Bowser walked slowly down the hall. Kammy was on the left of him, and Kamek was on his right. Bowser opened a door and walked into a spacious room. The room had a long rectangle table with four seats on the left, four on the right, and one at each end. Bowser sat on an end chair, Clawdia sat on the chair on Bowser’s left, Morton sat to his right. Larry sat next to Morton, Iggy sat next to Larry, and Wendy was seated next to Iggy. Clawdia had an empty seat next to her. Lemmy sat down and placed his ball in the empty seat nest to Clawdia. Roy sat next to Lemmy. The seat on the end was empty.
Bowser stood up and sternly asked, “Does anyone know where Ludwig and Yoshibutt are?”
Lemmy raised his hand.
“Yes, Lemmy?” questioned Bowser.
“I might know where they are!” Lemmy was smiling.
“Where?”
“About five minutes ago, Ludwig was with Karma in the garden…”
“Kamek, would you go get Ludwig and Yoshibutt?” Bowser asked. “I need to talk to Ludwig.”
“Yes, Lord Bowser,” replied Kamek, walking
away slowly…
Chapter One: Nightfall
Kamek saw Ludwig and Karma by the fountain in the garden. Karma and Ludwig were standing back to back. Karma, seeing Kamek, quickly sat up, causing Ludwig to fall into the fountain. Karma laughed when she saw her soaking wet friend. She then reached her hand towards Ludwig to help pull him from his wet position. When Ludwig was getting up he pulled his foot forward, causing Karma to fall into the fountain with him. Ludwig and Karma both laughed as they stood up, dripping wet, in the fountain.
Ludwig was the first to speak. “Karma, why did you sit up so fast?” Ludwig looked serious.
“I thought I saw Kamek… but I could be mistaken.”
“Not likely,” replied Ludwig.
“Do you think he’s spying on us?” asked Karma.
“Probably,” said Ludwig in disgust.
“Well…. shouldn’t you be at dinner?” Karma asked with concern.
“Oh no… I forgot. Gotta run, see you later, Karma!” yelled Ludwig as he started running towards Koopa Castle.
“Bye...” Karma replied.
As she was getting up to collect her things, she turned and saw Kamek.
“So?” said Kamek in a sly way.
“So what?” Karma responded, turning around to look at Kamek in the eye.
“Remember the master of magic?” Kamek asked Karma.
“Oh well… Trick or Treat!” Karma grabbed Kamek’s magical wand as she turned and ran quickly away.
“Come back with that, you little monster!!!” said Kamek angrily. Hurriedly he began to run after Karma.
Meanwhile…
Ludwig entered the dining room in a hurry.
“So you decided to finally join us?” said Kammy, laughing aloud at her own joke.
Ludwig wasn’t amused. He wanted to sit as far away from his father as he could, so he sat at the far end of the table. As was usual, Ludwig ate faster then all of the others. He was able to grab and hide in his shirt an extra potato and a roll without his dad seeing.
After dinner, Ludwig ran down the hallway and up some stairs to Karma's bedroom door. Ludwig heard voices and a sound that sounded like a window shattering. Ludwig worriedly wondered what was going on. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted it; it wouldn’t budge! Ludwig twisted it with force, but it still wouldn’t budge. With all his strength, Ludwig moved back and headbutt the door. The door fell over, and so did Ludwig. Ludwig quickly got up to see Kamek looking through a shattered window, mumbling something.
“WHAT'S GOING ON?” Ludwig yelled at the top of his voice.
“You PROMISE you won’t get mad?” begged Kamek.
“YES!” Ludwig was still yelling.
“Karma fell through the window…” Kamek looked as if he was about to puke.
“WHAT?!” Ludwig was bright red in the face.
“I didn’t do it,” Kamek cried, looking pale. “She didn’t actually fall, she…”
Ludwig did not hear Kamek’s last comment, he was already gone. Kamek knew that Karma was most likely dead. Karma had fallen from the twelfth floor, and that was a long fall. Kamek rushed to follow Ludwig. When Ludwig got down to the garden, he found two Koopatrols shaking Karma and trying to wake her up. Ludwig noticed that Karma had shards of glass all over her clothing and in her hair. Ludwig fell to the ground motionless. Ludwig felt like he was being pierced by a thousand knifes. He moaned, and Kamek checked his heartbeat. After he had checked on Ludwig, Kamek felt for a pulse on Karma’s neck.
“Both of them are still alive. Take them to the hospital wing,” Kamek commanded the two Koopatrols.
