Prologue/Chapter 1: Another Day, Another (Deadly) Prophecy
Mario sat in his house, alone, drinking a hot cup of Koopa Tea. He knew he wasn't actually alone, seeing as Luigi, Prince Peasley (there on a visit for "Political Reasons", yeah right. And he just happened to have an afternoon free) and Dimentio were all in Dimension D, which, as Mario understood, was on the same longitude and latitude as his house, but on a different plane of reality- or something like that.
He also knew that someone named the Prince of Null and Void was on his way to take over the lovely little planet he lived on. Not a pleasant thought, but he had a funny feeling that was all Dimentio's fault, and just thinking about the masked creep brought the situation to mind.
Someone knocked on his door, rather impatiently. Please don't be a Toad asking me to save Peach, not today at least, he thought.
He opened the door to find a young pale woman in a deep purple cloak leaning on a cane standing outside his door.
She let out a small gasp. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I must have the wrong address," she said.
Mario shrugged as if to say, 'That's fine.'
"I don't mean to trouble you, but do you know where Dimentio lives? I could have sworn I sensed his presence around here..." she said.
Mario gave her a suspicious look. Why would anyone want to talk to him? I mean, besides to kill him, he thought.
He called into the house, "Dimentio! Someone wants to talk to you!"
There was no response. The woman stared at him. "Want to come in?" he offered.
"Sure, might as well," she answered.
The woman entered and leaned against the table. Mario noticed that she had several small cuts and bruises on the small amount of skin he could see.
"I'm Xylantha, by the way," she said.
Mario nodded. "I'm-"
He was interrupted by Dimentio teleporting into the room along with Luigi and Peasley. Peasley clutched his stomach and groaned. "Never again," he said. "Teleportation is not worth the nausea."
"Oh, Xylantha!" Dimentio said with surprise. "How'd you find me?"
"You're pretty easy to track," Xylantha answered. "Besides, that doesn't matter. You know why I'm here."
"Armageddon?" Luigi asked. When he got a strange look from Xylantha, he elaborated, "Prince What's-his-face is here?"
She nodded solemnly. "Like I said, I tried to stall and get the universal thread, but that failed." She gritted her teeth. "Which is a convenient segue to what I have to say. I'm very glad the three of you are here." She pulled a folded up piece of paper from her cloak. "Read this."
Luigi took the piece of paper and unfolded it. "Alright," he cleared his throat.
"As the abandoned prince rises above all,
Soon will come his fall.
Heroes three will gather the Universal Thread;
The shackles of the cold prince will be shed.
First the forces of all things natural,
Then the flames of the stars eternal,
Third the life force kept around the hilt of a sword,
Last the timeline of both worlds.
A grim face will finally avenge the long dead
And the trio will fix the rip with the grand Thread."
"It's a prophecy," Xylantha explained. "The last uttered by a prophetess who served the prince. I didn't get all of it, unfortunately. Shortly afterwards, he killed her for spreading panic among the people."
"Yikes," Peasley said. "Gives princes a bad name, though."
Xylantha shrugged. "Anyways, before I heard this, I tried to get ahold of the thread, but the prince had already gotten ahold of it and cut it into four pieces! Now he's spread ('spread' isn't the right word here, unless you describe where he spread them to. 'Commanded' would be a better fit.) four of his most trusted and powerful minions to guard the pieces in this realm, while establishing dominion in his name."
"Okay..." Luigi said. "Thank you for the warning, but what does this prophecy have do with us?"
"Well, what I was going to say was that I have reason to believe that you three," she motioned at Dimentio, Luigi and Prince Peasley. "Are the heroes of the prophecy."
Dimentio burst into laughter. "That's-That's rich! Me, a hero of this world or something!"
"I'm serious!" Xylantha said. "And, I'm especially certain you're one of them, Dimentio. I heard that when Clarence told the prince that you were here, he blew his top! He seems to have one massive vendetta against you."
"Well, that's just another brick in the wall," Luigi muttered. Dimentio glared at him.
"Okay, well what about Luigi and I?" Peasley asked.
"I was getting to that," Xylantha said. "People have been saying that the prophetess also had a vision of the three heroes. I heard she said there was 'One with lightning in his palms, a maskedcharlatan, and a handsome prince'."
