Night had fallen once more and Jayson felt like they hadn't made much progress. It was just sand, sand, and look at that, more sand!
"Hey, Aladdin, when will we get there? It feels like we've been walking in circles…"
"We're almost there, it should be riiiight here!" As he stopped he sunk his scimitar in the sand, grabbing his chest with his right hand. A loud rumble began to encompass the area as the sand began sinking into a center point. Jayson stood in bewilderment at what he was seeing. A massive stone head of a Tiger, moving around and growling loudly, as he set himself still the head began to speak, even when its mouth wasn't moving.
Only those with a pure heart may enter my domain… take nothing and you shall leave unscathed, mortal. The head then opened its mouth, revealing an entrance further under the ground, the head then sat still, as if it were a statue.
"He sure seems… friendly.." Jayson approached the mouth slowly, feeling an odd sense of deja-vu. As he got closer he saw someone already in the entrance, the figure fled further in, robes billowing behind them. Jayson immediately began to sprint into the entrance, yelling towards Aladdin,
"I saw someone with robes, it must be a Foreteller! Come on, before they get to the Keyhole first!" Aladdin was close behind Jayson, and took over leading down into the cave. A few Heartless began spawning along the stairs, being dispatched quickly by the duo. As they reached the bottom a massive sandstone door closed, leaving them to deal with the remaining Heartless. Their scimitars swaying back and forth with their erratic motions. Backs to the door, they prepared to fight.
"Stop!" Jayson yelled at the nearest heartless, forcing all motion to stop at once, he then laid an assault of blows on the creature, using wide strokes so he wasn't surrounded as Aladdin as he began circling around the group, flanking them and dispatching them with his weapon. The Heartless Jayson stopped began recoiling erratically before disappearing into a puff of smoke and cloth. Jayson stumbled as another one pounced on him, trying to dig and scratch at his face and torso, it gained some ground and managed to leave a gash on his right arm. Yelling in pain Jayson fell to the ground fully, the thing on top of him, he was wounded and flailing as the Heartless continued its assault with more ferocity. Just as Jayson was losing control the creature disappeared as Aladdin stood over him, sweat lingering on his face as he lent a hand to allow Jayson to get up. As he stood Jayson gasped in pain and grabbed his arm quickly, trying to stifle the blood flow, Aladdin reached into his satchel and grabbed a potion. Uncorking it, he handed the bottle to Jayson, the mouth of the bottle at his lips.
"Here, drink this." Jayson grabbed it and gulped it swiftly, and his wounds began to mend themselves back together, and he winced slightly.
"That always feels really weird. Thanks, Al." They turned to the door, which had mysteriously opened, and began to walk through it. The staircase began again and went by without much incident. They entered a small room with several statues shaped like strangely proportioned faces, flames within their mouth and millions upon millions of golden coins littering the floor and walls. The duo looked towards each other before nodding and beginning to tread carefully around the coins. After some time they made it to the other side, and they sighed in relief. Aladdin spoke, putting a hand on Jayson's shoulder,
"Before we go and see what's on the other side, I wanted to thank you for coming here and helping us, you didn't have to, you could have turned tail and ran back to some other, more peaceful world. But you did, and that's what makes you a hero, not some stupid blade or a mission from your elder, it's in here." He pointed to Jayson's heart, and a sudden warmth spread through it. In that moment Jayson understood what he meant, and why it was his responsibility to see it through. He breathed in deeply and turned to Aladdin, a smile splitting from ear to ear and his head tilted to the side.
"No problem, I know you would have done it if you were in my shoes! Now let's go and seal this Keyhole!" Aladdin was taken aback, for a second he could've swore he saw Sora again within that smile, he shook the feeling off and they turned to the door, ready now for whatever they may face.
Riku and Kairi sat at The Dark Margin, knowing that soon they would leave this place and return to the realm of light. They felt a powerful tug within their hearts, the same kind when Sora called them into action during the Keyblade War. They knew it was time, and together they summoned a light portal and stepped through together, smiles on their faces, knowing deep in their hearts that things would end up truly okay.
GummiPhone entries:
The Dark Margin: A location in the Realm of Darkness. It is connected to the realm of light due to its closeness with Destiny Islands.