Kamek knew about the strange bond between Ludwig and Karma. Kamek couldn’t let Karma die. He knew that if Karma died, Ludwig would die too. Kamek followed the Koopatrols helplessly.
At the hospital, nurses carefully removed the glass out of Karma, covered her wounds, and gave her a strange-smelling liquid to drink. Kamek noticed that a strange, red cloaked Magikoopa was sitting in the corner, grinning from ear to ear. Kamek saw a nurse trying to figure out what was wrong with Ludwig. Kamek walked up to the nurse and said, “Excuse me, but may I ask you a question?”
The nurse turned around, and Kamek noticed that she had red hair that was pulled up into a bun. The nurse wore a white hat, but her dress was black.
“Yes you may,” replied the nurse, although she didn’t seem very happy.
“Do you know who that is?” Kamek pointed to the red Magikoopa sitting in the corner.
“Oh! That’s Nitro. He’s always happy to see injured people,” answered the unhappy nurse. Kamek saw the nurse roll her eyes.
“He’s in here twenty-four seven watching people fight to live. The only time he’s not happy is if someone lives,” explained the nurse.
Kamek nodded his head. “Thank you for your help,” he said. Then he added with seriousness, “But may I remind you to focus on the Yoshi right now?”
“Why yes,” replied the nurse angrily. “May I ask you a question?” she said, while she busily straightened the sheets on Ludwig’s bed.
“Of course,” replied Kamek.
“What happened to the Yoshi?” questioned the nurse.
“She fell out the twelfth floor window” Kamek answered.
“Oh! That’s horrible!” said the nurse with a gasp.
“Tragic,” said Kamek dryly. “Now just focus on getting her well.”
“Ok ok ok,” said the nurse, walking away.
Kamek walked across the room and sat down next to Nitro.
“What do you want, Kamek?” Nitro asked, while looking at Kamek. “Do you want to ruin my life too?” he added.
“Whose life did I ruin?” asked Kamek, pointing to himself.
“Hers,” Nitro said, pointing to Karma.
“I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO HER, OK?” yelled Kamek.
“You don’t have to yell, Kamek” said Nitro calmly. “You do know Bowser will kill you for this, right?”
“Don’t remind me,” said Kamek meekly, hanging his head.
“That girl’s going to live, I know it,” stated Nitro.
“How do you know? You’re not a fortuneteller,” accused Kamek.
“Did you listen to anything the nurse told you? I’m here twenty-four seven, I know if someone dies or lives. The girl’s going to live,” stated Nitro with assurance.
“What about Ludwig?” Kamek questioned.
“Hum… Don’t know, don’t care,” said Nitro with disregard.
“Why you little…” hissed Kamek, reaching for Nitro’s throat.
“Not so fast,” said Nitro, putting out his arms as defense. “I care,” he quickly added.
“You had better,” said Kamek, turning the focus to Karma. “I hope she lives. They go together.” Kamek turned again to face Nitro, but he was gone. The nurse in the black dress approached Kamek.
“The girl is going to live, and so is the boy,” said the nurse with confidence.
“Will the girl have scars?” asked Kamek.
“No. That liquid we gave her will fix them in a few days,” said the nurse.
“When will they be released?” questioned Kamek.
“Three days,” was the nurse's reply.
“Fine,” said Kamek softly as he walked
out of the room.
Chapter 2: Healing and Stealing
After Ludwig and Karma got out of the hospital, they quickly started doing normal things again. But it felt like their bond was much stronger. Kamek was always watching them closely through his coal-tinted glasses. Karma wished the whole thing had never happened, but it had, and it couldn’t be changed. Karma also wished she could remember what had happened. She knew she had been pushed out of the window by someone, but the fall had made her forget everything. She must have hit her head pretty hard. Ludwig and Karma were with each other more often, because they didn’t want anything to happen to each other. Karma and Ludwig spent most of their time in the garden talking, and that’s where they were today. Soon they would wish they weren’t…
“Karma?” questioned Ludwig.
“Yes, Ludwig?” replied Karma.
“Want to go for a walk?” Ludwig asked.
“Sure!” Karma said.
Ludwig started to walk toward the Forest of illusion, Karma following. When Karma caught up to Ludwig, they started to talk.
“Ludwig?” said Karma with a bit of alarm in her voice.
“Yes Karma?” asked Ludwig with concern in his voice.
“D-did you see something move in the trees?” asked Karma.
“No,” said Ludwig.
“Are you sure?” nagged Karma.
“Yes I’m sure,” said Ludwig with a bit of irritation in his voice.
