"You're the whole reason I'm taking him with us." Blue Koop exclaimed. "In fact, I'm almost certain you know what I'm going to show him. I'm sorry, but for your own safety, I must request that you stay behind."
That was the precise conversation that Blue Koop gave to Fawful. With that, Blue Koop and the gang departed for the Great Barrows. About half way, Blue Koop noticed Fawful, but he did not speak of it. He knew that Fawful was just as curious as Madikoopa was. They arrived at the great barrows. All around them was dark, mist, and stones, as far as the eye could see. Madikoopa thought he saw a figure dash by from time to time, but dismissed it as eye tricks.
They soon arrived at a large stone block with markings on it. It closed off a small stone hut. Blue Koop spoke a strange phrase at the large stone block, and the block lit up from the markings, and immediately shifted, revealing a long passageway down to the depths.
Upon entry, the group headed down a flight of stairs, into a large, but wrecked, and seemingly deserted underground city of halls. The group then suddenly turned to see a mysterious figure approach them. It had a grim look on its face. It was a ghost. The ghost flew right at them, and stopped, before doing something nobody else expected.
"VISITORS!!!" it exclaimed. "WELCOME TO THE GREAT BARROWS!!" As soon as he was done talking, a hundred and fifty other ghosts came flying out to greet them, each of them holding ghostly wares that they wished to sell to the group. Immediately, a large crash was heard from the top of the stairwell, and the ghosts quietly departed. InfectedShroom, the wizard of Death, was standing up the stairs.
"Come this way, fair passengers." he said in his loud yet serene voice. "We have much to show." The group, led by Blue Koop, headed up the stairs. They found themselves meeting with Neptune and Javelin, who had been there for a while. "Ah, Blue Koop. You brought him then?" he began. "Yes sir." Blue Koop responded. "It wasn't easy, but I managed to persuade him to come along in favour of Fawful's request."
"Excellent!" exclaimed Neptune. "Come this way, Madikoopa. I believe you were promised the truth." Neptune led Madikoopa into a back room. While he was in there, Fawful slowly approached. "Welcome Fawful." Blue Koop stated, as Fawful meekly appeared. Pikax was already on his guard, but Blue Koop gestured quickly to lower his arms. "With two wizards in the vicinity, I doubt he will try anything stupid." Blue Koop responded.
After fourty or so minutes, Neptune and Madikoopa came out of the room, Madikoopa with a satisfied look on his face. Madikoopa quickly took his place at the table alongside InfectedShroom, Javelin and the Hammerbro. He looked at Fawful, with his face dropping. He then turned away from him. Fawful quickly approached Neptune, to ask "What did you show him?" Fawful had a very sincere look in his eyes. "The future" responded Neptune. He too led Fawful into the room.
As Fawful entered, a very satisfied look appeared on his face. A bright light shone from a pedestal, and something came into view. Forged of gold, cushions made of fabrics from the softest sorts, there it rested, the item that everyone had been searching for. The throne. Fawful gained a greedy look on his face, and before he could do anything, Neptune simply stated "Sit." Confused, Fawful simply looked at Neptune, then slowly got up onto the pedestal, and took his seat upon the throne.
Immediately, Fawful saw a vision approach. All around him, statues were dedicated to him, armies of beings which bore his face surrounded him, all under his command. Best of all, Neptune, Madikoopa, and everyone else had all perished in the battle. There was nothing to stop Fawful from keeping the throne. Fawful became immensely cheerful, everything he had ever wanted appeared as he sat on the throne.
Suddenly, everything stopped. Then everything went cold. Then everything went dark. Suddenly, all the monuments built in Fawful's honour began to crumble and break. All of his armies began to wage war on each-other, and suddenly dark invaders began to appear. They all attacked his men, killing and pillaging. To his best of knowledge, none of the dark invaders took any damage. That was their power. Something arose from the darkness. Something huge, demonic, Fawful could not quite see. It frightened him, despite the fact he could not see what kind of creature it was. Fawful was so horrified that he jumped up from the throne, tripped, and landed safely into Neptune's arms.
Fawful simply stared up, straight at Neptune, with a frightened look on his face. Neptune knew what Fawful saw, for he had experienced it himself. Fawful decided that the visions that he saw must be affected by whoever sits upon the throne, what would occur should someone sit upon the throne, but he was wrong. It was what people expect to see, which is why Neptune, Fawful and Madikoopa all saw the same vision. Fawful only had one question to ask. "What was that great demon?"
"That demon is the one who created the throne." Neptune responded. "He created it in the darkest reaches of the world, and used it to lure himself back into the world. He set it in my own continent, knowing the past of our turbulent history. War, violence, pain, he saw it all. He agreed that it would be a place where everyone would want to steal the throne. Once someone was corrupted enough by the throne, he would rise again, and rule over this planet, enslaving us all for eternity, bringing hell on earth." Neptune turned towards Fawful. "That is why you must not try to steal the throne. It is tempting, but you cannot face the ultimate darkness."
