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era-of-the-moon · 2 years

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Inside the Wand

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Moon watched her prey from afar, hidden in the shadows, waiting to catch the little blue abomination off guard. The ancient book opened in a flurry of pages, and a grumpy face peeked out, looking around suspiciously.

She called upon the ancient magic in her wand, twisting the dormant energy and forming a whip made of pure, neon light. She flicked her arm and the whip curled around Glossaryck, trapping her mentor in a glowing prison of magical rope.

She nonchalantly stepped into the room. "Lovely evening, wouldn't you say so, Glossaryck?" She greeted with perfect etiquette, but her eyes betrayed the depths of her anger and desperation.

Glossaryck scoffed. "Hm, you know, I could think of quite a few reasons not to find this evening 'lovely', and unfortunately it seems you are the cause of all of them."

Moon ignored his insult, grabbed a chair and sat in front of her now-prisoner.

"Listen, Glossaryck. I will make a deal with you. You will answer all of my questions and promise to help me, and in return I will let you go."

Glossaryck looked away, unimpressed by her attempt at negotiation. He started picking at his toes, which she found rather disgusting and disrespectful.

"One would think that as the heiress to an unfathomable power, you could offer me more than just my freedom for such valuable information that only I can provide."

Moon rolled her eyes and, with a quick flick of her wrist, summoned a small tub of pudding.

Her mentor's eyes were like saucers—it was evident that, in his grief, he hasn't eaten anything in weeks. He then grew uninterested again.

"Bribery. Classic Butterfly. It's still not enough, though. Your negotiation skills are lacking."

Moon felt her eye twitching and her leg unintentionally started bouncing - which was unbecoming of a young lady of her status. She really couldn't control her temper around him—he managed to get on each and every one of her nerves.

"Glossaryck, we both know that if I give you everything now you'll just be stuffing yourself with it and I won't be getting any answers."

Glossaryck, seemingly given up on negotiating farther, relented. "Fine, what do you want?"

Her mood slightly lifted now that he cooperated with her.

"I want you.." she hesitated and, for a moment, the facade of a ruthless queen was broken. "I need you to teach me to dip down."

His eyes narrowed. "...go on."

"I... I admit defeat, okay? I can't do it by myself. I've spent months giving it my all, but I just can't. I need your help."

She stood up and started pacing, caught up in her rant—months of pent up anger.

" –And you! You refused to help me for so long! You've been basically dormant for an entire year! I understand that you miss my mum, I miss her too, but I really need you!"

She turned and faced him, "Haven't I suffered enough? Haven't I proven my incompetence to you, and to all of Mewni?!"

She slumped down on the chair and covered her face with her hands, defeated. "I can't do everything by myself."

At the sight of his young student's agonized state, Glossaryck allowed his eyes to soften.

"It can be hard to carry the weight of the entire world on your shoulder, all by yourself," he spoke as if the words hurt him, and Moon could sense true understanding in his voice, and felt some of her tension has gone—the year of distrust and unease between them began to melt away.

"Of course I will help you, my queen." He said softly, and they shared a heartfelt glance, full of understanding. Moon knew that she finally got her mentor back.

"Now, let us discuss the ins and outs of your problem-" Glossaryck started as he freed himself effortlessly from the confines of her magic, which then dissolved.

"Wait, you could've escaped this whole time?" Moon sputtered. "Glossaryck!"

Glossaryck floated upwards and ignored her.

"Now, The first step in solving a problem is to recognize its existence - and tonight you also achieved the magnificent and agonizing step of admitting it to an outside source—for which I applaud you."

She stared at him in disbelief, eyes wide. "...what."

"Here lies our problem," he continued, "you couldn't dip down because you refused to confront your emotions and admit your flaws."

Moon frowned. "What do my emotions have to do with anything? Such trivial things shouldn't be of importance."

Glossaryck eyed her. "My queen, your emotions should always matter. Especially when it comes to magic. Dip downs are triggered by strong emotions, and you've been refusing yourself those natural and healthy feelings for months—which in turn blocked the connection with your innate magic."

