The door opened: the roar of the heat, the clinking of the chains and most of all, a million cries of agony and anger filled Roy Koopa's ears. The castle dungeons were the problem. It wasn't the increasingly lawless lands on the surface that were a threat. Desires put on a leash were easily taken care of: bribes, drink, cheap sex, it didn't matter. But when your desires puts the leash around you, it's a different story. Controlled by them, they landed up here during Bowser's reign as common criminals, hackers, conspirators especially. The first level held the easy ones like that. The dungeons were like a rotten onion: the more you peeled back, the worse it got. And considering the Earth Changes, Roy knew the place was a ticking bomb waiting to go off unless he kept the place under control. In his mind, he knew that as far as this place went, Ludwig was doing the right thing. If these fuckers ever got loose to the surface, they'd tear apart what was left and give everyone a new asshole to work with. Except, now the kingdom was being relocated and they'd get nothing but rubble and the occasional straggler instead. Good Plan. But the problem wasn't the guys on level one getting free.

The heat increased dramatically as Roy rounded the corner to the "open pit" of level one: a vast underground lake of lava crisscrossed with metal cages hanging above it, holding many inside. Vast iron crosses bolted the larger ones for corporeal punishment, crying from their torment. Lining the walls of the lake were the minors, or petty criminals.

Seeing them, Roy suddenly stopped walking. Something hit him then, much like when the light hit him then. This was the place where his pop stored all his hatred of the world. He was gone, and this place would be following him soon. It was a gut feeling and Roy always followed his gut. He had hoped the pole shift would take care of those down here, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn't that easy. Many down here didn't deserve the shit they got. But if he let some of these guys go...

Roy started walking and made his way across the open pit, glancing at the outer edge where the minors were held. As usual, they shouted at him with many noticing his missing shades. And as usual, he kept going without saying a word. Down here, you had to keep moving.

In the back corner was an elevator shaft, crudely made with iron bars and greasy wheels. Just like many things down here, it had not been updated since the medieval ages despite the technological advances on the surface. "Not like that matters now," thought Roy as he descended through the levels. But the simple technology gave him an idea, something he would have to employ later as ruler of the "Old Kingdom."

With a shutter, the elevator came to a halt on the last level of the dungeon: level eight. It was sealed with a thick full plated door enforced with electronic security, one of the only enhancements to the place. However, the display next to the door was unlit due to the power being cut days ago and the door was instead reinforced with many bolts around its perimeter. Stepping out, Roy walked to the right of the door and took hold of a metallic wheel, turning it with some effort. Slowly, the bolts retracted into the door until Roy reached the end of the line with a clang. With that, Roy opened the door and walked into a long narrow hallway lined with other heavily armed doors and lit with the faint glow of lava via vents from underneath the floor. Unlike the other levels, this hall was absolutely silent save for the dull rumble of the lava far below. Housing the most dangerous psychopaths and political prisoners, sound proof walls were installed to shut out their frequent cries.

Roy stopped at Cell 8263, staring at the door for a moment before quietly opening the visor to take a peek inside. Sure enough, she was up to her old antics of talking to herself. His sister would have made a maniacal queen at the end of the day and Roy wondered how much damage the UmNaru really did to her mind. But in a way, she was already like this and they just brought out the worst of her for everyone to see. In many ways, Roy knew that he should be more thankful for what Lemmy did to him during the invasion. Like Larry, if he had been under their spell for much longer, he probably would've ended up like her, or worse.

At length, he opened the cell door into the holding area, designed to talk with prisoners without having to open their cells. Wendy noticed the noise, glancing at Roy as he entered but quickly went back to talking with herself, not seeming to care.

"I really like that dress..." she murmured. "They might be my competitor, but I might have to wear it for my coronation...unless my lackeys can make something better. When the power comes back on and Ludwig's beaten to shit I should call them. Roy, have you guys defeated Ludwig yet?"

Roy just looked at her, disappointed that nothing had changed from the last time he saw her. "Nope." he said bluntly. "He's still alive."

"What the hell is taking so long?" Wendy complained. "I mean, I get beating Junior. Junior is dead, right?"

"Yeah, for the 3rd time." Roy answered.

