The aroma of spices filled the air of the house I resided in, and the scent of cooking steak was especially strong that day. My parents had decided, for no reason apparent to me, to go all-out with the food that night… at least in reasonable portions. It was just the three of us, after all.
“Need any help?” I called out to my currently-working parents.
“No thank you, Jonah. We’re fine.” My father hollered back over the business of the kitchen.
Shrugging, I laid back onto the couch in the living room, playing my 3DS. The game? Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. It was one of my favorite of the series, surprisingly enough, due to two factors; Flowmotion, and you could play as Riku, my favored protagonist. As I progressed through the Symphony of Sorcery, I quickly realized I was too under-leveled to do much in it. Groaning, I sit up, thinking of what to do. I figured a little reflection on how I was as a person couldn’t hurt.
“Well… I try to be kind, but… that doesn’t always work out in my favour. At other times… I’m kind of an ass, in all honesty, but I’m not afraid to admit it. Kinda weird, talking to myself… doesn’t everybody, though?”
I get up, bored of talking to myself.
“I’m going for a walk!” I chirped.
“Be back soon, dinner should be ready in twenty!” My mother told me.
As I went out for my evening stroll, I noticed the woods were quiet that August day. Quiet and a bit chilly… but I always enjoyed a little bit of cold. The once-sparse treeline started to thicken as I went deeper into my parent’s property, the delicate leaves crunching under my firm boots, the rigid branches unmoving in the silent wind. I whistled a light tune, disrupting the enjoyable silence. The setting sun gave the forest a faint glow, and it gave my tune the right environment to be soothing. While I was walking, I noticed a few snowshoe hares, their coats a mix of their summer and winter variation. As I eventually reached my favorite spot, a clearing with a small little shack in the corner my dad and I built years ago, I noticed one of the shadows was… was it moving? Shrugging it off as my imagination, I walked towards the shack. I heard another set of footsteps join mine, and I whirled around… to find nothing.
“It’s probably just your imagination, Jonah. Nobody else lives around these parts other than your parents, so just keep on walking…”
As I turned back around, I nearly screamed. Well, actually, I did scream. A vaguely human shape seemingly made out of shadows stood in front of me, looking down on me… I think. It had no eyes, or mouth. I attempted to walk backwards, my fear level cranking up to eleven, but tripped over a log. Tendrils slowly slithered out from the beast’s back, and made their way towards me. I got up after a moment’s hesitation and ran away from it, but I felt something… cold grab my arm. I attempted to rip my limb out of its grasp, but to no avail. Another tentacle grabbed my other arm, and it started to pull me back towards the… thing. It pulled out a black heart-shaped object, which was swirling with purple… water? It slammed it into my chest, breaking apart, the fluids inside enveloping me, until it eventually covered my eyes. I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe. I blacked out.
As I woke from my unexpected slumber, my face became best friends with the cold, stone ground. Shaking my head from my dazed pain, I realized my body felt… different? Taller, maybe? I wasn’t sure at the time, but I knew something was different.
When I sat up and opened my eyes, I was met with… well, technicolour horses, and a crumbling stone castle.. Two had horns, one being a snow white with a purple mane, the other a deep lavender with a purple mane that had two pink stripes in it. Two more had wings, one's coat being a sky blue, with a rainbow mane. The other weird horse with wings had a pink mane, with a butter yellow coat. The third to last one had a pink mane that looked like bubbles, and the fur was the same colour. The one’s that caught my attention, however, had both wings and a horn; one being much smaller than the other. The small one had a somewhat dark blue mane, and a purple layer of fur. The taller one had a coating of fur as white as clouds. It’s mane was mixed with an odd assortment of colours; blue, teal, purple, and pink, as was its tail.
Baffled as I was, I couldn’t do much, other than stare at them, slack-jawed. They immediately start speaking in loud voices, but there was one issue.
They weren’t speaking English.
After a few moments of silence, the rainbow maned one tackled me at high speeds, fast enough that I couldn’t react. It sent me flying backwards, crashing through an old and brittle stained glass window. I landed on the dirt, screaming in pain.
What? You would have too in my situation.
Somehow mustering the strength to run, not wanting to die, I got up and ran. A rainbow streak flew above the forest roof-- when did I enter a forest? Not caring about that detail just yet, I kept running, not bothering to stop for a break. Eventually, the streak disappeared, and I finally collapsed.
“What… how am I… where am I….” My exhausted muscles burned so much, and I continued laying there, before I heard… water, rippling? I’m still not sure how to describe it. I looked up, and spotted a creature forming in the shadow of the tree branches, one that I wish had never existed.
It was a Heartless. A Shadow, to be precise. It was pitch black, and somewhat hunched over, with decently sized claws. It couldn't have come up to my waist when I was standing, though.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, Heartless weren’t real! None of this could be real! Technicolor ponies? That’s far-fetched enough, but a Heartless?! I think I might be crazy. But crazy or not, it was either fight or flight. I was about to choose flight…
Before the Way To The Dawn Keyblade appeared in my hand.
My whole body protested against me getting up, but I had no choice if I wanted to live. I slowly got to my feet, and held the Keyblade in Riku’s typical fighting stance; Keyblade held over the head, palm open and facing the Heartless. If felt… natural, somehow. It leapt at me, and scratched me with its claws before I had time to react. Gasping in pain, I staggered back, before taking the same position once more. It circled around me and jumped, tearing up my back and bloodying it. It jumped back in front of me to try and hit me once again. As it was jumping, I slashed, hoping to land a shot, or else I would have probably died.
Lady Luck was smiling on me, at least a little bit today.
As I slashed it's chest, the Heartless slowly dissolved into shadow, and I kneeled on the ground.
“What’s… going… on…?”
Those were my last thoughts before I fell unconscious.
Author's Note
Well, here ya have it, folks! Here's what I've been working on for a fair while! Better than my last fic, isn't it? Well, my goal is to try and get a chapter out each Sunday.
--Chaotic Speed
