Chapter 15

Night had made way for day quickly, and Jayson awoke from his fitful sleep. He dressed quickly and made way for the palace entrance, hoping to find someone on the way so he could warn the leader about the Commander and his plans. Retracing his steps led him back to where he needed to go and found a guard. He tapped the bulky man lightly on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, is there any chance I may speak with the leader? I have serious information that can spell life or death for this world, please!" The guard stared at him humorously, before patting him on the head as if Jayson was a small child.

"Our leader is very busy right now, young one, maybe after he's finished speaking with his daughter-" Just then the doors burst open and a woman walked forth, she had long white hair, straight down to her legs, with some of it tied over her shoulder, resting there. She also wore a necklace with a crystal that looked like the one Jayson had seen underground. She saw Jayson and looked relieved, then angry.

"There you are! I had sent someone to fetch you so you could speak to father, but they said you disappeared, come on! You have something important to tell us, yes?" Before finishing her sentence and before letting anyone respond she grabbed Jayson by the wrist and began dragging him along, reaching the throne room quickly. As they entered Jayson noticed the room was open air, with columns surrounding the structure, the stonework was beautiful, the lady bowed and Jayson decided following suit would be the best option, she spoke again.

"Keybearer, this is our ruler, King Kashekim Nedakh. He has decided to listen to your warnings." Jayson stood slowly, and got his first good look at the man, he had a long beard, reaching down to his waist, and while he had no hair on top of his head the back of it was flowing down to his legs. His face was tattooed with blue ink in strange patterns, and his eyes were a strange milky blue, though it still seemed as if he could see, as he was gazing straight at Jayson. He bowed stiffly.

"Thank you for your audience, your highness. When I came down from the outside world, I was thrust into a vessel with several other people who are searching for Atlantis. Most of them are good, but two of them are planning a takeover, the leader and his right-hand woman. They could be here any day now-" Suddenly a small alarm sounded, it wasn't very loud, but it was enough to warrant a stop in the conversation, the old king gazed to the woman, still bowed beside Jayson, and motioned for her to stand.

"Kidagakash, go and greet the outsiders, I shall stay here with the Keybearer. I have much to ask him." She bowed and left the room, Jayson slowly turned back towards the king, scratching the back of his head before blurting out,

"How do you know about Keyblades?" The King seemed unsurprised, and began to chuckle, as if he had been asked the question many times before,

"Because a Keybearer with knowledge of our future helped us live beyond the day we were meant to pass." His face seemed to brighten as he spoke, reminiscing about old times. Before being returned to the present by Kidagakash walking through the door with Milo and crew in tow, Jayson hid before they fully entered. She bowed to her father.

"The outsiders say they are here on a research expedition. To learn more about our lost culture." As she spoke Milo couldn't help but gaze around in astonishment, barely keeping himself from adding notes to the book he held. He attempted to speak up when they were asked about their voyage but the commander stepped in.

"We uh… lost one of our own a night or so ago, we had hoped he had somehow washed up within the range of the city." He tried to sound as genuinely concerned as possible, but Jayson could smell the darkness tainting his words. He stepped out from the pillar he had hid behind and made is presence known.

"I was actually just talking to his majesty about the expedition, Commander." He glared at Jayson, who gave him an intense one back. "Gave him a fair bit of warning so you all weren't killed on the spot." He walked over to where Milo was standing and stayed there as the proceedings went on, Milo got his chance to speak and his adamant speech seemed to sway the king into letting them stay, despite Jayson's warnings. Kidagakash (She said to call her 'Kida' for short) led the others to their rooms after a feast in their honor, but Milo stayed behind with Jayson so they could speak to the King and his daughter. Milo and Kida went off to explore the town, leaving the young Keybearer with the king. The king spoke first.

"I'm sure you have many questions for me, but I have many for you as well. My first question is this: What is going on outside of this world? I can sense the darkness looming, but it was peaceful for a short while." Jayson explained about the second Keyblade War and how peace was achieved, how wielders began to spring out again and how training was underway for the next generation of Keybearers. He then explained about the Foretellers and his journey so far, how he ended up under the city, and the plans the commander had laid out for invading the city.

"But I promise it's just the Commander and Helga, Milo and the others are only here to study and be on their way." The King nodded solemnly.

"I have encountered their kind before, they never last long here. I'm sure you have questions for me, you have answered all of mine, go ahead and ask away."

"So, who helped you guys survive? What happened to force you all under the ocean?" Again, the King chuckled as if he had been asked these many times before.

"You see, it happened nearly one thousand years ago, long before you or any of the people you know were born. There was a time when we lived above the ocean, as an Island. We were a prosperous culture with advanced technology and sciences beyond measure. But one day a woman, barely older than yourself, appeared before my throne out of a portal made purely of light. She had one robes and a mask. It was an animal I had never seen before, but she said her name was 'Ava', and that she had terrible news, much like you yourself." He chuckled, as if thinking of a joke to himself, before he continued. "She said our arrogance would cause darkness to burrow into our hearts, and the world outside of our island would be attacked by those who wanted our technology for their own nefarious deeds. Oh, how she implored us to go under, 'Fly away from this place and sink beneath the ocean, escape the hand fate has dealt you, please!' Back then I did not heed her warning, and it cost me and my people dearly, we lost… many to the attack, but we did fall under the ocean. But Ava had left for other things well before that happened. I always wondered where she got the foresight to see such a catastrophe…" As the King kept talking his face became sullener, and he began to lose himself to his thoughts. Jayson stood there in shock, not expecting to have gotten so much out of the conversation. He bowed and thanked the King for his time and went back to his room.