"Okay, but that's just rumors! You 'heard', 'people have been saying', you're not sure about any of this, are you?" Dimentio argued. "I'm not going to go on some big quest to save the world just because some people think I should."
"That is so selfish!" Peasley said with shock. "In my opinion, you're more suited to this than either of us, considering how all of our enemies come from your world. Not only that, but even though I have my doubts, I'm still going. I'll be honest, not a lot of people in our world are very strong or brave. If we won't do it, who will?" He caught Mario's glance. "I mean, some people would, but that's besides the point."
Luigi shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. I mean, as long as I'm not gonna be brainwashed or possessed or something like that, I'm fine with it."
Dimentio felt like everyone was staring at him. He groaned. "Fine, but only because it would be a damn shame if some creep took over this place."
"Alright, that's great!" Xylantha grinned. She pulled another piece of paper from her cloak and unrolled it (-out-) on the table. It was a map of the Mushroom Kingdom and the land surrounding it. "I've labeled all of the current locations of the pieces of the Thread, and in what order the prophecy said to get them in. I'd suggest you get started now, but if there's anything you need to get done beforehand, do it now because this may take a damn while."
"Actually, I have a couple questions," Luigi said.
"Of course, go right ahead," Xylantha said patiently.
"Yeah, what is the Universal Thread? Is it some magic piece of string?" Luigi asked.
Xylantha blinked and then rubbed her hands together. "I never explained that. Huh," she shook her head. "The Universal Thread is, as you guessed, a magic piece of string. You see, the Thread is fabled to be one of the last remaining artifacts of the creation of all things. It's supposed to be the only thing that can fix parts of reality that are broken, such as a wormhole. Not only that, but anyone who holds it has their magical abilities increased to the point where they're almost a god (. It took me forever to find where the damn thing was hidden, but when I got there, it had already had been taken by the prince's lackeys, and...you get the point."
"About the prince, why's he so bent on world domination and all that? And why does he call himself the 'Prince of Null and Void'?" Peasley asked. "I don't mean to be a bother, but you're sending us into this blind."
"It's fine. Both of those questions can actually be answered with one story. About a year ago, a horrible void appeared in the sky. At first, we just saw it as an astronomical anomaly, but as time wore on, the void grew. People only began to panic when we noticed the planet closest to the void had been sucked inside. Just when we thought all hope was lost, the void vanished and everything was replaced, good as new. Not a day after the void disappeared, the Prince of Null and Void appeared, claiming that he had stopped the void from consuming all worlds, and that he would unleash it again unless everyone fell to his empire."
Luigi, Dimentio, and Mario looked at each other. They all thought, by pure coincidence, She doesn't mean the void made by the chaos heart, does she?
"Say, was this void black and purple around the edges?" Luigi asked carefully.
"Well, yes, I think so," Xylantha answered. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Dimentio said quickly.
Xylantha rolled her eyes and muttered something. "Well, if you don't have anymore questions, I'll be off. Good luck!" She walked out the door without another word.
"Okay then," Luigi said. "Just had a quest laid on us with no warning, but that's fine. I can deal with that."
"Don't worry, it won't take long. He's obviously a fraud, so the most difficult part of this will be taking out his four major lackeys," Dimentio said smugly.
"Well, before we set off I need to let my posse know where I'm going," Peasley said. "I'll be back in a moment!" He ran outside, and, with a clap of his hands, summoned the flying bean that he rode on and flew off.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Mario asked Luigi.
"Yeah, of course. You don't need to send anyone to watch me this time," Luigi said with a hint of snarkiness.
Mario turned bright red and looked away. "I was just making sure," he muttered.
"Well, you won't need to lug around a suitcase this time; we can keep everything in Dimension D," Dimentio said.
"That reminds me!" Luigi said. He ran from the front room to the bedroom and returned with a pair of metal gauntlets. "I repaired and improved my transference gauntlets!" He slid them on over his normal gloves with a grin. "Now they're three times as light, with twice the power."
Peasley returned in that moment and ran inside the house. "Okay! I'm ready," he announced giddily.
