Author's Note:
The following is a remake of one of my old stories. This remake is being done to accommodate for the changes and improvements I have made to my writing over the past few years, along with redoing bits of the plot that I felt didn't hit the mark the way I wanted them to.
The old Parts 1-4 are still in continuity, and I will not be redoing them because while the writing for them is outdated, there is nothing in the plots I feel needs to be added from redoing them. Part 5 and Part 6 are very important going forward, so I felt they needed this treatment the most.
I won't be rewriting the side story from the old version in this version, but the old version's events are still in continuity. This does mean the Mario content from this Part's been removed, but I am still putting this under Mario because this fic started with Mario and thus logic dictates that any OC of mine going forward is related to the Mario franchise in one way or another.
So if you came in expecting any Mario content, leave now.
If you don't care, stick around. This Part's pretty self-contained so you can enjoy it without really having to rely on the others. The same cannot be said for Part 6 when I get to rewriting that, but that's up to you whether you want to read all that or not. I am more than willing to provide a summary of important events to save you the trouble.
Anyways, enough babbling. Enjoy!
In the dead of night around the North Pole under a sea of stars, where no rain or snow nor winds nor cold dared enter, lies a city. A floating city. A city filled with magic and mysteries galore.
No, it is not Santa's workshop. There are no diminutive elves prancing about, nor reindeer who gallop with glee. The magic that fills this place is more...foreign than what the people of Earth would be accustomed to, and yet at the same time the source of this magic is much closer than they'd think.
The houses that litter the view are more akin to huts. Small, domed, and built out of wood and cloth. Not hard to manage, but difficult to preserve. Not that this city has had much to fear from fires and the like. No, this city has remained hidden off from the rest of the Earth for a long, long time...
But, that is all about to change...
At the crack of midnight when all the denizens have tucked themselves in for the night, there was one girl who could not, would not, lie down.
She snuck out of her abode with nothing but the clothes on her back and a scarf made of silk around her neck. She sprinted softly along the glass floor, her eyes darting to-and-fro at the dimly lit windows on the surrounding huts. The moment a shadow stirred in the light, she clung to the wall of the nearest hut and sucked her chest in with one deep, quiet breath.
Then she was off once more, crawling swiftly through the still of night like a spider. Alone with her thoughts, she wondered "Where is that temple again?"
She heard a tiny creak at her feet and then swung her head around. No one had heard her. Good.
After a few more seconds of wandering the city the girl lifted her head up and up until her scalp pressed up against the back of her neck. She stared at a temple that was filled with more dirt than sheen. The moon's bright shine could barely illuminate its crusted pearled walls, nor could it penetrate the dusted stained glass window above the fifty foot tall doors.
"Don't go near the temple."
"Its dangerous there."
Time and time again she heard these warnings.
But with a slacked jaw and dismayed shake of the head, the girl rolled her eyes and dragged her feet a couple steps forward. She then reached into her right pocket and pulled out a metal can no taller than her head. She gave it a few shakes and tapped the thumb-sized sprayer up top as she aimed it at the wall.
A grainy spray of red dispersed upon the wall as the girl had to resist the urge not to tell some unknown party to "Kiss her ass"
When she's done marking up the temple worse than time ever could, she strapped the spray can back into her pocket. She clapped her hands, as the scent of her mark filled her nose.
Her eyes widen as her nostrils close and she turns around coughing. She pounds her mouth a couple times to dull the sounds until it stops, then with her fist still pressed to her mouth she stares up. No one's around.
She gasped with her heart just one inch from her chest. But as she goes to lean back, a single tap from her elbow is enough to push one side of the door ajar. And it moves not with a whisper, but with a loud "EEEEEEEEEEEERRRREEEEEEEEKKKK!"
The girl bites the tips of her left fingernails until the door stops one foot open, and not an inch further. It is lucky for her that fortune favors fools, as at worse, her gross negligence has made a child or two turn over in their beds.
After getting over her initial panic, the girl leaned closer, then closer, and before she knew it her hand was carefully wrapped around the edge of the door and her head poking through the gap.
