Chapter 2: Entering Oblivion{Cue :
Sacred Moon}
"Are we there yet?""Kyle, you're up front, stop asking," Joe responded with an exasperated tone, as though he'd been forced to deal with a child. And honestly, with Kyle, it felt like it sometimes. It was nice to have someone optimistic around sometimes, but now was just not the time.
They'd been walking for what seemed like miles; then Joe had to remind himself it
had been miles. They'd decided to head toward the tower; there wasn't really any other landmark in sight, even when looking from the top of the Red Rose. They'd been forced to land in the middle of some forsaken utopia.
For the Heartless, anyway, which every now and then the group had to deal with.
To make matters worse, the region seemed... alive. The earth beneath them was almost in a constant state of change, with giant rock outcroppings rising one moment, and massive sinkholes appearing the next, only growing more sporadic as they drew closer to the tower. The wind currents could never pick a direction, at first coming
from the tower, and then going
to the tower... as if it were breathing. The thunder above them even seemed to have a rhythmic pattern to it... a pattern almost unmistakably like that of a heartbeat.
Joe shook his head, as if attempting to physically drive the thoughts from his head. It was just paranoia. He was on edge, straining for some clue. He was positive this had something to do with the Replicas... his targets. It was almost like he could smell them in this place. He was so on guard, so tense, that he was beginning to mistake a dead land for a region that was actually one living thing.
... it isn't, right?The group continued to travel silently, careful to dodge any sudden changes in the earth's formation. As they did, Joe was left to 'gnaw' on his grudge, so to speak. They'd been in the middle of fighting off a large Heartless swarm, defending Mama Odie as she attempted to fight off Dr. Facilier, the Shadowman. The two voodoo specialists were clashing like nothing they'd seen before, but they knew if the Heartless got past, Mama Odie would inevitably fall... so, it was up to them to defend her.
They'd been doing alright, to be honest... but then, one of the Shadowman's stray spells struck Zeba in the back, knocking her right out. Joe and Kyle had rushed over to help, though Kyle was moreso planning to 'help' by blasting the witch-doctor straight to hell. Joe managed to stop him, managed to get Kyle to guard his flank while Joe carried Zeba to a safer location.
Mere seconds after they'd turned their backs, hell was unleashed. Kuja, tired of the antics, unleashed his most devastating spell- Ultima- and not only eradicated the Heartless swarm, but knocked a good portion of their own friends out. Before anyone could say or do anything else, the arrogant Genome parted, saying only a few words...
"I've grown tired of you pathetic excuses for wastrels. Au revoir."It had been so sudden, so... unprecedented. Joe's grip on his bo-staff tightened considerably as he tried to figure out. Why? Why had the b*****d done that?
"Joe, stop thinking about it... you can't dwell on that," Jenny spoke up, looking sideways at the Fairy Fighter with a look of concern. Of course, she would know; she could tell from his heartsong.
"We were all hurt... but we have to focus on what's here, what's now, you know?"Joe paused for a moment, sighed, and nodded, causing Jenny in turn to sigh. Everyone had so much pent-up hurt- even Kyle, who hid it all beneath his typical mask of humor. Even the other group seemed to feel betrayal, their heartsongs telling her all she needed to know.
Oh, monkey doodles...The Time Mage fiddled with her flute as they walked farther down the beaten path. The dead trees had begun to look more monstrous, each more corrupted by the errant Darkness than the last. Every once in awhile, Jenny would spot a black-petaled passion flower, only for it to be blown away in the gasping winds. Thick bramble vines seemed to have spread like a wildfire in this portion of the forest, wrapping around anything and everything, including the small boulders that had been forced out of the ground.
However, as they drew nearer, something they all saw sent a shiver up her spine. Some of the rock formations and sink-holes were covered in the jagged violet crystal outcroppings, some of them as tall as three-story buildings. They radiated a sickening aura, which she, Kyla, and Alan all seemed to shiver to (though no one noticed, Amy's grip on her pistols tightened considerably). As they walked past some of these outcroppings, Jenny's curiosity took over and she glanced into the crystal...
Only to spot a vision of herself sneering back, her eyes a piercing yellow, tendrils of Darkness slowly over-coming her...
