A reoccurring dream above blood-red seas...
Weightless... Formless... Drifting amid a clear and fiery luminescence...
Scoured landmasses lay like shadows... Strewn far across the rippled expanse...
Ruins burn and whither... Vestigial ash floating through winds without direction...
There... A faint cry... A desperate plea for salvation...
But where does it emanate from...? To whom does it call...? Can it ever be saved...?
Another helpless wail echoes out somewhere else... Then another... And another... And another...
Feathered wings now thrash to escape... A soaring flight away from this desolation of time long forgotten...
Higher and higher... Past cloud layer after cloud layer... Breaching a threshold unknown...
Light scatters... Vanishing in every direction... Notions of time and place fade away entirely...
All is dark... All is cold... All is silent...
Tendrils of an ominous new light suddenly emerge... Distant colors shift and curl across the black...
Violet... Sangria... Sable... Then violet once more...
A pattern manifests from somewhere beyond... Abstract fractals weave to fill the vast spaces in-between...
Luminous architecture explodes out of nothing... Forming structures that defy any words... Any comprehension...
All is bright... All is brilliant... All is blistering...
Countless spheres of pure white light rise... Coalescing into a singular massive ring high above...
A mystic stairway then forms ahead... Leading up there... Towards the very center...
Pillars of energy suddenly arc down... Careening past the ring of spheres...
Faint shrills now beckon... Onward... Toward this new threshold...
Ascend the steps and awaken...
Awaken...
Awaken.
AWAKEN.
"Gahhh-...!" Someone gasped. A pair of blue eyes had snapped open.
Sun rays glistened tranquilly through leaves and branches in a gentle sway, illuminated by a brilliant verdant. Gazing up at them were those weary eyes of a certain young angel as he lay here in the cool shade beneath a huge, elegant tree. His arms, legs, and feathery wings spread out across the soft grass of this meadow, located somewhere amid the eternal topiary gardens not far from Palutena's main temple complex.
"... Mmmh..." Pit groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Why do I have that dream...?"
Yes, those images... Those haunting, indelible, yet undeniably mesmerizing images... What did they all mean? Was it possibly more than just a dream?
Might this be a vision? A sign? A premonition, perhaps?
Of course the angel didn't know. It's not like he could have clairvoyance for such things. What he did wonder about though was the fact that he'd experienced this 'dream' more than a couple times in recent months. Whether that seemed like a coincidence in and of itself was really anyone's guess.
Nonetheless, Pit wanted to stay lost in this peaceful quiet. He gently raised his right arm up, as if he were reaching for the branches. The shadow of his own hand drifted across his face and the flickering sunlight was allowed to pass between his fingers, glimmering within the blue irises of his half-closed eyes.
"... At least I'm alone here," the angel thought to himself, in wake of a soft sigh. Then something new reached his ears: A bird started chirping its lovely little song from somewhere in the branches. He couldn't see it, but he knew it was up there. Maybe this bird watched him from above, curious as to why one of Skyworld's angels would be lying here beneath this tree while reaching an arm upward at nothing in particular.
Finally, Pit let his hand fall back down to the grass. A smile formed on the corners of his lips and he couldn't help letting out a scoff as well.
These past few hours had been exactly what he needed. He just needed to take some time and clear his mind of all that lingering stress from his past regrets. He'd even made the big decision not to watch the opening ceremony, or for that matter, this first day of the bicentennial smash tournament altogether.
However, his absence came with dire consequences. Pit knew nothing of what had just happened to Midair Stadium. All the destruction, the chaos, the carnage; only to then vanish into a mysterious darkness entirely.
Indeed, he was completely unaware of what'd become the fate of two-hundred thousand people, yet there surely had to be someone here in Skyworld who realized that something had gone on down there.
"... PIT?" A voice sounded off sharply inside his mind from a person who did. The call came accompanied by approaching footsteps, scampering swiftly across the grass. Even that bird's little tune abruptly ceased.
"... Pit, oh there you are!" Now it was a voice which he knew all too well: Lady Palutena's. The angel's gaze drifted over to meet the Goddess' own, and his initial feeling was actually one of annoyance.
What is she doing here? Is she really coming to dredge up that whole conversation again from earlier? Seriously, why does she have to show up now while I'm just trying to relax in peace?
That was until he processed the distressed expression on her face, as well as how she panted noticeably.
"... Lady... Palutena...?" were the only words he could muster. He'd suddenly become taken back by this unusual demeanor of hers.
"Something's happened to Midair Stadium," she uttered with haste. "The altar wasn't showing anything...! I could hear... I could hear these desperate voices in the waters... Crying out...! It's something bad... No, something terrible...!"
With that, Pit's face wiped clean of any other emotion he might've been showing. He promptly got up on his feet while a worried Palutena added, "I... I tried calling out to our other angels down there for the tournament, but... I've heard nothing from them either."
