Chapter 7

GULA, THE YOUNG FORETELLER IN THE LEOPARD MASK, was studying a piece of paper in an alley of Daybreak Town. Once again, he read over the words on the page—words meant for him alone among the Foretellers.

“Trust no one but myself,” he murmured, then put the page in his robe and slowly walked away.

He was headed for the warehouse where Aced was hiding, injured from his battle with Invi, Ava, and Gula.

When he arrived, the Foreteller in the bear mask was still breathing heavily. “Gula…,” Aced gasped, spotting his fellow Foreteller.

“Do you wanna know what my role is?” Gula asked, standing over Aced.

The Foreteller returned the look with suspicion, wondering why he would be asking this now.

“The Books we were given are incomplete. There’s a Lost Page.”

“Lost Page?” This was news to Aced.

Gula continued: “On that page, it was written that there is a traitor.” He summoned his Keyblade to his hand. “The Master told me…to find and stop that person.”

Aced slowly struggled to his feet and clenched his fist. “I called you my comrade. But never again, Gula. It doesn’t matter to me if you think I am the traitor and you want to strike me down. You knew there was a traitor, and you just watched silently as we fought each other, and I won’t forgive you for that.” Aced readied his own Keyblade.

“You can barely stay on your feet! Just give up already!” Gula shouted.

“Don’t you underestimate me!” Aced yelled at the same time, and his Keyblade met Gula’s.

Though he was wounded, Aced had quite a size advantage, to say nothing of his overwhelmingly superior strength and stamina. On the other hand, he couldn’t hold a candle to Gula when it came to speedy swordplay. They would have been on equal footing if Aced were uninjured, perhaps—at least, if the bear-masked Foreteller hadn’t had the greater wealth of experience to draw upon. That was why Gula had chosen to challenge him when he wasn’t at a hundred percent. There was one flaw in his plan, though: The rage that drove Aced gave him strength that upset the balance.

Their Keyblades clashed again and again, giving off sprays of sparks each time. The two Foretellers jumped back and glared at each other across the distance. It seemed like their duel would last forever—but then Gula was the first to fall. Aced limped over to Gula, who had one knee on the stone, and raised his Keyblade to deliver a final, furious blow—when someone came running toward him.

“Please stop!” Ava leaped in front of Gula, shielding him, and Aced’s Keyblade came to a halt. The Foreteller in the fox mask gazed at him, unflinching. Eventually, Aced lowered his arm and sent his Keyblade away.

“You too, huh?” he muttered sadly, then turned his back on the two Foretellers and stumbled off, dragging one leg behind him.

Ava hugged Gula. “Why?” she said in a small voice. “Why did it have to come to this?”

Aced limped down a backstreet of Daybreak Town, wounded in both heart and body.

Ira, the Foreteller in the unicorn mask, stood waiting for him.

“Come to finish me off? Then make it quick.” Aced smirked bitterly.

Ira admonished him quietly. “That’s not what brought me here today. I wish to fulfill the role bestowed upon me, that’s all,” he said. “It isn’t our place to try and change the events of the future; that is not our mission. We’re here to make sure that light lives on. With only five lights, we can’t afford to lose any.”

Five lights…? Aced wondered. “You…still count me as one of the five lights?”

“Of course.”

Aced let out a small breath, perhaps slightly relieved by that response. “Only you could be such a good guy after everything we’ve been through. But hey, I guess that’s one of the reasons I respect you so much.” The anger in Aced’s voice had been replaced by something akin to warmth—for a fleeting moment, at least. “However, we still might only be four.”

Ira flinched slightly.

“I’m talking about Gula. He’s using the knowledge of something called the Lost Page. He said that it contains events that are missing from all of our Books. He’s using it to discover and apprehend whoever is the traitor, claims that’s his role. But who knows what his real intentions are? What I do know is that I will never forgive him for hiding the fact that he knew someone would betray us. That’s the biggest betrayal of all.” The anger was creeping back into Aced’s voice.

