Oh, man does it feel good to be back!
Creativity: New year, lots of work for other stories done in the meantime, a new term of college about to start and we're FREAKING THE F*** OUT!
Author: I know! It's amazing…
Welcome everyone, to season 2 of Before: Kingdom Hearts! It's been quite some time since we sat down to work on this, and we've had plenty of time to think about where the story was heading. Plus, we've been working on the miniseries for Before: KH. Progress has been slow on that, but it's been happening.
What else has been happening? Oh yes! We've released four chapters of another project of ours, titled Star Wars: Twilight Blade. If you like Star Wars, perhaps go give it a look. Limit Breaker has reached twenty five chapters as of this writing, so that's also pretty good.
Creativity: Anything else you wanna cover in terms of status update, or should we head into the reviews?
Author: I'm thinking reviews, get them out of the way now:
CeleneTheAngel: Yeah, it was pretty obvious, but I figured the small bits I was dropping throughout the season made it feel more organic. No, this isn't the first time the tsubasa no aru. They were mentioned by name in chapter two and there's been reference to them as Winged and other such bits and bobs in other chapters.
Creativity: Also, yes indeed, hello Dread King! I'll field the rest of the review response, boss. So, where were we…? Ah, yes! So, the blue monsters do serve the Dread King, but they aren't his per se. Hints have been left for their association, with the biggest being in chapter eight, when Sora reaches the courtyard and starts examining the carvings. Other hints to this can be found in chapter 11 I believe, and certainly in chapter 17.
As for the Dread King, you'll find out more about him soon enough. Same with the whole war. So, stay tuned!
Author: Thanks for that, Creativity! Also, that concludes the reviews!
Now then, when we last left off, our heroes had happened upon an archeological investigation of some tsubasa no aru ruins. With Ryo's arcane knowledge and ability to read magic runes, they solved a riddle that led them to an ancient city beneath a mountain, once home to the Winged people. Upon this discovery, Ryo sought out an ancient library within the city and found knowledge that he found greatly distressing. When confronted by his companions why he'd been searching for this knowledge, Ryo revealed to them that he is, in fact, one of the tsubasa no aru.
And on that bombshell, it's time to begin season 2 properly! But before we do, here's the Discord password: 5RRcGwh
Now, without further ado, allow us to proudly present chapter 21 of Before: Kingdom Hearts!
"Hurry up Leith! If we're late again, master Volcan is going to blow his lid again!"
"Oh, fine! You just want to show off at sparring practice again, Ryo!"
"No, that's Phoenix."
"Oh sure. I just want to prove I know my way around a fight. Right Terrek?"
"How exactly is that not showing off?"
"Look, we're just wasting time here! Let's go go go!"
"You're always in a rush aren't you. Seriously Tempest, can't you just sit still for a single moment?"
"Nope! Can't! Always need to move! Unless it's naptime! You'd think you'd know that after all this time, Shiori!"
"Lets just go..."
Far off, in the distant corners of the world, there was a barren place. Its lands devoid of color, animals or even plants. It was a dead place, cold and gray. The clouds above were a constant stormy color, constantly blotting out the blue sky. And yet, it never rained. Thunder didn't sound, lightning didn't flash, they just silently roiled. In the middle of this land was an incomplete ring of mountains, marked, scored and gashed. Barren peaks that reached into the sky, but never came close to the perpetual cloud cover, save for one at the 'top' of the ring. Though, it would perhaps be more appropriate to call it two mountains, as this one had been split in half, straight down the middle.
Situated in the middle of this ring of mountains was a castle, composed of stone that looked like it had been burned repeatedly prior to and during construction. Dark blue cracks ran through the stone, occasionally pulsing a similar color, as if like a heartbeat. The walls of this desolate fortress were patrolled by figures dressed in black and blue armor and masks of the same color.
