The shell was cold. Piercing into his stomach, ever farther, ever closer to death. With every stinging surge of pain, Mario stepped closer to The Princess. One step at a time, one inch closer with every drive into his abdomen. Step by step, memory by memory, growing closer ad closer to a death more welcoming than life.
At last Mario collapsed, a smile of satisfaction still clinging to his lips. He lie motionless in the bloody grass, a content but regretful soul retreating to what lie beyond.
But there was a part of him that rose into the placid air, reaching for the clouds, who only forced their smiles and stared back woefully. For this part of him was not one to accompany the dying mind of a tragic soul. It was a memory that would live on, drifting from life to life as the ages passed, reincarnations of the mustached man, borne with the weight of the sins that the hat carried, cursed with fate of suicide to start the cycle anew, blessed with burden of the Mushroom Kingdom's protection, gifted with the arts of the fire, the star, and the mushroom. They would come to be known as Player One.
These brave souls would come to stand against the tyranny of Bowser's heirs, entrusted with the throne after his demise. Player One in all his forms, for all his lives, would be the one to fight, and the one to kill, when death was the only answer. His cruelty towards the Koopas would be vindicated by suicide, possessing a new Player each time to take control of the world's fate. Life after life, death after death, game after game.
This is the story of Player One, in all of his guises, all of his lives, all of his adventures. All of his woes, all of his losses, all of his deaths and resurrections.
It is all compiled here, in this book, for all to read and for all to enjoy.