Re: Org. XIV (story)

[Admin (HalcyonWandering)]

Maya nodded and slipped her arm through Necro's once again. Without another word, she pulled him towards the castle with a skip in her step.

[Haar_Dragon]

Darkness was already covering the fields as Izanagi sat at his normal spot, a cliff overlooking the small town not far from the dojo. But he wasn't looking at the town. Instead, his gaze pointed up, into the sky, and into the stars. It was almost like a ritual of his. Whenever something was bothering him, this was where he went. And something was certainly bothering him.

"I've heard so many stories about what the stars truly are," he whispered into the abyss of the sky. "The spirits of our ancestors gazing down on us. The holes in the universe that the gods use to watch over us. Big balls of gaseous material burning at millions of degrees. But regardless of what you are, you've always helped me with my troubles. Please, tell me. What is this strange, ominous feeling that I've had for the past couple of days? What's causing it? And...am I strong enough to stop it?"
---
"Man, there's seriously nothing to do around here..." sighed Tatsu, shoving his hands as deep into his pockets as they'd go. "Wish something would actually happen." He collapsed onto the dirt of the exposed ground. "But no, I have to be on the most boring world out there. Tch, and that green-haired jerk-off wonders why I'm so interested in girls. What the hell else do we have here?"

[NebulaGregarZX]

As Tatsu spoke, a gust of cold wind blows through, accompanied by an unfamiliar presence.

That, and a stern, female voice. "You. Boy. Tell me about this place."

[Haar_Dragon]

Tatsu scrambled to his feet, his head spinning in all directions trying to find the voice's source. "What the--why?!"

[NebulaGregarZX]

A gloved hand touched his shoulder. "Calm down and turn around, I'm standing right behind you." The voice sounded mildly irritated, and Tatsu could hear its owner tapping her foot.

[Haar_Dragon]

Tatsu jerked his shoulder from the woman's grip and took a step away, turning around in the process. "The hell are you?" he asked.

[NebulaGregarZX]

Indeed, it was a woman in her late-twenties with pinned-up hair, a black mantle covering her shoulders, and a long black dress-skirt, with a white blouse. She had a satchel with books poking out of the top, and an annoyed frown on her face. "Your English needs work. Now, was that a 'who', or a 'what'? Because if it's the latter, I may take offense. And when I take the offense, stupid children like yourself tend to die rather painfully."

[Haar_Dragon]

A smirk nothing short of arrogant crossed Tatsu's face. "Me, die? Like hell. I plan on living until I turn to dust." The smirk faded quickly, and he broke eye contact, looking instead at a rock near his left foot. "Not like there's a whole ton of point to that, though. This place is about as interesting as mud."

[NebulaGregarZX]

She looked around with a dull expression, ignoring his assertion. "You're like a big fish in a small pond, aren't you? This world is puny. Still, I'd like to know more about it. I'm documenting various worlds I visit. ...Oh, did I just let the big secret slip?"

The corners of her mouth curled into an ill-intentioned smile.

[Haar_Dragon]

"Other worlds...?" said Tatsu, his head slowly climbing back up. If she was serious...this was his chance. Maybe she was lying, but he didn't care. "A-alright, well, how about this? I'll tell you what about this place if you tell me about some of these other worlds."

[NebulaGregarZX]

"First, you need to tell me something. Has this world ever seen a meteor shower? Because if it has, then I won't even need to tell you. I can just show you. Why have me describe far-off places when you can simply visit them for yourself?"

[Haar_Dragon]

"A meteor shower?" repeated Tatsu. "The hell's that have to do with anything? Whatever. I've never seen one, but there's this legend about one a long time ago. Don't know if it's true or not, but Sensei says it is. Since he's old as dirt, he was probably there."

[NebulaGregarZX]

Her grin widened. "Why don't you go to another world yourself, then? It's not so hard. You can fashion a vessel from the fallen meteors. They're made of a substance called Gummi blocks, and they're easy enough to work with that even you could figure it out. But to do that, we need to know where one of those meteors landed..."

She rested a hand on her book-satchel. "Why don't you ask this 'Sensei'? Unless you'd like to go looking on your own."

[Haar_Dragon]

"Gummi blocks?" replied Tatsu. "Are we talking about a spaceship or food? And besides, that was a hell of a long time ago. Who says these things are still even there? Someone probably made one of those ships already and took off in it."

