An encompassing darkness, a still wind; a singular light in the distance beckoning any who lay eyes upon it to approach. Step after step would echo into the endless abyss with it's cool embrace; in spite of the darkness, looking down one could see ripples of light with every step forward. The effect was akin to the ripples of a puddle, however the light in the distance would pulse should you find yourself distract, quickly drawing ones attention once more. As the figure in the darkness drew nearer to the light, sounds around them would begin to fill the air. The sound of their breath as they move, the occasional gasp as the cold air chilled their bones; the sounds of their clothing, shuffling as it became apparent they were running towards the light, not walking. They would hold out their hand, and the light in the distance would illuminate their form; a blue sleeve with pink floral design, a matching dress, and a weapon in their other hand. They would reach the light, the warmth of its embrace restoring their energy; as they would take to touching it however, a blinding flash would return them to darkness once more.

"Gah!" Rhapsody would exclaim as she used her sleeved arm to shield her eyes from the flash of light, "What-? Where??" She would question, steadily opening her eyes to adjust to the new light around her.

Her eyes would twitch as a steady white noise, almost akin to a low chorus would fill the air around her; opening her eyes however, there would be none around. She stood atop a platform which sounded akin to a thick glass as she took a step forward; the design of the platform was incredibly colorful, perhaps displaying an image, however from her perspective she couldn't tell what. All around her, the encompassing darkness remained, in said darkness now though was a mist or fog of sorts; while this fog wasn't necessarily bright itself, it seemed almost reflective and help to make the surrounding darkness less suffocating.

"What is this place?" Rhapsody would question, stepping forward towards the center of the circular platform she stood upon, "Helloooo! Is anyone out there?!" She would yell, hearing nothing but her voice echoing throughout the void.

Looking above, a soft light with a dim glow would shine, illuminating the entirety of the platform she stood upon. She felt her chest tighten as a mild anxiety took hold, but would suppress the feeling as she continued examining her surroundings. There was nothing more to be found here, so she would opt for flight; however as she took a step forward in an attempt to take off, her balance would be stolen from her and she would fall flat to the floor, dropping her keyblade.

"Oof!" She'd exclaim, as the sound of her keyblade sliding across the floor echoed, "What in th-" She'd continue as she rubbed her chin, before suddenly freezing up at the sight of what caused her stumble.

Rather than the sight of any particular existing thing, it was the lack there of that stole the breath from her lungs. First silence, as her body felt as though it had froze, followed by a scream and ensuing panic. Where once rested her wings, a new vacancy had been made; she would reach her hands over her shoulder and around her sides in a frantic display in an attempt to find something, but to no avail. She was wingless, and without the ability of flight, trapped upon the platform in which she found herself. While the thought had crossed her mind prior, she could no longer think of this as a dream... it was a nightmare, and one she just couldn't seem to wake from.

"Whe- where are they!? Why!?" Rhapsody would cry out as she attempted to rise up in a panic, "I had- they were just-" She'd continue, becoming steadily more incoherent as her heart raced.

The light high in the distant sky would dim further, as a truly freezing air overtook the atmosphere in the area; with one final chill down her spine, Rhapsody would freeze up as she felt the presence of another a short distance behind her. She would turn slowly, witnessing the one who now shared the platform with her; herself, or at least a copy of herself, and one with enough distinguishing differences to tell the two apart.

Her copy remained silent as she stared at Rhapsody with an empty gaze; its black hair and red eyes giving this copy a rather intimidating aura. While the dress the copy wore was the same, the color and design were a stark contrast to the original. A blackened dress, with the floral patterns having been replaced with similarly designed, dark red shapes akin to crossed out hearts. The ribbon upon the copy's right arm was an ironic, eye catching white; within the hand of this arm, a weapon similar to her own with an equally contrasting design. The design of the copy's keyblade remained the same, while the colors were of a flashier nature. The silver blade was replaced with gold, the golden guard swapped with silver; while the blue ring where the blade met the guard had become a bright red.