"So it's obviously me then." Wendy said, walking around her cell impatiently. "Even daddy thought he was too spoiled and, lavish mind you, to even think about warning his seat. But daddy doesn't know what I can do. He never believed me and I just don't get it. Why wouldn't he pick me? What did I do wrong?" she asked in her not so innocent tone of voice.

Roy knew the right thing to say, but also knew better than to reason with a psychopath. "You should be asking..." he started, pausing for a moment. "...why the UmNaru didn't pick ya."

Wendy suddenly screamed aloud in a fit of rage and slammed the bars in front of Roy. "Don't question them!" she growled.

"No point." Roy said bluntly. "They're dead."

"You betray us?!" she hissed. "You were never much use to begin with!" She slammed the bars again, but Roy casually walked to a control panel in the wall and pushed one of the buttons inside. Wendy hit the bars harder but this time she was electrocuted and was unable to move. Eventually she fell to the ground and lay motionless as smoke rose from her body.

"Next time, I use white magic on ya." Roy said, annoyed. He was well aware that the last attempt to purge her mind using that stuff was unsuccessful. However, it didn't mean that they should stop trying.

"You alive?" He looked through the bars. Wendy had not moved, but he could see that she was still breathing. It was clear that she was fully infected with the UmNaru's black magic and from what Roy remembered from Iggy, trying to reverse that could cause brain damage.

"I'll get yer dress." Roy said.

"Why?" asked a weak Wendy.

"Cause Ludwig moved away." said Roy. "So I'll let you pretend you're queen for a while."

But Wendy scoffed. "And what about you? You would try and stop me."

Roy smirked, but did not respond. She wasn't the only one, but everyone thinks they are down here. He turned to go, having had enough of her.

"Yeah, she's gone."

Buried in a number of holographic displays, Penny Crygor looked up at the sound of his voice. "Who's gone?"

"My sister." responded King of the Spirit Iggy Koopa, sitting upon his high throne of Erzembar. "She's gone 100%. Couldn't save her in time, but you know what? "With a wave of his hand, a gigantic holographic globe manifested and expanded outwards to a large radius, in which a river of thought and circumstance could be seen. Iggy pointed to one of these, where an angered female Koopaling was seen screaming like an animal and hitting the walls of her cell.

"Penny, meet Wendy." Iggy said.

"Wow..." was all Penny could say as she watched Wendy tear up the walls with her claws as if she were a psychopath.

"She's pretty much the equivalent of that." said Iggy, commenting on her thoughts. "I tried treating her with white magic, but her mind was too absorbed in the black by that point. In her state now, her mind would collapse."

"I'm sorry." Penny muttered.

"Don't be." said Iggy, pushing the vision away. "What you see has always been her, but brought out into the open and accelerated towards full maturity. She will be like that for the rest of her life because her spirit is like that. Look at these." he pointed with his finger, rearranging the thoughts of the mass population and their physical movements into separate areas.

Penny nodded, noting the major differences. "People cope that way, Iggy." she pointed out. "Insecure people have some of the worst thoughts. They can't believe what they see, so they kill it." She looked at their violent thoughts of unweighted heroism and death again. "Over and over."

Iggy smiled. "It's not just that. All this is an effect to the cause. What's causing it? The environment? Not just that."

"Um, spirit orientation?" guessed Penny.

"Yup. Selfish is as selfish does." said Iggy. "Oh, and thank you for trying."

Penny laughed. "You know science never supported that stuff, but I definitely think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying." She looked back at her work. "But I have a bigger problem. What would happen if I became a 'Koopa Queen'?"

Dispelling the globe, Iggy jumped down from his high seat and looked at Penny's statistical analysis displayed on the screens in front of him. Human DNA was indeed a bit different.

"Makes me wish I had a record of my transformation." Iggy thought aloud. "Then I could see what my blood was doing."

"Your excreted sweat was collected following the battle with the UmNaru." Erzembar announced unexpectedly. A diagram was displayed where the holographic globe formally was, displaying transformation amongst the cells that had yet evolved to his new form.

"New species..." Iggy murmured, not having the chance to look at his new self up close until now. "The wand seems to introduce a strain that wraps itself around the double helix, which creates a set of new codons...creating a triple helix." He was silent for a moment. "So it looks like you would get many features of this strain, but since this is human DNA we're talking about-"

"Incompatibility, right?" said Penny.