She then squeezed her way through with only a couple of things making it difficult for her to accomplish. She was greeted by thousands of dust particles in the air, most likely shaken off from the door, and the lack of any light.
The girl grumbled in an unconvincing manner as a sneer formed on her face and she started walking forward, allured by the unknown. Surely there would be some secret worth uncovering, if that man said to keep away.
Throwing caution to the wind she made her way deeper into the temple. There was a ton of dry air and empty space. She tried to look up at the walls but only found towering statues with decapitated arms and limbs to be her company.
She paused and stared at one of the faceless statues, and for a second swore it budge. Her breathing hastened as she tip-toed past them and neared the back of the temple. It was smaller than the outside suggested, but that remaining distance grew as so too did the anticipation for what's at the end.
And yet upon reaching the end all she would find is...nothing.
Nada. Zilch. This temple couldn't even have the decency to leave behind a cob web, or a pebble! Ab-so-lutely...nothing.
After glaring at the barren wall for a solid minute the girl puffed her cheeks. She planted her right foot up against the wall and kicked it a few times. Her leg bent back out of whack with each thrust into the solid concrete, until suddenly...
"Click!"
Her foot pressed deeper into the wall than should be allowed. The sudden sound of a door creaking made her jolt upright and then spin back around.
Already sick and tired of this place screwing with her, she had presumed unwanted company had arrived to seal her fate. But fate had other plans.
For the door she heard didn't come from afar, but closer by. As she spun back out of fear she caught a glimpse of something changed. Part of the wall had pushed itself open to the left, revealing a secret passage deeper into the temple.
This was obviously the secret she was seeking, but would it be wise to press deeper on? She fiddled some fingers near her chest as she grappled with that decision. But then with one firm swallow that echoed inside this empty hall, she edged towards the passage, gently pushing the door wider open.
This part of the temple was different from the rest. The air is fresh, albeit with a tinge of charcoal, and there's not a speck of dust as she runs her hand down the wall to avoid getting lost.
But it was dark. Very, very dark. The kind of dark that one tends to experience during sleep. But there was no comfort to be found in this darkness. The girl was hesitant to keep going as this tunnel seemed without end.
But then a beacon of hope, a faint orange-red light at the end of the tunnel, told her to keep moving. Only one question came to mind as she got to the end, and that was "How long has this been here?"
She found herself greeted by an ephemeral sight. Lighting up a hexagon shaped cubbyhole were over a hundred altars, each one comprising of a wooden mantle marked by a name and an orb lit by an eternal red flame. The girl's skin quivered as she stared at them, and they appeared to be staring back as she inched closer to the center of the room.
She gripped her arms and cuddled herself to keep warm amidst this unnatural chill. But then she muttered "Owie!" as her knee rammed right into solid stone.
She backed up a bit and saw that the stone made a pillar three feet tall with a hexagonal platform laid atop it, another orb of glass nestled in the center. The orb confined a neon colored fog that moved with a mind of its own. It stirred, curiously, with seemingly no purpose.
Yet the glass could've been empty for all the girl cared and she still would've picked it up and cupped it in her hands. Upon suspending it before her face she stared at the fog for a good minute and then pressed her right ear up against it.
"Mrghhhll..." A gurgling noise similar to a snore only further piqued her curiosity.
She leaned her head back and shook the fear from her body. Stories of genies, wizards and dragons weren't mere fairytales to someone like her. A response to this curious artifact most people would call stupid would in fact be normal behavior for her.
"...Hello?" She inquired meekly to the orb, "I-Is anyone listening? If you are then...Would you grant my wish? Its nothing big I just...could really, really use some help."
That spark of innocent belief coupled with a dash of curiosity was blended together and thrown down the drain not a moment later. The girl shook her head, dropped the orb upon its pedestal and swung her hands out with a gasp of disbelief towards herself, "W-What am I doing? This is dumb, dumb, dumb...!"
She turned away from the orb and scurried towards the tunnel, only looking back once to throw a dry laugh of mockery, "Wish granting orb...Like it'd be that easy..."
