Kingdom Hearts: Daybreak Academy
Prologue
An endless abyss of darkness. The boy had not felt anything like it before. Mostly because he did not feel anything. He experienced a weightlessness that was unnatural to him. The pull of gravity had no effect on him, but it was not apparent to him that he was moving through the darkness until a bright light came into view. He craned his neck to get a better view of the approaching light.
As he got closer, the boy could see several different colors blurred together in a circle. Eventually, it became clear to him that he was looking at a stained glass mosaic with violet as the domineering color. The most peculiar thing about the mosaic is that it had an image of him with his eyes closed. The image even featured the clothes he was wearing at the time: a royal purple poncho with bright gold designs on the edges, a pair of dark gray pants, and brown boots. His messy black hair contrasted heavily against the vibrant colors around it.
Behind the image of the boy's likeness was a circle with six smaller circles inside. Three of them were empty, two of them had the faces of a man and a woman, and the last had the image of a hooded figure. Beneath the ring of faces was a backsplash of a city, with the most distinguishable building being a clocktower that stood high above the others.
When the boy reached the mosaic, the pull of gravity had finally taken him. It was a weak pull that granted him enough time to flip himself over so that he could touch down onto the glass with his boots.
The boy was at a complete loss and could not make sense of what he was seeing. In front. Behind. Left. Right. Up. The darkness went on for infinity. It was just him and this strange mosaic beneath him. That's what he thought until he heard a voice.
You now have the gift...
The boy shook with surprise. He looked around again, but found more darkness.
"H-hello?" the boy asked. "What gift?"
What form will it take?
The boy felt ignored, but could do little to reprimand the voice as three pedestals appeared from the surface he stood on. There was an item to be found on each of them: a sword, a shield, and a wand. Intrigued by the wand, the boy approached it and before he could grab it to examine it more closely, the voice returned.
The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin.
Though the wand interested him, the boy decided to examine the other items before making a decision so he went to the shield next.
The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.
The boy smiled at the idea of being able to defend others, but once again decided to see what all three items offered, and so he went to the sword.
The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction.
The edges of the boy's lips pulled downward, discontent with the power of the sword. He pivoted on the ball of his foot and went back to the shield. As he grasped the metal plate, he realized that the shield felt much lighter than he anticipated, but he only felt it for a moment before it disappeared entirely. Suddenly, the boy felt a strong warmth coming from within his chest.
Now, what will you give up in exchange?
The boy turned around to the two remaining items, but he decision was already made. He approached the sword and took hold of it. Much like the shield, the sword was very light and the boy only felt it for a moment before the weapon faded away. Without warning, the pedestals sank back into the surface, disappearing without a trace as if they had never been there.
You have a long journey ahead of you…
Along it, you will find the creatures that lurk in the darkness of man and child…
Puddles of pitch black formed on the glass surface. The boy's violet eyes narrowed as he examined the puddles. Soon after, something rose from the tar-like substance: small insect-like creatures with beaming yellow eyes. Unprepared, the boy took a few steps back, but the disembodied voice spoke to him again.
Don't be afraid…
For you have with you a weapon that can defeat them.
Without intending for it to happen, the boy could feel something warm in his right hand. There was a flash of light, that once dimmed, revealed some sort of...weapon. It had a vague resemblance to a skeleton key with a deep indigo guard around the handle. The rod stemming from the crossguard was cyan with a sphere on the very tip. A hollow star was connected to the rod near the tip with a hollow arrow pointing out away from it.
One word flashed into the boy's mind. "A...Keyblade…"
The boy examined his weapon with a great deal of questions whirling in his head like a frantic cyclone. Before he could process even one of them, he found a shroud of darkness dissipating in front of him. It had all happened so fast that the boy did not realize it until his right arm was outstretched to the side. One of the monsters had lunged at him and in defense, the boy slashed right through it with his edgeless weapon. He took another moment to look at it, perplexed by its cutting ability. As the questions flooded his mind again, the other monsters went in to attack. He was not as quick with his reaction that time and, as a result, he felt the sting of tiny claws meeting with the flesh on his back and shoulders. He staggered away from the enemies, wincing in pain as he tried to regain his balance and gather his thoughts. The spherical tip of the weapon scraped against the glass, which surprisingly never broke, or even cracked for that matter.
When the boy came to a stop, he quickly pivoted on his foot and turned to face his enemies with the Keyblade held in front of him with both hands. The monsters sunk into their shadowy puddles and slithered across the floor before popping back out. The boy swung his weapon in every which direction, in a frenzy of wild slashes. He eliminated three of the creatures, slicing through them with ease. There were two left, but he soon cut them down as well.
With all the shadowy creatures gone, he could finally examine the Keyblade. He held it up and rotated it to explore every detail of the weapon. In doing so, he failed to notice a pool of darkness spreading underneath his feet. He slowly began to sink into it, only detecting the abnormality when he was ankle-deep. The boy tried to pull his feet out, but his attempts were unsuccessful as he continued sinking deeper and deeper.
"W-what the-?! N-no!"
The boy frantically swung his Keyblade against the puddle, but it did him no good. He found himself neck-deep in the black liquid, screaming out for help. The last thing he heard in response was: Don't be afraid.
Author's Notes
Let me start by saying that I am sorry to everyone who follows my account for the many email notifications you got over the past 4 days. This website seems to be having some issues so I have been trying to figure out how to get this story up. I finally decided to just post it and leave it up to see if it would eventually become public and low and behold, it did! I am so happy that it did because this is a project that I have been really excited about doing.
Huge thanks to WolfieRed23 and FallenFeather for allowing me to bounce a lot of ideas that I had for this story off of them and for the feedback that they gave me whenever I found myself in a tough spot. This story is still a work in progress, but I wouldn't have gotten this far in the planning phase if not for them so I cannot thank them enough.
Responses to Reviews:
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: I'm glad to have one of my and Wolfie's favorite readers along for the ride! Thanks for giving the introduction a read. I know this prologue is rather plain, but I assure you that it is very important to something that I have planned with the character depicted here later on.
