A large, green luscious meadow held a multitude of people, all gathered in one spot. The azure sky smiled down upon the people, whom had been looking directly in front of them, at three figures. The one on the far left sat rather lazily upon a small throne. He had aqua colored hair with bangs that hung gracefully across his face, with strands hanging in both of his amethyst purple eyes, and the bridge of his nose. The bangs ended at the tip of his nose, and covered both his ears. For the most part, his hair was straight and flat, ending at his shoulders, where it hooks upwards slightly. His skin was a light brown color, as if he was bathed in dark caramel or milk chocolate. For clothing, the male wore a high collar, black sleeveless vest. It was tight, and form fitting to show off his physically fit physique, and was unzipped at the bottom to show his midriff and abdominal muscles. Overtop his vest, the male bore a cloak the color of freshly drawn blood, with a royal gold trim. The cloak was unzipped from the shoulders down, so that it appeared more like a superhero's cape. On the back of the cloak was a hood, which also had the gold trim as the rest of the cloak. Golden armor covered the male's left arm, from the bicep down to the knuckle. The palm of his armor was black, due to the layer of cloth separating the armor from his skin. On his shoulder, overtop his cloak stood a piece of golden armor, which extended outward a few inches away from his body. His right arm was uncovered, with the exception of black, fingerless gloves which started at his wrist. He also wore raven colored pants, with two crimson loops hanging off the back, remnant of overall straps. A snow colored belt, with a night colored skull shaped belt buckle held his pants up. The male had been tapping his foot on the ground, causing his black and white shoes to become a blur of color.

The throne next to him was occupied by a man, whom sat rather proud. Aside from a darker skin color, and snowy white hair, the male looked almost exactly like the younger one beside him. The older man had a few wrinkles upon his face, and had ocean blue eyes, but other than that he was a split image of the younger man. Atop his head, he wore a golden crown, garnished with beautiful crimson rubies. His choice of clothing was an intrigue suit of golden armor, with a purple cape trailing behind it. The cape had fuzzy white trim behind him, and he held a silver and gold scepter in his right hand. The throne on the far right was occupied by a woman, whom was rather beautiful overall. Her ocean blue hair was held in a ponytail, and her purple eyes seemed to gleam with joy. She was somewhat lighter than the young man, which went well to balance out the older male's overall dark appearance. For clothing, she wore a modest purple dress, with a ruby directly at the top, serving as a button to keep her cleavage from slipping out. Like the older man, she too bore a crown atop her head, albeit smaller. Unlike the younger man, whom seemed bored and rather uninterested, the two adults were proud to be the center of attention. It appeared the older male had just finished a speech, as the large sum of people had their eyes glued on him.

"This is mind numbingly boring..." The younger male whispered, which was answered with a quick shush from the man next to him.

"Quiet, Prince Darryl." The man, presumed to be a King spoke.

"Yes, your majesty." Darryl was sure to put a rather sarcastic and over-emphases tone on the word majesty, in order to further convey his annoyance. Almost on cue with Darryl's fading tolerance, a black stretch limo pulled up behind the three. They rose from their seats, and gave their audience a large smile and wave, although Darryl's admittedly felt more forced and false than the King and Queen's. They then walked over to the limo, got inside, and pulled off and away from the crowd.

"Prince Darryl, you should be joyous in front of our subjects." As soon as they were a good distance away from the crowd, the Queen began to lecture Darryl.

"Will you stop calling me Prince Darryl, I'm your son." Darryl pointed out.

"You should be proud to be called Prince, regardless of who speaks that word. And what exactly is so wrong with being a prince? It gave you a rather extraordinary life." The Queen, Darryl's mom, spoke with a rather formal and eloquent tone, despite the fact that the person she was speaking to was her own son.

"Extraordinary?! I was kidnapped three times before I was six!" Darryl held up three fingers, in case his parents didn't grasp it by his words alone. "I had body guards following me around until I was fifteen! I'm only seventeen, and I'm the third most influential person in the entire world! Who the hell wants a life like that?!" Darryl lost control of himself, and became overly passionate while speaking to his parents.

