Hello everybody, and welcome to chapter 6 of Before KH: Shadows!

Creativity: But before we continue, allow us to quickly apologize for the, ah... problems in chapters 4 & 5. Luckily, we still have all the other chapters (so far), so this hopefully shouldn't happen again!

Author: Here's hoping...

Anyway, happy Sunday everyone! We're six weeks into this new story! Are we having fun? I certainly am! Now then, shall we answer the reviews? I believe we shall:

Arika: I mean, Ryo has issues, that much is obvious. Not sure I'd consider it mental illness though, since I'm not a professional.

And that's it for now! So, chapter 6! Things have fallen apart in one night and now adventure has... well, not really called them, more grabbed them by their collars and chucked them out the door. And now, we get to see what happens next!

Creativity: After we plug the discord server! Password is here: 5RRcGwh

Author: Yes, yes, Discord is now plugged. Now, we get to the fun part!

Allow us to present chapter 6 of Before Kingdom Hearts: Shadows!

Ryo wasn't sure how long it had been since the light from the strange stone had engulfed them. It had likely only been a few moments, but it felt like ages. Worst of all, it felt disturbingly familiar to Ryo.

The sensation of moving at great speed, yet also a strange feeling of weightlessness; He'd felt it all before… And then, it all vanished. The sensation of gravity returned as he suddenly felt the sensation of grass and earth under his back. Ryo's eyes slowly cracked open as he checked to see if the blinding light had faded. He still winced as his eyes adjusted, but it seemed that the light from the stone had indeed faded. However, that soon became the least of their problems when Ryo realized that they were no longer in the forests of Woodfell.

They were in the middle of a large prairie with tall grass that grew well past their knees. Slowly getting to his feet, Ryo readied his still-drawn sword in caution as he looked around. It was dark out and the sky was filled with stars. The moon hung in the sky off to the side, making it difficult for Ryo to tell what time of the night it was. It could be a few hours forward or back from Woodfell for all he knew.

As soon as the village name floated through his head, Ryo immediately felt as though a spike had struck his heart. Even though the air was clean, and the prairie was silent, save the chirping of crickets, the screams of the townsfolk still rang in his ears and the smell of smoke lingered in his nostrils.

"This was my fault…" Ryo thought to himself angrily before he shook his head. He could beat himself up later. For now, he needed to check on the others and make sure they weren't in any danger…

"Wait, the others!" Ryo suddenly yelped in his head before he spun around and began frantically looking around to find them! Luckily, he didn't need to use magic to have near-perfect sight in the dark, so it didn't take too long for him to locate the three fellow teens, and without accidentally stepping or tripping on them. They seemed to have been rendered unconscious by whatever the stone had done, but that quickly changed as Veris began to stir before she suddenly jerked awake and frantically got to her feet while looking around.

"Easy, easy!" Ryo hushed as he hurried over to her.

"Ryo?! Is that you?! Where are we?!" Veris yelped frantically before he put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at first, but quickly relaxed when she recognized her friend.

"I don't know. Best guess right now is that stone we found teleported us away from Woodfell." Ryo replied as he made his way over to Barkos and shook his shoulder a few times in an attempt to wake him. Luckily, that did the trick and Barkos was swiftly on his feet with a knife drawn, which Ryo was quite hasty to persuade Barkos to sheathe while Veris, whose eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, set about waking up Garren. Thankfully, he didn't go straight for his weapon when he regained consciousness, but that might have been because his axe was lying out of reach.

"Veris? Barkos, Ryo? Where are we?!" Garren asked as he frantically looked around, blinking as he tried to make out where they were.

"If I knew where we were, I'd have told you already. All I know is that we can't be any more than a few hours away from Woodfell. Whether that's a few hours ahead or behind Woodfell, I don't know." Ryo replied as he started looking around, making sure there were no predators on the prowl as well as looking for somewhere they could hunker down for the night. The open prairie felt way to exposed for them to rest.

Luckily, these prairies were dotted with small clusters of trees, with one such cluster about a five minute walk from them. Not perfect, but it would do for the night.

