Chapter 20 A Goddess' Warning

Jasper struggled against this mysterious force. His arms and legs flailed about. He even grabbed hold of the gem, hoping to see the red glow. The red glow didn't come, which in turn meant that he was stuck. He struggled some more, but this force had to be the strongest he had ever come across. Not only that, but the light was getting brighter. The glow increased rapidly, so much so that Jasper had to close his eyes. What was happening? What exactly was going on here?

…

"Ugghh…"

Jasper put his hand to his head, groaning as his whole body ached tremendously. His head spinning like a top, he rubbed his temples and opened his eyes. Once his vision adjusted, he blinked. He blinked once, then twice. His jaw dropped, and he looked around.

"Wha… what the hell…?"

All around him was space, space as far as the eye could see. Stars twinkled in the background, in ways that were somehow brighter and more visually appealing than Jasper had ever seen down in the Mushroom World. Also, some outlines of various items glowed with orange lights at various points in the sky. Despite the confusion from before, Jasper had to admit it was beautiful. However, when compared to the extra-terrestrial structure that he now stood on, it paled. A large, lavender-colored roof stretched up into the sky, with various parts connected to that roof and holding it up. One part of the structure was grassy, covered in flowers, and exuding a glorious smell. Another part was covered in red velvet and had multiple different bookshelves arranged neatly. And the main part of the structure, the one Jasper stood on right at this very moment, was mostly a see-through rectangular shape that led to a circular floor, which in turn had colorful paths of light poking out of it. Following those paths with his eyes, Jasper saw that they led to the various other parts of this… structure.

It was gorgeous; he wasn't afraid to admit that. However, it also confused the hell out of him. What was going on? What was this place? Was this some sort of dream? That would make sense, but a pinch on the arm told Jasper that he was, in fact, awake. So… really, what was this place supposed to be? Furthermore, how did he get here?

He took a step forward. His fear growing, he put his hand up to his gem, which by now was so cold that it burned his fingers. "Um… hello?" He looked around, hoping to see any sort of life. "W… is anybody there?"

"Jasper Starfold!"

Jasper nearly jumped out of his shell when he heard that voice. Gasping, he turned around, his heart stopping when he saw exactly who had spoken. She… oh man. A human lady, floating just a few inches off the ground, gazed at Jasper with one turquoise eye. The other was obscured by a long, platinum-blonde bang. Her skin seemed to glow, as did the aqua dress that she wore. When those aspects of her appearance were paired with the silver crown on her head and the star-tipped wand she held in her right hand, they created what was possibly the most stunning creature in the universe. Even Jasper, who was a koopa who was mainly attracted to koopas, couldn't help but acknowledge and appreciate her beauty.

He stepped forward, his heart pounding. "Who…" all at once, his legs wobbled. Chills ran up and down his arms, and it felt as though an enormous lump was forming in his throat. Clearing his throat and telling himself to get his act together, he forced himself to speak a full sentence to this woman. "Who are you?"

The woman's brow furrowed. "My name is Rosalina. I watch over the cosmos, as well as the various people who populate it."

Jasper's eyes grew wide. "So… you're an angel?"

Rosalina cringed. "Ehh… I wouldn't exactly say that…"

"Are you a goddess?"

Rosalina's face turned scarlet. "Um… well, I've been called a goddess by many people in the past. I don't think there is much truth to that though…"

Jasper barely heard those words. He stared into her face, his mind reeling back at the sight of it. How could anyone look so pleasing to the eye? How could anyone have such a dazzling appearance? It seemed impossible. It seemed like Rosalina didn't exist, that she was just a figment of Jasper's imagination that was designed to satisfy his fantasies. Even now, after having pinched himself, Jasper couldn't fully wrap his mind over the fact that this was actually happening.

"I… I see…" he eventually said, all without tearing his gaze away from her.

Rosalina blinked at the sight of this, for a second looking taken aback and perplexed. After a minute, however, she shook her head. "Look," she said, her voice undeniably serious. "We don't have much time." She looked into Jasper's eyes. She floated over to him, all while the furrowed brow he had seen her wear before returned. "Horrible forces are at work here, Jasper Starfold. I know you might not feel it at the moment, but your life is in grave danger."

