Full summary: This is the first story of a series, known as the Earthblade series. The story is about how a new keyblade master (OC) faces his first challenge, on his home world, Earth. It will also detail how he came to poses the keyblade, in a later chapter. Sorry, but the only Kingdom Hearts characters in this installment are the heartless, the rest are OCs.
Disclaimer: I do not own the heartless. I do not own the keyblade. I do own Andrew, Devlin, Maria, and all my other OCs. I own Shadowhaven. I doubt I own Earth. I think I own just about everything else too.
A/N: I hope to get more reviews. I got this urge to write all of the sudden, and I am now writing this chapter immediately after finishing Chapter 2. If anyone gave me constructive criticism, I'll give you credit in the next chapter. Read on to continue the adventure of Andrew.
Chapter 3: Theirs No Such Thing As God
The battle was going poorly. As soon as they had jumped down to protect the family of three, the heartless had lunged. They were dropping like flies, but for every one they killed, at least two more appeared. The family was out of harms way, Devlin had gotten them out of there when the fight began. However, the heartless hadn't been chasseing him, the family wasn't the target. Now there was no chance of them escaping, and, even with Devlin returned to the battlefield, things were looking grim.
"We're bein' overrun be heartless, with no chance of escape!" cried out Devlin's voice, almost drowned out by the sound of his blades as they sliced through a shadow, destroying it instantly. Almost desperately Devlin asked, "Andrew, got a plan as to how we're going to get out of this predicament?"
Unfortunately, Andrew's mind came up blank. Normally he was an exceedingly excellent tactician, and not that he'd brag about it or anything, but he was a genius. However, they were surrounded by millions of heartless, completely cut off from any escape rout, and his friends were fatigued to the point were Devlin could hardly lift his sword. To put it simply, they needed a miracle.
A simple little shadow jumped out of the blue toward him, but was instantly caught in mid air by the face. It was then a simple matter to tighten his grip; the heartless was instantly crushed between his fingers. He was begging to feel the affects of the fight wearing him out too. Even the keyblade master gets tired after fighting heartless for over an hour; it was a miracle his friends were still standing!
Apparently they wouldn't stand for much longer, a shadow casually attacked Devlin from behind, and he was too weak to stop it! It passed from one side of his chest, and out the other, like a hot knife through butter! The ground was instantly stained by a huge spatter of blood, redder than the belt on Devlin's waist. The color began to drain from his face, as he dropped to the ground, the whole world seeming to be in slow motion, and his swords clattered next to him, perhaps never to cut down a heartless ever again. Andrew knew that if his best friend were to live to fight another day, he needed healing right now, but he had not a drop of magic in his veins!
"Maria, Devlin needs-"
"I don't have any MP left sir, there is nothing I can do," she muttered, on the verge of tears.
"Devlin!"
"Oh mighty God, have mercy on this poor child
If it is your will, bring life back to his heart
Heal the wounds the minions of Satan have inflicted upon him
So he may have a second chance to fight, to preserve your law!"
Andrew had never heard this man's voice before, and he looked beyond the crowed of heartless just over his shoulder, to find a old man in the robes of a priest kneeling in prayer. He didn't know what good it would do, and it defied all logic and reason, but for a moment, he felt reassured by this man's presence, and even believed that this feeble old man might be able to save his friend.
All of the sudden, clouds darkened the sky, raining not, but still thunder sounded in every direction. Then, two of the clouds parted, and from the space between them, a ray of light shined on Devlin's near death body.
"What magic is thi-?"
Andrew never finished that sentence, for at that moment, a bolt of lightning raced down the ray of light, striking his friend's body. Before he could even cry out in outrage, Devlin began to float, and arcs of electricity seemed to flow through his body. Where the arcs went, wounds closed, eventually leaving nothing left, not even a scar, even his robes were fixed!
"Thank you God for hearing my prayer
Permit me one more request
Vanquish these demons, for spawn of the Devil they are
And save your humble servants, permit no harm to come to the children!"
At that moment Devlin's body began to glow with an almost blinding radiance. His body straightened, and he held his arms up at his sides. He slowly lowered to the ground, and softly landed on his two feet. The heartless seamed to quake in fear, not even daring to look into the light. Immediately upon landing, his eyes shot, open, glowing with the brightest light yet, and swords flew into his open hand. The heartless, as if afraid of some greater power, attempted to flee, and Devlin just smiled, and shot forward.
