Chapter One: The Eternity Gate
Okay… a feeble attempt at something new. This story, to sum it up, is really different from my other ones, I think. I got this weird idea of what I'm going to do and stuff. Anyway, please R and R! I love reviews.
"Forever connected are what we are… We pace forward to realize our desires…"
A graceful girl, no older than perhaps nineteen, was singing a beautiful melody; lips parting to allow each word tumble out in grace. Held in her slender hand was a pencil, to which was scratching against the rough paper of the sketchpad lying in her lap.
Depicted in this picture was a large group of teenagers. Standing in the background were eight people. All had their backs turned so that their features were unknown. In the front, however, stood four separate people.
One female stood to the left side, intricately drawn. She had a pretty face, shoulder-length auburn-hair tumbling down to frame it. The girl had blue eyes, glimmering with a lovely kind of sparkle. She was dressed in a pink outfit, a short pink dress ending at her thighs, pink shoes clad on her feet. Black laces curled around her ankles.
In the center stood a male, perhaps the tallest of the four in the front. He had long silver hair, some of his bangs even falling into his aqua eyes. The boy was dressed in a white vest, the areas around the zipper black, the bottom of it yellow as well as the top, a black t-shirt worn underneath. He was also wearing blue jeans and normal sneakers.
In the center, on the side closest to the girl in pink was a spiky-haired brunette with brilliant blue eyes, some of the spikes growing long enough to start drooping. He was dressed casually in a black vest, underneath a blue and red outfit. A navy blue belt hung around his waist, black pants worn underneath. A chain necklace with a crown dangling from the end hung around his neck, and on his hands, he wore fingerless gloves, large black sneakers and his feet.
Standing at the opposite side of the other female, her body turned slightly to a side, was another girl, appearing to be one of the youngest in the entire picture, perhaps. She had wavy, ebony (black) hair reaching her mid-back, visible since she had been turned to an angle, and strangely pale, ivory skin. Her eyes were a magnificent azure shade, complex with elaborate detail. She was dressed in a firm white t-shirt, two black stripes lined beside one another on each of her sides. The front of the shirt had the faint design of a key, two black stripes lining the bottom of the shirt as well. Two white belts hung around her slim waist, crossing each other to create an X shape. Underneath were her black jeans, fitting on her nicely, the legs flaring out near the ends. Lastly, on her feet, she was dressed in white sneakers.
"Mm hm," murmured the girl, stopping her singing to brush some of her silken platinum blonde hair behind her ears, hazel eyes inspecting the picture carefully. "You all are pawns in my game." A faint smile made its way onto her lips. "Especially you four… Sora, Riku, Kairi…" She paused before stating the name of the black-haired girl, her smile turning into a smirk.
"Checkmate."
"C'mon, Kairi!" urged a brunette, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement as one of his best friends, lagging behind, attempted to catch up. "We still have a long walk up this tower!"
"Hey, just because you and Riku are all experienced at fighting doesn't mean I am!" she retorted, slashing through a shadow heartless with ease, the Oathkeeper held tightly in her hand. When the Keyblade Riku had given her at the Castle That Never Was had finished with its purpose, it had vanished. However, when Sora gave her the lucky charm back, the Oathkeeper flashed into view. She had been its wielder ever since.
"Really? I don't think Yen Sid will be too happy," chuckled a silver-haired boy, standing at a higher location on the staircase, the Way to Dawn Keyblade slung casually over his shoulder. "Sora, why don't you help her?"
Sora sighed; the Kingdom Key Keyblade hung loosely in his grip. "Well… as much as I'd like to, Kairi needs the experience." By now the auburn-haired girl had finished off the rest of the heartless on the current staircase they stood upon, marching up to Sora.
"There. Happy, So-ra?" she quipped, grinning. Sora nodded, grinning back. The three hurried up the stairs, pulling open the door, stepping into the study of the wizard they had come to see.
"So, you have all arrived," spoke Yen Sid in his deep voice, looking up from the large, old tome he had been reading. "Another perilous journey awaits you." At this, Sora groaned, drooping.
Riku laughed. "I think Sora's had enough of these many journeys."
Yen Sid looked at him. "You are Riku, I believe?" Riku nodded. "And you are Kairi?" Kairi nodded as well. "I am afraid that you two will be compelled to join Sora on his new journey. This time, you and the rest of your friends, whether they be the King, or Donald, or Goofy, or any other comrades, will be facing an even more dangerous force than the last. Though Organization XIII has been defeated, another force has taken Kingdom Hearts into their grasp."
Kairi gasped at this. "What? Who are they?"
"They call themselves the "Greaters". Superior to both heartless and nobodies, they powerful beings, like Organization XIII, a group of these beings have been striking many worlds, including some of the many you have sealed."
"The Greaters…" murmured Riku thoughtfully. "How many of them are there?"
