Mariya landed in the Spine, right on her behind. She muttered something and stood up. "Whoa, talk about creepy." She says, looking around the silent woods.

Riku's gummi ship flies past overhead, Riku and Mario dropping from it. They land on the ground next to Mariya as the gummi ship flies off.

Mario now takes a moment to look around them. "Interesting...so where are we supposed to go from here?"

"Not sure." Mariya says. She looks down though, wonderig why she didn't feel comfortable. And she was in a dress, a medeval style dress. "Excuse me." She said before she disapeared into the trees. When she comes back, the skirt only goes to her knees.

"There's a village up ahead, common." Mariya says before walking ahead.

Mario blinks and takes a moment to look at himself. His clothing had a more medival look to them but were otherwise the same. "Huh, I guess some fashions are good no matter where you are," he says before walking after Mariya.

Riku keeps an eye on Mario but follows Mariya, he himself wearing medival clothing as well.

Mariya walks into the village and looks around. She see's a boy, 15-16, and stops him. "Excuse me, um, we're a little lost, can you tell us wher we are?"

"Carvahal, if you'll excuse me I have to go get meat." The boy says, and he uns off twords the butcher shop.

"That was kinda rude." Mariya mutters. "Well, I don't see any heartles...."

Mario watches as the boy runs off before looking at Mariya. "I don't know...I have a feeling that they're somewhere. Just not here. Keep your guard up, just in case."

Riku gives a small side glance to Mario before he walks over to Mariya to talk to her. "Mariya, tell me, when you were with him, did he ever do anything strange?"

Mariya shakes her head. "Honetly Riku, I'm not the little girl you used to protect, I've grown up." She says and her voice cracks a bit at the end. "'Cuse me." She says and walks off, disapearing behind a house.

Riku is silent as he watches Mariya walk off before sighing. "That's what I'm afraid of..."

"Where's Mariya going?" Mario asks, walking up behind Riku.

Riku looks over his shoulder at Mario. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Mariya is trying to calm herself down whe she hears a man shouting.

"Get out! And take your sorcerers stone with you!" he shouts.

Mariya follows the yelling and is lead to the butchers shop. She see's the boy, looking angry. "Someone upset you?"

"Stupid Sloan. refuses to sell me meat." Eragon says.

"How much do you need?" MAriya asks, before taking out a bag of coins.

Mario hears the outburst and looks over, but he calms down when he sees that it was nothing too serious. He leans against the side of a building, resting in the shade since the sun was a bit hot that day.

Mariya goes in the shop and comes out with a bag of meat. "Here, you don't have to pay me back."

"You sure, I got a stone that might be worth something." The boy says, taking the bag.

"It's fine, it's what I was brought up to do." Mariya says with a smile.

The boy 'hmms' and looks at her in the eye. "You okay, you look upset."

"It's nothing." Mariya says.

"Are you sure there isn't something I can do? Do you have a place to stay?" He asks asks.

Mario and Riku watch in silence but from opposite sides of the street they are on.

"I don't want to be a bother, I think we can find a room." Mariya says. "I'm Mariya by the way."

"Eragon." Eragon says with a smile. "It's the least I can do."

"If you insist, I'll check if it's okay with Riku, my body guard...." MAriya says, sounding annoyed. She ppulled back her hair with her right arm, the same one with her breacelt.

Eragon takes her arm and looks at the royal mark. "I've never seen that before, your nobility?"

Mario and Riku continue to watch, but at the mention of his name, Riku steps forward and approaches Mariya.

Mariya pulls her hand away. "You can say that. Oh Riku, Eragon here has offered us a placve to stay, that okay?"

Eragon smiled, and transfered the meat to his pack.

Riku shifts his glance over to Eragon, taking a moment to look him over before returning his attention to Mariya. "If it is alright with his family, then it is alright with me."

"Well it's a long walk." Eragon says before he starts home, and Mariya follows.

And indeed, it was a long walk, and once they got to the little farm near the Spine-as Eragon called it- and Mariya sat on the ground and sighed.

Eagon knocked on the door. "Uncle Garrow, it's Eragon, open up."

Mario and Riku follow behind, but where Riku remains standing, Mario collapses onto the ground from exhaustion.

"Oy..." Mario gasps as he rests his feet, "I don't usually have to walk that far for anything..."

Mariya laughs. "You'll get use to it, some of the worlds are pretty big and have no other means of traportation." Marya hispers so Eragon doesn't hear, he seemed like the curious type.

The door opens up, and a scrawny man looks out. 'Who's that."

"A noble and her guards Uncle, can they stay?" Eragon asks.

"Can she pay us?" He asked, sounding like it was a joke.

"She bought us meat Uncle, it's the least we can do." Eragon says.

"Fine, but they stay in the barn, I don't trsut 'em." Garrow says before disapearing in the house.

Eragon walks to Mariya. "Sorry about that, Uncle garrow doesn't trust strangers ever since those creatures showed up."

"Creatures?" She asks. 'can you describe them, maybe tere the same ones we saw."

"It was weird looking, I only saw a glinpse, but it had wings, but it couldn't have been a Dragon, there extint here...." Eragon trails off before walking over to the barn. "Hope you don't mind the smell of manure."

"Not at all." Mariya says as she goes in the barn. Once Eragon was in the house she says. "Wavern, so heartless are here."

"Thought so," Mario says. "One of the perks of being a half-Heartless."

"Half-Heartless?" Riku questions.

"That's what I call myself since I seem to be the first of my kind."

"Hopefully the last and only as well."

"You got me there..."

Mariya glared at Riku in a 'Be nice.' way. She goes over to one of the horses and lets it sniff her before stroking it's neck. "This place is kinda strange, don't you think?" She asks to pass the time.

"Well, it certainly isn't a small world," Mario comments. "From what I saw when we were landing, this world will take a while to fully explore. In addition, finding the Keyhole won't be easy either."

"The Keyhole?" Riku says alarmingly, turning to Mario. "Why are you interested in the Keyhole?"

"Well, another thing I did aside from fighting the Heartless was to find and lock the Keyholes of worlds that I have already visited," Mario says. "That way, those worlds wouldn't be consumed by the Heartless. I'd hate to see this world be consumed so soon after it has been discovered." He now glances into the sky. "The thing is, being part-Heartless, I can kinda sense where the Keyhole is. It is a giant heart, after all, so one would think that it would be easy to track. However, because this world is so huge, I can't sense it at all. It's either hidden deep underground or it's very far away from here. Wherever it is, I'd feel safer if we could find it quickly and seal it."

Riku still looks warily at Mario but nods. "I must agree. If we can find the Keyhole and lock it while we're here, it would prevent greater problems in the future."

"Well we can start tomorrow, but what to do for the rest of today, gather info? Get Eragon off my back?" She laughs at the last one, but it fades to a non-humerous laugh, and more annoyed.

"Well, if we can find out when the Heartless showed up and more about what to expect, it would really help out a bit," Mario adds. "After all, we would then know how long they've had to comb this world for its Keyhole and can give us an idea as to how long we have."

"If they even know what a keyhole is." Mariya mutters. She sighs. "Well, doesn't look like hey have saddles, so guess were going bareback. I'll let them know were taking the horses." She says before going over to the house.

Mario simply waits where he is, sitting down to let his feet rest some more.

Riku, however, follows Mariya, remaining her ever vigilant bodyguard.

Mariya knocks and Eragon answers. "Something wrong miss?" He asks, smiling.

"We forgot to get something in town, do you mind if we take the horses?" Mariya asks.

"Not at all, I'll help you saddle them." Eragon said and walked over to the barn and Mariya followed.

She saddled one horse witha cheap-looking saddle while eragon saddled the other. Mariya found a cloth and put it on the saddle before mounting. She held her hand out for Mario. "We'll be back."

Mario shakes his head. "No thanks, I'll run," he says.

"I thought the walk tired you out," Riku says with a bit of amusement in his voice.

"I caught my second wind," Mario retorts.

Riku as he climbs onto the second horse. He then pulls the horse alongside Mariya. "Whenever you're ready, Mariya."

Mariya shrugs and lashes the reins, and the horse trots off. mariya would have gone faster, but she wasn't sure how fast Mario could run. Whe there half-way to Carvahall, the horse rears and Mariya grips the reins, hanging on. The horse neighs nervously.

Mario, interestingly, keeps pace with the horses. However, when the horses stop, he stops as well, looking just as nervous. "What's wrong?" Mario asks, looking at Mariya.

Riku also tries to comfort his horse, but he is ready to draw Way to Dawn if he needs to.

"Don't know, she just started panicing." Mariya says after she stops the horse from rearing. "Keep an eye out though, and take it slow." Mariya commands, summoning her keyblade. She kicks the horses sides and the horse starts walking.

After a bit, a few Waverns and Neoshadows appear and block the road. Mariya jumps off the horse and takes a defensive position. "Riku hold the horses, me and Mario can take care of this."

Riku nods and holds the horses, but he gives Mario a look that practically says not to try anything funny.

Mario runs up next to Mariya and does a swiping motion with his hand...but nothing happens. "Huh?" he mumbles as he does the motion again, but still nothing. "Aw crap, that's right. My Shadow Blades were confiscated back at the castle." He sighs. "Alright, I'll just have to do this with magic alone." Waving his hands around, a shadowy aura surrounds his palms. "Now then, Shadow Thunder!" Pointing toward the sky, black bolts of lightning strike down from the sky, threatening to shock the Heartless.

The lightning hits and Mariya slashes at the Waverns, them being the most threatening. She summons Oblivion as well. "Need this?" she asks as she blocks an attack with Dragon Heart.

"You use it for now," Mario responds as he fires a Shadow Fire spell at a Neoshadow. "I can take care of things by magic alone for now." He then uses a Shadow Blizzard on the other Neoshadows.

Mariya finiishes defeating the waverns and defeats the last Neoshadow. Mariya mounts again and sigh, looking for more up on th horse, for a better veiw. "I think were clear, but keep an eye out." She says before lashing the reins and they trot into town. Once there she dismounts and ties the horse up. She looks around.

Riku ties up his horse as well and follows Mariya.

Mario follows as well, rubbing his hands as the shadowy aura fades. "So where to from here, Mariya?"

"Well, Riku, take the left side of town. Me and Mario will take the right." Mariya says. "Meet back here this after noon, or if you find any info, come and find us."

Riku shakes his head. "Sorry, Mariya, but I can't agree to that. If we must split up, I will come with you and the boy will go alone," he says.

"Um...I have a name..." Mario mutters.

"Riku honestly, what is your problem? Mario is harmless, he won't hurt me." She said before walking off, taking Mario with her.

