OOC: So we level up in every single boss. OR do we follow the rules of the exp. points system? BTW, thanks for letting me joy. ^^
Past
”Where are you now,
I ask myself.
Are we walking the same paths?
Or are we just living different lives?”
It starts with me falling into darkness endlessly and then I hear snow falling even though snow can’t fall because its silent, only then do I realize that it isn’t snow it’s glowing lights falling, flailing into the darkness and as I fall I see worlds blossom forth like flowers from the glowing things and these tiny fireflies of hope create worlds around me, most of them strange looking on their little planets with their little people all living their little lives-
“This….is what you call a beginning.”
-I suddenly find myself standing in this endless field of flowers and flowing grass, no horizon in sight and I’m alone, alone like only lonely people can be until the others come and they run toward me, two people I know like family, I know them and hold out my hands for them, but they pass through me like they are ghosts and I feel like crying even though I haven’t cried for so long-
”WHO ARE YOU?!?!”
-And then the falling fireflies appear again and I touch one through my tears and it takes away my sadness, it transports me in a flash of light to a castle with high ceilings, and an empty throne that yearns to be filled but no one can fill it anymore because there is no one here in this empty place so I decide to fill it and I sit tentatively in it-
”We were called by many names-“
-As I seat myself in this beautiful chair I look up and see hundreds of people in white swarm toward me, their cloaks flowing as they race to me in haste, as if to a battle that isn’t really there, something I can’t see until they hit me and the world explodes again in a flash of light and I’m falling up into the sky or the ceiling, whatever its called here-
”So much for chivalry, huh?”
-Here is the final stage, a world all too familiar that I see when I open my eyes and spot the tropical islands that make up my home and as I fall into the sky I’m dragged down onto an island, the city buildings zooming up to greet me as I pass them and land in an open amphitheater, with screaming people and lights and music that I’m singing to on stage-
”This is only half of the story.”
-I feel overjoyed while I sing, up until the time where everyone’s cheers become dim and I look up and realize I can see myself falling downward, and as my two selves collide I’m pushed below the surface of the stage which has suddenly turned into a hall I walk down endlessly, a hall of black stone and white stone and everything in between and I jump off the end of the hall which has suddenly turned into shadow water and I’m falling, falling, falling, falling---
”Yes.
We are all walking the same path.
Just in different ways.”
+_+_+
Falling….
He had this strange sensation of falling into an abyss. It was cold. It was dark. It felt kind of like... like he was falling into the depths of the ocean. He leaned back, letting go, allowing himself to continue to drift away. He was falling faster and faster now. The sensation was incredible. The air that rushed over his skin was ice cold and somehow smooth. It felt something like water, but at the same time like cold air. And the freedom that went with that feeling was amazing. The boy found himself loving the feeling he was experiencing, when suddenly, it stopped. Just like that, it stopped. His body flipped right side up as his feet touched the depths of the sea. His blue eyes snapped open to reveal nothing.
The watery darkness was all around me. Even below my feet. I took a hesitant step forward, and felt my heart jump in surprise as thousands of white birds erupted from the floor below me. The umber shadows melted away as each bird took some of the dark covering with it as it flew. Light seeped from under my feet, and I looked down as the mosaic of birds and feathers and light came together as a blinding whole.
I was no longer residing in darkness.
I was standing on a stained-glass replica of a face of a person in a white-hooded cloak, head shrouded in the faint shadows the covering produced. The picture of the person took up most of the oval, stained-glass plateau I stood on. I watched as the birds vanished into the walls of the deep water, I watched as they lost their purity against the endless sucking void that served as a boundary in this still place.
WHY WERE THERE WALLS IN THIS PLACE-
Whatever thoughts I might have had about the mysterious birds was put to an end as the floor below me glowed. I got a better look at the picture depicted on it this time and saw that the white figure was surrounded by a ring of fancy patterns on the outer edge. The figure was in the middle, hands out with their palms up, as if expecting something to drop from the sky.
WE WERE EXPECTING YOU-
On either side, a tangle of silver vines sprouted, thorns striving to touch the figure, but not quite managing the feat. They instead hovered around its frame, as if uncertainty had taken them over.
