Super Paper Mario
The origins of Bleck's minions.
Rated K+.
Contains spoilers
Origins
.n.a.s.t.a.s.i.a.
bleck
It had been a week since I had begun to read the Dark Prognosticus, a week since I turned my father's grand marble castle into a dark fortress, a week since I had killed the man who took my love away, and a week since I had started to search for her. He had told me that I would never find her, but the newly-obtained power from the Prognosticus, along with the magical cane that had materialized in my hand after I murdered my father, made me confident and impulsive. As one of the Tribe of Darkness, I was already born with the power of magic, but I could do so much more with the spirit of the book in me.
However, Bleck's voice of doubt continued to irk me while I tried to figure out a way to find her. My split personalities raged inside me, trying to fight for control over my mind. When Blumiere was in charge, I was more optimistic about the future, like I was when alongside her; but when Bleck dominated, I was always second-guessing everything I did if it was not stated in the Prognosticus. I would always find a way where my plans couldn't work. Since I had only changed recently, the two inside of me seemed to be on equal planes. I guessed that as time went on, Blumiere would fade away, leaving only Bleck to inhabit my consciousness.
Even if my spirit's enhanced powers give you the ability to travel dimensions, how are you going to find her, trial and error? Do you even have a clue as to how many dimensions exist? Bleck asked suddenly while I scanned to pages of the book on anything about space, time, or dimension travel.
I cringed when I heard it yell at me from the inside. That was probably my greatest obstacle: finding her exact location, and if I did find her, what if I was too late? What if the deterioration curse my father put on her killed her by the time I came? That was his classic way of getting rid of people, the Hex of Gradual Death. It usually simply made the victim believe he or she was poisoned, but no antidote could cure their symptoms. The spell was easy to reverse, but it could only be done by one of the race that inflicted the curse. Not only those of the Tribe of Darkness could cure her, but also ones from the Tribe of Ancients. I hoped with all my strength that she would land in a dimension where an Ancient resided.
I came to several passages about going to other dimensions. It was not stated, however, how to get to the other dimensions. I assumed that I would have to practice my space-time traveling skills. I closed the book, and, using my magic, I teleported the Dark Prognosticus back to its pedestal.
I walked out of the castle, which I now named Castle Bleck after my new identity, and into the surrounding fields. The darkness of my palace slowly but steadily consumed the surrounding area. In another year, the entire world would be mine. All living things that fell under this darkness would become my eternal servants. Because I despised my own family with such fury, any of the Tribe of Darkness would be instantly killed when the spirit of the Dark Prognosticus went over them. At this point in time, my influence only reached an acre outside the original castle grounds.
Once I reached the creeping line of darkness, I decided to take a rest. I had walked quite far, though I probably should have used magic to float. I picked a small cave in a mountain face, and sat down against the cool stone wall.
I closed my eyes and listened to the dripping water off the stalactites echo in the cave. Quiet and repeating sounds such as this always helped me clear my thoughts, even when they were simply a jumbled mess of vengeance and anger. For a fleeting moment, I felt like she was near again, feeling the calm she brought me spread over myself.
When the thoughts of my past came up, I started to remember her voice, her touch, her scent, and almost everything about her.
"Timpani…," I muttered to myself.
A loud, at least in the echo-filled cave, flutter of wings broke me from my trance. The sound stopped for a second, then picked up again, like a small bird was stuck. It did not seem like whatever had gotten trapped freed itself because the flapping continued.
I stood up and turned in the direction to where the noise was originating.
"I commands light." I used a glow orb spell to see what was wrong. The blue crystal on the end of my cane illuminated. A colony of bats flew out of the cave once the orb was made, but one stayed behind. The single left-behind had its left wing stuck in a cave crevice. I reached up and gently pulled the bat loose, and it flew away.
There's still some common good in you, even when I'm not telling you what's actually right, Blumiere praised.
"The ghost of the Dark Prognosticus will soon completely consume this member of the Tribe of Darkness. Bleck will make sure of it!" Bleck answered aloud for him. The spirit was growing stronger than my Dark but mortal soul. He started to take over my physical reactions. Blumiere scoffed anyway, smug; he seemed to be confident that he would still survive one way or another.