His leaned closer to her, sorrowful.

"You're only Mewman, Moon. It's okay to have feelings, even if you are the queen."

Her stomach twisted. She looked away. "Ugh. How do you suggest we deal with this problem, then?"

"Well, normally you'd console a therapist and go through a long process of healing and reconnecting with your emotions. But we don't have time for this. As a fresh queen, you are under constant threat, even with your new accords. We must go deep, straight to the bottom of the hot melted soup that is your mind."

She stared at him. "And how are we going to do that?"

"We must go inside... your wand."

"...what? How is that gonna help?"

"The wand is an extension of your memories. And before you dip down, it is the link between you and magic. You must confront yourself in the most intense way possible if dipping down is what you desire."

"That sounds... absolutely terrifying."

"Oh, yes, it's going to be very traumatic. Anyway, let's go!" He clapped his hands twice, and the world around her faded.

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"Now, it is very important that you do not leave my side - this place is very dangerous. Do you understand?"

Moon nodded, distracted, as she glanced around her. She could recognize the place from both nightmares and reality. Her own reflection greeted her from the many crystalline surfaces that sprouted from the ground. The cold air sent a shiver down her spine.

The Crystal Dimension.

Well, but not exactly the Crystal Dimension. It felt distorted, almost foreboding.

"-Moon, are you listening?"

She shook from her thoughts.

"Yes, yes!"

"Good, now lets go."

"Wait, where are we going?"

"On our first stop here we're going to visit someone very important. Hopefully seeing her will make you reconsider many things."

Moon narrowed her eyes at the thinly veiled insult. "Whatever do you mean, dear mentor?"

Glossaryck opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by an excited call, and Moon froze in her place. An icy sensation was spreading up her arms, as if she was being crystallized herself and added to Rhombulous's prized collection.

She looked to the owner of the voice, who was seated next to a crystalline table, sipping tea and looking rather pleased with herself. On the table were scattered countless forms of sweets and pastries, from snookers to creamed corn. She saw Glossaryck's mouth water, and she might have allowed herself to indulge in a sweet treat, if it wasn't for the painfully-familiar woman that greeted her from the other side of the table.

"Oh, Moon darling! It has been quite some time since we last met, hasn't it? Why don't you join me?" Eclipsa smiled gently. Moon eyed her warily, not trusting that smile one bit. She glanced at Glossaryck, who to her dismay was already making his way towards the former queen.

"Glossaryck, wait-!"

"Come on, Moon! Let's enjoy this lovely tea party!" Glossaryck said, ignoring her concern.

"Ugh." She reluctantly followed and sat across Eclipsa.

"So, I wanna hear all about how you've been since we've met. How did your boy problem turn out?"

"Ah, but I want to know all the details! Why you like each one of them, how they make you feel... you know, the juicy bits!" Eclipsa nibbled on a snookers bar as she rambled.

"...Boy problem?" No, no way she was discussing that. Eclipsa looked at her expectedly. Moon swallowed in embarrassment, and continued. "...Oh. Well I've been kinda avoiding it. Hopefully it will solve itself after my mourning period is over."

Moon stared at her, then her gaze shifted to Glossaryck, silently begging him for help.

He just motioned for her to continue talking. Not very encouraging.

"Uhm, I guess I really like River? He makes me laugh, and his optimistic mind is not something one may come across often.. my court doesn't seem to approve of our relationship though. They all pressure me to pursue Count Mildrew." While talking her hands found a crystalline tea cup near her and held it, desperate to distract herself from the conversation. Talking about feelings just wasn't in her element.

This is for dipping down. This is for dipping down. Moon took a deep breath.

She stared into the dark substance in the cup, her gloomy reflection staring back from its depth.

As she watched, her reflection changed - dark veins spread from her arms to her chest and head, her skin grew darker and her eyes were blazing with light. She gasped, startled, and nearly let go of the cup. When she blinked, the image reverted back, as if it was never there to begin with. Moon set the cup back on the table, deeply disturbed.

