Hello everyone! And welcome to chapter 22 of Before: Kingdom Hearts! It's January sixth as we're writing this and given how quickly we completed chapter 21 of Before: KH, I'm raring to crank out another!
Creativity: Plus, once we're done on this, we can get some work done on our other stuff. The rule of weekly sets continues.
Author: That's right! So, before we begin, let's answer some reviews:
CeleneTheAngel: Yeah, I might have overdid it with Barkos' aggression prior and during the exposition, but you gotta keep in mind just what's been happening with the whole group. Ryo's lies and refusal to divulge information has nearly gotten them killed multiple times, and now he's revealed that he's of a species that was fighting against Barkos' in a particularly vicious and bloody war. So, yeah, he's very on edge. Also, yeah, I probably could have broken up the exposition a bit more. Might do that in post. Thanks for the critique!
And that's the reviews answered! So, last time, we left on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Ryo just about to reveal the true reason why the tsubasa no aru vanished. This chapter, we're shifting perspectives and going back to Sora's perspective!
Creativity: Ohhhh, we're gonna get letters for this one…
Author: I know, I know, you all are probably mad at me for making you wait until Saturday in the expectation of a conclusion to where things were going for Ryo there, but I feel it'd be better to break that up and have a Sora chapter in between all of that.
Despite tweaking and revision with the help of one CeleneTheAngel (also the most consistent reviewer of this story, many thanks for all of your feedback), there's still quite a bit of info being dumped in it and having two chapters of Ryo coming clean back to back didn't feel very interesting to me. Now, the upcoming chapter isn't going to be primarily lore and exposition like the last one was, but it's still gonna have some and I wanted to break it up more thoroughly, and what's more thorough than a whole chapter? Right?
Creativity: Seems like a bit of a sledgehammer move.
Author: It's a sledgehammer situation.
Well, I suppose it's time to start the chapter, but before we do, there's one other thing we need to take care of. Creativity, take it away!
Creativity: Thanks, boss! So, our fic recommendation of the chapter! This week's recommendation is Keyblade Princess: Cosmos's Crusaders by YamiChaos27. We're intrigued by this one and I definitely see lots of potential in it. It follows a new Princess of Heart on a journey to combat the forces of Discord. We believe this is in reference to the Dissidia series, but we honestly don't know since we don't play or really watch Dissidia. We weren't exactly grabbed by it like we were other stories, but we're still interested to see where it's going and hope you will too. So, go give it a look!
Author: Thank you, Creativity. Now then, all that's left is the Discord password: 5RRcGwh
And now, we're ready to begin. Allow us to proudly present chapter 22 of Before: Kingdom Hearts!
"So, how much do you know about the outside worlds?"
"Not much, at least in regard to their current states."
Sora resisted the urge to groan as he and Archive kept on their trek to the next obelisk. He was rapidly running out of things to talk to Archive about, and the bandaged bodyguard certainly wasn't helping with those short answers. If this kept up, Sora would have to dip into his final bag of tricks; jokes. Unfortunately, Sora had been informed numerous times that while he was gifted at physical comedy like pulling faces, his actual joke-telling ability was… Well, the worst he'd heard was from Selphie, who claimed his jokes made her eyeballs pull into her skull never to return, due to the sheer cringe factor, so he wasn't that eager to employ them just yet. Besides, Sora had the feeling that what sense of humor Archive did have was very narrow and that his and Sora's sense of humor did not overlap.
So, that left the herculean task of trying desperately to drag something resembling a conversation out of Archive; a task that had become even more difficult since their encounter with that previous monster: the Torrasque as Archive had called it.
"How do you know about the worlds, anyway? You mentioned Traverse Town by name, but you said that you can't leave this place." Sora decided to ask, thinking it to be a harmless enough question.
"I may be restricted to this place, but I'm still able to accumulate knowledge from many others. The worlds are all connected in many ways, as you know all too well, and through those connections and my own connection to this world, I can glean events, names, places and people. It's how I knew your name and the names of your allies and friends, as well as the many trials you have faced and overcome." Archive explained. Sora was confused.
"Wait, do you…like… see and hear this stuff, or is more like someone's telling you?" Sora inquired. Archive grew silent for a moment.
"In all honesty, I haven't really thought about it too much. It's just something that comes naturally to me and has ever since I came into existence." Archive answered.
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from?" Sora asked hesitantly. Archive hesitated himself as the two of them continued forward before Archive spoke up again.
"Unfortunately, the circumstances of my birth were… tragic. Perhaps I will share it with you before the end of your task, but not now." Archive replied. Sora felt a frown creeping across his face. He kind of regretted asking Archive that. He'd gotten too comfortable with asking Archive questions and now he'd poked around somewhere he shouldn't have. However, he didn't want conversation to die on that miserable note, so he dug around for something else to talk about.
"So… umm… You mentioned that you gave yourself the name Archive. Why'd you choose to name yourself after an even more boring version of a library?" Sora asked, trying to find something to joke about to lighten things up, as well as keep Archive talking.
