Darkness has awakened

There was darkness all around me and nothing else. I felt as if I had awakened in a dream from a deep slumber without dreams.

Far off in the distance a feeble light appeared. It came closer, getting bigger and my eyes were attracted to it. After a few seconds I found out that it was the other way round, I was falling towards it.

My destination wasn't just a spark in the middle of the darkness. As I got closer I understood that it was a blue circular pillar, with strange signs engraved on it.

The external pattern on the pillar was decorated with small white stars, inscribed in circles that surrounded a bigger one. Inside of the inner circle, there were five differently colored triangles. Each of them contained other smaller circles which had different images represented on them. Those symbols were a fox, a cobra snake, a leopard, a bear and an unicorn.

I gently landed on the platform, noticing that its light wasn't as bright as it had appeared at first. It was just enchanted by the impending darkness which surrounded it.

There was no one in that place, just me. I didn't even try to call out for somebody. Everything was extremely unreal: I was there, alone, without any memory of who I was, with no idea on where I was, and I wasn't able to discern what was the purpose of the place in which I found myself. After looking at the symbols, I found myself able to recognize the animals represented on them.

The thought of being alone that place made me feel sad but then, a voice spoke in a calm and peaceful tone "Which Union does your heart belong to?"

The five symbols appeared into the air above my head. I didn't understand what I was supposed to do at first, I just deduced that I had to choose one of those animals. I remember opening my mouth as the words came out "I choose Leopardos."

I couldn't tell how I knew the name of the union. Actually, I couldn't tell if all of it was a dream or reality either.

After I spoke those words, something similar to black smoke came towards me. The light of the platform began to fade away, as I was shrouded in darkness.

For a moment I felt as if I was falling asleep once again, but then I heard a voice "Wake up man! It isn't the time to sleep, It's time to arise!"When I opened my eyes I saw a small guy.

"Who… Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Jiminy Cricket! Nice to meet ya, young man!" he answered. He was very small and with pale green skin. He wore a blue cylindrical hat, a red shirt under a black jacket and, he held a small red umbrella in his little hand.

After he spoke two other figures came closer from the darkness. Once they came into view, I was surprised and said "A duck? And a mouse?"

"Hi pal, i'm Mickey," The mouse said.

The duck introduced himself too, with a strange voice which was difficult to understand "I'm Donald!"

Mickey wore a black coat while Donald a blue and black robe with a purple hat on his head.

"What's this place?" I asked.

"Oh don't worry friend, this is just a dream. The place where you are in truth isn't so bad." Mickey said. what was he talking about?

"You'll start a new journey. Just don't give up on your way, and be strong for you and your friends," he continued.

Donald agreed with him and added "Yeah! And don't forget: things can go bad, but they will get worse if you don't do something to settle them right."He seemed satisfied after having said that, even if what he said was obvious.

"And remember one more thing… You have the power to hurt others or to heal their injuries. This is the power of words and actions!" Jiminy said.

"What's happening to you?" ,I asked as they started to disappear. I didn't know them but I was still worried for them.

"It's ok, our time is up. You'll wake up soon and we have to go back. Maybe we'll meet again in the future," Mickey answered, as they slowly vanished in darkness.

For an instant I was alone again, but suddenly a boy appeared from the shadows . This one was a human like me. He had yellow hair and brown eyes and was taller than me.

He walked towards me with a friendly smile on his face "Hey, you should be a new one! This is my first time inside someone else's dream," He said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Niar, the pleasure is mine! Well, I should be your… how should I put it? Mentor?"

"Mentor?" I had to admit that the situation was getting more and more convoluted.

"Yes, you see, every time someone new comes, one of us is sent inside these kind of dreams. We are the teachers for novices like you."

"Novices? Of what?"

"Of the Union obviously!"

During all the conversation he kept his smile, which was suddenly replaced with a surprised expression when a strange sword appeared in my hand , creating a light under my feet.

"Mh, you are awakening. Listen: when you are awake, come to find me at the dormitory'ssquare. There is a fountain with the statue of our master."His words seemed distant as everything was being covered in light.

I closed my eyes blinded by the sudden luminosity, and when I opened them again the darkness had disappeared. I wasn't inside that empty place anymore; I was in a city. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and a few clouds where floating in the air. There was a gentle wind, it caressed my face and making my brown hair flutter. I stayed motionless for a moment, confused. The strange sword was still in my hand. Now I could see it clearly: the hilt was blue with a charm connected to it through a little chain and, the steel blade ended with a silver star.

I didn't know what to do, so I started to walk.

After a few seconds, three strange creatures came out from nowhere. They were completely black with yellow eyes, devoid of a mouth and with two antennae on their round heads. They moved continuously, as if they were nervous about something.

I looked at them surprised and before I could even say "Hi" a voice spoke "Don't stay there like a dead fish! Use the keyblade!". I looked around me but saw no one.

One of those black things lunged at me out of the blue, and I hit it instinctively with the sword to protect my face. The creature fell on the ground near my feet and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Yes! Come on, just destroy them before they kill you!"exclaimed the voice as the other two black things came closer, with the intent of… maybe tear my face apart.

Without thinking I held the sword with two hands and pointed it in front of me. Instantaneously lightning rained down from the sky incinerating the two things. My eyes were wide open in astonishment and my mind was trying hard to process what had just happened.

Suddenly something touched my leg saying "Well done!".

I turned around and saw a strange cat with a pouch on its chest. I was still traumatized by the recent experience with the black creatures so, I tried to hit it.

"Hey what hell are you doing?! Do you want to kill me?!" It said, as it evaded the attack easily.

"Yes. Shouldn't i?" I answered with a surprised expression.

"Of course not!" it shouted.

