Hello everyone, and happy Sunday! It's the last Sunday of May, which doesn't mean anything special, but we are that last step closer to June! That's exciting, isn't it?

Creativity: You're stretching, and I don't even know what for.

Author: Quiet, you.

Anyway, welcome to chapter 17 of Before KH: Shadows! We're... three, maybe four chapters away from the end of this set, then we'll be taking a break for the rest of the year to work on other stuff and get ready for the next set of chapters. More on that later.

Creativity: If you want to stay informed of these things, hear about current or upcoming projects, or even just chat with us or other readers of our work, use this password to join our Discord server: 5RRcGwh

Author: But now, what you've been waiting for!

Allow us to proudly present chapter 17 of Before Kingdom Hearts: Shadows!

Queen Arryn Soloro Reign of Radiant Garden frowned as she sat at one of her many private studies, quill in hand as she worked her way through yet another stack of papers that needed her signature. They'd been piling up a bit since she'd been busy sending out letters to whatever magicians she could get ahold of to consult on Radiant Garden's mysterious mystic patient.

Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten as many responses as she'd hoped so far, and the ones she did get weren't very helpful. Travel between cities was becoming more and more dangerous, especially so for those with magic, and so she hadn't found a magician versed in what she suspected Ryo was afflicted with to risk the journey. They'd been all too happy to offer condolences and suggestions, but not much else beyond that.

Well, all but one, and that was because they owed her a favor; a favor she'd explicitly made clear in her letter to them that she was calling in and wouldn't hear a word otherwise. Besides, this sort of case would be catnip to the old man; a currently unclassified variety of magic being expelled by a magician who was both sick and comatose with no diagnosis so far, only many possibilities ruled out? He'd never pass something like this up. Whether or not he could figure it out, however, that was a different story. Still, he was their best shot.

If that old codger couldn't crack this, then there probably wasn't a mage alive who could.

Veris, Garren and Barkos had recently had a lot of contenders for "worst three days" uncomfortably recently. The destruction and their escape from Woodfell were a big one. Their difficulties on the road were a follow-up, but not quite as bad.

The last three days of worrying out of their skulls about Ryo were definitely a contender for that title, however. There was some comfort in the fact that he didn't seem to be getting any worse, but it was cold comfort at best. He wasn't getting any better and it didn't sound like anyone was any closer to making a diagnosis. On top of that, they still weren't allowed to see him since he was still experiencing those explosive surges of magic.

Occupying their time had been the most difficult part of it. Garren had been spending most of his time training, often forgetting to stop for lunch or even to catch his breath until someone reminded him to. Often, he'd attempt to protest or otherwise brush them off, only for his exhaustion and/or hunger to quickly kick in with a vengeance and rob him of the will for such actions.

Barkos wasn't reading quite as much. Instead, he was also training. Target practice was his most common routine, but he also had been putting in practice with his knife and fists, whenever he could find someone willing to teach him proper technique. Luckily, he'd often been able to find someone to accommodate him, and those that didn't hadn't been rude about it to his face. He'd also been better about managing rest and refueling than Garren, often being the one to remind the larger boy to not run himself ragged. That said, it was obvious that he wasn't doing much better. The dark circles under his eyes and red marks on the tips of his fingers, as well as his knuckles were telling all on their own.

Veris had naturally thrown herself into practicing her magic, though it was understandably not going as well as it had before. Normally she performed control exercises to make sure her magic didn't get away from her and cause harm to herself, with the most common exercise to create a fireball about the size of an apple, then manipulate its shape and size, move it in a circle, so on and so forth. The most complicated exercise, according to the queen, was to write her name in the air with fire, in joined script.

Unfortunately, control was in short supply for Veris right now, as evidenced by the fact that her fireballs had a tendency to grow out of control the moment she slipped even a little. More than once she'd wound up with damages sleeves and a face full of smoke and soot when a fireball burst in her hand. There'd also been instances of flames curling around her fingers when she wasn't paying attention, which had raised several concerns for the court magicians and the queen, who had immediately procured a pair of special gloves that were supposed to inhibit her magic while she wore them. Apparently, they were meant for rare magicians whose magic was too powerful for them to manage at the start, and needed assistance while they were learning control.

The moment Veris had been given the gloves, she'd immediately questioned why they hadn't tried them on Ryo, only for the queen to explain that they had tried the gloves, as well as other similar items to try and contain his strange magical outbursts. Apparently, that had actually made Ryo's condition worse, and it ultimately didn't matter as whatever was going on with him, it had just muscled its way through the containment and erupted from his body more violently than before. Just thinking about how that must have felt made Veris turn green a little.

