Hello everyone, it's Paradigm of Writing here with something I never thought I'd reemerge and do. Anyone remember an old piece of mine earlier this year called Storytellers? It's okay if you don't, not many people do. It was a 6 parter story of a group of adults telling a story around a campfire, each making their own snippet of the tale and ending wherever- featuring Marth, Samus, Zelda, Pit, Ness, and Lucina right? Yep! I'm redoing it because for some reason from March-June, I just deleted and deleted stuff off my page like nobody's business. I'd start something, scrap it, and never go back to it. Luckily for me, a few of my pieces have been completed since then like Policies in Detention, and Engraved in Stone, soon joined by Infernum! So, I'm taking this back up and doing it again.
If you were here to read it before I deleted it, you'd remember how I did this where it was my author's note at the top, the italics session of the characters in the real world, the regular format session where they'd be having the 'story' they're telling play out, then back to the italics, and my closing author's note. It's a story, within a story- so wrap your head around it more as this goes on. I don't know a better way to differentiate the sections. Each part that the main characters tell have their own names too, so don't get confused. Here we go!
They were all late, again. Fifth time in a row too. However, that didn't really bother him; he had half expected it knowing his friends. What concerned him more was the fact that it was going to get cold soon; the makeshift fire in front of him probably wasn't going to be much help when that time came around. Marth kept his eyes focused on the flames sprouting out of the wooden supplier, cardinal and sunset fire licking the air and trying to grow higher and higher. He sighed, and checked his watch for the umpteenth time that evening. 11:55 P.M. Jeez, their story was going to run for quite a long time. That is, if everyone decided to show up.
He leaned back, deciding that his fire was incompetent to hold his interest. Marth took his attention elsewhere, to the stars. Orion the Hunter, the Little Dipper, Polaris, constellations of light, twinkling orbs of fiery gas that'd be much stronger than his measly oven. He half wished that the tales of the stars joined him and became his companions instead. He could imagine them perfectly, Artemis and Apollo coming to life, dancing in dazzling moonlight as Orion arrived and an archery battle would take place. Streams of halcyon, bolts of silver, hardened lines of bronze, each would blend into a blur as imaginary arrows embedded into invisible targets...
He was getting ahead of himself, rather too far for his liking. Marth blinked, shaking his head. "I'm crazy..." he said aloud, although he knew that no one would hear him. "I'm sitting here dreaming that the stars would come to life! Although it's not on the most bizarre things I've dreamt of..." He sighed. After all, it was just a story, right? They couldn't possibly be true?
The crackling of the wood seemed to match the roar in his heart. Ever since he could talk, Marth was fascinated with the art of stories. Joining the drama department at the age of seven, it was one way for him to release his stress and let his creative side feel free for once. Euphoria couldn't describe the feeling Marth would feel on stage. Soon, he found that there was a group of people in his neighborhood that would spend one day a year, normally during the summer, out in the woods and tell stories. They had an odd pattern to how they did it, and it interested him. He was welcomed with open arms. After a few years of sitting by and joining in when asked, he was given the opportunity to lead the group only known as the Storytellers. But, every time he called for a meeting, he'd be left high and dry by the very ones he was friends with. Always late. He wondered how his friends ever kept jobs if they sucked at being punctual.
"You know, I have to agree with you Marth. Dreaming of stars coming to life isn't the craziest thing you did. I'd have to say that nearly blowing up the Santa Monica Pier with a firework was the most batshit insane thing you've ever done." a second voice said, replying to Marth's statement he had made earlier.
Marth smiled warmly when he saw the sepia hair of Zelda Ryder emerge from the trees. "Good to see you actually made an effort of being here. You do realize you're nearly three hours late, right? We were supposed to start at nine, not midnight."
"I'm fully aware, thank you." Zelda smirked, sitting across from him.
If you were to describe Zelda Ryder in three words or less, you wouldn't be able to. Her light and inviting mahogany hair was in a simple braid that rested calmly on her right shoulder. From Marth's spot, across the dark void of air, two cerulean eyes flashed in the pitch black. A simple low cut tank top with faded out jeans was all she wore, much less than Marth's blue jacket, jeans, t-shirt and gloves. A moment of silence let Zelda release a yawn, signaling that maybe staying up into the wee hours of the morning wouldn't be the best for her state of mind.
"How are you?" Marth asked, taking the route of a gentleman.
"Fine, thank you. I'm sorry about being late. Huge traffic jam down near the fork on 9th and 14th. I have a feeling Pit caused that." Zelda answered.
Marth laughed, causing Zelda to smile. He felt accomplished for a minute, as she rarely even laughed at a lot. For someone who could sprout jokes like it was nothing, she didn't have the best sense of humor directed back at her. "What have you been doing?"
"The usual. School took a nosedive when our principal was arrested for owning nearly eighty unlicensed firearms in his house. Never thought he was that type of guy to harbor illegal items without getting the permission to do so. Job is rather boring right now, because summer means everyone wants ice cream, not coffee."
"Sounds tough."
"Very," she rolled her eyes. "But, you must have something crawling up your sleeve, right? The elusive and enigmatic Marth Lowell has to."
