Chp.3 Rise of the Cantor

That night, Azaelus couldn’t sleep at all. In less than 24 hours, he was going to become a horrible dark beast, a Cantor. Azaelus had studied them extensively in his time with Alexis, who seemed to know a lot more about them than anyone else. The subject of his studies had to be secret, so Azaelus couldn’t tell anyone about what he was learning about. He took in as much knowledge as he could and gained a new point of view for himself. First and foremost, his mother had never told him he was part Cantor. Although this fact startled him, Alexis reassured the hybrid that his mother might not have known. Secondly, he learned of the “cravings” that would drive him insane shortly after his transformation. The Cantor race craves the blood, bones, and flesh of humans and any other sentient beings. This was why Cantors were labeled as a horrible disgusting horde of monsters that come from the darkest corners of the universe. But because of Azaelus being only half Cantor, he would eventually be able to control the cravings…but not until a day after the transformation. But what was different about Azaelus was that he started getting the “cravings” when he was around six years old. This made it very difficult for interaction with other people or things. The “cravings” made it especially hard to integrate into the life of royalty. On top of other things, his transformation wasn’t due until a month after the baby was born. At least then he would have had a month to spend with his newborn family member. But this was not to be…he would transform much sooner than he expected…

Azaelus watched the sun come up from his large bedroom window. After a few seconds, he groaned and turned over, not wanting today to come. This was his last day with his aunt, uncle, and not-yet-born cousin. Before he could sink back to sleep, however, the same voice from his nightmares spoke…but instead of the normal gurgle, it was the voice of a woman.

“Feeling sorry for yourself, kid? I wouldn’t worry; there are deeper holes you could’ve fallen into.”

Azaelus sat up quickly and looked around, starting to feel nervous. Who was this new voice?

“What deeper holes? And who are you?” Azaelus asked.

“Don’t recognize me? Aw…I’m so hurt.”

Azaelus still wandered around his room until his eyes locked onto his doorway. There stood a rather tall woman with pitch black skin, medium-length white hair, a gray torn dress, and glowing orange eyes. Her body was covered in the same orange circles that were on Azaelus’s arm. Azaelus stared at her in awe as his entire form started to shake in fear. The woman noticed his shaking and smiled as she closed the door silently behind her. Slowly, she approached the bed and crawled onto it. The entire time she kept her eyes locked with Azaelus’s.

“My my…I had no idea I was assigned to such a cutie…” The woman chuckled.

“Assigned to…?” Azaelus asked. “What were you assigned to me for?”

“You’ll see soon, kid.” The woman replied.

“Are you actually Cantor?” Azaelus asked.

“Yes I am.” The woman chuckled. “But only you can see me for the moment…”

“So…what are you here for?” Azaelus asked.

“I’m here to give you this…” The woman replied.

The woman touched Azaelus’s right hand softly with a single finger and sent a burst of energy through his entire body. Azaelus gasped from the sudden feeling of energy running through his body. On his wrist, an orange diamond formed and slowly dimmed. The woman then floated off the bed and slowly hovered backwards in the air. Her eyes watched Azaelus intently, as if she was taunting him to come after her.

“Wait, what’s this for?” Azaelus asked.

“The answers will come…seek me out…you have the equipment now.” The woman said as she slowly disappeared. “By the way…my name’s Axis.”

Azaelus just sat in his bed for about an hour more. He was completely bewildered about what just transpired. But he now knew the source of the voice, but that still didn’t explain why she was able to compose a solid form or how she was a part of him and female.

“Axis…maybe she’s an ally…” Azaelus said to himself.

He sighed and then looked at his clock. He was late for breakfast. After he quickly washed up and made himself presentable, Azaelus ran down the stairs and made it to the dining room, where Ansem and Lollahec were waiting. Azaelus was especially surprised that Ansem was at the breakfast table. Usually, he would take his breakfast into the lab. Azaelus sat down and looked at his plate. French toast, eggs, bacon, and hash browns were designed neatly on the plate.

“Wow…great breakfast…” Azaelus said.

“Glad you like it.” Ansem said.

“Special occasion today, Uncle?” Azaelus asked.

“Why yes, it is in fact.” Ansem replied. “Something very special will happen sometime tonight…”

“The baby?” Azaelus asked.

“Yes…” Lollahec said. “It’s only a matter of time before you meet your new baby cousin.”

Azaelus smiled, and wished he meant it. There was nothing happy about this day other than the baby being born…but he would never see her. He would never see her grow and develop. He would never see her turn into the beautiful princess they all knew she would be. All of that would disappear before it became reality in his world.

