33

The Mario Brothers started jumping over small bottomless ravines as the going became tougher for them. Already, Mario and Luigi have avoided a few treacherous obstacles that threatened to end their lives in a matter of seconds if they failed to coordinate themselves correctly. As far as they could tell, the ravines were deep enough to take them to the other side of the world. After jumping over another bottomless pit, the brothers found themselves inside a different area where the walls were made of sandstone bricks.

"We're closer...I think." Mario said as him and Luigi cautiously tiptoed down the hall.

SHING!

The brother screamed when a huge set of sharp blades was suddenly activated in front of them by an unknown force. The blades then went back into the wall, only to scare the brothers again when they blasted their way out again. It was a timed trap. After the blades retracted back into the wall, Mario and Luigi quickly ran pat it before they had the chance to stab them. They both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"That was a close one!" Luigi said as adrenaline continued rushing through his body.

"Yeah!" Mario said. "I'm surprised we haven't died yet!"

"Don't jinx it you asshole!" Luigi said. "Do you want us to die or something?!"

Mario slapped Luigi across the face.

"Oww." said Luigi. "You didn't have to do that you know."

"I kinda had to." Mario said. "You were being too cocky."

Luigi ignored his brother's last comment and decided to focus on the pathway ahead of them. Mario insisted that he follow him, but Luigi continued down the path ahead of him.

"Careful, bro! There could be traps!" Mario called out. "I don't want to watch you die anytime soon!"

"I think the last key is just up ahead!" Luigi said. "There's a small room at the end of this tunnel!"

"Well, wait up then!" Mario shouted back. "Don't leave your brother in the dust!"

"Sorry! I'm just really anxious!" Luigi said.

Mario ran up to his brother and started walking beside him as they entered a small deserted room that contained a solitary pedestal. Resting on top of the pedestal was the fourth and final key. Both Mario's and Luigi's faces lit up at the sight of it.

"There it is!" Mario said. "All of this searching has finally paid off!"

"Grab it Mario." Luigi said. "After that, we can get the hell out of here!"

Mario stepped up to the giant pedestal and observed the key in front of him. He grabbed it and put it inside the rucksack when huge twirling spikes suddenly came out of the ceiling and slowly made their way down the ground where the brothers were standing.

"OH MY GOD!" Luigi said. "MARIO, GET OUT OF THERE!"

Mario looked around and saw another doorway leading to somewhere else.

"Luigi! Follow me!" Mario said. "Let's go through that doorway!"

"What! Are you joking! We're going to get killed!" Luigi shouted.

"Just follow me! It may take us out of here!" Mario said. "With our luck, I'm sure the exit is just ahead! Hurry up!"

Luigi ran across the trapped room and performed a diving roll just as the spikes started to become too low for him stand under. The brothers continued down the new tunnel just as the spikes touched the ground and started looking for a way out.


After a little over an hour, the brothers emerged out of the same cave they entered and once again found themselves in the shady oasis next the great southern river. The sun was shining even brighter and hotter than before and the brothers instantly had trouble adapting to the severe heat. The shadows of the palm trees had also shrunk, making it hard to escape the glaring light. Luigi immediately took out the small canteen in his rucksack and starting drinking from it heavily.

"Do you mind sharing that Luigi?" Mario asked as sweat ran down his face like water. "I'm dying of thirst over here!"

"I just finished the whole thing!" Luigi said. "Not to worry though. The pond is just over there."

Mario took the canteen and went over to the pond to refill it. The light from the almost midday sun was reflecting off the surface of the water and right into his face. The light was so bright Mario had to close his eyes while he filled the canteen. Even then, Mario could still see the bright outlines of the light as bright auras of color amongst a black background.

"You know, Luigi. I could sure use another swim!" Mario called out. "It's too hot to be out here!"

"You might want to hurry, Mario." Luigi said. "I think I hear Bowser and his troops coming this way!"

"You can't be serious!" Mario said.

"If you don't believe me, come over here and peak over the small cliff." Luigi replied. "They're definitely coming this way!"

Mario walked over to the higher portion of ground where Luigi was standing and peeked over the edge. The chilling sight of Bowser and his evil henchmen stood before him.

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

"We're going to run away from here." Mario said, looking back to the river. "By that, I mean swim away."

"Are you sure we can fight the current?" Luigi asked.

"Look." Mario said in a frustrated tone. "The current isn't that strong! We can make it! All we have to do is get out of this place unnoticed!"

"Well, what are we waiting for then?!" Luigi said. "Let's go!"

The brothers ran to the river and splashed into the nice cool water and started swimming up the current to somewhere they could make it past Bowser without being seen. Mario and Luigi knew that it would take longer, but it was much better than walking in the hot sun.


A few minutes passed before Bowser and his troops stumbled into the oasis. There was no sign of the brothers anywhere, but he was determined to find them and kill them before they could really mess things up.

"No sign of them anywhere, sir!" one of the troops called out.

"They're probably inside that cave!" Bowser shouted. "Everybody start making your into the cave! We have to catch those fiends! Don't just stand there!"

All of the Koopa troops started piling down the cave in search of Mario and Luigi. Little did they know that the brothers were already one step ahead of them, as they have been for most of the time they have been wandering the desert. It would not be long before they find out the hard way...


Mario and Luigi climbed out of a nearby river bank and climbed up the rocks to the ground above and had their eyes fixed on the pyramids. Their desert quest was almost over.

"Mario, I've haven't felt so confident in my life." Luigi said, his hair blowing in the strengthening wind. "I just wish that mom and dad were still alive."

