The Chaos Trilogy ~A Super Mario Fanfic~

Part 3: Pure Chaos

Chapter 1: New World

Dimentio

A new world...

The two men walked along the grass, one tumbling over himself awkwardly, stealing nervous glances to his side, while the other breathed deeply and had a huge grin plastered across his face. The grinning man wore all black: a shirt, gloves, large, puffy pants, and curled jester shoes.

A world full of promise...

For millennia the grinning man had wandered the dimensions, in search of the means to destroy them all and make himself a god.

A world free of strife and chaos...

He had faced trials and tribulations, fools who had fought against him, betrayal and despair. He had stepped on so many and killed numbers upon numbers of people he dared not try to count.

A peaceful world...

After all the fighting and all the pain, that had all come to an end. The dawn of the new world had begun. The perfect world.

His world...

'So...' The Charming Magician, the Master of Dimensions, the Pleaser of Crowds, and now...the God of the New World. Titles he had inherited through his actions and personality. At the core, he simply went by the name his mother had given him roughly three thousand years ago. Dimentio. Mysterious. Enigmatic. Multidimensional, you could say, but with an ironic-in-hindsight hint at insanity. And though his name didn't convey this, ruthless, determined, and evil. He knew everyone called him that. Evil. Insane. Sadistic. It didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that his lifelong dream had finally been realized. In the end, a perfect world was all that mattered.

'So...' he said again. 'I would like some information.'

'Yes, my Lord?' the bumbling man beside him asked. Dimentio noticed for the first time that the man had dark blue skin similar to his own, and the same yellow eyes, though his were duller in shade. The only obvious difference was that the man lacked the white in the jester's hair that had curiously grown that way for his entire life.

'Your life. Tell me a bit about it.' Dimentio looked at him, curious as to what he would say. The man glanced at him but wouldn't meet his eyes and seemed to not be able to look at Dimentio for long.

'Well...I'm not exactly sure where to begin, Highness.' He rubbed his hands together. 'I grew up on a farm with my mother and father. I was an only child. I was fed well. Everyone's fed well.'

'"Everyone?"'

'Yeah. I haven't seen anyone starving around here. Ever. I don't even know what it feels like to starve.'

'Hm.' So the land was fertile, no famines. Excellent. 'Is there a form of currency here?'

'Never been used, no. It's been discussed, but not actually done. We figured we were doing well enough with what we were already doing.'

'Discussed by who?'

'The council of our village. And the other villages.'

'So you have leaders, then?'

'Yes. Elected, of course.'

'Let's go back to you now.' The magician grinned.

'Um...' The man shifted. 'I married a woman and had three children. We still live on a farm and we're still well fed.'

'Would you say life is enjoyable?'

'Eh? Well, yes, I would say so.'

'Let me ask another question.' Dimentio gave the man a serious look. 'Do you love your wife?'

The man gave him a blank look. '...pardon, your Highness?'

'I asked "Do you love your wife?" Surely such a question is not difficult.'

'Well, you see, um...I'm not really sure how to put this, sire, but...'

'Go on!' Dimentio sighed impatiently.

'...what's "love?"'

Dimentio stopped walking. The man didn't stop, unaware that his creator was no longer at his side. Finally, he realized he had been left behind and scurried back. 'What...did you just say?'

The man gulped. 'I...I just asked what l-love is, sire...'

'You don't know what love is?' The jester couldn't believe what he had heard.

'...n-no, sire...'

'Then...why did you marry your wife?'

'Well...why not? It's just the way things are. You marry and have children to avoid extinction.'

'Do you talk with your wife? Spend time with her?'

'Well of course I do.'

'Do you not feel anything towards her?'

'Well she's my friend, and I trust her, but...at the heart of it, she's a woman and I'm a man. That's why I married her, because that's just how the world works. ...Right?'

