The First Journey.
Chapter Six: The Mightiest Weapon.
Previously in the last chapter.
"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.
(In the Present; With Sora)
Like the strange dream she had yesterday, darkness was all around Sora. She couldn't move her body, couldn't see a thing and couldn't breathe. All the warmth she had was slowly being replaced with coldness as she sank downwards into the shadows.
'Is this it?' Sora thought miserably, continuing to sink downwards into the darkness, not bothering to struggle anymore since it was worthless. The tears that streamed heavily down her face finally ceased but she looked ready to start crying again. 'Am I really going to die here in the darkness? Right after I finally confessed my feelings to the person I love and was about to explore other worlds? It's not fair. What have I done to deserve this dreadful fate?'
Sora wondered if sinking into darkness was karma for all the times she had punished people painfully who spread those nasty rumors about her. Actually, now that the buxom brunette thought about it, sinking into darkness was indeed karma for all the times she had punished people painfully, along with the fact she acted such a bitch after puberty.
'Well, if I'm going to do die here, at least I go out with happiness in my heart,' Sora thought, feeling a small smile spread across her tear-strain face when she thought of the happiness in her heart, which was becoming Riku's girlfriend. She prayed to the heavens that he was somewhere safe and sound, along with Kairi since she had been somewhere on the play-island. 'Riku, I know my death will affect you very much, but no matter what happens, I will always watch over you.' Sora then closed her eyes as she thought about her final words. 'I love you.'
Just when Sora had mournfully accepted her death in the darkness, a faint glimmer of light shined through said darkness, causing her to open her eyes and stared at it. The glimmer of light grew until it became almost blinding bright, which was enough to wash away the coldness and be replaced with the warmth that vanished moments ago. It was also enough for Sora to gain a hopeful, yet sad, feeling in her chest.
Was this it? Was Sora about to be taken away from the cold darkness and into the warm heavens? She really hoped so because she didn't want to be in the darkness no more, but it didn't make the feeling of going to the heavens any better. It only made her sadder as she realized she would soon be leaving the people she cared about behind. Sora hoped they could move on.
When the bright light engulfed Sora's body before it died down a moment later, she expected to be taken to the heavens. She did not expect, however, to be standing back on the play-island again in the exact same spot when she tried to pull Riku out of the dark portal.
"I'm…I'm back at the play-island again?" Sora muttered in shock, struggling to grasp what just happened, while ignoring the returning sound of roaring winds around her. "But…if I'm back here instead of being sent to heaven…then that means I am not dead. I'm still alive and kicking…" The shock Sora had after seeing she was back on the play-island instead of being sent to heaven began wearing off as extreme relief took its place as she realized an important fact: She was not dead; she's still alive and in the land of the living.
With tears of joy streaming down her face at the fact she's still alive, Sora began cheering happily. "I'M ALIVE! HA! SUCK ON THAT, DARKNESS! YOU'LL HAVE TO DO BETTER IF YOU WANT TO KILL ME!" As Sora continued to cheer happily while taunting the darkness at the same time, she was unaware of the object that's in her right hand.
After a few moments, Sora stopped cheering happily and became serious. Now that she was back on the play-island, she must focus on finding Kairi and getting her to the mainland where they could take shelter from the storm, which had gotten a bit worse during her time in the darkness, but the buxom brunette has to hurry before it's too late; Kairi's well being rested on her shoulders.
It was then Sora finally noticed she was holding something in her right hand. How she didn't notice when she had been cheering about being alive, she will never know. Curious, she turned to see what she was holding in right hand and what she saw made her eyes widen.
In Sora's right hand was an extremely peculiar weapon. It looked like a sword but was shaped like a key. It had a silver, medium-length cylinder blade, a blue rainguard, a golden square cross-guard, a black hilt and a silver keychain dangling off the cross-guard. The most noticeable features about the strange weapon were the teeth and the token at the end of the keychain. The teeth were outlined of a crown shape that was like Sora's necklace and the token was the same three circles she saw in her dream with two small circles on top of the bigger circle.
'What the hell is this weird-looking sword?' Sora thought, continuing to stare at the strange weapon in her right hand with wide eyes. 'And why do I get the strangest feeling that I have held this before but in a different design?' It was true, Sora has a strangest feeling she held this weapon before in a different design but find it to be impossible. If she did hold it, she would've remembered the event and she doesn't, yet the distant memory in her brain was telling her otherwise.