"Not necessarily." said Iggy. "This is the first time I've looked at this thanks to all this stuff going on." He waved his hand erratically as if to accentuate the effect. "Really, the question is will this third strand do any damage to you?" But just as he said this, he received a brainwave. "If Penny touches the wand, will the wand automatically adjust to her genetics?" he asked Erzembar.

"Yes." replied Erzembar. "However, a human has never touched the spirit wand and its effects on this species remains unknown. By nature, if the wand is not compatible with a receptor site, it will not connect and that particular ability will remain dormant. Considering other species who have once touched the wand, it can be said that DNA destruction is non-existent."

"That's a start." Iggy mentioned.

"Okay, I'll try." sighed Penny, thankful to try something potentially less harmful. Iggy took out the Wand of the Spirit, shining brightly in all directions. After a moments hesitation, she touched his wand. At once, a million images flooded her vision and a warmth spread through her arm, and by instinct she pulled away.

"Um..."

"Doesn't work too well?" Iggy asked. "Or maybe you're just overwhelmed."

"Yeah, that." said Penny. "It might be because it's late and my mind is getting tired, so I don't have my usual control over it."

Iggy hummed to himself. "Let's hit the sack then. Most of my brothers already have. I'm sensing a big day tomorrow."

Penny rubbed her head, trying to regain focus. "How are they all doing?" Penny asked out of curiosity.

"Hm well, they've started the migration process." began Iggy as they walked towards the elevator at the far end. "And they picked a great day, because the jet stream went vertical and sent tropical moisture straight into the Koopa Kingdom. Lots of Tornado's and general destruction that I've been expecting for a while now, people starting to show cases of hysteria and psychosis...what you would expect for an end of the world scenario. I feel bad for Ludwig because he has to deal with all of that. He's a great tree that needs to bend, but not too far."

"You were saying one of them was having mental problems." said Penny upon reaching the elevator. "Well, besides your sister. It came up during that meeting you were talking about."

"Oh yeah, Larry." said Iggy, walking aboard. "Let's just say his shell is collapsing due to the transformation of the planet. Not his physical shell mind you, but his emotional shell that he's hidden in since he was a toddler. He basically needs to reinvent himself because by the time the transformation is complete, all secrets will be out in the open. This goes for Roy too, he's changed a lot since Lemmy hit him. Kinda...opened up a circuit he thought he never had." The elevator shot upwards into the higher floors of Erzembar where his retreat for the evening was located.

"What about Ludwig?" Penny asked.

"He's going to be a dad soon." Iggy announced.

"Really? In this mess?" Penny asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, well...he thinks he should have a few 'out the door' in case he gets killed by the changes or otherwise." commented Iggy. "I agree, not a good time for kids right now, but in his case he needs to solidify his position. Lemmy is next in line and doesn't want to be the next Earth King, so regardless this is going to be difficult for Ludwig. He's going to have even more mouths to feed."

Penny sighed. "Politics."

The doors opened and they walked into the hallway that led to Iggy's quarters. They were silent, each absorbed in their own thoughts, but at length Penny noticed Iggy's restlessness as he tapped his fingers on his leg.

"Is something happening tonight?" Penny asked, no longer able to contain her curiosity.

"Oh yes, definitely." Iggy responded. "No doubt about it." He sighed nervously, and it was clear to Penny that he wasn't going to tell the whole story without pestering him.

"Something to do with-"

"It involves the monarchs." Iggy said, interrupting her. "Kylie's going to be rudely awakened for sure."

"You're hiding something." Penny said suspiciously.

Iggy merely looked at her. "Yes."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"It might change the outcome." claimed Iggy. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

Penny laughed. "Alright, fine. But I want a full explanation of what this is about."

"Easily done, after it's done." replied Iggy, pushing open the doors to his room. "But until then, I should prepare myself for that. The mass consciousness has been very depressive lately and I need to rejuvenate." He headed for his bureau where he rummaged through its drawers. In the meantime, Penny decided to brush her teeth and wonder about what the heck Iggy was talking about. Living with him was strange as it was after they confessed to each other not too long ago. It seemed that because of his "job" as King of the Spirit, there were some things that were better off to not be said at all. He had already told her of Larry's relationship problems, not to mention a few of his siblings relationships that they have kept secret from each other. Penny knew that royalty was royalty: a world of intrigue, secrecy and lies. But if what Iggy said was true, that the planet was transforming...

