Chapter 14: Tranquility in the Sky
I didn't waste anytime once I got onto Nimbus Land. The citizens had all been turned back to normal, and as they moved their heads around I added to their confusion by rushing right past them towards the palace. Two guards rose their spears at me, but I yelled to them, "I'm the Elemental Overlord, I'm here to return Prince Mallow to his home!" They widened their eyes as if they had seen a ghost, but got the point and lowered their defensive stance before I dashed past them. The retainers and workers inside the palace paid me little head as I ran through the corridors towards the main throne room where I suspected the King and Queen were.
Mallow stayed asleep in my arms, and I looked down briefly to confirm that my hurried movements weren't upsetting him in any way. I reached the far end of the palace in the span of a minute, exhausting my air supply the moment I use my shoulder to burst through the doors to the throne room. Immediately after entering I stop myself and begin panting heavily, not exactly putting on a good impression for the King and Queen, who stood atop a stairway staring down at me as if a maniac had broken in. But after a few moments they noticed Mallow in my arms and widened their eyes in fear and shock. "S-Son?!" The King blurts out in surprise.
I try and keep myself together, breathing in and out in hopes that my speech will be coherent. "Pardon…My intrusion…But I came…To bring your son back…Gracious rulers of…Nimbus Land…" I stopped myself before I ended up collapsing on top of Mallow on the floor, but I could tell just by looking that the King and Queen were obviously more concerned with their son's well being instead of the details behind my arrival and why he ended up like this. The King, with his puffy blue and purple striped outfit, royal crown and groomed brown mustache, rushed to the bottom of the staircase and took Mallow from my arms, running to a door at the left side of the room and pushing it aside with a kick from his foot.
I could hearing the wood slamming against the wall on the other side, and blinked my eyes tightly once in response. The King shut the door and went on his way, leaving the Queen, who was wearing an exquisite leaf-green and pink gown and a nun-like drape on the back of her head, alone in the room with my tired self. I fell to my knees, at the very least glad that I got Mallow back safe and sound. The Queen stared at me with curiosity, as if there was something about me that was familiar to him. During my previous trip to the planet, I never met Mallow's parents, so I don't know where the familiarity could possibly be coming from.
"I thank you for bringing our son back young stranger, but seeing as you barged in here unannounced I am going to have to ask that you stick around and answer a few questions before you depart." It was a kind-hearted request, and one I was planning to fulfill before it was ever even asked. For now though, I just stayed on my knees and took in steady breaths to calm my heartbeat and get the flow of oxygen in my body back to normal levels. Never mind the fact that my stomach was growling out of hunger, but I didn't have to worry about that as much considering it wasn't an immediate threat to my life.
So eventually the King returned to the throne room, happily telling his wife the good news about their son's well being. I cracked a smile at that point, my stamina returned to normal and allowing me to get back on my feet in a matter of seconds. After addressing the two figures or royalty with politeness, they turned to me. I began explaining the details nearly in full, the only things I neglected to mention being the Chronicler, as usual, and the things Mallow's "Shadow" had said to me. The second thing I'd bring up later in a subtle way so they wouldn't find out that it was their son who, deep down, held a bit of resentment towards them.
"So you are the Elemental Overlord? But that's odd, we attended your fun-" The Queen swiftly elbowed the King in the gut, causing him to cough in recoil before he looked to his wife in wonder as to why she did that, which is an expression I also share, but on a much lighter level. The Queen goes "Ahem", and the King gets the message and nervously continues his sentence with "Fuuuunnel cake party! Yes, that's right, we attended a funnel cake party with Mario and the others about a year ago to commemorate the day you became the Elemental Overlord, and I thought it was odd that you are here because Mario mentioned that you returned to Earth. That explains everything, yes…" Admittedly, his rushed dialogue garnered some suspicion from me, but I chose to ignore it for the time being.