Later that night, an unfamiliar voice woke me suddenly.
"Um, hello?"
My eyes shot open. I used my magic to grab my can from the other side of the room, and I jumped out of bed. Pointing the crystal end at the intruder, I started to charge my energy for an attack.
"Who dares invade Castle Bleck?" As the magic powered up, the light emitting from the crystal revealed my uninvited guest.
"I'm not here to attack, 'K?" the short girl replied. She pushed her pink hair back over her ear. "I'm here to help. Thanks for helping me today. If I didn't get out, I might have starved or something. I owe my life to you."
I relaxed my position. "You are the bat I helped today?"
"Yeah. I'm, like, pledging my loyalty for you. For the rest of my game." Although it was hard to see with only the moonlight and the glow of my cane, it seemed that one could mistake this bat girl for one of the Tribe of Darkness from her blue skin. This, of course, was impossible due to the darkness that surrounded my castle.
"Do you have a name?"
"I'm Nastasia. And you are…?"
"Lord Blumiere— I mean Count Bleck."
Nastasia became my first minion.
The next morning, she made herself my secretary and assistant, helping with whatever needed to be done. Often times, I would see her staring at me longingly, and I knew that she had feelings for me. I told her everything about what I was doing, however, so I made it clear that my heart belonged to someone else, even if that someone's game had already ended. Being my first minion, I told only her my whole tale. I needed at least one person near me to know what happened that made me set in motion the Dark Prognosticus.
I asked her once, "How and why did you become a person?"
"When you saved me, I kinda felt that you had something on your mind about love. I dunno how, but I got some magic from you probably, and I used that to turn myself into this." Nastasia gestured to herself with the hand she was not using for writing. "I, um, wanted to help fill the hole that was left when you lost love or something."
"You are pledging loyalty to me out of love and compassion?"
"Yeah. I know that you've already told me that I can't fill her spot, but I'm sticking with you 'til the end. You saved my life, I'll help yours."
One night when it felt like there was no evil business to be done, Nastasia took it upon herself to create herself an outfit. All this time, she wore the simplest of white dresses with her pink hair falling to her shoulders. Before as a bat, she had amazing hearing, but average eyesight. Once in a humanoid form, her hearing was normal, but her sight was terrible.
After raiding through my mother's walk-in-closet, which had stayed untouched after the darkness consumed the castle, Nastasia came out completely different.
"So um, what do you think? Do I look enough like a secretary?" With a cuffed blouse with a large brooch at the top center, grey pantsuit bottom, and white knee-high boots, she looked like a professional woman. Her hair was in a simple bun at the top of her head, and she wore red-rimmed triangular glasses. I couldn't have cared less, however.
"Bleck finds you adequate." I commented indifferently. She seemed disheartened at my apathy, but Nastasia tried to hide it. I knew she was trying to impress me with her outfit, but I still quested for my lost lover.
With a swish of my cape, I returned to the study to read more into the Dark Prognosticus. She followed.
After a few minutes of filing papers of plans and theories of dimensional travel, Nastasia asked me what the next step of the prophecy was.
Without looking up from the book, I answered, "We must find a defeated man of a high rank in another dimension." She stifled a gasp; I had told her of my inexperience as a dimension traveler. "Bleck must follow the Prognosticus."
Nastasia nodded. "I know. Just, um, be careful and don't end us up in, like, the Underwhere."
I bit my lip and raised my cane, creating an individual box around myself and Nastasia. I let the volume down back on its pedestal. With a shine in the blue gem, I teleported us to the second minion.
Author Note: Thanks for reading! I started this when I was getting really stumped when trying to write Chapter 3 of Somewhere. Origins will probably have only 4 chapters for Bleck's four minions. I'm almost done writing the second chapter (I won't tell why the are looking for). Also, I may edit Somewhere a little bit to make it a little more accurate to the game and add different time-lapse signs. Please read and review!
-Tea Bag's Hex