Suddenly, the air began to shift before the ebony gates of the fortress. Dark blue and black energy began to crackle before there was a crackling thoom sound and two more figures appeared, dressed in theme with the patrolling guards, though their own armor looked more refined and opulent. One had a whip-like length of chain with a bladed cage of sort at the end belted to their hip while another had a sword that looked like it would have been incredibly ornate at one point.
They approached the gate and held up their hands, dark blue pulsing from them. The gates shuddered and groaned before they began to slowly swing open. The two stepped forward and into the fortress. The interior was decorated with a dark blue carpet that stretched the entire length of the entrance hall into the foyer. Along the hallway were large black pillars, in between which there were pedestals atop which stood suits of jet black armor. There were torches fixed to the pillars, the flames from them dark blue and wreathed in ethereal black wisps.
The two strode down the hallway with a smooth, confident gait. Almost too smooth, too effortless. Eventually they reached the foyer, which was decorated with yet more suits of armor and a strange fountain in the center of the foyer. It was circular and had the same rune carved into it around the rim, over and over again. From the top of the fountain, which was shaped like a bowl, a constant stream of that same dark blue and black energy burned like some sort of strange fire. Additionally, the foyer had two staircases that curved down from a second level. Situated in between those staircases was a statue of a human, kneeled over on their hands and knees. Carved into their forehead was the same symbol that was carved into the fountain. From their eyes fell the same energy that burned in the torches and the fountain, falling down like tears. The figures walked past the fountain and walked up the left staircase to the second floor and proceeded down the hallway. There were several branching corridors, but they ignored them and simply continued all the way to the end of the hallway. There was another large set of doors, these ones wrought from ebony steel. They waited patiently in front of the doors before they began to shift, swinging inwards. They crossed the threshold into the apparent throne room. Even by the standards of the rest of the fortress, it was dimly lit, with the figure sitting on the massive, twisted throne at the back mostly obscured in shadow. What little was visible of the figure on the throne consisted of the arms resting on the arms of the throne and the legs. They were all clad in heavy plate armor, with the fingers being clawed. Leaning next to the throne was a massive battle axe, the shaft made of jet black wood, with glowing blue cracks across its finish, and a large curved blade, akin to that of an executioner's axe.
"So… You've returned…" The figure on the throne muttered, their voice reverberating through the room. The two who had just entered bowed before the throne's occupant.
"Where is the Heart?" The figure on the throne demanded. A palpable stillness came over the room.
"We failed to retrieve the Heart. We ran into… complications…" The whip-wielder informed the figure on the throne, who shifted forward a bit.
"I fail to see how 'complications' could have arisen from Atlantis of all places. My instructions were quite clear: Make your move while the explorers had the Atlanteans were distracted. What could possibly have happened to derail…" The figure on the throne began to berate, his voice as cold and biting as steel. However, before he got any further, the whip-wielder cut in.
"One of them appeared via our missing breach stone, accompanied by a magician and two ordinary humans. We were unable to confirm, but I believe that they may have at least at one point been in contact with a Dark Shard." The whip-wielder revealed. The figure on the throne leaned forward, their head coming into the light. Their face was concealed by a large, heavy helmet, but their dark blue eyes were visible between the slots in the helmet's visor.
"I am going to request that you repeat yourself." The figure hissed.
"We encountered a Winged One in Atlantis, having arrived there by breach stone. It's all but confirmed that they were at least at one point in possession of a Dark Shard." The whip-wielder replied.
"And you are certain of this?" The figure on the throne asked again, their voice sounding more dangerous with each passing moment.
"Positive." The whip-wielder replied.
"Very well then… leave me…" The figure ordered. The two others rose to their feet and swiftly departed the throne room. The figure on the throne took a deep breath before letting out a low growl.
"So… After all this time, one of you deigns to return to the World… the nerve of you…" The figure growled as dark blue and black energy began to swirl around him before he slowly rose from his throne, the armor creaking as if it hadn't moved in quite some time.
