Secrets of Memories Chapter 44: Let the Lion Roar
Kairi stood silently, as Sally left and King Mickey turned to the others of the Order of the Hearts and Souls. His gaze was stern, like kings of the old tales Kairi once heard in her forgotten youth.
" Time is ever slipping away," King Mickey finally spoke. " Things have been set in motion that cannot be stopped midway. They will run to the end and we must be ready when that comes."
He looked at each of the remaining members of the Order of the Hearts and Souls. Princess Kida and Sally had gone back to wherever they had come from and Meg was already beginning to depart.
" What can we do, Your Majesty?" Bo Peep asked, fear lacing her voice.
Kairi looked to each and every one of the Order that remained. Bo Peep was fearful; Friar Tuck was weary look on his face.
" We must wait," King Mickey said slowly, quietly. " You all have done what you could. Sora has sealed your worlds against any further darkness. All we can do now is wait, the long painful wait. And the waiting will end when our fate is decided."
" There will be no rest until then," the Emperor agreed. " And no wait after. The darkness has a firm grip on their hand in our fate; we both will decide the fate of all."
The Emperor then turned his gaze to Kairi.
" Yet there are those who will determine all of fate," he added. " It is time, I suppose, time to release her and further her on her journey. Agrabah must be restored. Its guardian must awake."
" Indeed," King Mickey agreed. " To Agrabah it is. Kairi, are you ready to continue?"
Kairi gulped and gave a very small nod. King Mickey gave her a reassuring smile.
" Very well," he said. " Farewell, Kairi Princess of Heart, until we meet again."
And as others bowed or waved her farewell, mist began to cloud her vision and she felt herself floating in air, light as a windblown feather. And within she heard the voice of the mouse king.
The Guardian of the Cave of Wonders is the one you seek. His riddle you must solve, and a surprise you will meet. Find the book of lost riddles, though it may not look it, and you shall soon see when the time for it is fit. And together, you will search through a world lost to memory and time, for the key you need hides within the one who had commit a just crime.
Together? Kairi wondered, puzzled. Who would be coming with me?
But no voice answered her and Kairi knew that now she was on her own. She had a cave of wonders of find and riddle to solve, in order to do something, something that will help Sora's cause. And she will do anything to help him.
""
" So…" Merlin mused as he gazed at the worn parchment. " So…even ones like him could be corrupted by the darkness in ways unaware. For this I've learned: the darkness corrupts even the way we think, so that knowledge we know would come out of our mouths twisted and deceiving. What I've been saying is wrong due to the darkness that resides in us no matter where we go; thank goodness we found Ansem's other report in time."
Selphie blinked. " Was that supposed to be a riddle?"
Merlin's eyes twinkled. " Was it?"
" Don't let the old fart get to ya," Terk whispered some 'advise'. " Old people get that way."
"Ah….I get it," Selphie nodded in agreement, her voice mocking.
Jane just sighed and shrugged, preferring to say nothing about the whole matter.
" What do we do now, though?" Selphie asked. " I mean, Kairi's not here but Merlin, you were talking about Kairi like you knew where she was. Why?"
" Because I do know where she had been taken to," Merlin replied. " The waters of that pool is not only a means of communication between worlds, it was also a portal that could only be activated by us, the Order of the Hearts and Souls."
" I really don't understand this order, though," Jane said. " Can you tell us about it?"
" Yeah, I'd like to know, too," Terk agreed, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Merlin 'the look'.
Merlin briefly considered letting out an exasperated sigh but that would hurt his image.
" The Order of the Hearts and Souls is made of up of the same number of members as the Elite of the Society," he began slowly, drawing on his ages-old wisdom to help him. " We strive to keep the Elite in check, and we also try to match with the number of the others within the Society. I call the others of the Society Orders but the Order of the Hearts and Souls prefer to refer to them as the Unknowns. One, they're unknown to us most of the time, if not all the time. Second, anyone could get mixed up between the Orders of the Society and the Order of the Hearts and Souls. Our numbers have changed thirteen times, over the course of the existence of the universes, the real one and the non-existent one."
