No longer accepting characters
After dedicating years of his life to fighting Heartless and preserving the Realm of Light, Key-Master Sora passed away at a ripe old age. His legacy, however, lived on. The WDS (World Defense System) was greatly expanded and improved until it was capable of eliminating all Heartless activity on a single world. Over time, this system was spread to other worlds, and eventually Heartless became a thing of the past. It seemed the only place Heartless could now thrive was in the depths of space, in the areas outside of the opened Star Paths. Their increased presence in these locations caused them to develop strong concentration of dark energies, too dangerous to fly through, and so Gummi Ship travel became restricted to only following the paths that Sora had opened during his second journey. Like Sora, Riku also dedicated his life to the cause of light, and after Sora's death he founded a Brotherhood of Knights that would come to be known as the Judges. The Judges tasked themselves with maintaining the peace and eliminating any force that would threaten the return of the Heartless.
It's now been a thousand years since those times. Peace has reigned throughout that time, and most of the worlds are prospering. One of those worlds is Lunaris, a world named for it's intriguing resemblance to a moon. Lunaris is a thriving space port, finding itself in the center of a profitable trading route between various worlds. It's home to many merchants - some that travel, others that don't - and has become a popular place for would-be adventurers and explorers to get their start. One unlikely group of strangers, each in Lunaris for one reason or another, face an impending challenge... whether they know it or not. What had begun as a simple purpose for being in Lunaris will take a turn... for the worse.
Dawn came as the port was slowly brightened by the rising sun. With the expanse of the morning light, the port itself seemed to slowly come to life. Merchants emerged to open their shops, sailors emerged from their rooms at the inns and, as they did so, the sound of morning shanties could be heard about the port, the workers using the age-old songs to pass the time as they did their morning duties. Elsewhere, where the Gummi Ships made port, the sound of their engines could be heard humming to life as some departed, while others still arrived in their place. It was every bit a normal morning for this bustling port of a world. And a certain teenager named Jared was no exception.
The only thing setting the young man apart from the rest of his home world was that he began his morning routine an hour before the sun had risen. He did so because there was particular spot he enjoyed visiting on a daily basis. It wasn't glamorous by any means, as the spot consisted of a half-sunken sailing ship with the nose of her bow pointed at a near vertical angle. It was here that Jared visited every morning, using his vocational skills to climb aboard and scale the point to a spot near the very top. He also made a point to reach this spot at exactly sunrise. For the tip of this once grand vessel pointed directly to the east, where the sun rose every morning. And every morning Jared loved to watch the sunlight creep across the port, bringing the place to life for it's daily routines. Plus the view gave him just enough vantage to watch a few of the Gummi Ships in the distant space port district, where he was rarely - if ever - allowed to roam. And every morning he would spot a Gummi Ship rocketing toward the sky or another coming in for a landing, and he would point to it, as he did so even now, and promise himself that that ship would one day be his. This morning ritual ended when the sun was fully in the sky, and Jared would have to venture off for his daily prospecting. Of course, he got down from this high point in the only sensible way, by leaping as far as his legs would push him and diving into the seawater below, where Dion's boat awaited him, with his rusty old harpoon resting in it as well.
When he came up, Jared glimpsed what he thought was a vague figure in the spot he had dived from, but it was gone after he rubbed the water from his eyes. A figment of his imagination, surely, and he went about his daily work as usual. Unknown to him though, was that others would "imagine" a similar figure at about the same time.
In the ports, where new arrivals always traversed when entering Lunaris, there were many merchants attempting to sell their wares to any passerby who might be interested. But elsewhere in the ports, one of the docking bays was closed off, reserved for an important ship, no doubt. And important it was, for just a week ago, the port had received notice that a few of the well-known Judges would be visiting for an inspection, a standard procedure on all the worlds with Gummi Ship access. It certainly made the workers and natives of Lunaris nervous, as the Judges themselves were very mysterious figures, always clad in white robes and intimidating in their strict, no-nonsense ways. But this was just another day, like any other.
...Or so it seemed, anyway.
