Author’s Note (A/N): IMPORTANT! Read the entire chapter before yelling at me. If you stop like a page into this chapter, you’ll think something that’s not true! Go through the whole chapter please…

Previously

There was a giant battle between all the rulers and Abner who happens to have backstabbed. Well, Li jumped in and got unbrainwashed, but Abner captured Sakura anyhow (sigh…). Then, they all run off back to Shadow’s castle and wait for Sakura, having faith that she would be alright.

The Seven Realms

Chapter 23: Departures

by Shadowpheonix


Abner threw Sakura into a dark room and locked the door as he left. “Don’t bother trying to escape!”

Sakura sat in her room, not really listening to Abner. She sat on a small rectangular slab of stone in the corner, assuming it would be her bed. “Shadow… Li… What am I supposed to do? You two have helped me out more than anyone else. You have to know what to do,” Sakura whispered to herself in vain, searching within herself for the answer.

After a few moments of thinking, she laid down on her bed, trying to get some sleep.

As Sakura dozed off, she felt a sharp pain in her side. Immediately, she let out a scream and shot up to see Abner standing next to her and blood coming from her side.

“No sleeping!” Abner commanded, raising his barbed whip and sending it into the back of Sakura’s leg before leaving the room again.

Why? Sakura thought, sobbing and thinking of all the horrible things that Abner could do to her. Frantically, she searched for any answer to her questions, trying to find some way to escape. There has to be something I can do!

Half an hour later, Sakura slowly grew tired and began nodding off again despite her constant efforts to stay awake. As she slowly gave in to sleep, the small wooden door to her room burst into pieces and Abner stepped in.

“Get up,” he said quietly, taking Sakura’s arm and leading her into a marble room with tall, white columns. “It’s time for me to earn my reward,” Abner said, throwing Sakura onto a small, white stone table.

“What are you doing?” Sakura asked, coming to tears again.

“When I finish, you’ll be glad you’re no longer around to see what I’ve done. You will fuel this gateway and I shall rule the Realms!” Abner said, forming a blue, glowing dagger in his hands.

“No! Leave me alone!” Sakura yelled, scrambling off the small table. Immediately she released her staff and called for Shield to protect her as she searched for more ways to defend herself.

“That shield won’t stand to this!” Abner yelled, unleashing a large bolt of energy and shattering the magical aura of The Shield to pieces. “Now stop struggling!” Abner said, sending a rope of energy at Sakura.

“Aaaahh!” Sakura screamed, shielding herself with her hands.

The rope wrapped itself around Sakura, sending small jolts of electricity through her firmly held body before binding her to the table. Abner raised his dagger, and struck, aiming for Sakura’s chest. Inches away, the dagger collided with an odd energy shield and shattered.

“Who did this?” Abner asked, staring around and on guard. “Show yourself!”

“Sakura, this is your last chance. That shield will only work once. Hopefully it will buy you enough time,” said Shadow’s tiny voice inside Sakura’s head.

Sakura swiftly sprang to her feet and ran from Abner, hoping to just escape his grasp.

“Get back here!” Abner yelled, chasing after Sakura.

“Fly! Through!” Sakura yelled, using both cards and finding her way through the outer rock wall. I’ve gotta get as far away from here as I can, she thought, flying at full speed away from the odd dome of rock.

About twenty yards away from the rock, Sakura ran into an invisible wall of energy and fell as her Cards ceased to work.

“Fool, I told you not to try. No matter, I have no time to torture you. You will fuel the gate for me!” Abner said, gliding up to Sakura.

Moments later, Abner had Sakura back in the small marble room, strapped to the stone table. “If I can’t kill you that way, I’ll just drain the energy straight from your body!” Abner yelled, surrounded in his cold, blue aura.

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!” Sakura screamed as she felt a pain beyond anything she had felt before. Slowly, her life energy drained from her and her body lay, motionless on the table.

“There. You should be happy, Sakura. You don’t have to face the upcoming destruction!” Abner cried, laughing viciously.

Abner stepped up to an odd, twisted stone rod and conferred to it the energy he took from Sakura. Slowly, the rod sparkled and a dull light shone from it. As Abner finished transferring the energy, the dull light shined until it filled the dark room with an eerie blue glow. After a few seconds, the glow disappeared and the stone wall behind it swirled with color.