The backdrop glass of the picture was a searing, tranquil blue.
THE COLOR OF YOUR EYES-
It was then I heard the voice. It echoed across to me, coming from a nowhere that was only present when one was alone. The voice was wordless, but I knew what it said. It emitted the sounds of nothing, but then again, so did I.
In soundless harmony, we understood each other.
”The door….to light.
Do you seek it?”
I had no idea what this voice was talking about. I was about to say that, when something in the back of my head silenced me and spoke for me to the mysterious voiceless person.
IT knew what the door to the light was.
IT knew what to say.
The other voice seemed to almost nod in acceptance.
”…good. Now step forward, Knight, into the light.”
As soon as the voice said this, a cone of white brilliance pierced through the dark water and fell on the platform. It illuminated one circle on the glass, a single elliptical wedge of brightness.
I walked forward. The light swallowed me whole.
It was then I felt a tingling at my side. My hands glowed, and the brightness shaped itself into a blade-like protrusion. My fingers closed around a handle, and the light receded to reveal a weapon of the most peculiar kind.
First glance told me that it was a key, the regular kind you stick in a lock, that this one was just a super-sized version. But upon closer inspection, I found it to be much different. The handle curved around at the ends, creating a circle, a guard for my hands. The blade-the key to be more precise-was white with a small gap in the middle, the ending was shaped like a crown and the handle was a glowing obsidian, wrapped around in the middle handrest with black fabric. A keychain hung from the tip of the hand-guard, white as well, with a curiously shaped symbol on the end, looking almost like a (-dare I say-) mouse head. In total, the weapon was as half as long as I was tall, and hung in my hands limply.
”Keyblade…..
Keyblade…
This….is the weapon with which you shall seek.”
And suddenly, breaking through the calm voice with no warning….something came.
There was suddenly a malicious presence all around me. Creatures rose up from the floor, a dark black with shining white eyes like bulbs in the darkness. They had slender necks that held up their flat, lily-pad-like heads. They walked on two feet, backs as straight as their arms pressed to their sides. They didn’t walk normally; they pushed themselves forward and slid on large, plank-like feet to match their hands. With automatic, gliding movements, they circled in around me, bulbous eyes greedy.
Box-like creatures that showed no emotion, even in their actions.
”Fight….”
The voice demanded.
I looked around, over my shoulder, and found that there were a total of three dark beings. The first to reach me was struck down as I swung the blade clumsily over my shoulder and brought it down on the creature’s head. The thing was stunned for a few seconds, and I took the opportunity to bring the Keyblade up underneath it, knocking it into the air.
The other beings shrank back as I jumped in the air and smacked the single one back down to the floor. It wavered for a moment, and then melted into a shining puddle, evaporating in a string of white stars as quickly as it had melted.
I panted. This fighting business was difficult. I’d never raised a hand to harm someone in my life, especially not with a weapon. Instinct told me to bash the thing over the head as fast as I could so that it couldn’t strike back against me.
The two remaining shadow things ganged up on me. One slid stealthily around behind me while the other openly charged. I held up the Keyblade with both hands and stopped the head-butting assault with the blade, pushing backwards so that the creature lost its balance. I saw my opening and struck it clumsily over the head until it melted and evaporated.
I had forgotten about the other creature until it teleported before my eyes in a dark portal. I blinked and swung, my heart beating rapidly. My attack missed by inches, and the being rammed me in the stomach with it’s sledge-like head, my ribcage screaming in protest as I staggered.
Out of the corner of my watering eyes, I saw the thing begin to charge up for another head butt, but this time I told myself I’d be ready. My hands gripped the Keyblade tightly, and I spread my legs apart, waiting until the being got close enough to hit.
I focused on the shadow creature. With three solid swings, I dispatched of it, victory swelling in my chest for merely a moment before it was replaced with terror.
”Do not be afraid, Seeker.”
The glass platform below me had, during the battle, fractured, and then in a suspended moment of silence, it broke, crippling beneath me. I fell through darkness again, but this time amongst shards of shining glass, like the fireflies of light in my dream……
”Do not fear.”
