A whirlwind of contradicting thoughts and emotions were running inside of Eclipsa's head. She hadn't felt this alive for centuries, but these feelings were built on false pretences and she knew that; she knew that very well. But here she was: exposed and vulnerable to a boy who thought she was his pregnant wife. She wanted to cloud his mind with false memories, to convince his brain and heart to fall for her. However, after what happened the previous night, she had to ask herself: who was playing who at this point?

Eclipsa looked back and saw Marco sleeping like a log in her bed. He looked so peaceful, so happy. As she was losing her thoughts imagining what that transpired that night, she suddenly realized that she too felt just like that. And more. Way more. She was even burning inside.

She gasped. "Mirror!" She quickly came to her wardrobe and picked up small mirror laying on top of it. When she looked into it, she saw the source of burning sensation. She was blushing. The Queen of Darkness was glowing red because she slept with a boy she kidnapped. Because…

"Oh no. What have I done…"

Because.

"Why have I allowed myself to let it come to this? I know better. I am supposed to know better!"

She angrily tossed the mirror back down. The force was too great and the small item shattered.

"Dammit."

"Karin? I heard something breaking. Is everything alright?"

"Oh! I didn't mean to wake you up."

He went straight to her to check what caused the noise.

"Is that blood?!"

"What?"

"On your hand."

She checked her hand and noticed that small bits of shrapnel cut her finger. "This is nothing. I don't even feel it."

"You need to be more careful." He gently took her hand in both of his and inspected it. "Hmm. It doesn't look serious."

With each passing second he was holding her hand, the burning sensation inside her body was intensifying.

"I-I'm okay." Her voice almost gave up.

"You don't sound okay."

"Really, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired."

"Oh. Well. Sorry for that, I got a little carried away." He smiled. "As did you, I suppose."

No matter how hard she tried to act natural, she couldn't keep going. Inside his head, it was all dreams and fiction. It was nice and pleasant, but ultimately without consequences. However this was reality and she put herself into a position she couldn't escape without ruining everything. But what was 'everything' at this point? She snatched him away from the girl he loves and replaced her with her own image just to hurt her. And she did that. But her original plan was to go further. Way further. The prospect of this plan wasn't so appealing anymore. She wanted to make them to suffer, but instead she made herself happy. Because she lo-

"NO!"

Eclipsa raised her hand, touched Marco's forehead and put him into sleep. He crumbled down to the floor. She kept looking at him with troubled face.

"What am I going to do about you?"

As she was contemplating his purpose in her life, another question slipped into the forefront of her mind: "What am I going to do about us?"

He couldn't see much. Darkness was enveloping his surroundings and his senses. There were no sounds, no concrete objects he could fix his eyes on. Only some sort of nondescript, blurry blot somewhere in the distance. There was, however, one thing that was present the whole time: smell. He could've sworn this was the smell of something wet. It wasn't unpleasant, just unusual for him. He never really experienced this sensation before. But by the looks of things, that was about to change soon. The blot was getting closer, or he was getting closer to it. It was hard for him to approximate anything in this realm, wherever this realm might have been. Whatever the case, his involuntary destination was nearing swiftly, and with the distance closing, its contours were getting more concrete shapes.

He saw buildings of various shapes, sizes and colors. They weren't very tall, but they stretched far away, almost to the horizon. Their architecture was also something exciting to behold. Windows weren't put on with any logic behind them. Some of them didn't even have doors. But most of them were emanating some kind of sound. It was a strange mixture of random noise, voices and what appeared to be a music of some kind. He didn't recognize it, but for some reason he liked. It was soothing him.

So instead of waiting this construct to reach him, he decided to go to it. With just one step, he was standing at the beach, with his bare foot dug into the warm sand. The music he was being drawn to was now all around him, along with all of those strangely shaped houses. He was locked between them and the endless ocean spreading wide and deep. Lights from the lanterns were gently glowing at its surface, but beyond them there was just pitch black. As above, so below.

"The sea." The sudden voice he heard belonged to a young girl standing next to him. Her head barely reached his neck. "It's calling me. I have to go." She silently went on into the still water, as if she was just taking a stroll through park. As if the dark pits beneath were her home.

And with her disappearing below, everything around him went away with her. It was just a vast space of nothingness, a complete absence of anything corporeal. His only companions were his own thoughts. Suddenly, a weird red mist started to surround him. It was thick and heavy, but it seemed almost alive… and pissed.

"You may have not believe me, but you will believe her shadows of the past."

A cold hand landed on his shoulder. "EMBRACE THEM!"

"Whoa!" Marco fell to the ground. "Damn that hurts!" He grabbed his bed and put himself back to his feet. He could clearly see that the sheets were still neatly folded on each other. "What the…?" He looked around and noticed that this was indeed his room, although a bit emptier than he remembered it. "Where is all of my stuff?"

"MARCOOO? What is taking you so long? I'm boiling down here!"

It was Karin's voice coming from downstairs. He couldn't understand why stuff was now missing from his own room, let alone what she meant by that. For that matter, it was a mystery to him how he even ended up in here. Was he sleepwalking? It is true that he tended to do that when he was having nightmares, but they were getting a lot better lately. In fact, he could finally go bed without shaking with fear worrying about what horrors his mind would unleash at him. Wait…

He went out of his room and and took a few steps to the right, passing by the bedroom of Karin's parents. The doors he was interested in were a bit further, near the stairs. He opened them and he saw Karin's room, albeit different. It was packed with various extra things and when he opened a random cupboard, he saw some of his own stuff perfectly folded next to hers. His mind was working really hard to make sense of all of this.

And then it hit him. "Of course! This is our bedroom. Whoa, that dream really must have been something. And… it's already fading away. What was it about again?"

He was buried so deep inside his own thoughts that he didn't hear angry footsteps coming from below and then swiftly approaching. When they stopped just behind him, he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was not alone anymore.

"There you are!"

"Huh?" He turned around and saw Karin standing there with a nefarious look in her eyes. Probably because of the thick layer of clothes she was wearing.

"Oh, you- You must be joking."

"What? I don't-"

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"Marco!"

"I'm sorry, I-" It took him a while, but he eventually put two and two together. "Are you going out?" And from them he managed to make three.

"No, we are going out. How could you forget? I was planning this for a week!"

"Okay, I give up."

"Oh my- I told you that today I have a surprise for you and that you have to be ready by early morning to go out. Several times!"

Whatever that dream was, it shorted out his memory really bad, because only now did it start to come back to him. Only partially, but enough for him to realize that if he didn't move his ass pronto, he'd be in trouble.

"Oooooh, riiiight. Now I remember! You wanted to show me something today. I'm sorry, I just had this-"

"Look, just suit up and come down. But let me tell you, you aren't making a good first impression on my father after that heated discussion we had yesterday. I'll try to do some damage control, but truth to be told…"

Now that he really didn't want to recollect. Karin saw fear creeping out of his eyes. She came closer and gently kissed him on his cheek.

"My apologies, I got carried away. And just so you know, I'm blaming your daughter for this - she is clearly affecting me with her fiery spirit. Listen, I'll go down and explain it to him. Somehow. It'll be alright. You just take your best clothes and come down, okay? I'll be waiting for you there."

And with these encouraging words, she left him alone with his extremely unpleasant memories of his last encounter with her father.