After a long and talkative breakfast, Ansem and Lollahec returned to their room to prepare for the baby’s birth. Lollahec could go into labor any day now…or any minute. Either which way, it was hard to determine. The only thing they could do now is wait, and wait they did.

For hours, Azaelus stared at his ceiling and contemplated what would happen…what transforming would do to him. Would he go insane afterwards? Was there really a reason for him to leave…? The only answer that came was “yes”. He gritted his teeth, despair started to brew in his heart. Slowly, he fell into a troubled sleep.

==Begin Dream==

Azaelus awoke again and everything was ablaze with fire. Azaelus got out of bed frantically and ran through his doorway. He was careful not to catch his clothing on fire. In the smoking hallway, Azaelus could hear screaming and explosions form downstairs. The explosions shook the entire castle and sent Azaelus to the floor. He pulled himself up on the wall and used it for support as he walked cautiously down the hallway. The castle started to shake very violently as Azaelus got to the downstairs level and walked into the ballroom.

Inside the ballroom, many people were running from a giant Cantor. Azaelus couldn’t believe its size. It was at least half the size of the castle and had orange symbols and eyes. Then he realized the horrible truth…he IS that Cantor. Azaelus has had this nightmare before in the past, and each time it got even more real. But now he knew; he is the Cantor in his nightmares. Azaelus stood, frozen in fear and his eyes locked on the gigantic hulking creature that was in the middle of the scrambling crowd of people.

Azaelus found himself wandering towards his Cantor self. He couldn’t figure out how he came back when he wouldn’t even be here after his transformation. What could he possibly be doing there? Then he noticed that his Cantor form was holding down two people with its large claws. They were his aunt and uncle, both were bleeding very badly.

Azaelus felt as though the blood in his veins had gone ice cold as he saw two very important people in his life being tortured before his eyes. Was this his future? Would this really happen? He didn’t want it to end this way. He couldn’t let it end like this.

“LET THEM GO!” Azaelus screamed at the top of his lungs.

The Cantor looked at Azaelus in question after hearing his scream. Azaelus was about to run at the beast and fight it. But something transparent stopped him in his tracks and sent him spiraling backwards. He sat up and looked around as the world around him started to morph and fall apart.

When Azaelus looked again, he found that he was in a very dark place and he stood atop a glowing stained glass disc. A single shaft of light came down from the sky of infinite darkness and stopped near the center of the disc. Azaelus only took a single step before he felt someone there…watching him. He looked around at the seemingly infinite darkness that surrounded the glowing disc.

“Well, it looks like you made it, kid…”

“Axis? Is that you?” Azaelus asked. “Where am I?”

“This is your mind, kid, where all the magic happens…this is where you will receive your initiation into the Cantorian Keymasters; they’re the keymasters on the side of the Cantors. I’m a member of this elite squad, and I gave you the mark so you could join us.”

“So this is my mind?” Azaelus said to himself. “Since I joined, where’s my keyblade?”

Just as Azaelus asked, a keyblade fell down from the shaft of light and wedged in the ground of the disc. The keyblade was black with blue thorny branches twisted around the blade. Blue electricity sparked off of it and hit the ground.

“So that’s a keyblade…” Azaelus gaped. “It’s so amazing…”

“Don’t get too excited yet, kid. There is one more you need to find. But you can worry about that later. For now, you need to find the other Cantorian keymasters.”

“There are others?” Azaelus asked.

“Yep, that’s right. We only recruit the most talented of Cantorian keymasters. Since your time of choosing came during your transformation, we took it to our advantage. As far as we’re concerned, you’re the most talented of the keymasters we’ve seen so far.”

“But I just became one…” Azaelus said.

“It’ll become clear eventually. Now for your new powers…”

“New powers? Like what?” Azaelus asked, but was cut off.

A new surge of power flowed out from Azaelus’s heart. The power felt cold and dark but very refreshing as it slowly covered his body in a dark liquid-like skin. It covered everything from his head down to his feet. Then the orange circles started lighting up all over his body and glowed eerily. Azaelus examined his newly transformed body and marveled at his new-found strength.

“Wow…this is amazing.” Azaelus said. “Everything’s so tangible to me now.”

“Yes, with this new power you’ll be able to do things that can’t normally be done by a sentient being…but it comes with a price. Use it too much and you’ll go on a killing spree, especially so early in your post-transformation stage.”

“So I transformed already?” Azaelus asked.

