Kingdom Hearts: Trinity

[Imperfectionist]

The Trinity is Formed

“The three of you… are Chosen. You alone are the champions of the Realm of Light; no others but the Trinity can save it from the Darkness. You will be challenged, you will be forced to fight, and you may lose, but you cannot. For if you fall, Light falls with you, and in the Hearts of the Worlds, Darkness only will reign...”
–Mella, the Ancient Seer

-----
The OOC thread.

Please Read: The Prologue, first posts from Alex and Sebastion.

I've been feeling restless lately... Does any of this really matter? Even when I bite, scratch and claw for a taste of real freedom... nothing ever changes. Its starting to feel like a long long dream, merely going through the motions day in and day out...

The room was dark, only lit with the dimmest of lights descending from a tall ceiling. A faint mist seemed to waft around the room, what little bits of light within the room reflecting off of it. Sounds of feet shuffling and hushed yet excited voices were all that set upon her ears. Upon the tall darkened stage stood a woman steeped in androgyny. Short unkept black hair fell just above her shoulders, contrasting with the white of a simple collared shirt she wore. Thin non-descriptive form ran down to a thin pair deep blue jeans, loosely hoisted by a brown leather belt. Strapped to the belt was a small knife, snugly holstered but clearly visible at all times. Stage lights shut on one by one with a resounding thunk. The stage was lit, the young woman which stood in the center was illuminated in an instant. She stood before a microphone stand, head hung slightly, eyes closed as if she slept in that very position. The crowd below all turned towards the stage, growing hush in anticipation. The room became impossibly quiet. Sharp eyes slowly opened to gaze upon the crowd. The woman spotted but a few familiar faces within the crowd.

She stepped forward to grasp the microphone, but then everything seemed to stop. Color seemed to drain from the scene in all but two finite points. The point in which she stood, and a second positioned within the center of the crowd. Her eyes immediately snapped to that point, mouth going a bit ajar and eyes widening slightly in shock at the sight before her. In the center of the crowd stood a perfect reflection of herself, eyes shut with a faint smile painted across its lips. Quickly as it was spotted, the reflection turned with a calm ease and began to step out to vanish within the crowd. Alex stepped forward and broke into a run, tossing the mic stand before her to the side as she moved towards the edge of the stage. When her foot hit the edge of the stage her body suddenly rotated in what surely must have been an impossible manner. Her mind began to race, the a single heel being all that was left in contact with the edge of the stage. Soon that too left and the young woman found herself falling from the tall stage.

However her back did not collide with the ground soon as it should have. Instead she merely kept falling and falling, the sight before her causing her mind to race even further. It seemed the ground had no longer existed and she merely kept falling, the stage she had stood on elongating as she continued down, the top becoming further and further from her vision. Music flooded into the room as she descended further and further, guitars blared and drums pounded, intermingling with vocals she clearly recognized as her own, the crowed roared with excitement. Atop the platform stood the reflection of herself which stepped to the edge of the stage, merely watching her fall. Alex let out a cry of frustration at the sight, the scene suddenly changing a moment later. Finally the fall gave way with a sudden splash. Her vision darkened, the stage she had fallen from and the room around faded into but a glistening point of light shining at the waters surface. Her vision panned around in the darkness as she fell through the water.

After a few disorientated moments she found herself flipped right side up, her pace slowing from a frantic fall to a calm descent. The darkness was soon lit by beams of light reflecting off a station of stained glass which seemed to appear from no where. But Alex welcomed the shining platform she was gently placed around. She slowly looked around once more, taking in the scenery. Then a faint flash shone from the other side of the platform. Three pedestals emerged form the glass platform, each holding an icon of a different object. The key, the lock, the door. For a moment she stood contemplating the meaning of everything. But the way forward was obvious. Her fist clench, she stepped forward swiftly, a light grin spread across her lips as she took hold of the key from the pedestal.

