CHAPTER III
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
Vincent walked the long stairway up the castle, barely making a sound. Heartless kept spawning all around him, but none attacked. It was very rare for a heartless to show fear or cowardice in any way...most of them just attacked relentlessly and didn't have time to process emotions such as 'fear'. But these heartless...they were afraid of Vincent. They bowed their antennas to him and scurried into dark corners where he wouldn't be bothered by them.
After slamming through several doors, he reached a large room with a huge portal of multiple colors. Shaped like a heart and connected to a large computer terminal, it was an intimidating sight to say the least.
But in front of the portal was a clear portal, perpetuated by permanent reflega magic. It allowed you to see through the portal...but not pass through. In front of that was a throne made of silver and gold. The person who owned this castle certainly spared no expense. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling, speckled with dark shards, frost shards, thunder shards...pretty much any rare synthesis item you could imagine was decorating this castle. The owner had good taste.
Vincent wasn't impressed. In fact, he grew weary of this castle very quickly. But if it wasn't for his latest message from Maximilian, he wouldn't have even showed up. He picked up a mini pocket computer from his cloak and re-read the message.
MEET ME AT THE CASTLE. THE DARK ONE IS IN OUR HANDS.
He pushed open one more set of doors and immediately saw what he was looking for - a young man with long purple hair was hanging from shackles on the wall to the right. Vincent nodded at the boy, but he was unconscious. Continuing up the staircase, he stopped and kneeled in front of the man sitting in the throne.
The man in the throne smiled at him. In fact, that was all he could do. His mask bore a cosmically unnerving smilie face, body clad in silver and black. He raised his hand to tell Vincent to rise, but Vincent spoke first.
"Sir. Master Maximilian, sir, there is...a problem."
Maximilian said nothing, but sat in silence, prompting Vincent to carry on.
"Sir, it seems...there are more wielders. More people than we thought can harness the power of the keyblade. I met one such person just now, in the square..."
Maximilian spoke one word.
"Darkness?"
Vincent shook his head.
"Then it is of no importance. The only keyblade wielder we need concern ourselves with is the Dark One. Who happens to be right over there."
Maximilian gestured toward the wall which held Riku hostage not a moment before...but now the wall was empty, and there was no sign of Riku or his rescuers anywhere. Maximilian grew furious and summoned his two blades, pinning Vincent with one and holding the other a centimeter from his neck.
"Find him.
THIS IS YOUR FAULT. Do not come back without the Dark
One."
"Yes...yes sir." His face cringed every time
he said the word. And with that, he turned, flipped his cloak and was
heading back down the staircase, kicking heartless like a bully
squashes anthills.
