//------------------------------// // Enchroaching Darkness // Story: Hollow Heart // by Dapper Guy //------------------------------// Phantom felt him flowing in an endless ocean of darkness. His body felt weak, he couldn’t even muster the strength to lift his own arms. Phantom could see nothing, feel nothing. Darkness surrounded him in every sense. “It seems that even you were no match for the keyblade wielder, Phantom.” A figure began to form from somewhere within the darkness. A human with bronzed skin and white hair began to form. “It seems young Sora has gained much strength. Pity on how he continues to foolishly follow the Light.” Phantom recognized this human. This one human had the strongest heart he could remember sensing. His power reigned supreme over every Heartless, even him. What did it want with him though? Was his humiliation at the hands of the Keyblade wielder not enough? “It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness” announced the human. His tone carried the same amount of confidence as that keyblade wielder, Phantom thought grudgingly. His want to lash out at this human was subdued by his fear of the power that he radiated. It was like darkness that had molded into human form. “I can sense you desire to take my heart, Phantom.” Ansem lowered his face closer to Phantom until his nose was only an inch away from Phantom’s hood. Ansem’s golden eyes peered into the darkness, unafraid. It was face of a predator ready to strike down its prey. “Know this. It would be unwise to try to attack your king.” Ansem raised an opened hand above his head. Several purple bands appeared in the air around Phantom’s body. Closing his fist, the bands began to ensnare and wrap around Phantom, slowly squeezing and crushing him. Phantom writhed and flailed weakly as the bands began to pull tighter and tighter around him. For what felt like an eternity, the constricting bands continued to squeeze Phantom as Ansem watched in sick amusement. The bands snapped, shattering like glass. “I think that’s enough for now, don’t you?” Phantom recoiled away from Ansem. Yes… Ansem looked down at Phantom. “Do not be afraid, Phantom. Despite you defeat by Sora, I do not intend to send you back into the endless depths of darkness. I may have another use for you.” Ansem, watched as the Heartless remained silent, staring back at him. At least he thought Phantom was looking at him. It was rather hard to tell with this Heartless’ face shrouded in darkness. Ansem pondered for a time as to where he could send this Heartless. It had lost a lion’s share of its power but still it proved to be much craftier than a Shadow. It would pointless to waste such a valuable Heartless. The only problem was that Sora and the king’s lackeys continued to be an eternal thorn in his side. That boy has already been to several of the worlds and sealed their doors. As far as his Heartless spread, there were still worlds out there that needed to submit to the darkness. There had to be one that he could send this Heartless to. A world with a keyhole that still had not been locked by the keyblade. A stray thought came to mind. He had remembered seeing through his Heartless one world that caught his attention. However, it still remained too dangerous for him to send his Heartless en masse. Fortunately, he wouldn’t need to send an army to conquer this pathetic world. Adjusting his white pauldrons, Ansem turned to face Phantom. The Heartless, unsurprisingly, hadn’t moved an inch from the spot. It seemed that he had broken this Heartless' spirit. “There is a world I just discovered that is completely devoid of any keyblades.” Phantom shifted it head. It seems this one retained what amount of intelligence it had, mused Ansem. “However, this world is overflowing with Light. To remain hidden, you will be stripped of all of your power, returning you back to your basic form. Consider this the only warning I will give you, Phantom.” Ansem stretched out his right hand towards Phantom. A corridor of darkness tore open between the two. Phantom felt his body being pulled inside. “Remember this, Phantom. Do not fail me again.” Phantom felt his body being pulled into the corridor. I will not fail again…my king… Ansem watched as Phantom was sucked into the corridor and vanished out of sight. “Now, I must find a way to open that accursed door. Kingdom Hearts, what lies behind you?” With that, Ansem disappeared back into the realm of darkness. - - - - - A tear opened far above the Everfree Forest. If anypony was looking, they