Chapter 1

Call Out to Their Hearts

Where ever light exists, darkness stands back to back with it, always matching it in power. Hearts have both light and darkness within them, both just as powerful as the other. Whichever road the hearts chooses to follow may be down the road of pure darkness or pure light, or perhaps even the middle road, accepting both sides of the coin as equals. Whichever road it takes the outcome will always be the same; one can only call it destiny, fate, or simply a choice.

Hundreds of worlds exist throughout the reaches of space, each different from the next. Every world has its light and its darkness, unless touched they remain in complete balance with each other. Those who seek to bring about a disruption to that balance will fall to one or the other sides, light will either shun it from itself, or the darkness envelope it and pull it into the depths never to be seen again.

Fate chooses its chosen ones without hesitation and without mistake, whether his or her path be full of darkness or light, or a little of both, never has fate worked badly only to end in a worse state then it began, those who work against these forces will always fall before it, either willingly or by force.

As a great King looks to the night sky another bright light, a star, slowly dims and disappears. "There goes another one… I need to find out what's happening, the world's are in danger" He said to himself as he watched that spot where the star had been. Returning to a chair that sat behind him, inside the castle in which he stood, he took an ink pen in hand and wrote on a sheet of paper. He looked to the far side of the room; a yellow dog sleeps soundly in his little bed.

The king finishes writing and slides the note into the bed with his canine. Disappearing into the night, the king took with him nothing but the clothes on his back and a single weapon in hand. "Once I find out what's wrong and fix it I will return" He whispered to his queen as she slept.

Among the stars in the night sky, in a far away world a young man looks to the same stars, slowly gaining consciousness from a light sleep, the sun begins to rise over the horizon. Once he rose he left his home and headed for a beach. He arrives at a small boat and hops inside. Looking to an island he sets sail. Quickly arriving he ties the boat to a small dock and walks over to the beach nearby. He looks back to his home island, and as the sun rose the light in the atmosphere bent and the mainland slowly vanished into thin air. "How strange that a simple change in light can make something disappear like that" He thought to himself, after years of coming here he'd only started thinking of the natural wonders his home had to offer.

He scratches his head through his tall spiky brown hair and yawns once again. "Good Morning Sora!" A voice called out. The boy turned to the dock to find a young women standing there in a white shirt and purple shorts. "Morning Kairi, did you see Riku?" He called back brushing the sand off of his red pants and white and black hoody. "Why would she see me back there, I've been over here since before dawn" Another boy's voice called out from the other side of the island. Sora turned to find another young man in yellow standing afar, under a bridge that lead to a small plateau segment of rock just off of the beach with several trees. "Man you're here early, get anything done yet?" Sora asked looking to him; hand over his face blocking the rays of the sun from his blue eyes. "Not yet, I was waiting for you two slowpokes to show up" He said brushing his long silver hair away from his eyes. "Well then come on you two let's get to work" The Kairi announced running past Sora towards Riku.

The three headed to the opposite side of the island together and began work on a wooden raft. Meanwhile a fourth young adult looks to the sunrise in his world with much enthusiasm. Rising rather quickly he dresses and heads out to town. A bustling town with many, many people, he works his way to the northern part of town where a great wall stands, surrounding a great palace.

Two guards stand at the main door they look to the young man and wave. "Good morning sir, you here to see Princess Zelda?" The guard to the right asked, moving the point of his spear towards the wall behind him, and his shield off to his left side. "Yeah, is it alright if I head inside? Or is it still too early?" He asked. The other guard opened the gates and is met face to face with another guard in thicker armor. "C-Captain, good morning sir, Mr. Link is here for Princess Zelda, is the royal family awake?" The soldier asked slightly shaken. "Ah good morning sir" The other guard said, greeting his captain. "Good morning men, Link the King has asked I have you meet with him first before you visit" The Captain announced to the lad. "No problem" Link responded with a smile.

A huge man garbed in a red robe stands before Link after entering the castle grounds, he waves to him. "Good morning King Hyrule" Link greeted with a smile. "Good morning Link, sleep well?" The King asked. "No, I had that dream about the dark giant again" Link answered with a gloom expression. He approached the King and stood before him. The King put his hand on Link's head and brushed his hair slightly along with his sock hat that hung off his head. Link readjusted the hat and looked up to the King. "Do not worry young one, it was only a nightmare, now onto business." He reassured before turning around, heading for the castle's front door.

