The Blood Bound Souls

Chapter 5 - The Void

Everything was dark. Star felt as if she were floating in an empty void. Star inspected her surroundings, but there was nothing. Just pure, unaltered darkness. She tried to call out for someone or something, but all that could come out were bubbly grunts that seemed to draw the air out right from her lungs.

It took her a moment to realize she was underwater.

Star realized that, since she was floating, then more then there was a way up to the surface. She floated for a second, allowing gravity to pull her upwards, then swam with all her might, in hopes to make it to the surface before her screaming lungs gave out. As she swam, she realized it wasn't water, but more of an oily, viscous substance that tasted like bitter coffee. This made it even harder to swim. For what felt like an eternity of paddling, Star finally broke the surface of the fluid, gasping a great big breath of the stale air. Seeing as she was able to breathe the stale oxygen of the void, she took a few minutes to rest and recuperate, savoring every breath she took.

It was still completely dark. Star inspected her surroundings once more, nearly giving up on trying to find a way out when her eyes found a very subtle purple glow in the distance. She immediately swam in the direction of the light through the punishingly thick liquid. If this place had any bearing on reality, she'd be jacked as heck when she escaped from all this exertion.

Suddenly her head hit a solid object, sending a shock of pain down her spine and stars into her vision. She had reached some sort of strange platform that jutted out from the sea of pitch, and had headbutted it at full speed. She shook her head, grabbed onto the platform, pulling herself aboard, and proceeded to lie down to catch her breath again. Something seemed familiar about this place, but she wasn't quite able to put her finger on it until she saw a soup pot on top of a dead fire.

She took a moment to inspect it just to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but it was definitely the same pot that she and Glossaryck stood by after Toffee 'killed' her.

"Glossaryck! Glossaryck! Are you here Glossaryck!?" She immediately called out, hoping to find her friend. No response came out of the void. Was she dead again, for real this time? She couldn't even remember how she got here in the first place! Star collapsed onto her knees as exhaustion and her seemingly infinite frustration set in, "Maybe I am really dead this time."

Suddenly, a cold, red light flooded behind her. It wasn't especially powerful, but because she had been in total darkness for about an hour, it was blinding. Star turned around out of shock to find a great big round object floating in the empty sky.

A Blood Moon.

Star stood there staring at the moon as the moon seemed to stare back. It felt like it had eyes that were drilling into into her skull, as if it were judging her every move. Star felt as if she has seen this moon before and knew it must've held some great significance if it appeared before her, but she couldn't place her finger on where or how she had seen it before. In fact, it felt like an entire part of her memory was missing. Of what, though, she wasn't sure nor did she care at the moment.

Star spoke to the moon, as strange as it felt to do so, "What are you? Who are you? What do you want?"

No response.

She waited for a moment, just to see if it was building tension or something, but it completely avoided interaction. It just continued to reflect that unnatural red light. "Maybe it's just the dumb regular old moon with a red paint job... or something," Star pondered. She turned away from the moon and started towards the soup pot. She dipped a hesitant finger into the concoction to see if she could still "dip down", but it was ice cold. It looked like it had been here for a while.

"Do you know why you're here?" Said a deep and mysterious booming voice that echoed through the entire void. This startled Star, causing her to turn around and face the moon.

"D-Did you say that?" Star asked, not sure if that was just her mind playing tricks on her.

She stood there staring at the moon once again, awaiting a response. She got nothing. Yep, it was definitely her mind playing tricks on her. She turned towards the pot once more.

"Do you know why you're here?" the booming voice suddenly asked again.

It definitely wasn't her mind or ears this time.

She pivoted on her foot, glaring up at the moon, "No, I don't! I don't have any idea why I'm here again!" Star replied with pent-up anger, "Am I dead? Did Toffee kill me again somehow? Please tell me! Why am I here?! I need answers!"

The moon remained completely quiet. It just sat there, staring at her again. What did it want?

"You're a disappointment," it stated jovially in a deep, cold voice.

Star's mind raced with thoughts. She was so confused and terrified. She didn't know what on mewni was going on or what it even meant by her as a disappointment.

"Look i'm sorry! I don't know what I did or what I failed to do! I'm completely lost! I can't remember a thing up to this point! Please help me! Give me a chance or at least a lead in the right direction!"

The moon was silent once again, staring at her as it hovered up in the empty sky.

The moon started to slowly fade away. This scared star. She didn't want to be left here, alone!

"please!" She cried.

This didn't prevent it from fading away. Star gazed upon the moon as her only hope faded into oblivion. Everything was completely dark again.

"Remember and love the boy again. Do not fail me a second time, Star Butterfly," the booming voice said before leaving her in darkness yet again.

"What boy?!" Star yelled out of confusion.

No response.

Star was about to pick up the entire pot and toss it out into the oily sea from frustration when she began to hear voices around her. She couldn't make them out due to how muffled they were. Her body began to tingle as if she was inside tv static.

"clear!" said a voice followed by a blinding light, and the rush of blood to her heart.