. R O A D . T O . D A M A S C U S . C H R O N I C L E S .

. S E R E N D I P I T Y .

Chapter 7- Leaving Hollow Bastion

Odin stood on the balcony overlooking the vast land of the Bastion Garden. The town sat on one side and there were a great chasm that divided the castle from the rest of the world. Shadows had taken over the world in a sense, but not like his home world. To his understanding, for the shadows to take over the world and encompass it in the darkness is to take the pure heart of a princess of that world. It had not done so on the world of Bastion Garden… shadows were evidence everywhere except for the town and few other places. He often wondered how his planet and Leon’s planet was encompassed with the darkness if there was no princess’s heart being captured. King Mickey had explained a long time ago that their system, the Gaea System were different for the system were seeded by the Children of the Gods and in that case, it would be the Goddess herself that has to be captured by the shadows to encompass the worlds.

He wondered if it were the case, then Gaea herself had been lost some time ago and no one truly known. He knew by the fact that it was Serendipity that had opened the door a long time ago, allowing the shadows access to their home world unintentionally. He also thought who would have opened the doors on the other worlds in the Gaea System. The more he spent time alone, doing cleaning sweep through the halls of the Hollow Bastion, which the castle had been renamed, he would wonder more and more of the universe and question everything. There was so much out there that he wanted to know.

He looked up to the sky to see it turn pinkish hue, the sun was setting. Sighing as he turned and went back through the area he had cleared off of the shadows. Swinging the borrowed sword over his shoulder, he made his way back to the safe and main hallway of the castle where he and the few others remained. Things became more and more morose at Hollow Bastion. The castle had been overrun by the shadows, each hallway were shut and servants and maids disappearing each day. Then, finally, after few weeks, it was becoming too much that only a single hallway was left open and the safest place was the library and handful of people were left in the castle.

Serendipity and her friends ended up camping out in the private room only known by Princess Jasmine and Aeris most of the time. They were often found together, reading books or studying their magic. After Cloud’s departure, the other princesses decided they needed to return to their worlds, to find their lost love and to save their hearts. With bravery and motivation spurred by Serendipity, they left one by one. Finally, Jasmine was the last one and with hesitancy, she left, leaving behind the children and Aeris.

Tifa, Cid, and Yuffie had moved to the town nearby to run their shop and work hard to search for clues and keep eyes on the shadows movement. Leon came and went, often fighting the shadows to keep the population at bay, though most of the time, everyone else knew, he was hiding to conceal his grieving heart.

Aeris had attempted to encourage the children to leave Hollow Bastion, to move to the town but Serendipity stood her ground, saying she must learn all she can in the library and Aeris agreed halfheartedly.

Odin entered the library and found Serendipity sitting at the table with the others, reading books. There was towers of tomes on the table, the library once was a tidy place but now a turned over mess. The maids had long gone and they only pulled out books to read and leave them lying around, not bothering to return it. They found no point in keeping tidy place, all they wanted was to find more answers to their growing list of questions. It was becoming very frustrating, for every answer they find, several more questions grew.

Aeris stepped in the library behind Odin and went up to his side, putting her hand on his shoulder. Odin had grown and was already several inches taller than the healer. “I am going into town, please keep them safe.”

Odin gave a nod. “I will. For now, the nearby halls are cleared. It is safe to travel to and back from town. There’s no knowing when they will return.”

Aeris nodded and sighed looking over to the other three at the table. She made her way to kiss on Serendipity’s head; she did the same with DaHara. Then she stopped at Jules’ chair and knelt, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Odin watched as Aeris speak softly to her son before rising. Soon, she left and Odin sat down in an easy wing backed chair, picking up a book that was left lying on the arm.

Serendipity gasped and stood up, “Guys… I think I know what we need to do.” DaHara and Jules looked up and Odin stood up and went over to the table. “There is not much information about the shadows, heartless or whatever except in Ansem’s office but here,” She pointed to the thick book she was reading, “This book is about princess, everything you can know but, here, listen to this:

A princess is unique, more than an ordinary girl. They hold a heart purest than anyone and carry a burden of the world unknown to them. For each world out in the universe, always, there is one princess that holds the very soul of the planet they live on. When one marry and the burden is passed onto the next princess in line.