Why do I get the feeling the conversation consisted of Peasley saying 'Oh, hey, I have to go on this quest to find some magic string, prohecy demands it, see you in a few days!' Luigi thought.
"Well, I'm glad," he said instead. "Let's see where we're going first." He rolled out the map.
In bright green pen, written in hard chicken scratch penmanship, was "GO HERE FIRST! #1" with an arrow pointing to a circle in the middle of Gloomy Woods, north of Princess Peach's castle.
"Alright, easy enough," Peasley said. "Luigi and I can ride on my flying bean to get over there, and Dimentio, you can just fly, right?"
"Of course," Dimentio said. "But will both of you be able to fit on that tiny thing?"
"Well..." Peasley put his hand around Luigi's waist. "If we stand really close together, I'm sure we'll be fine."
Luigi's face flushed pink. He cleared his throat and muttered, "Yeah, hm, sure..."
Dimentio clenched his fists and ground his teeth as subtly as he could. Keep control, Dimentio, it's not your place to be envious, he thought. After all, he's a fool and won't last long against anyone from your world.
"Well, Mario, wish us luck!" Luigi said, disrupting Dimentio's thoughts. He shoved the map in his front overall pocket.
There was quite a surprise awaiting the trio in the Gloomy Woods: the woods had nearly doubled their size since Luigi had last been there, and were now more jungle than forest. The dark plants crowded for space to the point where there was hardly any place to walk, and even then there were smaller plants that were just now joining the race for nutrients and light.
A small group of toads was standing outside the forest nervously when the trio arrived. They muttered among themselves until one of them shouted, "Hey, it's Mario's brother, and Prince Peasley! Maybe they're here to help!"
As the flying bean came to a gentle stop, Luigi and Peasley hopped off. Dimentio floated cautiously behind them.
One of the toads, a blue-capped one, ran up to Luigi and said, "Do you see the Gloomy Woods? They're huge! One minute they were normal sized, and the next, they were like that!"
"What?" Luigi asked, astonished. "Just now?"
"Yeah! It's been going on, too. They've been growing like that for at least an hour," the toad said, wringing his hands. "Other people say they've been growing since that weird guy wandered in-"
"Weird guy? What weird guy?" Peasley asked.
"This...guy! He was really tall, and if he had really stood still, you wouldn't have been able to tell him from a tree," the toad described. "None of us got a chance to talk to him... We were, you know...too scared..."
"That's fine," Luigi said quickly, before any snide remarks could be made by his partners. "Did you see him holding anything, I don't know, string like?"
The toad gave him a weird look, then said, "Uh, I think he had something like that wrapped around this staff he carried around, but I can't see why that's important..."
"Okay, thank you!" Luigi said quickly. He turned to Peasley and Dimentio. "Let's get going, and fast."
The other two nodded and followed as Luigi stepped into the deep, dark woods.
Travel through the woods, for the most part, was quiet and eerie. Little sunlight dripped from the sky through the leaves and branches, making it dark and cold despite the weather outside the forest. The trio stepped carefully through (in Dimentio's case, floated) the foliage, trying to make as little noise as possible, as it was very probable they could run into whoever had the Universal Thread at any minute.
How did this even happen? Luigi thought. I've never even seen some of these plants before...
"Hold on," Peasley whispered, gently pushing aside part of a bush. "I think I see something over there..."
Luigi and Dimentio looked where he was looking. A Spear Guy was jumping to reach his spear that was tangled in vines a good few feet above his head. Dimentio opened his mouth to say something when the Spear Guy suddenly fell over, another vine wrapped around his ankle and slowly dragged him upward. The Spear Guy made loud noises of distress before the vine suddenly yanked him out of sight. The screaming increased in volume until there was a horrible crunch. Then there was silence.
"...What the hell was that?!" Luigi asked in quiet horror.
"It seems the plants are becoming animated," Dimentio said. "Whoever made the forest grow must have given it consciousness, too."
Peasley shuddered. "But why would they want to kill the people that just live in the forest? What have they done wrong?"
A metal spearhead grazed the prince's cheek and hit a nearby tree. The trio collectively reeled their heads and saw that it was the same spear that had been taken from the Spear Guy, now wieldedlike a harpoon by a vine.