"I'm not that enigmatic you know," he corrected her. "But I've been taking time off of my electrician job to get a degree in forensics."
"So you wish to be a cop?"
"Not that. Detective won't work either."
"Then what?"
"Obviously I wish to be a forensic scientist."
"Oh don't use that term, Lowell. Zelda won't know what that means. Remember Marth, she doesn't understand large words."
Zelda paused her reply, and eyes closed shut. Breathing slowly, she smiled grimly. "Hello, Samus."
"Hello, Marth." Samus greeted, completely ignoring Zelda.
The confident business owner of one of the most successful restaurant chains in California took her seat on the damp mossy ground a spot away from Marth, still keeping her distance from Zelda. Although he did not know most of the details, what Marth had gotten from Pit a long time ago was that the two girls had been working on a project together and then there was a falling out. Both still attended the fantasy sessions, but never spoke more than two words to each other.
Samus's blonde hair was curly and down, the second brightest thing in the vicinity, only trumped by the fire of course. The tips of her swirls were dyed magnificent red, seemingly enough making her hair look as if it'd been dipped in blood. She must've come from work, for she still wore her dress from earlier in the day- an elegant eggplant skirt that went down to her knees with a zipper in the back. More silence followed the newcomer's arrival.
Zelda pursed her lips. "Marth was just telling me that he may take time off to become a forensic-"
"I heard," Samus cut her off. "Thanks, Ryder, but didn't you hear me a moment ago? I heard the whole conversation due to my snarky jab at your intelligence."
"Well, I'm glad you were listening." Marth said, hoping to intervene before the claws came out and hair went flying everywhere. Not that he didn't like a good fight, with two girls no less, but the storytelling nights were meant to be peaceful. Well, as peaceful as they could get with his friends.
"I wish I had an excuse for being late," Samus directed her words at Marth, but she kept on staring at Zelda with fury in her eyes. "I just thought it'd be interesting to arrive late."
"Looks like your plan didn't work," Zelda gruffed. "I got here only a minute ago. All of us decided to take our sweet time, and Marth is suffering here."
"You blamed it on the traffic. That makes you look worse than you already are."
"Lay off of me!"
"You set yourself up for it!"
"Ladies! Good god, this isn't Monday Night Raw, now is it," Marth yelled, frantically waving his hands back and forth. "Calm the hell down, both of you. Or, if I feel so inclined, I'll have both of you go back home and wait again till next year. I don't know what happened between you two all those years ago, but you're supposed to leave all of that at your house when you're here. You both have known the rules longer than I do."
That shut the both of them up, although in his mind, he knew that the night long truce was just that, only for a night. As soon as the restraints would be let go, the cats would go at each other again.
A simple airy laugh came from the trees, one that sounded rather amused by the spectacle in front of them. Pit Icarus bounded down from his hiding spot in the bushes and camped a spot right between Zelda and Samus, cutting off their bickering rather efficiently. The other three were rather taken aback by the sudden appearance of their fourth and oldest member of the Storytellers group.
"Miss me?" Pit asked, bouncing up and down rather childish.
"Certainly!" Zelda said happily, clasping her hands together.
"Not." Samus rolled her eyes.
Pit stuck out his tongue. "Good to see you too Samus. How's the business going?"
"Great, thank you for asking. I guess you do actually know manners, unlike others..." her gaze landed on Zelda in a totally non conspicuous manner.
Marth frowned. "You look different Pit. What'd ya change this time around?"
The male smiled. "I decided to take on working out."
Pit Icarus, at the age of twenty-one was known for having boundless energy and a spirit that never slept. With stunning mahogany hair, and chilling diamond eyes, any person that passed him up was either blind, insane, or both. Although not normally stating a general preference to whom he liked to date, the guy was known to have dated both guys and girls turning his schooling years. After graduating from college in only three years, he took the daunting task of becoming a pilot. Last year, he had literally landed his plane in the gale of the wood where the Storytellers had decided to meet up.
Marth quietly observed his friend, seeing how he truly did look much muscular than last. Pit's dark hair seemed even darker in the haunting glow of the fire, his eyes dazzling a dangerous blue. A black leather jacket was thrown over his shoulders, jeans covering his legs. Seeing that he was being looked at, Pit turned around to show the other three the back of his jacket. A pair of white wings were delicately painted on the material, the detail to the picture was phenomenal.
"What happened to your cute glasses look with the nerdy outfits?" Zelda asked.
Pit stuck his tongue out for the second time in two minutes. "I grew out of that."
"Life seems to be treating you well enough," Samus commented. "You seem happy."
"Well, that's because I'm seeing someone."
"Who is it?" Marth questioned. He couldn't help himself. No matter how cute or adorable Pit looked, he was still a general annoyance to all so the fact that he had someone hooked around his finger was surprising.
"I'd rather not say," Pit cautiously answered. "He doesn't want too much revealed right now as our relationship is a secret."
"Secret relationship?" Zelda echoed.
"Hold up. He?" Samus clarified at the same time.
"Yeah. I'm dating a dude right now. Problem with it?"
"Not at all," Marth said hurriedly. He tried changing the conversation. "Have you talked to Lucina, Peach, Ness, or Roy?"
