Kingdom Fantasy Chapter 2
Of Legends and Fantasies
By The Madder Hatter
"Your guess is as good as mine," Elysia shrugged. "Probably better."
"So you're up," came another voice. Sora looked past Elysia to the oddest looking man he had ever seen before.
The guy shut the door behind him, splipping keys into his pocket. It seemed they were all in a hotel. Sora lay in a small bed. This man had dirty blond hair and was parted; the right side was light and feathered, while the left side was longer and came down in points beside his eye. He wore a black, open vest that had brown belts for sleeves; a low, blue, jean-shirt with shoulder straps; heavy black boots; red, studded bracelets on his left arm, a folded and pinned down, blue piece of cloth on his right, fingerless leather gloves; black, baggy pants on his left leg, blue shorts on the right; and two criss-crossing, red and studded belts over his waste. (Phew!) Lastly, he wore a pendant that hung on a chain over his neck, of a green emerald, shaped like a comet. In any case, Sora wasn't sure this guy was someone he wanted to trust.
"Seraphim," Elysia said, "this is Sora; Sora, this is Seraphim."
Of course, Sora trusted Elysia. She was too cute not to!
"How you feelin', kid?" Seraphim asked, pulling up a stool.
"I'm feeling fine," Sora replied, "and I'm not a kid!"
"Yeah, I see that," Seraphim said. Sora's face twisted as he examined himself. "You got hair under your arms," Seraphim explained, "what's with that look?"
Elysia giggled.
"Never mind!" Sora snapped. "I still have no idea what's going on. You wanna help me out?"
Seraphim sat smugly on the stool, obviously preparing to talk until his throat dried out. For now, he cleared it and began.
* * *
The Excalibur landed smoothely in a desserted area of the world, not too far from the actual town. They couldn't risk people seeing the ship and jumping to conclusions about other worlds.
"What's your business in this place, anyway, darlin'?" Ace asked.
"Not that it's any of yours," Zane replied, "but my business is searching for a man named Seraphim. He's supposed to 'point me in the right direction'."
"So where's the king?"
"I don't know, he could be on this world, he could be on the next, or he could be a hundred worlds away, who knows, but we've got to find him."
Ace siged. "Yeah," he said, "I was afraid of that. Well, I'll escort you to town, then."
"I don't need an escort!" Zane hissed. "Besides, you need to stay and guard Excalibur!"
"Why?" Ace asked. "She ain't goin' anywhere. No one's gonna find her, we're in a field of rolling hills and tall grass! Even if some dude finds it, he ain't gettin' through that shell. Damn, I need fuel! Just let me get a few kegs up here and maybe a pack of cigars, and I'll be right back on duty!"
"Where are you going to find fuel?" Zane asked. "We're in another world."
"I know a guy," Ace said with a wink. "Name's Capp. He's a good kid, and an alien, like us. Pretty much the whole damn population on this planet's aliens!"
"They are?" said Zane. "I thought no other world knew of the problem ... "
"They don't," said Ace, "except for Capp and a few other punks who got here by ship. The rest just woke up here one day, outta the blue. Seems their worlds were being overrun by some shadowy beasts or some shit like that. Next thing you know, they're sinkin' in this black stuff and coming out here. Least that's what I heard. You can check it out for youself, if you like."
"Fine," said Zane, "but when we get to town we split up!"
* * *
"So the worlds are connected by the Heart path?" Sora asked. Seraphim nodded. "But the Heart is also the source of all thought an knowledge?" Seraphim nodded. "And these Heartless travel through the Heart path and devour people's Hearts?" Seraphim nodded. "And the only way I can stop them is by locking the doors to the worlds?" Seraphim siged and nodded again. "But if I lock these 'doors', then wouldn't that stop regular peoples' Hearts from working?"
"Only Kingdom Fantasy can answer that," said Elysia, who was sitting on the bed by Sora. "Apparently, many centuries ago, before it was even recorded, the doors were already locked, but someone had travelled to the worlds and unlocked them. Wherever the Heartless come from, they found a way to the worlds through a connection known as the Heart. I'm guessing that Heart can only be devoured as a part of a living creature, so, attracted by this path, the Heartless travelled from planet to planet seeking out Hearts to feed on. Without a connection of Heart and Fantasy through living beings, the world itself colapses, leaving the Heartless with nothing to do but move to the next world."