As she seals the door and is on her way, little does she know she'll be looking back at this day...As the day she got her wish.
CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 5(R): The Lover from the Lost Aura
Chapter 1: All Things Routine
Rocky Mountains, Washington State. Not exactly the first place you'd think to go when it comes to finding a place to live, with the hostile winters and abundant trees. But hey, some people are just crazy like that. The person in question this time is crazy, yes, but not because he lives up on the mountains. He didn't have a choice in the matter really.
Wedged between the mountain crag out of sight from most human eyes is a two-story wooden yellow house with a brown slat rooftop. The house's size is average, but the person living inside is certainly not who you'd call "average".
Right now that person is resting under a twisted up black and red square that was once known as a bedsheet. His bare feet poke out at the end, while his right arm is bent up underneath the side of his head.
An alarm clock rings a few feet away, only to be swiftly turned off by a teeny tiny bolt of lightning shot from the boy's fingertip.
He grips the edge of his sheet and shoves it off his face hard enough to send the whole thing off the bed, where it falls like a feather and bundles up between the three-tiered drawers and the edge of the bed.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaw..." The person stretches their limber arms over their head with an impassioned yawn and then smacks their lips until a spark of life goes off in their perking blue eyes.
As they swing their legs off the side of the bed they points their hands towards the drawers like finger guns and with one enthusiastic "Bang!" the middle and bottom drawer swing right open and out pop a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
They vault off the bed as the jeans fly onto their legs and raises their hands to catch the descent of their shirt. Then they land feet first on the ground and with a sharp turn to the left finds themselves face to face with a mirror.
The person then gives their appearance a quick comb over.
"Shirt straightened, flame decal on the chest..." They say while tugging on the faded decal with one hand.
"Jeans fit just fine..." They say while wiggling the belt area up closer to the waist.
"Skin's clean, still no zits...I hope..." They murmur while leaning their face in closer and giving his cheeks the quick pat down.
"Aaaand hair..." Their eyes bolt up in an instant to their spiky brown hair. A lot of his longer hairs stretch forward, defying the laws of physics. One strand of hair dangles away from the rest, but with one finger the person gently pushes the hair back into place.
Then with a pearly white smile this six-foot tall boy gives two huge thumbs-up at the mirror and declares "Look out world, here comes Mew!"
The boy then trots out of his bedroom and makes his way down the very short hall. The cold hardwood floors work out the last bit of tiredness by the time he reaches the holy grounds for all adolescent males...The living room!
Yep, with a leather two-seat couch set the perfect distance away from the widescreen TV, a stained glass table to lay ones feet upon, and a plethora of video game consoles connected to said TV, this is the perfect getaway from all of life's more stressful moments.
And if one gets hungry, there's always a small kitchen behind the chest high wall the couch leans against.
Walking sideways, Mew flicks his pointer fingers up multiple times, shooting more of those tiny lightning bolts to turn on the TV, blender, and stovetop in quick succession. And without breaking his stride, he turns and lays his hand upon the front door's knob.
The door is swung open as Mew closes his eyes and sniffs in the fresh mountain scent.
"And is that a hint of dew drops? Nice, niiice..." Mew bobs his head as he walks out onto the grassy grounds, coating the bottom of his feet with air to keep his socks dry. He then peeks up, lays a hand sideways against his forehead, and is drowned by an abundance of shadows.
"Hooooowee!" He hollers like the stereotypical farmer at the start of spring at the sight of his cornstalks, which poke up out of the ground at roughly ten feet tall, their weight kept in check by a series of wooden stakes in the dirt.
The raspberries are similarly tall and lined up against a fence, while dozens of strawberries lie in wait to be plucked beneath them. All this and more can be found in the space that his house doesn't already occupy.
"Alrighty. Now what am I going to nibble on today...?" He says while advancing upon the garden with a predatory gaze and toothy grin. His eyes fixate upon the strawberries and with a gentle shrug he goes "Pfft, like it'd be anything else."
