The Final Chapter: The Thousand Year Door

Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toadsworth, and Lana T. were gathered in the main foyer of Peach Castle late this evening. Peach had a somber expression upon her soft face, and Daisy wasn't exactly looking overly optimistic, either. Toadsworth was not in a good mood either, and apparently he had been helping himself quite generously to some brandy this evening.

"So they still have not returned..." Peach sighed, looking downward with eyes of disappointment.

"That is correct, Princess." Toadsworth informed, a fist behind his back and the other clasping his cane. "In fact, you two are the first to return home! And, not to be a bug, but rather late I'd say! Yes, rather late indeed."

"Really? That's strange that Luigi isn't back yet." Daisy pondered, looking upward in thought with her hand supporting her chin. Her fingers were softly placed upon the cheek of her thoughtful expression. "I wonder what he's doing all by himself so late at night?"

Peach said nothing, remaining somber in the worried silence. She couldn't quite decide what to say.

"Don't worry, Princess." Lana T. assured, with a confident fist. "I'll be on the lookout for them all night! Why, I'll bet they'll be back before dawn!"

"Thank you, Lana." Peach thanked, with a nod. She appreciated the encouragement.

"Princess!" A small and feminine voice called.

A pink exclamation mark had formed above the head of Princess Peach. She turned towards the direction of the voice. Up above the red carpeted stairs, flying out through the crack of the slightly open brown double doors leading to the living quarters, was Navi the Fairy.

"Oh, Navi!" Peach softly smiled. "It is nice to see you again."

She flew over with a chime, hovering between everyone.

"Likewise, Princess. Has... Master Link and the others returned as well?" Navi questioned. Her phrase lacked the usual punch, as if she already knew she would receive a negative response.

"I am afraid not." Peach declined, shaking her head no.

"I see..." Navi frowned, looking downward and rather dismal. There was a short pause.

"Look, let's just head to bed for now and regroup in the morning." Daisy suggested with a hand, exchanging glances with the others. "There's not much point in just standing around, worrying this late."

"Capital idea, Daisy!" Toadsworth praised, with a cheery fist. "Perhaps we could send out a search party in the morning?"

"I do not think that will be necessary." Peach dismissed. She faced Toadsworth before continuing her speech. "Based on what we saw happen to them, I doubt a search party will be very effective."

"You mean those portals, right?" Navi inquired, fist on her chin in thought. "Yeah, I haven't ever seen anything quite like that."

"You guys should go and get some sleep." Lana T. advised. "I'll let you know straight away if I see anything, ok?"

"Well, alright." Peach submitted, with a soft nod. "Thank you, Lana."

"My pleasure." Lana T. replied, with a smile and a bow.

With that, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toadsworth, and Navi each made their way up to the second floor. They exchanged brief words, mostly about the cellphones they had purchased. Lana T. made her way outside, looking up at the starry night sky all by her lonesome.

"Another nightshift, huh." Lana T. sighed, exhausted already. "*sigh*... I hate working."

She continued to examine the starry night sky, the vast expanse of heavenly bodies twinkling up above. Her lance rested against the stone bridge railing beside her as she rested her elbows on top of the railing while leaning forward. Despite being so close to Mushroom City, Peach Castle was far enough away that one could appreciate a fair amount of stars on a clear evening without being subject to too much light pollution.

"Did that blonde lady really soar across the stars for all of that time?" Lana T. asked herself, bewildered by the mere thought. "Can that really be true?"

She continued to contemplate the phenomenon, eventually sighing once again as she remembered that she would be spending another evening alone on patrol.

/

"Awawawa! Awawawawa!" Mario cried, kicking his feet while still holding onto the Treasure as he was dragged through a strange, colourful, and chaotic vortex by the large golden hand that had caught him earlier. "Whoooooooa-ho-ho-hoo!"

He was eventually dragged through a solid black focal point, and everything went black and silent for just a moment. He then had found himself being tossed onto the floor of a massive, dark chamber.

"Ow!" Mario cried, lifting his head and shaking it. "Hoo..."

Mario was so stunned by what he saw, that he didn't even get up just yet. The chamber itself was absolutely breathtaking in nature -it was truly awe-inspiring. The floors, the walls, and the ceiling appeared to be endless, featuring countless amounts of twinkling stars. It would have felt like you were floating in the middle of the night sky, if it weren't for a few other features of the room.

