It was a rather hectic morning in the Mushroom Kingdom as an earthquake in the night had shaken Toad Town from its slumber. The denizens were alert, waiting for any possible aftershocks or second quake to strike. Many of the older buildings in town had been damaged in the quake, leaving broken glass and wooden splinters in the streets. The newer homes were relatively unscathed, save for a few loose shingles and stuck windows.
Mario and Luigi had been summoned to Peach's Castle as a sign of control to ease the worries of the Toads, and the brothers were all too happy to accommodate their dear friend's request. Upon seeing the two heroes stroll through town without the slightest glimmer of worry in their eyes the town immediately felt a sense of calm and normality.
Without missing a beat he brothers walked up the stone bridge that crossed the moat surrounding the Castle and were shown inside by the two patrolling Toad guards.
"Master Mario, Master Luigi." Toadsworth greeted the invited brothers with open arms as they were shown into the main audience chamber. "So good of you to come on such short notice."
"Of course." Mario modestly replied as he stood up straight and proud. "We're always willing to help."
Luigi nodded in agreement as he displayed the same confidence as his brother. "Always."
"Good show." Toadsworth approved of their heartfelt responses and tapped his cane once on the floor. "Come now. The Princess has something she wishes to show you."
Mario and Luigi exchanged puzzled glances but followed the ward nonetheless. Ascending the marble staircase to the next floor the heroic duo quietly marched along behind Toadsworth as he escorted the brothers to the secluded staircase leading up to the tallest tower of the Castle.
"You see young Masters," Toadsworth began casually explaining as he led the way up the tower's spiraling stone staircase. "as of this morning the earthquake had leveled an old ivory tower in the rear of the Royal Garden."
"Was anyone hurt?" Luigi asked sincerely as Toadsworth updated the brothers on the Castle's most recent events.
"No, no. Goodness no! The tower had been abandoned since just before the Princess was born. The neglect surely led to its collapse." He cleared his throat calmly. "At any rate, while sifting through the dusty remains and rumble of the tower a guard had stumbled across a most curious artifact hidden away in a secret chamber below the tower."
"Artifact?" Mario's curiosity had been piqued. "Treasure?"
"Perhaps. It was locked away in an ancient oak trunk." Toadsworth admitted. "For now the Princess is mostly interested in how the artifact survived the collapse itself, where it came from and she would to like to know as to why it had been hidden away for so long."
Luigi got a bad feeling and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "Maybe it was hidden for a good reason."
Toadsworth and Mario were both a little shaken by Luigi's words didn't say anything further.
"Ah, here were are." Toadsworth stood outside of a large red door with a silhouette of Princess Peach, carved in gold, in the center as an elegant accent. Knocking on the door with his cane he announced their presence and opened the door slowly. "My dear, Masters Mario and Luigi have arrived."
"Mario, Luigi!" Peach was standing in front of a tall object concealed beneath a white sheet. "Thank you for coming!"
The chamber itself was truly unique. It was a round room with seven large windows encircling the stone walls. The windows were individually paned with stained glass, each window displaying a different mural showcasing the greatest feats from the past Kings and Queens of the Mushroom Kingdom. Through the colorful glass bright sunlight filled the room with a natural brightness and warmth.
Mario and Luigi entered the room while Toadsworth quietly took his leave. They stood side by side just behind Peach as she returned her attention to the concealed object standing behind her.
"Is this the artifact?" Mario asked excitedly. "Toadsworth told us about it."
"Yes!" Peach replied with just as much excitement in her melodious voice. "You won't believe what the guards found!"
With a sharp tuck of the sheet the concealed object was revealed in a somewhat dramatic effect. Hidden beneath the sheet was a massive mirror. It stood at twelve feet in height and six feet across. The mirror was oval with solid gold as its frame. The frame had been diligently and elegantly carved with ancient symbols and words from a dead language that only a few members of the royal family could read.
"Wow!" Mario was genuinely impressed by the discovery. "That's some treasure!"
Luigi on the other hand immediately got a bad vibe from the mirror and stepped back. "I get the feeling it was hidden for a reason." He muttered to himself. "Maybe it should be stored somewhere safe." Luigi couldn't even look at the mirror, there was something too ominous about it and it made him feel uncomfortable.
Mario stepped up to the mirror and stared at the many little carvings on the frame with intense interest. When he eyes scanned the top of the mirror's frame he pointed to the words at the top and asked about them. "What does it say up there? I don't recognize those words at all."
"Hmm..." Peach stood on her toes as she studied the words, ignoring her less than accurate reflection in the mirror.
"Uh..." Luigi could see that there was something amiss with Peach's reflection but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Am I crazy or is the mirror not quite... normal?"
"Huh? Mario looked at his and Peach's reflections but didn't see anything wrong. "Maybe the light is putting a weird glare on the glass from where you're standing."