Riku runs after her, though, grabbing Mario's arm. "Mariya, it is not that I think he's harmless, but until I am sure that we can fully trust him, I will not take any chances."

"Um, I am right here..."

"Well how can you trust him without letting him have a chance, huh?" Mariya asks, annoyed.

Riku is silent before he lets out a brief sigh. "Very well. I will give him a chance, but if he tries anything, it'll be the last chance he ever gets." He then turns and walks off, going toward another part of the town.

Mario blinks before looking at Riku. "So what's with him? Is he just over-protective or does he have a grudge against me because of what I am?"

"I think it's both, but mainly becasue he's over-protective, I mean, wouldn't you if you were trusted to protect the only aire to the throne?" Mariya asks.

"Good point," Mario says, looking at the sun. "Mariya, I have a request. Could you tell me when the sun is about to set entirely so that I can get somewhere where no one can see me?"

"Sure, but ti's only noon." Mariya says, before heading over to a house. She knocks and smiles when a young girl answers. "Excuse me, we were wondering if you could tell us anythng about those creatures, we want to know as much as we can before we depart."

The girl nods and says. "All I know is that they appear out of nowhere and everyone thinks King Galbatorix sent them here to search for something. No one knows what."

Mario gives a small look toward Mariya before looking at the girl. "Would you happen to know anyone who got a good look at any of those creatures? Perhaps a description of what they look like?"

"I think Roran did, Garrow's son, he claims to have seen a couple in the Spine." The girl says.

"Thank you for your time." Mariya says with a smile. The girl nods and goes back into the house. "Circles within circles." She mutters. "Well, what to do til Riku comes back?"

"Not sure, but it wouldn't hurt to see if we can find out a bit more about this place," Mario states. "Perhaps if we were to know the layout of the land in this world, we might be able to determine some possible places where the Keyhole might be."

"Right, let's check the tavern." Mariya says when she see's a crowded Tavern. She walks over and keeps her guard up as she goes to walk in.

Mario follows after Mariya, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious or interesting.

Mariya looks around the tavern and okes Mario and discreetly points to two charaters in cloaks. "Watch them, but not so they notice." She whispers bfore going up to the counter. She starts talking to the owner and smiles when he hands her a map and points to various places.

Mario gives a nod before Mariya walks off, leaning against a wall to rest. He discreetly watches the cloaked stranger, however, and makes note of anything they do that seems strange.

Soon another cloaked figure sits with the other, and they seem to hiss and click at each other.

Mariya takes the map after a bit and thanks the man before going over to Mario. "Ready?"

Mario is a bit stumped by the clicks and hisses of the strangers, but when Mariya approaches him, he nods to her. "Yeah, let's go."

Mariya nods and once their out of the tavern she asks. "Anything?" She asks, looking for Riku.

"Well, those strangers were pretty weird. Talked in clicks and hisses, so I don't think that they're human," Mario says, making sure that no one is eavesdropping.

Riku now appears from around the corner, approaching the two. "I didn't find anything," he says simply.

"We did, I'll explain on the way back." Mariya says before walking over to the horse and mounts. She unties it and mounts. She aits for Riku. "Do you want to ride this time Mario?"

Mario shakes his head. "No thanks, I can keep up, and don't hang back for me this time."

Riku mounts his horse and approaches Mariya, ready to go.

Mariya nods and kicks the horses sides. She then continues to explain about what they found out and about the strangers in the tavern. "I have a weird feeling they work for the King here, and their also trying to find whatever threre looking for." She says as th horse trotts twords the farm, so theyd have time to talk alone.

"They're definitely up to something," Mario says as he walks alongside the horses, "but what exactly, I'm not sure. Whoever those people are, they definitely are not Heartless. I could tell if they were. However, that doesn't mean that they aren't able to control the Heartless. We should be very careful around those guys."

Mariya nods. She then lashes the reins again, when no other comments aresaid and soon they arrive at the farm. She dismounts and takes off the saddle. She then goes over to the house and knocks.

Garrow opens the door this time, and looks at Mariya. "What do you want?"

"Can I talk to Roran please, they said in town he lived here, that he's the only one who saw those creatures clearly." Mariya says, being nice.

Garrow disapears and Roran comes out. MAriya walks over to the barn and suts on a bail of hay. "Now we want to know what to expect for the trip we're planning, can you tell us what you saw?"

Mario and Riku enter the barn as well, but where Riku simply stands next to Mariya, Mario decides to go exploring a little. He begins to climb up to the loft, trying to see just how high he can go.

Roran nods and describes the creatures. "They seemed to be looking for something, but no one is sure what. I told Eragon to get rid of that strange stone he found just incase."

"Hmm, he mentioned that stone before, as payment for the meat."

Riku seems to ponder as well, looking at Mariya to see if she confirmed his suspicions.

Mario...didn't seem to notice. He was already on the rafters overhead and trying to climb even higher by grabbing loose boards in the ceiling.

"Thank you for time Roran." Mariya says.

Roran nods and leaves. Once he's gone, Mariya seems to think. "Lets hop there King really isn't controlling the heartless here, the towns people seem to think he's powerfull enough, but I have a feeling we have to worry about those strange people at the tavern more then the King."

Riku thinks for a moment before speaking. "Maybe tomorrow we should learn more about this king and other events in this land. There could be something important."

"Riku's right," Mario yells, now at the highest he can go while hanging from a loose board at the very top of the barn's ceiling. He lets go and drops down, brushing himself off when he recovers from the landing.

"You two can go into to town, but I want to check out the Spine, I wanna see if I can stalk the heartless and find out what their looking for." Mariya says before she gets out the map, "This is a map of this world, they say the King is extremly powerful, so his discovering the heartless and using them, won't be good."

Mario nods. "Alright, but expect me to be unavailable for a few minutes before and after the sun sets."

Riku now glances at him. "What for?"

"Well, you see, I change into my Heartless form when the sun sets. Can't really prevent it. Afterwards, though, I can change back into my human form, but I think you can see why I prefer to hide before it happens so that I don't scare the public."

Mariya nods and looks out to the sky. "It's getting close to sunset if you want to go." She states when she comes back. "Besides, I want to go alone, this way Riku, you can keep and eye on Mario."

She smirks, and leaves, hoping to annoy him. She wanders into the woods and comes to a field. She leans against a tree and sighs.

Riku is startled by this sudden decision and tries to go after Mariya, but Mario quickly intercepts him.

"She said that she's going alone," Mario states. "So respect her decision." At that moment, a cloud of shadows suddenly envelops him before disappearing, revealing the Heartless Mario. "Well, that means that the sun has set," he says before a cloud of shadows envelops him again, this time parting to reveal Mario as a human once more. "So maybe we should go to the house now to check on the family."

Riku is silent before sighing in resignation. "Very well, but keep in mind that we are not to meddle in the affairs of this world."

"Why not? I'm sure you guys have done enough of that already," Mario says as he turns to go to the house.

Riku is silent, fuming over that last remark before he follows Mario.

As the quiet of the clearing sets in on her, Mariya hears laughter and follows it before she see's Eragon with something blue in his hands. He piuts the thing in a hollow o a tree and leave. Once he's gone, out of sight she goes up to the tree and looks inside. A blue dragon hatchling jumps out at her. She screams, a natural reaction and stares at the baby dragon at her feet. Eragon said they were exctict, didn't he?

Riku suddenly whips around, as if he heard something. "Mariya's in trouble!" he yells before he takes off.

Mario quickly intercepts him, though. "Not so fast," he says. "Mariya wants to go alone for a bit, so respect that and let her be. Besides, how do you know she's in trouble?"

"She screamed."

"I didn't hear anything."

"But..."

"Look, she'll be fine. Let's just get back to the house, alright?" Mario then takes off, running toward the house.

Riku stands there for a moment, looking in the direction of the Spine before sighing and walking after Mario.

Eragon comes back into the clearing and see's Mariya staring at the dragon. "You can't tell anyone about her, you hear me?"

"You don't have to worry, I won't tell. She's the last, I don't want anything to happen." Mariya says with a smile and leans down, putting her hand out. The dragon snifs her and walks twards her before scratching the back of her hand.

Eragon sighs and rips off a piece of his shirt. He then wraps it aroundher hand and picks up the dragon before putting it back in the hollow. "Her name is Saphira by the way."

Mariya smiled. "Lets head back." She says before laving the clearing.

---

The two strangers are standing before the house, seeming to be laughing.

Mario soon breaks through the trees, seeing the strangers in front of the house. Fearing that they are laughing about something horrible, Mario charges toward them, his fists surrounded by shadows. "Shadow Fire!" he yells, tossing a pair of fireballs at the strangers and he continues his charge.

The strangers jump back and laugh as the house burns up in flames. "Your to late boy." One hisses out.

Mariya stops and sences something. "Somethings wrong." She mutters before running twords the farm. Eragon follows after her.

"Oh yeah? Well let me say something about that then," Mario yells as he claps his hands together. "Shadow Thunder!"

Immediately, dark bolts of electricity crash down from the sky, threatening to shock the strangers.

The strangers are hit, buit seem to be unharmed. Just then Mariya breaks threw the trees and see's the streangers and the burning house. She lunges at them, summoning her keyblade on the way and attacks one.

Eragon comes out, and is frozen. "Uncle!" He shouts before running inside the house.

Mario, still at a distance, looks at Mariya. "Mariya, here's some help! Shadow Aero!" he yells before snapping his fingers. Instantly, a Shadow Aero spell is cast on Mariya to help reduce damage. Mario then points at another one of the strangers. "Shadow Stop!"

The stop spell doesn't work, what was with that? They worked fine on the heartless, why didn't it work on the Strangers? Mariya slashes at the Strangers, but they dodge and disapear.

Before Mariya could move, Eragon and some other other man are carrying Garrow out, who's severly burned. Just then the roof of the house colloapses. Eragon see's Mariya's keyblade. "What's that?"

"I'll explain later, is he okay? And do you know who they were?" Mariya asks.

"There called the Raz'az." The older man says.

"Mariya thisis Brom, the town storyteller, or, so he claims." Eragon says, before lying Garrow on the ground.

Mariya inspects the wound. "Ohh it's bad. Hopefully not bad enough." She says before standing up. "Cure!" Nothing happens, not even a slight improvement. "Odd, that should have healed it."

Mario now walks over. "Shadow Cure!" he yells, casting a similar Cure spell but in his own shadow variety. However, it does nothing as well. "Aw crap, this isn't good."

Riku now bursts through the trees, stopping next to Mariya. "What happened?"

"The Raz'ac were here, burned it down with Garrow inside, cure is't working." Mariya says, hoping no one notices the cut on her hand from when Saphira bit her. If they did, she'd have to make something up.

