Chapter 29 Outside the Universe

When the lights and the wind whooshing around the Koopalings cleared, Morton found himself standing on plush green grass as opposed to dusty black ground. He looked around, as did his siblings. The sight that laid before him was unlike any that he had ever seen. The Koopalings were standing on a grand, elegant structure, composed of two floors and a pointed roof. Thousands upon thousands of tiny, star-like creatures zipped around the area, whooping, laughing, and squeezing as they did. Morton took a step forward, unwilling to believe what his eyes were showing him. It looked too fantastical to be real. Especially when he considered the fact that the structure was surrounded by nothing but the void of space.

"Where….what is this place?" Wendy asked, keeping her eyes glued to the void surrounding them.

"This is my Comet Observatory," said Rosalina.

Morton stared as she floated over to them. Not walked, floated. "How...how do you do that?"

Rosalina laughed. "How else is anything magical able to occur? I have access to powerful amounts of Galaxium." She took out her star tipped wand and showed it to them.

Iggy's eyes grew wide, the sparkly tinted of the wand being reflected in them. "That is incredible!" He stepped forward and touched the tip of the wand. "There is probably more Galaxium in this one tool than there is in the rest of the Mushroom World, if it allows a human abilities that you have displayed." He eyed Rosalina, grinning giddily. "You must allow me to study this wand of yours!"

Rosalina pulled the wand away and shook her head. "I am afraid I can't do that." She pointed forward. "We have much bigger issues to worry about."

Morton looked where she was pointing and gasped. There was the rift. It shown over the Mushroom World, glowing brightly and growing bigger. He stared at it, his mouth hanging open.

"The rift is visible from space?" Lemmy asked.

"Cool!" said Roy.

"Uh, not 'cool,'" said Iggy. "Not cool at all. If it is visible from space, then that means that the timeline is damaged beyond repair."

Rosalina nodded. "The universe itself could cease to exist with this big a rift. But thankfully, there is a solution."

With that, she waved her wand again. A force field surrounded the Observatory, and the thing shot through space. Morton and his siblings had to hold onto the ground as they went zipping faster than the speed of sound. The blood in his body screamed in agony as his bones were compressed due to the high speeds. Just as Morton was sure that he was about to reach the speed of light, everything seemed to stop. It was still, deathly still. The stars in the sky were un-seeable. Morton stood up, as did everyone else.

"Oh man," said Lemmy. He looked at Rosalina. "Could you warn us next time you do that?"

Rosalina chuckled. "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "Look around you."

Morton did as he was told. The sky, or whatever you could call it at this point, was pitch black, like every color had been sucked away from it. Morton felt sick looking at the void, like he was staring into the darkest regions of his heart. Thankfully there appeared to be some strange anomalies floating through the blackness. They glowed with a golden light and resembled bubbles. If Morton squinted closely at their surfaces, he could almost see movement of some sort. It was like the bubbles were reflecting something. But then again, in this dark void, what was there to reflect?

The other Koopalings stared at the anomalies. Ludwig turned toward Rosalina, pointing at one. "What are those?"

"Those are universes."

Iggy's eyes grew wide. "What?" He crossed his arms. "You're making that up."

"I assure you, I am not," said Rosalina. "We now exist in an area outside of the confines of space and time. A….limbo state, I guess you could say."

Morton's eyes grew wide. Limbo? Outside of space and time? Woah. He didn't know if that was insanely cool or insanely terrifying.

Rosalina looked at them. "I see you all seem a little confused."

"Yes! Very!" Larry exclaimed.

"How did we even get here?" asked Wendy.

"Don't worry; I promised I would explain everything," said Rosalina. She gestured for the Koopalings to gather around, which was an unnecessary thing to do as they would have done so anyway. Morton got in close to the cosmic princess just as a star creature came up and snuggled underneath her arm. She cleared her throat.

"Many years ago, my husband and I got sucked into a black hole while we were traveling through space. We expected to die on that day. However, what happened instead was that we found this place. A place outside all dimensions, a place that would allow us easy access to any and all universes. Thanks to this, I became the watcher of the cosmos." She gestured down toward her star creature. "I nurtured many lumas from all across the dimensions, knowing that if they reached their full potential, they too could become universes."

The luma cooed and snuggled against Rosalina's face before flying off. Rosalina smiled as she watched it go. Then, she turned back toward the Koopalings.

"I also accomplished other tasks. I went to many universes, trying to aid in their history. In one, I saved a nation. In many, I stopped some wars." She smiled. "You might also recognize my efforts in your own universe. It became a very common legend that inspired a holiday."

Morton's eyes grew wide, as did the eyes of all the other Koopalings. Lemmy even let out a gasp.

"You mean…" said the littlest Koopaling. "The celestial figure…."

"In the First Koopsmas…." said Iggy.

"Was you?" asked Roy.

Rosalina nodded. "That is correct."

Morton stared at her. "Woah." He smiled. "I guess there was some truth to the legend after all."

Rosalina nodded. "Indeed there was."

Lemmy bounced to his feet, grinning from ear to ear. He ran over to Rosalina and grabbed her hand. "It is so nice to meet the celestial figure. You're...like….part of my favorite story of all time!"

Rosalina smiled. "Thank you." She sighed. "Unfortunately, your universe was not one that I visited often. That all changed when I realized it was put in peril."

Morton nodded. "The rift."

"Yes. The time loop was caused by a time crystal that fell from space, and it was activated when Morton Jr here picked it up."

Morton blinked and looked down at the crystal. "So...if I never picked up the crystal, the time loop wouldn't have started at all?"

"That is correct. Time crystals, in a sense, can be considered almost parasitic. They need a host to provide them with a way to do their magic. In this case, this time crystal needs someone to touch it and be its owner in order for the loop to commence. Without that, it would have just disintegrated."

Morton nodded. As he did, he felt overwhelming amounts of guilt. So this really was his fault. Sure, he couldn't have known the crystal would start a time loop when he picked it up. But still, he was inadvertently responsible for the chaos that ensued over the past few days. Not to mention the fact that he was directly responsible for the rift. His hand started to shake as he realized this.

"Are you alright, Morton?" Iggy asked.

Morton gripped the crystal in the palm of his hand. "I...I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"No, Morty, you couldn't have known," said Wendy.

"Exactly," said Rosalina. "This was just an unfortunate accident. And besides..." She gave him a warm, motherly look. "There is a way to repair all of this."

Morton blinked at her. "There is?"

"Yes. Time crystals need to be destroyed in order to stop their chaos. Thankfully, since we are in limbo, we have a way of doing so." She took a step forward. "Hold out the crystal."

Morton did just that. He watched and bit his lip as Rosalina focused on it. She held her wand above the crystal and chanted in a tongue that was foreign to Morton.

Avka Galen hei mes

Mirab hazq endereth

Mare otun baite

Vichtchute mart lie VYRUS!"

The crystal glowed and shook. Morton stared at it with wide eyes, afraid to hold it but also afraid to drop it. It rumbled and rumbled and rumbled, slowly rising into the air as it did so. It flashed with a multitude of colors. Red, magenta, green, aqua, and some colors that Morton had never even seen before. Morton's mouth gawked open, fear grasping his heart.

And then… POP! The crystal exploded into a collection of rainbow colored dust. It sprinkled to the ground like the finest snow. Morton blinked at it, then realization hit him.

The crystal...that darn crystal….was gone.

"I...I can't believe it," he said. He grinned at his siblings, relief and joy taking over his soul. "It's over! It's actually over!"

"Not quite," said Rosalina. "We have to return to your universe now to see how things are faring."