Jasper did a double take. A snicker came out of his mouth before he full-on laughed. "Danger? What do you mean?" He shook his head, all while trying to not let his laughter get too far out of control. "My life is finally going in a direction that I'm happy with! Ever since I made that wish on Fortune's Comet, everything has been falling into place."

The fear and sadness in Rosalina's face was palpable. "If you knew the true nature of the wish you made, you wouldn't be saying that."

Jasper blinked. "What do you mean?"

Rosalina took another step closer. "Your wish came at a great price. Too great of a price, one that I imagine you never would've wanted to pay if you were fully aware of it."

Confusion filled Jasper, squeezing his heart and plaguing his mind. "Okay, seriously! What are you talking about? Could you be less cryptic and actually talk to me straight?"

Rosalina sighed. She waved her wand, and the gem broke off of Jasper's neck and went right into her hand.

"Hey!" Jasper reached for it. "What are you…" he stopped. His eyes grew wide when he saw the gem now. The purple that had appealed to him so much before was now pretty much nonexistent. The gem was now midnight black, like a dark, inescapable pit. Jasper couldn't help but shake when he saw that sight. He didn't even know what it meant, but it still managed to freak him out.

Rosalina pulled the gem closer to her. "Fortune's Comet isn't just a simple wishing star." She looked down at his gem. "It was born from a luma I knew personally; a very mischievous luma who treated life as an opportunity to cause chaos." She looked into Jasper's face. "As such, while Fortune's Comet can and will grant you any wish you make on out, often those wishes come at a great price." She bit her lip. "And, as much as it pains me to say this, your wish was no exception. You paid a price for it without even realizing what exactly you were doing."

Jasper's heart skipped a beat. A horrible dread overcame him, one so strong that it made him feel like he was about to collapse. "And… uh…" he swallowed a particularly nasty lump. "And what price would that be, exactly?"

The goddess' frown was harrowing. "Your soul." She held the gem in front of his face, all while he tried to wrestle with the two-word sentence she had just said. "Fortune's Comet granted your wish for power, but in turn, it tore your soul away from its proper place and stored it within the confines of your power source."

Little by little, the reality of what Rosalina was saying hit Jasper. Now, looking at the gem, it felt as though he had the weight of the entire world resting on his back. "So… that gem is my soul?"

Rosalina nodded. "Unfortunately, that is the case."

Jasper stared at the gem, not moving for a good solid minute. This was ludicrous! That gem couldn't be his soul! It just couldn't be! And yet… Jasper's mind flashed back to the night he had gotten it. How it seemed to have formed from a material that was pulled out of Jasper's very own body…

A new feeling came over him, one that he had never felt before. Staring at this gem that had the very essence of his being, the very essence of who he was, resting within it… Jasper couldn't even fully wrap his head around this reality. It seemed too far-fetched to be true, and yet… this really was the case? Jasper Starfold's soul was trapped within that gem? That same gem that he had thought was such a godsend, that same gem that he thought had granted him the ticket to an entirely new life?

Thinking about this, Jasper couldn't even begin to get a good grasp on the feelings within him. He slowly reached his hand out and retook the gem. He stared at its surface, at the black sheen that looked so… unworldly. His stomach twisted into a knot. He felt like he was going to throw up.

"I…" he gripped his hand into a fist. "I understand." A new question came up within him. "And… I assume that the darkness within it has some significance to it as well?"

Rosalina nodded, her face as serious as death. "It is caused by the thoughts and feelings that you have been harboring in your heart." She looked back down at the gem. "I have seen that some very wicked desires have manifested within your being." Jasper glared at her, but if she saw it, she didn't react. "And considering that this gem also holds some powerful magic within it, they have interacted with your soul in a… less than positive manner." She looked back at him. "And if this darkness grows any stronger, I'm afraid that there would be some dire… and I do mean dire consequences."

