Prologue: "If you see him …"

? ? ?

The sound that cut through the sky was like the splitting of the earth.

A low and powerful boom resounded through the entire world, bringing with it a primal vibration of air particles that shook the surface of one's skin and dug down through muscle, then bone, then marrow, and which plucked at every nerve in the body at once. Fingers shook, chests tensed, skulls rattled. The brain itself seemed to quiver and buckle under the stress, creating splitting headaches, blurred vision, sickening nausea, and a deep, fundamental feeling of dread.

The boom was followed by a flash of light, and then the sudden shriek of rushing matter and strong suck of air, before the world rumbled again and grew disturbingly still.

Three figures, a male and two females, moved as quickly as they could through the rural outskirts of the town. The normally serene expanse of green plains, dotted with hills that sported curious eyes, was dark despite the noon sun that shined overhead. Powerful blusters of wind blew through the grasslands, making the greenery hiss dangerously, and debris and harsh dust whirled in the air. Two of the individuals were taller and clad in leather cloaks to protect their bodies, but the third—a red-spotted, female Toad brandishing a single spear with which to protect them—was scraped and cut on her exposed limbs and head.

All around them, chunks of the landscape glowed and imploded out of existence, battering their bodies with the booms, the shrieks, and the rushing of air as if into a vacuum, before growing still and irrevocably changed. As each patch of land underwent its monumental destruction, creatures erupted onto the scene—some benevolent and utterly confused, others bloodthirsty or simply aggressive.

"Enemies!" yelled the male as a horde of creatures made of stone charged towards them, a mixture of fear, bewilderment, and rage in their eyes. He held out his palm and let loose several blasts of energy that soared forward and lit dim air with their glows. Several of the foes were felled in quick succession, while others fled.

"Watch out!" the Toad cried, stabbing her spear fearfully at a few stragglers who had come too close. "A … a million things are coming from everywhere!"

The cloaked female leapt forward and hurled deadly projectiles, swiftly knocking the remaining foes unconscious. She edged over to the Toad, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's scary, Jan," she told her, "but we've got to hurry up. We're already running out of time real fast." The Toad apparently named Jan gulped and nodded, her expression terrified.

They ran again, and Jan looked to her two companions, hoods drawn closely over their heads. Their bodies were low, their legs pounding with effort as her own feet did.

She was afraid for them. A lot rested on their shoulders.

"We'll be okay, right …?" she asked them quietly. Neither of them answered; she decided to pretend they couldn't hear her over the wind.

Another boom, rush of wind, and flash, and more enemies rushed at them. Dozens poured out of a nearby stronghold this time, this group a mixture of frazzled humanoids and great, roaring beasts with sharp tusks and hanging trunks. The beasts bellowed and rushed them as one; the cloaked male responded by firing off a few blasts from his hand. The glowing projectiles hummed as they soared through the air before bursting almost harmlessly off the thick hides of the monsters.

The male gave a cry of alarm just quickly enough before one of the monsters jumped on his body, pressing him into the earth with its weight. The female figure cried out and hurled her weapons at it; they embedded themselves into its body, but did not move it.

The male pressed his palms against the underbelly of the beast and let forth a powerful blast of energy, hurling the squealing monster into the air before he leapt to his feet and staggered away from its landing place.

The two girls both took down a couple of the humanoid enemies, but sweat was beading on their heads. "There're too many!" the Toad yelled to her companions. "What … what are we going to do?"

"We've got to just go!" the female said.

The monster came back down to the ground with several sickening crunches; it laid there lamely as its various fellows rushed to its aid. More creatures were swarming in the air, circling every landlocked figure, and many other creatures simply ran around erratically, gripped by fear and confusion.

The beasts ran towards the trio, who all braced themselves for combat.

"Yaaaaargh!" said someone, their voice a high-pitched, broken shriek.

A dozen spears suddenly soared out of the air and came down upon the foes, peppering the monsters with the weapons' metal tips. A chorus of pained squealing erupted from every one; outnumbered, the beasts fled. The three of them staggered as the ground quaked under the monsters' footsteps, leaping out of their way as they departed.

Once their foes fled the three individuals found themselves face-to-face with a large band of Toads. Dozens and dozens of the tiny people surrounded them, some clad in robes, others not. All of them quivered with fear, from the tips of their toes to the tops of their mushroom cap heads. Many were picking spears off the ground, retrieving the ones that had missed their marks and hit the ground uselessly.

