Riku had told James what he was about to do and as he walked away from the boy to pursue his task, he only half expected the other to follow. The darkness and danger that the young keyblade master was going into was no joke. It was a deep darkness that held similarities to the Heartless that always tormented him – Ansem. His old foe was capable of casting a world into deep darkness such as this and probably would have no trouble at all shifting the weather to make it snowy and icy. All of this just so those that clung onto Light could lose hope and fall prey to the Darkness and the Heartless that wanted in….and if that darkness got in….
Riku shook his head lightly at where that thought was going. No. He wouldn’t let the darkness in. He wouldn’t let it win, while it was possible the town he was in now would more than likely suffer some more damage, Riku was determine to stop the flowing source of the Darkness that resided in those mountains. He simply could not let it win. Even if whatever was up there was powerful, at least it was slightly weaker than Ansem, so maybe he had a chance against. The odds would be even more favorable if James came along too. With two strong Lights together surely they could overcome the deepest of darkness, but….
Riku slowed his walking taking note that he did not hear James following him. Had the guy decided not to come after all? As he kept moving, Riku turned his head slightly to look back over his shoulder to where he had left James sitting. When he did this, Riku felt his Heart sink a bit as he saw the guy vanish from his spot. There was no portal or sinking into darkness that signaled the vanishing… the guy was simply there one moment and gone the next. Like many before him, James had become a victim of the strange phenomenon that Riku could only describe as “poofing without cause”. It was a strange occurrence that Riku wasn’t sure how to compute. On one hand, he didn’t think the person that became a victim of this sunk into the darkness, but on the other he worried exactly where a person did go when this event occurred.
As odd as it was, Riku only lingered on the oddity for a few seconds before he was facing forward again, taking deep calming breaths of the air that was still very cold even through the scarf that covered his face. He let his mind settle with the idea of facing the darkness alone as he moved through the town, looking for a store or something that could provide him with a tool of some sort that could help him see in that Darkness beyond. His search for this light source was a quick one as the keyblader did not wish to waste any more time than he had to on the task. If all else failed, he’d just have to go into the Darkness blindly.
Luckily though, Riku was able to secure a small pouch of useful items such as flint, a metal striker, some loose materials for starting a fire, among other useful small things that he could use to start a fire or cut his way out of a problem. He even got a lantern and a bit of rope for those just in case situations. He wasn’t sure what sort of madness he was dealing with, but anything could be useful…especially when dealing with the Darkness. With the items and the lantern secure at his waist, Riku thanked the townsfolk that had helped him get the items before he was moving out of the undamaged area and towards the more damaged side of town where hardly any civilians dared to stay. There were a few guards hovering near the inner entrance of the damaged section, but no one went into the section of damaged houses and cracked roads.
As Riku approached the guards shifted nervously in their spots as they eyed him cautiously. When he was about to walk past the pair, the one to the left lowered his spear to stop him. Stopping inches from the body of the weapon, Riku aquamarine eyes shifted towards the guard who was blocking his way.
With a worried expression on his face the man spoke.
“Please turn back, child. The way ahead is too dangerous,” the guard told him.
Keeping a calm gaze on the man, Riku would peer over his scarf as the wind ruffled the fabric of his cloak as it passed by.
“That is exactly why I must move forward. If I stay, the situation will get worse,” Riku’s voice came through his scarf, calm and clear.
The guard’s frowned deepened at the words and he looked as if he was about to protest again the idea, but as his dark eyes met Riku’s whatever protest the guy had formed began to fade as his frown became slack and he began to nod to some thought in his head before he was moving his weapon and letting the keyblader go pass.
His partner watched in shock as Riku gave a light nod of thanks before moving forward into the damaged sector. Carefully stepping over lose rubble and knocked over items, Riku made his silent trek through the part of the castle town that had been hit the heaviest by the Heartless.
Doors hung off their hinges and business and homes alike were sagging under the weight of the destruction the Heartless had brought. While the Light had chased the beasts away, Riku could still sense the dark beasts lingering within the broken homes, hiding and waiting until the precious Light was broken and darkness descended upon the area once more. Only when they were back in their own element once more would the Heartless dare to attack.
Hopefully, I would have stopped the greater Darkness summoning them here before then, Riku thought as he made his way to the end of the section and paused briefly before the solid wall and gate that blocked the castle town off from the darkness beyond. The gate and wall were pretty much in one piece still, but a careful eye could pick out the thin cracks and other damages along the otherwise sturdy structure. Following the wall, Riku began to make his way along it seeking a hole or something that could let him out of the castle. He walked for only a short while before from a large crack up ahead, he heard what sound like the sounds of a fight drifting into the otherwise silent area.
What is outside of the castle fighting? Was it a civilian…and if so why can I not sense it? Riku wondered before he was quickening his pace to get to the crack. As he neared the crack, or rather a large hole in the wall, he saw a strange flash of light briefly brighten the way ahead as the hiss and screeches of dying Heartless filled the air. Whatever was up against the Heartless was strong, but at the same time untraceable to his senses.
It could be a Nobody…or someone from the Organization he currently tried to out-plan. If it were either, then it would explain why he could not sense whoever used the burst of light. However, to confirm if this was indeed true or not or if he was dealing with an odd case, Riku would have to go out to find the origin of the flare.