With the key removed the pedestal's descended back into the platform. Her path forward opened, stained glass extending out far into the darkness. With the key clutched tightly in hand she started a run down the twisting roadway...

I feel like John Smith. Cookie cut, fixed destiny. Mella, why is it I feel trapped? Gah, Did I just say that? What a terrible thing to say: I feel trapped in my home amongst my loved ones? Perhaps I'm not John Smith at all, maybe I'm a John Doe.

OK so I'm being melodramatic, "liven up Sebastion!" I can hear them now.

I am alive!

❤

The eve of Sebastion's eighteenth birthday. Breezily navigating the chirpy narrow back streets of Alma he made his way to the town's square. His blonded oak hair concreted in a small square afro remained perfectly still as he ran. He was purposely hoping to avoid detection for he knew what they would do if they managed to spot him. The closer he got to the square the more dangerous his quest became. 'In and out. Quick as a split.' he thought slyly peeking his head around a cosy cobble corner, squinting his oriental eyes.

Sebastion's feet whirled up a storm as he scrambled through the square not even allowing the dust to settle before colliding with the door to Alma's famous candy shop. The door brushed against an iron bell releasing a jolly jingle that Sebastion always found awakened pleasant memories. A sigh of relief led to restful eyes and a gentle grin, "Hello, _____" he said greeting the shop keeper. The door's stained glass shone brightly on the old crone illuminating her magically. Sebastions caramel skin appeared equally as fantastical.
"Hello, Sebastion. I expect you'll want the usual?" She said, ragged but undeniably welcoming.
"Yes m'am" Sebastion replied politely.
"Here you are." The old crone's hand wobbled as she passed Sebastion a purple satchel of hard candy and curiously a mysterious letter to go along with it.
"What's this?" His expression read puzzled. The shopkeeper cackled eccentrically and returned to the back of the shop closing a velvet curtain behind her. Sebastion pried open the letter to reveal a note written in instantly recognizable scribble.

Don't think you're safe yet!
- W & A

Sebastion was so adamant that he would not fall victim to the prank war this year he was avoiding them entirely. Just the thought of the previous year's would force him to squirm in delightful disgust. He coveted the note safe in his pocket like a treasure and psyched himself up to enter the battle ground, a smirk unwillingly curling up his cheek. A thud and a jolly jingle as he dashed from the store headed for the sanctuary of the alley ways. Surprised to make it out alive he knew better than to stop and contemplate his luck and hurried along up the winding hill.

Sebastion wondered, 'Is this part of their plan? Gah, psychological warfare!' as he sat sucking on a sour candy on the roof of his home, hawk eyed and playfully paranoid. He brought himself to his feet and formed a megaphone from his hands, "Come on! Enough is enough!" he roared.

❤

-----

The path... It's opening up to me... but why? Why do I need to go through the doors?

Not usually a peaceful sleeper, this night William Anima was a stone.

Stop running away from me!

His dream was strange and abstract, but instantly one image was clear through the swirling eddies of light and sound: a path of pure light, leading him ever onward, towards the largest doors he had ever seen. With nothing but eerie darkness behind them, they were wide, seemingly wide enough for an army to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder, but more than that, they were tall. The huge white doors, inlaid with what appeared to be gold and stained glass, stretched skyward, having grown to impossible heights. As he walked forward, reluctantly following the path that lay before him, William realized that the doors weren't getting any closer. In fact, they seemed to be moving further and further away the longer he walked down the path. He had no choice but to continue, as the path disappeared behind him, but he became frustrated with the now rapidly retreating doors, and began to run.

