Chapter 2 - The Ancient Legend
King Arbolet was surprised to see Bowser run back out of the cave in a panic. It looked as if
something scared the Koopa King almost out of his shell, and he decided to enter the cave to
investigate. What he found was a sword wielding human with a panicked look on his face.
"What the...who are you?" the human yelled.
"I could ask the same of you, human, but I think you should sheathe your weapon before we
talked. After all, it's considered bad form to threaten the king of Floren."
"Floren? But...I was expecting to see the Mushroom Kingdom! What is this place?"
"Sheathe your weapon and I'll tell you what you want to know, since you seem to be familiar
enough with that lizard king to chase him off like that. My name is King Arbolet of Floren."
The human placed his sword in its scabbard and began to calm down. "My name is Anthony Bault,"
he introduced himself to the king.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arbolet led Anthony to a small sitting room in his palace, asking him about what happened on
his side of the portal. Anthony had a lot to say...
"...and the next thing I know, I get these headaches and am shooting weird fireballs out of my
hands. Next thing you know, I find myself talking to the king of Floren, a city I'm SURE was
never in any of the games I played."
"Games?"
"Yeah. Where I'm from, that Koopa King is the main villain from a series of games where the
protector of Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, is the hero who beats him. I can't believe he's REAL!"
"Well, he is real, as are Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom you spoke of. The Mushroom Kingdom is
our neighbor to the southwest, and Mario actually helped rescue my daughter, Princess Blossa,
from Koopa's clutches before you came here."
"That's all well and good, your majesty, but how did Bowser end up in my world? Besides the
game designer deciding to break the fourth wall, that is..."
"I'm not sure what you meant by a 'fourth wall', but that power you exhibited against Koopa is
part of the explanation. You'd better get comfortable, Mr. Bault, for what I'm about to tell
you happen over a thousand years ago..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The king told the following story to Anthony...
About a thousand years ago, my ancestor, King Ralius of Floren, was a practitioner of clerical
magics. He was practicing with new types of magics which tapped the very fiber of the elements
of creation. In the middle of one of his incantations, a mysterious portal appeared in front
of him, not the same one you just passed through, but a different one. As he approached the
portal, a mysterious creature which resembled a humanoid fox came out of the portal and walked
up to him. The fox introduced himself as Magi Reynard Prower, and asked Ralius what world he
was in. The two talked about the portal that was created, and went on at great length about
our world of Gardenia and his world of Mobius. They originally thought that it was the
combination of Ralius's elemental magic and Reynard's summoning magic that created the portal,
but soon realized the portal was already there and was just opened by their magic.
They decided to see what other portals could be found and eventually found another portal which
led to a world called Hylas. This world was primarily populated by creatures called "Hylians",
and the two of them met a young warrior-turned-traveler by the name of Zorin Wayfarer. Zorin
was intrigued by the way the two had entered his world, and asked to join them on their quest,
even telling them about many of the legends of his world. With the help of another portal,
they found a version of your planet Earth that was parallel in many ways. It was here that
they met with Adaman, an artificially constructed being, or "golem" as his world called him,
that was forged of iron and who was created by his master in an attempt to learn the secrets of
life. His master actually let Adaman choose his own path and was not held to any form of bond
that forced Adaman to stay, so Adaman, like Zorin, became a traveler wanting to travel the
world.
The four of them decided to travel each other's worlds to learn more about each others
histories. They became known as "the Companions". The Companions found portals using their
newly found talents which interconnected the four worlds to each other, allowing for easier
travel between the worlds.
Eventually, they decided to see what other worlds existed, and found another portal which led
to your world. They met a knight of what was called the "British Isles" who actually hailed
from a place called "Scandinavia". His name was Sir Eric of the Larson Clan, and he gave his
title as Master of the Games having won a jousting tournament prior to meeting the Companions.
He was frightened of the Companions at first, he originally thought Reynard was cursed and
Zorin was one of the "fey folk", whatever that meant. Eventually, they told him of their
coming here and of the portals that allowed them to travel from world to world. Sir Eric then
asked to see these worlds we spoke of, and he became the fifth Companion. Even his king
reluctantly let him travel with them to see these new worlds.
