Super Mario Sunshine

Chapter 12 - Rays in the Mirror

   All around it was light.

   In an instant the entire world passed away, the beach fading into nothing more than a colorful memory. If there had ever been sand beneath his feet, or a tranquil sky overhead, it was all gone now.

   As if passing through one of the sun's very rays, Mario had found himself lost in a white void; neither hot nor cold, with no sound but the rushing of a powerful wind. Just light; it was a white so strong that snow paled in comparison. It may have been another portal; but if it was it was quite unlike anything Mario had ever seen.

   So the piantas had been right. The sand castle was a doorway - a link to something unseen. The question was, where did it lead?

   The wind swirled like a tornado, enveloping him in its strong hold. Mario's body felt no limits, no bounds; and for a moment he seemed suspended in air. It was different from the other portals he was accustomed to; this one was more sensational, more alive. Had the mystery man created this one too?

   It all happened so fast, it felt surreal, like stepping into a dream. At least, that was how it seemed to Mario, until he sensed a strange presence behind him.

   He was falling now, no denying it; and he knew it would only be a matter of instants before his trip through the portal proved finished. There was no time to speak, to do anything at all; but at the last moment, Mario threw a glance back over his shoulder, unsure of what he knew was there.

   Someone had followed him.

   A split second and then he was gone; a blue figure with glowing red eyes. Mario could have sworn he saw the smirk of victory on the man's all-too-familiar face.

   There was no time to react. All he knew was that suddenly the air felt too light, as if something was missing; but it wasn't just a something.

   Fludd was more than 'something'.

For a fraction of a second panic struck him; but Mario didn't have a chance to speak. As the white light grew too intense even to bear squinting at, one word flashed across his mind: Gone!

~

Everything came back in a rush. As if a great force had suddenly let him go, Mario's feet hit solid ground, and his thoughts came roaring back in one breath.

"Fludd!" Spinning in a little circle, as if trying to make sure the water pump wasn't hiding somewhere in his pockets, he shook his head. But it was true - the instant Mario went through the sand portal, Fludd had disappeared.

Almost immediately his eyebrows knit together angrily. Turning to the new world around him, he shouted to the sky.

"Where are you, Shadow Man!? What did you do with Fludd?"

Previously blinded by his urgency, Mario only now began to process the sight in front of him. For a moment he was almost struck with awe at what he saw: stars, burning like pinpricks in a huge black void. Above, below and around him, they were everywhere, on all sides; and glancing down at his feet, Mario realized that he stood on a tiny wooden platform in the vastness of space.

Ahead of him was spread out a path over the endless abyss, leading to a distant end Mario could barely see. It vaguely reminded him, in the back of his mind, of something like a dream or an alternate dimension he'd once been told about; a starry illusion - or was it an illusion? - outside of space itself.