She didn't know what sort of magic was running rampant inside Ryo, but she could imagine what it would be like with her own. Her magic felt warm normally, like sitting in front of the fireplace back in Woodfell. If she was in Ryo's position though, she imagined it would feel like she was being slowly burned to a crisp from the inside out. She imagined her skin would be catching fire throughout this as well, regardless of whether or not she actually was hurt by it.

Veris shook her head and closed her eyes while taking a deep breath. Dwelling on such things wasn't going to help Ryo, nor was it healthy for her to do so. She was supposed to be reviewing some reading she'd done on fire magic, but she couldn't concentrate on it for more than a few sentences before her thoughts were pulled back to the grim uncertainty of Ryo's health.

"To hell with it. I need to clear my head." She grumbled as she snapped the book shut and strode out of the group's bedroom and started heading to the gardens, hoping some exercise and fresh air would help distract her.

As she marched through the castle, Veris still couldn't help her thoughts turning back to the current situation once more. The worst part of it all, to her and to Garren and Barkos, was that they weren't hearing anything about it! Oh, they'd get regular updates from the magicians who were treating Ryo, but the answer was always the same: No change.

Three days, and they had nothing. She knew, deep down, that this wasn't their fault. Whatever was afflicting Ryo had apparently not been seen before, and those magic pulses coming from him would obviously make trying to figure out what was wrong with him incredibly difficult.

That still didn't stop Veris (or Garren and Barkos for that matter) from privately gnashing their teeth, wondering what was taking so damn long.

Veris closed her eyes and took another breath.

"Don't linger. Don't linger." She chanted to herself before she opened her eyes, realizing that she'd already reached the gardens.

There weren't many people here at the moment; castle staff mostly, tending to the plants, though there was the occasional magician or servant on break. Veris strolled along the cobbled pathways until she found a bench near the edge of the garden, overlooking the lands beyond Radiant Garden's walls.

Ever since she discovered it, Veris had made a point to come to this bench at least once a day and take in the view, most often in the evening. At first, she'd thought that this little ritual would be one of the biggest things she'd miss from staying in Radiant Garden (save the accommodations of course). Then, their stay had stretched on and they started settling in. Veris began learning magic from a genuine teacher, not just a list of tips from a passing magician on the road. Barkos was picking through the contents of the library with impressive gusto and Garren was getting some actual weapons training. Ryo had… Well, Ryo had been pretty scattershot, now that she thought about it. He went to the practice field to keep his bladework sharp, and he spent time in the library as well, but aside from that, he tended to vanish for long stretches of time.

There wasn't much opportunity to notice, at least to her. He trained and studied in the library with reasonable regularity, so she had just assumed that when he wasn't doing either, he was wandering the castle, visiting the gardens, or enjoying the baths.

"Could that have…?" She wondered to herself. In light of Ryo's current circumstances, she had to wonder what he might have been doing for those unaccounted stretches of time. For all anyone knew, they could have something to do with this mess.

"Well, it's not like we can ask him about it now." She muttered glumly before she glanced down at her right hand. The gloves lacked full fingers, supposedly to allow some magic through for the sake of training. On the tips of all her fingers, the skin was slightly reddened and peeling from the most recent accident during her training. According to the queen, it wasn't unheard of for a magician to suffer damage from a spell if they cast something 'beyond themselves'. That said, that wasn't what Veris believed had happened. Normally, when she cast magic, she just shot a fireball from the space in front of her open palm. When she'd been training before, instead of conjuring up flames above her fingertips, she'd seemingly set them on fire instead.

It was after that mishap that training had been put on hold and she'd been issued stronger magic suppression gloves to make sure that didn't happen again.

With a glum sigh, Veris rose to her feet and marched off back into the castle. She couldn't find any peace anywhere in this blasted castle.

"I see studying isn't going very well."

Veris jumped a bit before she recognized the now-familiar voice.

"Sorry, your majesty. I was just trying to clear my head." Veris told the queen, who was accompanied an old man with a goatee that reached just below the ribs. He was carrying a knotted, bent and curled wooden staff with some sort of translucent orange gem at the top in his right hand, and a clasped leather bag in the left. He was dressed in a heavy, dark gray cloak with a silver belt around his waist. Attached to the belt were several buttoned leather pouches, as well as a jangling cloth bag.

"This is your charge, Arryn? Never thought I'd see the day you'd take on an apprentice." The old man groused as he peered at Veris behind dusty spectacles. His eyes were a sharp, vibrant green that made Veris feel pinned down and small. "Odd one, I'd say. Why the interest?"

The queen shot the old man a glare.

"I'd ask you to not make the poor girl feel worse, Gourken. She already has enough to deal with as it is." The queen replied in a frustrated yet restrained tone. The old man didn't seem to pay it any mind.

