These are the last two chapters of Black Terrace. I hope you enjoy!
Black Terrace
VII. Pitch Darkness
I can't believe actually found him here… Now the problem is getting him to come with us. –Sora
The world Callgeera was covered in darkness. It blanketed the surface of everything they saw, smothering out any form of light that might have been there otherwise. Darkness swirled around them. They could hardly see the dark, ominous fortress stationed some ways in front of them. It loomed over them, casting no shadow, but emanating darkness all the while. They saw no other buildings but the one before them.
"This place is so… menacing," Sora said, looking around at the desolate landscape.
"It's because of the darkness," Riku replied. He pointed up at the fortress. "And it looks like it's coming from that building."
"Then that's probably a good place to start looking," Donald said.
"Would Cloud really be in a place like this?" Kairi asked.
"We won't know until we look," Goofy replied.
"And if we don't find him here, we'll have to start all over again," Sora sighed. No one said anything to this.
"Well, come on. Let's just go," Riku finally said. "The sooner we search the place, the sooner we'll know whether he's here or not."
They cautiously made their way over to the front of the fortress, and found a large, door-less entrance. It was shrouded with darkness, so they could not see what lay on the other side. They stopped there for a moment before Sora gave a small signal to proceed.
"The darkness feels so powerful here," Riku said, as they entered the threshold. "It's like…" Riku's words were cut short here.
Sora looked to the left and found that Riku had disappeared. He looked all around and found that all of his friends had disappeared.
"Guys?" he called, hoping that it had just grown too dark to see. None of them answered though. He did not know what had happened, but continued to move through the darkness.
Sora emerged from the dark haze to find himself in a well lit room made of stone. Except for a few flaming torches and a large door at the end of the hall, the room was bare. His friends were still nowhere to be found.
"What could have happened to the others?" Sora thought. "I hope they're all right."
Finding no other way to leave the room, he slowly approached the door in front of him. It was tall and wide, and as he got closer to it, Sora realized that it had no doorknob or keyhole, or anything else that could be used to open it. Once he saw this, Sora almost turned around to go back the way he had come, when the Key Blade appeared in his hand.
"Wha…?" Sora gasped, surprised. The Key Blade pointed toward the door and a thin beam of light shot from its tip. The light fell on the door, and the door faded away to reveal a flight of stairs. The stairway was so dimly lit that Sora could not see to the bottom of it.
"It probably isn't a good idea to go down there," Sora thought. He looked behind him and saw that the way he had come was covered in stone. He sighed. "But I guess I have no choice."
He placed his foot onto the first step. It seemed strong enough, so he cautiously proceeded. At the end of the stairway he found another door with no knob, so he used the Key Blade to open this one as well.
He stepped through the doorway once it was clear and found himself in a room that looked exactly like the one he had started in.
"W…What?"
He looked to the left and to the right, but could find nothing to tell this room apart from the last.
"The rooms here must be very similar," Sora decided, taking a step forward. He used the Key Blade to open the door at the head of the room, opened the door at the end of the stairway, and found himself in yet another room that resembled the last.
"Wait…"
Sora slowly looked around to find that there was nothing behind him but a stone wall.
"…am I going around in circles?"
He summoned the Key Blade and used it to make a mark on the wall. He then proceeded to go through the door at the head of the room and then the one at the end of the stairway. When he came to room beyond the doors, he looked to the spot where he had made the mark on the wall, and it was still there. This room not only looked like the room he first started in. It was the room he first started in.
"This castle is…strange," Sora thought. "How do I get out of here?"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, something crashed through the wall behind Sora. He jumped back and spun around to see what had happened. He saw the shadow of a figure through the haze of rubble, and as the dust cleared away, he realized with dread that it was Sephiroth. As Sephiroth came forward, Sora noiselessly pressed his back against the wall, and waited
"He doesn't see that I'm here," Sora thought, holding his breath as Sephiroth came past him. He looked back at the gaping hole that Sephiroth had made coming into the room. "I can probably get through there if I'm quiet enough." He softly began to inch toward the exit, when Sephiroth's voice suddenly rang out through the hall.
"I can see you back there…"
For a split second Sora thought that Sephiroth had seen him, but then the end of Sephiroth's sentence caught him by surprise.
"…Cloud."
As Sephiroth said his name, Cloud came speeding through the hole in the wall, and stopped in the middle of the room. Neither he nor Sephiroth spoke a word to each other, and before Sora knew it the two had locked swords.
Without a thought, Sora quickly made his way through the exit to keep out of sight.
"Okay, I've found Cloud," he thought. "Now what?"
He peeped around the corner to see what was happening with Cloud and Sephiroth, and saw that they were pretty evenly matched. Neither could get a hit in, and they kept just clashing swords. They suddenly jumped away from each other, and landed at opposite ends of the hall.
"You can't stop me from finding it," Cloud shouted. "I'll get to it no matter what."
"And then what?" Sephiroth asked. He lowered his guard. "Do you honestly think it will be that easy to rid yourself of darkness?" There was a long pause. "Darkness is a part of you, Cloud. You should think that through."
Sephiroth stepped back, and disappeared in a flood of darkness. Cloud lowered his sword, and Sora looked away to think.
"Now, what to say?" he thought. He knew that he would have to confront Cloud right now, or else he would end up losing track of him. "I guess I could…"
"Sora, what are you doing here?" Cloud's voice suddenly came from beside him. Sora started and turned to face him. Somehow Cloud had come up next to him without him noticing.
"Um…Aerith and Leon and the others were really worried about you," Sora replied quickly. "They asked us to come and look for you."
"Who else is here with you?"
"Just Donald and Goofy. And my friends, Riku and Kairi."
Cloud was silent for a long moment.
"I never wanted anyone to come looking for me," he finally said.
"Well…why did you come here in the first place? Did it have anything to do with Black Terrace?"
"What do you know about that?" Cloud asked, a slight glare on his face.
"Nothing, really," Sora replied, ignoring the glare and the rude tone of Cloud's voice. "We just thought that if we tracked down Black Terrace, we would find you too."
"Well, you've found me. Now leave."
"Wait, what?"
"I'm not leaving until I find what I came for."
"And what's that?"
"You don't need to know," Cloud replied curtly. "Now just go find your friends and get out of…"
"No way," Sora interrupted him. "We've been looking everywhere for you, and it took us forever to get this far."
"Sora…"
"We're not leaving unless you come with us. And besides," Sora added. "I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. I wouldn't be able to find the exit."
"You'll find the way out if you just go this way and keep going," Cloud said, pointing to the passage behind Sora.
"Really?" Sora asked, turning to look where Cloud was pointing. "How do you…?"
Sora suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and the world went black.
To Be Continued…
