A bolt of lightning cracked as I barely dodged out of its strike path. I could feel the cold nip at the back of my neck, prompting Vivian to throw a blast of fire that evaporated the cold wind into a light mist. Swiping through it, I rushed towards Beldam who slammed her fist down to create a line of icicles that rushed at me as fast as I ran at them. As I stood five feet from the next icicles rise, I rolled to the side and launched forward with my momentum boots, blade primed to slash through the witch. But the next moment was followed by a snap of fingers and a bolt of light in my eyes that made me falter and crash to the ground.
Beldam cackled and summoned an icicle above her, sending it flying down towards my prone body. I was suddenly absorbed into a shadow and spat up next to Vivian who let out a short weary breath before turning back to her sister and waving her hands to create a low wave of fire that swept across the field and melted the created ice until it cracked and fell apart.
"I knew you would never stand a chance." Beldam taunted. "Already getting tired and employing such weak fire magic. You don't stand a chance!" At her cry, she pulsed with an energy that made lighting crack with intense thunder and sharpened pillars of ice that stretched out from her towards us. I gripped my blade tightly with both hands and swung, slicing the sharpened tips off the few pillars that were coming towards us. That didn't stop their momentum though, as they crashed into us and sent us flying back into the iced arena wall. Vivian let out a gruff growl and tensed her body before swinging her arms out to produce her own magic wave of flames that emitted from her like a water ripples, passing over the ice and melting it to nothing with enough waves.
"My magic may be weaker…but I'm smarter than you by a mile!" She shouted, making Beldam grit her teeth in frustration from what I could see. She snapped her fingers and a bolt of electricity shot down where Vivian was, blinding me. When my sight came back, she was gone, a scorch mark where she had been…but I knew it hadn't hit her, "I'm also faster!" Her voice carried from behind Beldam, who swung around, just to meet a direct fire blast to the face that made the dual element witch recoil and give me an opening to rush in and slash across her torso with enough strength to slightly distort her form. She wildly swung her arms, forcing Vivian and I to back away until she stopped and eyed at us with pure rage.
"YOU WILL BOW BEFORE MY MIGHT!" A more intense lighting struck down, this time on top of Beldam, the energy now crackling along her body like blood running through veins. "WHEN I AM DONE, YOU WILL BE NOTHING! YOUR 'FRIENDS' WILL DIE BY MY HAND, AND YOU WILL BE ERASED FROM THE MEMORY OF ANYONE WHO EVER KNEW YOU!" Vivian let out a low gasp. This moment of faltering made Beldam laugh, "That's right little mistake. As an extension of the queens' power, your existence is nothing but a novelty that I have allowed to exist this long…but even I have to admit that your sense of self has made controlling you much more difficult. Had you remained pliable and subservient, you would have been a cinch to reabsorbed like your other sister…can you tell me her name?" The girl who had wielded thunder?
"You mean…um…no." A look of absolute terror passed over Vivian's face. Beldam cackled.
"That's right. We are nothing. Just an extension of the queen we serve…you included. As the one who created you, I am the sole decider of your fate…now COME BACK!" She swung her arm, creating an icicle that flew at Vivian. I instinctively jumped in front of her and blocked the ice with my blade…but the shock that flowed from the metal of my sword into my body sent me to my knees.
"That's…not true." I said, slowly getting back up. "You don't get to decide her fate…even if you created her." Beldam sighed, throwing another piece of electric ice that once again hit my blade and sent a shock up my body…but I held my ground, "She's not an extension of anyone but herself! You can't erase her at your whim like you could the other one…that's proof enough she's her own person."
"It proves nothing!" Chains of ice rose around me, clamping around my arms before throwing me at the other end of the arena, crashing into the floor. "You spout such useless platitudes that do nothing but show your ignorance! Our difference in power is proof enough of her place!" She turned around and threw another icicle at Vivian who returned with a fire blast. The blast evaporated the ice but not the electric charge, sending it flying at Vivian and making her shriek as it ran across her form, "While I would have admitted you were a match for me before, with the yellow one's power returned, I have double your magical strength. You are no match for me, precisely because you are a part of me." She stepped forward, launching another ice shard imbued with lighting that struck Vivian who was still reeling from the first shock, "You cannot defeat your source little thing. So just relent this useless sense of self, and return to me, as you were always intended to, then we shall return to the queen, very soon." I pushed myself to stand back on my feet, only to have another set of ice chains wrap around me and send me crashing back to the ground, this time restrained from getting back up, "Stay out of this boy! I will deal with you in a moment." With an outstretched and wrinkled grip, she grabbed Vivian by her robes collar and raised her up, "Relent you ugly putrid thing! You were never anything to begin with, and you shall return to that!"
"N-NO!" Vivian shouted, tears in her eyes. "I don't care what you call me anymore; I won't let that happen! I want to live as who I am now, not what you want me to be! I am not a part of you, I am me! I'm Vivian!" A tense moment of silence followed…and then I heard Beldam's grip tighten.