"Wait, what did he mean by that?" Penny asked aloud, brushing her teeth. He had not talked about the Earth "transforming" before. Since nature already has its cyclical processes, she guessed that he meant it in a more metaphorical sense in relation to civilization. But she wouldn't know until tomorrow, the deadline she would make sure Iggy would keep. While some things she understood to keep quiet about, she was growing increasingly annoyed from being left in the dark as far as what Iggy was doing. Maybe his powers had made him more self absorbed? At least that's how she felt after touching the wand, something she was not ready for. In that case, she needed to ground him back to reality.

She spit into the odd looking sink and turned a water valve to wash it clean. Somehow, the complex had an intricate piping network of hot and cold water, but considering Erzembar's very existence she knew not to question it much. She remembered Iggy telling her about a kind of distillation system set up below the complex. Feeding water from desert aquifers into the room, it evaporated the water until it settled and condensed upon a slanted ceiling made of a cooler metal. The condensed water then flowed to the tip and dripped into a metallic bowl, which was piped underneath to various areas within Erzembar. One of her first lab experiments was testing the purity of the drinking water, which surprisingly came back with outstanding results. Penny now often wondered of the construction of the condenser, let alone trying to find a way down there. She needed to remember to talk to Iggy about that.

Leaving the bathroom, she walked back into Iggy's bedroom and found him laying down not on the bed but above it, floating in mid air with a number of small bright objects surrounding him, including one on his forehead. He was clearly unaware of her, with his eyes closed and muttering incomprehensible words under his breath. Penny wasn't sure what to do at first; she was well aware of his meditation practices and didn't like to disrupt him, but she didn't know how much control he had of himself at that moment. For all she knew, he could fall down if he was disturbed now.

"Are you sure about that?" she overheard Iggy say. He said something else, but his words were indecipherable. He was clearly talking to someone, which made her more hesitant.

Iggy suddenly waved at her without looking, forcing a smile from Penny as she waved back to him. More confident now, she walked to her bureau and changed into her pajamas, knowing Iggy wasn't looking.

"We'll be there." Iggy said aloud, floating down back to his bed. Upon resting on it, Iggy opened his eyes and took off the crystal resting on his third eye. "But you might not remember." he added.

"Remember what?" she asked, putting her night shirt on.

"What will happen tonight." said Iggy, getting up and putting his stones away. "You're not a queen yet. Like I said, this is monarchs only."

"I don't mind becoming one," Penny began, putting her old clothes away, "I just don't feel ready right now, especially after seeing what I saw downstairs. There was so much information being transmitted that I don't know how the human mind could comprehend all of that at once."

"You have to train your subconscious to handle it." Iggy said, getting into his large bed. "And that takes a lot of time. You start with the easiest things, direct telepathic transmissions and address those. Once that becomes a habit, then you move on to more complicated things."

"It sounds like you need to be self aware a lot of the time." said Penny, climbing into bed. "Which you may be, but you're definitely not aware of what's in front of you."

"I was aware." Iggy said. "Now it's about balancing everything. And the more complex it gets the more difficult it becomes to balance it all out." He suddenly took her hand. "Like right now. You're in front of me trying to figure out how the hell I work. I shouldn't ignore that."

"It doesn't make you crazier than you already are." said Penny, laying on his chest. "It makes you more intricate. That's how life works, you know. The more complicated things get, the more asleep we become." Penny closed her eyes, content with that nugget of truth and wanting to rest her mind for the day.

"Interesting." Iggy muttered, staring at the ceiling. Self awareness decreases with increasing complexity. It sure made more sense of the God problem for those that still believed in one. Iggy was never a fan of religion, but understood why it came about. It was one of his greatest headaches as the earth changes continued to progress: people asking their religious leaders about why God was doing such and such, if this was the apocalypse, if they were to be saved and so forth. He got those questions everyday and had already learned how to deal with them. It was all their minds could stand, having been programmed to live that reality.

But Penny was right. Even though he was capable of complex feats of the mind, happiness was found in a more simpler life. Self awareness in simplicity. For once, feeling Penny's heart beating on his chest made Iggy come back down to Earth, enjoying a moment that he realized his younger self could only have dreamed about. Now that his dream was a reality, it was time to dream of something bigger. Closing his eyes, he smiled knowing that the next step of the awakening was about to begin.