"Me too." Mario said, reflecting on the spiritual experience they had earlier. "At least we know that they will always love us."

"I still get why we had to live through a lie for most of our lives." Luigi replied. "Was there a reason why we weren't allowed to know the truth of how our parents died?"

"If there was, I can't think of it." Mario said. "They probably didn't want us to try and kill Bowser because they feared that we would get killed in trying to do so. They were trying to protect us from the danger."

"Yet, here we are." Luigi said. "We're not only risking our own lives to take down Bowser. We're also risking our lives for the sake of the princesses and the entire world!"

"Yes, indeed." Mario said. "Come on, Luigi. Let's get inside that pyramid and insert those four keys! We're almost to the second Crystal Star!"


After wandering through the empty desert for the umpteenth time, Mario and Luigi were climbing up the steps of the largest pyramid once again. They made their way down the dark shaft and into the central room with the brilliantly colored hieroglyphics and starred at the empty keyholes with growing anticipation. Mario took out the four keys and gave two of them to Luigi.

"You try the keyholes on the right." Mario said. "I'll take care of these ones over here."

"Okay!" Luigi replied eagerly.

One of one, the brothers inserted the keys and turned them, creating large clicks with each latch that was opened. Finally, all four keys had been inserted and the room started to shake. Mario and Luigi looked at the colorful wall in between the second and third keyhole and watched in awe as it opened up to reveal another passageway. They both looked at each with smiles on their faces.

"We did it, Luigi!" Mario said, giving Luigi a brotherly hug. "I knew your translating skills would come in handy for this!"

Luigi did not know what to say to this. Even he was shocked about his own efforts paying off in the end. He was glad that his brother was acknowledging him.

"Let's continue down into the new passage." Luigi said.

The brothers walked into the darkened hall and each used a fire flower to see where they were going. After walking down a small flight of stairs, the hall suddenly made a 180 degree turn to another flight of stairs that was larger and led to a large dark room. The brothers emerged into a huge low-ceilinged chamber filled with torches on the wall that were somehow pre-lit, making the room brighter and easier to maneuver through. There were also two large sphinx statues facing each other in the middle of the room and in between them was the pedestal that housed the second Crystal Star, the so-called 'dreaded red star'. Beyond the statues and the Ruby Star was a large inscription on the wall, illustrating some sort of cosmic event as far as the brothers could tell. The writing looked more recent, but was still written in the same dead language.

"There it is, Luigi!" Mario said with twinkling eyes. "The second Crystal Star! Let's grab it and get the hell out of here so that we can lose Bowser!"

"Hold up!" Luigi said. "I want to go take a look at that inscription on the wall. I think there's something important on there. I think I'm picking up on something."

"I'll come with you." Mario said.

Walking past the statues and pedestal, Luigi led Mario over to the large inscription, which looked as though it were hastily carved out of the stone. Luigi's eyes widened as he read the text before him.

"What is it, Luigi?" Mario asked.

"You're not going to like this." Luigi said. "This is what it says: 'Here sits the dreaded ruby star, one of the seven Crystal Stars used by the notorious and frightening Shadow Queen in her efforts to control the earth and the heavens. The evil force that has ruined us has left and is expected to return again in the distant future. It has taken the form of a dark fog and will roam the recesses of space until the next alignment of the moon, sun, and the five naked eye planets. Our descendants must be aware of this coming danger, as the Book of Prophecies predicts that the darkness may fall into the hands of evil itself. Anyone who dares enter this chamber is asked to heed this advice and ensure that this star fragment or any of the other six do not fall into the wrong hands."

Mario began having flashbacks of the exempts that he and Luigi read from the Book of Prophecies back at Professor Frankly's house: A great power that has been locked away for millennia will once again be exhumed from its shadowy grave and may fall into the hands of evil itself. The great power was indeed referring to the dark energy of the Crystal Stars. Mario also remembered the chilling thoughts that he had about the planets in the sky and suddenly realized that everything was starting to fall into place. The alignment was in less than two weeks and it is directly linked to the powers vested inside the Crystal Stars! No wonder Bowser gave them both a deadline for rescuing Peach and Daisy!

"It all makes sense now!" Mario said out loud.

"What does? I don't understand. Luigi replied.

"Bowser wants to find the stars before the alignment of the planets occurs so that he will have the full advantage of gaining the dark power of the stars. That's why he's giving us the deadline for rescuing the princesses! And the symbols..."

Mario took out the Diamond Star and examined the symbol on the back.

"Now that I think about it, I really do think that this symbol is the planetary symbol for Venus. It's too coincidental for it not to be. There are seven stars, which mean that if this star represents Venus then the others would have to represent Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the moon, and the sun. That's seven celestial bodies, the same seven celestial bodies, besides Earth, that are involved in the upcoming alignment! The powers of these stars carry powers associated with each of these worlds! That's why the evil powers in these stars are expected to return. It only works when the moon sun and planets are united, therefore the powers in each star get reunited and the evil energy will enshroud the earth once again!"

Luigi was lost for words. Everything that his brother said made absolute sense. "We don't have much time then!" Luigi said. "We're going to have to be quick to beat the clock!"

"I know!" Mario said. "Let's grab the star!"

Mario and Luigi ran over to the pedestal and grabbed the Ruby Star from its pedestal. On the back was a symbol that consisted of a circle with a diagonal arrow attached to the edge. It was the planetary symbol for Mars.

"Yes! We got it!" Luigi said.

Suddenly, a suspicious sound was heard around the two brothers, a noise which sounded like stone that was being blasted apart. Then, they looked at the sphinx statues and realized their mistake...