Beneath the Surface

Alan and Nadia soon found themselves in a series of green, lush dark jungles of the Central American Peninsula and followed Aranse's directions carefully. According to his statistics, there was a huge outbreak of Viraltroopers appearing from a large old pyramid in the ruins of where the ancient Aztecs used to live before Spanish rule and their annihilation. As they found the pyramids, Nadia couldn't help, but feel an eerie sense of fear on the back of her neck as she stayed close to Alan and said, "Can we hurry it up a bit Alan? This place gives me the creeps." Alan then reassured her when he drew out his keyblade and said, "Trust me when I say this Nadia. We have the power. How many people in real life can have super powers of the sort I ask you? Odds aren't too high. Besides, we have a mission to do and carry out. Now draw out your keyblade if you please." Nadia did as Alan said and kept looking behind them in case anything tried to surprise them in the jungles. They followed the signal to a lone pyramid and travelled up the large stairs only to fall through a set of bricks that had been weakened by hundreds of years of aging.

As they awoke from their unconsciousness about three hours later, Nadia screamed as Alan asked, "What in the heck's wrong now?" "Look over there!!" Before Alan and Nadia some three feet away was a skeleton with a book. This book of course wasn't any old book since it has a weird emblem looking like a cross between the French Seigniorial Emblem and the black eagle of the German Flag. As Alan grabbed it and brushed off the dust, Nadia then asked silently, "What do you think it is?" Alan opened it slowly as he said, "It must be in Aztec. Luckily Aranse said that this watch could translate any human or alien 'tongue' language so we can figure out what this all means." As Alan scanned the book thoroughly and read for the next half hour through over two thousand one hundred and fifty pages, Nadia asked slightly impatiently sitting on rocks, "Can we hurry this up just a tad? My heiny is sore from all this sitting and it's getting kind of spooky in this dark desolate place." Alan raised his left hand as he said, "I need to translate this book though. It could be very urgent, who knows maybe it could lead us out of here if we're lucky. 'In the Hallows b'low, the're be a series of twist and turns, arrows of light, darkness of burns. From down b'low these caverns history, lies an un'foretold world mystery. Through the Great One's Eye you shall seek, and the warrior of light is whom thou shall meet.'" As Alan came to a close Nadia pouted as she said tired and exhausted from all the hiking they did, "What a waste. First we come in search of Viraltroopers, which we haven't found yet to date, then we fall through a pyramid and get bruised up and out cold for hours, and now we have to deal with some old text of gibberish never seen by anyone for over four hundred years that makes no sense whatsoever. Do you even know what that all means at least?"

Alan paused for a moment and Nadia asked, "Well?" "We can't let the stress of our duties get to us Nadia. You've told me before that we must keep going to pursue a better sense of peace in this world and beyond. By my father's grave I shall not rest until I carry this out. Even if it means I suffer in the end, what would it matter? What's a mere bruise compared to what's happening to those innocent beings across the worlds? The Viraltroopers may be weakening, but we have to keep pushing, otherwise they could still duplicate and take over the worlds we saved." Nadia nodded as they got up and kept walking through the caverns below. Alan soon found a torch and Nadia grabbed a couple of large arrow shaped stones and created a spark and then the torch was lit. As they walked by they saw a series of tunnels in all directions with x's and o's on every cavern. Nadia then asked, "Wait a minute. Wasn't there something in that text about something just like this?" Alan nodded as he grabbed the book and said, "The're be a series of twist and turns, arrows of light, darkness of burns. But which tunnel would have such a thing?" They looked about and saw in the center was a lone tunnel that shot out flaming arrows the second they stepped on a brick tile in that tunnel and what's more the tunnel was twisting and turning about in all directions like a snake when it slithers on the ground. Alan then grabbed Nadia's arm and said, "Hang on tight. This could get a little rough." Then they took out their keyblades and ran right through the tunnel slashing arrows and deflecting them as well along the way. As they made it to the end, Alan and Nadia saw an emblem of a heart on a wall near a couple of torches and right above them. It was burning around its edges, but it was black as coal as was the fire burning around its edges.

