Power of the Enchanted

Chapter Four: Everything Must Succumb to Darkness

"Bye." I waved to Kairi as she entered the town hall. Riku went off into his own home, and I walked Sora to his house. "You're staying with Riku tonight right, Lynnette?" he asked with eyes full of concern about where I'd be. I smiled, "Yeah, I'll be fine, don't you worry about me." Sora entered his house, and I made my way to a bench along the shore. Little did he know that I told Riku that I was staying with him tonight. The sunset was almost over, but its beauty was just radiant. I sighed, smiling to myself. Looking up at the sky, I closed my eyes and let the faint mist spray my face.

I don't know where I'm going to stay tonight, but I think I'll be fine. I laid down on the bench, staring at the sky and closing my eyes. I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. After a while, I drifted off. The lapping of the waves was soothing and helped calmed my thoughts. I awoke to a rumbling in the distance. Dark cloud formation started over the island, and I stood up. The raft! Knowing Sora and the others, they'd go to the island at the risk of hurting themselves to see if the raft was okay. I started running towards the docks. I didn't have my own boat, but I had to get to the island somehow. As I ran, my skin began to tingle. The sensation welled over my whole body as I continued towards the docks.

Along with the tingling, a glow seemed to radiate from my body. I stopped in my tracks, looking down, confused. I held my arms out in front of me. The sound of shimmering rang in my ears, and the glow fades, leaving some light sparkles behind. Gone were my jean shorts and striped shirt. They had been replaced with a yellow romper and some barefoot sandals. My long brunette hair that had been down was now done up. I put my hands up to my hair and felt a bandana wrapped around a Grecian bun.

I was too stunned to move. No. No, you have to keep moving. The others could be in trouble. I shook my head. "Keep going," I told myself. I could see an abundance of boats and rowboats bouncing wildly due to the strong waves. I tripped over my own foot, slamming my body into the dock when one of the boats loosened itself from the dock and started floating away in the mad waves. "No!" I gritted my teeth and held my hand out like I could magically bring the boat back to me. In the heat of the moment, an icy blue glow shot from my palm into the water, freezing it, and stopping the boat from floating any farther. I gasped and jumped back, staring at my hands. "W-what?!" I couldn't deal with this now; there's no time. I jumped forward, landing on the ice I had created and hopped in the rowboat, making my way towards the island.

I rowed as fast as I could, hoping I could meet Sora there. Finally, the island's dock came into view, and I hurled myself onto it. Quickly, I tied the boat up and stared at the sky. Wow... The storm was blowing such intense winds, it blew the clouds into such scary/beautiful designs. For a second, I thought I could hear the faint sound of panting, so I looked towards the sea and saw Sora, rowing with all his might. "Lynnette!" he called, jumping out of his boat, not bothering to tie it up. "What are you doing out here!?" he asked, frowning and shielding his eyes from the swirling sand in the air. "I thought you might come to protect the raft." I raised my voice so he could hear me above the winds. A big gust of wind caused us both to close our eyes tightly and shield ourselves. When I opened my eyes, I could sense a dark presence behind me. The look on Sora's face showed me that I was correct. "Get behind me, Lynn!" he yelled, pulling out the wooden sword from earlier.

Shadowy black creatures pooled from the ground and lurched towards us with sharp claws. Sora slashed through one with the wooden sword, and it just passed right through it. "Run!" Sora yelled as more of these dark creatures came creeping towards us. He took my hand in his and pulled me across the shore. Avoiding the monsters, we ran through the shack and up to the area where we were only a couple hours ago. A figure stood in the middle facing the tempered ocean. "Riku..." I whispered. "Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" Sora called, louder than the winds. Riku stayed facing the ocean and began spewing some cryptic words. "The door... has opened." "What!?" both Sora and I cried out. "The door has opened, Sora!" Riku whirled around, glaring at Sora and ignoring my presence completely. "Now, we can go to the outside world." Riku raised his hands around him and pointed at the darkness surrounding us.

