A few days later, Alisa and Taehyr were playing in the shallows on Besaid beach, laughing and splashing each other. Puresoul warbled from the sand, warking when they splashed him. Surprisingly, Alisa found herself actually having fun. Otto was nearby, training the new hopefuls for the Aurochs once more.

The skies suddenly went from a beautiful, clear blue to an ominous black in almost an instant. The whole of Besaid Island was plunged into darkness. Otto paused in his instructions to the team as shrieks and cries could be heard all the way from the village. The shadows around those on the beach seemed to grow and shift, taking the form of strange black creatures with glowing yellow eyes.

Taehyr and Alisa waded back to where Puresoul was on the beach. The shadow fiends were swarming around them, tiny antennae on the tops of their heads twitching. One of them lunged at Taehyr, who tried to kick it away. More creatures soon closed in around the girls and the chocobo and lept in to attack. Alisa's eyes went wide as she planted herself between her two friends and the oncoming attack.

As they were enveloped by the Shadows, a bright light surrounded Alisa and the creatures closest to them vanished. Alisa opened her eyes, having closed them against the blinding flash, to find that she was holding a strange weapon that looked like an overgrown key in her hands.

Otto came over to the girls, asking if they were alright. Shouts and the sounds of thunder could be heard from the village now. Bright flashes of fire and lightning illuminated the distant sky, signs that the village was also under attack, and Lulu was doing her best to defend it.

The ground around them shook as the shadows converged on one spot. A huge head that seemed to be a tangled mass of shadows with glowing eyes rose from the ground, followed by the giant torso, legs, and arms of this new, massive foe. In the center of the fiend's torso, a heart-shaped hole went all the way through its torso, so that Alisa could still view the signs of the battle in the village through its chest.

She grabbed Puresoul's reigns and handed them to her friend Taehyr. "Ride back to the village," she told her. "Help whoever you can, just get out of here." Taehyr looked as though she would argue, but Alisa shoved her onto the birds back before she could speak. Taehyr gave her a look, but nodded and rode off between the fiend's legs toward the village.

Alisa looked up at the dark creature, clutching the blade in her hand. A new bright flash caught her attention. She turned and saw a surprised Otto standing beside her, hold a strange key weapon of his own. She caught his eye and gave him a nod.

Alisa lunged at the creature. Though she was young and Sin was long gone, Spira was still a dangerous place. Her father had taught her to handle a sword from a young age. She lept, spun, hacked, and slashed at any part of the creature she could reach. Otto, too, lept into the frey, slicing through the fiend's arm with a mighty swing.

The monster fell before them, but the darkness it was made from spread out around them, covering the island and swallowing it.
..............................................

Alisa let out a groan as she slowly regained consciousness. She felt cold stone beneath her and looked around. "Where am I?" she wondered aloud. She rose to her feet and saw that she was not alone: Lulu, Wakka, and Otto were gradually getting up while Taehyr was calming a shaking Puresoul.

"Somehow, we're on the docks of Luca," Taehyr offered, "but...what I wanna know is, what were those things?"

A small crowd of dockworkers had noticed them and were making their way towards the group. Alisa gave them a smile and waved, trying to show them that everything was fine. The workers nodded at her and went about their business.  She turned back towards her friends and family, looking from them back out to the ocean, still clutching the keyblade, as she now thought of it, in her hand.

"I'm not sure," she said quietly, "but whatever they were...they might return."

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