"I managed to get ahold of Roy. He will not be joining us tonight. Even though we're here during summer, he's still back at school. Something about needing more hours in an English class or something. We'll be Roy-less this time around." Pit said.
"So, you have no idea if Lucina or Ness are going to be here?" Marth reiterated Pit's comment.
"He doesn't have a clue, but I do," a fifth voice piped up. "I'm here Marth. A person you can now check off of your list."
Everyone's head turned in complete and to never be repeated unison to see Lucina Weathers, a rather infamous member of the group, standing up against a tree with her car keys twirling around her thumb. The latest member to join seemed annoyed, it showed on her face. Blue hair, although darker than Marth's was pulled back in a simple ponytail, a cinnamon colored coat thrown over her shoulders, underneath that a plain yet elegant aquamarine shirt. The fire made her hazel eyes blaze in a fiery retribution, causing Pit to shudder. She looked powerful. Lucina sat down next to Zelda and Marth, making the circle in clockwise position go Marth, Lucina, Zelda, Pit, Samus, then Marth again.
"Good to see you." Marth greeted warmly, throwing his arms around the girl in a hug.
"Oh please, save the condolences till we leave," Lucina said. "We don't have time to get too sappy, do we?"
"That depends," Pit chuckled. "If Ness doesn't show up soon, you may be in for a lot of sap."
"I talked to Ness about five minutes ago. He got released from work roughly thirty minutes ago, but downtown is crazy with that jam-" Lucina started.
"I told you that the jam would hold us up." Zelda snarked to Samus. Samus replied by throwing mulch in the former's face.
Lucina pretended not to notice the silly games. "Ness will be here in maybe forty minutes give or take. He hates to be late, but he'll gladly step in whenever he arrives. If he's forced to finish the story with little to no knowledge of how it's supposed to go, so be it."
"His very words exactly?" Marth asked.
"Well, of course not. I simply condensed it. He talked for almost ten minutes straight. I don't think you'd be interested in his love life, would you?"
"He's just like me then!" Pit exclaimed.
"Wonderful," Samus muttered. "That's exactly what we need."
"Can you stop laying into everyone? It's getting annoying." Zelda defended the pilot.
"The only person I see getting annoyed is you. If everyone else had a problem with it, they'd have told me by now." Samus shot back coolly. The two ladies started bickering again, but Marth decided to not bother himself with it. Pit unfortunately sat in the middle of the two of them, but his decision was his decision. It was almost comical watching the pilot's head swivel back and forth to look at the person talking. His face was bright red.
Lucina leaned into Marth's personal space. "I don't remember it being this bad..."
"So you actually have an idea of what's going on?"
"Rumor has it that Zelda stole Samus's boyfriend, and to get back at her, Samus sabotaged Zelda's birthday party that year."
"Sabotaged? I would call it enhancing!" Samus cried.
"Yeah, right," Zelda snorted. "First off, you didn't even get an invitation. Secondly, since you weren't invited... coming uninvited is trespassing. Thirdly, you lit my entire cake on fire, which almost burned down my house, which equates to arson. Fourthly, you and I brawled in the grass, and you gave me a black eye. That's assault. Fifthly, Ike broke up with me and ran off somewhere else in the country because apparently I was too crazy for him!"
"You are crazy." Samus said.
"And you're a bitch!"
Pit gasped. Marth rose an eyebrow. It was unlike Zelda to cuss, even at Samus. Perhaps all of the kept in anger wanted to unleash itself in a tide of pure evil. Samus was speechless, and Zelda turned scarlet. She put her face in her hands and sighed deeply. Quiet overtook the campfire, leaving the crickets and fire to make their noise. In what almost seemed like a millennia, Marth dared to speak.
"Well, I tried administering a pact, but I guess that didn't last long, did it?"
"You've got that right." Pit smirked.
"Just slap both of them upside the head," Lucina suggested. "That always seems to work."
Zelda pushed Lucina over lightly, giggling. "Maybe, it could loosen the few screws in my head."
Samus opened her mouth to reply, but realized all she had was negativity in her words so she shut it. Lucina's phone vibrated, meaning she got a text message.
"Who is it?" Marth asked.
"It's Ness."
"Well, what's it say?" Pit yelped, nearly jumping over Zelda and the fire to see the screen.
Lucina recoiled, holding her phone protectively. "I'm going to read it aloud, jeez Icarus back down. You're like a damn dog let off the leash."
Pit made himself feel small. "Sorry..." he whispered. Out of the entire group, he was the one who still acted like a two year-old.
Lucina scrolled through the message. "Bluntly, it means what I said earlier. Ness won't be here for another half hour or so. I guess we better get started."
"That doesn't sound half bad..." Samus said.
Marth clasped his hands together, sighing in relief. "Man, I was waiting for this moment all year. So, welcome back again everyone. We are on our tenth Storytellers year, right?"
"Thirteenth, actually." Pit corrected.
"Oh yippee for us," Zelda replied sarcastically. "Unlucky thirteen!"
"You actually believe in that?" Lucina asked, astonished.
"It's the easiest thing to believe in," Zelda answered. "Much easier to believe that than religion."
