Chapter 19: The Eighth Temple
Morning came just as quickly as it did every other day. Sometimes I had to wonder how I even knew that the sun had risen, especially since there was only one window in this entire house, and it was currently sealed off by the curtains. "Yawn…Goodness gracious, I really slept well last night…" I said as I went through the usual motions upon awakening. I wasn't greeted by anyone this morning, but I could hear some noises that indicated activity coming from the bedroom. I turned my head towards the doorway, sharpening my hearing with an intense degree of focus so I could tell what was going on in there.
Florence was awaken and communicating with someone. It really didn't take a genius to figure out that Gemini had gotten up and was discussing something important with his comrade. From the sounds of things, they had been going at it for quite a while, but continued to speak quietly so they wouldn't have woken me up prematurely. Even when Gemini turns his head my way and notices me looking into the room, he doesn't acknowledge my presence with a nod or anything and just quickly turns back to look at Florence, nodding his head once without saying a word.
"Huh, that's rather strange…" I said, thinking little of the action, or rather the lack of an action, that the Koopa had taken towards seeing me. "It really couldn't have killed him to slip out a 'Good Morning' in the midst of a conversation, could it?" I then noted, rubbing the back of my head and shifting my eyelids in confusion before I got on my feet and started to walk around to get the blood flowing early. I decided to avoid heading towards the bedroom, since approaching it would probably earn nothing but a glare from the two and a sudden silence in their conversation.
"Guess I'll go see if Driad's awake…" I whispered my immediate motive for the morning while stretching an arm behind my neck so the hand can help stretch the other arm above my head. I walk towards the front door and open by the handle, swinging it outwards and relishing in the fresh morning breeze that blows right into my face. It felt relaxing, as usual, though something did feel a bit off about it this time. I remembered the Master's advice from yesterday, and removed my focus from all other sources so I could close my eyelids and listen to what the gentle breeze had to say to me. "Do not free it…Do not free the light…"
The message went through my eardrums quickly, but I could pick up on the ominous vibes coming from the way it was spoken. I couldn't help but be confused once more though, since there was really no context to which I could match the message with. "Don't free the light? Huh…" As I thought about the meaning to myself, I was interrupted by the innocent voice of Driad. "Don't free the light?" He mimicked what I had said in a tone of greater confusion than my own. I turned towards him and watched as he uprooted his vines through the grains of dirt and laid them out beyond the rim of the pot. "Did you have some type of weird dream or something last night?"
"Nah, the wind just gave me that message." Was the response I nonchalantly gave to my flowery friend. "The wind gave you-" He gave me a dumbfounded look at the start of his sentence, but then his face returned to normal before he remembered what happened yesterday. "Oh that's right, his advice…" He was really reluctant to mention the Master in a sentence, and it seemed as though it was difficult for him to even use a pronoun in place of his name. In spite of that, Driad got out of the pot with a reassuring smile on his face and said to me as he brushed the dirt off of his body "I wouldn't worry about it right now. You aren't really dealing with anything related to the light anyways."
"Instead I'm having to deal with the living darkness that is buried in the subconscious of the sentient mind…" I thought to myself as I shifted my eyes to the left with a somber expression briefly appearing on my face in the time it takes for Driad to close and re-open his eyelids. "So I'm assuming Gemini is awake right now?" He asks, his tender smile exemplifying the optimism in his tone of voice. "Yeah, but he is busy talking with Florence so I don't think it's a good idea to disturb him." "Actually, we finished our conversation about twenty seconds ago." Without warning Gemini's voice interrupts the conversation Driad and I were having. My immediate reaction is to pull my body back in surprise and let out a yelp as my heart skips a beat.
The Koopa was leaning right arm first against the doorway, which I had forgotten to shut upon exiting the house. After accepting Gemini's presence and regaining my composure, Driad turned to me and kept his innocent demeanor as he said to me "Yeah, that's kind of why I was asking, hehe…" I couldn't really fault Driad for not alerting me of Gemini's presence, especially when he wanted to get a little harmless humor out of it. After a quick sigh, I turned to Gemini, watching as he stopped leaning against the doorway and stood up straight to look at me in the eyes with his expression stoic and his arms folded in front of his chest. "So you feeling better now?" I asked.