“Ok,” said Karma with relief, as she stepped over a large rock in the path.
“What did it look like?” questioned Ludwig.
“It looked like a… Yoshi” was Karma’s reply.
Ludwig turned around. He had a confused face.
“Really?” asked Ludwig.
“Yes,” said Karma with a shiver.
“Hum…” said Ludwig as he wrinkled his brow with concern. Ludwig kept walking, but Karma was frozen in place. “Karma, come on,” commanded Ludwig.
“I can’t move, and I don’t want to,” Karma said with a quiver in her voice.
“Fine, I’ll come back to get you later,” Ludwig said as he continued on his path.
Karma was left alone awaiting the return of Ludwig. After a while she could hear some laughing, and then someone seemed to be screaming. Karma started to run towards the sound of the screams. Soon she could hear Ludwig moaning and a voice that spoke in a soft and gentle tone.
“Silly little Koopa. You didn’t really think that you could beat me, did you? Ha! Don’t make me laugh.” The voice seemed to echo through to forest. Karma moved forward as the voice spoke again.
“Not speaking, Koopa? Take th…”
The voice stopped right away when Karma stepped on a twig.
“Looks like we’ve got a visitor. Shinsoh, would you please fetch the visitor for me?” said the voice.
Karma heard another voice come out of nowhere. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Shinsoh, please call me Shanelle.” The voice seemed to be happy still.
“Yes, Shanelle,” said the second voice.
“Better,” said Shanelle.
Karma turned and tried to run, but when she turned around, she saw a Yoshi with white spikes down its neck. He also had red eyes. His hair seemed to be a shiny blood color, and instead of skin he seemed to have scales.
“Why hello. I’m Shinsoh, how nice to meet you,” said the Yoshi, bowing to Karma.
Karma took her foot up and kicked at Shinsoh. Her foot was about an inch away from Shinsoh’s head when Shinsoh disappeared. Karma gasped in shock. Suddenly Karma’s arms were pulled behind her back, causing pain to go through her whole body. Karma could hear Shinsoh’s voice.
“I was only trying to be kind,” said the Yoshi.
Karma snarled. “I don’t make friends with…” Karma didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t say she wasn’t friends with bad guys, considering she was one, and she couldn’t say she didn't make friends with good guys either.
“You don’t make friends with what?” questioned Shinsoh with a laugh.
Shinsoh threw Karma on the ground. Karma could see Ludwig being whipped by Shanelle. Karma could feel the pain of the whip when it cracked on Ludwig’s skin. Karma stood up, but fell down in pain. Then she blacked out.
Ludwig stared at the motionless Karma on the ground. Ludwig was horrified. He turned around to face Shanelle. Shanelle seemed to be a Shadow Siren, but then again she seemed bigger. She had the same hair as Vivian, and her body was the same shape as Beldam’s. Her face and hat were like Marilyn’s.
“Leave Karma alone,” moaned Ludwig.
“Why?” Shanelle questioned, looking confused.
“Because….” Ludwig had never told anyone that he loved Karma, but now her life was at stake! He had no other choice. He felt sick inside his stomach.
“Why?” pressed Shanelle.
Ludwig couldn’t seem to speak, madness flooded through Ludwig’s body.
“I’m growing inpatient, Koopa. Tell me now!” demanded Shanelle. She still had a happy tone of voice. That creeped Ludwig out the most.
“Because we're married,” said Ludwig. He knew it wasn’t the honest truth, but it still was sort of the truth. Ludwig was engaged to Karma, not married. Ludwig felt that this simple lie would save Karma's life, and to Ludwig, that was the most important thing of all.
“MARRIED! YOU'RE MOST LIKELY ONLY THIRTEEN!” This wasn’t in a gentle or happy voice, this was a surprised yell.
“Um… I am thirteen,” replied Ludwig.
“Oh, ok then,” said Shanelle with relief in her voice.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Ludwig as he gazed at the look of relief on Shanelle's face.
“Nothing’s wrong with me,” replied Shanelle curtly.
“But you’re always happy,” said Ludwig.
“Not always, child, not always...” There was an evil look on Shanelle’s face, the evil mischief look. “Shinsoh, let's take these little brats to our castle, shall we?”
Shinsoh looked confused. “But that castle is yours, not mine!”
“But you’ll own it when you grow up, remember?” said Shanelle with exasperation.
“Yes, I know.” Shinsoh seemed to sigh in the middle of his sentence.
“You should be happy to rule my kingdom. You’ll be king,” replied Shanelle with pride.
