hybrid infant. Globgal had grown as large as she could as quickly as she could, but it was too late; Rhombulie had imprisoned her in an unbreakable crystal.

With their mission accomplished, the soldiers trapped their former ruler in chains and carried him back to Mewni to stand trial. As far as he knew, Hekapoe had killed his child and the MHC would soon murder his wife. He had been defeated.

"Let the trial commence!" Warner Spiderbite bellowed. "Duke Robert of the Misty Mountains will read the offense!"

An elderly man with two large front teeth stood up from the jury booth, reading a scroll. "Ahem, Eclipsine Totalis Dragonfly stands accused of abandoning his duties as ruler, committing adultery with a monster, and practicing dark magic!"

"Thank you, Duke Robert. Eclipsine, how do you plead?"

"You killed my father!" Eclipsine spat back. "I have nothing to say to you!"

"I believe we've heard enough?" Warner turned to the jury who passed the verdict to Omnitraxus Prime.

"The people of Mewni have spoken." The omnipotent being read the verdict. "We find Eclipsine Totalis Dragonfly guilty as charged."

"The motion passes!" Warner slammed his gavel on the podium. "Eclipsine Dragonfly,you are hereby sentenced to death. However, given that you were once royalty, you have the unique opportunity to choose how you will be executed. There are plenty of methods for you to choose from; poisons, gas, guillotine, flames. And it can be done immediately, or at any time of your choosing within the next forty-eight hours."

Eclipsine hung his head and sighed, dejectedly. For a brief moment, it seemed that all hope was lost. However, he happened to recall a certain spell that just might turn the odds in his favor. It was a simple spell, meant to allow any who cast it to communicate with the person they are making eye contact with at the time. And yet, as they communicate with said person, they do so only through their minds while still able to speak aloud. Realizing that the council would be demanding an answer soon, Eclipsine locked his gaze onto his trusted teacher. And with a coy smile, he muttered the secret words. "I'm a very rich man."

"Speak up, Eclipsine!" Warner shouted. "What did you say?!"

"Uh, I'm sorry." The King of Darkness replied. "I simply said that I am a very rich man. I have been blessed with many different riches throughout my life. I was born into royalty, given the finest of education, and now I have the luxury to decide how I will die. Why, it'd be selfish of me not to take advantage of that opportunity."

While the rest of the delegates listened, Indexia was hearing something completely different. Eclipsine had a plan to get revenge on his father's killer and restore honor to his family's name. It was a long shot, but at this point he had nothing to lose. Giving him a simple nod, she made a silent vow to follow him to the bitter end. The King of Darkness winked at his teacher, thanking her for her loyalty.

"Then, have you chosen your method of execution, Eclipsine?" Warner asked.

"I have, indeed." Eclipsine nodded. "I choose… to be given the Magical High Commission as my executioners. And that only they and I will know the means of my execution."

The crowd fell silent. The delegates and MHC looked at one another with confusion. "This is unheard of." The Duke of the Misty Mountains said, at last.

"Um, Eclipsine… we don't understand the nature of the request." Warner stated.

"Oh, it's simple." Eclipsine shrugged with a smug grin plastered over his face. "I merely wish for my death to have the one thing I always wanted in life; privacy."

Warner's gaze turned to the Magical High Commission, each member equally as perplexed as the delegates. In the end, they court agreed that there would be no harm in the fallen king's decision. "Very well, Eclipsine. And at what time shall your execution take place?"

"Midnight, tonight."

"Any other requests?"

"Just one…" Eclipsine replied, evenly. "I wish to die at home. In the caverns far below the castle's dungeon."

With the tribunal complete, the Magical High Commission led their former king out of the courtroom.

Far below Dragonfly Castle. 11:15 P.M.

Eclipsine was sitting in an enclosed room made of iron, furnished with a bed, a table and a chair. As agreed upon by the council, two guards were stationed at the entrance of the cave in the event that Eclipsine attempted an escape. He was dressed in his favorite suit made by his late Aunt Jeshica, complete with the bowler hat containing the twig he added to signify his title as King of Darkness. He had just finished his last meal when he heard the tumblers of his cell door turning to unlock.

"Hello, Warner." He smiled. "What brings you here?"

"What are you talking about?" Warner scoffed, closing the door behind him as he stuffed the key into his coat pocket. "You gave Hekapoe a letter to give to me. It said you wanted me before you die."