"I slept like an angel, let me tell ya…My body was so relaxed that even that stiff mattress Mario has on his bed felt like a cloud. That other me really did a number on me, honestly…" I was surprised that Gemini remembered such a detail. Really, I was hoping it would've been knocked out of him when he went unconscious, but I guess that's not the case. "Anyways, get on in, I think its time we had breakfast, don't you think?" I was in agreement with what Gemini said, and with the two of us nodding our heads we entered the house. Driad followed us not long afterwards, obviously.
Gemini chose to make breakfast this time, but Florence helped him after the Koopa accepted his offer. With their efforts it didn't take long at all for breakfast to be made for the four of us. It was another omelet, this time just a simple sausage one with cheddar and peppers on it. I must admit, even after having the other succulent treats over the past few days I didn't have a difficult time adjusting to this simple meal. "Good job you two." I gave my compliments, and Gemini and Florence thanked me for them. Breakfast went by faster than expected, thanks mainly in part to the conversation the four of us have about how our sleep went last night.
So the usual cycle of clean up occurred, and just as we were about to finish we all heard a couple knocks on the door. We froze in place in the kitchen, except for Driad, who was sitting down in the living room at the time so his reaction was not noticed by us. "Keep at it you two, I'll be right back." I waved at Gemini and Florence, laying down the towel I was using to dry the washed off plates and walking over to the door. I pulled on the handle like I did earlier this morning, and upon swinging it open I was greeted by Luigi and Mallow standing side-by-side on the porch.
Luigi was sweating across the forehead for some reason, while Mallow was panting lightly. "Welcome back you two." I started off with a greeting, but then proceeded to ask them with my head tilted in confusion "But why do you look so tired?" "We ran into someone on the way back here…Helped them carry something…Whew…I need some water…" Luigi wipes his right glove across his forehead to brush away the sweat, then I move to the side so he can walk past me and head towards the cabinets above the sink. That just left Mallow alone with me, and he look at my face and said to me "Hey, thanks for rescuing me from that alien's control. My parents filled me in on what happened, and I'm sorry if I harmed you in any way."
The Nimbusian prince felt some regret for what happened even though he had no control over his actions, but I accepted the apology all the same. "Its fine, don't worry about it. Trust me, it won't happen again." After giving him some reassurance, Mallow walked past me and was greeted instantly by Driad. As I saw everyone communicating with each other in the house, I thought back to the reason Luigi gave for his late return. "Wait a second, helped carry something…Who did they…" My murmurs were heard by someone behind me, for they responded with a familiar yet jolly "Ohohohoho…"
I turned my body to the left slowly and looked out past the steps. Standing on the ground with his left hand tapping the side of his swirly glasses and his other arm tucked into the pocket of his white lab coat was Professor E. Gadd, a round-headed human of Mario's height who is rather old yet very smart when it comes to a variety of subjects. His most distinguishable feature besides his glasses is the ice cream-like bundle of white hair on his head. It was a surprise to see him, especially after it had been so long since our last encounter, but the Professor greeted me happily and casually as if we had only seen each other just recently "Its nice to see you again, young Overlord." He then walked over to me by climbing the two steps in front of him.
"E. Gadd? When did you get back into town?" I asked, especially since he was confirmed missing after the 'Midnight Channel' covered the planet. "Just this morning actually. I'd fill you in on the details, but seeing as Driad, Gemini and Florence don't know about what happened…" "Right, we should get inside and clear a lot of issues up." "You read my mind child. Ohohoho, but first, I do wonder if Luigi has kept any of those tea leaves I gave him a month ago, cause I'm feeling rather famished and could use something to drink right about now…" After his first sentence E. Gadd turns and headed into the house, his voice trailing off as he quieted into a whisper and went towards the sink that Luigi had already moved away from.
"Boy, we really have a lot of cover, don't we?" I thought to myself as I folded my arms in front of my chest and let out a somewhat annoyed sigh. We had to find out about where E. Gadd has been, ask him if he has uncovered any sort of prophecy tablet that could help us best Mr. Reality, fill Gemini in on everything up until this point, and I had to let everyone know about who the Chronicler was and what he had told me about my past. None of this would be dealt with in a particular order, though I was seriously hoping to deal with the Chronicler thing at the end of it all. For now, it was simply time for everyone to spend some time talking to each other and seeing how they are doing.
Surprisingly, it only took about ten minutes for all of us to gather in the living room. E. Gadd asked Luigi to move the T.V. out of the way for an unknown purpose, and once it was in the corner of the room the Professor tucked his left hand into his shirt pocket and shuffled it around in search of something. In the meantime, Gemini and Florence sat themselves down onto the couch while I stood near the kitchen and Driad and Mallow stood near the bedroom door. "What are you doing?" Driad asked, while the Professor continued fumbling around in his pocket in search of something.