But what is in my element?

Eclipsa was talking to her, she realized. She tried to focus on her words.

"And you don't like him, do you? Oh, to be young and in love and to be married off to some puffy swine who sees you as nothing but your title, doesn't respect you or your privacy. But don't worry too much about that, darling! You can always elope with your sweetheart and forget the world around you…" Eclipsa trailed off, lost in a daydream, the half-eaten chocolate forgotten.

Moon was mortified from Eclipsa's implications. "What? I can't just—just abandon my kingdom!"

"Of course you can, darling, I did it! Besides, true love is worth it." Eclipsa sighed dreamily as she poured herself of the unrecognizable dark substance from a crystalline teapot.

Moon felt anger rising in her like a wave. "How can you say that? My mother died for this kingdom, I can't just abdicate the throne and leave it all behind! I'm… not like you."

"Speaking of your mother, how did my spell work out for you? Let me see your hands." Eclipsa grabbed Moon's left hand before she could even mutter her refusal, and slipped off the confines of her glove.

"Ah, now would you look at that! You still have some room for improvement, but we're truly alike now!" She gushed as she examined Moon's dark scars.

The water rose higher. "What? No!"

Eclipsa held Moon's hand tight, and seemed genuinely happy, possibly for having found solidarity with Moon sharing the marks of a killer on her arms. Moon trembled, nauseous, and wanted desperately to escape from the woman holding her hand.

She is only a reflection of your memories, part of her insisted. She is only a manifestation of Moon’s warped memory of a dark time and a combination of her nightmares.

Was this the same woman she had met a year ago, the one who had offered her sympathy and solidarity? It appears that Moon misjudged her nature.

Perhaps she is as bad as the High Commission claimed.

But she held the wand once, too, the other part argued. Eclipsa's essence is part of the wand, so there is truth in her appearance. The former queen's grip on her hand tightened, and Moon nearly shrieked.

"See? You're exactly like me!" Moon couldn't break free from the her grasp.

The waves crashed upon the shore. "No! I'm nothing like you!" In her stress and desperation Moon found strength and pulled hard enough to escape Eclipsa's hold. She grabbed Glossaryck from his pastries and started running away from the chamber, away from the former queen.

The young queen pushed the door open, prepared for a fight.

After running blindly for what felt like hours in the macabre, barren landscapes of the Crystal Dimension, Moon came to a halt in front of a large door. Engraved on the wood were familiar symbols, and Moon felt she was being pulled into the room, that something waited for her—something she needed to see. Something she dreaded.

"And so, we've arrived.” Glossaryck announced in a rather passive manner from his place on the top of her head. Apparently, her wise, old mentor decided it was prime time to nest in her hair. Once again, Moon recognized the room—though it's been ages since the last time she's been there.

“The Tapestry Room?” Moon asked Glossaryck, who left her hair and stared gloomily at one of the walls.

“Why did we come all this way for-” she stopped in her tracks as she realized what caught his attention. Comet's tapestry.

Moon took in a shaky breath.

"Oh, mother. I... I miss you so much." She let her hand rest on the fabric. "If only you were somehow here again..." she lowered her head, banishing the thought. She couldn't afford to start crying now, not after everything they've been through to get here.

"My queen," Glossaryck bowed before her. Moon looked past him, at a new tapestry. Her own.

She stalked toward it, amazed at the sheer size and drama depicted in the fabric.

"But... this isn't how it happened…" Moon mumbled. Her hands were aching—as if they remembered, too, how they were scarred.

An oval of stone rose from the floor in a cloud of smoke. Engraved on its surface were the words that arbitrated how she had gone down in history, her first courageous act as a Mewnian queen.

“The immortal monster will long be haunted, by the darkest spell of Moon the… Undaunted?”

Undaunted?

She clenched her fists, her eyes locked on the tapestry.

...Me?

When she spoke, her voice was slathered with anger.