Link caught up and walked beside him, behind them are two highly ranked guardians. "Link, today the castle is having a visitor; it is a man from the desert. His name is Ganondorf, he's been requesting council with me for some time, he wishes to meet with me on matters and I would like you to keep Zelda inside the castle in the upper floors for most of the day, while Ganondorf has reassured he is loyal to the royal family I still have my doubts" He explained as they entered the Great Hall beyond the front doors to the castle. The room stood two stories high, several balconies from the second floor sprout out of the four corners of the hall all with two doors that lead back into the second floor corridors. "Uh okay, anywhere in particular or just away from the audience chamber?" He asked. "Link!" A voice echoed throughout the great hall. Link looked up to find a young woman garbed in a fancy dress standing on one of the far balconies. "Just keep her away from the first floor entirely" The king whispered to him as he waved to his friend. "Morning Zelda" Link shouted back waving both his arms. "No problem" He whispered back to the King as she turned back towards the doors. Link ran for a further door that leads to a stairway where they could meet, the King looked to the boy and turned to his guardians.

While the King Hyrule awaited his guest, the island slowly became a home for the day to a couple of other children from the mainland. The three whom had arrived early on are now scavenging the island for supplies to finish their project. Sora, being sent to find some logs, has decided to take a break after finding a few decently sized ones and lays on the beach to rest. "What are you three working on back there?" A boy with swirly orange hair, asked while holding his ball on top of his head. "Hey Wakka, it's a secret so sorry" Sora responded with a large goofy grin. "Oh fine, you up for some blitz ball?" Wakka asked lifting the ball over Sora's head. "No maybe later" Sora answered continuing to lay where he rest. "You're not chicken are you, man?" He asked trying to goat him into a little brawl. "Oh that's it" Sora proclaimed as he stood, wooden sword in hand. "Are you two fighting again?" A female voice called from the docks.

Wakka and Sora looked to find Selphie, looking back at them; she's sitting on the dock in a yellow dress and brown sandals. After the boys remained silent for a few moments she jumped down, as she landed her brown curled tipped hair bounced. Holding a jump rope in hand, she walked over to them and looked Sora in the eye. "I'm curious to know what you, Kairi, and Riku are doing over there as well Sora. Count me in, and if me and Wakka win you've got to spill" She said challenging the boy. "I'm in too. That's three on one Sora, better get your game on if you want your little project to stay a secret" A blonde boy with a red pole announced showing up out of nowhere. "Alright Tidus is in too, now you're done for Sora" Wakka gloated, blitz ball at the ready. The three charged at Sora, as they started, Sora could see Riku watching the scene from afar. Sora braced himself and readied his defense for the first barrage of attacks.

Soon after this battle began the underdog came out on top with flying colors. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie kneeling down from the beat they all took; they shook their heads and looked to Sora standing before them, his wooden sword over his right shoulder. "Man, you've been practicing ya?" Wakka asked looking at the champ. "Can't believe we lost, oh well, even if we did win, odds are Riku would have stopped us from snooping." Tidus admitted. "Oh it's alright, it was all in good fun right guys?" Selphie pointed out, even though the four of them had some decent bruising from their battle. "Ya, let's go get some lunch, see ya Sora" Wakka suggested as he head for the dock. "Bye Sora, thanks for the battle" Tidus and Selphie said, following Wakka to the dock. Sora watched them board their boats and leave, he then fell into the sand and laid once again to rest. Riku snuck by, took the logs Sora collected beforehand and retreated behind the island. Sora slowly drifted off and began to nap.