" What do you guys do, though?" Jane repeated.
" We counter, or at least try to counter, every move the Elite and the Orders of the Society makes," Merlin replied with seemingly unlimited patience. " Every move they make, we prevent, or at least try to. We don't initiate most moves; that would take up much of our time and we need to focus on keeping Sora safe and on task. In fact, all that the Order does is keep the Keyblade Masters from being hindered by the darkness. Of course, that role's been changing over the centuries so we hold our own little meetings, discussing the movements of the darkness, the Heartless, the Nobodies, the actions of the Society, and, of course and most obvious, the movements of the current Keyblade Master. Or should I say, Masters? We never had more than two Keyblade Masters existing at the same time. Often, if one died, a new Master would rise and so the numbers would say at two, in keeping with the rule of a dual wielder and a single wielder. Makes any sense?"
" I think so," Selphie answered, though there was still a dazed look on her face.
" Like I said, there were always two, never more," Merlin decided to continue. " However, these times, they are so very strange. We have three possible Masters roaming the land, perhaps even more. One is a definite Keyblade Master, though he is very aware that he is nearing the end of his time as one; we have a rising Keyblade Master, who you should all know of or by God Himself I can't help you; we've got a justified criminal, who's extremely talented in the arts of the Keyblades, perhaps even more than Sora himself; we've got one who may use a Keyblade but for how long nobody knows; and we've one who is currently master of a Keyblade but perhaps fated not to use such weapons. So, as you can see, these days are strange days indeed."
" There's someone out there who may be even better than Sora?" Terk demanded, rather stupefied by Merlin's extremely outlandish claim.
" He's a good one, I hear," Merlin replied with a sly smile. " Very good, extremely adept but perhaps a bit too dark to be cut out to be the one who will open the door. The door had been opened and closed, and its powers have shifted from the white monoliths that now stand cold, full of skeletons, stained with darkness. Sora still needs to find the door, and we will help him do that. And, or so Fate deems, so will you."
""
It was arid. Kairi looked about her, feeling the dry wind flow about her like a weightless blanket. The world was cold, cold in the essence of gray; there was no sign of life. The sand dunes rose and fell with the wind and cold gray boulders rose from the midst of the sea of grains of glass. Kairi looked about and shivered.
In the distance, she could see the tops of distant buildings, enclosed by a mighty wall. But the buildings looked to be ruins, old, deserted, decaying with wind, sand, and Time. The world was a lonely place, empty, gray, abandoned, and old.
Kairi could not believe this was Agrabah.
" This? This – this is Agrabah?" she stammered in a soft, astonished voice. " How – how can this be?"
" Beats me," a voice squawked behind her. " Never really did see it coming; those damn Heartless. Never gonna stick with them again, that's for sure."
Kairi whirled around, her face pale with surprise and fear. She found herself staring at a vibrant red parrot, with a huge yellow beak, yellow feet, and wings tipped green. Its tail was blue. In this gray world, she had found color.
" The name's Iago, once the accomplice of Jafar, now a companion of Aladdin," the parrot bowed to her from mid-air. The parrot then dropped to the sand. " Damn world; there's no wind, no heat, so I can't fly. By the way, Princess, what are you doing here?"
Kairi stared at him. How'd he know she was a Princess of Heart?
" I've been to both sides of good and evil, Princess," Iago answered her questioning look. " I know. And I also know that though there's no enemies here, the universe itself is the enemy. Agrabah is dying and I'm guessing you're here to stop that, right?"
He looked up at her hopefully from his pathetic position on the sand.
" I guess," Kairi said slowly, as she looked around. " Iago, what is this place?"
" This, Princess?" Iago asked, waving his wing about. " This is the Desert, of course. We're near the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders. Ever heard of the Cave of Wonders, Princess?"
