ONE
Darkness……overwhelming……can't see……can't……breath………
I awoke suddenly, gasping for breath. No matter how hard I tried, I could not breath; my lungs felt like they would explode.
"It's all right; take it easy" I looked up at where the voice came from, and saw a person in a black hooded cloak standing above me to my left. The person put their hand over my face, and I began to breath more easily.
"That's more better, isn't it?" I slowly sat up and looked at the person curiously.
"Who are you? Where I am?"
"Easy now; you still haven't recovered from that last attack"
"Attack? That's right…those shadow things pulled me into the darkness…Sora tried to save me… oh my god, Sora!!" I said, and jumped up quickly.
"Sora! Where are you!! Sora?!"
"He can not hear you"
"What do you mean? Where's Sora!"
"He's not here"
"What have you done with him?" I said, and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak.
"I have done nothing with him, he left all on his own"
"Left? Where did he go? Answer me!!" The hooded figure said nothing; instead, he began to laugh as though what I said struck him as funny.
"He is in another world. A world far from here. A world that is overrun with darkness"
"Darkness? You mean like the thing that swallowed me?" Again he said nothing, but turned and began to walk in the opposite direction.
"Hey, wait up!" I yelled, and ran up beside him.
"You still never told me who you are, and where I am" The hooded figure pointed straight ahead of him into the distance. I looked in the direction of where he was pointing, too see a breathtaking sight. A huge castle with a symbol I have never seen before lie in front of us. It was like something you'd see out of a fairy tale, expect in real life.
"Welcome, to Hollow Bastion" He said, almost proudly.
"You mean, that's where we're going?!"
"Unless of course you want to be transported back to Destiny Island" Not waiting to be left behind, I quickly followed him to an old fashioned looking elevator. The elevator didn't have any buttons in it, instead it had a big spiky sphere set in the right corner.
After I was in, the hooded figure placed his hand on the sphere, and the elevator began to move slowly upward. The ride was over just as quickly as it had begun, and we were now standing at the top of a landing that lead to the castle. We past a little pond on our left, and walked around a corner on our right; and now, we were standing before the castle.
Now that we were closer, it looked to have grown about ten more stories up, practically blocking out what little light there was.
"We mustn't waste anymore time; I have a guest waiting here who has been dying to meet you" With that, he walked into the castle without stopping for me. I quickly followed him inside, taking in as much of the outside that I could.
Once inside, I was overwhelmed by the castles huge exterior. Two staircases were set on either side of the room, connected with a fountain set in the middle of them. Chairs and tables with little statues lined the upstairs walls, as well as a number of doors.
Just then, a woman appeared from one of the doorways, and slowly made her way down one of the staircases.
"Ansem, how many times must I remind you to be prompt?"
"Sorry Maleficent, our guest arrived later then I expected"
"Ansem? So, the mysterious hooded guy does have a name" Maleficent looked at me and smiled.
"Not also is he late, but he's funny. How cute. Now then, why don't you tell us your name boy?"
"It's Riku"
"Riku is it? I suppose it will do…" She turned and looked at Ansem disgustedly.
"For heavens sake Ansem, take that filthy cloak off, you weren't raise with a pack of wolves were you?" She spat, and headed back to her room.
"Who died and made her queen…" I said under my breath.
"You'll get used to her after a while, don't worry"
"I hope so…I didn't run away from my parents to be bossed around by another adult" Ansem laughed, and removed his hood. His hair is long and silver, just like mine, but his eyes are so much wilder then mine. They're the color of an orange fire blazing uncontrollably.
"Now then, I suppose you're hungry; I'll inform one of the chefs to make us some dinner. Until then, I'll show you around the castle" He led me up the staircase, and into a room at the end of the hall all by itself.
Rows upon rows of bookshelves lined the walls, and a staircase on the right side spiraled up to anther floor that was also lined with bookshelves.
"It's amazing"
"All the worlds knowledge is held in this very library"
"Seriously?"
Yes. Although, it would take one ten years to read them all" Ansem made his way back to the door, but I stood glued to the spot.
"I'll show you to your room if you'd like"
"I think I'll stay here for now"
"I'll call you down for dinner then" He said, and closed the door behind him. I looked around the room wandering where I should begin. I stopped at the nearest shelf, and began to read some of the book titles, hoping at least one would catch my eye.
Most of the titles were in different languages, none of which I understood. I picked up one that made the most sense to me, and suddenly heard a click coming from the upstairs. I put the book back in its place, and walked up the stairs cautiously.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I checked around just in case. The bookcases up here were in different languages as well, no surprise. The last bookcase I came across was actually in English, finally something I could do to pass the time. All of the books on this case had some form Darkness in the titles; quite odd for a normal library…
"Huh? What's this?" I said, as I picked up a new looking book.
" 'How to harness the darkness within'…" I took the book and sat down in a nearby chair, then opened the book and began to read it.
" 'People say, that light is the most powerful of the elements, but they are wrong. Darkness in its simplest form is enough to kill people. If one were to learn how to harness the darkness within their hearts, they could conquer worlds. Everyone has darkness in their hearts; but there are few of those who can master the darkness. These people, shall one day accomplish great feats of evil…' "
"Riku?" I jumped suddenly and closed the book.
"I didn't mean to scare you. Dinner's ready"
"Th-thank you. I'll be down after I put this book away" He nodded his head, then walked down the stairs and out of the room. I eased myself up slowly and crossed the room to the bookshelf. I looked at the book one last time, and carefully put it back, making sure to remember exactly where I put it.