Shaking her head, Sora decided to give the recently acquired weapon in her hand a few test swings and found it to be naturally light, though a bit heavy. Despite having an odd design, the weapon is quite balanced. There were two questions, however, Sora wanted to know as she went back to stare at the weapon: What is this said weapon called and why is it shaped like a key?
"Keyblade…" A familiar voice said in the air, causing Sora's eyes to once again widen. She heard that voice before; it was from her dream!
"Hey, voice from my dream!" Sora exclaimed, looking around to see where the voice was coming from, but like in her dream, she couldn't find anything. "While I am surprised to hear you again, I have two questions I want to ask. First, what is this weird key-shape weapon I'm holding?" Sora gestures to the weapon in her hand by lifting it up a bit. "And second, what did you say? I couldn't hear over the roaring winds."
The voice repeated what it said before and this time, Sora was able to hear the words. "Keyblade…"
"Key…blade?" Sora repeated the word slowly, greatly confused before turning to stare once again at the now revealed name weapon in her hand. "Is that what this weapon's called? A Keyblade? Although it is shape like a key, I don't understand why its name after the blade."
It's rather…weird for a key-shape weapon to be named after a blade, considering the said blade and teeth didn't look sharp enough to cut anything, but Sora knows appearances can be deceiving, so she's willingly to give it a try…even though she prefers using hand to hand combat since it's been a long time when she'd last hold a sword. The dream did not count.
Right after the familiar voice finished revealing what the strange weapon is, known as a Keyblade, several of the black creatures materialized around Sora, who became startled at first before getting into her battle stance she developed as a young girl. Said stance was holding the Keyblade to the side with both hands on the hilt, legs bent forward a bit and having the left foot extend outwards, while the right one sideways.
"Alright," Sora said, taking a deep breath to calm her sudden nerves; the memory of the last encounter with the black shadows rang through her mind, making a shiver run down her spine. "Last time I threatened you little devils, I had to run away beacuse you summoned an army. That's not going to happen again this time. I am going to defeat every single one of you with my new weapon, find Kairi and get off the play-island." Sora gave the black shadows a cold glare. "And you all will not get in my way, so get ready because I'm coming at you all hard and fast!"
With that piece said and a battle cry, Sora charged at the black shadows who in turned charged at her with their claws raised.
When Sora and the black shadows got close enough to each other, the former began using the Keyblade to start cutting down the latter one by one. Of course, she still had doubts about the weapon since the blade and teeth didn't look sharp enough to cut anything, never mind a creature, but those doubts instantly vanished when the brunette saw the black shadows turned into the same puffs of black-purplish smoke from her dream.
"Whoa!" Sora gasped, staring at the spots the black shadows had previously stood before turning to look at her weapon with awe in her eyes. "The power of this weapon is incredible! I am never doubting odd-shape weapons again!" Sora suddenly sensed two black shadows flanking behind her and immediately swung the Keyblade behind her in a wide arc that killed them. "Don't try to sneak up on me!"
For the next few moments, Sora continued to cut down the black shadows with the Keyblade, which was becoming easier to handle and lighter instead of a bit heavy. As she fought, she made sure not to get cocky, reckless or overconfident since there is a dangerous crisis going on and the last thing she needed was having those black shadows summoned a dark portal underneath her feet to drag her back into the darkness. She will not go back there.
But no matter how many black shadows Sora cuts down with the Keyblade, they just kept materializing endlessly. Even after a couple gets killed, more takes their place a moment later. If this keeps up, she will slowly get tired from the fighting, be overrun and eventually killed or turned into those creatures, along with everyone back on the mainland. The thought of being one of those creatures made a cold chill run-down Sora's spine and it grew worse when she imagined the rather painful transformation.
Sora definitely needed to come up with a plan to stop the black shadows from taking over Destiny Islands fast before it's too late. She must protect the place that's still her home.
Luckily, Sora has a theory on how to stop the black shadows from taking over the islands but wasn't sure if it would work since there's a big risk. The theory was to close the door Riku opened in the Secret Place, which should make the black shadows, along with the dark sphere in the sky, disappear for good, ensuring the safety of Destiny Islands, the islanders who are completely unaware about what's happening on the play-island and Kairi, who is still on the said island.
