It had all started with a letter.

   Letters for him always made Luigi excited, when they occasionally came; and indeed, this one had taken the cake the instant he laid eyes on it. It was wonderful and strange, and that was all Luigi knew.

   A wiser person might have thrown the silly thing away. But Luigi was too curious and too starved for a fortunate turn of events that it never crossed his mind. The thing had been sent for him, after all; it must have had a purpose.

   And besides, he hadn't been completely rash about it. Before setting out he had asked his brother to meet him, scope everything out for him beforehand. Mario was never hesitant to do anything.

   It was only now, hours later, that the creepy forest began to speak to him.

   Brushing aside some over-reaching ferns in the path, Luigi tried to suppress a shudder and scanned the trees right and left hopefully. Surely, surely, this wasn't another loop. He had to be on the right track this time.

   To be honest he couldn't have said why it had gone wrong the first time; he had followed the map as well as he could. It was very simple and straightforward laid out on paper; and yet Luigi had had the hardest time finding his way. Perhaps it was only the darkness that had made him seem hopelessly lost.

   Whatever had happened, it seemed at long last to be over. Peering ahead, Luigi soon spotted what he'd been searching for all night - a clearing.

   Rubbing his arms, he stepped forward through the dead branches and tangled weeds wearily. He had been walking forever; if ever there had been a more inviting time to stumble upon a house in the woods, this was it.

   For that was the end for which this little midnight journey had started; the place to where the letter had brought him. Luigi had won a mansion.

   He knew it was not an ordinary, everyday affair, to just suddenly become the proud owner of a huge estate; but it had to happen to someone, right? Surely, somewhere out there must have been the lucky break Luigi had long been waiting for, the chance to have something go right. And now, quite randomly, it seemed that a single letter could have changed his entire life.

He had told no one outside of his brother, who had believed the outrageous news without question. The two had agreed to meet outside the proposed house that evening and 'celebrate' Luigi's unexpected victory; it had all sounded great.

   But the one tiny doubt remained: Luigi had never entered any contest.

   Mario had expressed a slight concern over this road bump; but Luigi was too excited to listen to any reason. "Well then we'll go check it out," he determined. "Aren't you curious?"

   Curiosity was Mario's weak point. Luigi's big brother loved exploring more than archaeologists did.

   Wiping a sweat from his forehead, Luigi glanced around for a moment and paused thoughtfully. He didn't know why he had; it was the oddest feeling. For a moment, it almost seemed as if something had spoken to him.

   Abruptly, almost as if someone had turned on a fan, a huge gust of wind swept through the trees into the clearing. With it was swept Luigi's gaze, to that single opening where the ancient trail emptied. For a moment, Luigi was held in complete stillness as the thick ferns parted, blown aside almost by some unnatural force; and then all of Luigi's attention was drawn to the captivating sight waiting behind it.

   Even with all the dead trees that surrounded him, he didn't know how he had missed it before. He didn't have to question further; in the back of his mind he already knew that this was it. He had arrived.

   Instantly the glowing yellow eyes met his, and for many long moments they held. It was an enormous black creature, swathed in shadow and perched atop the grassy hill. It was silent, and yet, it still somehow seemed to make a sound; low, constant, and humming in the air like the hiss of a sleeping predator. The very woods seemed held by its aura, subjected to its unquestioned rule.

Luigi should have felt more at the sight of his soon-to-be home. He should have gasped, screamed, perhaps even turned and run. But none of that happened.

Wonder of all wonders, he began to move forward, slowly, never taking his eyes off for an instant. Thinking back he could never have explained why he did what he did. He only knew there was something strange about it; a mysterious air surrounded it, calling him forward. The mansion was his. Or was he the mansion's?

The entire world seemed to melt away as he proceeded into the clearing, became lost in an endless forest. Now there was only the giant house; now there was only that one end to which he was headed.

   Outside the extravagant iron gates Luigi found no one. Hardly stopping even for a second glance, he proceeded up the ancient path.

   The mansion was green. At first it had appeared as nothing more than a black creature with glowing eyes, a shape in the night; but as Luigi grew closer he saw the distinct profile. Countless windows spanned across its wide surface, with all dark but the two eyes which glared down at him. Three larger gables adorned the top near the roof; and a single pointed chimney  rose at the very top, reaching to the dark sky.

   The sky which surrounded the world was dappled with strange hues of black and blue, as if the colors couldn't decide; and an occasional bolt of white lightning would reach across the mansion's darkened canvas. If it were not for the lightning Luigi would have been utterly lost.

