Author's Note: YAHOO! Finally it comes down to this, the story I consider my personal masterpiece! Words cannot express my joy at finally being able to share this story with all of my faithful readers (and maybe some new ones too!). I've waited so long to get to this point and we're finally here! I hope you all enjoy reading story #11 as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's been fun! Without further ado, the eleventh installment in the Super Mario Series!
Wicked whisper, silent secret,
Nemesis of good and right,
Sealed beyond the rift of chaos,
Master of eternal night.
Darkness comes, and none resist it,
Save the hero of the light;
See, his soul is shadow-tainted
By the evil lord of night.
Thirteen all-empowered relics
Hold night's shaded strength in sleep;
They, united, break the binding
Chains that evil weakened keep.
He that gathereth the relics
Holds night's power in his hand—
Power to keep the foe in bondage
Or let ruin stalk the land.
Hero, you must relics gather—
They can cleanse your shaded soul;
Let the wrong one take the relics—
Ne'er again will you be whole.
"Dark...so dark... Where am I?"
He cast his eyes about him, peering through the darkness down the hall ahead. Dimly he could make out a set of black double doors with half moon handles dead ahead, away in the blackness beyond.
This is your destiny...
"Who said that?"
Warily he scanned the darkened stone hallway. No one was in sight. But that whisper in his ear...
He started forward suddenly, as if his body were being forced to move. He tried to stop himself but could not. Horror registered on his face.
"Why can't I stop?!"
Mechanically his hands reached for the doors and pulled them open despite his commands to the contrary. As he stepped involuntarily into the shadowed room beyond, he heard the whisper again.
This is your destiny...
"What destiny?? Where am I?!"
The instant he spoke those words he remembered. His breath caught in his throat. The room was too dark for him to discern its size or shape, but one thing stood out like a giant looming in the shadows.
The door.
That huge, gigantean monstrosity called a door. A door engraved with intricate symbolism, symbolism that he could not read meaning into. Then, for the third time, came that whisper.
This is your destiny...
And just as he opened his mouth to scream -
Mario groaned and turned over in bed. He crammed his pillow over his ears to block out the annoying buzz of the alarm clock that had so rudely terminated his rest.
"Be quiet," he mumbled through his mattress.
The alarm clock, oblivious to Mario's frustration, continued its piercing wake-up call.
Mario lifted the pillow from his head and groggily opened one sleepy eye, turning his head to see the bold red numbers on the digital clock. Six AM, he thought, his foggy mind only partially comprehending the significance of time.
Reluctantly he stretched out a hand to the nightstand beside the bed and shut the shrill beeping off. "Come on, Mario, wake up," he mumbled to himself with a gaping yawn as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. His legs dangled off the edge of the bed. He sat there for a moment, letting the fog clear from his mind.
Tentatively he stood up, bracing himself for the impact of his bare feet on the chilly floor.
"OUCH!!"
Mario winced in pain as his sore muscles rebelled against his motion. "Oh, ow, ohhh..." He massaged his left shoulder, trying to relax the tender muscles. Apparently he was being given a reminder of the beating he'd taken yesterday.
"Next time I go up against Master Hand and Crazy Hand, I hope I can fight on my feet, not my face," he groaned, stepping stiffly toward the bathroom door. "Ouch... Stupid Empress Cyanara. Of all the mean tricks. Using the Smash Bros. tournaments to perfect those two Hands just so she could pummel me with them. Grrr..."
Stepping into the bathroom, Mario snapped the lights on and immediately shut his eyes against the bright fluorescent bulbs. He squinted at the mirror over the sink and sighed.
"Man, for a guy's who's supposed to have breakfast with his fiancée this morning, I sure am a sight." He ran his fingers over his face, feeling his countless bruises and two black eyes. "Mark down one more thing Cyanara needs payback for."
After showering and toweling off, Mario slithered into his signature outfit, red shirt and blue denim overalls. Then he stationed himself in front of the mirror again and began meticulously combing and trimming his luxurious 'stache.
"At least she didn't ruin my mustache with that beat-down," Mario commented to himself as he finished his task and stepped back to view the results. He stroked his mustache thoughtfully a few times. "Perfect."
Mario now left the bathroom adjoining his bedroom and moved past his own bed to a second, identical bed. He shook the shoulder of its occupant.
