Phase 2: Log No. 1

"Okay, there's Traverse Town. Entering orbit," said Elenai as she pushed several buttons, and our ship started rotating around the world of Traverse Town. We – Elenai and I, of course – teleported down to the ground level, where there was a huge grassy plain, with the town of Traverse Town smack dab in the middle of the fields. Unfortunately, we landed not within eyesight of the town. We had two choices: wander around aimlessly until we found the town, or flee back into ship and try to find another world. We started wandering.

"Hey, Ana, look," said Elenai, pointing to an anomaly in the tall grasses, where there was a gap in the grass. She walked over to it, but I drew back. "It's Ember, but she seems badly hurt..." A soft moan was heard in the direction of where Elenai was standing.

"Then let's put her out of her misery!" I shouted, and pulled out my axe.

"No," said Elenai, iron in her voice. She wasn't going to let me hurt Ember at all, no matter how much resistance I put up. I put my battle-axe back in its holder on my back, while Elenai put her hands on a deep gash in Ember's side. A bright light shone on her hands, and when it faded, the wound was gone.

"How'd ja do that?" I asked her with awe.

"It's just some healing magic. That's what light basically can be called. Healing," she explained, and Ember moaned again, then opened her eyes.

"What... just happened...?" she asked, looking around. She didn't even flinch at the sight of Elenai, but she backed away at seeing me. "You!"

"Why isn't she afraid of you?" I whispered to Elenai.

"Someone's come and took her magic and her memory. Her first memory right now is you trying to kill her back in the forest. She doesn't remember anything horrible about me, just you," Elenai said. Ember got up, and walked over to Elenai.

"Hi, I'm Ember. And you are...?" she said, holding her hand out for Elenai to shake.

Elenai shook it and said, "I'm Elenai. This is my acquaintance, Ana."

"She doesn't remember anything? Why don't you just kill her and be rid of your rival?" I asked. Ember gave me a look of complete hatred.

"Just play along," was all Elenai said to me. "Come with us, Ember. We're going to Traverse Town. Maybe you'll find out something there." Ember smiled and nodded. I gave Ember a suspicious glare while we walked along the fields until we found a wide dirt road.

"Pretty convenient," I said. We started walking down the road until we heard a soft rumbling in the distance. Elenai glanced backwards, but at seeing nothing, continued forward. The road that we were travelling on started to be overcome by grass and weeds, while the rumbling kept on getting louder. I turned around, and saw, "A truck!" We dashed to the sides of the road as the truck disappeared into the distance.

"He could've at least " started Ember.

"Something's not right here..." interrupted Elenai.

"You're telling me! We're travelling with whom seems to be your arch-enemy, Ember, we almost getting run over by trucks..." I would've continued, but a ran right into something. "Ouch," I said, rubbing my head. "Who's the idiot who decided to put a "

"Ana, there's nothing there," said Elenai.

I looked in front of me and saw... nothing. "You're right..."

Elenai turned around quickly. She whispered something, and the ground and sky shimmered, then disappeared altogether. A vacant town appeared, and I was standing right in front of a dented lamppost. "So that's what caused it..." I said.

"Welcome to Traverse Town," Elenai said.

"It's so quiet. I thought there were supposed to be people here..." I quietly stated. Suddenly, some dark creatures appeared from the ground.

"Heartless," said Elenai, and she pulled out her sword. Before I could even reach for my battle-axe, Elenai whispered, "Eternal Light," causing the Heartless to disappear in the flash of light that followed her spell. But the Heartless appeared once again, stronger, causing even Ember to fight. We fought, and finally defeated the horde of Heartless creatures.

After the run-in with the Heartless, Elenai walked over to a sign - one that was like the one you would find at a mall – and pointed out a certain square on the jumble of shapes. "There's the shop you wanted to go to, Ana," she said. I walked over and saw it was in the second district.

"Then let's go!" I exclaimed, excited about finally being able to buy something with the munny I had saved up.

"You know, it's changed here... a lot," Elenai said, her voice barely any more than a whisper.

"What was that?" I asked her, not knowing what she meant. She shrugged it off, and we headed toward the huge double doors marked clearly in runny white paint, "Second District."

"There it is!" I yelled, pointing crazily at the sign saying in bright neon lights, "Jac-s Se—vi-e Ba-n. Yeah, I admit, I was going a little wild, but I couldn't shake off the feeling of intense happiness. But just as we walked into the store, I changed my mind about the jacket because...

"Crap! More Heartless!" I said.

"These guys look pretty easy," said Elenai. I nodded, looking at the tiny ant-like shadows that patrolled the shop. One of them spotted us, and it's antennae twitched, seeming to send a message to the other Heartless. The shadows crept back into the natural shadows of the shop, and from the shadows came some huger shadows, with pointed heads with a little lightning-like strand of darkness coming off the top of their head, and with actual muscles. "They don't look that easy anymore..." Elenai muttered.

"You want some of this?" I yelled, taunting the shadows, and that made them advance quicker.

"Ana... I don't think you should taunt these guys. These Heartless, I recognize them. They're Neoshadows."

I froze.

-Flashback-

Fires burning in the distance, smoke filling my nose, burning my lungs, making it hard to breathe. A Neoshadow runs toward me, it's claws sharp and ready to kill. A shadowed savior jumps in front of me, and fights the monster off. "Come on, Ana!" he yells, and pulls me toward the road.

-End Flashback-