Humen, you do not heal at all upon leveling up, nor does your magic restore. You may state that you leveled up in parentheses or may notice a slight increase in strength, but you will not heal.

Aiden, Kayla, and Zoe

Aiden ignored everything that was going on around him as he read the contents of the scroll. The shapes didn't make much sense to him, but he looked over them anyway. They suddenly seemed to leap off of the paper and float into the air. He watched the symbols, struck with curiosity as they began to spin around him, soon turning red and emitting heat. The symbols closed in as they spun, soon slamming into his skin and turning it a faint red color. Aiden's entire body instantly felt hot, and the wound on his arm felt as if it were literally on fire. It burned like crazy, and he wanted nothing more than to scream out in pain, but right before he did, his skin returned to normal and the heat was instantly gone. Unsure of what had just happened, he looked over to Kayla.

"Go," he said simply, while attempting to make sense of whatever had just happened to him. Judging by the sensation he had just felt, he assumed that he had learned some sort of fire spell.

"But..." Kayla began.

"Please."

"Alright, alright." Kayla pulled her scroll out of the air with shaking hands. She was still afraid, even after seeing that it was indeed legitimate, thanks to the bull-headed guy's smashing of the glass. She took a deep, hesitant breath, and unrolled the scroll, her eyes carefully tracing over each and every symbol. This didn't make any sense to her, and just as she was about to complain, the words started to glow a bright yellow. A trail of electricity, beginning from the scroll, shot up each of her arms, and then fizzled away around her heart. She felt a quick jolt of excitement, and then it was all gone, with only some sort of knowledge that she had just learned thunder magic remaining.



Once everyone had learned their spells, the disembodied voice returned.


As if on cue, the same heartless from before, the Shadows, crept out from underneath the ground, while new ones, Virgos, materialized out of thin air.

Just like before, the stairs disappeared as everyone arrived on the third platform. As if to make up from its absence from before, the voice returned.

The keyblade is not your only weapon against the creatures known as the heartless. These scrolls will unlock the potential held deep within you to use magic. It will aid you in your battle against the darkness.

A scroll then appeared out of thin air, floating directly in front of almost every person, encased in a ball of light. Each scroll contained a series of words in it, seemingly written in a language that didn't exist. Upon reading those words, the person for whom it is meant will then be able to use the magic indicated by the scroll.

Aiden, Kayla, and Zoe

As the trio stepped onto the green-tinted floor, the voice sounded again, this time speaking about magic. Aiden looked over to the twins and raised an eyebrow, but they both just simply shrugged. Before anything of them could actually say anything, what appeared to be a scroll popped up in front of each of them. At first, none of them moved. If it was as the voice said, then it seemed that each of them could learn some sort of magic by reading it.

"What should we do?" Kayla asked. "Should we read it?" She was concerned that the voice could possibly be tricking them. It had seemingly led them through this place, and thus likely having caused their encounter with whatever these heartless were.

"I don't see why not," Aiden shrugged. They could give us more powers."

"And what if the voice is lying to us? What if it's dangerous?"

"And what if there're are monsters that these keys can't hurt?" He could tell that Kayla was obviously scared, something that he was not used to seeing. He put his left hand on her shoulder, gritting his teeth as his wound stretched and his upper arm flared with pain. "Look, I promise, it's safe. Maybe one of us should go first, just in case." Kayla's face didn't show any signs of approval at the idea.

"Yeah, I like that idea," Zoe spoke up. "I'll go first." She had to both be strong for her sister and show that she was strong herself. Plus, she hadn't gotten a keyblade like the rest of them, and if those bug things showed up again, she wanted to be useful this time.

"No, I can't let you do that," Kayla said, pulling away from Aiden and turning back to her sister. "I can't let you go fir-"

"You aren't my mom," Zoe said firmly, plucking the scroll out of the air. The light around it faded away as she held it in her hands. "Besides, isn't that part of the reason why we moved, anyway? So that we could make choices for ourselves?

"Zoe," Kayla began again.

"Stop, she has a point," Aiden interrupted. "Let her do it."

Kayla let out a sigh. Zoe could be stubborn on occasion, and she knew that her sister would read the scroll, no matter what she said. "Fine, just... be careful."

Zoe nodded. "Alright, here we go." Although nervous, she struggled, but managed, to keep her hands steady as she unrolled the scroll. She had to prove that she was strong. She glanced over the first words on the scroll, which glowed a dark blue as her eyes scanned over them. Her eyes matched that shade of blue, and so did her fingernails, and although there was no water around her, she felt as if she were drowning. She dropped the scroll and gasped for air, but she resisted the urge to cry out for help. Aiden and Kayla watched in horror as Zoe fell to her knees, having trouble to breathe. They rushed over to help her, but Zoe pushed them away. "No... I can... do this," she gasped. She forced her way through the pain, and it soon faded away. Regaining her composure, she picked up the scroll and returned to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Aiden asked, alarmed. He was unsure of what else to say. Kayla, meanwhile, was completely silent, terrified that she had almost lost her sister.

"Yeah, I think so," Zoe replied as her eyes and nails returned to their natural colors. She wanted to say that she was worried, that she wasn't ok, but in truth, she felt fine. The word "Water" echoed around in her head, and she felt urged to speak it, but chose not to as she glanced down at the scroll again.

"Wait, Zoe," Kayla warned, maybe it's best if you don't do this again. It isn't safe." She was too late though, as Zoe had already read the other line that had been written on the scroll. She immediately froze in place, for she felt like she was literally, well, frozen. Her eyes and nails turned an icy blue as this happened, and Kayla turned to Aiden, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Aiden, please, make it stop," she pleaded.

