GREETINGS EVERYONE, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Creativity: Ah, the timing couldn't be more perfect...

Author: Indeed, Creativity! For today, we are beginning publication of our revised Kingdom Hearts story, now known as Before Kingdom Hearts: Shadows!

For those who have never encountered my work before, let's just say I prefer to write by the seat of my pants. However, I have taken a slightly different approach this time, employing a beta reader in CeleneTheAngel and preparing many chapters before starting publication, so I should be able to keep up with a constant upload schedule for a change!

Creativity: Won't that be the day...

Author: Anyway, the plan right now is to publish chapters once a week on Sundays. If something comes along to upset that, you can hopefully find more information on our Discord Server. Password is right here: 5RRcGwh

Creativity: Normally, we try to respond to previous chapter reviews, but we can't do that with chapter 1 now, can we?

Author: Indeed we can't. Now then, I don't believe there's anything left to take care of, so let us begin!

Without further ado, let us present chapter 1 of Before Kingdom Hearts: Shadows!

Thunder clapped in the distance as a figure draped in a black cloak staggered down a dirt road. Mud caked their body as they kept stumbling one step further. A thin, straight blade, also caked in dirt dragged through the mud, limply held in one hand. The figure took a few more steps before collapsing forward into the mud road, their last moments of vision being blurry shapes approaching them…

"Is he awake?"

"Not yet, but soon. He stirred a few times. It seems the potion has done its work."

"Where did he get that sword? Seems a bit too ornamental for a random kid to have."

"Think he stole it? Seems like the most likely explanation."

"We can ask about that when he wakes up. Hopefully, it should be soon."

Running… Running away. The Shard was clutched tightly in his hand as he fled through stone corridors. He could hear many- -too many- -footsteps behind him, as well as the telltale sound of wings beating in the wind. He needed to escape; to hide. But where? Where could he be safe now?!

He had reached a stone terrace. He could try taking flight, but it was too open here. He'd be seen instantly. Standing and fighting wasn't an option. He was outnumbered by a probable one hundred to one!

The sound of feet striking stone behind him were sign enough that he was out of time. A purple and black sword flashed into existence in his hand and he slowly turned to face his pursuers. There was no sound as he held his blade up in front of him, tucking the Shard close to his chest. The assailants charged and weapons flashed!

Ryo's eyelids fluttered as he slowly came to. He could hear voices not too far away. He shifted a bit, fighting against the weight of his own limbs. Eventually, he managed to get one of his arms out from under the blanket draped over his body and took a good look at it. A few bandages here or there, but overall, nothing serious. He was lying on bedding that was laid out on the floor of a small room. There appeared to be a sliding door, separating this small room from the others.

How did I get here? He wondered. Then it all came roaring back.

The storm, the soldiers, then the ambush. He'd managed to go largely unnoticed and managed to seize a sword before running away as fast as he could. It almost felt like a bad dream. Most of the last few days had.

Ryo lifted his bedding to look down at his body. Once again, only a few bandages here or there, but nothing indicating any major injuries. He surveyed the room for what precious few belongings he had. He could see the sword he'd taken leaning against the far wall, as well as his clothes, which looked to have been cleaned of all the mud they had no doubt accumulated. It was around this time that he realized that was parched.

Ryo started trying to get up, but it seemed he hadn't quite recovered enough yet and fell back onto the bedroll with a dull thud and a weak groan. Not a moment later and he heard the sound of footsteps before the door to the small room opened and a large man stepped inside. He was tall and incredibly muscular, with a massive beard to add to his intimidating appearance.

"Easy there! Don't push yourself." The man admonished as he began to check Ryo over, frowning as he did.

"You won't be moving around for a while. It's a miracle you were even standing when we found you." The man muttered.

"Water…" Ryo groaned as he tried to sit up again, only to be gently forced to lie down by the man.

"You are nowhere near ready to sit up, let alone walk around." The man reminded him sternly before he turned to look out the door. Ryo's eyes followed the man's gaze to see a girl about his age standing just outside the doorframe. She had short platinum-blonde hair, green eyes and a tanned complexion. She wore white cotton pants and undershirt underneath a red tunic with sleeves down to just above her elbows, black gloves and boots. She was staring at Ryo with a strange look on her face, seeming equal parts distrustful and curious.

"Ver, could you go grab some water for our guest?" The man asked the girl, who nodded and hurried off into the house.

