Tainted Shadows

(A/N: This story is one of the darker ones I've written. I'm not sure, in fact, whether it should be rated T or M. Something in between, perhaps. There will be very mature subject matter in later chapters, but whether it's enough to warrant an M rating I'll leave up to my readers to tell me. I'm leaning towards yes, so I'll probably change it to M later and readers can tell me whether it warrants being there or not, but I'm not certain.

This takes place as a Prologue to my series Chronicles of the Stars which started out as a Trilogy [Reach for the Stars, Bad Luck, and Will there be No Mercy from Immortals] then expanded. It is placed after the latest installment Epidemic because it will help to clarify things that will occur in Epidemic's sequel Last of the Ancients which is still being worked on. Whether this can be called a crossover or not I'm unsure. Perhaps I'll put it in a Crossover category later on, but we'll see.

Seeing as this story takes place thousands of years before Mario's time, some of the characters' ways of speaking may seem a little out of place or out of character; especially... well, no spoilers. Again, though, this takes place thousands of years ago. When I bring them into Mario's time in future stories-rather if I do-I'll change it around.)

Prologue: Cast Down

The immortals watched on in horror from the skies as the Tribe of the Ancients imploded on itself. The Pixl uprising had ruined its people for everything they had, was still ruining them. "You… You did this," a furious voice hoarsely whispered to his fellow. The other looked cautiously, tensely, over at his brother.

"You embody Creation, brother, but I… I am Destruction," the second said in reply. "How was I to know that he would choose to follow in my course?"

"Because you brought him forth!" the first yelled furiously.

"I gave him free will!" the second screamed, fingers twitching at unnatural angles as his anger grew.

"Mark my words, Crazy Hand, before this is done, you will regret ever being brought into existence," the first growled.

"What do you mean, Master Hand?" Crazy Hand replied icily.

"He will not go unpunished for this atrocity," Master Hand hissed in reply.

Crazy Hand started. "Wait brother, this is my fault, not his. You can't just…" he began, but Master Hand was already disappearing. Crazy Hand clenched into a tight, angry, and pained fist, sinking low to the ground and recalling all that had led to this point…

Flashback

It was Master Hand who ruled them all, deity of all the deities belonging to this world. At his side ruled his counterpart and brother, Crazy Hand, second of all divinities. This one came to be both a companion and a foil to his elder sibling. Two 'hands' were better than one, so the saying went, and the two brothers complimented each other. Master Hand, the right, was the embodiment of Creation. Crazy Hand, the left, embodied Destruction. Together the two were virtually unstoppable and none could stand against them.

It was Master Hand who moulded out of Stardust the Star Spirits Eldstar, and Mamar his consort. Together Eldstar and Mamar birthed the Star Spirits Kalmar and his brother Skolar. Some years passed before Mamar again gave birth, bringing about Muskular, Klevar, and Misstar. These seven creations of Master Hand's became the primary ruling body of deities of the Mushroom World, Master Hand and Crazy Hand falling back and giving almost absolute control to the Seven Star Spirits. The Star Spirits, in turn, brought forth the Grand Stars and the Power Stars to channel their power.

Crazy Hand watched his brother's creations jealously, watched as they progressed and grew in power. Not to be outdone, Crazy Hand formed the Elements and their gods: Fire, Thunder, Water, Air, Earth, Ice, Growth, and more still. These, though, were not quite as graceful and beautiful as the Star Spirits, and Crazy Hand raged at the realization he had failed to bring about envy in his brother.

Now Master Hand became suspicious and guarded. He saw in his brother a lust for chaos and destruction, a lust for power and recognition. This he didn't trust, but for now he let it be and let Crazy Hand continue on, mad as ever. Master Hand formed the Mushroom World and its inhabitants as beings for the Star Spirits to watch over and guard, as was their purpose. Surely Crazy Hand couldn't copy him with this masterpiece. To his horror, though, Crazy Hand did. In response, Crazy Hand brought about the planet of the Shroobs and its inhabitants, dark and alien counterparts to the peaceful Mushroom World who brought nothing but destruction everywhere they went. So it went on. Master Hand brought something forth, Crazy Hand copied his creations, only formed them dark and destructive, dangerous and unpredictable, until finally Master Hand could take no more. Outraged by his sibling's audacity, Master Hand challenged him and the two Hands went to war.