The nauseating colors and smells and sounds of the dream shot past him at high speed, and the young man looked down at his feet, alarmed at how fast they were taking him. Everything else melted away, until there were only three things in existence: William, the path and the doors. The latter continued to travel away from William as fast as they could, but somehow, he was faster. He quickly gained distance on the doors, and when he could just barely reach out to touch them, they were at a much more reasonable size, and began to open for him. There seemed to be something glowing just inside, but before he could pass through, there was a piercing shriek that echoed all around him, causing him to lose his footing and crash face-first into the "ground". He awoke with a start and pushed his hand to his nose, as if expecting it to be broken, but of course, it wasn't. He was sitting in his bed, the screaming was just his alarm, and it had just been a dream.

"Those doors," he thought, running a hand through his chest-length blonde hair nervously, "were the same as that... thing the old woman gave me last week... I'll have to tell Alex and Sebastion about it, since Alex told us about that weird dream that she had..." He shook his head a little, letting the hair fall from his hand, and forced himself to get up and get ready for the afternoon's festivities. Slowly, a mischievous smile spread across his face, as he remembered the occasion. "Hehe, I almost forgot about Sebastion's birthday," he murmured to himself. Now in higher spirits, William quickly showered and fixed his hair into a ponytail, then considered himself in the mirror. He was a tall young man, though not particularly muscular, and had a scraggly blonde goatee to go along with his long hair. Chuckling, he thought of his parents, who told him on a regular basis that he needed to chop it all off, but he just ignored them. He had a pretty good feeling that Alex liked his hair like this, so it wasn't going anywhere. He slipped into his favorite outfit, his red shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his favorite pair of jeans and red running shoes, scarfed down a bowl of cereal and ran out the door, ready to begin his plans for that evening.

Very surreptitiously, in case Sebastion happened to be out in the streets, he made his first stop: the candy shop. It was the most popular sweets shop in town, and had Sebastion's favorite hard candies, so William knew his friend would be stopping by at some point during the day. In fact, he was counting on it. The wrinkled old woman who ran the shop let him in the back door, and shared a laugh with him as they thought of what Sebastion's reaction to their little prank would be. "You have the scorpions, right?" she asked, peering at the little box the boy had brought with him. He grinned, and said "What are you talking about? These are candies..." Once again, they both burst into laughter. The woman took his box of scorpions, and put them in a safe spot, ready to be put to use once the birthday boy got in. William saluted her enthusiastically, always happy to have an ally, and ran back out into the street to make sure his back-up pranks were still in place. He knew their town like the back of his hand, and running through the back alleys always cut down on travel time, so it was still mid-morning by the time he was standing at the door of the familiar brick house of Alex Reed.

William let himself in with the spare key, and sat down on her sofa patiently. He knew not to rush her, even on important days like this. When his oldest friend finally walked into the room, he couldn't help but smile broadly at her. "Everything's in place," he said, giggling a little. "Are you ready to get it started?"

[Noel]

It began just as it had for the past few days. The dimly lit room, the tall stage, the crowd below. Her eyes opened slowly to the sight, instantly drawn to the center of the crowd. Amidst the hoard of faceless people was... herself, with that same almost taunting smile. It turned once again into the crowd. Alex teeth and fists clenched together. She tossed the microphone stand aside and broke into a run once more, only to be spun around and topple from the stage once more. And so she fell, faster and faster as the scene above roared to life, until her body collided with the impossibly positioned surface of water. The surrounding water once more cradled her body, slowing her descent onto the the massive stained glass pillar.

The path which had grown familiar over the past few days as always twisted endlessly out into the darkness beyond. The rusted old key once again sat in her hand. Alex opened her palm to look upon the object. A key always opens something, but where? The young woman thought before once again running off down the path. Step after step fell upon the shining glass pathway, the pillar she had started at faded into the distance but despite many twists and turns it felt like the grew no closer to the end of the path. With each step she grew more and more frustrated, her legs beginning to feel heavy from exertion. Pushing on despite her bodies protest, something on the path finally changed. A small flicker of light in the distance. The young woman pressed on towards its, but her body finally gave out. A foot slipped against the glass, she toppled to the side and helplessly down into the darkness below...


