Chapter 8: A Secret Down Under
"Look out," Goofy exclaims as he blocks an attack from one of the new Heartless that was charging Donald unexpectedly.
The wizard quacks angrily and causes massive thunderbolts to strike around him. Unfortunately, the Heartless only flinch but do not seem to be harmed. However, Goofy is caught in the attack and yelps as he is struck severly. He is left smothered in black smog and coughs as smoke rises from his body. Donald immediately casts cure on his unfortunate friend to make up for his mistake. Sora and Vex sway away at the highly agile enemies, getting in only a few hits on the shadow monsters. While Vex is able to slash through the Heartless with ease, Sora begins to have bad luck once again. His keyblade does not pierce through the enemies at all, having him just whack them. But clubbing them, however, does not affect them, allowing them to retaliate easily by knocking Sora to the ground.
"I got you, Sora," Vex shouts as he runs to Sora's rescue.
Three Heartless are demolished as the Moon Key strikes through them with Vex running feriously. He destroys each Heartless that gets in his way, but he isn't concentrating on the fighting. His only goal is to help Sora. The keyblade master jumps to his feet and knocks his foes back with a push kick, having three fall into a pile. Vex follows up by leaping into the air and coming down with a downward strike through each, having them disappear in one blow. Sora gives his friend a thumbs up until Vex is suddenly hit back by a charging Heartless. It begins slashing ferociously at the boy with no lost in speed. Vex attempts to block its quick attacks with his keyblade, but he begins to stumble. He soon falls back and the creature strikes for the blow until Donald suddenly blocks the attack and parries it back. The four were back-to-back again with the Heartless surrounding them as before. The group's lost of breath meant that the creatures were more difficult than they perceived.
"What now," Vex says short of breath.
Sora replies:"I don't know."
Donald's eye catches some movement on the ground at his feet. A little pebble is rumbling slightly. A few more rock pieces begin to replicate the pebble's movement. The duck becomes baffled until he feels a little rumble.
"Do you feel that," Donald says to the group.
Sora looks down as he begins to experience the same phenomenom. The rumble begins to increase in power as small gushing sound can be heard underneath them. The Heartless look around worriedly trying to figure out what is causing the earthquake.
"That sounds like…water," Vex exclaims.
At that instant, a large water sprout shoots from the ground, causing a group of Heartless to fly into the air with it. Two more burst out, getting rid of more of the creatures. Soon, a wall of water takes the place of the surrounding Heartless.
"So…what's worse," Goofy says. "A swarm of Heartless…or a giant water sprout?"
"The water sprout," the rest reply together.
But instead of engulfing them within its terrifying force, it begins to die down until it returns into the ground from whence it came. The four let out a sighing relief and drop to the ground.
"Where did that come from," Sora asks Vex.
"I don't know," Vex answers. "But it really helped us out…big time."
"Now what? Heartless are here," Donald says.
"They are beginning to expand across this world," Sora says. "We have to find the source quickly or this world will be no more."
"No more," Vex says worriedly.
"Don't worry, Vex. We're going to stop them."
They get to their feet and proceed deeper into the forest. The sounds of the wailing grew louder and scarier. Goofy could not stop shaking in fear, which was annoying Donald more by the minute. But they all shared the same shakiness as they were gripping their weapons tight. Sora raises his keyblade and looks at it with a dissatisfied expression.
He says to himself:"Why isn't my keyblade working? Is it because the Heartless are stronger?"
Sora glances at Vex's Moon Key.
"Or is my keyblade weaker? I can really use a keychain right now."
Crash! A tree is heard falling to the ground up ahead and a few screeches. They instantly assume it's a Heartless. When they run to where the sounds came from, their assumtions were right. Four of those new Heartless were facing someone who was directing a bow and arrow toward them. His face was hidden under the hood of his violet cloak. Looking around the area, a few trees were toppled over with arrows impaled within some of them. One of the Heartless dash at the stranger. The hooded man rolls to the side and quickly fires an arrow through it, having it disappear. But immediately, another Heartless strikes out at him, yet the archer is quicker as he swiftly loads a new arrow and takes out his attacker. The last two Heartless begin circling him, their blades arched out and ready to cut into their prey. But the archer ignores their little tactic as he loads another arrow. Not noticable to anyone, the archer glances left to right at the circling Heartless. He seems to calulate their exact position and in an instant, launches an arrow, loads another one, and launches it, as well. A smog of dark smoke appears and the Heartless are gone. The four are shocked at what they have just seen and run up to the stranger.