The portals allowed them to see more of his world, even places that have not been visited yet
by sailors of his world like the continent across the great ocean. Yes, Anthony, that portal
was one of them. They also made an odd discovery about his world's race. Reynard and Ralius
noticed a strange energy that seemed to exist within the minds of all the humans. It wasn't
magic, yet it had the same potential as magic, and Sir Eric seemed to have a great deal of this
power within him. Sir Eric, curious by their discovery, asked if they knew how to unlock this
power. The incantation they spoke seemed to free Sir Eric's mind, and he was able to use
powers they had never seen before and which radiated no magical energy. They called these
powers "psionics".
With Sir Eric's psionics, they found ways new ways to create temporary portals that allowed
swift travel to places they had already visited. They even traveled to Sir Eric's homeland to
visit his wife and children, and to tell his countrymen of his tales.
One day, as they continued their journey through his Earth, they were stopped by a strange
individual. The Companions were all surprised by what he told them, that he had sensed the
portals and the powers within the Companions to find them, and that their actions have caught
the attention of a warlike race called the Tessaran who wanted to exploit the powers. He
introduced himself simply as "the Traveler" and gave the Companions each a strange, star shaped
medallion. The Traveler said the medallions would allow them to focus their energies and bind
them with power of their ancestries, called the Descendancy Power, in order to help combat the
Tessaran.
When the Tessaran faced them, the Companions were amazed at the power provided by the
Descendancy Powers. They found themselves using powers they did not know they originally had,
and were able to defeat the Tessaran at every encounter.
Suddenly, in a feat of great magic and desperation, the Tessaran summoned an avatar of their
war god, Trathalga, to finish them off. The Companions were hard pressed to face this
monstrosity, after all it had the power of a god. Then Sir Eric made the supreme sacrifice.
He gathered as much of his psionic energy as he could and focused the energy in a single blast,
which decimated the avatar. The Tessaran ran off afraid and the Companions had won, but at a
terrible price. Sir Eric perished as a result of the blast, which was called "the Final
Power", because he had drawn extra energy from his very life force in order to supply the
blast.
The Traveler returned to the remaining Companions. They had lost the will to travel after the
loss of their friend, so the Traveler made a special pact. He took Sir Eric's Descendancy
medallion and made it disappear. He suggested that the remaining individuals carry the legend
of their friend to their worlds, saying that, when the time is right, one of Sir Eric's
descendants will seek their worlds out and rejoin them in peace, a vision he said he had
foreseen. They did, and decided to call the united worlds to come "Arcadia", which in old
Hylian meant "paradise".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The king finished his story. "Those portals have been dormant for over a thousand years, that
is until my two children decided to open the portal to get rid of King Koopa. I originally
told them it was a banishment portal so they would be too scared to go near it.
Unfortunately..."
"Unfortunately," Anthony finished the king's sentence, "they saw it as an opportunity to help
your world of Gardenia. Now we have an open portal between our two worlds, and a lot of
problems to go with it."
"Yes. I wished that a descendant of Sir Eric would have opened one of the portals first..."
"Perhaps one did!"
The king looked surprised. "I...I beg your pardon?"
Anthony continued. "You mentioned the knight was called 'Sir Eric of the LARSON Clan',
correct?"
"Yes."
"Well...many old Earth clans are equivalent to families, with all the members being related in
one way or another to each other. As such, anyone today who has the last name Larson could be
a direct descendant of one of the members of that clan. In fact, I was named after my great
grandfather Anton Larson, and am of Scandinavian lineage."
The king looked at Anthony, almost with a look of hope on his face. "Which means...that would
explain your use of psionics! It could stem from being Sir Eric's descendant!"
"Whoa, hold it your majesty! My home state of Minnesota has about 1 Larson for every 10 people
in it! My being the guy you are looking for could be a longshot at best!"
"But...you just said..."
"I said, PERHAPS one of Sir Eric's blood...I didn't automatically say I was one! In fact, I
don't even know how I'll be able to tell, my family history doesn't go that far back!"
"There is one way. Would you be willing to have your psionic power unlocked?"
Anthony looked concerned. He knew that he had episodes of what were thought to be psychic
ability, but to actually have the real powers might be too much...
"Don't worry, Anthony. The incantation used will not harm you. We made sure it remained fresh
in our memories in case this day came. Come, I'll show you where we can unlock your
ability..."
