Chapter 3 King Cosmo's Birth

"Oooh!" Lemmy squealed. He bounced out of his seat, ran across the table, and skidded over to Bowser. "I absolutely love hearing about King Cosmo's birth! It's my favorite part of Koopsmas!"

Wendy looked down at her wish list and shrugged. "Eh." She furled the scroll back up. "I much prefer getting presents. But hey, what do I know?"

"Besides," said Ludwig as he faced Lemmy with a smile. "It seems to me that every part of Koopsmas is your favorite."

Lemmy giggled. "Can you really blame me though?"

The other Koopalings chimed in with nods and their two cents. Morton, meanwhile, just sat silently in his chair. He put his hand to his forehead, for it was aching.

Bowser laughed. "Well, Lemmy, I'm so glad to see that you really like this part of Koopsmas. It helps to keep these festive traditions alive." He cleared his throat. "Morty, will you lend me a chair?"

Morton sighed as he rose from his chair. The feet scraped against the stone floor. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, a frequency that Morton did not appreciate in the slightest. He picked up the chair and carried it over to Bowser, all the while battling the intense gloom accumulating in his soul.

"Thanks, Buddy," Bowser said once Morton set the chair down on the ground. He lowered his gigantic body into the measly seat. The Koopalings each sat down on the floor. Lemmy was bouncing up and down, a smile so bright on his face. Morton couldn't decide whether this was making him feel grumpy or whether it was making him feel sad. Either way, he knew that it did not change his mind about Koopsmas as a whole.

"Okay," Bowser said as he opened up the picture book he had brought in. "This story is called 'The First Koopsmas.'"

"Ooooh," Lemmy said.

Morton just rolled his eyes. It was as if Lemmy had never heard this story before. Oh wait, he had heard it every year for the past eighteen years.

Bowser turned the page and began to read. Admittedly, the picture painted in watercolor pastels was pretty nice. "'Our kingdom was young, a long time ago. It did not know rain, it did not know snow."

Morton bit his lip. This drivel. He had heard it over and over and over again, and it seemed even more uninteresting than the last time.

Bowser turned the page. "The koopas all worked, to build up the place. They each wanted a part, in creating our race." Bowser flipped the page again. The picture showed a crowd of koopas quarreling. Shouts were depicted with red lines made from marker on an orange background. The crowds themselves were inky black silhouettes. "But they needed some order, they need a king. And they couldn't decide, amongst all the bickering, who exactly this king would be. One said 'it should be me!' Another said 'it should be me!'"

Roy snickered. "I guess no one told them about King Cosmo yet."

"Of course not, dinkus," said Larry. "This was before he was born! He didn't even exist yet!"

"Shh!" Bowser said. He turned the page. The picture showed a dragon koopa with magenta hair that reached down to her shoulders and eyes that were lava red. "A young woman of twenty, knew exactly what to do. She needed advice, to help the kingdom anew. She took her egg, her first and only baby. She trekked across the eight lands, she didn't stop in her journey." Bowser turned the page, and the picture showed the young koopa woman shivering in the freezing cold snow. "Until she came to World 3, and its horrid, freezing peaks. Here was where her quest turned a little bleak." Bowser turned the page. "She knew her egg would freeze, and her baby, they would die. But she couldn't do anything about it, she couldn't even try."

Ludwig snickered. "She seems like an amazing mother, to bring her child into a snowstorm like that."

"Do you think the father knew about her quest?" asked Larry. "Seriously, I really want to know where the Dad is in all this."

"Shhh!" Bowser said, his eyebrows scrunching up. "Would you guys zip it? This is important!"

Morton rolled his eyes. Important, shimportant. At least he didn't need to go to the bathroom like when Bowser read the story last year. That particular reading had almost turned into a mess.

Anyway, Bowser displayed the picture book again. He turned the page, and the painting showed a beautiful white light hovering over the koopa woman. "Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the Koopa was met with a gorgeous, heavenly light. She saw a celestial figure, clad in aquamarine. They were the most beautiful person the koopa had ever seen."

"Cool!" Larry said. "Do you think I could get that celestial figure's number?"

The Koopalings chuckled and snickered. Bowser shook his head.

"Why did you guys choose to become teenagers?" He flipped the page. "The figure led the woman, as she followed their call, to the historic and beautiful city, known as Frostwall."

Morton cast a glance at Ludwig. He noticed his older brother looked a little sad. Regardless, he pushed the sadness to the side for the sake of the story. Morton turned back to Bowser. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot left in the book, as it wasn't very long.

"The figure led her inside, to an inn called 'The Deadly Catch.' And it was there that her egg began to hatch. The pieces of the shell all quickly fell away, to make way for the baby on this beautiful day. But the baby..." Bowser looked a little sad at this part... "was a stillborn, no breath would enter him. The woman cried and cried and cried, as she held onto her last whim."

There was a moment of silence. Morton cast glances at the others. Wendy dried a tear from her eyes. Iggy, however, was leaning forward with his fingertips perched on the carpet. Morton looked back up at Bowser, who had thankfully turned the page. He wore a smile as he read the next few lines.

"But then the figure picked up the baby, and kissed him on the forehead. In that instant, he was alive, and the figure gently said: 'This little boy will make a great king. I bless him in the snow.' The woman smiled and, to remember the figure, named her baby...Cosmo."

Bowser gently closed the book, and Morton couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The story was over. Now he could wait another year before he was bored to death again.

"Wow," said Lemmy with a grin. "That story gets better every time I hear it!"

Morton snickered, but the sound was lost under the volume of Bowser's laugh.

"Yes. It is a very nice tale." His eyes glittered as he faced his children. "And it's important too. If it wasn't for that cosmic figure, the Koopa Kingdom's royal bloodline wouldn't exist!"

"Precisely!" said Iggy as he straightened his glasses. "In addition to that, we wouldn't have Koopsmas!"

Wendy sighed. "Oh, I don't think I can live in a world without Koopsmas!" The others chimed in to express their agreement. Morton just shook his head.

"It's just a legend, guys. We don't know if it actually happened."

Bowser smiled. "I don't know, Morton. Sometimes, there is more to legends than just myths and fairy tales."

Morton snorted and crossed his arms. "If you say so."

Bowser's brow furrowed a little bit. However, he quickly replaced that expression with a smile. "Well, now that King Cosmo's birth story is out of the way..." He stood up... "what do you guys say we all head off to Stonebrim to buy gifts for one another?"

Wendy bounced up instantly, much to Morton's chagrin and dismay. "Yes, yes! Thank you so much; that would be awesome!"

Bowser chuckled. "Very good. You guys go get ready."

With that, Bowser left the room. The Koopalings scampered off to their own rooms. Morton, however, lingered behind. He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. It read 9:30 am.

Morton sighed. "You can do this, Morty. You can do this."