//------------------------------// // To Wonder In Darkness // Story: Am I Heartless Or Not // by Neo Shadow //------------------------------// Darkness all I know is darkness. Ever since the day I was born darkness was what I thrived in. Always finding some way to evade the light. Us dark ones when born only ever have 2 objectives in hour lifetime. The first being to spread the darkness farther and farther everywhere we go. The more worlds that are swallowed in darkness the more worlds there are for us dark beings to exist peacefully. But there are those that wish to keep us from achieving that goal. Those with a strange weapon that has the power to utilize our biggest fear. Light... Our current leader called it the keyblade and we were ordered to attack anyone we see wielding this keyblade on sight and take their heart. This leads to our second objective which is to take and eat as many hearts as we can. I do not know why we have this hunger... this ... Need to take hearts from others for ourselves. But it has always been there. Ever since I was created. We ourselves do not own our own hearts nor does eating one give us one. Yes they may help us to evolve. To become stronger, better, faster, but the heart itself is only simply contained within our bodies. We never obtain the emotions from the hearts we steal. The reason we crave them will most likely always remain a mystery to us. While us dark ones seem mindless we do actually have one or two thoughts to ourselves every now and again. One day a thought that I had made me realize something that had never occurred to me beforehand. Why do I wonder? It is understood that us dark ones think about certain things every now and again but... It is unheard of for a heartless such as I to actually wonder; to.... Actually continuously think about certain things. Heartless.... That was what I had heard our current leader label us as. Does she label us as heartless because we ourselves do not have a heart? Or is it because we do not have emotions I do not know the answer as I am only one being of many of the same breed. Our purpose being to take the hearts of each world and swallow them In darkness. I also know that one day I will be slain by one of the key bearers as so many of my brethren have been before me. Recently I have heard that there is more than 1 key bearer now which means it is only a matter of time. I am but a single Neo Shadow after all. Anyways today we are currently traveling the streets of the largest world us heartless have ever set foot on this world currently has the largest abundance of hearts we have ever seen and we are on our way to obtain them. Our destination being the large heart shaped moon in the sacred sky. Location: The World That Never Was/ Memory Skyscraper As I walked forward I noticed that out of the other heartless I was the only one to take in the scenery around as many of my brethren passed me by without a second thought. I watched them move forward along the dark streets getting ever so closer to their destination. We were approaching a large skyscraper in the distance and I could see that off to the right of it was a path that lead to a bridge leading directly to the underside of the floating castle as if inviting all of us inside. I had stopped completely at the sight of the skyscraper in awe at its height. As my brethren past me by I was wondering again why I was so fascinated with something that seemed so unimportant to our objectives and still could not find an answer. For a while I stood there no longer noticing the passage of time as a I simply stood and stared. My kin had long since left this area for the castle. I heard what sounded like a large-scale battle going on in the distance off in the direction of the castle. That only made me notice that that might be why I could not feel any of my brethren’s energy signatures nearby. While I was staring I was suddenly compelled to come closer to the doors that lead into the building itself. So I did, not sensing any reason I shouldn't. Once I reached the doors I tried to peek inside the building through the windows but all that I could see through the foggy glass was yellow light. As I examined further my eyes widen as I suddenly felt a very powerful presence nearby, and immediately did a 180 while jumping back. A man wearing a long black coat was standing there and looked as if he had been there for some time already as if watching my behavior. I could not sense a heart within his body leading me to believe that he was also another enemy. Ones our leader deemed as nobodies. Like us lowly dark ones nobodies do not possess a heart either but the difference is that nobodies are supposedly... the shells of what once was. That was how our current leader described them. Another mystery added to my list of wonders. I stayed alert not making any movements making sure to keep my guard up as we stared each other down. I knew this nobody was a particularly powerful one as the black coat is a sign all on its own. As I could hear the sounds of the battle currently happening I was wondering why this member was here in this area instead of at the castle defending it. I could not wonder any longer as he finally spoke his voice deep and commanding. "Why not go inside?" I tilted my head at the question as I expected an attack instead. He seemed amused by my confusion. "I have noticed the way you in particular have been acting outside of your pack and decided to come see this phenomenon for myself." He