A loud THUD sounded from the upper floor of the house. Alex groaned, her body sprawled upon the floor, blankets and bedding twisted around. The girl fought with the stubborn fabrics for a moment before finally pulling herself free. “Damn... again...” She groaned drowsily, pushing herself to her feet. A moment later she noted a light click and a thud of the downstairs door closing. Alex quickly pulled on a light pair of jeans, a simple white shirt and her usual belt, her knife already attached to the side. Heading down stairs into the front room, greeted by the broad smile of William, who she had already assumed was the only one who would just waltz on in.

“One of these days you're gonna come in here when I'm sleepin' and I'm gonna end up decking you.” Alex stated bluntly, heading past William and into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water and two apples. Re-entering she tossed one to her friend before sitting down on a chair across the small table. “One of these days your pranks are gonna backfire on you.” She said with a light laugh before taking a bite of the apple. She took a few minuets to finish the fruit and her drink before standing up and stretching with a yawn.

“Well lets get out of here, I'm at least interested to see what you've cooked up this time.” Alex stated while gesturing towards the door. She quickly slipped a pair of boots on before stepping outside to wait.

[Imperfectionist]

William just giggled again at her admonishments, took a bite out of his apple, and leaned back into the cushions, letting her finish her little meal. "You know," he said, using his tongue to get a bit of apple out of his teeth, "Both of those things have already happened, and I made it out just fine. I only smelled like a skunk for a couple of days last year..." Unable to help himself, he laughed again. "This year, though," he said after a few moments, "I'm going to get him good." He led his friend out of the house quickly once she was done, and peered around for a sign of Sebastion before telling her about the scorpions. "Don't worry, their stings aren't too bad, but they'll hurt like hell, especially since he won't be expecting it." He imagined the look on the younger boy's face when he reached inside his bag of candy and got a nasty sting instead, and grinned.

"Anyway," he said, "That's just the first one. We'll need to be ready on the rooftop across from his when he gets stung, to start phase two. Up until the scorpions, we'll have lulled him into a false sense of security, especially compared to last year, when I was chasing him around the whole time. So, bada bing, his paranoia will kick in, and that's when we strike!" William whispered the rest of the plan into her ear, then suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him through the back alleys and up the hill towards the town square, which wasn't far from Sebastion's house. Along the way, he described the dream he had had that night, noting the similarities between his path and the path Alex ran down in hers, though he knew that hers had no destination... yet.

Unbeknownst to any of the three, they were being watched. Small bipedal creatures, around the size of toddlers, with featureless, sharp-edged shadowy bodies and large, glowing yellow eyes peered out from beneath dumpsters and piles of trash as Alex and William went by, and one looked out of the window of an abandoned building at the paranoid Sebastion walking below. Despite their unusual appearance, they knew how to remain unnoticed, their natural abilities enhanced the darkness around them, and they were seen by no one.

Eventually, the prankster and his friend reached an old fire escape that led up the side of a building to its roof, and began to climb, knowing that Sebastion's house was nearby. At the top, and feeling the chill wind that often blew through Alma's upper levels, William took two pairs of binoculars out of his small pack, gave one to Alex, and surveyed the scene before him. The town was quite pretty, especially from up here, where its landmarks could be easily seen, but he was more concerned about the smaller building next door, whose rooftop inhabitant was sitting and sucking on a bit of hard candy. He had to stifle a laugh, as Sebastion was sure to reach the scorpions at any moment, and hunkered down to watch. From the shadows of a small, open doorway behind them, a pair of glowing yellow eyes did the same.

[Unlucky]

Salvation would arrive come nightfall. Sprawled out like a starfish flat on the tatty teal tiles of his home's roof, Sebastion contemplated his impending fate in the prank war; the beautiful city of Alma stood dangerously peaceful around him. Besides the admittedly melodramatic feeling of being suffocatingly trapped Sebastion's soft spot for Alma was exceptionally larger than he would care to admit. Every building beautifully fitted with nothing but crystaline glass made just a simple walk an enchanting experience. It's cobble pathways and imaginatively quirky architecture isn't just pleasant, it's breathe taking.