"I know what prompted you to come here. But why did you come?" The King of Darkness leaned back in his seat with a coy smile. "Oh! Were you still with the delegates? You always had a nasty habit of reading out loud, didn't you? They know you're here, don't they?"

Warner straightened his tie and sat down on the bed. "Yes. Indeed they do. They know that I will not be intimidated by such a dangerous individual such as yourself."

Eclipsine chuckled, indignantly. "And you call me pathetic. You came here because you still felt the need to prove yourself, Warner. Which, honestly, baffles me. You won. You're family now has control over the entire kingdom of Mewni, you've killed my family and friends, and yet you still needed to come down here to prove that you aren't afraid of me? Well, what an incredible burden I must be! I never could understand the ridiculous thinking process of feeble old politicians such as yourself."

The Baron of Spiderbites fumed with rage. "Well, I can't understand how the Monster Carver could have sired a monster lover! He would thank me for seeing to it that he couldn't live long enough to see what a disappointment you turned out to be!"

"So you admit it." Eclipsine crossed his arms, bitterly. "You did sell the venom to the lizards."

In the past, Spiderbite had always been quick to dismiss the king's accusations. But down below the castle, where none of the delegates were present and the guards were too far away to hear anything, he didn't hesitate to laugh at the deposed ruler's expense. "I didn't sell them the venom, I gave it to them. Your father was an arrogant, idiotic brute who would have driven this kingdom to the brink of ruin just to settle his pathetic vendetta. The lizards agreed to leave my family's kingdom alone in exchange for being free to destroy the rest of Mewni. It's a miracle this very castle is still standing after Solarius' madness."

Eclipsine struggled to resist the urge to attack his visitor. "Choose your next words very carefully." He warned.

"Oh, what's wrong? Have I offended you?" Warner sneered. "I see no point in being tactful with the bastard son of a maniacal warmonger and a seafaring whore. That alone should have been a red flag from the start. I mean just look at you! Those dark, disturbing eyes, that sickly pale skin, and those hideous black marks on your arms! Honestly, I can't believe it took an affair with a monster for the fools of this pathetic kingdom to turn against you! I guess I'm just lucky that you failed to keep it a secret."

"Truthfully, I'm grateful you outed me." Eclipsine replied. "Thanks to you, I know that wherever she is, my mother still loves and accepts me in spite of this miserable world's discrimination. I'd rather be hated for who I am than liked for who I pretend to be."

"Then you're an idiot." The Baron chuckled, indignantly. "Well, I hope you enjoyed that time you spent with the monster and your deformed offspring, because once whatever execution you've selected is set into motion, the former king Eclipsine Dragonfly goes to the deepest, blackest, bleakest pits of Hell."

The Baron turned to head towards the exit, having said all he wanted to. However, in spite of all he had just said, the King of Darkness smiled, wickedly. Threading his fingers together as he leaned over the table, Eclipsine beaconed to his guest once more. "Warner?"

Warner groaned in frustration. Nevertheless, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. "Make it quick, Eclipsine."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about the time, Warner." Eclipsine promised; his demeanor much more pleasant. "You're not going anywhere. You see, the truth is, I haven't been completely fair with you since you arrived. Would you still like to know the method of execution I've selected?" When Warner nodded in agreement, Eclipsine's smile grew wider. "Well, at midnight, tonight - approximately thirty minutes from now - a bomb is going to explode in this room."

Warner's smile vanished as his eyes nervously darted around the dungeon. "... very good choice, Eclipsine." He replied, clearing his throat. "Relatively quick and painless."

"I suppose so." Eclipsine nodded. "However, it is a rather odd request, isn't it? After all, sitting in a room for hours, knowing that you will die in a violent explosion, isn't the most pleasant way to spend your last evening alive. Why surely, it would drive any individual mad, wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess… that depends on the individual." Warner shrugged and reached into his pocket, only to find nothing there. "... my key. Where is it? Where is it?!" As he dropped to his knees to search for it, Eclipsine stood up from his chair and paced around the room.

"You are correct, Warner. It depends on the individual." He laughed.

Warner jumped to his feet in a panic and grabbed the collar of Eclipsine's shirt. "Let me out of here! Give me my key, right now! Or I'll-!"