After meeting each other, Link and Zelda headed up into the higher floors of the castle to Zelda's room. Zelda ordered a guard standing outside of her room to head downstairs for food and he was off leaving the two alone. "So how've you been? Sorry I haven't been freer to come see you" Link apologized, watching her approach two glass doors that looked out onto a balcony into the courtyard. "I've been okay; father hasn't stopped with his constant nagging. He wants me to spend more time with my tutor. He says that I haven't been behaving like a princess lately" Zelda answered, arms crossed and leaning against the door frame. "Oh, well hopefully I didn't influence this 'other behavior'" Link put in the air. "No, I haven't been seeing most of the point of some of this 'mature behavior'. Father keeps saying that a princess needs to be strong willed and positive about her wants and needs. That part I agree with, all people should be like that. But, he also said that I need to remain silent and listen when the situation calls for it" Zelda explained. "And let me guess, the silent and listening part is more often than it should be" Link added assuming that was the case. "Yeah" She said turning to look outside. Link approached her, and gave her a hug. "You'll be alright, but you're dad's right, listening is important, only object if this has anything to do with what we're thinking, okay?" Link whispered into her ear. Zelda nodded and leaned her head towards him.

Zelda turned back towards the courtyard and focused towards the front gates. "What's up?" Link asked, releasing her and walking up to the glass doors. Looking down at the gates, the two spotted three people on horses, one man and two women, all have ragged robes. The man dismounted his black stallion and gazed across the courtyard. Link and Zelda walked through the glass doorway and looked over the balcony. King Hyrule stood just below them and the man still across the courtyard, now approaching the King and his guards. "That must be Ganondorf" Zelda presumed. "The man from the desert?" Link asked, thinking back to King Hyrule's words from earlier. "Yeah… are you alright?" Zelda looked over to Link, his eyes appeared dim and he's trembling. "Link?" She almost shouted after he didn't answer. "Let's go back inside" Link said just loud enough for her to hear. Zelda threw one of his arms over her shoulders and lead him inside, over to her bed. Once at the bed Link almost fell over, he sat up as straight as he could. "What's wrong? Is… is Ganondorf…". "No, no it isn't… someone… someone's calling… me. From… from… far away" Link interrupted as his vision slowly went from blurry to black. He fell over on his back and was out like a candle light.

After sleeping for a bit, Sora slowly began to regain consciousness, however, when his vision came to, the sky was dark, and he wasn't on the beach anymore. He sat up quickly and looked around, he lay on a giant platform. Its appearance resembled a giant circular glass painting, within the painting was Sora himself. "Where… on earth?" Sora wondered looking down at his own picture on the platform. "Must be a dream" Sora concluded.

Sora stood there looking around for several minutes in silence. "There is so much to do, and so little time" A whisper echoed in the darkness. "Whoa. Who's there?" Sora jumped as he looked frantically around for the source of the voice. "Take your time, don't be afraid. The door is still closed." It continued to echo throughout the area. Sora continued to look around, it was clear that no one was here with him. "What… door? And where are you? Oh forget it, this is just a dream" Sora said giving up as he sat down and looked into the abyss before him.

Meanwhile, Zelda remained in the room with Link, after King Hyrule and Ganondorf entered the castle she closed the glass doors to the balcony and locked the door to her room. She sat there watching him; he seemed asleep however his state was already in dreaming sleep. His eyes were moving underneath his eye lids, however his expression remained calm. "Wonder if you're having a vision" She thought to herself as she watched him sleep. Within the depths of his mind, Link began to awaken. He looked up and found himself in darkness; the only source of light seemed to be coming from whatever he was laying on. He sat up and looked down, underneath him, a giant platform. Link examined it after standing and found a large picture of himself. Within other parts of the glass painting, Link found smaller paintings of other people. Near the top of his picture is a circle of others including Link's deceased parents, Zelda, King Hyrule, and the symbol of the royal family, the Triforce. "Even though this is a dream, it seems really… peaceful here. Wonder if I've had this dream before" Link thought aloud.

"There is so much to do, and so little time" A voice echoed from the darkness. "Huh?" Link looked around, still seeing nothing but the abyss before him and the platform in which he stood. "Take your time, don't be afraid. The door is still closed." It continued. "This must be another vision… but, usually I'm somewhere in Hyrule… Where am I?" Link wondered as he desperately continued to search for any sign of where he was, all he saw was darkness while he stood on the only light.

"They're calling to you, from their hearts to yours" The voice said breaking the silence. Sora and Link both reacted to the voice and looked to the darkness. "Who's calling?" They said together. Bright lights surrounded the boys and when it dimmed out, they were gone. After a moment they found themselves standing in the same darkness, however, the platform was now green with a woman in a yellow dress. Around her were little pictures of seven men. "What on" The two whispered to themselves. After hearing each others' voices they jumped back from each other, turned around and examined each other.