"I can't believe we were turned into a noxious gas though…" The King says with his arms folded in front of his body. "I mean, that really stinks, hehe…" His forced attempt at a pun is met with a groan and a face palm from both me and the Queen. "Dear, now is really not the time…" She says with a tone of disappointment. "Well I was just trying to lighten the mood." The King replied, voicing his good intentions even if his wife doesn't fully agree with them. "Anyways." He coughs again and turns back to me to try and focus once more on the current subject. "Pray tell, are you certain that we are safe now, young Overlord?"
"You should be…" I gave an honest reply, but then ended up shedding doubt on it as I raising my right hand to my chin and began humming to myself in deep thought. "Actually, I guess that's not really true…" I spoke slowly, and after the King and Queen looked at each other the Queen said to me "What's wrong?" "Well the thing is, no one, not even myself, is safe from Mr. Reality's powers." "That…That appears to be the case, doesn't it?" The King says, actually being serious in his words as he hangs his head low and lets out a nervous, half-hearted sigh. "So how exactly can you stop him? Is there anything we can do to help?'
The Queen stays strong in the face of this grim scenario, kindly offering her services to me under the belief that there is something that they can do to stop a reality warper. "I wish there was." I say honestly with one arm raised beside me and my eyelids closed above my straight expression. "All I know right now is that he wants me to play his game, which means my immediate goal is to restore the other four temples and save everyone trapped under the 'Midnight Channel's' influence." "Well, I once again want to thank you for saving our son." The King says with the utmost gratitude, which I nervously return with a grin and a "Heh…Not a problem."
My nervousness came from the fact that I was being complimented by a figure of royalty, which is something the likes of which I never felt before. There was a feeling of satisfaction derived from my kind deed and the praise that came from it, and I if I must say, I really liked it. "We were going to ask you to join us in having a royal feast, but I suppose you are going to want to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom, correct?" The Queen's offer sounded rather good, and considering how hungry I was I really should've accepted it. But alas, I am a reasonable man, and I wasn't about to be persuaded by my stomach to think otherwise.
"Yeah, I really should, so I can update Luigi and Driad on the situation too. Besides, it just wouldn't feel right, eating a feast with you guys while your son lies in bed." I held my right arm adjacent with my stomach, saying to them with a tone of compassion, "I'll leave you guys be so you can keep an eye on Mallow in case something happens to him, and you can get him fed and comfort him after he wakes up. That's what parents do after all." My last sentence came from my understanding of the parent-child relationship due to how my own mom and dad treated me before they died, and I could tell that the King and Queen agreed with what I had said.
"That we shall do…" The King said in a thankful, regal tone. "Have a pleasant journey back then young Overlord, and perhaps we shall come down and visit once Mallow has gotten all better." The Queen then followed on her husband's comment, bidding me farewell as I turned around and started to walk towards the exit. However, there was one thing that was still bothering me, and that was what the "Shadow" had said in regards to Mallow's pent up resentment towards his father. I had to wonder in my head, "Why did King Nimbus want to make Mallow a King when he wasn't ready?" After all, I could tell from a glance that even if he is a bit goofy, the King wasn't someone who couldn't read what his own son was thinking.
"Is something the matter?" The King noted as I froze in place just inches away from the door. "Yeah…" I responded before turning around and walking a few steps closer to them to continue with, "As I carried Mallow back here, he mumbled something along the lines of, 'No dad…I don't want to be a king…' And along with a mention of some confidence issues he had brought up during our previous journey, I was kind of wanting to ask you something…Did you try and ask Mallow to be the new King in your stead?" I managed to slip in the confidence thing the "Shadow" brought up with a slight fib, and the King quickly replied with a somewhat hesitant sounding "Yes…"
"Did you know about your son's slight confidence problems?" I then inquired, and the King responded with a nod and a sigh this time around. "So why did you want to give him your position of power if he clearly wasn't ready to accept it?" There was silence from both the King and Queen, as the King folded his arms in front of his chest and reluctantly closed his eyelids. "I…I'm sorry, you don't need to tell me if the reasoning is personal." I apologized, especially since the King was taking a while to say anything. "No, its alright young Overlord, I think you deserve to know since you are concerned about it."