"Woah, that was amazing," Vex says to the archer.
"Hey, you must be one of Madame Everstien's men," Sora responds.
The archer looks their way and pulls off his hood. His hair is bright orange and red that is pulled into a ponytail that reached down to his upper back. He has bangs. However, they exist only on the right side of his face and cover almost his entire right eye. His eyes are a bright blue and gleam with a light that showed courage. Under his cloak, he wears a black tunic with gold lining. On his belt, he has a symbol of an angel wielding a bow and arrow. And he wears black tights with shoes of the same color on his feet. His size and young look makes him seem around the same age as them.
The elf replies with a tone that showed he isn't enthusiastic about them being here:" And you must be the ones that I had to save before you became minced by those…things."
"Save," Donald repeats.
"That is right. I caused those water sprouts. It is a mystic ability called Wintrel's Waters. Summons water from deep within the earth and can be used how ever I wish to use it. Maybe you will like to experience it firsthand?"
"That won't be necessary," Vex says.
"Who are you four, anyway? You are not elves, so I want to know how you got through Everstien's magic sensors."
Sora replies:" Whatever sensors she had, we were detected right away. But we explained our case and were given permission to come here. She said she sent some of her archers here days ago but they never came back."
"Well, unfortunately, I am not one of them," the elf says.
"So, who are you," Donald asks sort of displeased.
The elf raises his right gloved hand and answers:" My name is Teloges. I am out here to find out why those dark creatures have appeared in our forest."
"Those are called the Heartless," Sora answers. "They spawn from an unknown source, but feed on people's hearts. They even feed on the hearts of entire worlds. In other words, if we do not stop them, they will destroy yours."
"Hmph, like I'll let that happen." Teloges turns and begins to walk away, but he continues to talk. " We have kept this forest protected long enough to not have some Heartless destroy it. Our ancestors have fought many like them and defeated them with ease. These monsters are no different."
"Yes, they are," Sora protests. "You shouldn't underestimate them."
Teloges stops and turns around replying:" Listen, my only task right now is to clear the forest of these things. If you wish to help, you may accompany me. If not, stay out of my way."
The elf turns and walks into the forest. Sora frowns and turns to the group.
"Well, he sure was nice," Donald says with the same frown.
"Should we follow him," Goofy asks.
"He knows this forest better than we do," Sora answers. "Let's keep with him."
"Smart," Vex says.
The four quickly catch up with the elf, but keeps their distance a little behind to not anger the elf anymore than he already is. The elf takes a glance at them from the corner of his eye. He smirks and suddenly runs.
"Hey!" Sora says as Teloges runs through the forest.
They run after him, but they begin to lose sight of the elf.
"Why is he running," Vex says.
"I don't know," Sora says. "But he's not getting away that easily."
Leaves and foliage brush their faces within the narrow passageway. They finally exit the enclosed path and come to a cave opening. Teloges is standing in front of it.
"Why did you do that," Sora asks the elf.
The wailing starts up again, but it shoots out the cave in a great burst of sound, having the group stagger back a bit. They now knew the source of the dreaded melody. But the direction of Teloges meant that they were about to experience it even more.
"Those Heartless have most likely taken refuge within Wailing Caves. If we wish to stop them, we must enter. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"
The four look at each other, but hesitately answer:"No problem at all."
"Good," Teloges replies back. "Let's go. We have no time to waste."
The elf walks forward and disappears into the dark shadows of the open-mouthed cave. Sora follows after. The other three look at each other, waiting for one of them to go next.
But Donald pushes Vex and Goofy to the side, saying:" You are just a bunch of babies."
He disappears into the cave, as well. Goofy puts on a worried smile, but enters after his wizard friend. Vex sighs and jogs after them. Once they leave the area, a group of the agile Heartless appear from out of the bushes. Flying the sky is a black bird circling down toward them. But it spreads it wings and lowers down to the center of the Heartless with the slow flapping of them. It lands but it is soon seen that it was a Heartless as well. Its bright orange eyes peer into the cave with a thirst for destruction. Most likely, this meant for the destruction of the wandering group of adventurers. The bird lets out a loud shriek, having the arm-bladed Heartless dash into the cave. The bird follows after with one flap of its powerful wings.
Within the cave, the five walk carefully forward through the dark and gloomy earth. Light was diminshing as they proceeded further in. However, Teloges solves their light problem by chanting a few words and causing the whole cave to light up with the luminating of the torches lined along the rocky walls. They could only wow at this technique. Teloges rolls his eyes before continuing forward.
"How far does this cave go," Donald asks.