"Great. Just - great. Husband of the year, that's for sure." He started to to check his wardrobe for appropriate dress. "Sometimes I feel like I don't even deserve any of this. Her. Them- ah, here they are." He pulled out a black tuxedo with a tall black hat. He kept looking at them with doubts. "I will look ridiculous." He tried the hat and, as he feared, he did look ridiculous. "But I'm doing it for Karin, so I'll endure."

After getting dressed and checking himself over one last time in the mirror to the point that he could barely look anymore, he decided to go down to where his spouse was waiting for him. He thought he knew what to expect; he was wrong. There were her parents alright, however Karin herself was… well, she took his breath away. The sunlight enhanced every single part of her in a way he didn't think was even possible. His heart always jumped every time he saw her, but now he literally forgot to breathe.

"Well? Don't just stand there, come on down. We need to go," said Karin.

"Oh? Right."

He was nervous. So nervous in fact that he almost tripped over himself. He managed to regain his balance just in time.

"You alright?"

Even talking to her was getting harder. "Uhm, y-yes? Yes. Of course."

"What has gotten into you?"

Her mother standing next to her was witnessing this with great joy.

"You did, my dear," she explained with a wide smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Look into his eyes."

So she did and for the moment she thought she saw a boy seeing his dream come true. With that dream being herself. Now they were both hopelessly looking at each other.

"Ugh!" This was perhaps the first time that Karin's father was able to squeeze all of his thoughts into a single syllable. With nothing else to add, he left the scene.

"I'll leave you two alone." Karin's mother, on the other hand, was grateful she could witness through her daughter what she never had the chance to experience herself.

And so, with both of her parents gone from the scene, only the couple remained, together with this heavy anticipation hanging in the morning autumn air.

"Oh, come on, you. I don't look that great!" Karin has genuinely started to feel shy. An emotion she rarely ever felt, even before the incident.

"You are right, you're not," replied Marco and started to descent down.

Now this type of feeling was like a second nature to her. Marco could see how his words were slowly eating her happiness from inside. But he didn't seem to care. With no change in pace, he continued stepping down the stairs and stopped just few centimeters in front of her. Marco grabbed her hand and looked into her troubled eyes.

"You're not that great, or any other great. Because your beauty isn't of this world, so how can I possibly describe it?" He raised her hand and gently kissed her. "I mean, sure, I could try. It's only morning, so if you'll give me a pen, paper, a silent room and several hours, I might put something together." To finish his grandiose performance, he put on his boyish smile that Karin could never resist.

In the window of a mere three seconds her face displayed a remarkable recovery from that of a hurt puppy, through one of angry realization, to one betraying an irresistible urge to jump him on the spot.

She slapped him instead. "Don't do this to me ever again!"

"Ah! What did I do?"

"Stop playing with my emotions."

"I just tried to be romantic."

"Well, you were. But don't do it again!"

"Noted. But damn, you can swing!"

"Thank you!"

"I think I will feel your hand on my cheek for whole day. Ouch."

"Should I hit you on other side as well? You know, to really feel my touch…"

"No! No no no, I'm fine with just half of my face burning."

"Hehehe, you're so cute when you're scared." She grabbed his hand. "Come outside, our carriage is waiting for us."

"Carriage?"

Of course, he knew what a carriage was. He was a simple man, but he wasn't a savage. Despite all that knowledge, he couldn't help himself but to just stop and gaze at this monstrosity parked in front of the manor. Whoever designed it had obviously never heard the word "subtlety". Then again, this wasn't just any carriage. This was a royal chariot, with all of its glory and, well, trumpery slapped on every surface that it could find.

"What the…"

"Like it? I personally picked this one for our trip."

"You did?"

"Yep!"

Originally he just wanted to blurt out his ponderings over what lunatic designed this crap, but Karin's confesion halted his plans. The disgust on his face was not quite so subtle, however. Karin was a lot of things, but she was not oblivious; Marco's face was doing all of the talking.

"So you like it, huh?"

"Oh sure! It's fantastic! All those jewels, mirrors, tapestry and… whatnot. I think I even see a few pieces of wood between those pretty… things."

Karin was impaling him with her sharp sight. Over and over and over again, relentlessly like a hawk that just spotted his prey. Now her face was doing the talking and he heard every single word loud and clear.

He tried to withstand the pressure, but soon he crumbled like a house of cards. "Bah, Okay! Fine! It's ugly! Even just looking at it makes me feel sick! There, I said it, you happy now?" He was kind expecting her to light up his second cheek. To his surprise (and relief) she just caressed it.

"Oh Marco, why didn't just say so?"

"I wanted to, but when you said to hand picked it, I didn't want to sound ungrateful."

"That's very thoughtful of you, but Marco, we are married. And we are having a baby. We have to be honest to each other."

"Alright then. I don't like it. In fact, I hate it. I hate it so much I want to burn it down and-"

"Okay Marco, I get the picture. Well, there is another one, which is a lot more ordinary than this one. We can take it."

"Do we have to?"

"What?"

"I mean, I take it you want to bring me to a place, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why don't we walk there?"

"Walk? You want to go to, uhm, that place on foot?"

"Sure! We never had the chance to spend a whole day alone, just you and me. Besides, it's beautiful outside. You will blend in just fine."

He thought it was a good compliment, but Karin didn't seem to be moved by it. Marco automatically started to search for reason why. Thankfully, the answer he was looking for was in front of him the whole time.

"Oh! Your- I didn't take into consideration your pregnancy! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to drag you there. Okay, that sounded bad. What I meant to say is that I-"

Karin interrupted him by closing his lips with her own. She locked his head tightly with her arms and didn't allow him to move away from her. It was a spectacular sight, considering the amount of clothes she had to put on her body in order to protect herself and her unborn child from the coldness. She was so enthusiastic that Marco had to break the kiss just to breath.

"Whoa! What was that?"

"You and your damn sense of romance!"

"I wasn't even trying to be romantic. I meant every single word I said. I just want to have a stroll through autumnal forest. With all those colors and golden... sunlight… Now that I'm thinking about it it kinda is romantic."

"Kinda?"

"Okay, fine, very romantic. But I wasn't trying to be like that, I swear. I simply want to walk with you and get some of this fresh air. That isn't too unusual a request, right?"

"Of course not, dummy. Actually, I'm fond of the idea. Just you and me and Corona, walking among trees - I like it!"

"So it's a yes then?"

"Yep."

"Super! Just, no sudden kisses like that, ok? I need to breathe, you know?"

"Oh relax, I'll let you breath. This is just a surprise trip, nothing more." She came close to him and whispered "But I will have that dinner when we come home."

"Are you feeling alright? I know that you were alway the eager one, but this seems a bit too much even for you."

"Blame my pregnancy."

"Uhm, sure."

"Come, a fun day is ahead of us!"

Together they went down the stairs. Before leaving the premises, Karin stopped by the carriage.

"Coachman, I will be leaving with my husband by foot. Inform my parents about the change of plans."

"Of course, milady."

"Okay then. Marco, shall we?"

Marco sets his hand. "With pleasure, my queen."

It was a beautiful day, perfect in every way. The sun was shining on the road, trees were glowing with autumn colors, wind gently ran between them, and the melodious singing of birds were coming from all directions. It was too perfect. Of course, Marco didn't notice it; at last, he finally felt like husband instead of glorified lodger.