Peasley quickly drew his sword and sliced through the animated plant, making it shudder and droop. He touched his cheek where he had been hit. When he looked at his hand, his glove had been dyed red with blood.
"Okay, so they don't like us either," Peasley said. "Good to know."
Ten more vines descended from the treetops, some holding spears or spearheads, others armed with natural spines. They moved at a deceptively slow pace, swaying and creeping like the growth of the forest around them. Peasley raised his sword, Luigi's gloves smoked with fire, and Dimentio prepared a magic missile.
In a split second, the vines shot out. As a reaction, the trio attacked back. This would have gone fine, if Luigi hadn't been using fire. For some reason, the logic that if they were animated plants, they wouldn't catch on fire occurred. This was proven wrong when three of the vines lit and started writhing and reeling in pain, smacking into other plants, making them burst into flame. Soon, the trio was surrounded by fire and smoke.
"Okay, run!" Luigi yelped and shot off. Peasley and Dimentio quickly followed.
The vines seemed to be too distressed about the fire to follow the trio, which only helped a trifle. It was still nearly impossible to navigate the forest, and the difficulty was doubled by the smoke and haze. For such a moist environment, the fire spread with shocking speed. Even after they cleared the fire, they kept running to ensure they kept ahead of it. They only stopped when they arrived at a large circular clearing.
In the exact center of the clearing, an impish girl with dark skin and bright green curly hair sat on a mossy rock, gently tuning a guitar. She seemed entirely unaffected by the fire or the sudden arrival of the trio, and smiled softly to herself.
"Do you think she has the thread?" Peasley whispered to Luigi after a long silence.
"No, she's way too small to be what that toad described. She's barely as tall as you," Dimentio said.
Peasley gave him a puzzled look, as if to say, 'What's that supposed to mean?'
"Well, keep in mind, everything's tall and terrifying to toads," Luigi said. "Besides, what sane person willingly spends time in the Gloomy Woods unless they're up to something?"
"Okay, but what should we do? Just ask her if she has it?" Peasley asked.
"Hey, you, over there with the guitar!" Luigi called cautiously, and took a step forward. "Do you have the Universal Thread?"
"No, that's not what I- Okay, then," Peasley sighed.
The girl raised her head and stared at them with big green eyes. She went back to tuning her instrument.
"Maybe she doesn't speak the language," Luigi said.
"Well, our language is almost exactly the same as yours, so there's no reason she shouldn't understand you," Dimentio said. "She may be deaf."
"She has a guitar, there's no way she's deaf," Peasley said.
"I can hear you, you know," the girl said just loud enough to be heard.
The trio froze. The girl hadn't looked up and was still concentrating on her guitar as if she hadn't spoken in the first place.
"I don't have the Thread. Although..." she murmured. "I can tell you where it is."
"Really?" Luigi asked. "That would be great, because-"
He caught Dimentio and Peasley's glares. He stepped back. "Okay, what?"
"Can we trust this girl?" Dimentio asked. "I mean, we don't even know-"
"It's Natura," the girl interrupted, still not watching them.
"...her name," Dimentio finished. Okay, that's an odd coincidence, he thought.
"You know, I didn't mean to literally ask if she had the Thread," Peasley said.
Luigi shrugged. "Well, , it's the polite thing to do. I mean, we have no idea who has it," he pointed out. "Besides, what have we got to lose by listening to her?"
"Time, and we could literally get lost," Peasley responded. "Listen, we have to do this carefully. We know nothing about our enemy besides the fact that they're an enemy and that they're powerful enough to take over an entire planet."
"And his vendetta towards your masked companion," Natura added from her rock.
Peasley snapped his head to the side to look at her. "How did-"
She laughed, interrupting him. "If you'll listen to me, I'll tell you."
The prince rubbed his forehead, frustrated. "Alright, sure, fine." He glanced at Dimentio. "What do you think?"
"I'm curious now, so why not?" Dimentio said.
The trio cautiously came to the center of the clearing in front of Natura, who was now playing a graceful tune and humming softly.