“Yes… now I just need the Spirits to complete this, and I will rule the Realms!” Abner said, taking from his pocket seven different rings, each with a peculiar symbol on them. He set the Rings in a tight circle and sat down, mustering up a large amount of energy and infusing the Rings with them. A moment later, he stood up and walked over to each of the Rings, sending a unique bolt of energy into each one. When he finished, he took a few steps back and sent a large ball of energy into the middle of the Rings and tied the Rings’ energy to the unusual stone rod.

A moment later, the Rings shattered and in place of them, seven large creatures, made of pure energy appeared. Slowly, the creatures shrunk as their energies were absorbed by the rod.

Instantly, the swirling wall behind the rod burst to pieces and a semi-transparent Portal formed, seemingly covered by a malleable, oily sheet. “Perfect. You’re free,” Abner said, watching as a young man clad in glowing armor stepped out, carrying with him various weapons. “Now, do as you promised!”

“Thank you, Abner, for freeing me. However, you didn’t truly believe that I would let you rule the Realms alone while I still could, did you? You can rule along with me if you’d like, but otherwise, I’ll have to dispose of you,” the man said, drawing from its sheath a long, glimmering sword.

“We had a deal. You said that if I freed you, I would have complete rule of the Realms!” Abner yelled.

“And you will. I never said you would have complete control all to yourself. Think about this, Abner. I’m offering you a wonderful position on my council. We’ll be equals, neither of us greater than the rest,” the man said, running his finger along the sword.

“The rest?” Abner asked. “Who else is there going to be?”

“Well, at the moment, just you and me. Soon, I’ll find others that are strong. Perhaps Shadow can be corrupted. He’s been putting up quite a fight,” the man said, halfway minding the conversation as he sheathed his sword and walked through the room.

“Fine. So let’s go get him. There’s no use staying here,” Abner said, waiting for his new acquaintance and fellow ruler to agree to his plan.

“Give me a moment. I’ve been trapped for nearly fourteen years now. I’ve got to stretch out a bit; warm up, if you will. Say, you wouldn’t happen to know anyone that needs to be killed, do you?”

“Altarrin will still be around somewhere if you’re interested in getting revenge,” Abner said.

“Not him, he won’t provide any challenge. Perhaps I’ll fight Shadow, just for fun. We’ll see if he can put up as good a fight against me as he did against you,” the man said, grabbing an axe from off his back.

“You have quite a few weapons,” Abner replied, laughing mirthlessly. “You should be able to defeat him without breaking a sweat.”

“Well, we’ll see. For now, I think I could use some food. I haven’t eaten for fourteen years, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t eat now,” the man said. “Where can I get something to eat?”

“I have enough for the next three days if we eat sparingly. Come with me,” Abner said, leading the man out of the marble room.

An hour after the two of them left, Sakura’s Cards mysteriously glowed with a bright golden aura and floated around her motionless body, calling out to her with their warm light.


“Sakura,” a voice called in the dark.

“Huh…?” Sakura replied, her voice echoing in the complete darkness.

“Sakura,” came another voice, followed by many more.

“Where am I?” Sakura asked the echoing darkness.

“Sakura…” the voices said, seeming closer.

Sakura turned her head, looking in every direction through the darkness, unable to see anything as the voices echoed all around her. “Sakura, wake up,” a soft voice said.

“You have our strength,” came another voice, similar to the first.

“Who are you?” Sakura asked the echoing voices.

“Wake up, Sakura,” the voices said in unison, echoing through the darkness and finding their way to Sakura’s ears. “We need you.”

“Tell me who you are!” Sakura cried, staring around her at the oppressive darkness. “Tell me!”

“We can’t! You must wake up,” the first voice said as a slight glimmer of light appeared off in the distance.

“That light… It’s… so warm,” Sakura said, running towards it with echoing footsteps.

“Hurry, Sakura. You don’t have much time,” the voices said, urging Sakura onwards.

“That light… I’ve seen it before! I know what that is,” Sakura said aloud, trying to remember exactly what it was as she ran through the pure darkness.

“Sakura…” the voices said, growing louder as the light grew closer.

Sakura ran for what seemed like hours, chasing after the dimly twinkling light. As she approached the light, a woman with long, flowing white hair in white armor appeared, emitting a bright light and standing in front of a small doorway..

“Sakura, you made it. Come with me. Take our strength and come,” the woman said, beckoning for Sakura to follow her.

Sakura stepped through the doorway and looked around, seeing different figures around her. A cat-like creature with a long, waving tail jumped into her hands and licked her cheek, reminding her again of her past.