“Yep, you just haven’t woken up yet…”

“Oh…so I’m not awake…” Azaelus said to himself before remembering what he has to do. “I need to find a way out the minute I wake up.”

“That’ll be good to do…don’t risk anything and think fast…good luck.”

“Thanks Axis.” Azaelus said before his new skin retracted and slowly turned back to its original shape. “Now as for that keyblade.”

Azaelus didn’t notice that his body hadn’t gone completely back to normal. Instead of his hair being white and his eyes a yellow color, his hair was now black and his eyes orange. His skin was now a darker shade of tan and his body was a little more defined in terms of muscle structure.

He walked over to the keyblade and pulled it out of the ground with a grunt. Just as he pulled out the blade, a geyser of dark liquid shot out of the hole in the floor that the keyblade left behind. The liquid from the geyser sprayed onto the ground and formed into Neoshadow Heartless. It wasn’t long before Azaelus was completely surrounded by the dark creatures.

Azaelus destroyed the Heartless with his new-found power quite easily. And the keyblade made it even easier to decimate the dark creatures.

“Those were the Heartless; Ones without hearts.”

“Alexis told me about them…” Azaelus said. “They were the backbone of a gigantic army years ago.”

“And they still are…thanks to a witch named Maleficent”

“So this Maleficent is gathering the Heartless up for an army?” Azaelus asked. “Do the Cantors have an army too?”

“Yes, but our numbers our low. That is why we need Cantors like you to help us out in the gathering.”

“I see. Alright, I’ll do it.” Azaelus said. “But one more question. Is there any chance at all that I’ll see my family again…and not kill them?”

“Of course there is. Your family won’t forget about you, Azaelus.”

“That’s all I wanted to know…you can send me back.” Azaelus said. “Thanks, Axis.”

“There’s more where that came from, trust me.”

From all directions, the light came and engulfed the entire area.

==End Dream==

Azaelus awoke in the shattered remains of his bedroom. He looked around, completely confused about what happened. Then he remembered the dream he had. He needed to get out. He got a good look at his room and saw that he must’ve been thrashing around in his sleep.

He made a move for the door but then he heard crying. Not just anyone crying, his newborn cousin. She was finally here. Azaelus stood there just listening to his cousin’s first sounds of life. Although his cousin was about five stories down, Azaelus felt as though he was that much closer. A warm feeling filled his heart. But it wouldn’t be there for long; he still had to get out of the castle before everyone found out what was happening.

He looked forward at the mirror, which was miraculously unbroken. He got closer and examined his new looks in the mirror before noticing a note taped to the side of it. Recognizing Alexis’s handwriting, he took the note off the mirror and read it to himself.

Dear Azaelus,

By the time you get this, your transformation will have been completed. I am very happy to know another one of my friends will make it out of this alive. Head towards a world named Torin after you get out of Hollow Bastion; your mother and I will be waiting there for you to arrive. Hopefully sometime in the future if you regain your former shell, you can visit your cousin, aunt, and uncle again. But for now, you must keep them safe. I will leave it up to you.

-Your friend and mentor, Alexis Vordeau

“Torin…” Azaelus said to himself. “I must go there now…but why is my mom there?”

Azaelus turned towards the door and put his hand on it. Just as he did, he heard his aunt and uncle speaking all the way downstairs.

“She’s so beautiful…” Lollahec said in a tired whisper.

“She looks just like you.” Ansem said. “Azaelus won’t believe his eyes. Martha, would you go get Azaelus? I wouldn’t want him to miss the naming of his cousin.”

“Yes sir.” Martha said.

Martha exited the infirmary and walked up the long flight of stairs to Azaelus’s room. Azaelus could hear every step as clear as a whistle. He would not be able to show himself to his family; they wouldn’t even recognize his new features. And then of course, there was the insane bloodlust that would follow his complete transformation. He looked around for a new way out and spotted his gigantic circular window.

“This is gonna hurt…really bad…” Azaelus said before bracing himself. “But I don’t really have a choice…”

Azaelus ran full speed at his window and broke right through it. To stop himself from falling, he grabbed onto a tree and slid all the way down to the ground on it. He heard the maid scream as soon as he broke the window and started a mad dash for the castle gates, hopped over the gates, and ran as fast as he could away from the castle. Even yards away, he heard the alarm sound as he ran through the large courtyard and into the city outskirts.

The dark city streets were perfect for his escape route. He weaved in and out between streets and around corners He weaved in and out between streets and around corners before he stopped at an intersection. From every direction he could see torches, swords, shields, and armor. He had to think fast, or be caught and killed by the large Royal Army.