Yay for second chapter! Review please!


When I woke, something was different. There are always those few seconds of bliss before you remember what you're doing somewhere. When that was up for me, I tried to figure out exactly what was wrong. I wasn't in my bed. Problem number one. I was somewhere dark. Problem number two. Now what was problem number three? Well, Leigh wasn't with me. I stood up, but I didn't rise very high. My eyes soon adjusted to the darkness, and I saw them. The bug things.

I tried to yell out, but all I managed was a squeak. They turned and looked at me. Then they ignored me, going back to wandering about aimlessly in this dark place. They were leaving me alone? I tried to move, but my legs felt different. I looked down. Just more black. Then I looked at my hands. More black. Was I invisible? Is that why they left me alone?

But then it hit me. I waved my hand. A splotch of black moved through the darker black. This may sound weird, but it was like having colored night vision. Something twitched on my head. I felt it. I was not a human. I was one of those bugs. Antennae, claws, round head, and I must have yellow eyes as well. So, was I dead?

I had no idea what to do. I was a bug. In a dark place with nowhere to go. Was this death? Was it hell? What did I do to deserve this? Was Leigh here too? No, I protected her. She should be back in our world. But it was falling apart when I left. She could have gotten away somehow, right? Right?

Just then, a bright light appeared in the darkness. It hurt my eyes, as if everything was too bright. When it stopped glowing, there was a circle of green and orange. The bugs started to move into it. They disappeared once they touched it. A portal to somewhere? Seeming as though it were the only way out of here, I stumbled over to it. These new legs were going to be hard to walk with.

I tried to touch the orb, but I felt nothing. But I was taken somewhere bright. I covered my eyes. It was too bright. Every single source of light was like the sun. But after a couple minutes of adjusting, my eyes could stand it. I was in some plain somewhere. Odd trees, and there were very few of them. And the light was actually the sun. It was very bright.

I felt a twinge of something in the back of my head. It was urging me to find the heart. Heart of what? Somebody's heart? No, something bigger. The heart of the… world? How was I supposed to find that? My bug friends started to move toward a rock formation in the distance. I tried to keep up, and after a little while, I had mastered the idea of walking. That didn't take long. I even walked straight up. All the others were crouched and twitching. I wasn't doing any of that.

When we reached our destination, the huge rocks, there were lions there. They saw us, and rushed to defend their homeland. When they got close, I sensed something within them. It was so beautiful, I wanted it. I needed it. Their heart. I could take it. No wait. No. I can't. They would die, like me. Become a bug as well. I can't attack them.

But the others could. They leapt and clawed their opponents, and all I could do was run. Run away. I made it into some tree stump house, and a baboon was inside. He held a staff, and stared at me oddly. For the first time in a long time, I heard speech. Could monkeys talk? I guess so.

"Try your hardest. Follow your heart, not your instinct, and you will find what you are looking for." And with that, he left. Went out of the shelter, to face the rest of the bugs. Then, it got dark again. I ran outside, and the world was being destroyed. Just like mine. The urge to find the big heart was gone, it had already been found. This was what happened when the heart of a world was taken. It was destroyed. Its star would blink out.

The bugs slowly disappeared into puffs of darkness. Could I do that? I could escape this world before it was gone. But how? Was I supposed to go to a different world? Or maybe back to that dark place. That was probably the place to go. The only way I could think of to do that, was to think about going there. And it worked. Purple and black surrounded me, and when it dissipated, I was back in the empty world.

The bugs all watched me stand straight up, and backed away. I suddenly felt something happen to me. Clothing appeared on my body, my claws turned red, I got shoes, and a helmet formed around my head. Then the feeling went away. A few other bugs stood straight, and the same thing happened to them. What happened? They looked like soldiers now. There were ranks?

The others walked strangely, as if they weren't entirely in control of their movements. It was easy for me; I had already practiced this before. And I noticed something else. They had an emblem of some sort on them. I checked. I had one too. It looked like some sort of deformed heart. So I was a higher rank now. I felt proud. An odd thing to feel proud about, but it was nice nevertheless.

Soon, another portal appeared. The other Soldiers pointed at it, and the bugs obeyed. I looked behind me. I had a group of four bugs following me. I pointed at the portal, and they went into it. Cool. I followed into it, ready for the blinding light again. Once it was gone again, I looked around my new world. Another urge to find the heart of the world. That baboon's words flowed through my head. "Try your hardest. Follow your heart, not your instinct, and you will find what you are looking for."

My instinct told me to take hearts. What did my heart say? Find Leigh. Leigh was what I was looking for. But it wasn't giving me any hints was it? Maybe I should stop destroying worlds. But I wasn't doing it, the other things were. Could I stop them? My four bugs seemed loyal to me, would they betray their friends for me? I had to try. I had to try to stop them. I pointed at another small group of bugs following a Soldier, and they obeyed. They attacked them.

Caught by surprise, the bugs were easily taken care of. But with higher ranks came stronger abilities I guess, for two of my own were taken down by the Soldier. My turn. I ran at it, dragged my claws against its chest, then kicked it. It stumbled to the ground, and I jumped on it. Gone. But now I only had two buddies. I could recruit more somehow. Stealing hearts made more. But I didn't want to kill people.

Maybe if I defeated the leader, the bugs would follow me instead. Also, if there was a higher rank, even the Soldiers might follow me. I could lead a whole army against itself. This was my new plan. I would raise an army of these creatures, defend the worlds, and search for Leigh.

I looked around me for the first time. It seemed to be a town of some sort. We were in a large section of open space, and so were a few other groups of creatures. We had a name didn't we? We weren't just monsters. I should name us. Shadows? No, the bugs can be called that. We always craved for hearts, as if we didn't have any. Heartless. The name fit, seemed perfect, like I had truly guessed our actual name.

So with my group of Heartless, only two Shadows and myself, a Soldier, we attacked any Heartless we could find. I made special orders to attack only the leader, and the underlings might follow me afterward. It worked. From another surprise attack, the Soldier of a smaller group was quickly defeated. The Shadows turned to me, and I looked at them angrily. They gathered behind me. It was working. Now I had seven Shadows following me. Another group of Heartless had seen our betrayal, and surged toward us.

They had one Soldier, and three Shadows. Easy enough. I pointed at them, and my Heartless swarmed them. I ran to join in battle. One of theirs had survived, taking my total to eight. Maybe I could just summon them out of nowhere. I tried. I raised my hands, as if to call forth any Shadows in hiding. Sure enough, a large number of them appeared to aid me. Who knows how many I could control.

By the way, the main characters name is Brad. In casy any of you wanted to know beforehand.