"That, we do not yet know of. Though we do know this: Maleficent is the leading commander of the heartless at this very moment. She works with the darkness. Some of the members of Organization XIII were somehow revived, though many memories of what occurred before have been lost. They have joined with Maleficent, merging the forces of both heartless and nobodies together to take Kingdom Hearts back from the foreign entities. These beings have created creatures of their own, spawning from an indefinite element. They are called the Lessers."
"But why? Why are they doing this? Is this like fighting the Organization and the heartless all over again?" asked Sora, curious.
"Their goal, concluded by the King, is to enter another universe containing only several worlds, through a gateway by collecting certain things, and there, open a door leading to boundless, immense power. Much like Kingdom Hearts, only, this door contains much more power than Kingdom Hearts. We call it the "Eternity Gate"."
"What would these "things" be?" questioned Riku. "If we can find them first, then it would be impossible for them to open to open the Eternity Gate."
"In prophecies created by multiple worlds, it is inevitable that the Eternity Gate shall open. However, the question is, who will be the one to open the gate and received all this power," answered the elderly mage. "They are not things, but, humans, like ourselves. They too wield Keyblades. We call them the "Keys of Eternity". In total, we are sure that there are eight. Each controls a different element, some may be stronger than others, but nevertheless, they are the keys."
"What are the elements?" piped up Kairi, interest piqued.
"We are unsure, though we already know two of them. The first is the key of light. The other is the key of darkness. They are the most important of the keys, and are supposedly the most powerful. These keys are the only ones we are sure about where they reside."
"Where?"
"Right within this room."
The trio jumped. Sora chose to speak up again, swallowing the uncomfortable lump that was then in his throat. "But there are three of us!"
Yen Sid looked faintly amused. "I never mentioned to you that all three must be a key… The key of light is you, Sora. The key of darkness would be you, Riku."
Kairi, willing to be left out, turned to her two best friends, eyeing them strangely. Riku gulped. "Am I still-"
"No," interjected Yen Sid. "You are no longer of the darkness, though it does still linger within your heart." He turned to Kairi, as though scrutinizing the only female of the three. "The keys are not the only ones that are required to be able to step forth into the other universe and open the Eternity Gate. Kairi, this is where you come in.
"The gateway leading to the other universe is not easily accessible. It is heavily guarded by creations and messengers of the creators of everything, and to even get to the Other Universe, you need another key." Kairi gasped.
"So I'm the key to opening the gateway to the Other Universe? Then they have to open up the Eternity Gate…" she whispered, almost in apprehension. Sora patted her on the back awkwardly.
"Yes. Now, in order to open the Eternity Gate, yes, you need all eight of the keys. However, there is one last requirement. You need Oblivion."
"Oblivion?" they chorused, confused.
"Yes. There is a human in this galaxy, this universe, which holds a strange power. In order for the eight keys to work, you need to extract the portion of their soul that is one of the eight keys. This last human then must absorb these eight portions. They will be the one to open the door. In order to absorb it, the human that has the destiny of being Oblivion must meet each of these keys. To extract the portion, the keys of light and darkness must unlock their soul, allow that portion to be absorbed, and relock their soul. This creates the true key of the Eternity Gate, Oblivion. She will be the one to open the door, along with the keys of light and darkness."
"But why do we have to open the door? We could always try to prevent it!" Sora cried, gnawing at his bottom lip nervously.
"In order to destroy it, the door must be opened. After opening it, the guardians must be defeated. They are the ones who guard the inside door. They will each give you a kind of test. Once they are all defeated, the key of light and the key of darkness must close the door with their Keyblades after hurrying out. There is no need for this power to be unleashed. If it is, havoc shall run loose."
"That makes…" Kairi sighed. "About nine people to find. We don't even have clues about their locations!"
"All you must do is search. I bid you farewell, and good luck on your journey."
The trio nodded and left the room, hiking back down the stairs to exit the tower, boarding their gummi ship.
Rise and fall, we'll lose it all...
She paused, finishing up the last of her drawing, before signing her name at the top left corner in lovely script. It read "Ivy". Pushing her pencil into the spiral of the sketchpad, eyes coming to rest on a drawing of eight people on the wall, all dressed in black cloaks.
"Ironic, isn't it?" came a masculine voice from the doorway, wearing a black cloak with its hood up, forbidding all from viewing his face. "To think that we have the same uniform as that pathetic group. Organization XIII, was it? The Council of Eight will triumph. The Eternity Gate will be opened... It is as good as ours. With Kingdom Hearts at our disposal, we are all powerful."
"Be patient, Sin. We must not underestimate the opponent…" murmured Ivy. "However, I am beginning to believe that yes, we will triumph…" Her gaze flickered back to the black-haired girl in the drawing she had sketched.
"Fall into our clutches, Asuka."