Chapter 10: Backtrack
The dust settles as the elf stares motionlessly at the fallen beast, loosening the grip of his new keyblade and let it fall to the ground. Yet, it disappears in a white light before it hits the earth. Teloges walks slowly toward the griffin step by step, his eyes more soft this time and his expression of that a sad child. Sora, Donald, and Goofy watch on in great surprise of discovering another keyblade in existence. They started to believe that this world was probably filled with others just like him and Vex. Possessers of keyblades without them even knowing. Whatever the case, they knew that the keyblade was made for one purpose: to destroy the Heartless.
Teloges is now sitting down next to the unconscious griffin, resting his head on its forehead eyes closed. It looked as though he had gone into a peaceful sleep. Whatever the case, the three do not want to disturb him. They decide to talk to the elf after he wakes back up. Two elves walk over to them, one picking up Vex, who was knocked out earlier by the griffin's attack.
The other says to the three:"Madame Everstien wishes to speak to you."
Sora replies looking over at Teloges:"What about him?"
"Leave him be for now."
They nod and follow the elf, while Vex is carried to the infirmary in the village. They walk through ruin and debree as they make their way to Everstien's place, seeing the village residents, young and old, helping clean up the unfortunate mess. Sora, Donald, and Goofy only wished that they did not come to the elven village in the first place. They arrive back at the village leader's quarters and are told to go in. They enter the room, finding Madame Everstien sitting silently in her chair. They walk over to her and take a seat in the chairs placed before her. Her eyes were closed, as if she was in deep thought, before opening them and looking straight at them.
She speaks from her somehow tired voice:"Never before in history have our village...no this world experienced such evil brought by the storm of those..."
"Heartless...," Sora finishes for her.
"Yes, heartless indeed. I sensed nothing within them. No emotions...no conscience...no soul."
That is what they are, Miss Everstien. Nothing."
Everstien shakes her head. "They can't just be nothing. They are something if they are able to cause so much destruction. Where do they come from?"
Sora had been asked that question so many times, he thought he had to write a book or something in order to get it out. To make things simpler for them all and the truth indeed, he replies:"We don't know."
Everstien rises from her seat and walks closer to them.
"And you three are the ones who are going to end this? Your quest most be such a difficult one. I feel that we need to help you somehow."
"There's no need for that, ma'am. We shouldn't have come here in the first place. We're sorry for your..."
"Don't be. I believe your visit here was actually a realization of some silent evil covering our world. Thanks to you, we can now send warning to all the other Wintrel civilizations on our planet of this Heartless threat and try to subdue this force before it subdues us. "
"Miss, can we ask you a question?"
"Why, yes. What is it?"
"Teloges...who is he?"
Everstien sighs and walks back to her seat. She sits down and begins.
"Teloges and his older brother, Orion, came to this village 100 years ago seeking shelter from the war. They were seperated from their parents in their home by the enemy and captured, yet they managed to escape. We took them in, but Orion stayed only temporary as he began training to fight the enemy under his own terms. He felt guilty for being so weak during the raid on his home. Fighting back was the only way for him to make up for it. Orion kept his promise of becoming the best, wiping out every foe that came his way. He became a legend known all throughout the world. Teloges looked up to his brother, always trying to keep up with him in skills. Although he wasn't as experienced, Teloges was very skilled for his age. He wanted to fight just as bad as his brother. But something unfortunate happened. Orion disappeared. So when his brother disappeared...his passion and happiness went, too. He began to disobey our laws and gave little respect to his superiors. Even I suffered from Teloges's rebellious attitude. But he still was loyal to his brother's legacy and has protected our village on his own terms ever since."
Goofy sniffs and wipes a tear from his eye, responding:"That's so sad."
Donald crosses his arms and looks over at his melodrama friend in sheer annoyance. Sora stands to his feet.
"Madame Everstien, we will help rebuild your village before we leave It's the least we can do for our trouble."
"No, I cannot ask for that. There is no need to stop you on your quest for cleansing our world. Let me give you something to help you on your journey."
Everstien pulls up her right draping sleeve, revealing several bracelets lining her arm. She takes a green one bearing an emblem of a sunflower-like plant and takes it off. Placing it in her left hand palm up, it begins to glow with an emerald color, lighting up their faces with its green light.
"This is the Wintrel Charm. It is endowed with our ancient magic that will protect you from the many evils you will encounter." The relic begins to float in the air. "Trust its power, and you will never have to worry about the dangers you will face."
The charm hovers toward Sora, who places his left hand out to receive the gift. Suddenly, his keyblade appears within his hand and fires a white beam at the item. Everyone gasps as the phenomenom occurs. Sora looks on in total confusion until the item disappears and reappears on the chain at the end of his weapon's handle. At the same time, his keyblade transforms. The handle went from gold to emerald and the blade acquired an engraving symbol. Also, the crown design changed into the design of a griffin. The same griffin that they just fought, too!
"It seems your weapon has inherited the charm's power," Everstien responds. "This should be much helpful in battle."
"Yeah," Sora replies in awe. "Thanks."
Everstien bows. "Good luck on your quest. I bid you farewell."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy give her a wave before exiting her room. But once they close the door, Everstien starts to get a headache. The room begins to grow darker and the atmosphere becomes more sinister. She drops into her seat, holding her forehead with her right hand, wondering what is causing such pain to her.