"Luigi."
The only response was a loud snore.
"Luigi!"
Mario jostled Luigi's shoulder, but the younger brother refused to awaken.
"OK, you asked for it." Mario opened the drawer of the nightstand and removed a white circular mask. He slipped the mask on and leaned over Luigi.
"...ooooOOOOOoooo......ooooOOOOO!!"
Luigi's eyes flew open, and the first thing he saw was a large white Boo staring him in the face.
"YAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Luigi dived under his blankets and huddled there, shivering. "D-Don't eat me!"
Mario removed the Boo mask. "I told you I'd scare you awake if you wouldn't get up, remember?" He tossed the mask back into its drawer.
Luigi poked his head out from beneath the sheets. His teeth were chattering. "P-P-Please, M-Mario, d-don't d-do th-that! I h-hate g-ghosts!"
"And that makes them a particularly good method of waking you up in the morning," replied Mario evenly. "I've got to go. Peach is expecting me at the castle."
"Y-Yeah, f-fine," shivered Luigi as he crept out of the blankets.
Mario left the bedroom and walked through the living room, past the still-glowing fireplace, to the door of his little cottage. He pulled his red cap from the peg by the door and flopped it jauntily atop his head. Opening the door, he stepped outside into the warm morning air.
"Looks like it's gonna be hot today," he remarked, feeling the sun's rays warming him. He eyed the warp pipe about ten yards from the front door. A little spark of determination came into his eyes, and he grinned.
"Today's the day I hit you dead-on, you crazy pipe," he informed the green tube.
Suddenly Mario sprang from the front steps in a magnificent leap, flying through the air toward the pipe. It looked like he would make it into the pipe in one jump. Closer...falling closer...
Mario's soles struck the edge of the pipe at an angle, bouncing him backward to land on his rear in the dirt. He scrambled to his feet, brushing the dirt from the seat of his overalls.
"Ouch," he said to himself as his still-tender muscles gave him another reminder of their soreness. He glared at the pipe. "Why is it that I can never get inside you in one shot?"
The pipe did not reply.
"I'll get you next time, just you wait and see," Mario warned the pipe before making another, smaller leap that sent him shooting down the warp pipe at typical warp speed. In moments he popped out of the pipe's other end with a "Yahaa!" and landed on the soft grass of Peach's castle grounds.
Mario took a deep whiff of the flower-scented air and sighed in contentment. He sauntered down the long flagstone pathway that led from the main road behind him to the castle, his eyes roving over the neatly terraced grounds.
As he neared the castle gate, a Toad in battle armor stuck his head over the wall and beamed down at him. "Hiya, Mario!"
"Hey up there, Michael!" Mario called back with a smile. "Is your dad back from the Empress's old fortress yet?"
"No," answered the eight-year-old, still beaming, "so I get to make morning rounds all by myself!"
"You're doing a great job, little guy," Mario praised him. "I don't suppose you could get the gates open, could you?"
"I'll try!" Michael's head disappeared behind the wall, and after a few minutes the heavy oak-and-iron gates began to creak slowly open. Mario hooked his fingers around the edge of the right-hand gate and pulled while Michael pushed, and the two of them succeeded in dragging the huge door open enough for Mario to get inside.
"Thanks, buddy," Mario told Michael, giving his helper a friendly knuckle rub on his skull. Michael grinned and ducked to avoid Mario's knuckles.
"You keeping up with that sword of yours?" Mario asked as he again began walking along the stone pathway, this time inside the castle wall, heading for the main building with Michael tagging along.
"You bet!" Michael reached for his sword and slid it out of its sheath. The sun glinted off the polished steel. "I'm gonna win the World Swordfighting Tournament next year!"
"You did place second this year, so I wouldn't be surprised," Mario agreed. "You'd beat me any day, that's for sure!"
Mario reached the door of the castle building and opened the door, stepping into the castle lobby. Michael trailed him as usual. Crossing the sunburst rug in the center of the room, Mario climbed the stairs and entered the double doors at the top. Emerging in the second lobby area, he continued forward, climbing another small staircase and passing through another double door, entering the hall that ran throughout the castle. He crossed the red-carpeted hall and opened the golden double doors before him and entered the throne room itself.