A very thin white line traced out the floor of the circular shaped room, and an absolutely massive red door of gold design with five-heart shaped hollow indents rested with the doors base right on that thin white line. Of the five hearts on the door, two sets of two hearts were on both the left and the right sides. The fifth heart shaped indent was located top and centre, and together the five of them formed a shape that was sort of like a negative parabola.

Directly in the centre of the circular room was a short and flat pedestal made of grey stone. There was nothing particularly interesting about it other than what its purpose may have been.

In the room stood Link and Rosalina. Link was hatless and was wearing the blue champions tunic he had on when he first encountered them. Much to his approval, he had all of his equipment back as well. Rosalina was once again wearing that lovely torqoise-blue dress she had been wearing before they entered the Spirit Realm. Much to her dismay, she no longer was wearing the star earrings or jewelled crown.

Also in the strange chamber was a glowing light, which was almost like a four pointed star. It glistened as it hovered up and down, twirling in place and extending and contracting its four points as it rotated. Tiny orbs of light rained from its presence as it hovered in place.

Apparently the golden hand had come from this glowing light form, and having already let go of Mario, it shrunk and retracted back into the strange light form before disappearing entirely.

Mario grunted as he pushed himself off of the starry ground, wiping the dirt off of his overalls and sighing in relief.

"Haha!" Mario laughed, running towards his friends as he realized they had passed the trials.

The light form rose and sank steadily as it spoke. It had that same, familiar, youthful voice that had been guiding them. "Mario! What were you thinking?"

"Huh? Hey, is that you?" Mario inquired, rubbing the back of his head in confusion as he peered at the light form ahead.

"What happened, Mario?" Link questioned, with a hand. "We were worried waiting for you in here."

"We noticed that you weren't coming through, and then we saw only your Spirit Vessel passing through..." Rosalina explained, her expression somber as she looked semi downward with folded arms. "We thought you were a goner for sure."

"Oh, sorry to worry you guys... But that guy we met, Canuck T... his pet deer, Dolly, saved me." Mario explained, shifting his attention between them. "She was really hurt, I couldn't just leave her."

"You almost failed the mission for us over a deer?" Rosalina attacked, while pointing a sharp finger at Mario, rather flippant. "That's pretty stupid, don't you think?"

"Luckily you were close enough to the portal, so that I was able to grab you. Otherwise you would have failed the trials, right at the very end!"

"Sorry..." Mario quietly apologized, not making eye contact.

"You wanted to bring her back to her owner before she died, didn't you?" Link inquired, showing some sympathy.

"Mm." Mario confirmed, still not making eye contact. "I promised him that I would bring her back, and she saved my life. I feel bad for not being able to return the favour in some way."

"But isn't the Spirit Realm destroyed now?" Rosalina questioned, her expression somewhat lazy as she contemplated. "So they're like, not around anymore anyway, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not..." Mario replied, somewhat somber. "But I wanted them to at least be together for the end."

"Mario..." Link softly spoke, a soft smile on his face. "You have a good heart, friend."

"Well, I suppose all is well that ends well... But still, you need to be more careful! That act of compassion had nearly cost us *that*!"

Mario, Rosalina, and Link directed their attention to the glowing golden orb resting on the floor a few feet away.

"Oh, right. The Treasure." Rosalina noted.

"We've succeeded in completing the trials, correct?" Link questioned, facing the light form a with a single hand on his hip. With a travellers sword and shield on his back, he was feeling like himself again. "I believe its time you start explaining all of this to us."

"I suppose it finally is that time, isn't it? Well then, where to begin..."

Rosalina, Link, and Mario listened very carefully to the mysterious light form.

"We are currently in what is known as "The Shrine of Good and Evil"."

"The Shrine of Good and Evil?" Link inquired, puzzled.

"Yes. This door that you see over here serves as a barrier to what can be considered the realm that is "Beyond Good and Evil"."

"What does that even mean?" Mario inquired, scratching his head in confusion.

"I don't know, exactly. But behind this door, is said to lie a powerful Demon that will one day thrust our world into chaos."

Rosalina gasped, her eyes widening as she had a total flashbulb memory.

{"So many books..." Rosalina calmly gawked, her expression lazy. "Where does one begin?"

The focal point of the room was a round wooden table which just so happened to have a booked haphazardly sprawled on its surface. Curious, Rosalina approached it. She gasped as she noticed it was not written in English, but instead in strange characters and symbols. Her eyes widened as she discovered that she actually knew how to read this.