"Okay, everyone follow me. We're heading over to a cluster of trees in that direction to try and get some sleep before we start looking for a road or town nearby." Ryo instructed them before he began walking towards the tree cluster. The others looked unsure, but they followed him anyway. It wasn't like they had a better plan, after all.

"Who were those guys, Ryo? You and my dad knew about them, I can tell that much." Veris questioned hesitantly. Ryo sighed and hung his head.

"They're the reason I wound up in Woodfell in the first place. I can't tell you what they're after since I don't know that myself, but I know they serve someone called 'The Dread King'." Ryo answered as he kept looking around for any sign of trouble.

"Wait, how are they responsible for you coming to Woodfell? I thought you said it was bandits." Garren asked in confusion. Ryo frowned, but answered the question regardless.

"When I told Veruk my story, he told me to keep the Dread King stuff hush-hush. I sort of know why he wanted to keep things quiet on that front, but I don't have any specifics. The story I gave you was true, save for the 'bandits' being the Dread King's forces." Ryo explained tiredly. Thankfully, that was the end of the questions, at least for now.

Once they reached the trees, Ryo laid out his bedroll as Veris did the same before the two realized they had a major problem.

"I guess we're sleeping on rocks tonight…" Garren muttered before Ryo motioned to his bedroll.

"You take mine for tonight. I'm taking first watch anyway, and Barkos can use Veris's cloak as a makeshift blanket for the night." Ryo offered. Veris nodded and undid her cloak before handing it to Barkos, who accepted it gratefully as he laid his bow and quiver aside and bundled himself up against a tree while Garren and Veris got set up for the night. Meanwhile, Ryo took a seat with his back against the same tree as Barkos before wrapping his cloak around himself and sheathing his sword, tucking one end under his arm as if cradling it. The handle was just poking up near his right shoulder and the same hand was resting on the sheath, just waiting to twitch and draw the blade.

"Who's taking over watch after Ryo?" Veris asked as she tried to get comfortable. Barkos raised his hand from inside the cloak.

"I can take it." He volunteered. Ryo nodded to him as he started looking out over the horizon. It didn't take long for everyone to drift of to sleep, as evidenced by the light snoring coming from three sources. The soft, rhythmic in and out was almost enough to begin lulling him to sleep as well, but it ultimately could not. He had too much on his mind for that.

He should have left sooner. Not only did his magic made him a target for the Dread King, but they also had some way of tracking his magic, at least within a certain proximity. His lingering in Woodfell had painted a massive target on the town and it had led to the town being burned to the ground with who knew how many dead. Worse still, he was now painting that same target on the backs of Veris, Garren and Barkos so long as he continued to travel with them.

Still, it wasn't like he could just leave them now, even if it was for their safety. They'd just lost their homes and only Veris and himself were anything approaching prepared for travel. They needed money, supplies and proper traveling clothes. Once Ryo was confident they'd be okay, then he'd leave and find somewhere to hide from the Dread King. If all went well, it wouldn't take long for them to find a town and get everyone sorted out, but Ryo knew better than to count on luck by this point.

As Ryo continued trying to parse out his next move, the relative silence of the night was shattered by the howl of wolves off in the distance, causing everyone to jolt awake and reach for their weapons, sans Ryo. He was surprised, but he wasn't worried about the wolves.

"Umm, should we be concerned about that?" Garren questioned nervously as his grip tightened on his axe. Ryo saw Barkos shake his head as he replaced his knife.

"I don't think so. That's the howl that follows after they've caught something." Barkos explained as he began settling back in, though he didn't look so convinced that he was going to go back to sleep soon. Ryo turned his gaze in the direction of the howling, wondering if he could see the canines in the distance, only to be met with disappointment. Soon enough, the two sets of snores once again became three and Ryo was left alone with his thoughts and the wolves. The howling kept up for a few hours before the howling drifted off. Ryo could feel his eyes starting to droop and decided it was time to wake Barkos up for the next watch. Ryo slowly rose and crept over to Barkos, trying not to disturb the others as he gently shook the apprentice hunter awake. Barkos groaned a bit as he stretched and rose to his feet before looking up at the starry sky.