"Who said, I was giving you a choice?" I felt the chains around my body met apart and got up just in time to see Vivian struggling against Beldam's grip, her form beginning to slowly fade away.
Panic immediately set in as I rushed towards the pair, second sword drawn to stab through the wrinkled and cruel witch with everything I had. I thrusted forward, only for a line of electricity to course through my body as soon as it touched her body. I fell to my knees and looked up to see a panicked expression cross over Vivian's face…before she faded away completely.
…
…
"GAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What did I tell you boy!?" She turned and swung her arm, striking me back with a blast of fire, "That THING was nothing more than my power! You came to care about such an UGLY and HORRIBLE thing that never even existed! Now all that's left is the flames I will scorch across all of you!"
"…No…" I said, getting back on my feet. "She's still here…" Damn, it was hard to bring up her name…but I wouldn't let it go…not the memory of a friend.
"That thing is gone!" Baldam shouted, hitting me with an ice shard. It didn't just fill me with deep chills and numbing electricity; there was a burning heat behind it now…her heat.
"SHE'S still here." I enunciated. Dropping my weapon, I ran forward, towards Beldam and…and her, with all my strength. I watched as she raised her hand to blast me with another tri attack, only for a blast of wind to hit her back. She looked behind her at the source, who I knew had to be Peach, and I jumped forward, my hands outstretched to reach into her black form. My hand seemed to splash into a pool of dark waters that made up Beldam's body, a dark and cold despair threatening to overtake me. But I couldn't give up! I reached, deeper and deeper, grasping at the black nothingness for anything….until I suddenly gripped someone's hand. I wretched back with all my strength, pulling out the thunder witch Marylin, and my friend Vivian, still there and still as much her own person as I was sure of.
The witch Beldam seem to shrink, becoming her crone self almost instantly and falling to her knees at the sudden loss of power.
"W-What!? No!" She looked up at us. With the hole blasted through to let everyone in, she was staring up at our entire group, including Marylin. Vivian stepped forward, prompting the crone to swipe her arm and send a small ice shard that Vivian effortlessly melted with a wave, "S-Stay back!"
"It's over sister." Vivian said simply.
"No…nothing is over! Regardless of any of this, you are nothing against the Shadow Queen! All you have done is ensure your suffering comes from her, so I hope it was worth it to struggle so pointlessly." Her wicked grin came back on her face as she sunk into the floor, her wicked cackle filling the air.
All of us stood around waiting for something to pop out, unsure if she had really retreated at all. When it was clear she wasn't around, I fell to the floor exhausted; covered in enough burns and frost bite to label me a step away from nuclear fusion…I think.
"Soren!" Peach and Vivian were crouched down to look me over as I focused on my star power.
"Sweat…Feast." Even though I felt weakened, the star power still let out a burst of healing energy that mainly fell over me and Vivian, "Whew…I knew you weren't her." Vivian giggled.
"Of course not. I'm me." I pat her on the hat, before standing back up, "Huh, where'd Marylin go?" I looked around. Vivian was right, Marylin had apparently disappeared as well.
"I'm sure she's okay." Peach reassured her.
"Should we take a moment to rest?" Koops asked, still looking at a few of my more intense burn and frost marks that hadn't quite healed yet.
"No, we're running out of time." I quickly replied.
"That vile woman did make it sound like the Shadow Queen was close to reviving." Flurrie brought up.
"Means the clock is ticking and we don't know for how long." Bobbery summarized.
"Exactly." I agreed. "From what those copies said, there shouldn't be anything between us and the Shadow Queen's throne." They were there to make sure no traitors got to the inner sanctum. If we weren't a step away, we must be at least close.
"Then let's not keep her waiting." Mowz added.
"Yeah!" Eggi cheered. As everyone took off towards the next door, I looked back, noticing Goombella had a worried look on her face.
"I'm sure Frankly's okay." I assured her.
"I hope so." She said before we moved to catch up to the group. As we did, I looked over at Peach, feeling a stone sink in my stomach at the thought of what they had needed her for. But even beyond that, they could still use her this close to the resurrection…and were they going to use Alice for the same thing?
Gareth
"Whoo!" I cheered, slightly hopping from the adrenaline rush. Lily and Mario were doubled over in exhaustion on either side of me.
Turns out the way into this place was not very hospitable. Meaning it was traps galore and we had to bust through them. The fire path had been a bit of a weird one but Mario was more equipped for this trip then I expected. Man pulled out an ice flower and reduced the hazard to nothing, revealing it was a halfway dead end. But then he pulled out a cape and I held both of them as I jumped that gap, just barely reaching the door. Then we had to cross a pit of spikes, meaning a vaulted leap to safe platforms was our main way forward; or a long jump to them for Mario. All in all, not too bad, and a good blood pumper in my opinion.
"This place is a death trap." Mario commented, wiping the sweat from his brown.
"How did Soren make it through this?" Lily asked with genuine worry and curiosity in her voice.
"Maybe he didn't?" Mario offered and I let out a single laugh of defiance to that idea.