All the angel could do was stand there. He let out a deep breath. "Wh-What do we do, Lady Palutena?"
The Goddess thought quick before answering, "Follow me. I fear we haven't much time..."
Dive Rock... That large, lithified structure protruding out into the seemingly endless blue expanse from the rear side of Palutena's grand temple...
Its name proved to be accurate. This was the main way for one to depart from Skyworld. Smooth swathes of clouds drifted on in their slow yet constant flows, far below this rocky outcrop where Pit and the Goddess of Light stood. Those ever-present high-altitude breezes whisked between them both, fluttering gently through their hair and caressing against their toga-like garb.
"Pit, I want you to take this." Palutena extended her hand out to him. A small, bright aura bloomed just above her opened palm, before the gleaming shape of what looked like a golden double-bladed scimitar morphed into being.
The angel balked at first. "But, Lady Palutena... Your sacred bow? You want me to-...?"
"Wield it again, yes," she didn't hesitate in responding. "I'm also granting my full divine power to your wings so you can fly at will, because I want you to go down and see what's happened to the stadium."
The dual-bladed bow gently floated over into Pit's waiting hand. He clasped the leather handle and stared at it, pondering Palutena's command for a few quiet moments. Soon after, he glanced up once more to meet her solemn gaze.
"Listen, Pit," the Goddess started again. "I have no idea what you'll find down there, so please, please be careful. It's just that I have a bad feeling about all this."
Her angel went over everything she'd said a second time. Although he ended up nodding silently in acknowledgment, this uneasiness began to froth inside of him more. Palutena could tell, however, because this wasn't the first time Pit had felt this way about a mission either. She stepped forward and rested her hand atop his as it gripped the bow's handle firmly.
"If it helps," added the Goddess, "There's no one else who I'd be willing to trust with this, except for the brave Captain of my Guards."
She gave Pit a small, supportive smile. One factor which never changed with Palutena was that unwavering support she held for her hero angel; especially when he'd be about to set off on a task filled with so many unknowns.
Pit knew it just the same, though, and offered a smile of his own in return.
"Thanks, Lady Palutena. It means a lot to me." The angel turned and took a couple steps forward so he now stood at the edge of this long, rocky outcrop. He gazed down, past the tips of his sandals at that sea of curling white far below. A little gust from the frequent updrafts welled and curled between his fingers.
"Oh..." Pit suddenly remembered one last thought on his mind. He glanced back at the Goddess of Light, uttering, "Um... And if it helps you, Lady Palutena..."
A pause then overcame him. Palutena waited quietly while Pit figured how to best articulate what he was wanting to say to her, however the only sound he let out instead was a flustered sigh.
"N-Never mind, I'd better get going."
Just as he turned to face over the edge of Dive Rock again, the Goddess' voice filled his mind:
"... You want to apologize about this morning..."
Pit froze where he stood. A kind of pulling sensation fluttered inside him and his cheeks blushed a subtle shade of red. This was exactly what he'd intended to say, only Palutena knew it all along. Another glimpse of that solemn smile couldn't help but form on the corners of her lips while she went on:
"It's alright. I can understand why you felt the way you did... Even why you said the things you said to me. Again, it's only the truth that we all go through similar experiences at one point or another. It's just a matter of when. Truth be told too, I thought you'd still be inside at the altar of observation, so I went there first to see if you were. Only then did I notice the altar's warning and hurry out to find you, but still... The main reason I came back was because... I wanted to apologize as well..."
Mute was her angel. He truly didn't expect to hear something like this come from Palutena here and now. All he could do was stare straight ahead, out across the vivid sky.
"... I know what you'd say, Pit," the Goddess continued, "But it'll have to wait for another time. Are you ready to go, then?"
Her halo-like aurora started glimmering behind her head. It even seemed to emit its own faint albeit heavenly call which let Pit know that it was indeed time to depart. Nonetheless, a warm feeling of Palutena's acceptance filled the angel's heart now, in place of anything or even everything he might've felt about their conversation-turned-argument earlier this morning.
He breathed out softly through his nose. "Alright, Lady Palutena, I'm ready..."
Now Pit focused once more on what lay past the edge. From behind, the Goddess watched his feathery wings flutter and fold right as another updraft welled from below.
"I'll be sure to let you know what I find," he called back amid the gust.
Palutena nodded. "Good luck, my brave angel."
With his feet poised on the very edge and the sacred bow clutched tight, Pit proceeded to stand high on the tips of his toes. He closed his eyes, feeling that ethereal power of flight teeming within his wings which now emitted a faint blue glow.
After another beat of silence, the moment came at last. He leaned forward, letting gravity take over.
Off from Dive Rock he descended... Faster and faster... Arms and legs spread apart... Naught but the roar of wind rushing in his ears...
