There was once a girl, no older than sixteen who had long black hair and bright blue eyes and her name was Ariel. She was optimistic about the future, believing it to be an amazing and wonderful thing, filled with warmth and light. But not all futures are made of sunshine and goodness, there are some who fall into darkness and shadow. This girl had a friend, another the same age as her with silvery white hair and emerald green eyes, a girl named Rain. Rain was quiet and cool, watching situations from the sidelines, and merely protecting others from the shadows. She was content with life going this way, that was until the day Kadan walked into their lives.
Kadan was tall, broad shouldered with shoulder length dark chestnut hair and deep, ocean blue eyes. He was a dream made real, and both girls were instantly in love.
But for Kadan, one look at Ariel and he fell. To him, Ariel was an angel straight from heaven, sent to raise him from the darkness his soul had fallen into.
But Ariel, knowing Rain's feelings for Kadan as well asked that they keep their relationship a secret for a while. Ariel did not want to hurt her best friend, nor did she want a man to come between them. She hoped that one day she could tell Rain the truth, because keeping this a secret from her was hurting her inside.
But not all secrets remain so.
One night, beneath the full moon Ariel snuck out of her house to meet with Kadan at the lovers bridge. She wanted to see him so badly that she did not see the shadow that was following her. Rain had gone to visit Ariel, but upon seeing the other girl sneaking away in the night, decided to follow her instead.
So when Rain came upon seeing Ariel and Kadan on the bridge, embracing each other and sharing a moonlight kiss--she was devastated. Something inside of her, in the dark reaches of her heart--woke up. There had been a darkness, a taint to her soul that finally woke up and was brought to the surface. There was so much anger and rage inside of her, that when the androgynous voice asked, "Would you like the power to make them regret hurting you?" she answered yes. There was no hesitation no thought in her reply, it was so automatic that she would not realize her mistake until much later in her adventure.
So once she replied, the shadows rose up and swallowed her.
She didn't even protest.
She just ceased to exist in this world.
The next day, Ariel went in search of Rain but could not find her. Instead she discovered that no one even knew who Rain was. It was like she had never existed in this world, and just vanished over night. Later she met up with Kadan to try and figure out what had happened. Kadan said that he was no longer in love with her, but instead he was in love with the Princess of Darkness. Devastated and betrayed, Ariel watched as her love left her. Something was wrong here.
There had been rumors of evil creatures lurking around in the night, and rumors that some people have vanished... could this be because of them? Could these evil creatures be changing their lives without them even realizing it?
This was unforgivable.
Upon returning home, Ariel found a letter in a black envelope and sealed with crimson colored wax. It was addressed to 'The Bearer of Light' from... the Princess of Darkness.
Ariel tore open the letter to read that this so called princess had stolen the heart of her beloved Kadan, and that if Ariel could not find the location where the heart was hidden then the man would cease to be a man.
Ariel was perplexed by these words and so she left her home on the outskirts of Radiant Garden and headed to Merlin's house.
The old wizard seemed troubled by this letter, and informed Ariel that she would need to visit the Magician's tower to learn more; that she was going to embark on a journey that may take her to other worlds.
Ariel jumped at the chance to leave her home. She wanted to rescue Kadan and find Rain. If there was a possibility to find them on another world, then she would gladly go.
Merlin then opened a portal and sent her through.
Ariel stared up at the tower that stood before her. It was beautiful, mysterious, and yet troubling at the same time. Walking up to the door she stopped with her hand almost touching the knob. She felt that if she went in there now, then there would never be any going back. That once she entered the tower and met the Magician, then she would truly discover what her destiny would be. She had always felt like her life in Radiant Garden was too little, and so... this would prove her right or wrong.
Ariel turned the knob and entered.
The room she entered was nothing more than a round foyer that led to a winding staircase. With no other option than to go up, Ariel began the climb to the top. The long walk seemed to take hours, and still she saw no end or sign that she was reaching the top. Instead, her thoughts wandered. Sometimes she thought she heart a voice. It would ask her questions like 'If you had to chose which would you pick? Friend or Lover?' 'If you had to choose which would you pick? Sword, Shield, Or Magic?' and sometimes it would ask her what her heart truly desired.
Sometimes she would answer.
"Friend."
"Sword."
"Truth."
"Light."
"Justice."
Eventually, She went to take a step forward and discovered she had reached the top of the tower. Looking up, blue eyes locked with hard black ones as the Magician stared at her from behind his desk. Ariel walked forwards, explaining her reason for visiting, making no attempt to divulge the information about the voices she had heard on the stairs. She thought she might have been crazy.
"You are not crazy. I asked you those questions to determine if you were worthy or not." the Magician asked as he stood up and walked around the desk to stand in front of her, staring down at a girl who had yet to realize her true potential and purpose.
"Worthy of what?" she questioned, curious but annoyed. This man was not giving ehr the answers she sought.
"To become a Keyblade master. You will require the power asleep inside of your soul into order to save Kadan and find Rain." he said placing a hand on her forehead and the other on her shoulder.