"I'm here, Peach."
Princess Peach looked up from her conversation with Toadsworth, and a smile broke over her fair face. "Mario!" she exclaimed warmly, rising from her golden throne. "I wasn't expecting you so soon!"
"Master Mario, of all the rude interruptions!" Toadsworth spluttered, waving his cane in the direction of the intruding plumber. "Barging into the royal throne room without so much as announcing your presence with a messenger! The nerve!"
"Toadsworth..." Peach warned him.
Toadsworth turned to the Princess again. "You Highness, this is the man you're engaged to?! He ought to at least show proper decorum in the presence of royalty!"
"He doesn't have to," Peach reminded him. "This isn't a formal call, and besides," she added, casting a glance at Mario, "we are engaged."
Toadsworth humphed and started for the doors Mari had just passed through. Mario could hear him grumbling under his breath. The aged steward creaked out of the throne room and slammed the doors behind him.
Peach stepped down from her throne and came to Mario through the sunlight streaming through the windows. He hugged her.
"I'm so glad to see you this morning, Mario," Peach said with a smile after the embrace had ended. "I haven't felt this happy in more than a month!"
I'm guessing there's more than one reason for that," Mario replied with a twinkle in his eye.
Peach nodded, still smiling. "Come on, let's go to breakfast. Tace T. should have everything ready by now." She took his hand, and together the two left the throne room, reentered the main lobby, and turned left into the Princess's private dining room. Peach seated herself at the head of the table and motioned for Mario to sit on her immediate right. No sooner had the two seated themselves than the door opened, and in came Tace T. and her kitchen crew, bearing the morning meal in ornate silver dishes. Mario's mouth watered at the delicious scent of waffles and omelets.
"Looks like the head chef has done it again," Mario commented as the dishes were arranged on the spotless white tablecloth. "Tace T. hasn't ruined a dish in ten years."
"Oh, I have," replied the head cook, red braids swinging, "but I do it in the kitchen where you won't see me!"
Mario chuckled as the kitchen crew filed back out of the dining room. He turned to Peach. "Shall we begin?"
"Let's," replied Peach with a smile, reaching out to remove the domed cover of the main platter. Mario's nose was immediately caught up to scent heaven as the aroma of 'Shroom Omelet bombarded his nostrils. Peach served Mario a more than generous portion, eyeing the heavenly look on his face as he inhaled the food smells. She took some omelet herself, and the two fell to their meal.
Mario's menu this morning consisted of the 'Shroom Omelet, a stack of five steaming waffles drenched in maple syrup, ten strips of Goombacon, several Koopastries, three glasses of orange juice and one of milk, and one of Tace T.'s famous cinnamon rolls, steaming hot and dripping with vanilla icing. It took him a record one hour, seventeen minutes, and fifty-three seconds to finish the meal. Peach finished long before he did and simply sat quietly in her chair, smiling to herself as Mario attempted to fill the bottomless pit he had for a stomach. At last he drained the last drop of orange juice from his third glassful, clunked his glass back onto the table, and wiped his sticky mouth with his napkin.
"Dee-licious!" he sighed, patting his stomach. Peach giggled.
"So," he began, settling back in his chair to let his meal digest, "why exactly are you so happy this morning? Might it have anything to do with that diamond you're wearing on your finger?"
Peach smiled and held out her right hand, gazing at the fiery brilliance of the gem set in her engagement ring. "That's part of it," she acknowledged happily, "but there's more to the story."
"Hmmm..." Mario furrowed his brow in thought. "Is it because Cyanara's gone?"
Peach nodded. "She gave me so many pains and heartaches that I'm glad to see her finally put down."
"You'd think that, knowing you as she does, she'd accept the fact that you got the throne and not her," Mario remarked.
"She is my older sister," Peach acknowledged, "and she does know why I got the throne—and why she was banished—but she never accepted her punishment. Father was right about her—the evil in her was stronger than any of us ever realized." Peach looked a bit sorrowful at the memory of her sister. "She's hated me ever since her banishment. At least she's no longer a threat."
"We hope she's not, anyway," Mario reminded her. "We don't know where she is, remember? Yesterday she just walked out of her fortress and we haven't seen her since. Who knows what she could be up to?"