"I wonder… What would draw you here after all this time? What would bring you back to this world left to rot? Curiosity? Ignorance? Conquest?" The figure questioned as they reached back and wrapped their fingers around the axe.
"It matters little to me, anyway. All that matters is that you possess something I need and that I will have it, one way or another. And, you have crimes to answer for." The figure stated as they ran their thumb along the length of the ebony blade, the energy surrounding it snapping and hissing in response.
"So… Let my voice be heard by you, who condemned us all! Let it be heard that there is no mountain peak, no caverns deep, no fortress and no crevice where I will not find you. I will strip you of your wings and carve out your dark heart before I leave you to the deepest pits of misery. That is my vengeance."
Veris, Barkos and Garren were still staring at Ryo as though he'd suddenly sprouted a second head and it was that of a fish. He had seemingly recovered from the strain of trying to some his wings, though he'd already recovered more than enough to drop one hell of a bombshell; a bombshell related quite closely to said wings, as a matter of fact.
"You… You're…" Garren stuttered.
"You're a…" Veris tried to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat.
Barkos didn't quite have such a reaction. Instead, his reaction was to seize his bow, nock an arrow and prepare to aim it at Ryo.
"What… The hell… is going on here." Barkos growled out as he glared at Ryo, who couldn't bring himself to meet their eyes.
"It's…complic…" Ryo started to say, only for Barkos to cut him off.
"Oh no, you are NOT pulling that now! You're going to explain everything, or I'm going to put this arrow through your leg, then another in between your eyes!" Barkos roared. Luckily, his outburst was enough to jolt Veris and Garren out of their stupors. The former quickly placed herself between Barkos and Ryo while the latter immediately restrained Barkos and did his best to get the bow and arrow out of Barkos' hands. It was a short-lived struggle, and hardly one at that, but Garren got the weapon away from the emotionally unstable Barkos and got him to calm down. Relatively, anyway. He was still glaring death at Ryo, who had recovered enough to get to his feet and pull his shirt and tunic back on.
"You're right… You're right, you all deserve to know… I'm just not sure how much of it is real and how much of it was lies anymore…" Ryo explained before he sat down shakily on some nearby debris within the 'library' where the latest schism between Ryo and the rest of the group had started.
"Or, you're lying to cover your own ass." Barkos hissed.
"Hey, enough!" Garren growled, putting a hard hand on Barkos' shoulder before turning his gaze to Ryo.
"So, you're one of… them… Okay, how'd you get here?" Garren asked. Ryo took a deep breath.
"This is going to take some history to explain. You all know the general sequence of events, but It'll be important." Ryo informed them before he began his explanation properly.
"Long ago, my people lived here, on this World. We had many cities above and below ground and lived in peace for millennia. However, there was a cataclysm of some kind. All detail of the nature of that cataclysm was struck from memory and archive, so I can't say for sure what it was, but I do know that our people were forced to take refuge underground and went into a hibernation of some kind." Ryo began explaining.
"Right, a bunch of the old stories say you were originally found underground when we were digging in the mountains." Veris recalled. Ryo nodded.
"It was around that time when we started to wake up. No one was really sure what triggered it, but when the first humans entered what at the time would have been a tomb, we all started awakening across the World. We emerged into the sunlight for the first time in… Who knows how long." Ryo continued.
"And things were peaceful for a while, right?" Garren inquired.
"Yeah, things were peaceful. Better than peaceful. My people shared our knowledge of the arcane with yours and in turn, they brought things like their art, handcrafted materials and most of all, their ingenuity and shared that. Looking back on it, my people were rather limited in terms of creative expression. Most of it was relegated to sculptures or displays of magic. We didn't even really have music or singing. We had chants and that was about it." Ryo said with a rueful smile, though with small hints of bitterness.
"Jeez, doesn't sound like your people were a lot of fun." Garren tried to joke, though it landed on deaf ears.