"You see, a year back, after your departure that is, Mallow got involved in a couple of incidents that nearly left him dead. I was worried that there would eventually come a time when he wouldn't come back to us alive, but I didn't want to tell him to stop being a hero…However, I wanted him to have a fulfilling life outside of his heroic deeds, so I wanted to make him a King early out of fear that he wouldn't live long enough to gain the confidence needed to take over the role on his own free will." The King voiced his reasons, and I listened attentively.
"So why don't you two try and help Mallow with his confidence?" The Queen interjected in place of her husband this time, raising her right hand to silence him before turning to me and saying in a gentle tone, "We want our son to become his own man, and though we can nurture him to the maturity, the fact remains that we lost many years of parental bonding thanks to the storm that carried him away from our lives. We still care for him because that's what parents do, but…Well…" "No, I understand what you are trying to get at." I said to stop the Queen, whose reasoning was starting to become a little incoherent, and quite frankly I was beginning to feel a bit guilty for opening wounds like this.
"Thank you…" The Queen said, understanding the motivation behind my interruption. However, I wasn't going to leave the room on a somber note, and said to the two parents "Look, your son is a great kid, I know that much just from our short time together. He will be able to conquer his few insecurities in time, he just needs the proper guidance from you, and perhaps an understanding of your previous actions my King." The King rubbed his chin in the face of my sentiment and said to me, "That would be for the best." He didn't say 'I suppose' at the end, so I could tell that he was serious with his agreement.
"Alright then, I don't have anymore questions to ask now. I hope you guys have a pleasant rest of the day." This time our farewells were for real, and I turned around and left through the doors without standing still or looking back. I made my way through the palace again, but this time the retainers and other workers weren't as surprised as my presence as they were before. "I guess the King got the word spread out that I wasn't an intruder while he put Mallow to bed…" I thought to myself as I looked back and forth and met their stares with a pleasant smile.
Once I made it out past the non-aggressive guards, I looked to the left and saw the Bus Driver was safe and sound next to his vehicle, albeit a like woozy. I walked over to him, mostly to offer my thanks for driving me partway here but also to see just why he is in such a condition. "Hey!" I called out to get his attention just seconds before I was got near him, and he turned around to look at me with his eyes looking a bit tired. "Whoa…You feeling ok there?" I asked out of concern. "Huh?" In a drowsy tone the driver blinked his eyelids a few times and tried to lift his head up to look at me. "Oh…Hey there…" He yawned after that, smacking his lips before continuing on with "I don't know why, but I'm feeling really tired after I blacked out once we entered that strange realm you talked about…"
Now that I remember, the toxic cloud that the Bus Driver became got trapped inside of the bus after the Chronicler rescued me from it. I don't know where the tiredness could've come from, but at least the Nimbusian was alive and well. It was best that he didn't know what he ended up turning into, not from me anyways. "Well, at least you got my bus and myself back here safe and sound, so thank you very much for that." The driver said to thank me, and after replying with "Not a problem" I offered to give him some cash for his services, but he rejected it, as most people have on this planet to heroes who have helped them out in the past.
"Hey though, do you want a ride back to the Mushroom Kingdom? Since my usual route is ruined by that realm, I can give you one free of charge." It was a kind offer, but one I had to politely deny. "Thank you, but…" I concentrated on myself with my eyelids open, and with a tiny leap I suspend myself in mid-air, holding my arms out beside me like wings before noting to the driver "I can fly." With a grin I waved farewell to the driver and flew out past the border of Nimbus Land's cloud, diving downward with my arms held gracefully behind me as I headed towards Mario's house.
It felt great to have the air flowing around my body once again, and I close my eyelids to just let the sound of the grazing winds guide me precariously through the sky. I missed this feeling so much, and I hoped from the deep recesses of my heart that I would never lose this again. Such feelings of freedom and tranquility were useful to experience when the times were tough, and it was nice to get some relaxation after the last couples of days. Really, I can't mention the struggles I've dealt with enough times, but doing so would really derail the narrative, so I'll just drop it here.