Natura smiled, still not looking up. "You've come to a decision? Good." She placed her guitar on the ground and put her hands in her lap. When she wasn't wrapped around the instrument, she looked much more gangly. "So, first I'll tell you about who holds the Nature Segment." She paused when she received confused looks. "That's what this piece of the Thread is called. When the Thread was cut, the four elements of the thread- Nature, Flame, Life Force, and Time -went into each piece. The one you're looking for is the Nature Segment.
"Anyways, I can't name any names- I reluctantly work under the Prince myself, -but Dimentio, you know who has this Segment, as well as the Flame Segment. You can take a guess at who they are," she said.
"How do you know his name?" Luigi asked.
"You haven't guessed it already? I'm slightly psychic," she said, lifting part of her poofy hair to show an illustration of an eye on her forehead that blinked and glanced around.
"Eugh!" Luigi shuddered at the sight. Peasley's face paled and he gripped Luigi's hand.
The girl giggled and let the hair drop back down. "Thought you'd see it that way," she smiled. "I'll let your masked friend tell you about who holds the Nature Segment, but I want to give each of you some advice. If you keep it in mind, you can easily avoid a lot of strife."
"First, you, Luigi: you will need to keep the peace in this trio. To do this, you cannot assume or take anything for granted. If you do, it makes you look apathetic. Second, Peasley: Be patient, not only for time but with your emotions. If you let rashness overtake you, you may bring doom to this quest. And lastly, Dimentio: be careful of what you do and what you say. You can't fix the past, but you must make things good for the future and present."
There was a long silence. "What the heck are we supposed to do with that information?" Luigi demanded..
Natura sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever you think you should," she said, picking her guitar up . Soon she was playing her tune again and humming as if they weren't even there.
Luigi shrugged and led the group on.
"So, she said you knew who had the Nature Segment...?" Peasley commented in hopes of an explanation after they were far from the clearing.
"Well, I wouldn't take her word for it," Dimentio snapped. "For all that we know, she's completely insane."
"Hey, look, the trees aren't growing as quickly here, and there's no more smoke coming from the fire," Luigi interrupted. "How do you think that happened?"
Glad to be on a different subject, Dimentio supplied, "Perhaps because the vines are sentient, they put out the fire in some manner."
(The truth of the matter was that the toads outside the forest had noticed the huge column of smoke and put out the fire themselves. Even though the toads were cowards, they hated to see needless destruction.)
"Well, supposing Natura was right, do you know who she was referring to?" Peasley tried again.
Dimentio glared at Peasley for a second and then muttered something.
"What was that?" Peasley asked, now frustrated.
"I said, the Gladesman," Dimentio repeated irritably.
"Oh, you've mentioned him to me before," Luigi said. "That makes sense, he taught you that thing with the flowers."
Dimentio clenched his fists. "It seems too uncanny, though. The Prince just happened to know him and trust him enough to give him a piece of the Thread, as powerful as it is?"
"My point is, if you know him, you should know his weaknesses, right?" Peasley clarified. "Or, at the very least, should be able to ask him nicely for the Thread."
Dimentio laughed without humor. "You would think that, wouldn't you?" He scowled. "I didn't exactly leave his company on good terms."
"Well, what's that supposed to-" Peasley started.
He was interrupted by three earthshaking THUMPs, like those of falling trees. Something large loomed menacingly, too far away to define, but close enough to be a threat. Seconds after the noise, soft green light came from the ground as the foliage began to slowly creep skyward. The figure shuffled onward in no specific direction, until it was out of sight.
"You think that could be him?" Luigi whispered.
"...It's likely," Dimentio admitted begrudgingly.
"Let's follow him," Peasley ordered, unsheathing his sword.
Dimentio threw himself in front of him. "No! That's a terrible idea!"
"But Dimentio, you said that guy's a coward," Luigi remembered. "Shouldn't this be no problem then?"
Dimentio ground his teeth. "That was...in the moment." Not only that, but I thought I would never see the bastard again, he thought.
"We shouldn't fear some guy who can make trees grow," Peasley retorted. "We need to get that Thread so we can save this world! Now, do you know any way we can get the jump on this guy?"
There was a long uncomfortable pause. Then, Dimentio reluctantly said, "He's blind."