"Trying to pull out the hyperspace cube I had brought with me…" "You developed a hyperspace cube?" Gemini inquired in a tone of subdued surprise and intrigue, and E. Gadd lets out his signature jolly laughter before his actual response. "I had already created one long ago. I just made it a part of my upgraded F.L.U.D.D. back then. This one is a singular unit capable of levitating objects with a plasma gravitational field…Ah! Found it!" With a tug of his arm the elderly professor pulls out a red plastic box with a circular metal rim poking out the top of it. There are a series of miniature buttons on the side that are perfectly sized for the Professor's fingers.
He bends down and lays it on the floor within a second. But instead of staying down and tapping his fingers across the buttons he stands back up and nudges his glasses upward so the rims aren't stuck to the skin of his nos. "You may be wondering where I've been up to for the last month or so, especially since my lab was abandoned and I had removed myself from the contact of the outside world. You see, I have been traveling the world in search of something…A missing fragment of this particular artifact…" E. Gadd then kneels down and taps the buttons on the keyboard, and after a bright aqua-blue light flushes its way through the hole a large stone tablet pops out instantaneously.
It was surrounded by a pale blue, gelatinous shroud, but even with it I was able to recognize it right away. Everyone else in the room besides Florence and E. Gadd shared a surprised flinch as we realized that it was the tablet that prophesized the rebirth of the Elemental Overlord, the one artifact that we had relied on in the past to find the seven temples and the Origin Temple itself. But why bring it out now? That was the big question I had assumed was on everyone's mind. "I shouldn't have to remind you about what this is. However, there was something I noticed near the end of your journey, a theory I shared only with Mario and Alpha long ago…"
E. Gadd walks towards a specific corner of the tablet and points his finger towards it. We stared at it, and though we saw some unintelligible text we could tell that there was more to it than what was there simply because a big chunk of the rock had been broken off of it. "The words that are here state that 'In secret it lies, out of sight. A temple forged, the torment-' And that's where it ends. I was wandering the world in such of the last piece, but my efforts have thus far amounted to naught." "So why bring it up then?" I asked, and as the professor turned to me he kept a jolly look on his face and chuckled once more, replying to my rather jerkish inquiry with politeness "Because I believe it may be relevant to our current predicament."
The Professor then turned towards Gemini, who had kept silent after his previous question. "I'm assuming you've been updated on what's been going on, yes?" The Koopa merely nodded his head and folded his arms away from his chin, saying in turn "Yeah, Florence caught me up this morning, thankfully." "Good, good. Anyways, you see, I believe the fragmented passage revealed on this tablet detail the location of an eighth temple, one that may in fact hold the key to besting our mysterious alien visitor." As everyone's eyes widened as a glimmer of hope was revealed to us today, I could hear Florence humming to himself while he appeared to be deep in thought.
"Florence, you got something you wish to share with us?" I asked. The Yoshi lowered his arms and looked back up at the tablet. "Call this a long-shot, but I think I may know where the fragment you are looking for is. About a year ago, I just so happened to wander into Alpha's Commander Sphere, and watched as he was fiddling around with some sort of rock until he realized I was there and quickly stuffed it into his right arm for safe-keeping. I didn't pursue the subject at the time because I didn't think it was any of my business, but now it probably has some relevance, wouldn't you say?"
"Alpha has the fragment? You know, that raises a lot of questions as to how he got it and why he hasn't given it to E. Gadd before now, but the most important thing right now is this…We don't even know where your Commander is." Luigi raised a good point, but it wasn't exactly one that was difficult for the wise professor to address as he bent down and used the cube to get the tablet back into it. "Well it shouldn't be too hard to narrow down which temple he is guarding right now, correct? You already determined that Mario is at the Ignitor Cave, which just leaves Geno and Alpha for either the Terra Cave or the Frozen Palace. Gemini, Florence, as the last witnesses to his location, what can you give us on it?"
"Before Mr. Reality appeared there was only one part of Plit that had remained untouched by that monochrome realm, and those were the icy mountains. If anything, I would suspect that the Commander was placed in charge of the Frozen Palace." Florence quickly stated. "That's two temples away then…" Mallow interjects. "And so two temples it shall be until we possibly learn the secret behind the missing fragment." E. Gadd says as he puts his cube away. Secret…Yeah, that word holds a lot of meaning for me right now. From the true selves that my friends had been hiding to bits of my past that I had forgotten entirely, it seems most of this journey has dealt with one secret after another with no end in sight.