"Enough!" The King finally spoke, instantly silencing Darryl. "You should be proud of your heritage. Do you know that before your grandfather became the first King of Lyxia, it was run by a dictator? He single handedly took him down, and started the tradition of King. And it was passed down to your grandfather, who passed the title down to me. Don't you see? One day, all of this land will be yours. It's what you were born to do." He patted his son on the shoulder, whom responded by sliding to the other side of the limo, so that he was face to face with his parents.

"That's bullshit and you know it, your majesty." Once again, Darryl over-emphases the word majesty, as he normally did when he was unhappy with his father. "You always claim so many people like the king, and while that may be true, he doesn't command nearly as much respect as you think. Even you are no exception, and if you were then I would have never been kidnapped now would I have been?" The King opened his mouth to respond, but Darryl raised his voice to cut him off. "And another thing..." He began. "I wasn't born to be a king. I don't even like politics. I'm not good at being royal like you. I don't even like people calling my eyes royal purple! Do you know what I'm good at?" Darryl then held out his right hand, and in a flash of light came forth a weapon. It was long and silver, appearing like a giant key. The handle of the weapon was plain black, and it had an orangish-yellow colored hilt. Darryl had summoned the Kingdom Key keyblade. "This is what I'm good at! Fighting! Defending people! Not sitting on my ass and sending other people to do it for me!"

"Put that thing away." No matter how angry he was, once his dad raised his voice, Darryl listened. He allowed the keyblade to vanish in a puff of light, and instead glared at his dad in silence. The remainder of the car ride was silent, until they reached a large palace. The three climbed out the limo, with the King and Queen walked towards the palace doors, and Darryl stomping off in the other direction.

"I hate this place." Darryl angrily muttered to himself. He had wondered into an empty meadow, with beautiful yellow flowers in the distance. The world of Lyxia was rather beautiful, filled with lush grass all year around, and flower patches every couple miles. It combined modern with rural, being almost completely void of any major stores or large buildings, which prevented the sky from being consumed by smog and chimney smoke. The people of Lyxia had cars, but most opted to walk instead of driving in them. As Darryl sat upon the grass in frustration, the ground suddenly grew several additional shadows, and little black creatures emerged from them. They appeared insectoid, with black antennae to match their stumpy black bodies. The only part of the creatures bodies that wasn't black, was their beady yellow eyes. "...At least I can work off some stress." Darryl summoned his Kingdom Key keyblade, and charged the creatures. The closest one to him was quickly dispatched with a three strike combo; a vertical strike, followed by a horizontal strike, and ending in a stab. The one behind that one was then taken out by Darryl sliding behind the creature, and piercing the back of its head. Both vanished in a puff of smoke. The remaining five creatures began to grow closer to Darryl, whom responded by gripping his keyblade tighter. Once he did however, the keyblade vanished. "Not again!"

The creatures surrounded Darryl, whom had been too preoccupied attempting to resummon his keyblade to notice. They tilted their heads curiously, and once they figured out that Darryl was defenseless, they lunged at once. "No!" He screamed, before squeezing his eyes shut, and all faded to black. The next thing Darryl knew, he was falling into what felt like an endless abyss of water. He could breathe however, so he assumed he wasn't in a physical body of water. His eyes slowly opened, and his eyes scanned the area. Below him, a platform of stained glass was prepared to catch him, and once Darryl noticed this he shifted his body weight so that he landed on his feet. Below, upon the stained glass, a boy with spiky brown hair had been etched on. He held a keyblade in his right hand, which was identical to the one he had been so furiously trying to summon. "This boy, his name is..." A female's voice began to speak the same name he had been. "...Sora."

Darryl jumped, startled at the voice which had no point of origin. "Who are you?" Darryl questioned aloud, hoping it would respond.

"I am everything and yet I am nothing. I am the keeper of the key." The voice spoke in tongues, which only further served to help confuse Darryl. The creatures from before began to appear however, which left Darryl with no time for questions. He attempted to summon the keyblade again, which was successful, but the weapon simply vanished immediately after appearing in his hands. "Why?! Why can't I summon the keyblade?!" Darryl resorted in running from the heartless, until he reached the opposite edge of the keyblade.