Their hearts, with purity hold the shining light full of kindness, goodness and love unlike any others. They are the one who carry the legacy of the world and passing them on. Not always princesses are born in royalty, but are often stand out compared to the rest of the girls with the traits of a princess.”

“Like Belle and Cinderella.” Jules said. “They’re not born into royalty but they are princess in their own rights. So… what does it have to do with the shadows?”

Serendipity shook her head, “The report of Ansem… scattered all over the office, and he said something about the princess… That’s why all the other princesses were here, staying here in Bastion Garden. It’s haven for them… until now.” She sighed. “Ansem and the shadows want their hearts… the princess has large heart, the true heart of a world…” She looked up to Odin and asked, “Then, why, why is our world gone? It says so here in the book that a planet will be covered in darkness if there is no princess or a heart to carry on the legacy. I am the princess of my world but I am here.”

Odin shook his head, “No Serendipity. You forget, King Mickey told us a long time ago when we got here, that our world, Leon’s world; all the worlds in the Gaea systems are different from the rest of the universe. We are children of the gods and it is a goddess that has the heart, not a mortal. It’s Gaia, only you will carry the heart of your world if Gaia passes on the legacy to Megamiki, but she never did. Now, the shadows must have taken Gaia…” He frowned and looked away… “Maybe that’s why there are Titans… they’re the heartless of the gods.”

Serendipity’s hands flew to her mouth to suppress a gasp. She knew of the titans that were roaming around causing havoc on several worlds under a strange god named Hades. She knew this Hades were not the same underworld lord as her own great-great grandfather, the father of Madoshi. “That’s horrible.” She whispered and sat down again. “The door is open on Gaea Seven; it has to be closed…”

“But how? The Keyblade Master has to be the one to close the doors.” DaHara spoke, breaking the silence.

“Yes.” Odin replied.

“But where is he?” Jules asked.

Serendipity gazed at the book she was reading, but not really looking at it. Finally after a moment of silence, she spoke, “I wonder why the Sorceress Princess is needed… for our worlds.” She reached and flipped the book to the end to look at the index and gasped softly, “It’s here…” She flipped once again, looking for a page and found it. “The Sorceress Princess…

Not much is known about the Sorceress Princess but they do exist. They are unique as well but hold different quality than a princess. They hold the powers unimaginable to anyone, powers like the gods but the true princess of their worlds. Only a few handfuls of worlds left in the universe are peoples of the gods. And in each world, is one Sorceress Princess.

A Sorceress Princess is also known as the Valkyries, the daughter of Gaea, solely known to be on Gaea the Seventh...” Serendipity stopped and looked up to meet her friends’ eyes, finding shock written all over their face. She knew her face mirrored theirs. “Valkyries… that means…”

“You are the Sorceress Princess.” Odin said with finality. “Unbelievable… right under our nose the whole time.”

“But I can’t be…” Serendipity protested. “I am not that powerful.”

DaHara gave a derisive laugh and pointed out, “Your parents… who are they?” Serendipity gave her a look and DaHara rolled her eyes, standing up with her hands on her hips. “Come on, Sere! You got King Sephiroth and Queen Sorano, the saviors of our world, three times over as your parents! You’re the direct descendant of Gaia and Ouranos! You are the Sorceress Princess!”

Jules stood up, leaning on the table as he asked, “So, we got our Sorceress Princess, now what?”

Light began to glow on the table, shining and shimmering, making form, twirling and dancing until it settled, disappearing to leave behind an envelope. “How strange… Hey, this is King Mickey’s symbol.” She broke open the three black circular symbol seal of King Mickey and read the letter. “It says…” She went white and dropped the letter onto the table and sat down.

DaHara took the letter and read it out, “Serendipity, the answer always had laid in the heart of a Sorceress Princess. To find your mother, find your brother. He will lead you to your father in the shadows. Begin with Seven and end with Ten, return to where it begins all over again and makes it never was. King Mickey.”

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Jules asked, confused.

Odin narrowed his eyes as he took the letter and read it. “How strange, a riddle. Begin with seven, end with ten and return to where it begins all over again. Make it never was.”

Serendipity stood up and took the letter, still white faced. “King Mickey knew the whole time. He wants me to figure this out…” She glanced on the letter and frowned, “Odin. You said Gaea Seven, that’s our home world… isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Odin replied, thinking Serendipity was onto something.