The stars flew overhead, time distorted beyond perception. He blinked: this was not the reality that he knew. Looking down, he saw the world below his feet: beautiful yet ravaged, not unlike the divine in greedy hands. Greedy, childish hands. But this was the world, and he was looking at it. He was looking at it!

"Why am I conscious?" Larry asked aloud, not sure as to what was happening. He knew he was dreaming inside of his dream: no spacecraft in orbit above the world remained viable to use. And yet he realized that he was in none: looking around him, he was in space with no metal bars or reinforced glass to protect him. He was simply in space with the world below his feet. What an odd dream.

Turning around towards the sun, Larry saw the Great Destroyer up close, the first time since the Galaxy crashed months ago. The sight made him reminisce those days of bliss, forced if it was. Except now the monster was seen being trailed by a number of moons and debris on its backside, forming a rocky tail that seemed to stretch towards the sun. It was much closer now.

But there was a flash of light and Larry was sent soaring into the stars, his home zooming away under him. At this point, he knew he was probably not dreaming, through he felt more surreal than he normally would during his awakened state. The stars flew by him, increasing in intensity until their light encompassed his vision. Then, there was darkness.

Larry blinked, his surroundings changed: his feet now rested on a circular metallic plate with another like it above him. Though his view of space was otherwise unobstructed, he could not tell where he was going or who was bringing him there. "Yeah, who even had this sort of tech?" Larry pondered this, knowing the Galaxy to be a thing of the past now. Was this the Naru? No, Larry remembered Iggy's tale about them, as well as the spirits of Genlic mentioning a ban against them ever visiting the planet as long as Koopa's were around.

"Hmm?"

Larry suddenly turned and found his brother Ludwig to his right taking in the new surroundings with a sleepy expression. "I did not realize the Gelanese had such a spell. Only a small amount was ingested..." He turned to Larry. "So...I presume this is not any dream state related to delta wave activity, given my conscious awareness?"

"Doubt it." said Larry. "We're being taken somewhere, by someone but I have no idea who."

"This craft is certainly not of my construction." commented Ludwig, shuffling the floor with his foot. "I was also not aware of any invisible barrier that protects one from the vacuum of space. We are more than likely dealing with an intelligent species not native to our world." He shuffled his foot again. "What is this substance?" Taking what appeared to be a pen from his pocket, he flipped out a magnifying glass from it and stared at the floor, while Larry rolled his eyes, unsurprised.

"Is this mineral even on our planet?" he muttered to himself. He was too distracted to notice his wife, Queen Kylie appearing in front of him with a dazed expression.

"Why am I flying in space right now?" she asked no one in particular.

"It appears we shall be meeting extraterrestrial visitors." Ludwig answered, too engrossed to even look up. "Besides their peculiar technology, I am unaware of any particular reason for the visitation, aside from our current predicament."

"Come on Ludwig." said Larry. "You've seen aliens before under the cover-up. You probably know something about this, out of all people."

Ludwig sighed, finally getting up. "It is true the cover-up over the alien presence has been nullified with the Naru announcement." he said. "Very well, although I presume you have guessed at our neighbors given the information your person has access to. Aside from the Naru, there exist a number of races visiting the planet currently, however due to the rule of non-interaction of developing worlds they are not allowed to show their faces, with small exceptions given to said leadership. I was one such exception at the time."

"Aren't there thousands visiting now?" Kylie asked.

"Indeed." said Ludwig. "Though under strict orders to operate in the background."

"Then why have I not seen a single one up until now?" Larry questioned.

"Because people like to forget things." said a materializing Iggy, appearing right next to Kylie. "Some of the footage you've come across is actually real, but the mind likes to forget things."

"You didn't answer my question." Larry claimed.

"I did." countered Iggy. "You've seen them before, but those memories are in your subconscious and screened over. Conscious contact is not allowed except for world leaders. We are those leaders now, and we are about to meet them."

"As I expected." said Ludwig. "Though our former group has since disbanded, it seems the concept has carried forward to the next generation. I presume we will be meeting the inheritors?"

"Yup." Iggy nodded. The stars suddenly stopping moving, and a kind of circular mothership appeared quickly moving towards them. "Keep your eyes & ears open Larry." Iggy thought. "I was stunned when I first heard this back when the fight was over."

