PART 2: Circle
CHAPTER 5
Castle Koopa’s courtyard was perhaps the only part of Dark Land that was filled with more vegetation than a few withering trees. It was of considerable size, positioned in the center of the castle and connected to the throne room and various hallways by large, steel doors. Patches of dirt held small plants that didn’t have much energy to grow in their sunless environment, while a fountain decorated with stone Koopatrols stood in the center of the courtyard, spewing a steady stream of water.
Several servants used the courtyard as a shortcut to other parts of the castle. Other minions who were off duty chose to loiter amongst the plants and temporarily relieve themselves of the stress of work. There were five people in the courtyard at the time, more than it usually held.
One of the five wasn’t a servant. Technically, she wasn’t even a member of the Royal Koopa Family. She sat on the edge of the fountain and let one of her fingers run through the clear water where no fish swam. But that was the way Karma liked it.
It was hard being a Yoshi/Koopa hybrid while barricaded in Castle Koopa and engaged to its slightly obese prince, but Karma always made sure to come to the fountain at least once a day. It was there that she didn’t have to bother with the incessant chatter of the Koopalings and King Koopa’s fiery rants; and aside from the mingling of servants, the only sound was the bubbling of lava in the distance. It was a calming sound, a peaceful sound, a natural sound.
She had left nature far behind after having encountered Ludwig in the woods that fateful day. That didn’t exempt her from dreaming of the old days when she wandered the world with only a backpack and her Buzzy Beetle, Jumper. It was harsh, but it was a lifestyle that was hard to give up. It was also easier to remember than the older days before she became a wanderer.
A few beams of light had managed to penetrate the dark clouds that were the area’s namesake, and shine upon the courtyard. The squirting of water contrasted with the bubbling of lava to create a mosaic of sound, settling upon Karma’s mind like a blanket upon a cold child. In her tranquility, the memories came unhindered, showing images of happy days, sad days, and days that couldn’t be assigned a specific emotion. They were memories associated with the wind ruffling individual grass blades to create a vibrating field, the tropical sun beating down upon the ocean, and a Yoshi couple walking along the beach as the water rolled past their bare feet. Karma closed her eyes and shut out the gloomy world around her, and traveled back to a world that seemed galaxies away.
She began to think of the older days.
It begins in a wooden house in a small, peaceful village. The sun sits on the horizon, a fiery red streak shooting across the sky like a frantic paintbrush struggling to splash every corner with vibrant color. Waves strike the beach and pull back into the dark depths handfuls of sand, shells, and careless crabs. Villagers throughout Dinosaur Land hurry to finish the day’s work, lugging piles of wood into their homes for the furnace and gathering fruit and meat for the night’s meal. From the forests come ambient sounds of birds shrieking and beasts growling, the source for many bedtime stories.
Inside the wooden house, a mother sets her young daughter in bed and pulls up the covers. The mother is a Yoshi, the prettiest in the village and the lust of many of her kin. Her eyes glisten an innocent blue, sparkling like aquamarine. Dull, violet spikes run down her back. Perhaps most noticeable are the pale blue speckles littering her tail, a blessing from the stars above. Her daughter is also a beauty, but in a different way. Her daughter wears a purple shell covered in spikes, bears sharp claws capable of shredding apart flesh, and occasionally emits a faint flame from her nostrils. She is a hotheaded beauty, ten years of age but wishing to be older.
“Mom,” the daughter asks in a voice tinted with sleepiness, “do I have to go to sleep?”
The mother chuckles to herself, shaking her head. “I’m afraid that it’s past your bedtime, sunshine. You’ve got to get some sleep if you want to go to the festival tomorrow.”
“But I want to stay up all night and help plan with the elders!” the daughter persists. “Please, Mom!”
“Karma… When you’re older, perhaps you’ll be able to help out with festival preparations.”
Karma isn’t satisfied with the answer, but she doesn’t press the issue further. Just as her mother is about to leave, Karma poses another question. “Mom… Why does Dad call you ‘Bright Eyes’?”
The mother stops in her tracks, amused by the question. “I honestly don’t know,” she says. “He says it’s because I’m the prettiest thing ever, but I don’t think so. There are many prettier people on Plit. There are prettier things too, like the flowers that bloom in the spring. But your father is thick-headed and won’t get that idea out of his head.”
“Does that mean that I’m not pretty?” Karma says, prompting a laugh from her mother.