Indeed she was, “Then, that’s where we should go.”

“But!” DaHara stood up, surprised and horrorstruck at the same time. “Our world is gone!”

“Not really. It’s still there, just that the Shadows took over. Vincent’s still there.” Serendipity replied and folded the letter and tucked it in her pocket. “Go and pack a bag, each one of you. We are leaving within the hour.” She left the library, leaving the three others to gawk after her.

“Odin, you’re older than us, you have to stop her.” Jules said softly, looking to the taller boy.

Odin shook his head gently, “No. Where she goes, I go.”

DaHara looked appalled, “What? What are you, her lapdog?”

He gave her a glare and replied, “King Sephiroth ordered me to protect her and that’s what I will do. In that protection I provide and I obey her. If she thinks we need to go back to our home world, that’s where we will go.”

Aeris approached the small quaint shop in the town near the castle. The shop was small but bought and owned by Tifa and Cid in the past few years since they had moved to this world. She tapped her boots at the steps to shake off the dirt and stepped in the shop. “Hello? Anybody home?” She called as she noticed it was empty.

Then there was some yelling and crashing and Yuffie came toppling out from another room with boxes in her arms bigger than she is. Aeris ran forward to help her and they settled the boxes down. “What’s going on?” Aeris asked.

Tifa came in after Yuffie and placed down another box. “Cid found a world not far from here, we’re moving there. It’s safer there.”

“Really?” Aeris asked, looking interested.

Cid came in with smaller boxes. “That’s right. There’s a town, Taverse Town. I got a shop there, selling gummi blocks. It’s good place as any.”

“Is it safe there?” Aeris asked.

“Yes. No shadows or heartless on that world. It’s small, tiny, nothing interesting there, just a place for people to stop by between worlds. The girls,” He gestured to Tifa and Yuffie, “Will go with me. The previous owner of this shop has a big radio system in his office and I could fix it up and help to keep track of the other worlds of the heartless and shadows. A passing visitor told me about the shop and said the owner disappeared and there was no one who knows how to run shop, or know about mechanics.”

“I see… do you think we should go too, the children and me?” Aeris asked, thinking.

“I don’t see why not.” Tifa replied. “It would be much safer for them. Hollow Bastion is no home for them anymore. It’s a rundown shack now.”

Aeris looked out of the window of the shop and she could see the castle towering in the distance. “Yeah,” she turned to the others, “Leon too?”

Tifa made a face but kept her mouth shut. She was known to dislike Leon since after the birth of Sora. Cid shrugged his shoulders as he hauled some more boxes from another room. “It’s up to him. This is no place for us anymore.”

“Then, I should go and gather the children and let him know.” Aeris said as she got to the door and left with a wave.

“Poor Aeris,” Yuffie murmured. “The children are growing up and she has to step in as their mother. I wonder if Cloud’s all right.”

Tifa sighed, “Cloud’s tough… she will be back before we know it.”

“I hope so.” Cid ruffed as he crawled under the desk to gather up few electronic things and banged his head, cursing.

Serendipity sat on the bed, gazing into the fireplace. The room had no window for it was the private room through the library. She and her friends had retreated to using this room and there were mattresses, dragged from other rooms in the castle, lying about the room. She wanted to rotate the bed, allowing the others to use the regular bed in the room but her friends were adamant, saying the regular bed was hers. Now sitting upon it, she had a tiny bag already packed with her clothes and her things.

All she had come to own were her clothes and the ring upon her finger. She scoffed the idea of being a princess who has everything. She once had everything in the world until she was forced to leave her world. She remembered the day, tear falling down her cheek. She remembered the horror and the sadness when she had looked back, watching her world get smaller and smaller as she left in the rocket ship.

She heard the door open and looked up to see Odin stepping in. He moved to his bed that was lying between her bed and the door. The other two mattresses were on the other side of the bed. She watched him pull up his own bag and stuck his own clothes in the bag. She noticed that he also didn’t have much possession. When Odin was finished, he looked up to see Serendipity’s face with tears tracks. He silently went to her bed and sat down next to her.