Aiden shook his head. "It's already done."

"Alright, who's going next?" Zoe asked as her nails and eyes once again returned to normal, and she no longer felt frozen in place. That sensation was just as frightening as the one before, but she had made her way through it. She was indeed strong, and now a second word was made prominent in her thoughts: "Blizzard."

Kayla watched, mouth open in shock, as Aiden reached for the scroll in front of him.

That's fine. My apologies for the sudden inactivity and short post. It was going to be longer, but my computer's being all weird and stuff, and I am severely deprived of sleep.

Aiden, Kayla, and Zoe

Kayla shoved her Keyblade into the helpless creature and it exploded into darkness. She turned around to help Aiden, but saw him just as he pummeled the monster, right when it popped out of the ground and charged at him, and it, too, burst into darkness.

"Not bad," Kayla chuckled, trying to make light of their situation.

"Thanks," Aiden replied, forcing a smile. As bad, and strange, as things seemed, now they could at least fight back.

"Hey," Kayla said, frowning, what happened to your arm? Are you alright? She ran over Aiden, looking concerned.

"Oh, yeah," Aiden replied, looking at his left arm himself "don't worry, I'm fine. I think it looks worse than it really is." In the heat of battle, Aiden had almost forgotten about the wound, which, along with the torn t-shirt around it, was now sticky and coated with dried blood. It must not have been very deep, for it didn't seem to be bleeding any more. "What about you? Did those things get you?"

"Just barely. I think one of them scratched my ankle a little. I should be ok."

"Alright, good. This is pretty crazy, huh? I mean, we're not even wearing shoes," Aiden said jokingly, but Kayla let off a slight smile, nodding in agreement. She was wearing a somewhat similar outfit as Aiden: a black v-neck t-shirt and black shorts.

"Aiden! Kayla!" The sound of Zoe's voice snapped the two of them out of their daze. They turned to see one of the ant-like creatures land right in front of Zoe, having been knocked away by the raging, foot-stomping guy from earlier. Aiden felt like an idiot, letting his guard down like that, since when did he become so lazy? He and Kayla sprinted towards Zoe as the creature recovered. Kayla, getting there slightly before Aiden, swatted it out of the air as it jumped at Zoe. Aiden ran over and bashed it with the back end of his keyblade. The monster sunk into the ground again after flying off to the side.

"Aiden, look out Behind you!" Kayla's call was just a bit too late as the creature caught Aiden on the back of his calf. Aiden was able to react quickly enough, though, so that the creature just barely scratched him. As he spun around, he tore into the creature with his keyblade, and exploded into darkness, much like the other one had before. He looked at Zoe. Did it get you?

Zoe only shook her head, giving no verbal confirmation. Rather, she said, "What's going on?" Her breath was shaken, and her skin was pale.

"It's just as you said," Kayla replied gently, we don't know."

"Not all of us are gonna live long enough to find out if this keeps up," Aiden added in, pointing in the general direction all of the others, who were also fighting against the creatures, some with keyblades, and another one or two without. Aiden hadn't been boxing in months, and despite the dangers that plagued everyone, he almost enjoyed the fact that he was fighting again. Even through his slight enjoyment, he was determined that no matter what this was, dream or not, he was not going to let his friends get hurt.

Aiden, Kayla, and Zoe

"...the hell?" While Aiden may not have payed much attention to the voice before, it certainly had him now as the dark creatures swarmed up from the ground, one of them lunging straight at him. He swung his left arm towards it as the creature jumped at him, his fist clenched as he went in for the uppercut. Aiden's eyes grew wide as his fist went straight through the creature, its claws then tearing through his white t-shirt and cutting his upper arm. He cursed, turning to face the monster as it landed on the ground. His arm burned furiously, but he refused to tear his eyes away from the shadowy creature.

"Ahhhh! Help!" Zoe actually cried out for help. If there was one thing she absolutely hated, it was bugs, and this one looked as if it were about to pounce on her.

"I got ya!" Kayla, who had not the slightest idea of what was going on, knew only that she had to protect her sister. She ran up from behind the monster that was attacking Zoe, and took a swing at its side with her right foot. Much to her dismay, her foot seemed to go through the bug-looking thing, which then turned around and slashed at her ankle. It just barely clipped her, drawing just a small blood, but it still hurt. "What are these things!?" she called out.

"I have no idea!" Aiden responded, reversing slowly and then pressing his back up against Kayla's, never taking his eye off the creature as it sunk back into the ground. "I can't hurt it," he said a little more quietly, now that Kayla was right next to (or rather behind) him.

"Me neither. What do we do?

"I don't know," Aiden was forced to admit. It was a phrase he had heard far too many times already.

Aiden, Kayla, and Zoe

Zoe held her hand up for a moment as the boy walked away, ignoring her handshake. She dropped her arm and hung her head. This was just her luck. If it had been Aiden, or especially Kayla, there's no way they would have been ignored. She looked up after a short moment, and nodded towards the others. Yeah, let's go. With that, the trio made their way up the stairs and joined everyone else on the next floor, which was identical to the first, except it was tinted purple.




Once everyone had made it to the second floor, the stairs, along with the first floor, disappeared. Then, the disembodied voice came again.


As the voice said this, several creatures came from out of the floor. The were black, bug-like creatures with glowing yellow eyes, seemingly made of darkness. Not long after their summon, they sunk into the ground and headed towards each of the people on the floor, and once they got near these people they popped up and attacked them!