Chapter Fourteen: The Sacred Sword

I felt myself fall onto the ground after the light faded. I opened my eyes to see a barren wasteland, barely visible from the white sun. The entire place was littered with countless craters, each several feet deep. In the distance, a structure was visible, even though I couldn't quite make out what it was yet.

"The Heartless, I can feel them. They're everywhere," I muttered to myself, setting off toward the structure. As I reached it, I realized what it was: the castle, whose basement had Illumina. I made sure to avoid falling into any of the deep craters that dotted the landscape. After a short while, I reached the castle steps, which started as two opposing stairways, merged into a platform, and went up to the front doors.

I climbed the stairway, where I stopped on the platform. I thought I'd heard a voice... some sort of ethereal voice.

Am I not alone?

I ascended the final stairway, then slinked in through the massive, but open doorway. I heard that voice again...

Turn back...

"What? Who's saying that?" I asked.

This... wrong... dangerous... sword...

"I must be hearing things, " I denounced the voice. I looked around the inside of the eerie castle. It was creepy and dark, with silver-etched obelisks adorning the walls. The silver moon cast a faint glow across everything in the castle. I was standing in the grand hall, with a stairway leading up to a split stairway, similar to Beast's Castle. I stepped forward to the center of the Grand Hall where the sunlight (moonlight?) shone down on an emblem.

Turn back from this path.

I looked around, searching for the owner of the now clear voice.

This is the wrong path, the one you've chosen.

"Hah. So, who are you, disembodied voice?" I asked jokingly.

Senka. A villain, you might say, from the past. I am this castle's former owner.

"So? Why should I care?" I asked.

The weapon you seek... Illumina... is a cursed sword.

"Yeah, right," I muttered, getting down on my hands and knees to search for a way into the basement.

It is a dangerous sword, one that cannot be used by those with impure hearts. It will corrupt you even further, mysterious man. I sealed it so that its powers would not cause any chaos.

"Chaos... that's not why I need it. I need it to take down Ike and Charon," I muttered.

The end does not justify the means.

"Shut up," I muttered, finding a way in by smashing the ground with my sword. It crumbled, luckily, and led down into a narrow corridor. I jumped down and went up to a door at the end, shoving it open. Inside was a dais that was led up to by stairs, with a sword sitting in the center. Light shone on some parts of the dais, illuminating it.

The sword itself was magnificent... it was kind of like Ike's sword, but there were runes engraved into its metal blade, and the handguard was golden.

"Illumina... I finally found it," I said, stepping up to the top of the dais. I reached out to take the sword, but as soon as I touched the handle... I was pushed back somehow.

I stepped back in confusion.

What just happened?

I tried again with the same results.

"Damn it! Why isn't this working!? Is there something missing?" I shouted.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," a familiar voice said from the distance. Ike walked into the chamber, still clad in a silver hooded cloak. "So, you were going after Illumina. That's pretty stupid, you know..."

"Yeah, it'll corrupt me. So what?" I asked. "As long as it gives me the power to defeat you, I don't give a damn!"

"Don't be so stupid," Ike muttered.

"I'll kill you to get it," I said with a grave tone in my voice.

Ike laughed.

"You really think you're a match for me? Come on then, show me," he said, getting into an odd stance. "Let's play. A little fun now and then does make life more interesting, don't you think?"

"Sh... shut up!" I shouted, charging at Ike...