Shinsoh just sighed, grabbed Karma, and swung her onto a horse. Shanelle wrapped rope around Ludwig’s hands. There was at least a yard of rope left, which she gave to Shinsoh.
“I’ve got to run some errands. Take these kids to the dudgeon. I’ll get back as soon as I can,” ordered Shanelle as she got on her own horse and rode away.
“So… Where’s my horse?” questioned Ludwig, who was standing with his hands bound behind his back.
“You don’t have a horse; you walk,”
Shinsoh said. Shinsoh then tied Ludwig to a long rope trailing from the
horse's saddle, then jumped on the horse with Karma, kicked his heels,
and off they went.
Chapter 3: Talks and Walks
After a long, silent walk in the woods, all the while not knowing where they were headed, Ludwig decided to break the silence.
“So…” Ludwig looked up at the horse, keeping his eye on Karma. “Are you Shanelle’s kid?”
“Me? No, Shanelle doesn’t have any kids,” replied Shinsoh.
“Then why do you get to own the kingdom?” Ludwig asked in shock.
“When I was a child, I lived in Shanelle’s kingdom. Shanelle knew she wasn’t going to have any kids, so she had a tournament to see who would be able to kill the most people. Whoever won the tournament would rule the kingdom. When I was placed in the match, I thought I would die, so I cried and cried. My tears caused the place to flood. Many people drowned. I was gifted with evil magic. So that’s the story about how I am to inherit the kingdom,” Shinsoh said with sadness in voice.
Ludwig got the impression that Shinsoh was not very pleased with the thought of one day being king.
“But why aren’t you happy?” questioned Ludwig as he tried to keep up with the pace of the horse and its riders.
“Ruling a kingdom just sounds… rough,” replied Shinsoh.
“Now that you mention it, for some strange reason, it does sound like a hard job,” replied Ludwig as he tried to keep up with Karma and the horse.
“How would you know?” Shinsoh asked, turning in the saddle to look at Ludwig.
“Well, I’m the prince of Koopas” Ludwig said with a smile, “so I know just how you feel. So what are you, the prince of Dark Magic?” questioned Ludwig.
“Yes, I am,” Shinsoh laughed at Ludwig. “Lucky guess.”
Ludwig became angry and snarled, “How did you get dark magic anyway? It’s not like it popped out of nowhere.”
“My father was a Magikoopa and my mother was a Yoshi. So I got it from my father’s side.” Shinsoh seemed to be getting tired.
“What do you do all day?” questioned Ludwig.
“Kill people, go to training. Mostly that kind of stuff,” was Shinsoh’s tired reply.
“So are you, like… married?” asked Ludwig. Ludwig thought that Shinsoh looked to be about the age of seventeen.
“Nah. I don’t have time to relax,” said Shinsoh as he stretched his neck to the right and to the left.
“Oh… What age are you, Shinsoh?” Ludwig questioned.
“I’m fifteen. How about you?” asked Shinsoh.
“Thirteen. You look more like seventeen to me,” stated Ludwig.
“Oh, I get told that a lot.” Shinsoh looked at Ludwig in a weird way. “Why are you married if you’re only thirteen?” Shinsoh asked Ludwig.
“Well… Can I answer that later?” questioned Ludwig.
“Sure. I don’t really care,” Shinsoh replied with boredom.
“You should, you’re getting tired, I just know it, and when you fall asleep…” warned Ludwig.
“Me? Sleep? You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t ever sleep,” replied Shinsoh with pride.
“But that’s not possible!” Ludwig said with shock. Even Ludwig slept at night, but this kid not sleeping just sounded vampirey.
“Sleep is just not for me.” Shinsoh chuckled. “Have you ever seen a Magikoopa sleep?” he asked.
“No,” replied Ludwig, keeping his eye on Karma, who bounced around like a ragdoll on Shinsoh’s horse.
“That answers your question, doesn’t it?” stated Shinsoh boastfully.
“Not really,” replied Ludwig.
“By the way, I didn’t catch your name,” said Shinsoh.
“My name is Ludwig,” replied Ludwig as he sidestepped a rock in the trail.
“Nice name,” said Shinsoh. He didn’t seem to laugh or giggle.
“You really like it?”
“Nobody should laugh at your name… especially if you made it up yourself,” stated Shinsoh.
“Did you make up your name?” questioned Ludwig.
“No,” replied Shinsoh curtly.
“In the future, I’ll have to try to takeover your kingdom. I was thinking that if I killed the queen, it would be easier…” said Shinsoh with a laugh in his voice.
“Did you push Karma out the window?” asked Ludwig with anger.