"I-I can read this?" Rosalina gawked, her mouth remaining open in surprise. It was such a peculiar feeling, realizing that you are able to read something that at first sight appeared to be gibberish. Her heart was racing. She hesitated, but eventually proceeded to read the book:

Regarding the Legend:

"One thousand years after she is born, the Princess of the Galaxies will crash into their world, releasing the energy of the Goddess upon impact. This energy will awaken the demon that sleeps below. Their world will soon after be thrust into chaos.

It is then only a matter of time before their world is annihilated by shadow, destroyed in a great cataclysm. The day the cosmic Princess awakens, marks the beginning of a swift and cruel end for their world."

"H-Huh?" Rosalina gasped, her expression full of fear and worry. A chill ran down her spine. "A swift and cruel end? Annihilated by shadow?"}

"Powerful... Demon? Chaos?" Rosalina inquired with a feeble tone, practically trembling with fear.

"That's right. After the Cosmic Princess arrives in our world, the seal on this door containing the Demon will start to weaken. And if the seal on this door is broken, that-"

"-Marks the beginning of a swift and cruel end for our world." Rosalina concluded with conviction, completing the sentence unwarranted.

"Oh? So you did read that text, after all? Perhaps that is why you had decided to trust me earlier."

Memories rushed back to the three of them:

{"Never mind what I am! I brought you three here so that you could prove to me that you've got what it takes!"

"Got what it takes? To do what?" Mario questioned, his teeth clenched as he surveyed pointlessly in the darkness. Link and Rosalina were more relaxed, having accepted that they could not find the source of the voice.

"What it takes to help me save the world! A terrible, malevolent force is rising from the depths... If something isn't done, your world will be destroyed in a great cataclysm!"

"What? Seriously?" Mario gawked in horror, believing it immediately.

"Don't be so quick to believe them..." Link calmly warned, his back facing Mario as he stared into nothing. "Unless of course, you speak of Ganon."

"No." Rosalina declined. Her tone was much more serious than usual. She had captivated Link and Mario. She was thinking about what she had read earlier, what she had meant to tell everyone before they had been transported here. "We should believe them... just... trust me for now."}

"Wait, what? Slow down." Mario interfered, unable to follow. "I'm so lost."

"I read some strange book back at Peach Castle the other night." Rosalina recalled, her expression pensive. "It was written in some... strange language that I could somehow understand, and it was left open as if someone had recently been reading it."

"Oh yeah, that was me. I was trying to get you to find it, actually. Turned out to be easier than I had thought!"

"What do you mean by "strange language"?" Link inquired, curious.

"I don't know..." Rosalina started, frowning. "I couldn't understand it, but I could read it. It was very strange."

"It was written in the language of the Lumas, as a matter of fact. They are sentient cosmic beings, like me!"

"Lumas..." Rosalina muttered to herself, the word somehow oddly familiar to her.

"Anyway, lets get you all on the same page here. The text Rosalina had stumbled across had said, *ahem*:

Regarding the Legend:

"One thousand years after she is born, the Princess of the Galaxies will crash into their world, releasing the energy of the Goddess upon impact."

"This energy will awaken the demon that sleeps below. Their world will soon after be thrust into chaos."

"It is then only a matter of time before their world is annihilated by Shadow, destroyed in a great cataclysm. The day the cosmic Princess arrives at their world, marks the beginning of a swift and cruel end for their world."."

"What the hell?" Mario barked, flinching back with an expression of horror. "That sounds really bad! What's all this about?"

"Releasing the energy of the Goddess upon impact..." Link repeated, in deep thought with his fist clenched at his chin. "Is this referring to the Goddess Stars?"

"Very good, Link! That's exactly what that means. But it's not just that."

"What do you mean?" Rosalina challenged, suddenly confused. "The energy that was around me is what all of the Goddess Stars are made out of, right?"

The light figure then proceeded to carefully explain to them something very important.

"Yes, but that same energy is also what has caused the seal on this door to begin weakening. The seal on this door has been strong and active since you were born, and has successfully constrained the Demon, who has been dormant within the realm of what's Beyond Good and Evil for the last one thousand years. Again, that realm is what is sealed beyond this door, and it has been sealed for the last one thousand years. For this reason, this door is called "The Thousand Year Door"."

"The Thousand Year Door..." Mario repeated, the phrase awe-inspiring to him.