"What's that weapon? I've never seen it before." Eragon says.

"That because we're not from here. We come from far away. It's called a keyblade, the most efficant weapon that can destroy the heartless."

"Heartless?" Eragon asks.

"Those creatures that your brother saw. Now other weapons can destory them, but they don't do much damage." Mariya says, before sighing. "I wonder why the cure spell didn'twork, the spells worked on me and the heartless...."

"D you know where the heartless come from?" Eragon asks.

Riku gives Mariya a look when she reveals everything, not too happy that she was breaking the rule about meddling, but he sighs before continuing where she left off. "The Heartless come from the shadows, the darkness in peoples' hearts," he says. "They seek out hearts to make more of themselves and are especially drawn to hearts that are weighed down with darkness. It is also possible for those with such darkness in their hearts to control the Heartless, but the careless are consumed by the Heartless in the end."

"Wow...must you make it sound so dark?" Mario asks.

"It is the truth," Riku says, glaring at him.

"Yeah, but you could at least try not to bum everyone out."

"But those with light in their hearts can be chosen by the keyblade." Mariya says to lighten the mood. "What now?" She asks.

"Lets get Garrow to Gertrude, lets hope she can do something about Garrow. Roran will be devastated if somethig happens." Eragon says.

"Where is Roran?" Mariy asks, wondering if he was still in the house.

"He left for Therinsford just after you asked him about the heartless." Eragon says.

"Let's go." Mariya says.

Eragon nods and picks up Garrow, and Brom helps. Mariya follows them out of the clearing and bites her lip. She suddenly doesn't feel good. "Riku?" She asks before looking at him. She looks extremly pail.

Mario and Riku look at Mariya, and both of them look pale as well. However, they are not sick. Instead, they are frightened.

"Mariya!" Riku states, rushing to her side. "What's wrong?"

"We'll catch up." Mariya says weakly to Eragon and Brom. Once there out of sight she says. She wobbles a bit and hangs onto RIku. "I feel really woozy."

Riku grabs Mariya and curses under his breath. He then looks at Mario. "If you know any higher level Cure spells, try them now!"

"You saw the condition that Garrow guy was in!" Mario retorts. "If I had a higher level spell, I would have used that, wouldn't I?"

Riku groans under his breath before he looks back at Mariya. "Don't worry, Mariya. We'll get you better. Come on, I'll take you to the town."

Mariya nods and grips Riku's shirt. There is a cut on her leg, but there seems to be something black surrounding the long thin cut. What could it be?

Mario spots this cut and kneels next to it. "What the flip?" he mutters, risking to wipe off a bit of the strange black stuff in hopes of figuring out what it was.

Mariya winces in pain. The black stuff looks like it might be wet tar, but from the way Mariya reacted it was either something else or the area around the wound was sensitive.

Mario grimaces before he claps his hands together. "Shadow Magnet!" he yells, creating a small black sphere of magnet magic in his hands. He then holds it away from Mariya, hoping to draw away the strange black liquid.

The black liquid comes off and reveals some tender skin. Was that stuff acid? Now that the liquid was gone, some blood runs down her leg, and Mariya looks worse.

Mario frowns as he tosses the small magnet orb, now focusing on the wound. "Shadow Cure!" Mario yells, attempting to use his magic to heal this wound.

The wound heals, and some color returns to Mariya's face, but she still doesn't look good, but maybe after some sleep she'll be fine.

Mario smiles before he looks at Riku. "I think she'll live, but we should hurry and get to the town."

Riku nods and lifts Mariya up onto his shoulders. "Think you can keep up?"

Mario smiles, noting the challenge. "I'll see you in town."

The two are off, rushing toward the town as quickly as they can.

Mariya sleeps the entire time, not shaken by the running.

Eragon and Brom are sitting outside of a house, talking. Brom see's Mariya being carried by Riku. "Is she alright?" He asks.

"She'll be fine," Riku says when Brom approaches him. "Mario, tell him what you found."

Mario nods and looks at Brom. "Well, Mariya had a pretty bad cut with some strange black tar stuff on the wound. Whatever it was, it was making her injury worse, kinda like acid. I removed the gunk and then healed the injury a little. She'll need some bedrest, but she should be fine."

Brom seems to think. "I've never heard of that before, maybe they found some way of torturing those who dare fight them. As for a place to sleep, this way." He says before walking threw town and going to a house. He opens the door and leads RIku to a bed. "This is my house so she can rest here for as long as she needs."

Riku takes Mariya into the house and sets her down into the bed. He then stays by her side.

Mario sighs and looks at Brom. "How is Garrow doing? Are his injuries healing? If not, is there any tar visible on or around the wounds?"

"Garrow isn't doing to well, he's severly burned and the wouds he has aren't healing. No tar on him though, which is good. now, tell me, whereare you from? You certainly aren't from Alageasia." Brom says, sitting in a chair.
{Meanwhile somehwere in Alageasia}
The Raz'ac enter a prison of some sort and climb up to the top before approching a red-haired man.

"Well?" he asks. "Where is it?"

"There wassss no sign of the stone." One hisses.

"But there wasss a strange girl with a strange weapon. We got thisss off her." The other says and throws Durza a small book, a journal. 'It'sss very interesting."

Mario is silent, looking back toward Riku for a moment before sighing. "Well, at this point, we've meddled quite a bit, so I suppose that now that we're involved, we shouldn't hold anything back." He now looks back at Brom. "We come from Radiant Garden, a world pretty far from here. Yes, another world. We came here to find and seal the Keyhole of this world and to make sure that this world doesn't fall into the hands of the Heartless."

Brom nods and noties the cut on Mariya's hand, but says nothing, only wonders where it could have come from.

The next day Mariya wakes up and sits up, to find Saphira on her lap. Her eyes widen, and looks around to find no one around. She puts Saphira under the blankets as Eragon comes in. "Sorry." He says, sitting down. "I couldn't leavfe her alone in the woods after what happened, so once Brom left, I ran and got her. This was the safest place I could think of."

Mariya sighed and took Saphira out from under the covers and Saphira playfull bites her finger. "I think your dragon thinks I'm food."

Riku is in the chair next to Mariya, looking like he hasn't slept all night. "Mariya, you're awake," he says, sounding relieved yet tired.

As for Mario, his whereabouts are currently unknown, but seeing that the sun has just rose, he must be off somewhere where no one will see him change.

Mariya sighs, gettng up, holding Saphira and makes Riku lie on the bed. "You sleep." She commands before sitting in the chair. "How's Garrow?"

"I don't know...Brom went to check on him and told me to stay here." Eragon says, before taking Saphira from Mariya.

After a minute, Mario soon enters the house, looking a little tired himself. "Oh, Mariya, you're up. Good to see that you're feeling better."

"Oh don't tell me you stayed up too." Mariya says, annoyed. "What did I tell you, the most annoying bodyguards ever."

"Why do you have bodyguards anyway, you seem strong enough." Eragon says.

"Thank you." mariya says before sighing. "Well, you see, in my world, I'm the only child to King Sora. So I'm the only aire."

"Your a princess?" Eragon asks with a stunned expression.

"Yup, one that can, and will, kick your but." Mariya says witha wide smile.

Riku sighs, covering his face with one hand. "Mariya, we've meddled enough with this world. Must we reveal more and dig the hole deeper?"

"Riku, I believe that it's either we meddled or we didn't, so how much we meddle doesn't really matter, does it?" Mario asks.

"It does," Riku says. "The more we meddle, the worse we make things. We have to keep the flow of events in this world from being disrupted. Changing one event can result in complete chaos!"

"And I suppose that just allowing the Heartless to ruin this world is an event that we have to leave be as well."

Riku says nothing, only silently fuming.

Mario sighs before looking at his hands. "You might not have to worry about meddling too much anyway, Riku. Last night, I confirmed something that might not be too good. Our magic doesn't work on the residents of this world, so if those things attack us again, we won't be able to fend them off with magic alone."

"Thought as much." Mariya mumbles. "Explains why the cure didn't work on Garrow."

Brom comes in then, looking grave, and sighs. He sits, seeming to already know about Saphira.

"What happened?" Eragon asks, looknig panicked.

"I'm sorry Eragon, Garrow passed away." Brom says, looking down at the floor.

---

{Hollow Baststion}

"Sora, do you have the feeling we forgot something?" Kairi asks when she finds him in the library.

"Not real-" Sora says before he sighs anf rus his hand down his face. "We forgot to give Mario his keyblades back."

Kairi runs out of the room, and goes to the armory keep and opens up a chest. She takes out the two keyblades belonging to Mario and they disapear. "I hope he gets them before something bad happens."

Mario is silent, hearing this news and feeling a bit bad at heart. If only his magic had worked...

Riku is silent as he hears this, but death does not seem to be new to him.

"There was nothing you could do, the wounds the Raz'ac inflict can be slow to heal, and Garrow was in no condition to fight." Brom says.

"I'll kill them, I'll make them pay." Eragon says. "We're going after them."

"No boy, even if you found the Raz'ac, you would only end up like your uncle. I'm taking you to the Varden, and on the wa there I'll teach you and Saphira what you need to know about being Rider and Dragon."

"We'll come with you, there's a big chance you'll run into heartless on the way, and a chance we can find the keyhole since it's not here." Mariya says.

Mario is silent before he clenches a fist. "You can count me in."

Riku nods, confirming that he would be coming along.

"Then lets go before someone gets nosy." Brom says before grabbing a pack. "You still have that meat boy?"

Eeragon nods and lifts a pack himself.

"Then we just need horses, any idea's?" Brom asks.

Mariya nods and stands up. "I have one, go outside of town and I'll meet you there." She says before leaving the house.

Mario shrugs. "I can always run, so there's no need to worry about me."

Riku stands up and straightens himself out from his sleepless night, stepping outside to wait at the edge of the town.

"You'll ride, we need to get there before the Raz'ac start following us." Brom says before following Riku. Eragon does the same.

Abouta half hour later, Mariya comes to the end of town with enough horses for all of them, with a wide smile on her face. The Horses are all saddled. She mounts one and waits for the others.

Brom and Eragon mount their horses and transfere the contents of their packs to the saddlebags.

Mario sighs before he climbs onto a horse, not exactly used to riding on a horse.

Riku mounts his horse, looking more accustomed to it.

Mariya nods to Eragon and Brom once Riku and Mario mount their horses. Eragon makes sure Saphira is safely in a seperate saddle bag. They ride off and Mariya follows.

After a few hours of riding, they come to a town that is litterally settled on top of water. Brom dismounts and says. "Stay here, I'm going into town to get some supplies." He says before going into the town.

Mariya nods and gets off the horse so she can stretch a bit.