But the reason why Sora didn't think the theory would work, which makes the big risk come to light, is because there might be a chance the door in the Secret Place could either make the dangerous crisis going on worse than before or suck the brunette in, leading her back into the darkness when she just said she will not go back. Why is it hard to accept that fact? The worst case is that the door could release a massive wave of darkness enough to destroy Destiny Islands and kill the islanders.
Sora doesn't really want to go near the door in the Secret Place since there could be a chance it might make the dangerous crisis going on worse than before or suck her in that'll lead her back into darkness, but if she has any chance of stopping the black shadows from taking over her home and find Kairi, she must go near the door, no matter how much she doesn't like the idea or the door itself. So, after taking out a couple more black shadows with the Keyblade, Sora reluctantly began making her way towards the Secret Place.
It took a few minutes to reach the entrance of the Secret Place since the black shadows still kept materializing endlessly to attack Sora, who is now starting to feel a bit tired from the fighting. She couldn't even take a momentary pause to catch her breath when she ran back inside the wooden shack to head downstairs, even though she could've just jumped down from the bridge to reach the Secret Place faster. Why she didn't do that in the first place, she will never know.
But in the end, it didn't matter because Sora had finally arrived at the entrance of the Secret Place and the moment she arrived, she immediately started crawling into the dark tunnel on all fours, the Keyblade in her hand disappearing in a flash of light as she crawled. Seeing this sudden action made the buxom brunette extremely worried because it reminded her of seeing her sword disappearing in her dream right before that huge shadow loomed over her. She hoped she could summon the weapon once she reaches the large cave.
As she continued to crawl through the Secret Place's dark tunnel while praying if she could summon the Keyblade again, Sora had started to become aware the black shadows weren't following or attacking her anymore after entering the tunnel. This made her greatly suspicious, yet worried at the same time since she's in a vulnerable position where she cannot fight back, despite being able to kick her legs for defense, so much she stopped crawling, braced her entire body and looked over her shoulder to see if those creatures were behind her.
There wasn't a black shadow behind Sora at all. She was the only person in the dark tunnel.
Breathing out a huge sigh of relief when there wasn't a single black shadow behind her and letting her body relax, Sora turned around and resume crawling through the dark tunnel to reach the Secret Place, but her original pace of crawling became a bit faster because she didn't want to take her chance in case the black shadows do appear behind her…where they will attack.
It didn't take very long for Sora to arrive at the Secret Place, which is thanks to the slightly fast pace. Once she arrived, she stood up and began to try summoning the Keyblade in her right hand so that she could use it to close the door Riku opened. But there was a problem with this plan, however. Sora has no idea how to summon the weapon, much less make it appear in her hand. In her defense, she just got the thing and still doesn't know much about it, except it can cut down the black shadows.
After a few more attempts of trying to get the Keyblade to appear, which all ended in failure, Sora gave up when she concluded the only way for it to be summoned is by engaging an enemy. That had to be the reason why the weapon won't appear…unless she needed to bond and do numerous training with it, which would make it easier to summon, both inside and outside of battles. Now, that had to be the real reason why the Keyblade wouldn't appear.
Unfortunately, Sora didn't have the time to bond and do numerous training with the Keyblade. She needed to focus on the mission on hand, which is closing the door Riku had, in her opinion, foolishly opened in the Secret Place. She was about to head towards the said door when she looked over to see a very familiar person in front of it, making her stop dead in her tracks but not her mouth.
"KAIRI!" Sora screamed, greatly relief to see Kairi safe and unharmed, while cursing herself for being stupid. If there was one place Kairi loved hanging out the most, other than the papou tree with her friends, it was the Secret Place. Sora should've known she, Kairi, would be here during the dangerous crisis since the cave does offer protection, even though there is a chance the said cave could collapse. "Thank god you're safe! Are you alright?!"
Upon hearing Sora's scream, Kairi slowly turned around from staring at the wooden door and the former's great relief of seeing her friend safe and unharmed turned into extremely concern when she saw a sickly-looking face staring back at her instead of a usually happy face.
"Sora…" Kairi muttered weakly, her blue-violet eyes dull with dark bags underneath and her normally pale skin was a deathly shade like a ghost. All in all, she looked terrible.
Sora had just been ready to rush over where Kairi is after hearing how weak her voice was and pull her into a very tight embrace, never intending to let her go in fear of disappearing like Riku. But the brunette didn't have the chance to move her legs or say a word when suddenly, the wooden door in the Secret Place, which has never once been opened, no matter how much effort people put into it to try at least open a crack, finally opened for the very first time.