Marth shrugged. "Wonderful. That's not important however. What is important though, is that like Pit rudely corrected is we've been doing this for thirteen years now. I joined, what, six years ago? Whenever that time was, you guys told me of the most ridiculous stories. However, last year was pretty crazy too... right?"
Samus actually laughed. "Oh yeah! I remember that. Ness was a king sent into the sea by a whale, and he was swallowed by it for three days and-"
"Err... Samus, I believe you are mistaking that for the biblical story of Jonah. Last year, Ness was a budding pop star who had to pretend that his lead drummer Peach was his wife so he could impress a record company who wanted to make millions off of him."
"Oh..." Samus trailed off, looking rather upset with herself.
Marth shook his head, sick of the interruptions. "That doesn't matter! My point is, we've had extreme fun doing this! Although we are missing a few critical members in our group, we are going to make this story great. If you don't remember how this goes, for some odd reason, one person starts a story. We completely make it up from scratch and have to give it a name. We each tell the stories in parts. The first person who goes can stop telling his or her story wherever he or she wants, and then whomever chooses to go next may do so and continue where the first person left off. We go in succession till we get to the last person of the group who hadn't spoken and told the story up until that point. That person has the choice to finish the tale, or leave it off at a cliffhanger. Should we put at a cliffhanger, we'll meet again and finish the tale we started with. If we do finish tonight, we make up another one next year."
"Yeah, I remember it again," Pit said. "But, the big question is... who wants to go first?"
Each member of the Storytellers 'club' paused to let that sink in. Whoever started and finished had the hardest jobs of all. A story needed a strong beginning or it would never go anywhere. The tale also would need a strong finisher or satisfying enough cliffhanger or it'd be a flop.
"Maybe Lucina should go." Zelda suggested.
"Why?" Lucina questioned.
"You've never started a story before. In thirteen years, you've never started one." Marth explained.
"Normally you go second." Pit added.
"That's never a bad thing," Lucina pointed out. "I like second. I also, however, have never tried last before. I'd like to go last maybe tonight."
"Well, let Marth go first," Samus nodded towards the blue-haired male. "We all arrived three hours late, most of us not even having an explanation or excuse behind it, so it's the least we could do for making him wait."
Marth smiled. "That's very considerate of you."
"We'd seem like complete assholes if we didn't." Pit backed up Samus's decision.
"Okay! I like it!" Marth agreed.
"So, what's on your devilish mind, huh?" Zelda asked.
Marth shrugged. "I don't know. We did a comedy last year, a romance the year before, and a comedy the year before that. We should change it up."
"A mystery?" Lucina quipped.
A light bulb went off in Marth's head. "I got it!" Everyone waited with heavy anticipation to hear the next words to come from his mouth. "I'm going to call this story... Dark Magic. There once was an ordinary boy named Marth Lowell-"
Samus rolled her eyes for what seemed like the eightieth time that night. "I always find it funny that the person who starts the story makes them the protagonist."
"Shhh... he's in the moment!" Pit hushed her.
A crazed smile played on Marth's lips. "Like I was saying, there was an ordinary boy named Marth Lowell. Except, he wasn't that ordinary, not in the slightest. He had unbelievable powers given to him as a child, that allowed to him to be a real life magician. One day, after a tragic accident, he was soon to discover that others wanted his power, but definitely not for good. If he had only paid more attention beforehand..."
...
Part I: Marth (Parties Never Really Killed Anybody... Did They?)
The shouting broke Marth Lowell's conversation in a sudden halt, his mind running into a brick wall. The ball he had been floating in the air with his hands, combined with his brain, fumbled to the desk and bounced against the wooden surface. He glanced casually at the door to his bedroom, angry voices echoing from the kitchen downstairs. He rolled his eyes. "Wonderful. He and Lucina are fighting yet again. What does it take for a simple boy around here to be left in peace?"
He tried again, the ball effortlessly lifting up and hanging in the air. Smiling, he stood and moved his hands up. Thrusting up with the power of a megaton bomb, the ball shattered through the plastered ceiling, the shingled roof, and into the night sky of Los Angeles. Laughing, Marth released his willpower on the object and watched it hurtle back into his bedroom. "I think I'm getting the hang of it, aren't I? Damn, I'm good," he said to himself, proud of his accomplishment. Another batch of yelling disrupted his thoughts. "Hey, family, why don't you lower it down a bit? Trying to do my homework!" he lied.
Grunting in frustration, for his voice didn't seem to reach anyone, he pulled out his phone. Having half the mind to call his own dad in the same house, his eyes caught attention of the time. 10:42 P.M. Whoops, that wasn't good. His friends were going to be here at any minute and see his family in tatters. Even when his mother was alive, his household was still in shambles. Without her, it looked even worse.
He threw the door open, and marched downstairs. He was not going to be made a joke of in front of his friends, especially not his girlfriend. The voices got louder, his sister's voice intensifying to where she was overlapping her dad in anger.
"I'm sorry that I lost control and the rock went flying into your car tire! I'm not the greatest with my powers, and you know that!" Marth's sister Lucina shouted, pacing in their kitchen. Her navy hair was tucked into her shirt, letting her burning red face do all the talking. His father, Roy Eliwood, was standing up against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed over his chest, his face very cross.
