The First Journey
Chapter Five: The Storm.
It took Sora nearly thirty minutes to arrive at the play-island, due to the violent waves and harsh winds the storm was providing. The only thing the storm wasn't providing was rain, which she was extremely glad for but confused at the same time. Why wasn't the storm providing rain when all storms do that? Something wasn't adding up.
As Sora continued rowing her boat towards the play-island, she was starting to become both furious and worried; furious because it was taking longer to row her boat towards the play-island when it should've been a few minutes and worried because the raft might be already gone, along with the supplies. She prayed the raft was still in one piece and on the island. If not, then she was going to lose her mind.
Despite being furious and worried, it was a miracle Sora was able to stay on her boat whenever she was about to fall off because of the violent waves and see where she was rowing without any goggles protecting her eyes from the harsh winds.
Once Sora finally arrived on the play-island, she immediately jumped out of her boat, landed on the wooden dock, turned around, crouched into a kneeling position and began tying her boat to the dock. As she did this, she noticed two other boats tied up to the wooden dock, causing her to become extremely alarmed.
"Why on Earth is Riku's and Kairi's boats here when they should be back on the mainland?" Sora asked herself, not liking the situation at all. Not only she would have to check on the raft to see if it's still on the play-island, but she now has to find Riku and Kairi to see if they were safe and sound. "More importantly, how did they managed to row here?"
Pushing the last question aside since it was stupid and pointless – why asked the most moronic question in the world? – Sora finished securing her boat to wooden dock, stood up and looked at the sky to see how bad the storm was becoming. What she saw made her freeze in shock and horror.
Way up in the sky, as if splitting the world in two, was a large, evil-looking dark sphere with multiple colors in the middle and electricity dancing around. It was oozing out waves of darkness, which was thankfully not landing on the play-island, and seemed to be growing bigger ever so slightly, making the winds and waves more violent and harsh than before.
'What the hell is that thing in the sky?!' Sora thought with horror, continuing to stare at the dark sphere with wide eyes. 'I have never seen anything so scary in my life! And I'm not counting the times I seen horror movies!' It was then she thought of something that caused her already wide eyes to widen even further. 'Did that…thing in the sky created this storm?! If it did, then I need to find Riku and Kairi quickly and get them off the island! Forget the raft; our safety is much more important!'
With a new plan in mind and determination coursing through her veins, Sora began making her trek across the play-island to find Riku and Kairi. Once she finds them, she was going to give the two a rather harsh scolding…right after the storm passes and they get off the island. No need to start scolding when there is a dangerous crisis going on.
However, before Sora could call out Riku's and Kairi's names, a bizarre sound filled the air, causing her to become still as a statue. Her eyes shattered around wildly to see where the noise was coming from, and she nearly let out a yelp when the bizarre sound filled the air again but close enough to where she was. It was coming from her right side. With an audible gulp, Sora turned slowly to her right to see…
"It's those shadow creatures I saw in my dream!" Sora exclaimed with a gasp, as the small, familiar, yellow-eyed pitch-black creatures, the same ones in her dream, materialized from the ground right before her eyes, which caused her to take a step back. This can't be possible; they couldn't be real! They were from her dreams! There's no way those small creatures are in the real world and on the island!
One of the said small creatures lunged at Sora with its claw raised up in the air to injury her and she reacted instinctively by doing a gymnastic backflip. She managed to avoid the attack, but it missed her leg by an inch; she could almost feel the claw's sharpness.
After registering what she had done, Sora looked shocked at first – she clearly hadn't expected her body to do an instinct backflip – before realizing the situation she was in. If she was going to find Riku and Kairi on the play-island and get them to safety from the storm, including the shadows from her dream, she would have to fight her way. Since she doesn't have a weapon upon her, she will have to rely on her fist and legs, as well as her martial art skills, but wasn't sure if they would work on the shadows.
The most obvious choice was to run away and head back to the mainland, but Sora had no intention of doing that for two reasons. One, she wasn't a heartless coward, despite her cold personality. And two, she had a mission to accomplished and that said mission was to find Riku and Kairi. She wasn't going to let a horrible storm, that dark sphere in the sky and these black creatures stop her from accomplishing her mission; she wasn't going down without a fight.
"Alright, you little bastards," Sora said, giving the black shadows before her a cold glare. "I have two people I care about on this island, and I need to find them to make sure they're not hurt. However, there seems to be a problem, and the said problem is that you all are in my way. So, this can go in two ways; we can either do this the easy way or the hard way." Sora punched her left palm with her right hand to emphasize the hard way. "The choice is yours, now pick one quickly before I lose my patience."
