Hi everyone. I have something a little more fun for you. I had some free time this afternoon to work on this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. I learned a long time ago that working with a large cast is very difficult, so I hope my strategy at the end of the chapter will help make things more manageable.
Chapter 4: Enlightened
by Truth
Everyone stood there as the two kids
started stirring. Jason could tell that the people who were not from Netokan
knew who they were, and were quite shocked to see them. He was feeling pretty
mind blown. There was no way that these two could’ve come from Sora and Kairi,
yet the more he thought about it the more it seemed like it was the only
explanation.
As the two figures stirred everyone
seemed to hold their breath. The boy and girl then opened their eyes at the
same time. Clair was surprised at how blue their eyes were, just like Sora and
Kairi’s.
“Naminé?”
The boy asked the girl.
“Roxas?” Naminé asked
the boy in return.
“Welcome back to the land of the
living,” Axel joked with them as he and Mika both extended a hand to help them
up. AJ couldn’t tell out of the entire group who was the most surprised.
“But how…” Roxas questioned.
“Would someone please explain what’s
going on?” Jason asked.
“Gosh, I wasn’t expectin’ this,”
King Mickey admitted. “But I know just who can answer some of our questions.”
“Master Yen Sid?” Sora asked the
mouse.
“Yep.” Mickey said.
“Who’s Master Yen Sid?” Stella asked.
“You’ll see. Now everyone, hold on
to each other.” Mickey instructed. Sora, Riku, and Kairi each held on to Mickey
while everyone else found an arm to hold on to. None of them knew what to
expect, but Clair, Netti, and Stella had their suspicions that magic was going
to be involved. With his free hand King Mickey held up a blue gemstone shaped
like a star.
“Alakazam!” No sooner had the word
left Mickey’s mouth than everyone found themselves being pulled along at what
felt like the speed of light. All around them the stars whipped by so fast they
appeared to be nothing more than blurs. Whether they were traveling through
space or somewhere else wasn’t clear. All that many of them could feel was pure
light racing by as they were pulled to their destination.
Back in the (name of the room with
the thrones) Xemnas looked troubled. He was sure that the children would’ve
carried out the mission by now. He knew when it came to different worlds time
was sometimes an issue, yet it shouldn’t have taken them this long. He
suspected Sora might’ve overcome them, yet that didn’t feel right.
“Report.” Xemnas said. A dark
corridor opened in the middle of the room and from the oval-shaped door came
Xigbar.
“Bad news: the children were stopped
by Axel and some girl he was with,” Xigbar explained.
“Kamix has finally betrayed us,”
Xemnas mused.
“What’s worse is now they’re all
with the rat king, and he’s probably taking them to see his master,” Xigbar
finished.
Xemnas’s eyes flashed angrily.
“Master Yen Sid,” He growled.
Everyone crashed into the ground
with the force of a meteorite. Everyone felt like they had been accelerated
into a brick wall. Jason complained about feeling like every bone in his body
was broken. Ashley was sure she was going to have a headache for a month.
“That was faster than the express
monorail.” Phil said as he staggered to his feet.
“You’ll move faster to the hospital
unless you zip it,” Jason warned.
“What is this place?” Clair asked.
“Welcome to the Mysterious Tower,”
Mika clarified. The Mysterious Tower certainly lived up to its name. The
building itself was crooked and bent with windows shaped like stars and moons.
The cone-shaped top made people like Clair, Netti, and Ashley think of a
sorcerer’s pointed hat.
“Why is it called The Mysterious
Tower?” Stella asked.
“If we knew that it wouldn’t be
mysterious. Got it memorized?” Axel asked.
Stella rolled her eyes in response.
“Your Majesty!” Two voices called
out. Everyone looked up to see an anthropomorphic duck and dog walking towards
them. I’ll save you the description because you’ll soon know who they are.
“Donald! Goofy!” Sora cried out as
he ran up and embraced his friends.
“You know them?” Phil asked.
“Yeah. These are my friends, Donald
Duck and Goofy.” Sora introduced them.
“Donald’s my court wizard, and Goofy’s
my captain of the guard.” Mickey explained.
“I’m confused.” Jason said.
“What else is new?” Aurora asked.
“Come on. We’ve got answers to find,”
Riku reminded them. With that everyone started towards the tower. Clair looked
up the spiral staircase to see it appeared to only go up one floor. As they
ascended the stairs she noticed a strange feeling. She felt open like there
were no limits and no restrictions.