He was waddling in the direction of a formation of stones that rose from the sand, a formation that created a protective circle around an area that dipped into the center, then rose to meet a rather imposing wall of stone.
" No, and for the record, Iago, my name is Kairi," she informed him as she followed him. " What is the Cave of Wonders?"
" The Cave of Wonders, Princ – Kairi, is a massive treasure cave hidden underneath the sands of the Desert," Iago explained. " Very complicated; it is a maze of stone, fire, water, and riches."
There was a hungry look in the parrot's eyes. Kairi wondered whether or not she should be worried about this.
" I'm gold-crazy but I'm almost over it," Iago continued. " Sadly enough, when the Heartless returned, the Cave of Wonders sealed itself and Aladdin couldn't get back in. You see, there in the Cave of Wonders is a powerful gem, a precious stone with incredible strength, with the amazing ability to shield the world from all evil. But it's hidden in the deepest of the Cave of Wonders and there are many guardians of the gem. Terrifying guardians, I tell you. And when the Cave of Wonders sealed itself against all outside forces, well, the Heartless went mad."
" I can't imagine why," Kairi said, hinting sarcasm.
" If the Heartless get a hold of that gem, they could use the power to generate strength beyond what they could imagine," Iago said. " But of course, the Guardian wouldn't let them in. Subsequently, it wouldn't let Aladdin in, either. So we were in a very tight situation, very tight."
" The Guardian…" Kairi sank into thought. This guardian has a riddle I must solve.
" I was still trying to figure out how to coax the Guardian into letting us in, if only for an hour, when the Heartless went on a rampage," Iago's eyes widened with memory and fear. " We all got off Agrabah, right before the Heartless destroyed Agrabah's heart. All of us, that is, but me. I got left behind here, screaming at a pit in the sand, and I've been waiting for some sort of miracle ever since. That was until you came around, Princ – Kairi. You're a miracle yourself, you know. You can free Agrabah before its soul vanishes, too."
Kairi nodded slowly. " Iago, I've been told that this Guardian was to tell us a riddle. And if we answer, we can get in. But not to find that gem of yours. I'm supposed to find some book of prophesy, maybe a piece of the Other Report, and, or so King Mickey tells me, I'm to meet someone there."
Iago turned on her. " You met King Mickey!"
Kairi nodded. " Yes. He was the one who told me everything I'm supposed to do."
Iago shook his head in wonder. " So he did return! It's been a while since most of us have heard from him. Wonder how he got out of Kingdom Hearts."
Kairi gave a confused shrug. " I don't know if we'll ever really find out."
Find out you will, if only a little later. Discover my secrets, and you'll soon find chaos' Creator.
The disembodied voice, masculine and deep, echoed across the empty Desert. Kairi froze and Iago cowered.
" The Guardian of the Cave of Wonders," she heard his muffled voice whisper. " But where is his face?"
My face I not reveal until my riddle you two shall seal.
" Speaking in rhyme, is he?" Kairi said, a tinge of amusement in her voice.
Riddle me, riddle me, but no answer shall I give, until my riddle you solve and you decide what will live.
" Riddle me, riddle me, eh?" Iago said, clearly over his fear of the voice. " Riddle you, riddle you! Come on, why not just let us in and have it be done with."
Fate, my little parrot, you would do not to tease. Play with Fate, and all will not be at ease.
" Notice the emphasis on 'not', Iago?" Kairi sent the parrot a hint.
Ask me now or forever hold your peace. Unrelated you are to an archive master, though all know you as niece.
" A what?" Kairi gasped.
" He means , " Ask me for the riddle, Princess,". At least, that's what I think he's suggesting," Iago whispered, forgetting to call her Kairi.
Kairi knew what the Guardian's voice was leading her to. " Ask me the riddle, then."
Remember, if you dare to answer, many fates will return the call. Answer right, you shall pass and answer wrong, all will fall.
Kairi gulped. Were the stakes this high?
Not at all, the stakes are lower than you think it. But if you answer right, your dark path will be well lit.