   It should have sent any wiser person running. All at once, even taken at face value, the monster should have hardly been considered by any interested homeowner. Its angry stare and stormy personality consumed the area, warning any who dared set foot there; but still he continued forward. As if held by a thoughtless, passive force, Luigi drew nearer the ancient front doors with every second. It was terrifying; but it didn't change anything. Luigi couldn't turn back.

   With the precision of one held in a trance, he grabbed the doorknob and began to turn. Slowly, creaking as if in agony, the door began to give. Then, as if finally coming too late back to his right mind, Luigi placed a tentative hand on the door and peered inside the hole he had just created. There was no turning back.

It was nothing but a silent, endless void of darkness.

~

   Forgetting to breathe, Luigi silently shut the door behind him. He was inside the mansion's entrance, and it was more quiet and abysmal here than death; but it still seemed safer than leaving the door open to the cruel world beyond. As soon as the heavy thing closed, it seemed to bar Luigi's last connection with his former life; as if in that moment, it suddenly occurred to him all the things he was leaving behind. For a few earth-shaking moments Luigi felt completely detached, as if he had lost it all forever.

   Another moment and the feeling had passed. It was strange and unnatural for him to just dismiss it all so quickly; but that is exactly what he did. Almost as if he had reached an acceptance of the situation at hand he turned and took in the room he'd found himself in.

   Somehow, even without a light, the darkness seemed to conform to his eyes so that he could see. There were a couple of double doors across the room from him, and beside that were large candelabras and an old antique chair. Aside from that, there wasn't much else to see. Only the twin grand staircases which wound up over the doors and onto a small overlooking balcony above.

   Strangely submitted to move on, Luigi headed forward to climb the stairs. He had no idea where he was going; he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to be doing, now that Mario had seemingly been a no-show. But the matter only slightly occurred to him in the back of his mind. Luigi was going somewhere, and going now; and that was all he knew.

   Another pair of double doors waited for him at the top of the stairs. Another door stood at the far end, off to his left; but Luigi ignored it. He knew where he wanted to go.

   Carefully opening one of the double doors with a squeak that hit the air like a gong, Luigi stepped forward into yet another world.

   He had found the living room, he could tell; the place was filled with bookshelves and couches and other old antiques littered about. As soon as he entered an odd cold wave hit him; as if in an instant he could tell that something wasn't right. A presence was here such as Luigi had never felt before, and suddenly he could feel it creeping down his spine.

It was then that the ghost attacked.

Snarling like a tiger on the hunt, an unworldly shape of purple and white appeared inches before his very eyes, spindly arms upstretched as if to seize his prey. Enormous fangs flashed for just an instant, before Luigi jumped back at the speed of sound and let out a shriek of terror.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

With a low snarl, the shapeless mass advanced forward. Luigi fell back to the ground in a panic and attempted to scramble backwards, adrenaline coursing through him like wildfire. In an instant all his life flashed before his eyes: the letdowns, the regrets, the countless failures. All the words he'd said and things he hadn't done.

Heart hammering like a drum in his chest, threatening to explode, Luigi shrank back and suddenly bumped into something from behind. Jerking as if he'd been hit, he looked around wildly and found himself in a corner. He had trapped himself.

Whatever he might have done, whatever the ghost was planning to do, it was not yet meant to happen. With a sudden shriek of displeasure, the purple ghost abruptly recoiled, as if hit by some invisible weapon. Scanning the room in an instant for any sort of cover, Luigi darted out of the way as fast as humanly possible and stared, utterly speechless, as an old man appeared from out of nowhere. He was wearing a giant red tank of some sort on his back, and with it he appeared to be attacking the ghost, pulling it in as with a vacuum.

For a few moments the struggle persisted, ghost and man each pulling for prominence; and then at last, the old man gave up, letting the ghost go with a violent backlash. Snarling his disdain at his attacker, the ghost shot him one last soulless stare with enormous, empty eyes that projected an intense ferocity. Then the spirit disappeared in air.

Quivering all over like a broken machine, Luigi stepped forward to where the old man now sat. Panting, he appeared a bit exhausted but ultimately alright. Luigi wondered, if only briefly, what on earth he could be doing here.

Rising and dusting off his lab coat, the old man straightened and looked the young man over. He hadn't expected to find anyone else in here; how odd.

Luigi found his rescuer to be a good deal shorter than himself. He was presumably a scientist of some sort, likely a mad one given the slightly crazy pointed gray hair and enormous glasses. The giant red box-machine he was wearing only helped to drive the point home.