"Look, hard as it is, you're going to have stay in bed until your body's good and ready to move again. The healer will be by to see you soon, so just sit tight." The man instructed him. Much as Ryo wanted to protest, he grudgingly had to agree that he just wasn't in the shape to be moving around. So, he did his best to get comfortable as he waited for the aforementioned healer to arrive. Hopefully, they'd have some magical power or potions that could sort him out fast. He didn't want to stay longer than he needed to.

A few moments later, he heard light footsteps approaching the room again and saw the girl had returned with a clay cup in her hand. The man helped Ryo sit up before taking the cup from the girl and helping Ryo take a few sips. After he'd finished off the whole cup, he was gently laid back down to rest.

"And remember, don't move." The man ordered firmly as he left the room and closed the door. Some small part of Ryo's mind told him to get up, but he immediately beat that stupid impulse down and closed his eyes.

"Rest now so you can leave later." Ryo thought to himself as he felt a gentle wave of drowsiness wash over him. A few minutes later he was softly snoring.

"…ak… W…ke up… Hey, wake up."

Ryo's eyes cracked open before squeezing shut again as he felt his shoulder being lightly jostled, stirring him awake. He glanced at the source of the jostling, which was the man whose care he was in.

"The Healer's just arrived. He's gonna take a quick look at you and see if there's anything special you need for recover." The man informed Ryo, who just weakly nodded. The man left and another stepped inside. He was much older and thinner, with a balding head and gray eyes behind small hemispherical spectacles. He was dressed in an aged, fraying gray wool tunic, faded white trousers and brown boots. Clutched in his left hand was an old and rather worn leather bag. The man set the bag down and knelt down next to Ryo.

"So, you're the kid they found collapsed on the road? Not smart to travel alone with no supplies besides that sword. Were you robbed?" The man asked bluntly as he helped Ryo into a sitting position and pressed two of his fingers down rather hard on Ryo's wrist.

"What's your name, kid?" The man asked.

"Ryo…" he answered tiredly as the man began checking the bandages before he began to press his middle and index fingers to Ryo's side before moving up about half an inch and doing the same thing, working his way up Ryo's ribs.

"Weird name. Where ya from, Ryo?" The Healer asked as he finished Ryo's right side and began the process again on his left.

"A long way off." Ryo muttered. The Healer let out a harsh bark of amusement as he continued his work. After the Healer finished poking and prodding Ryo, he reached into his bag and retrieved a strange-looking metal rod. It was mostly cylindrical, save for a cone resting on a hemisphere at the top. At the bottom was a small orb of glass. The man pressed it to Ryo's heart and waited a few moments before he stood up and turned around as he examined it.

"Well, it looks like your muscles are recovering. They'd been pretty swelled up when they first brought you here. A few days rest and a few healthy meals and you'll be good to go. I'm just going to go talk to Ruk and make sure he knows what to do. Get some rest in the meantime" The Healer informed Ryo before he left the room. However, Ryo didn't get some rest. Instead, he did his best to try to listen in on the conversation going on outside. They were being quiet about it but if Ryo strained his ears, he could hear it.

"… So, it's certain then? The kid has magic?" The man asked. Ryo felt his heart leap into his throat. When was he suspicious?! How had he guessed?!

"Oh, it's bigger than that, Ruk. Look at the arcanometer…" The Healer replied.

"It's purple. How does that mean anything?" Ruk asked impatiently.

"That's just it, Ruk. I don't know. Arcanometers don't read purple. Ever. They read the colors corresponding to whatever magic a spellcaster is capable of and in all of recorded history, there has never been a reading of purple." The Healer clarified to Ruk urgently.

"So you're saying..?"

"That we have no idea what kind of magic, yeah." The healer finished for Ruk, who just let out a heavy sigh. Ryo resisted the urge to curse again. And now he had an even bigger problem! Of course they wouldn't have records of his magic! It was already rare enough back home, why not make it undiscovered here?!

"Alright. We're keeping this quiet, alright? We don't need word to get out to the village and then to the traders. That'll just bring the Dread King's armies down on our heads." Ruk told the Healer.

"Don't need to tell me once, let alone twice. Still, we gotta figure out what to do with the kid. Having a… 'you know what' that's never been recorded before? That's gonna be catnip to that damn leech." The Healer muttered. Ruk huffed.

"And we can't just send him back out into the world to get caught. Who knows what He'll do to the kid… I guess all we can do for now is keep an eye on him. Play the situation by ear, as it were." Ruk decided. The Healer harrumphed. "I just hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass. You and that flailing dance you call fighting aren't enough to hold back the Dread King's army." The Healer jabbed as he began to stride towards the door.

"I resent that description, Tory." Ruk called after the Healer.