"I would certainly prefer that she not come back," responded Peach with finality.
"Yeah, me too," conceded Mario, "but think about it. Cyanara was literally behind everything bad that's ever happened to the Mushroom Kingdom. For crying out loud, she even mutated a baby Koopa to make Bowser just so she could sic him on you!" Mario began checking off the worst of the Mushroom Kingdom's past foes on his fingers. "She was behind Grodus and the X-Nauts, the Shroob invasion, the Shadow King and Queen, the Shadow Legion, Zaron and his Staff of Shadows, the dimensional splitting of the kingdom—" He stopped. "If I were her I wouldn't be giving up just yet."
"Please, Mario, don't even suggest that," Peach pleaded. "Cyanara's gone. I'm not ready to start thinking about her possible return. I want to enjoy the peace while it lasts."
"I'm sorry, Peach," Mario apologized. "I don't mean to bring back all those horrible memories of your sister."
"It's all right," Peach replied, brushing a tear away.
Mario's heart wrenched. Here he had gone and spoiled his Princess's morning with his remarks on the past few weeks. He knew the trauma Peach had experienced under the cruel hand of her estranged sister. Somehow he had to make things right again, but words just didn't seem adequate. He simply laid his hand on Peach's and looked her in the face, silently asking forgiveness. Peach looked back at him through her welling tears.
Suddenly Peach's smile broke through again, and she leaned over and hugged Mario. He patted her shoulder as he returned the embrace.
"I didn't mean to make you sad," he murmured.
Peach nodded, still hugging him. "I know," he replied. "It's OK." She released Mario from her arms. "I just can't stay sad any more. Not with you here with me!" She leaned toward him again, lips ready. Mario shut his eyes in happy anticipation as their lips neared each other.
Suddenly the dining room door burst open with a bang, and Toadsworth came rushing into the room as fast as his elderly limbs would allow. When he saw Mario and Peach with lips locked, he stared in horror, aghast at the scene before him. For a moment he was speechless. Then he found his tongue.
"ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!!!"
Peach paid Toadsworth no attention. She finished giving Mario her kiss and pulled away into her normal sitting position. "Yes, Toadsworth, what is it?" she asked innocently.
"Wh-What on earth do you think you're doing, Your Highness?!" spluttered Toadsworth, face cherry red. "Engaging in—in such indecorous conduct! Of all the scandalous—" Toadsworth suddenly remembered why he'd come. "And while you two are in here—" he fumbled for words, finally spitting out his word choice in disgust—"kissing, the captain of the guard has been severely injured! Your Highness, you must—"
Peach bolted out of her chair. "Injured?! Russ T.?!"
"Of course he's injured!" retorted Toadsworth. "Why else would I tell you he's injured?"
"Then don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!" burst out Peach, making a rush for the door. "Get Dr. Herb T. immediately! Come on, Mario!" Mario jumped up from his seat, nearly bowling Toadsworth over as he dashed out the door after Peach.
Peach and Mario burst into the front lobby to see a tall Toad in steel armor being lugged through the front doors. The Princess gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
"Oh, Mario! Look at him! He's—he's—"
"He's cut up pretty bad," Mario finished grimly. "Wonder what happened to him?"
"EEEEK! RUSS!!"
A female Toad in a purple outfit came speeding through the doors behind Mario and Peach. She flew down the stairs at breakneck speed and halted beside the nearly unconscious victim being carried inside. "Russ, Russ, can you hear me, dear? Say something!" Tears began to flow from her pretty dark eyes.
"...uuhhh...Rachel..." the captain groaned faintly. He opened his puffy, bloodshot eyes and looked at his wife in pain. Rachel caressed his cheek, the tears now flowing like a river.
"Excuse me, Your Highness!" Another Toad, this one dressed in a doctor's white coat, brushed past Mario and Peach on his way into the lobby. He moved quickly to the wounded Toad and had the carriers set their burden on the rug in the center of the floor. Russ T. groaned pitifully as he was laid on the rug. Rachel knelt beside him, clasping his bloodied hand in hers and crying still.
"Can you save him, doctor?" she asked with a sob, looking up to the medical expert kneeling beside her.
"I don't know, Rachel," replied Herb grimly as he felt for Russ's pulse. It was almost nonexistent. He looked up at Mario standing on the balcony with Peach. "Mario, get the nurses and a stretcher. We've got to get the captain into the infirmary ASAP!"