"This...feeling." Everstien looks up to the ceiling, but her focus was beyond just that height. "Something's coming to our world. Something much more evil than those Heartless. But what? What is it?"
The three heroes exit the building, but find Vex waiting for them outside. He runs up to them in great joy.
"Look, guys," Vex says. "I'm healed! Those elves used their powerful cure magic to help me. I feel better than ever!"
"That's good to here, Vex," Sora replies. "Once we talk to Teloges, we're leaving."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Bird's wings could be heard echoing throughout the air from the direction of the fallen griffin.
"What the..."
The four and some other elves run over to see what is happening only to find the griffin now on its feet and taking flight. On its back was the outrageous elf Teloges.
"Hey, Teloges," Sora shouts. "We need to talk to you!"
But the bird continued to rise into the air, until it paused and zoomed off into the distance.
"Where's he going," Goofy asks.
Sora shakes his head, hoping he did not just see that and sighs.
"Back to the ship."
The four sit in the cockpit, wondering what to do next. They had just lost an important aspect of their journey. As they drown in their disappointment, a red light begins to beep at the console, snapping them all back to reality.
"A call," Donald says.
"Open communication." Vex says.
After a press of a button, a screen comes down and the image of Jerild appears.
"Father," Vex replies excitedly. "What is it?"
Jerild's expression wasn't happy one. He had a more serious look than usual and his eyes did not need to show this since he was wearing his shades, as always.
He responds:"We need you all to return to Raseia City immediately. We just got a message that the Heartless are starting to migrate out of Elward Town. Also, the number of those creatures has greatly grown since our escape."
"We'll be right there," Sora says.
The engines are turned on immediately and the gummi ship speeds off back toward Raseia City.
Kingdom flies into the busy city and returns to the landing dock, where Jerild, the city mayor, Wessler, and some law enforcers stood waiting. The ship hovers down and the engines are shut off. The four rush out the vehicle and run up the group.
"It's good we caught you in," Jerild says. "or you would have been halfway around the world by now.
"But enough of the greeting," Mayor Sapphire says. "We have a critical situation here. Those Heartless were reported to be headed this way. Our spotter described flying ones, walking ones...and giant ones."
Donald gulps as he recognizes the last description.
"Now, my gummi ship fighters are ready to take off to stop their advancement."
"What do you want us to do," Vex asks.
"You four are going to be taken back to Elward Town."
"Four," Vex responds shockingly.
"Don't worry, Vex," Jerild says. "I'll be there with you."
"Why are we returning there," Sora asks.
Wessler walks forward and answers:" We believe the source of the Heartless is there. It is the only reason why they're spawning at a much faster rate than the other areas reported to us."
"A keyhole," Goofy asks.
"Maybe," Sora responds. "Okay, let's do this."
"What!" Donald exclaims jumping up on Sora and pulling him by his jacket. "Are you crazy?"
"Relax, Donald. We can take them, isn't that right, Goofy and Vex?"
The two look away in disagreement. Sora chuckles nervously.
"Don't worry," Sapphire says. " We will back you up. If Jerild is right..."
"Which is always," Jerild responds.
"IF he is right, your special weapons should be able to stop them there."
Sora nods and puts a thumbs up. The other three follow after him and give a smile.
"Let's move out!"
The four return to the ship, while Jerild and Wessler enter the Elwardragon with a few gunmen. They see numerous gummi ships, designed specifically for fighting with their aerodynamic design and Thunder-G weapons, fly over them toward their destination. The Kingdom and Elwardragon follow after them.
Communication is opened between the two ships.
Jerild:"This is the Elwardragon, the most sophisticated and advanced ship in the world. How can I help you?"
Vex:"Dad!"
Jerild:"Sorry, Vex. Just couldn't help it."
Wessler:"If we're done having fun, it's time to strategize."
Sora:"Well, in order to find what might be a keyhole, we'll need to find where most of the Heartless are swarming."
Jerild:"That won't be easy. They're all over the place."
Wessler:"You guys underestimate like there's nothing else great in this world."
On the screens of both ships, a visual of the land around them comes up.
Wessler:"My radar extends up to a 500 meter radius."
Donald:"An Esuna-G!"
Wessler:"That's right. If it detects a Heartless, it will be shown on screen in a red dot. The green dots are us and the fighters. Whereever we see the largest bulk of Heartless..."
Sora:"Is where we find the keyhole!"
Jerild:"I wonder what my town looks like now?"
Wessler:"You worry too much, Jerild, you know that?"
Vex:"Uh...guys..."
They all look forward to find a large number of dark figures appearing over the horizon.
Goofy:"Is that...!"
Sora:"Heartless."
The fighters get into a V formation, saying over radio:"Ready weapons."
Donald:"This is not going to work."
Sora:"Just believe, Donald."
Jerild:"Your shields should protect you four until you get to Elward. We will cover you."
Vex:"Be careful, Dad."
Jerild:"You, too, son."
The Elwardragon's weapons begin to turn on and position their aim forward. Kingdom's shield becomes visible and the ship positions itself in front of Jerild's.
Wessler:"Hee-haw! Let's show these scum what we're made of!"