"...Really?" Luigi asked.
"Couldn't see a thing to save his life," he confirmed. "But, he does have good hearing. So if we are going to sneak up on him, we'll need to be silent."
"I have a suggestion, but you're gonna hate me for it," Luigi said.
I already hate this altogether and it's only the first day, Dimentio thought. Instead he said aloud, "Go on."
"You're the only who can float, Dimentio," Luigi said. "If any one of us can do stealth, it's you."
"That is true," Peasley agreed before Dimentio could argue. "The toad from earlier said that the Thread was wrapped around his staff, so you could float up behind him, grab the Thread, and get out. He'd be none the wiser!"
Dimentio took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll do it. But you two owe me for this!"
The Gladesman wandered about the woods, leaning on his staff of a living tree. Indeed, the Thread was wrapped around its bark, but how else was he to protect it? The Prince of Null and Void- the protector of all, practically a god, -had trusted it to him, so it was a priority above all else. Not only that, but now he could give Nature back the land it rightfully owned from the ungrateful people who ripped the life away to make pavement and settlements.
Though, now he had a bizarre, yet familiar feeling of being watched. Like a predator... No, more like a trickster waiting for the right moment to strike.
He shook the feeling off. Dimentio had left a long time ago, and had probably been killed and tossed in a gutter somewhere. Perhaps the Thread was getting to him. He had heard tales of how it turned men mad.
Just as that thought left his head, he felt a sharp tug on his staff. He whirled around, drawing a sword from inside his cloak.
"Who's there?"
Peasly and Luigi had watched from afar as Dimentio snuck up behind the Gladesman. He was, as he had been described, easily mistaken for a tree. He was tall and broad, with dark skin and long lichen-esque hair. Over his shoulders dragged a long cape that could have been made from moss. His shirt and pants seemed to be made from tan wool.
It had all been going great until the blind man twirled around, drawing a sword at least as long as Bowser was tall.
"Who's there?" he whispered hoarsely as cataract-smeared eyes stared at the sky.
Dimentio had nearly been stabbed just from the weapon being drawn, but he stood still as a statue, gripping the glowing green Thread.
"Answer me, thief!" he ordered. "You don't know what you've taken!"
The woods were silent save for the occasional chirping of birds. Dimentio slowly backed away from the Gladesman, floating gently. When he took a quick glance backwards, his ankle hit a root and he tripped noisily and fell.
In a quick slash, the tip of the sword was in Dimentio's face. "There you are," the Gladesman growled. "Identify yourself, thief."
"An old friend?" Dimentio said nervously.
The Gladesman's face dropped. The sword trembled in his hand. "Hm. I'd heard the prophecy, but I didn't think it was true," he rumbled.
"Well, neither do I, to be honest," Dimentio said. "But you could help me out a great deal and just...let me go with the Thread?"
The Gladesman's face screwed up. "No." A smile worked its way onto his face. "Unless you can help me with a theory of mine." He reached into his cloak with his free hand and paused. "Are the other members of your trio here?"
Dimentio glanced quickly behind at Luigi and Peasley. They offered no solution. "...No," he said carefully.
"Perfect." He tossed a small bottle to Dimentio. It was filled halfway with a green-purple liquid.
"What's this?"
"Poison," he answered gruffly. "The prophecy says three of you stop the Prince, so, if there's only two of you, maybe you can't succeed."
Dimentio tensed up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Do you want me to kill myself so you can prove some theory?"
The Gladesman laughed, surprising the whole trio. "Not necessarily, friend! Just one of your group. Perhaps you could slip it into a drink or something?" His blind eyes darkened. "Besides, it's not like you haven't ended lives frivolously..."
Dimentio jumped to his feet, his hands balled into fists, one still gripping the Thread. "I was not being frivolous, and I think you know that." His hands started glowing with magic. "Anyway, I'm not going to poison anyone of my group!" He threw the bottle on the ground. It exploded, sending glass flying and killing plants within a yard-wide radius.
Couldn't you have just faked your own death and then attacked him when his guard was down? Peasley thought. No, go ahead, be like that. Be overdramatic. (
The Gladesman's lip drew back in an animalistic snarl. "Fine. was willing to let you go, but you've made your decision!"