"Got it!" Mario turned and sped along the balcony, entering the door at its far right end. He turned left down a white hallway and soon found himself at the nurses' station. The Toad nurses looked up up from their seats at various monitors, surprised to see Mario.
"Doc needs you guys in the front lobby immediately! Russ T.'s been hurt! And bring a stretcher!"
The nurses' station exploded into action as each girl scrambled for needed items—bandages, antiseptics, painkillers, and of course the requested stretcher. Mario rushed the troupe back to the lobby, and the medical team set to work getting Russ on the stretcher and dressing his wounds. Rachel held Russ's hand through the entire ordeal. Once the bleeding was under control, Dr. Herb and his team carried the captain back to the infirmary on the stretcher.
Peach stepped down the stairs, knelt, and took the still-weeping Rachel into her arms. "It's all right, Rachel," she said comfortingly. "He'll be OK."
"Oh, Your Highness—" Peach's personal servant sobbed and got no further. She buried her face in Peach's shoulder and wept.
"Mario?"
Mario, still on the balcony, turned to see Michael standing behind him.
"...What's wrong with Mom?"
Mario bent down to Michael's level. "Your dad's been hurt, Michael. He's in the infirmary right now."
Michael's face betrayed both fear and childlike concern. "Is...Is he gonna be OK?" he asked in a small voice.
Mario hesitated. "Michael...that I don't know. I hope so." He would have said more, but Peach was leading Rachel up the stairs to the balcony. Michael ran to his mother and squeezed her hand, mutely trying to impart some reassurance to her. Rachel looked down at her eight-year-old son through her tears and returned the squeeze.
"Come on, let's go see Russ," Peach offered. "I'm sure Herb has managed to get him comfortable by now." Rachel nodded, still crying a little.
Quietly the Princess led the little group into the infirmary and into the white room where Russ was now lying on a hospital bed, eyes closed as if exhausted. The sunlight streaming through the window illuminated the body of the Toad captain, now armor-less and swathed in bandages. The heart monitor beeped quietly in the background.
Dr. Herb T. was standing on the far side of the bed, facing the group as they entered. Seeing Rachel, he quietly came up to her.
"Rachel, your husband is seriously injured, but none of his injuries are life-threatening. He's just lost a lot of blood, which we're replacing through the IV." Herb's face was kind. "Don't worry. He should be just fine in a week or two."
"Thank the Stars!" Rachel breathed in gratitude, clasping the doctor's hand. "And thank you, too!" She immediately seated herself near Russ's head and began to call his name softly.
"Russ? ...Russ?"
Russ T. slowly opened his eyes. He saw his wife near his bed and gave her a little smile, as much of a smile as he could muster through his pain. "Hi...honey..."
"Dad?" Michael came up to the bedside.
"Hey there...little guy..." Russ winked slowly, almost painfully, at his son. Michael winked back and smiled.
"Listen, son...Rachel...I'm...I'm gonna be OK. Don't worry...about me..."
"Attaboy, Russ," Mario spoke up from the rear of the room. "That's the tough old captain we all love. You just keep that attitude and focus on getting well fast."
"Right...Mario..." Russ drew a deep breath. "Always...duty first...even in danger." He lifted his eyes to the Princess, who stood beside Mario near the room's door. "Your Highness...I...I need to report..."
"Later, Russ," Peach told him gently. "You need rest now."
"No...it can't wait..." Russ shifted himself painfully on the bed. "My duty...can't...wait..."
"Then tell me, Russ," Peach replied gently.
Russ took another deep breath before beginning. "Your Highness...Cyanara's...fortress...it's...it's alive!"
Peach and Mario's faces registered disbelief. "Cyanara's fortress?" repeated Peach. "The place is deserted. Cyanara left with her bodyguards and staff yesterday. There can't be anything going on there." Peach looked hard at the captain. "That's why I left you there—to keep and eye on things. Is anyone inside?"
"No... Just whatever...is making the place...go crazy..."
"What are you saying, Russ?" inquired Mario.
