"Ack!"

Unlike some of the previously gentle awakenings that Elodie had been gifted, when she reappeared to the mortal world on this occasion, she was rather unceremoniously spat out onto the ground. Said ground was made of cold, unfriendly metal—coupled with the fact that she felt as though she had been sprinting for a lifetime, she was most uncomfortable.

Someone reached out a hand to assist her: of course it was Mario, who was wearing the fullest smile that Elodie had yet seen from him.

She reached out and took it, remembering that she was no longer transparent. Although his hand was covered by a white glove, Elodie could still feel warmth emanating from his being as she placed her palm in his and was assisted in standing once again.

Before she could even say hello, he withdrew the last of the seven Crystal Stars from his knapsack and said, "We've found them. All seven of them."

Whatever lingering pain or exhaustion Elodie had felt from her vision melted away. A hapless grin slowly took over her face; instead of speaking, she rushed forward and enveloped Mario in a tight embrace.

Mario did not seem to be expecting the gesture—he tensed for a moment before returning this embrace, his hands lightly placed upon her back.

Elodie's smile deepened at this response. She had not had the blessing of a simple hug for over one thousand years… not since her little Tobias had been stripped away from her. Her action may have been hasty and unexpected, but she was grateful for the way he had reacted to it. Such comfort, the closeness and security of another person—a friend—was something everyone should have.

They stayed this way for only one precious moment before Elodie peeled herself away. She refused to let color well in her cheeks; instead, she placed her hands upon his shoulders and finally said, "That's good, Mario. Very good."

For the first time since her arrival, Elodie glanced around their surroundings. As she had expected, all seven of Mario's travel companions were arrayed. She went through their names again: Goombella, Koops, Madam Flurrie, Yoshi, Vivian, Admiral Bobbery, Miss Mowz.

Then she looked around the room they were in. It seemed almost like an arena, one made of metal. It was cold—it was strange, that Elodie was able to feel cold again—and devoid of decoration. The only thing within the room were the fragmented remains of some kind of device, and a large window that spanned the farthest wall of the room.

Elodie's mouth dropped open as she noted the window. One hesitant step was made towards it… then another.

Outside was an utterly black sky bedecked with flecks of white: the stars. She recognized them immediately—how many times had she stargazed with her dear daughter in life?

"Mario… where are we? Are we… but we can't be… it's impossible…"

"Yes. We're in space."

The words were spoken as if they had been stuck behind a velvet curtain, the roaring in Elodie's ears was so intense. She continued staring at the stars outside—even as she watched, a comet raced by, its white tail leaving behind a thin ribbon. Upon glancing down, she saw that whatever this building had been, it simply must've been built upon some sort of asteroid, or… maybe even the moon.

"This… is incredible," she gasped. Her right palm reached out and was placed against the smooth glass. "How my girl would've loved to see this…"

"You mentioned you had a son before," remarked Madam Flurrie. While her voice was normally soothing, it was also soft as she added, "Did you… have a daughter as well?"

Elodie swallowed and turned back to face the adventurers whom she had gotten to know so well. "I did. Her name was Rosalina. She went missing one day, after Arthur and the others had died. I… still do not know what happened to her."

An eerie silence settled over the ground; there was simply nothing to say to such an admission.

"I can only hope she lived a life of peace and joy. But I cannot dwell on it now; the seven Crystal Stars are now in your hands, and it is imperative that you return to the Thousand-Year Door straightaway."

"There's a question I need answered first," declared Mario, his blue eyes blazing.

She stopped, restraining a light frown. "What is that?"

"This was the X-Naut base of operations. Peach was captured by them, but she does not seem to be here. I need to find out where she went, if she was taken somewhere else."

Elodie inhaled deeply; in truth, she had forgotten about the princess who had started it all, the one who had opened her jewelry box and retrieved the Magical Map. Her mind had been occupied with the demon that she had faced: the last vestige keeping her chained to this world, keeping her spirit apart from Arthur and the others.