Dimentio was stunned. A world without love...he had dreamed of it for so long. No heartbreak, no betrayal, no feelings that could be shattered in an instant and bring someone into the depths of despair. He had wanted it, but hearing that it actually existed...it was shocking that such a thing could even work. Every dimension he had ever been to had been one where love existed. Yet somehow the people in this world had been created without that, with only a knowledge deep down in their souls that they must simply procreate to survive. No heartbreak. No powerful feelings to be toyed with. Just fact.

The jester closed his eyes and put a hand to his head. Astounding... he thought. Absolutely astounding. His mouth curled back into a grin. 'Of course,' he chuckled. 'How silly of me to ask.' They both started walking again.

Dimentio was aware that the man was glancing at him, only briefly, every couple of minutes or so. 'Is there a problem?' he inquired.

'Uh...!' The man coughed into his sleeve. 'I, well...' He cleared his throat. 'It's just...different.' The magician gave him a questioning look. 'Well, you...you're our god!' the man exclaimed, making Dimentio beam. 'We've existed for millennia and now you...you appear and I found you and I...' He shook his head. 'It's just too much.'

'Well.' The jester looked at the man, smiling still. He snapped his fingers and sparks flew up into the air, making the man jump slightly. 'Believe me when I say things are going to get much more interesting. Ahahahahahaha!'

The castle dominated the landscape. Made out of ivory-coloured bricks of stone, four cylindrical towers stretched up into the sky, slick and clean, at each corner of the castle. Stone walls of the same colour connected each tower in a perfect square enclosure. Windows dotted the towers and walls, and out of the tower windows hung the heraldic banner: great, purple cloth, ending at a triangular tip, displaying a stark white version of Dimentio's own mask; unlike the usual, the mouth and eyes were upside down, displaying sadness as opposed to glee. Yellow ribbons extended from behind the mask and curled out from it. Behind the mask was a large, pure black heart. Leading into the castle was a large, metal gate, intricately designed with twisting spirals making out the shape of a heart.

Dimentio crossed his arms and smiled; he liked the castle very much. 'Impressive. Very impressive.'

'Didn't you make it?' the man beside him asked.

'Hm? You mean you didn't build it?'

'No. It's been here for as long as I can remember. Untouched. No one has ever set foot in it, but it's always remained exactly as you see it: immaculate. That's one of the reasons we knew you existed.'

Dimentio giggled; he was liking this more by the minute. 'And I assume that town,' he said, pointing to the large collection of buildings before his castle, 'is the capital?'

The man nodded. 'Biggest village in the world.'

The jester sighed contently. His world reminded him of his home world. He could still remember everything about it right down to the tiniest little detail. That was where he had grown up, lived a normal life under a regular family.

And then the flood of memories came.

'Come on, little brother!'

'Hurry up Dimentio, we don't have all day. Show us some magic.'

'Why is it that you cannot stand up for yourself?'

Though the memories weren't pleasant, the magician's smile remained. My family...if only they could see me now! He giggled, shaking. I am the most powerful being on the planet! I am a god! Compared to me they are nothing!

But the price he'd had to pay...that horrible, crushing revelation...

'No Rosabella. I cannot take you to the kingdom tonight.'

That was when his smile vanished. Rosabella, princess of his home world. His friend...and a traitor.

'You think that a princess would love something as low as yourself? A jester? A clown? A servant?'

That had been the point, hadn't it? To prevent that kind of pain from being repeated. Nobody in this world would ever be judged based on who they were. Rosabella's betrayal had at least given him goals.

'My Lord?' Dimentio snapped out of his daydream. 'No one has set foot in that castle.'

'And so you don't know what is to be found,' the jester concluded. The man nodded. 'Let's be on our way.' They walked.

They would enter the village from the front. Two people guarded the gates, spears in hand. 'If everyone is living comfortably,' the jester asked, 'then why must the gates be guarded?'

'Animals. Strays,' his temporary companion explained. 'Also, there's...things around.'