"Are you going to tell me where are we going?" asked Marco.

"Nope. I told you, it's a surprise."

"I know, but-"

"Hush! Just enjoy this moment. We'll be there in an hour."

The truth was he didn't mind it that much. Sure, the sun wasn't exactly heating up and the wind was quite cold, but he had her by his side. Whatever their destination was, they were walking towards it like wife and husband.

While he enjoyed her company immensely, he was growing impatient. Karin noticed this, as he started to look around looking for something that would reveal to him where they were going. The only thing he could see was a vast field of trees variously stacked together. Unless she wanted to show him some really weird looking tree in the middle of nowhere, he knew they weren't close enough to see it.

An hour had quickly passed and Marco was still unable to see their destination. Not even a really weird looking tree. His impatience was slowly turning into disappointment.

"Are we close yet? You said it would take us an hour to get there but I don't see anything."

"I know. I picked this road on purpose. There is another, shorter one."

"Then why we didn't take that one?"

"Because then you would see where we are going from afar, and I wanted you to be surprised while standing right in front of it. Are you saying you didn't like our walk?"

"No. Of course not. It's just that… I'm not exactly patient."

"Yeah, I've noticed. Anywho, we are really close now. It is right behind this hill. We'll just go around it through these short woods and we are there."

"Finally! Erm, I mean-"

"Nah, it's fine. I had my sweet time, now it is your turn."

She wasn't lying about it being near. First, he sensed the smell. It was wet and pungent. Not uncomfortable, but quite distinct. He had never felt it before and this fact was strengthening his anticipation. Shortly after that, however, he began to hear sounds and voices. He felt as though he was in a trance, focusing all of his senses trying to figure out what place was they were finally reaching. Thanks to thick woods, sunlight wasn't too successful in penetrating tree crowns, so in the shade still covered them heavily. After continuing to strain his eyes, he did start to notice flickering lights up ahead. They continued approaching, and the lights were getting brighter and more focused. It was only a minute before they arrived when the idea struck his mind: could this place be the one he wanted to visit for so long? He was practically too scared to allow himself the thrill or fear that he might be wrong. He contained himself as best as he could.

Thankfully, he was absolutely not wrong.

"Marco, welcome to Polarity Pier."

He wasn't sure what to expect, a present of some kind perhaps. But a whole place was not on his initial list of guesses. And this was not just any place. Ever since he heard stories from traveling merchants about the the piers they visited, his imagination ran wild picturing how such places could look. But even in his wildest dreams he couldn't possibly have imagined this. It was a wild combination of lights, sounds, smells and people from various kingdoms. He was in heaven.

"You like it?"

Marco didn't respond. It was questionable if he even heard anything she said.

"Marco?"

His mind was fully occupied by its surroundings.

Karin grabbed his shoulder and shook it. "Hey!"

"Hmm?"

"Are you still with me?"

"Oh yes, I am… still here. I mean… this is breathtaking. How did you know?"

"I am your wife, it is my job to know this things."

"No, seriously, how?"

"Fine. Since today is your birthday, I asked your mother about a present for you. I imagined a lot of things you might have wanted, but this was not one of them."

"Why is that?"

"I mean, you were living so close to it, relatively speaking. And I always imagined that you, ehm, common folk traveled a lot. I am sorry, I just couldn't find a better term."

"Nah, it's okay. Most of the villagers are simple people, for better or worse. And you are right, most of them do travel a lot. I was kind of an exception. I never knew my father, so when mom went out working, I had to stay home and guard our home."

"Guard it? Really?"

"Well, not really. Our neighbour was actually guarding it. I was just taking care of the house itself. You know, cleaning, cooking, and stuff."

"Oh my, so young and already cooking? I really did marry the best man in the world, didn't I."

"I'm not sure about that. But I'll try to be one."

"I'm sure you will. Now, listen up. Can I trust you not to do anything stupid?"

"Uhm, sure?"

"That didn't sound very convincing."

"Yes, I will behave."

"OK, I trust you. I have to buy something and I can't let you see what."

"Why?"

"It's a surprise."

"Another one? How many of them have you planned for me?"

"Let yourself be surprised."

"Oh boy."

"I'm just joking! Well, I'm going shopping. In the meantime, look around, alright? We won't be staying long, so be sure to check out what this place has to offer."

"Not long? But we just got here!"

"We'll come back later, I promise. So, enjoy the tour, just don't be talkative; people here are weird."

"I can handle weird people. You should see the ones in my village."

"Not like these, trust me. Can I count on you to stay out of the trouble?"

"Yes."

"Perfect. I'm going now. Give me 30 minutes, top."

With a kiss on his cheek, she left him completely alone in a foreign place, filled with unknown people. Karin was truly worried leaving him alone here like that, but he was sure that if she knew what he went through back home, she probably wouldn't have been.

Marco's biggest problem was figuring out where to go first. 30 minutes was nowhere near enough time to fully take in the atmosphere of this place, and he wanted to go everywhere at once. He decided to just roam randomly from place to place. He only hoped that somehow he'd stumble across only the most interesting things.

Polarity Pier was a both pier and city, which was a fascinating combination. The buildings were of various shapes, sizes and colors. They weren't very tall, but there were a lot of them, densely packed next to each other. Closer to the sea it resembled more of the former, of course, but merchants and buyers were basically all over the place. Which begged the question of how ordinary citizens managed to comfortably live here considering the various types of people roaming the streets and the, well, plethora of interesting smells.

As he was walking through narrow streets of this culturally rich place, Marco noticed the things merchants were selling. Some of them had different kinds of fishing tools, or spare parts for ships, but most of them were selling seafood and that's what caught his interest. Weirdly enough, fish formed only a fraction of the menu. The majority of fresh food offerings were so fresh that plenty of them were still moving. He didn't recognize many of them. He felt like a little boy again, when his mother was was telling him stories of mysterious creatures roaming the sea and land. He could stare at them for the rest of the time he had left, if it hadn't been for the soothing music that caught his attention.

At first he thought it was one of the musicians wandering the streets. But none of them seemed to be producing those hypnotic tones. He was drawn to them like an insect to light. The street was crowded and packed, so trying to find the source of it was quite difficult. But he was determined to find it no matter what. He tried to close his eyes and focus, but with so many people walking around him, some of them decided to go right through.

"Stop standing in the middle of the street, you stupid kid!"

Marco was sent to the dirty ground. It was wet. And smelly. He immediately wanted to get back up, but while he was still down, he noticed a strange shimmering light coming from under one of the tables. It was faint, however, it was also unmistakeable thanks to its ruby red color. Furthermore, nothing else in this place had or was in this specific color. What were the chances of hearing strange music and seeing even more strangely colored light at the same time in a place like this?

He stood back up and squeezed through the thick row of people to the merchant's table. Strangely, it was empty; no one was selling anything. But there was something else behind it. A really narrow alley leading somewhere. No one else seemed to either take notice of or care about its glimmering light, only him. Marco didn't think twice and jumped over the table to investigate where was this road led.

It was so cramped he barely fit between the two buildings. Whatever was left intact of his fancy attire was now being shredded by the sharp plaster on the walls. He didn't think further about that. The music was getting louder and light brighter, so he kept going forward.