King Arbolet was surprised to see Bowser run back out of the cave in a panic. It looked as if
something scared the Koopa King almost out of his shell, and he decided to enter the cave to
investigate. What he found was a sword wielding human with a panicked look on his face.
"What the...who are you?" the human yelled.
"I could ask the same of you, human, but I think you should sheathe your weapon before we
talked. After all, it's considered bad form to threaten the king of Floren."
"Floren? But...I was expecting to see the Mushroom Kingdom! What is this place?"
"Sheathe your weapon and I'll tell you what you want to know, since you seem to be familiar
enough with that lizard king to chase him off like that. My name is King Arbolet of Floren."
The human placed his sword in its scabbard and began to calm down. "My name is Anthony Bault,"
he introduced himself to the king.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arbolet led Anthony to a small sitting room in his palace, asking him about what happened on
his side of the portal. Anthony had a lot to say...
"...and the next thing I know, I get these headaches and am shooting weird fireballs out of my
hands. Next thing you know, I find myself talking to the king of Floren, a city I'm SURE was
never in any of the games I played."
"Games?"
"Yeah. Where I'm from, that Koopa King is the main villain from a series of games where the
protector of Mushroom Kingdom, Mario, is the hero who beats him. I can't believe he's REAL!"
"Well, he is real, as are Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom you spoke of. The Mushroom Kingdom is
our neighbor to the southwest, and Mario actually helped rescue my daughter, Princess Blossa,
from Koopa's clutches before you came here."
"That's all well and good, your majesty, but how did Bowser end up in my world? Besides the
game designer deciding to break the fourth wall, that is..."
"I'm not sure what you meant by a 'fourth wall', but that power you exhibited against Koopa is
part of the explanation. You'd better get comfortable, Mr. Bault, for what I'm about to tell
you happen over a thousand years ago..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The king told the following story to Anthony...
About a thousand years ago, my ancestor, King Ralius of Floren, was a practitioner of clerical
magics. He was practicing with new types of magics which tapped the very fiber of the elements
of creation. In the middle of one of his incantations, a mysterious portal appeared in front
of him, not the same one you just passed through, but a different one. As he approached the
portal, a mysterious creature which resembled a humanoid fox came out of the portal and walked
up to him. The fox introduced himself as Magi Reynard Prower, and asked Ralius what world he
was in. The two talked about the portal that was created, and went on at great length about
our world of Gardenia and his world of Mobius. They originally thought that it was the
combination of Ralius's elemental magic and Reynard's summoning magic that created the portal,
but soon realized the portal was already there and was just opened by their magic.
They decided to see what other portals could be found and eventually found another portal which
led to a world called Hylas. This world was primarily populated by creatures called "Hylians",
and the two of them met a young warrior-turned-traveler by the name of Zorin Wayfarer. Zorin
was intrigued by the way the two had entered his world, and asked to join them on their quest,
even telling them about many of the legends of his world. With the help of another portal,
they found a version of your planet Earth that was parallel in many ways. It was here that
they met with Adaman, an artificially constructed being, or "golem" as his world called him,
that was forged of iron and who was created by his master in an attempt to learn the secrets of
life. His master actually let Adaman choose his own path and was not held to any form of bond
that forced Adaman to stay, so Adaman, like Zorin, became a traveler wanting to travel the
world.
The four of them decided to travel each other's worlds to learn more about each others
histories. They became known as "the Companions". The Companions found portals using their
newly found talents which interconnected the four worlds to each other, allowing for easier
travel between the worlds.
Eventually, they decided to see what other worlds existed, and found another portal which led
to your world. They met a knight of what was called the "British Isles" who actually hailed
from a place called "Scandinavia". His name was Sir Eric of the Larson Clan, and he gave his
title as Master of the Games having won a jousting tournament prior to meeting the Companions.
He was frightened of the Companions at first, he originally thought Reynard was cursed and
Zorin was one of the "fey folk", whatever that meant. Eventually, they told him of their
coming here and of the portals that allowed them to travel from world to world. Sir Eric then
asked to see these worlds we spoke of, and he became the fifth Companion. Even his king
reluctantly let him travel with them to see these new worlds.