Music: "Into the Canyon"
Pit reopened his eyes. True, endless sky stretched all around. Even the faint white outlines of several neighboring planets were visible amid this cerulean backdrop.
The angel's body surged with this mighty fusion of adrenaline plus focus. He also made sure to count the individual seconds as he kept free-falling, slowly but surely heading towards a particularly huge and towering column of clouds below.
Ten seconds...
Twenty seconds...
Thirty seconds...
Right after this half-minute mark, Pit knew it was time. He extended his wings and banked left until the sun shone almost directly from behind. Now he'd eased onto the correct southeast trajectory, yet it was also so he would enter straight into that first approaching cloud column.
Even still, the angel's newfound confidence couldn't overcome the sudden and unnerving nature of this entire ordeal.
How could something bad have actually happened to Midair Stadium...? Among this thought and others churning in his head, the one thing he just couldn't get past was Palutena's unusually worried demeanor; especially how she'd felt so certain that something terrible must've happened.
There was quite a ways to go before reaching the destination, though, so Pit hoped he'd have time to let any brooding preconceptions settle. At least, that was what he believed.
The first immense column of clouds floated directly ahead. A hazy little dark speck that was the angel's own shadow rose along the puffy barrier and kept growing until WHOOSH. He cut right through this misty veil with great speed and entered a realm of nothing but opaque brightness. Pit knew exactly where to go, however. He just had to keep this present bearing steady.
A couple minutes ended up passing, when a glimpse of what lie far below flashed under the dense white. It was part of the Mushroom Kingdom's rugged northwest coastline, which again gave Pit the reassurance of at least heading in the right direction. There wasn't much of a headwind either; quite the contrary, as a matter of fact. These landward gales were indeed helping greatly to carry the angel in from where his isolated home of Skyworld resided, cradled somewhere high over the open seas.
Onward he soared regardless. Before long, five whole minutes of flight had gone by. Each minute felt more like ten times its length, however, since Pit had been so transfixed with observing as much as he could every time a gap in the clouds opened up beneath him. Glimpses of vast rocky shores, marshy tundra steppes, and then snow-capped mountains residing further inland which ran almost perfectly parallel with the coastline.
Suddenly, out from the other side of this cloud bank he shot. Pit kept his head lowered at first, blinking several lengthy times to let his eyes adjust, but when he looked up again, his heart just about skipped a beat.
"... WHOAHHH-!" He actually yelled at the top of his lungs as an initial reaction. The angel's reflexes were quick, however, so he swung his entire body left to change course and avoid colliding against what massive, metallic object veered straight towards him from the opposite direction.
It was the Halberd! Pit recognized that gargantuan battleship from Dreamland almost right away with its unmistakable masked bow, bat-like wings, and towering bridge up top, yet confusion stormed through him.
Just about every thought on his mind had scattered. All he could really do was grind to a halt, levitating there unstably in mid-air whilst watching the craft continue on its course.
Over several hundred meters spanned between him and the side of the ship in reality, but it hardly made a difference, because the angel still appeared like a mere speck against its dark hull. On the other hand, it may have proven luckier that way, since the Halberd didn't seem to pay Pit any notice.
It still didn't change how one blaring question lit up his mind now: What's Meta Knight doing up HERE...?!
Uncontrollable shivers ran throughout the angel's body; not just from these higher-altitude temperatures, but more in observing all those cannons and other menacing external defenses boasted by the battleship. Truly, nothing felt right about this whatsoever, so he quickly figured to do the one thing he knew best: Tell the Goddess of Light about the situation.
"L-Lady Palutena," he called telepathically.
"... Pit?" She was quick to respond, "What's wrong? Did you find something?"
A coarse scoff left him over how best to put it. "Well... I'm over land, still on my way down... But right now, I'm watching... Meta Knight's battleship pass in front of me! I-I just about flew straight into it! You remember Meta Knight, right? That famous Star Warrior from Dreamland?"
"Meta Knight...?" Palutena fell silent, albeit briefly. "... You mean the Halberd...?"
"... Yeah, yeah that's it, the Halberd!" The angel kept eyeing that massive vessel proceed on an upward trajectory, almost exactly opposite to where he'd been descending from. Thunderous roars of its giant jet engines swelled louder and louder, to a point where Pit had to forcefully cover his ears. Those rear thrusters passed directly in front of him soon enough, and the sheer sonic forces rattled his body from head to toe.
"Ngghh...!" He groaned in agony. Waves of heat blasted against him from the flaming exhaust, even this far away. Within the confines of his own head he could barely decipher Palutena's next question either:
"Can you tell where it's going by any chance?"
This time it took Pit uncomfortably long to answer. The Halberd soared further skyward and the bellowing of its engines died back down to where the angel was at least able to uncover his ears, yet that radiating force still rumbled through his chest. Now he'd fallen busy trying to process the battleship's ascent along that suspiciously mirrored path of his own.