"Wait!" said Sora. "Does that mean my world was destroyed? And my friends and families Hearts were eaten?"
"Don't think that way!" Seraphim commanded. "We'll find a way to lock the worlds so that the Heartless can't find out how to get it. Who knows, you may even go so far as to visit Kingdom Fantasy. I have a feeling it will find a way to bring your home back. After all nothing's impossible in that Kingdom."
* * *
The town was remarkable! It was filled with many kinds of peoples, all chatting as if they were not different at all. There were hundreds of houses, shops, markets and buildings. Zane had absolutely no idea where to being looking for Seraphim.
Out of nowhere, somebody tapped her on the shoulder. She nearly cast a magic spell in reply that would have roasted the person.
It turned out to be a young woman, apparently in her early twenties. She had dark brown and emerald green streaked hair, and her bangs rose in a point before coming down to her eyes. It was all tied low in a ponytail that was devided into two parts. She wore a white shirt under a tight, pink coat (Zane could notice the undershirt because it covered the woman's chest while the coat buttoned up under it), which had a long cape attatched to it that came down to just above her heels. She had black boots, long, brown gloves, and a purple skirt split at the side, that went as long as the cape.
Zane felt intimidated, for this woman was most likely very "fashionable" in this world. All Zane had to show for was a hat and a small, square-shaped cape. At least she had pretty jewelery.
"Excuse me," the woman said to her with a smile, "were you sent by the king?"
"Yes!" Zane imediately replied. "How did you know?"
"The emblem on your cape of the red and white 'A'," the woman replied. "Seraphim told me that it meant you were from the Squaresoft Empire. My name is Creed; how are you?"
"I'm fine and my name is Zane; a first class Court Mage!"
"Very nice to meet you, Zane," said Creed. "I'll fill you in on what's been happening. Follow me to my hotel and I'll tell you on the way. Seraphim will be there."
* * *
"How come I have to do this thing!" Sora asked. "I'm just a kid!"
Seraphim and Elysia stared at him.
"What!?" he said.
"I wish I could be the one," said Seraphim, "but no such luck. The Keyblade chooses its master, and for some reason it chose you." He lifted up the Keyblade (which had been laying by the bed Sora sat on) and within seconds it vanished in a thousand sparks and appeared, completely whole, in Sora's hand.
"Whoa!" Sora said. "Guess you're right. Who the hell made this thing, anyway?"
"You're gonna have to find that out for yourself," said Elysia.
"But ... you guys are coming with me, aren't you?"
"That'll be up to the king's servant," Elysia replied.
Sora thought about all the things he'd learned that day. Heart, Heartless, Fantasy, Kingdom Fantasy, Keyblades ...
"What king?" he asked.
"King Cid," Seraphim answered, "of the Squaresoft Empire. That's another world you haven't visited. Seems the king's tied up in all of this somewhere. Everything I've told you, he told me. If you ever find him, he should give you answers. Anyway, he sent his most trusted subject here, and when that subject arrives, I'll tell him what I've told you. A friend of ours is out looking for him now. Though, she's been looking for days and there's still no sign of this guy."
"So I'll be going with him on the adventure?" Sora asked.
"It's not an adventure, it's a mission!" Seraphim said. "And yeah, he'll most likely take you to the worlds so that you can lock the doors."
"Okay," Sora grumbled. He still wasn't sure he was ready for this kind of a task, and he just couldn't stop wondering what happened to Riku and Kairi. They made it off of the island, didn't they?
"Do you guys come from this world?" he asked.
Seraphim and Elysia looked at each other and both said, "No."
"We came from a world we called Asgar," Seraphim continued. "The Heartless invaded it years ago. Us and our people fought a brave battle, and I'm certain the war is going on this very moment. Elysia, a woman named Creed, our friend Capp and I all escaped on a ship Capp built and flew himself, in hopes that we could find a way of stopping the Heartless."