He kneels down to pluck the ripest strawberries into a steel bowl he happened to have nearby. He counts each and every one until he has a full dozen and not a single more. But when he gets up he's greeted by an antagonistic bleat.
"Huh?" He quickly turns to the right and sees a wild billy goat with his big, thick horns on full display. The goat kneads its toes into the dirt and leans its head down.
Mew slowly places his bowl on the ground and then kneels down square in the goat's line of sight. He spreads his legs, places his arms between them, then smirks.
"Come on..." With one brow raised fiercely he wags his right hand inward, "Gimme your best shot."
With one higher pitched bleat the goat tears ass to bowl Mew over. Mew just stands there and gently raises his fist up, where it only budges back a centimeter when the goat's forehead connects with it.
"Hehe..." Mew smiles, unfurls his hand, and gently pets the goat's soft, damp fur.
"You've gotten way stronger these past two years Billy! I totally could've fallen that time!"
The goat bleats slowly and satisfyingly as it wiggles its head around. Mew then glances around at the garden and murmurs "Lets see now..." and upon eyeing the carrot patch his pupils light up and he snaps his fingers to pluck one up.
He puts it near the goat's mouth and it quickly bites down. After consuming the whole thing in seconds it turns around and walks back towards the mountain. Mew stands to wave the goat over while hollering "Say hi to the kids for me!" to which the goat replies with one last bleat.
"Hehehe...haaa..." As the enthusiasm seems to deflate in his voice, Mew springs back to his feet with bowl of strawberries in hand and yells "Welp! Back to business as usual!"
He waltzes right back into the house and throws the bowl straight at the kitchen like a shotput. The bowl bounces off a boingy cloud and lands right in front of the blender. Mew slides in, gently knocks the side of the bowl, and watches the strawberries go flying into the blender.
After counting down to zero he snaps his fingers and the blender starts up, churning the red berries down to a fine pink paste. All the while Mew does some embarrassing hand motions and twirls that can be only vaguely described as "dancing" on the way to the fridge, where he pulls out a jar of lemonade and "dances" his way back.
He then puts the lemonade down as the blender stops and pops the lid off. He whisks his pointer fingers around and around like he's conducting an orchestra as the strawberries and lemonade twirl into a unified spiral that descend into a plain cylindrical glass Mew creates out of thin air.
"Perfect!" He says as the crescendo to his confection concerto. He then lifts the glass up, rubs his chin, and stares at it for a bit.
"Buuuut, it could use one. Little..." He dings the front of the glass with his right finger and mutters "Touch!"
And like that, part of the glass pushes outward to form a flame insignia. He then nods, hops over the wall with one hand, and plants his butt firmly on the couch with his eyes glued to the TV.
"Sluuurrrrrrpp..." Mew sucks down the ice cold strawberry lemonade with his lips puckering into a smile. Then he plants his feet atop the table, lays his arms atop the back of the couch, and lets out a long gasp of bliss.
"This...isthelife!" He says as his body slowly becomes one with the leathery cushions around him, and his mind consumed by lethargy.
He stares at the news on TV and hears talk of robberies and a couple killings. With a droopy look in his eyes he taps a finger down on the side of the chair and uses a bolt of electricity to flip channels over to another station.
There they talk about a sudden flash flood that happened in California, prompting Mew to prop himself upright and go "Ah what, again? That's the second overnight flood in the last month..."
He lays back down and in the middle of flipping channels lifts his eyes towards his head and jots down a mental note "Note to self...make a trip down to California and FIX THEIR CLOUDS."
His eyes then perk up as he hears something similar to a bone cracking.
"Oh neat! Sports!" But the moment he sees baseball his eyes slump until fully closed, upon which he swiftly changes stations and goes "Pass..."
He then lazily gazes at the calendar to the right and grumbles "Just three more months until football season..."
The next station includes more weather talk, bringing about more than a little exasperation from Mew's mouth as he sighs "Geez, where's the friggin' positivity?"
He throws an arm up in an arc and says "The sun's shining! The goats are bleating! The fruits are ripe! Where's all THAT news?"