In simplest terms, as Marth could think of if he had to explain to his friends what his family was arguing about was this. At a young age of about five, Roy Eliwood and his wife Peach Lowell had contacted a warlock to give their twins: Marth and Lucina, special powers. Roy and Peach, were both born into families that belonged to a society of magicians and warriors to defend Earth from evil. In a sense, they were an army of Heaven, without descending from there in the first place. The twins were about to turn eighteen in a couple weeks, and at that age, one of the twins would have to battle shortly thereafter to determine who'd carry the family legacy on. In many poorly done attempts to practice her powers, Lucina would ruin their home. Normally it meant their father's belongings getting set on fire, thrown in the Pacific ocean, or smashed to oblivion.
"May you please lower the volume for like five seconds? Zelda and Samus are going to be here any minute, and they don't know about Lucina and I's gift. I would really like them not asking questions all night." Marth cut off the rest of his family in one quick glare.
Roy frowned. "We were that loud?"
"Yeah, you were."
"Dad's just angry again because I blew a tire out of his car," Lucina explained nonchalantly. "I tried explaining to him that, y'know, that whole family heritage battle you and I are supposed to have is rather important. I'd like to win and keep them with me. So I'm training whenever I can. Things just happen to broken."
Marth smiled. He loved his sister's sharpness and quirky attitude. Roy wasn't having it. "Peach and I gave you those powers a long time ago so they could be used for good and in situations of life or death. We never gave either of you the permission to use them on free will and practice them. So, that's why I get mad at you Lucina. You're disobeying me."
Marth's eyes cut to the floor shamefully, knowing he broke the most important rule in his family. Lucina shrugged. "Whatever."
"Peach and I didn't practice what we preached, and that is why we want you to never have that trouble." Roy said.
A nerve was struck between the twins, and they shared a tense glance. Peach Lowell was their deceased mother. As a main protective leader of the Smashers, the group they belonged to, she was put front and center on many missions. In one test, it however was too much. The warlock Ganondorf Fierne, the same individual who had granted Marth and Lucina's powers in the first place, decided to stage a rebellion and overthrow the Smashers. Peach was his strongest adversary, for before he went sour, the two skirmished constantly to keep each other's powers strong and at bay. In Ganondorf's spare time, he grew on his power and became much stronger than before. He defeated Peach as if she was a mere fly, and killed her with her own spell. But, killing the strongest Smasher in history wouldn't go unnoticed, and he was hunted down by the rest of the clan. Forced into hiding, the warlock hadn't been seen for nearly eight years. Peach had died when Marth and Lucina were only ten years old. Roy had vowed at Peach's grave that he wasn't going to let his children succumb to the same demise, nor become so strong it overtook them.
"Please don't mention Mom," Lucina whispered. "It hurts for all of us."
A knock at the door interrupted the solemn moment, and Roy happily went to get it. Looking back at his children, he made sure they had smiles plastered on their faces before opening the entrance to their house. He was greeted with two ladies very well known to him. "Zelda... Samus... good to see you both!" The patriarch hugged the teens before allowing them into his house.
Zelda Mathingson obliged, racing up to Marth and throwing her arms around him in a hug. "Good to see you darling." she whispered, kissing him on the cheek.
"You too." Marth tightened his own arms around his girlfriend.
Samus Bonnwright, one of Marth and Lucina's best friends stood by awkwardly, waving hello to Lucina who opted to hug her. Roy felt the most awkward out of everyone in the house. The two lovers retracted from each other, and Samus took that moment to allow the situation to continue on. "Pit is already at the party. Apparently it's on the hill overlooking downtown. Somehow the party has reservations... and a few spots left. If we want to get there in time, we better leave now."
"I want you kids back before sunrise, or I'm calling the cops, okay?" Roy prompted, patting his son on the back, and gently pulling Lucina into a hug.
"Whatever you want Mr. Eliwood, we'll deliver." Zelda replied.
The four teens exited the house. "It's not everyday that the most popular kid of your school hosts the biggest party the city has ever seen..." Samus trailed off, as the door to Marth's house shut.
Marth reached into his pocket, pulling out his SUV's keys. His Honda SUV sat proudly in the driveway, even adorned by a gleaming silver coat of paint. "I'll drive," he offered. "If you're okay with breaking a few speeding limits of course. Maybe some legal laws while we're at it."
"Such a bad boy." Zelda smirked, getting in the passenger seat. Samus opted for the back.
Lucina stopped by her brother, placing a warm hand on his shoulder. "I assume from the look you gave to the floor when Dad mentioned magic rules, must mean you're breaking them too?"
Marth laughed. "Of course!"
He wrenched the driver door open, and took his rightful spot. Turning the ignition on, and making sure his seatbelt was tight enough, he roared off into the L.A roadways.
"It's right up there," Zelda said, pointing with a finger. "You see it?"
"Yeah, I'm totally going to miss the large crowd partying on the cliff. Totally." Marth snorted.