'There are "things" around? What "things?"'

'I...we don't know.' The man shuddered.

'What do they do?'

'They just...nothing, they're just there.'

Dimentio laughed condescendingly. 'Afraid of monsters? Creatures of the night? Ahaha.'

The man shook his head slowly. 'No. They're...spirits.'

The magician raised an eyebrow. 'Spirits,' he repeated.

'Halt,' the gate guards demanded. They set eyes on Dimentio and started, eyes wide. One guard composed himself and elbowed the other, muttering something in his ear. He grumbled and nodded, then turned back to Dimentio and his companion. 'Names and reason for entry.'

'They certainly value security,' Dimentio noted with approval.

'With security comes safety,' one of the two gate guards. 'Travellers could cause trouble.'

The man beside the jester nodded. 'My name is Rawn. This man is...is...' Rawn's words caught in his throat and the magician sighed.

'Your name,' the guards demanded him.

He looked at both guards in turn, reminding himself that he had created them. The thought both struck him dumb and excited him, and he grinned widely at them. 'My name? Oh if only you knew.' He laughed and they scowled.

'Hurry it up, fool! Entry is forbidden without a name and a reason!'

'Hah, very well.' His beam had grown to show his teeth. 'I am Dimentio, your god.'

The guards' scowls vanished, replaced with shock. After a moment the scowls returned. 'Hah! A likely claim!' one laughed humourlessly. 'We aren't idiots!'

The man Dimentio had travelled with looked at him dubiously; he had believed him at the word. 'Tell me,' the jester asked them. 'In all your long lives, have you ever seen any instance of magic?'

'Magic doesn't exist,' the other guard told him with as much humour as the first.

'Well then, what do you call this?' With that, Dimentio stuck his finger into the air; light flashed from it and a beam of magic shot up into the air, exploding and leaving strands of light curling from it. He waved his hand around and out of the strands of light made a perfect outline of the castle's symbol. It hung in the sky luminously, shining down upon them.

The two men gawked, dumbstruck. After a moment, they looked down at the jester. 'B...buh...' one squeaked.

'Let me try again,' Dimentio said, authority and power lacing his words. He rose up into the air and spread his hands apart, electric sparks dancing along his arms as he compressed and energized the dimensions around himself. A wide grin was on his face and he laughed that same laugh that sent chills down everybody's spine. 'I am the being who created this world!' he declared, his voice loud and clear. 'I am the being who moulded the mountains and shaped the land! I am the being who filled the seas and made the skies! I am the being who formed you all and brought the universe out of hatred and desolation! I am the Master of Dimensions, the Pleaser of Crowds!' he cried, using the titles he had grown to love. 'I am the Charming Magician, the King of the World! I am your god...DIMENTIO!' He laughed to the heavens and snapped his fingers; the glowing symbol above his head flashed brightly and the three men on the ground covered their eyes. 'Witness my power and remove all doubt from your minds!' He giggled and tilted his head down to look at the men he could see. His eyes pierced them like daggers and they fell to their knees. 'I have come.' Slowly, he fell back down to the ground.

'Y...you really are...' one guard gasped.

'Yes. I am.' Dimentio leaned back and crossed his legs, floating in the air. 'Now if you could be so kind to open the gate for me. No, wait,' he interrupted them as they got to their feet. 'I'll do it myself.' He snapped his fingers again and they all heard the sounds of tumblers moving, stopping with a click. He put his arms out and swung them to his sides and the gates opened without a sound. A crowd had already gathered. Dimentio looked behind him at the men kneeling. 'Rawn,' he said, grinning. 'Would you be so kind as to accompany me to my castle?'

The man named Rawn started and hastily got up. 'Y-yes my Lord!' he exclaimed.

They walked through the city. 'You realize,' the jester told the man quietly, 'that upon my successful ascension to the throne I shan't be seeing you again, most likely, unless there is a problem that requires my attention.' Rawn nodded understandingly. 'Just to prepare you for that.'