"So, Ava went out of her way to help these people avoid an inevitable demise… but why? What did she have to prove? I'm still so confused…" As his eyes became heavy, he saw a flash of an image. It was Ava, taking a battle stance against someone, Jayson couldn't quite see who, and he slept knowing that she didn't make it out of the bloodshed he had seen before.

The next morning was strange for Jayson, since nothing seemed to be going on relative to his mission, he decided to ask the king for a favor. As he approached the throne room, he heard him speaking with someone rather aggressively, he waited outside the doors as they burst open. The Commander stomped past, barely giving the wielder so much as a glance as he passed by. Jayson tentatively stepped into the room, bowing before his majesty.

"Ah, young wielder, what brings you into my chambers so early in the morning?"

"Actually, I had a favor I wanted to ask of you?" The king bristled slightly at this; Jayson guessed that the commander had asked for a favor of his own before trying his best to show he meant no harm.

"It's just… I was wondering if there was a library here. There's something I want to research while I'm here, since you've been in contact with Ava."

"Oh, of course, but first answer me this: how do you know of Ava?" Jayson was stumped with how to respond, and just decided on honesty.

"I'm… not too sure of that myself, it's part of my mission, because some things just aren't adding up, and I was hoping the knowledge you all keep here would help me." The King guffawed at him, then coughed hysterically, Jayson rushed over and patted the old man on the back, hoping to help him somehow, he raised a hand after a few pats, signaling his lack of need for help. He rose slowly and spoke.

"I will show you the way to the library. If Milo hadn't run off with my daughter to explore, I would have shown him too. But he his having his fun, so I will let them be." He led Jayson down many halls, left, right, through some doors. He did his best to memorize the route as they stopped before large oak doors, with the Atlantean word for 'Library' inscribed near the handles. With a great harrumph the King pushed the doors open, before bidding Jayson farewell and left him to his own devices. The room was grand, with bookcases up to the ceiling, with multiple floors and ladders for the books near the top, yet the place looked slightly abandoned, as if it's knowledge had gone unused for some time, dust lay on many of the tables and on all the spines of the books. As he wandered through Jayson saw something that caught his eye. It was a bookmark, with a silver fox emblem dangling from leather string. He grabbed the book and noticed it was a journal of some sort. He opened to the bookmarked page and found it blank, then decided to flip back to the first page and began to read,

To whom it may concern, my name is *Scratched out* and I lived beyond the Keyblade war. I survived and now I don't know what to believe. The master was wrong! I changed so much since the war, traveled to so many worlds and stopped so many of the foretold catastrophes, that is why they must succeed! The Dandelions will fly away to the new worlds and populate, bringing forth the change necessary for light to never expire. I will detail more of my journey later. For now, I must hide this book. To whoever finds this, The Master of Masters is evil, and those who followed him are just as evil, no matter the mask they put up.

Jayson couldn't believe his eyes, "All who followed the Master are evil? Then what about Ava?" Before he had time to ponder any longer a soft voice spoke behind him.

"You would do well to observe your surroundings every once in a while, Jayson." The voice was feminine, but it had a hint of venom to it when she spoke his name, as he wheeled around, Keyblade forming to act, he noticed the robes and snake mask. "Foreteller!" He held his blade ready as he asked,

"Which one are you? Ira? Gula? I know you can't be Luxu or Aced." The woman huffed, crossing her arms.

"My name is Invi. And I would rather not fight you, not now anyway."

"Then what do you want?"

"A moment of your time, to see what you remember of your true past."

"My true past? What kind of bull is that? I know who I am, I'm Jayson, I'm sixteen, and I've lived on Destiny Islands my whole life!" He was shaking, she knew something he didn't, and whatever that was, he hoped she spilled soon because Jayson was tired of being left in the dark. But he didn't get that, instead she only smirked and told him,

"Find your way down to where their gods reside, where you washed up, and you'll find out what you need to know." and with that she shimmered and disappeared right before Jayson's eyes. Without a second thought, Jayson bolted out of the library and to the gods of this world, leaving the old dusty journal lying on the floor, opened to a blank page.

GummiPhone Entries:

Master of Masters: The man who taught the Foretellers everything they know. He disappeared shortly before the Keyblade War began, though his past and motivations are a mystery to all.

The Dandelions: A group of people, their objectives are unknown, but they sprung up shortly after the first Keyblade War.

Invi: One of the Foretellers. She specializes in magic attacks but is very weak physically.

Ava: One of the Foretellers. Little is known about her, other than that she devised a plan outside of the Master of Masters.