would’ve seen the briefest glimpse of a white, smoking creature falling out it. Phantom fell through the tree line, branches battering at his now diminutive form and onto the cold, hard forest floor. Righting himself, Phantom began to take in this new world. Everything around him seemed so much bigger than normal. As he hovered over the ground, he began to sniff out any hearts nearby. Reverting back to a lesser heartless, he had to use his basic skills to find hearts. Grrrggrghh A low, rumbling growl came from behind him. A wooden creature with four legs made its way out of the bushes. More and more began to appear until several of these creatures now surrounded Phantom. The mashed their fangs, yellow eyes locked on him as they began to move in closer. Phantom felt something familiar as the timberwolves grew steadily closer. Hearts…hearts…these beasts have hears… It was unmistakable, Phantom could sense and smell the hearts inside of the timberwolves. Hearts…I hunger for hearts… A small ball of violet fire erupted in front of Phantom, causing the timberwolves to leap back. Their prey wasn’t as helpless as they first thought but they outnumbered it. A unusually large timberwolf, the alpha of the pack, leapt forward. It would claim its meal. As its jaws descended down at his prey, the ball of fire erupted upwards. The alpha’s body began to crack and burn until a smoldering pile of ashes was all that remained. A small red heart rose up out of the ashes and disappeared somewhere inside of Phantom’s hood. The rest of the pack began to edge away. They had foolishly decided to fight a predator they had never seen before and now their leader had paid the price. No…I still hunger…for more hearts… All of the timberwolves watched in horror as the creature conjured even more fire. Hearts…hearts… In a futile attempt, three of the remaining timberwolves decided to charge at Phantom. Each one was reduced to nothing more than smoking ash in a matter of seconds. Phantom devoured three more hearts as the remaining survivors of the pack decided to flee. Phantom watched them run but didn’t give chase. He craved stronger hearts, hearts of greater power. Slipping into the darkness, Phantom concentrated as he tried to sense more hearts. A powerful heart was here inside of the forest. It could sense it was close but wondered if he was strong enough to take it. I must not fail… Phantom rose out of the dark corridor. He could sense the heart nearby. He flew unheard between the thick trees, the wind rustling his hood. Plip. Looking down, Phantom noticed that the bottom hem of his cloak was soaked with water. He had been hovering over a small puddle of rain water the entire time and hadn’t noticed until now. For the first time, he could see his reflection. He looked like a tattered old cloak, a floating white with no sleeves or core beneath him. The bottom of his cloak was frayed and there were holes within his hood. Overall, he was noticeably smaller, smaller than even the keyblade wielder himself. A light could be seen inside of a large tree off in the distance. As Phantom continued forward, he could feel a strange power coursing through the air. As he neared his potentially prey, he flew lower to the ground. Phantom listened as whatever inside began to speak. “Snip of the stem of an Everfree Flower, boil it in the cauldron at the midday hour. Add two drops of Forget-Me-Not, to make the cure for your balding top.” Phantom crept up near the edge of the creature’s dwelling. Through hidden eyes, he peered inside to see two of the strangest creatures he had ever seen. One was a dark grey with black stripes. Gold bands wrapped around one its front legs with a gold earring in its ear. It stood on four legs and its eyes were a rather light blue. A small grey tail sprouted out its backside. “Much appreciated, Ms. Zecora,” rumbled a deep voice. Beside the first creature, a large red creature that towered over the smaller one stood by its side. It ran a leg over its head, a look of worry on its face. “My manes starting to fall apart and want ta at least keep it fer a bit longer.” Phantom could feel the discord within this creature. The stripped creature chucked. “No need to explain yourself to me, Big Mac. Your personal life, I will not judge or attack,” rhymed the stripped creature. It ran a leg affectionately over the large red’s ones, causing it to blush. Phantom could sense an underlying storm of emotions emanating between these creatures. No wonder he had been drawn to them, their hearts were