"What are you talking about? We've got to find Kairi!" Sora shook his head Riku. "Kairi's coming with us!" Riku yelled, his gaze intensifying on Sora. A loud crack ripped through the sky, and I fell to the ground, holding my ears in pain. "Augh.." I groaned, looking up at the massive black abyss forming in the sky. "Lynn.." Sora began to kneel down next to me, then stopped when Riku started to speak again. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back, but this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us. I'M NOT AFRAID OF THE DARKNESS!" Riku's eyes were glazed over, staring at the darkness above. I shook my head at Riku. "No." He then slowly, with evil glinting in his eye, turned to face us again. He held his hand out to Sora with a devilish smirk adorning his face, "Riku..." Sora whispered when a dark pool of darkness erupted at Riku's feet. Tendrils of darkness began slithering up Riku's body, intertwining and binding to him. "No," Sora called, and on instinct, he ran towards Riku and stopped when he got stuck in the dark pool as well. "Sora!" I called, slowly getting up. Sora began reaching out his hand towards Riku's outstretched hand.

I got on my feet and grabbed Sora by the belt and pulled him away from Riku's grasp. The island began to shake, and I clung to Sora tightly. One last tremor shook through the island, and I fell backward onto my butt. That's when two flashing lights blinded both Sora and I. When they were both gone, I felt a weight in my right hand. Sora staggered forward, and I noticed he had a new sword-like item in his hands. Looking down, I had one that mirrored his shape, but it was a different design. Keyblade... Keyblade... I could tell Sora heard the voice as well due to the look on his face. We looked around, and Riku was gone. "Are you okay, Lynnette?" Sora asked, taking my hand and picking me up. "Yeah, let's just get somewhere safe." I lifted the keyblade in my hands and touched it to Sora's. "What is this?" Sora asked, but quickly got interrupted by more of those creatures pooling out of the darkness. "Let's find shelter in the Secret Place." Sora took a fighting stance, and I mirrored him. We swung our keyblades at them, and this time when they hit, the creatures seemed to actually die.

"Run!" Sora grabbed my wrist again, leading us to the Secret Place. We killed the creatures that threatened us along the way, and we finally made it safely inside. We ran along the dark tunnel until we came to the open area at the end. Kairi stood there, facing the door as we ran up. "Kairi!" Sora called in relief and ran a few paces ahead of me to talk to her. She didn't respond for a couple seconds before she turned around eerily slow with a drowsy look upon her face. "Sora..." she breathed out. I jumped back when the door behind her burst open with a gush of wind strong enough to send her flying towards Sora. Sora went to grab her, but she disappeared into thin air before he could catch her, "What?" I widened my eyes and ran up to Sora. Sora lifted his arm to block the wind, and I began slipping with it. I scrambled to stay steady, but I lost my footing and began flying out of the Secret Place. "Sora!!" I screamed in terror, clawing at the ground, trying to stay, but I lost the battle, and everything went black. The last thing I remembered was Sora screaming my name.

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I woke up, colliding my face into the ground. "Augh...n...nnn....." I groaned, trying to lift myself off the ground.

"What the-!? Are you okay?" a deep male voice sounded from above me. Someone helped me sit up, which I assume was the male. "Are ya alright, kid?" and I saw the male clearly. He wore a white t-shirt with a green scarf adorning his waist and blue jeans. He also wore a headband and chewed nervously on the toothpick in his mouth. "Yeah... I'm fine... where am I?" "You're in Traverse Town, that was quite a fall there, Miss. An inter-dimensional one, mind you. I was just keeping up the shop when ya fell out of the ceiling. Ya hit your head on the fireplace, and now here we are." the guy explained, rubbing the back of his neck. I slowly raised my hand to the throbbing spot on my forehead and cried out in pain when I touched it. "Here ya go." the man brought over a towel with ice in it, for me. "Thank you... Erm.." I bit my lip, not knowing what to call him.

"Cid. Call me Cid." he introduced himself. "I'm Lynnette," I said while he helped me sit up into the chair. Groaning, I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a small shop-like place with just one counter and a fireplace. Destiny Islands was nowhere to be seen. The darkness must've taken me here. "Well, I'll let ya sit here and rest as long as you need until you can get up and walk around. You'll be safe here in Traverse Town." Cid explained, walking back behind his shop counter. Cid seemed busy with the shop, and I kept nodding off, so I finally allowed myself to fall asleep.