Jasper felt sick to his stomach. He almost asked her what those consequences would be, but he found that he couldn't. Just the possibilities were enough to make him feel ill, make him feel as though the world itself was about to end.

"And as you can imagine," Rosalina continued, "When I discovered the wish that you made on the comet, I knew that I couldn't just sit idly by." She took the gem back in her hand, her frown growing more and more serious by the second. "I knew I had to do something. I can't let the Mushroom World be put into danger, especially on the level that this soul of yours would wield." She looked at him, her turquoise blue eyes no longer sparkling in the same way as before. "I'm going to fix this."

Jasper blinked. He lifted his head, looking at Rosalina as the most horrible variety of interest came over him. "And, uh… how exactly are you going to do that?"

Rosalina tightened her grip on the gem "It'll be a little difficult, but I have a spell I can perform that'll extract your soul from this gem and place it back within its original vessel; your physical body." A slight look of excitement and happiness appeared on her face. "If I do that, then everything will be fixed, and you'll be able to live your normal life once again."

Jasper almost snickered when she said that. Oh, you mean the life that I mostly spent behind bars? Call him crazy, but Jasper didn't really see the appeal of that. Going back to that life, where people treated him like scum… it wouldn't be the most optimal path that his life could take. If anything, the thought of going back to that kind of "normal" was enough to make him feel physically sick.

And… wait. Something just occurred to him. His heart pounding, Jasper lifted his head and looked at Rosalina. Fear built up within him as he prepared himself to ask this next question.

"If you do that… what'll happen to my powers?"

Rosalina hesitated. "They will probably vanish. Again, the main reason you have these powers in the first place is because of the magic that is contained within this gem."

Jasper's heart filled with ire. "That's what I thought. And if that's the case…" he reached out, tearing the gem out of Rosalina's hands. She gawked at him as he put it back around his neck. "I would prefer that we don't do the ritual."

"Are… are you insane?" Rosalina looked like she was staring into the eyes of a monster. "That gem isn't safe! Thanks to the darkness building up within it, it's basically a ticking time bomb!" She gave him an expression that looked… pleading? "Please, Jasper. I know that you've liked your new powers, but this is serious…"

"NO!" Jasper screamed. This shout was enough to make Rosalina back up. He glared at her, all while gripping the gem so tightly that he could crush it. "I'm not giving up this power!" He backed away from the goddess, still glaring with all of his strength. "It's brought me so much good! It's allowed me to open up doors that I've never been able to open before! I'm not giving that up!"

Horror filled Rosalina's face. "But… but if your soul remains in that gem, you'll be eternally damned! If it gets destroyed, you'll never have any hope of reaching an after life!"

"HA! Why should that matter? I've never believed in after lives anyway." He backed up from her some more. "The answer is no, Rosalina! I'm not giving this power up! It's done so much good for me! Only a fool would give that up!"

Now it was Rosalina's turn to glare at him. "Only a fool would trade his soul away!"

Anger welled up within Jasper. He wanted to punch this bitch. He seriously, desperately wanted to punch this bitch. And… wait, what was stopping him?

Without any words, Jasper shot towards Rosalina, his fist connecting with her nose. She shrieked, toppling down to the floor. She held her hand to her face, and crimson blood seeped through her fingers. She shook now, and when she looked back at Jasper, there was a very noticeable fear in her eyes.

"Please," she said. "Please Jasper, I'm trying to save you! Why can't you see that?"

Jasper gritted his teeth as he looked at her. The face that he once marveled at now filled him with a hatred stronger than he had ever felt before.

"I don't need saving." He grasped his gem, which glowed with the red light again. "What I need to do is go back to the Mushroom World and make those who wronged me pay."

With those lost words, Jasper teleported away.

…

Jasper gasped once his feet made contact with the ashy black ground. He looked around, seeing that he was back in the Koopa Kingdom. Unfortunately… it wasn't the part of the Koopa Kingdom that he needed to be in. It wasn't Lava Falls, and Lava Falls didn't seem to be close by either. All that he saw for miles around was the raven-black hellscape that was the "rural" Koopa Kingdom.

