Fragmented Spectrum- Prologue

Prologue.

It was dark in Kamek’s study, as it usually was. It was the normal routine: sit in front of the crystal ball, waving his hands over it and trying to coax some useful information out of the junk it usually brought up. He wasn’t picky; the future of the Koopa clan, Mario’s weaknesses, tomorrow’s weather—he was happy with anything he could get, really.
There was a bright sparkle from within the ball, and Kamek took a deep breath. This looked important. Could it finally be something he could use? Something vital to King Bowser’s plans to take over the Mushroom Kingdom? Could it be—
Another sparkle, and a flash. The ball began to shake. Kamek’s eyes widened and he scrambled to grab a piece of paper and a quill pen. He started scribbling down magic circles and mumbling incantations as he looked up and down between his magic and the ball, hoping to see something in the trembling orb. This wasn’t right. The crystal ball was overloading.
“This is an industrial-strength ball,” Kamek mumbled to himself, wondering what was going on. A powerful magical field must have entered the area, but if it were normal background magic he’d be able to control and block it. So far he was having no such luck. At this rate, the ball would—
There was another, brighter flash, and Kamek ducked under his desk. With a shatter and a bang the ball exploded, showering the room with glass shards. Kamek poked his head back up, seeing a scorch mark and chunks of glass where his beloved crystal ball had once been, dimly illuminated by a few tongues of flame that had been left by the blast.
He scrambled back onto his feet, across the room, and out the door. He turned to run down the hall, and saw Kammy exiting her own study. The two Magikoopas ran to each other, and Kamek was about to tell her what had happened when he noticed the look on her face.
She was just going to tell him the same thing he wanted to tell her.
The two spoke something else instead, in unison:
“This is bad.”