He pulled the SUV into the parking lot, the loud booming of the music shaking the vehicle. Killing the motor, Marth stuffed the keys into his pocket and unlocked the doors. The four jumped out, only to be met with a bright flash of a camera, mixed in with four cries of pain, alternating levels depending on the amount of light each passenger received.
"Whoops! I'm so sorry about that you guys," a fifth voice apologized, one that made Marth grin from ear to ear. "I'll the change the flash levels to even brighter next time. Your faces are all priceless!"
When the blinding brightness dissipated, Marth was left with the face of his other best friend Pit Anderson as a replacement. The avid photographer smiled sheepishly behind his lens, a tousled head of mahogany hair pointing out in all various directions. It was no surprise to anyone around him to know that Pit probably had jumped out of bed only hours beforehand and didn't bother to clean up. A photographer always needed to get up and go, no heeded warning was ever given. If there was a photo moment that had to be captured, the artist couldn't spare any seconds tending to distractions.
Lucina rubbed her eyes. "I'd really much appreciate a warning next time. Good to see you, bud."
Marth and Pit hugged, a common occurrence since the two hardly saw each other. "Likewise, I'll just second what my sister said. How have you been?"
Pit blushed. "I've been good. Won a contest for a photo I took of a butterfly. This Nikon camera pulls off wonders!"
"That's cool," Samus congratulated her fellow friend. "How much money did you make."
"Five dollars," Pit replied. "It was totally worth it," he added hurriedly, coupling with the four's confused faces. "I spent two hours monitoring the monarch's patterns, and then BAM, I got the perfect shot. Five dollars may not seem like much, I know. But, I was able to get the new enhancer for it because all I needed was four dollars more to buy it. Winning the contest gave me that edge so now no one can ever beat me in the photography world!"
"Great for you," Zelda patted him on the back. "How's the party?"
"More or so the usual highschool hang out," Pit answered. "Everyone is drunk off their damn rockers, and there is this strange guy I keep on seeing. He looks awesome for my Mystery Scrapbook, so I keep on trying to get a photo of him. Whenever I snap a picture, he doesn't appear on screen."
"Maybe he's a ghost." Lucina supplied.
"Or maybe you're the drunk one and everyone else is sober." Marth joked.
Pit laughed. "Ha, the joke is on you Lowell. You know I am the last person to ever do something illegal."
"Enough standing around then! We've got a party to attend to!" Zelda ordered.
The five friends nodded, racing up the hill to join the band of partiers.
Marth stumbled around the partygoers in a daze, the harsh mesh of sound and lights confusing him. Even though he had knowledge that Pit wouldn't drink, it didn't mean he wouldn't have a beer or two. The background blurred into a hazy mesh of dancing bulbs of color, harmonic notes and sharp beats crashing into a disrupting dissonance. He blinked, alcohol really was strong on him.
A blur rushed past him, causing Marth to do a 360 turn. He clutched his head, blinking rapidly. Somehow his vision cleared, and the party turned back to normal. Insane and chaotic. Yep, totally normal. However, it was puzzling on how ran past him. He turned around, half expecting his sister. "Lucina?" he called.
Someone stood next to him, a stranger who had decided to not partake in the dancing of the night either. "Looks like you've been taken for a run, huh?"
Marth jumped a mile high, scared out of his wits. He gave a small do over of the person who spoke to him, sharp diamond eyes clashing against two amber ones. "Who are-"
The stranger chuckled. "How rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ness Mortmain, glad to meet you." He outstretched a hand.
Marth took it gingerly, and shook it, albeit his touch was much more hesitant. "Hi. Nice to meet you. Have you seen my sister, L-"
"Lucina? No, I haven't seen her anywhere." Ness finished for him.
A blink. "I'm sorry, but how did you know that?"
"Don't worry about that Marth."
"How do you know my name?"
"That's not important." Ness toppled the question with a wave of his hand.
"Listen here Ness. If you're a stalker, I suggest you back off before-"
"I know about the magical powers you and your sister possess," Ness said. "Relax. I'm only here to warn you."
Marth kept silent, for the fact that this random stranger knew of his family's abilities shocked him. He nodded his head. "I'm all ears then."
"A certain someone has taken interest in your gift, and wants to harness it for evil on unimaginable levels."
"Who?"
"That person I do not know. I am representative of the Smashers, and it's all they truly given me."
Marth's eyes widened. "Then-"
"You mustn't tell anyone. Your friends Samus and Pit cannot learn of this, your girlfriend Zelda can never find this out, your dad Roy is to be left in the dark. Even Lucina cannot know of what I'm telling you."
"Why?"
"It'd put your closest ones in your life in grave danger. A danger that'd certainly kill them."
"That's rather unsettling."
"I'm not the one who has their life on the line." Ness chortled darkly.
Marth furrowed his eyebrows. "Any more information you can give me?"
Ness shook his head in dissent. "I'm sorry, I cannot. However, know this. Do not be deceived by what you think is real. Look at everything with extreme close detail, for there are some things around you that can keep you alive whilst aiding at the same time. Now, I must be off. And, since I think this is rather important, turn a 180 to the right. Your sister is caught quite in a pickle."