The black shadows merely looked at Sora with their glowing yellow eyes before an alarming number of them started materializing and soon, there was an army of black shadows staring at her. This horrifying action caused the brunette's cold façade to vanish into fear as she gaped at the army with wide eyes and an open jaw. Seeing all those yellow eyes staring at her made her take a few steps backwards, which in turn made the shadow creatures walk towards her.
"Oh…shit," Sora swore fearfully as she kept looking at the black shadow army. "Clearly wasn't expecting that at all." She suddenly let out a painful yell as something sharp scratched her right leg and she looked to see a black creature near her, its claw hand covered in a red substance that was clearly her blood. With a high-pitched yelp, Sora gave the small shadow a devastating kick that sent it flying away and into the ocean with a splash. "Well, at least I know I can hurt these shadows with kicks, but I wasn't expecting one to be near me and scratch my leg. Which, by the way, hurts like hell!"
Unfortunately, the black shadow army took the kick Sora did, along with the rambling, as a queue to start moving towards her in a slow menacing manner, as if they were about to pounce on her... which they are. Seeing this and almost panicking, she looked around frantically to find someplace safe from the army. To her relief, Sora found a safe place to hide and that was the wooden shack. It was the perfect safe place because, despite being wooden, it has a door barricade to block any attempts to enter and was originally built if any children got injured.
The shack should give Sora time to think of a new plan, but she first needs to make it there without getting any more scratches from the black shadows because that scratch a moment ago still hurts. Once the shadow army was close enough and looked ready to pounce, Sora took her chance and booked it towards the wooden shack.
"Need to make it, need to make it," Sora kept repeating the same words multiple times as she ran towards the wooden shack, while letting out small hisses of pain whenever she put pressure on her scratched leg. She really needs to check out her leg and get it patched up before the wound becomes an infection, but since she wasn't expecting any danger on the play-island, she didn't bring a medical kit. She hopes the wooden shack has one, otherwise she would have to improvise with something she won't like.
Aside from nearly getting scratched from the shadows that were materializing everywhere on the play-island, which forced Sora to a series of gymnastics to avoid the claws, she made it safely to the wooden shack and barricade the door as soon as she entered. That should buy her some time…a little time. She wasn't sure how long until the door was breached by the shadows, but the busty brunette didn't want to know; she had more important matters to deal with. Starting with her scratched and bleeding leg.
Sora looked around the wooden shack for a medical kit and spotted one hanging on the wall. She quickly made her way towards it, grabbed the kit before walking over to the stairs and sat down. Can't patch her leg up if she was standing upwards. After placing the medical kit next to her and opening it to pull out a roll of bandages, along with a peroxide bottle and a cloth, Sora began inspecting her right leg.
Well, there was good news and bad news. The good news is the cut wasn't deep and can be easily patched up. But the bad news…the cut was still oozing out blood and Sora had lost a slight alarming amount of said blood, not enough to affect her whole body, but enough to make her vision a bit blurry and her head woozy. Yep, definitely need to start patching the leg up. Taking the cloth and applying a small amount of peroxide on it, Sora took a breath, knowing full well what's going to happen next, before placing the now wet cloth on the still bleeding cut.
A sharp pain hiss left Sora's mouth the second she placed the wet cloth on her leg and the pain hiss grew a bit louder as she started rubbing the cloth up and down in a slow manner. Using peroxide on a wound does sting a lot, enough to make even grown-ups cry like a baby, but the stinging, along with the pain of the wound, goes away if the person doesn't move around too much. Moving around will only make the stinging and pain much worse.
As Sora continued to rub the wet cloth up and down her leg, her mind began wondering towards the well-being of her friends, even though she was in a relationship with one said friend. Are Riku and Kairi safe from the storm and the small shadows? Are they hiding somewhere together to make sure they won't get injured? Are they even injured? Sora hoped Riku and Kairi aren't injured since she knew they can defend themselves, especially the former, but the thought of them being injured caused her thoughts to become more…terrible. Are Riku and Kairi already injured from the shadows? Are they unconscious from losing blood? Are they still alive? Are they eaten by the shadows?