"Who are-?" Rhapsody would question, tilting her head slightly in confusion, "M-me?? Please, where are we-?" She would begin to ask, before being immediately cut off by the sudden sight of the copy's keyblade swinging directly towards her eyes.

Instinctively, Rhapsody's body would jerk, pulling her back to avoid the strike, though causing her to trip and fall backwards to the ground. Quickly, Rhapsody would shuffle to sit up; clambering backwards to place distance between she an the copy. The dark copy before her spoke no words, rather, she merely stared with an empty gaze beneath a furrowing brow. Rhapsody's heart began to race as the copy took another step; she would seemingly vanish in place, before suddenly appearing before Rhapsody with her weapon drawn in mid-swing. In another instinctive moment, Rhapsody would drop; rolling out of the way, adrenaline would take over and she would quickly jump back to her feet before putting her hands up defensively before her.

"Wait, stop!! I mean you no harm!!" Rhapsody would exclaim, but to no avail as the dark copy would merely rush again with incredible speed, How is she so fast!? Rhapsody would think to herself as she frantically took to avoiding the oncoming strikes as best as she could.

Just as Rhapsody found herself currently, the dark copy had no wings upon her back, and yet moved with the same speed and grace as Rhapsody normally would. Even should the two have had wings, Rhapsody couldn't help but to notice a stark difference between the two; while Rhapsody had only recently taken up the Keyblade as her weapon, her copy fought in a manner as though it had used the weapon for years. The copy moved with intent, placing power on poise behind it's every strike; even the most minor of grazes caused Rhapsody incredible pain, placing her heavily on the defensive. From the corner of her eye however, Rhapsody would see her own weapon upon the ground, and upon avoiding another strike, the girl would rush towards the weapon; diving into a somersault, Rhapsody would take her Keyblade in hand and quickly leap to her feet once more.

"Please desist, or el-"

Turning about to face her copy, Rhapsody would attempt to plead with it once more, only to find herself interrupted mid-sentence. With greater aggression than before, the copy would rush Rhapsody would a powerful swing; Rhapsody would bring her own weapon down upon the copy in an attempt to block the strike, but would find herself countered by the copy's superior speed and power. Strike after strike, Rhapsody would try in vain to protect herself, while her copy moved effortlessly to knock away Rhapsody's every attempt before seizing upon her with an onslaught of strikes. First with a swift blow to Rhapsody's hand to disarm her, then with a powerful horizontal swing across the girls abdomen, sending her flying back. The copy would continue to rush the girl, laying down strike after strike, causing Rhapsody to lose all sense of the situation as the pain of the multiple strikes flooded her senses until finally, the two would find themselves careening off the platform.

Through labored breaths, Rhapsody would attempt to speak, as her consciousness faded however, she would be left only with the sight of the copy delivering a final overhead strike down upon Rhapsody, sending the girl plummeting into the darkness below...

"NO!!" Rhapsody would shout with a gasp as her eyes shot open; quickly taking in her surroundings with labored breaths as she wiped the sweat from her brow and began to calm herself.

The morning sun cresting into the sky and cool atmosphere indicated it was not yet noon; the sound of birds fluttering away from Rhapsody's outburst reminded her of reality. It was a rather pleasant day, and Rhapsody found herself sitting cross legged upon a large flat rock in the middle of the forest. Her keyblade rested upon her lap, clutched tightly in her hand; as she calmed, Rhapsody quickly recalled the situation and gave a heavy sigh as she lamented her lacking ability.

"I lost myself again?" She would question in an annoyed tone, "Grand Elder made this sound so easy, but I suppose there are o shortcuts after all." She would remark as she leaned back, propping herself up with her hands as her wings splayed out behind her, "Still, how could I have possibly expected all that? What did it even mean?" She would question as she thought back to the events she'd experienced, "Hehe, I'm just happy none of that was real." She'd remark as she casually fell backwards and laid flat upon the rock; still feeling exhausted from the experience.

