Darkline

{Gierfreed, the Ultimate}

Daro's Shop was finally back open after months-long renovations. It had to be rebuilt from the ground up after the demons attacked. On the bright side, it's bigger than ever before and sold a wider range of goods.

Daro's hadn't fully picked up steam again, but it was back to making a little bit of profit. Elizabeth had been doing well for herself being a waitress. She was coming into her own, having gained a bit more independence.

She walks into the storage room, finding Sora sitting in front of a desk.

"Hey, Sora, are you gonna help with taking orders?" She worryingly asked.

An exhausted Sora didn't respond. He snores loud enough to wake up a bear, and he was still recovering from his injuries sustained during the battle with the Three Kings. Elizabeth sighed at the realization that she was on her own, but relieved that Sora was still alive.

"Thank you, Sora,"

"You're welcome..."

She gasps at Sora's surprising response.

"So, you weren't asleep at all!"

"You're welcome, Queen Erina...I'll be happy to be your King any day..."

It was clear to Elizabeth that he was simply talking in his sleep.

"Oh, of course, you really are asleep,"

She gazes around the shop, taking a quick census of how many people were inside. A sigh of disappointment escapes her mouth, but she couldn't help but feel grateful for Sora being there with her.

"At least I can trust you, Sora,"

She turns her back on him, beginning to go back to work.

"Don't be getting all mushy now,"

She gasps at hearing him speak.

"You were awake the whole time!?"

Sora fakes himself being asleep once more to fool her, though the same trick wasn't going to work twice.

"You're such a—"

The sound of a bomb exploding stopped her in the middle of her taking out her frustration. Sora sits up in confusion while Elizabeth runs out of the shop, looking around for where the sound had come from.

Sora and Daro join at her side also looking for what caused a sudden explosion to go off.

What they discovered was no mere explosion, but the crumbling of the Three King's castle. Dark clouds hovered over its remains, with a mysterious figure at the center of it.

"What the hell do you guys think it is?" Sora questioned them.

"Something that could be trouble..." Daro answered disarrayed.

Daro rushes inside, looking under his cabinet for something. He finds what happened to be a pair of binoculars, and tossed them to Sora.

"Have a look and see what it is," Elizabeth pleaded.

"Way ahead of you," Sora said.

He looks into the binoculars and zooms into the distance. What he discovered made his spine tremble and rattle.

"What the hell is that!?" he'd yell in fright.

A storm of dark waves gathered into a sphere, pulling in all that surrounded it.

"What, what do you see?" Daro asked.

"A swarm of weird energy combining together, and it's pulling in the ground and castle," Sora answered him.