'Don't think about that last one, Sora,' Sora thought firmly, trying her best not to think about the last thought. 'Just don't think about it. You are being ridiculous; Riku and Kairi are fine and alive. You said yourself they can defend themselves and I'm sure they're not stupid to engage the shadows when there's so many of them. Now, stop thinking about such terrible thoughts and focus on healing your leg.'
Soon, the stinging and pain went away, and Sora took the wet cloth, which is now soaked with blood, away from the cut to inspect her leg. Thankfully, the cut stopped bleeding at the slight alarming rate, but it was still an angry red that indicated the cut might bleed again. She will have to wrap extra bandages to prevent that. With the peroxide applied to the cut, it was time to start wrapping bandages and this took nearly two minutes since Sora needed to add extra bandages.
"Alright," Sora sighed as she wrapped the final layer of bandages on her leg and moved the flesh around to get a feeling. The bandages weren't tight to make her run awkward, but comfortable enough for her to do kicks, backflips and cartwheels. "Now that I got my leg patched up, I need to get out of here and find-"
Bang!
Bang!
Sora was interrupted when the barricade door to the wooden shake was suddenly being harshly pounded on, making her turn towards it with wide eyes before she sprinted up the stairs. She was not sticking around when those little shadows breached the door and stormed into the place. No way in hell. Once Sora reached the top of the stairs, she burst through the door and shut it with a slam, taking a momentary pause to catch her breath. All the running and dodging she had been doing, plus the rowing to the play-island, was making her tired, but she couldn't stop now; she needed to find Riku and Kairi.
'But where could they be?' Sora thought furiously after getting her breath back and started running again, this time across the wooden bridge. She could sense the shadows appearing behind her and the shadows that had finally breached the wooden shack. 'They could be anywhere on the play-island, even places I don't know since I spent my time in the Secret Place, though I am going to be checking that place out after I look around the whole island. I just hope Riku and Kairi are-'
Sora's thoughts came to a screeching halt as she stopped dead in her tracks on the small island with the paopu tree, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. She did not stop because of the shadows, nor the dark sphere in the dark, which had grown much bigger during the time she spent patching up her leg. Hell, it wasn't even the horrible storm.
It was the unmoving and calm figure that was standing in the middle of the small island, a figure Sora had been looking for when she saw the two abandon boats by the wooden dock after she arrived on the play-island, a figure whose back was facing her…and a figure she was currently in a relationship with.
"RIKU!" Sora screamed, easily recognizing the trademark silver hair that was shoulder-length and spiky, which was bellowing in every direction because of the winds. If it wasn't for the horrible storm, the dark sphere in the sky and the small shadows materializing on the play-island, the brunette would've found this action highly attractive.
Without even aware of what she was doing, Sora was running across the small island as fast as her legs could go, her mind still reeled with shock and surprise from finding Riku standing on the small island with no weapon in his hands to defend himself against the small shadows. She had three questions in her mind she wanted to know: How did Riku reach the small island with no weapon on him? Why was he standing calm instead of panicking and why was he not looking for Kairi when he can literally hear a horrible storm going on?!
Sora will never know the answer to her questions, especially the first and last one since they were the most important questions in the world. But at the moment…she didn't care because she was feeling extremely happy from finding one of the two people she cares about on the play-island. All she has to do now is find Kairi. Within distance, Sora jumped onto Riku and wrapped her arms around him to initiate a tight hug.
"Riku! I'm so glad you are okay!" Sora exclaimed, fighting back the urge to release a choked sob. It was clear the terrible thoughts from the wooden shake were starting to appear in her mind again. "I saw yours and Kairi's boats at the dock! What were you thinking coming here when a storm was happening?! Especially one this bad!? You could've gotten hurt or maybe even killed!" Sora knew this wasn't the time to start scolding Riku, but she couldn't help it since she had been extremely worried. "While we're on the subject, did any of those shadows hurt you? You're not bleeding anywhere, right?"
Sora unwrapped her arms, walked around and quickly swept her eyes over Riku's body from top to bottom to see if he had any cuts. She was a bit disturbed from seeing his eyes closed, but she shrugged it off as she continued to check for any cuts. When she found none, Sora let out a sigh of relief before hugging Riku again, this time in the front with her head against his chest. "I am so glad I found you, Riku, I thought you had gotten…" She trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence. The image itself was enough to tighten her hold.
