When Elsa picked up the bag, she might notice notice that it has some weight, but isn't too heavy. And she may just feel the shift and hear the faint sloshing of one or more liquid-filled containers inside. Axel raised a eyebrow slightly as she knelt to grab the bag, but then apparently dismissed it to go on with his explanation; he clearly had no problem with her carrying it if she wanted.
"The Realm of Darkness, on the other hand," Axel said, "doesn't contain any worlds that we would recognize. Or any people for that matter. Even the outskirts are creepy dangerous and the further in you go, the greater the danger. Not just from the Darkness itself, but from creatures called Heartless who call the Realm of Darkness home; I'll explain more about them in a minute."
"But what makes Darkness itself dangerous is what it can do to a heart," he said. He banished the three fireballs representing the realms and instead held up his hands in front of his chest, palms facing each other and a little ways apart. Between them, a stripe of fire formed itself into the shape of a heart. "Everyone has at least a little bit of darkness in their heart, like I said before. Anger, hatred, fear, despair, jealousy, revenge; those are the kinds of things are tied to the darkness. Few people like their darkness, but everyone needs it; it's part of who and what you are, part of what makes you a complete being." A tiny blue fireball representing the darkness appeared inside the fire heart.
"Now normally your heart's own natural defenses of light keep that darkness in check," Axele explained, and the fire heart was surrounded by a fire ring slightly larger than itself. "Too much exposure to outside sources of darkness, though, gradually erodes those defenses." Tongues of blue fire leaped from his fingertips to brush against the ring. Wherever the blue fire touched, the ring faded, until after a few moments breaks in the ring began to appear. "This leaves the heart vulnerable, not just to further damage from outside, but from its own darkness as well." The tongues of blue fire slipped through the gaps in the ring. Parts of the heart within began to burn blue, and the blue flame in the center expanded.
"And if it goes far enough, or continues long enough," Axel said, "the heart can be completely consumed by darkness. And at that point..." A rush of blue fire from his hands overwhelmed the fire heart which then morphed into a Heartless emblem made of blue fire. "At that point the heart changes into a Heartless. Certain kinds of Heartless spawn naturally in the Realm of Darkness, fed by the dark emotions in people's hearts, but both kinds are pretty similar in behavior. They're mindless, and act purely on instinct, like wild animals. The problem is that their instinct is to seek out and steal more hearts. They attack people and take their hearts. The stolen hearts are overwhelmed by darkness, and become more Heartless, which go on to attack more people, etc. Very icky things, and I think we can both be glad that there's none around here."
"The stronger the heart, the longer it takes for this to happen naturally," Axel said, "but no one's really immune. That's what the Black Coat is for. It's not just a fashion statement; among other things, it's been magically treated to protect against the adverse affects of long term use of darkness. Unless a heart is exceptionally weak, it can take little brushes with darkness here and there- which is why I know that taking a short hop or two through now and again won't hurt you- but using it regularly for weeks, months, years at a time? Yeah... that would be trouble if you didn't have protection."
Here he paused again, once more allowing her the chance to ask questions if she wanted. There were a few more points he wanted to hit before they left, but they could wait a moment.
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"The Realm of Darkness, on the other hand," Axel said, "doesn't contain any worlds that we would recognize. Or any people for that matter. Even the outskirts are creepy dangerous and the further in you go, the greater the danger. Not just from the Darkness itself, but from creatures called Heartless who call the Realm of Darkness home; I'll explain more about them in a minute."
"But what makes Darkness itself dangerous is what it can do to a heart," he said. He banished the three fireballs representing the realms and instead held up his hands in front of his chest, palms facing each other and a little ways apart. Between them, a stripe of fire formed itself into the shape of a heart. "Everyone has at least a little bit of darkness in their heart, like I said before. Anger, hatred, fear, despair, jealousy, revenge; those are the kinds of things are tied to the darkness. Few people like their darkness, but everyone needs it; it's part of who and what you are, part of what makes you a complete being." A tiny blue fireball representing the darkness appeared inside the fire heart.
"Now normally your heart's own natural defenses of light keep that darkness in check," Axele explained, and the fire heart was surrounded by a fire ring slightly larger than itself. "Too much exposure to outside sources of darkness, though, gradually erodes those defenses." Tongues of blue fire leaped from his fingertips to brush against the ring. Wherever the blue fire touched, the ring faded, until after a few moments breaks in the ring began to appear. "This leaves the heart vulnerable, not just to further damage from outside, but from its own darkness as well." The tongues of blue fire slipped through the gaps in the ring. Parts of the heart within began to burn blue, and the blue flame in the center expanded.
"And if it goes far enough, or continues long enough," Axel said, "the heart can be completely consumed by darkness. And at that point..." A rush of blue fire from his hands overwhelmed the fire heart which then morphed into a Heartless emblem made of blue fire. "At that point the heart changes into a Heartless. Certain kinds of Heartless spawn naturally in the Realm of Darkness, fed by the dark emotions in people's hearts, but both kinds are pretty similar in behavior. They're mindless, and act purely on instinct, like wild animals. The problem is that their instinct is to seek out and steal more hearts. They attack people and take their hearts. The stolen hearts are overwhelmed by darkness, and become more Heartless, which go on to attack more people, etc. Very icky things, and I think we can both be glad that there's none around here."
"The stronger the heart, the longer it takes for this to happen naturally," Axel said, "but no one's really immune. That's what the Black Coat is for. It's not just a fashion statement; among other things, it's been magically treated to protect against the adverse affects of long term use of darkness. Unless a heart is exceptionally weak, it can take little brushes with darkness here and there- which is why I know that taking a short hop or two through now and again won't hurt you- but using it regularly for weeks, months, years at a time? Yeah... that would be trouble if you didn't have protection."
Here he paused again, once more allowing her the chance to ask questions if she wanted. There were a few more points he wanted to hit before they left, but they could wait a moment.