I do not own the game Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

Prologue


864 year of the Loryoso family

Autumn 32 Day

A time of great trial and hardship is upon us. Fire and chaos dance across the countryside as man and beast run rampant and unhindered through the debris of tragedy and the ruin of fallen cities once bathed in beauty. All hope has seeped from the veins of the living like water seeps from a crack in a pail. Mankind has lost the will to fight against the foe that threatens us from every niche and crevice. Most shy away from the darker corners and abandoned alleyways; many even fear their own shadows. It is wise of them.

Magic has disappeared from the lands. Those who wielded the craft and have all turned their back on our society and, with their great knowledge and wisdom, fled. With their passing came fewer and fewer of those born to the craft and not a soul to teach those that remained. None lived passed their tenth year.

It wasn't just the humans that wielded the power of the craft that disappeared, but all those that were born of magic: the wisps and the nymphs, the dragons and the fire birds. Every creature of land, sky and water, every plant and every insect; vanished. The blow that hit us the hardest was the day the wizards walked away from our lands, their eyes downcast and heads turned away in shame and pity.

Even now, five years later, they are fading into nothing more than a legend.

It was our own undoing. All the pretentious rulers and delegates of the kingdoms in our loose confederation were the reason the wizards and sorceresses disappeared. They all played their part, every King, Queen, Duke, Marquis, and Count, every royal advisor, every High Councilor. They all have the shame of driving our strongest allies away forever stamped onto their conscience. Even I share some of that burden.

It was our inability to listen to their wisdom and our blindness to see reason that has put us in such a state. They extended their hands to us and we all but slapped them away. We saw them and their powers as tools to be owned and utilized as we saw fit. We used them as social status markers. Those with the more powerful in the craft were of higher standing. We used them as bargaining chips to form alliances and make trades. We used them as military and personal dogs to dispose of threats, real or imagined. We used them as assassins, they fell our enemies in the silence of night; most shamefully though, we used them as pawns.

One of the craft could spend decades in the halls of their keeps just learning the bare basics of their powers. They could spend years more afterwards pouring over ancient and valuable tomes, rare and exotic scrolls, gaining knowledge. Then they would spend even more years under the servitude of their teachers, gaining wisdom as the decades wore on. A wizard or sorceress of any value was more than 100 years old before he left the sanctuary of his keep.

In the end though, we mistreated those we needed most, and in our darkest hour they abandoned us. We are left now to wallow in the misery of our mistakes; left to fight a war against creatures that threaten the very existence of mankind.

High Councilor Rirely Desos

The book closed with a thud that sent dust scattering in every direction. Old, bony fingers that were calloused from writing gingerly ran across the cover of the book with an affection rarely seen in these sad times. Abruptly they reached down and snatched the spine in a firm grasp and lifted it from its resting spot upon the age worn oak table. It was quickly shoved into a nook amidst an array of other old and crumbling volumes.

From the chair he had been sitting in High Councilor Desos rose, both his bones and the chair creaking in protest at the action. He took a few steps forward on wobbly legs, a hand clutching the table for support before gaining more confidence and making his way across the room to a large plush bed. The soft feather bed gave way easily under his frail form and conformed around him to comfort his aching body. He was getting too old to be moving about; his time would be coming to claim him soon.

"Have you finished Milord?" A questioning voice called from just outside the slightly open doorway across the room.

"Yes, yes Nerius, you may enter." Desos' voice was cracked and strained, giving way to the old age that had been slowly taking over him the past few years.

A man no more than 25 in age stepped through the doorway adorned from head to toe in fancy dress. The deep shades of red he wore made the green of his eyes seem to pop out and accented his pale features. He was easy upon the eyes in terms of looks but he wasn't the kind of person that stood out overly much as a real beauty. Dark, deep brown hair was cropped close to his head and splayed out at odd angles giving him a bit of an awkward look.

"It is completed then Milord?" Nerius asked with questioning eyes.

Desos just gave a nonchalant wave of the hand and the subject was dismissed. Silence reigned over the room for a long time, neither speaking nor moving both lost in deep thought. Desos was the one the break the silence.

"Nerius, do you have hope?"

Green eyes regarded him carefully, a bit confused by what the High Councilor could mean. He obviously had a look of puzzlement on his face for Desos continued before he could answer.

"Do you believe that we have a chance to win this war, even without the aid of magic?"

Nerius looked down and silence once again overtook the room. Desos took this as his answer and looked to the window just beyond the foot of the bed he sat on. The bright sun outside and the clear blue skies didn't seem to match the mood of the world. They were taking heavy damage from the war raging just beyond the walls he slept so safe in. People were dying by the hundreds and there was little they could do to stop the seemingly endless army of their foes.

"I believe," Nerius began, looking up and the High Councilor with determined eyes, "I believe that we can. It may take us years, and countless deaths, but I believe that if we do not stop trying we will one day learn the weakness of our foe and push them back into the hole they crawled out from."

Desos didn't even bother to look back to his companion; he just kept his eyes to the window and watched the birds in flight, free from the terrors that gripped mankind.

"Such optimism, I envy you my boy. I'm afraid that I will not live to see that end. It is time for me to rest now, please see yourself out."

Nerius bowed deeply before backing up to the door. His handed landed on the door handle and, before he shut it he looked back at his Lord settling himself into bed.

"Rest well High Councilor, I shall wake you for supper."

With that Nerius closed the door, shutting Desos into his room and leaving him to his thoughts.

High Councilor Rirely Desos never awoke.


Alright, not so great, but it's just a prologue, setting up for the basis of the story. Without it things would quite make sense and I would have to spend time explaining it in later chapters where I could otherwise be writing of far more interesting things.

You'll start to see the KH characters next chapter, no worries. Next installment is insanely long as well. I already have it finished.