A magnificent sun burnt orange assisted creeping shadows* in making their way through the alley ways and round corners. Sebastion too underwent a metamorphosis in the changing sunlight. His shaved sides, dirty blonde block afro and tremendously bushy ash eyebrows took on a cherry tint, the freckles on his prominent cheek bones each cast a different shade of mocha contrasting against his skin which had caught gold from the sun.

The purple satchel of hard candy lay snug adjacent to Sebastion's right hand. His outstretched index finger bombarded against the fabric attempting to pry it open single fingeredly. Up on entry the invasive finger scurried around in an attempt to locate a heart shaped sour candy. Clangorous yelps erupted from Sebastion's lungs as he launched from his starfish position and frantically waved his right hand in the air dangling an unfriendly scorpion from his finger. The insect, releasing it's grip, sky rocketed to another building's window ledge flower pot. "You're both crazy!" he howled.

Sebastion lost his footing as a faint tremor ever so gently shook the foundation of his home. 'Gah, that's not good. Better get down.' he thought.

((*Referring to the actual shadows. Not Heartless))

[Noel]

Alex couldn’t help but just shake her head, it was true the guys pranks had already came around to bite him in the back in the past. But the second part, she didn't quite remember happening. However considering his habit of waltzing in uninvited it was pretty likely William already had a number of run ins with her fist, even if she didn’t remember it herself. “I'll be surprised if he doesn’t knock you on your ass for this one.” Alex gave a light sigh as they moved through town and William delivered bits of his plan. Planting scorpions in the bag wasn’t enough? Whenever she was, usually quite literally, dragged around for these hijinks she found herself wondering if the guy was just a touch evil.

Alex followed William through the alleyways, taking in the information on the similar dream and ignoring most of the other chatter. Up the fire escape and onto a roof she finally got a break from running, plopping herself down near the edge and taking hold of one of the binoculars. Looking too her other friend not all too far away she grimaced a bit, a hiss of ouch coming out as she saw the angry insect give Sebastion a good jab. “Hey, do you think he's had any weird dreams? They're too similar to be coincidental, I think.” Alex mused lightly as she continued to watch. In the back of her head she knew it had to just be coincidence, they'd gone this long with nothing extraordinary happening after all. But still she couldn’t help but want for even just one abnormal thing to pop up.

“Just so you know, if he's pissed I'm not taking any of the heat for this.” She stated bluntly, waving a finger sternly. It was probably expected, she was always adamant about this stuff not being her idea but she still felt it necessary to reaffirm that she was just along for the ride. Even if it was amusing now and then. Seeing Sebastion moving about apparently getting ready to get off the roof Alex stood once more. “Looks like he's going in, better hurry if you wanna continue your lil' plan”

[Imperfectionist]

William thought about the possibility of Sebastion having a dream as well, but dismissed it pretty quickly, saying as much to Alex. After all, it was already a huge coincidence with the two of them, adding the third would push it into absurdity. Looking through his binoculars, he chuckled a little as he watched the scorpions finally make their move, and considered what else he had prepared for that night. After all, the sun was starting to set, and Sebastion was right on time. "Hehe, don't worry, Alex," he said. "I'll take all the credit, and everything is moving forward exactly how I planned it."

After a few more seconds of watching, he hauled himself to his feet, pulling Alex up with him, and said simply, "Let's go." He lead her through the inside of the building this time, and as they came through the door, he thought he saw something move away in the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to look, though, there was nothing. "Just my mind playing tricks on me, I guess," he thought, shaking his head slightly as they continued to run down to street level. It was an old building, with most of the wallpaper peeling off, but had sturdy railings and stairs, so they didn't have to slow down too much. As they reached the front door, William was banking on the fact that it also took a little while to get down from Sebastion's roof, so they could meet their friend at his front door. He smiled broadly at the sight of Sebastion, still nursing his finger, walking up to the door just as he and Alex stepped out into the street. "Hey, Sebastion! Don't go in yet!"