Seeing as I didn't want to end up steering myself off course or crashing into Mario's house, I quickly opened my eyelids and saw the ground only a few yards away from my body. I halted my dive and curved so I flew forward, gently lowering myself a few more feet until I was just inches above the roof of leaves built by the almost monstrous trees. I kept going until I say the tip of the house approaching from the distance, at which point I lifted my body up and pressed my feet against the air, creating a current that flows against my feet to help slow myself to a sudden stop above the pipe that leads back to Toad Town.
The first thing I notice below myself as I descend is Driad sitting in a pot on the porch, absorbing sunlight beaming down from the sky with a pleasant smile on his face. However, my stop caused a pocket of wind that had built up against my feet to burst, sending a brief but heavy torrent of wind his way that ruffles his petals and forces his eyelids open. He looks up at me, his smile becoming a straight line as he pulls one vine out of the enriched dirt and waves it up at me, saying, "Welcome back Mew!" with joy and enthusiasm. I landed on the steps leading to the house and watched as Driad pulled himself from the pot.
He leaped up and hugged me, this time without tearing up at my return. "By the way, Luigi told me everything." My reaction wasn't one of shock, especially since I knew that the man in green had planned to do that after I left earlier. "And don't worry, I won't mention anything about your past. I'm just happy to see you again after so long…" Driad's grip around my body tightens as he raises his head and grins, giggling like a young child that had been reunited with a parent after a long departure. Speaking of which…"Hey, Driad." I said to the Crayzee Dayzee after he let go of me and landed back on the porch.
"Where is Luigi at the moment?" I then inquired. Driad placed his right vine against his chin, tilting his head as if the information was not easy to remember. "Umm…I think I remember him saying something about going to check up on Peach since Mario wasn't around to do so…Don't know when he'll be back though." After shrugging his shoulders the Crayzee Dayzee folds his vines behind his back and looks up at me, happier than he ever has been before. "So, shall we go in and have some lunch while we wait for him? After all, I can hear your gut grumbling like a wild boar from right here."
"Huh? OH, that's right…I had completely forgotten about that." The joy of coming back home had taken over my sensation of hunger…Did I really just call this place my home? Heh, maybe that's because the people who live here have become a second family to me. "Sure thing little brother." My thoughts became intermingled with my speech, and Driad heard my little slip-up with a wide-eyed grin on his face. I promptly slapped my left hand in front of my mouth as my cheeks became flustered. "Ok, so lets go have that lunch now!" I quickly said to drop the subject before rushing past Driad and entering the house with him following slowly behind with a shit-eating grin continuing to be present on his face.
This expression carries on into our lunch, where I awkwardly try to eat a triple-layer ham on rye sandwich with him staring at me in anticipation for me to again acknowledge my comment. I kept away from the subject, even though it caused me to sweat profusely a few times. Not long after lunch had passed, Luigi came back into the house, carrying in his hands a couple bags of groceries that he was clearly struggling with. Driad slyly turned his head towards me and with a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat's he said to me, "Hey Mew, think you can brother to help Luigi with those?"
As I got up, I glared at Driad, who I began to think was taking things a little far. "You know Driad, you really are acting like a little brother now. Innocent one second, annoying and manipulative the next…" I smirked at the end of my sentence calmly, and as I went over to help Luigi I noticed from the corner of my eyes that the Crayzee Dayzee's face retracted to a more subdued expression and he went completely silent. As I took one bag from Luigi's arms, he asked why Driad and I were talking about brothers, and I decided to let it be known then and there that I considered him, Luigi and Mario to be my second family.
When the subject of just what role Luigi fulfilled came up as we placed the bags on the counter, I just said that he was like the nurturing mother, which surprisingly he didn't take offense to since he was used to being called feminine by now. While we unloaded the groceries with Driad's help, I mentioned that I thought of Mario as both a father and an older brother, Mallow as a cousin, E. Gadd as the wacky grandfather, and many other comparisons were made that I ended up losing track of. Either way, with the subject of Mallow arising, the man in green wanted to know how my trip to the Sky Temple went.
