The dim sound of a weak sigh broke through the corroding cold of the darkness and the arms, which had wrapped protectively around the youthful body, tried to scare away the feeling of gnawing despair in his otherwise brave heart.

All feeling of warmth was gone, just a numb feeling of cold eating under the skin of the boy, who slowly raised his head and looked up at the gloomy sky. He hardly felt the rain that fell on him in biting drops and the unfathomable, deep blue of two eyes hid behind half-closed lids, making it difficult for him to imagine the bright rays of the distant stars behind the thick veil of rain.

They were far away, just as far away as the answer to all of his questions wandering around in his head. Could everything really have been lost and in vain so suddenly?

A touch on his right shoulder made him wince, startled, and lift his head.

"Here you are. Are you all right?" Asked a loud, scratchy voice and a gloved hand, which told him the presence of another person, patted him lightly on the other shoulder.

"Hey Sora, don't worry. Let's find out where we are first, and then we'll see.", Spoke a second voice, the owner of which was still gently slapping him on the shoulder, trying to cheer him up.

The person addressed leaned on the arm of his right hand, with which he asked for a firm hold on the wet and hard ground before he lifted his body, which was trembling with cold. His gaze wandered, orienting himself, through the quiet area, shrouded in the night.

Immediately in front of them he could see the silhouette of a large tree, the colorless crown of which stretched far into the dark sky. And under the embrace of countless, blooming branches he saw something that he could not see from here. So he took a few steps, moving towards something built of stones and a calming feeling, while countless drops of water fell on him from the darkness, hanging his short, untamed brown hair in liquefied strands and his clothes sticking uncomfortably to his cold skin let.

"Looks like a kind of shrine.", Sora heard one of his two companions say and turned to the man, who was also standing in the rain with him, whose black and dog-like long ears hung limply next to his face.

"You are right, Goofy.", He replied and remembered a world and customs that were alien to him, a place where he had felt a similar, calming feeling.

"I think I've seen something similar during our trip ..."

"And do you remember where that could have been, Donald?" The boy then asked the white-feathered, talented magician to his left, but he received only a low, incomprehensible chatter, accompanied by a shake of the head.A hand, wrapped in a black, fingerless handguard with blue patches and solid silver material, disappeared into the boy's wet hair, tossing it up wildly; an unconscious act while he was trying to think.

And then it occurred to him, the place where he had seen similar, if much larger, magnificent buildings as here.

"Are we back in the land of dragons?"

"In Mulan's world?", Goofy met also questioningly.

"And why should this old witch have brought us here of all places? It's strange that she helped us at all.", The loud voice of the winged wizard thundered around.

At Donald's words, Sora secretly bowed his head, felt these reawakening, his soul overwhelming feelings, which visibly settled on the otherwise so cheerful disposition of the boy.

"We have completely different problems ..." he said, with sadness in his voice and loosened his hand from his damp hair and slowly led it to himself, looking at the worn, black fabric around the inner surface.

"The whole time we have leaked the organization well ... and I ... I am nothing more than the key that leads them to the heart ..."

"But Sora ..." said the unrecognized, brave captain of the royal army and it seemed as if his long ears were hanging even sadder in the direction of the floor.

"Goofy. Donald. What if all, all of our efforts were in vain? What should I do if I can't keep using the Keyblade without escaping their machinations? They'll just keep searching for hearts over and over again, her. She's the one who loves me." ... the organization ... the heartless ... "

Unexpectedly, Sora felt tickling, wet feathers on the skin of his left arm, a well-intentioned gesture, followed by another touch on the shoulder on the same side. His gaze wandered in amazement and alternately between the two faces of his two comrades.

"Sora. The only thing you are not allowed to do now is give up.", Were the words of Goofy.

"Exactly, think of your friends. That has always given you strength so far. And so we will find a way to stop them.", Said Donald, and the boy wanted to free himself from the hearty confinement when the magician, however, stuck up his left index finger and put on a serious face, he paused in his half-hearted dust.

He was actually afraid of being hit by the force of a magical lightning bolt at any moment or literally getting fire under his back from heated flames, but luckily his magical companion only began to cackle softly.

"You know Sora, Donald can't see it when you give yourself up to the tribulation.", Goofy laughed too.

So the two really managed to twist the corners of the boy's mouth into a gentle smile, while he also hugged his own body with his two arms and rubbed restlessly over free, wet skin with the inner surfaces of his hands."Perhaps we should look for a dry place first of all."

"You are right. We should.", Donald replied, and he and the captain followed Sora, who took a few steps, went a little more in the direction of the big tree, but came to a stop again shortly afterwards.

Only a few yards away he noticed a figure walking on a cobblestone path on the rain-soaked sandy soil. Unnoticed, Sora took a few steps closer and gradually recognized more and more a stranger, whose approaching silhouette increasingly stuck out of the rainy darkness of the night until she turned out to be a young girl.

"Hey, um ... hello?", He uttered slightly unsettled and the unknown girl seemed to notice for the first time that someone was behind her.

Individual strands of her long, fair hair, tied in two scoops, swirled gently through the air and hung wet on her face after she turned quickly on herself. Her dark, shimmering eyes eyed the boy suspiciously, who just stood there, embarrassedly scratched the back of his head with one hand and looked slightly stupid.

"Hello.", She said and met the boy with an unexpectedly friendly, welcoming look, had shed almost every previous suspicion in him, which slightly confused him and made the lids of his eyes blink a few times.

His deep blue eyes flickered briefly over the figure of the strange girl, who eyed him just as interested. It was a really beautiful face, on whose lips a cute smile lay and suddenly moved a little closer to his own.

"My name is Chibiusa. Are you also here to wish someone luck or to yourself?"

Sora made an incomprehensible sound while he thought about the words that had just fallen. Wish yourself luck, did he? Happiness wasn't the kind of attention Heaven gave you if you only hoped long enough ...

No, he asked no luck.

The girl who had introduced herself to him as Chibiusa, however, seemed to find his thoughtful silence impolite, because angrily she stamped the clattering soles of her shoes. The hands, which she put forcefully against her hips, inevitably showed the boy that she disliked his behavior very much.

"Haven't you been taught to introduce yourself and tell others your name when they do? What ... and tell me, what are you grinning at me so stupidly all the time?"

Startled, he took a step back and only looked for a short while into the dangerously sparkling, aggressive eyes of the girl. It amazed him how changeable and above all unpredictable the whims of this Chibiusa could be. Just a moment ago she was still totally friendly ...

"Ah, sorry," he laughed and gave Chibiusa the palm of his right hand.

"I am Sora."

"Goofy.", One heard the captain say, who, together with the third party of the gang, had been hiding behind Sora's back and in the embrace of the darkness the whole time."Donald Duck.", Also chattered the anthropomorphic duck, which waddled wiggling towards the two youngsters.

The girl stumbled back a few steps, frightened, had the faithful companion until they introduced themselves only vaguely. Apparently she had never thought of encountering such strange but funny looking characters like her.

"You don't need to be afraid," said Sora's gently laughing voice, and again a hand disappeared behind the boy's damp, brown hair.

Whatever world they ended up in. In the land of dragons, or to a place that they had already visited before, they were very likely not ...