“The Cards! You’re all here. But… where am I?” Sakura asked, suddenly realizing whose voices she had heard.

“You’re asleep, Sakura. You must wake up,” the woman said.

“Light, Dark, Dash, and everyone else... thank you,” Sakura said gratefully as the world winked out of existence.


Sakura awoke, and looked around her to see her Cards floating around her and glowing, filling her with energy. “My Cards,” Sakura said, holding out her hand and letting the Cards fall into it. She pressed her Cards to her chest, feeling their warmth and allowing their energy to flow through her body. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Mistress Sakura. We owe our happiness to you,” the Cards said, echoing in Sakura’s head.

“Thank you…”

The door to the room opened with a bang and a man, clad in glowing armor walked in. “So, this is the girl. She’s not very dead,” the man said, turning to Abner behind him.

“You! How did you survive?” Abner asked angrily.

“It doesn’t matter now, Abner. She can’t do anything. If I were her, I would’ve stayed in my peaceful, dead slumber. Now, she’ll have to face this like all the other fools that oppose me. Of course, Sakura, I wouldn’t mind letting you join my side,” the man said.

“Join… join your side?” Sakura asked.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m offering you the chance to rule the Realms. In fact, I’ll even let your friends join up with me. You can save all your friends from certain destruction,” the man said, offering Sakura his hand.

“Why are you offering her something like this?” Abner asked furiously.

“She deserves it, doesn’t she? If not for her, I wouldn’t be here. Think of it as my thanks,” the man said, waiting for Sakura’s response.

“I… I don’t understand,” Sakura said, backing away. “Who are you?”

“Oh, that’s not really so important. Just know that I’ll be the next one to rule the Realms: right after I destroy them and recreate them as I see fit,” the man replied, unsheathing his blade and waving it through the air in different formations. “So what’ll it be, Sakura? If you’d like to join your friends against me, I’ll let you leave. If you’d like to join forces with me, I’ll let you talk to them and hopefully you can convince them to come with you.”

“No! I can’t! You’re going to destroy this place! What about all the things that the different rulers have worked so hard for? All the stories I’ve heard, all the people here… You can’t just destroy this place!” Sakura yelled, taking her staff in her hands.

“Suit yourself. Abner, show Sakura here the way out. Point her in the direction of her friends. For freeing me, I’ll be nice and allow you to die with your friends rather than striking you down now,” the man said, leaving Abner with Sakura. “Don’t hurt her too much.”

“I didn’t think I’d get a chance to torture you for trying to run. Well, here’s my chance!” Abner said, directing his energy at Sakura and picking her up. Abner created strong ropes of energy and bound Sakura, squeezing the air out of her lungs.

“Aaaaahh!” Sakura screamed, having some difficulty breathing.

“Go find your friends!” Abner said, taking Sakura to the nearest door and tossing her into the air.

“Fly!” Sakura yelled, as she flew through the air. The Fly took effect moments before Sakura hit the ground and carried her into the air, away from the dome of rock where Abner stood, laughing. Sakura flew for a few minutes before finding Shadow’s castle off in the distance, brightly lit by candles. She arrived at Shadow’s front door a few minutes later. Her wings disappeared as she knocked on the door, hoping she wouldn’t wake anyone.

“Who is it?” came Candice’s voice from the other side.

“It’s me, Sakura,” Sakura replied as the doors opened.

“Sakura! You’re alive! I knew you would make it! So, what did you do to Abner? Where’s that snake now?” Candice asked, bringing Sakura inside. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“I… I’m fine… Where’s everyone else?”

“Everyone’s sleeping, but I couldn’t. I–“

“Sakura, come here. Li’s waiting to see you,” Shadow said, cutting Candice off.

“Shadow! Learn some manners!” Candice said, stalking off and leaving Sakura to Shadow.

“Shadow… Abner’s done something and there’s someone that says he’s going to destroy the Realms now. What are we going to do about it?” Sakura asked despairingly.

“Right now, nothing. Li needs to talk to you. He has… something important he wants to tell you,” Shadow replied, taking Sakura up to her old room. “He’s in there, probably asleep by now.”

Sakura walked into her room and found Li asleep on her bed. She walked over and woke Li who promptly got to his feet. “Sakura, I was so worried about you. Sakura… I’m so sorry. I can’t believe that I almost… I almost killed you. I…”

“Li, it’s ok. I understand,” Sakura said, staring at Li with watery eyes. “I’m glad you’re ok now.”