Alan and Nadia then zapped the heart and unlocked it and as they did, the tunnel behind them became straight and the arrows stopped. Nadia asked in utter fear, "So what's the next part of the riddle say?" "'From down b'low these caverns history, lies an un'foretold world mystery. Through the Great One's Eye you shall seek, and the warrior of light is whom thou shall meet.'", Alan stated. They looked around a crowded narrow set of corridors to their left and right and all of them seemed to go nowhere, but to dead ends. Nadia then said, "Well this isn't looking for a needle in a hay stack." "Sarcasm isn't going to help us out Nadia.", Alan said. Nadia then apologized, "I'm sorry, but it just looks so bleak that's all…" Nadia stepped on a tile brick and fell four feet down deeper into the ground below. Alan shocked looked down and asked, "Are you okay Nadia?" Nadia scratched her back after that huge fall and slowly got up as she said, "Oh yeah, like a clam on a beach." Alan then jumped down himself and Nadia asked, "What are you doing? We should be looking for a way out of here." "The text says Down b'low and we are in a tunnel system. We need to keep going from here.", Alan replied. So thus more walking occurred and as they kept going, they saw many different pictures on the cavern walls that had many different torches around them glaring out their awe and inspire.

There were ten pictures in all and the first showed many different warriors with a similar weapon like that of Nadia and Alan's keyblades, but it was more rapier like than theirs. In the second picture, they showed the whole lot of them fighting each other and in the centre was a single warrior in gold light with that same weapon in the center. The third picture showed many of them dead and their weapons broken, but only two of those warriors remained: the lone golden warrior and a warrior in black armour with white skin and apparently green eyes!! (I'll expand on this as we get to the end with Obeion, since this is very important!!) The rest of the pictures showed the golden warrior fighting this black armoured warrior and in the last one the black armoured warrior is shown with his sword broken and he was leaving the world banished and the Golden warrior lifting his sword high into the sky showing his triumph to the entire world. Alan then said, "Great pictures they have don't they?" Nadia then said, "I got a weird feeling about those last pictures though. Those weapons look sort of like our keyblades." "So?", Alan asked. "So those weapons weren't made until that SPC guy, Mark Benjamin Jr., and his team created them so how could these pictures have these sort of weapons. They look over hundreds of years old." Alan then hushed Nadia and even when she puffed up at being shushed by a man, he pointed to a large golden room covered in gold and at the centre was a Giant Green eye and as they reached the centre of the area, they found a legendary statue of that same warrior in gold with that same weapon as well. He was so gold that he glowed whenever light shone on him (hence the warrior of light). Alan reached out to touch it and Nadia stopped him saying, "We really shouldn't. You don't even know what could happen if we do touch anything I here." "I got a good feeling about this Nadia. It doesn't seem like it now, but the fact is there are Viraltroopers down here and by God as my witness I won't stop until they are all obliterated. Now then do you trust me?" he asked as he held out his hand with a calm smile. Nadia smiled in kind and nodded as she took his hand and touched the golden warrior. They were then transported into a green lush forest with a giant European castle just ten feet from their location. The forest was dark and creepy, with twigs snapping in different directions and wolves howling as well.

What's more a group of armed knights on horses stopped them and the lead captain who was in blue armour said, "Halt. You shall go no further travelers." Alan then asked, "What seems to be the problem?" "You are trespassing on our Lord Birmingham's Kingdom. For an offense such as this is usually death by beheading…", the blue knight continued. Alan and Nadia gasped, but the blue knight continued again, "…but I am leaving that up to our lord though for debate. Now then take them away men!!" As he said this, Alan and Nadia were captured and taken off to the large European Castle of white bricks and stone that just lay beyond the dark lush forest they were in at the time.

(The Golden Warrior is very important to this story believe it or not seeing as how it is a parallel of how I think the Keyblade War could play out in KH BBS. Also in Ansem's reports of one legend saying the keyblade wielder brought ruin and chaos upon the world as well as saving is important as well. I won't give too much more away, but do expect a dark foreshadowing to come in the next chapter involving the Golden Warrior and the Black Armoured warrior. More to come, so stay tuned.)

(Next Time: The Golden Warrior and the Black Warrior.)

(Review.)