A soft breeze rustled the trees in the courtyard. Despite that, the area was calm and still, almost eerily like stepping into the eye of a storm. The water of the small pond shimmered like glass. This place never ceased to amaze Riku, the complete opposite of where he had come from. There was a time when the place he had called home for so long was once like this. It was an oasis, a shelter, but that seemed life times ago. A feeling crept over him. It may have been dejavu at a familiar sort of setting, but something inside of him recognized this place. He knew for sure he had never been here..at least physically. As he sat on a bench with Sora he wore a puzzled look, trying to fit pieces together that were simply not made to.
"Your kingdom makes no sense," he said flatly after a long time of silence. Everything about this place confused him in a familiar sort of way.
"Uh, excuse me?" Sora couldn't help but laugh at the sudden statement. "I get it. We're humans, and you're an elf."
"No, it's not that. Where are the monsters? The chaos? This has to be one of the last protected places. My kingdom used to be like this, but the barrier was broken." Riku scratched his head, focusing on the way the sunlight danced across the water's surface. "I basically had to fight my way here, and once I got through the forest, it was like I walked through a veil of some sort, and the monsters were gone."
"Monsters? There are monsters out there? The only thing I know is that there are conflicts happening out there. Other than that, I'm..pretty clueless to the whole situation." Sora cocked his head to the side at him. There was a distant coldness to this elf, but he may be a good source of information.
"You seriously don't know? Is this place really completely protected? I..wow, you really don't know." Riku shook his head, letting out a long sigh. He couldn't be that naive, could he? "Tell me, why does this place seem to be in perfect balance with no set ruler? There's no king, just a clueless prince." Sora made a face at that remark, though he wouldn't deny it.
"Well, to tell you the truth, there's a large gap in time in my memory. I can barely recall my past, just like flashes of images. I remember dreaming, and..I must've been asleep for a long time. I know for sure I had a mother. There's depictions of her all over the palace. When I woke up, everything was how it is now. It's just me and Kairi, and everyone who works around this place." It was like being in a hazy fog. Sometimes, there were brief flashes of light where shadowy figures moved about. Sora was floating, able to look around but unable to move. Something must've happened there for when he woke up, his body felt stiff and sore like he had just been fighting. "I remember a little bit before waking up. I was lost..for what reason I'm not sure. I think I was stuck, and then, on the horizon, I saw this brilliant blue light. There were no other waypoints to go by, so I started running towards it, and that's when I woke up."
"Blue light, huh? I'm not sure what it means either, but I guess something or someone wanted you to wake up. It is nice to be somewhere where I don't have to worry about monsters, though," Riku sighed. He shifted his weight to his other arm as he leaned back some. Safe havens were tough to find. It was like searching for one spot amongst a group of stars.
"So, there really are monsters, then? What is the world like out there?" Being in here the whole time, Sora had no idea of what was going on. He had heard stories from people who managed to make it here, but many of them didn't want to say much about it. Riku looked to be in pretty good shape, though he could more than likely hold his own from the look of his keyblade and those...arms.
"Yes, cities and villages are falling one by one. Some come in hordes and simply overtake the landscape. The more powerful ones show up alone, and then there are the cloaked figures who seem to control them to some extent." He visibly shivered, casting his gaze towards the ground. If it wasn't for his own strength, he would've never made it out.
"Cloaked figures? Do you know anything else about them?" Sora's curiosity only grew. He knew nothing besides a few glimpses he saw in his dreams.
"I don't see their faces, but I know their weapons, and I think I know where their main headquarters are. Under the elf king, I was part of a task force of sorts to basically find out who's responsible for this mayhem. We then learned of your kingdom here, and I was sent to investigate. The light from this place is how we found it, and gave you word of my arrival." Places like this were basically beacons against the dull, gray landscape of the world outside. It's no wonder so many fled here. His ears twitched at a pair of footsteps, looking to the right to see Kairi walked towards them. So far, Sora was easy enough to read, but he'd have to work on getting to know her. She placed a tray with three drinks on it down on the nearby table. In the heat of the sun, water was already starting to run down the smooth glass.
"Hey, guys! I brought some lemonade." She met Riku's gaze with a smile. He tried his best to mimic that smile. "I didn't know if you like lemonade or not, Riku, but I figure it's something most people enjoy."
"It's been a long time, but yeah, I do like it." Riku studied her for a bit longer before taking a few sips. Well, there was one way to learn more about someone in a short amount of time. "Just the right amount of sweet. Thanks."