"I was standing...outside...that room...you told me to guard...the one with the huge door," Russ began hoarsely. "It was about...ten PM. I heard...a noise...inside the room. I reached for the handles...to open...the doors...and they...they flew open...by themselves...and knocked me into...the wall."
Rachel slipped her hand into her husband's and pressed it gently.
"I thought...I'd better...report that to you...so I ran down the hall...to the door...that leads...to the stairs leading up to the...the main level. That door did the same...thing...and knocked me out...
"I must have been...unconscious...for almost an hour... When I woke up...the door was open...so I got upstairs and...and headed for the exit. All of a sudden...this side door opened...in the hall I was in...and these swords came...flying out...at me."
Rachel gasped. "That's why you're hurt?"
"Not quite...dear. They weren't just...being shot at me...like a booby trap. They were floating...hovering...in mid-air...attacking me...like a legion of invisible soldiers..."
Peach lifted a hand to her mouth, her expression a mixture of fear and surprise, but said nothing, not wanting to interrupt Russ's story.
"I managed...to fight my way through...but more weapons just kept coming. Axes, knives, spears, whips, maces...you name it...it attacked me. The whole fortress...was alive...
"It seemed possessed."
At the word possessed, Mario started but said nothing.
"I got out eventually," Russ continued, "but by then...I was pretty well done for. Then I had to almost crawl...for five miles...to get here. I gave out just...inside the gate. If that gate...hadn't been left open...I would have bled to death outside...before anyone had seen me."
"Dad," Michael spoke up in a small voice, "it was me that left the gate open. Me and Mario opened it so Mario could get into the castle."
Russ smiled tiredly at his son. "Michael...you saved your dad's life...you know that?"
Michael smiled back.
"Even though I've told you...not to forget to close the gate," Russ added with a twinkle in his eye and a rasp in his dry throat.
Mario stood thoughtfully for a moment, mulling over the story Russ had told. He laid a hand on Peach's shoulder. She turned inquisitively.
"Come with me, Peach."
He escorted Princess Peach out of the castle building and out to the wall enclosing the grounds. Together they climbed the stone steps set against the wall's inner face, at last reaching the walkway atop the wall.
"Why are we here?" asked Peach in puzzlement, shivering a little in the cool breeze always present at the top of the wall.
Wordlessly Mario pointed north. The two stared into the distance. Somewhere, far out, past miles of endless forest, a single black cloud loomed in the clear blue sky.
"What is that?" Peach queried.
"That cloud is directly over Cyanara's fortress," Mario replied quietly.
Peach looked at Mario. "You mean...!"
"She's up to something." Mario still stared out over the wall at the haunting cloud in the distant sky. He felt strangely drawn to that cloud. It seemed to beckon him, call him to itself...
He turned to Peach. "I'm going."
"No, Mario!" Peach exclaimed. "You can't! Remember what Cyanara said—about that huge door Russ talked about? You're the only one who can open that door and unleash the evil behind it!" Her eyes were pleading. "Don't do it, Mario, please! It's too dangerous!"
Mario looked her in the eyes. "Cyanara's up to something, Peach. Either I go and put a stop to it, or she takes over the kingdom eventually—which she will, knowing her persistence." He heaved a great sigh. "It's a tough choice, I know, but you stand a far greater chance of losing me if I don't go."
"I still don't want you to go," Peach repeated seriously. "Cyanara's far too strong, even for you!"
Mario took Peach's hand in his. "Peach," he said gently, "you're special to me. You're beautiful and I love you."
Peach blushed and dropped her eyes.
"I'm going because of you, Peach. If I don't, I may as well just hand you to your sister on a silver platter. She'll hunt you down and kill you if I don't stop her." Mario's gaze was filled with intensity and love at the same time. "Please understand. Please."
Peach raised her eyes to meet Mario's. Then she smiled, leaned forward, and met Mario's lips with hers. Mario was at first surprised by the gesture, then kissed her back.
"I understand," Peach whispered, gazing into Mario's eyes. A single tear ran down her cheek. "Be safe."
"I will," he replied. "Now don't worry about me. I won't be gone long." He embraced her tightly for a fleeting second, then turned and dashed down the wall staircase, heading for the gates. Peach watched as he passed through the open gates and began running down the path toward the main road. She waved until he was lost to sight.
"Please," she whispered to herself, almost as a prayer, "please be safe..."