“Sakura… I… You know I…” Li said, growing very red. “I’m really glad you’re ok too.”

“Thank you,” Sakura replied. “I’m lucky to be here. If it weren’t for the Cards, I’d probably have died.”

“Sakura, I’ve woken the other rulers. You need to come out and tell them what’s going on,” Shadow said as he walked into the room, looking very grim. “They’ll be in the dining room.”

Sakura glanced at Li before the two of them walked past Shadow, Sakura leading the way with a smile on her face.

“You could have done better,” Shadow whispered to Li, just loudly enough for him to hear.

Li turned and stared at Shadow for a while, feeling an odd aura and growing a little nervous before he ran off after Sakura, following her down the dark, half-lit hall.

A few minutes later, Sakura and Li walked into the dining room where the other rulers were waiting. “Sakura, you’re ok,” Sigma said, taking Sakura’s hand and leading her to a chair. “Are you hurt?”

“She’ll be fine, Sigma. Let her tell us what Shadow said was so important,” Matriana said, quieting all the rulers.

“Umm…” Sakura mumbled, growing a little uneasy as all the rulers stared at her.

“Come on, Sakura,” Li whispered quietly, urging Sakura onwards and reminding her of his presence.

“Abner did something to me. He said he was going to drain the energy from my body. I don’t know exactly what happened later, but when I woke up, there was someone there besides Abner. They kept talking about how I should’ve been dead. Then the man said he was going to destroy the Realms and offered to let me join his side. When I refused, Abner grabbed me and threw me out.”

“Wait, this guy, what did he look like?” Matriana asked.

“Well, he was taller than Abner by a foot or two and he had a rough face with a few scars. Umm… I think he had black hair and he was clothed in glowing, gold armor. He also had a really long sword and I think I saw a large axe strapped to his back.”

“Do you know anything else about him?”

“No, that’s all he told me,” Sakura said, shaking her head.

“Well, personally, I think he’s the real Spiritmaker,” Candice said.

“You’re right. He is. We don’t, however, know what he’s going to do. I’m sure he has something planned, but we need to fight him head on. We’re coming up on the final battle, and we all need to be prepared,” Shadow said, stepping into the room.

“Yes. We should all go back to our Realms and find some people to fight with us. Elaine, with Abner gone, you’ll be the new ruler of the Light Realm. We’ll let the people know right away. Shadow, I understand that there is but a single village of people here in the Dark Realm. From what I hear, they’re mostly strong sorcerers and mercenaries skilled in swordplay. Will you go get some followers?”

“Yes, I’ll be there soon. I had to make sure we all had a plan first. Sigma, we’re going to need as many of your herbal remedies as we can get. Does anyone else have any requests for anyone?” Shadow replied.

“What should we do?” Sakura asked for herself and Li.

“Follow Solana to her Realm. Think of it as a partial vacation while you find some reinforcements there. The Wind Realm is very peaceful and you should enjoy it,” Shadow said.

“Ok, I’ll take them. Anything else you need from me?” Solana asked, ready to head back to her Realm.

“Your Realm is famous for its cooks. Bring us all back some food,” Tyrell said. “I haven’t had food from your Realm since I was five.”

“Ok!” Solana said, smiling. “Let’s go, Sakura, Li.”

“Sakura, there’s something odd about Shadow. He feels…”

“Shhh. We’ll talk about it later, Li. Let’s go,” Sakura whispered, grabbing Li’s arm and dragging him after Solana.

“Sakura…”

Sakura and Li followed Solana out to the Portal and stepped through it, vanishing without a trace.

“Ok, so we all know what to do. We’ll meet back here in a day or two, ok?” Shadow said.

“No problem. A day is more than enough for us to gather what we need. Elaine, Candice and I’ll take you to crown you as the new ruler. We’re the two oldest rulers left now. Let’s go,” Sigma said, taking Elaine’s hand.

“I… I suppose,” Elaine said, staring down at the ground with thoughts of her father flying through her head.

“Come on, Elaine. Cheer up. You’ll do fine as a ruler. Your father would have been proud to see you rule,” Candice said, taking Elaine’s hand in comfort.

“Sigma, weren’t you the one that got all mad at me for ruling at such a young age?” Shadow asked jokingly.