"Because it is not yours. But fret not, young one. The power that resides in your own heart is much greater than the borrowed power you've grown accustomed to. All you have to do is, trust in your own power." The voice spoke to the young prince, whom had been looking around searching for body to correspond with it, to no avail.

"Trust in my own power..." Darryl repeated the voice's words, closing his eyes and holding out his right hand. A stream of water appeared from no apparent place, and swirled around his arm before settling in the palm of his hand, where it mixed in with a bright light which had formed. A new keyblade now was held in Darryl's hand. It was rather big, nearly the size of his body, and yet Darryl could hold it with a single hand. It appeared to be made completely of crystals, giving it a nearly clear color minus a light blue tint. The crystals spiked outward and upward, growing fewer by the numbers the higher the blade went. The teeth part of the keyblade took the form of a silver crown, with six jewels arranged in a circle. From clockwise, starting at the top, the jewel colors were blue, yellow, black, reddish orange, white, and gray. Its handle was surrounded by the hilt, which took the form of two angel wings, and its keychain was an X. The keyblade made him think of the different routes he could go in life, and how every decision he had made so far made him into the person he was today. "The Forged Path." Darryl named his keyblade, and began to try it out by attacking the heartless. He slashed quickly, diagonally to take out the first heartless, which left a trail of water in the keyblade's wake. The second heartless was taken out along with two more, by Darryl spinning in a circle with his keyblade held outward. Instantly recovering from his spin, Darryl went into a rapid stabbing motion, which causing the remaining heartless to vanish in a puff of smoke. Darryl's battle style had changed significantly with the change of keyblade, with it now appearing like dancing water. Darryl's strikes were fast, and yet they all flowed together into one combo rather seamlessly. He then turned, and ran up the stairs to his left. Heartless began to form upon the stained glass, spiral staircase, and prepared themselves to face Darryl. In response, Darryl increased his speed a bit and began to slash through them. He slashed through two at once; by aiming a quick strike at their necks, then the next two with a rising slash. A third set of two was then taken out with a quick stabbing motion. The rest of the heartless backed off a bit, before regaining their nerve and attacking. With a few quick slashes of his keyblade however, these heartless faded away like the rest of their brethren.

Finally, Darryl reached the second platform, which seemed to be floating in midair above the first one. He released his keyblade, allowing it to vanish into thin air, and walked slowly to the center of the platform. As soon as Darryl reached the center, the ground began to shake and tremble. A large, black heartless emerged from the ground, with its menacing yellow eyes looking down upon Darryl. The creature, which easily was 30 feet tall, towered over Darryl. Its body was rather muscular, and had twin spikes shooting out from its back, and elongated fingers, which at this point were nearly touching Darryl. Darryl jumped back, while summoning his Forged Path keyblade in a swirl of water, and stood ready. His battle stance was more defensive orientated; his knees bent to allow a quick springing motion in any direction, his keyblade held in his right hand in front of his chest, with the point sticking straight out, and his armored left hand not far from his chest and face. His eyes scanned upward towards the large heartless' head. It appeared to be more humanoid than the ones he had been used to, lacking the rounded, bug-like face and antennae; possessing a more human structured skull, and black spikes of darkness atop its head. It swung its hand down, palm first, towards Darryl's head. Darryl jumped backwards to dodge the blow while simultaneously slashing, allowing him to sever one of the creature's fingers. It roared in anger as it spewed darkness from the wound, and then opened its mouth. A large orb of darkness began to form within it, and aimed straight at Darryl. Finally, the orb was released and sent hurtling at Darryl, much to his distress. "Trust in your own power…" The voice repeated in Darryl's mind, which allowed the young prince to calm himself. He faced the orb head-on with eyes filled with determination. With a fierce stab, Darryl planted his keyblade in the ground. The result of this action was a geyser of water surrounding Darryl and blocking the orb which so carelessly collided with it. Once the water and orb vanished, Darryl took off running before jumping into the air. He landed upon the heartless' arm, and used it as a spring board to soar into the air, up towards the creature's head. Before Darryl could reach, it swung a massive fist towards his left side. Darryl rapidly spun in a circle, while still in mid air, and an orb of ice consumed him. Once the hand ran into the orb, it shattered, but the extra layer of defense left Darryl unharmed. He then used the large shards of broken ice as platforms, jumping upon them as they fell to further his height in the air. Finally, he was able to reach the heartless' head level, standing upon its shoulder. He then unleashed a furious amount of blows, hitting the creature's head with a sixteen slash combo, and then immediately going into a stabbing frenzy. He then jumped up atop the creatures head, moving his keyblade in a crescent moon pattern. Once his keyblade reached above his head, the air began to grow cold.