"... Looks like it's heading... Where I've been coming FROM..."
Palutena thought a beat. "Toward Skyworld...?"
"I-I can't tell, that's the thing." Pit tried to clarify further, "Like I said, I would've smashed into it if I hadn't been paying attention, 'cause it was flying right up from where I'm-... Wait..."
Then a realization struck him: This must mean that the Halberd had come from Midair Stadium itself! He knew he was getting fairly close now, and the way the battleship's trajectory had been, it looked way too precise to be a coincidence. No other explanation could've been possible.
Pit swallowed hard. "I think it... I think it came from the stadium...!"
"... Oh no..." The Goddess quickly saw the ominous logic as well. "Hurry, Pit. Please hurry and get there. I need to know what happened... Why the altar gave such a dire warning..."
"So do I..." The angel agreed, wasting no time in obeying. He flexed his wings and spun half-a-turn before soaring back toward his initial flight path. As he banked, though, something spurred him to glance over his shoulder one last time. He caught sight of the Halberd again; its wayward silhouette loomed up there in the sky behind him, drifting across the afternoon sun's bulging halo before finally disappearing behind an arched cloud column.
Now the brooding questions on Pit's mind were two-fold: Why would Meta Knight be traveling away from the stadium? And why would he be heading in Skyworld's direction of all places?
Over and over they repeated, until it became too much not to say anything. He took another deep albeit nervous breath.
"Wh-What if the Halberd does pass through Skyworld, Lady Palutena?"
"Don't worry about that right now," answered the Goddess.
"But... Just what IF it does?" He insisted, coming across noticeably more anxious than before.
Palutena affirmed, however, "If Meta Knight tries to fly that battleship by here in any provocative way, I'm sure we'll be able to do something. I actually might go call a general assembly for the Centurions just to be safe."
The Centurions! Palutena's Divine Army! At least this piece of info calmed Pit on the surface, such that he narrowed his eyes with determination and focused fully on his flight. Another row of thick cumulus clouds floated a ways ahead, but farther beyond them, it appeared to open up.
"Alright," replied the angel. "That sounds like a plan, Lady Palutena. Also, I think I should be able to see the stadium coming up here in a bit..."
... Meta Knight isn't serious about trying to go do something to Skyworld...? Once again, he found the cautiously optimistic side of his thoughts speaking for themselves. Even his battleship would be no match against our brave Centurions, right? They'd be able to dodge anything the Halberd shoots from its cannons!
Time for imagining such a scenario came to an end soon enough. Since departing, a total of ten minutes to the second had passed when Pit zoomed right over these next clouds. His body must have barely grazed the top, for his airspeed was enough to wisp apart a curly tendril or two. Now, a truly vast vista now lay before him.
Clear skies... Clear skies once again...
Only an ever-so-slight haze straddled the distant division of the horizon and sky, while a glance down below revealed those barren, rugged tundra landscapes of the far-northern Mushroom Kingdom. Occasional patches of clouds blanketed them from above and they practically stretched as far as the eye could see, but then... Something odd.
Something odd amidst this whole view grabbed the angel's meandering focus: A distant spot of what looked like... Darkness.
Was something caught in his eye? He blinked a few times and even tried rubbing his eyelids, thinking there might've been at first, yet nothing changed. He was surprised to see that dark spot still floating there.
"... What is-...?" Pit's mumbled words drowned out amid the winds whipping past his face. He quickly came to realize too that as he flew on, the spot appeared to grow, meaning he was getting closer. Not only that, but even from this far away he could now tell it was no little spot. It was in fact something very massive floating there in the sky.
Then he suddenly remembered as well: Shouldn't I be able to see the stadium by now...?
Squinting, the angel tried hard to deduce what this dark and ominous object actually was, until after another beat, the inevitable revelation hit him like a shot through the chest. Quite literally, Pit felt as though he'd gotten the wind knocked right out of him.
"NO...!" was all he could manage to wheeze at first. Everything else in his mind screamed denial. The sheer, bleak idea of it just couldn't be true, yet all the proof lay here before his wide eyes. This object; this strange dark sphere hovered exactly where Midair Stadium was supposed to be, only that grand and wondrous structure which Pit remembered so well was nowhere to be found.
What happened? What's this sphere? Where's the stadium?! WHERE IS ANYTHING?! These were just some of the frantic, burning questions which blasted up from a boiling torrent of confused emotions. All the angel could do for that matter was stare numbly, his mouth agape as he kept approaching that heart of darkness.
Now he got a true idea of just how humongous it was. He also gawked at the rims; how all visible light warped and distorted before cascading into nothingness. What ended up capturing Pit's attention the most, however, were those subtle yet hauntingly hypnotic color fluctuations, within the black void of the sphere itself.