"You don't have to tell me this was another cover-up." Larry thought back, the ship making contact with their pod. "I've guessed this since the Galaxy."

"The news they will present will stun you, is what I'm saying." Iggy thought back. Their surroundings solidified, replaced by metal walls with no windows. A soft white light surrounded them, until their reality suddenly flashed and the light faded as quickly as it came. They now found themselves in a spacious room with cushioned circular seats dotting the area. A fountain of what appeared to be mercury was cut into a notch in the left wall, flowing upwards mimicking objects as it went. In the center was a lighted pillar with four seats encompassing, each equally distant from the other,.

Larry spotted a familiar shape on the other side of the room. "Lemmy?" he blurted aloud, but the figure passed through an archway and was gone. He was a little surprised he didn't think of Lemmy earlier, but given the current situation he didn't blame himself.

"Greetings." came a voice inside of his head. "Please make yourself comfortable." said another. A number of small hominid beings entered the room from various passages, and to Larry they seemed sickly with their gray scaly skin and the way they walked towards their seats in a slow, deliberate manner. They seemed reptilian in origin, with their large oval eyes fixed to the sides of their skull.

The four monarchs sat themselves down, mingling with the rest of the visitors. Larry was cautious however, wondering what their intent was.

"We do not intend to harm you." said a similar voice in his mind, seemingly reading it. And it seemed they possessed no vocal cords: everything was telepathic so far.

"We wish to inform you of your planet's current plight." It seemed each sentence was answered by a different member of the species, similar to the Blood monarchs inside Genlic. "Due to the cover-up that has recently been broken in part due to the announcements inside the Koopa Kingdom, much of the world has been unaware of the greater problem facing them. Even with the recent revelation of Naru, much of the populace will not feel the need to prepare for the worst."

"Why?" Kylie thought.

"Complacency." one responded. "Which itself is based upon the fear of the unknown. For many, ignorance is the sure way to happiness, a sign that they are unable to handle such information without covering themselves behind denial. Indeed, denial has already become rampant, even with the recent vacation of the Koopa Kingdom towards its new location. Many that have stayed behind still believe their lives will be rebuilt."

There was a silence. "We apologize, we should introduce ourselves. We are the Kappur, one of the beneficiaries of your growing race. As we stated, we are here due to your planet's predicament with the passing traveler Naru and the effects it will cause on all who dwell upon your world. We have been chosen for this mission by the Galactic Council, who oversees all happenings within our Galaxy. We are here to inform the races of your world of the pending disaster about to take place, with most being unaware. Even with the announcement, the word must now spread to other kingdoms and the disasters have begun to increase. Aside from your establishments giving the announcement, we reply to The Call and counsel those souls who desire to know more of their current predicaments.

"The Call, this is asking for alien assistance." said Iggy as a matter of fact.

"Yes, within the rules allotted to us." they replied. "For instance, due to the rule of no contact, we are not allowed to communicate with 3rd dimensional lifeforms consciously. There are exceptions, the main being if said life form asks for consul due to giving The Call, in which we answer and direct the spirit accordingly. Then, depending upon the entity, we may establish conscious contact through other means. You have the ability to consciously contact ourselves due to your inheritance created by the Reigning 13."

"The individuals of first contact." Ludwig thought. "This includes our father, the Mario Brothers and many prominent persons who saw fit to arrest the knowledge that was gleaned upon that first meeting. They were the bona fide leaders of the Galaxy, but I only know of their existence by rumor. I would assume that the group has since dispersed, given what has occurred until now."

"Indeed, they have officially disbanded," The Kappur replied, "yet much of their former power remains in various circles of the world. These people are bureaucrats, senators and military once under the reigning command of Bowser Koopa who have taken advantage of his dictatorship to gain some of their own piece of pie, so to speak. Even after his death, many of these same people still hold circles of power and attempt to gain footholds in small territories to establish a mimicry of what your father had done. These spirits who have been informed of the pending pole shift seek to profit from it as much as possible with well equipped bunkers, and a slave class that they anticipate to use in the aftermath. They are to be avoided if your kingdom wishes to continue on its present course.

"This leads into our next prediction, in that any kingdom that you wish to establish at this time will more than likely not last through the shift."