They took one step towards each other and spoke, "Who are you?". "Oh okay you are real" Sora said relieved that he wasn't alone. "Wait you can see me… okay this isn't a vision" Link said looking around to see if there were any other people around, there are none. "Vision, I thought this was a dream" Sora said getting more confused. "Can't be a dream, unless we're sharing a dream… and I can tell just by looking at you you're not from Hyrule" Link confirmed. "Hyrule? Hold on I'm from the Destiny Islands. You're from another world aren't you?" Sora asked. "Another world? I guess, and there are no islands by that name anywhere near Hyrule" Link wasn't sure what this kid was so excited about, they were still stuck in this abyss with no way out. Link walked up to the edge and looked over, the platform seemed to fall as far as the abyss itself. "Well, I know this isn't the best question in the world. Do you have any idea where we are?" Link asked looking back to Sora. Sora looked down at the platform again then looked to Link, reacting to his question. "I'm not sure" He responded after a few moments.

Dark blotches began appearing all over the platform, Link and Sora watched as small black creatures with yellow glowing eyes emerged from the blotches. Once emerged, the blotches vanished and the creatures remained, surrounding the boys. "Got anything to fight with?" Link asked. "No, can I use something on your back?" Sora asked. Link looked behind him in shock; those were not there when he was on the other platform. "y-yeah, take my shield" He responded after seeing the creatures on the move. With sword and shield in hand the boys fought the creatures for a bit until they all vanished into the darkness they spawned from. Sora turned the shield around, taking a look at it, it looked… old. "So how long have you had this?" Sora asked. "Careful, its sturdy but I've had it a long time so" Link said, taking it back.

Sora let it go and looked around; no more creatures were here, however, a piece of the platform was cracked. "Hey look at his" Sora said pointing at the fracture. Link followed him to it and looked at it, a black aura was oozing from it, only enough to see looking over it. Sora kneeled down and examined it more closely. "I think this is getting bigger" Sora said pointing at the edge of the crack, as the dark aura oozed out its length increased. "Yeah I think you're right" Link said kneeling down next to him. Moments later the fracture snapped and grew almost a foot longer. The fracture then snapped and spread outward. "Move!" Link said pulling Sora to his feet and literally dragging Sora away from him. The entire platform shattered in a quick wave as the fracture spread, tearing the entire thing apart. Sora and Link fell into the darkness. As they fell another light showed up below them. "Another platform?" Sora asked as it came into view. "Looks like it, brace yourself" Link said as they approached it.

Just before landing, their decent almost ceased completely allowing them to land softly. "What are these things?" Link spat looking down at the new platform. This one's appearance showed another women, this one in a blue ball gown and her hair done up. "They kind of look like, princesses" Sora pointed out. Link looked down at the picture again. "Yeah you're right, look at the little pictures that are with her." Link said pointing at a similar set up from the last platform, in a circular pattern around her different picture lay around her. Most of the segments made up a castle, along with a horse and a circular carriage. "I wonder who they are" Sora wondered. "They're calling to you, from their hearts to yours" Echoed the voice in Sora's memory. "Hey Link?" Sora called out as Link started to wonder off, gazing down at the platform as a whole. "Yeah?" Link called back still gazing down. "Before we met up on that last platform, did you hear a voice calling out from the darkness?" Sora asked watching Link. Link looked up to Sora and nodded. "Yeah it said something about you've much to do and that…" Link stopped for a moment. "They're calling to you, from their hearts to yours" Sora and Link repeated simultaneously. They looked down to the girl in the platform again. "Could this, this thing we're standing on, be a link to her heart" Sora wondered. Link's head turned to Sora at the mention of his name, but quickly realized he meant the word link not the name and looked back down to her. "I think you're right, but if that's the case, why did that last one shatter?" Link asked aloud, worried about what that might have meant. Sora twitched at the question, worried as well he slowly looked to Link and shook his head. "Maybe… perhaps they're calling for help. And whoever is endangering them noticed and cut off their hearts from ours, not allowing us to reach her heart anymore" Sora suggested not wanting to think of a worse possibility.