"I'm glad you like it! You're the first guest here in a while..which I guess isn't really a good thing, huh? We used to get a lot of people seeking shelter, but lately, there have been less and less." Her smile faded some. Her rubbed along the glass, catching some of the water droplets before setting it down.
"Kairi, this may sound like a strange request out of nowhere, but would you like to spar for a bit? There's no need for me to spar with Sora. I think I already know him pretty well," Riku asked. He stood up, stretching his arms over his head. He made a face as a few muscles in his back caught at the movement. Nevertheless, he was always up to spar.
"Hey! I wanna spar too!" Sora blurted out. The glass in his hand nearly slipped out of his grip and ended up on the floor.
"Me? Well, sure. I'm always up for a challenge. Sora, how about you get to spar whoever the winner is?" Kairi offered, patting his shoulder. So far, all he knew was that she seemed kind and caring, but from his own experiences, Riku knew better than to take that for weakness. Some of the strongest people he knew were like that. With the yes from her, Riku shed off his jacket, leaving him in just a tank top. Sora's eyes widened instantly as his eyes glossed over his practically sculpted biceps. Why did his tank top have to be so tight? He sat there with a fist over his mouth, shamelessly ogling him. Were elves just naturally ripped? As he stepped out to the middle of the courtyard he drew his keyblade, swinging it around a couple times in an obvious act of showing off. For a moment his eyes met Sora's, and he wore a disapproving look as he could tell exactly where Sora was looking. Kairi giggled, putting on a look of determination. She stayed with her patterned dress and leggings, drawing her keyblade out as well. It was thinner and much more detailed than Riku's, but Riku stiffened when he could feel the power emanating from it. He attempted to size her up as she walked out to where he was. Her demeanor seemed to completely change. Her footsteps were unyielding, and she walked with a purpose. With that aura, Riku found himself actually taking a step back, shaking his head as he corrected his footing. Once she was right in front of him, she held her keyblade out to touch Riku's in place of a handshake.
"May the best human or elf win!" There was that usual genuine smile again, but there was definitely something more intimidating about it. Riku gulped at the slight feel of power from her keyblade into his and acknowledged her with a nod.
"Let's go."
Riku had thought he was fast, but Kairi was something else. Whenever she couldn't dodge an attack in time, she used a spell to quicken her steps. Sweat began to bead up on the back of Riku's neck as he had to continuously guard against her magic as well as physical attacks. He was able to get a good amount of reach with his keyblade thankfully. They both charged at each other at their full strengths. There was a brief flash of light as both their keyblades clashed together. Riku gritted his teeth as the sore spot in his back did not like that at all. The muscles tightened and protested in pain, causing Riku to yield some to Kairi's strength.
Sora watched in amazement the whole time. Watching two strong fighters go at it at full strength was something else. He had sparred a few times with Kairi, but it had never been anything serious like this, mostly just casual practice. A bit of self doubt surfaced at watching them, but he quickly shoved it aside, standing up and cheering once Kairi managed to pin Riku to the ground.
"Alright, you win," Riku sputtered. The sheer pressure of her keyblade pressing against his chest was almost too much to even breathe.
"Yes! I knew my training would pay off." Seeing that Riku's face was probably going to turn a shade of blue soon, she quickly got off of him and offered him a hand. "Sorry if I overdid it, but that is what you wanted, right? A challenge?"
"No..no need to apologize. Thanks for the great match," Riku managed to say with a cough. He slid the keyblade back into its hilt and dusted himself off. She was as powerful as he thought. In battle, she was nearly unrelenting. He kept a mental note to never piss her off ever. Sora came running up, practically bouncing up and down. Riku was convinced he never ran out of energy.
"That was awesome, guys! I guess I get to spar with Kairi next, then, but I gotta spar you sometime too, Riku."
Riku groaned at the thought of doing that again, rubbing at his back.
"I noticed your bit of hesitation while fighting. Are you injured somewhere?" Kairi asked. She looked him over inquistively as if trying to analyze where the injury was.
"It's nothing serious. There's just a spot on my back that's sore. I must've pulled some of the muscles while fighting out there." He pointed over to way beyond the woods.
"Oh, well, that's easy!" With a wave of her keyblade, Kairi cast a mild healing spell. Riku felt a slight rush before the stinging pain in his back was gone. He twisted around a few times to test it out.
"Well, that's useful. Thank you. I think after that, I'm going to head in to get some rest. I have travelled far to get here after all." He waved to Kairi, then turned to glare down at Sora. He extended one finger out to poke at his forehead. "Better watch where your eyes are looking, human boy." Holding his head up high, he took his leave back towards the palace.