Her champion began to turn around, likely with the intention of searching for the woman he cared so deeply about—

"Wait, Mario!"

He glanced back to Elodie over his shoulder.

She had reached out one hand in a futile gesture to prevent him from leaving; seeing that she had gathered his attention again, Elodie bit the inside of her lip and said, "Even with the power of all seven Crystal Stars at your disposal, my strength is not fully returned to me. I must tell you of the demon's powers before you leave to discover where Princess Peach is located. There is no telling how much time I will have with you until you bring the gemstones to the Thousand-Year Door."

Mario glanced between his guide and the doorway, apparently torn between what he wished to do, and what he knew needed to be done. The rest of his companions waited patiently for his decision.

After a long and painful moment of thought, he turned around. His footsteps echoed across the empty room, and then he was standing before Elodie once again, sighing in defeat. "You're right. They've kept her alive this long. They won't hurt her now. Tell me, then."

"I may be able to do even better than that… I might be able to show you."

Her eight champions exchanged startled looks at her words; their surprise charmed her, and caused her to laugh and add, "I have some of my power restored, at the least. But in order for this to work… you will have to grasp one another like so."

With this last, Elodie reached out for those nearest to her: Yoshi and Admiral Bobbery. She took hold of them, upon the inside of forearms. Her grasp was not tight, but it was resolute.

The others formed a hesitant circle and began mirroring this gesture, shooting one another skeptical looks.

Once they were interconnected, Elodie took a deep breath and murmured her appropriate incantation. A single ray of white began lacing between the bodies of each person; what uncertainty had been in the adventurers turned to shock as they watched the thin tendril of magic spread across each person, adorning their skin as a harmless thread.

"This may exhaust my time here with you," said Elodie, looking directly across to where Mario was standing. "But with luck, it shall give you all the information that you need."

Before anyone could reply, she closed her eyes and began focusing on the memories of the Great Battle that she and her loved ones had fought in the Palace of Shadow.

It was a fight of great focus and destruction, one that tested the Heroes' willpower just as much as their physical strength. She remembered it well, even now: the grounds had been quaking, her friends shouting orders and information to one another. Eerie lights had fallen over the field from the Crystal Stars, many of which were stretched to their limit.

The Shadow Queen was standing ahead of them, her three servants by her side. It was Ingrid who felled Marilyn, melding with the shadows to strike at the shade in the spot it was weakest. With her out of the way, Serene was free to shield the party from the charms of Vivian—Matthias roared and swept forth with his great-sword, cleaving into the sorceress with ease. This left Arthur free to decimate Beldam where she stood alone, for the eldest of the Shadow Sirens was not much of a threat by herself.

In any other situation, this would've been a tremendous victory: the Shadow Queen now stood alone, her most loyal servants disappeared. But this was already the third time they had been defeated, and Elodie knew that before another five minutes had passed, the power of the Crystal Stars would bring them back to their eternal un-life, and they would be forced to cut them down again.

Elodie was inspecting the Shadow Queen as closely as she could, searching for an opening. She well-recalled Ingrid's plan, for her to scout for a slip of weakness and seize her moment—

"Any luck, Elodie?" shouted Matthias. He used the pommel of his weapon to knock away a figment of shadow before following up with another great swing. As ever, his reach and balance were true, and the summoned demon shrieked as it was expelled back into the abyss.

Her silver eyes flickered over the Crystal Stars. One of them, the Diamond Star, seemed like it was close to sputtering out, the power it was exerting was so intense…

"Maybe!" she called back, but she could say no more. The demon had heard her voice, found her face—with a shriek reminiscent to that of a dying animal, it lunged sharp claws towards her eyes.

Elodie raised her hands and conjured a shield of white light; the demon hissed and faltered just enough for her to escape its grasp. With her silver longsword in hand, she sliced through the black appendage, severing it from its arm.

The demon roared; clouds of black swirled around the place where it had just been maimed. Within the next minute, its hand would be back… there was not enough time to strike any true damage to their foe, not with the Crystal Stars and the imminent reappearance of the Shadow Sirens still in the air…

The Diamond Star ceased spinning. The demon was reaching out to it—

"Now!" screamed Elodie.