"That's Hector to you! See if I help you the next time you get a fracture from those logs on ropes you love so much!" The Healer irately shot back as he slammed the door. Ryo's heart was pounding in his chest. They knew he had magic. They knew he had magic. He needed to leave. No two ways about it. Once he was able, he needed to get out of here.

Except he had nowhere to go, and no supplies to last. On top of that, he was in no shape to steal what he needed and make a break for it, gross and horrendous betrayal of hospitality aside.

Ryo sighed frustratedly as he stared up at the ceiling. He'd just have to go along with this long enough to come up with a plan and gather supplies. Then he could get moving and start trying to figure out what in the Springs was wrong with him!

Three days later…

Sunlight was streaming through the windows when Ryo woke up. The amount of sunlight indicated that he had probably slept through a good portion of the morning, something he was not accustomed to. Ryo wasn't even sure how he'd slept that long, considering he'd had practically nothing to do for the last few days except sleep. Still, he felt an energy flowing throughout his nerves. Today was the day. He was finally permitted to start moving around on his own two feet again.

Of course, one might have argued that Ryo shouldn't have been allowed to walk around yet, if they'd seen how he stumbled a bit as he began to stand up. Three days of nothing but bedrest had not been kind to his coordination. At least his arms were relatively fine, though he had needed assistance on the first day to eat. Ryo couldn't recall a time in his life that he'd felt more humiliated, though that had been tempered a bit by the food tasting really good. Ruk, or Veruk to be precise, turned out to be an excellent cook and his food had gone a long way to getting Ryo to the point of being able to feed himself again.

Once his muscles had managed to remember how they were supposed to work, he pulled on the clothes that had been laid out for him, consisting of a white cotton undershirt, beige trousers and a brown tunic. After Ryo pulled the clothes on he turned to leave the room but stopped as his eyes passed over the sword. He felt an urge to bring it with him, if only for a sense of safety. However, considering he had no method of storing it away, that probably wouldn't be a good look. So, despite his instincts, he left the blade where it was and opened the door.

As he stepped out of the small room he'd been confined to for three days, he steeled himself for the onslaught of questions that were guaranteed to be waiting for him Sure enough, Veruk was seated at a table with a cup of... something. Ryo didn't know what it was, but it probably wasn't water.

"Good to see you up, kid. Though, now that you are up I think it's time we talked." Veruk stated. Ryo pursed his lips, partially out of annoyance at being referred to as 'kid' but also in apprehension as he took a seat at the table before examining the space around him.

It was rather large and completely open, with a kitchen unit off to one side. There was a room off to the side of the kitchen and two other rooms opposite said kitchen. The whole place was sparsely decorated, with only two medium sized portraits hanging on the wall near the table. The first one of the girl who had brought him water before. He'd learned not long after the Healer's departure that she was Veruk's daughter, named Veris. Ryo had seen hardly anything of Veris since their first meeting, but he had occasionally seen her walking around the house when the door to his temporary room was open. Those few times he'd seen her she'd been stealing glances at him in turn.

The second portrait was of Veruk and a woman that Ryo had never met but bore incredible resemblance to Veris, with the main differences being the woman's much longer hair tied back in a large braid, and her fiery red eyes. She would have been in about her late twenties to early thirties when that portrait was made, by Ryo's estimate. It wasn't hard to guess who she was, nor was it that hard to guess why Ryo had only seen this woman in a painting.

Ryo shook his head. Now wasn't the time for thinking about décor. Veruk wanted to talk and Ryo knew that short of making a run for it (Tempting but very ill-advised) he was going to have to do his best and play Veruk's game. Speaking of…

"Look, I get that this might be hard for you to talk about, but it still needs to be talked about. Kids your age don't just randomly show up in the middle of a summer storm with swords. We sent a search party out after we found you, only to find one hell of a mess about two hours' ride from where we found you." Veruk stated. Ryo couldn't meet the man's gaze, only staring at the table.

"I don't believe you helped kill those soldiers, but you either discovered the massacre and looted that sword from it, which is unlikely for a number of reasons, or you took the sword while running away from said massacre. If there's danger anywhere near the village, the village needs to know about it." Veruk concluded. Ryo's stare didn't break from the table as he took a deep breath.

"I was travelling along the road, trying to find shelter of some kind. I knew the storm was approaching, so I picked up the pace, trying to get here sooner." Ryo started, only to be interrupted.

"Without any travelling gear?" Veruk inquired. Ryo shook his head.