But there is one secret that shall be revealed, and now seemed like a good time to go through with it. "Hey you guys…I want to ask you a question." Everyone went silent and turned their heads towards me, anticipation present on their faces in a variety of ways. I was feeling a bit nervous as I watched them all stare at me, but if I backed down now I would just end up feeling worse because of it. "I recall that near the climax of our journey I revealed to most of you about what happened to my parents…However, I was wondering…Did I, perhaps…" I began to go into detail about everything else I knew about my past between the loss of my parents and the day Mario appeared on Earth. I kept the descriptions simple so as to not waste too much time, though I will honestly admit it felt horrible to have to remember and speak of that disgusting tale all over again.
Thankfully, by the time I was done everyone was frozen in utter disbelief, for all of them shared the same disgust on their faces as I imagined that they would. Gemini in particular rose up from the couch in righteous fury and punched the wall beside him with one rock hard punch that cracked the surface in a six-inch radius. He then grit his teeth and growled in anger, saying to me "To think that there could be someone else like him in this universe…" I knew I was missing some context as to why he made that comment, but now was definitely not the right time for me to say anything to him, especially when Luigi grimly commented on my tale with "No…No you never did tell us about that…"
"To think that another human would use science simply for the benefit of his own tyrannical beliefs…Such a being should just simply not exist." This was the only time I had seen E. Gadd discard his cheerful demeanor as he talked, and it was really a true tale sign about how horrific my tale was for the group. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?!" Driad yelled out to me in enraged bewilderment. It really hurt coming from him, especially since out of everyone here he was the one person who had the biggest amount of trust invested in me. "B-Because…Before he told me about it, I didn't even remember that-"
"Wait wait wait…Who is this 'he' person you are talking about?" Gemini stopped his anger the very moment he heard the aforementioned pronoun and lifted his head up to glare at me. "Alright Mew, what else are you hiding?" He was firm in his inquiry, leaving me no room to take back what I had said as everyone else looked at me in unison. With no other options left, I let out a heavy sigh and begun explaining EVERYTHING I knew about the Chronicler from the beginning to now, ending things off with "Until I met him at the Lightning Palace, I honestly did not recall anything about the experiments performed on my body."
Everyone was silent, but the somber mood had died down a bit thanks to my honesty. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner, I just didn't want his cover blown, that's all…" E. Gadd just started scratching his head and mumbled something under his breath. Everyone else kept quiet until Luigi thrust his eyelids open and swung his arms back and forth a few times, holding his hands out and tilting his head before saying "Ok, I'm really starting to get confused now, so let me see if I got this all straight." He then lifted his head up and pointed at me with his right hand.
"You don't remember anything that happened in your life a year ago, and you also don't remember something really important that happened in your life between your parent's death and your arrival here…This Chronicler guy knows all of your history though, and has been helping you against a reality bender because he is unaffected by his powers…But now Mr. Reality has found a way to circumvent that problem and the Chronicler is on the run. And then we got this eighth temple that Alpha holds the key to finding…Gah, I remember when it was all just as simple as jumping on a few turtle shells and dropping down flagpoles…"
As Gemini quickly glared at the man in green for making a rather offensive comment towards other members of his species, he then looked back at me with something clearly on his mind. "Actually Luigi, I think I can help make things simpler for us all…Because honestly, I don't think 'Mew' really has amnesia." "WHAT?!" Everyone share my sentiment of utter surprise towards Gemini's theory. Everyone except for E. Gadd, suspiciously enough…"Mew, there is one definitive way for us to find out the truth about your memories…" Gemini stands up and looks at me long and hard, trying to see if I would become unhinged by his accusations.
I stayed strong though, cause I firmly believed that his theory was ludicrous. "Mew, what do you remember happening at the Origin Temple after you claimed your powers?" "What I remember is that the temple collapsed after its purpose had been served. Why?" I ended my answer with another question, and Gemini let out a light sigh as if he was reluctant to continue this line of conversation. "You know, last I checked, amnesia makes you completely forget events and things in your life. I've never heard of it rewriting how things transpired…" Gemini walked past the table as he spoke, keeping his eyelids closed as to avoid seeing my reaction to everything he is saying. It was his way of making the news less difficult for him to reveal.