Though his friend still looked pretty paranoid when he ran up, William gave his best winning smile, put his hands on Sebastion's shoulders and said "I promise, this one is not a prank." He lead his friend to the door and opened it, but the entrance was shrouded in darkness, as the sun had finally set beyond the buildings, and neither of them could see inside. Before he could react, William gave a might push to the small of his friend's back, sending Sebastion flying into the shadows, and into the embrace of a very large-bosomed woman, who had just flipped on the lights. She had a very skimpy outfit on, and said "Hello, birthday boy," in a smoky, sultry voice, before another dozen people poured into the room, yelling "Surprise!" William almost fell over laughing, and looked up at Alex, who hadn't been privy to the surprise party either, with a wink. "You see?" he said, between little bursts of giggles. "I'm not all bad. Hehe, I thought I'd cancel the prank war for this year, and just throw him a party instead!"

[Unlucky]

Red faced Sebastion freed himself from the stranger's warm embrace and desperately attempted to remain composed. The confetti-ed room sang in celebration an uproar of best wishes, it was clear to all the painstaking effort that had been poured into this soiree. Turning around to face his friends, his expression read absolute astonishment and soon shattered brightly into laughter matched only by the cackle of the Candy Shop owner who stood side by side the large bosom-ed women. "Here!" Sebastion tossed the sealed purple satchel to William who threw it outside. Holding his swollen finger up to the pair he continued, "You are both insane.".

Together they relished in the company of the town's people. It would be without a doubt a night Sebastion would remember for the rest of his life. The three of them were sticklers for tradition. As it got later in the evening the guests began to leave and the trio retreated to the roof with a bag of hard candy each. As they engorged themselves on the sour heart shaped sweets the unspoken bond that connected concreted just as strong as ever. "I'd better get going." Alex announced.
"Yeah, it's getting late. I'll walk you home." William said.
"Till tomorrow!" They said in unison.

Sebastion remained alone a top his home, staring up in awe at the diamond scattered sky. 'Trapped? Gah, this is heaven.' he thought. 'I wouldn't trade this for the world.'. His eyelids began to collapse, heavy and defeated. Falling into a slumber under the night sky he dreamt of days gone by, the younger years he and his friends had spent playing the chosen ones. Three unstoppable children that drove Alma wildly mad. Sebastion could hear the wooden sticks colliding in a bang, the friendly taunts and his mother roaring in disapproval.

[Noel]

The duo soon continued on from the rooftop and into the building, the entire little event was moving on quickly. When William made a slightly odd show of peeking through the door she looked in the direction curiously, confirming for herself that nothing was there. Still she stayed looking for a moment, tilting her head with a light hum before shrugging and continuing on through the old dingy building. It was an old building after all, whatever her friend had barely spotted was likely just a mouse or squirrel scampering about. Not something that required much thought. She headed through the building quickly, bounding down stares in pairs of two, admittedly a bit recklessly. But the stairs were wide and solid enough for it to not be too difficult anyway.

When they stepped out onto the street Alex gave a light wave to Sebastion. She flicked a glance to William who could not have been more obvious he was up to something if he carried around a giant neon sign reading “suspicious”. She merely watched as William shoved Sebastion through a door, half expecting something like a smokebomb to go off any moment, or a clatter of buckets filled with dye to come falling from the ceiling. To her surprise, no such thing happened. The lights flicked on to reveal some scantily clad woman she didn’t recognize with a group of people excitedly funneling into the room. She looked to the red faced Sebastion giving a bit of a laugh, then back to William. “I guess even you have a decent idea every now and then.” Alex jested as she stepped into the room.