"What?" Ludwig simply thought.

"As you have currently seen King of the Earth, your planet's infrastructure is fragile to the incoming affects of Naru." they said. "Without which, civilization begins to break down. It is understood that you intend to pack your bags with the kingdom inside it, only to unfurl it in a more suitable location following the pole shift. Unfortunately it is not that simple as the public have minds of their own. Due to the lies of your father's administration, the public has become distrustful of the government despite the help they are now receiving under your administration. Trust will be a constant issue. Paper money is now considered worthless with the lack of a proper infrastructure to support business flow. As a result, goods and services have halted and the lifestyle many once had, that of instant gratification, has ceased. Combined with the inability to believe what is occurring along with such traumatic events, we have predicted that about 47% of all survivors of the pole shift will go insane."

Ludwig frowned, and it was clear to him that he had overestimated his fellow beings. "That is unfortunate."

"We advise not to rely on the continuation of typical governmental body functions," the Kappur continued. "as the people will form groups with each other, and take care of themselves especially if they are of a service to others orientation."

"Service to others orientation." Iggy echoed. "And that is what?"

"The spiritual orientations are one of two directions the spirit must take past the 3rd dimension." they said. "They are the service to self and service to others. The lesson of the 3rd dimension is for the spirit to decide its orientation. The service to self in essence is a child who refuses to grow, establishing pecking orders in their peer groups and does whatever is necessary to obtain absolute power. Though they have a tendency to sweet talk attempt to convince others of their schemes, they are not concerned about them, only themselves. They lack empathy, which makes them uncomfortable. Empathy and acting on empathy is a great example of a spirit leaning towards the service to others orientation, which is not about personal gain over the suffering of others. In order to qualify for this orientation, one must be thinking of others at least 50% of the time. This must be a consistent effort proven by action throughout the spirit's lifetimes. On average, it takes well over 1,000 incarnations to decide the orientation of the spirit. There are of course spirits which develop extremely quickly, perhaps only a few hundred lifetimes to determine while other spirits hardly develop at all. Many of the latter are service to self oriented spirits: they refuse to develop further."

"So you're saying all of experience is a gigantic lesson to determine the orientation of the spirit?" asked Iggy.

"Precisely. This is the nature of the 3rd dimension. At this time, your world has been selected to be a world inhabited by those in the service to others orientation. The transformation into the 4th dimension has already begun and this is one reason why there has been so many upsets with the selfish on the surface. At this time there are thousands of other lifeforms who have volunteered to assist in the planets transformation. It is no coincidence that Bowser's self serving government has fallen along with the power behind it, the UmNaru. They were largely responsible for many of your races atrocities, controlling others like puppets to further their own agenda's. Their defeat is considered to be an opening to the Galactic Council to announce the presence of Naru to the rest of the population, which has since occurred."

"What if the announcement never happened?" Larry suddenly thought.

"This was our original expectation." claimed the Kappur. "The cover-up in the past had a strong foothold over the governments of your world and its break up was considered improbable at the time. As a result, we predicted that the disasters would befall the planet with most not understanding what was happening to them. Due to this lack of preparation, we predicted approximately 90% of all intelligent species would be wiped out during the pole shift."

"90%?!" they all thought aloud.

"Yes. This includes death due to starvation, disease and the inability to sustain one's self after such a disaster. In other words, shock. This also includes the insanity that will plague much of the world due to such an event. Though the announcement has since occurred, our prediction still stands. More will likely prepare for their survival, but fewer will understand what is truly needed to live in a post-pole shift environment. The stockpiling of goods is only a short term solution. True self sustainability will be needed. This includes the ability to save seed and garden, water purification, the ability to be mobile amongst other things. Stores of canned goods will run out, and those believing that all will return to normal after the shift will in for a rude awakening. This is another reason why government will simply not exist following the shift. People will have much on their plates."

There was silence for a moment as the Koopalings were absorbed in their own thoughts. "I have to try and conjure something up." relayed Iggy. "People need something to believe in. Already their religions are failing to explain what they've been seeing. They need something to keep them going, keep them moving."

"Maybe that's why so many people stayed behind after we set out." Kylie mentioned.

"It is." said Iggy, being able to see their thoughts clearly. "They believe they will be saved by some omnipresent being."