"Let's finish with this!" Darryl jumped into the air, and swung his keyblade downward. "Frozen Requiem!" The creature was engulfed in icy water, which instantly froze the creature in its tracks. The creature instantly fell to pieces and disintegrated as Darryl landed back on the platform, leaving him alone in the darkness. The keyblade wielder dropped to one knee, while breathing heavily, allowing his breath to be seen due to the temperature drop. Directly in front of him however, a shinning white door appeared. Its presence was seductive; drawing Darryl to walk closer. He stopped at the doorway, and hesitated until the voice presented itself to him once more.

"Are you afraid, young one?"

"Of course not." Darryl instantly answered, allowing his keyblade to vanish.

"Then press forward. Your destiny awaits you through that door. And although you are saying goodbye to your previous life, you never truly belonged in the first place. So press forward young one, and accept your fate." Darryl said nothing, but stood motionless for a short time. He then changed his expression from fear and confusion, to steely determination and walked through the door. The next thing he knew, his surroundings had changed. He appeared to be in a town, due to the high rise buildings and crimson brick roads. People crowded the streets, which rudely bumped into Darryl with no apologies or even words. In fact, the people appeared to be so engrossed with pursuing sales and heading quickly towards the multitude of shops present, they probably didn't even notice Darryl standing there.

"Ilusia…" Somehow, the name of the new world he was presented at appeared in his mind. He then walked up, pushing his way through the people and crowds. Strange, white cat-like creatures stood at every shop door. Although he found them too weird out personally speak to one, he overheard one of the other shoppers referring to them as "moogles." They were cute, Darryl admitted to himself, but the thought of buying things from one unsettled him. He approached metal stairs, towards the Far East side of the town, and managed to climb aboard a light rail system. As soon as it took off, he found himself already at the next step. He climbed off and appreciated the second change of scenery. Overall, the buildings and roads looked the same, albeit the buildings were smaller and the roads were longer. A few people had been walking down the road, and returning to their homes. Overall, this area of Ilusia was quiet and calm, with next to no noise. A young child had wondered outside, and spotted Darryl while he was waiting for the next light rail to arrive, and waved his enthusiastically at him. He smiled, and returned the wave, before watching the mother come and drag the child back inside. Of course, she still managed to find the time to wave at Darryl. The people seemed friendly, at least in Darryl's opinion. He was tempted to walk down the stairs of the light rail system and chat, but as soon as he was ready to do so, the next tram arrived. "Next time..." He told himself, before boarding the light rail and heading to the next section of Ilusia. As soon as he stepped of the light rail, his ears were flooded by music of various varieties. It was a wonderful area, Darryl thought as he walked down the stairs. Four stages faced the same direction as Darryl; he had taken a point to notice. One to the upper left, seemed to be playing rock music, and currently a band had been wooing the crowd. The upper right stage played R&B and rap, Darryl determined due to a young woman dancing and swaying her hips to the beat on stage, while a young male stood behind her rapping. The woman then began singing once the man stopped rapping. The bottom right stage appeared to have a musical going on at the moment, as Darryl found himself able to glance at a woman acting out a scene where she was an orphan. Finally, the stage on the bottom left held a stage filled to the brim with figures in tuxedos and black dresses. Some were old, some were young, some were male, and some were female, but all of them held instruments. An orchestra had formed, and began their musical seduction on their audiences. The four stages were separated by walls, which had made it significantly harder for Darryl to see the stages to begin with, and he couldn't see the audiences at all. His attention was distracted however, by a man whom had just left the light rail and walked up next to him, pulled out a guitar, and began playing a beautiful melody. For the time being at least, Darryl decided he would sit next to the man and be swept away by his music.