SMB

For years their battle raged, the Star Spirits and Elemental gods looking on unimpressed. Finally it was time to intervene, and both Eldstar and the Fire God approached their creators…

"You two have brought nothing but death and destruction wherever you battle. Is this what you want, Master Hand, you who embody creation? With every move you make your brother grows more and more powerful and victorious!" Eldstar stated boldly. Master Hand immediately stiffened at this realization.

Crazy Hand giggled madly. "Be silent! You are no better off! You can't hope to compete with Master Hand. Give it up before you become even more his instrument!" Fire shouted.

"It ends now!" the two stated together.

"Then what do you propose?" Master Hand questioned, willing to listen while Crazy Hand fumed and spewed curses and threats via his gestures.

"A competition," Eldstar answered simply.

Crazy Hand started, taken aback by the declaration. After a moment, though, he calmed. If a hand could smirk, he would be smirking tauntingly now. He gazed at Master Hand and said, "Brother, I am your counter, destruction to your creation, chaos to your order, cruelty to your kindness. I foil you at every turn. It is my purpose. For once, just once, I will be victorious."

"Brother, you claim your power is almost equal to even mine, yet all you have ever brought forth are copies of my work. When I formed the Seven Star Spirits, you formed the Elemental Deities. When I formed a world, you formed another identical to it only evil. You could not create something of your own accord if you wished it. You are doomed to forever copy me," Master Hand challenged, and surely it was a challenge.

Crazy Hand began letting out high pitched laughter and a screech. "You call me out, do you? Very well, Master Hand, I accept! Eldstar, Fire, name your contest!" he stated instantly, pride injured and determination shining through.

SMB

"Create, each one of you, your own unique entity, gods to join those you have formed already, divinities that are unique in every right," Kalmar declared for Eldstar.

"They must be beautiful," Misstar dreamily added.

"Clever," Klevar added.

"Powerful," Muskular stated.

"Intelligent," Skolar said.

"Ethereal," Eldstar declared.

"And yours. Detail them as if they were your own children," Mamar finished.

"I pity you then, Crazy Hand. You couldn't create something beautiful if your immortality were on the line," Master Hand bit at his sibling.

Crazy Hand began twitching and flipping out maniacally. "We will see about that, Master Hand!" he spat in reply.

"Go ahead, brother. Form your unique creation," Master Hand icily stated. "The sooner this is done, the sooner our feud ends."

SMB

The immortals were all gathered together, watching the duelling siblings madly creating. Finally they stopped. Everything was silent. "Will you reveal first or shall I," Master Hand asked the younger, and his voice revealed his disdain and doubt all too clearly.

"You first," Crazy Hand replied.

"As you wish," Master Hand replied. With a wave, a ball of light and stars appeared before him, shining so brightly one could hardly make out the form hidden beneath; but it was a woman of some sort, and that much was obvious, breathtaking in every respect, the universe with all its stars and galaxies and planets shining within her very being… And she took on many, many forms, both male and female, both animal and other, whatever guise her creator, her father, commanded her to take, before finally she settled once more into the radiant creature she was.

The Divines 'oohed' and 'ahed' at the sight of her. "What is she?" Eldstar questioned in wonder.

"This is the Cosmic Spirit," Master Hand gently replied, affectionately gazing at his creation with love like that of a father towards a daughter; and surely she was his pride and joy, and he had grown to love her more than he had loved any of his previous masterpieces. She was his daughter in every respect; he had decided as much in the midst of his formation of her.

"Surely she is the favorite of all your designs," Misstar said in awe, enviously watching the Cosmic entity.

Master Hand affectionately watched his newest design. He turned, then, to Crazy Hand. "Show me, brother. What is it that you came up with?"

SMB

Crazy Hand gazed at his sibling with loathing, but also with admiration. He had always held the other in high esteem. He had never doubted the more powerful Hand's ability, and he loved his sibling as much as he loathed him. Perhaps this time, though, he had come up with something better. Crazy Hand waved his fingers in an unpredictable pattern. All at once some sort of pod or egg appeared. The pod was a hideous greyish green color and it oozed a liquid of unknown origin to the immortals, each of which looked disgustedly at it.

Muskular was the first to begin to laugh, soon enough being joined by all the other Star Spirits and Immortals say for the newly formed Cosmic Spirit. She watched silently, curious. Master Hand too was silent, suspicious. He knew Crazy Hand better than this. There was more to it than met the eye. "Is this it?" the Thunder God questioned condescendingly.

