Awakening memories

It was soon after my realization of where I was that I remembered Kaity.

Oh, God. Kaity...

"Is she stuck somewhere in here too?" I thought out loud. It was possible. This was just all too confusing. What will happen once someone realizes we're missing? Of course the first thing I worry about is that. No one will know that we're missing until the ship leaves the island.

The thing that was really chewing at me though, was the reality of my being here in the first place. What's going to happen to me? Will I ever escape from this? Sora did, but I'm not him. Anyways, he's not even real! He's just a video game character!

I'm taking this way too seriously. I'm probably just dreaming. An extremely realistic, vivid dream. Yeah, that's it. A very realistic dream where I'm in terrible pain, trapped in a very realistic Dive into the Heart scenario…

I have this feeling, though... like I've just gotten myself thrown into a blender and set on puree. This is insane! How could this actually be happening?! It's a video game for Christ's sake! This is just way beyond my level of weird. If there's even a sliver of a chance that this is actually happening… I mean, I'm pretty open minded. More so than most people.

But I don't think I'm this open minded, I thought looking at the glass under my feet.

Warily, I walked to the center of the platform. The design on the stained glass platform was very different from the one Sora had in the game. Actually, I've never seen this platform before. Instead of the platform being just a design of me and things that are held dear to my heart, (like Sora's or Roxas') it was, well, a design of... faceless people.

Creepy.

There were seven faceless figures on the platform. I could recognize some of them as my friends, but the others were Kingdom Hearts characters. My friends and the characters were facing away from the each other. In the canter, there was a faceless Namine and a faceless me. We were back to back, standing in the center with our hands connected behind us, holding onto the others hand. Like, we're facing back to back, but I'm reaching my left hand back and Namine is reaching her right hand back to grasp my hand.

How strange..., I thought, brushing my hair behind my ear.

Memories of an untold past.

I jumped at the voice that echoed in the darkness. I spun around, looking for the source of the mysterious voice. My eyes scanned the blackness, but there was no one there. Unless they were hiding in the darkness beyond the platform. Or invisible.

"Who's there?" I shouted into the darkness.

A step in one world...

A shock ran up my spine and spread through my veins. I couldn't move my body! Something else was controlling it. I was moving forward on the platform. Against my will, I might add. I tried to stop my legs from moving, failing miserably. Just when I was going to try and do something stupid (like knock my own legs out from under me and try to walk on my hands), I stumbled to a stop. Looking down, I saw my feet standing on the imaginary line dividing the Kingdom Hearts characters and my friends. My left foot slid forward until it was clearly on the side with my friends.

...a step in another.

My right foot moved forward to step on the half with the Kingdom Hearts characters.

An unknown battle unsought.

So leave it that way, I thought. I'm not a big fan of fighting. It makes me squeamish. Besides, I didn't even know how to fight. I tried to move my feet, but they were still not listening to my brain signals. I could feel the fear start to build in my chest.

Do not be afraid.

'Don't be afraid!' it says! Yeah right. This place alone gives me the creeps. And that disembodied voice only made it creepier.

Your time has not yet come.

"Good!" I yelled at no one. "I don't want it to come!"

It better not come. I've played Kingdom Hearts and I know what will happen if I'm actually there -which I most likely already was- and with my lack of fighting skills, I have a pretty good hunch that I'm going to die a slow and painful death. Or probably some fate worse than death.

I'm really optimistic today, aren't I?

After my little rant in my head, the platform started to tremble beneath my feet. Did I say something I wasn't supposed to? Probably. Then a sudden light to my left caught my eye.

Unknown knowledge resides in your mind.

A white marble pedestal rose out of the platform to my left as the voice spoke. A book appeared above it, hovering in midair.

If you let it known...

Another pedestal identical to the other one appeared, this one right across from me. Hovering above the top was a rose, but it was a strange rose; half of its petals were white and the other half black.

...it will give you clarity;

The final pedestal appeared to my right as the voice stopped talking. The item hovering above this one was a sword. Just a plain old sword, nothing special about it.

Choose wisely.

I didn't make any notion to move from where I was standing. This could not be happening. I have to be dreaming, I thought once again. Just to reassure myself, I pinched down hard on the skin of my arm. "Ow!" I gasped looking down at the red welt forming as proof to the impossible. I looked around, trying to see through the darkness, but I already knew that I would have to play along with the disembodied voice.