So coming to the crack, Riku summoned Way to Dawn as an icy blast of air seemingly blew in some stray Heartless that were trying to escape whatever was fighting them; however, the Light barrier around the area was causing them to squirm as they quickly found themselves out of their element. Out pity rather than mercy, Riku moved in on the suffering Heartless and quickly took them out while they were weakened. Once the small group of ten that blocked his way was gone, the keyblade master pushed his way further into the cold darkness beyond and soon found himself completely swallowed by the heavy and bitter air.
Doing his best to ignore the weight that pressed upon him, Riku looked around the darkness taking note that outside of the ring of light his small lantern provided everywhere else was so dark nothing could be seen at all. The situation was indeed bad. Very bad, but Riku did not let this sway him away from what needed to be done. First he had to find the origin of that odd light.
Listening rather than looking, Riku followed the sounds of battle as he pushed through the thick snow and harsh winds that sought to keep him from moving forward. As he moved, golden eyes would appear out of the darkness before drifting towards him revealing Heartless of various sizes and ranks. The mix of the beasts reminded the young man of his time as a puppet to Ansem. Back then, the Heartless had drawn Sora into a place where Darkness had completely devoured everything in sight. The world called the End of the World…a world of pure darkness and Heartless. That is what this situation was reminding him of. The only key differences were he was no longer a puppet and this world was still whole.
He couldn’t let this world become like that place, so with renewed strength and energy Riku pushed back his foes as he cut his way to the battle that was getting louder and louder up ahead.
When he finally arrived on the scene sometime later, the small ring of light around him was not needed to understand what was happening. The Heartless was here in masses pressing in upon something backed against the wall.
As he moved, he heard the release of some form of attack and found himself sliding to a halt as a Neon Shadow lurched towards him; however, before it could make a move to strike him, something fell from the heavens that caused Riku’s eyes to widen slightly in shock.
While the shape of the thing was odd, there was no mistaken what had slayed the beast. It was a keyblade! Or rather a copy of one as the one that had destroyed the Neon Shadow quickly vanished into the air. Riku could hear more whizzing sounds suggesting that more of these blades were falling. Each whizzing sound was rewarded by a screech from a Heartless that was impaled or smacked by the falling blades.
Pushing his way through the dark forces, Riku pushed his way towards the warrior until finally the ring around him revealed the source of the attack and the probably the earlier flash. It was a cloaked person that indeed wielded an odd form of keyblade, but instead of radiating light or being neutral this one unleashed the aura of Darkness…
A Dark Keyblader? That’s why I couldn’t sense this being, Riku thought as the pieces fell in place. He wasn’t sure how he felt about encountering another Dark Keybearer, but at the moment he didn’t time to worry about that issue. The Heartless were pushing in, leaving Riku with only the option of reacting.
Without losing much momentum, Riku shook off his shock and uneasiness as he moved passed the Dark Keybearer and made his way to the figure’s left side as he began to raise his keyblade to defend against a Heartless that was trying to perform a downward slash upon the cloaked figure. With a dull clang, metal and claws met sending sparks into the air as the airborne Heartless tried to use its frozen wings to push down upon Riku.
Straining slightly against the Invisible that he was up against, Riku shift his weight about to cause the creature to unexpectedly be drawn towards him as he eased up on his resisting. Not prepared for such a move, the creature’s narrow eyes widen slightly in shock before it was finding itself being flung backwards as Riku used all his might to fling the creature away from him with his blade.
As he did this the teeth of his keyblade bit into the creature, but as that formed disappeared into Darkness, he knew without a doubt the upper ranker would be back for more. Settling into his typical fighting position, Riku kept his back to the strange keyblader giving the being under the cloak slight trust on not stabbing him in the back or running away. It was a risky move considering anything could happen, but given the current situation he had no choice but to do this.
“The Heartless will crush us both if we linger here. We’re going to have to punch a hole through them a make a run for it. We need to move deeper into the darkness even if it does sound crazy,” Riku told the other as he eyed the shifting glowing eyes in the darkness before him.
This was going to be a tough fight and with an unknown behind him, the situation could get messy quickly. Riku could only pray that the one he had decided to aid would not turn out to be an enemy and would instead cooperate with him…
**
As the fight continued on below, the Heartless Jester (after receiving his punishment for letting three strong Light wielders escape) watched the scene from deep within the Darkness that gave him and the Heartless strength. The Queen was furious, but had thankfully given him one last chance to make up for his mistakes. While it would’ve been more fun with pure Light to contend with, the Jester settled with playing with the two odd keybladers before him. To destroy them would bring great rewards to himself and also it would eliminate two out of a group of highly annoying pests that tormented the Heartless daily.
If he could destroy them and claim this world for the Queen, then he would no longer have to fear being laughed at or picked on by other upper ranking Heartless who only saw him as a fool and nothing more. His name would glow with glory and he would be in command of the very Heartless that had dared to mock him. Oh yes. To win. To win would mean many rewards. Rewards he deserved.
But to get these rewards he had to play the game carefully lest he be destroyed by the keybladers he sought to eliminate. So for the time being the Jester remained hidden. Watching and waiting his turn.
___________________________________________________________________
The status of things: (The rules of the game remain the same.)
Town: HP: 100%
Protection upon Town: 5 posts until the flames go out and an attack occurs.
Tag: Forgive the slowness. It is just my way of life at this point. You did great by the way. And thanks again for posting Sel! Let’s press on!
Note 1: Punch through the Heartless and make a run for it. I promise to be right behind you.
Note 2: Hey listen! Isn’t there a lake or something else in Arendelle that can be used to gain the advantage here?