then pointed at me. "Most heartless of your caliber usually attack on sight when threatened. Not knowing of how dangerous their foe maybe...... But you did not. I can see even now that you are analyzing my every move." He stepped forward. "You know how dangerous I am and you also know that to fight me would mean your imminent defeat." I stepped back noticing that my body had started to tremble. An unexplained..... Feeling is the only way I can describe it had suddenly taken control over my form with every word he spoke. Regardless with no escape instead of the door into the building behind me I had no choice but to hold my ground. I doubt even sinking into the ground would fool this one. "And yet you still stand, claws bared ready to face me if I were to attack. Yours eyes show......" He then pointed to his head. "That something maybe happening in that mind of yours..... Which is why I am here. As I noticed you were down here while I was fighting the key bearers. Finally he reached my position. I tensed ready for the fight of my dark life only to tilt my head again as he simply passed me by heading for the skyscrapers front entrance instead. I stared at him as he put his hand on the glass sliding it across. "A heartless that can think for itself no... A pureblooded heartless. Is something very extraordinary." I heard a click as the doors to the skyscraper lit up for a few seconds as if in response to his touch. "Allow me to sate your curiosity." I suddenly heard a large explosion causing me to look up, only to find that there was a very large hole inside this worlds moon now, I also noticed the many hearts starting to fall from the sky but unlike my brethren I currently had better things to do than spend my time catching random hearts out of the air. But when I looked back to the door, the man in the black coat was gone. Not even his energy signature was left. I looked around for him frantically but there was no sign of him anymore. I am not sure how to explain it but i felt... better that he was gone. His power far exceeded Maleficent's power. Our leader is very strong already so I would rather not fight some one stronger. I then looked back to the doors to the skyscraper getting a flash of static across my vision for a few seconds as I did before finally proceeding, deeming it safe to do so. Location: Memory Library As I opened the doors I quickly noted that the inside of the building was much bigger on the inside than out. Rows upon rows of shelves littered my vision each of them containing strange objects full of paper. I then realized that this must be a library of some sort and noticed a large ball of yellow energy was floating above in the center of the room across from the door, almost like a small sun. I concluded that it might be what is causing the yellow light that you could see from the outside. I then continued walking down one of the isles looking at the shelves as I walked passed them. The objects filled with paper organized in a neatly fashion upon them. I think our leader Maleficent called them something. Books? As I looked at the many books, I read or at least tried to read some of the names. Unlike most heartless I had took to reading some of the random signs and boards we would see in each world we visited. While I don't know what all of the messages mean I can read it somewhat. The book I was currently examining now was a red one and was titled. Alice in Wonderland. As I opened and read through it a little I discovered that this book was about a girl getting herself trapped in a strange world very much unlike her own and trying to find her way back home. I'm not sure why but I continued reading what I could understand of the book until I finished it entirely. I put the book down as I picked up another one nearby. This one named Aladdin. I continued reading this book as I did the first discovering that the places that these books describe sounded a lot like the worlds I had visited. I kept reading losing track of time as I found myself getting addicted to these.... Stories. Reading book after book. Mulan, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, the lion king and anything else I could get my hands on. The feeling of reading these books felt just as satisfying as eating a heart. And I just couldn't get enough. As a sat and read I had not realized that weeks were passing by the longer I stayed in that library. The noises from the battle had stopped long ago but I was not worried about anything outside anymore. I had just finished reading a book labeled Treasure Planet. I stood up looking for more but noticed I was now at the end of the final shelf. Having read the entire library. I panicked, frantically looking for another book to read. I didn't want this feeling to go away. I then saw one final book sitting in a strange cupboard in the wall to my left. I quickly scurried over and snatched the book out examining it closely. Unlike the others this book did not have a name yet. The colors of the cover were blue and white. There was a symbol of 2 equines on the cover one white and one blue both having wings and horns and in the center of the book there was a symbol of a sun and moon fused together. I sat in a dark corner of the library getting ready to read the book like all the others. As I opened it I got the strangest feeling in my chest, almost as if butterflies had somehow appeared inside me. But as I looked nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I began to read....