In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
A special thank you to ChasingArtwork of Deviantart, who allowed us to use this stellar banner image.
There aren't enough praises in the world I'd like to give to wonderful coders for the Proboards community. The following have contributed to World Destiny in some way: W3 Schools for countless how-tos and countless of other souls who have helped get WD up to where it is.
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All Canon Characters belong to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Square Enix and Disney.
Her first week here had been uneventful, to say the least.
Yes, all right, being in a new world was interesting enough on its own - and there was the added bonus of her entire world being gone - but Merida found herself missing the excitement and quiet danger of the dense forest just by her home. The city was nice, she supposed, in its own way; there was certainly a colorful collection of markets, people, and facts and tidbits that meant this was a huge learning experience. But that - coupled with the fact that Rikku was still giving her explanations and low-downs - was starting to feel an awful lot like studying.
Merida had never been a huge fan of studying. It bored her, and her mind wandered, longing for something to call to the adrenaline lying dormant in her bloodstream. Boredom led to reckless behavior - but the vivid life she tried to live away from the monotony felt completely worth it. Heck, she'd climbed up the Crown's Tooth, an incredible feat on its own - just for the thrill.
But here? Here it was all socializing and much less exploring. Yes, there were things to explore - but they had more to do with civilization than the wild.
So, every day, Merida would pull on a pair of those newfangled but comfortable pants, a loose... what was it called? T-shirt?, and her hiking boots, and go for a stroll. Every day she edged farther and farther away from town, occasionally getting lost, but always managing to find her way back.
It was about midday, her bow slung about her back and quiver of arrows stocked and attached to the belt on her waist, when she walked confidently past the town's borders - though not without an air of caution. She didn't often run into Heartless, but she wanted to be careful, just in case.
Merida gave a half-grin - feeling her hair swish about her in the wind and small wisps of clouds obscure the bright sunlight - and continued on her way.
Radiant Garden...puh, the name was upsetting enough. Flowers sprouted in small gardens, and with a wisps of a green ball, they wilted with a scorch to their petals. The traces of Hallow Bastion had faded away, and with this Tron, they'd forgotten so easily. Ghostly, the green orb bounced in the alley's of the town; it's mere presence wasn't discreet enough as the system could detect her.
I'll give him something to fret about.
In a second, darkness blossomed on the floor emitting shadows to roam the Market like pests, while their Mistress faded out, clothing herself in invisibility. As a sprite, she flew away from the rising chaos: the flees of common folk, the battle cries of so called warriors, and the clashes of swords. The hidden green ball whipped past then double backed at Merlin's door. The invisibility wavered after drinking in the mana rippling from the house. In consequence, Tron's defenses went off again forcing the fey to sway away from the claymores.
Of-course this couldn't just have been simple If she had it her way and could be as brash as she wanted, the house would've been damned already and the castle would be claimed once again. Of-course she knew the house wasn't to be underestimated to not be rigged and that those Radiant Garden committee had dedicated their lives to make sure to keep her out, but she could play fire with fire. Sending the town into a blaze would have to wait for another day. Unfortunately being discreet was the only card she could play.
Hidden by her magic, she fluttered up and zipped past the Bailey passing no one in particular, or so she presumed. Turning right, she passed through the Castle Gate; her anger boiled causing her face to show transparently. Yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of the castle in the distance. Stepping forward, her head held high and tilted back slightly with the weight of her horns.
"In due time...in due time..."
At the moment her influences were small; she needed more numbers before she could eve attempt to siege. Now was the time for observation; with a ripping mist of darkness, she faded once again hearing someone approaching. Brows stiffened at the sight of an atrocious nest of red hair fitted for a bird. Serpentine eye stalked her as she walked boldly with just a mere bow on her back.
So is this what had become of me...a faded memory...
Ever so kindly, she reminded the world earlier that light was a mere speck that would eventually be swallowed by darkness, and the lesson will be bestowed to this foolish peasant girl. With a sigh, darkness bubbled before her, and there was her gift, heartless, shadows. Once couldn't complain...after all she was being merciful; it was the weakest she could call forth. There was no reason to send in larger bodies for something so meek and feeble. Looking at her garments, she wasn't from this world meaning her world wasn't suitably stable let alone strong.
By being a survivor, she was a mere tragedy, so if she does fall, Maleficent would've done her a favor; she could be even more gracious by keeping her as a heartless pet.
(sorry for the wait. And this is a derp post. Sorry again. I find I have a lot of bookmarks on here lately)
The sound of battle cries and weapons clashing against darkness brought Sora running. When Heartless appeared, he acted on instinct alone, heading straight for the heart of trouble.