In a flash, the stranger was gone. In Marth's own words, Ness Mortmain vanished in front of his own very eyes. His last words echoed in his brain. "Sister caught quite in the pickle..." He turned to watch popular guy, captain of the football team, Snake Rowan Thatcher backhand his sister across the face. Rage erupted all over Marth's body as he watched Lucina crumple against the concrete, a cry of pain escaping from her lips. He edged forward, moving the crowd out of his way. Snake boldly turned to face Marth when the football captain found himself being lifted off of the ground.
Marth outstretched a hand, his fingers twisting and bending in grotesque, inhuman shapes. "You'll leave my sister alone!" he growled, his voice pulsing with darkness.
Snake gasped, clawing at his throat. The crowd screamed, backing up. Samus, Pit, and Zelda all watched in shell shocked fear as the football captain went higher and higher into the air. Marth's veins felt on fire, his eyes scorched with burning hate. He tightened his hand into a fist, deep putrid splotches of crimson appearing on Snake's neck. Lucina struggled to her feet, a gasp of her own letting loose. Her brother was about to crush the boy's throat, which would surely kill him.
Thinking fast, Pit and Samus split. "Marth, stop!" Pit screamed.
He tackled Marth, causing the latter to break from his anger. Snake dropped through the air and got caught in Samus's arms in the nick of time. Laying him down slowly, Samus returned her attention to Lucina, checking her over to make sure she was alright. Pit got off of Marth, watching in strange curiosity as the blackness of his friend's eyes retracted back to his normal and cheerful blue. His confused face soon turned into a snarl. He pulled the SUV keys out of his pocket and threw them into Pit's hands.
"We are all leaving, all five of us. Drive the van, now!" he barked.
The four others ran to the SUV as if their butts had been zapped by lightning. The three girls took the back, Pit practically diving into the drivers spot. Marth stood slowly, and pressed a hand to his face to see that he had a bloody nose. Cardinal droplets trickled slowly to the asphalt, and he walked back to his car in a rather methodical mood. While a few others were helping Snake up to see if he was okay, most of the party attendees were staring in disbelief and horror at Marth.
Not noticing that unwarranted attention was on his back, the enraged psychic got in the passenger side of the SUV and the car peeled away from the hill.
"What in the hell was that?" Zelda yelled from the backseat.
"You almost killed him!" Samus jumped on the bandwagon.
"You lifted the guy off of the concrete Marth, you levitated him off the ground!" Pit exclaimed, trying to balance looking at the road and at his best friend.
"Marth, are you insane? You know what Dad said! That was hardly a life threatening situation. I could've handled that just fine!" Lucina shrilled.
Marth had a headache, and he slammed his head against his seat, which only worsened the pain. "One at a damn time! My head is killing me and I can't concentrate on this many things at once."
The yelling in the van ceased to a minimal squeak, everyone else surprised by his outburst. Pit bit the bullet and went first. "I'm safe in assuming this one thing. Zelda, Samus, Lucina, and I all just witnessed you lift Snake Thatcher, the football captain, off the ground and almost crush his throat."
"That's insane." Marth muttered.
"Exactly! That's our point," Zelda shrieked. "We all saw it."
"You're all drunk, or must've been hallucinating." Marth brushed off the comment.
Lucina pinched her brother in the back of the neck, but tried to play off the shock. Samus snorted. "Yeah, we're insane. Zelda and I had one glass of wine each, while your sister and Pit only had a couple cans of diet coke. I'm pretty sure we're not making this up."
However, Marth wasn't listening. His attention was bent ahead on the person standing out in the road before him. "Pit, slow down."
"What?" Pit asked.
"I said slow down dammit! Slow the f****** van to a stop!"
The stranger seemed extremely familiar to Marth, and his heart stopped between his throat and lungs as two olive black wings broke from the person's back. Marth opened his mouth to sound off a warning when the stranger stretched his hand out, palm facing upward at the sky. The mysterious figure raised his arm up, and a loud explosion rocked the sky as a fireball erupted from the back of the van, lifting the vehicle into the air with a flip. Screaming filled Marth's ears as the world turned to black.
Air rushed into his ears, as he felt himself eject out of the car and smash into the van's window. The force should've killed him, but he was prepared. Marth snapped his eyes awake, lowering the wall of magic around him. He saw Lucina get rocketed in the air, panicking as she jolted awake from the unconsciousness slipping away from her.
Marth's eyes went back to the van, which was turned on its top and set ablaze. Pit was lying in the grass a couple of yards away, the vegetation around him stained a blood chilling dark violet. Marth's heart stopped, his body froze. His friend certainly couldn't be dead... could he? No, he couldn't! Looking at Lucina as she lowered herself to the ground, his thoughts screamed. "Help Pit! He's not moving, and he's bleeding a ton!"
Taking his attention to the burning van, he could see that Zelda and Samus were both unconscious inside, trapped by their seatbelt traps. He tried prying one of the doors open, the metal scorching his hands. He hissed vehemently, seeing that now or never was the life threatening situation, the real life threatening situation. He ripped the doors of the van off in one clean wave of his mind.
"Please be alive, please be alive..." he silently pleaded.