After few more meters he managed to reach the end. He was now standing in a square shaped court. When he looked back the way he got there, he noticed that the street wasn't visible anymore - the alley was clouded by a red haze. It just didn't matter though, because he was here and the music was now crystal clear. He turned right and saw the entrance to a small house. Its warm red light emanated from within and drew him closer and closer. The fact that the place defied logic was of no consequence to him. The only thing that mattered was his curiosity leading him to get inside. And so he did.

To his surprise the interior didn't correspond with what he saw from outside. Because from there it really looked like a house, but from inside it resembled a salon. A neatly and comfortably done salon. To his disappointment, the music was now silent and coming somewhere from behind the curtains in the back. But the music wasn't the only thing that came from there.

"Please, sit down, I'll be right with you."

He wasn't sure why, but he did it right away without questioning like an obedient dog. He sat behind a medium sized round table with a red tablecloth and a red lamp in the middle. Come to think of it, he now realized that pretty much everything around him was colored red at least to some degree. One would think that this overwhelming display of red color should be unnerving, but he hadn't recalled feel this calm in his entire life.

He didn't have to wait for long, though. The person to which this voice belonged came from behind the curtains shortly after he took a seat. He had no idea who the speaker was, mostly because their entire body was covered in a cloak reaching to the ground. Only a small part of his or her face was visible.

"And how can I help you today?" the voice was clearly female.

"Excuse me?"

The mysterious girl sat behind the table at the opposite side.

"How can I help you? That is why you came, is it not?"

"I… I'm not sure."

"So you just wandered here?"

"Maybe? I don't really know, I just heard music."

"Oh, you mean this music? This is just some old cheap record I bought years ago."

"Years? But you sound so young."

"Does it really matter?"

"Well… No."

"You came to me for help. My age isn't relevant in this matter."

"I told you, I-"

"You said many things, but you still haven't asked me any questions."

"Who are you?"

The girl laughed. "No, this isn't how this works. I am here to help you. What would my answer to your inquiry accomplish?"

"Well, for starters I would feel more comfortable knowing with whom it is I am speaking."

"Is it really that important to you?"

"Yes."

"Very well then."

She took down her hoodie and Marco saw… a completely unknown girl.

"You seem disappointed," noted the girl. "Did you expect someone else?"

"I'm not sure. What is your name?"

"Marco, you keep trying to figure out who I am. Even if I told you that, it wouldn't help you in any way."

"Wait, how do you know my name?"

"You don't expect a girl to reveal all her secrets, now do you?"

"But-"

"Just ask your question already. I also have other customers, you know."

"I don't understand."

"Really? You had this question in your mind ever since you met your wife this morning."

"How did you…?"

"Ah-ah-ah! Ask the question."

"I'm not sure I should. I mean, I am supposed to trust my wife."

"Ask it!" She was now demanding.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Sigh. Look, yes, you are right that you should trust your wife, but do you know what else is also true? Doubts like these will slowly eat you from within and I guarantee you that it will destroy your marriage. Now, ask the question."

"Okay, fine! Sheesh. What-"

"Yes?"

"Ever since I knew Karin she had problems expressing her emotions, and while she has improved a lot over the years, especially since she got pregnant, today she was so… direct. As is if she never had any issues to begin with. So, my question is: is something wrong with my wife?"

The girl slowly smiled. But that wasn't the smile of a friendly face. "I'm glad you asked."

Suddenly, everything around them went away. There were no lights around them, no music, no objects to recognize. Only perpetual darkness. But that wasn't the only thing that changed.

"YOU!" Marco shouted as the girls face now was of the girl from his nightmares. The single lamp that remained on the table was illuminating her blond hair. "What did you do?!"

"I tried to warn you, even show you what could you have, but since that didn't work, I will show you the truth behind your precious wife instead. She might have a strong grip on you in this realm, but she can't hide from her own past. The shadows are long and run deep."

"I won't allow you to take this away from me!"

"After all you went through, you still keep giving me the credit of taking something from you? Marco, you're doing this to yourself and at this point even willingly. I am here only because a small part of you is calling out for help. Somewhere deep down you have been begging for help all of this time."

"Lies! I'm perfectly happy! I have everything I ever wanted!"

"Is that so? Tell me, Marco, can you describe to me exactly your childhood memories?"

"I- I was-"

"Go on, don't let me stop you."

"NO! This is all your doing! You have somehow clouded my memories."

"Her grip is really strong, but not indestructible. Here," she pointed with her finger at doors behind him, "you can enter those doors and learn the answer to your question."

"This is another of your tricks."

"It might be. You can not really be certain. Then again, what are your alternatives? Stay here and keep shouting at me for every discomfort you have ever experienced? I'm giving you the chance to go home. To your… family."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm giving you the option to choose. The decision is up to you."

Marco looked behind him at the door and then back at the blond girl. She was giving him the freedom of choice, yes, but those choices weren't black and white.

"Tick-tock, Marco. Make a decision. Now!"

Meanwhile at the market square, Karin returned with a bag filled with stuff almost to the top. It looked quite heavy, but this wasn't the place where people would offer a pregnant young girl help with groceries, nor did said girl even want such help. This place was an excellent place to shop as long as you minded your own business.

She didn't expect Marco to be here on time, so she gave him an extra 10 minutes. But even after that he was nowhere to be seen. She tried to look around in the crowd, but that was a fruitless endeavor; unless he decided to wear a giant colorful peacock-feathered hat, even his mother wouldn't be able to find him here. She could try to shout his name, but that would bring the undesired attention of people around her. And even though she did have her sunshade with her, its effectiveness thanks to her advanced pregnancy would be questionable at best.

So a girl in her condition, dressed in fancy clothes, with groceries in one hand and sunshade in another, decided to search for her missing husband in crowded streets of people you wouldn't want to invite even to tea party. What could go wrong? Not what she expected, as it turned out.

"You really do take this very seriously."

A familiar voice came from somewhere within the crowd. She didn't have any trouble finding the person who spoke, though, no one else was wearing a blood red dress.

"I should have known it was you."

"Me?"

"Where is Marco?"

"Oh, you mean that. Well, you know, he went on a visionary quest, or something like that."

"Bring him back! He is mine!"

"Is he now?"

"This debate is pointless. You are in my realm. You can't possibly hope to achieve anything."

"That's where you're wrong. This was your creation, yes, and I couldn't do much, but you see, you made one tiny, but grave mistake." Star raised her hand and with a single snap of her fingers she made all of the people disappear. "You perverted his mind to achieve your own petty goals, but that's not why you brought him here. I mean, the only place your dear husband ever wanted to visit? Come on, you don't do that for your prisoners. Such gestures are meant for people you actually care for. And you do care for him, isn't that right… Eclipsa?"

Karin raised her wand and prepared herself.

"This changes absolutely nothing!" she yelled. "I want you out of here and this time I'll make sure that you'll stay out!"

The girl brought up her own wand. "Show me what you've got."

Laar was just leaving the kitchen, or rather a place that at some point in time was a kitchen and he went to Eclipsa's bedroom. As usual at this time of day, he was bringing two cups of hot tea to her and to that… meat bag. He was angry, to say the least. To Eclipsa he was just a helper and that was just on her best days. Still, deep down he had hoped that their shared history meant something, anything to her. But the moment this boy came into the picture, he was degraded to a mere servant with no purpose in his life. He decided to endure it, though. He kept saying to himself that Marco was just there as a means to an end and that's all. There were no other intentions, no hidden agenda, nothing else. He was just a tool. With everything that went down recently, however, he started to ask himself who in this scenario was the real tool?