"This will not occur." the Kappur warned. "We are not allowed to interfere with man's spiritual progress, and rescue from disaster is one such example. Disasters bring opportunities to learn lessons set out during a spirit's incarnations, forcing the spirit to make decisions. Evolution comes from such hard choices and to rescue one from disaster would void any such potential. The sole exception is the rescue of highly service to other individuals, in order to relocate them to their loved ones or to a place where they are needed. These are few. "The mind does not want to consider itself in such uncertain dangers, and goes for the more comfortable opt out: being rescued. You must rely on your own selves in order to survive."

"Too bad not everyone is going to believe that." mentioned Larry. There was another silence after that, and none of the Koopalings knew what to say. Larry, feeling guilty of said silence, broke it. "If their beliefs will not come true, then what would comfort them? They will need something to live for. After it's all said and done, they need something to keep them going. I'm kind of repeating what Iggy said, but unless they become motivated to survive, their broken beliefs may paralyze them to death. So what is there to believe in? If people learned this, I would bet a good number would choose to die with the waves,"

The Kappur looked at each other. "We have been assigned to be the chosen race for your planet by the Galactic Council due to our nearly identical blood types. Your races have been scheduled to be phased out of existence due to a number of reasons, including selfishness, lack of regard to your environment, the problem of denial and the tendency to lean towards the suggestions of the service to self, thus tipping the balance on your planet. The Koopa race shall be phased out approximately 100 years after the pole shift."

"What is this?" Larry argued.

"The incarnate life form shall be replaced with a hybrid race developed by ourselves." responded the Kappur. "They are a combination of us as well as yourselves, choosing the best traits from both races to create a new species that is ideal for 4th dimensional development. As it stands currently, your race is not suitable for the 4th dimension due to a lack of brain capacity. The time was chosen now due to the anticipated die off following the pole shift. The new hybrid body contains a greater intelligence, longer life span while retaining empathy and the sexual drive, something which we lack."

"So this race is going to take our place?" Larry asked.

"Correct." they confirmed. "Neither the Koopa's, Mushrooms nor the Yoshi's are suitable for the 4th dimension and are to be phased out. This is the rule of the Galactic Council. The hybrids will be incarnated by ourselves, the Kappur and highly service to other spirits from your race as well. Those spirits who have not decided their orientation will be sent to another world where they can continue their deliberations. Many who have come into contact with us have interest in these new hybrid bodies and greatly desire them. However, it is their choices and actions that will determine the final outcome."

"So let me get this straight..." Larry began. "...people are being forced to make a decision between two spiritual orientations as the planet is going to the 4th dimension. Those who don't are moving to a new planet? What is this planet?"

"It is a water world." they stated. "It currently houses spirits from all over the Galaxy who have yet to decide their spiritual orientation and can continue their lessons there. The life form is a water creature, which affords greater sensitivity to one's environment."

"And we don't have a choice in this?" Larry thought.

"Correct."

"Why not? Isn't this our planet to live on?" Larry argued.

"Compared to the whole universe, you are but children learning to grow." they bluntly replied. "Children do not make the decisions of the world around them. That is the job of the Galactic Council. There is a rule that states that the races of your planet are not allowed to travel beyond your star system and for good reason. 3rd dimensional entities are not yet mature enough for interstellar travel."

Larry growled at that, but with nothing else to counter them merely sighed in his frustration.

"We will be in constant contact with the leaders of your world, including yourselves." the Kappur concluded. "Despite not being members of the Reigning 13, we believe introducing ourselves to the current generation of leaders to be the next logical step. The pole shift is advancing to the next stage. We will be in constant contact with your selves, and will be available if you require consoling with appropriate matters. But for now, we must send you back to continue your lessons."

"So we are on our own..." Larry trailed off, looking out the window.

"Not alone, but with galactic friends willing to help you with your lessons. While we are not allowed to interfere with them or change them, we can help guide you towards a correct outcome and thus help you learn the lesson required. As we already stated, we are not allowed to interfere with your spiritual development. This includes stopping hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes and the like as these are natural events. It is from these episodes that one may grow into a chosen orientation." There was a pause. "We believe that is enough information to deliberate on for now, and we will be available for further meetings should the need arise. Until then."

With that, a darkness seemed to close around the Koopalings until it filled their entire vision and they knew no more.