At this time, Ludwig stopped walking. The horse that carried Karma and Shinsoh kept walking. Ludwig, who was tied to the back of the horse, tripped and fell facefirst in a puddle of mud. Shinsoh laughed, but he didn’t stop the horse, he just let Ludwig drag across the mud. Ludwig tried to get up, but Shinsoh kicked the horse’s side, which caused the horse to trot. Ludwig’s face was covered with mud and so was his body. Ludwig put his hands in front of him, which caused him do a somersault into another puddle of mud. Shinsoh burst out laughing. The horse stopped, but Ludwig kept bouncing along until he hit his head on a log and blacked out.
Shinsoh climbed off the horse, and threw Ludwig, facefirst, over the saddle. He then led the horse at a comfortable walking pace. “I’m going to miss the conversation, but the laught was extraordinary,” said Shinsoh aloud to himself. Shinsoh began to laugh as he walked to a gate at the end of the path. A castle stood behind the gate. The castle stood tall, and was pure black from evil magic. It looked much like the shape of Castle Koopa.
Shinsoh’s eyes were scanned by an optic lends identifier, and he walked through the gate. When Shinsoh finally arrived in the castle's grand throne room, he saw Shanelle. Shinsoh bowed to Shanelle. Shanelle then signaled Shinsoh to rise. Shinsoh did as he was instructed.
“Aren’t you going to put the prisoners in the dungeon?” questioned Shanelle.
“Yes, Shanelle,” replied Shinsoh as he was walking away, leading his prisoners.
Shinsoh went down to the dungeon and shoved Ludwig and Karma into a damp, dark cell. He then walked away, leaving then to themselves.
After a while, Ludwig and Karma woke up. It was cold and wet, and Ludwig was still covered with mud.
“Ludwig, are you ok?” Karma asked, looking nervously at Ludwig.
“I should be asking you if you’re ok,” was Ludwig's soft reply.
“But you got whipped… and you’re covered in mud!” said Karma as she tried to wipe mud off Ludwig’s face with her fingertips.
“You probably want to know how I got covered in mud. Where should I start?” Ludwig asked himself aloud.
Ludwig told Karma about what had happened in the forest, and the things that Shinsoh had said. Karma had a look of horror on her face as Ludwig told her about being dragged by the horse.
“Really?!” questioned Karma.
“Yes, but you don’t need to be nervous. I’m ok.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Fine, but if he hurt you, I’m going to...”
“Going to do what?” asked Ludwig with humor.
“Something bad. Let me think about it.”
Ludwig looked at Karma with concern.
“We need to figure out how we're going to get out of here,” Ludwig told Karma.
Karma surged, “Can’t you melt the bars or something?”
“No. They are made of pure diamond, and I can’t cut diamond,” Ludwig replied, frustrated.
Ludwig tried to stand up, but when he did, his left foot began to burn with pain. Ludwig looked down and saw a bone poking out of his leg. Karma saw the injury at the same time.
“You broke your leg!” gasped Karma.
“It’s not that bad,” said Ludwig as he fell to the ground. Karma felt pain in her own leg, and clutched her foot.
“I can feel it too, it’s horrible!” cried Karma.
“I told you it’s not that bad,” groaned Ludwig with a grimace on his face. More pain went trough Ludwig and Karma's legs.
“Not that bad, huh?” Karma asked.
Ludwig wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t because his chest felt like it was burning, and his leg was causing him such misery. Ludwig knew that he and Karma needed to escape as soon as possible. It was so frustrating, realizing that his injury would slow them down.
“What about escaping through the windows?” Karma asked.
“They are probably locked,” Ludwig said as he hobbled to the nearest window to see if it was closed tight. Ludwig gasped when he found that the window was not a window, but a cabinet that held three things. The first thing Ludwig noticed was a key. Sitting under the key was a diary. Next to the diary sat a golden-colored locket.
“Karma, come over here,” said Ludwig.
“What for?” Karma asked. She was busy trying to open the lock on the cell door with a nail file.
“The windows were locked, but I found one that didn’t seem to be a window. Instead I found a cupboard. In the cupboard I found a diary” Ludwig said with excitement.
Karma dropped the nail file and walked over. “Let’s read it in the morning. I’m going to bed,” she said softly as she sat on the ground and leaned her head against the damp dungeon wall.
Ludwig sat down and lay his head on the cold concrete floor. Just before he closed his eyes, he flipped through the pages of the diary. He noticed nothing of importance. Feeling exhausted, Ludwig closed his eyes and fell asleep.