Such doubts had been constantly occupying his mind for some time now and he was trying his hardest not to allow himself to be consumed by them. So far he was quite successful with his efforts in this regard. But this ratio of success was about to turn upside down.

He stood in front of the doors leading to her private chamber and, as usual, wanted to announce himself by knocking on the doors. This time, however, he felt that something was… off. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, since his understanding of magic was basic at best. The air had this highly distinct, moist and strangely scented air, almost exactly the same as what he felt back down in the old library. The question was why would he sense it here? It's not like Eclipsa kept a massive stash of old books in there. Sure, she liked to read, but her own private study was elsewhere and even then it was filled with relatively new books. So why did he suddenly feel like the walls had eyes?

The smell wasn't the only thing that was strange. The air reeked of dusty old paper, yet there was one more sensation that he definitely did not think he should have been experiencing - the air was charged. Laar felt slight tingling sensation on his skin. It was the same sensation he experienced every single time Eclipsa used her magic. The prospect of the idea of her going abrakadabra in her own bedroom with the boy was unsettling. Still, nothing of this changed that he still had tea to deliver.

So he opened the doors and witnessed something truly horrifying, yet strangely fascinating. Eclipsa was standing above the boy, looking down at him. His fascination stemmed from the objects levitating around them. They were regular items that had surely been resting on shelves or tables before, but were now floating in circles. There was also this faint combination of colors that were intertwining in the middle between them: red from his body and purple from hers.

He wasn't sure what to do, or that he should do anything at all. Strange and unknown situations weren't his scenario for repartee. The first thing he decided to do was to put the tray with cups on the nearby table. As soon as it left his grip the objects started to levitate.

"Oooookay…"

He observed both of them from a little closer now. Marco seemed calm, laying there in her bed with just a blanket over his naked body. Eclipsa, on the hand, was a different story. She was looking directly into Marco's eyes without a single blink. The amount of focus she was pulling off was immense. But there was also a look that displayed mix of anger and trouble on her face. And while he couldn't be sure, it seemed to him that her facial expression was slowly getting more strained.

He stepped back a little and scratched his head. "Now what?"

In what seemed to be only a nanosecond, Eclipsa grabbed Laar's arm and looked piercingly deep into his eyes.

The moment he stepped outside the doors, he began to question his decision. Wherever he now found himself, it was dark, cold and wet. Actually, it wasn't that far off from the air in the pier. This one however felt somewhat different. Heavy.

"Damn, I can't see anything in here. And what is this stuff my feet are digging into? It had better not be what I think it is…"

Marco tried to search for a way out of this with his hands, which led to some unpleasant bruises. Luckily, after the adjustment period, his eyes were able to pick up the faint light coming from somewhere in front of him. But unable to see anything between it and his current position, he could only hope to reach it without falling into that nasty stuff he was standing in.

"OK, so, small and careful steps. One at a time. Slooooowly…"

As if something under him could blow up in his face, he tried to cross over to the light as safely as possible. The cold air was making it difficult, as his body started to shake from the lack of warmth.

"This better not be some snowy hole!"

After a minute he reached the spot through which light was shining through. Judging from the small area that was revealed in the sun's light, he concluded the thing he was standing in front of was another door.

"What's up with her obsession with doors…"

He tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge.

"Oh no you don't!"

Tux or no tux, he leaned on the door and shoved. They resisted at first, but eventually gave way and fell apart under his force. Marco fell outside to the ground which he was trying to avoid. Thankfully, it was mud free. After he brought himself back up, he observed that it was also void of any living beings. Unless he accounted for trees. Green, tall and pleasant-smelling trees grew tightly near each other. And yet, the air was so chilled that he could see his own breath.

"Where the heck am I?"

Also, his tux was replaced with ordinary cloths.

"What the…?!"

He turned back and noticed that the building he just left was now for the most part buried under mud. Whatever it had once been, nature claimed it long time ago.

"Now what? She told me I'll learn what might be wrong with Karin, but all I can see is thick forest. I expected a vision, or something. HEY!" he yelled at trees. "This is not what we agreed on!"

"Hey!"

He hoped that she would answer him back, but the voice that responded to him didn't belong to her. It did, however, belong to someone he knew. He tried to pinpoint its source, but barring the endless line of trees, he couldn't see anything or anyone else.

"I'm behind you."

Marco turned back to the house once more and on top of it he saw her standing there.

"Karin?"

Polarity Pier was made of two parts: the bigger outer ring, where common folks could shop in relative safety, and smaller inner ring, to which people went only when they needed to obtain something more special and were willing to die for it. That part was never filled with people roaming the streets; it was occupied by persons with shady intentions. But right now, there were a lot folks who went there to hide from the rampaging maniacs destroying their livelihoods.

"Is that all you got?!" Karin shouted to the smoking rubble across from what used to be the town square.

Almost everything around was in ruins or heavily damaged, covered by either dust or burning flames. Those who weren't fast enough to escape them found their last rest there. The majority of Polarity Pier was now a cemetery.

Despite logical expectations, someone did in fact survive under that rubble on the other side. The girl in red arose from underneath it all like it was made of paper. She cleaned the thick dust of her green dress and descended back to pavement.

"Witch, the only reason you're still talking to me is because I'm holding back."

"HA! You must really desperate if you need to gloat right now when I have the upper hand!"

"You still don't get it, do you? I control the scenario. You hit me with everything you have and look at me: not a scratch. Do you really think you're in charge here?"

Karin pointed her wand at her and blasted her away with massive energy beam. One of the few buildings that still managed to withstand everything else up to this point was now reduced to ash. "Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you from over there!" Silence followed the destruction. There were people yelling somewhere behind houses that were still standing, but girl's snappy repertoar was absent. "That's what I thought."

But despite her expectations, she did hear movement coming from directly where she blasted girl off. And indeed, when the dust began to clear, Karin saw her still standing there.

"Argh! What does it take to keep you down?!"

"Why are doing this?" the girl calmly asked.

That calmness caught Karin by surprise. "What? I want you gone!"

"Why?"

"Marco is mine!"

"Why?" With every question she was getting closer to her.

"Didn't you hear me?! He is mine!"

"Why?" Her persistent questioning was confusing Karin.

"Stop with these stupid questions!"

"Why?" Her voice was almost unnatural.

"Stop it!"

"Why?"

"Stop!"

"Why?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE HIM!"

Even Karin was surprised how loud she yelled that. After that, every noise, every sound, every movement stopped. All except for the girl, who now was staring at her without a single blink and with emptiness in her face.

"What?" Karin asked herself.

In the blink of an eye, the girl moved to her and firmly grabbed her hand.

"How does it feel to be a pawn in your own creation?"

Karin tried to release herself from her grip, but the girl stood there like a rock. "What the…?!"

"Your own feelings for the boy will be your doom, Eclipsa. You created this realm in order to manipulate him, but that requirement no longer applies."

Star tightened her grip. "Ouch! Let me go!"

"You made a mistake. But don't worry - I'm here to rectify that mistake. Your dear husband deserves to know the truth about who you really are. About the dark secrets you conveniently left out from the narrative."