As luck would have it, he had been visiting earlier that day, in search of his friends, Riku and Kairi when shadows broke loose. With a single, powerful swing of his arm, he pulled the Kingdom Key out of a shimmer of white and gold. He jumped into the fray, Keyblade swinging and slicing. Heartless in town, amongst the citizens was absolutely intolerable. If anyone got hurt today, he would have felt the guilt like a weight of chains about his soul.
To his right, he noticed the girl with the red hair and noticed that she was armed. It didn't matter to him that she was a foreigner and a girl--she was a warrior and a warrior was what they needed, "Come on!" He called out to her, "You take that side, I'll take this side!"
She wasn't quite of town yet when the air seemed to shimmer before her.
Merida narrowed her eyes, the hairs on the back of her neck rising as the usual - and unwanted - chill crawled up her back... the same chill that was to signify the darkness. She liked a good brawl, to be sure, but the little shadows freaked her out, and their name - Heartless - brought an uncharacteristically serious look to her features.
And then, one materialized in front of her. She cried out as it leaped - there was no time to swipe her bow from off her back. Instead, she drew her survival knife from her belt and slashed at the air. The ferocity did the trick, though the little thing was by no means a good fighting tool; the Heartless bubbled out of existence again, a single, glowing heart rising up out of it before fading away.
She sheathed the knife in her belt again - and just in time, too, for a horde seemed to be on them. People shrieked around and behind her - a few brave souls raised their own weapons - but Merida held her ground, reaching for her bow.
A voice quite close to her left shouted at her - "Come on! You take that side, I'll take this side!" - and, in her surprise, she spared a glance at the unknown person. A boy, about her age, wielding a... giant key.
Th' Keyblade!? she thought with no small amount of shock, remembering the words Rikku'd spoken to her but a short week ago.
There was no time for questions, however. Merida simply gave him a terse nod, strung up an arrow, and followed his directions - which was a good battle strategy, to be sure. The arrow shot through the rising tide, nailing a nearby Heartless. Not wasting time to scoop it up (she'd do that afterwards, when all the tricky blighters had vanished and left her precious arrows behind), she fired another shot, taking out two with one blow.
She gave the tiniest of glances to her companion, and noted - perhaps a tad resentfully - that he was skilled, slicing through the wave with talent, precision, and speed. Well, she wasn't good at close range, was she? Better at picking them off from afar.
Gritting her teeth, feeling the moody urge to prove herself, she let another one fly, and had a moment of grim satisfaction when that enemy, too, vanished.
Arrows Remaining: 12
(don't worry about it Aryn. also, sorry guys, this was almost a week in coming. let's all try and speed this up, we gotta get to the MSN part! .__.)
A dark chuckle grew louder with the crackle of green flames, while the heartless continued to dwindle down in numbers thanks to the stubborn pair. In the mist of the smoke of flames was a tall fey, sorceress, witch, which ever word one preferred. Her head swayed with her laughter insulating her large curled black horns. Her overall appeal was like a snake with the lush green skin and serpentine eyes; she even had fangs when she smiled.
“Well well well, isn’t it the legendary keyblade master. It’s good to see you in good health Sora; I can’t say the same about the worlds." Her voice dropped to feign sadness, but her painted red lips stretched into a smile, “Some have been very busy during your… retreat, but it’s good to finally see you off of that spat of land, these islands of yours.”
Narrowed slit eyes glanced at the maiden with the nest of rudely red hair, “As sociable as ever you are. Hopefully you’ll be able to hear and respond to the many cries of help; certainly she is one of them stripped away from whatever piece of dirt of a world."
She slowly approached them; her gait was smooth, fluid like water, or as if she was gliding,"Oh yes, I hope you are aware of things you’ve missed, missing, losing, lost.”
“Nice work!” Sora called out to the girl, trotting over when the last of the Heartless had vanished, already feeling like they were friends. There was something about fighting alongside someone, even if they had hardly met, that gave a sense of camaraderie; they were warriors with a common enemy and that was enough for him.
But before they could carry on with congratulating each other and giving introductions, SHE rolled in, like poison mist on a frosty morning.
“Maleficent.” He seethed.
As she spoke, his heart sank, filling with icy dread as she voiced all of the fears he had carefully hidden away from even himself. It was true that each time a new person showed upon the doorsteps of this World filled with refugees, it meant that another star had gone out, that another World had ceased to exist. He, who had the power to lock Worlds and keep the darkness from killing it from the inside, had been whiling away the hours on an island paradise while people lost their homes and families. Cognitively, he may have known that it was impossible to rescue every single World, but it did not stop his heart from hurting for them.