[NebulaGregarZX]

"Then you would have no way off this mud pit." She sneered. "Unless, of course, the Heartless ate this world. Then you might end up in another one... or just get swallowed with it."

The woman turned away, her bare feet making little noise as she moved a few paces further from Tatsu. "Here, I'll do you a favor and summon them for you. Come, servants!"

A circle of earth before her turned pitch-black, and from it sprang several small creatures. Like giant ants with black bodies, glowing yellow eyes, and a set of arms and legs, they were only mildly terrifying individually. The basic Shadow.

"I suppose that I can get acquainted with this world once it's sunk into darkness."

[Haar_Dragon]

Tatsu took a step backward. "What the hell ARE those things?" He glared at the Shadows' movements. "And why the hell are you threatening me all of a sudden?!" He picked up is crowbar, still beside him from when he'd dropped it during training, and went to beat the creature's head in with it.

[NebulaGregarZX]

She continued to leer as the improvised weapon passed through the Shadow's head, barely harming it and not even stunning the creature. "Threaten? I simply got fed up with talking to you. This is what you wanted, right? If they just spread enough to engulf the world, then you'll get your wish. Probably."

[Haar_Dragon]

Tatsu glared at the woman. "I said this place was boring as hell! I didn't say anything about destroying it! And what the hell kind of person tries to kill somebody at the end of a conversation?!"

[NebulaGregarZX]

"Your wish was to escape this place and broaden your horizons. If you're lucky, this will allow you to do that. What's one little world compared to everything else? It's just one little light that's about to be snuffed out."

[Haar_Dragon]

"Well...yeah, it will, but..." Tatsu faltered for just a moment. But what, exactly? "...But I don't want to destroy the place!" He gripped his weapon tightly, his knuckles turning white, and changed his target. If he couldn't fight these monsters, maybe if he beat their master...!

[NebulaGregarZX]

Seeing his intention, she widened her stance. "Oh, so you really believe that you can best me? That's rich. ...Come, if you want to see a new world. I'll send you right to Hell! Oh, sorry, was I supposed to say 'the dark realm of the Heartless'? My most insincere apologies, Disney!"

[Haar_Dragon]

Tatsu glared in reply. "No way I'm going to lose to someone who sends these things at me," he said, jerking his head towards the Heartless.

---

It was around this time that Izanagi's thoughts were interrupted. He heard a crunching sound, like a twig snapping behind him. Calmly, he looked in the direction of the sound, then jerked when he saw what had caused it. It was Ai.

Izanagi stood. "Ai? What's going on, is something wrong?"

"It's just, I mean, it's the dojo, and it's bad, I mean I don't know exactly what's bad about it, but I definitely know it sounded really, really bad!"

Izanagi held up his hand. "Hold on. Slow down, take a breath, and tell me what's wrong."

"There's no time for slowing down, Tatsu's in another fight!"

Izanagi's gaze turned to stone. "So?"

"So it's with some witch lady and they're back at the dojo and she summoned some weird creatures and all I was doing was going back because I forgot the money and then I heard them talking and there were these weird things and now they're fighting!"

"...A witch?" Izanagi crossed his arms. "Who are you talking about?"

"I dunno her name, but she said something about being swallowed by darkness and just follow me!" Before Izanagi could ask more questions, Ai bolted back in the direction she'd come, leaving Izanagi with no choice but to follow.

[NebulaGregarZX]

"You must be joking!" She laughed. "Summoning the Heartless was an act of whatever kindness is left in my heart! If I wanted to kill you, you would already be an ice sculpture. I still have some amount of restraint, so I suggest you walk away. The moment you strike at me, I will have no reason not to return fire."

A light mist rolled into the area, not enough to really obscure one's vision, but the air was definitely getting humid.

[Haar_Dragon]

Tatsu gave no answer. He glared, the expression speaking for itself.

---

Catching up to Ai, Izanagi asked, "So, when you say 'swallowed by darkness,' do you mean...?"

"I don't know what I mean, I didn't say it! Just run faster!" She sped up, leaving Izanagi with no choice but to run at his fastest.

[NebulaGregarZX]

"I think I like you better silent. Let's make sure you stay that way, then, for a good, long time."

There was a strange crackling noise behind Tatsu, followed by three large chunks of ice flying at his back, aimed for the head and lower back.

[Sponsored content]