Kairi gulped, then nodded. " Very well, then. What is the riddle?"
""
" We can't get anywhere without Kairi, though," Selphie complained once again, as she, Jane, and Terk trailed Merlin through the jungle. " So where the heck are we going?"
" Out of Deep Jungle, of course," Merlin replied. " Deep Jungle will soon go back to the real universe and its best if we are not there when that happens."
His emphasis on 'we' proved rather suspicious. But Selphie guessed that he was referring to them both, not Jane and Terk.
" So we stay here on Deep Jungle, when it goes back to the real universe, right?" Terk wanted confirmation. " I mean it makes sense, since we've got Deep Jungle livin' again and - "
" Yes, Terk, that's what we're gonna do," Jane answered. " We're going back to the real universe. And maybe everyone will return, Tarzan, too."
" It will be a while before he returns, though, my dear," Merlin informed her. " He is…rather busy right now, if you ask me."
" Why? How?" Jane asked.
Merlin looked very regretful for a moment, then began to think up an answer. " He's…uh…he's very busy right now, actually. I'm not very certain about the series of events right now but I can tell you that he's involved in protecting what remains of the Old Universe right now. Or I hope he is. Who knows what might have happened in the weeks that have passed by."
" Weeks?" Jane was stupefied. " Its only been days!"
" Still count as weeks!" Terk chirped up.
" Time in this universe, In-between, is slower than in the Real Universe," Selphie explained. " But I'll never know why."
" No matter," Merlin said briskly, as he suddenly began to walk away from the center of Deep Jungle quickly. " Come, Selphie; I have an appointment with an old friend here."
" Old friend?" Selphie asked, a bit skeptically. " What old friend?"
" How'd another old fart get here?" Terk asked with confusion.
" Terk, that's rude," Jane reprimanded.
" We will be taking our leave," Merlin suddenly stopped and turned around; Selphie nearly ran into him. " Jane, Terk, good day and good luck. Pray we may meet again."
They bowed. " I will," Jane answered.
" Now come along, Selphie," Merlin said rather pleasantly as she turned around and gave them a fond farewell wave. " It is not a good idea to keep Oracle Kenaii waiting, you know. Even he, as dead as he is, does not have all the time in the universe to wait for us to finishing saying goodbyes to some friends we hope to meet again in the near future."
" We're going to meet Oracle Kenaii?" Selphie demanded, aghast.
That spectral fortune teller? They were going to meet the fortune teller? Why!
" Why him?" Selphie demanded frantically as they neared the edge of Deep Jungle, which was marked by the gradual graying of all things.
" He may be dead but there's much he knows," Merlin explained as they treaded gray grounds. " Darkness does not affect the dead, nor the light. However, if the dead is already affiliated with the dark, that dead is dark. Same for those affiliated with the light. And Oracle Kenaii happens to be one of them, which is why he is helping us. Back in his day, the light was more pure, more untainted and therefore, his truth is more true than the truths today. So the whole bit, the poetry that is, is very true and is happening right now."
" The poetry?" Selphie asked, confused. Then it dawned on her. " Oh, that poetry."
Merlin nodded. " Exactly. Kairi is being rather faithful to that poem though we aren't. But of course, this really is her destiny and we simply play parts in it."
" Wait a minute," Selphie asked crossly, freezing in her tracks. " I'm just something compared to Kairi? What the hell! Why aren't I special?"
" Merlin, you were always a poor orator," a very familiar voice tsked as a spectral figure came into view. " Must I teach you again? You were always a very terrible student."
Merlin looked rather embarrassed as Oracle Kenaii appeared from the mists. He looked none the worse for wear. After all, he was dead and all material problems did not trouble him. But his facial expression explained enough. He looked rather upset.
" Something bothering you, Oracle Kenaii?" Merlin asked worriedly.
" Bothering me? Bothering me?" Oracle Kenaii seemed to mock the words Merlin had chosen. " Much worse, Merlin, much worse. The Order is in very deep trouble, deep waters I must say. The Society's gone and captured the Guardian."