He glared at her through narrowed eyes, “Should have known you’d be behind this.” He tightened his grip on the Keyblade, widening his stance, ready to take her down, “Why don’t you crawl back into whatever creepy graveyard you from!”
Unfortunately Sora had never been particularly gifted at hurling insults…glaring menacingly.
At last, the final heart floated up into the sky, and the dark dredges of Heartless vanished as Merida and the brunet cleaned the streets. While she'd still felt a tad resentful towards the better of the two fighters, she'd done respectably enough, if she did say so herself - and the euphoria that comes after a good, clean fight was starting to settle comfortably in the ginger's stomach.
She turned to the boy - whom she was nearly certain was Sora, from Rikku's explanation of him - with her impish half-grin in place and a sparkle in her eyes, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. She opened her mouth for a response to his good-natured compliment -
- but was cut off by the entrance of a peculiar and ominous figure.
The elegant and dark lady stalked over to them, smoke rolling off of her as she made her appearance. Her cold voice sent chills down Merida's spine, and when she slowly bent to collect her arrows that had felled the vanished Heartless, her eyes did not leave the sight before her. The words the woman was hissing at her brunet companion were poisonous, ugly; the ginger's expression changed into a tight frown, sizing up the lady. There was something weirdly magical about her, and Merida wondered briefly if she was a witch.
And then she said an offhand comment about Merida, and she froze momentarily - for they were words she'd thought about the last couple of days. When was she going to get her world back? Wincing, she was able to infer that there were plenty of worlds out there, hundreds, maybe thousands... how selfish of her to think of nothing but herself.
That's all she'd ever done.
Anger caused her to trot over to her companion's side as he took a battle stance - and spoke what sounded like the woman's name. Maleficent. She shivered again, but glared, tightening her grip on her bow and stringing up a recently reclaimed arrow. This... Maleficent person was definitely up to No Good, especially considering she'd appeared where Heartless had just barely vanished without so much a look of fear on her.
Merida didn't know what was going on, exactly, but Sora's internal monologue had been right; fighting alongside someone did form a sort of camaraderie, and one that both parties seemed to feel.
"Well now isn't that a bold statement. After all Sora the heartless has been pretty busy with my influence. That is quite obvious," her eyes shut with a soft laughter before something else caught her mind, "Oh, but you know exactly who to thank for my second coming, and need I remind you that if I was in my..."
She paused, and her sepertine eyes rolled up to skies with a click of her tongue, "...how you so elequently tasted creepy grave, you'd probably wouldn't be here twice over. Actually if I recall we weren't so far from her the first time, so do learn how to be polite it's unbecoming for a keyblade master. Then again lineage of the keyblade wasn't particularly the most successful; I'd say you're doing quite a remarkable job living up to failure."
Hmph, pity
With a click of the short heels, the fey began walking around the premises not thinking Sora as a threat for the time being, "I do hope you haven't gotten rusty; I'd have to mourn the lost of a constant thorn in my back, and all the worlds will fall to darkness..."
...just like it had so many years ago. The cycle was starting up again, and no matter how many times the keyblade rose, darkness will continue to show its ugly head from the corners of the universe producing a greater shadow and monstrosity. Most certainly, Maleficent had seen her share of wielders all who are nothing but faded memories and lost forever; their lack of presences those who step outside of world order made them seem non-existent, a mere mythos. "I've seen enough like you fall before or better yet vanish into the abyss; speaking of that, how is Riku? Still handling that little problem of his?"
Her brows arched noticing a detail; her eyes wandered about, and she felt absolutely nothing, "Well isn't that quaint. He's not here with you, and you spent all that time finding him; I see it paid off. I guess the saying is true...old habits die hard. And where is that nuisance of company you tend to have-"
"Oh my indeed has this became a tragedy," her head swayed with a dark mocking laughter. For a moment she could've felt tears in ehr eyes, "you are alone, the legendary keyblade wielder who found his destiny after the fall of his world and searched for loved one, is...all...alone. Would you like to hear a story Sora? Maybe your new acquaintance will find it amusing as well."
Sora watched her through narrowed eyes as she paced through her monologue. Bad guys could sure talk a lot.
