Pillars of Magic: Paradox

As Above, So Bellow

Star's spoon clanked against her bowl as she took the last few remaining bites of her breakfast, a brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal which was dotted lightly with various Mewnian fruits and nuts. It was a simple dish, one she'd had countless mornings without a passing thought, often eaten without so much as tasting it; but as she neared the bottom and scraped the spoon along the side, hearing the sliding ring of silver-against-china, she was reminded of this time just a year prior when smelling the dish that was set before her now, led her to the home she currently found herself residing in.

She had been fifteen, and the earliest thing she could recollect was a swirling, relentless darkness that swallowed everything up like octopus tendrils wrenching a ship into the lost depths of a watery abyss. There was pain. Shocks of it had come in torrents, then everything faded, vanished, as if out of existence.

When she had opened her eyes again, she found herself back in Mewni, but she didn't remember anything else before the pain. She was alone, wandering aimlessly and confused as the lights of the city streamed along the lofted magnificent buildings, guiding her to nowhere and yet filling everything with so much brightness it rivaled the evening moon and deadened the stars.

Bright moving images were cast from unknown sources up against tall granite walls, or no walls at all, hovering three-dimensionally in mid-air. They displayed the newest in high fashion or ran advertisements for the latest in aether-tech products that every Mewnian should have in their home. She had wandered for two full days, growing hungrier but unable to remember just where home was, or even who she was, other than having a conscious knowledge of her name. But she knew she was famished. The residual migraine in her mind had yet to fully disperse from after the pains, the last of it rolling to and fro, rocking her slightly dazed as she took in the world bombarding her from all around, being a part of it yet altogether feeling distant.

The morning sunrise bathed everything in a misty light. She didn't know if she was sleepwalking or part of some half-waking dream. She had followed the scent of food subconsciously. It at least, gave her a sense of reality. It was real, tangibly able to pull at her stomach, make it grumble, to move her feet in a set direction. She had walked down an elaborately-placed brick way with large well-to-do homes, all fenced in by overly ornate decorated gateways.

An older couple on the other side of one such gate had been served a freshly cooked breakfast outside by their servants. They ate on a linen-covered table beneath trees whose branches and leaves reached so low they looked as if they wanted to touch the grass at their feet. The breeze blew the limbs in lazy waves, wafting the smell of bacon and the cinnamon-sugary dish her way. Her eyes followed the sway of the tree, the sunlight filtering through in a dappled haze, her head reeling, until the world tilted and she found herself crumpled at the foot of the gate, the elder couple cradling her, helping her into their home.

Her spoon brought the last bit of oatmeal from the bowl to her mouth, leaving her awkward memory behind as Aage entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Star," she beamed.

"Good morning, Aage, and thank you for making me breakfast."

"I wanted to make this just right for you. I've been so preoccupied with everything happening on the news reports. That school... those poor children... I'm so glad you're here and safe with us."

Aage and her husband, Aagil, were Star's caretakers. They were each nearly sixty years, but had welcomed her with open arms since finding her on the streets of Mewni. Although Star's amnesia never cleared, never truly knowing where she came from, they were happy to have her around. It was an eagerness that, over time, bordered on more than just servantly need.

"Star, promise me you'll be careful while you're out and about in the marketplace? Report anything strange?"

"You won't have to worry. I'll have my eyes and ears open."