Merlin gaped at the spectral being. He opened and shut his mouth several times but no sound issued forth from his lips.
" What's that supposed to mean?" Selphie demanded tensely.
" It means we are in very deep trouble," Oracle Kenaii replied calmly. " Merlin, you know of King Mickey's suspicions. The possible ties to the other Keyblade Master, the one lost to us now. His connection to the current budding Keyblade Master. And we must not forget what Sally had said about him. The rift has become a wide chasm and there is no middle way."
" Then the feathers…the feathers," Merlin stammered, adjusting his spectacles.
" No feathers yet; we are lucky thus far," Oracle Kenaii replied. " But how long the luck will last is up to Fate to decide."
" Someone explain to me in very good detail what the hell's going on here!" Selphie shrilled out.
She was met with silence. Both Merlin and Oracle Kenaii stared at her. Then Oracle Kenaii looked to Merlin and the wizard sighed in defeat.
" Fine, I'll explain it for her," he grumbled. " Thing is, Selphie, the darkness is winning the war. Sora has a guardian and they were supposed to stay together, until Sora finds the door of light. However, there was a chain of events that took place and Sora and the guardian split. And so far, reuniting them has been a problem for us. Now it has become impossible. The Guardian is currently detained by the Society, where he used to be one of the geniuses of the Elite. And infiltrating the Society is deemed impossible."
" Not only impossible but just plain stupid," Oracle Kenaii added. " You CANNOT infiltrate the Society! To do so means that you're completely out of your mind, a nutcase! Nobody has ever infiltrated the Society without having to be a member of the Society and you really are a nutcase if you join the Society! Hell, they're all four of them nutcases!"
" Oracle Kenaii, calm down!" Selphie yelped in surprise; she had never seen the specter lose it before. " Take some deep breaths – oh yeah, you can't breathe. What am I talking about?"
" Beats me; I'm at a loss for words," Merlin replied with a shrug. " But on with what I'm supposed to be saying here. Selphie, if Sora and the Guardian stay separated for too long, the feathers will fall. You've heard of the saying before, I'm sure."
" What does that mean?" Selphie quickly pounced with a question. " Nobody would ever tell me exactly what happens if some feathers fall. What the hell's t hat supposed to mean?"
" It means that feathers will fall from the sky," Oracle Kenaii spoke calmly, as though he never had a fit in his life. Of course Selphie knew better. " They fall when the darkest deed is committed. And I don't think its something we all want to know."
" Murdering a Keyblade Master is not new," Merlin added.
" No, its something worse than murder," Oracle Kenaii agreed emphatically. " It's something much worse than murder, that much I definitely know. Murder is nothing new to this universe and feathers will not come down from the sky just because someone took the liberty to stab Sora and kill him. No, something worse will happen to him, something much worse."
" Does it involve anybody dying?" Selphie asked, shivering. Their words were cold and chilled her.
" Not that I know of," Merlin replied. " Sally still cannot see beyond; our own seer is blind to this fate. She only knows the two outcomes of things: an endless sea and an endless sky, or war."
" War…" Selphie echoed. " An endless sea, an endless sky. What's worse?"
" War can devastate, reduce populations, destroy worlds, kill," Oracle Kenaii laid out the details. " An endless sea and an endless sky, on the other hand, is what it is. There is no life; it is just a clouded sky and a dark, deep water. And that is all. Nothing more than that, no light, no dark, no fish in the waters even. All becomes lost; the darkness and the light are nonexistent. Everything you see here, everything you know, every memory, every emotion, every thought gets erased forever."
Selphie wrapped her arms around herself, her mind filling with dark images, images of blood and bodies and cries, and of a sea and a cloudy sky with no end.
" Why was I born now?" she found herself whispering. " Why not before? Why not after? Why now?"
""
Riddle me, riddle me, I'll give you what I see.
" He is that good with riddles, I hate him," Iago said enviously.
