Introduction

Enter Castle Oblivion

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were sleeping. It was late at night and they rested on the side of the road that they had been chasing Pluto on. Sora gasped in his sleep and sat up quickly, his eyes snapping open. He pushed himself off the ground and continued walking along the road. Eventually the road split into two paths.

"Ahead lies something you need," a voice sounded from behind Sora. He whipped around quickly to see a man in a long black coat with a hood covering his face with black gloves and boots. Suddenly the man was gone.

"What in the world?" Sora whipped around again to see the man standing behind him. He seemed to be floating a few inches above the ground.

"But to claim it, you must lose something dear," he said and began moving backwards along the right path on the road.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora shouted and the two of them were up quickly. He motioned for them to follow and they ran after the man.

A girl sat in a white room, drawing. She nodded and placed down her pencil and then the paper she was drawing on. On the paper was a castle.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy slowly entered the giant castle the man in the black cloak had entered. The entire room was a brilliant crystal white.

"Looks like nobody's home," Donald looked around.

"You sure we should just barge in like this?" Goofy asked them.

"We have to if we're going to find the king…" Donald said quietly.

"The king!" Goofy's eyes opened wide. "King Mickey's here?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Something told me he'd be here, that's all."

"Really? But…now that you mention it, I was thinkin' the same thing."

"Are you serious?" Sora cut in. "So was I! One look at this castle and I just knew: They're here." Sora said, referring to the King and Riku.

"Well what do you know! Great minds think alike I guess," Goofy laughed.

"Guess again!" the normally quiet Jiminy Cricket jumped from the inside of Sora's jacket. "This can't be a mere coincidence."

"Why, Jiminy?" Donald asked. "Don't tell me that…"

"I felt it, too!" Jiminy nodded.

"Gwarsh, maybe it's contagious," Goofy said nervously.

"Or maybe something funny's going on!" Donald's temper started to rise. "I think we should check it out."

"Okay," Sora nodded and began walking toward a door at the end of the room.

"Hey, where are you going?" Donald asked.

"To check it out!" Sora grinned. "What's the matter, scared?"

"D-Don't be ridiculous! Come on, Goofy!" Donald went a little red.

"Okay, but we should shut the door behind us," Goofy turned around. "Sora!" Goofy shouted and Sora and Donald turned to see the man in the black coat. The man began walking toward them before disappearing and reappearing behind them.

"Who is that!" Sora shouted while he summoned the Keyblade to his side. Not seeming to notice that it had gone back to its regular Kingdom Key form.

"It must be a Heartless!" Donald held up his wand. "Let's see how he likes some of my magic! Thunder!" But nothing happened. "Huh? That's odd. Thunder! Thunder! Umm… Fire! Blizzard? I don't get it. Why isn't my magic working?"

"I should think it's obvious," the man said. "The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and ability you knew…though the forgetting does not end there. In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way of things in this, Castle Oblivion."

"Castle Oblivion?" Sora asked.

"Yes, here you will meet people you know. People you miss."

"Look, there's no one…" Sora began but stopped. "Riku! You mean Riku! He is here after all!"

"Do you want to find him? If you do…" the man suddenly rushed past them in a great blur. The three of them looked around quickly and found him on top of the steps leading up to the door to the next room.

"What did you do?" Sora ran up to him.

"I sampled you memories. And from them, I made this," he pulled a card from his pocket. "This is the key to reuniting with those you hold dear." He tossed the card at them.

"What is this, a card?" Sora inspected it to see the words Traverse Town emblazoned on the front.

"A promise. Use that card to press on. You will find your friend," the man moved aside and motioned for Sora to talk to the door. "Hold the card before you. The door will open, and beyond it a new world."

"Like this?" Sora held up the card in front of the door and there was a flash of light.

"Yes. Go, Sora. To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose…" and with that, he was gone. Sora shook it off this time.

"Come on guys, let's go," Sora pushed open the door and had to turn away because of the light. He nodded to Donald and Goofy and walked inside.