Violet... Sangria... Sable... Then violet once more...
The faint shrills beckoning...
Awaken...
"NGH," he grunted, shaking everything out of his head other than a panicked urge to sound the proverbial alarm.
"Lady Palutena!" The angel shouted fearfully.
"... Pit? Are you alright?" wondered the Goddess.
"It's... It's GONE," he cried, folding his wings and slowing to another mid-air standstill. "The stadium... It's GONE!"
"... Gone?!" A befuddled Palutena came back, "Wh-What do you mean it's gone?"
Pit needed more than a few moments to gather his thoughts which were all in chaos. He'd truly never seen anything like this before.
A massive dark sphere where it seemed not even the light around it could penetrate? Was this a... Black hole of some kind? But, how would that even make any sense? The bewilderment was such that he clasped the top of his head.
"... Pit?!" The Goddess demanded, "What do you mean Midair Stadium is GONE? Answer me!"
Finally, the angel exhaled deep and began explaining, "There's nothing... Nothing but... Darkness...! Some sort of... Huge dark sphere is just floating here... Right where the stadium's supposed to be...! It's almost like... Like staring into an abyss... An endless void...!"
No reply came from Palutena at first. Utter shock had taken her too, solely in trying to contemplate what she'd just heard.
All the while, Pit hovered there in the sky with his attention locked steadfast on that spherical darkness. He dare not venture any closer, since he'd gotten near enough now where he actually had to raise or lower his gaze to see either the top rim or the bottom rim in full. A new and prevalent side-wind rippled through his tunic as well, gusting his thick yet ruffled brown hair to one side as he kept waiting anxiously.
Was the sphere also having an effect on wind patterns? Pit didn't know. Right now, he didn't even want to consider that. He just wanted nothing more than to hear something; anything by way of instructions or advice on what to do. All he kept receiving was more silence, however.
"... L-Lady Palutena?" The angel called, wondering what the Goddess could've possibly been doing to warrant this long of a wait.
At last, after what felt like another entire minute of this unbearable tension, she returned with rather stern instructions.
"Listen to me carefully, Pit. I want you to fly straight down to the surface."
Down to the surface... He contemplated, "You mean... The land right beneath here?"
"Yes," she went on, "If there are survivors from the stadium, they would've... Fallen..."
... What? FALLEN? A bewildered Pit took one glance down. Well over several kilometers lay between the soles of his sandals and the distant ground.
"Lady Palutena... H-How could ANYBODY survive this fall...?!" He couldn't help stammering, although the Goddess was likewise hesitant.
"I... I'm not sure, but please," she insisted, "I NEED you to do this. Call it my divine instincts, but there's just something telling me... Ahhh, I don't know...!"
Another strong gust of wind lapped against Pit's side. He swallowed hard and asked, "Wh-What about you? What will you do, Lady Palutena?"
"... Assemble the Centurions," the Goddess replied soundly. "You said you thought Meta Knight's battleship may have come from the stadium. Now I know you were right, and based on the direction you said he was flying... That MUST mean he plans to pass through Skyworld as well, so we have to be ready."
Pit clasped the golden bow's handle tighter than ever before. That brief little scenario he'd fantasized about the Centurions actually taking on the Halberd... Was it soon to become a reality?
An instinctive part of him even wanted to turn around right now and go back to Skyworld so he could help Palutena defend their home, but no. Pit was on this mission under her direct command, and he'd told himself it stood of arguably equal importance. Therefore, he didn't want to waste any more time.
"Ok... I'm on my way down!" The angel flipped forward, poising in a steep nosedive for gravity to take over once again.
Right as he started dropping, Palutena made sure to add, "Tell me the moment you find something!"
Up and up that gigantic sphere rose from Pit's perspective in free-fall, until he could finally concentrate on everything below. Even though he'd started some seconds late, he remembered to keep counting the time that passed.
Ten seconds...
A tiny bout of mist welled against Pit's cheeks as he clipped through the dense edge of a low-hanging cloud layer. Now the true expansiveness of the surface met his eyes: Snow-capped mountains, braided streams, rolling valleys, plus marshy tundra flatlands; all seemingly never-ending.
Twenty seconds...
Yet, the singular question which still festered over everything else his mind was whether or not he'd find anything or anyone down here. How? Just how could anyone have survived this fall? The height alone left him numb with utter doubt. Then he realized:
Thirty seconds!
Terra firma lie directly ahead. With that, "HYUGH!" The angel grunted and spread his wings out completely. Intense air resistance juddered his very insides until he'd forcefully slowed to a stop just meters above a bare, rocky hilltop.
Pit hovered there a moment, and after breathing out, he let the soft soles of his sandals finally touch down on the cold, hard surface.