Link nodded at that possibility and looked out to the dark abyss once more. "If that's the case, they might be checking who else is amongst them and stopping anyone else from calling out to us, I'd be willing to bet…" Link started to suggest. "That we're not going to be here much longer" Sora finished getting the picture. "Yeah" Link said agreeing. The platform began to rumble, from underneath them, black blotches appeared again, these much bigger than the ones from before. "More of those creatures?" Link said tossing his shield back to Sora. Sora caught the shield and prepared for battle. Instead the dark blotches swallowed them. Link and Sora struggled to get free, but to no avail. Soon after being swallowed the darkness disappeared and they found themselves on another platform. This one pictured another princess-like women, she wore a purple dress and she appeared to be in a deep slumber.

"This one reminds me of the first one" Sora said looking at her expression. "Yeah the last one seemed at piece, and this one looks like she wants to awaken" Link added. Sora nodded and looked over the edge to this one, still it stood as far down as the abyss and kept going until you lost sight of it. Link stood still, eyes closed, as if trying to listen for something. Sora looked to him, got the idea and closed his eyes as well. After a few minutes, silence reigned supreme, no one was trying to call out to them. Link opened his eyes and looked to Sora, behind him a pathway appeared leading to yet another platform. "Sora behind you" Link said calmly. Sora turned and saw the path. "Another one?" He wondered gazing towards it. Sora started up the path, not worried about what might be up there. Link followed him up and upon arriving, Link looked back to the other one, it had vanished as well as the path leading them there.

"Doesn't look like we're getting much luck, whoever's blocking their hearts from reaching us, their catching on that all of them are looking for someone to help" Link pointed out. "Wonder if we're the only ones that can hear them" Sora wondered looking out to the abyss then down the newest platform. Another ball gown, this one yellow and with large ribbon aligning her shoulders. Her brown hair, hanging over her shoulder and earrings just visible underneath it all. Lots of kitchenware here" Link pointed out, looking at the pictures surrounding her. "Whoa, look at this" Sora almost shouted pointing at something behind the girl. Link looked to him and spotted it, a large monster, standing behind the girl and looking away from her. "He doesn't look very angry, being a beast and all" Link pointed out, looking at the monster's expression.

"The closer you get to the light, a bigger shadow you will cast" A voice echoed from the darkness. Sora and Link looked around frantic, still no one was present to claim the voice they'd been hearing. "Do not be afraid, you hold the greatest weapon of all" Sounded the voice again as the platform began to tremble. "Again?" Link spat getting annoyed with the constant movement. "Link it's not the platform this time!" Sora shouted pointing behind him. Link turned to see their shadows, now mixed starting to stand and take on a new shape. After emerging from the ground it stood extremely tall, its humanoid form pointed at them with its long wavy fingers. Its glowing yellow eyes, peering at them from behind its long messy hair, stared them down as if challenging them. Link looked to Sora, he still had his shield in hand. Sora looked to Link as he unsheathed his sword and they nodded and charged the massive monster.

Sora and Link fought the creature, holding nothing back, however, no matter how many times they struck it, it didn't flinch or recoil from a powerful strike. "Alright Sora we need to get it to kneel to us, after that follow my lead" Link shouted to Sora. Sora nodded and kept low and away from it. The creature kneeled down but not towards them, he crossed his arms over his chest and flung them aside, moments later a large black power emitted from its chest and shot out at the boys. Link and Sora dodged the attack and ran for his arms. They jumped onto the arms and ran up them to its face. Sora swung back and prepared an attack, Link did the same and they swung together forcing the monster to fall backwards. They leaped down and distanced themselves. The monster quickly sat back up and kneeled towards them. Link and Sora readied their weapons, however just as they were ready to charge, the sword and shield vanished. The jolted and jumped back as the monster through a punch towards them. Now forced at the edge of the platform they ran off to the side. The monster suddenly sank into the floor creating a giant dark blotchy area that covered the entire platform. Link and Sora were swallowed into it. As the light around them vanished Sora heard the voice once again. "Do not be afraid, for you are the one who will open the door" The creature vanished from sight and the platform was left un touched, as if no one had ever been there.