“I still don't understand. How can that be my title, Glossaryck?" Moon demanded. "How can I be dubbed undaunted and yet be plagued constantly with fears and doubts?”

Glossaryck wasn't the one who answered.

“That's because all through-out history Mewmanity has abused the truth. You are so caught up in propaganda and lies that even your magic toes the line. You are not undaunted, Moon Butterfly. You're a coward."

Moon turned slowly, recognizing the voice that haunted her nightmares. Behind her stood the one who destroyed her dreams, her life. The one who left her without a mother.

“...Toffee.” she spat.

He stepped into the light, clad in full battle regalia, just as she remembered - and apparently, just as depicted in her tapestry - and just as arrogantly lacking armor. Those sickening skulls with painted cheek emblems were still part of his horrifying attire, the one with the diamonds returning her a blank stare, silently threatening, you're next. He was armed with a crescent-shaped blade, the sinister metal glistening in the dull light.

If he was not a manifestation of her memories, Moon would have thought he considered her a serious threat this time around.

"Moon the Coward, perhaps. Moon the Liar, quite fitting. Or maybe…" He then smiled in cruel mockery, fangs flashing.

"...Moon the Orphan."

She glared at him, but if looks could kill, his own title would no longer be that of 'Immortal'.

“You are nothing more than a frightened little princess, with a desperate hold on a blood-stained throne."

He drew out his khopesh and started stroking its curved blade haphazardly, not at all concerned by the sharp edge.

"Have you ever stopped to consider that your mother deserved her fate, little Butterfly? I watched the life drain from the queen’s eyes as I drove my knife into her heart, knowing that justice was finally served.”

“Shut up. Shut up!” she felt her scars burning.

“Do you honestly believe that you have power over Septarsis? Your little show of strength with your little spell won't last long. Your power isn’t even your own, but a queen’s who you condemned to a fate worse than death. And you couldn’t even kill me."

He pointed his blade towards her, the sharp edges glistening dangerously.

"You can’t control your emotions, you can’t rule your kingdom. The Butterfly lineage ends with you.”

Toffee stumbled back, his head already starting to regenerate.

“That.. Is.. Enough!” She shouted in defiance, the diamonds on her face igniting with light. Hands flaring blue with her searing magic, she blasted the Lizard’s head. It toppled to the floor, a smoking pile of bone and melted flesh.

"I will not tolerate such words from the likes of you! These words haunted my mind ever since I became queen. But those days are over! No longer will i tolerate such words, not in the voice of my mother’s killer!”

Toffee, his head fully formed, tightened his hold on his blade.

Moon removed her remaining glove and threw it behind her. The scars reached past her elbows, dark veins thriving on her rage. There was no longer place for fear or shame in her heart. Not anymore.

“I am queen Moon the Undaunted, and in the name of my mother, I swear to you that you will pay!” a sword made of sharp-neon light manifested in her hands to her voiceless command. Armed at last, the young queen attacked the monster.

She charged at him, blades clashing. Moon used the amplitude of her strike to twist around him and skilfully sink her sword into his lower back, cold light piercing flesh. To her dismay, moments after pulling the sword out, his skin looked as if never wounded in the first place.

I need a strategy, she thought in distress as she dodged his khopesh. Perhaps I could tire his regeneration by continually wounding him? Has anyone ever managed to kill a Septarian without dark magic?

While she contemplated his mortality Toffee turned around and thrusted his blade at her neck, which she barely avoided. In a graceful movement he thrusted again. She blocked him, metal meeting light. With another quick thrust from the opposite direction he used his speed and weight to hook the edge of his blade to her sword. He pushed on it, forcing her hand to release the sword, which immediately vanished into mist.

Guess i’ll have to be the first.

Unarmed, Moon leaped, twisting her body mid-air, and kicked the Septarian's face, which rewarded her with the satisfying sight of his blood. In retaliation he grabbed her other leg and started spinning her around like a bat, preparing to launch her into a wall.

Sword met Khopesh in a metallic klanck. Strike, parry, feint, strike, counter attack. Again and again.