“I’d like to believe that Gula was simply carrying out his role… Aced, I’ll deal with this matter. Please keep it to yourself for now,” Ira advised him, turning to leave.

“Understood,” Aced replied.

However, Ira was troubled as he walked on by himself. To think that the traitor he had foreseen actually existed.

…He had to get ahold of that Lost Page.

Ava brought the injured Gula beneath a bridge in Daybreak Town, all the way to the dead end in the underground waterway flowing into the clocktower. Gula should be able to recuperate here without being discovered.

“Someone’s coming! They’re headed straight this way!”

The first Chirithy created by the Master of Masters came running; he was Ava’s companion now.

“Thanks, Chirithy. Take care of him,” the Foreteller said, then climbed to the top of the bridge in front of the tower and found Ava approaching from the other side. She ran over to him, hoping to put a little more distance between him and Gula.

“Ira? Is something wrong?”

She flinched as his steely gaze turned on her. “I know Gula’s here,” he said.

“What?!” she gasped without thinking. How could he have known?

The unicorn-masked Foreteller didn’t relent. “Tell me where he is.”

“But why? What are you going to do?”

“None of your concern.”

Ava was at a loss. Ira was their leader, and this was most likely an order. Still…

“Don’t,” she refused in a small voice.

“What?” Ira said.

Ava raised her head and faced Ira with determination in her eyes. “I won’t let you near him.”

“So that’s it…,” he murmured to himself, suggesting that he understood the situation. “All right. I’ll go.”

Ira turned on his heel and took his leave. Ava let out a sigh of relief as she watched him go, then ran back underneath the bridge where Gula was resting—or should have been.

“Gula, what are you doing?!”

The young Foreteller was trying to get up. Ava hurried over to him to offer support, but Gula brushed away her hands and sat up on his own. “Something happen?” he asked.

“Ira was here. He wanted me to give you up,” she replied.

Gula’s lips quirked into a little smile. “I knew it. It’s finally come to this.”

“Come to what?” Ava asked, completely in the dark.

Gula leaned back against the wall. “Everyone wants to know about the Lost Page.”

The Lost Page had them all curious, and Ira had even come looking for Gula to learn more, but Ava hadn’t heard of it.

“The Lost Page?”

“Yeah.” Gula nodded, then began to elaborate. “It’s a page the Master gave me. It doesn’t exist in any of our Books. It contains a passage about an inevitable betrayal. It talks about ‘the one who bears the sigil.’ That’s it. So I don’t know what to make of it, to be honest. My role is to find out who it is. I suspected Aced and went to confront him. And look what happened.” A frustrated smirk appeared on Gula’s face.

“Why are you telling me this, Gula?” Ava asked. “I have enough to think about keeping with the Master’s teachings and my role.”

“Always walking the straight and narrow,” Gula said, impressed. “I’m a fool for basing my actions on what is written on that Lost Page. Everything in the passage is ambiguous at best.”

Gula had revealed slightly more than he meant to about the contents of the mysterious page—maybe it was because Ava was so trustworthy, he thought as he gave her a long look. “That’s why I need to find out.”

He gripped Ava’s hand in his.

“But how?” she asked.

“By asking the Master.”

“But he’s not here anymore.”

“I’m going to summon Kingdom Hearts.”

“What?!” Ava was shocked to hear what he was planning.

“Then he’ll have no choice but to come back,” he stated in no uncertain terms.

“Summoning Kingdom Hearts is forbidden!”

“That’s exactly why!” he exclaimed while holding Ava’s right hand in both of his own, perhaps to assure himself of his own conviction. “The only way to get him back is to break the rules! If things don’t change, the entire world is doomed! But in order to go through with it, I’ll need Lux. I don’t have nearly enough!” Gula tightened his grip on Ava’s hand and looked her in the eye. “You always do the right thing. Help me with this.”

…A short time passed, and Ava eventually averted her eyes from Gula’s straightforward gaze.

“I’m sorry. I know you want the Master to return, but you don’t know how summoning Kingdom Hearts will affect the rest of the world. The Master…he forbade it for a reason.”