overflowing with energy. Perhaps he could catch them unaware. If he timed it right he could devour both of their hearts. All of a sudden, the stripped creature’s head swiveled around. It’s eyes locked onto his ghostly form before opening wide in fear. “Beast of darkness, why are you here? Leave my home and disappear!” it screamed at him. It grasped a small brown jar from a stand close by and flung it at him. The frothing red contents of the jar exploded, burning him. Phantom cried out in pain as he fled back into the woods. It cursed to itself as he retreated back into the darkness. Zecora and Big Mac rushed out of the hut. “Zecora, what in Celestia’s name was that all about,” asked the farm pony. One minute he was thanking the zebra for solving his shrinking mane. Then out of nowhere, she was screaming and throwing jars out her window. True, Zecora was a bit of an eccentric that lived out on her own. However, Big Mac knew she wasn’t a big a loon that most ponies in Ponyville thought she was. “Oh, Big Mac, what can I say? I felt darkness like no other, on this day,” Zecora cried as she fell to the ground. Big Mac had never seen Zecora look like this before. For a zebra that could brave the Everfree, she was acting like she was about to stare down an Ursa Major. “Well, this is the Everfree, Mrs. Zercoa. Der’s been stranger things in this forest no pony ever seen before,” he said as he peered through Zecora’s window. Maybe Miss Twilight will know something about this thing. She knows all those fancy magic formulas, maybe she could find out about this. Phantom remained as still as a stone amongst the tree tops, the thick foliage hiding him from sight. Small insect and spiders scurried around him but he remained oblivious to their presence care. His focus was on the two creatures he encountered. If there were more like that in this world, then he was already doomed to fail. Reaching out with his senses, the two creatures remained where they were. In this forest were even stronger hearts but Phantom knew he was incapable of defeating them. A small heart caught his attention. He sniffed at the air as his hunger grew stronger. Not one but three. Three young hearts were near the edge of this forest. Diving down to the forest floor, Phantom made his way towards his newest prey. As he neared the edge of the forest, he could make out three creatures. They were considerably smaller than the two he previously met. “Come on girls, we gotta at least take a quick peak.” The first one was yellow with a arge red ribbon in her hair. It’s legs were a blur compared to the other two behind it. “Big Mac told me it wasn’t none of ma business but I know he’s meetin Zecora.” “How long has he been courting, Zecora?” squeaked out a white one. A small protusion could be seen peeping through the purple hair on this one. A winged orange creature with purple hair brought up the rear. “Who cares, this means we could earn our Match Making Cutie Marks.” Phantom stayed near the edge of the Everfree Forest, leering down at the three fillies from the tree tops. Their hearts weren’t particular strong but now wasn’t the time for him to be choosy. If they were to enter the forest, perhaps he could separate them. Pick them off, one by one. “Uhh, Scootaloo. Didn’t we decide to not ever trying matchmaking again. Especially after that Hearts and Hooves fiasco?” said the white one. “Pfftt. It’s not like we hurt anypony, Sweetiebell,” replied Scootaloo, brushing off her friends worries. “Right Applebloom?” Anypony. The word stuck out as Phantom continued eavesdropping on these creatures. So that is what they are. Applebloom came to a halt before stepping into the Everfree Forest. The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders crashed into her, toppling the young filly over. “So, who wants to go in first?” asked Applebloom nervously. Sweetiebell and Scootaloo both stared back at her expectantly. “Well, you’re the one who came up with plan, Applebloom. I think you should go first,” said Scootaloo. Sweetiebell nodded in agreement. “Well fine, see ya’ll are gonna be scardy ponies about it,” Applebloom said through chattering teeth. Stilling herself, Applebloom stepped through the invisible barrier separating the Everfree Forest from the rest of Equestria. Applebloom’s friends followed immediately behind her, she was one of the ponies who knew this forest well enough to not get lost. Phantom followed behind the three ponies as they walked on, blissfully unaware of the monster that lurked in the shadows.