Great story. I can't wait to find out what that mysterious trance thing is that Cel does (that thing where she rises off the ground and her hair changes colors..)
Thank you! I was wondering if people were reading this...
PHASE 34
A Vicious Piece of Mind
(From a great distance, the Shivering Mountains stood out as a brown, jagged background. But in reality, much of the higher parts of the mountain were a freezing landscape that would chill the bone. Fortunately, travelers did not have to cross the higher parts of the mountains…they could cross through the DK Pass, which despite popular belief, stood for Dalka Krai…)
Wes: Oh no. What is THAT in the distance?
Jonas: Erm, ah. Those are the Shivering Mountains. They cover much of the western part of Sub-Con, and provide a natural border with the Mushroom Kingdom.
Wes: Shivering?
Celistar: Yeah, it’s probably cold.
Jonas: Ah, only the top is cold. The rest of it is just rough, erm, rock.
Wes: We’re going to have to climb over a mountain? Can’t we go AROUND?
Jonas: Ah, no. If we attempted to go around the, erm, south, we would have to cross the Glare Desert, which is much too deadly. The heat is only rivaled by, erm, northern Sarasaland. And traveling to the north of the mountians would take much too long.
Wes: Climbing a mountain will be quicker?
Jonas: No, but we can take DK Pass. It cuts right through the mountains, and crosses over into the Otapuku Meadows.
Wes: Oh.
Celistar: So stop complaining.
Wes: …
Jonas: Erm…Princess Celistar…you seem to be in a rather bad, erm, mood…
Celistar: It’s not a bad mood. I’m just starting to see things more clearly now.
Jonas: …Ah, anyway, we’ll first need to get across the Melkor Hills, and the Pass is to the southeast.
Cel: Yes. We can stop by old E.Gadd’s place on the way there.
Wes: Ah! We could get an airship there…
Cel: He stopped building those years ago, ever since the Bel-Nierra Wars.
Jonas: Erm, I’m not sure if that’s true, I saw some in erm, Toad Town…
Cel: Some people build illegal mini-airships.
Jonas: Ah, oh…
Celistar: In any point, Elvin can give us some supplies…
Wes: Taking back your decision, eh?
Celistar: (Sigh)…
(The sun rises, and nearly ten miles away, Mushroom Castle shines in the morning light…yet…)
Penter: Where…are…THEY?
Toad Guard: I’m sorry sir; the princess, the Koopa, and the cloaked being are gone.
Penter: Is there no trace of them?
Toad Guard 2: No sir. I saw them all talking yesterday, but I didn’t know…
Penter: Urgh…you…idiot…!
(hatedeathkillcutdownsliceriptearshredkillstab)
Penter: I…!...!!!
(stabkillshredtearripslicedowncutkilldeathhate)
Penter: Murgh…!!!
Toad Guard: Um, sir? Are you okay?
Penter: I…I…yes. Yes. No…no problems. Find her immediately. Question the people in town, and…
Toad Guard 2: Sir…there was another with them that is now missing…the mouse…Kan…I believe…he was called…
(A third Toad Guard appears)
Toad Guard 3: Kan? The Squeek? He left an hour ago. He headed west…
Penter: West…? West…
(SHREDTEARKILLSLICERIPCUTDOWNEKAKDJI)
Penter: AH…!
Toad Guard 2: Sir?
Penter: GET OUT OF MY FACE! Find that [darn] mouse and torture him until he says something! If he says he knows nothing, torture him until he dies! And send another group after that princess!
Toad Guard: Sir, I’m sorry, but I don’t know if you are truly in the correct rank to make these orders-
Penter: DO YOU KNOW NOTHING? With the queen and the princess gone, I am in authority as the King’s Advisor (or I was…)…now find them!
(The Toad Guards, although highly suspicious, leave quickly. Penter falls back…into the throne…and faints away into a dream.)
(It is an odd dream. In it, Penter wakes up in the Forever Forest, next to a river. He is burned from some kind of explosion. He crawls along into the woods, and slowly manages to get up. He heads east, unsure of where he is going, forgetting that he should be finding Princess Celistar. Instead he finds a cave. A warm blow of air is coming from it. Penter crawls inside. Indeed, it is warm, but he is not alone. Some other odd presence inhabits the cave. But it may not be a physical one. Penter crawls in deeper. The air gets warmer…)
TO BE CONTINUED…