Chapter 1: Fall of a Hero
Darkness…. That’s all there was to see. No matter which way Razel looked, endless darkness was all around him.. It was strange though. Not but a moment ago, he was with his friends. Goofing off and enjoying the cool spring day at the beach. But now they were gone. Replaced with this nothingness.
“Sin! Khronos! Where the hell are you guys!?” Razel continued to look around. “More like, where the hell am I? No matter where I look, all that can be seen is darkness.” He took a couple steps. “Well, it seems that there is a floor, but if I look down, it’s like nothing is there.” He looked around once more, then decided to just walk forward. Maybe he would find something that could help him get out of this.
After what seemed like forever, Razel finally stopped. “This is pointless. No matter how long I walk, it feels like I haven’t even moved an inch.” He plopped down on the ground to rest. “Maybe I blacked out, or I’m daydreaming, or something.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. Nothing had changed. Razel let out a sigh. “Damn it, why is this happening to me.”
“Because you are connected to him.”
Razel quickly jumped up at the sound of a woman‘s voice.. “Who’s there?”
“It is because of him, that you are here.”
He looked around for the source of the voice but still found nothing. “Where are you? What do you mean connected?” Razel took a step back and continued to look around incase something was going to appear.
“You will know soon enough. But there is much that you must first come to understand.”
With a bright flash, Razel was now standing outside by the beach. But there was something different about it. As if it was a different place then the beach he and his friend hung out at. Suddenly there was laughter and Razel turned to see where it had come from. There were five people running along the shoreline. Three guys and two girls. They seemed to be having a race and was closing in on Razel fast.
“Um… Excuse me? Could you tell me where I am?” Razel took a step toward them as he spoke. But to his disappointment, they didn’t answer him. Instead, they continued to run toward him. “Guys? I’m sorry to bother you but I think I might be lost.” Still they did not answer. It was almost like they didn’t even know he was there. Soon all but one ran past him. The one, ran though him, as if he was a ghost or something.
Razel quickly turned around. “He… he went right through me?” He watched as they all came to a stop. For a moment, he thought that they had finally noticed him, but he was wrong.
One of the boys spoke. “I don’t know why we race anymore. It’s always the same. Jurido wins, follow shortly but Marin, then Rena, me and poor, slow Zejx.”
“Oh come on Kuaros. It’s not that Zejx is slow…” The boy Razel could now tell was Jurido looked at the final boy with a smile. “He’s just not as fast as us.”
“Don’t say that.” One of the girls puts her hands on her waste.
“But it’s true, Marin” Zejx looked at all of them with a smile. But anyone could tell he was affected by the comments. “No matter what it is, I am always last. There is no way I could ever be better then you guys at anything. You all are the best.”
The other girl, Rena, walked over to Zejx and ruffled his hair. “You know we are just playing with yeah. You are fine just the way you are.” She turned to the others. “Now, last one to the Ice cream parlor has to pay.”
Jurido smiled. “Hope you have enough Zejx.” With that, he ran off ahead of them. Shortly followed by Rena and Kuaros.
Marin however, looked over at Zejx. “Don’t let them bother you. You are fine the way you are.” She stares at him for a moment longer. “Zejx, please don’t ever change. You are you and no matter what anyone says, that will never be any different.” She smiled and followed the other. After a moment, Zejx also followed.
Razel watched until they were out of sight. “Okay, this is just weird?” With another flash, he was now standing in the middle of a town. No one was around. It appeared they were all asleep. “What the…” Suddenly a small, black creature slowly formed from the ground. It looked around and ran toward a building. Then, another appeared and did the same, followed by a third, and forth. Soon there would almost thirty or forty of them and more were still appearing. “What the hell are these things?”
There was suddenly a scream and Razel turned to the sight a girl running past him, being chased by on the creatures. He tried to step in the way, but the creature passed right though him and caught the girl. With in a second, a heart shaped bubble of light flew out of her body and vanished. The creature then moved on, leaving a lifeless body there it was. Razel ran over to it. “Hey, you okay? Please answer me.” In a flash of light, the body vanished and a creature form where it was. Razel jumped back as it took off. “What… what in the world is going on?”