That's how the others got out, anyways... I thought as I wearily walked up to the first pedestal with the book hovering above it. I jumped as high as I could and landed on it nicely. Whoa. Super jump. The white stone was really cold under my bare feet. Oh, yeah. I'm still in my swim suit and white denim shorts. My hair isn't wet anymore, but instead was sticky with dried salt. How long was I lying on the ground?

As gently as I could, I grasped the withered leather binding of the book. I turned it over in my hands, examining it. There was no title and when I flipped open to a random page, the words on the pages swirled and twisted among other words and phrases, making it impossible to read.

The knowledge of a master,
Fact beyond Truth,
A book of Creation and Destruction.

As I stared at the book longer, my mind started to work out the text. It was an endless pattern, turning and swirling, giving the illusion of a jumbled mess. Getting the hang of the pattern, I started to see sentences forming. What little I read made no sense at all. It seemed to be talking about a light shinning in the middle of the darkness, but inside that light was a brighter light... or something like that. Oh, my head hurts. I shut the book.

Is this the power you seek?

"Um, no. I want to see the others first." I said letting the book slip back into its hovering position.

Turning around, I jumped down and walked over to jump onto the middle pedestal. This one held the rose. Without a second thought, I picked it up and looked it over in my fingers. The rose was beautiful, in a strange way. The white petals and the black petals varied on the dark green stem in such a way that it felt hypnotizing. The way they were placed... It was like they couldn't survive without the others support. In the center where a white petal and a black petal met, a light shade of gray formed. The gray seemed to churn with darker grays and lighter shades.

The war in between,
Visions of Twilight,
A rose of corruption.

It was sad, how the light always fought against the dark. This rose really reflected that nature. There were black and white petals and they touched each other without dying, but they didn't take on a shade other then the pureness of their own color. However, when they meet in the center... they fight. Always fighting for the right shade. Such fighting... it tears apart any light that's left and diminishes the dark. Before long, Nothing is the only force that remains. It really is corrupted, I thought twisting it slowly in between my thumb and fingers.

Is this the power you seek?

"No, and stop asking me. I'll tell you when I decide." I said getting annoyed. Impatient much?

Letting the rose drift back into its hovering place, I jumped off and onto the last pedestal. As carefully as I could, I grabbed the hilt of the sword with my right hand and the blade with my left hand. It was a big sword. It looked very much like the one Sora had in his Dive into the Heart.

The power of a swordsman,
Lethal companion,
A blade of strength and steel.

The sword weighed no more than a feather, but a sudden weight settled on my mind. The will to carry out this swords purpose is a light burden to the body, but the affect in the mind and soul was more than one would think. It is that reason I don't like to fight. A soul could be just as easily ripped apart as this sword could take out a whole army. No thank you.

Is this the power you seek?

"No, defiantly not." I said setting the sword back into its position again. I jumped off and looked over the three objects.

Decisions, decisions...What the heck should I pick? Let's think about this logically. Well, the sword is defiantly out of the question. So that narrows it down to the book and the rose. Hm, let's see, the book entitles me to knowledge and the rose entitles me to...what? Now that I think about it, the rose didn't really say anything about giving me anything useful. So, since I have no clue what the rose does for me, I'm going to go with the book. I walked over to the book and accepted it. It shimmered and disappeared in my hand.

Your path is set.
Now, what will you give up in exchange?

Equivalent exchange. I take something and it wants something in return. Well, if that's what it wants, it can have the sword. I don't care for it and although I don't know what it's for, the rose seems important somehow. I jumped down from the pedestal, yet again, and walked over to the sword. I jumped on to the pedestal and grabbed the sword. It asked if I wanted to give it up and I said yes. It disappeared like the book.

You've chosen the knowledge of a master.
You've given up the power of a swordsman.
Is this the form you choose?

"Yes." I said clearly.

After I said my answer the ground started to tremble again. I stumbled off of the pedestal and watched the three of them sink in to the ground. And then the unexpected happened. Well, not totally unexpected. I knew I was supposed to fall into darkness at some point, but instead of the floor tearing up like shredding glass, it lit up in a honeycomb pattern. I ran futilely to stand in one of the patterns. Then one by one, the small shapes dropped into the darkness, taking me along with them. I didn't have time to scream, so I didn't try. I just stared off into the darkness around me as an odorless wind blew up at me from the blackness below.