"Looks like we're a few hours back, going by the moon. Who should I wake up next?" Barkos asked as Ryo went to settle in.

"I'd say Garren next. Neither me nor Veris got any sleep before… She could use the rest." Ryo suggested. Barkos nodded silently, trying to hide a pained grimace as he notched an arrow and settled in for watch. However, as Ryo went to settle in for some rest, Barkos grabbed his shoulder and drew his attention out to the plains again.

"Do you see that?" He whispered. Ryo peered closer but didn't see anything, at least at first. Then he saw what Barkos was talking about. Some thirty yards or so away was a faint red glow in the grass. Ryo loosened his sword in its sheath and began creeping forward a bit while he motioned for Barkos to cover him. Barkos slipped into a crouch and drew the arrow back a bit as Ryo kept moving forward, his eyes fixed on the faint red glow.

Suddenly the glow flared brighter, and something leapt out of the brush at Ryo with a screech! Ryo immediately tore his sword from its sheath and cut the creature down with a wild slash and a shout of surprise. Naturally, Ryo's shout when he killed the attacker was enough to wake up Garren and Veris, who were immediately on high alert with weapons drawn. The creature tumbled to the ground and Barkos hurried to Ryo's side as he took a closer look at his felled assailant.

Despite walking upright on two legs, the creature was not humanoid or even organic looking. It's body looked like a crude skeleton hewn from dark gray stone, covered in cracks that emitted the red glow they'd seen before.. Its head was triangular and hollow, with empty eye-sockets that showed a furiously sparking red sphere and a jaw that had four triangular teeth arranged without rhyme or reason. It stood about three feet tall and had enormous hands, ending in sharp claws. Shortly after Ryo had cut it down, the creature's red color faded, and it began to crumble to dust.

"What was that?!" Barkos exclaimed as Garren and Veris hurried over. Ryo frowned as he watched the last specks of dust float away.

"I have no idea. If these things were attacking travelers on the road, we'd definitely have heard of it by now." Ryo replied as he began scanning the horizon before muttering a curse.

"But it looks like this one wasn't alone." He added grimly as he raised his sword. Sure enough, more red glows were appearing in the grass, all of which rapidly grew brighter as several more creatures leapt from the grass and let out howling screeches before they began to rush towards the group! Additionally, there was another variety of monster in addition to the bipedal variety that Ryo had already slain; this one taking the form of a face or mask, with four sharp fangs and a permanent expression of rage. It too appeared to be composed of dark gray stone and covered in cracks that glowed that same angry red.

Barkos let an arrow fly that destroyed one of the masks while Ryo lunged forward and stabbed one of the bipedal creatures between the eyes before slashing another one diagonally and retreating back towards his friends, who were similarly cutting down the attacking horde as they came near, save Barkos who was busy shooting them down. Of everyone present, Ryo was most concerned about Veris as she may as well have been armed with only a knife. She wisely hadn't bothered trying to use her mother's chain weapon.

The battle cries from the monsters quickly drew Ryo's attention back to a trio of creatures who were rapidly closing in on him. Ryo bared his teeth and growled as he stepped backwards to avoid the claws of the first creature before he swung his blade downward and split its head in half before he flicked the blade to the right to cut the second one down. He then stepped to the side to avoid a slash from the third creature before he stabbed it through the eye and quickly scanned the battlefield to assess the situation. Garren was doing well with his wood axe, considering his lack of experience. Barkos was doing pretty good as well, though he was beginning to run low on arrows. Veris was sticking close to Barkos, cutting down any monsters that got too close and was handling herself well; better than Ryo would have thought, given the circumstances.

Fortunately, the skirmish didn't last long and within a few minutes, all the enemies were defeated. As the last remnants of dust floated away on the wind, Ryo felt himself sag on his feet before he turned to the others, who also looked similarly drained. They hadn't had enough time. Between the destruction of Woodfell, the obviously magical means that they'd been whisked away from the chaos and this attack by whatever these monsters were was already overwhelming without the sleep deprivation.