Whoever did this to him and his friends was headed straight into a world of pain, a world where that person didn't escape with their life. In a world of pain, Marth would let no one live.
Pit groaned, looking up from his wounded spot in the grass. He saw with a blurred vision, Marth and Lucina be launched from the car via the windshield and thrown into the air. The photographer screamed in pain, trying to staunch some of the blood flow coming from his stomach. A jagged piece of metal was stuck between his ribs, and his right kneecap was busted completely.
He felt his eyes starting to droop, that he was going to blur back into darkness once again. He watched in awe, unsure whether or not what he was seeing was even real. Marth landed on the road with out even a visible scratch on him, his landing full of grace and clam atmosphere. Lucina landed somewhat similarly down the hill, running back up to him.
He watched as Marth debated with himself over the car, which had the back set on fire. He could barely make out Samus and Zelda's still forms in the back, flames daring to lick at their bodies and burn away their flesh. His heart hammered faster and faster, more pain settling in as he witnessed Marth tear all four car doors off at the same time without even touching them.
As Lucina barely managed to reach him, he moaned and set his face back into the dirt where darkness consumed him.
The blood still pooled out of his body, but he slipped away with one final thought.
"Marth had magic powers."
End of Part I
Marth leaned back from his spot, smiling rather triumphantly. He sighed, content with his piece of the story. "There we have it you guys. We've got the first chapter of Dark Magic. Who is next?"
Instead of someone answering his question, voices broke out over the fire. "I'm suddenly dating you?" Zelda asked in anger.
"Why did you make your sister?" Lucina growled.
"So, you just killed us off?" Pit shrieked.
Samus's eyes were slits. "You're playing with dangerous fire Marth, leaving it there."
"Guys, it's a story. Settle down," Marth calmed everyone, breathing with relief that he was not going to be torn to bits by his friends. "Remember, whoever decides to pick it up can have all of us live or not."
That took the other four back two steps. Pit grinned. "Well, in that case I vouch Samus!"
"Why me?" Samus yelped, staring at the pilot.
"I've got a feeling there's a trick up your sleeve. Although you seem angry with Marth's ending, you were smiling the entire time he spoke. You've got ideas brewing." Pit explained.
"And so what if I do?"
"It means you've got an idea, and it must be brought to the table." Marth answered.
Zelda smirked. "That's why, Samus, you need to stay devoid of emotion when listening to the person speaking. It gives them subtleties that you're interested."
Samus scowled, however her face seemed held back. She sighed, seeing as she had nowhere to run. She put herself into a corner. "Well, dammit... I'll go next."
"I can see why you called it Dark Magic," Lucina said to Marth. "Good thinking there."
"You know what this means though, right?" Pit quipped to Marth.
The blue-haired male frowned. "No, what?"
"You have mentioned Roy as a character, Ness as well. Depending on where we end this, Roy has got to be here next year to have his own part of the story. He's in it. Ness has to be here tonight for his arc. Clearly you're making him out to be the villain or something."
"You know, Ness won't be happy about being the devil angel spawn or whatever." Zelda commented.
"If he was here, maybe I'd have given him a better role," Marth sneered. "Not my fault."
Lucina picked at the mulch. "This is going to be good, I can already tell..."
Marth smiled slyly. "I appreciate the gesture, Lucina. So, I then ask this to all of you. How shall this story go? I've started some sort of supernatural and mystery tale, one that can go many paths. I've done my job quite successfully considering you four lashed out at me in anger. Samus, I assume is going next from Pit self-volunteering her to that position. So, I'll ask again. Where will you take this story? We've all got a story to tell, don't we?"
Marth's question bounced back and forth in the minds of his fellow friends. He was right, indeed. A familiar saying that the Storytellers had worked pretty well with their get togethers.
Roses are red. Violets are blue. I have a secret to tell, and you do too. Don't worry, there's nothing to hide. There's always a story behind everything in life.
Sincerely, the Storyteller crew.
So yes, what about you?
Any stories you wish to share?
Damn, that was a long chapter. Man, 8472 words later I've come to this ending author's note for the first chapter. So, yep, what do you guys think? I seriously wrote this all in one day, from 9:30 PM to 11:50 PM Eastern Standard time. Nearly 8500 words in two hours and twenty minutes. This just goes to show you that when I'm dedicated to get something done, I get it done. I hope you all enjoyed this!
Please review and let me know what you've thought! I'd really appreciate it, and maybe suggestions can be taken into consideration. I am actually going to see this story around to completion, unlike the first time which ended at Chapter 3. I'm still going in the same order I did originally, so Samus is next with Chapter 2: Samus and her part of the tale: Green Eyed Monster. I'm definitely excited for it, and you all must know this'll probably be the longest chapter. Every other chapter may fall in the 3k-6k range. The last chapter may be a little longer than this one by a slim margin, but it's highly unlikely. Thanks for reading this monster you guys! I'll be seeing you with a new Infernum chapter tomorrow actually, and I'll try to have the 2nd chapter of this story up sometime between the 30th and the 1st as I'm going on vacation soon. Love you all! Thanks again, thanks so much! You guys are the best readers I could ever ask for!
~ Paradigm