“Can you feel it?” Netti whispered
to Clair.
“If you mean like nothing’s
impossible, then yes,” Clair whispered back. “Do you think it’s magic?”
“That’s what I would assume.” Ashley
whispered behind them.
“Private conversation,” Netti informed
her.
“Then you should talk softer,”
Stella suggested.
They would’ve started arguing, but
they didn’t because at that moment Mickey opened a door at the top of the
stairs. One by one they all entered to meet Master Yen Sid. Clair had seen
pictures of wizards and sorcerers in her books and what she saw matched her
imagination. Master Yen Sid was dressed in a blue robe with a forked beard and
a pointed blue hat decorated with gold stars and moons. For those of you
unfamiliar with the games Yen Sid was the sorcerer who was training Mickey in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia.
“Master Yen Sid.” Mickey, Donald,
and Goofy said as they bowed before the sorcerer.
“Welcome all of you. I’ve been
expecting you.” Master Yen Sid said.
“Expecting us?” AJ asked.
“Yes. I’ve seen that you would all
come eventually. There is so much that you need to be made aware of if you are
to find your way back home.”
“Are you really a wizard?” Ashley
asked.
“Sorcerer, though that was a good
guess,” Master Yen Sid corrected her.
“The greatest ever,” Donald added.
“That’s right. Yull never find a
better sorcerer anywhere,” Goofy informed them.
Master Yen Sid raised his arms to stop
them. “We have more important matters to discuss,” He explained. “You all are
aware that your school was attacked by Maleficent.”
“Duh.” Several of the students from
Netokan said in unison.
“And not too long after we were
rescued by Organization XIII,” Stella added in. That statement came as a shock
to Master Yen Sid because his eyes widened.
“Organization XIII? Are you sure?”
Master Yen Sid asked.
“That’s what that Xemnas dude said.”
Jason said.
“Xemnas?” Master Yen Sid closed his
eyes. After a minute he opened them and said, “Yes, I see now. The darkness has
been blocking so much from my vision lately. I knew something was amiss, but I
did not expect the Organization was behind it.”
“Why?” Aurora asked.
“Because we thought they had all
been killed.” Riku explained.
“What?” Everyone from Netokan asked.
“Are you saying we were working for
ghosts?” Phil asked.
“Ghosts don’t have a lot of power,
and from what you told us earlier they seemed pretty powerful.” Mika said.
“I’m afraid Organization XIII is
back, and they will be seeking revenge on you and your friends.” Master Yen Sid
said.
“Xemnas did mention that the
keyblade could plunge the universe into eternal darkness,” Stella mentioned.
“Which is what he will undoubtedly
try to do again. Xemnas cares nothing for the worlds or those who—“ Master Yen
Sid began to say.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it. Worlds?”
Jason asked.
“You mean like parallel worlds? As
in other existences besides our own?” Netti asked.
“Xemnas failed to mention that,”
Aurora stated.
“There’s a lot the Organization
didn’t tell you. Got it memorized?” Axel said.
“There is much you need to know.”
With a wave of his hand Master Yen Sid caused a big brown book to float off one
of the shelves in his round room and placed it on his desk. “Read from this
book. It will give you the information you will need.”
“Uh, slight problem? If we from
another world what makes you think we’ll be able to read it?” Clair asked.
“It’s a magic book. Whoever reads
from it reads it in their native language.” Master Yen Sid explained.
That seemed to satisfy the group as
they all looked at the book to start reading. Jason was never a book person and
Phil and AJ preferred their video games to reading. However that didn’t mean
they were illiterate, and as they looked they saw the words appear as if they
were written on Harthyn. These were the words they read:
Long ago, people lived in
peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people
began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was
born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many
people’s hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small
fragments of light survived, in the hearts of children. With these fragments of
light, children rebuilt the lost world. It’s the world we live in now. But the
true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That’s why the worlds are still
scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost
darkness will open, and the true light will return.
“Nice fairy tale.” Aurora said as
she finished.
“I don’t think it’s a fairy tale,
Aurora,” Clair stated.
“It’s not. We’ve seen the place
where the light sleeps.” Kairi said.
“Kingdom Hearts.” Sora and Riku said
in unison.