"You'll what? Kill me? You still won't escape the blast. By the time you even find the key, it will be too late." Eclipsine rolled his eyes and swatted the baron's arms away. Reaching into his coat to pull out a book, the young king lay down on his bed. "For years you and everyone else in this kingdom have mocked and shunned me behind my back. You think you're better than I am simply because I do not conform to your norms. And because of that, you've made the grave mistake of thinking that I am weaker than you."

Speechless, Warner sat down in the chair. His heart was pounding, his pupils dilated, and his lungs were burning. In stark contrast, Eclipsine began to read the small book as if everything were completely fine. "This book contains the doctrine my wife and I wrote together. We initially created it for the monsters who lived with us in our temple, but we planned to incorporate it into the law once we bridged the gap between our two societies. So, if I am to die, I choose to spend my remaining time reading my precious doctrine…"

The minutes had felt like hours to the quivering baron. As Eclipsine read, Warner had resorted to banging his fists on the cell door, screaming for help. But it was no use; no one could hear him. And yet, despite Warner's trembling and tears, Eclipsine continued to read the doctrine of the monsters without a hint of worry in his tone. "'And though we walk the line between light and darkness, we do not succumb to evil. We defy it. We abstain from it. And only when necessary, we punish it.'"

"Please!" Warner finally cried. "Let me out! In the name of Stump, let me out!" The cowardly baron continued pounding on the solid iron in a vain attempt to break it down. "Let me out!"

"Yes, Baron!" Eclipsine closed his book and reached into his pocket. "In the name of Stump I will let you out!" He handed the key to the whimpering murderer, and watched in contempt as he hurried out the door. With his plan complete, the King of Darkness spread his arms and closed his eyes, peacefully.

Warner ducked just in time before the explosion went off. The solid iron room was completely shattered to pieces. Once the dust settled, Warner sighed with relief and stood up…

… only to see Eclipsine Dragonfly trapped inside a massive crystal.

"What…?" The baron backed away from the crystal, as if trying to get away from the menacing fire in Eclipsine's frozen eyes. Suddenly, something pierced his back and sliced his spinal column in half. Paralyzed from the waist down, Warner could do nothing but helplessly look up at his attacker.

"Y'know, I've been wanting to do that for years?" Hekapoe sneered, cleaning the blood off of his scissors. "I just never had an excuse until now."

"What…?" Warner repeated as Omnitraxus, Lekmat, and Rhombulie joined their brother. "Wh-what's going on?! What's happening?!"

"Well, we kinda made a deal with Eclipsine." Rhombulie replied. "He bomb he mentioned was a new trap of my design. If he couldn't get a confession out of you before it went off, then we'd decrystallize him and execute him properly."

"But since he was able to get you to confess to having a hand in King Solarius' assassination, we agreed to keep him and his monster lover alive and crystallized for all eternity." Omnitraxus reached down to grab the crippled baron's leg.

"Now, obviously, we ain't got much love for Eclipsine." Hekapoe snipped his scissors in front of Warner's face, menacingly. "But Solarius was our friend."

"Wait, no! Stop! You can't do this!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Spiderbite, try to at least die with some dignity." Hekapoe scoffed as he and his sisters dragged the pitiful man off to be executed.

"No! No, please! My friends!" Warner begged as he dug his fingernails into the ground. "I-I only want to serve Mewni! I didn't mean it! Please! He tricked me! It was more of his lies! It's Eclipsine's fault! No! No! No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The cave fell deathly silent once the coward was finally taken out of the new crystalline dungeon. The Magical High Commission would uphold their end of the bargain, and keep Eclipsine and his monster wife locked away in their separate crystal prisons. As far as the rest of the kingdom was concerned, the King and Queen of Darkness would never see the light of day again.

Or so they thought.

Eclipsine, King of Darkness,

To a Mewman queen was wed,

But took a monster for his love,

And away from Mewni fled.

To Be Continued!

Author's notes: RAH! RAH! ECLIPSINE, LOVER OF THE MONSTER QUEEN! THERE WAS A CAT THAT REALLY WAS GONE! RAH! RAH! ECLIPSINE, MEWNI'S GREATEST LOVE MACHINE! IT WAS A SHAME HOW HE CARRIED ON!

I'm sorry… no, I'm not.

I am sorry for the big jump in time. I was contemplating on whether or not to show how the MHC captured Eclipsine, but I felt it would have slowed down the plot. Anyway, tune in for the next chapter starting with Festivio the Fun!