Chapter VIII
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Location: End Of The World
I found myself in darkness moving up towards light. I walked out of the cave and saw the unimaginable: the graveyard of worlds. This was the place where all worlds ended up when their hearts were taken. That place itself was empty however; it was a giant mass of space. I looked above me and saw light-pink clouds almost completely engulfing a fuchsia sky. I stood on a wet, invisible surface that perfectly reflected the sky above it. Each step I took, the surface would ripple lightly almost as if it was water but my feet did not get wet. I walked towards another light that was a long distance away. Leading up to it was a series of adjacent rock-pillars that was placed closer and closer to each other as I moved towards the light.
Reaching the light, I stood before a dimensional vortex of some sort that seemed to tunnel through the fabric of reality itself. Grasping the broad sword at hand, I lifted off the ground and flew into it. I quickly passed through to a crevasse covered in dark-green snow. The bottom of the crevasse was quite a long ways down, but small stone platforms jutted out from each side. I carefully made my way down, gliding from platform to platform until I finally reached the bottom. Another vortex was at one end of the gorge bottom and without hesitation, I flew in. A pillar of light loomed in front of me. It gave off a similar feeling as the other vortexes, so I jumped in.
I fell onto a snowfield and became surrounded by Heartless once again. Countless masses of Heartless appeared for miles around, each of them with the exact same blank expression. Without hesitation, I lifted my broad sword ready to fight them. Likewise without hesitation, the Heartless lunged at me one after another. Skillfully swinging my sword, I managed to slay several of them at a time. I slashed two that came at me from the front, followed by several that were creeping up behind me. Also using my legs, I kicked away a few of them moving in from the sides and then a spin kick for the one in front of me. I stabbed my sword forward defeating several more shadows, and brought it back in time to spin-slash the in-moving ones. The battle raged on, but I did not grow tired of it and nor did they. My blade cut through the air time and again destroying countless Heartless. The crowd soon became small enough for me to jump out of, so I leaped out of there to focus my attacks in a single line. I repeated this tactic a few times until no Heartless remained. The seemingly-endless battle final ceased, and another vortex appeared before me.
After jumping in, I appeared before a door that seemed to reach the sky. This place was not like the previous areas, as my surroundings had become a deep black and save for the flat rock I was standing on in midair. Just as I reached forward for the gigantic door's handle, it moved away from me. Suddenly, an invisible force pushed me far backward onto another rock. The door was now a long distance away, and the once skyscraping door had become a seemingly tiny one.
A god-like voice strongly echoed through the air: "Who are you?"
"I am One." I answered. I thought the door moved away from me somehow, but I dismissed it as my imagination.
"What are you?"
"I… I do not know." This time, the door seemed to move closer but again I didn't believe it.
"Where are you?"
"I am at the End of the World," I said after sensing this world's heart. Oddly enough, the door drew further away once again. I knew now that I wasn't imagining things.
"When are you?"
"I am… now." The door almost went out of sight.
"Why are you?"
"I am because… I exist because..." I stopped to think and finally answered "I don't know." Surely enough, the door moved closer.
"Who are you?"
"I don't know," I answered thinking that saying this will eventually bring me closer to the door or the door closer to me.
"What are you?"
"I don't know." Closer.
"Where are you?"
"I don't know." Closer again.
"When are you?"
"I don't know." Closer yet again.
"Why are you?"
"I don't know." Still closer yet again. On I continued to say that I don't know, and the door inevitably grew closer to me until it finally stood in front of me. The voice asked again: "Who are you?"
"I don't know." Expecting something to happen, I waited in silence. Nothing happened.
"What are you?"
"I don't know." Again, nothing happened. I reached forward for the door, but it again pushed me far backward. The questions endlessly came, and I continued the pattern hoping that the door would open. Numerous times the door pushed me back, and it seemed that nothing would change. The door stood before me once again, and I stopped to think for a moment, trying to figure out what it is I must do. I thought, 'if admitting that you don't know brings you closer, then the way to open the door is…'
"Who are you?"
"I don't know… but I want to know." With that, the door rumbled open and storms of light and darkness blasted through the door and brought me to my knees. Barely holding on, the raging typhoon continued around me. The door became fully open and the commotion finally stopped. I slowly shuffled to my feet and realized that the blasts had thrown my sword down into the pits of the abyss beneath me. I gazed forward and saw nothing. Nothing. This door was simply just that: a door. Behind it was no room, or place, or world, or realm. It was simply a door that opened into nothing but the same place it was keeping out. I stood there, confused. 'Was this the secret that the door was protecting? Nothing? What does this mean?' I wondered.
I had tried to figure it out and concluded that somehow this door symbolized knowledge. To reach knowledge is to first acknowledge that one does not have it. Once that knowledge is in reach, then one must admit that he or she seeks it and desires it. Beyond that, I hadn't a clue. But then I realized what had to be done. So, I stepped forward into the doorway and once again, I was sent falling and falling into darkness. My headgear disappeared and was replaced with a pair of long, jagged horns. My boots and my helmet vanished, revealing my pitch-black skin. And finally, a broad sword was born into my grip.
As I fell, I thought about what the whole meaning of the puzzle was and realized that it really symbolized my entire journey. I set out to search for knowledge by admitting that I did not have it. To unlock the knowledge from its prison, I had to admit that I wanted to know what that knowledge was. And finally by stepping through the door, I had gathered up enough courage to step into the unknown and find what I was looking for. But now that I had, was I really prepared to see the truth and accept this 'knowledge?'