So we sat down comfortably in the living room and I went over all the details, except for the Chronicler, but that's pretty much become a pattern by now so I went mention it again. After re-assuring Driad and Luigi that Mallow should be alright, the man in green laid his body back against the couch and decided to bring up some news of his own. "Anyways, I went to speak with Peach to try and figure out where she last saw or heard from Mario, just in case he was near someplace that wasn't in the general vicinity of the Ignitor Cave…."
"Any luck?" I asked, and Luigi shook his head and said to me, "Sort of. Peach said that Mario was off fighting Bowser to rescue her, and that after blacking out she just suddenly woke up back in her castle. All that really does is confirm what we already determined, that Mario is the Inner Guardian of the Ignitor Cave." The man in green looked disturbed as he reluctantly said that, and I had to re-assure him by saying with empathy "Luigi, don't worry about it, I'll free Mario from the realm's influence." "That's not what I'm worried about." Luigi then quickly says.
I knew what he was talking about, and as he looked into my eyes I could tell that he knew that I knew as well. "Man, if only E. Gadd was around right now." Driad interjects. "I don't really see how his science could help us here." I pointed out, failing to see what my flowery friend was trying to get at. "It wouldn't help us. His research on the Origin Temple, on the other hand, might be able to…" The Origin Temple. As Luigi mentioned that, memories of the final leg of our journey came rushing into my mind. It was the final resting place of the Overlord's powers, all of them sealed in a glowing crystalline orb on the top floor.
The floor were guarded by a different warrior known as a Genesis Samurai, who my friends stayed behind one by one so I could reach the top and get the powers myself. I confronted Cackletta, the vile witch that Mario and Luigi had tangled with before and a being who had been a constant pest during our journey, and after a battle that felt longer than it actually was I managed to use the Elemental Stones to summon the Inner Guardians and beat them at the cost of the stones' existence.
After that I touched the orb and got my seven Elemental Forms along with a final form that combined all the powers together while adding in the symbolic theme of rebirth, which I quite obviously dubbed my "Phoenix Form". Anyways, the Genesis Samurais perished after their duty was fulfilled, and the Origin Temple came crumbling down with its purpose having been served. "So E. Gadd has been working at the ruins of the Origin Temple? Why do you think that anything there could assist us against Mr. Reality?"
"I don't think that there is an object there that could stop or work against his powers…" Luigi rubs the back of his head while thinking about the topic a bit more, and after sitting up he leans his body forward slightly and says "But considering how scarily accurate the original tablet was in pointing out where you lived, what age you were to be when you acquired his powers, and especially about what order we should tackle the temples…I'm just saying, if the original Overlord was able to predict all that, then maybe he predicted a limbless alien coming to our planet with the ability to warp the fabric of reality and came up with a countermeasure to beat him."
"That is a bit of a long short, but there is some precedence to your theory." I said in agreement with Luigi's explanation. "However, we can't really pursue it any further until we find E. Gadd. I'll keep it in mind though in case I run across him." Driad and Luigi nodded their heads to thank me for keeping that into consideration, and we dropped the topic not long afterwards. The rest of the day went by rather normally. We had a Spaghetti dinner, watched a movie on T.V., and went off to our separate beds not long afterwards.
I rested my arms between the back of my head and the arm of the chair and looked up towards the ceiling, prepared to drift into a deep slumber. However, before I could do that, I could hear the creaking of wood and turned my head to glance behind me. Driad ran out of the bedroom and approached me, and without any pause he bends his head forward and gives me a quick, surprising kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight, big brother…" He said to me as he pulled his head back and went back to his bed to sleep with a smile brimming on his face. All I could think about as I blinked silently at the bedroom doorway was of how happy everyone was feeling. Even with all that Mr. Reality had done so far, all it was doing was bringing me closer together with the people I am glad to call my new family, and every day until this journey was done I would repeat this pleasant pattern of leaving and returning…And maybe, just maybe, I will stay here and keep this happiness together for the rest of my life…
Next Time: The Skyward Messenger