Chapter Twenty-Two: The Realm of Darkness –Prelude–
"So, what now? Merlin was no use to me," Jason complained.
"He… taught me a little about myself," I said.
"Me, too," Riku said. "We still need a course of action, though."
"We need a way into the Realm of Darkness… or at least The World that Never Was," I thought. "Hm… the mansion's destroyed. What other way is there?"
"Well, we could try sifting through the rubble of the mansion. The basement might still be intact," Jason suggested.
"There's no telling how long that could take," Riku said. "We don't have that kind of time."
"Well… two years ago, when I first felt the rumblings of my True Form, I was thrown into the Realm of Darkness after I parried a hit from my ultimate opponent. Maybe that could work?" I asked.
"Anything's worth a shot," Riku said. "All right, get into that state."
I upped my strength so that I was standing on the fringes of my True Form; just below the level required to use it. Riku and Jason then summoned their Keyblades, and I held my Phoenix Sword up to parry the blows. Sure enough, I was blasted into the Realm of Darkness, and grabbed onto Jason and Riku's Keyblades moments before I was thrown into the darkness. After a rough landing, we stood up to find ourselves at the beach Sora and Riku had sat at a year ago.
"Looks like it worked. Let's go!" I shouted. We then began to wander across the Realm of Darkness, as I had done so two years ago (to me). There were thousands of Heartless, and we were forced to slay them all. After a couple days of meandering, we began to despair (partly due to the dismal nature of the world) until we came across a chasm.
"What's that?" Riku asked, pointing to a couple of red ropes suspended over the chasm. We walked over to find not only the glowing red ropes, but small planks of wood suspended between them.
"Looks like some form of transportation. Roy, you said you wandered in here for a year, but you didn't find this?" Jason asked.
"I'm smart enough not to go into some places," I told them. "Besides, what fun would it be if I knew where everything was?"
"You've got a point. Well, what should we do?" Jason asked.
"Go across, duh," I said.
"What? Are you crazy? We don't even know how deep that hole is!" Jason complained.
"There's no point staying here," Riku said. "Are you saying you're afraid?"
"No, but… hey, wait! What the hell are you doing, Roy!" Jason shouted after I had jumped on one of the suspended planks and began coasting between the red wires. I immediately regretted doing so. The wire sloped downward at a great angle; likely 70 degrees or more.
"This is not good!" I shouted as the rail began to helix. I totally got into the zone after that; even upside down, I began to master the boarding. The major trick was to stay balanced; the rest was cake. I enjoyed the exhilarating rush down steep hills, upside down, around tight corners, and through tunnels (which I had to duck to get under) until the rail stopped abruptly. I jumped off it and watched my plank go flying into some part of a castle.
I walked up to the stairs leading up to the castle. Staring at a glowing, white orb in the courtyard, I heard another board go flying past me, only to shatter against the stairs. Moments later, another board went flying past, this time accompanied by girlish screams.
"What the…" I began, turning around. I saw Riku standing there, staring at Jason, who was cowering on the ground.
"Get up, man. It's nothing to be afraid of," Riku said to him. I walked over and waited.
"Don't worry about it. You didn't have to follow me, ya know," I told him. "Don't copy every reckless thing I do!"
"Yeah, but that was… scary…" he said, getting up. "Where are we, anyways?"
"I'd suppose we're at Senka's stronghold. But what's that glowing orb on the steps?" Riku asked.
"It could only be…" I started.
"What?" Jason asked.
"… Sora," I said. "You guys know what we have to do?"
"… yes," Riku answered.
"I'll do what I must," Jason replied.
"Then… let's go," I said, walking up the stairs and into the orb of light...