Mario also dismounts to stretch, but he also takes a moment to try to sense any Heartless or the Keyhole.

Mariya looks into Darret, and see's what she thinks to be a Neoshadow and alerts Mario and Riku before running in, leaving Eragon behind. Once she gets closer, it looks at her and is revealed to be a huge beast and attacks her, Mariya manages to dodge the attack and stares at the beast until an arrow goes into it's head, knocking it over.

"Mariya watch out, it's and Urgal." Eragon says when he comes to he side. "There no Raz'ac, but are just as deadly."

More Urgal's appear and surrond them. "Oh boy." Mariya mutters, back to back with Eragon.

"Shadow Zantetsuken!" Without warning, Mario flies past two of the Urgals, having a Shadow Blade in each hand. As he slashes at each Urgal, the Shadow Blades leave a shadowy aura trail behind them, showing the deadly path that they took. He lands and skids to a halt next to Mariya, smiling. "Guess who got his Shadow Blades back," he says.

At that moment, Riku bursts into the circle as well, slashing at the two Urgals he passes with Way to Dawn. He then proceeds to slash at any Urgals who get close to him or Mariya.

"The same person who could have had Oblivion this entre time?" Mariya asks before hitting an Urgal in the head, and stomach, weilding both Oblivion and Dragon Heart. She lashes another after defeating that one but they keep coming. "There's no end!" She shouts, defeating another, looking worn already.

Brom soon joins the fight, weilding a strange red blade. The urgals stop coming from behind, and no only come from one direction, still in swarms.

Mario now looks at the one direction before smiling. "Time for crowd control," he says, leaping into the air as he spins his Shadow Blades around. As he spins them, echoes of the Shadow Blades suddenly fly out, suspended in the air. "2! 4! 6! 8!" he yells out as the appropriate number of Shadow Blades come out with each number. At the end of this, he stops spinning his Shadow Blades, and the echoes stop spinning to point toward the Urgal swarm. Mario then points toward the swarm with one of the Shadow Blades he holds. "Twenty Shadow Blade Barrage!"

In one swoop, the twenty Shadow Blades fly toward the swarm, threatening to run right through any Urgals in the way.

The Urgals move out of the way, but just barely. Eragon draws his bow and sudden;y shouts. "Brisingr!"

A huge blast of blue flames consume the arrow as it is shot and hits only one urgal, but blasts all the others and they catch on fire. Eragon wobbles a bit before falling over.

Mariya catches him before he can hit the ground. "Eragon?" She askes, no answer, he's out cold. "Uhh, what happened?"

"He used magic, somethin that in this world, very few people can do." Brom says. "But the Dragon Riders were always able to use magic, so that's why eragon could use it. Lets get out of here before more Urgals come."

Mariya nods and puts Eragon on her back and carries him out of the town.

Mario and Riku nod before they run after their companions, quickly reaching the horses and mounting them.

Durza smiles, after completeing the journal. "Raz'ac!" The two Raz'ac appear and hiss. "Bring the girl to me, she can be of some use to us."

The Raz'ac nod, and disapear.

---

Mariya lifts Eragon onto his horse and ties him to her's. She waits til Brom mounts his horse before riding off, far away from the town. When it gets close to sunset they stop. "We'll camp here for tonight." Brom says before dismounting.

Mariya nods and gets of her horse. She then goes over to Eragon, who's still unconcious and takes him off his horse. She lies him on the ground a bit away and removes Saphira from the saddlebag. "Mario, can ou go see if any heartless are around?" She asks when she see's the sun.

Mario dismounts and nods. He then disappears into the nearby forest, doing who knows what.

Riku stays with Mariya, as always, and stands next to her. "Will you be alright, Mariya?"

"I'm fine." She says. "A little tired, but fine."

Saphira peeps and climbs onto Eragon, but he still doesn't regain conciousness. Brom sighs.

Mario emerges from the woods ten minutes later, about three minutes after the sun completely set. "Well, I checked, and for tonight, we should not have to worry about the Heartless."

Mariya nods before yawning and going a few feet away from Eragon to lie down. "Get some sleep yout wo." she says to Mario and Riku before falling asleep.

Brom doesn't go to sleep, keeping an eye out for Urgals.

---

The Raz'ac near Darret, and look for Mariya, and hope her companions won't cause them trouble.

Mairo nods before jumping up into a tree. "If any of you need me, I'll be up here." He then disappears amidst the leaves, probably to sleep.

Riku is silent before he sits down, leaning his back against a tree before closing his eyes.

Brom eventually goes to sleep, unable to help it and the Raz'ac enter their camp and laugh to themselves. They quietly approach Mariya and slip something into her mouth before making her swallow it. One then picks her up and ignores the others before heading out of the camp.

There is a strange sound in the woods, like thunder, but no clouds can be seen so the Raz'ac continue forward.

"And where do you think that you're going?"

The path in front of the Raz'ac is suddenly blocked by Mario, who looked pretty mad. He has one of his Shadow Blades drawn and ready to use.

In addition, Riku is behind the Raz'ac, having been awake the whole time. He wanted to see who or what the Raz'ac were after, but now that they left the camp, it was time for him to save Mariya. He draws Way to Dawn and now keeps his eye on the Raz'ac. "Surrender peacefully or you will be destroyed."

Suddenly only one Raz'ac is presant, the one with Mariya had disapeared. The one left, snickers. "Oh but it isss you who will be dessstroyed."

The Raz'ac leaps and attack Mario with a strange blade, conered in the black tar. A swarm of Waverns appear and attack Riku, sdistracting them both while the other Raz'ac gets away.

Mario quickly uses Guard to block the attack and then uses Counterattack to take advantage of his parry.

Riku frowns before he quickly slashes at the Wyverns, attempting to take out as many as he can with each slash.

Some more Wyverns appear and block Mario's counter attack, before attacking him. Once the Raz'ac realizes the Wyverns arre on it's side, it disapears as well.

Suddenly some Wyverns are defeated and reveal Brom and Eragon fighting them as well. A loud roar is heard before a huge blue dragon takes a Wyvern and throws it around with it's mouth. Some Wyvrns retreat, while others stay and fight.
{Gil'ead}
The Raz'ac lies Mariya before the man and hisses. "Unharmed, it wassss to easssy."

The man smiles and goes up to Mariya and calls two guards. "Take her to the cell next to the elf, make sure she's comfortable. Oh and find a female servant to change her." He comands before the guards nod and take her away.

Mario curses before he points his Shadow Blade at some of the Wyverns. "Shadow Gravity!" he yells, creating an orb that will not only bring the Wyverns down to the ground but will also hurt them badly.

Riku continues to slash at the Wyverns near him, continuing his assualt.

The rest of the waverns retreat as soome as they can. Eragon pants before saying. "Where's Mariya?"

"The Raz'ac took her, most likely to Durza, a powerful and wicked shade." Brom said, looking grave and then tarted at the dragon. "I've never heard of a dragon growing so fast."

It was needed, but it seems I was too late. A female voice echoes in everyone's minds.

"Saphira?" Eragon asks. The dragon nods.

Mario blinks when he hears Saphira's voice. "Huh..." he mutters before looking at Brom. "Do you know where they took her? Where this Durza is?"

"Gil'ead , a city torn by strife. Home of the biggest harshest prison in Alageasia." Brom says before getting the horses and mounting one. "We'll have to hurry if we want to make it before morning."

Eragon nods and gets on another horse, and ties Mariya's to his saddle.

---

Mariya wakes up feeling horrible and looks around to find herself in a prison cell. "Huh?" she asks no one in perticular. She loks down and finds herself in a black dress with a layered skirt. "Wonderful, another dress."

Some footsteps come down the hall and Mariya looks up and see's a man with flaming red hair. She stands as he opens the cell door. "Come with me princess."

Mariya is surprised, so somehow, he knew about her. She nodded, having a bad feeling and walked out before following him down a hallway.

Riku mounts his horse as well, but he notes that Mario mounts his horse even faster.

Mario now readies his horse before looking back at Brom. "Lead the way."

Brom nods and his horse takes off. Eragon folows Brom, an angry lok on his face.

---

The man leads her into a large room and grabs something off the wall. "I am Durza, and you, my dear, are quite an interesting girl. My Raz'ac found your journal, and Imust say you've had a lot of strife in your lifetime."

"What's your point?" Mariya asks.

"My point is, have you ever wondered if it might be easier to cross sides?" Durza asks.

"Maybe."

Durza looks her over for a moment, then continues. "Awhile back, I returned from a...hunt. When I came to my abode the Raz'ac said they found this." He paused to pull out a keyblade. "Now, it seems to be a powerful weapon, able to release one's light, and replace it with something else."

He walked over to Mariya and smiled. "Now, I have an offer for you, one that you cannot refuse. Join me, and you may see your precious Axel again. Not only that, but I'll make all your pain disapear. But if you don't you can rot in that cell."

Mariya was frozen, unsure, hearing nothing after his offer to free her from pain. It wa so tempting, all her pain, gone? After a moment of thinking she said. "I'll join you."

"Very good." Durza said before he stabbed Mariya with the keyblade. He then took it out before putting it in her hand and letting her fall to the floor.

After a moment Mariya rose and looked at the keyblade before smiling at Durza. "I feel so...relieved."

Mario grimaces as he looks forward, feeling some strange kick in his gut as if something bad had happened. "Riku...did you feel that?"

Riku is silent before nodding. "Yeah...something just happened to Mariya..."

Brom kicks his horse to go faster, expecting the worst. Eragon follows and see's Saphira flying above them.

---

Mariya followed Durza to the dining hall but stopped when she saw a black haired woman lying on a straw bed. She was beautiful and her hair fell back to reveal a pointed ear.

"She betrayed the King, and triators are dealt with in the highest extent of the law." Durza said, before urging her foreward. "Now, tell me more about the heartless, how can I control them?"

"I'm not sure, I've never controlled them before." Mariya says.

Mario and Riku also kick their horses into high gear, trying to reach the town as well.

"So what's the plan when we get there?" Riku asks.

"Well, I'm planning to blast our way in," Mario states.

"First off, I was asking Brom. And second, I thought your magic doesn't work on the residents."

"It doesn't, but it should still do a number on other things, such as a castle wall or something."

"Did you even test to make sure that it would work?"

"..."

"Don't worry, there's a way in." Brom said. "And it doesn't require blasting our way in."

Soon after, they arrive in Gil'ead and Brom ties the ghorses to a tree. "We go on foot from here, just follow me and keep quiet."

Brom then heads into Gil'ead, a smile on his face. he keeps walking until he comes to a wall witha ladder leaning on it and motions for Eragon to go. When looking up, it can be seen this wall belongs to a huge fortress. Eragon climbs up the ladder and waits, looking for guards.