"No. Someone stole my pack during the night. I'm just lucky they didn't kill me as well." He replied. Veruk frowned. Ryo had a feeling that Veruk wasn't buying it, but the bearded man didn't call him on in.

"It's dangerous to travel alone." He admonished. Ryo didn't respond. Instead, he pressed forward with his story.

"As I was travelling, a group of soldiers happened across me. They were suspicious of me to start with, but then... something attacked us. I'm not sure what. They looked like ordinary people, but they… felt different. I'm not sure how to describe them." Ryo continued. The scene was vivid in his head…

"Find the mage! The Dread King demands it!"

"Did you hear a name at all? See any distinguishing marks on the attackers?" Veruk probed, snapping Ryo out of his recollection.

"They mentioned someone… They called them 'the Dread King'." Ryo shared, noticing Veruk tensed ever so slightly.

"Does that mean anything to you?" Ryo asked. Veruk shook his head.

"Only rumors and hearsay. There's a fortress situated in the middle of the Dead Fields that apparently is home to an evil spirit that calls itself the Dread King. Honestly, it's likely that it's just a story. No one goes to the Dead Fields. It isn't a pleasant place, as suggested by the name." Veruk muttered. Ryo could tell he was lying about that. It took one to know one, after all. Ryo suspected that Veruk suspected him as well, though neither was calling the other out.

"Anyway, please continue." Veruk prompted. Ryo nodded.

"Right. When the attack started, I grabbed a sword from the nearest body and ran as fast as I could to get away. I managed to get away relatively unscathed before exhaustion got the better of me. That's when you found me." Ryo concluded. Veruk eyed him for a moment before stretched and stood up.

"Let's go for a walk. You should learn more about the village if you're going to be around for a while. Besides, I imagine you'll want to stretch your legs a bit." Veruk decided. It sounded like a suggestion, but Ryo knew better than to believe otherwise. Besides, it wasn't like Veruk was wrong. He'd been going stir crazy for days. After getting to his feet, Ryo followed Veruk out of the house and into the village.

Veruk's home was located a few houses away from the village square, making it feel simultaneously distant from the rest of the village and yet still in the middle of it all. The square mostly consisted of shops and services, most of which Ryo was unfamiliar with. Veruk led Ryo down towards the main road to the square and began pointing to the shops.

"That's the smithy. They can help you with maintaining that sword of yours, though I doubt they'd be able to replace it. We don't have swordsmiths out here, unfortunately. Speaking of, you should probably visit the leatherworker to get a scabbard made for that sword you grabbed." Veruk informed Ryo as he pointed to two shops on opposite sides of the street. Ryo nodded in recognition silently, secretly glad he didn't need to ask what a smithy was. Luckily, Veruk hadn't seemed to notice his initial confusion and had moved on to the next building. This one was easily the largest in the town.

"That's Bort's Inn, named after the man who built and ran it. It's run by Klaus now and he's got a 'No Minors' rule, so don't get any ideas." Veruk warned Ryo, who didn't quite get what he was warning him about but nodded and went along with it.

"Over there is the Trade Hall. The local merchant trades goods and coin there and when other merchants are passing through, they'll set up shop there to." Veruk explained as he pointed to a large, open air shelter that was held up by large wooden logs with intricate carvings inlaid into the wood.

"If you wanna travel, the Trade Hall is where you'll find a lot of your supplies. Additionally, people will post work listing for a reward of some kind, usually goods or coin but it can also be a service." Veruk added. Ryo made special mental notes for this. If he wasn't going to be going on a crime spree to prepare for his travels, this would probably be the best way to acquire everything he'd need.

Ryo and Veruk wandered the village a little longer, with Veruk doing all the talking and Ryo just listening and occasionally nodding his head. Eventually though, Veruk began to lead Ryo towards the outskirts of the village, and then kept going until they reached a clearing in the woods. Ryo was growing suspicious and was suddenly wishing he'd brought his sword along, if only as a precaution.

"Alright, now we're alone. I think it's time you and I had a proper talk." Veruk stated. Ryo was immediately apprehensive. His eyes began darting about the clearing, looking for an escape or for anyone who might be watching.

"About what?" He asked as Veruk took a seat on a fallen log.

"About whom you are, mystery mage."

Well, how's that for an opening chapter?

Creativity: Umm... I don't know? I'm assuming we'll get feedback.

Author: You're not Logic, you're Creativity.

Creativity: I can be both!

Author: Anyway, thanks for reading the first chapter of this revamped story! We hope you enjoyed and will return next week Sunday for chapter 2!

Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord, and we'll see you next week!