"Wait," Crazy Hand replied, watching the egg. It began to pulsate and something akin to a heartbeat echoed loudly through the domain. The laughter stopped immediately as the eerie and unsettling sound continued. All at once there was a scream and the pod burst open, startling them all! They cried out in alarm, falling back. Their eyes widened as the thing inside was revealed. It was… a more colorful pod with holes and a glowing blue interior? Well, that was anti-climactic. They dubiously looked at Crazy Hand, doubting his sanity. Of course they all knew he was completely and utterly insane, but this had to me more cuckoo than normal.

"What is this?" Master Hand questioned, his every fibre telling him that this was nothing to be scoffed at.

Crazy Hand simply smirked, ignoring Master Hand's question as he gazed at the form. "Tabuu," he suddenly and darkly whispered towards the object. Mamar shivered. Like a parent gently coaxing its child to awaken, she realized…

SMB

All eyes went to the colorful object. They started when it began to tremble. Master Hand watched carefully, suspiciously. What game was his brother playing at? All at once the pod burst open, the figure within leaping into the air with an unearthly cross between a shriek and a roar! They all caught their breath in astonishment and wonder and amazement! There before them, floating in the air, was a mysterious and haunting form. It was in the image of a man, naked and impossibly beautiful, a set of large and stunning wings spreading out from his body that Pixls and butterflies would envy. He was a bluish color and without any facial detail say for eyes and a nose. Surely he was the most majestic thing they had ever seen… and yet the most menacing… His eyes opened, glowing white and silently summing them all up. Did he have a mouth, they wondered? Did he speak?

"What-what have you done?" Master Hand breathed in amazement, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"I have won, brother. I have made a creation so unique, so beautiful, so mysterious, that your greatest creation yet is shamed by him," Crazy Hand replied, casting a scathing look at the Cosmic Spirit.

The Cosmic Spirit hardly cared. Instead she gazed up in curiosity at her younger twin cousin. Cautiously she approached him. He hovered in the air, every so often flapping his magnificent wings. Curious as well, though, he soon alighted to the ground, and his every step dripped with an ethereal liquid that glowed wondrously as if he were walking through a translucent puddle. The two approached each other, judging. "You are my cousin," the formless yet beautiful Spirit finally said to him.

For a time he was silent, and in that moment she wondered if Crazy Hand had even granted him the gift of speech. "Cousin…" he suddenly breathed, testing the word out though no mouth moved. Finally he nodded. "I approve of this," he stated. He turned to Crazy Hand. "Father," he said, testing the word carefully.

"Father," Crazy Hand delightedly replied, and for the first time, to his own shock, he actually felt something more than necessity for one of his creations. What was it he felt, he wondered? Affection? Love? The words were foreign to him, and so he wouldn't pursue the matter. "Yes," Crazy Hand finally confirmed. "You are my son, my one, my only, true and unique creation. There will be no other. I have made my point to your uncle, Master Hand."

SMB

Tabuu looked slowly over to Master Hand, appraisingly summing him up. Master Hand was still too stunned to react. "Uncle… He is your superior," Tabuu determined.

"He created all," the Cosmic Spirit said for her 'father.' "Say for Crazy Hand, my own uncle."

"And my father copied your father's ideas," Tabuu deduced.

The Cosmic Spirit nodded. "Do you disapprove?" she wondered.

"No… It only means I am that much more powerful, that much more special," Tabuu answered.

Master Hand shot an accusing look at his brother. "You made him like you, destructive; as I knew you would."

"No. I made him with free will to choose his path. I never gave him an inborn desire for destruction," Crazy Hand answered. "It seems, though, that you made your daughter with the inborn desire to create and do what is right."

"Not quite," Master Hand stated. "I made her ambiguous, as I make all."

"Who wins this contest?" Crazy Hand demanded of the Star Spirits.

"You do. Tabuu is a wonder to behold," the Cosmic Spirit said, answering for the Seven Star Spirits long before they or Master Hand could reply.

"Good, I am coming to like my new niece very much," Crazy Hand said slyly. "However, it won't stop me from making a foil for her." Quickly Crazy Hand crafted something else. Master Hand scowled darkly. "Meet the Cosmic Clones," Crazy Hand declared as he finished the eerie and dangerous things off. They leered at the Cosmic Spirit making unnatural noises and high-pitched laughs, taunting her without words.