"I really don't know," Teloges answers. "I've only gotten this far."
He stops at a big clearing that has a hole in the ceiling where light from the sun was able to illuminate that part of the caverns. The elf walks over to a rock implanted in the ground and sits on it. He blows out a light breath and looks up to the lighted hole above them. Sora walks over to him.
"Can I ask you something," Sora says. "Can you tell us who is Orion? We saw a statue of him when we first came into Wintrel Forest."
Teloges looks at Sora for a moment before pulling out an arrow. He stares at it and replies:" Orion was the greatest protector of our race. Participanting in every decisive battle, he helped us obtain many victories. But 100 years ago, he disappeared in the Great War of the Elves, a battle between our race and a mysterious species that said they come from outer space. They called themselves Ailoids. But we were able to drive them out off our world. We soon put a statue up in Orion's honor. It can be found possibly in every elf village in the world."
"Wow," Vex says.
"Yeah, you can say that. Let's get going."
He gets to his feet and looks toward the way they came from. He puts on a serious expression and walks to the entrance of the clearing. They watch on as he begins to place his arrow on his bow and directs it toward the path.
"What is it," Sora asks.
"Something's coming," the elf answers, pulling back his projectile and half closing his eyes.
They spawn their weapons, too, and prepare for the anticipated assault. Shadows can be seen along the walls, meaning something was coming from around the corner of the path.
"Is it Heartless," Goofy asks.
"Yeah, it is," Teloges answers.
At that moment, the Heartless appear from around the bend and dash right at the five, but Teloges begins his attack by launching his arrow, and continusly reloading to follow up his attacks. The front line is wiped out fast, but some begin to get closer despite the elf's quick shooting. Yet, he continues to fire his projectiles to lessen the threat of the shadow monsters. Once they get close enough, the elf lets out his hand and says the same chant used to light the torches. The flames of the torches surrounding the approaching Heartless begin to dance wildly. They soon grow larger and float from their resting places on top of the candles to the path before the monsters. They linger together and create a firewall, blocking off their path. But the Heartless still advance ferociously. They run at the fire, but disappear upon contact. They continue to run into it, hoping to break down the barrier, but it only ends with more loses of them. They soon stop upon realization that crossing it was impossible. Donald's mouth is left in awe seeing the magic skills of the elf overexceeding his. They couldn't believe such a being was that powerful. But again, they haven't explored every world, yet, to confirm this.
Teloges turns around to them and walks over, saying:"That should keep them for a while. We should continue forward."
A loud shriek is heard coming from behind the bounded Heartless. They turn to find a large bird-shaped Heartless sitting behind the wall of fire. Its eyes were brewing with a fury stronger than what normal Heartless showed. It was as though it knew its cause and had a reason for its actions. This Heartless has Sora stumble back a bit. The keyblade master didn't know why, but it felt like the creature was peering into his very soul, itching to take his heart. He shakes his head and gets into a ready stance, awaiting the bird's next move.
"It won't be able to get past the wall," Teloges says.
With one loud shriek from its shadowy beak, the wall of fire suddenly diminishes under the bird's power. The Heartless were now able to continue their attack on the five. Teloges loads an arrow and fires it toward the bird, but one of the Heartless jump up to take the attack for it.
"What," Teloges exclaims.
The bird lets out another shriek and the Heartless scatter out, still advancing toward them.
"What are they doing," Vex says.
"Divide and conquer," the elf says, loding yet another arrow. "They're trying to attack us from all sides."
He starts taking out the Heartless, but they begin to gain speed and start to confuse him.
"Focus," the elf says to himself.
Their quick manuevers start to have the elf jumble over his attacks. It was becoming more difficult to keep up with them.
"Come on," Vex shouts at them from the path in front of them.
They pull back and start running deeper into the cave.
"Running," Teloges says. "I didn't have that in mind."
"Well," Vex replies. "It's better to fight in a narrow passage than a whole open area, right?"
The elf smiles and turns around. He loads three arrows all at once and launches them at the Heartless in pursuit. Because of the limited amount of space to move around in, it was now easier to hit the creatures. The elf takes down each of the creatures one by one until no more was chasing them. A smile comes across the archer's face until suddenly that loud shriek is heard again.
"That Heartless," Teloges responds.
The five run even deeper and deeper into the cave, hoping to lose the creature. Where they were going was not on their minds. For now, they needed to get to safety. Their path becomes steep, having them lower their pace to avoid tripping down the little slope. After arriving at the bottom, they stumble into an open room, however, it is pitch black, allowing them to not see before them.
