PHASE 52
Memories of Blood Mask
(The clock on the wall quietly ticks, as the messenger arrives. It is almost 6:00…in two hours; the Blood Masks would attack the United Cities from the inside, and the outside. The Blood Masks second-in-command, Bajai, already sits in the throne in the Harsofol Palace. He had silently entered, killed all the guards, and had then proceeded to kill King Okken himself. Nobody in the city was even aware that the king was dead. The message from the messenger was simple-a group of three had entered the city- a Heiho, a unidentified Boo, and-the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom (if she was there)- Celistar. And two of them planned to come warn King Okken of the approaching Blood Mask army. This would have been a problem, if the great leader of the Blood Masks had not had a group get on the inside. Getting into the cities was difficult, because of the holiday.
But two days ago, they had entered through the most unlikely place-the northwestern city, Hakahsh. They had destroyed Hakahsh, and destroyed the spots that trains would leave, and arrive from. Any trains that went there would crash, and kill everyone aboard. Getting into the palace was easy. In the middle of the night, anyone who happened to cross them was killed instantly by Bajai. Taking the palace was an easy matter. Two days before this, he and Lord Blood Mask had planned the attack, in the Blood Masks hideout.)
Lord Blood Mask: Bajai…as my second-in-command, you will lead the first attack against the cities…a sneak attack, through Hakahsh.
Bajai: …My lord…?
(Lord Blood Mask describes the plan in great detail.)
Lord Blood Mask: Pick your own group to lead the attack. I need these cities.
Bajai: Yes, my lord!
Lord Blood Mask: …Bajai. This Fire Staff…I don't want it any more. Take it.
Bajai: …What? …Sir?
Lord Blood Mask: I don't need it. You deserve a reward…
Bajai: Oh…thank…thank you, sir!
Lord Blood Mask: It should…help with your minor conquest.
(It had been four days earlier, while traveling, that one of the underlings had found the staff, deep in the Subconian Jungle…)
Underling: Ow!
(One of the underlings trips, and breaks his leg. Bajai goes over to investigate, and finds a strange, hard, wooden staff. But at the end, contained in a glass globe, is a small fire. Bajai calls Lord Blood Mask over.)
Bajai: Look at this sir! A…elemental staff! One of the only six…
Lord Blood Mask: The Fire Staff…Elemental Staffs! This is the key. If we can find one of the two great Elemental Staffs…Light and Shadow…our goal will be within grasp…!
Underlings: Aughhh…
Lord Blood Mask: What happened to him?
Bajai: The fool tripped on the staff. It was sticking out of the ground.
Lord Blood Mask: How unfortunate. Is his leg broken?
Bajai: From the snapping sound, it would appear so.
Lord Blood Mask: He can't walk? Well, let's try this. Give me that staff.
(Bajai hands LBM the staff.)
Underling: No…no, please, sir, no, I'll-
Lord Blood Mask: You can't even walk, can you. You're a waste of time, and supplies.
(Lord Blood Mask points the staff at the underlings. A bolt of fire shoots out, and engulfs the fallen underling. The troops march away, the screams continuing until they are too far away to hear them. Apparently a slow-burning fire.)
(Two days before that, a travelling merchant had stopped by, while the Blood Masks were travelling through the Otapuku Meadows, apparently not knowing who the group was.)
Travelling Merchant: I have many things to sell…what do you want?
Bajai: You're a merchant? I've never heard of a Boo merchant, and I don't see anything to buy!
Travelling Merchant: Hee hee… (The Travelling Merchant pulls out objects from seemingly thin air.) I can store just about anything in the 8th Dimension!
Random Underling: 8th…Dimension?
Travelling Merchant: The Empty Dimension. I have the ability to store anything in this Dimension!
Bajai: …How?
Travelling Merchant: Are you going to buy something, or not? I have a lot, just can't give you any food. I'm running low on food, and I really hate being hungry!
(The Merchant doesn't even notice Lord Blood Mask's huge form standing behind him. He grabs the Boo before he can disappear, or fly away.)
Lord Blood Mask: How about…you give us everything you have…or…we find out if Boo's breathe. (Lord Blood Mask gestures over to a flowing river.)
Merchant: Oh, don't worry, we breathe, hee. So, uh, I guess you don't have to find out!
Lord Blood Mask: No, I'd like to make sure. Maybe you'd like to give us everything you've got?
Merchant: Um, maybe I would. But not the food, please?
Bajai: …
Lord Blood Mask: …
Merchant: Hee…heh…he….just kidding.
(The Merchant pulls out a huge multitude of items. At the end, he pulls out a bag of cauliflower. Bajai stares mournfully.)