But not in a good way.
Instead of opening at a slow pace, the door burst wide open with a mighty bang and a strong gush of darkness pooled out, forcing Sora to cover her face with her arms, as well as digging her feet to the ground so that she doesn't get sent flying. Kairi, on the other hand, wasn't prepared for the strong gush of darkness, which swept her off her feet and sent flying towards Sora.
"KAIRI!" Sora screamed, seeing Kairi being sent flying towards her. "Hold on! I got you!" She raised her arms up to catch her friend but still made sure to keep her feet planted on the ground so that she doesn't get sent flying. However, a completely unexpected and shocking moment happened, one that would unknowingly save many worlds from darkness.
Kairi's body completely vanished through Sora after reaching the latter's arms.
'W-w-w-what?' Sora thought numbly and incredulously as she gaped heavily at her open empty arms with wide shocked eyes. 'W-what just happened? Where's K-K-Kairi?'
Because Sora was so stunned at seeing Kairi being passed through her instead of being catch in her arms, she was unprepared for another strong gush of darkness to come out from the wooden door, which sent her flying in the air and out of the Secret Place where she blacked out.
A few moments later, Sora regained consciousness after colliding on solid ground hard, causing a grunt to escape her mouth. Shaking the cobwebs out of her head, she got onto her hands and knees and looked up to see what's happening, only to see a sight that made her entire being froze like an ice sculpture, her eyes widening in extreme horror and despair.
Destiny Islands, the homeland Sora loved and grew up, despite how life dramatically changed during her high school years, was wiped out in one night, all because of a door no one could open. There wasn't a single ounce of life around her – no humans, no plants, no water, no anything – but only a medium-sized floating platform she's standing on, an endless void below, a roaring wind that carried some island debris around in a circle and a sinister purple sky with a very much bigger dark sphere.
Everything around Sora…was just chaos and destruction but empty as well, except the debris.
"Oh…my…god…" Sora barely managed to mutter out those words, haven't once taken her eyes off the horrific view before her. "My home…it's gone…completely gone…this can't be happening…" Sora wanted to believe everything she had seen and did was a dream, a very horrible and absurd dream, but a dream nonetheless.
Only it wasn't a dream.
Everything Sora had seen and done ever since she arrived at the play-island was real.
The storm.
The dark sphere in the sky.
The black shadows.
Riku acting calm and odd when a dangerous crisis is going on.
Riku disappearing into the dark portal.
Sora disappearing into the dark portal as well, only to come back to the islands when a light shined upon her.
The sudden appearance of the Keyblade.
The Keyblade cutting down the black shadows.
The wooden door being opened in the Secret Place.
Kairi's body vanishing in the Secret Place.
And finally, the destruction of Destiny Islands.
Everything has been real…not a dream.
As Sora continued to watch the last remains of her home being destroyed, she didn't notice tears were streaming down her face, nor the rising shadow behind her. She couldn't believe it; not only did she lose both Riku and Kairi to the darkness, but she also lost her home and her parents who were probably not even aware of the storm since they had been sleeping. This was truly a horrible night.
Suddenly, Sora heard a whooshing sound coming from behind her and she whirled around while standing up to see what it was. What she saw made her grief and tears for the loss of her home turned into burning hatred as she glared heatedly at the familiar huge shadow from her dream, the same shadow that loomed over her when her sword disappeared after weaking it.
This huge shadow is called Darkside.
"THAT'S IT!" Sora screamed, becoming extremely pissed off from seeing the Darkside. "I HAD ENOUGH OF ALL THIS BULLSHIT! I HAD NOT ONLY LOST MY BOYFRIEND AND MY BEST FRIEND TO THE DARKNESS! BUT I ALSO LOST MY PARENTS AND MY HOME! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, BASTARD!" Sora waved her right arm to the side to summon the Keyblade and to her surprise, it appeared in her hand. It seemed her previous conclusion was right: The weapon would only appear if she engages the enemy.
Pushing this information aside since it wasn't the time to think about it, Sora got into her fighting stance and adopted a serious expression.