“Yes, well Elaine’s proven herself. She took a powerful blast from her father and has therefore earned her position as ruler. How you became ruler I’m still trying to puzzle out, but we’ll have time for that after this is all over. For now, your help is much appreciated,” Sigma said, slightly aggravated.

“Alright, go ‘crown’ her. I’ll be off in that small secluded village talking to people,” Shadow replied, walking off.

“If you ask me, he assassinated the other ruler and posed as the ruler’s son, making the few people here believe that he was the rightful heir. He’s nothing more than a kid. I haven’t seen him do anything useful!” Candice said condemningly.

“Well, like I said: we can deal with that later. Right now, we have to get ready for this next battle,” Sigma replied, taking Elaine to the Portal with Candice.

“Well, that leaves me and you, Matriana. I suppose you’ll be off to your giant library to pick up some spell books or something, right?” Tyrell said.

“Yes, I will. I’ll leave you to your Realm. Eriol, you seem to have an interest in knowledge. Perhaps you’d like to come with me?”

“Sure,” Eriol replied, a little distant.

“Eriol, don’t you have four guardians somewhere?” Tyrell asked as Eriol began to leave.

“They’re fine. They should still be lost somewhere in this Realm and they can take care of themselves,” Eriol replied, following Matriana through the Portal.

“And then there was one. Well, here I go talking to myself,” Tyrell said, heading up a flight of stairs. “Lloyd, you want to come with me to the Thunder Realm and find some backup?”

“Sure, Lord Tyrell, I’ll help,” Lloyd said, grabbing his coat and following Tyrell.

“No need to be so formal, Lloyd. We’ve been through enough together to drop the ‘Lord’ portion of my name,” Tyrell replied after he recited the incantation for the Thunder Realm.

The two of them stepped through the Portal and vanished, headed to the Thunder Realm.


“Keroberos, this is all your fault! We’ve been going in circles for ages now!” Ruby yelled, head to head with Kero.

“What do you mean it’s my fault? You’re the one that’s been telling us where to turn!” Kero yelled back.

Kero and Ruby yelled back and forth as Yue and Spinel watched. After a while, they stepped in and stopped the bickering, having earned a large headache from listening to the two of them fight for the past hour.

“Keroberos, Clow would not approve of this,” Yue said quietly.

“Ruby, we need to focus on finding our way back. No more games!” Spinel cried.

“Fine!” Kero and Ruby said at the same time, turning away from each other.

“Let’s get going. A little while ago, it felt as if Sakura was in danger,” Yue said, getting Kero to start moving again.

“Yes, and I can’t feel Eriol’s presence anymore. I think he may have left this Realm,” Spinel said.

“Alright, we’ll go that way,” Kero said, pointing off in a random direction.

“Why that way? Last I felt Eriol, he was that way!” Ruby said.

“You say that every time and we always get lost! We’re going where I say this time!” Kero yelled.

“No, we’re not! We’re going this way!”

“Fine! You go that way and I’ll go this way!” Kero yelled back, walking off.

“Keroberos! Stay right there,” Spinel yelled. “We should stick together! I agree with Ruby this time. I did feel Eriol in that direction last time.”

“Well, let’s get going then,” Kero said, feeling rather defeated.

“Well, look what I’ve stumbled onto,” came a voice from behind the four of them.

Immediately, Yue and Spinel jumped up and prepared to strike, watching as a boy walked into their midst.

“It’s just me. Eriol’s in a different Realm by now and Sakura should be with Li in the Wind Realm. You can come with me for a while,” Shadow said. For those of you that like sweets, I’ve got a plate of cookies in my backpack,” Shadow said, shooting a look at Kero.

“Well, I’m convinced! Let’s go!” Kero said, transforming into his false form and flying into Shadow’s backpack.

“Keroberos… really likes sweets,” Spinel said, staring at the tiny crumbs flying from Shadow’s backpack.

“Uh huh,” Ruby replied, walking after Shadow.

“Be careful,” Yue whispered to Spinel and Ruby. “I feel something familiar from him, though I can’t say what it is.”

Eriol’s guardians nodded and followed Shadow quietly as he led them through the Realm.



To be continued...

Ok, chapter. Well, Sakura didn’t die and I promise that Sakura, who’s been tortured so badly already, won’t die, so don’t kill me for it. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Things are drawing to a close. The ‘final battle’ is approaching, and we still don’t know what the other card that Sakura’s recently obtained is…

Close Window