The crowd (likely the entire village) had gathered around them, leaving a path for their deity. They were murmuring to each other in shock and awe.

'Can you see him?'

'Is that really Dimentio? After all this time?'

'It can't be him, that's impossible.'

'But you saw what happened! Magic! Godlike powers! It could only be him.'

Dimentio walked on, feeling on top of the world.

The castle gates loomed above him. 'I must say,' the magician remarked. 'I do like the castle.' He chuckled.

'Uh...my Lord?' Rawn said. 'No one has set foot in the castle—'

'Until today,' the jester interrupted. 'Today marks the first day of activity for this castle.' He straightened. 'The first of many.' He snapped his fingers and the gates opened. 'I believe I would like to continue on my own. Rawn, the company was appreciated.' The man nodded and, for the very first time, smiled. Dimentio walked past the gate line and snapped his fingers again. The gate closed behind him.

With the closing of the gate, the world faded to silence. He still heard the cries of the crowd and the bustling of the people, but they were distant, in another world.

The gate was an opening in a square barrier of stone walls that encompassed the castle, closing it in from the rest of the world. A red stone path went along the ground to the castle front door. Unlit torches were on the outside of the castle for night time sight. Grass covered the ground between the gate and the castle, and on each side of the middle area of the path was a line of soil which flowers poked out of and bloomed beautifully. Rows of bushes lined the front wall of the castle and trees grew here and there. The air smelled excellent, fresh and clean. Lucius' castle had needed a space like this.

He waved his hand and the castle's front doors opened. He entered and waved again; the doors closed.

The floor was made out of the same stone as the rest of the castle, hard and sturdy. As he walked, his soft jester shoes made little sound. Torches, also unlit, lined the walls beside the windows, sunlight streaming into the hall. The roof above his head was curved, held up by pillars on the sides of the room here and there.

He walked through the entire castle, committing it to memory. A very small community could live in it, as the castle contained rooms for families. There were places for blacksmiths to work, there were kitchens, there were meeting halls, and in the middle of the castle was an open area with no roof and a path going around it for relaxation and rest between duties. The dungeons were located underneath the castle and the higher areas had battlements. Compared to many of the worlds he had visited over the years, his was almost pathetically medieval. He had grown up in such a land, however, and that was where he really felt at home.

And then he found it: his throne room. Larger than most other rooms, stained glass windows reached up to the ceiling and large torches were on all the walls. A red carpet led from the door to the end of the room, up five stairs, and went up to the throne, which was an elegant golden chair. The ceiling was made entirely of glass that allowed sunlight to blaze down on the room and banners displaying his symbol hung down along the side walls.

He walked along the carpet soundlessly, his heart beating with excitement. King Lucius, Rosabella's father, had sat in an extravagant throne in his own castle, but Dimentio thought the seat he saw before him was infinitely better. He noticed a heart symbol carved into the top; a recurring symbol.

He climbed the steps and sat in the throne, the red carpet covering the seat. He sat there and looked around the silent room, taking it all in. He closed his eyes and thought of everything he had done up until this point. Lie. Deceive. Maim. Torture. Murder. Entire cities, countries, even worlds met their ends because of him and the Dark Prognosticus. He had turned countries against one another, assassinated political leaders. And that was just the developed worlds. The primitive ones were the easiest, taking no effort to completely level. And then he lost the book and his actions became desperate, his dark power decreasing. He had attempted to create a minion of his own, and all that had done in the end was give him another enemy. He remembered Mimi and his face transformed into a snarl; she had given him pain through the years as well. If she had chosen the right side and stayed with him it would have saved him a lot of pain. But now Mimi was dead. She and everyone else who had ever stood in his way.

He grinned and leaned his head back. Nothing could stop him now. He had created the perfect world and would rule over it for the rest of eternity.

'Finally...' he whispered to himself. 'Finally.'