What felt like a dream, was an attempt at an advanced training technique taught by the Grand Elder, that of Image Training. Rhapsody had always found herself interested in the technique, but had been told often that she was not yet ready. She lacked focus and required finer control over her magic; it was only her third attempt already this morning, and she'd lost her sense of self in the scenario each time. The style of Image Training taught by the Grand Elder required constructing a scene from deep within your heart, be it the location, the atmosphere, or even the opponent, each aspect of the training was meant to be of Rhapsody's own creation. Ruler of her own heart, she should have been in full control of the scenario, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Rhapsody would attempt to rest, clearing her mind of the event and her failure and focusing on the world around her. A soft wind blew, something that was always nice to feel, she did so very much like the cold over the heat. She could hear birds and squirrels chirping away in their respective homes nearby, a sign of the ambient peacefulness that encompassed the area. She wished greatly that the rest of the world could be so peaceful, however past experiences showed that this was not a luxury afforded to everyone. For whatever reason, bad people existed that wanted to do bad things; while there were certainly some with excuses to give, there were plenty of others who did these things simply for the sake of doing it. They had nothing to prove, nothing to gain, and in some cases they didn't even consider it fun; it was something Rhapsody simply couldn't understand, but such was why she trained. Rhapsody sought to see the best in others, the good and the light that existed deep within; if the opponent before her however had no desire to accept that such a quality existed within them however, then Rhapsody needed the means to not only protect herself, but those around her as well.

Now fully calmed, Rhapsody would release her Keyblade, dispelling it as she quickly made to sit back up. She would allow her wings to beat several times, ruffling her feathers to get more comfortable whilst also having the added effect of cooling herself down. Taking up a cross legged position once more, Rhapsody would take a moment to contemplate her next action. It was clear she was getting no where with her image training, she simply didn't have the control necessary; with that in mind, rhapsody opted for what the Grand Elder referred to as energy training. Of course, this seemed to be a matter which presented its own challenges.

Energy, energy... Rhapsody would muse in deep thought, Sorallay and Vocalo mentioned energy; something about... WHOOSH and BAM! She would recall, thinking back to the rather lacking explanation Vocalo had given.

The Grand Elder had once explained energy to her as a force that existed in all living creatures, even within the residents of her own village. Unfortunately, the Grand Elder lacked the ability to teach Rhapsody any form of energy control due to the fact that she seemingly lacked any at all. He had forgone such training, instead opting to focus on her magical capabilities; however due to her departure, her training was never completed. Far from complete, it was clear Rhapsody still had a long way to go, however now it seemed like she would need to speed run her training if she was ever to locate the Guardian of Earth and return home. Locating this Guardian was the only means she had to learn the magic necessary to save her father, and having the power to protect herself and others was the only way she was going to be able to continue traveling this dangerous world to find him.

Rhapsody would calm her mind and push aside the distressing thought of her fathers health, focusing instead back on the task at hand. The question still remained however, how was she to practice energy control without any energy? For that matter, why did she lack energy in the first place?? There were plenty of magic users in her village, the Grand Elder included, and yet from what she had been told, it was only she who lacked any sigh of energy. She certainly wasn't dead, she seemed to be alive and kicking quite well; the only real difference was the level of magical power she held compared to the other magic users in her village. While she was not yet as skilled as the elders, the pool of mana, or rather, the raw magical ability Rhapsody had access to seemed to go leagues beyond the Elders. Her magic was comparable to the Grand Elder in terms of depth and power; the thought of all of this however only served to discourage Rhapsody however.

"Maybe I shouldn't have left so quickly." Rhapsody would say with a heavy sigh as she lamented her lack of completed training.

It was too late to go back on her actions however, she was forced to find her own path; with one final released breath, Rhapsody would assume a meditative stance once more and stay true to her conviction. Constant worry and discouragement would lead to nothing, she knew she needed to remain confident and focused. She would breath lightly, with said breath lessening more and more as she focused on the world around her. Her eyes would twitch as she listened to the sounds of nature, while her tail flicked about with curiosity. She could hear the words and whispers of the forest, subtle and strange, with each and every creature being just as varied as any other creature upon the planet.