“You are prettier than any flower in this world. The angels marvel at the beauty bestowed upon you, wishing that they too were that pretty. When you step outside, eyes turn to see this young girl, brave enough to be so beautiful-”
“Mom! I don’t want to be pretty. Then all the boys will follow me around and try giving me kisses.” Karma grimaces as she says this.
“Now, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” a voice says from the doorway. Karma and her mother turn to see a black-shelled Koopa standing tall and proud with a smile plastered on his perfectly rounded face. His thin, wavy hair is a light brown that doesn’t have the same luster as his wife’s but still shines in its own way. His eyes reflect the pain he underwent years ago, working long hours to protect the king of the Koopa Kingdom. He smiles at his wife and child, happy for his family and peaceful life.
“Dad, I don’t want to be pretty! All the pretty girls in the village get kissed so many times that their lips turn to jelly!”
“Karma, my dear,” the father says as he walks towards the bed, “you are not the sort of girl who will be chased by all the boys in town. But mark my words that your beauty, inside and out, will find you a boy who you will live with for the rest of your life in an eternal bond.”
“That sounds dull,” Karma says with arms crossed and her head turned to the side. “It’s just like that Metbond you told me about.”
“It’s not like that,” her father insists. “It’s your choice who you bond with, and you can still be free, side-by-side with the one you love.”
“Ray,” the mother says with a slight smile, “I think it’s time we let Karma get some sleep.”
“Bright Eyes, Karma needs-” Ray begins.
“Please, call me Atara.”
The smile on Ray’s face stretches out as he chuckles. He walks besides Atara and wraps his arm around her, staring into her eyes with a burning intensity.
The young Karma doesn’t understand the strong desire between her mother and father, but nevertheless her tomboyish demeanor subsides to make way for a fluttery sensation of love, brief but satisfying. It would be several more years before Karma would truly understand the feeling.
Karma is soon overwhelmed by sleepiness as her eyelids grow heavy and the world around her merges into a formless mist. Ray sees this and walks over besides her, lightly kissing her on the cheek and wishing pleasant dreams. Atara and Ray leave the room hand-in-hand, smiling at their daughter and then at one another. Karma tries to smile back, but she is too far into dreamland to do anything in the real world.
The world fades to black as Karma travels to another world that seems galaxies away…
Looking back, she felt pity for herself. That had been the last day she had seen her parents, and for the next three or four years she was forced to wander from town to town, picking pockets for cash and occasionally resorting to petty theft. She was never any good at it, which explained why she spent most nights in jail, but she managed to survive long enough to find herself bonded to the Prince of Darkness and even farther from her parents than before.
And now… here she was.
Karma became aware that she was the only one left in the courtyard. The conversing of servants had given way to an eerie silence that crept up her spine like a venomous spider looking for a place to sink its fangs into.
For the first time in months, she wanted to run away from Castle Koopa, to find a place where she could take shelter and free her mind from its many troubles. It didn’t matter where she went so long as it was far from the wretched, stone barricade she currently lived in.
From the corner of her eye, Karma saw a formless shadow sifting through the fountain. It crept towards her like a Dino Rino stalking its prey, unaware that its cover had already been blown.
Karma rolled her eyes. “Cut to the chase, Kamek. You’re not fooling anybody.”
The shadow began to fluctuate, twisting and bobbing as the two-dimensional plane became a three-dimensional blob. From the top of the mass a neck shot out, accompanied by the gradual formation of a featureless head. Arms and legs were the next addition, covered by what appeared to be the outline of a cloak.
It didn’t take too long for the silhouette of Kamek to fully form. Afterwards, it was only a matter of adding color, features, and details that came as the conversation between him and a disgruntled Karma unfolded.
“Sneaking up on a hapless girl in the hopes of scaring her senseless, as per usual,” Karma muttered sarcastically. “Does that ever get old for you?”
A smiling mouth popped up on Kamek’s face, with which he said, “Just trying to relive my youth, Ms. Karma. It’s a lot more fun than barking orders at fumbling apprentices.”
Karma folded her arms and snarled. When the smartest person in the castle liked playing tricks on children, you knew there was something wrong. “So I’m guessing this is all just a game? Bowser didn’t send for me this time?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that every time you show up, King Stoopa wants to lecture me on something. Either that or scientists wants to use me in some creepy experiment.” Karma pointed an accusatory finger at Kamek’s bill after it popped out of his skull. “You’re the most predictable wizard in Dark Land! What else could it be?”
Kamek adjusted a pair of newly formed spectacles over his eyes, his grayed teeth still exposed in a grin. “Your predictability in predicting is your greatest flaw, Ms. Karma,” he said in a sly whisper. “Expecting the usual over and over again eventually leads to the unusual.”