"No…" For the first time ever, a pure horror was in Karin's eyes.

"Come. A date with destiny awaits you."

"No!"

Laar was expecting that Eclipsa would do, or at least say something. And it looked like she was going to, but alas she was now looking at him with a bottomless stare. By the looks of things, it didn't look like this would change anytime soon; the smell subsided, as well as all the weird lighting in the room. It was calm and silent once again. As if the bigger problems were yet to start.

And indeed, shortly after this thought cross his mind, something else, but far stranger started to happen.

"What the…?"

The once faint red glowing that was previously coming from his body now abruptly erupted and wrapped around Eclipsa's motionless body like a snake. There were here and there some weak purple spots, but they vanished as quickly as they appeared. It almost looked like Eclipsa was trying to fight back, fruitlessly.

Laar has no idea what he was witnessing and the truth was that he was actually scared. It was true that he had utmost respect for Eclipsa simply because she had the power to turn him into dust, but he knew where his place was. This was different: a completely unknown situation without a clear solution. The big unknown. He tried to tear Eclipsa from the red grip, but after short contact with the red light he burned his hand.

It was now clear to him: something far more powerful has overtaken Eclipsa. And when that something was done with her, it would most likely not stop there. It would surely go after her henchman. Which is to say it would be after him. A poor soul with a misguided sense of loyalty.

"THAT'S IT! I've had it! I ain't gonna stay here and wait for my own death! This was a bad idea from the start and she should have listened to me. This is her problem now. I'll try my luck on my own." He looked at Eclipsa one last time. "Thanks for nothing." And with these final words he left her at the mercy of this weird red thing.

"Karin?"

The figure he was gazing at was standing on top of what used to be a house. The female figure was staring back at him with a mixture of amazement and confusion.

"Excuse me?"

Now Marco was confused as well.

"What?"

"Are you okay, boy?"

"Boy?"

At this point it was hard to tell who was more confused. Both were trying to figure out each other, though she had an upper hand in it.

"Oh, I see," she stated in a calm, almost soothing voice as she descended down to him. "You must be lost, aren't you?"

"Lo-lost? Well…" Marco realized that he had no clue where he was and his reason for being here wasn't all that clearer either. "I actually might be lost. But Karin, why-"

"Why are you calling me that?"

"What?"

"Karin."

"Uhm, because it's your name?"

She kept looking at him trying to determine if was being serious, or just making fun of her.

"Riiiight. Listen, you're obviously confused and lost, because trust me, no sane person would want to come here."

"What are you talking about? I know who you are. And you know who I am!"

"Look, I was willing to be nice to you at first because you look really cute, but…" She froze. She obviously had not planned to say that out loud. "Whatever, I am your queen and I'm telling you to get out of here."

"But I told you several times that you're my queen and technically speaking you are, but I don't understand how is this-"

"OK, now you're just being creepy. You have 5 seconds to return back to your home or I'll send you there!"

"Will you stop that already?!"

"4."

"This is not funny anymore!"

"3."

"You can't be serious!"

"2." At this point she pointed her sun shade at his chest.

"STOP IT!" He grabbed her hand.

"Oh, you didn't just do that!"

With one short zap she send him flying several meters away. Hi hit the ground with loud thud sound.

"One last warning: go back home or I'll make you to go there!"

Marco was wallowing in pain in the dirt. His moaning was the only answer she wanted to hear from him.

"Go home!" she yelled back at him. "This is no place for kids!"

"Ugh! I never thought marriage could be this painful." He carefully stood up and looked around. Karin was nowhere to be seen. "What was that about? Did I forget about our anniversary or something? Wait… No, this has to be it! That girl told me I would find out what happened to my wife. I'm going after her. I need to know."

He wanted to follow her, however he was clueless as to where she went. He didn't know this place, so going anywhere could very easily end up him being hopelessly lost. That said, he didn't have a choice. If he really wanted to learn the truth about her, he had to at least try.

To his surprise, and relief, he found a poorly maintained footpath leading deeper into the forest. By the looks of it, it wasn't being used very often, if at all. There was no guarantee she used it as well, but without a single idea clue otherwise, it was the only lead he had. With only a little faith in a positive outcome for this whole situation, he decided to follow the path to whatever place it led.

But after a while it was clear to him that he could follow it for hours and still would not see her; he was utterly lost. There weren't land markings he could use to determine where he was or where he was going. Everything looked the same, everything sounded the same. Whatever amount of distance he had traveled, it felt as if he hadn't moved at all.

"This is unbelievable! I came here for Karin and not only has she acted as if she didn't recognize me, she even ditched me and now not only can I not find her, I don't even know where I am!" Marco took a deep breath and yelled "THIS IS NOT WHAT I AGREED TO!" He listened to the silence of the forest. Nothing had changed. "Bah, who am I kidding. It's not like the trees can talk."

Indeed, the trees didn't say a word. Lacking anything at all to fix his senses on, the feeling of failure was slowly crushing down on him. There was nothing else he could do to fix this situation. Karin might have been kilometers away, or just behind that tree a few meters away. He wasn't sure about anything anymore.

"Why must things like this keep happening to me?" he asked himself aloud. "Didn't I suffer enough? Do I really ask so much of life?"

Maybe it was his helplessness, or maybe the forest just couldn't stand his whining. Whatever the case, soon after that, an unusual buzzing sound appeared behind him. It was faint at first, but was approaching at quite a rapid pace.

"Huh? What's that sound?"

Marco turned his head and what he saw made him unsure how he should react. By the amount of sound that was emanating he expected something… well, bigger. What he witnessed instead was a small red dot flying kind of erratically, but surely towards him. Unless of course there was something invisible standing right behind them, which, at this point, wouldn't surprise him much.

For a brief moment he thought about running away, but then he realized - why bother? Finally there was something happening and he didn't feel like an abandoned toy in the middle of nowhere. Whatever this thing was and whatever intentions it had, it was better than just aimlessly roaming this forest.

When it got close enough, he realized that he recognized the thing.

"Wait, is that… a firefly? Since when fireflies make noise?"

The small creature kept circling around him like he was a shining light bulb. As it was dancing in the air, the buzzing slowly changed from buzzing to gentle whistling. It was so soothing he actually started to feel better.

"What are you?"

He tried to touch it, but it was too fast. Up and down, left and right. Clearly, this thing never heard of a proper flight plan.

"Well, not that I don't appreciate your company, but unless you can show me where Karin is, you won't do me much good."

Maybe it understood him. Maybe that little thing decided he was just too damn ugly. In any case, the firefly sped up its circling and at great speed whooshed away throughout the forest. It left small red sparks in its wake, illuminating what appeared to be a path.

Marco was standing there in awe a good minute. "Wait, did it… Is that… Damn! I should complain more."

With nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, he decided to follow the trail of breadcrumbs. He wasn't sure if he would really find Karin this way, but he also didn't want to just keep helplessly roaming this place with a minimal chance of success.

Luckily, the path wasn't complicated, though the surroundings, while mellow, were unbearably sterile and boring. It was like watching a short part of a movie on loop endlessly. Nothing of interest ever showed up, just the same scenery repeating itself over and over. While it felt easy when he got here, that feeling was quickly fading away.

