The Keyblade War Chapter III: Beauty Of Apocalypse

Chapter Thirty Five: A Nightmare To Remember

And so, Sora and Riku followed Chirithy for what seemed to be hours! They were just wandering around, it seemed as though they were going straight, but with the thickness of the fog, it wasn't all too certain if they were going straight at all! At a certain point, Sora and Riku noticed what seemed to be a crystalline, dark purple path highlighted to the brim with some strange decoration! At first glance, it would have appeared like the Station Of Awakening, but it looked much more eerie and menacing! The strange, crystalline path seemed to slowly spiral upwards, as if leading towards someplace! Chirithy ascended this path, and Sora and Riku decided to follow as well. As they kept going, they looked down to where they had previously been, and they could only see a dark ocean of mist, lifeless and void! It seemed to resemble the Realm Of Darkness as well, but it seemed much more gloomy! Eventually, Sora looked at Chirithy and put his hands behind his head.

"So hey Chirithy, is this what the Realm Of Sleep always looks like when there's no Sleeping Worlds?" Sora asked out of curiosity. Chirithy stopped and turned around.

"Yes. When there are no Sleeping Worlds here, the Realm Of Sleep takes on an incorporeal form, and as such, only this lonesome ocean of darkness looms! When you two liberated the only Sleeping World here, the Realm Of Sleep reverted back to its normal self! What you see is what this realm really is." he explained.

"Oh wow...so all the Spirits live in a place this lonely? Don't they get sad? I mean, there's nothing here, it's practically void of anything resembling light or a world!" Sora mentioned.

"Well, I can only imagine that the Spirits feel sadness when there's nothing for them...but I don't think that they suffer such a hopeless situation! Remember that Spirits consume Nightmares, and therefore, they turn into good dreams! Said good dreams bring a certain sense of balance into this realm, and from the good dreams the Spirits produce, they actually get to be a part of those dreams. So in a sense, they don't despair, because they wander in a happy dream! At least, that's what I think of it, anyway." Chirithy expressed.

"Wow...I didn't know." Sora said. Riku noticed that the path kept spiraling upwards, and then he looked at Chirithy and crossed his arms.

"So, I'm guessing that the Sphere Of Awakening is at the top of where this path leads?" he asked. Chirithy nodded.

"Indeed, you are correct! In just about a few minutes, we'll get to the top...but you will be tested for the Sphere..." he answered.

"Tested? How?" Riku asked.

"That, I don't know. No one's ever claimed all three Spheres before, so you two would be the first to go after the Sphere Of Awakening!" Chirithy answered.

"Oh wow, really? That's awesome! Well then, come on Riku, we have to get to the top! Whatever this test is, I'm sure that we'll pass it with flying colors! I can feel it!" Sora replied enthusiastically!

"Well, we're already halfway through, so let's climb to the top and do this thing!" Riku said. With that, Chirithy turned around and resumed ascending the spiraling up path. Sora and Riku followed closely, and everything seemed to be fine for the moment.

But the oddest sensation came over Riku. He felt as though they were being watched. He constnatly gazed around and about him, but he didn't find anything unusual lurking in the ocean of darkness! But he still couldn't help but feel paranoid, for whatever he thought was watching them was definitely something of ill omen. He was already prepared to summon his Keyblade. Apparently, Sora and Chirithy took no notice of Riku's bad feeling, so Riku decided to remain quiet about it. Maybe it was his imagination!