"GOD DAMNIT!" Jasper yelled at the top of his lungs, the sound carrying across the barren wasteland. He shook his head, growling as he did. Now he needed to find Opal's house again! All that work he had put into locating where she lived essentially meant nothing now!

Growling like a dog, he began walking again. "I can't believe this." He gripped his hands into fists. It felt as though a vein was bulging in his forehead. "That stupid, dumb, fuckface bitch!" He shook his head, not stopping with his journey back to Lava Falls. "I didn't need her! I don't need anyone!"

From the spot around his neck, the gem hummed. He decided to ignore it and just continued on his way.

"So what if I lost my soul? I've gained so much more! I'm the most powerful koopa in the universe! I don't need any help from anyone! I… I can just destroy this world!"

The humming of the gem got louder, but Jasper still ignored it.

"Yeah, yeah! This world has brought forth more bad than good! The entire world deserves to pay!" He chuckled, a smile growing on his face. "I'll destroy every town, smash it all into dust! Nothing will be able to stop me!" He chuckled, cackled actually. "Nothing will be left! No Opal, no Koopalings, no nothing! Everything will finally be…"

The hum of the gem was no louder than ever, so loud that it made Jasper grit his teeth and put his hands to his ears. The sound rang all around him, piercing both his ears and his bones. He could feel blood coming out of his ears and flowing onto his fingers.

"What's… happening…?"

That was the last thing he saw before everything went black.

…

Once Jasper teleported back to the Mushroom World, Rosalina wasted no time. She teleported after him, hoping to reach him and maybe talk some sense into him before it was too late. Surely, if he just listened to her, he would change his mind! Sure, he was a selfish and slimy individual, but if he listened to reason, and listened to how this scenario wouldn't benefit him in the long run, maybe she would have been able to prevent this disaster before it happened.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. The second Rosalina rematerialized on the Koopa Kingdom soil, just a few yards away from Jasper Starfold, she saw the gemstone rising above his body as it lay in the dirt. The gem let out the most horrible sound, one that actually caused Rosalina's excruciating pain. She covered her ears. She also had trouble looking at the gem, for it let out a horrific red glow that covered the entire landscape. Rosalina closed her eyes, fearing the worst.

"RAWWR!"

When that roar shook the ground, Rosalina opened her eyes to see the beast that had made it. Her heart raced as she took in its features. It was mostly orange, and it was at least a mile tall. Shards of what looked like black glass poked out of its hideous arms, which had the most gnarled hands on the end. It didn't have eyes on the top of its head, just a monstrous mouth with hideous black lips. In the very center of the monster's chest was the gem that had contained Jasper's soul. It still glowed a wicked red, pulsating as though it was the very heart of the monster itself.

"My God," Rosalina said. She couldn't move. She could hardly even think as she stared at the hideous physical form that Jasper Starfold's soul had been molded into. She limply gripped her wand, her chest rising and falling in a very fast rhythm.

"GRAAW!"

The monster began romping around, running away at a breakneck speed. Realizing that she needed to do something, Rosalina tightened her grip on her wand and flew after him.

"HEY!"

The monster turned toward her, and she chanted an incantation that allowed arcane blasts to shoot out of her wand. Most of them made contact with the monster's skin, causing it to let out pained roars. In a fit of rage, it smashed the ground, causing ashy dust to rise up and clog the air. Rosalina coughed, feeling as though her lungs were on fire. In this coughing fit, the monster grabbed hold of her. She struggled against its grip, feeling the life draining out of her the longer it squeezed. Right as she couldn't take it anymore, the monster flung her across the land. She landed in the dirt right next to Jasper's original body, her back scraping against the rocky terrain. It took all the strength she had at her disposal in order to lift herself up, and even then, she couldn't do it for very long.

"I… I can't defeat this monster by myself." She looked over at Jasper's body. "I… I need to get help." She shakily pulled herself to her feet, picking up Jasper's body and holding it in her arms. "Luckily… I think I know who can help me."