"I have one more thing to tell you, before we fight," Dimentio said viciously. "I was never alone. My companions are right behind you!"
The Gladesman's eyes widened. He whipped around and slashed his sword at thin air. "Fight me you cowards!" he growled.
Dimentio floated quickly through the brush to Luigi and Peasley and whispered, "Go! Go, while we still can!"
The trio only got a few steps before the Gladesman's sword landed in the middle of a tree only a few inches from Luigi's face.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid?!" he bellowed.
Well, if you just toss your weapon out of reach, then yes, Peasley thought, unsheathing his rapier.
Peasley slowly walked around toward and to the left of the Gladesman, and motioned to Luigi to go to his right. If Dimentio could keep him distracted while he and Luigi got the jump on him, they could finish him off quickly.
A sudden pang of guilt hit him. They were attacking a blind man, who didn't even know if they were there or not. He was practically defenseless, and they already had what they wanted. He attacked us and he's hurting the people who live in these woods, he thought. Just because he's blind doesn't mean he can't be a threat.
The Gladesman turned and looked directly at Peasley. He cocked his head and had a look of vague concentration. He flicked his wrist and hit his staff against the ground.
Glowing vines shot down like spears from the forest canopy and almost hit Luigi, who yelped in surprise. The Gladesman grinned wickedly as he turned around to face the source of the sound. "There you are," he rumbled.
Peasley ran up behind the Gladesman's back, bringing his sword arm as he ran. He had to act quickly if he wanted to prevent Luigi from getting hurt, or worse. A split second before he was to stab him in the side- hoping to injure, to get his attention, maybe not kill, -a ball of purple magic hit his target in the arm, knocking him to a different angle. Peasley didn't have time to readjust before his sword slid through his chest.
Blood spurted on to his face and neck. The Gladesman looked down at him with an expression of shock and confusion. He then toppled over backward, taking Peasley's sword with him.
"...Yikes," Luigi muttered.
Dimentio floated over with a blank expression. He stared at the body silently.
"I... Dimentio, I'm sorry," Peasley said quickly. "I knew he was your friend, and I only meant to hit his side, but he moved-"
"It's fine," he interrupted, not looking up. "I'm not upset."
Peasley stood still, unsure of what to say. He had expected rage, sadness, something harsh, but not...this. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes." He shook himself and looked straight ahead. "Just...shocked. I had never thought I'd see the Gladesman...dead. Skewered like a kabob, as it were."
"Oh, okay." Peasley said.
He grabbed the handle of his sword and tugged it. It stayed put. He pulled harder, putting his back into it. "Must be stuck in his sternum," he muttered. It's almost a miracle it got through the bone in the first place, he thought as he tried taking it from a different angle.
When the sword finally broke free, Peasley sighed in relief. It was hard enough to have killed someone's friend, and having to remove the weapon didn't help the tension.
"Do you still have the Thread, Dimentio?" Luigi asked.
Dimentio held up the small green string. "Right here."
"You know, I thought it would be bigger," Luigi remarked. "I mean, that rip we saw at King Boo's mansion was pretty big, and probably hasn't gotten any smaller."
"Maybe the Thread gets bigger when it's with the other pieces?" Peasley suggested.
"Maybe," Dimentio agreed. "Speaking of the other pieces, are we done here?"
Luigi nodded, but Peasley said, "I'd like to wash off my face before we go anywhere else. It might give people the wrong idea, with all the blood."
"I understand," Dimentio said, crouching. He pried the Gladesman's staff from his dead hands, then sent it to Dimension D.
"What'd you do that for?" Luigi asked, not unkindly.
"Just... A memento," he answered.
Back in the clearing, Natura watched the trio go by again, this time unseen in the shadows. She heard a passing whispered conversation:
"What do you think the Gladesman meant when he said that Dimentio had 'frivolously killed'?"
"He probably meant the whole Count Bleck thing."
"But you never mentioned him when you told me about it... He wasn't there for that. He might not even have known Dimentio was involved!"
"...Then I don't know. Don't worry about it, though. I'm sure it's nothing.