“And there you go with your philosophical trash,” Karma persisted. “If this news is going to shock me, then why don’t you spit it out instead of teasing me!”
It was then that Kamek’s mood took a nosedive for the worst. His coy grin sunk into a frown that showed off the dozens of wrinkles smothering his face. Had his spectacles not obscured his eyes, Karma would have seen a grave glisten that demanded obedience. Why Bowser was king instead of Kamek remained a mystery.
Karma followed Kamek’s example by going from frustrated to calm but nervous.
“Are you all right?” she said.
Kamek shook his head. “It’s not me that you should be concerned with, Ms. Karma, but rather the prince who has sent for you.”
Time stood still for a split second, but within that period of time Karma felt like she had been shot. For days she had tried to avoid the issue of Ludwig. Every time the thought of him popped into her head, she’d do everything within her power to get it out, including but not limited to bashing her head against the nearest wall.
Sensing her uneasiness, a bony hand came down upon her shoulder. Kamek’s pinky ring glistened a blood red in the sunlight.
“Like King Koopa, it is my duty to despise you with all my heart,” Kamek said in consolation, “but the duties of the prince hold just as much weight, if not more. The business he must discuss with you is not threatening and it would do his heart well if you followed me to his room.”
Karma’s eyes remained glazed over. She heard what Kamek said, but most of her mind was busy remembering recent events better off forgotten.
“It is an invitation that cannot be denied, I’m afraid,” Kamek continued. “He’s been waiting for this moment for two weeks. You’d best not disappoint him.”
Oh, I can and I will, Karma thought to herself. It was a mean thing to think, even by her standards, but by DAD, she would do everything in her power to avoid the past. She had already reminisced enough for one day. More was overkill.
It was the same force that made her remember the older days that led her to follow Kamek. As the short Magikoopa hobbled away on his cane, Karma walked behind him at a slow trot, hesitant of what was to come. She knew somebody was going to get hurt, and it was not a fist that was going to deal the pain.
It was life. Life is one big memory, and trying to remember it all can drive a person crazy. Was Karma crazy? She wasn’t sure. What she was certain of was that she wanted to leave the present and head back to the past, the older days, so to speak. The problem was that Ludwig liked life vice versa.
Karma was lucky. She knew how to persuade people.
~~~
“King Koopa, my liege!” A Koopatrol fell to one knee and raised a hand in salute. “I bring you news of Dark Land’s social climate.”
Bowser Fafnir Koopa, the absolute monarch of the Koopa Kingdom, gave his top general a lukewarm welcome.
“Yes, General Orgatio, what’s the current situation?” Bowser grunted, though his icy glare challenged Orgatio to keep a lid on it.
The Koopa General noticed the gaze, but he knew it unwise to hold back information. He got to his feet with the clanking of black armor and cleared his throat.
“I’ll begin with the towns closest to Castle Koopa,” Orgatio said. “The village of Vadim, once noted for its loyalty to the Koopa crown, has grown wary of our military failures. After the last war, troops in the area reported repeated attempts to organize revolts against the royal family. All were crushed in their early stages, but one…” he hesitated before mustering the courage to continue, “…managed to gather over three hundred townsmen. Vadim’s population is five hundred, sir.
“The town of Erebos, only several miles from Vadim, has nine hundred citizens. I am proud to say that their neighbors seemed to have little influence on them. There were two attempted revolts, both crushed immediately, and each barely managed to scrape the one hundred mark.
“But the next town was not so lucky,” Orgatio pressed on. “Kaldama is the farthest of the three villages located less than twenty miles from Castle Koopa. It also has the smallest population: three hundred men, children, and women as recorded last year. After last week, however, that population was reduced to five women, all of whom are currently awaiting execution by Chain Chomp. This is because several citizens somehow got their hands on firearms and killed all the troops stationed there. Weapons were handed out to all citizens with the intention of assassinating you and the rest of the royal family. The only way to prevent a full-scale coup was to barricade the town and let the citizens release their rage on each other. The results were-”
“Enough!” Bowser roared, causing the throne room’s chandeliers to shudder violently. Orgatio cut himself off mid-report.
Bowser stepped off his throne and glowered at Orgatio. For several moments he said nothing, but in his eyes he was screaming, “It’s your fault for the rebellions! If you had actually won the war, kept Ludwig from getting half his scales seared off, and killed Mario and Luigi as I instructed, then none of this would be happening.”