"Hey, who turned out the lights," Goofy says.
"Don't worry," Teloges says.
His says his chant once again, but nothing happens. He repeats it, but still nothing responds to his magic.
"Looks like there isn't anything to use for lighting."
Suddenly, the wailing starts up again, but this time, it is so strong that it causes them to fall back on the ground.
"What the…" Vex says.
A light appears. Standing up was Teloges with a loaded arrow, however, fire was flaring from the tip of it.
"Fiery Eagle," the elf yells.
The fire flares even wilder and grows. It emits enough light to reveal the entire room, but they are shocked at what they see in front of them. Standing at about 20 feet with wings like a falcon, is a giant winged beast with its head hidden behind its feathery arms. But from the look of it, it looked as though it was sound asleep.
"Huh," Donald and Goofy reply.
"You're telling me that all this wailing is caused by this beast snoring," Vex says.
Teloges lowers his bow and walks slowly forward. The red beast's wings have strange black markings on it that seem to dazzle the elf. He looks closely at them before putting on a more surprised expression.
"I know what this is," he says. "This is the Wintrel Griffin!"
"What," Donald says. " A griffin?"
"Yes. This legendary beast is…was Orion's pet. Now that he's not here, I guess it slept here to await the return of its master."
"100 years," Sora says.
Teloges nods. "If Orion was here, I know he'll be proud of it."
The shriek is heard again as the bird Heartless suddenly appears at the entrance of the room. They turn quickly and get into ready stance.
"It's back," Vex say.
"No more running," Teloges says. "This time, it's my turn."
He pulls back his arrow, until a groan is heard behind them. They turn to see the griffin no longer sleeping peacefully. It is now sitting up with its wings arched back. Its head is shaped like an eagle, yet its legs are of a lion. It was a mystical creature that Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vex had never seen before. The griffin let out a long shriek that is much louder than the Heartless's shouting, and causes the guys to cover their ears. The bird Heartless lets out a shriek, but the griffin shrieks after to show that it is dominant in its cry. Out of anger, the Heartless flies up and dashes at the creature. The griffin does the same, but seems to be quicker. The five move out the way as they collide.
With a headbutt, the griffin sends the Heartless into the cave wall. It shakes it off and flies at its powerful foe, despite the disadvantage it was at. It sawys past the griffin to get it off guard, yet the creature was not going to be attacked that easily. With a flap of its huge wings, it creates a large whirlwind that spins the shadow around and into another wall. Unfortunately, the griffin's attack blows out Teloges's fire arrow, leaving them in the dark again. They can still hear them fighting, but fear that not seeing them can leave to an unexpected attack against them. Teloges chants again to re-light his arrow. With the room lit again they see the griffin the last standing as the bird Heartless is no longer in sight. They begin to cheer, but the elf does not. He looks on with a worried expression on his face.
"What is it," Vex asks.
"Look!"
Dark purple smog begins to encircle the griffin wildly. It hawks and tries to sway away the smoke, but it is soon engulfed within the cloudy substance. Teloges shouts in disbelief and runs forward with his bow drawn. The smog disappears and leaves a shocking discovery. The griffin is now entirely black, and on its head there is a bright purple heart emblem with spike-like edges.
"Unbelievable," Sora says. "How…"
"It's a Heartless now," Vex exclaims.
"No," Teloges responds. "Get out of my brother's pet!"
He directs his flaming arrow at the creature and shouts:" Fiery Eagle!"
The arrow is let loose and starts it path at the Heartless. As it flies through the air, the fire around it begins to form into the figure of an eagle. The creature cries out with a shriek like none other. It echoed throughout the room with an intensity that could destroy the whole cave. The fire blows out on the arrow and the projectile is stopped in mid-air.
"Can't see," Sora says.
Teloges yelps in the dark causing the four to feel around for the archer.
"Teloges," Sora shouts.
"Ugh, let me go," the elf yells.
"We'll help you! Hold on!"
"How are we going to fight what we can't see," Vex replies.
"Use…the spell," Teloges says, struggling to say those words. "Blaze Keiro!"
Sora nods, although no one could see it and says the words. Instantly, his keyblade is engulfed in the fires of the spell, having the area become illuminated again. They are able to see Teloges trapped within the creature's talon as it hovers in the air. Sora looks at his keyblade in amazement.
"Let me go," the elf shouts.
"Here we come, Teloges," the keyblade master shouts. The four dash at the Heartless, with Sora gripping his flaming keyblade in hopes that this time his weapon will do some good.