Tom paced around in his carriage for the past hour, the only place he didn't feel uncomfortable in at this time. If he goes home, his family is asking him about Mewni. If he goes to Mewni, the Priest bothers him! He thought about going to Earth, but then again he doesn't know anyone there. The party dimension? He has no one to party with! Ponyhead? Underworld no, she is too much!

However, that's the least of his problems at the moment. He left Mewni in shambles, to the point where a rebellion might start! His parents might be proud of that, but he is completely terrified. He doesn't know the Priest's intention fully, who knows what he could do to Star, and to everyone else on Mewni! If there's someone he couldn't trust, it's his own people, especially not someone higher up, like him.

"Argh, what do I do now?! Why did I listen to that dumb Priest in the first place?!" Tom spat angrily at nothing, his solitude the only thing he had for himself, or at least he thought so.

"Wow, dude! If you're going to set yourself on fire again, at least shout or something! I need to get my popcorn ready." A voice behind him spoke, making him almost jump out of his skin. He turned around to his mirror and saw a human girl smirking, staring right back at him with no signs of fear. She boldly made eye contact with the livid prince, going as far as staring directly at his third eye, uninterested in his status and stature even though she knew well who the demon was.

"And who are you supposed to be?" He gritted through his teeth, his fists planted firmly by his side.
"Janna." She replied monotonously, flicking a popcorn at the mirror as she ungracefully plopped down on a bean bag.
"And?" He asked after she threw some more popcorn at the mirror, seemingly ignoring all of his sharp glares and silent threats.
"And what?" She finally replied, after leaving Tom on a low boil for a full minute, her lips still curled up in an annoying smirk.

"Why are you calling me, human?! How do you even know how to use this?!" Tom's eyes went red as he stomped his foot, demanding her to listen to him. However, she just shrugged and swallowed a fistfull of popcorn again, taunting him further by chewing slowly.

"You know, for a very high and mighty demon prince, you have bad hearing. And I read fairy tales, I know how magical mirrors work, duh." She stated in a bold tone, her straight face not even twitching as his morphed into an even more insulted expression.

"How dare you-"

"So I heard that you have this cool flying demon chained to a carriage. I want to see that. Can you send it to me?"

"What? Wait, why-"

"Come on, I won't steal it! I only steal things from guys that don't practice spontaneous combustion." She persuaded him further, lifting her hands up in mock innocence as a smirk etched on her face widened. He was obviously against that idea, and went to shut off the call, when she said:
"If you let me see it I'll leave you alone, I promise. No more annoying Janna-human to spoil your day."

Tom just growled out a silent 'fine', ended the call, and sent his servant her way. He doesn't have the time to deal with this Janna girl, he needs to figure out what to do next, and not just with the Priest! Marco has been on his mind a lot lately, making him second guess his decision about sending him away. Maybe he can persuade the Priest to get him back, and put him in a dungeon or something. Yeah, Star might feel better when Marco comes back. Cheater on not, Marco is still someone she needs in her life, and as much as he hates to acknowledge it, Marco is a part of her somehow.

While Tom contemplated that thought, Janna wasted no time in using Tom's demon servant to her liking and climbed inside of the carriage the moment the beast set the massive crate down on her bedroom floor. The beast grunted in protest to her actions, at which she just winked with a seemingly innocent smile and said:

"Your Master is a fire-wielding demon monster prince of the Underworld, do you really think a human girl like me could do anything to him?"

"I don't know, women are pretty lethal..." He grumbled in a way that sounded more like a wild boar trying to speak than a human-like voice, but Janna still understood it. She laughed out in a small burst and replied: 

"I like you even more now, flying dude! Don't worry, I don't want to kill him yet. But next time I will for sure!"The beast just grunted again, his wings spreading wide as he lifted the carriage off the floor.

"Hey dude, name's Janna! You?" Janna yelled inside the crate, knocking on the ceiling in case the beast didn't hear her.
"Jimmy." He grunted again.

"Pleasure to meet ya Jimmy! Now take me to the Underworld!"

In the Underworld

After leaving the carriage, and with an earful of Jimmy's warnings, Janna stood atop a hill, awing the spectacular volcanoes and rivers of molten rock.

"Wow...I'm definetly going to college here, this place is even cooler than Salem!"

She breathed in the hot, dry air as she tied her green vest around her waist, the heat already becoming unbearable for her, but not that she minded. She bravely truged on the path to a large domed castle, covered in pitch black ash. She stared at the demons passing by with glee, feeling more at home here than on Earth. She giggled at the two demons brawling in the street, cooed at the cats set on fire by a small demon baby, and awed at the flying eyeballs passing by.

Finally, she arrived to the rusty old gate of the domed castle, only to be stopped by a voice similar to nails on a chalkboard.
"HALT! NO DEMONS CAN ENTER THROUGH THE SACRED GATE OF THE-"
"You know what, if I were a demon I'm not sure if I'd have laser-shooting horns or massive black wings. Hm, I don't know what's better..."
Janna interrupted the screeching gremlin sitting at her feet, seemingly conflicted by the matter.

"Wait, you're not-"
"Nope, acid breath. That's what I'd get." Janna snapped her fingers, satisfied by her decision.
"HAAAAAAAAAALT!!!" The gremlin screeched, making Janna finally look down at him with a disinterested look. His head was round and red like a tomato, sporting two black horns on top, and four eyes. His body seemed to be one big fluffy ball, with six legs coming out of it, adorned by two toes each. She could see a small, stubbed tail coming out of his back, with a red jewel on top of it.