"Mm. But now, thanks to the released Goddess Energy which previously had surrounded Princess Rosalina as she travelled through space for the last one thousand years, the seal on the Thousand Year Door has begun to weaken."

"This doesn't just mean that this Demon will eventually break free. The seal was also preventing the Demon from getting stronger. The seal was keeping it dormant. But with the seal now weakening, it not only means that the Demon will soon become free from that realm. It also means that it is now awakened, and now has a chance to become even more powerful in the meantime!"

"Wait, so there's a big demon shadow thing behind this sealed Thousand Year Door, and it's gonna get stronger and stronger until the seal breaks completely? And then its gonna bust out and wreck havoc?" Mario summarized, trying to understand.

"That's right, but it's actually even worse than that. If we just sit around and wait, the Demon will become so strong that once its finally free, it will be completely unstoppable. As the text suggests, it will truly be a swift and cruel end for our world..."

There was a short silence. Despair clung to the air of the chamber for a moment.

"So what are we to do?" Link inquired, his expression determined. "This is a most pressing matter."

"It's simple, really. We open the door ourselves, by breaking the seal. We get in there, and vanquish the Demon before it gets too powerful for us to handle."

"So we're gonna break the seal early ourselves and beat the crap out of that Demon, huh?" Mario summarized, pounding his fists together. "Alright! I like the sound of that!"

"Beats waiting around and having it destroy us, I guess." Rosalina admitted. "But what a pain."

"For someone who is technically the catalyst for this whole catastrophe, you're awfully calm about this." Link sniped, scratching his head with the other hand on his hip.

"Well it's not like I had any idea..." Rosalina pouted, her cheeks slightly pink and puffed up in cute anger.

"No matter." Link dismissed, returning his attention to the light form. "Now I suppose that begs the question: how do we go about opening this door?"

"*snicker*"

"Is... something funny?" Link inquired, his head tilted.

"No, sorry, I've just been waiting so long to tell you guys this... *Ahem*. We gather the "Crystal Hearts"."

"The Crystal Hearts?" Rosalina repeated, looking semi skyward in thought.

"They're a sort of... magical item, I suppose. We need five of them in order to break the seal on the Thousand Year Door."

"Five, huh?" Mario contemplated the proposition, rubbing his chin in thought. "Well, okay... So where are they and how do we get them?"

"Before I explain that, let me back up just a bit. You guys already know that you were just in a Spirit Realm, right? Well actually, everyone has a Spirit Realm."

"Wait, what?" Rosalina barked, already confused. "We all have Spirit Realms?"

"That's right! Everyone does. You all have a Spirit, but that's not exactly easy to explain... I guess the best way to describe the Spirit Realms, is that they are physical manifestations and interpretations of how a given individual views the world."

"What on earth does that mean?" Mario cried, tossing his hands in incomprehension.

"It means that depending on how a person views the world, their Spirit Realm will be changed to best reflect that viewpoint." Link described, capturing everyones attention. "Since we all view the world in a unique way, we all should have different Spirit Realms. For example, if I perceived the world as nothing but a war zone between groups of power, I bet my Spirit Realm might look like a battlefield of some sort."

"Nice going, Link! That's a spot on analogy!"

"Really? That's so neat!" Mario smiled, amazed by the idea. He proceeded to drool in fantasy, imagining himself diving into a lake of pasta. "I bet my Spirit Realm is a land of food..."

"Hehe..." Rosalina giggled, blushing shyly. "Mine would be one big, fluffy bed..."

"Hahaha! Moving on, how might these Spirit Realms be connected to the Crystal Hearts?" Link questioned, with a hand.

"Well, as I've said, everyone has a Spirit Realm. But some people hold such a twisted and distorted viewpoint, that their Spirit Realm becomes a Shadow Realm."

"A Shadow Realm?" Rosalina inquired.

"That's right. People of considerable evil possess Shadow Realms, not Spirit Realms."

"I'm gonna venture a guess and say that we're going to need to do something about these Shadow Realms if we want to get our hands on a Crystal Heart." Link ventured, folding his arms and stepping back a single step.

"That's exactly right! We need to destroy the Shadow Realms of evil people by stealing the Treasure located within their Shadow Realm. It's just like what you guys just did, but for real!"

"Okay, I get the whole destroying the Shadow Realms or whatever by stealing the Treasure bit, but how does that give us a Crystal Heart?" Mario asked, rubbing his head in perplexity.

