Chapter 48

Magic and Decay

Peach felt her feet hit solid ground and she blinked as the light around her, and Mario, faded. Where…?

She was in a dimly lit room, with torches scattered along the stone walls. Old tapestries hung between the torches, so dusty and filthy it was impossible to make out the pictures. A thin moth-eaten carmine carpet led from the main entrance to a small set of stairs on the other side. Mario, who jerked his arm out of Peach's grip, strode to the stairs and knelt before them, presenting the Star Piece. Hidden in the dark, a figure moved.

"Good work, Mario."

A single icy blue orb gazed unblinking at the puppet, then fixated on the unexpected guest. Peach caught her breath, wondering if she was spotted.

"I see we have a stowaway," the figure continued. The princess knew that voice! She heard it before…

"You're Lord Forgeron," she stated, dumbfounded.

"Indeed I am, and you must be Princess Toadstool of the pitiful Mushroom Kingdom King Bowser wants to take over."

He stood up from his throne and stepped into view. Peach clamped her hands over her open mouth, gasping, appalled, her eyes large with fear and dismay. It can't be possible…

It was difficult to comprehend what this thing was, but she figured he was humanoid, or was at one point. Despite being cloaked in a black robe, Forgeron's face and hands were visible. Gangrene plagued his body, his rotting skin stretched, with parts of his phalanges revealed. Covering his left arm was a solid frame that outlined the top of his hand, forming a steel casting around his fingers, resembling a glove with small claws. A control centre of some sort rested on the forelimb.

The machinery wasn't limited to his arm. The entire left of his skull looked as if it was dipped in silver, protecting half of his face. Occipital tubes and circuits writhed, connecting and penetrating into his shoulder and back. Within the left socket was the cold blue orb that passed for a single eye. The right side of his face was untouched by the metal. The socket was empty, with hardly any remains of a nose, and the lips had deteriorated, revealing his brittle decaying fangs.

Lord Forgeron was a disfigured and putrid corpse, his magic and machinery prolonging his life.

Peach tried not to scream at the sight of him, and concentrated on gaining her fleeting courage.

"You… You're the one being all this…" she said, her voice shaky. " I-I order you to let Mario go at once you… Monster! How DARE you turn Mario against his friends!"

"Foolish girl. Telling ME what to do?" he said in a slight mocking tone. "And he has proven to be very useful to me. Now why would I let my most valuable servant go? If I did, I'd have to kill him. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Crystalline tears swelled up in Peach's cerulean eyes. She turned to Mario, who now stood beside his master.

"Mario, please!" she wept. "Come to your senses! Don't you remember me?"

"How futile," Lord Forgeron said. "Don't bother, Princess. He's under my command, and no words can bring him back."

He's wrong, Peach thought. Mario said my name at the Sky Castle… I must reach him somehow!

Mario tilted his head, but otherwise gave no indication that he heard her.

"You won't get away with his, Forgeron!" Peach blurted abruptly. "Luigi and the others will stop you!"

"Oh, yes, that reminds me," he recalled casually. "How many Star Pieces has your little group found, hm?"

"I'm not telling you," she spat.

"Pity. I guess I'll have to force the answer out of you."

The air around him became distorted as a simple, crude, wooden staff solidified in his decaying hand. He pointed his simple wand at the defying Princess. A single red beam shot out, hitting her in the chest. At first Peach felt nothing, then a burning sensation started beneath her skin. She cried out, and dropped to the ground as her bones flared, boiling her blood vessels and scorching her insides. It spread through her body. She screamed when she saw her open wound bubble from the intense heat.

The magical attack dissipated. Giving out spasmodic breaths, she clutched her fists, still feeling the unpleasant experience lingering in her.

"Don't make me ask away. Now, how many Star Pieces have you found?"

"F-four…" she gasped. It hurt to move.

"Already? Have they all been used?"

"Yes…"

"Well, no point in idling anymore. I shall dispose of these opponents right now."

Mario grabbed a glistening Star Piece and handed it to Forgeron. The Lord nodded. With a wave of his staff, a stairway formed behind the throne seat, leading upward. Then he said something that completely devastated Peach.

"Mario, kill the Princess slowly. Make sure she suffers."

Lord Forgeron departed, Star in hand. Mario bowed then pivoted, watching Peach struggle to stand upright with his shadowy eyes. More tears rolled down Peach's cheeks.

"Mario," she whispered. "Please… Don't do this…"