The next few hours were filled with celebrations, good food and all manner of party festivities. Alex would even disregard her own 'no free songs' rule and engage in a couple rounds of karaoke before the night was over. When the celebrations began to die down the three would find themselves upon the roof at late night, each snacking on the commonly seen candies. Which thankfully were not rigged with scorpions this time. After a bit Alex rose and dismissed herself. “Later, don't be up too late with melons down there.” Alex joked to Sebastion before climbing down off the roof and starting towards her own home with William in toe. As she headed back, staring upward to the night sky she found herself thankful for the brief distractions from her own restlessness the trio's meeting brought. Even if she occasionally thought her two friends were downright daft, her head would have long since popped from frustration without being dragged around to just goof off for a while.

When she finally arrived at her own home she stopped at the door to chat for a bit under the brisk night air. “If you're gonna drop by tomorrow at least knock next time, or I swear I'm finding a boxing glove and rigging it up to pop you one.” She said with a light laugh, giving a farewell wave before stepping into her home and promptly flopping down on the couch to rest her legs.

[Imperfectionist]

Her friend, feeling weary after the hours of partying that night, nevertheless managed another broad smile, and said "I love you too, Alex. Goodnight."

Chuckling to himself, William started back towards his own home, using the main roads now that it was dark. He hummed a little tune, and thought back on the last few hours happily, but he was barely out of sight of Alex's house before a chill started to creep up his spine. Without his friend beside him, suddenly something seemed very odd about the city around him. There weren't any other people out and about, but given the hour, that didn't surprise him, and he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was making his skin crawl. He shuddered a bit, but couldn't tell if it was because of the wind, or... something else.

"Mella, what am I, 6? There's nothing dangerous out here, you know that," he thought, admonishing himself for getting worked up over nothing. After all, he had been walking around Alma at night since he was a little kid. Bolstering a bit more resolve, he broke into a steady jog and cleared away the negative thoughts, making it back home without any more trouble. Just to be safe, he still locked and bolted all of the doors and windows. No matter how much positivity he forced himself to have, he had felt something out there, and it wasn't nice. As he finally sat down on the edge of his bed, his bones ached, and William suddenly realized how tired he was. He had barely pulled off his shoes before his head hit the pillow, and he was out.

Along the streets which he had walked, and outside of his, Alex's and Sebastion's homes, large yellow eyes hung in the darkness. Occasionally, pairs of them met, chittered silently to each other, and went their separate ways. There was nothing they could do, yet. There were there to watch, and only to watch.

A familiar chaotic landscape unfolded before William, filled with painful amalgams of sound, sight and smell, sliced open by the endless path, stretching further than the eye could see. Once again, the great doors ran from him, and once again he caught them as they ran. The chaos was more difficult to dispel this time, however, and before it faded away into the distant ether beyond, William was sure it was going to drive him mad. The sounds that weren't sounds but sights, the wind blowing through his hair that was suddenly rushing water, blasting him back, almost to the precipice of the quickly receding path, the doors, distorted and warped as they touched the heavens, all of them pushing doubts into his mind. He doubted reality, he doubted life, but just as soon as they began, in an instant it was all gone. For the second time, there was nothing but himself, the path, and perfect, pristine doors, opening to the darkness. This time he knew there was something beyond the doors, and was determined to reach it. He pushed himself as fast as his dream-speed would allow, slicing through the empty landscape like a beam of light, and gave a heroic leap at the immense half-open doors, sailing through them with ease.

Behind them, there was nothing. Simple, true nothing. William was in free-fall, dropping like a stone through the darkness, and somehow, he knew that that was it. He was going to fall through the darkness for eternity.

Except, wait, if there's nothing here, how could I be walking on something?