Instead he quietly said, “We’re not taking any more chances. If any more villages challenge my authority, block off their food supply. Shut down their stores. Shut their gates so nobody can enter and nobody can leave. Starve them for months on end, and if that doesn’t convince them, gather their young and throw them to the lava pits. Understood?”
Orgatio wanted to object. Even after years of serving a tyrant, he believed that without morals, kings would have nobody left to rule over. Unfortunately for him, King Koopa was no ordinary king. By most standards, he was crazy even as a tyrant.
Showing sociopathic tendencies since childhood, Bowser gleefully partook in acts of questionable bloodshed. Upon first taking the throne, he ordered the destruction of the island kingdom Torca. After all its citizens were killed or captured, the island was turned into a summer home for his family. He built a small abode on the coast of the five hundred mile island and never gave a second thought towards the rest of the land.
Not willing to exclude his family, Bowser was also responsible for the death of his first son, Bowser Jr. None of his current children knew who Junior was, and newer servants heard of the incident through rumors. Only Orgatio, Kamek, and Clawdia were around to witness the act. All other servants at the time died shortly afterwards due to “mysterious circumstances”.
Orgatio tried to block out the memories, but they flickered into his head like an old projector. Black-and-white, grainy images moved through his head, stopping along the way to make sure he took in every single bloody detail. He saw Bowser standing over his five-year-old son, screaming. The poor child didn’t know what was going on. Something Junior did upset his father, and the screaming got louder. Louder. My DAD, it was a cacophony of draconic roars. From the wall, Bowser removed an ornamental sword not meant for killing and-
“Do you understand?!” Bowser said.
“Yes, my liege,” Orgatio said with another salute.
“Very well, then. Do you have anything else to add to your report?”
Orgatio knew where this was going. It was a test of foolishness; how willing you were to push the king’s buttons until he seared your skin off with a blast of flames. Orgatio had many soldiers who had taken the test. Few made the passing grade.
“No, sir. That is all.”
Bowser beamed, revealing sharp canines. It was the first time the king had smiled since he had boldly proclaimed that the Mushroom Kingdom had messed with him for the last time. That was before the naval battle that destroyed fifty doomships, crippled the Koopa army, and left Prince Ludwig in a coma for two weeks.
Afterwards, he locked himself up in the throne room, and anybody who bothered him left with one less head. It was a stroke of luck that Orgatio wasn’t one of his latest victims. He came to deliver the report just as his king’s depression was whittling away.
“Well, General Orgatio,” Bowser said in as pleasant a tone as a tyrant can manage, “it looks like our state of affairs is in very good condition. If you have nothing else to say, then you are dismissed.”
Orgatio knew he had more to say. Hundreds of rebellions across Dark Land were being plotted, and they couldn’t be resolved through starvation and massacres. But alas, King Koopa would not budge from his bloody stance, and Orgatio knew better than to try.
With one last salute, the general turned around to leave.
As he approached the door, it opened to make way for one of Bowser’s more questionable minions: Trigger Guy. He was one of the lower generals of the Koopa Army, but you couldn’t tell by looking at him. Though he garbed himself in a purple cloak and black mask, and his eyes shone a frightening red, he resembled a macabre doll that a young boy would sleep with. His speech impediment made him even more laughable, which didn’t help him any when threatening to burn down your village.
“Oh, masterly master that has mastered the art of mastering!” Trigger Guy blabbed as he fell flat on his face. Even his salute was comical, a small stub waving enthusiastically in the air. “I am the bringer that bringingly brings new news of your latest, but not too late, prisoner that prisons away in the prisoning prison of prisonly prisonliness.”
Despite the dozens of suffixes being thrown around, King Koopa understood what was being said. His smile grew several inches wider. “She has arrived, then?”
“Indeed she has, my kingly king who kings over this kinged land of landness.” Orgatio wasn’t even sure if Trigger Guy knew what he was saying. “But that’s not the end of this ended ending that ends our darkened darkness that is dark, as the prisoner that prisons away in awayness possesses a possession that is importantly important in its importance to you.”
“Wonderful!” Bowser exclaimed, laughing hysterically at a joke only he and the demented Anti Guy got. “Is it the object that I have yearned for all these years?”
“Of course its courseness is truly true! This object, without any objected objections, is…”
Orgatio had heard enough. While Trigger Guy yammered to his hearts content, the top general walked out the throne room and into the hall. His next duty was to collect reports from the castle guards on the previous night.
Instead, he went to the castle library. It wasn’t often that he needed to do research, but at the moment his mind was buzzing with questions that needed answers. Something wasn’t right, and the sooner he found out what it was, the sooner he might know what to do about it.