"I suppose they could be, from a certain point of view. But yeah, things were better than peaceful. Until they weren't. The one detail about the war that remains constant is that humans struck first. I'm not sure why, but that detail remains constant in both human telling and mine. Maybe humanity felt threatened, jealous or there was some other slight committed against them, but in the dead of night, human soldiers raided one of our settlements with the intent of razing it to the ground. A lucky few managed to escape before the bloodbath got into full swing and carried news of this to the other settlements and cities. It wasn't recorded whether or not it was coordinated or ordered, but many of my people like to believe it so. I'm of the opinion it was just extremists." Ryo shared. The rest of them started shifting uncomfortably, though Barkos less so. He was too heated at the moment for that. Ryo got to his feet and slowly walked past them towards the door to the 'library'.
"Hey, where are you going?" Barkos demanded. Ryo didn't look back.
"I need to get out of here. Come on, let's head towards the city center." Ryo called back. The others glanced between each other before following him out. As they passed the statues outside, Ryo stopped to look up at the statues before he went to examine the large pedestals they were stood on before he muttered something under his breath. Barkos peered over the Ryo's shoulder to look at what Ryo was looking at.
"What's the inscription say?" Barkos asked. Ryo looked up at the statue.
"It says Oria the Stalwart. She was a legend among our people. Story goes that she defeated a stone giant that had been menacing her home after fighting it for a straight week." Ryo explained. Several pairs of jaws dropped.
"A week?! You gotta be shitting me… A WEEK?!" Garren exclaimed. Ryo shrugged.
"It's just a story. It was probably embellished, but I wouldn't be surprised if she fought for a couple of days." Ryo replied before he walked off, a melancholy look in his eyes.
"I wonder what this place would have looked like if we'd never left..." He murmured before he started walking down the steps. Veris, Garren and Barkos followed along behind him as he walked through the dusty streets, occasionally kicking at loose stones. Eventually, Ryo stopped in front of another large structure, though this one was open-air.
"This was a sparring hall." Ryo muttered before he went inside and poking around. When he got to the middle, he bent down and wiped away the dirt and pebbles to reveal a pattern of six symbols carved into the ground, arranged hexagonally. In the center of them was another symbol. This one matched with one of the symbols that formed the hexagon.
"That says 'earth'." Barkos commented as he looked at the symbol.
"You've been studying." Ryo noted before he made his way over to the seats along the side.
"So… Humans attacked a tsubasa settlement and killed everyone they could fine, but a couple of them escaped and spread the word. What happened after that?" Garren asked, though it was clear that he wasn't looking forward to the answer. Ryo took a deep breath before he resumed his story.
"It was chaos after that. Many were calling for the heads of the attackers, others were grieving, some wanted to approach the human kingdoms for justice, others just wanted war. Then word came out that the humans were massing their armies and that's when it all started. More and more of my people were convinced that the attack was an opening salvo to throw us off and give humanity the psychological advantage. Our forces rallied and the war began. There aren't many left who fought in it, but the words that always float around it are 'bloody', 'messy' and 'terrible'. Eventually, my people decided that rather than just fight over the world, they'd just leave it to the humans and make their own." Ryo said before he was interrupted.
"Okay, wait. Hold on a second." Barkos interrupted while holding his hands up and bowing his head a bit.
"So, you're telling us that the tsubasa no aru decided to end the fighting by just making their own world." Barkos asked.
"That is what I said." Ryo replied. Barkos started laughing a bit.
"Well, at least you keep your bullshit creative!" He replied, only to realize that Ryo was looking at him with a dead serious face. Barkos own face dropped.
"You're kidding." He mumbled. At any other time, Ryo would have loved to find a way to capture the image of Barkos' face like that forever. However, he still had a story to tell.