"Well, I appear to be getting too old for this ghost-catching tomfoolery," he commented casually, dusting off a sleeve. Tilting his head, Luigi watched him curiously, still trying to suppress his jitters.

The old man smiled. "Nice to meet you. I'm Professor E. Gadd."

"Oh, um, nice to meet you too," Luigi stammered back, still getting over finding an actual person in the mansion. "I'm Luigi."

Here E. Gadd shook his head and glanced at the dark room around them. "This house... I swear it seems to have more ghosts every day!"

Following his gaze, Luigi shivered. Ghosts... the house was infested with ghosts? This house?

...What kind of sick prize was that?

"Are you okay there, son?" The professor went on when Luigi didn't reply. Turning back to him, Luigi gave him a pale look that would have made even a ghost seem more colorful.

"Uh... I... What kind of ghosts?"

Shrugging, E. Gadd said, "Well, just about every kind you can imagine. Some of them are terribly dangerous. You know, you're really lucky I found you," he added, studying him more carefully now. "What's a young feller like you doing in a place like this?"

But before Luigi could reply, a heart-stopping growl interrupted from the other side of the room, near a small bookshelf. Looking up, the two paused to see the same purplish ghost, this time with two friends, appear out of thin air. They let out another low snarl and began to start towards the pair.

Luigi's heart rose to his throat again at the sight of the unearthly creatures. For just a second he paused, then glanced at the professor, wondering what on earth they should do. They were obviously outnumbered this time.

"Uh oh, this looks ugly," E. Gadd commented as he shouldered his weapon. Glancing at Luigi, he jerked a head towards the doors. "Come on youngster, follow me, posthaste!"

~

"So you believe the mansion actually exists, then," E. Gadd said thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair. "Strange."

Frowning, Luigi fixed the Professor with a confused stare. "Should I believe something otherwise?"

The two had quickly fled the mansion after the ghosts' appearance. Running faster than he could ever remember moving before, Luigi had followed, heart pounding, as his new friend led him to his secret lab outside, which was conveniently hidden in some of the very trees Luigi had passed on his way. Arriving outside, it had looked like nothing more than an ancient outhouse to Luigi - one overgrown with weeds and half covered with vines at that. But as soon as the professor let him in he was in for a pleasant surprise.

The lab was mostly underground; a narrow ladder led to a small living area below, composed of both dirt and stone. It was cool but not uncomfortable; machines and odd junk lay everywhere - an inventor's paradise. Luigi was a little astounded at first to find that the old guy actually lived here.

He had offered Luigi a seat but he had refused. Something told him that now was not the time to be getting comfortable; something serious was at hand.

"I've been living here since I was a lad of twenty or so, and I'll tell you: that mansion appeared just a few days ago," E. Gadd explained, crossing his arms. "The spirits have fooled you!"

Skin crawling at the idea, Luigi frowned. "What do you mean...?"

E. Gadd leaned forward. "I mean, that house and everything in it doesn't exist. It's all a big illusion."

So still he might have been turned to stone, Luigi stared at the ground in silence for several long moments. An illusion? What did that mean? What about the letter...?

Suddenly snapping to attention, Luigi looked up. "Professor, did you see anyone else in the mansion? Besides me, I mean?"

Professor Gadd had explained to Luigi how he had been studying the ghosts in the mansion for several days, catching the ones he could and exploring. He had apparently already been in the mansion for a little while, unaware of any contest or owner.

"You know, I actually did!" The professor jumped up a little, as if excited all over again. "That's why I was in the mansion tonight, in fact. A while back I saw a guy pass through here - some young-looking guy, I guess about your age. I didn't get a really good look at him, but he had some sort of red hat."

The professor trailed off when suddenly his eyes met Luigi's, and the new fear he found there drove the point home.

"You don't..."

"That guy was my brother," Luigi said gravely, little above a whisper. "He was supposed to meet me outside the mansion."

Luigi had already explained to the professor about the contest and how supposedly he was the mansion's new owner.

E. Gadd raised his eyebrows in shock. Slowly, he shook his head. "There is no 'outside the mansion'," he said. "If your brother was invited there, you'd better believe there was someone there waiting for him."

Luigi's heart skipped a beat. "Wh-what?"

E. Gadd nodded grimly. "I have almost no doubt he was taken inside the mansion," he said.

The blood drained from Luigi's face as the meaning of those words hit him. "Wh-what do I do?"

The professor was already heading for a nearby shelf. "You'll take my Poltergust 400," he answered firmly, lifting the big machine to the ground. "And get in there and find him."