Author's note: I've updated another chapter ! And I thank Digi Yo, crestoflight3, QueenSunset, and Vigatus for reviewing the long-awaited previous chapter.

Shards of Light

Chapter Seven

Though the room showed no sign of a struggle, Sora frantically pulled out her cell phone from her sports bag and alerted the other Digidestined, also telling them to meet her at the school's computer lab.

Questions were abuzz once the others arrived, but the only source for answers was to find Tai.

"The quickest way we can find Tai is if we split up," Izzy explained to the group. "While we older kids search Odaiba, you four will search the Digital World for him. After all, every second counts."

Matt and Joe looked in parks nearby where Tai would normally go to brush up on his soccer skills. Izzy tried tracing a location on Tai's Digivice, but was unsuccessful at getting a signal. Sora tried searching the high school grounds, calling out for her childhood friend, while Mimi could only encourage her friends through instant messages, although she feared the worst.

Despite searching for Tai in the usual places, the older Digidestined found no trace of the former goggle head.

"I can't understand why Tai would just disappear like that!" Joe groaned in confusion. "This is just like what happened four years ago!"

"Yeah," Matt added, "Except we're not in the Digital World."

"But, after we separated in order to look for him," said Izzy, "it was he who brought us as a team back together!"

"Agreed." Sora stated.

As the others thought of other possibilities of Tai's whereabouts, Matt recalled Tai telling him and his brother about Kari's kidnapping and came to a terrifying realization.

What if the kidnapper struck the Kamiya residence again?

Matt shivered at the possibility.

But Tai wouldn't go down without a fight!

Or maybe, he thought, the assailant did break in but Tai managed to escape and is in hiding. That would explain why the apartment door was unlocked.

Wait, what about Tai's parents? They can't be…

The blonde clutched his head in frustration. There were too many follow-ups to what might have happened at his best friend's apartment and each one had its own negative outcomes.

Back in the Digital World, the Digimon Emperor was silently observing the younger Digidestined search for Tai from his base.

"Just what are those puny insects doing?" he wondered aloud.

"Umm…Master?"

"I didn't call for you!" snapped the Emperor, "What do you want, Wormmon?"

"W-well, since those Digidestined seem too busy looking for someone, maybe you should rebuild the Control Spires that they destroyed or continue with your Dark Ring experiment."

He waited for response but the Emperor didn't answer.

"Ken?"

A sudden crack of the whip struck Wormmon in reply, knocking him over.

"I thought I told you never to call me that!" the Emperor shouted. "Or is your programming too feeble to remember?"

Wormmon looked away as the boy genius loomed over his tiny form.

Though Ken's eyes were obscured by his purple shades, the green caterpillar could feel the cold stare boring right through him.

"And did you forget that I make the rules here! I'm in control! But evidently, you and those fools can't put it through your thick skulls!"

"Y-you're right…Master…I'm sorry…"

"So, this is how it goes," explained Tai, "since this place is surrounded by water, we should try hiding in the woods once we escape!"

"I tried hiding in the woods when I tried to escape the first time but the Wraiths found me."

"I see," Tai sighed.

"But," Kari pointed out, "along the shoreline of the Dark Ocean there are several coves and sea caves that have been forming over the years."

"That's it Kari! That's how we'll get out of here!" the older teen exclaimed, "Once we escape from the castle, we'll head to the shore and go into hiding in one of the caves, and if we travel inside the cave, maybe it will lead us back home! I mean, the Dark Ocean is another world after all!"

Kari nodded, rising from the bed and slowly headed towards the door.

"I have to go," she said, "The Wraiths are not patient creatures but I'll come back tonight and we'll go through with the plan."

"How do I know that it's you at the door and not them by tonight?"

"I'll whistle." Kari replied.

Hearing that word made Tai remember that he still had his sister's whistle with him when he was lured into the Dark Ocean but when he searched his pockets, the metal instrument wasn't there.

Those Wraiths must have confiscated it when I was knocked out. He thought angrily.

Just as Kari was about to leave, Tai quickly got up from the bed and hugged her.

"I'll be waiting." He whispered in her ear.

With that, they slowly pulled away from each other, and Tai watched with a heavy heart as his little sister closed the door behind her, leaving him alone once more.

Each minute seemed to come more slowly than the last. And Tai lay there on the bed, not even touching the food tray that a Wraith had brought for him earlier.

His sole focus now was escaping with his younger sister.

But has night fallen already?

Tai looked out the tower window to see if it had gotten darker outside. From what he could see was a vast gray ocean dotted with fog and the sky above showed no sign of change.

There is no sun in this place. He thought, turning away from the window.

Only everlasting darkness.

He suddenly heard footsteps going up the stairs towards the tower door.

Then they stopped.

Tai tensed as he heard the key slowly unlock the door.

He waited for Kari's signal.

And to his relief, he heard it.

Eagerly, he raced towards Kari the moment she closed the door and immediately they began their plan.

"There's a secret passageway down in the main room," Kari explained. "It leads down a trapdoor outside, and then, once we're out of sight of the castle, we'll run down to the shoreline."

"So we sneak out!" Tai said in a hushed whisper.

They then left the tower room, cautiously closing the door until it quietly shut. Carefully, the siblings walked down the stairway as silently as possible and feeling against the stone walls for support. Their hearts thumped nervously as they made their way through another door until they made it to the main room, lit only by candles. But, now they had to search for the hidden entrance. Like burglars, Tai and Kari carefully searched the hall using candles as a source of light.

Kari then spotted a stone jutting out from the wall; she approached it and slowly raised a hand to give it a gentle push.

"What are you doing, My Queen?"

Kari felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up.

Her hand holding the candle began to quiver and she turned looking up into the glowing eyes of a Wraith.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

Tai ran towards them like a madman, quickly pulling Kari away from the shadowy creature as the two fled.

The Wraith's shone blood-red with rage and it bellowed for its companions.

"THE PRISONER HAS OUR QUEEN, KILL HIM!"

The room began to swarm with countless Wraiths emerging from every angle, their forms blending perfectly in the pitch black.

Tai and Kari ran with only their candles guiding them through the dark castle, as the entrance finally came into view, Kari screamed.

Tai turned around seeing the Wraiths clawing at Kari's gown and hastened up the speed.

But the remaining Wraiths continued to lunge at them, their cold breath against their skin, until they finally escaped from the castle, leaving the candles behind, but they continued running at a fast pace, with the Wraiths still hot on their heels, until they saw a cliff standing in their way.

"Tai! We're trapped!" Kari cried.

Tai looked over the cliff and then back at the approaching Wraiths.

"Kari," he said, "We've gotta jump. It's the only way."

Though frightened, Kari obeyed, grasping onto Tai's hand.

"Ready, Sis?"

"Ready."

"JUMP!"

They leapt from the cliff and began to plummet down, down, and with a loud splash, the two began to sink deeper and deeper into the murky depths of the Dark Ocean.

-To be continued…