Thankfully, it didn't take that much longer until he spotted her roaming among the trees. Seeing her again made him feel happy and relieved. Perhaps that was why he thought she was moving almost like a deer - silently and with dignity.

"Wow…"

He was preparing to call her name, but stopped himself just as he opened his mouth.

'Hmm. Our previous encounter didn't go as I expected. And unless some miracle happened in the meantime that would make her to remember me, I doubt it would go any better this time. I need to- Whoa!'

Marco focused his sight to the spot he saw her in just a second ago.

"Where did she go? She was just there!"

He looked behind. He kind of expected that firefly to show up. But it was gone, as well as the red sparks that showed him the way.

"Well, I guess this is it then."

Determined, if also a bit scared, he followed Karin to the place where she disappeared. When he reached it, he was surprised, because from afar it looked like there was just another wall of trees, but when he got closer, he noticed that what looked like a wall were in reality trees stacked up close to each other. Which was strange on its own, because it broke the land's usual configuration. He also noticed that this so-called wall was running in what looked like a perfect circle.

"Weird. Huh, what's this?"

As he was inspecting it, he noticed that a single tree was missing, creating an entrance of some kind. In it was a crooked path flanking by trees on both sides. Whatever this wall was and wherever this path led was of no consequence to him; Karin had to take this road and that's where he was supposed to go.

Marco wasn't claustrophobic, but he had this unsettling feeling that those huge towering trees could squeeze to him to death in a second. There wouldn't be much left of him after that and he was sure that they'd soak up his blood like a tasty drink. They were giving him the creeps.

He was in luck though, as daylight marked the path's end. The sunlight gently touched his face and he felt all of his worries leaving him behind in that creepy place. He was now standing at the edge of a sunny meadow. It was quite small and without a single flower between the scarce grass. It was not an overly cheerful sight, but Marco counted this to be a vast improvement from what he had just left behind.

That sight got even better when he saw Karin going toward what looked like ruins of some kind. Marco couldn't tell for sure from the distance, furthermore those few pieces of stone and wood were spread too thin and too erratically to make any sense of it. It had to be an important place though, because Karin was constantly looking around. It was as if she was expecting someone from within those small stones to jump out. Or something.

"What is she hoping to find?"

.

.

.

"What am I hoping to find here?" pondered a young Eclipsa. "This place is literally dead. There is no one here!" She stopped and look up at the sky. "Sheesh, girl. Listen to yourself. Just relax, you've got this. As you said, it's a dead place. Just do what you came here to do and you'll be home in no time. Your husband is waiting for you." She stopped talking for a while at the thought of what exactly was waiting for her back at home. "Yeah," she blushed.

Losing herself in her own thoughts was her specialty. At times she was even able to tune out during the Silver Bell Ball, which was a quite an achievement in her opinion. But this was the worst place possible to be doing it. So when she finally snapped out of it, she realized that not only she was now standing in the middle of the village's foundation, but also that she wasn't alone anymore.

She was sure that had to be nonsense. Her mother cut off this damned place from the outside world decades ago. Nothing could possibly survive that long without any resources. Not even them.

"No sir," she confirmed her own thought to herself. "I'm just imagining things, as usual." Eclipsa made a slow pirouette to check her surroundings. "Yep. Completely deserted. Hehe."

That nervous chuckle wasn't enough even for her own mind. Even though she was positive that there was no one in her vicinity, she had this uncomfortable feeling of a presence. Something was there with her and it was checking her with great interest.

"Oh, screw this!"

She firmly grabbed her sunshade wand and raised it above her head.

"By the power of Helia, illuminate this forsaken land!"

The sun crystal on top of her wand lit up like a thousand stars and set every square meter of the land ablaze.

Except for a small flake hidden in the shadow of an old tree.

"What the…?!"

In the blink of an eye, it spread in every direction, raised up and encased her in a pitch black dome. Her wand was still doing its magic, but it was lost in this dark realm. The only thing that was coming from the abyss was a sinister laugh.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

She intended to sound fierce, but the laughter got even louder.

"Foolish little brat. What did you hope to achieve with that glowing stick of yours?"

Now that she could hear the actual sound of the voice, she wished it would start laughing again.

"U-Uhm, we-well, I came here- I c-came here to check on the Shadowy Meadows."

"So you came to check on us?"

"U-us?"

There are some question that are better left unasked. After Eclipsa asked for clarification, dozen of whispers where coming from all around her. She didn't need to hear that.

"We appreciate that you decided to visit us. Your mother left us here alone. We found that to be rude." A short moment of heavy silence followed. "But we are patient people. We were waiting for you the whole time."

"M-me?"

Eclipsa's will was now fading away and with it Helia's Light.

"My child, do you really think we'd willingly stay in this hole just for nostalgia's sake? The moment Hekatia died, her magic died with her and there was nothing left to hold us here. Except, of course, for your arrival."

A dark purple tentacle spankingly attached itself around her wand and ripped it off of her hand. It let it be on the ground without any interest in doing anything to it beyond snatching it away. The wand itself however started to transform, with brightness and sunshine being replaced with darkness and deep purple.

"We knew we wouldn't be able to take revenge on her. But we expected her offspring to give us some entertainment. You though…"

Eclipsa was watching with pure terror in her eyes at the sight of her wand being changed.

"You are a disappointment."

With the last of the light gone, there was nothing to left protect her anymore.

"AAAAAAAAAA!"

.

.

.

Marco couldn't understand what he was witnessing. At first, she was looking around as if she was expecting some vicious animal to jump on her. And then this dark bubble came out of nowhere and enveloped her. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't have to be a master in magic to know that it was bad.

So, being the exemplary husband that he was, he went to inspect it. A voice in the back of his head was telling him that this had to be the dumbest idea he'd ever head, but he didn't pay attention to it. That was his wife in there and he'll be damned if he was going to let any harm come to her.

"AAAAAAAAAA!"

Too late.

"Karin? Karin! KARIN!"

He started to run and yell at her, but to no avail. Even before he could reach the dome, it exploded outward into its surroundings. The shock wave tossed him back to the edge of the meadow and painfully smashed his back against the trees. He tried so hard not to lose consciousness. With every ounce of focus he had in him, he managed to stay awake. Though it took him a while to recognize where he was laying.

"Karin?"

His voice was weak and barely audible. Even the grunts of pain he was making while trying to stand back up were louder than his calling for his wife.

"Karin!"

But it was slowly coming back to him. First voice and then his vision. He was able to see that Karin was laying where the dome just was and she didn't seem to be moving at all. The pain in his joints was still big enough to prevent him from walking properly, but it was not big enough to keep him from running toward his love. He was pushing his body to it's limits just to to be reunited with Karin.

"I'm coming!"

After what felt like an eternity to him, he reached her motionless body.

"Karin, dear! Can you hear me? Wake up! Karin!"

He was constantly shaking her body, but to no avail. She wasn't dead, or otherwise visibly hurt in any way, just deeply sleeping. He then noticed her wand laying right next to her and it looked… different. Certainly not friendly.

"What happened to you?" Marco caressed her forehead. "Why won't you wake up?"

Just as he finished his thought, she suddenly woke up and gasped for air.

"Karin!"

She was desperately trying to breathe, but something was obviously choking her.

"What's wrong? You can't breathe? How can I help?"

When their eyes met, he saw a pure horror deep in her purple eyes. Even he was startled.