She could hear a plethora of plants crying out for water, while nearby small animal seemed to engage in minor merriment together over the fine day they were having. A squirrel remarked continuous with worry over an owl it had spotted, while the surrounding trees seemed to yawn as they awaited the slow crawl of autumns embrace. As her mind focused, she could then hear remarks of curiosity as a chipmunk approached; while the creature didn't ask her directly what she was doing, it seemed incredibly interested in her with its quick comments. Steadily, more and more animals would begin to follow suit, arriving with a selfsame curiosity as they looked upon Rhapsody. While she wouldn't ignore the presence of the creatures, she also wouldn't pay them any direct attention; merely smirking a bit as she listened in to their curious ramblings.

Rhapsody would instead take to focusing on the magic within her, and the flow of said magic as it coursed through and eventually out of her body. She could feel the endless wellspring of constantly regenerating mana, she could feel how the mana spread throughout her wings, and would trace the origin of the mana back to its center within her heart. From here, she would focus on controlling and redirecting the mana further; a feeling similar to when she summoned her keyblade would tickle at her palms, but she didn't seek to summon her weapon in this moment. Instead, she would attempt to guide the ethereal essence, allowing it to flow across the entirety of her form. As she did, slowly, the ramblings of the nearby small creatures would begin to die down and silence would once again envelope the area.

Rhapsody would continue this actions for several minutes, keeping the flow of invisible mana as a shroud along her form. Eventually, as a leaf fell from above and landed upon her nose, tickling it slightly, Rhapsody would finally open her eyes. She'd been in a meditative trance of constantly controlling her mana for an indeterminable amount of time, but as her eyes lightly darted along the scene around her, she could tell that enough time had passed for the sun to crest past noon. This wasn't the most interesting scene however, rather, it was the realization that the small animals that had gawked and gossiped about her prior had now taken up comfortable positions on and around her form.

Birds perched atop her head and wings, while squirrels and chipmunks laid upon her lap and shoulders. It was a strange, serene atmosphere; though it didn't seem like the animals had decided to hang around simply because they liked her. Rather, it felt almost as though the animals were completely unaware of her presence entirely. They perched upon her as they would a tree, while the mana that flowed from her acted as a soothing aura for the small creatures to enjoy. Rhapsody would smile, almost giggling a bit at the experience, but she knew she couldn't remain this way forever. With a small flutter of her wings, the birds that sat atop her would be scared away and the rest of the creatures upon her would awaken. Rhapsody would move lightly, and amidst the confusion, the remaining animals would rush away, unsure as to where the sudden movement was coming from.

"Well then, I believe that's enough meditation for the moment!" Rhapsody would exclaim as she stretched and stood back to her feet, "I do believe I could use a snack! Perhaps I'll take to the small town nearby." She would muse as her ears twitched upon hearing the confusion from the nearby animals.

She had every intention of making for the city quickly, however the words of the nearby fauna caught her attention. They expressed greater confusion and concern than they had prior; unaware as to where the sounds of Rhapsody voice were initially coming from. The trees would speak up, alerting the animals as to Rhapsody's presence, which would spark surprise from the creatures. Had they truly been unaware of Rhapsody's presence this entire time she meditated? While subtle, from her off hand she had continued to weave her control over her mana, ensuring the veil around her wouldn't drop. It was a veil that she'd always felt before, the only difference was now she had begun to amplify the effect. With an even greater curiosity than before, Rhapsody began to wonder how the people in the nearby town would react to her presence. She'd found a good few mystified by the sight of her wings, but luckily none had viewed her with any form of prejudice; that didn't change the fact that she typically drew attention from others quite easily. If the animals of the forest could forget her presence so easily however, she wondered if the same effect would occur with people.

With this question in mind, Rhapsody would make for the nearby town, both to sate her curiosity as well as to sate her hunger!