Serene was the first to react. Her hand extended, she caused a number of perfect replicas of the Diamond Star to appear across the chamber. The real one was hidden amongst them, and only she knew where it lay. She began sprinting, but she was intercepted by the demon.

"You will have to try harder than that," it sneered, dark teeth bared.

Instead of replying to its goad, Serene glanced over her shoulder towards her friends. "Arthur, two degrees to your south-west!"

Arthur nodded—he dropped his sword and shield and barreled directly to the gemstone that Serene had shouted out; the moment his fingers touched it, the remainder of the illusions faded away, revealing that he held the one true Diamond Star in his hand.

The demon scoffed, perhaps attempting to be dismissive. "It matters not. I still have six of my gemstones remaining! What is one against six?"

At that moment, Ingrid reappeared from within the shadows. Her daggers and her longbow were all sheathed: her hand was clasped around the Emerald Star. Grinning maliciously, she exclaimed, "Two against five."

Elodie had not been idle, either. Upon seeing that the wretched creature was distracted by her allies, she had raced towards the closest Crystal Star to her person and obtained it. The moment her fingers touched its surface, a well of power flooded her heart and being: it was dangerously intoxicating, this feeling of strength. For a fleeting second in time, she could understand how her mother had become so drunk off of such a base sense of power.

"Three against four," she declared.

There was a flash of panic within the demon's eyes—it whirled around to locate Matthias, apparently realizing that he too was likely to begin grabbing one of her precious tools—

But she had been wrong. With her guard lowered, Matthias released a bellow of rage, frustration, and determination; his great-sword cracked into her chest. Had she been corporeal, such a blow would've splintered bones.

As it was, the demon's power was beginning to weaken. It gasped.

So did the Heroes. This was the first semblance of pain that it had emitted since they had begun the battle hours before. The place where the Shadow Sirens had fallen was churning, bubbling… but they did not respawn.

Ingrid's plan was working.

Desperate to keep the demon on the defensive, Arthur joined the fray, assisting his friend. As Elodie utilized her elemental spells and healing to support them, Serene and Ingrid did what they could to maneuver past the long-range attacks that the demon was directing towards them. Although she was desperate to keep track of their progress, Elodie knew that to be distracted was to invite an ambush, and so kept her eyes upon her frontline warriors.

The Crystal Star within her hands grew warmer and warmer as the seconds passed. It was like it was beginning to recognize her as its wielder: her spells became more powerful, and Elodie's strength did not seem to wane while it was in her possession.

By this point, Matthias's and Arthur's attacks were dealing genuine hurt to the demon. They were encouraged by her shrieks of rage, of the demonic curses uttered from her tongue. The two men were indomitable; they relied on each other as brothers of war would, committing themselves as fully to the other's protection as they did their own offenses.

"There!" exclaimed Ingrid's voice, directly beside Elodie.

She gasped at her friend's closeness, which only prompted Ingrid to smirk slightly. Being offered to her were the Emerald Star, the Crystal Star, and the Sapphire Star, all of which were still sparkling brightly—they were thrust into Elodie's palms before she could even speak.

"Cast the banishment spell now!" exclaimed Ingrid. "Who knows what else the witch may be hiding?"

Elodie nodded and took the jewels. Serene arrived and provided her with the remaining three—now all seven were given to her. For the first time since the battle had begun, the Five Heroes truly had the upper-hand.

With a breath of a whisper, Elodie set the seven stars to floating next to her. They began spinning again, this time with an energy that brought hope to the heart and soul rather than dread. Upon noting that they were back to their full potential, she pointed a single finger towards the demon, who hovered beaten and battered, ahead of them.

"Thine evil is great, o demon, thus let our voices declare; your power will shatter, your soul shall tear. The world stands against you, united as one; be gone, be forgotten, be utterly undone."