Music: "Hå"
Just like that, a profound stillness rose over everything. Barely a breeze whisked through Pit's hair as he became attuned to these new surroundings: The subtle drift in the air, the icy flow of a shallow river somewhere in the vicinity, the distant squawk of a lone arctic bird, even the shakiness of his own breath.
It couldn't have been a starker contrast from all that high-speed flying and barrages of high-altitude winds rushing past him. Now, there was just this sudden stillness to grace his hyper-charged senses.
Strange... He found himself thinking, How a change in altitude offered such different perspectives on a part of this world he called home...
Unfortunately, the peaceful little moment didn't last long, because the angel quickly came to realize what all lay here before his eyes: Rubble.
Large chunks of jagged concrete and twisted metal beams were scattered amid the moss and lichen-blanketed slopes, as well as electronic remnants from what looked like ginormous display panels. Many of them even jutted up due to being lodged deep in the ground, which meant they could have only fallen from one place high above.
Pit glanced straight up. Ghostly chills shot throughout his entire body and his mouth hung open somewhat. Between a gap in the clouds, he could still see that ominous dark sphere way up there in the sky.
"M-Midair Stadium..." The single, dour conclusion finally slipped from his tongue. Then he looked to see what lay behind him. More debris littered the entire length of this hill, yet in the middle of it all, there hung a single tattered banner from a mount on one of the beams. It wasn't just any banner either, it was a smash banner.
Pit's stomach lurched even harder. A tear welled in the bottom of his eye. For some time he stood there, watching that torn and charred red tapestry flutter ever so slightly in the air's frail caress. Even the iconic black smash insignia itself came out as barely visible amid all the rips and burn marks.
At least he now knew for certain. There was no denying what'd happened.
"... Lady Palutena..." The angel uttered, "There's just a bunch of rubble down here..."
"... From the stadium?" She wondered, though deep down she must have already known.
"... Yeah," Pit answered regardless. He swallowed hard and wiped the tear away.
All of this still needed to sink in for him. The sheer notion that Midair Stadium was gone all of a sudden, with mere pieces of debris being the only remnants, proved almost too much. Plus, that mysterious sphere did nothing except raise countless more questions.
"... Um..." Palutena then asked bleakly, "Can you see any signs of... Survivors?"
Another survey across this scattered rubble revealed nothing. Pit caught no glimpse, no trace, no physical sign whatsoever of anyone who might've fallen from the stadium.
Then again, there were many other factors to consider, like those strong winds he encountered during the journey down. What if people had in fact fallen, but ended up somewhere far away from here? Where might they have landed amid this vast tundra environment?
No, no, no, it just ISN'T POSSIBLE...! The angel clasped the sides of his head. NOBODY could've survived the fall...! But, even if... Even IF they somehow did... Where would they be...?! H-How could I ever find them...?!
Now his distraught gaze drifted further up from all the rubble so he could observe more of his surroundings. Not that there was anything else worth noting upon a first glance. Perhaps the only certainty was that this desolate tundra just seemed to stretch on forever.
"... You don't see anyone, do you, Pit?" Palutena soon said, guessing all too well what this harsh silence meant.
"... No," her angel answered just the same with lips quivering. He appeared on the verge of breaking down right here and now. "I-I think there aren't any survivors, Lady Palutena..."
Hearing those words left the Goddess stunned again. She couldn't even bring herself to respond. The full implication of this grim aftermath which Pit was experiencing here in person had finally made its way to her as well.
Instead, heartbreak. Complete and total heartbreak tore inside them both.
Bead-like tears began leaking freely from the corners of Pit's eyes, rolling down his cheeks. He didn't bother wiping these away, for deep down, particular details from earlier were starting to merge into a new and chilling machination within his mind.
The voices... The voices from my dream... Those shrills from the darkness... But, Lady Palutena said she heard voices too... Voices in the altar... Voices crying out...
Then his eyes widened. He felt his knees tremble.
They can't be... They can't be RELATED somehow...?!
Pit barely held himself back from hyperventilating. What should he do? Should he try to explain that dream of his to Palutena? But what then?
Too much. It immediately became too much to fathom right now on top of everything else, yet at the same time, another sensation gradually returned to the angel's awareness as his frothing thoughts evaporated.
Soon enough it became clear. It was that same stillness residing in the air from when he'd first touched down.
That same haunting peace...
That same haunting quiet...
That same haunting calm...
There was a certain solace, however, and that's all that mattered. The solace within that subtle breeze and the river's icy trickle soothed his overwhelmed mind. A distant call of that lone arctic bird echoed again too, over the ongoing shakiness of his sobs.
Pit soon felt himself beginning to drift away. He let his eyelids close gently, wondering whether all of this could just be another one of his indelible dreams.
What if he was still asleep back in the familiar comfort of Skyworld? Would he soon wake up? Might he possibly be able to forget about everything?
No, he wouldn't. Both reality and fate had other plans...