After staring at the TV a bit longer, Mew just smirks and chuckles in a lighthearted manner "Heh, all part of the routine" and is about to switch channels to something more comedic when all of a sudden...
"A Class 4 Hurricane is barreling its way down the south coast. The first of the season, residents have been advised to remain cautious, as weather reports suggest this could quickly become a Class 5."
Mew stares at the screen as the perspective shifts from the newscaster to a shot of the hurricane winds spinning their way towards the Florida shoreline, whipping up the waters and sand in its way.
"Boy, somebody must've pissed in Mother Nature's cereal something fierce..." After that laid back jest Mew lays his lemonade on the table, stands up, and spins his right arm in circles while strolling towards the door.
"Don't worry Florida folk...I'm on my way!"
Once outside the house he thrusts his twirling arm towards the sky and rockets off towards the thin layer of clouds dissolving under the might of the sun's warm rays. Tickled pink by the droplets of water in the clouds on his skin, Mew giggles and then points himself southeast.
He uses the clouds for cover as he speeds through the skies faster than lightning's descent, the wind in his face and a lot of dirt and dust going flying around him. His body stays straight as an arrow until he can feel the winds ahead growing wilder, upon which he straightens upright and digs his feet into the air to brake.
His hair shuffles about a bit as the howls of wind brush up against his ears. The eye of the hurricane lays directly below him, with the surrounding gray clouds following its guidance towards a path of damp devastation. Being sandwiched between the clear blue skies and ugly clouds offered Mew a perspective very few get to enjoy.
"I'd love to take a picture, but..." Mew weaves his fingers together and then stretches them out until his knuckles crack, "You got a terrible smile."
Mew thrusts his hands down with a "Hup!" and pretends he's squeezing the edges of this gargantuan hurricane. He then pushes his hands inward, pretending to put up a struggle with some exaggerated grunts and groans.
The hurricane whittles down from a Class 5 to a Class 3 in seconds, then dwindles down to a mere Class 1 after a few more seconds. By the time the whirlwind of clouds are down to a thimble in size from Mew's perspective, he pops his hands wide open and the winds scatter harmlessly to the, well...winds.
"And another one bites the dust..." Mew whispers triumphantly while wiping the sweat off his brow. He then floats upside-down and creates a makeshift pair of binoculars out of pure glass, pointing them down at Florida while continuing to hum the lyrics to that song.
"And another one gone, another one gone..."
He has a big smile on his face from seeing the citizens of Florida ecstatic to see the hurricane has gone. A couple of them prop up signs saying "Thanks!", causing Mew to go "Awww, you guys..." and adopt a humble blush.
He watches a group of friends get into an SUV and drive off, celebrating with their arms thrown high. He winds up following them for a bit, and can see them singing a song that's playing on the radio.
He tries to hum what he imagines their listening to, but then his lips start to sag. He moves his binoculars back near the beach, where he sees plenty of people resuming their funtime festivities. His lips sink further.
Then he happens upon a couple sharing a kiss under the shade of an umbrella, with a girl tugging the umbrella down to make the interaction a little more...intimate.
Mew's heart joins his lips in sagging like elephant skin flaps, and he slowly pulls the binoculars away and spins his body back upright. As he hangs them by his chest, he shakes his head a bit, smiles, and lets out a sigh.
"Ooooone is the loneliest number that you'll ever dooo..." A malfested voice whispers into Mew's head with the kind of raspiness one would expect from a person with a sore throat.
Mew closes his eyes and lets out an even longer sigh while pinching the side of his forehead, "Mornin' sleepyhead. Y'know I heard Vitamin 'D.' helps keeps you energized."
"Cute," The guttural sounding demon whispered, "But pointless. And sorely unfunny."
"Says the demon quoting Three Dog Night." Mew snarks back, rolling his eyes as he lays a hand up by his shoulder and shakes his head with a hint of pity, "Face it 'D.', your comedy act needs new material."
"You're a human, a teenager at that..." The demon known as "D." snickers something fierce, "I have got...plenty to work with."
"Uh-huh..." Mew dozes off a bit stretching his arms above his head for a second, "You just keep telling yourself that..."