" You really shouldn't be jealous of him, Iago," Kairi told him. " Nobody would be able to understand you."
" Good point, Princess – I mean, Kairi," Iago quickly corrected himself.
The riddle that you seek, the voice whispered, is for the strong and the meek:
Tell me of a story an elder told long ago
Of radiant light and darkness black
Can you recall the tale of the great foe
Or of the brilliance that we all seemingly lack?
Answers still unanswered, questions still in air,
There still is doubt, anger, fear, terror, hate,
That drives us away from the answer's lair,
And leaves empty the echoes of dying Fate.
Shall we look to the skies, and the brilliance of stars.
Or shall we look to the earth and the radiance of stones?
From us walls of darkness bars
And promises us dirt's bones.
Luminosity is what we seek
In dark and troubled times.
Searched by the bold and the meek
In fear of the darkest signs.
But what do we have to hold on to
Once feathers fall with sorrowful grace?
If only we could see, if only we knew,
Then what we all seek is not the case.
Riddle me, riddle me, tell me true:
What light is there when all is lost
And what you must do with all that you knew.
Answer me what must be held at all cost.
Kairi and Iago blinked.
" Wait, wait, wait," Iago barked. " Back it up here. What story and what elder?"
Kairi continued to blink. A story told my an elder? And what was the rest of the riddle?
" Wait, can you say the riddle one more time, please?" she asked.
The voice did as she wished. Kairi still blinked.
" Oh my god," she whispered.
" Oh my god is right," Iago agreed, waddling up to her feet. " Princess – I mean, Kairi, we are in very deep trouble right now. Do you have any idea what the riddle means?"
Kairi thought for a moment. " I'm not sure. But I think its talking about something we all seek, something we all look for, when there's trouble about."
" Well I look for a blanket to hide under," Iago declared with a huff.
Kairi snickered and Iago glared at her. " Not funny."
She rolled her eyes, then began to reconsider the riddle. What was it that everyone sought in the darkest of times? What brilliance was missing? What was it about the bold and the meek?
Tell me of a story an elder told long ago…was he referring to that story about the children who saved all from darkness, the story about the light within each child, and the sleeping light deep within the darkness?
" But that makes sense," she murmured to herself. " Of radiant light and darkness black. The story was about the light and the dark. But what's it about that story? What's in it? What's the meaning of it?"
For me to know and for you to find out. That is what my riddle is about.
" Yeah, I know," she snapped back. " But what tale of a great foe? What foe? We have plenty to face. Which one are we talking about here?"
" I think I know," Iago said in hushed tones. Kairi looked at him worriedly, seeing how nervous he suddenly looked. " What is it, Iago?"
Iago looked up at her. " I've heard of this story countless times before, of a great foe, of a great darkness, mightier than all that we know so far and have heard of. The great foe…they say the great foe burns of hellish flames, they say the great foe is stealthy, cunning, and just plain evil. And they never fail to mention his eye. Glowing yellow, burning of the fires of hell, with a slit pupil that contracted when the great foe was angry or aroused. That is the great foe or so I've been told."
" By whom?" Kairi asked curiously, in awe of what Iago had just told her.
" People and text," Iago replied.
The great foe will open his eyes, and so all hope will be abandoned and flies. The great foe has his match though she still slumbers. She will only awaken when we all remember.
" She?" Kairi asked. There was no answer.
" The prophecy, Pri – Kairi," Iago suggested. " Maybe we should keep working on it."
Kairi nodded, her mind searching for a story about some great foe that burned of hellfire and had yellow eyes. And what was it about some brilliance that everyone supposedly didn't have?
" I don't recall any story about some great foe," she finally announced.
It takes two, not just you.
" Oh, I get it now," Kairi realized. " Iago, you're the one who knows about this story about the great foe."
" But not about some brilliance we don't have," Iago countered.
Let your mind soar, or you'll never hear the lion roar.
" I really think that was a warning, Kairi," Iago warned.