The nature hike was rather average: Laura's class walked through the forest on a designated nature-walking path, the teacher pointed out interesting plants and animals, Laura sketched some of what she saw, blah blah blah…
Suddenly, Laura saw something out of the corner of her eye that caught her attention. She tapped Morick and Kitsune on the back and motioned them to come with her. Quietly, they slipped away from the group and went off the path towards a strange grove that seemed to glow slightly. Suddenly, there was a flash. When it was gone, the three couldn't believe their eyes.
"It's a…" Morick started.
"No way…" Kitsune said, awed at what she saw before her.
"It is!" Laura said, and ran up to it.
It was a hole in the ground; not just any ordinary hole though. It looked like a triangle, except where the top point should have been there was a large circle connected to it. It looked like something you would stick something large in to make something else happen.
It was the keyhole to their world, Derris.
"This is big!" Morick exclaimed, "We have to tell somebody."
"No," Laura said, "It might attract to much attention of the wrong kind."
"Oh, but it has…" said a mysterious voice said from behind them. Laura, Morick and Kitsune gasped as they turned around to see a man in a black cloak. They couldn't see his head because it was covered with a black hood, which makes sense since he was wearing a black cloak.
"Yes," the man said thoughtfully, "Very good. Very good indeed."
"Who are you," Laura demanded, "And what do you want with the keyhole?"
"Oh, you want to know who I am? Fine, I will tell you. My name is Vexen, and I have been assigned to this sector of the universe. Normally, I wouldn't get ahead of schedule, but since you three have unwittingly led me to this world's keyhole…"
Vexen raised his hands, and three strange creatures appeared. They looked like blue cups, but they had that symbol on their chests.
"The Heartless!" Morick, Laura, and Kitsune all screamed at the same time.
The three creatures rushed at them at knocked them back. Laura noted that they were cold to the touch.
"Now," Vexen said with a grin on his face that no one could see because his face was covered by a hood, "Time to take this little keyhole."
Vexen pointed his right hand forward, and a blue beam shot out of it and hit the keyhole. At first, nothing happened. But suddenly, frost started to poor from the keyhole into the surrounding forest.
"No!" Laura cried. Thinking swiftly, she knocked back the Heartless that was pushing her against a tree and lunged a Vexen. He moved out of the way easily and Laura fell to the ground. Suddenly, the keyhole began to glow. A strange, sword-like object appeared above it.
"Ah, this world's Keyblade," Vexen said, "I shall be taking this."
Vexen walked towards it and then stopped.
"Wait a second," he said, "There is no keychain attached. This is useless for my research!"
Instinctively, Laura reached into her pocket and pulled out the keychain Naminè had given her. It was warm and glowed slightly. She then rushed over to the Keyblade and attached the keychain to it.
Something very strange happened then; the Keyblade changed shape and color. It took on a golden hue, the handle became circular and had spikes, and the end looked like a sunrise. Laura twirled it around and pointed the weapon directly at Vexen.
"Now," she said vehemently, "You will pay for what you have done!"
Vexen chuckled, "I think not, my dear girl, because I have a way out." And with that he opened a dark portal and stepped through.
"Ta ta!" he said and laughed some more, closing the portal behind him.
"Hey!" Kitsune yelled, "The world is still breaking up!"
"Let me see if I can reverse it." Laura replied. She then aimed her new Keyblade directly at the keyhole, but nothing happened except for the darkness that was continuing to pour out of it.
"It's no use!" Laura cried.
Suddenly, darkness enveloped them. Laura, Morick, and Kitsune seemed to be falling through an infinite abyss. Laura couldn't see anything in any direction, not even her friends. Suddenly, she stopped falling. Laura looked around. She seemed to be on a platform made out of stained glass. The platform formed a picture of a woman in a pink dress. Above her head was a yellow triangle that seemed to be made out of three triangles with a hole in the center.
Suddenly, she heard a voice seeming to come from inside her mind. It was the same voice she had heard in her dream.
"Step forward," it said, "Do not be afraid of your destiny."
Laura cautiously took a few steps forward. Suddenly, three doors appeared.
"Your journey has taken you to crossroads," the voice said, "You must choose whether to follow the path of the warrior, the mystic, or the defender."
Laura noticed that over the first door, there was a sword. Over the second door there was a staff. The third door had a shield.
"Hmm…" Laura thought, "Morick is better a magic than I could ever be, and Kitsune's tougher than she looks. I guess I should go through door number three."
As Laura stepped up to the shield door, the voice said, "You choose the path of the defender, protector of good. Do you wish to journey through this door?"
Laura wasn't sure what to do, so she just nodded in agreement. The two other doors disappeared and the third door opened to reveal a staircase leading up from the platform she was one. Laura hesitated for a moment; it looked rather precarious without a railing, but then she steeled herself and started up it.
"Besides," she said to herself, "Morick and Kitsune could be up there."
When Laura got to the top of the staircase, she found her self on another stained glass platform, this one with a picture of a girl in white robes with a purple ribbon in her blonde hair playing an ocarina. Laura turned around to find the staircase had vanished. In fact, there was no sign of the previous platform at all.
"There are times when you will have to fight," the voice said again and nearly startled Laura, "To protect you and your loved ones."
Suddenly, a strange creature appeared in front of her.
"The Heartless…" Laura hissed.
"Keep your light burning strong." The voice said and then faded out.
The creature leaped right at Laura. Before she could even think, she slashed at the creature with her Keyblade. It fell backwards at then dissipated, leaving behind only a few green orbs. Laura picked one up; it disappeared, and Laura felt a little better.
Suddenly, more Heartless appeared around Laura. She reached for her Keyblade and started slashing away, destroying all of the Heartless.
"It's not very subtle," Laura thought to herself, "But it's effective."
After that, a light appeared next to the platform she was standing on. Laura walked over to it. When she stood on it, it swiftly ascended to another platform. This one had a picture of a girl with pink hair holding some sort of sword.
"But the light can betray you," the voice seemed to whisper, "For the closer get to the light, the bigger your shadow becomes."
Laura turned around, and to her dismay, her shadow was growing to disproportionate measures. It took on grotesque and monstrous features.
"If you are the one," the voice continued as the shadow grew, "To open the door," the shadow started to rise and take three-dimensional aspects, "Then you must learn," the shadow became even more monstrous, "That your greatest enemy," the shadow was now ten feet high and looking down at Laura, "Is yourself." The shadow's hand started to reach for Laura. She deftly jumped out of the way and thought, "Is this what my dark side looks like? I never knew it was in my heart all along…" She didn't have much more time to think, though as her "Darkside" slammed its right hand directly at her. Laura quickly flipped out of the way and slashed at the hand. The Darkside roared in pain and then knelt down as if wounded badly. Suddenly, Laura noticed something she hadn't noticed before. Where its heart should have been was a heart-shaped hole.
"I wonder…" Laura thought, and she raised her Keyblade to Darkside's empty heart. Her Keyblade started to glow, and then it shot a beam of light right at Darkside. Darkside roared and then crashed into the ground, cracking the platform.
Laura noticed a door to the side. She tried to run towards it, but then stopped when the part of the platform the door was on crumbled away.
"Your Keyblade is Bano del Sol," the voice said, seemingly unaware of what was happening, "But it is not a powerful as the true key. You must aid the Key Master, but you will never cross paths with him."
"How can I help him if I never meet him!" Laura cried out, but there was no answer. The rest of the platform crumbled and Laura fell into the abyss screaming, but she could faintly hear "All will be revealed in time when you open the door…"