The Crystal Stars

Chapter 2: The Shadow Queen

"Nobody knows where exactly the Shadow Queen came from. All we know is that she came without warning..." explained Professor Frankly.

"Golly." said a Toad.

"How frightful!" exclaimed a Koopa.

"Anyways, not long after she took over Old Rogueport, she sank it into the ground, apparently finding the dark depths below more satisfying for her evil hideout. She then went around doing to many places what she did to Old Rogueport. She went around turning more and more people into her minions, and eventually everyone around was frightened of her to the extent that they never even mentioned her name."

"Speaking of her evil hideout, using part of the first town she had destroyed, she converted it into an evil castle, where she and the strongest of her evil minions would reside. The castle does in fact still exist after all these years, but I wouldn't ever recommend visiting it, it's still filled with dark creatures and other horrible things."

"The Palace of Shadow was, or should I say is a horrible place really. Whenever one of The Shadow Queen's minions stole something, they would take it to the castle, causing it to grow rich through all the stolen treasure. Suffice to say, if the Shadow Queen ever wanted to hire a mercenary, she could hire many, many, many of them."

"But she was not quite satisfied by this, and she decided to find a way to already increase her already vast power. And that's when she created the Crystal Stars."

At the Palace of Shadow, approximately 1000 years ago...

"Things are going perfectly." the Shadow Queen laughed. The residents of Rogueport had not even put up much of a fight. Apparently they were deathly afraid of her, as she wanted from them.

"You asked for me, mistress?" a Dry Bones asked.

"Yes...how is the construction of the castle going?" she asked.

"It's just about finished, actually." answered a Wizzerd.

"Excellent." The Shadow Queen replied.

"So what do you wish us to do next?" questioned a Boo.

"To create something with which I could use to increase my already vast power and allow me to completely cover this world in darkness..." the Shadow Queen told the Boo.

"We'll get to work on that." With that, The Shadow Queen's minions left to go to work.

Back to our friend Professor Frankly...

"And went to work the Shadow Queen's minions did. Using arcane magic, they created seven mystical artifacts..."

"First of all, there was the Diamond Star. It allowed whoever owned it to attack using massive tremors and earthquakes. Suffice to say, whoever had the Diamond Star would be able to use the power of the earth itself."

"Second, there was the Emerald Star, which allowed its user to control time, freezing their enemies and allowed its user to freely attack them without having to worry about them fighting back. It was also somewhat of a double-edged sword, as if the user wasn't careful they would end up freezing themselves instead."

"Third, there was the Gold Star, which would allow the user to greatly increase both their offensive capabilities and their defensive capabilities, depending on what the user desired."

"Fourth, there was the Ruby Star, which would allow the user to attack their opponents simply by drawing on them, which could do a lot of damage if the user was skilled enough at drawing around their enemies."

"Fifth, there was the Sapphire Star, which would allow the user to heal themselves in vast amounts, making it useful if the enemies they were facing were particularly powerful."

"Sixth, there was the Garnet Star, which would allow the user to instantly defeat their foes, although it would not work if the foe in question they were fighting was powerful enough."

"Last but not least, there was the Crystal Star. Yes, it was named after the very series of artifacts it was part of. Why it was named that way was beyond me. Anyways, it was possibly the most powerful of the seven, as it allowed the user to use a very devastating attack that could completely obliterate their enemies."

"Yikes, they sure sound powerful." complimented the Boo.

"They certainly were. The Shadow Queen said that if they didn't meet to her expectations, their creators would all experience her wrath. And such their creators worked on making them as powerful as possible. In essence, the Crystal Stars all had the power of the heavens."

"Not long after they were actually created though, The Shadow Queen started to worry about these particular artifacts. What if someone took the Crystal Stars and decided to use them against her? If someone did that, the Shadow Queen would very well be in big trouble. So she had her minions all hide them away, where they would be heavily guarded by particularly powerful members of the Shadow Queen's army."

At the Shadow Palace 1000 years ago...

"Alright, here's what I want you do minions. I want you to find the safest places as possible for you to hide these Crystal Stars. I shall later instruct who to actually guard them, but for now I cannot allow them to fall in the wrong hands." the Shadow Queen ordered her minions.

"Yes, mistress!" the minions went.

And so the minions went to find the perfect hiding places for the Crystal Stars. Eventually, they came across seven particular places where they would be safe.

One of them was placed in an abandoned castle...

Another was placed in a dark, spooky forest...

One was placed high up in the sky...

One was placed in a scary temple that had fallen into disrepair...

One was placed at the bottom of the ocean...

One was placed at a formerly luxurious city now overrun by the Queen's minions (the minions thought finding it in there would be like finding a needle in a haystack)...

And one was placed all the way in outer space...

Once again, back to Professor Frankly...

"Now then...in this chapter, we'll focus on the countermeasures the Shadow Queen took to make sure nobody would be able to oppose her."

"There were people trying to oppose her?" asked a Shy Guy.

"Yes...apparently some people thought they would be heroes if they put an end to what she was up to..."

"OK then." replied a Bandit.

Are you enjoying the story so far? Sorry about the long lack of update (or if you felt like it was a long lack of update anyway...) So until next time!