Soon the whole town is filled with screaming and people where running all over the place. All soon ended up the same as the girl had. All Razel could do was watch in horror. “No, please, make this stop. Why can’t I help them?” He looked around. “Please, make it stop or let me try and help them.”
There was another flash of light and he was now standing on a circular platform. “Damn it. Now where am I?”
“So you wish for the power to stop those creatures?”
Razel looked around. “You mean to tell me those things really exist? I thought they were just part this… illusion or what ever you call what you are showing me.” Soon, a few of the creatures appeared around him. He let out a sigh. “What now?”
Once of the creatures jumped at him. To his surprise, it bounced off his chest and knocked him down. “What the hell? They can hurt me now?” Razel quickly got up and watched the creatures. Another one jumped at him and he swung a fist at it. All it seemed to do was knock it to the side and it just turned back to him. A third one attacked and the same thing happened. It didn’t seem like he was hurting them in the slightest.
“How the hell do I fight these things?” He prepared himself for another attack but in a small flash of light, a weapon appeared him his hand. It looked like a giant key. Before he could properly look it over, a creature jumps at him. Razel swung the weapon, and the creature vanished in a burst of looked like black smoke when it was struck. The other creatures quickly faded away after this.
Razel looked down at the weapon. “I… I was able to destroy it.” He looked up. “Hey, take me back to that town. I could help them with this. Please, let me go back. I want to see what happened.”
The area around him faded and he was back in the town, but something was wrong. None of the creatures were around. But neither was the people. Razel looked around. “Am I too late?” As he finished, he heard a scream and took off in the direction it came from.
Razel soon reached the source. There was the two girls from before, as well as Zejx. They were cornered by a bunch of the creatures.
Marin looked around for a way out. “It’s no use, we are stuck.”
“Just stay behind me.” Zejx held his arms out to his sides. “There has to be a way for us to escape this.”
Razel charged toward the creatures and swung, but like in the town before, it seemed he couldn’t affect them. The weapon passed right through them. “What the hell? Why can’t I hurt them now?”
The creatures jumped forward and the area faded to a different location. It was a back ally. After Razel looked it over, he noticed two people run toward him. It was Zejx and Marin, and it seemed Zejx was holding something in his hand. A weapon that looked just like the one he had just acquired. They stopped a few feet away from Razel.
“You go ahead, I have to go back and save Rena.” Zejx turned to go back but Marin grabbed his arm.
“No, it’s too late, we have to get out of here and find help.”
Zejx tried to pull free. “No, I have to help her.”
“Zejx, please. You know there is nothing we can do. We have to go.” Marin tried to pull him with her as she began to continue the way they were headed. Suddenly, there as a huge flash and they were all on what appeared to be a floating piece of land. The sky was like a black hole of darkness, sucking up everything. Zejx and Marin were both holding on to a piece of debris that was stuck in the ground. Razel, however, was just standing there, unaffected. Even though he tried very hard, he was unable to move.
“I can’t hold on much longer Zejx.” Marin slowly began to slip.
“Hold on, we have to hold on.” Zejx also began to slip. “No, we have to hold on.”
“Zejx, promise me if we get separated, that you will survive.” Marin looked over at Zejx with sad eyes.
Zejx looked at her for a moment. “I… I will survive, and I will find you. I promise you. I will find you no matter what.” He reached out a hand toward her and she did the same. As they were just about to connect hands, Marin slipped off and was pulled into the vortex. “No! Marin!” Zejx let go on purpose and followed after Marin.
Razel opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself off the floor. It seemed as if he had passed out or something and was now back on the platform where he received the mysterious weapon. “What was that all about? What happened to those two?”
“That is what happens when the Heartless attack a world.”
“The Heartless?” Razel looked confused for a moment. “Oh, you mean those creatures. That’s what they are?”
“Creatures of the darkness, living only to feed on the hearts of the citizens of light.”
Razel looked to the ground. “So… did that really happen? I mean, exactly what you showed me.”
“Yes. That is how their world was consumed by the darkness.”
Razel suddenly remembered something and looked up. “That boy… He had a weapon like what you gave me. Why couldn’t he stop the Heartless?”
“The Keyblade may have chosen him as one of the wielders, but it can only grant him the strength hidden inside his own heart.”