Seeing the Keyblade made Darkside recoil a bit in fear before composing itself and releasing a menacing roar, same as the one in Sora's dream. But due to the roaring winds and the loud electricity from the dark sphere, the sound of the roar was greatly reduced. However, it was enough to start the battle between human and shadow.
Once Darkside stopped roaring, it got onto its knees and puffed out its chest to summon a pool of dark energy, which was used to create dark homing projectiles. The said projectiles then headed towards Sora, who ran around the floating platform to avoid them, though some almost came dangerously close to hitting her, which made her inwardly shiver from feeling the heat and darkness near her skin. She didn't even want to imagine the pain.
After avoiding the projectiles, Sora started to attack the Darkside's arms with pretty heavy, yet quick, blows with the Keyblade, while making sure to keep her balance as she does the heavy blows. This did significant damage to the huge shadow, which the body's language showed its discomfort and pain, but the fight was far from over.
Deciding to use a different tactic since the enemy would just keep dodging the projectiles, no matter how many it creates, Darkside got up from its knees and began doing a familiar move Sora had seen in her dream. The huge shadow pulled its arm back to channel an orb of darkness with lighting in its hand before slamming the arm down to the ground where a pool of swirling darkness appeared a moment later.
Unfortunately, the attack wasn't going to work on someone who had not only seen it before but knows what the pool of swirling darkness does.
"That attack is not going to work on me, dumbass!" Sora yelled, began sprinting towards the arm and jumped on said arm after reaching it, while taking care to avoid the black shadows that had materialized from the pool of darkness. She then ran up the arm like in her dream, jumped onto Darkside's head where she grabbed a twisted tentacle to hang onto so that she wouldn't fall and began attacking the head with quick attacks, including the eyes.
Like the arms, attacking the head did significant damage to the huge shadow who let out a painful scream, but the damage was greater because Sora had been attacking the head and eyes, the ultimate weakness of all monsters. The amount of damage Darkside received should be enough for it to disappear, but it didn't, much to Sora's displeasure and frustration. How much damage does she need to do in order to make it disappear?
'Probably a bit more,' Sora concluded thoughtfully as she did a quick mental math work in her head. 'It did take so much damage, which is thanks to my anger and my thinking strategy, but I still thought the damage would be enough to make the son of a bitch vanished. I think this one is stronger than the one in my dream.'
Sora's musings about how much damage she needs to do in order to make Darkside disappear ended when she felt its body began to rise upwards, forcing her to jump off the head and do a front-flip while falling to land in a crouch position on the ground. From there, she had to roll away when she sensed an incoming fist attack, which created a loud booming noise, and perform a couple gymnastics to avoid the claw attacks from the black shadows that remained on the floating platform instead of disappearing.
After quickly taking care of the black shadows, Sora turned her attention towards the huge shadow whose body language showed it was very angry, its glowing yellow eyes glaring hatefully at her. She glared back in return before getting into her fighting stance and taking a deep breath. She and Darkside can tell the fight was coming to an end and this final attack would decide the victor. The two were just ready to deliver their final attack when the very much bigger dark sphere in the sky decided to intervene in the worst way possible.
By sucking the remains of Destiny Islands, along the two individuals.
Darkside was immediately sucked upwards to the dark sphere, having stood no chance against the suction. It didn't even have a chance to grab onto something. But Sora had a chance to grab onto something – a wooden plank – after feeling the suction and she was currently holding on for dear life, the suction getting worse with each passing moment.
Deep down, Sora knew it was helpless; she would still get sucked into the dark sphere, no matter how hard she holds onto the wooden plank. True to her word, her grip on the wooden plank began to loosen up and a moment later, Sora was screaming loudly and fearfully as she got sucked upwards to the dark sphere, her body flailing around helplessly.
Then darkness overtook Sora, and she knew no more.
And done! That's the ending of the chapter! The next chapter will be about Sora's first time in a different world. I'll get started on that chapter after I finished writing the Hunting Poe's (Part Two) chapter in the Legend of Fairies.
I know I said this many times as before in every chapter and I want to say sorry for the lack of chapter updates. I'm trying to get them out as soon as possible for you guys to enjoy, but I don't want to rush things in fear of making a mistake. I will be doing some thinking to see how I can get chapters published faster.
But anyways, here is a chapter for you guys to enjoy, even though it's the second part chapter, and I hope it makes up for the long wait.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter. Also, even though it's the next day, have a Merry Christmas!
Next Chapter: Traverse Town.