Ava broke off for a moment, removed Gula’s hands from hers, then looked him in the eye again. “I’m afraid I can’t help you,” she said.

“I see.”

He drew back from Ava, slowly got to his feet, and began to walk away.

“May your heart be your guiding key,” he told her as he left. He didn’t look back.

A few days later, Ava stood facing Invi on the bridge in front of the clocktower.

“Why did you tell Ira? It had to be you because you were the only one who knew where we were hiding. Didn’t you think for a second that your actions could make things worse than they already are?” Ava implored.

Invi seemed a little less composed than normal in the face of Ava’s accusations. “And why should that even bother you?” she fired back. “Not only do you have your Union, but you’ve also gathered the finest Keyblade wielders from other Unions, and you’re training them in another location, aren’t you?”

Ava wasn’t about to let Invi misunderstand her mission. “Yes, because that is my role!”

That was the first time Invi had heard of this. For a moment, the Foreteller in the snake mask struggled to find a reply. “I had no idea…,” she said at last with some regret. “I’m sorry. I overstepped.”

“No. I shouldn’t have snapped at you either,” Ava said, calming down. She’d let her emotions get the better of her, too.

A silence passed between them, and it was Invi who finally broke it. “What did Ira want?”

“I don’t know exactly.” Ava shook her head, then continued uncertainly. “He just asked me to give up Gula. His eyes… They were…scary. I was worried he’d do something awful. I knew I couldn’t tell him where Gula was. Then he turned around and walked away.”

Invi contemplated the news for moment. “I see. And Gula? How is he doing?”

Ava’s eyes drifted away from the concerned Foreteller momentarily, then focused on a point below the bridge.

“I don’t know. He’s gone. Gula’s on a mission to collect Lux,” she said with sadness. Invi thought about this new revelation for a second as the pieces came together for her. “Ah. That explains why Aced and Ira are as well. They’re trying to maintain the balance. But that isn’t the balance we were expected to keep. If everyone’s collecting light solely for themselves, Keyblade wielders will soon turn against one another, which will lead to…”

Invi paused, hesitant to say aloud the conclusion she refused to accept.

“…the Keyblade War.”

Ava closed her eyes, too, then. She knew what came after that. “Then what’s written in the Book, all of it will happen…”

Her voice trailed off, and in her stead, Invi followed this thread to its conclusion—the one recorded in the Book of Prophecies.

“Light will expire.”

For a little while, the two didn’t know what to say…

Is there truly no way to avoid this outcome?

“Invi, what are you going to do?” Ava asked as the other Foreteller began to walk away.

“I’ll gather Lux, too,” Invi replied. “No matter what, the balance must be kept. Ava, you do the same. We must…delay the inevitable.” Without waiting to hear Ava’s reply, Invi left.

“Right…,” Ava murmured, in a voice almost too small to hear.

Maybe a day is coming when darkness covers the world, but I will keep the thread of hope alive.

In the Fountain Square, Ava stood before her handpicked Keyblade Wielders.

“Today you’re here to continue with your training for our mission. This session may seem like it’s familiar to you, but in a world that is different, one made of dreams…”

At this point in her speech, the Foreteller faltered, and a short wave of confusion passed among her audience of wielders.

“You are our hope,” she said to them. “A war will soon wage. Those who strive to protect the light will turn their weapons on their allies for the sake of loyalty to their own Unions. To be honest, I don’t know how far I can guide all of you. What you must remember is that anyone can lose themselves to the darkness.”

After all, that darkness, those emotions, lurked in everyone’s hearts. And that darkness would lead to the Keyblade War.

Was there really no way to stop it? Was the future truly inevitable?

“However, there will no winners: everything will be lost. Except all of you who are the seeds of hope. When the time comes, and there is war, you mustn’t fight but instead you must fly away from here to the world outside. This training is to help you fulfill this crucial task. Their future is in all your hands—as is the world’s light. May your heart be your guiding key.”

I don’t know anymore.

For the rest…I’ll let my heart guide me.