Chapter 12

Sora and Riku ventured into a deep, dark part of Radiant Gardens. They were checking to make sure there were no Heartless to attack the town while they were gone. They were surprised to see that there were ruins of a town on the opposite side of the world. The buildings had once been very similar to the ones back in the populated part of the world, but they had been covered in moss and fallen into decay. Several mournful-looking birds were the only signs of life.

"Another town?" Sora asked, surprised. Riku nodded.

"When Ansem's father ruled this world, it had many more towns…several natural disasters rendered this part of the world uninhabitable." Sora looked at the ruined buildings…there were horrific gouges many of them. It must have been no small disaster that wreaked its havoc here…

Riku looked around, and suddenly went very still. He listened for a second, and his eyes narrowed.

"Sora…do you hear something?"

Sora closed his eyes and listened in the stillness.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank…

There was the sound of many armored feet approaching. Sora and Riku's Keyblades were in their hands in an instant. As this was completed, the noise drew to a halt. Sora looked up and gasped.

There were hundreds of armored people standing on the rooftops. They had a distinctly military appearance; their armor was a carbon-copy mixture of silver and black, and their helmets were largely shaped in a way that put Sora in mind of a dragon's skull. On their chest plates there was a symbol; after squinting for a moment, Sora saw it was a silver crown beset by black thorns. They appeared to be…waiting?

Several heavy steps were heard, and another knight strode into view. Unlike the other knights, who primarily had black armor with silver lining, his was reversed; also, the crown on his chest was golden, but still ensnared in black thorns. This decoration and the way this newcomer carried himself showed this was the leader of the group. He looked down on Sora and Riku. It was a moment before he spoke.

"Riku." His voice was an extremely deep growl. "I am here to bring you to justice."

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Riku shouted.

"I don't need to answer traitors. Throw down your sword, Riku, and you will be spared…don't waste any more of your time in the company of heretics such as him." The man said, pointing at Sora.

"Heretic? What's going on?" Sora shouted. This man was making no sense!"

"Silence, boy!" The man barked. "I possess a warrant, signed by our king, for you and your friend's arrest…and if you resist…your execution." His gaze, though hidden by his visor, bored into Sora, filled with contempt.

"Riku…this is your last chance…surrender yourself to our King's justice…don't make us kill you, as we must kill this boy." Sora and Riku immediately entered their stances.

"I don't know who you are, but you're not taking us without a fight!" Sora shouted.

The man seemed grimly amused.

"So you have chosen death…very well. Let justice be done." A Keyblade suddenly appeared in the man's hands. Sora was shocked, and his surprise doubled when he realized it was the Fenrir Keyblade; one that should only be in his possession! Sora soon saw the phalanx of knights summon their own keyblades. Sora and Riku were hopelessly outnumbered…

"Kill them both." The man commanded, and a knight jumped down from the roof, wielding his keyblade.

Sora raised a defense, remembering the last keyblade wielder that had attacked him, but once again, the blow he prepared for never came.

There was a noise like a windmill blade striking a piece of fruit, and the knight fell back, a keyblade protruding from his torso. A knight appeared as if from nowhere, and wrenched it out of the body. Sora and Riku were shocked to find that suddenly a large number of knights stood around them, looking up at the knights on the rooftops.

These knights were different, though…their armor wasn't uniform, and it was in far poorer condition. They were all fairly dust-covered, but they did have a uniting symbol on various differing parts of their armor; an angel and demon wing wrapping itself around a heart. The one that had killed the man was wearing a strange helmet with two horn or ear-like protrusions, and dusty silver and brown armor. He was also wearing a beige cape. He was staring up at the leader of the other group. The man on the rooftop stared back.

"I knew it was a matter of time before you showed yourselves, traitors." He said. However, his voice wasn't full of hate, as Sora had suspected it would be…it sounded…pitying? The man began to speak again, spreading his arms.

"I wish to give you one last chance to save yourselves…I beg of you, break your ties with the powers of darkness! Come back to us! Return to the light!" He cried. "Surrender to us now, and we will intervene with the King on your behalf…please, give yourselves up to justice…" He lowered his hands. "What say you?"

There was a grim silence in the ranks around Sora and Riku. The knight in front of them continued staring up at the man in silver. His words came slowly, and his voice was deep and gravelly.

"I don't know anymore what light and darkness are…or if Justice and Villainy are merely words in the age we live in…" His fists clenched, and he pointed at the man.

"But if light and justice are what YOU represent, I will gladly live and die in darkness before I yield to you!" The silence that followed was grim. The man on the rooftop shook his head.

"Then this is your answer?"

"Nothing you or your King can say or do can change my mind."

"As always…you disappoint me." The man said, shaking his head. One of his arms began to glow. "If you will not accept the light…I must destroy your darkness." He pointed at the knights, Sora, and Riku.

"HOLY!" A great light sprang from his hands, and converged on the group. All of the knights raised their hands.

"DARK SHIELD!" A great barrier of dark energy deflected the blast, but the black legions began to charge.

"Sir, we have to get out of here! They outnumber us ten to one!" One of the knights shouted.

"Retreat!" The leader shouted, and opened a corridor of darkness. Two knights began pressing Sora and Riku into it.

"Hold on! What's going on?" Sora shouted.

"I wish there was time to explain, but there isn't. You have to go! We'll be able to meet again soon!"

"But who are you?" The man looked at them for a moment.

"Chasers." With that word, he pushed them into the corridor and disappeared.

Sora awoke a few minutes later back in Merlin's house, Donald and Goofy standing over him.

"Sora! You're awake!" Donald exclaimed as he got up. "What happened to you?"

"Uh…" Sora shook his head to clear it. "We were attacked…is everyone okay?"

"Yup. They didn't show up here." Goofy replied.

Sora stared into space, lost in thought. Those people had had Keyblades…and they seemed to know something about Riku, and about him, that was the cause of some sort of conflict…

But what?

The man in silver armor stood in the ruined town, looking at the stars. One of his soldiers walked up to him nervously.

"Commander…what do we do now?"

"Now? Now is the time in which we wait for our next chance to strike with impunity." The Commander responded, not looking at the soldier. "We have the powers of light and destiny itself on our side…and it's begun already."

"…What's begun, Sir?"

"Birth Through Sleep."