Another light emerged from the Crystal Stars, dancing upon the hallowed windowpanes of the Palace of Shadow. There was a low humming emitting from each of them as they spun and twirled in place; just as they were about to fulfill the olden enchantment's purpose, there was a screech of unrestrained fury.

It was the demon; she was stretching out towards Arthur and Matthias, who had committed the ultimate sin in battle. They had let themselves get distracted.

Elodie inhaled sharply, forgetting everything that was not the longsword in her hand. Her feet flew across the cobblestone, propelling her forward: with a scream desperate enough to rival her mother's, she swung at its face with as much force as she could muster.

CRACK

The demon's face shattered as a looking-glass would have, had a brick been thrown into it. Pieces of it began to clatter to the ground, breaking into fine dust and powder upon colliding with the stone.

Deafening silence took over the cavern.

"Is… that it, then?" asked Ingrid's voice, timid but hopeful.

Elodie glanced among her friends. Her spell must have taken effect, based on the way their shine had dimmed and was no longer so poignant. They still spun, adamant, where they had hovered in the air… but it was clear much of their power had been drained.

"I think… we might have—"

Matthias could speak no further. There was a fierce rumbling that nearly threw all five of them off their feet; it shook the entire cavern, perhaps the whole of the underground labyrinth within which they had ventured. A wisp of midnight black began to rise from where the demon's body had fallen. In the midst of the cloud were two crimson pinpricks—

"Out!" screamed Arthur. He seized Matthias's arm and began to run as pieces of rubble began to fall from the ceiling, hitting the place where he'd just stood.

The others followed his lead. Elodie, Serene, and Ingrid scooped up the Crystal Stars before sprinting forward, dividing them between the five of them as quickly as possible, a desperate ploy for protection.

"Go! Quickly!" bellowed Matthias, and none of the remaining four waited to obey.

Arthur seized Elodie's hand—Elodie grabbed Ingrid's, and with the five heroes all connected, they bolted from the inner sanctum of the Palace of Shadow.

As soon as the memory had resurfaced, it was over—Elodie severed the connection with the remaining eight members and staggered backwards with a gasp.

All was silent for a quick moment in the cool metal hall. The others were still processing what they had seen, attempting to make use of it: this was not surprising. It was an intense memory, one that would take time to fully comprehend.

Everyone's breath was heavy, as though they too had been fighting alongside the Five Heroes those many long years ago. Glances were tossed around: inspired, impressed, uncertain. But no one seemed to have anything to say.

It was Mario who broke the silence, realizing that someone needed to do so. "It seems that many of your talents will be useful in the upcoming battle."

The others turned to him as they would a respected leader: a trusted friend.

"There are ways to utilize your spells, knowledge, stealth, and strength. If we can think of ways to optimize each of these fields… with Elodie's help, we may be able to banish its spirit as those Heroes once did its body."

Admiral Bobbery reached out to clap a hand upon Mario's shoulder; Yoshi and Goombella each awarded him a resolute nod. The others were lost in thought, but even though they faced their greatest challenge still, none of them seemed to shy away from the responsibility.

Elodie was proud of them.

"I once told my friends that we would have to trust in the heroes of the future, if the Shadow Queen were ever to be defeated," she murmured. Her silver eyes fell upon each face ahead of her, one by one. "I am glad to see that my words had some merit. No… more than some. You are as strong as we once were, if not stronger still."

Now they were smiling, apparently honored or flabbergasted to be hearkened to the heroes of old.

But there was a familiar pinch in between her ribs that signaled her time was up. She sucked in a breath, gaining the others' attention—

"Thank you, Elodie," said Mario. He tipped his red hat towards her. "We'll figure out where Peach was taken in the meanwhile. We'll see you by the Thousand-Year Door."

Elodie's smile was thin, but still full of meaning as she replied, "Of course, my champion. I will see you there: and together, we will finish this once and for all."

Her body began fading before their eyes; Koops and Yoshi waved a hesitant farewell as she began to drift away. Elodie was only just able to manage returning the gesture before her eyes closed, and for perhaps the last time during the adventure, was forced back to dreams.