One could see the hesitation in his eyes when she pointed out the fact that she had been responsible for saving him and his party from certain danger. It wasn’t in him to simply look away from a kind deed even if it was one made by such a nasty, dark character. He had wondered sometimes if there was some good in her…
But he bristled at her insult and talk of failure. Failure was not something he believed or subscribed to. The more she continued, the more he could feel his anger rising up in him like a red flame. How dare she talk about his friends like that? He was even too angry to be hurt by her words about being alone. What did she know anyway? Nothing! She probably didn’t even have any friends! She probably didn’t know how to BE a friend. And besides that, he wasn’t alone! Even now, he had a companion by his side—granted, he had only just met her and did not even know her name—but he wasn’t alone. And even if he did stand by himself, the strength of his friends were in his heart, never to be lost.
Despite all of this, he waited for her to tell her story, either out of childish curiosity, or otherwise.
Nothing Maleficent was saying was really settling in.
Merida heard it all as a bunch of inflated prattle, insults and words intending to hurt but were smothered in extravagant phrases so she no longer found herself caring. All she seemed to catch was that Maleficent was calling Sora a failure, and the way she said it made it seem like a poison. Well, being called a failure was no fun in any circumstance, but describing someone known as the savior of worlds had to hurt. She knew what it was like for people to be disappointed in you - especially in a place of responsibility - but nothing quite to that extent.
When Maleficent uttered the name "Riku," Merida tensed up, her mind immediately jumping to her first and most faithful friend from these worlds. Had this witch gotten to Rikku!? But no, the name seemed meant to antagonize Sora... and she said "he" in the context a little later... so it dawned her: This was not her Rikku. This was a different Riku. Strange that such a weird name would be so common... and apparently unisex.
A story, huh? It would be the ancient kingdom all over again, but perhaps even more sinister, as it wasn't her mother telling her a moralistic legend. Merida felt impatience, making her fingers twitch on her bow and her muscles tauten and her eyes glare at the strange adversary. She was ready for action, not boring words. But, after having gotten in serious trouble for rash actions, she had enough sense to hold herself back, and bide her time until this Maleficent was done with her storytelling.
... But once she was, Merida had no idea that she would be biting off more than she could chew in fighting this creature.
"For years on end, darkness was inclining on the worlds to siege it's control and purpose, over shadow the light, and begin a new age. Enough sweet hearts had fallen trying to feign off the inevitable until they too were lost in oblivion, and here comes you, Sora, the greatest fool the universe could produce. I wouldn't go far in labeling you inadequate, but to bestow a mere child with feats that even his elders couldn't surpass is just...down right cold."
"And what's the cruelest thing fate gave you? The legendary power of the keyblade. Now the suffering of all the worlds, the rise of darkness, and the fading of life were rested on the back of a mere juvenile, one who knew little, asked for nothing, and gave everything even your heart," no she wasn't alive to witness the boy's fall to darkness, but it was a history engraved in his heart. Even with the strength to wield the keyblade, Sora wasn't immune to darkness.
"Now our legendary hero is bound in a story to push back an unstoppable force. He can't take reprieve or worlds will fall, and the guilt makes it hard to breathe. He finds himself without his friends, and the solitude is eating away at that light of his. After all they are your light, and where are they? Naturally wishing someone being there is different than their actual presence," the fey sighed, "I remember when Riku was like that. Oh how he wanted to find his friend Sora again, but he was far too busy meeting new ones. In his heart or not, it was quite difficult not to feel neglected."
"And yes you've meet new friends," her eyes fell on Merida, while mentally counting Donald and Goofy, "but they can never amount up to those who are close to you, what's truly important to you. And ironically this is all occurring where every world, heart, mother and child cries out for some sort of miracle, and their solution is slowly withering away from wear and tear. Darkness will take you back; your shadow's growing even now. Do you remember Sora? Because a little birdy told me you have a darker side."
Her eyes rolled up to see if she can spy her familiar, Diablo, flying about scoping out the terrain to make sure she wouldn't be disturbed too soon. Her narrowed eyes then focused on Sora again, "In that regards, I pity you, and I feel kind enough to bestow a gift, a favor."
Holding her hands up, she drew back her sleeves. Calling onto darkness, it rippled scale-like patterns along her arms and hand, but stopped to her long painted nails. The dark fey wasn't satisfied until a ball of dark flames blossomed from her palm, "I can...tip the scales for you. That way your descent would be less...painful."
(I should be fairly free on Sunday; I can take time from homework to do some MSNing. Later in the evening would probably be better, since there's a smaller chance that my mom will unexpectedly spring some event on me that I'd have to go to, so like a time from 4 to 9 would work best. That sounds like a good plan.)
