16

Mario and Luigi hurried their way up the jumbled and blocky side of the pyramid where they were able to climb into the shaft entrance. The Koopa Army that was following them with a blind eye was still near the bottom of the pyramid, leaving the brothers plenty of time to make their next move. They immediately ran down the dark downward-sloping hall and into the seemingly foreboding darkness. The atmosphere became creepier the farther down Mario and Luigi ventured.

"Mario, I'm scared." Luigi said. "We need some light to see."

"Luigi, I'd rather be stuck in the dark than in the hands of the Koopa Army!" Mario said. "We don't to attract any attention to ourselves! That's the last thing I want happening!"

"But...what about...the...ghosts?" Luigi asked.

"Ghosts?! Luigi, there can't be any ghosts inside the pyramid!" Mario said. "If there were any, they'd show themselves!"

"I beg to differ." Luigi said.

Mario sighed.

"One of these days, I'm not going to be around and you're going to have to face your fear and overcome it!" Mario said. "It's enough to be afraid of the dark, but being afraid of ghosts is something you need to get over."

"I can't help it!" Luigi protested. "It's my phasmophobia! There's nothing that can be done to cure it! I'll be like this for the rest my life!"

"No, you won't!" Mario said.

The brothers continued down the dark shaft. The only sounds they could hear were the echoes of the footsteps on the hard stone. Suddenly, the floor beneath them leveled out and the brothers stepped into the central room inside the pyramid. It was pitch-black, so they were unable to see anything other than the silver moonlight pouring in from outside. Suddenly, the brothers froze and listened to rising commotion coming from outside.

"Whatever you do, don't make any noise!" Mario said. "I think the Koopas are coming!"

"What are we going to do?" Luigi whispered.

"Quick! Let's hide behind the wall!" Mario said. "That's the only thing we can do! You hide over there on that side."

"Okay." Luigi replied.

"Well, I don't the see the brothers anywhere down there." said one of the Koopas looking down into the pyramidal shaft. "Do you?"

"No. But that doesn't mean they aren't down there!" said another Koopa. "We need to keep searching. Let's go!"

"Wait! What if they are waiting for us down there?!" said a less brave Koopa. "They'll kill us! Just look at what happened back in Birachai!"

"They can't be down there." said the first Koopa. "If they were down there, they would've made it obvious!"

"How do you know that?!" asked the second Koopa. "You don't know what they're capable of!"

"Listen!" said the third Koopa. "We still have a few other pyramids to explore. I'm sure they might've hidden themselves in one of those places. If not, then I'm sure one of the other search parties will find them."

The other two Koopas remained silent for a while. Then they nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright, boys. Let's go." said the first Koopa. "The others are waiting for us at the base."

With that said, the three Koopa Troops started climbing back down the pyramid to the ground, where the others were waiting patiently. They gave the signal to move on the pyramid and they immediately started walking.

Mario and Luigi could hear their own hearts beat as the Koopas started heading back down to the ground. Slowly, they eased up and gave out a sigh of relief.

"I think we'll be safe for a while." Mario said. "They won't be back for a while I bet."

"You mean they'll be back?!" Luigi asked.

"More than likely." Mario said. "If they really wanted to kill us, they would make their way back here after they checked every other location. They'd make sure we weren't hiding or something."

Mario and Luigi became silent.

"It's really dark in here." Luigi said. "Can we light a fire flower now?"

"I suppose." Mario said. "Here, you light it."

"Okay." Luigi replied. "By the way, how are we doing on our fire flower supply?"

"We still have plenty of them left." Mario said. "I doubt we'll run out anytime soon. We still need to get more mushrooms."

"Where are we going to find more of these?" Luigi asked. "Professor Frankly did mention that there were more of them throughout the world. But where?"

"I don't know, Luigi." Mario replied. "Go ahead and use that fire flower. It won't get brighter anytime soon."

Luigi rubbed the flower into the palm of his hand and watched his clothes change color once again. He formed a fire ball in his hand and illuminated the dark room, revealing details were previously invisible. The room was covered ancient pictograms of both humans and Toad people in beautiful red, yellow, white, green and blue shades, along with hieroglyphics that were written in a dead language. The brothers looked around in awe at the vibrant colors that covered the room.

"Look at this place!" Mario said. "It's magnificent!"

"I know." Luigi said. "There's no way that the ancestors who lived here went out of their way to build these pyramids for dead kings!"

"Sounds like a place I learned about in our school days that exists in the Parallel World." Mario said. "Their pyramids are very similar to 'ours' in the way they were built, but they don't have the bright golden tips like the ones here in Sarasaland. I believe that at least one of their pyramids used to have a golden tip at one point."

"Really?" Luigi asked. "What's this place called? Do you remember?"

"I'm not quite sure." Mario said. "But if I remember correctly, the place is called Egypt."

"That sure is quite a fancy name!" Luigi said. "Hey, what are these in the wall?"

"What?" Mario said. "What are looking at?"

"Look!"

Luigi pointed to four small and strange-shaped holes in the wall that had elaborate depictions of evil Pokey cacti. Mario examined them up close.

"They almost look like key holes." Mario said. "I don't know. What do the ancient hieroglyphics say, Luigi? You're the expert on dead languages."

"I'm not that great of an expert!" Luigi said. "My knowledge of ancient languages is severely limited!"

"Not as limited as my knowledge!" Mario said.

"SHH! I'm trying to concentrate!" Luigi said.

"Hurry, before the flame goes out!" Mario said.

"Wait..." Luigi said. "I think I picked up on something."

I do apologize for the long wait on this chapter. I've been having bad writer's block, so I don't expect anyone to get much out of this chapter other than a large dose of curiosity for what will happen next. I promise that the next chapter will bring more excitement! No excuses!

The brothers are now inside of the large middle pyramid. Upon reaching the central room and waiting out a Koopa 'search', the brothers illuminate the room and find four small 'keyholes' in the wall. Luigi, being an amateur at reading dead languages, has just discovered something. What in the world did he see? The answer will be revealed the next time I update. Stay tuned! :)

saturn95