"To understand this next part, you need to understand how my people's magic works. Each of us, us meaning a tsubasa no aru, are born with a connection to one of the six elemental springs. These six springs are infinite sources of raw magical energy, those being light, fire, air, earth, water and darkness. The first and last are especially important. Among those six base forms, light and darkness are base or pure powers. The terminology is largely interchangeable. It means that you get the other four by combining light and darkness. There's numerous permutations and subcategories after that, but it all comes back to those six, and then those two." Ryo explained.
"I've never heard about those springs before. Not in any of the reading I did from queen Arryn. Barkos, did you find anything like that in your reading?" Veris asked Barkos, who shook his head before eying Ryo suspiciously.
"I found some allusions to a so-called 'moon spring' where one could gain knowledge by drinking the water, but nothing directly pertaining to elemental magic." He replied. Ryo sighed.
"You likely won't find any record of it anymore. When the plan arose to create this new world for ourselves, there was an obvious problem of not having enough power to do the job. So, we used our power to pull the springs right out of the earth. Our elders then drew on the nigh endless power of the springs to create the grandest city we've ever constructed, atop an island that would forever grow, thanks to the power of the springs. We then sealed ourselves away from the World, never to return." Ryo concluded.
"But then, why are you here? How are you here?" Veris asked. Ryo looked away in shame.
"Because this is the series of events I was always told growing up. All of us were, with a few bits and pieces confirmed when I arrived here. But it's not the whole story, and not all of what I told you was truthful. I was lied to as well, and…" Ryo explained, but couldn't bring himself to finish.
"You started discovering those lies, and the torment of it is what was messing with your powers." Veris concluded.
"Yeah, that's about what happened. My people have a tradition wherein we can earn special passage through an annual tournament to study in a place called The Sanctum. It contains all the collected knowledge of my people, from magic techniques, advanced martial skills, history, almost anything you can think of. I won my passage and started focusing on combat and history primarily." Ryo explained.
"Okay, does this have any bearing on the explanation, or are you just playing for time?" Barkos asked. Ryo glared at him.
"Do you want an explanation or not." Ryo shot back with more viciousness than he'd intended. With a remorseful look, he continued.
"I'm… kind of an oddity among my people. It was already uncommon for us to be born with a connection to one of the pure springs before we left the World, but since then it had only become rarer. I was curious about this and started doing my research, going through whatever records I could find regarding birth rates for connections to the light or dark elements, and I learned that it only seems that way in a bubble. As it turns out, birth rates for our people have been in steady decline ever since we left the World. In a way, I'm lucky to even exist, let alone have a connection to the dark element." Ryo continued. He expected another interruption, but Barkos held his tongue this time.
"Anyway, I was up late doing some research when I noticed a group of about three or four people walking past the archives. Normally I wouldn't have cared, but I felt something was… off about them. I went to investigate, and I found them all wearing identical robes, different only by color scheme and the pattern inlaid into the back, that being a rune that corresponded to the element that the robe color was associated with. I got concerned, so I decided to head back to my room and never bring it up again. However, I couldn't help but worry something was really wrong, so I decided to stake out the archives again and tail the next group I saw." Ryo continued before standing up. He was too agitated to sit still.
"This is sounding suspiciously like a cult." Veris muttered as Ryo walked past, leaving the sparring hall and heading towards the city center with the group in tow.
"You're dead on. I eventually followed a group to a secret underground passage where I found a room with hundreds of people in robes. I couldn't see their faces, but I could recognize a few voices from around the Sanctum. They were all people who had won their way in as well. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I still knew it wasn't good, so I waited it out until I finally learned what was going on." Ryo continued, his face going a bit pale as he continued to recall.
"They wanted to break down the barrier between our worlds and invade. They wanted revenge; to stamp out humans and raise their civilization to the ground. We'd been taught ever since we were young that we had made the choice to leave the World to humanity and make our own so that there couldn't be anymore fighting and now I was hiding amongst a group of my people who intended to go against all of that for a blood bath." Ryo muttered, the horror and disgust as he recalled the event. Ryo's face become more and more discontented and even frustrated as he kept marching, eventually reaching the city center. He was now standing at the edge of the large crater, though looking at it more closely, they realized it looked more like something had been ripped out of the ground, rather than something had struck it.