“Kingdom Hearts?” Netti asked.
“The heart of all worlds. The place
where the light still lingers,” Master Yen Sid explained. “It is that power
that Xehanort seeks to control for himself.”
“Xehanort?” Everyone from Netokan
asked.
“Let me explain.” Master Yen Sid
waved his hand and an image of Jason appeared next to everyone. A second later
it was replaced by an image of the black creature with yellow eyes and antenna.
“Whenever a person succumbs to the darkness in their heart a Heartless is born.
This form, called a Shadow, is the most common. They hunt in packs seeking to
consume the hearts of others, and for every heart they take their numbers
grow.”
Pausing for a second, Master Yen Sid
caused an image of the white flexible creature to appear. “If a person with a
strong heart falls to the darkness their bodies will eventually start to move
on its own. Eventually they fade back to darkness because Nobodies like the
Dusk don’t really exist.”
“Heartless? Nobodies?” AJ thought
out loud.
“Organization XIII is made up of
Nobodies.” Sora added in, causing the students from Netokan to look at them
wide eyed.
“Those guys are Nobodies?” Ashley
asked.
“That explains why they’ve got a
vendetta against you,” Jason remarked.
“Organization XIII tried to recreate
Kingdom Hearts to take its powers for themselves. They were stopped thanks to
Sora, Riku, and their friends.” Master Yen Sid said.
“Why do I get the feeling that if
they succeeded they would’ve brought about Necrodies?” Stella asked.
“What?” Roxas asked.
“Death day, the end of the world.”
AJ explained.
“But who is this Xena-hart dude?”
Jason asked.
“Xehanort was a former apprentice to
Ansem the Wise, the ruler of Radiant Garden.” Master Yen Sid continued as an
image of a man with silver hair and a lab coat appeared next to the image of a
bearded man with blonde hair, with a lab coat and a red scarf around his neck.
“However Xehanort betrayed his master, took his name, and banished him from his
world. Xehanort continued studies that his master had forbidden which
ultimately led his heart to succumb to the darkness. He became the Heartless
Ansem and the Nobody Xemnas.” The respective images appeared.
“So what’s the deal with the
keyblades and all that?”
“Keyblades are powerful weapons that
were once used to protect the light. However when people sought to control the
light for themselves they made keyblades of darkness. Whoever uses a keyblade
can use it to bring order to the worlds, or chaos.” Master Yen Sid answered.
“So does your book give any idea as
to why we got keyblades from Xemnas?” Stella asked.
“It does not. No one knows how a
person is chosen. All we know is that the keyblade choses who wields it.”
Master Yen Sid answered.
“Hold on. Are you saying these
pieces of metal are alive?” Jason asked.
“In a way, but not the way you
think.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Only you can find the answer for
yourselves.”
“So if Xemnas and the Organization
are back, will they try again to succeed with their plans?” Clair asked.
“Yes, which is why all of you must
stop them.” Master Yen Sid replied.
“You can count on us. The
Organization doesn’t stand a chance with everyone here.” Sora said.
“You feel up to fighting against
your former team with us?” Riku asked Axel and Roxas.
“Sure. Not like I’ve got the heart
to care about them anyway.” Axel said.
“They treated me like a tool before
and hurt innocent people. I will do what I can to help you.” Roxas promised.
“Before you embark on your quest, I
have some gifts for you,” Master Yen Sid said as he stood up. With a wave of
his hand everyone noticed that their clothes glowed with a soft light for a few
seconds. “Now whenever you visit another world your clothes will change to help
you blend with the inhabitants.”
“Why is that important?” Jason
asked.
“Because you must not let other
people know other worlds exist. Knowledge like that would bring chaos. Keep all
such knowledge secret,” Master Yen Sid explained.
“Thank you.” Several people said.
“Now for your second gift.” Master
Yen Sid pointed to the window and everyone looked out to see several brightly
colored spaceship-like vessels waiting for them.
“Why is there more than one gummi?”
Sora asked.
“The Organization will be looking
for you. A large group will attract more attention than is needed. Divide
yourselves into smaller teams, then choose a vessel to transport yourselves
in.” Master Yen Sid answered.
Now for those of you who are confused here are some images of that Master Yen Sid showed the group.
A Shadow Heartless
Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness (a.k.a. Xehanort's Heartless)
Xemnas
Xehanort
A Dusk Nobody
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