Star vs. The Forces of Evil: The Hidden Truth

Dreamscapes, Part 1 - Purple Haze

One would have thought that the awful smell of rotten food would wake him up. Nope. Then there was the cold and wet floor on which he was laying on for several hours straight. Not a chance. Or perhaps just the fact he was sleeping on his hand for the whole time. That was uncomfortable, yes, but ultimately meaningless. Because the true reason why he woke up was not the cellar itself he was in, but rather staring of a mysterious figure watching him from the shadowy corner.

"STAR!" The boy yelled from his diaphragm. "Whoa, where- Who-" He kept asking random questions while trying to make sense of his last memories. It took him a good while to calm down, but after that he had another reason to feel anxiety: those memories did not fit his new surroundings. And it wasn't even those that bothered him as much as the unnerving feeling that something wasn't right with this place. Coldness, humidity, twilight - all the regular stuff you would expect after being kidnapped. And yet, everything felt strangely... unalive.

"You took quite a long nap. I was worried that I hit you too much. Mewmens can take such a hit, but you..."

"Huh?" The presence of another person was slipping to his mind only very slowly; his nerves were still shot from the experience.

"Marco, is it? An interesting name. Doesn't sound like something from here. I'm curious, where did you come from?"

"What? I... uhm, I-I don't understand."

"Still disorientated, I see. Well, maybe this will jog his memory." The speaking silhouette calmly left the shadowy corner and stepped into the light.

His sight was still a little blurry, but he tried his best to identify the person standing over him. Thankfully his logical thinking wasn't affected so badly, so without taking any conscious action, he automatically started to assess it.

Well, for starters, it's a woman, so that's that. Looking at her face I'd say she is in her late thirties, no more. What's next... Uhm, she isn't very tall, maybe 160 centimeters or so? Huh, she isn't that much taller than I am. She has a British accent, so my guess would be she is a foreigner. Wait... Did I volunteer to take her on tour? She's a new teacher perhaps? Oh, derailing, you need to focus. What else do you see? Well, I uhm... The clothes! They look kinda funny. And old. Not their age, but their style. If I remember correctly, this was a thing in the 1920s. Huh, now that I think of it, I actually like that style. And she looks good in it too. Sooooo, what else do I see? What else, what e- STOP STARING AT HER CHEST, DAMMIT! That's not relevant! OK, arms. Still not helpful, but we're getting there. Wait a second, are those... her hands? They look... purple, dark purple to be exact. Almost black. WHOA!!!

And just like that, as if some imaginary force kick-started his engine, all the information fell to their places and the image was crystal clear. And horrifying.

"ECLIPSA?!" Marco jumped to his feet, but thanks to the slippery floor he lost balance, fell down and hit his head. He was out once again.

Eclipsa couldn't believe her own eyes. "What just happened? Did he... Did he just did that? I have waited two days... for this?"

"I don't want to sound disrespectful, my queen, but you aren't exactly emanating welcoming warmth."

"That was a rhetorical question, Laar! But you might have a point. I think I'll go change my clothes to something more subtle."

"You will what now?"

"You have a problem with it?"

"I wouldn't dare, milady! It's just that..." Now he wasn't sure if he should finish his thought. "It's just that I never saw you in a different clothing. I didn't realize you even had different clothes."