"You are not a demon? What are you? How did you get here?"
Janna rolled her eyes, and with sarcasm lacing her voice, replied:
"No honey, my name is Janna Banana, I'm a witch from Earth."
"HALT! Oh what a great honour, a witch from Earth! And she even knows my name, such intelligence! What an honour to be hosting the first Earth witch that learned the incantation spell!" The gremlin bounced around her, the jewel at the tip of his tail buzzing with a low red glow.

"Wait, what?" Janna replied, confused.
"Your name is Honey?"
"Yes, yes! Oh my, you have such a prolific youth spell! And your magic power is hidden so well, you could have been mistaken for a human!" He laughed, bending forwards as if he had been told the best joke in the world.
"You would have been executed on the spot! But humans can never reach this place, they think magic doesn't exist. Psh, what idiots!" He laughed again, sounding incredibly pretentious. Janna was getting grumpy, she wanted in.
"Okay okay Honey, let me through.I wanna see what's the deal with this place."
"Why of course madame Banana! I will lead you to the stone straight away!" And before she had the chance to ask about it, he was off, making the gate open with a mighty creak.

The moment Janna stepped within the courtyard, the gates slammed shut fast, as if they were pushed by a strong force. The courtyard was no different to the outside world, except for a few dead weeds and bushes neatly stacked in the corners, all of their leaves brown and withered. She was walking on a scorched pathway, her feet sinking into soft ash, seemingly left undisturbed for a very long time. She saw no movement in the windows of the castle, no lights or shadows passing, even as a second set of gates opened for them, revealing a hallway the shade of velvet red. It's as if this place was abandoned in a rush, all riches untouched within.

"Honey, what is this place? Are you alone here?" Janna muttered, gasping at the chandeliers dangling above their heads. It seemed as if the candles lit in them burnt very bright, yet cast no rays on the black walls.

"Alone? I'm never alone madame, I got friends all around! Oh, I never wished you a proper welcome, silly Honey! Welcome to the Red Stone Castle, home of the Underworld mistery!"
"Let me guess, the red stone?"
"Indeed!" He chirped hapily as they walked down a flight of stairs, the torches on the walls seemingly casting no light on the wall and stairs even though they were freshly lit.

"Soooo... What's with the witch thing?"
"Madame Banana, are you testing my knowledge?" The small creature stopped, all of his four eyes narrowed in her direction.
"Uh, yes?" She shrugged, twidling her thumbs as she avoided eye contact.
"Ah, very well then! I haven't seen a witch in three hundred years, I should have expected an inquiry, I apologize for doubting you madame." He bowed, letting Janna see another red crystal poking out of his back, well hidden in the fluffy fur.

"Well then?" She raised an eyebrow and started tapping her foot, pretending to be annoyed at him, even though she didn't care much about it. Her plan was to explore and then get back home for lunch.
"O-oh, right. M-my apologies madame..."He stuttered a bit, before clearing his throat and puffing out his chest.
"In a time before the demon realm, the Underworld was a kingdom ruled by a different kind, a kind we know now as the Angels. The Angles were  very mysterious creatures, mostly stuck in their own worlds, not acknowleding anything that would try to come into contact in them. Well, that all changed when the first full Moon appeared in their sky. That was the birth of magic as we know it!"

He pipped and bounced as they reached a set of dark red doors, decorated by low-glimmering roses. He stuck his hands inside his fur, fumbling with something as he continued:
" However, before magic could be widely used, three spells, later known as Curses, were created. These Curses were so unbalanced, so strong and so destructive that the entire Angel kind had to split into three groups, mewmans, demon folk and humans. Now I don't know if the humans and the mewmans still care about, or even know about their Curses, but I can assure you..."

He pulled out an old, worn down key from his fluffy coat, so tiny and rusty that Janna thought it was a plain old nail at first. He bounced up to a key-hole, it looking more like a dent in the wooden frame than anything. He examined the hole and the key once more, before sticking the key into it, turning it six time to the left, eight times to the right, and then up.

The doors opened with a mighty creak, groaning from not being moved for centuries out of their spots. It took a full minute for them to open completely, then another minute for the dust risen from opening them  to settle.

"...That our curse is well maintained, madame." He finished his sentence with a snicker, and nodded in the direction of a single item in the huge room, a stone pedestal.
"Uuuhhh, what is this supposed to mean?" Janna blinked, trying her hardest to spot anything significant about this pedestal.
"HALT! I'll keep this part short, madame. These Curses are so primitive they need a physical form to exist! Our Curse took form of a red stone, and it's up to you to try and tame the magic!"

"Woah-what? Tame the magic?" Janna stopped in her tracks, frowning at Honey as he carelessly strolled to the pedestal.
"Yup yup! I won't bother you know, great madame Banana! I have some pesky demons to chase away at the gate! Good luck!" Without even letting her stop him, he quickly bolted through the door, it closing behind it at an astonishing speed. Why do all these doors close so fast?

Janna looked around the room, now used to the darkness. No windows, no decoration, no visible ceiling, just the pedestal. She was officialy stuck.
"Ugh, great. Now I have to tame some old Curse. It better not be some dumb transformation magic."
She marched up to the pedestal, determined to get home by dinner. The only thing that she could find there was, just as the name said, a bright red rock. Janna looked at it closely, and did what any human would do in her place, grabbed it.

If only she knew what would come next.

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And that's it! I haven't updated in a while, but I had surgery+ recovery time.

Thank you for your patience! Hope you like the story!

OceanFury