"That's the best part! You see, real Treasures aren't just some random, glowing thingie. A real treasure is a physical representation of what caused the person who owns the Shadow Realm to become evil in the first place! It's the very source and cause of their twisted and distorted desires, serving as the heart of their Shadow Realm! That, is what it means to be a Treasure."

"So by stealing it, we basically eliminate the source and cause of their evil, and then their Shadow Realm starts to collapse?" Rosalina attempted to explain, speaking very slowly.

"Something like that. And through the destruction of an evildoers Shadow Realm, they become a better person. They have a change of heart. And from that change of heart, a Crystal Heart is born."

"That's... unbelievable." Mario awed, amazed by the idea. "Can we really turn bad guys into good guys?"

"Maybe... but truthfully, I've never done it."

"You've never done this before?" Rosalina exclaimed, almost spitting in disbelief. "But you sounded so confident about everything."

"That's because I have been taught all of this by the Goddess! And now I am teaching it to her chosen Three, who I am destined to assist as they gather the five Crystal Hearts and save the world from the great Demon that is sealed beyond the Thousand Year Door!"

"So you mean to say, that the three of us have been picked by the Goddess herself, to find evildoers, destroy their Shadow Realms, gather the Crystal Hearts, open the Thousand Year Door, and vanquish this "Demon" before it's too late?" Link summarized, pulling on his fingers with each point.

"In a nutshell, yes. That is your destiny. To rid the world of evil and save it from great destruction. What you described is just how you'll go about doing that."

"This is... a lot to take in." Rosalina frowned, her downcast expression somber, arms folded.

"Look, it's fine by me." Mario agreed, pounding his fists together. "There's no doubt Grodus has a Shadow Realm. I'm gonna destroy it no matter what!"

"Ganon as well, no doubt." Link added, hand on chin in thought.

"I wonder who else has Shadow Realms..." Rosalina pondered.

"Let's not worry about that just yet. There's one more thing we need to do before we leave."

"And what might that be?" Link inquired.

"Princess Rosalina, grab that Treasure right there Mario was so nice to steal for us."

"Me? But why do I have to do it?" Rosalina complained, almost defeated already.

"Grr -because you're the Princess of the Galaxies! Quit being so lazy and grab it already!"

"What a pain..." Rosalina complained, walking all the way over to the Treasure.

She lifted the golden, glowing orb off of the starry ground, apparently not very impressed by it. "Now what?"

"Take it over to that grey pedestal right there. Stand atop the Pedestal, and hoist it in the air!"

"Well, okay..." Rosalina calmly surrendered, doing just that. She stood atop the pedestal, preparing to lift it. "This feels silly."

There was no comment. After a brief period of silence, she hoisted the Treasure into the air.

With an oddly sacred hum, the grey pedestal lit up with a circle of what appeared to be an ancient language. The figures rotated, with Rosalina standing in the centre.

"What's happening?" Rosalina questioned, admittedly growing a bit nervous.

"Shh. You'll see."

The golden, glowing orb proceeded to pulsate. The Thousand Year Door reacted to the pulsing orb, all of the intricate designs upon it lighting up in much the same way the pedestal beneath Rosalina had. All of them watched in awe as the orb levitated above Rosalina's hoisted hands, bobbing up and down and pulsating. Eventually, it shattered into a billion fragments, and a sharp ring of light raced outward from the point of its destruction.

What remained, was an old and tattered piece of paper. It was torn at the edges, divided into quadrants, and rather large. It looked like a blank map.

"That's the Magical Map."

"The Magical Map?" Rosalina inquired, puzzled.

"That's right. With this, we will be able to track down and navigate through the Shadow Realms. It's our ticket to getting the Crystal Hearts!"

"This is..." Link started, unable to find the right words.

"This is the start of one crazy journey!" Mario grinned, clenching his fists in excitement. He stuck his hand out in the middle of their gathering, palm down. "Join me!"

"We... we can do this!" Rosalina cheered, rather excited as she placed her hand on his.

"I am with you all one hundred percent." Link consented, placing his hand on theirs.

The glowing light form hovered above their joined hands.

"I hope you guys are ready. Because with this, we are officially a team! This is going to be one hell of an adventure! We'll rid the world of its evil, and save it from destruction! Now let's go and gather the Crystal Hearts!"

In unison, they raised their hands with a loud cheer: "Lets do this!"

~ SUPER MARIO - Book I - The Princess of the Galaxies ~

END