"Unfortunately, though," said Elysia, "we could not travel far enough to make it to this world. That's when Cid arrived in this huge ship, latched out puny-ass piece of scrap metal and hauled us to Traverse Town, where we all live now. The king was very interested in our story and gave us a story of his own. He then promised us he'd stop the Heartless with the help of the Keyblade Master, and flew back home to take care of some 'unfinished business'. A couple weeks later, we set ourselves up here, making money from an unorthadox business Capp runs that's oddly successful, and we're lookin' to buy ourselves a place instead of living in this damn artsy-fartsy, piece of shit hotel."
* * *
"So this Keyblade Master will be coming with me, then?" Zane asked.
"Yep," Creed confirmed. "Here's the hotel my friends and I are staying at," she said, pointing to a wide building they were approaching.
The walk lasted hours; it was dark out, now. Zane learned much in that time -- about creatures called Heartless, other worlds, the legend of the Keyblade and the Keyblade Master, and about what to do next. Apparently, she needed to take the Keyblade Master to other worlds so that he could lock some kind of door and stop it from being overrun by Heartless. On the way, she would preferably find the king, so she decided to go along with this.
They entered an odd green room in a hotel, where Creed said, "Wait here, I'll go get Seraphim," and left. Zane had a look around the room. It was cluttered with women's clothing and the bathroom had many hair products (including bleach and green hair dye), bottles of perfume, make up cases, and many other beauty supplies Zane never dreamed of using..
She walked over to the window and peered outside. It led to a neat little balcony overtop of an alleyway. She was about to slide the door beside it opnen when something jumped up onto the deck. It was dressed in torn-up clothing and its skin was blackening before Zane's eyes. The creature's teeth grew out pointed, jagged and black, while its eyes grew and began to burn brightly.
It was a Heartless ...
* * *
The woman that had entered the room was just as strangely dressed as Seraphim. Sora guessed that this was Creed. She had a big smile on her face as she came in.
"The king's subject is here," she said.
"Where is she?" Seraphim asked.
"She's in my room," Creed replied.
"A woman?"
"Yep."
"Is this the Keyblade Master?"
"Oh!" Elysia said. "Uh, Creed, this is Sora; Sora, this is Creed.
"Pleased to meet you," Sora said as humbly as possible. He tried to make a good impression on at least one of them, hopefully indicating his level of maturity without showing her signs of physical puberty.
Creed nodded and said, "The pleasure's mine! C'mon over to the green room with us and meet your partner."
Before Sora could reply, a crashing sound came from the next room. Seraphim instinctively grabbed a large sword that was hung on a weapons rack on the wall, Elysia also picked up a pair of katanas from it, Creed simply unsheathed a longknife, and Sora picked up the Keyblade. They all rushed to the room beside theirs to see a woman with a staff, and witness the dissolving of a white substance into the air.
She turned around to face the group. Looking at Creed, she panted: "Heartless."
"Aw, shit!" Elysia cursed. "Here!?"
Three more Heartless jumped onto the balcony. With a heavy swing of his sword, Seraphim sent them all flying into the alley.
"You girls search the city and kill any Heartless you find!" he shouted in a commanding tone. "Meet back here in an hour! Sora, come with me. Let's see what you can do." The three girls imediately left out the front door, and Sora and Seraphim leaped over the balcony (for it was on the first floor).
A man with a look of terror on his face ran past them, tripped, and fell over. There was a Heartless attatched to his back, its teeth sinking into the man's skin. There was blood all over.
Sora cursed and batted the creature off of him with the Keyblade, killing it. When he looked back at the man he had saved, he found that there was a sword plunged deep into his back.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sora spat out at Seraphim, which he saw was the wielder of the blade.
"He was beginning to turn," Seraphim explained. "His Heart was discovered; soon he'd become a Heartless like the one you killed. Come on, we must stop this from spreading!" With this, he removed his weapon from the man's back, making a sickening sound, and ran down the alley. Sora hesitantly followed. He was once again getting the feeling that he shouldn't be trusting this guy so easily, and could feel inside that he slightly feared him.