"It seemed appropriate. I'm one of perhaps a dozen at most who remember a time before a world rent asunder by the keyblade war, even before the first keyblade was fashioned in the image of the one true key. I remember it all, down to the last detail, and my connection to this world, and through it the worlds beyond, allows me to learn and remember more and more. In a very real sense, I am a living record of a time long since lost. Not unlike a certain friend of King Mickey as a matter of fact." Archive explained, seemingly glad to have something else to talk about.
"Wait, who's this friend of the King's that you mentioned? Was it Ansem the Wise?" Sora asked. Archive shook his head.
"It is not the ruler of Radiant Garden. I'd tell you more, but I get the distinct feeling that you'll be learning more of the friend in question when you return from your task." Archive answered before they turned a corner and saw a steep cliff up ahead, and their destination situated at the top, based on the column of purple light climbing into the sky.
"Alright, so now I gotta scale a cliff. This should be easy enough." Sora commented before he jogged up to the cliff and hopped lightly from foot to foot as Archive approached.
"I'd stay on guard if I were you. Despite their entrances being on the… theatrical side, the enemy could strike at any moment. You don't want to be caught off-guard." Archive lectured before he began teleporting from ledge to ledge, all the way up the cliff.
"Show off…" Sora muttered before he began to sprint up the side of the cliff, occasionally using the same ledges that Archive teleported to for a little boost until he reached the top.
"You know, I bet you didn't even need to make me climb that cliff. I bet you made me do it for fun." Sora muttered as he caught his breath from the exertion. He wasn't sure how, but Sora could just tell that there was a small smile behind the bandages that obscured Archive's face, barely holding back the tiny chuckles at Sora's expense.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Archive replied matter-of-factly before they continued onward. They were only a few minutes away from the next obelisk by now. As they kept walking, Sora decided to take Archive's lecture to heart, if only for a moment and began looking for signs that the strange yellow monsters were preparing to attack. Seeing no immediate signs, Sora's mind began to wander as he thought about the 'enemy' as Archive referred to them. With the few encounters Sora had under his belt with them, he knew surprisingly little. That wasn't necessarily out of step with his experiences during his previous journeys, but he didn't have a walking encyclopedia at the time. Well, he supposed he had an encyclopedia in progress with Jiminy, but Archive was something of a different creature from the chronicler cricket and part-time conscience, and not just because of their differing fashion choices.
"Say, you think you can tell me more about those pain creature… things? I mean, do they even have a name? I can't help but feel you've been holding out on me regarding information about them." Sora asked. Archive let out an echoing huff, though it wasn't one of exasperation. Sora's brief fear that he might have bugged Archive too much for one day turned out to be unfounded though, at least for now. Instead, Archive just took a few moments to stand there before he turned to face Sora.
"Perhaps I have been… less than accommodating with the obstruction we face. I simply dislike discussing or even giving thought to those… beasts… They are the source of far too much suffering, past and present and though I don't give too much credence to the concept of 'karma', I have found it bodes ill to discuss them too much, or at least appears to." Archive replied before he began walking again.
"Hey, if you don't wanna talk about it, we don't have to. I made it pretty far against the Heartless without knowing too much about them." Sora responded, but Archive shook his head.
"No. I've avoided this for too long. However, there are somethings I cannot tell you just yet. Not out of fear or distaste, but simply because they are answers you will only truly understand at the end of this journey. I trust you understand?" Archive asked. Sora nodded, frowning a bit. Archive had been slipping more and more back into his… well, 'default' for lack of a better word. The language, both vocal and bodily were reverting back to the way Archive was when Sora first encountered him. It was almost a bit jarring.
"Okay… Well, let's start with a name then. Do these things even have a name?" Sora asked.
"Not formally, no. They're discovery was followed shortly by them vanishing under mysterious circumstances, with no specimens left for study. Their brief reign of terror earned them a few names, though two took precedence and are practically interchangeable at this point. I can imagine no written record exists of them still." Archive began explaining before Sora interjected.
"Wait, I thought you knew all this stuff? How can you not know if there's any books or something about these things lying around?" Sora asked.
"I glean the events; the motions of the worlds, the people, the comings and goings, the life as it were. I can't simple divine the existence of a single book or a record of something." Archive explained, a hint of irritation at being interrupted.
"Okay, I guess that makes sense. So, you were saying about the name of these things?" Sora asked. Archive nodded.
"Right. For obvious reasons, they were referred to as the Cruciatus, though the more common name that emerged for them was the Agony, though that was more so a translation than it was a proper name. Still, of the two, it was the more widely circulated in oral tradition, with the names being used in equal part for recorded history. You already know more or less the common ability all of the Cruciatus share; their ability to inflict great suffering upon any who make contact with them." Archive continued as Sora felt a shudder go up his back when he remember the horrible pain he'd felt when the Torrasque had struck him.
