Siris stared down upon the book, his mind wrapped within it, before bringing the book away from his face. He placed it on the table, running a hand over his face. Leaning back in his chair, he looked upon the book's cover:
"The Light's Embrace". It was a borderline fanatical writing that also touched upon the use of Light magic, something he still strove for, but had yet to even grasp. He stood up, stretching his arms within the grand library of the Knights of Hearts. He had spent much time in here, when he wasn't training or assisting the other staff members across the fortress that was this world. As he wandered around the library aimlessly, a soldier of the fortress burst into the room, giving Siris a salute. The young man held up his hand.
"Thaaaaat's not necessary, my good man. I'm not even a Knight of the Order, yet." The soldier shrugged.
"Any who are in their rank deserve respect, sir." Siris rolled his red-irised eyes. When he joined this order, he proclaimed that his lacking skill would only be worthy of a man with the rank of squire. While he and his knights work together on distant planets to uphold peace and fight darkness, he would grow and learn to become a full fledged knight himself. And today was his lucky day to be put to the test.
Siris tilted his head at the soldier.
"What is it?" He was usually only sought out if someone needed a patrol shift covered, or some other remedial assistance, but the look upon this soldier's face was much more dire.
"Sir, we're receiving reports from one of ours in Hollow Bastion that some heartless are being led by someone. Another man engaged with him, and they're fight is getting out of hand." Siris furrowed his eyebrows.
"And you brought this to me? What about the other knights?" The soldier shrugged once more.
"No one can find any of them, so we're asking for you to take this task." Siris set his jaw, but in the end, he knew he had no option. It sounded a bit daunting, as his first mission alone, but he had to do what he could to help the innocent. He nodded.
"Alright, I'll take a look and see what I can do, but I'll need a pilot for one of the ships then." The soldier proceeded to shake his head.
"The second-in-commands agreed for you to take the portal." Siris blinked. The portal was a strenuous task on the fortresses' mages to operate, but resulted in instantaneous travel. Siris nodded, following the man to the portal's resting room.
As he went in, a semi-circle of mages were already waving their hands, as a portal grew within an arch set in the back of the room. A looming sound groaned through the room, as Siris walked forward.
"Where am I going again?!" He shouted to the soldier who guided him, over the sound of the conjuring.
"Hollow Bastion, sir!" Siris shook his head. The name had no meaning to him. The soldier shrugged, before pointing as the portal opened. As Siris walked forward, a hand grabbed his arm. The soldier shouted. "
We tried to get you as close to the ground as we could, sir!" Siris dead-panned, sighing as he walked into the portal. As his foot crossed into air, he leaped the rest of the way inward, the portal behind him closing.
Siris had learned to take falls well, his experience with portals justifying as much, but he landed on a slanted surface, falling and rolling as roof shingles chipped off and fell with him. He grunted and groaned as he rolled, until he fell straight down, hitting solid stone, dazed for a moment.
"Ugh...." He blinked, before standing up, and looking around. He was in a dark tight alleyway, but somehow it seemed... familiar. He rushed towards the light of an open area, and as he breached it, he sucked in a breath.
"This is.... home." He whispered.
((Camera pan out, Hollow Bastion Logo.))
((
BGM))
Siris was hit with an almost painful amount of nostalgia, as he had last seen Radiant Garden as it was swallowed completely by darkness. He was, unfortunately, broken from his reverie, as a scream emitted from down a walkway. As he turned the corner he spotted a few Shadow heartless swarming a mother and her son. Siris rushed forward, summoning his armor, the silver half-breastplate, boots, shoulders, bracers, and hip guards, and he threw his longsword in a Raid Strike, summoning the shield from his back into his left hand, as he leapt the remaining distance. The Raid Strike hit a few of the Heartless, and as Siris landed, he arced his swing to strike out the remaining Heartless. He waved his hand to the civilians.
"Get to safety!" He shouted. A few more civilians appeared, and started leading the way to safety, but a Neoshadow, flanked by two more Shadow heartless appeared. Siris swallowed. The last time he fought a Neoshadow, he was battered and broken, and was almost killed. But that only fulled a battle zeal that put him in the fight faster than the civilians realized. As Siris engaged the Heartless, a civilian ran the opposite direction of the group, and as Siris turned to look at her, he caught a glimpse of the Heartless symbol upon her chest. The leader! He swiftly dispatched the Heartless, the Neoshadow surprisingly weaker than he expected. After ensuring the civilians were safe, he ran in the direction of the girl.
As he rushed towards the edge of town, the ground suddenly shook violently, bringing back more memories of the fall of Radiant Garden. Siris growled.
"I won't let this world fall again!" As he turned the last corner, surprised how much of the original town was mimicked into Hollow Bastion, he caught the girl leaning over a brick railing, looking down into the blue canyons, a foreboding castle in the background. He raised his blade, pointing it at her.
"Hey! Are these Heartless your doing?!" He shouted at her. The battle behind her raged, making Siris tilt his head to look behind her for a moment, before his vision snapped back to her, his face hardened.