What Sora didn't know as she continued to embrace her still unmoving and calm boyfriend was that Riku wasn't listening to her. He didn't move from his spot when Sora jumped onto him, nor did he say anything back when she started scolding and fussing over him. In fact, he didn't seem to register his girlfriend's presence at all. It wasn't until the scent of vanilla reached Riku's nostrils that he finally reacted.
"The door has opened…" Riku said quietly, still having his eyes closed.
"Huh?" Sora asked, raising her head up to look at Riku but kept her arms wrapped around him. She heard him say something but couldn't hear because of the winds. "What did you say, Riku?"
"The door has opened, Sora!" Riku repeated loudly, finally opening his eyes and looking at Sora, who recoiled backwards in surprise. It was extremely rare to hear Riku raise his voice since he was usually calm and collected. To see and hear him raise his voice caused Sora to become worried. What happened that made Riku raise his voice? "I did it! After fourteen years, I finally opened the door!"
"The…the door?" Sora asked hesitantly, still not used to hearing Riku raise his voice. It was the topic she could only think of; anything else was deemed unworthy or unimportant. But hearing the word 'door' caused Sora's mind to get back on track. What door was Riku talking about? There were millions of doors in the world, but he seemed to be talking about a specific door, one that was making him act like this. But the question is, what door is it?
"Yes," Riku smiled widely as he turned his head to glance at the direction of the Secret Place, Sora following his gaze. While the silver-hair man looked pleased and proud at what he had done, the brunette looked shocked and horrified. Of all the doors in the world, why did it have to be the one she hated? What on Earth was Riku thinking opening that door?! More importantly, what possessed him to do that?!
"Riku, please don't tell me you opened that door in the Secret Place, right? Please tell me you didn't?" Sora pleaded desperately, hoping Riku didn't because she had a very horrible feeling in her stomach that the storm and the dark sphere in the sky was created by the wooden door in the Secret Place. She prayed it wasn't the case, but her hopes were dashed when she saw Riku nodded his head in confirmation.
"I did, Sora, I opened it. And with the door opened, we can do what I said when we were kids. We can go on real adventures, not kid adventures. We can leave the islands but most importantly, we can finally go to other worlds!"
Sora was about to scold Riku angrily for being an idiot and opening the wooden door in the Secret Place, but any word that was about to leave her mouth died when the silver-hair man said they were finally going to see other worlds.
Go to other worlds.
That was something Sora always wanted to do ever since Riku started building the raft. She had imagined the things she would do once she reached other worlds, which are sight-seeing, make friends, see the difference between another world's lifestyle and the one she had visited, learn new fighting styles, buy souvenirs from each world after she figures out the currency, find romantic places to go on dates with Riku, become an adventurer – maybe a warrior or even a pirate! – and cherished everything she had seen in her heart.
Everything Sora thought of just now was what she wanted to do once she reached other worlds with Riku and Kairi, but the Destiny Trio had to build a raft in order to reach other worlds. However, the raft didn't matter anymore because the dream to travel to other worlds was about to come true. Sora couldn't help but smiled excitedly at that prospect, only for it and the smile to completely disappear when she realized what she was thinking.
'Why on Earth am I thinking about traveling to worlds now when there is a dangerous crisis going on?!' Sora thought, giving her face a couple hard slaps that made her cheeks a bit red and sore. 'I shouldn't be thinking about what Riku said at all since I need to get him out of here and find Kairi! Focus on current situation at hand, Sora!'
"Riku, going to other worlds is great and all," Sora said, struggling a bit to find the right words so that she doesn't offend Riku. "Believe me, it is, and I am excited as you are, but we have bigger problems to worry about and it's this storm. We need to find Kairi quickly before those small shadows overwhelm us and get off the play-island to take shelter at the mainland. Let's get going." Sora reached her hand forward to grab Riku's but to her shock, he backed away. "Riku, what the hell are you doing?! We need to find Kairi and get off the play-island!"
"We are getting off the play-island, dear," Riku said, still having the wide smile on his face, which was starting to become disturbing and creepy. "We're going to be traveling through the dark sphere in the sky instead of the raft. Using the dark sphere is the only way to travel to other worlds; other methods won't work."
"Riku, are you not listening to me?! There is a dangerous storm going on and we need to find Kairi! Quit fucking around and let's move!"
Apparently, Riku didn't like what Sora said and his wide smile faded into an angry snarl. "I'm not going back to the mainland, Sora! Not when we finally have a chance to leave the islands! And Kairi's coming with us!"