"Yeah, no kidding. I didn't think that it was possible to hurt that much. No wonder people didn't wanna remember them." Sora muttered to himself as they continued towards the obelisk. The road was peppered with large stone spires that jutted out of the ground. Nothing particularly obstructive. It was almost more like a forest of stone, with the smallest spires being around eight feet tall. As Sora went along, he could see what initially looked like cracks in the crooked spires. However, when he got closer to them, he realized that the cracks were actually small carvings. He walked over to one and examined it. It was written in that same language as the carvings on the obelisks, but it wasn't nearly as clean. Also, the spacing was a bit strange. Peering closer at them, he recognized the runes to be forming names. All of them were.
Sora walked over to another spire and sure enough, there were more names. Another spire, more names.
"Hey, what's with all the names carved onto these spires? They're everywhere." Sora asked Archive, who's posture had noticeably changed since entering this field of spires. It was obvious that he really didn't want to be here.
"The Shades refer to the place as the Field of the Fallen. Each of those names belong to individuals who fell in battle before the World was split into many." Archive explained in a tired tone. Sora looked around at all the spires, looking at all of the names that were carved into the stone spires.
"Wait, were these all keyblade wielders from the Keyblade War?!" Sora exclaimed as he looked around at the spires, now incredibly unsettled. Even if they hadn't died here (so far as he knew), it still felt like he was walking through a mass grave.
"Not all of them, but plenty of them were. This is perhaps one of the last ledgers of the dead for all those who perished in that meaningless war." Archive muttered, his strange voice nonetheless communicating his frustration over that battle.
"All these names… I know the Keyblade War was about Kingdom Hearts and the X-Blade, but what drove them to fight this much over it?" Sora asked. Archive scoffed as he began striding towards the exit from the Field of the Fallen.
"Why do people fight war out of anything? One or more sides desired power and had no qualms in stripping any opposition of its life." Archive muttered scornfully as he made to leave.
"Okay, touchy subject. Can't say I'm surprised by that." Sora muttered to himself as he jogged to keep up with Archive, who seemed to be simmering in quiet anger. Sora opted to keep quiet for now and let Archive get his fuming out of his system. Besides, he had a lot to think about.
He'd at least gotten some good information from Archive before they got to the Field. He'd gotten an actual collective name for the pain monsters they were fighting, he'd learned more about this strange world, as well as Archive's strange connection to it. He just wished he had Jiminy around to record it all. Sora knew he wasn't going to be able to remember all of this and, on top of it all, there was going to be a lot more to learn here.
"Something's wrong."
Sora looked up at Archive's word and looked to the dark entity, who was now on edge.
"I don't see anything. You sure?" Sora asked, though he still summoned Kingdom Key as a precaution.
"Certain. I'm not sure what, but something is very wro… GET BACK!" Archive suddenly shouted before he grabbed Sora by the back of his hood and shot backwards, dragging Sora along with him. Sora for his part, let out a choking noise before they stopped moving and Archive let go of his hood before placing himself between Sora and whatever he'd dragged Sora away from.
"Jeez, a little more warning next time? Also, what's going… on… oh crap…" Sora muttered as he realized what Archive had been so worried about. Right where they'd been standing was a black and purple portal with a suspiciously familiar black limb emerging from it. However, there was a few things different about it. For one, there were black stone spikes emerging from the limb with glowing yellow cracks on them. Additionally, there was dark yellow electricity crackling out of the portal. Said portal began expanding and another limb erupted from the void before they dug into the ground and began to pull whatever they were attached to out of the portal. From it emerged a foe that was very familiar to Sora. It was one of the higher echelon of the Pureblood Heartless: a Darkside. However, there was something wrong with it. It was twitchier than normal Darkside Heartless, and its body was covered in stone spikes that called to mind the Cruciatus. Even its skin featured glowing dark yellow cracks, reminiscent of blood vessels. However, the biggest change was the heart-shaped void in its chest was now occupied by a spherical cracked stone that was constantly pumping dark yellow energy into the Darkside.
"This is wrong… this is all wrong…" Archive muttered, an audible shake of fear in his voice.
"Uh, Archive? What do we do?" Sora asked as he summoned Kingdom Key and took up his standard battle stance. Archive seemed to snap out of his fear-induced stupor and began channeling Dark energy into his limbs.
"We need to destroy it." Archive resolved. Sora took on a determined scowl.
"I thought you'd never ask." Sora replied before the two of them lunged at the Darkside. Their foe reared back its fist, dark yellow energy surrounding its arm as it threw the punch. The two forces collided, and the battle against the Cruciatus Darkside began.
And that's where we're ending it for today!
Creativity: People are going to be so irritated that we opted for a double cliffhanger on the opening chapters.
Author: Well, given the frequency of updates I think they'll be okay.
So yeah, we're got a new enemy and it's got Archive genuinely freaked out. But how did this abomination come into being?
Creativity: Do we even know?
Author: Yes, as a matter of fact. We may fly by the seat of our pants with a few of these stories, but we usually have an idea of when and how things should play out in these stories.
Well, not much else to do here, so I'm gonna call it for now. Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you on Tuesday!