Holding out her arm, she screamed "Meteoric Blueberries!" and explosive fruits shot out at him. She was dropped to the floor as Toffee lost his hold on her and was sent backwards from the force of the blast. He was immediately back up, not breaking a sweat. Moon cursed as he sped up towards her, barely standing up and summoning her sword once more.

She was more rusty than she'd like to admit. She needed to recede and attack from afar, before he could find an opening in her defence.

She fell to a fake stab and his tail slammed her into a wall, the impact so powerful it created a crater. She barely managed to get up as he stalked towards her with a mocking sneer on his face.

Using the wall for amplitude, she leaped, hands igniting, shouted "Azure Inferno!" and blusted him into what should have been a fiery oblivion. Instead, when she landed and the fire settled she found him... not dead. And angry. Furious.

"I've had enough of your games," he spat, and in a fit of incredible speed, he leaped at her and sank his blade into her back.

It bit deep. She screamed.

He tore it out and she fell to the floor, her numb mind instinctively summoning a shield. Toffee was swinging his blade at the force shield again and again, in attempt to weaken it and finish what he started.

You will not.

That's it, she thought, blood oozing from her wound and covering her hair, bright blue turned a deep crimson. I am going to die here, in my memories, defeated by my own mind.

She gasped, more in surprise than pain. The familiar voice echoed around her.

Your power is incredible, and only growing stronger by the day.

My sweet Moon. You will not die here today.

Mother…

Her shield was starting to crack.

My love. A butterfly is incapable of flight until the struggle to free herself from her cocoon has given her wings the strength to fly. Moonlight! Spread your wings and soar!

Toffee destroyed her shield and she screamed. He stabbed her heart with his khopesh, and suddenly, everything was clear.

Instead of the agonizing pain she expected, she found six arms blocking his blade, inches from her chest.

A gust of wind sent him stumbling backwards, as a set of wings carried her up into the air, and the Lizard watched, flabbergasted.

She held out her arms and whispered two words, the pair once written long ago, in a decaying book holding centuries worth of history and knowledge. Words written when she first got hold of that book, with the warm, guiding hand of her mother.

Powerful light beams shot out of her hands, and after the dust settled, Toffee was no more.

Lunar Flare.

Moon landed ungracefully, exhausted, wings and additional arms retreating. She collapsed, but instead of meeting the harsh ground, she found herself enveloped in a warm embrace. Her eyes opened just a creek.

"...mummy?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm right here, Moon."

Moon fought against her fatigue and sat up, hugging her mother back. She gasped in pain. The mother queen smiled at her. "Let's fix you up," Comet held her hand over her daughter's wound. She raised her hand, and the wound closed.

"How did you do that?" Moon mumbled in awe.

"We're in the mind. You can do whatever you can imagine in here." Comet smiled, "Also, magic," she added matter-of-factly.

"But we have more urgent matters to discuss, before you have to leave." Comet caressed Moon's cheek.

"Leave? But‐but I want to stay here with you! Ever since you… died, I felt like I wasn't actually alive! I've been living in a nightmare, sleepwalking. I can't do this without you!"

"oh, Moonlight." Her mother smiled sadly. "I'm afraid you must. Staying in here for too long is dangerous." The late queen held her daughter's gaze. "But remember this; I love you. When you're drowning in despair, remember my words, and turn them into strength. I love you, my sweet Moon. Don't you ever forget that."

They embraced each other, in what was probably the longest hug Moon had ever experienced.

"Glossaryck," Comet whispered, and when Moon blinked, she found herself back in her room, hugging herself.

With tears in her eyes, she whispered "Baloo-balee, baloo-balow. I let you go, I let you go."

When Moon opened her eyes, the world seemed just a little brighter.

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Silly bonus!

"Glossy.."

"yes, my queen?"

"I declare this.. misadventure.. only be allowed to embark on by a princess who's at least 18 years of age."

Glossaryck hummed. “That’s fair,” he acquiesced, like he wasn’t going to ignore that exact declaration many years down the line.

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