BOOM. A sudden rumble jolted the angel right out of his wishful reverie. It sounded like an unimaginably powerful collision of some sort, reverberating deeply across the sky. Obviously the noise had originated from a far away place, but where? No way could it have been that dark sphere high above, so it must've come from somewhere around.
Pit frantically started scanning the environment. More peaks towered on the other side of a wide valley. These were much smoother and rounder, however, with one of them boasting a glacier that winded down its trough. The mountains descended through marshy flatlands to where the shores of a gigantic lake began, and then a wavy column of smoke rose further beyond in the distance.
Wait... SMOKE?! Everything in the angel's mind ground to a halt. His eyes weren't fooling him, though. On the very far side of that lake, there indeed was an unmistakable plume of dark haze rising slowly.
Something lay ablaze way over there, but much more significantly, might it be a sign of survivors?
"... Lady Palutena!" He shouted, fully focused on that plume. "I see smoke, across a huge lake!"
Hardly a moment passed before the Goddess commanded, "Go, go investigate it! If my instincts are right, then that smoke may very well be the key...!"
Pit was already back in the air by the time she'd finished. That blue glow enveloped his wings once more as he took off across the valley, soaring down over those flatlands all while passing through frequent patches of vivid sunlight. The smoke may have been his distant beacon, yet he still couldn't help but take note of everything rushing beneath him on the ground during this wayward flight.
Boulders... Streams... Moss... Lichen... Shrubs... Seems like it never ends... There's not even a single tree in sigh-... Wait, what's THAT...?!
Something very out of the ordinary caught his eye just then. There, on a large rocky clearing not far ahead, lie what looked like...
"... People...?" The angel's face flushed pale and he gasped, staring through complete shock. Sure enough, not one, not two, not three, but four figures were grouped quite close together.
"Four... Four PEOPLE...!" He blurted all of a sudden. Surprisingly, Palutena didn't quite hear what he'd said.
"... Four what?" She demanded.
"P-People," Pit then stammered in haste, "There's... There's four people lying down here!"
Without even waiting for the Goddess' word he swooped down, straight toward that wide slab of rock. More details could be made out as the angel flew nearer; especially their attire with how they were laying from left to right. Three of them donned what looked to be traditional 'warrior-esque' garb, very much unlike the fourth person who wore a simple black tank-top, green athletic shorts, along with similar shoes.
Pit also made out their hair colors: Blue... Blue... Red... Black... But, that first person's blue hair is long, while the other three's are short...?
He ended up overshooting the clearing a ways and landed hard, stumbling forward on the rough ground. After recouping himself, he hurried back over to these four bodies and was finally able to get an up-close look at them. That's also when Pit recognized who the middle two actually were.
"... Marth! Roy!" He cried aloud, dropping the sacred golden bow and falling to his knees right beside the swordsmen. No doubt he'd befriended this pair of warriors during prior years, along with the fact that he knew they were supposed to be taking part in this tournament.
Examining them both from head to toe, the angel desperately wondered if they were even alive or not. Their eyelids hung shut and their bodies lay motionless, but how could he really tell? And, who were these other two people lying on each of the swordsmen's flanks?
"... Pit?" Palutena hollered abruptly, "What's going on? Who did you find?!"
Before Pit could answer, he glanced to Marth's left and fell surprised to learn that this first person with the messy long blue hair was in fact a she. By the looks of it too, she had to be a Princess of some kind. Her formal, bluish warrior-esque attire even bore a slight resemblance to Marth's.
Could she have been a friend? Or a relative of his, possibly? All the angel knew was that he'd never seen her face before.
Then his gaze fell on her right leg. A large make-shift piece of cloth was tied tightly around her thigh, its white fabric bloodied by what must be a ghastly wound. There was something else, however; something foreboding about this fabric-turned-medical-cloth which Pit just couldn't put his finger on at first.
Its weave... Its silky look... Why does it seem so familiar...? He eyed the bloodied textile closely, until a strand of golden lining revealed itself amid the white and red.
Now he did realize why. White fabric woven with such a distinguishable craft came from one place and one place only: Skyworld. This wasn't just any piece of fabric from there either; it'd been ripped straight off of an angel's tunic.
Everything suddenly became clear for Pit, and the dots all connected through a dizzying flurry of thoughts.
The Halberd... That mysterious dark sphere... The scattered rubble... No physical sign of any survivors until now...
It all made sense why Marth, Roy, and these other two people were lying here. They fell from Midair Stadium, but had been saved by angels! It must have been a few of Skyworld's entrants who were competing in the tournament! They'd actually flown down and managed to catch these four MID-FALL! That would also explain why they lay on their backs in straightened positions!
Speaking of which, what about that fourth person? A glance to Roy's right and Pit saw an athlete; a young boxer, he figured, judging by his appropriate clothing and well-toned muscular build. This boxer had also been wounded, though. A similar strip of white tunic cloth was wrapped around the side of his head, likewise stained red from whatever cranial hit he'd suffered.