"Everything adds up now. Your inability to remember some of the most traumatic moments from your past, the change of name, the rewriting of some of the events that you do remember…Your memories haven't been erased 'Mew', they were tampered with!" At the end of his sentence Gemini stands still in front of the table, opening his eyes up wide and pointing straight at me while everyone else flinches in surprise at the Koopa's reveal. I took the news the hardest of all, and as I moved my body away from the wall I simply held my right hand out in front of my chest and kept my mouth somewhat agape, my other limb trembling as I find it hard for me to contain this mental blow.
"W-What?" Was all I could muster to say. As Gemini lowered his arm, he glanced to the left as Driad called out to him. "N-Now wait just a minute here…I can see what you are getting at with the first and third points, but what does the change in name have anything to do with your theory Gemini?" He too had a difficult time speaking, and it was plain to see through the panicked widening of his eyes that the shock was harder for him to bear than it was for me. "Simple Driad. If he had amnesia, then he wouldn't remember a name at all, especially not one so different from his real one. But if someone tampered with his memories, it would be far too easy for them to inject whatever type of identity they want into him…"
"Listen Gemini, I-" I raised my voice suddenly without thinking. I lifted my pointer finger and brandished it at him ready to object to everything he was saying to me, but then I realized as I calmly lowered my arm that Gemini…Gemini was likely right. But it just didn't make any sense. I just don't think that its possible for my memories to be fake. There is just something in the pit of my gut that's telling me that I am who I say I am, and not someone else entirely. But just to be certain though… "Gemini…What is my real name?" "…" He folded his arms in front of his chest and subjected himself to silence, and then he lowered his head and closed his eyelids. "Gemini, please!"
I pleaded to him, holding my body outward with my fists clenched against my chest in desperation. There was no response, and as I looked around the room everyone else averted their gaze away from me. I was saddened immensely by their decision to avoid giving me an answer, and felt a betrayal the likes of which I would never feel again. "Fine, if that's how its going to be…" I was about to turn around and head out the door when an innocent whisper reaches my ear. "Alex Whiter…" It was Driad, speaking through the silence that drenched the room to reveal the truth that everyone else was choosing to keep buried.
I looked at him past Gemini's body, where even then he refused to look my way and instead chose to stare awkwardly at the floor beside him. "Alex Whiter is your real name…" He then turned towards me with teardrops glistening from his eyes. "In fact…All of us had some suspicions about who you really were from the start…" All I could do is quickly grimace at Driad and slanted my eyebrows as anger and distrust welled up inside of me. "Please! You have to understand…I didn't want to believe the others though when they tried to convince me that you weren't the real Alex…But I had missed you so much, because for the longest time I had believe that you were de-"
Before Driad was able to finish his sentence, the entire household began to shake violently. All of our bodies became unbalanced and the furniture shifts back and forth across the floor, while amidst the rattling of the structure I can hear metal clinging and glass breaking in a symphonious melody of destruction, which lasts for a full twenty seconds before the tremors suddenly stop and the house settles down. The first thing said after a minute in silence to make sure that no aftershock occur is "An earthquake?" "Yes, but that didn't feel like a natural one…" Gemini and Luigi exchange some words between each other, commenting on the suddenness of the earthquake.
"Professor, what do you think is going on?" Mallow asks E. Gadd, who is really better suited to solve this phenomenon than he is. "Hmm…Oh dear…I do believe that the earthquake has some connection to activity in the Terra Cave. After all, the Mushroom Kingdom has never had a natural earthquake before in the planet's entire history, so it is only right to assume that this one is connected to the one place on the planet where the Earth element can prosper…" I didn't wish to stick around and hear the group talk anymore though. E. Gadd's theory was good enough for me, and I didn't want another earthquake to rupture the planet anytime soon so I needed to get moving before it happens again.
I turned around and began to head for the door, only to be stopped once again by Driad. "Mew, where are you going?" He asked with a somber, bewildered tone in his voice. "I'm going to finish my journey, that's what. And honestly, after you all kept the truth about my identity a secret from me, don't expect me to be coming back here any time soon…" I clenched my fists in rage, having no regrets for my cold, bitter farewell as I stormed towards the front door and left the house before Driad could finish calling me by my real name, leaping into the air and taking flight in the direction of Moleville, which was the city closest to the desert where the Terra Cave lied at. I had no time to get some "advice" from the Master, and quietly honestly with how pissed and confused I was at the moment I could only imagine that our conversation would simply end on an unpleasant note. With a scowl on my face and my eyebrows arched in anger, I kept flying towards my destination without ever looking back…
Next Time: The Rebirth Poin