"Anything else wanna have a go?! HUH?!" Garren screamed out into the prairies, hefting his axe as he did so in challenge. However, he quickly stumbled and fell to one knee, prompting Veris to hurry over and begin checking him for injuries. Ryo strode over as well, keeping his weapon drawn as a precaution, half-hearing Garren trying to wave off Veris.

"Relax, I didn't get touched. I'm just a bit winded." Garren replied. Veris frowned.

"You need to get some rest. All of us need some rest." Veris replied, only for Ryo to shake his head.

"As wonderful as that sounds, we need to keep moving. There's a good chance there's still more of those things lurking around, and we'd be better served putting some distance between ourselves and another attack." Ryo informed them, much to everyone else's aghast reactions. Still, they didn't disagree with him. Ryo just hoped they'd be able to find somewhere safer to get some much needed sleep sooner rather than later. The last thing they needed was to be dead on their feet while they were trying to find a road.

After Ryo and Veris had repacked their bedrolls, the group of four once again began their march in search of shelter for the night, with Ryo making use of the compass he'd just remembered he'd had, much to his own frustration. They travelled West for a good while, though they still had yet to spot anywhere that look like a good spot to hunker down for the night, nor a sign of civilization.

"At this rate, we might just have to settle for resting in the middle of nowhere." Barkos muttered. Garren groaned in response.

"I honestly don't care! I need shuteye soon!" He complained as he threw up his hands. Ryo ignored them both as he continued scanning the horizon until he saw something promising.

"There's a hill about two minutes from here with some rocks we can take shelter under. Can you guys make it that far?" Ryo asked the others, who all made noises of affirmation before they began following Ryo in the direction of the hill in question.

Once they'd finished the ascent up the earthen mound, they slipped into the shade of a rock jutting out over the south side of the hill and began settling in for the night. Barkos took up watch again, with Garren agreeing to take the next one. Ryo just hoped that this night would be peaceful from then to dawn.

Falling… Falling through a black abyss… He felt like he'd been falling for an eternity. And yet, he felt so weightless… It felt peaceful, in a way…

Suddenly, gravity took hold once again and he struck the ground amidst a burning hellscape! Casting his gaze around, he could see people on the ground, clad in armor and wielding fine weapons as people with wings and bodies ablaze with magic clashed! The shouts of war and clanging steel rang in his ears, and the smell of blood and ash filled his nose!

Suddenly, from the battle rose three monstrous creatures, each towering above the battlefield before they unleashed terrible, cataclysmic powers upon both sides, rending them asunder! He could only cry out in horror, if his cry ever left his lips, for all that emerged was silence.

The ground crumbled beneath him and once again he fell, twisting uncontrollably in the wind as he was tossed this way and that until he crashed into the ground once more. As he staggered to his feet, he could see six figures stood atop massive stone pillars, each dressed in a different color of robe. As one, they raised their palms towards him and summoned forth mighty magics as hundreds more robed individuals appeared beneath them and raised their own hands, magic gathering in their fingers before it was unleashed! All he could do was raise his hands before his face in a futile attempt to shield himself before the magic struck him in a blinding white flash!

Ryo's eyes snapped open for a moment before squeezing shut again to shield his vision from the sun. It had already risen above the horizon, though not by a whole lot.

"Well, at least I'm not losing any sleep to a nightmare…" Ryo thought to himself before he got to his feet. Veris was currently on watch and looked pretty worn out. Ryo wasn't sure how much sleep she'd actually gotten, given how quickly he'd nodded off once they'd finally been able to lay down and rest, but she mostly looked only sleepy from watch, so that was a good sign.

Ryo slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he began stretching to alleviate the stiffness from sleeping on the ground as Veris glanced over at him drowsily.

"Morning." She mumbled as she rubbed her eyes before she moved to wake up Garren, with Ryo doing the same for Barkos as he continued trying to shake his sleepiness. As the apprentice hunter was roused from his slumber, a brief look of dismay flashed across his face as he pressed the heel of his palm to the bridge of his nose.