"Then I will form something as a foil to Tabuu," Master Hand stated, angered at this. With that he sent out a beam of light that pierced Tabuu's center. Tabuu screeched in pain, spreading his wings and lifting into the air. After a moment he was put back down. He looked to the area Master Hand had offended. There, pulsating, was some sort of an object. An eye, a heart, a center… a fatal flaw… Crazy Hand shrieked in outrage, but he knew he could do nothing to counter this thing that Master Hand had done. Tabuu, for his part, looked icily up, but he accepted this change in stride. He understood the gravity of what had been done to him, but he feared it little. After all, up here in Star Haven he was safe. Nothing could touch him with intent to kill.

"Come along, my dear. I have much to show you," Master Hand said to the Cosmic Spirit, letting his feud with his brother go for now.

End Flashback

Tabuu watched icily, delightedly, as his trickery paid off in spades. An entire civilization almost entirely wiped out, just like that… He chuckled darkly. Despite the descendants sure to yet be born, there would be no recovery for the Tribe of the Ancients. "Tabuu!" a furious voice bellowed. Tabuu frowned coldly. Master Hand. It was only a matter of time, he supposed, before the deities got involved in his affairs.

"What have you done, cousin? You have destroyed yourself," the Cosmic Spirit softly and sadly said, watching him from behind with tears in her eyes.

"Have I, cousin? I doubt that very much," Tabuu answered with his nonexistent mouth

"I can sense it. This time there is no forgiveness for you," she said.

"We will see," he said. With that he spread his wings and flew up into the air, following the voice. The Cosmic Spirit followed him closely, resignation and lamentation in her eyes.

SMB

He gazed up in fury and disbelief at the Seven Star Spirits seated before him. He was bound tightly between two alabaster pillars, unable to escape, unable to fly away. Crazy Hand, for once, was silent, unable to face him. Master Hand hung low to the ground grimly. His fate rested in the hands of the Star Spirits, for neither Master Hand nor Crazy Hand were in positions to choose what his sentence would be. He let out an infuriated and otherworldly scream at them, lunging towards the Seven Stars. The magical bonds holding him, though, held him back from any form of attack that he could deliver, and his attacks were powerful.

"Release me!" he furiously demanded, white eyes blazing murderously, slowly becoming red. He couldn't even switch forms, due to the enchantments holding him.

"Not this time, Tabuu," Eldstar gravely stated. "You alone have brought about the eradication of almost the whole of a thriving civilization. The blood of the innocents, their deaths and their pain and their suffering, cannot and will not go unpunished. This time you have gone too far. This time there is no forgiveness or redemption for you. You have shown once and for all what you are."

"We gave you all the chances in the world, willed you not to follow your father's path, and in the end you have become more merciless and unforgiving than even him," Mamar sadly stated, shaking her head piteously. "There is nothing I can do for you anymore. There is nothing your father can do… You have disgraced yourself before us."

Tabuu scowled darkly, growling. "You will regret this," he stated lowly.

"You will not have the chance to make us regret it," Kalmar calmly declared, piteously shaking his head.

Slowly Tabuu's eyes widened and he felt a chill race through his wraithlike body. "What do you mean?" he questioned in a tone so even and deadly that it was almost as if their blood had run cold.

"For your crime, unforgivable as it was, we strip you of your power, strip you of your immortal form, and cast you down to the mortal realm. From this day forth you will walk amongst them, wretched as the creatures you so sought to torment, banished from this domain, an exile in their world," Eldstar stated firmly.

SMB

Tabuu felt his blood run cold as he gazed into their impassable expressions. The Cosmic Spirit bent her head low, tears running down her cheeks. "What? This sentence is too harsh! Judge again!" Crazy Hand protested.

"Silence, brother, they have passed their judgement on him. There is nothing we can do anymore," Master Hand softly, pityingly, said. Crazy Hand fell silent, sinking low to the ground.

"Shatter his wings," Skolar stated.

Slowly, regretfully, the two hands approached the struggling figure and each clasped those that were the pride of the convicted one. "You will regret this," Tabuu hissed darkly to them all a second time.

With that, Crazy Hand and Master Hand squeezed the two delicate things with all their strength. The Cosmic Spirit, Star Spirits, and Elemental Divinities closed their eyes tightly as Tabuu howled in anguish, his wings shattering into millions of shards. He writhed in agony as slowly but surely his divine powers were being drained out of him, his screams of pain filling the air and the minds of those who had convicted him; then, as his powers were still being drained from him, he was cast out of the immortal domain and sent plummeting to the foreign world below.

"I'm so sorry…" the Cosmic Spirit mournfully whispered as she watched her cousin fall to the realm below, tears in her eyes.

(A/N: In the next chapter we get down to business and an all too familiar character is revealed.)