They moved together and fell into embrace, simply holding each others for a long while. Serendipity was shocked to finally notice how much older Odin had turned. He looked between a boy and a man. It felt good to be in his arms, she knew she would be safe always with him and she knew she would never view him as her brother despite they grew up together and her parents adopting him. She felt more for him but sadly, there was no time or place to explore such feeling. She was only ten years old, but she felt old. She sat back and looked at him, “How old are you now?”

Odin’s lips cracked at the question and ruffled Serendipity’s silver hair. “Strange question to ask now,” he sighed and shook his head, “I turned sixteen not too long ago.”

“We forgot your birthday?” She asked.

“In fact, no one had really celebrated anybody’s birthday since we moved here except for Sora’s first birthday.”

“Oh, right.” She replied, looking away.

“I know this may be a stupid question.” Odin said softly, “How are we getting to Gaea Seventh?”

Serendipity looked back up and gave him a mysterious smile. “You all will see. I have ways.” She stood up and grabbed her bag. “Let’s get ready. I’d like to leave before Aeris stop us.”

“Right,” Odin said as he stood up to follow Serendipity. He grabbed his bag and stopped at the doorway, looking back around the room. He wondered if he and the others would ever come back to this castle, will the things be here or empty? He had seen the halls where the shadows had loomed, the place looked barren as if the furniture were gone or placed back where it belonged, clean but dusty and abandoned. It was a strange thing he had encountered but didn’t bother to question it.

He turned to look ahead to see Serendipity calling her friends to come and get their things. Shaking his head, for a moment there, he saw a young girl with innocent, shining in the dim light of the library. But a moment had passed and she shifted, looking back to him. There it was the toils and troubles written all over her face. There was a heavy burden on her shoulder that she carried since they came to this world, the remorse of opening the door and laying her world to the shadows. He knew she had not intentionally done so but the guilt ate her away inside, that she had put death to thousands on her world. With such things heavy on her heart, she appeared wiser and older and he knew she lost sleep countless nights for the darkness circling under her eyes. He felt like he had failed Sephiroth in many ways for the shines of innocent and youth were gone from her eyes as well.

“Come on, Odin, let DaHara and Jules pack their bags. I got to write a letter.” Serendipity called back to him and he nodded, walking down the tunnel-like hallway to the library and exited. DaHara and Jules, both holding hands, slipped by him to the private room.

DaHara grabbed her and Jules bag from a corner of the room and tossed the bag to Jules. “Not much to pack.” She murmured as she pulled some of her clothes and stuck them in the bag.

Jules nodded, “Yeah. We all didn’t anyway. Not even Serendipity.”

“What are we going to do? How can we fight the shadows? We don’t have weapons.” She said as she flipped onto her bed.

Jules moved closer and lay down next to her, his feet to her head. “We’ll figure it out soon. We got our magic.”

“Yeah but our magic are not strong enough. We only been training for the last two years and no where better.” She scowled. “This is not right… We shouldn’t go back to Gaea Seventh.”

“Why you think so?” Jules asked softly, looking to the ceiling. It was painted to look like night sky with stars smattering across. He imagined he could see star shooting and the stars swirling above him, it had always given him peace.

“The world’s gone. There’s nothing left there. You saw it, we all saw it. Covered, all black. You saw how some part of the castles just became gone, abandoned, nothing left.”

“Yeah. But Vincent’s there.”

“So what?” DaHara replied harshly and sat up. “He has no heart to let the Shadow to take him.”

“I wonder about that sometime.” Jules said softly. “I saw Odin get attacked by the shadows before, when I went with him to do clean sweep. He didn’t turn, but shook them off and killed them.”

“What?” She asked, shocked.

“Same thing happened to Leon. Not affected. I wonder if you don’t have a heart, then, you don’t get taken by the shadows.”

“How is that possible?” DaHara asked.

“I don’t know. We will find out soon. We should go with them. Serendipity is the Sorceress Princess and King Mickey says she got answers. Maybe there’s a way that Serendipity can stop the shadows.”

“But that won’t bring our parents back.” DaHara said softly, a tear fell down her cheek. Jules watched, knowing DaHara missed her father and mother. He knew she was fighting with her mother the day the heartless took her mother. Ever since, DaHara held the remorse in her heart that she never got a proper good bye. He knew he didn’t with his father. Frowning, he wondered why his father was taken while his mother remained alive.