The portals allowed them to see more of his world, even places that have not been visited yet
by sailors of his world like the continent across the great ocean. Yes, Anthony, that portal
was one of them. They also made an odd discovery about his world's race. Reynard and Ralius
noticed a strange energy that seemed to exist within the minds of all the humans. It wasn't
magic, yet it had the same potential as magic, and Sir Eric seemed to have a great deal of this
power within him. Sir Eric, curious by their discovery, asked if they knew how to unlock this
power. The incantation they spoke seemed to free Sir Eric's mind, and he was able to use
powers they had never seen before and which radiated no magical energy. They called these
powers "psionics".
With Sir Eric's psionics, they found ways new ways to create temporary portals that allowed
swift travel to places they had already visited. They even traveled to Sir Eric's homeland to
visit his wife and children, and to tell his countrymen of his tales.
One day, as they continued their journey through his Earth, they were stopped by a strange
individual. The Companions were all surprised by what he told them, that he had sensed the
portals and the powers within the Companions to find them, and that their actions have caught
the attention of a warlike race called the Tessaran who wanted to exploit the powers. He
introduced himself simply as "the Traveler" and gave the Companions each a strange, star shaped
medallion. The Traveler said the medallions would allow them to focus their energies and bind
them with power of their ancestries, called the Descendancy Power, in order to help combat the
Tessaran.
When the Tessaran faced them, the Companions were amazed at the power provided by the
Descendancy Powers. They found themselves using powers they did not know they originally had,
and were able to defeat the Tessaran at every encounter.
Suddenly, in a feat of great magic and desperation, the Tessaran summoned an avatar of their
war god, Trathalga, to finish them off. The Companions were hard pressed to face this
monstrosity, after all it had the power of a god. Then Sir Eric made the supreme sacrifice.
He gathered as much of his psionic energy as he could and focused the energy in a single blast,
which decimated the avatar. The Tessaran ran off afraid and the Companions had won, but at a
terrible price. Sir Eric perished as a result of the blast, which was called "the Final
Power", because he had drawn extra energy from his very life force in order to supply the
blast.
The Traveler returned to the remaining Companions. They had lost the will to travel after the
loss of their friend, so the Traveler made a special pact. He took Sir Eric's Descendancy
medallion and made it disappear. He suggested that the remaining individuals carry the legend
of their friend to their worlds, saying that, when the time is right, one of Sir Eric's
descendants will seek their worlds out and rejoin them in peace, a vision he said he had
foreseen. They did, and decided to call the united worlds to come "Arcadia", which in old
Hylian meant "paradise".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The king finished his story. "Those portals have been dormant for over a thousand years, that
is until my two children decided to open the portal to get rid of King Koopa. I originally
told them it was a banishment portal so they would be too scared to go near it.
Unfortunately..."
"Unfortunately," Anthony finished the king's sentence, "they saw it as an opportunity to help
your world of Gardenia. Now we have an open portal between our two worlds, and a lot of
problems to go with it."
"Yes. I wished that a descendant of Sir Eric would have opened one of the portals first..."
"Perhaps one did!"
The king looked surprised. "I...I beg your pardon?"
Anthony continued. "You mentioned the knight was called 'Sir Eric of the LARSON Clan',
correct?"
"Yes."
"Well...many old Earth clans are equivalent to families, with all the members being related in
one way or another to each other. As such, anyone today who has the last name Larson could be
a direct descendant of one of the members of that clan. In fact, I was named after my great
grandfather Anton Larson, and am of Scandinavian lineage."
The king looked at Anthony, almost with a look of hope on his face. "Which means...that would
explain your use of psionics! It could stem from being Sir Eric's descendant!"
"Whoa, hold it your majesty! My home state of Minnesota has about 1 Larson for every 10 people
in it! My being the guy you are looking for could be a longshot at best!"
"But...you just said..."
"I said, PERHAPS one of Sir Eric's blood...I didn't automatically say I was one! In fact, I
don't even know how I'll be able to tell, my family history doesn't go that far back!"
"There is one way. Would you be willing to have your psionic power unlocked?"
Anthony looked concerned. He knew that he had episodes of what were thought to be psychic
ability, but to actually have the real powers might be too much...
"Don't worry, Anthony. The incantation used will not harm you. We made sure it remained fresh
in our memories in case this day came. Come, I'll show you where we can unlock your
ability..."