Mario and Riku nod to Brom before they climb the ladder one at a time, Riku taking the lead over Mario. At the top, they then stand ready to fight in case a guard or Heartless shows up.

Some guards can be seen, but they don't seem to notice any of the party, once Brom comes up he kicks the ladder down. He then moves on, passing big square holes in the roof, screams of pain can be heard threw them.

He keeps moving forward, seeming to ignore the screams. He's careful not to alert the guards. He soon comes to another wall, and kicks on it. A piece of the wall falls in and makes little noise. "Hurry." He says, watching.

---

Mariya and Durza walk back to the armoury and Mariya turns. "We have intruders." She says, looking out. "They broke in on the northern wall, many floors down."

Suddenly Neoshadow's appear, and leave the room.

Mario and Riku go through the hole, and as Mario enters the fortress, he suddenly stiffens up, as if he noticed something. Immediately, he summons his Shadow Blade. "Heads up, guys," Mario whispers to the others. "I'm sensing some Heartless coming this way. In addition, I'm feeling a strong signature of darkness some floors up. It's either a strong Heartless or a person who is greatly corrupted, so we should be careful as we move upward."

Brom and Eragon nod and draw their swords. A few floors up, they stop, Neoshadow's blocking the way. But suddenly they disapear.

"LET GO OF ME!" Mariya's voice screams, coming from many floors up.

Mario and Riku feel chills going down their spines when they hear this. They then immediately begin to rush up the stairs toward where Mariya is, hoping that they can save her.

The door to the armoury is wide open, but something doesn't seem right.

Mariya waits, gripping the keyblade. Durza notices this. "Is somethng wrong princess?" He asks.

"No, but it feels like the light inside of me is fighting the dark." Mariya says, gripping her stomach.

"Don't let it win my dear." Durza says, taking her hands. "Remember that being in the dark is the only way your pain will cease."

A few seconds later, Riku and Mario burst through the doors of the armory.

Riku sees Mariya and smiles. "Mariya!" he cries out in joy, taking a step forward.

Suddenly, Mario blocks his path with his Shadow Blade. "Stop, Riku," Mario states. "That's not the Mariya you know. She's been tainted by the darkness. I can tell."

Riku looks at Mario for a moment before returning his glance to Mariya. A second later, he realizes that Mario is right and looks mad. "How dare you turn Mariya to the darkness!" Riku yells to Durza.

Durza laughs. "How dare I? What a joke, what are you going to do? Kill me?"

Mariya laughs as well. "Oh they can't do that can they?" Mariya asks.

"And why not?" Eragon asks as he charges at Durza.

Durza blocks the attack, with a sword that seemed to come out of no where.

Mario takes this time to charge toward Mariya, but suddenly he is yanked backwards by Riku.

"What are you doing?!?" Riku asks.

"Riku, that's not the Mariya we know. Do you honestly think that we can get her back if we don't fight?" Mario asks, a bit annoyed.

"Well, I am kinda hoping that we can," Riku states.

Mario sighs before he breaks away from Riku. "Fine then, I'll go easy." He then charges Mariya once more, casting a Shadow Aero spell as he runs and then attempting to lash out at Mariya.

Mariya blocks the attack easily and oblivion appears in her other hand before she whips it at Mario.

Durza lashes out at Eragon and Eragon is sent flying into the wall. Brom then attacks Durza, havin better luck. "Carefull boy, he's a Shade.

Mario lets out a yell as he is slashed, but he quickly recovers and does a quick Counterattack, following it with a Guard.

Mariya laughs again, swinging her keyblades at Mario from different directions. "How foolish, two against one, how do you expect to defeat me?"

Mario blocks one blow but is hit with the other, grimacing from the pain. However, he now stares Mariya dead in the eyes. "Because, it's not how many weapons you have, it's how good you are with them. Shadow Frenzy!" All of a sudden, a cloud of shadows envelops Mario as he suddenly speeds up, lashing out several swings at Mariya with his Shadow Blade before suddenly running circles around her. He throws random and very fast swings at Mariya while running around her, and at the frenzy's end, Mario stops and delivers one critical blow that might or might not hit.

Mariya is hit and KO'd, the dark keyblade dispears, but oblivion stays.

Durza laughs and throws a strange dagger at Eragon, but before it can hit, Brom jumps infront of it as is struck instead.

"No!" Eragon shouts before he attacks Durza. Suddenly Durza is stuck in the head by an arrow, coming from no where. He yells and slowly fades away.

"Mariya!" Riku yells as he rushes to her side. He kneels next to her before glaring at Mario in anger. "What happened to 'going easy'?"

"Hey, lay off!" Mario yells, throwing his hands up as if to block a tackle. "She's alright, isn't she?" He then hears Eragon yell out and turns toward him, seeing Brom. "Oh crap..." He runs over, ready to cast a Shadow Cure spell, but he stops, remembering that his magic doesn't work on the residents of this world. He grimaces before keeping his eye out for the mysterious archer who killed Durza.

No one is seen, not even a shadow. Eragon leans down and inspects the wound. Nothing can be done. "I won't let you die."

"You will let me die. I've lived a long life Eragon, and most of it has been living in shame." Brom says. Eragon loks confused. "Isn't it obvious boy? I was once, long ago, a Dragon Rider like you, but I let her die. Morzan killed her. Take Zar'roc and never let anything happen toSaphire, you'll find life hardly worth living without her."

Then Brom passed, and Eragon took off his sword.

"I'm sorry Eragon. This is my fault." Mariya says as she sits up, holding her head.

Eragon! Guards are coming! There going to cut off the entrance to the weapons room!Saphira shouts. Eragon conveys the mesage.

Mariya stands and mutters something. She runs out of the room and returns with the elf she saw before. "I have a feeling we can't leave her here." She says before handing her to Eragon. "Now Mario, can you open up a portal outside of Gil'ead?"

Mario nods as he draws his Shadow Blade once more. "Please keep your hands, feet, and anything else you don't want to lose inside the ride at all times," he says as he swings the blade, creating a set of double doors that open up. He then runs through, Riku right behind him.

A mile outside of Gil'ead, another set of double doors appear, opening just as Mario and Riku run out of them. Mario then turns to the door, waiting for the others to come through.

Mariya pushes Eragon, who's carrying the elf, threw the portal. Mariya looks around the room and see's something black on the floor. She runs over to it, grabs it and jumps threw the portal.

Eragon appears and lies the elf away from the portal and steps infront of it just in time to catch Mariya. She smiles before he puts her down and checks on the elf.

With everyone through the portal, Mario then closes it, letting out a sigh. "Well, that was a bittersweet victory..." Mario says solemnly.

Eragon sighs, loks behind them and decides there far enough from Gil'lead and makes camp. "How are we sapposed to find the Varden now?"

Sahpira lands near by and nudges him, trying to cheer him up. Mariya sighs. "Not sure." She says before something in the woods snap. She motions for the others to stay put and disapears into the woods.

"Why was an elf in Gil'ead anyway." He says before he moves a strand of hair from the elf's face, he suddenly freezes and his face falls.

Mario notices that Eragon freezes up and goes over to him. "Is something wrong?"

Riku, meanwhile, stays near Mariya to make sure that she is alright.

Mariya glared at Riku, but lept going unil she saw someone and takled them, putting a knife to their neck. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Murtagh, get off me." The man complained.

"Sorry, can't do that." Mariya said before geting up and flipping him over. She then pulled out a rope and tied the man's hands behind his back. She stood and picked him up before draggin him back to camp.

"It's a bad day when you get your but kicked by a woman." Murtagh mutters.

Mario notices the arrival of the stranger and walks over to Mariya. "What's the problem here?"

"Seems he was spying on us." Mariya says when she lets go of the rope.

Murtagh glared at Mariya, and she blushed and turned away. She then gently kicked Eragon.

Eragon shoots his head up. He stands and looks at Mariya, then Murtagh. "Who's this?"

"The man who saved your life. I shot the arrow that killed Durza." Murtagh says.

Mariya ignores him. "So what are we gonna do about getting to the Varden?" She asks.

"I know the fastest way to the Varden. If you stray the elf will die." Murtagh says.

"How do you know?" Mariya asks, glaring at him.

"Durza poisoned her." Eragon says before explaining to everyone about what occured.

Mario is silent before sighing. "We should give him a chance."

"Why?" Riku asks, looking at Mario.

Mario looks at Riku. "For one, I can't sense that he has any connections to the darkness like I did with Mariya earlier. And second, you gave me a chance."

Riku is silent, and while his expression is unchanged, he seems to accept the answer.

"I agree with Mario, besides, I don't think we can afford to loose time." Mariya says. She picks up the elf. "I'm gonna swithc our clothes incase they know we took her, it'll confuse them."

She then dispears into the woods, taking the elf with her.

"Can someone untie me?" Murtagh asks, annnoyed.

Eragon nods and unties Murtagh and waits. "Oh wait the horses, how are we going to get them?"

"I'll get them," Mario says before he quickly runs off, disappearing into the woods.

Riku watches Mario go. "I'll go help him," he says before running after Mario.

Eragon nods. Soon enough Mariya come back with Arya's clothes on, a leather shirt and pants and smiles. "Surprisingly enough they fit." She says before she puts Arya down, who's wearing the dress. She then sits down and sighs.

Eragon picks up Arya. "I'm going to put her on Saphira, she'll be safest there."

Mariya nodded and kept looking around the forest. Soon Murtagh sat beside her, she took out the black book and opened it. "Nosy shade." She muttered.

"I beg your pardon?" Murtagh asked.

"This explains how he knew who I was, he stole my journal." Mariya says, sounding annoyed.

Murtagh laughed. So they talked, and eventually, Murtagh kissed Mariya, taking her off guard and she tried pushing him off.

Mario and Riku return with the horses just in time to see the kiss. Both of them are caught off guard and look about ready to slug him for it. However, they manage to get themselves under control.

Mariya kicks Murtagh in the gut and pushes hi off at last. She then stands to punch Riku acrooss the face. 'Why didn't you stop him? You know how I felt about Axel!" She says before mounting the closest horse and taking off.

Eragon comes back, Saphira trailing behind. "Um...what I miss?" He asks.

Riku is silent before mounting a horse. "Don't ask," he says before riding off.

Mario blinks. "Okay, now I feel that I missed something too..." He sighs before he mounts a horse and follows Mariya.

Mariya stops after a bit and sighs.

Murtagh and Eragon mount their horses before following after Riku and Mario.

Mario and Riku soon catch up with Mariya.

When Riku catches up, he pulls up alongside Mariya. "Mariya...I'd like to apologize about not preventing the incident. Between the surprise from the unexpected event and distraction of helping Mario with the horses, I was unable to do anything."