All of this solidified Pit's revelation nevertheless, because he now knew what had most likely transpired; at least regarding how these four ended up down here in the middle of absolute nowhere.
And yet, a myriad more questions still remained. What happened to those fellow angels after they'd flown back up to the stadium? Did they manage to save anyone else? If so, like Pit had wondered, where would they possibly be? He hardly had another beat to think, because Palutena's voice asked much more astutely this time:
"PIT, what is happening?! Tell me what you're doing?"
Aching to find the right words, the angel took another close look at each of the four. Suddenly, he grew stunned to notice some subtle movements on their faces! A quiver of the Princess' lips, a twitch in Marth's cheek, a shift of Roy's eyebrows, even a slight turn of the boxer's head.
"... They're alive," he uttered through his mind at last. "Lady Palutena, all four of them are still alive!"
"Who? Who's alive?!" demanded the Goddess.
Pit let out his deepest breath yet, for a most peculiar form of relief had overcome him. "The swordsmen, Marth and Roy! You remember them, right? There's a... a girl warrior here as well who must be a Princess of some kind... Sh-She even looks a little like Marth! Then the fourth person... He's gotta be a boxer!"
To this, Palutena hesitated. "... How do you know they're alive? Are any of them conscious right now?"
The angel glanced at the four again.
"Yeah, I-I mean no," he stuttered. "No, they're not conscious, but they're definitely alive! I can see it on their faces! The thing is... This Princess and the boxer are both hurt pretty badly, but get this though... Their wounds are already bound with fabric torn from the tunics of angels!"
"Mhmm... Mhmm..." The Goddess of Light was deep in thought. Plenty of other things brooded, despite the fact that she did at least recognize the names of Marth and Roy. Thus she followed with a much more serious question:
"... You know then how they survived falling from Midair stadium, yes?"
Pit swallowed hard. "S-Some of our angels there managed to save them mid-fall, before flying back up to the stadium where they... Where they were-"
"Lost..." A somber Palutena finished for him, "They were lost in whatever that darkness was, which also explains why I heard nothing from them when I called out earlier."
There it came again: The heartbreak; the empty, tearing sensation of helplessness. Pit strained to let out a sigh as he felt more tears welling in his eyes. He bitterly glanced back over his shoulder, up at the sky where that haunting sphere still hovered high above.
Yes, Midair Stadium was gone, along with some two-hundred thousand souls who had hailed from lands and worlds all across Sector N. Nothing could change or attempt to disguise that fact now.
After another beat, the Goddess announced, "The Centurions are assembling as we speak, so once they're all gathered, I'll be sure to tell them... Some of Skyworld's angels are among the fallen..."
Likewise, a cold acknowledgement through silence was all Pit managed to give in return. Frail bouts of cool breeze continued whisking against his face, even curling softly through the hair of these four unconscious survivors lying before him.
"... Pit," Palutena then instructed, "Go now and investigate that smoke."
OF COURSE! THE SMOKE! He gasped, swiftly glancing the other way to spot that blackish plume still rising far in the distance. The angel had gotten so sidetracked here, that he'd all but neglected why he was headed this direction in the first place.
Pit snatched up the sacred bow and sprung to his feet, preparing to take flight, until he realized something.
"Wait... What about these survivors, Lady Palutena?" He wondered.
"I trust your judgment that they're alive. Still, the smoke is the priority." She went on, "Since none of them are conscious right now anyway, you'll be able to come back after you've investigated."
Pit frantically looked at the hazy column, then back down at the four. "But I... I can't just leave them here like this...! I-I gotta stay and find some way to make sure they can at least-"
"PLEASE LISTEN TO ME," snapped Palutena, much to the angel's shock. "I understand your position, Pit. All of this is overwhelming to me just as it is to you. You want to make sure those four are alright, I get it, but right now... You must go find out what's causing that smoke. Something BIG is obviously burning. What if there are people over there? What if there are more survivors? Maybe there's even a chance they're still alive. That's why there's no time, now hurry!"
Pit understood. After narrowing his eyes through a steadfast determination, he spread his wings out wide. A subsequent rush of divine force propelled him up into the air, and within a few seconds, the angel was back on course. He offered one last solemn glance back at Marth, Roy, and those other two lying down there on that rocky clearing.
They'll be alright, he told himself firmly. They'll be alright until I get back...
Before long, Pit found himself soaring above broad, sandy shores next to that glacier which fed out into the gigantic shimmering lake. A rather dense fog hovered atop the waters as well from differences in air temperature, so the opposite shores weren't even visible yet. Still, that towering smoke remained his beacon, and the sheer anxiety nagged at him all the same.
Never could he have predicted though just what he was about to come across over there.
Not only what, but whom.