“The Keyblade?” He looked down at his hand and in a quick flash of swirling light, the weapon appeared in his hand. “So that’s what this is. So what happened to him and the girl?” Soon, the area changed and Razel was standing in a huge castle room. As he looked around, he notice three people walking in. As they got closer, he recognized that one of them was the boy. But there was an evil laugh from behind him, and Razel turned to see a tall figure in pitch black armor. Lying next to him on the ground was the girl.
“Black Demon!” Zejx stopped and in a same manner as for Razel, the Keyblade appeared in his hand. Then, the same happened to the other two with him. “It is time for you to give up and return Marin to me now!” Zejx held the Keyblade pointed toward the armored figure. “We have triumphed over your creatures… Now it is time you joined them.” The three held their out their Keyblades and prepared to fight. The figure let out a loud laugh and charged toward the three. When he reached them, there was a bright flash of light.
Razel lowered his arm away from his eyes when the light faded. One of the three people with Keyblades was lying on the ground, another was sitting against the wall, knocked out. Zejx, however, was standing in front of the Black Demon. Holding his Keyblade in front of him, he stood ready to attack at any moment.
“This is your last chance, Black Demon. Stop this madness and give Marin back to me.” Zejx took a step forward. The dark figure stood there for a moment then suddenly dashed toward the boy. The attack was too fast for Razel to make out what happened, but Zejx was now on the other side of the demon, holding the Keyblade out to his side. He lowered it and turned back to his enemy. “Your reign of terror is over.” With that, the Black Demon exploded into a huge ball of black energy and slowly faded away.
Zejx ran over to Marin and knelt next to her. “Marin, wake up. It’s me.”
Slowly, her eyes opened and she looked up at him. “Ze… Zejx? Is that you?” Her eyes widened.
”Yes, It’s me. Like I promised.” He smiled and helped her to her feet. The other two were now up and walked over to them. “Gwyn, Raidyn, thank you. We have finally stopped the Black Demon from consuming any more worlds.”
Marin suddenly hugged Zejx. “Thank you. You kept your promise after all. Even though our world was consumed and we were shattered, you found me just like you said.”
Zejx scratched the back of his head and smile. “It was nothing. I had Gwyn and Raidyn to help me. With them, we were able to stop the Heartless from consuming some other worlds.” He then looked down sadly. “But even with the power of the Keyblades, we are unable to get our own worlds back. We have no where to return to…”
“It’s okay. As long as I’m with you, everything will be fine.” Marin finally released him.
“I will never leave you. No matter what, I will always be here to protect you. I promise.” As soon as Zejx finished that sentence, something caught his eye. He turned to block a black ball of energy with the Keyblade. It hit and exploded, sending the two opposite ways across the room. Gwyn and Raidyn turned around and blocked the same thing, being set across the room as well.. Zejx quickly got to his feet and the Keyblade appeared in back in his hand. He looked around for the source of the attack. There, at the entrance, stood a male figure with his hand held out in front of him.
“So, you have defeated the Black Demon.” The figure lowered his hand and let out a laugh. “You will make fine Heartless warriors.” He raised his hand again and sent a black ball of energy toward Zejx, but he deflected it with the Keyblade. The figure tried again but the same thing happened. “So, you are able to save yourself from becoming a heartless, but how about your friend.” He aimed his hand at Marin.
“NO!” Zejx ran as fast as he could as the figure sent a ball of energy toward her.
Frozen in fear, all she could do was stand there as Zejx jumped in the way of the attack. Her eyes widened as he dropped his Keyblade and fell to his knees. She stared into his eyes as the light left them. A heart shaped light floated out of his chest and faded away as his body fell lifeless on the ground.
Razel just stood there in shock as his surroundings returned to the platform where the voice had talked to him. “He… he became a Heartless?”
“Now that you know the truth, you should be able to set things right. Remember, the Keyblade is only as strong as it’s wielder’s heart.”
“Wait, what do you mean set things right?” Razel stood there as he received no answer. Suddenly his eyes widened. “Don’t tell me that my world is about to be attack?” There was still no answer. “Answer me! What is about to happen? How can I set things right?” Suddenly, everything just went black.