"I noticed you didn't deny it. Anyway, I'm assuming that this isn't our mystery case?" He continued, this time getting a smack upside the head from the queen, catching both Veris and seemingly the old man off-guard.

"I don't care for your shenanigans now, Gourken!" The queen growled as the old man rubbed the back of his head, still seeming dumbfounded by the queen's action. "I called you here because you have knowledge and magic that may be the only method for diagnosing a mystic ailment, nothing more."

The old man eyed her carefully before his eyes narrowed.

"Well, you must be serious after that. You should have communicated that in your letter." He answered before he began marching off towards the healers' wing.

"I did communicate that! You just didn't care!" Queen Arryn shot back, completely incensed. Veris could only watch in confusion and no small amount of concern as the magician queen stalked after Gourken, who Veris suddenly realized was probably one of the magicians the queen had contacted for Ryo.

"We're not going to trust Ryo with this guy, are we?" Veris wondered as she hurried after the two magicians, though she decided to keep her distance for now. The queen clearly wasn't in the mood for discussion and she really didn't want to talk to Gourken.

Neither did the queen it seemed, or Gourken for that matter. After that last exchange, the two had been marching swiftly in silence. Veris was surprised that a man of his apparent age could move with such speed, but him being a magician could explain it. That said, she wasn't going to ask him or the queen. It would be rude either way, and again, she really didn't want to talk to Gourken.

That said, she was curious what sort of magic he knew that the queen would call him in, especially since she clearly didn't like the old man. The large bag suggested he knew healing magic of some kind, but Veris' gut told her that the old man wasn't a healer or a doctor of the traditional sort.

Well, whatever it was, she was going to find out soon. Gourken had just reached the room Ryo was being housed in and wrenched open the door before marching inside, followed by the queen. This was shortly followed by all the magicians and healers who were previously attending to Ryo swiftly exiting the room, several of which looked rather incensed. The last to exit was the queen, who still looked rather cross, though now that she was out of the room she looked rather exhausted.

"Your majesty, what's happening with…" Veris began to ask, only to be silenced as the queen swiftly held up her hand before taking a deep breath and waiting for a few seconds before she spoke.

"My apologies. That man is difficult to deal with at the best of times." The queen ground out before she composed herself before she began. "Gourken's knowledge of magic is broad and deep, but he's especially well-versed in how magic can affect one's biology, as well as Mind Magic."

Veris' confusion must have been written on her face as the queen approached her and began to guide her away from the door.

"Given your friend's lack of symptoms and the odd magic he's been emitting, I had suspicions that part of the problem is related to the mind, though that doesn't account for everything. Gourken's our best shot for figuring all of this out and getting your friend healthy again." The queen explained before the door to Ryo's room was thrown open and Gourken poked his head out.

"Queen. In here, now." He demanded before he retreated back inside and shut the door forcefully. The queen took a deep breath and gave Veris an apologetic look.

"You best wait outside. I don't think this will take too long." The queen informed her before following Gourken into the room. Veris tried to tamp down her nervousness and uncertainty before she stepped over the door and started waiting beside it. Hopefully, the queen was right and they wouldn't be long. Much as she and everyone else wanted Ryo to get better, she was still scared of how the old man would make that happen.

"Well, you've definitely landed on one hell of a catastrophe, your highness." Gourken announced as he unceremoniously dropped his bag on a nearby table and marched over to Ryo's prone form. Queen Arryn held back a grumble as she followed the aged wizard over to the patient.

"So, you know what the problem is?" She pressed as she watched Ryo carefully, waiting for another magical surge. Gourken hefted his staff up and brought the gem at the top close to his face before he began to mutter and brush his fingers on the facets of the gem not facing him. It began to glow with a blue hue as he lowered it down to rap Ryo lightly on the head. The queen watched in slowly building awe as Ryo's muscles suddenly all relaxed and a sigh escaped his lips.

"Alright, that should stop his magic from acting up for now." He muttered as he let the butt of his staff knock against the ground.

"What did you do?" Queen Arryn asked as she peered at Ryo, looking for any possible side-effects.

"In simple terms, I turned his brain off." He answered before rolling his eyes exasperatedly at the queen's sudden look of horror. "Relax, it's not as bad as it sounds. A cursory look with a Mind's Eye cast showed me that his lower mind was in overdrive; nasty stuff, probably night terrors or some other hallucination. It's why he's been sparking like crazy."

The queen slowly calmed down as she processed this information.

"So then, these magical surges are a response from his own magic, caused by nightmares?" She summarized, only to get an odd grunt from Gourken.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's about what the other magicians here and this kid's friends will understand. As for what's causing it, I can't say for sure, yet."

Gourken turned to his bag and pulled it open before he began fishing around for something. There was a great deal of rattling and some oddly loud crashing noises from the bag before he finally found what he was looking for; a shining silver rod with a perfectly clear crystal set into the top. The queen eyed it.