He seemed to move, quick as lightning, in every direction at once, obliterating the malicious monstrosities every where he went. Within seconds, the enemies were gone, millions of tortured souls, released by death, and no more came. Devlin stopped moving. The luminescence of his skin began to fade, and he lost consciousness, although their were doubts in Andrew's mind as to whether or not he had ever woken up at all. Before Devlin could collapse in a heap on the ground, Maria rushed over to catch him, and check his vital signs.
"His pulse is normal sir, he should be alright."
"Good, now mister," Andrew said, turning to face the old man, "would you mind telling me who you are, and what the hell just happened?"
The man replied, "Blessed lord full of grace, thank you for your guidance." He proceeded to perform the sign of the cross, and then address the puzzled keyblade mater's questions. "My name is Marco; I run the Shadowhaven church of refugees. As to what just happened, I prayed for your safety, and God protected you. It is as simple as that."
"Please kind sir," Maria's voice pleaded," our friend here is still badly injured, and requires a place to rest. Could you lead us to a suitable location?"
"Yes, yes, of course I can! I'll take you with me, back to the church."
Knowing Maria couldn't carry Devlin, Andrew picked him up, hanging him over one shoulder. Not exactly a comfortable, or even an honorable, position, but it was effective. Marco led the trio to hiss church, and as they walked on in silence, Andrew tried to figure out what it was that had just occurred.
They arrived at the church about thirty minutes latter, and it turned out to be located on the outskirts of the badlands. Devlin was still unconscious, so they did there best to find him a bed.
As Marco began to open one of the door, Andrew had to ask, "Marco, what is it that you do here?"
"Simple, we provide food and shelter to those who have lost their homes to heartless attacks," and with that, he opened the doors.
Their was a loud murmuring going on around the inside of the church. It was a sad sight really; Andrew took a look around, and saw not one happy face. The people were covered in dirt from head to toe, no water could be spared to bath in, and almost everyone wore rags. They all looked like they had indeed lost everything, and their faces wore a masks of lost hope. However, it was the ones not wearing rags, the ones that were not covered in dirt that were the most painful to look at. They were the ones that had just lost everything, the horrors of their tragic past still lay fresh in their mind, and it showed.
The murmur was not a happy one, it was merely a way for those who still had at least one person they loved still alive to dull the pain, whittling away the hours of the day with meaningless conversations. However, even the dull, hopeless atmosphere this generated was better than what came next. Everyone just stopped what they were doing, and stared at the weapon that was still in Andrew's hand. The worst part of it was, these faces that stared at him filled with hope, and deep down inside, the young warrior didn't believe he could live up to their expectations, and it scared him more than ten million heartless.
"Are their any beds free? This young man is injured," stated Marco.
One of the men got up from his bench, saying, "Anything for a friend of the keyblade master!" and the feeling of dread in Andrew's heart grew worse.
As they laid down Devlin, Andrew couldn't take it anymore, and had to ask, "Why? Why take in all these people, isn't it hard enough to survive as it is?"
"It is God's will that we serve our neighbors, and protect our community."
"There is no such thing as God!"
The silence in the room changed from one of reverence, to one of dread. The two central objects of hope for the people in this room were about to have an argument, and the boy had threatened the other man's faith, his most cherished possession.
After a while Marco simply replied, "You do not believe?"
At this, Andrew exploded, "How can I believe in God! No merciful God would let demons like the heartless exist! I've seen Satan old man, and he is no devil. He is the darkness, and he us! He is the heartless! Compared to them, your god and your devil are nothing more than fairytales!"
Having said more than he dared to say, the young child stormed out of the church, leaving a bewildered crowd behind him.
An hour latter, Marco came out and found Andrew sitting on the front steps of the church. He walked over sat down, and said nothing. Eventually, Andrew had to ask, "What do you want?"
"I just thought you could use the company."
"Well keep on thinking old man."
Marco ignored Andrew and continued to sit there with him, and eventually Andrew sighed, and said, "Listen, old man. I'm sorry, about what I said, I didn't mean it."
"No young one, you did, and that's okay. It doesn't make a difference to me. Now come on in, you could use the rest."
"Why would you do that for me?"
"Because we are all equal in the eyes of God and because I truly believe that you may be human kind's last hope."
A/N: I'm going to end this chapter now. The next chapter is going to be gruesome by the way. Please review. Oh and I am stepping up the rating, because the amount of detail in this story makes scenes of death and violence very gruesome, and well, you will see.