One of the Toads, one with yellow spots on her cap, waddled over to them as quickly as her feet could carry her, huffing and puffing the entire way. "Oooooh …" she groaned, directing her attention to the two cloaked ones. "Whooooaaaa nelly it sure took a long time to get to you guys! You're so fast! Do you have any idea how hard it is to run without legs?" Barely stopping for breath she motioned to her large, round feet, connected directly to the bottom of her torso. "It's really hard! I remember when I was in elementary school and we would all do races for gym class. And I remember always losing against the Koopas, and I always figured it was because, you know, they have legs!"

"Oh man!" Jan stepped forward enthusiastically. "I know what you mean! I remember one Christmas I asked Santa to bring me a pair of legs so I could run really fast and beat all the Koopas, and it was like, the only thing on the list at all. Haha, that sure was an awkward present! Mom really—"

"Yeah, uh, maybe we should talk about your silly leg problems later!" the cloaked female shouted to them both, exasperated. "Because I don't know if either of you noticed, but!" She motioned wildly to the world around her, and another boom that shook their bodies allowed her to rest her case.

"R-right!" The Toads gulped, and the yellow-spotted one turned to the rest of her fellows. "Come on guys! Let's protect these two!" The Toads erupted in a chorus of enthusiastic battle cries, brandishing their spears in their pudgy little hands.

With the horde of little mushroom people moving around them, everyone continued their run. While the ones in cloaks kept their eyes forward, Jan turned to look at her yellow-capped kin that came up beside her. "S-so!" the other Toad gasped mid-stride. "What's your story?"

"I'm Jan T.!" the red-capped one chirped. "I'm trying to keep these two safe."

"And they're going to stop all this?"

"Yeah!" Jan T. nodded. "I need to get them out of here, and they can fly off and find some help abroad, I guess. Then we can make all of this awful stuff stop happening!"

Another explosion made the entire group pulse like a wave as all the Toads groaned and covered their heads; no enemies appeared to attack them this time. "S-sounds good!" the yellow-spotted Toad gasped, visibly and audibly sickened by the chaos happening around them. "And uh … how are they going to go find help? Where are we taking you guys?"

"It is ahead," the male said suddenly, a pant escaping amidst his words.

The group stared into the distance—as they ran they could see a large building growing on the horizon. The building was undeniably solid metal and surrounded by a host of generators that even in the midst of the mayhem chugged along, creating power. Two eye-like windows peered at them from afar, but no lights were on inside them.

"We're close," the female said. Her breaths were quivering.

They approached the double doors to the building and the phalanx of Toads separated to let the two of them pass along with their Toad guard. The cloaked female approached the doors and knocked on them; there was no answer. She banged on them with her fist, making a dull thunk! sound with each strike. "Hello?" she shouted. "Anybody home?"

The male barked at her impatiently and pushed her aside. The palm of his hand glowed for a moment before he blew the doors in with a deafening shockwave that made all the Toads jump and scramble for cover. He walked inside.

The female frowned, visibly slighted. "No need to be rude …" Jan T. felt a pang of sympathy for her.

The inside of the building was dark and cold. The air was chilled, and the artificial, cool nip of the metal floor against even their soled feet made them tread slowly and carefully, their arms drawn close to their bodies. The whole place smelled sharp and clinical, an effect made subconsciously worse by the steady humming of the generators outside that subtly vibrated the walls of the complex.

Aside from that humming, all else was silent. Not a single thing moved in the darkness.

"It's tough to see," the female said quietly, squinting. "What are those machines doing if they can't light this place up?" The male remained silent, moving carefully through the rooms; even his silhouette was gripped by tension. He motioned to his companion and they continued.

They moved through the building, passing a wide variety of machines and other devices plugged into the walls by a multitude of cables both thin and thick. Still, the place was entirely empty, and its owner seemed to have gone. The three dreaded to think of what might have happened to him; had he simply disappeared, or …?

At last they approached an elevator, surrounded on both sides by cables running down the walls. Two large, metal doors remained closed before them, and above those doors was a large sign that displayed a single word in block letters: "LAB".

"The rest of this place isn't a lab?" Jan T. asked, raising her eyebrows.

The male pressed the button next to the doors and they immediately opened with a hiss, followed by a computerized voice made incomprehensible by static and pops. They stepped inside and pressed the only button within; the doors then shut, putting them in total blackness.

They descended smoothly, with nary a lurch of their stomachs. A few seconds passed before they felt yet another explosion from above, this one extremely close; they gripped their heads and staggered, and the entire shaft shook violently, rattling their teeth and making the elevator screech and groan. The computerized voice attempted to give them a warning, but its words were impossible to understand.

"I think that one took out a chunk of the building!" the Toad cried. "This is crazy!" Sweat beading on his forehead, the male patted a pocket beneath his cloak, taking comfort at the familiar weight inside it.

The cloaked female looked at her male companion. "You've gotta get out of here fast," she said, "or this whole place is going down with you in it." He nodded.