Bajai: Vegetables? That can't be all. I hate vegetables.
Merchant: No, really. That's all. I'm allergic to meat.
Lord Blood Mask: A Boo allergic to meat? You think we're going to believe that? FALKOR! Get over here!
(Falkor walks over.)
Bajai: Falkor here's going to tell us if you're telling the truth. And if you're not, you're going to become practice for our archery squad.
Merchant: No, wait! I…have some more food. But it's more vegetables! And some fruit.
Bajai: Oh, right. Falkor!
Falkor: He's telling the truth.
Bajai: Whatever. Give us it, anyway!
Merchant: (Sigh)
(From some invisible tear in the air, the merchant pulls out broccoli and apples.)
Merchant: That's it. Really. …And now I'm all hungry…
Lord Blood Mask: A stupid Boo who's a vegetarian. Get lost.
Merchant: Um…thank you for not killing me.
Bajai: We can have some practice!
(The sounds of bows TWANG in the distance.)
Merchant: Aah!
(The Boo disappears, just as the arrows fly through where he had been.)
Bajai: …
(Nine days before that, when the Blood Masks were crossing the Southern Mountains, Lord Blood Mask had told him who he, the leader of the Blood Masks, really was, during the night…)
Lord Blood Mask: Bajai…I…feel a need…to tell you…who I am…
Bajai: I already know who you are. You are the leader of the Blood Masks…you saved my life two years ago…
Lord Blood Mask: No. Why I am like this…huge…beneath my mask…and robes…deformed.
Bajai: Er…?
Lord Blood Mask: Why…my hands are like this…
(Lord Blood Mask holds out a bumpy hand. At the tips of his fingers are small, sharp claws.)
Bajai: …
Lord Blood Mask: Do you know how old I am?
Bajai: …No.
Lord Blood Mask: I was created sixty years ago.
Bajai: …Wh-what…?
Lord Blood Mask: I awoke for the first time ever, falling outside of some storage tank. The first sound I ever heard was the dying gasps of the one who created me. When I looked up, seconds later, he was dead. An ugly fellow. A human. One of the few in the world. I knew how to walk, from some previous life. I could read too. His name was Nask. He had no last name. I was one of countless experiments that he had held in the lab…and elsewhere. All having to do with genetic and biological experiments. I was unfortunate enough to once wander into an unmarked room, full of…
Bajai: …
Lord Blood Mask: There was a kitchen, full of food. After I ate for the first time in my second life, I found a notebook, entirely about me. The fifth Heiho experiment. The first three died instantly. I found the fourth in a cage. He…it was alive. But it was horribly twisted. I felt sorry for it. The last time I felt sorry for anything.
Bajai: …
Lord Blood Mask: When I left that horrible place…I found myself in the southern part of Sub-Con.
Bajai: Around where our journey started?
Lord Blood Mask: No. I was in the far east…right near the Dream Mists.
Bajai: The Dream Mists?!
Lord Blood Mask: I barely escaped alive. After traveling for miles to the west, killing whatever I could find, and eat…
Bajai: …
Lord Blood Mask: I found the south-western village Nies. The villagers were scared of me. From what I heard them calling me, I realized…they knew.
Bajai: …Knew what?
Lord Blood Mask: They knew about Nask's experiments…and that I was one. They knew. In my rage, I killed them.
Bajai: …
Lord Blood Mask: In the next town I came to, they attacked me…they didn't know anything. So I killed them too. I hid for a while. When I came back to the real world, I still hated everything. I hadn't even noticed, but it had been almost sixty years. I gathered people, threatening to kill them, to join me, to help me take over, not telling them my true goal. And I hated them all.
Bajai: Do you hate me?
Lord Blood Mask: No…because you know the truth, as I do…everyone must experience true pain…like me…and you, when I saved you. Although I wasn't truly awake…I felt him altering me…from whatever previous life I had. It's why I made you my second-in-command. I could tell you went through true horror. And together…we will make the world experience it.
Bajai: Yes…Yes sir!
(Bajai had wondered why he had been chosen as the second-in-command. But learning of Lord Blood Mask's purpose made it all make sense. He had gone through a terrible horror. Mario almost killing him…and then his gang of Toad's beating him up. If Lord Blood Mask hadn't come…)
(Bajai returns to the present from his memories.)
Bajai: Mario's daughter is coming. She must feel true suffering…when those two fools enter the Palace, take them to the dungeon. And torture them.
(Bajai is very excited. Mario's daughter will captured. Lord Blood Mask will reward him. He can already hear the scuffle down the hall. Tonight was going to be a good night for Bajai.)