"Was this where one of those Springs you mentioned was?" Garren asked as he peered into it.
"Yeah. Almost certainly the Earth Spring, given the prominence of it the Earth rune in this city, as well as its location under a mountain." Ryo agreed before finding somewhere else to sit down.
"So, you discovered this cult…What happened next?" Veris asked.
"So…What happened next?" Veris asked. Ryo frowned.
"I didn't know who to trust. Cult, extremists, whatever you want to call them, they were led by six individuals, one for each element. They were all also older and stronger than the students, so that could only leave the masters of the Sanctum or higher. I didn't want to go before the council, as so far, I only had what they wanted to do and no actual idea of how they'd do it. Plus, I couldn't take the risk of words reaching the wrong ears. That could've spelled the end of me. Eventually, I managed to get lucky and caught the meeting where they revealed their plan. They intended to forge a Light Shard and a Dark Shard and use them both as their means of returning to the World and destroying humanity once and for all." Ryo continued, his face going a bit pale as he continued to recall. His steps seemed to get a little bit shakier as he went, but he didn't lose his footing or trip at all. And throughout it all, he kept talking.
"How do shards help them do that?" Garren asked.
"The Shards are pure, crystalized light and darkness respectively. Since literally everything is derived from light and darkness, you can imagine what sort of power you can wield with two pure concentrations of those powers. You could make almost anything... Or destroy. I managed to sneak into a meeting where the leaders were showing off the Dark Shard to their followers and I made a retrospectively dumb decision to steal it. I detonated a cluster of dark energy as a distraction, swiped the crystal and made a run for it. Unfortunately, they were on me before I could figure out a way to get rid of the Shard. They trapped me in a courtyard and would likely have killed me if the crystal hadn't gone haywire, likely due to my power being darkness and that naturally gave me a certain attunement to the crystal. Somehow I managed to break through the barrier between our worlds, seemingly at the cost of my powers and the crystal. It wasn't there when I came to. I assume it was either spent getting here, or someone happened across it and made off with it. I'm hoping it's the former." Ryo explained.
"Holy… No wonder you were so screwed up before." Garren breathed.
"were? Let's face it, I still am. I've gotten somewhat better, but the fact that I still can't summon my wings, let alone my weapon shows that I'm still not all the way there yet. I'm worried I never will be at this point. Certainly, doesn't help that I now know that I'm the descendant of cravens." Ryo muttered bitterly.
"Wait, back up. What's that part about?" Barkos asked curiously. It seemed the long story had given him time to simmer down.
"This part is about all this" Ryo grumbled gesturing to the ruins.
"It's about those red monsters we keep running into, and probably the blue ones too. It's the real reason why my people made their world and took the springs with them." Ryo continued, his voice thick with anger and shame.
"My people didn't leave so that to stop the fighting. They left because they were running from something. Something that threatened to end both the tsubasa no aru and humanity."
Now THAT is what I call an opening chapter!
Creativity: A bit heavy on the lore, but I think it's still pretty good.
Author: Maybe a little heavy, but I think people will like it. Besides, sections of it are stuff we've given in flashbacks, but now with context.
Creativity: Plus the villain re-reveal…
Author: Oh yeah, that was fun…
So yeah, we've had a remixed version of the Dread King's entrance from the last chapter, we've got Ryo finally coming clean after twenty chapters and we get a tiny bit of insight into the world he left behind.
And on top of that, I'm getting ideas for another miniseries that will take quite a bit of waiting to get to, but will be awesome I think.
Creativity: Focus. We've already got one miniseries to handle.
Author: Yeah, yeah.
Well, I think that's it from us! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you on Saturday!
