p style="text-align: left;"emThis chapter is a bit on the shorter side, but I wanted to get a feel for how you guys felt about the direction of this story first. The story begins in the middle and many of the questions being raised about the past will be answered as the story progresses. Leave me some feedback in the comments./em/p
p style="text-align: center;" /p
p style="text-align: center;"strongChapter One: The Darkness/strong/p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica stood in the room, surrounded by darkness. She was unable to see anything but the silver pathway that had formed just below her feet. She knew exactly where she was. While she had never been here personally, she had learned all about the Realm of Darkness from her studies at the academy. Veronica was the elite leader of a sect of Keyblade wielders who had all been secretly trained to mastery. This group was called the Secret Society of Keyblade Warriors, or simply the Society for abbreviation purposes. She had been made the leader of this organization following the death of the former leader, Master Eraqus who perished in a duel ten years ago. What would she do now? She was trapped in the Realm of Darkness and her apprentice was nowhere to be found. The chosen one who had been destined to use his keyblade to destroy the darkness had been killed. This went against all of the prophesies that Veronica had ever read on those ancient scrolls, locked away in the secret underground tunnels of the clock tower in Twilight Town. The savior was destined to destroy the darkness. What would happen now that the savior had been killed? Would the keyblade choose a new master to restore balance between light and darkness?/p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica explored the catacombs of dark nothingness. She was tough as nails and prided herself on this personality trait. She had never been the type of person to back away from a challenge and had killed many men in duels, and even more Heartless. This was the reason that she had been chosen as the leader of the Society. She had a skill with a keyblade unlike anything that the organization had seen in the entire century that they had been established. She was also extremely talented in the use of a gun. Growing up in Daybreak Town, Veronica was always one of the best distance shooters in the land./p
p style="text-align: left;"Now her decision seemed to have been made for her. She needed to find her apprentice, Master Karmein. When Jackson had been killed by the man in the black cloak, she and Karmein were both swallowed in a storm of darkness. So she continued onwards, keyblade in hand, searching for her lost friend. /p
p style="text-align: left;"emI will find you, Karmein. Our friendship burns strong/em/p
p style="text-align: left;"As she continued walking down this path into nothingness, Veronica began to hear clawing and roaring noises. They sounded like a hundred hungry lions fighting over a last bit of meat. This made her afraid. She could hear the noises from all directions and they appeared to be getting closer. In an instant she raised her keyblade toward the skies and whispered the word "emLight/em". As she did this a small sphere of illumination appeared in the nothingness and revealed hundreds of large Darkside Heartless surrounding her. Their eyes shone in a sea of yellow and their hair wobbled about like snakes. /p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica tried to run the opposite direction but as she did, found herself surrounded by even more of these very large creatures. This army of shadow giants seemed to surround her for as far as the eye could see. She closed her eyes as five of them all simultaneously reached their hands down to her to grab her. She was prepared for death. It comes with the territory of being a Keyblade Master. /p
p style="text-align: left;"However, just as she closed her eyes she heard the clash of Keyblade against the shadows and a high-pitched and familiar squeaky voice shouting "emTake that!/em" As Veronica opened her eyes she saw a large mouse with enormous black ears standing beside her with his intricate "Spellbinder" keyblade in hand. /p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;""Mickey, the darkness swallowed you too?"/p
p style="text-align: left;""Yup. I've been walking around this awful place looking for you and Karmein for hours. Or at least, what seems like hours. Time passes kinda funny in this place huh?"/p
p style="text-align: left;""Shall we?"/p
p style="text-align: left;""Alright pal"/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica and Mickey raised their Keyblades and charged at the shadow creatures hacking and slashing violently. Veronica attacked with full vigor, keyblade in one hand and pistol in the other. After some time, our heroes emerged from the shadows bloodied and bruised, but victorious./p
p style="text-align: center;" /p
p style="text-align: center;"strongChapter One: The Darkness/strong/p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica stood in the room, surrounded by darkness. She was unable to see anything but the silver pathway that had formed just below her feet. She knew exactly where she was. While she had never been here personally, she had learned all about the Realm of Darkness from her studies at the academy. Veronica was the elite leader of a sect of Keyblade wielders who had all been secretly trained to mastery. This group was called the Secret Society of Keyblade Warriors, or simply the Society for abbreviation purposes. She had been made the leader of this organization following the death of the former leader, Master Eraqus who perished in a duel ten years ago. What would she do now? She was trapped in the Realm of Darkness and her apprentice was nowhere to be found. The chosen one who had been destined to use his keyblade to destroy the darkness had been killed. This went against all of the prophesies that Veronica had ever read on those ancient scrolls, locked away in the secret underground tunnels of the clock tower in Twilight Town. The savior was destined to destroy the darkness. What would happen now that the savior had been killed? Would the keyblade choose a new master to restore balance between light and darkness?/p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica explored the catacombs of dark nothingness. She was tough as nails and prided herself on this personality trait. She had never been the type of person to back away from a challenge and had killed many men in duels, and even more Heartless. This was the reason that she had been chosen as the leader of the Society. She had a skill with a keyblade unlike anything that the organization had seen in the entire century that they had been established. She was also extremely talented in the use of a gun. Growing up in Daybreak Town, Veronica was always one of the best distance shooters in the land./p
p style="text-align: left;"Now her decision seemed to have been made for her. She needed to find her apprentice, Master Karmein. When Jackson had been killed by the man in the black cloak, she and Karmein were both swallowed in a storm of darkness. So she continued onwards, keyblade in hand, searching for her lost friend. /p
p style="text-align: left;"emI will find you, Karmein. Our friendship burns strong/em/p
p style="text-align: left;"As she continued walking down this path into nothingness, Veronica began to hear clawing and roaring noises. They sounded like a hundred hungry lions fighting over a last bit of meat. This made her afraid. She could hear the noises from all directions and they appeared to be getting closer. In an instant she raised her keyblade toward the skies and whispered the word "emLight/em". As she did this a small sphere of illumination appeared in the nothingness and revealed hundreds of large Darkside Heartless surrounding her. Their eyes shone in a sea of yellow and their hair wobbled about like snakes. /p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica tried to run the opposite direction but as she did, found herself surrounded by even more of these very large creatures. This army of shadow giants seemed to surround her for as far as the eye could see. She closed her eyes as five of them all simultaneously reached their hands down to her to grab her. She was prepared for death. It comes with the territory of being a Keyblade Master. /p
p style="text-align: left;"However, just as she closed her eyes she heard the clash of Keyblade against the shadows and a high-pitched and familiar squeaky voice shouting "emTake that!/em" As Veronica opened her eyes she saw a large mouse with enormous black ears standing beside her with his intricate "Spellbinder" keyblade in hand. /p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;""Mickey, the darkness swallowed you too?"/p
p style="text-align: left;""Yup. I've been walking around this awful place looking for you and Karmein for hours. Or at least, what seems like hours. Time passes kinda funny in this place huh?"/p
p style="text-align: left;""Shall we?"/p
p style="text-align: left;""Alright pal"/p
p style="text-align: left;" /p
p style="text-align: left;"Veronica and Mickey raised their Keyblades and charged at the shadow creatures hacking and slashing violently. Veronica attacked with full vigor, keyblade in one hand and pistol in the other. After some time, our heroes emerged from the shadows bloodied and bruised, but victorious./p