Sora slowly came to his senses to find himself in a vast, black chamber that seemed to go on in every direction forever. As he stood there, straining his eyes to look through the eerie darkness, he discerned several black shapes floating through the air around him. Everything seemed very familiar, but he didn't remember ever being here before…
Suddenly, the answer smacked him in the face. He had been here before! This was place of his dreams, where he had chased after Kairi down the tunnel, where he had talked with her, where she had pushed him into the hole…
As he thought about everything that had happened in this place, he began to believe he wasn't visiting a dream at all. Was it possible that this enormous room was real, and that Kairi was really here? Sora tried to suppress the simultaneous feelings of excitement of fear that threatened to engulf him. He cleared his mind, sat down on the rocky ground, and thought about what to do next.
At the moment, he had no idea how to leave, so that was out of the question. He eventually reasoned that if this was truly the same place, Kairi would still be here, wandering the dark passages. Sora simply had to know what had happened, and why she was here. So he rose to his feet, dusted himself off, and started walking. He didn't worry about where he was going; a strange yet powerful force was exerting a constant tug at his heart, and he followed that.
As he went, the black, shapeless blobs of smoke floating in the air swarmed around him, but never came close enough to touch. If Sora reached out his hand to grab one, it would hiss and quickly back away. Intrigued, he looked at these creatures, wondering what they were. Although he had the feeling that he should know, he could not fathom the answer.
Suddenly, all of the creatures abruptly stopped and let him walk forward alone. Sora's attention was quickly thrust balk into his journey, and he noticed a female figure sitting in front of him. She sat with her back to him, chestnut red hair flowing down to her shoulders.
"Kairi!" cried Sora. For a split second, he forgot that he had seen her here before half a dozen times.
Kairi jolted and jumped quickly to her feet, looking around wildly like a deer being stalked by a hunter. The muscles in her legs tensed, as if she were about to sprint away, but then a second thought seemed to fall through her, and she relaxed. Without turning around, she said, "Hello, Sora. I see you've found your way back to this realm."
"Kairi," repeated Sora, staring at her back. He could not decide on what exactly he should say to someone who had been dead for almost ten months. Eventually, he cleared his throat and stammered, "Kairi, I need to know…is this whole place…realm…is it just a dream? Or is it real?"
"Oh, it's all real, Sora," said Kairi. Just as she had last time, she spoke in a monotone voice, completely empty of excitement, fear, or any other emotion at all.
"So, um, does that mean you're real too?" asked Sora uncertainly.
"I told you last time you visited this realm. I'm real…if you can call it that. I am merely a shadow of my former self. I've lost everything, even my heart."
Sora was unnerved at the kind of language Kairi was using; he had never heard her talk like that before. "Kairi…last time I was here, you said that I could bring you back to life. Could I really do that?"
"Yes, Sora, you could," said Kairi. "And it would be quite easy on your part to do it. All you need to do is unearth my body."
"What, you mean dig it up?" asked Sora, appalled.
Kairi laughed: and unfamiliar, almost maniacal laugh that chilled Sora to the bone. "That's a rather crude way of saying it, but yes, I mean dig it up. Would you do that for me, your friend?"
Sora was becoming more and more uncertain with every passing minute, and this grotesque request didn't help. "Um…I guess so," stammered Sora. "But, why do I need to do that?"
"You're rather foolish, aren't you?" chuckled Kairi. "I cannot truly exist in the universe of the living without a body, and it's of no use to me buried under six feet of earth. I do not like existing in this state at all, Sora, and you are the one who can help me escape from it. I can rise from the dead…all you need to do is give me Kairi's body."
"Well, if I have to, then I will gladly…wait a minute," said Sora warily. Something incredibly out of place had caught his ear. "What do you mean, Kairi's body? What's going on here?"
Kairi stiffened. Cursing under her breath, she began to run away from Sora, into the darkness. Sora dashed after her, just like he had done every other time he had come here, with one crucial difference: this time, he had his wits about him. He was a much better runner and athlete than Kairi. He skillfully caught up with her and grabbed onto her arm, causing her to spin quickly and bump back into him. For the first time in months, he gazed directly into her face, at her pale, dimpled cheeks…into her green, blazing, snakelike eyes.
An impulse of horror pounded through Sora. "Who are you?" he shrieked, whirling away from her.
"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to sound sincere. "It's me, Kairi."
"No!" shouted Sora fiercely. Though Kairi…or whoever she was…was hiding her face again, those sickening green eyes had burned themselves into his vision. "You're not Kairi. I want to know, who are you?"
Kairi stood silently for a couple moments. Then, without warning, she balled up her fist and punched Sora squarely on the jaw. He hit floor with a cry of pain, struggling to get back up on his feet. Then everything around him faded into darkness.
Sora bolted upright in his bed, clenching his fists, wildly looking around his room, searching for the fiend who was impersonating Kairi. He slowly became aware that he was awake, and fell into a state of dreary hopelessness. So, it was not a dream after all…but it wasn't Kairi either. Riku had been right: Kairi was gone, and some evil being was impersonating her, for some arcane purpose that Sora didn't even care to ponder. He felt as if he had lost her all over again.
Suddenly, just as he had begun to fall into sleep again, a thought struck him. Those flying black creatures…could they have been…Shadows? Sora abruptly sat up, back in deep thought. Everything that Ajedel had told him about a Shadow's appearance fit them. And they were all concentrated in one place. Realm, as both Ajedel and the fake Kairi had put it…
Sora instantly flung himself out of bed. Disregarding his unkempt hair, he dashed out of his room. The first rays of the sun were already peeking out from below the horizon. It was absurd to think that Ajedel would be up at the crack of dawn, but Sora only had one thought in mind at the moment: find Ajedel, and as quickly as possible.