The voice sounded as if it was trying to comfort me, prevent me from losing it. Mentally, I scoffed, not the least bit concerned I was falling toward another glass platform with no signs of slowing. I was over the shock of this now, all this seemed almost normal, so I answered the voice back in a haughty tone.
”Easy for you to say. You ain’t the one falling five stories down.”
And the voice did something I didn’t expect it to.
It laughed.
I landed, gently right-sided by some kind of invisible wind. I looked down, and saw that the glass platform had changed. This time, it showed a beautiful white flower opening its petals to reveal a boy, sleeping. The mosaic pattern circling it was red, and the background was a vibrant orange.
There was a door at the end of the platform, opposite of where I stood. It was a beautiful door, something like one would find in a church. It was a peachish bronze color, decorated with gold handles and joints. Stained glass of all colors created an arch above the scalps of the two slab arms of the doors, marking the pathway they opened onto.
The voice was now devoid of amusement.
”Now….let us see you open the door.
Can you do it?”
With confidence I strode toward the door and struggled to pull its handles apart. With great difficulty I pried the door open, and with even greater difficulty my pride realized that when the light that emitted from the door swallowed me, I ended up in the same place I was a second ago.
The voice seemed to mock me.
”Now now, we can’t have you opening the door just yet…
It is far too soon…
But you have proven your worth…
Even through the shadow that lies in your heart.”
The beam of light pierced through the darkness again, beckoning.
I walked forward hesitantly, into the light that shone down from the murky waters. It warmed my face, illuminated my eyes…
What I didn’t notice was that the light was gathering around me, and when my body absorbed all it could, it expulsed it, creating a huge shape that at first, looked like me, and then began to mutate.
The light grew long, pointed ears and feet and fingers. Its limbs were panoramically skinny, its head grew broad and flat with gray, jagged wings on the sides of its skull. Its torso grew to anorexic proportions, flaring out widely at the hips as spikes protruded from the bone of the pelvis and the shoulders. Below its colorless gray and white skin, blue designs were highlighted by a throbbing light that ran through them, over and over, like a pulse, like some kind of demented blood.
And all the while, it grew bigger and bigger….now seeming to scrape the sky.
”Do not be afraid.”
The voice reassured me calmly.
“You cannot be defeated by something that is within yourself.
After all…..”
I swung my Keyblade at the monster, and the blade swept harmlessly through its hands. It lunged at me, and I blocked, cringing as if expecting a blow.
The hand rammed into the hilt of my Keyblade, sending me flying and scrabbling to regain my balance before it hit me again.
”After all….”
My Keyblade vanished in a flash of light. I was utterly defenseless as the being charged at me, monolithic body and all.
”You hold the mightiest weapon…..
Deep inside.”
And then the being of light enveloped me, searing in its heat and intensity.
My eyes were blinded.
”Don’t be afraid…..”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He woke from his sleep, ruffled. The T.V. before him played the annual Music Awards, and he had dozed off to the commercials.
But now he was up, wide awake and terrified.
The being of searing light was gone. He was…back in reality.
It was all just a dream…
The dream again……the one that had visited him over and over…
But it had never felt as real as that before….he had never fallen through shadow waters before, or fought with demented creatures shaded with darkness…
The dream began to slip from his memory, as dreams often do, leaving a deep void in its place. He sighed, pushing his back into the couch and resolving to write the dream down next time.
For now, he was back in the present.
His eyes narrowed at the plasma screen before him.
Three Years Later...
I was dressed in my regular attire. Laying down in a field, I couldn't believe what had just happened to me. I had passed the Knight's test! I was ranked V, which is pretty good. I looked over to my right palm; a blinding light appeared and took shape of my keyblade, Eternal Breath. We had been through thick and thin, but we always came out on top. But... something's missing.
Your Family
I shot upright, looking around. SUddenly; old memories filled my head. The nightmares, the door, that voice. Something was about to happen...
OOC: Hmmmm... too long? SOrry, in my next posts I'll shorten them. ^^; And are we gonna be able to rise in ranks?