"Keyblade? I thought those were just myths. Nothing but legends told to help children sleep at night." She was confused. This man talked as if such a thing was real.
"Those who can wield the keyblade are far and few between these days, but you carry the potential inside of your soul. You have a soul of Light. This Light will give you the power to destroy the creatures called Heartless. This Princess of Darkness has started causing trouble lately, and I am afraid she is the one who holds the true answers about the location of Kadan and Rain. You must battle your way to her castle at the far reaches of the worlds, and ask her yourself. It will be a long and dangerous journey, but should you remain pure to your heart and soul, then you will reach her castle."
Ariel still was not comprehending, and it was in the middle of opening her mouth to call the old man crazy, when she felt her chest grow hot. There was something hidden inside of her, and as the Magician drew it out that she passed out from the white hot pain. The Magician forcefully drew the Keyblade from her soul in order to speed up her awakening. If left to chances and fate, she might not awaken until it was far too late to do anything.
When Ariel came to, she sat up and stared at the Keyblade that lay before her. The blade was beautiful, carved from crimson colored material and a black wing on the blade end. The chain at the handle ended with a matching charm. "This is truly a rare sight. It would seem your soul was quite strong and produced a mighty Keyblade. Use it wisely." and with that the Magician cast her backwards into an open portal.
And as she fell backwards, the Magician called out to her, "Have no fear, for you will not be forced to travel all the worlds completely alone. You will find friends in the unlikely of places and creatures, you just have to look with eyes of the heart. But when the time comes to face the Princess of Darkness, you must face her alone."
Ariel watched as the colors swirled and that of the room she had been in swirl and fade until it became something more solid and real. It was jarring for the girl to have been shoved backwards into the portal, but it signified that she had been doing everything backwards up until this point.
Now she needed to start at the beginning.
She needed to find some clues.
Gazing around her with her blue eyes wide, Ariel found herself in the middle of a field. The field was vast and filled with green grass that seemed to glitter beneath the light of the overhead sun. Where was this? Only one way to find out--pick a direction and start walking. There was not much for her to see beyond the expanse of field, but she could see mountains in the distance to her right, to her left she caught the smell of the ocean, behind her was a forest, and to the north... there seemed to be a castle in the distance.
Castle it is.
Ariel found that the walk was rather pleasant. It seemed to be about mid spring right now, so the air was warm but not hot, even with the sun beaming down on her from overhead. But it did feel like it would take forever to walk the entire way to the castle. But walking was all she had right now, for there was no one else about in the field.
After hours of walking, day made way into night and no sooner had the sky grown dark and the sun had set, did the monsters come out. The black shadows appeared, slinking up from black pools on the ground, easily she had been surrounded by these things. But this time she would be able to defend herself and fight back. With a grin, the girl summoned her Keyblade and went to work. It felt natural for her to use this weapon, her instincts easily helping her to make short work of the Shadows that had appeared before her.
She had been so focused on the battle, that she had not heard the horse that had trotted up behind her.
"Who are you?" a male voice asked.
Ariel turned around and met the brown eyes of Epona, a lovely horse with reddish fur and white mane and tail. For a moment, she thought the horse had asked her the question, but soon realized there was a rider on the horses back. Ariel looked up, blue eyes meeting blue, as she finally saw the goodlooking boy who had spoken to her.
"Um... Ariel. And you?" She asked, a bit flustered. She had never met someone from another world before.
"Link. How were you able to defeat those shadows so easily? Most are unable to do so."
"Well... I have this Keyblade, and some Magician told me I had the ability to defeat them... It's a long story really."
"I see... you must come with me to the castle then, to meet the princess." And with that, the boy had nothing else to say as he motioned for Epona to continue walking.
Ariel stood for a moment before running to catch up with him, "Wait! Have you ever heard of someone called the Princess of Darkness?"
Link was silent for a moment before he answered, "She came to this world a few days ago, unleashing those monsters on Hyrule. I do not know more than that, but perhaps Zelda--the princess of Hyrule--will know more."
With that, the two continued on in silence. By morning they reached the castle and the town that surrounded it.
Entering the castle town, there were people, but not nearly as many as Ariel thought there would be.
Link answered her unspoken question, "The monsters have made travel nearly impossible for those without sword skills or fighting skills of some kind. Normally this town would be packed right about now, but with the danger..." He shrugged, "most decided to stay home until the threat is gone. But no matter how many of them I kill, each night just as many return."
Ariel nodded, "There must be a reason for that, something in this world that the Princess of Darkness left behind, or maybe she is here... somewhere... and we just need to find her and defeat her." Honestly though, she had no idea. Ariel was just as in the dark about this as Link was.
Maybe this princess of his would be able to help.
At the edge of town, Link dismounted Epona. "We travel by foot from here. The guards and the King do not exactly... approve of the princess and I meeting, so we have to go through the back door."
"So... we have to sneak in, is that it?"
"Pretty much. Just follow me and stay as quiet as possible and we'll be fine. Really, these guards are too lax since the lord of evil had been destroyed seven years ago."