Mariya glares at him and looks about to yell at him when Murtagh and Eragon rode up. "Which way?" She asks before Murtagh could say anything.

"Follow me." Murtagh says before lashing the reins. Eragon followed after Murtagh, as did Mariya.

Riku sighs before he tails after Mariya, Mario following him shortly.

Mariya follows Murtagh and looks up to the sky to see Saphira flying above them. She smiles a bit, knowing the elf should be safe. When they near the Beor Mountains, Murtagh begins to tence up. "Scared?" Mariya asks with a smile.

Before he could say anything, Eragon shouts. "Urgals! Saphira seems them behind us!"

"Great, just what we needed. Are heartless with them?" Mariya asks.

"Saphira says only about a dozen can be seen." Eragon says.

"oh great" he stops his horse "Mario you stay back and help me with this" he jumps off of his horse and draws his Way to Dawn "we'll catch up with you guys later"

Mario nods and quickly pulls his horse around, demounting and drawing his Shadow Blade. He then waits for the coming wave of Urgals and Heartless.

Mariya dismounts herself and gives the three horses to Eragon. "We'll catch up."

Eragon nods and he and Murtah take off.

Riku watches them go " alright we gotta make this quick so we wont lag too far behind" he looks around taking in his surroundings. Resting Way to Dawn on his shoulder he waits for their enemies to show up.

Mario spins his Shadow Blade around, ready to jump in when the enemies appear.

The Urgals appear and Mariya sighs. The last encounter they had with these things didn't go so well, if it weren't for Eragon, who knew what would have happened. She attacks, barely dodging the Urgal attacks.

Riku parries two blow and launches a shadow blast at one of the heartless and moves to cover Maryia's back

Mario quickly jumps into battle, throwing several slashes at some of the Urgals. Some take damage, others are barely effected. He grimaces before he continues his assualt, dodging punches and kicks as he does so. He also fires an occasional Shadow Fire toward any Heartless, not wanting his magic to go to waste.

((OOC: I assume that I also control Mariya in her absence.))

Mariya manages to dodge another set of blows before she attacks once more, knocking back a few Urgals out of luck. However, at the rate that the Urgals are starting to come at, the group might not be able to hold them off for much longer.

"Mario take Mariya and leave I'll handle this myself" he stabs his keyblade into the ground. "just leave and don't argue with me got it, catch up with Eragon"

Mario, surprisingly, shakes his head. "No, Riku. Mariya needs you more. I'll hold them off while you get away," he says, drawing the second Shadow Blade as he doubles his assault. He manages to take down another three Urgals and one Heartless.

"Umm, Mario does have a point. I mean, what if Urgals showed up while we were catching up with Eragon?" Mariya asked, attacking some Urgals.

Riku nods "fine lets go" he hands Mario his last hi potion "kid if you die here i'll bring you back and kill you myself" he smirks at Mario and jumps on his horse" lets go Mariya"

Mario smiles before he turns to the Urgals. "Alright, guys, time for you to see some true power!" As the Urgals close in, Mario has another shadow cloud around him. Seconds later, he yells, "Shadow Frenzy!" With amazing speed, he runs circles around the Urgals as he slashes at them little by little.

Mariya had already mounted her horse and took off after Eragon by the time Mario began his shadow frensy. Eragon and Murtagh were standing before a waterfall.Mariya got off her horse. "Where's the way in? Mario can't hold off those Urgals forever."

"Jump down there, hurry." Eragon says, pointing down.

Mariya moves to the edge and looks down. "Theres nothing ther-"

Just at that moment Eragon pushes Mariya in before jumping himself. Some Urgals can be seen above, so Murtagh jumps after them, pulling Riku with him.

Mariya comes back up on the other side of the waterfall and kicks Eragon under water. "Next time some warning would be nice."

Eragon nods and swims forward but stops. On land infront of them are armored men, their faces covered, holding spears directed at them.

Two pull Eragon and Mariya out of the water while to others get Riku and Murtagh when they come up. They then take them inside and begin going threw a tunnel.

"Great now we gotta deal with this"he shakes his head" if you dont mind letting me go I have to help my friend"

Back outside, Mario soon lands on the ground, his frenzy over. He is panting as the Urgals close in. While the others moved on, he had managed to hold back the Urgals and defeat the remaining Heartless, but still, it was only a matter of time before this would happen. The Urgals were slipping by him, and now he was surrounded. "Crap..." he mutters as the Urgals close in, all of them threatening to kill him.

Five minutes after this event, the Urgals have moved on to the waterfall, trying to find the others. The place where Mario was is now barren aside from the number of dead lying there.

"Sure you do." One says, continuing forward. Soon they copme to a stop as the tunnel comes into a huge, wide area. Mariya whistles. Just then she notices a brown-skined man. "Ajihad, we found these four on this side of the waterfall. They claim to have a companion outside fending off the Urgals."

"Hmm, get the twins an d have them run therw their minds." Ajihad says.

"What does that prove?" Mariya asked.

"If your lying we'll know by going threw your memories."

"Okay, let me get this straight, we come here, following a dragon rider, face the raz'ac, urgals and killed a shade, justso we could come here and get our minds invaded?"

"You killed Durza? How was this done?" Ajihad asks.

"Murtagh shot him in the head." Mariya said.

"I'm afraid you didn't really kill him then, Shades can onlybe killed by being stabbed threw the heart. He'll be back." Ajihad paused. "Wait, did you say Murtagh?"

As Ajihad asks this Murtagh steps behind RIku and two of the guards go back out to find Mario.

(occ: sorry i over looked that part, thanks) Riku just shuffles along angryly muttering to himself

((OOC: Riku, as seen in a past post, Mario was holding back the Urgals, but five minutes later, assumingly after everyone arrived at the waterfall and such, Mario was no longer there or anywhere. He's missing.))

Mariya sighs. "Yes, I did."

"I hate you Mariya." Murtagh mutters as a couple guards grab him.

"Wait, what did Murtagh do?" Eragon asked.

"He's Morzan's son." Ajihad says.

"Morzan the guy who killed Brom's dragon Morzan?" Mariya asks. Ajihad nods. "Take him away, knew there was someting I didn't like about him."

The two guards nod and take Murtagh away before Saphira fly's in. Eragon goes over to her. He then begins talking to Ajihad while MAriya looks around and grabs Riku's arm. "Mario will be fine, he's a strong kid."

Just then two bald men enter the room and slightly bo to Ajihad. They turn to Eragon and stand silently for a minute before saying. "He passes."

Ajihad nods before motioning to RIku. "Do him next. Now if you want us to trust you, you both must let the twins search your minds."

"We understand." Mariya says.

Riku nods and yawns "this should be quick" he whispers to Mariya "you know if they over look the whole once being a heartless thing"

Mariya nods. "Lets hope they do." she whispers back.

The twins then search Riku's mind. They stand there for awhile and go threw his memories. After a bit they say. "He passes as well."

Saphira leaves, carrying Arya, probaly going to find healers. The twins turn to Mariya and begind to examine her mind. She tences as they go threw her memories. After a bit they shake their heads. "She served Durza, arrest her."

Two guards oblige and grab Mariya's arms. "Ow." She says.

"Before she goes, was there a boy with her outside?"Ajihad asks.

"Yes." One says.

The two guard return from outside. "We couldn't find anyone. The urgals probably killed him."

"Mario you idiot." Mariya mutters. The guards move her forward. "Hey watch it."

Riku makes a move to stop them "unhand her now" he starts to summon his key blade

"Riku it's fine. If this is what they have to do to ensure there safety then we have to respect it." Mariya says before the guards step around him and take her away.

Eragon had been silent the entire time. Ajihad waited until the guards were out of site before he said: "I'll show you where you can stay. We can probably expect an attack from them tomorrow."

Riku nodded to Mariya and walked over to Eragon and looked at Ajihad

"This way." Ajihad says before walking down another tunnel. They passed some dwarves on the way, but they mostly ignored the two. Several people stared at Eragon, with fear, distrust or both. They soon came to a door and Ajihad opened it. He opened the door. "Eragon, you can stay here for the night." He paused then to motion to the next door over. "And you can stay in the next room. If theres anyting you need, please let me know."

---

Mariya rubbed her wrists as the guards shut the door behind her and locked it. She laughed, like locking it would keep her in here. She sighed and lied on the cot, and looked around the room. She had to admit they treated thier prisoners, at least her, well. There was a bookshelf, filled with several books and scrolls. There were candles for light. What seemed to be some sort of sink was in the corner, already filled with water.

Riku walked into Eragon's room "I dont trust these guys one bit, and where do you think they took Mariya too?"

"Well they can't be to bad if there agaist Durza." Eragon says before shrugging. "They could have taken her anywhere, and I wouldn't suggest going to find her, who knows how many tunnels this place has, you might get lost."

Riku nods "you might be right, but if they hurt Mariya they wont make it through the night, i made a promise to a friend to protect her"

"I see." Eragon said before yawning. "Well I'm going to get some rest, you should to. We have a long day ahead of us."

Eragon then climbs into the cot and relaxes.

Riku nods and goes to his room to sleep

The next morning something shakes Riku. "Riku, get up you lazy bum." Mairya's voice says. "Everyone's waiting. Get up will ya, this is no time for sleeping in."

Riku turns on his back and mumbles "five more minutes Kairi"

Mariya sighs. She was wearing some light armour (Like Eragon wears in the movie) and she raises an eyebrow at the murmur, but decides she doesn't want to know.

"Told you he was diffeicult to wake up, we tried everything." Eragon says, also wearing armour.

"Oh really?" Mariya asks before turning back to Riku. She clears her voice and shouts: "Riku! Heartless!"

Riku jumps out of bed still wearing his clothes and summons his keyblade "where?!?" He looks around and then at Mariya "lier, wait they let you out?"

Mariya nodded. "Someone spotted Urgals in the tunnel ways. We've been trying to wake you, 'Mr. Five-more-minutes-Kairi', for almost an hour. I knew you'd react to a heartless invasion." She sighed. "Ajihad said we would need all the help we can get. So he gave me and even Murtagh a chance. They may need us, without Mario, we can't tell until they come if heartless are with them."

Eragon nodded. "We need to hurry."

"Eragon's right, lets go." Mariya said, leaving the room.

Riku streches "sorry about that i was dreaming about when i was younger"he walks to the door"lets go then"

Mariya nods and heads threw the tunnels, following Eragon. Eragon leads them threw thetunnels, and when they come to the huge opening, Ajihad and a few other people, including Murtagh, are waiting, all in armour. "Sorry, Riku's a pain to get up." Mariya says.