"Come on, we need to get moving." Ryo reminded them as he began packing up his bedroll. There were groans of resignation, but no protests as they all began getting ready to go. Once he was packed up, Ryo nimbly scaled the rock they'd sheltered under and looked around. A hill with a rock like this was a good landmark, and a good way to spot any signs of civilization.

After a brief glance around, Ryo saw that the terrain got a lot hillier to the West, but he also saw a well-trodden dirt road not too far away that went into said hills. Better yet, he could see what looked like chimney smoke off in the distance! It was definitely a ways off, but he was pretty sure that was what he was seeing.

"Alright, our fortune's looking up!" He called down to his friends as he scurried down the rock and pointed in the direction he'd seen the road.

"There's a path that way, and I'm pretty sure I also saw signs of chimney smoke in the distance!" He revealed, which immediately had everyone in much higher spirits. The group all hurried down the hill and found the path and began following it through the hills, encouraged by the recent tracks made by what Barkos guessed to be a small caravan of carts and horses.

The was no chatter between them, as they were all too determined to reach the town so they could eat a proper meal and catch up on much-needed sleep, with the former of vastly higher priority to them. Ryo and Veris were the only ones remotely prepared for traveling, and neither of them had been in possession of rations of any kind before they'd been whisked away to… wherever this was.

The group had been hurrying down the winding path on empty stomachs for almost an hour by Ryo's estimate and they were all starting to feel their bodies protesting the lack of sustenance, which was not helped by the hill they were currently climbing. Still, they were close now and soon enough, they reached the top and the sight before them was a thing of beauty. Stretching ahead of them was a large town that was situated right in a bay on a massive river.

"Lady and gentlemen, please tell me I'm not seeing things. Please tell me that my eyes do behold civilization." Garren breathed. The rest of the group could find no words. Instead, they just continued their march forward, though with more vigor now as they approached the town. It took them twenty minutes to reach the gates, where they were stopped by the guards for 'routine questioning'. Fortunately, their haggard appearances and insistence that they at least be allowed to get a meal at the in before questioning seemed to make the guards decide to give the teens a pass, strange as they were. The story that their village had been attacked certainly helped, even if Ryo made sure to leave out the specific details of which village had been attacked out. They weren't sure where they were after all, and Ryo didn't want to expose their magical means of escape for fear of being turned away or worse.

As they made their way through the town to the inn, Ryo couldn't help but notice that the villagers didn't seem too happy. What's more, the guards all looked pretty tired and he'd seen a handful of them with still-healing injuries, based on the scratches and limps. He wanted to ask what was going on but felt it better to wait until he and the others had some food in their bellies and could keep their eyes open.

On that note, they finally reached the inn and almost tumbled through the door as Ryo scrambled to the front desk and asked what they had available for a party of four. Thankfully, they lucked out and managed to snag a four-bed room and while they were eager to head upstairs and sleep, their loudly growling guts demanded food.

Luckily, the inn's tavern was relatively quiet, so they were able to snag a corner booth and place their orders with great swiftness. The food was delivered expediently and the carnage that followed as they tore their way through their breakfast with a ravenousness that rivaled a wolf pack.

"Oh gosh, food in my stomach never felt so good…" Garren moaned as he patted his stomach appreciatively.

"Enough about food. I need more sleep." Veris groaned back before sliding lethargically out of the booth and trudging her way up the inn's stairs to the room, with the others following suit. After shuffling into their room and locking the door, the four teenagers all collapsed onto their beds and fell asleep, with deep appreciation for the respite they'd been given.

And that's chapter 6! Wow, we're almost a third of the way of all the chapters I had ready... This is going faster than I expected.

Creativity: I wonder how many people are going to remember the original way we did this?

Author: I feel cutting it the way we did is better. We will still be doing Disney worlds, but that one wasn't necessary.

Anyway, I don't think I have much else to say here, so I'm gonna end it here.

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