"That looks like a curse-marker." She commented as Gourken held the rod over Ryo as he began to slowly move his hand an inch or so above Ryo's body from head to toe, wiggling his fingers a little as he went.

"You're not far off; I made this by melting down some old Tsubasa weapons and combining the curse-marker design and geocraft ritual with some rituals I'd pieced together from some Tsubasa tablets I had lying around." He replied, eyes not moving from his work.

"You do know that you can be executed for that by the Council if they find out." The queen replied, only to get a scoff from Gourken.

"I'm not going to tell them, and neither are you. Besides, with the Dread King out on the prowl, they'll laud me as a hero when I finally give them something to give that leech a black eye." He countered before he finally pressed the crystal to Ryo's forehead.

"Now, let's see what we have here…" He muttered before the crystal began to emit a ripple of sort. After a moment, the crystal began to glow purple before it was quickly overcome with violent flashes of blue, red and yellow energy. Gourken looked shocked for a moment before he frowned as he began to mutter some words as he dragged his crooked, wrinkled fingers over the gem in his device. After a few moments he seemed to have found whatever he was looking for, and he didn't look happy.

"Well, this isn't good." He muttered before he turned back to the queen, who was waiting expectantly.

"Okay, I'm going to preface this by saying that half of this is just guesswork; I don't know how, but this kid seems to have been afflicted with some variation of the Curse of Wrath we've been seeing from physical contact with those red things, but it's also got two other curses intertwined with it, and it's somehow turned into something else." Gourken began before he looked down at Ryo.

"Whatever it is, it's latched onto his mind and is causing some nasty shit he's been keeping buried in there, likely related to his magic, to run rampant. His conscious mind can't cope with it, so it shut down and his body perceived this as some sort of infection and started trying to fight a sickness that isn't there, hence the fever."

"So, he's being forced to indefinitely relive some sort of trauma related to his own magic?" The queen clarified. Gourken nodded.

"That's what the magic pulses are. His body is trying to use its magic to fight off the curse and the infection, but it's also being turned inward to attack himself. It could be an affect of whatever curse has latched onto him, or his own problems with his own magic conflicting with his body's natural instinct to use magic to fight off the curse." He elaborated as he crossed his arms. "Whatever this curse is, I don't think it was cast by anything. Despite the similarities to the Curse of Wrath, it's too imprecise. It's more like arcane fallout. What's more, it isn't going to just wear off; damn thing is self-perpetuating. We'll have to lift the curse manually."

The queen's eyes widened.

"You can't be serious! We barely understand how the normal Curse of Wrath works, let alone these two other ones you mentioned! We don't have the means to lift it now, and we don't know if he'll survive long enough for us to research and develop a method of dispelling it!" She exclaimed, only for Gourken to hold up a hand. He had a look in his eye that suggested he wasn't looking forward to what was about to happen.

"We don't have a method of lifting it from out here. Remember, this is a curse of the mind, and any curse of the mind can be lifted by…"

"… By entering the mind of the afflicted and destroying it there." The queen finished before glaring at him.

"Setting aside the gross violation of privacy, you of all people know the dangers of tampering with the mind in such a manner. The boy is ill as it is, and this could be the end of him and anyone inside his mind if we get this wrong."

"Do you have a better idea?" Gourken asked. The queen glowered.

"If we're going to do this, we're getting permission from his friends. I won't jeopardize his mind and the lives of those entering his mind without consent from the closest thing he has to family at the moment." The queen decided. Gourken shrugged.

"We were going to need their help anyway. You can't enter the mind with the ritual we'll be using without permission from the one being entered, or a surrogate if they cannot make the decision themselves." He answered as he returned to his bag and began rooting through it.

"Go convince the kids to let us do this. I'll grab everything we need."

It was surprising to the queen that there wasn't some sort of barb or explicit disrespect in the wizard's words. At least, this seemed to be an indicator that he was indeed taking this seriously.

That just left her with the task of convincing three teenagers to allow them to perform an incredibly dangerous ritual on their ill friend. She could practically feel a new headache coming on.

And that's where we're ending it for now!

Creativity: So... that's a lot to just throw out in one chapter.

Author: I don't think it's that bad. Then again, I suppose it's up to the readers to decide.

So, for those returning from our first crack at this story, we're pretty deep into my big revisions for Radiant Garden. This was actually a more recent change that I felt flowed better with what I was setting up with Ryo's inaccessible magic and the sickness it causes when he tried to use it. I was originally intending to do something else with Radiant Garden entirely, but when I had this idea, I tossed out the other plans completely and I feel the story is better for it.

Well, I think that's it from us for now! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!