Chapter Fifteen: Dark Castle
After yet more wandering through space, and yet another fantastic space battle, we reached a world that looked like a countryside, but it was dark and gloomy. Nothing like the usual sunny places we visit, I thought. Beaming down with my friends this time, we popped up in front of a dark and stormy castle's gates.
"Where do you suppose this is?" I asked my friends.
"Dunno. But we won't figure it out by standing around," Jason said.
"Fine. Let's go," I muttered, opening the grand gates. Despite the castle's grandeur, nothing about it was cheery. All the trees in the courtyard were dead, completely void of any leaves. A crisp, biting wind blew across the area, complementing the unused, murky fountain that was in the center of the courtyard. My ragged coat blew in the wind, and as we approached the fountain, I felt a presence surround us.
"Wait. Do you feel that?" Amy asked.
"Yeah. We're not alone," I answered. With that, several monstrous creatures wielding crude weapons burst out of the inner castle gates. They just kept pouring out. Drawing weapons, we were soon surrounded by a legion of beast-men.
"Well, we always get in pickles like this. Let's get to it!" I shouted, then charged face first into the legion with my Buster Sword. Hack, slash, hack, slash, parry, slash, hack. That was all I knew. I had become a true warrior, and with my fighting style adopted a battlefield philosophy: kill, move on.
After only ten minutes or so, my friends and I stood in a courtyard of corpses. I removed the green blood from my sword by slashing at air, then refastened my Buster Sword to my back. Wading through the corpses, I got back to the fountain, where Jason and Amy were waiting.
"Whoa! Roy… you're really strong!" Amy commented.
"You don't know the half of it. Anyways, now what?" I asked.
"Well, let's go in, shall we?" Jason asked. Rhetorical, as always. We went up to the inner gates, again feeling that dread about us. And I felt something else… the darkness I had ignored for a year began to stir within me.
The inside of the castle was just as dark and threatening as the courtyard. Rats were all over the place, with mold and mushrooms here and there. The castle was barely lit with dim torches. Meandering through the dim halls while encountering staunch resistance from the beast-men, we went around moss-infested dungeons, dank waterways, and humid hallways until we reached a similar throne room.
There, on a dark throne, sat a king. But he was not a king; he was a tyrant. In place of a head, he had a skull. And from that skull sprouted horns. I knew where we were now. And who that was.
He was the Horned King. We were in his castle.
"Who dares approach my throne?" the Horned King asked in a rough, intimidating voice as we walked up to his seat. Not only was he intimidating, but he was a lot taller than a normal person.
"Guys, get out of here," I told them, blazingly transforming into my True Form. "I'll handle this."
"Roy… your hair. And your eyes! What happened to you?" Amy asked.
"Don't worry about it. I'll explain later," I told them. They then ran out. I whirled all my blades, save the Cutlass, into the air, then combined them into my Phoenix Sword. "I am Roy Hartmut, the hero. I have come to strike you down."
"Strike me down? Unlikely," he said. Then with a wave of his hand, I was knocked back against the wall.
Unreal, I thought. There's no way…
I charged at him, blade at the ready. Making a strong slash at his shin, my blade connected, but did little else. I pulled it out and made a vertical cut, which also did little. I jumped into the air, but was blasted back against the wall again. Charging recklessly at the Horned King once more, I made more cuts, but they were all superficial. Nothing seemed to harm him!
I'll have to run! I thought. But no opportunity was presenting itself. I charged at him again and again, only to do nothing even with my Phoenix Sword and be slammed against the back wall again and again.
"Master! The boy we captured has escaped!" some creature yelled, bursting into the room. I used that as an opportunity to escape. Blazing out through the door, I dashed madly through the halls, slaying any beast-man I encountered on the way. I made it to the courtyard, where all the corpses had vanished, through the gate, over the moat, and to safety.
I dashed around, looking for my friends. Eventually I found a small campfire, which I knew was them. Going out of my True Form, I walked up to the camp. Exhausted, I collapsed just feet away from their earshot.
When I came to, I was laying down on a log. Sitting up, I found myself surrounded by trees. A campfire was there in the middle of the small camp, but nobody else was around.
"You're pretty heavy, man," I heard Jason complain. I turned around to see him and Amy staring at me.
"Sorry. I kinda passed out," I said.
"Yeah, yeah. Now give us some answers!" Amy shouted.
"About what?" I asked.
"Your hair and eyes. And why the hell did you stay behind?" she asked me angrily.
"Oh, yeah… about that… heheh…" I began. "I can make myself stronger by removing the darkness from my heart. It's weird, but would take a long time to explain. Just trust me on that," I answered. "And I stayed behind so you guys could get away."
"But… the strength I felt coming from you… it was absolutely unbelievable…" Jason muttered.
"One more question: why do you look like Xehanort when you do that?" Amy asked.
"Do I? I guess so… who knows? Does it matter?" I asked.
"No, not really," Amy resigned.
"Well, did you guys see Sora and Riku?" I asked them.
"Yeah. He was escaping the dungeon with some kids. We held off some guards for them," Amy replied.
"Then we'll wait a few days," I told them. "They'll come back."
"Why should we wait? Why not go after them?" Jason asked.
I laughed. "They don't need help. And we should be here, ready and waiting, for when they get back."
"If you say so…" Jason muttered, then sat down on a log. He tossed another piece of firewood on the campfire. Amy sat down next to him.
"And now we wait…" I said. We waited.