After dedicating years of his life to fighting Heartless and preserving the Realm of Light, Key-Master Sora passed away at a ripe old age. His legacy, however, lived on. The WDS (World Defense System) was greatly expanded and improved until it was capable of eliminating all Heartless activity on a single world. Over time, this system was spread to other worlds, and eventually Heartless became a thing of the past. It seemed the only place Heartless could now thrive was in the depths of space, in the areas outside of the opened Star Paths. Their increased presence in these locations caused them to develop strong concentration of dark energies, too dangerous to fly through, and so Gummi Ship travel became restricted to only following the paths that Sora had opened during his second journey. Like Sora, Riku also dedicated his life to the cause of light, and after Sora's death he founded a Brotherhood of Knights that would come to be known as the Judges. The Judges tasked themselves with maintaining the peace and eliminating any force that would threaten the return of the Heartless.
It's now been a thousand years since those times. Peace has reigned throughout that time, and most of the worlds are prospering. One of those worlds is Lunaris, a world named for it's intriguing resemblance to a moon. Lunaris is a thriving space port, finding itself in the center of a profitable trading route between various worlds. It's home to many merchants - some that travel, others that don't - and has become a popular place for would-be adventurers and explorers to get their start. One unlikely group of strangers, each in Lunaris for one reason or another, face an impending challenge... whether they know it or not. What had begun as a simple purpose for being in Lunaris will take a turn... for the worse.
Dawn came as the port was slowly brightened by the rising sun. With the expanse of the morning light, the port itself seemed to slowly come to life. Merchants emerged to open their shops, sailors emerged from their rooms at the inns and, as they did so, the sound of morning shanties could be heard about the port, the workers using the age-old songs to pass the time as they did their morning duties. Elsewhere, where the Gummi Ships made port, the sound of their engines could be heard humming to life as some departed, while others still arrived in their place. It was every bit a normal morning for this bustling port of a world. And a certain teenager named Jared was no exception.
The only thing setting the young man apart from the rest of his home world was that he began his morning routine an hour before the sun had risen. He did so because there was particular spot he enjoyed visiting on a daily basis. It wasn't glamorous by any means, as the spot consisted of a half-sunken sailing ship with the nose of her bow pointed at a near vertical angle. It was here that Jared visited every morning, using his vocational skills to climb aboard and scale the point to a spot near the very top. He also made a point to reach this spot at exactly sunrise. For the tip of this once grand vessel pointed directly to the east, where the sun rose every morning. And every morning Jared loved to watch the sunlight creep across the port, bringing the place to life for it's daily routines. Plus the view gave him just enough vantage to watch a few of the Gummi Ships in the distant space port district, where he was rarely - if ever - allowed to roam. And every morning he would spot a Gummi Ship rocketing toward the sky or another coming in for a landing, and he would point to it, as he did so even now, and promise himself that that ship would one day be his. This morning ritual ended when the sun was fully in the sky, and Jared would have to venture off for his daily prospecting. Of course, he got down from this high point in the only sensible way, by leaping as far as his legs would push him and diving into the seawater below, where Dion's boat awaited him, with his rusty old harpoon resting in it as well.
When he came up, Jared glimpsed what he thought was a vague figure in the spot he had dived from, but it was gone after he rubbed the water from his eyes. A figment of his imagination, surely, and he went about his daily work as usual. Unknown to him though, was that others would "imagine" a similar figure at about the same time.
In the ports, where new arrivals always traversed when entering Lunaris, there were many merchants attempting to sell their wares to any passerby who might be interested. But elsewhere in the ports, one of the docking bays was closed off, reserved for an important ship, no doubt. And important it was, for just a week ago, the port had received notice that a few of the well-known Judges would be visiting for an inspection, a standard procedure on all the worlds with Gummi Ship access. It certainly made the workers and natives of Lunaris nervous, as the Judges themselves were very mysterious figures, always clad in white robes and intimidating in their strict, no-nonsense ways. But this was just another day, like any other.
...Or so it seemed, anyway.