It turned out that the Heartless have reached this world. They were spreading like a bad cold (that devoured your Heart), and turning many into Heartless along the way. Sora, Seraphim, Zane, Creed, and Elysia all fought and killed lots of them, but it was a big city and more would show up soon. When someone found a Heartless, that often meant that there was another one close by.
Much more than an hour passed before they all returned to the hotel ...
* * *
"Nice to meet'cha, kid!"
"I'm not ... oh forget it."
Sora had never seen anything so big before in his life, other than the Destiny Sea back home. He gazed straight upward at a large, red ship, with round engines, smooth metal plating, and the whole thing was well-rounded and slightly oval-shaped, parked in tall grass. It was also equipped with a great laser cannon -- or so a man named Ace called it -- that stuck out from the top of the ship.
Seraphim, Creed and Elysia decided to stay behind and fight the onslaught of Heartless terrorizing Traverse Town. Until they were destroyed, the three would stay (despite all of the room in the ship).
"What's it called?" Sora wondered aloud.
"It?" Ace coughed up cigar smoke. "How dare you call her 'it'! Her name is Excalibur; King Cid himself dubbed her that, and not a finer name you'll find anywhere, you got it?"
"Sure," Sora said. This Cid guy stole his vessel name! Then again, Sora wasn't quite sure where he had gotten it from in the first place.
He and Zane were to carry out the quest alone (or at least until they found the king), so they were not altogether cheerful. And it was, after all, the middle of the night. They were to make for the closest world to Traverse Town. Sora's skin and bones were leaping apart from one another in the excitement of travelling from a rocketship to another world.
"Hurry up and open the door!" Zane hissed at Ace. "I'm freezing out here!"
Ace turned to Sora and pointed a sharp finger to him. "Listen," Ace said fiercely, "this girl is sacred! Don't go spitting out bubblegum and shit all over the place or your head will be mine, Key-bearer or not."
"What's bubble gum?"
"OPEN THE DOOR!"
"For the love of -- " Ace muttered, "FINE! Open sesame, my beauty!" With this, he swiped a card in a slot by the door, punched in a few numbers, and the round, metal door opened.
"Cool!" Sora exclamed as he followed Ace into the ship, Zane close behind him.
The inside of the Excalibur looked far more complicated than the outside. There were machines, wires, mechanical junk, many screens with complicated control pads (Ace called these "computers" and said they were an importand asset to the world he and Zane came from -- The Squaresoft Empire), as well as many more doors leading to many more rooms.
Ace patted Sora on his shoulder and entered a door straight ahead of him.
"You can hang your Keyblade up there," Zane said, pointing to an unorthadox coat-rack. Sora fit the hilt over on of them comfortably.
When he looked at Zane, he saw a pretty young woman, about nineteen or so, with creamy skin and fiery red hair. She wore a silver shirt with barely noticeable blue stripes; a white and silver skirt; a red and gold, square-shaped cape that had an "A" on the back; white and black boots; golded belts that criss-crossed over her waste; and a maroon, pointed hat with a wide brim and a red band. She also had many bracelets on her arms and legs; a necklace; and two rings on each hand. All of this jewelery shone of many different colours of jewels. On her belly there was a silver stud, and a smaller one on the side of her nose. She had glowing green eyes and a young face that was shadowed by the brim of her hat.
She leaned her great staff (filled with more jewels) against the wall and in between the coat racks so that it wouldn't fall over.
"I'm really sorry," she said, "but I don't think we've been formally introduced. My name is Zane of the Royal Mages; pleased to make your aquaintance!" She opened up her slender hand in front of Sora.
He grinned and shook it madly. "Cut the formal crap!" he said; "I'm Sora, the Keyblade Master! Nice to meet ya! Guess we're going to be partners from now on, hey?" With all the excitement building up within him, Sora forgot all about making a mature introduction.
"Um ... I suppose," Zane stammered. She was reminded of Ace. "We should head to the cockpit before we take off," she said; "it's kind of a bumpy ride"
"Can we get a view of outer-space from there?" Sora asked.
"Yes."
"All right! Then let's jet!"