After I made sure that the stuffed animal in front of me wouldn't have tried to kill me, we started to talk about the black things that attacked me. "Those things were the heartless: they look for hearts and, wherever they go, the darkness spreads" it explained.

I didn't totally understand those words. Why were those creatures trying to take hearts? It was creepy. "Heartless? Are you saying they attacked me to take… my heart?"

The small grey thing answered "Yes, and because you are a keyblade wielder too. That weapon is the thing that the heartless fear the most. Your purpose as a keyblade wielder is to collect lux."

I was completely at a loss of words and said "… What?"

"Yeah I know you're confused. Don't worry, I have been assigned to watch over you and I'll teach you everything you need to know. I am Chirithy. For now I'll guide you to the dormitory. Keep your eyes open, I think we'll see more heartless on the way."

"The dormitory? A boy I met told me that I had to find him at the fountain in the dormitory'ssquare."

Chirity didn't seem so surprised "I see. That's good, he could help you during your missions. Let's go!" it never asked me my name, and, for some reason, I thought he already knew it.

I had no idea of what to do next, and following that sort of stuffed animal was the only reasonable thing that I could think of. We walked together for two minutes until another heartless appeared. "Come on, destroy it. That should be easy, you had the dream." Chirithy said.

"The dream?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, they didn't tell you. Well, just kill that heartless, and after that we'll talk!"

This time the fight was simple since I had only one opponent in front of me, and a very small one indeed.

I ran towards it and hit it with the keyblade but I didn't manage to destroy it. The heartless had flattened on the ground like a painting, moving quickly out of reach . It took form again on the wall of a house and I tried to strike again without any success.

The situation was ridiculous, it was like the game "Smack a mole" but more dynamic. I kept moving around on the chase while the heartless kept evading every hit.

Probably Chirithy became quickly bored by it "Oh for my master! What the heck are you doing?!"

"I am… testing its stamina!" I said sarcastically.

"That doesn't make sense! The heartless don't get tired!"Chirity commented.

"I was kidding! Don't you see what that thing is doing?!" I exclaimed pointing at the heartless which was running around like a crazy ant.

"Obviously it's trying to save itself! Don't try to catch it, use the skills you've learned inside the dream" Chirithy replied.

I had no idea what he was talking about "What skills? I didn't learn anything!"

"You had the dream like every single new keyblade wielder. In that dream you've seen people from other worlds, so now you can use their powers. Do you remember the thunder you summoned before?"

"Are you saying that I have learned something while dreaming?"

"Precisely! You just have to follow your instinct and what you've learned will come out."

I couldn't help but thinking that the cat was completely crazy, but without giving me time to elaborate on it, the heartless had approached me from the front, ready to attack. My body moved without getting any input from me and, as I jumped seven white swords appeared around me. I pointed the keyblade towards the heartless and instantaneously the swords were launched in its direction, creating an explosion of light as they came into contact with their target.

'Cool' I thought before falling down on my back. Before continuing our journey, Chirithy explained me how the dream works. "You see, every single event that happens during the life of a person becomes part of that person itself. If a person meets kind people, probably that person will be kind with the others. If a person has suffered because of others, maybe he will try to avoid contact with anyone else. The dreams follow this rule. When you have one it becomes part of you, it becomes your power."

After hearing those words, I wondered what would happen if someone dreamed of destroying an entire planet. Would he be all powerful? Of course that wasn't possible according to Chirity. It went on to tell me the general rule on how to obtain these powers. In order to learn a new one I had to dream the person to whom it was related.

We continued to walk towards the dormitory and we were attacked multiple times by heartless on the way. I conjured the blades to kill them every time so they weren't a problem. I couldn't tell why, but it was so easy to use after learning about it. Doing it now felt natural, like breathing.

I started to feel a little tired, and I really wanted to find a bed somewhere, or at least a chair. But those things weren't on the roads obviously. We passed through a square with a fountain, and I hoped that it was the dormitory's square but as it turned out, it wasn't. According to the guy of the dream, Niar, the fountain we were heading to had the statue of our "master".

I didn't even know who this 'Master' was. This fountain was simple and large and, I went near it.

I looked at the water and saw my face. My features were delicate, especially my brown eyes. They were almost like those of a girl.

I sat on the border of the fountain to catch a breath and moved my hand inside the water. It was relaxing. Chirithy was looking around, maybe worried of another heartless attack. We stayed there for just two or three minutes, then we started to walk again.

We still had some distance to walk but at least the weather was sunny, and I appreciated it.

In the end, we arrived at the right fountain, and this time I wasn't the only human. There were other people with their own talking cat or without it. They were all round the fountain: Someone was sitting on the border, while someone else was washing his face and, the others were talking.

"So, who is the guy you saw in your dream?" Chirithy asked.

"Well… " I replied without seeing him anywhere.

In that moment a hand touched my shoulder and I heard a voice "Hey, there you are!".

I instantly turned around, and saw Niar.

"I thought that I had to save you from the heartless since you took so much time to get here" he said.

Niar then added "So, how are you know? you looked as if you were almost dead when we met in your dream."

"Well… I'm fine thank you. A-and you?" I was a little embarrassed by all of it since, in that moment, I was like the noob of the game.

"I couldn't feel better!" he answered, giving me a little punch on my chest. After that, with a great smile, he asked me "Now I think you should introduce yourself. So, what's your name pal?"

And I started introducing myself "My name is…"

Did you like it? Let me know and, if you do, I will continue this story.

Author's note

Hello everyone, my name is Vadexid. This is my first fanfic. Please don't kill me if my English sucks since it's not my native language. This work is inspired by "Kingdom hearts unchained x" and I don't own anything apart from my ocs. I hope you enjoy it.