"I guess..." Luigi wasn't satisfied with the answer but didn't press the matter any further.
"'Dark Rumination'." Peach meticulously translated the long dead words carved into the gold above the glass of the mirror. "What an ugly title for something so pretty!" She placed her hand on the flawless glass of the mirror and smiled. "Why was this mirror locked away in a dungeon for so many years? It's still in pristine condition."
As her hand met the cool surface of the mirror a strange chill swept over the glass and froze her hand in place. The room darkened and the air became heavy.
Instantly on guard Mario and Luigi scanned the suddenly dim room for any sign of vicious intent.
"What is this?!" Peach almost shrieked as she struggled to pull her hand away from the mirror. "I can't move!"
Quickly Mario and Luigi rushed to Peach's side in an attempt to pull her hand away from the mirror but the unnatural ice was unrelenting. From beneath the frosty surface of the glass a dark facade swept over Peach's reflection, creating a dark facade that glared back at the Princess from beneath the ice.
Mario pulled at Peach's hand as firmly as he dared but she couldn't be moved. "Don't worry Princess, we'll help you!" He tried to reaffirm her waning confidence as the room grew ever darker and colder. "I promise!"
Luigi was holding onto Peach's hand and pressing against the mirror, but the two could not be parted. "We need to think of something, fast!"
"Ahhh!" Peach screamed in terror as a third, deathly cold, hand suddenly gripped her arm. The third hand had emerged from the mirror and grasped onto Peach's arm so tightly that her skin was instantly bruised and beginning to bleed. "Let go!"
The figure within the mirror said nothing as it pulled even harder than either Mario or Luigi combined and in one fell swoop Peach through glass and into the mirror! The force was so strong that Mario and Luigi were knocked backward across the room with a singular powerful wave of energy.
"Mario! Luigi!" Were the only muffled cries that Peach could utter as she disappeared into the other side of the glass.
"Princess!" Mario and Luigi shouted in unison, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.
"She... She's gone!" Mario stammered as he rushed back to the mirror and pressed his hands against the glass. "Princess!"
"Mario!" Peach's face appeared on the other side of the mirror. She pressed hands pleadingly against the glass as she cried out for help. "Help me!"
From behind Peach, still inside the mirror, the dark facade stepped forward and through Peach as it crossed from side of the glass to the other.
Mario and Luigi stood cautiously their ground as they warily watched the dark figure emerge from the mirror and hover inches above the ground before the two heroes.
"At last..." The shadowy figure growled as it took on a more human form. "I am free."
"Who are you?!" Mario demanded bitterly, forming a fireball in his hand and threatening to throw it at the shadow in an instant.
"My name... is Ruin." The figure replied as the humanizing form continued to morph and change into a more familiar appearance. "And I am here to rule this world."
"What?!" Luigi gasped in absolute shock. "What IS this?"
The figure's shape finished forming and its feet touched the stone floor of the chamber. It laughed wickedly in a low feminine tone.
"No..." Mario felt his heart sink at the sight before him.
"I am Ruin. I am the shadow of the Princess." Ruin had taken on the appearance of Princess Peach, specifically the form that Peach had been forced to take when she was temporarily used as a vessel by the Shadow Queen of Rogue Port. "I shall bathe the world in darkness and burn it to ash. And from those ashes a new world will dawn, a world of my own creation."
"No!" Mario launched his fireball at Ruin but the powerful deity managed to brush aside the fiery projectile with the simple wave of her hand.
Luigi grabbed onto Mario's arm and whispered in his ear. "Come on! We need to get the mirror and get out of here!"
Laughing a guttural, almost demonic laugh Ruin seemed to know what the heroic brothers were planning. "Your Princess is my prisoner. She shall bear the centuries of that cursed mirror for all eternity, just as I had been sentenced." Lifting her hand Ruin made a tight fist and a dark energy struck the mirror, fracturing the glass into multiple pieces. "Her imprisonment guarantees my freedom."
"No!" Mario lunged for the mirror but Ruin managed to stop him midair with another wave of her hand. "Let me go!" He protested angrily as he futilely kicked and punched in the air. "Let the Princess go!"
Ruin just smiled wickedly as she watched Mario struggle in vain against her dark powers. "As you wish."
Raising her second hand she made another fist that separated the shards of the mirror from the frame and lifted them toward the ceiling. The shards spun around wildly before flying out of the stained glass windows of the chamber, each shard flying off into its own different direction as the murals of the windows shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces that rained down to the floor.
"Princess!" Mario and Luigi called out as they watched the broken mirror disappear into the distance.
Ruin wave her hand at Luigi and held him in the air beside Mario. "Gah!" Luigi protested just as Mario had and he too begun struggling against the unseen dark power that held him at bay.
"Be gone..."
With a flick of her wrists the two heroes were launched from the chamber and through the window behind Ruin.
"This entire world shall be mine..."
...to be continued...