Ajihad laughs and points to a short man holding a battle axe. "This is Orik, this is Nasuada, my daughter," He points to a young woman with dark skin, "And you've already met Arya, the elf you saved from Gil'lead." He then points to a black haired pale-skinned elf.

Mariya smiled and shook hands with each of them, only saying sometihng to Arya. "Hope you know your not getting that leather back."

Ajihad sighs, an points to a tunnel to the north. "The Urgals will enter threw there. All the other tunnels have been blocked off to ensure this."

"Any heartless?" Mariya asks.

"What?" Ajihad asks.

Mariya sighs and takes a notebook out and shows Ajhihad scetches of Neoshadows and Waverns. "These are heartless. They come in other forms, but these are the only ones we've seen in Alageasia."

Ajihad nodded and passed the notebook around. "There are no reports of strange creatures so far, but we'll keep an eye out. Are they dangerous?"

Riku nods "extremely, easier to kill then urgals but don't let your guard down around them" he yawned and looked at everyone "so i'm guessing that if we lose it's all over huh?"

"Riku honestly, you make it sound like your not the best kn-" Mariya stopped herself. "I mean bodyguard my father has ever had. Don't worry Ajihad, we'll take care of the heartless, you just worry about the Urgals."

Ajihad nods just as Saphira appears. She goes over to Eragon and nudges himinto Mariya. "Hey." Eragon whines.

Mariya laughs and watches as Ajihad takes the others off. She then turns to Riku. "Riku I know it doen't sound good, but there's always hope." She bit her lip. Just like there has to be hope for Axel.... She thought. "We have to hope that we'll win this."

"Mariya, Ajihad wants to talk to you." Murtagh said, suddenly standing next to her.

"JEEZE! You scared me!" Mariya shouted. She calmed herself. "Fine, can you find Riku some armour?"

Murtagh nodded and turned, motioning for Riku to follow him. Mariya hit RIku on the arm and mouthed: 'Be positive.' Before walking off.

Riku shakes his head"kids today"he walks off to follow Murtagh"so what kind of armor are we talking here?"

"Just a light breat-plate and chainmail, it's all the varden can afford, but it should be enough against the heartless right?" Murtagh asks before he comes to an armoury. He hands Riku some chain mail and searches for a breastplate. Once he finds one, he hands it to RIku before asking: "Say Riku...does Mariya have some issue with men?"

---

"I want you and your bodyguard to protect Eragon during this fight. I have a feeling the Urgals aren't doing this of there own will." Ajihad says.

"There being controlled?" Mariya asks.

"Yes and I believed it to be Durza." Ajihad says before pausing. "But I was wondering if the heartless could control them."

"It's possible, but I can't tell you if they are being controled. My other bodyguard, Mario, our friend who stayed behind, could probably tell, but he's not...here." Mariya paused, trying to keep herself composed. "He was sort of an expert on the heartless."

Riku takes it and slips it on over his clothes" no why do you ask?"

"Because she seems to be trying to keep every guy her age at a distance. She seems reluctant to get closer then a friend." Murtagh mutters. He then checks the armour to see if it fits Riku properly.

He freezes when a horn blows. "That's the alarm!" He says before running out. He runs as fast as he can back to the opening.

---

Everyone in the opening is on alert and in their places. Mariya stands by Saphira, who Eragon is riding on. Arya is close to Ajihad, looking feircly at the north tunnel, waiting. Ajihad waitied as well, and his daughter was among the archers.

riku runs to the enterance and summons his keyblade "lets do this"he jams his key balde in to the ground

Mariya motions for Riku to come over to her. She sticks by Saphira, ready. Dragon Heart and oblivion appear in oposite hands.

The echo of footsteps could now be heard. The urgals were getting closer.

Riku walks over to her"hey like that armor?"

Mariya just shrugs. "It's kinda uncomfortable, but I'm not used to it. But you know more about armour then me right?" MAriya asks, referring to when she had left Radiant Garden to protect the children. Every knight avaiable had been armoured and ready for the worst.

All of a sudden, tons of Neoshadows, Waverns, Assault Riders, Shadows, and Book Masters appeared and lunged twords Eragon. Mariya lunged at the Assault Riders and atacked one with all her might. Eragon, from on Saphira, attacked the Waverns with Zar'roc.

An evil laugh echoed as the Urgals came storming in. From above Durza could be seen riding a shadowy dragon. At this time Mariya had finished off the Assault Riders and began on the Book Masters.

Riku smirked and attacked the Neoshadows and Shadows"Mariya if worst comes to worst take Eragon and leave the tunnel,I can handle a few heartless and urgals"he said as he finished off the last Shadow and began fighting the Neoshadow

Mariya nodded, but kept fighting. After the last Bookmaster was gone, she looked around for more, but there were none, so she looked for anyone who came close to Eragon, intending harm.

"Mariya." Eragon shouted down. "I have a feeling Durza was controlling the heartless, and he's controling the Urgals. I'll need your help."

Mariya nodded and turned to Riku. "I'll be back, don't die on me." Mariya says with a slightly joking smile. She then jumps up and gets in Saphira's saddle behind Eragon. Oblivion disapears and she wraps that arm around Eragon, Dragonheart in the other, before Eragon takes off.

Durza sees this and the shadow dragon flys off twords a glass rose. Saphira follows and sudenly a huge jet of flame vursts threw her mouth.

Soon enough the shadow dragon disapears and Durza lands unharmed on the star-rose's surface. Saphira landed and Mariya and Eragon slid off and got ready to face him.

Durza cackled. "Is this what they sent to kill me? A boy, a dragon and a weakiling girl?"

"I'm not as weak as you think I am Durza." Mariya says, looking annoyed.

Eragon attacked then and Durza simply moved aside, and slashed Eragon on the back before sending him flying across the room. Mariya panicked and went to run over to him, but an invisible half-globe suddenly shimered. Mariya muttered something. So Durza knew how to put up a shield so she wouldn't escape.

Durza laughed as Mariya stepped back. "No where to run princess. But I'll be kind. I'll let this all go if you join me again."

"Sorry Durza, but I'll find a way to ease the pa-" Mariya says before she feels a bit of pain in her side.

"Then die!" Durza says before runing up to Mariya. Once 6 feet from her, he swings his sword at her stomach.

The sudden sound of metal on metal rings out, echoing throughout the underground city is if all else was silent.

Standing between Durza and Mariya, blocking Durza's blow with a single Shadow Blade, is a smiling Mario. "Hello, Durza. Been a while, hasn't it?"

Durza only sneers and jumps far back, seeming to be recovering from something.

But from Mariya there is only silence. "Mario.....your alive." She whisperes, in shock.

At Mariya's mention of his assumed death, he facefalls and faces her. "What? You thought I was dead?!?" he asks, looking confused if not a bit irked. "Now what gave you that idea?"

"But when the varden guards went to find you....they found nothing....." Mariya says, standing up.

"I was looking for a way into the mountain!" Mario retorts, throwing his hands up into the air. "I couldn't find the entrance you guys when in, so I've been spending the last day trying to find my way inside!"

"Oh...." Mariy says, and her face goes nito shock. "Mario! Watch out!"

Behind Mario, Durza has a look of rage on his face as he goes to attack Mario.

Mario just stands there as Durza rushes him, but just before the blade can connect, Mario swiftly spins around, deflecting away the swing with a quick swipe of his Shadow Blade. At the same time, his second Shadow Blade appears. "Mariya, stay back. I'll take care of Durza," he states as he attempts to lash out with his Shadow Blade while Durza would hopefully be stunned.

Mariya nods, and clutches her side again as she falls to the floor. She waves off any worry Mario may give her though. "I'm fine, just take care of Durza." She says and runs over to the invisible edge near Eragon, and Saphira follows her.

Durza isn't stunned, but looks annoyed, blocking the other shadowblade with great speed. "Your no match for a shade boy."

"Oh? And why not? Just because you think you're the strongest person in the world? I think not," Mario retorts as he comes swinging in with both Shadow Blades.

One Shadowblade hits, but it doesn't seem to do much damage. Durza snickeres and swords suddenly appear and float in the air. Durza says something unfamiliar before thw swords fly twords Mario. Durza swings his sword at Mario and laughs. "That's why boy!"

Mario quickly blocks Durza's sword strike and then leaps backwards, the swords harmlessly flying by in front of him. "So? Big deal," Mario yells as he throws his Shadow Blades into the air, the blades spinning as echoes of them suddenly appear. "I can do that too! Ten Shadow Blade Dance!" The Shadow Blades stop spinning, and there are now ten of them aiming for Durza. In an instant, they all fly toward him, threatening to stab him.

Durza is hit by all of them but only laughs. He attacks Mario with all the swords again, but this time thw sewrods come from every direction.

Mario grimaces before he quickly dodge rolls out of the wall, barely avoiding the swords. However, he seems to take precaution now by casting Shadow Aero. A barrier of wind now forms around him, hopefully protecting him from the worst of the physical damage. He then rushes in to throw some more swings.

But then it suddenly gets darker in the mountain. Was the sun going down?

Durza attacks Mario again, holding two swords and the flyin swords disapear.

Mario notices that the sun is going down, but while trapped in this barrier, there is no way for him to hide. After a second to block the two sword strikes, he quickly jumps back, lowering his blades. "Tell me, Durza, based on what you've seen so far, do you think that it's possible for you to beat me?"

Riku finishes off the last of the heartless and walks in the direction that Mariya and Eragon left, noticing that the sky was getting darker"what now?"he sighs. he looks to up and sees Eragon and Saphira at the top of the platform he shakes his head and starts to make his way up to them

Many Urgals surrond Riku then, blocking his path and they all attack.

---

"Oh boy..." Mariya mutters, noticing the coming darkness.

"You'll wear down, after all, your only human." Durza says, attacking again.

Mario quickly blocks the attack, looking pretty serious. "Oh, you mean you don't know?" he asks as the shadow of the approaching night slowly creeps its way across the barrier. Soon, the shadow passes over Mario, a shadow aura shrouding him in darkness and blocking him out from sight. "I'm not just a human." A pair of yellow eyes now open, glaring at Durza from the darkness. Suddenly, the shadows part to reveal Mario in his Heartless form. "I'm a Heartless." With a swift spin, he not only finishes deflecting Durza's blow but also lashes out with two quick swings of his own.

Durza barley blocked the attack in shock. "How is this possible?" He asks.

Saphira roars and a jet of flame comes out and Durza mutters something before an invisible shield appears to block the fire. He seems pretty concentrated on the shield.

"Mario! Quick! Stab him in the heart!" Mariya shots. "Ajihad says thats the only way to kill him for good."