"I don't know what to do!"

She turned around and started violently coughing. It sounded like something was inside of her and she was desperately trying to get it out. It took her a few seconds, but a black goo started to drip out of her mouth. And even after it landed on the ground, it continued to move. Marco was watching this scene with great disgust. After four more coughs it seemed like she had expelled all of it. She started to breathe normally and her spasms subsided.

"Are-are you alright?"

Karin looked at him, still scared, but also confused. As if she was trying to determine something.

"It's me - Marco. Your husband, remember?"

Apparently she wasn't convinced, because she slowly raised her hand and carefully touched his face, expecting it to explode upon contact.

"You?" she whispered.

"Yes! Oh my, yes! You remembered!"

"I do remember. You're that kid I found back in woods."

"What? No! I'm Marco - your husband!"

"My what? Don't be ridiculous, my husband is back home waiting for me. Wait…" A crippling fear sneaked back in into her eyes. "My baby!" She quickly touched her belly. "No no no no…!"

"What? Is something wrong with Corona?"

"I don't- OH THANK MEWNI!"

"What?"

"She kicked! She's fine!"

"Oh, what a relief!" sighted Marco. This was the first time he was worried for both of them.

"Hold on."

"Now what?"

"How can you know her name?"

"Uhm, hello, her father speaking."

Karin quickly stood up and backed away from Marco.

"You stand back from me!"

"What? No, why… Why are you acting like this? What is this place?"

She swiftly grabbed her wand from ground and pointed it at his chest.

"I'm the one asking questions here!"

It was then that she noticed some rather radical changes on the wand. Instead of being it a sunshade, now it was an umbrella with a dark tint and the sun crystal was replaced by a purple eye with a moon crescent on top.

"What is this?"

"You're asking me?! I don't know anything anymore!"

"Isn't it obvious by now?"

Karin looked behind and shockingly saw Hekatia standing there - alive and well.

"M-mom? But… how? You died two days ago! "

Marco didn't see anyone. "Who are you talking to?"

"Look at yourself. I don't even recognize you anymore."

"What do you mean? It's still me, mom - Eclipsa!"

This name, while unknown to Marco, made him feel uneasy for some reason. Probably because she was referring to herself in this name.

"I left a successor to a throne, not an abomination with a bastard child."

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"Oh, so you think I should be proud of what you did here?"

"Wha- I wasn't prepared for any of this! You refused to help me to understand dark magic!"

"Because I didn't want you to end up like me. But I can see now that I have failed."

"You aren't my mother. You can't be!"

"You still don't believe me? Well then, maybe you'll accept your failure from the mouth of your own daughter."

"What?"

From the shadows behind her, another figure came into the evening light.

"Hello, mother."

"Who… are you?"

"You don't recognize your own flesh and blood? Are you really that self-centered?"

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't. The only thing you ever understood was your own damn pleasure without thinking about others. Not even your own family."

"This can't be! My Corona wasn't even born yet!"

"Karin?" Marco tried to talk to her, but the girl now wasn't even reacting to her name anymore.

"Are you sure about that?"

"What do you…" Eclipsa looked down at her belly. If there ever was any child, it was now gone without any trace of pregnancy. "NO! NOOO!" She was frantically touching his tummy, trying to find her unborn child.

"Aww, so you are capable of deep emotions after all. Too bad you didn't show them to me or to my dad while he was still alive."

"GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!" She tried to hit Corona, but her wand went directly through.

"You know, there was a time I wished I wasn't even born. But then I met my husband and later had my own child and they made my miserable life worth living again. But hey, don't take my word for it. Ask her yourself."

And just as Hekatia before her, from the dark corner came Solaria. Eclipsa fell down to her knees and started to sob.

"Give her back!"

"You're pathetic. Unworthy of leading Mewni. It was a good thing when the Magic High Commission came for you. You can count yourself lucky; you deserved far worse!"

"No… I lost… you. I lost everything."

Marco wasn't able to do anything other than continue watching her emotional breakdown. Something inside made him feel strangely okay with whatever it was that was happening.

"Eclipsa?" Marco asked again, this time with her real name, and finally the girl turned her tearful face up to him.

"I can't lose you too," she whispered.

All three queens raised their wands and aimed them at her head.

"You have failed as a daughter!" shouted Hekatia and her wand started to glow.

The ground started to shake.

"You have to believe me, Marco, I wanted to make you happy."

"You have failed as a mother!" shouted Corona and her wand started to glow as well.

"Why do I have so much trouble trusting your words?" answered Marco.

The skies turned dark and the land started to fall apart.

"You have failed as a queen!" shouted Solaria and her wand powered up.

A hand landed on Marco's shoulder. It was that blonde girl.

"It's time to go home, Marco. Star is waiting for you."

He looked down at the broken, defeated Eclipsa.

"I love you, Marco."

All three queens simultaneously shot her directly into her head and everything subsided into darkness.

A massive blast threw Eclipsa and Marco apart across her bedroom. While Marco was stopped by the wall next to the doors, Eclipsa landed on her wardrobe. The blast itself turned the room into a wreck. What before looked like a place to sleep in now more adequately resembled a junkyard.

Both of them had a hard time recovering from their encounters with stationary objects. For Marco though it was a lot worse. He spent so much time in a fictional dreamscape, brainwashed, manipulated and stripped of his own identity. Karin's Marco was gone and Star's Marco had to reassert himself back into this harsh reality.

Eclipsa had it easier, since she was the puppeteer for most of the time. The first thing she did wasn't to check her own bruises, but to check on Marco. And she saw how he was trying to crawl away.

"No. Marco, you can't - ouch - leave."

It was painful for her to stand up, but she had damn good motivation to try despite all the pain flowing throughout her body. Marco too was hurt in places he didn't know he had, but unlike Eclipsa, he was young and was able to recuperate rather quickly. Still, his crawling was neither fast nor coordinated.

"Marco. Stay. There." She had to breath deep after each word.

This time her request didn't go unnoticed.

"You shut your mouth!" yelled Marco back, while trying to crawl over fallen doors. "Keep your filthy hands of me!"

"You have to - listen to me!"

"I don't want to listen to anything you have to say!"

"I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Marco was now directly on top of the doors and making his way out, while Eclipsa tried unsuccessfully to reach him.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"You kidnapped me, brainwashed me, perverted my memories and RAPED ME!"

"Tha-that isn't true! It was you who wanted it!"

"Because I thought- Whatever! I'm going back to Star. I love her!"

That last sentence hit Eclipsa's nerve.

"No." She was surprisingly calm when she said it. "That's where you're wrong."

Marco was almost out of her ruined room, when the doors suddenly went up into the air.

"What the heck is this?!"

They slowly rotated so that he could clearly see Eclipsa. And her face was now pure darkness.

"I won't allow to leave me. I love you. And if you refuse to love me back, I'll make you!"

Out of nowhere, her wand entered her room and landed in her arms.

"YOU ARE MINE!"

A wave of dark purple energy emanated from the wand's crystal and covered everything from the manor itself to the Well and beyond. A blinding flash rippled for miles and practically screamed an ominous message to anyone close enough to see it. Something terrible is about to happen.

Chapter 14 was written by Terepin and edit by KuriyanBBQ.

Polaria, Hekatia and Helia belongs to jgss0109.