He deeply missed his father and knew he was luckily to have his mother until now. He stood up and shook his head, a simple verse from a book he had came across stuck him true, it had said that a man will leave his family for his wife. He looked to DaHara, he had felt that she was the one for a long time and bowed his head, silently vowing that he would always be there for DaHara, to protect her and keep her safe no matter what. Invisible to him, his heart went out from him and settled into her heart. Looking up, he saw that she was retreating down the hallway to the library with her bag on her shoulder. He hurried up after her, taking her hand. She smiled at him and clutched his hand and they both exited the private room.

The four of them gathered in the large center of the library, their bags on their shoulders and facing each other. Serendipity spoke, “I am going to create a doorway to Gaea Seventh.”

“How?” DaHara asked, curious.

“I found out when I was talking to grandpa. When I touched the bubble, my finger slipped through and I was able to touch him. The whole time, the bubble was just a hole, a gateway. I had been practicing to get it bigger for a while. I am going to try to get it big enough for all of us to slip through.” Serendipity explained and held up her hands.

She conjured up the bubble. It appeared and she closed her eyes, focused as the bubble grew bigger and bigger. The others watched in awe as they recognized their blackened world appear before them. The bubble flickered and grew smaller; Odin stepped by her and whispered, “You can do it.” He smiled as the shaking bubble steadied and grew. Soon, it grew large enough for them to pass through one by one.

Holding her hands up, “Hurry, get through.” She said. DaHara and Jules hurried and slipped through without question and she turned to Odin, “Go, I will be right behind.”
“Serendipity?” He asked worried.

“I have to hold it up, go!” She said. He nodded and let go of her, jumping into the bubble. She looked up and saw her friends standing on the blackened ground, looking up to her. She took a breath and jumped and the bubble popped right as she slipped through, the magic broken.

Aeris stepped into the library, looking around, missing the silver of the magic in the center and called, “Kids? Serendipity? Odin? Jules? DaHara? Where are you guys?”

“What is wrong?” She screamed and turned to see Leon coming in the doorway.

“Oh, Leon. I was looking for the children.” She replied, calming down after the slight scare.

Leon looked around, “They have been here since you were gone. Maybe in the room.” He gestured to the private room in the library. “What is it?”

Aeris sighed, “Oh yeah, Tifa, Cid and Yuffie found a world and they’re moving there. I have come to gather the children and go with them. It’s safer there, small world and no shadows. Cid got a shop and we could stay there with them. You are welcome to come along.”

Leon nodded, “I suppose I should. I am considering going back to Gaea Eight soon.”

“Oh my. Then, come with us until you leave.”

“Yes.” He replied. Aeris gave a nod and walked around the library, calling out for the kids.

Aeris returned to the doors, “They’re not here.” She looked pale with panic. “They’re gone!” She glanced around and Leon stepped up to the table where he had last seen them that morning.

“Aeris, they left a letter.” He held up the envelope, “It’s for you.”

Aeris gasped and ran to the table, taking the letter. She tore it open and read it. She looked several shades paler. “They’re gone. They just found out that Serendipity is the Sorceress Princess and left to get some answers to find the Keyblade Master.” She looked to Leon and gasped softly, “The whole time… how could it be?”

Leon looked at the book of the princess, the pages lying open to Sorceress Princess. He stared at the page in shock, the whole time, they had wondered, searched and tried to discover about the Sorceress Princess and it was right there in the book, in the library under their noses. It was a very small chapter in the book, two pages long. “A Sorceress Princess is also known as the Valkyries, the daughter of Gaea, solely known to be on Gaea the Seventh…” He looked up to Aeris who also wore an expression of shock. “Serendipity must had found this and decided to take matters in her own hands.”

Aeris glanced at the book and the few other books lying on the table. She gathered them up and told Leon, “I am taking these with us. It’s not safe to have these lying around for the evil ones to find.” She shook her head and turned to the doors. “They’re gone. They will not return to this place. Might as well go on.” Leon watched as the healer walk away, he could see tears streaming down her face. He knew she was crying, too many losses and they were only the handful of people left from Gaea Seventh. To survive three crises on their world and only to fail the fourth one, he often wondered what the fates were playing at.

w w w . y a s h o d o a . c o m / r o a d t o d a m a s c u s

Feedbacks, reviews, please, pretty please!?

Check Yashodoa’s Bio for information and author’s notes.