The elevator stopped at the bottom at last and opened its doors; an ever-so-faint light shone in, illuminating their worried faces. The two figures finally let down their leather hoods and stepped into the room, their Toad companion following.

This room was even colder, the metallic scent far more powerful. When they first passed the room's threshold the robotic voice attempted to welcome them to the lab. They all jumped as a wave of static crackles passed through the entire floor and the lights above flickered on, dimly illuminating their surroundings.

"Wow!" Jan T. exclaimed, her mouth dropping open.

The entire floor was a massive expanse of different workstations. Machines and conveyor belts lined the hallways and tools of various kinds were hung up on the walls, gleaming faintly in the light. Arranged sporadically between the various mechanical devices were shelves, into which were crammed rolls upon rolls of blueprints, miniature models made of wire or wood, and half-finished machines or vague concept prototypes that wouldn't have functioned for the world.

The entire basement was a hub of mechanical wonders and monstrosities that spoke of a genius either filled with too much vigour, or not nearly enough. The male sniffed indignantly at the chaos, while the two girls' wide eyes drank in the entire sight.

The three walked down the hallways as quickly as they could without disturbing the silence of the laboratory. It was evident that it was this place the generators were powering at the expense of the upper level; aside from the overhead lights, the display lights on the machines around them blinked slowly, their inner mechanisms periodically whirring and clicking, giving the huge room a sinister, eerily alive quality.

"I bet it's just the lights," the Toad said, shakily drawing closer to her allies. "It'd be less creepy if they were all the way on." Neither said anything in response.

After a moment, the female prodded the male on the shoulder. "Hey …" she whispered, almost so quietly Jan T. couldn't hear her. "You don't seem normal. What's the matter?"

He gave her a quick glance. "… nervous," he said, his voice stiff.

"Really?" He nodded. "I guess you're not really used to this sort of thing happening often now, are you?" He sighed and shook his head. "Well, don't worry! Everyone's got total faith in you!"

"I sure do!" the Toad chimed in, her voice as chipper as she could make it. The male smiled at them both in turn, but only slightly.

At last they found what they were looking for behind a large set of mechanical doors. The female pressed the button and they opened with the same hiss as the elevator. In the room beyond was another machine—this one large, glossy, and golden, with a pair of glass doors on the front. The colour stood out starkly against the monochrome metal of the rest of the room, warm and almost garish. Several cords were plugged into it, and it seemed to be receiving the majority of the generators' power.

The two cloaked figures looked back at their Toad companion, then at each other. They both had apologetic looks. "I … think you should probably go," the female told her. "Get somewhere safe. We'll take it from here."

Jan T.'s eyes widened. "Are … are you sure? I can still help—"

The male snapped his fingers loudly and a loud crackle reverberated through the room, accompanied by a spark that flashed from the digits. "Go!" he barked. "Now!" The Toad's heart leapt out of her chest and she turned around and sprinted out of the room, back towards the elevator to the perilous surface.

She heard the doors close behind her.

They approached the machine, and as they did the male felt his heart pounding. This was it. Once he went on his way, there was no going back. Not until he could stop all of this.

He tapped the doors with his fingers and they slid open with a quiet woosh. The inside was fully lit by bright, white lights. Like a dentist's office.

They stood together in silence.

"Well …" the female muttered. "I guess this is it."

"Yes." The male nodded.

"It's going to be okay. It'll be like … riding a car."

"Fast car," the male said.

"Yeah, but …" Her voice trailed off; she changed topics. "You've still got it, right? The shard?" The male nodded again and pulled an object out of his pocket; it was a cracked, jagged stone coloured deep blue. It glowed and sparkled faintly, and felt warm in his hand. "And that should get you where you need to go?" Another nod from the male.

They spent another moment in silence, their hearts both anxiously beating in their chests. "I …" the female whispered. "I'm kind of scared." The male nodded in agreement, swallowing nervously. "You'll do it, right? You'll find help and you'll stop this?" He nodded again.

They hugged each other, the female resting her head briefly on the male's shoulder. Then they let go, and the male stepped inside the machine. He took one last look at the girl beyond and gave a small wave as another violent explosion wracked the world above. "Good luck," she said to him, waving back. "I believe in you."

The male turned around and was prepared to close the doors when she spoke one more time. "Oh! One more thing." He turned back, eyebrow raised. "If you see him …" The girl smiled, a grin of levity and more than a little bit of humour. "Tell Fawful I said hi."

The male chuckled and closed the door. The world outside disappeared with a woosh.

DarkMarxSoul Presents:

A TURNING OF YEARS

A Super Mario Fanfic

Temporary note: For more information, see my journal(s) on the subject on my deviantART account, "DarkMarxSoul".