Sora once again recoiled backwards in great shock this time instead of surprise, a stunned expression forming on her face. Never in her life had Riku shouted angrily at her, even the times she would win either a sword fight or a race, and she could feel tears building up in her eyes, as well as a wave of hurt in her heart, but she didn't let the tears fall; crying from being shouted at was dumb.
Riku took a breath to calm himself and looked at the dark sphere in the sky without passing a single glance at Sora. "Once we stepped through the dark sphere, we might not be able to come back here again. We might never see our parents again; there's no turning back after we cross over to other worlds." As Riku continued his speech, his face was becoming bolder and determined. "But this may be our one-way chance to leave. We can't let fear of leaving home stop us from achieving our dreams. I'm not afraid of the darkness!" With his speech done, Riku turned his gaze from the sky to Sora and offered his right hand, his face still determined and bold.
"Riku…" Sora said, taking a moment to look at the offered hand before looking at Riku's face. Bright cyan eyes met bright blue; the latter still filled with tears. What should she do? Should she take the hand and leave the islands with Riku? Just the two of them, even though he, Riku, said Kairi was coming with? Or should she not take it, which would destroy her chances of leaving the islands to see other worlds, and go find Kairi instead?
What option should Sora pick?
Before Sora could do anything or say something, a dark portal with a purple glow in the middle suddenly appeared underneath Riku, causing the brunette to back up with a scream. Her scream became louder when she saw tendrils rising from the portal and began wrapping around Riku's legs before pulling him downwards. But did Riku show any fear or concern when the tendrils wrapped around his legs and began dragging him downwards? No. Did he try struggling or resisting? No, he didn't; he just stood in the exact spot where he was being dragged down with his right hand out for Sora to join him.
"RIKU! NO!" Sora screamed, doing the stupidest and dumbest thing in the world, one that her mind didn't even register: She ran forward and crossed into the dark portal's territory. The moment she did, she let out a gasp when her legs suddenly sunk downwards but she pushed the sunken feeling aside, along with the ice-cold sensation, as she tried to grab Riku's hand so that she could pull him out of the dark portal. However, for some strange reason, something was pushing Sora backwards from taking Riku's hand, much to the former's shock.
'No! No! No! Come on! Grab onto the hand!' Sora thought desperately, channeling all her strength, both physically and mentally, to try and grab Riku's hand. She even stretched her fingers out, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not grab her boyfriend's hand to pull him out of the dark portal, due to the strange force that was pushing her back. 'COME ON! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE RIKU!' Sora was not aware the tears she had been holding were streaming down her face. If she did, she wouldn't care at all because she was about to lose someone important to her.
It didn't take long for the dark portal to engulf Riku's whole body and dragged him somewhere else, either into darkness for eternity or to another world like he said. Sora didn't know which one but couldn't think about the matter as she was now struggling to get out of the dark portal. Her actions were proven to be fruitless since the dark portal had a strong grip on her, even without the tendrils wrapping around her legs. Not to mention, the ice-cold sensation, which is much stronger now, was draining her strength and warmth away. It looked like this was going to be the end for Sora.
"No! No! No! No! I refuse to let it end like this!" Sora shouted, struggling even harder than before to get out of the dark portal. This wasn't how she wanted to go down! She wanted to go down fighting for her life in an epic battle or something, not get dragged underneath a dark portal that could possibly kill her! Getting dragged underneath a dark portal was the worst way to go down.
But like before, the dark portal has a strong grip on Sora, making it impossible for her to get out. When she finally realized what her fate was going to be, she stopped struggling but threw her head up and began to cry heavily, while shouting hysterically to the skies. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I WANT TO LIVE! I WANT TO SEE OTHER WORLDS! AND I WANT RIKU BACK!"
The last thing Sora saw before the dark portal engulfed her whole body like Riku's and her vision becoming dark was seeing the dark sphere looming sinisterly over the play-island.
Alright, that is the end of the chapter. Sorry for the lack of chapter updates, I have been busy with the other chapters for my stories and this chapter did take a while to write since there were many times I didn't like what I wrote. Luckily, I managed to prevail and got this chapter done.
The next chapter will be the continuation of The Storm but will have a different chapter title. Usually, I would name the next chapter part two, but I just now thought of a different chapter title and decided to roll with it. If anyone doesn't like the chapter title, then I'll change it to The Storm (Part Two)
Anyways, I'm sorry for the lack of chapter updates and hope this chapter makes up for it.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next chapter: The Mightiest Weapon.