She turned away, closed her eyes tightly, and began to jog forward in order to catch up.
As Noelle watched her pass her up, heading back toward Joe and Kyle, the agromancer couldn't help but share her feeling of dread. Each tremor under their feet felt unholy to her, as if it was some abomination powering such quakes. She'd shared a glance or two with Kyle McKenna when they felt a tremor, and could tell he felt the same. The earth... the earth just wasn't right here. It felt as if it should be dead, forsaken, desolate, and yet... it moved.
Titan... it's her, isn't it?I'm not so certain, human... the wretch didn't have this sort of power.
Sadly, she agreed. The earth wasn't just moving, it was very much alive... well, undead, anyway. If Elleon had managed to obtain such potent abilities, it wasn't without the aid of some serious Dark back-up. Maybe this was Xehanort's doing... or maybe, the land was just that corrupt. In a world of magic like Kingdom Hearts, it wasn't necessarily impossible. Perhaps the Darkness had so corrupted this place that it obtained a mind of its own... a life of its own, malicious and deadly.
Noelle looked toward her side at James, who hadn't really stopped scowling since they left. With Fenrir's senses, and a knack for the Darkness, the he couldn't help but smell it with every breath, taste it on his tongue...
He'd been hesitant to even agree to this plan. Heading toward the epicenter of this pseudo-miasma was anything but a pleasant idea in his mind. They hadn't really had much choice, though; they'd waited around by the train and ship for a little more than an hour as Zell and Beatrix both tried to understand what was wrong with their ships. They'd even gotten together to brainstorm, with Silver's help, to no avail. They weren't going anywhere unless it was on foot.
Even then, it had taken steady coercing by the brains of the groups- Kyle, Alan, Kichi- that heading toward the tower, despite the fact that it was obviously a trap of some sort, was their only option. Waiting there by the useless transports would solve nothing, and going in any other direction was less likely to turn up results- Kyle had jumped up from the very top of the Red Rose and saw nothing but the same corrupted region as far as his eyes could see (which, at that height, was quite a distance).
"I don't like this one bit...""Hai," Kyla muttered a short distance behind, looking up from her sketchbook every once in awhile to check the surroundings for any changes. She'd, of course, begun sketching everything the moment she'd left, capturing as many blasphemous details as she could in her works. This place was like nothing she'd ever seen before... except in her nightmares. It reminded her (almost
too vividly) of what her Replica had unleashed on them back in Halloween Town.
Another shiver shot through her spine as the to-and-fro gust passed by them, gaining strength as the tower drew closer. She'd been paying especially good attention to the tower, with all its complexity and detail. It gave off an almost concentrated dose of whatever the land was giving off, and that was just from looking at it. The most worrying part of it all was the golden light at the top of the tower, shining through the darkness and the clouds.
It worried her because this light held no warmth. It held no hope, no joy. This light was so devoid of all the things she'd attached to the idea of Light that it seemed a sacrilegious abomination in comparison. If anything... that shimmering light was the source of this abyssal feeling. There was just something about it... she knew. Staring at it only seemed to unsettle her further. With every glance, she felt this strange desire. She had to see it. Had to reach it... had to
take it-
No! I can't... It's not natural..."What... is it?" Dani asked, her eyes locked on the strange brilliance that was the unholy Light. Her arms, though still holding her chakrams, were wrapped around her form, as if trying to keep herself warm.
"I don't know," Kyle said, a frown very distinctly placed on his face, though none could see it as he and Kichi walked ahead of everyone else.
"Hopefully, we won't have to stay long enough to find out," Sora chipped in, looking to Riku for any sign of wisdom. The two had been on either side of the group, as if to watch the flanks.
Finally, despite the Heartless, despite the fluctuating terrain, and despite the very essence of Darkness that seemed to sicken them, they reached the tower, massive double-doors in front of them exponentially taller than either of them. The tower itself, now that they were up close, seemed to rise up forever, without end.
"Here goes nothing," Jon muttered, walking forward with Kyle, each stepping toward a door. Around their height, on either door, was a decorated knocker, curiously shaped like a Heart with three tips coming out of the bottom, one pointing straight down and the other two pointing left and right, respectively.
They lifted the knockers simultaneously, and pulled them back down to strike the doors...
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