And, inexplicably, he was. No longer falling, there was solid ground underfoot. And it was glorious. Instantly remembering Alex's description of the huge stained-glass tower she found herself on in her own dream, William was awestruck. As he stood there, unmoving, three pedestals arose in front of him, again the same as they had been described by Alex. Speaking to no one in particular, he stretched out his hand towards the left-most pedestal, with its innocuous key, saying "She said that she always takes the key, right?" Try as he might, though, his fingers could not close around the key, making it impossible for him to take it. A little bemused, he considered the other two icons. On the right was an old-fashioned iron padlock, which didn't exactly appeal to him either, but floating above the center pedestal, much much smaller than he had seen them before, were the huge doors he had been chasing. William smiled, and his mind was put at ease. There was no doubt that the doors were there for him. Slowly, and with a great deal of purpose, he closed his hands around the minuscule doors, held them above his head, and stepped off of the edge of the tower.

His eyes opened, dazzled by a beam of light from the morning sun, and he shook his head dubiously. It was all he could do to say "What, in the name of the Great Ones, was that?"

Barely half an hour later, he was fully dressed and banging on Alex's door. All three of them really needed to discuss it, but Alex was closer, so he came to her first. "Hey, Alex! Open up!"

[Unlucky]

Spiked spires of stained glass beanstalked violently up into the night's sky where the moon stared down up on Sebastion awaking from his slumber and entering a lucid dream. Buildings around the monochromatic city, including Sebastion's began to sway from side to side belching dust from their foundations. He was thrown from the roof and met the ground surprisingly unscathed. Dusting himself off he heard the familiar laughter of the young unstoppable chosen children exhale from the narrow corridors of Alma. The children's warped laughter, the heartbeat of clangorous sticks in battle and most disturbing of all the candy shop owners cackle competed for dominance in Sebastion's ear drum which made for a painful experience. He began to run through the alley ways, colossal jagged towers continuing to rise from the cobble roads. His breathe was thick with fear worried for the children. Though their laughter had gotten louder they were still no where to be seen until finally he arrived at the square to meet the young faces of Alex and William shrouded in a dark haze. The ground was beginning to rupture under the pressure of monstrous tremors. Sebastion ran to the children but the earth below them burst allowing the darkness to swallow his miniature friends whole. He slid and avoided the crevice but in vain as the city itself cracked like a pane of shimmering glass.

Sebastion fell alongside the colourful remnants of Alma. The shards were merging together as if sentient and forming an enormously complex structure. The beastly construction bellowed a thud that emanated through the limitless black space Sebastion was falling through. The tower had stopped falling allowing Sebastion to overtake it. A change of gravity reversed the direction of his fall and Sebastion was placed delicately a top the stained glass tower where he was greeted by his young friends who stood in front of three podiums. Without warning they sinisterly giggled and both dived from the tower into the limitless expanse. Sebastion ignored the podiums and dived after them.

Sebastion's hands clasped the roof's tiles truly awakening from the experience. A cold sweat glistened silver in the moon's rays. Attempting to stand he was akin to a jelly legged new born calf.

"Sebastion."

In a jitter he spun to meet the source of a peculiar voice, "What are you doing here?' he asked. It was an old crone in black robes. The enigmatic figure extended her arms to the sky and released an all too familiar crow deep from her lungs.

"You are chosen - Ye-Ah-Ha-Ha-Ha."

Her hands came together and clasped into a bowl. Strings of light swirled around her palms, sparking up and manifesting an iron padlock with a golden aura and dark black keyhole. She took a step towards him. "Chosen? You can't possibly mean." Sebastion said.

"The Unbreakable Lock."

His heart skipped a beat. Was this still a dream? The cackling cloaked crone continued to make her way towards him. Sebastion held out his hand, streamers of light swishing past his face. The tip of his middle finger barely made contact with the glowing trinket before an enormous force popped from the golden glitter forcing him from the roof. He held onto the gutter for dear life and up on pulling himself up the woman was gone. Sebastion remained on the roof on his knees wondering what had just happened, the sun beginning to rise above Alma.