"Keep thinking." I replied patting his shoulder. Looking forward…I noticed a weird fork in the road, "Huh…which way guys?"
"Oh no." Lily said as I'm sure she expected another trap if we took the wrong path.
"…Left path?" Mario offered and I shrugged.
"Good enough."
"S-Should we really be just hunching it?" Lily asked as she followed behind.
"Without a marker we're kinda left up to chance." I had to stop as I caught sight of a door in the distance. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out one of the small stones I had picked up in the pit and hocked it across the room, hitting the door at the back, "…No traps."
"No sensor traps anyway." Mario clarified as I strode forward confidently. Turns out I was right, not even a floor or tripwire trap, just a door at the end of the hall, "…You got lucky."
"Usually how this goes." I replied opening the door. Inside was a giant circular room, with a dragon sleeping at the center. A soon as Lily crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut and the dragon's eyes opened, "But it's usually followed by a cruel twist."
"So I noticed!"
After out fight with Bonetail, fighting a living dragon seemed almost too easy in comparison. Its scales weren't even weapon proof, leaving Lily and me to nick and cleave at its exposed parts until it struggled to stand, and giving Mario the opening to use his ice flower to clog the beasts mouth and freeze it completely form the inside.
If I remembered right, Soren took out Hooktail on his first outing…then we took out Bonetail…
"What was the last dragon's name?" I asked Lily who searched through her journal.
"Gloomtail." She answered.
"This must have been that one." I gave the dead dragon a slight kick before the entire room began to rumble. On the other end of the room, the floor gave away to reveal a set of stairs leading down. I started heading down them before Lily suddenly grabbed my arm.
"W-Wait! I don't think we're following Soren anymore."
"Really?"
"You think we would have had to fight the dragon if we were?" Mario asked mockingly. Had to admit he had a point though.
"Maybe we should turn around." Lily offered, motioning to the door we came in from…or where it HAD been; now it was just a blank wall.
"I hate this place." Mario said quietly.
"Guess we keep going."
Lily
I stood behind Gareth as we descended the stairs towards a very different door then we had been passing through the last few rooms. Unlike the ornate designs they had, this one was just a rickety looking wooden door with a single brass ring handle.
Gareth opened it up and on the other side was an old and dilapidated dungeon. The chains on the wall were rusted to a state they looked ready to snap from the smallest amount of force, and the pillories and stocks were rotted away to the point the latches couldn't shut quite right anymore.
The only thing that seemed untouched by time were the strange black chests that sat at the back of the room. Each one engraved with a picture; a Toad, a Goomba, a Koopa, and a Boo.
"…Is this…" I couldn't bring myself to say it. This HAD to be the four heroes…or maybe just their remains.
"They've gotta be bones at this point." Gareth commented.
"Or bone dust." Mario offered. I couldn't remember if bones would turn to dust after 1000 years…it sounded possible.
Gareth put his hand on the Toad box and it rattled, prompting me to jump behind Mario.
"Who's there?" A strange voice asked.
"Woah, someone's in there!?" Gareth said with a bit too much excitement in his voice given the circumstances.
"Are you the new heroes?"
"Not our favorite title. But we are here to stop the Shadow Queen and save our buddy."
"Then you must have the crystal stars!" The Goomba box spoke up, in almost the exact same voice, its box rattling twice as hard, "Then is it true!? Are the stars purified!?"
"Purified?" Mario asked.
"If 1000 years have passed then they must have been purified." The Koopa box spoke up. "Which means this is the moment we've been waiting for!"
"Only if it really worked!" The Boo box added. "Without the pure heart it might as well have been for nothing!"
"They have to have found it!" The Toad box reassured them. "Otherwise, they wouldn't be here now. We hid those stars too well." As they muttered about a circumstance I already we privy to, I thought back to the story we had heard. This must have been the curse they had been inflicted with by the Shadow Queen…cursed to live forever as spirits trapped in chests.
"It's good to hear its almost over." The Goomba chest said with a sigh.
"Gareth, we need to get these chests open." I spoke.
"Without a key that's going to be tough." Mario commented. Without missing a beat, Gareth swung his axe at the lock, smashing it to bits and making the chest pop open.
"No time to go searching for keys." As he proceeded to bust the locks on the other chest, I couldn't help but look back at the wall next to the door…with a key ring hook…and a key ring…with four keys on it.
With the last lock popped, all the chests burst open as four shadowy figures emerged and began to circle around Mario.
"Now that were free…we shall leave you with a parting CURSE as thanks!" All four of the shadows rushed through Mario who just shivered and shook with every invasion before the four figures shot up into the air…as they did, I could hear their voices echo something.
"Please finish what we could not…"
"WHY WAS I THE ONLY ONE CURSED!?" Mario asked in outright fury.
"They must have liked you." Gareth replied with a shrug.
"Do you feel any different?" I asked. He thought for a moment…and then suddenly, his body seemed to contort and shift…until he resembled a paper airplane. "…Uh huh…" I started writing immediately, "Fascinating."
"Glad I could be your next freakshow entry."