Riku stayed on high alert as they passed through the veil into the world outside. Sora and Kairi didn't notice much of a change. It seemed to be the same forest as before as they continued onward. However, Riku could feel the change of atmosphere through his own being. His spine bristled as the air grew heavier. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to, but it was jarring to say the least after being in that paradise free from the darkness. Sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves like light through a thin gauze, dancing on the layers of dirt and leaves on the ground. Riku kept glancing around, keeping an eye out for anything moving about. He didn't sense anything in the immediate vicinity which was a good sign. He had been expecting something or someone to be waiting right by the border. Recalling his way here, it had been a run for his life. "They" had pursued him all the way here. Why weren't they here?
"Do you sense anything, Riku?" Sora asked from behind him. The change in Riku's disposition was apparent. He usually seemed at ease in posture, but as soon as they had exited, he noticed Riku stiffen up, ears perked up. They moved each time one of them stepped on a stick or dried up leaf, his muscles tensed and flexed.
"No, nothing thankfully," he said about a minute after he asked.
As they walked further through the forest, Sora started to notice a change in the fauna. The trees started to have less and less leaves. Flowering plants had completely disappeared, giving the landscape of monochrome sort of color of gray and brown. Eventually, even the birds had stopped singing. The only sound was the whistling of the wind through the cracked and dry trees.
"This place is spooky. Kinda like a graveyard or something," Sora muttered and stuck close to Kairi. Both of them quickened their pace to stay by Riku.
"Is this what the monsters have done to the land?" Kairi asked. She kept a firm grasp on the handle of her keyblade in its scabbard, holding Sora's hand with the other.
"Yeah. They'll sap the life away from anything. It's definitely not good if we're going into an area like this." Riku sniffed the air. Burning. Death. He could faintly smell smoke as well as monsters. As much as he wanted to avoid it, these two needed to see this. In a world like this, there was no way he could keep them safe from the truth forever. "Come on. There's something you both need to see."
Riku followed the scent of smoke, having to pause every now and then to get the trail. As they drew closer to the source, a thick cloud of it could be seen rising into the blue sky. It was haunting to say the least: a perfectly sunny day. The smell of it was soon becoming overwhelming, forcing Riku to have to cover his nose and mouth. Even Sora and Kairi had to do the same eventually.
He brought them to a rocky outcrop that overlooked what once was a prospering village. Riku recalled seeing it on his way to the oasis. It had been just fine with the villagers walking about outside with little to no fear. There was a hollow pang in his chest. Could this have possibly been his own fault? He had been chased through here, leaving the village open for an attack. No, there was no use in dwelling on that. This happened to nearly every village out here eventually. Riku gestured for them to look as they arrived at the edge of the cliff. Sora's eyes widened in fear, nearly falling backwards at the sight before them. Down below were the remains of what once was a village. A few of the houses were still intact, but most of them were consumed by an inferno of flames. Whole fields of crops were ablaze, creating thick layers of smoke that hung about the area. Amongst the destruction and turmoil, shadowy creatures walked about. There was no sign of any humans anywhere only the creatures. The ones causing the fires flew about, spewing brilliant orange flames everywhere.
"This happens a lot. We call them Heartless because they are merely hollow shells of the people they were. All of the ones you see down there are the people who perished in the attack." Riku looked down at the scene with dull eyes. He wished he could feel something at seeing stuff like this, but he was far too used to it..too desensitized to it.
"N-no way..those were people?" Sora felt like he was about to collapse at a moment's notice. He clung onto Kairi to prevent that from happening.
"This is awful..I didn't know it was this bad." Kairi clenched her eyes shut, resulting in more tears running down her face. Her hands balled up into fists, knuckles turning white. "Why were we in there for so long? We could've been helping them. We could've prevented this from happening."
"There's no sense in getting all worked up over something you couldn't have stopped. This has been going on for a while now. It's not your fault," Riku said, walking over to them. "If anything, I should've been more careful about the route I took to get to you guys."
"Riku, I'm sure there was little you could've done. You had a mission to find us after all." Sora's voice cracked a few times as he talked, though he couldn't help the little sniffles.
"How do you fix something like this, Riku?" Kairi suddenly asked. There was an intensity in her eyes through the tears as she let go of Sora.
"Fix? Well, they died, but you can slay the Heartless. Free them from that existence I suppose." Riku took a few steps back at that look. She was serious. Dead serious. He'd recognize eyes like that anywhere. He watched as they turned from placid blue to a bright shade of yellow. "This town deserves to be at peace again."
"K-Kairi, we will, okay? Just, calm down." Even Riku was rather nervous to approach her, reaching his hands out. There wasn't much he could do to stop it. A second ago she was right there, and the next she was gone, running down the less steep side of the outcrop on a warpath for the burning village. She drew out her keyblade. It began to glow brilliantly, brimming with magic.
"Kairi! Wait!" Sora called, reaching out for her but a bit too late. "I've never seen her like that." Sora felt like his whole body was shaking, but he soon drew out his keyblade as well. "Riku, let's go help her. I want to free them too..even if I am scared."
"Of course, though from the look of her, I'm not sure if she'll really need the help."
Thes. Riku cursed under his breath. He and Sora ran after Kairi into the inferno that once was a peaceful village. Kairi fought with rage as if something powerful had possessed her. Riku and Sora even had to dodge a few of her magic attacks that strayed their way. The only ones that put up the most fight were the flying, fire breathing Heartless. The ones of the fallen villagers were taken out easily.
"Aezoler!" Riku used the Elven water rune to put out the fires. It took more than a few times, and by the time all that was left was decrepit buildings and steam, he felt like he was going to fall over from the amount of magical energy he used. Once she had pierced her keyblade through the last Heartless, Kairi's eyes went blank. She first fell to her knees then completely onto the ground. Sora ran over as soon as he saw her fall, nearly tripping various times over pieces of rubble sticking up out of the ground.
"Kairi! Kairi! Are you okay?" As gently as he could, he picked her up to hold her in his arms. Her chest rose and fell gently, eyes shut as she lied there unconscious.
"Looks like she wore herself out." Riku walked over as he slid his keyblade back into the scabbard on his back. "She expended all her energy in that rage of hers. She'll be fine." Riku took her from Sora to carry her.
"What..what do we do now?" Sora still knelt on the ground, looking up at Riku with tear filled eyes.
"We get to a town. We get supplies and new equipment and move on from there. Does that sound good?" It was a bit difficult to kneel down to Sora's level while holding Kairi, but Riku attempted it anyway. He did his best to make his voice as gentle as possible. He had to keep reminding himself that these two weren't used to this.
"Um, yeah, but could I do something here first?"
Riku nodded, watching Sora get up, though his legs were still wobbly. He made his way to the middle of the village, picking out a piece of wood from one of the wrecked houses. He pressed one end of it into the ground so it stood up on his own. Fishing out an old amulet from his pocket, he tied it around the top end of it. It wasn't anything too special to him, just something from home, but he felt that this was the right thing to do. He bowed his head to the little memorial he made, pressing his hands together in reverence. Riku walked over but stayed a distance away.
"I'm sorry we weren't here to help when all of you needed us. I hope that you're resting peacefully somewhere. I'm afraid..afraid to fight or to see more atrocities like this, but I know that there are more people that need help. So, I'll fight. That's a promise."
As the smoke had started to clear, the sun shone on what once was the village again. Rays of light reflected in the red gem of the amulet. Bits of red light danced along Sora's face. After a few moments, he turned to walk back over to Riku. It seemed a quiet calmness had washed over this place once again.