He then rockets through the skies to head home. Unfortunately as much as he'd loooove for the laws of aerodynamics to drown the demon's arrogant screeches out, there's no getting rid of the voices in your head THAT easily.
"You can't keep this up forever boy. Someday you will be torn down...Little, by little, by little...And you will be mine."
Mew lowering his head to appear deep in thought gets the demon cackling, but once he raises his eyes up towards his forehead he asks nonchalantly "Hey, how long do you think it'll be before the heat death of the universe?"
"...And the first thing I shall do...Is take great pleasure in nailing your mouth shut."
"Whaaaaatever." Mew ends that conversation with the care it deserves and minutes later drops back down to his humble home.
The rest of the day is spent fiddling around with video games and watching TV. He uses the crops from his garden to make some stir-fry for dinner, during which he stares at his plate and messes with one of the mushrooms.
"Hmmm...mushroom trampoline..." He presses down atop the mushroom with one pinky and puts up zero resistance, causing the finger to spring back up, and making him smile.
"Hehehe yeah! Alright." After logging that idea away in an ever-growing list of them, Mew eats through his dinner and then decides "What the heck" and heads off to bed early.
He makes his bed all tidy, fluffs the pillows, and then pulls back the cover so he can slip on in. Then he plops on top of the bed, ruffling the sheets up, and tucks himself in with his hands folded behind his head.
"Early to bed, early to rise..." He smiles and slowly shuts his eyes to be greeted by the everlasting darkness of sleep.
Shockingly, he's asleep within the hour. What kind of dreams does someone like him dream of? Well tonight, its a rather curious dream, one teetering on being real.
His vision during the dream is drowned in a neon fog, but the voice beyond is crystal clear as a girl's.
"...Hello?"
The unconscious Mew smiles while his subconscious thinks "That's a cute voice..."
"I-Is anyone listening?"
Mew's head bobs up and down slowly.
"If you are then...Would you grant my wish? Its nothing big I just...could really, really use some help."
"Go ooon..." He mutters in the dead of night, but no response ever comes. His lips curl into a frown, and then he continues to sleep until the crack of morning.
When the alarm goes off this time, he throws his arms and legs around and gets tangled up in his bedsheet. His body rolls off the left side of the bed, with him hastening to say "Whoa whoa WHOA!" right as his head slams against the windowsill and he collapses onto the floor.
The alarm keeps going, with Mew's eyes dazed and confused until he shakes his head. Then he lifts himself up a bit, constrained by this cocoon of cotton, and murmurs to himself "...Well that was weird..."
After restoring order to his mundane routine, Mew walks out, grabs some more strawberries, prepares the blender, and sits back down in front of the TV with a lemonade in hand. All the while he's got this puzzled look in his eyes.
"Never had a dream like that before..." The faint echoes of that girl's voice light up his cheeks in a translucent blush as he smiles partway and stutters, "W-Wasn't a bad one though..."
He then goes to take a sip of his lemonade while watching TV. His eyelids shut, and for that brief moment the infinite darkness is replaced by that similar fog from his dream. Beyond it lies a glistening smile of some fair-skinned maiden, whose sultry giggle makes Mew's heart skip a bit.
"Phhhhptttt!" Mew widens his eyes and spits out his drink on the table, then stares at his glass and wonders, "Did some worms get in my crops somehow?"
He falls back down onto the couch and rolls his head a bit before letting out a gasp of "I'm losing my mind here..."
"Oh I assure you this is no hallucination, little Mew."
A lady-like voice with a smooth, thick accent gets Mew's heart racing. Automatically he stares up at his head and assumes "Pretending to be a hot woman now are ya? Didn't think you were so depraved 'D.'!"
"This isn't my doing..." The demon's answer comes with an aggressive growl.
"I know this is sudden, but don't dismay. I won't bite~"
With Mew's blood pumping every whichway, he takes a brief gulp and inquires "W-Who are you?"
"An old friend. Not of yours, perse, but of the one whose title you bear the weight of...Elemental Overlord."
Next Time: The Hidden City