The path stretched forward, dark ae.

  Helios and Skuld had been walking through the ndscape after leaving the Dark Meridian for what felt like hours, following Skuld’s heart as she tried to tray lingering e to Aqua.

  So far, they had found nothing.

  But something was… ging.

  The grouh them shifted, being drier and cracked. The sand-like surface of the ground faded away, repced by barren nd, the scorched remains of an unfamiliar world.

  Bones jutted out of the earth like jagged spires, the massive skulls of elephants scattered across the nd.

  Skuld’s footsteps slowed. "Where are we?"

  Helios narrowed his eyes. "Looks like a world that’s been swallowed by darkness."

  A, even though the area had shifted, there was no sign of Aqua.

  No lingering traces of her magic.

  No footprints, ns.

  Just a graveyard of a fotten nd.

  They pressed forward, leaving behind the elephant bones and cracked earth as they moved into what looked like an open savannah.

  Or at least… what used to be one.

  The nd was dry, lifeless. The distant roations were crumbling, eroded by time.

  And ahead, t over the rest of the ruined ndscape—

  Pride Rock.

  Heli immediately, the iic rock from the Disney film and the game.

  A jagged, once-proud mo now darkened by the decay of darkness.

  Skuld g him. "You know this pce?"

  Helios nodded. "Yeah. I believe the name of this world used to be the Pride Lands. It used to be ruled by a lion king named Simba or should I say will be ruled by him. Here we’ll e aany worlds or what’s left of them after the darkness has finished ravaging them."

  Skuld frowned. "Then… why would Aqua have been here?"

  Helios exhaled. "I don’t know that she was. Everything in this world is a jumbled mess we could find ourselves anywhere. Spad Time don’t matter that much here so even though we’re walking forward we might be moving further and further away from where Aqua is so we have to follow where your heart leads."

  Before either of them could ponder further, the ground shook beh them.

  And this time, it wasn’t a natural tremor.

  The darkness responded—because something had sehem.

  Helios tensed as the shadows around them twisted and ed, f dark portals.

  Then, they emerged.

  Darksides.

  Massive, muscur Heartless, t colossal in size, their pierg yellow eyes fixated on their prey.

  And with them—a swarm of Invisibles.

  The bde-wielding demons fpped their bat-like wings, their jagged, purple-and-blue horns curling into a twisted heart shape. Their massive, bded swleamed with dark energy, already poised for an attack.

  Skuld inhaled sharply. "More of them?!"

  Helios clicked his tongue, gripping Equilibrium. "This world’s been lost to darkness. Of course, it’s swarming with Heartless."

  The Darksides raised their massive hands, and the Invisibles shot forward, their glowing swords leaving streaks of violet in the air.

  A bde sshed toward her—Skuld ed into a fsh of golden light, zipping away just before it struck.

  She reappeared mid-air, flipping gracefully, her Keybde pulsing with radiant energy.

  And this time—she was in trol.

  Her movements flowed effortlessly as she danced between enemies, ing in fshes of golden light, striking with a series of rapid sshes before vanishing again.

  An Invisible lu her.

  She reappeared above it, twisting her Keybde mid-spin—

  A burst of pierg white energy shot downward, spearing straight through the Heartless.

  It let out a shriek before disiing.

  Helios smirked. "Yetting faster."

  Skuld nded, breathing steadily. "It’s getting easier like I’ve dohis before."

  But there was no time to rest.

  A Darkside swung its massive arm toward her—

  She vanished in a streak of golden light, reappearing just behind it.

  Then—she unleashed her eique.

  Raising her Keybde, she let her light surge outward, summoning several beams of radiant energy.

  The pilrs of light shot out uably, twisting through the battlefield like arg lightning strikes, bsting through the swarmiless.

  Some of the Invisibles mao dodge—others were struck, their bodies evaporating into nothingness.

  But the Darksides endured.

  They turned, eyes locked onto Skuld, and attacked in unison.

  Helios who had taken a step back to avoid being hit again exhaled, stepping forward. "Guess it’s my turn."

  The Darksides smmed their fists into the ground, creating massive pools of darkness.

  Helios vanished in an instant.

  Not into light—but into darkness.

  He reappeared at the chest of one of the giants, already mid-swing.

  His Keybde carved a deep gash across its torso, and before the creature could react, he teleported again—this time to its head.

  A massive spike of earth erupted from the ground, impaling the Heartless from below.

  The Darkside howled in agony before colpsing into bck mist.

  Helios nded with a smirk.

  "One down."

  But before he could turn to attaother, he noticed Skuld mid-air, spinning her Keybde like a drill.

  She unleashed a strike raid but this time, instead of one spinning Keybde, the attack burst into multiple spinning keybdes made of light.

  They shot out in all dires, striking everything in the area.

  One of them smmed into Helios.

  The moment it hit, Helios staggered, gritting his teeth as the familiar burniion fred up inside him.

  His light immediately reacted, abs it, growing ever so slightly.

  Skuld gasped. "Oh—! Sorry!"

  Helios exhaled sharply, shaking it off before casting Cura on himself. "It’s okay I’m paying attention this time so I didn’t let my guard down."

  She ughed awkwardly, but there was no time to dwell on it.

  The remaining Darksides roared, readying for another round.

  Helios and Skuld exged a ghen rushed forward together.

  One by ohe Darksides fell.

  With Skuld’s growing trol over her light-speed ing aating light attacks, and Helios’ perfected teleportation and ter-magic, they mao wipe out the st of the Heartless.

  And then—silence.

  The battlefield was empty once more.

  Skuld let out a breath, l her Keybde. "That… was intense."

  Helios smirked. "You’re keeping up better than before."

  Skuld smiled. "Thanks."

  But then—

  Helios tensed.

  Because the feeling was back.

  The sense of being watched.

  He turned slowly, sing the area.

  There was nothing visible.

  But he knew.

  Something had been them.

  And it wasn’t just one pair of eyes.

  It was many.

  And that meant ohing.

  Maybe the wait was over.