Mario quickly rushes in, dropping one Shadow Blade and positioning the other for a stab. "How is this possible?" he yells before he thrusts his Shadow Blade right into Durza's chest. Into his heart. "Because, in my heart, there is light."

Durza burst into flames and a shadowy smoke consumes him. Durza screams in anguish and is completely destroyed by the flames and smoke.

The shield disapears and Mariya clutches her side, screaming. She falls to the floor and her eyes shut, wincing at the pain.

---

Back in the huge opening, the Urgals all cease their atacks and look around, as if they were free from some spell. They then begin to fight each other.

Mario now glances toward Mariya and silently curses. He runs over to Mariya, a cloud of shadows engulfing him as he runs. By the time he arrives at Mariya's side, he had reverted to his human form. He quickly kneels next to her to make sure that she is alright.

Mariya moves her hand from her sie and reveals a deep gash, covered in the same black tar as before, but it seems to be bubbling. "Mario, get Eragon to help....I'm fine." She whispers.

Saphira growls. She is not fine. She tells Mario.

Mario grimaces before nodding and looking over to Eragon. After a moment of examining the wound, he looks at Saphira. "Trouble. I don't think I can get Eragon to Angela or any of the other healers in time. If we don't close this wound now, he's going to lose too much blood. My magic won't work on him, though, but Saphira, I have a question. Do you think that it would be possible to convert my magic into a form that will be effective on Eragon?"

I can try. I'm ready when you are. She says, puting her snout on Eragon's back and closing her eyes.

Mariya is rather still...only movement she makes is for light breathing.

---

Ajihad and several other warriors begin driving the Urgals out of the tunnels. The Urgals retreat, seeing they were outnumbered.

---

Mariya wakes in a strange area and looks around, confused. She is in what looks like a forest, but everything has a black tint to it. She stands and looks around and pulls herself up with a tree brach,l which turns white as does the tree. She gaps and backs away.

"Do not be afraid princess." A female voice says.

Mariya turns and faces a group of people in cloaks. On the far right was in a blue cloak, next was a red cloak, then yellow, then green, orange, then white and finally black. The black cloaked one stepped forward. "Welcome Princess, to the spirit realm."

Mario gives a small nod before he place his hand on Eragon's back and next to Saphira's snout. "Shadow Cure!" he yells, a dark aura surrounding his hand as he tries to channel the magic through Saphira and into Eragon.

The wound heals just enough for Eragon to live from the wound. In fact he moans a little and flips himself over. He opens his eyes after a bit and sits up slowly. He winces. "Mario?" He asks, looking at him. "I thought your magic didn't work here..."

---

"WHOA WHOA!" Mariya shouts, in shock. "So your telling me I'm dead?"

The cloaked figures all laugh. The white cloaked person pulls down her hood revealing a pale woman with white hair and eyes. She brushed her cloak to the side to reveal a white dress. The rest did the same, all women and all had the same color dresses, eyes and hair of their cloaks. Somehow when she saw their faces she knew their names. "Your not dead Mariya." Ayla says. "Simply unconscious."

"Um...so why am I here?" Mariya asks, looking around.

"You have been chosen to wield a keyblade no other can wield." Asaka says.

"Well, you have Saphira to thank for that," Mario says with a smile before he looks over at Mariya. She seems unconscious but otherwise fine. "Excuse me for a moment," he says before he darts to Mariya's side. He then uses the Shadow Magnet/Shadow Cure combo that he used earlier to heal Mariya's identical injury from earlier.

Mariya just lies there as the black tar is removed, not even noticing pain. The cut is healed, but she stil doesn't move.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"What keyblade?" Mariya asks.

"One that may bring peace to the worlds for many years. " Fira says.

"But you must journey." Anila says.

"And overcome obstacles." Mesi says.

Mariya nods. "Okay, the catch?" She asks. The cloaked figures disappear. "Hey wait! What's with the tree?"

No answer, so Mariya just sighs and walks along the trail. She keeps her guard up, not knowing what to expect.

Mario is silent as he observes Mariya, but after he concludes that she is only resting now, he sighs in relief and calls back his Shadow Blades, both disappearing in a small burst of shadowy light. He now returns his attention to Eragon. "Do you think that you'll be alright, Eragon?"

"I'll be fine." Eragon says, slowly standing up. He goes to Saphira and smiles as she rubs her snout on his forehead.

---

Mariya keeps walking and a huge thicket of trees are all lined up. They were the colors of the cloaked women. She sighs.

"You must over come this obstacle in order to move on young princess." Ayla voice says.

Mariya noticed the tree's weren't in order from when the women were standing. She puts her hand on the first tree and takes her hand off when the tree turns white, the next yellow, the next orange, then red, blue, green and finally black. The tree's shake and move.

The next set of tree's were fallen over and Mariya had to pull them up and re-plant them before moving on. The third set she had to use magic on them.

When she completed the last obstacle, she came to a cave and slowly approached it and reached out when she saw the keyblade. The second she takes it in her hand, all the women's voices say. "Eternity."

It was a pure white version of oblivion. It shined before disappearing.

---

Mariya sits up before standing and wobbles. She summons her keyblade to give herself balance. She looked down and saw eternity. "Huh....guess it wasn't a dream." She mumbles.

And just then, across the room on the wall a keyhole appears. Eternity raises itself up, but nothing else happens.

Mario smiles before hearing Mariya stir. Looking over, he sees Mariya. "Mariya, you're-" He then pauses when he sees the new Keyblade she had, and seconds later, he is half-surprised when he sees the Keyhole appear. He had felt that it was close-by while he was fighting Durza, but he was a bit too busy to really pay much attention at the time. He looks at Mariya. "I got this, Mariya," he says before he draws a Shadow Blade. He points his Shadow Blade at the Keyhole, and after a second, dark light begins to conjugate at the tip of the Shadow Blade. Suddenly, a string of dark light is fired at the Keyhole from this point of dark light, and as the Keyhole shimmers, a loud locking sound can be heard before the Keyhole disappears in a shimmer of light.

With the Keyhole locked, Mario smiles before he throws his Shadow Blade into the air and spinning it around in a victory manner. He then catches it and rests it on his shoulder before it disappears. "Keyhole secured."

Mariya nods, Eternity dropping down to her side. "Must be busted or something." She jokes. She then reaches in her pocket and takes out a necklace she keeps the charm on it hidden as she goes over to Mario. She then remembers Eragon being there. "You better go check on everything down below."

Eragon nods and gets on Saphira, who takes off. Once there gone Mariya sighs and swings Eternity before saying. "Mario, kneel."

Mario is silent before he kneels. "Ummm...you're not going to behead me, are you?" he asks.

Mariya laughs. She sighs then, growing serious. She puts Eternity's left(with out the 'blade') side on Mario's left shoulder. "I, Mariya, Princess of Radiant Garden, " She moves the keyblade to Mario's right shoulder now. "name thee Mario, a Royal Knight." She says before putting on the necklace. Eternity disapears. "You may rise." She says, smiling.

Mario blinks, a bit surprised, but after rising, he looks at Mariya while analyzing the necklace. "...Well, I'm honored...but...I don't exactly understand what you made me just now..."

"A royal knight not only helps guard the worlds from heartless and nobodies, but also protect the royal family." Mariya says before sighing. "Being a knight is truely an honor, but we only allow the ones with true light in their hearts to ever become a knight. We have to be ale to trust them. Only one knight has ever turned on us...." Mariya trails off.

Mario is silent as he listens before looking at the necklace. "I see," he says as he looks at the charm once more. "Well, I am honored then."

Mariya smiles. "It's pretty awsome to." Mariya says, taking the charm. She points to the silver crown. "Dad had Merlin cast a spell so that if your ever in trouble, the crown will sence it and call for help."

Arya steps in then, smiling. "I knew there was something you were hiding. Your a princess from another world."

Mariya sighs and nods. "How long?"

"Before you knighted Mario." Arya answers.

"You must swear to tell no one of this Arya, it's for Radiant Garden's saftey." Mariya says.

"Your secret is safe." Arya says. "Everyone is down in the opening waiting to hear what happened."

Mariya nods. She stands up. "Welp, can't wait to see Riku's reaction." Mariya mutters.

"You guys go on," Mario states, waving them on. "When you guys get down there, though, can you send Saphira up here? I want to ask her something."

Mariya nods and walks down with Arya, talking with her. Once Mariya is down in the opening she smiles to Riku, showing off the fact she has no injuries, before going to Saphira. "Mario wants to speak with you back at the rose thingy." She says.

Saphira snorts. Eragon was talknig to Ajihad and she took off and went back up to the star rose. She landed before Mario and lied down and put her eyes level to hers. Mariya says you wish to speak with me? She asks.

Mario a small nod as he stares up at the opening in the mountain, watching the darkness. "Saphira, I have a feeling you know what this is about, considering that you were a witness to it."

Ah, it about you turning into one of those creatures yes? Mariya seems to know about it.... Saphira says, trailing off.

"Yeah, she knew before we came," Mario states. "So does Riku. However, I kinda wanted to make sure that it would stay at that." He now looks at Saphira. "Saphira, I have a request. Will you keep this a secret from the others? I don't think that they need to know about what I am, especially Eragon."

I understand. Your secret is safe with me strange one. She says. She pauses before leaving. Would you like a ride down? She asks.

Mario smiles, glad that his secret would be safe on this world. "No thanks, I'll walk down," he says. "And thanks." He then walks down toward the lower area.

As you wish Saphia says before flying down. She lands next to Eragon and rubs her head against his.

Mariya smiles. "Well, it seems were no longer needed. I already told Mom and Dad we're on our way home. Ready Riku?"

Riku just moves past as the urgals start to attack each other and makes his way to Mariya and sees Mario"Mario?"

Mario looks at him, his arms behind his head. "Yeah?" he asks, sounding indifferent if not a bit tired. "You need something?"

"Welp then we're ready to go." Mariya says with a smile. "This time Mario comes with me."

Just then everything(But her Riku and Mario) freezes as Mariya's gummi ship comes flying oput of a portal. "Weird." She simply says. She hops in her gummi ship. "See ya at the castle Riku."

Mario blinks, a bit surprised by the sudden halt of time. However, he climbs in with Mariya. " A few things. First, what's with the time freeze? Second, can I drive? I watched Riku on the way here and I think I might know how to pilot this thing and just want to try it out."

"No clue and sure." Mariya says, smiling. She closes the cockpit and turns the navigation over to Mario.

{To Hallow Bastion}

Mario takes the controls and nods, piloting the gummi ship away from the planet although the ship sways a little on takeoff.

{To Hollow Bastion}

Riku looks around"deja vu weird" he looks over at Mariya and Mario"race you home" he hops in his gummi ship and takes off

{Riku to Radient Garden}