The remake of the first chapter. I'm back from a lone hiatus with new content. Like it or not, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Darksiders series nor Kingdom Hearts. They belong to their respective owners.

Spoilers for the Darksiders series and Kingdom Hearts I and II. Forgot to put this in the prologue.

He faded in and out of consciousness.

One time, he was looking up at the sky.

The next time, he was looking at the ground – a road that had been cracked and has vegetation growing out of it.

One last time, he thought he saw someone approaching him. He was unable to say anything, even to say 'help'. Instead, he just closed his eyes.

'Donald…Goofy… Riku…Kairi…'

~o~

The area that used to be Haven had been silent for nearly ninety years. Most of the great tree that was a shelter for a handful of humans that were gathered for their safety had been partially ruined, missing massive chunks on the branches. Parts of the roots had scorch marks from demon weaponry and from when the Destroyer had lead his assault against the known area where humans were. Thankfully, those humans managed to escape in time, thanks to four brave souls who held them back long enough before fleeing the massive tree itself. Three of them were badly wounded, with the two taking the third with them to hide away in safety.

The last one remained on this world, having managed to restore parts of the world by having nature return. Even if the Second Kingdom had tried their best to encroach on the world of the Third Kingdom.

Earth truly IS a marvel to behold. A beauty crafted by the Creator themselves. Both kingdoms have vied for the world. Another race had also wanted it. But it stood as a world that had managed to bounce back despite what was thrown at it. Of course, while it IS true that humans had been whittling away at the resources on the planet, all forces underestimate how fierce nature is at the end of the day.

The tree used as a Haven for a few humans is a testament to how enduring life is. Even after the scars it gained, and the nine decades that went by, it not only stood strong but had grown to tower over most of the city.

It isn't near the Black Tower in which the Destroyer now resides. It would take at least a couple of weeks to arrive there – for the Earth is a MASSIVE world, after all. It stood silently and left relatively alone for the most part, aside from a few stray demons here and there.

Something that a visitor to the area took note of. No matter how many times he had come here to check around the tree, he can't help but be marveled on how Haven withstood the test of time.

Making a bit of a growl/groan at the demons going around, he shook his head. "A perfectly good world nearly gone ta waste," the Maker muttered. "No appreciation towards a Maker's work."

He didn't know why he kept coming back once a year. Was he hoping for ANYTHING after ninety years had passed? A sign of his fellow Makers returning to try to help preserve the world's life? A clue on what in Creation is going on with the damned Charred Council? Or even a sign of any other human still surviving?

There were about six BILLION humans on the planet before the premature End War. With how deadly the Demons were, it was surprising that select areas still had humans hiding out. They had done the best they could, protecting those they managed to find but…there was only so much three Makers, and a Horseman could do.

It was a surprise that a single Horseman, the gunslinger Strife, willingly came to them and helped them out. Not on orders from the Council – they didn't even KNOW where he had gone. But he took on the form of a human to help the humans trust the Makers more. Going out to the city and searched for supplies with them to keep the humans alive. Keeping the place safe up until another, the only female of the group Fury, arrived, seeking the Deadly Sins. While she was OF some help, in having any human she found sent to Haven – in exchange for upgrading her transforming weapon Scorn – it was a little surprising to see her go through significant changes while she was seeking the Deadly Sins. Strife had mentioned that she can be rather impatient and arrogant at times. But she became humble, and calmer. Her arrival DID complicate things, however, but she and the humans she went with on the final invasion of Haven should – SHOULD – be out of reach from the three forces seeking to destroy them.

Ulthane would have to admit…it was rather lonely without his fellow Makers who helped him, and Strife. But he chose to stay. So that he could continue to atone for what he had done. What he had a hand in.

The Maker gave a low growl, shaking his head to shove those thoughts deep within. He can't be having those thoughts again. He has no right to dwell on them and wallow in misery. He came to Haven for a reason, and he has to try to fulfill it. So, with his hammer attached magically to his back, he went around Haven. Any demon that's dumb enough, or hungry enough, to attack him were dealt with swiftly with the mighty swings of his hammer.

As he went around, he noted that there were loads of animals around. Regular ones found on Earth. They're still thriving even after Hell had taken over. Ulthane supposes that a lot of them had begun to populate in place of humans but are managed by their own predators. And despite what they may seem, demons are actually rather picky on what they eat. They seem to favor humans more because they are a 'rare' treat. Some demons DO gain a taste for them later on, from rabbits, deer and such. But only some.

Other than those, not much had changed around the area. While life had managed to thrive around here, nothing else had changed.

Ulthane sighed, his shoulders slumping. Well, he wasted a few minutes looking around the old place. He did catch a few things to eat later. So…not a complete waste of time.

"Ah suppose a good haul would do," Ulthane mused to himself, holding up his game. He opened a small portal and stuffed them through. "Brok and Sindri would appreciate some. Hope they can get me a cut of the meat."

Once he had made his delivery, he looked up at the sky, seeing meteors falling constantly onto the Earth. He knows they aren't ordinary ones, as it seems some newer demons were 'summoned'. He narrowed his eyes at them. This…may not be a good sign. He'll need to set up defenses before the ornery ones try to overtake his abode. He already had enough problems with the damn Griever making it's nest in the subway at this time of year. Ulthane was about to turn away and leave until something caught his eye. With a confused grunt, he looked back up.

What was that just now? A…ripple? He had never seen something like that happening before, he's pretty sure. Not since the pact almost forty thousand years ago when the pact was forged.

And then he saw it. A different kind of meteor flying towards the area at great velocity. And…colorful?

With a start, he realized the 'meteor' was heading to where he was at and quickly went to cover.

Boom!

A colorful block landed by Ulthane's feet from behind the root he used for cover. Then he heard a 'clink' of something. He quickly turned and looked over his cover just in time to see a sphere bounce again before on the third bounce, it shattered. And something small came tumbling out of it, rolling over the pavement before coming to a stop. Ulthane glanced at the impact site, seeing a lot of…colorful blocks and shattered glass and other doodads he hadn't seen before. He turned his head to look back at what came out of the sphere of light. He narrowed his eyes before carefully approaching. Once he got close, his eyes shot open, and he couldn't stop his jaw from falling in surprise.

Curled up on its side is…a human. A human child, not even an adult yet. While he wore mostly black, and his hair spikier than the mess Strife had himself, he's…PUNY. He could hold the boy in his hand if he wanted!

His body only had scruffs on the visible parts of his body but…Ulthane narrowed his eyes before he got onto his knee. As lightly as he could, he poked the human with his massive finger. It was more of a nudge considering his stature. The boy was moved onto his back, but the Maker didn't miss the way the boy twitched. Must have bruised his chest, probably from trying to protect himself or after the barrier shattered.

Still, not good for this puny human. He's alive at least, so that's good.

Though while Ulthane can admit he is relieved that the boy is all right, he furrowed his brows as he soon thought about what he saw earlier. He turned his head to what crashed onto the ground, at the blocks and other bits. He thought back to the 'ripple' that flashed just a little while ago. His eyes went back to gaze at the boy- before something caught his eye. Shifting, there he saw it.

A simple skeleton key, with most of it grey with a yellow box-shaped guard and the tooth having what seems to be a three-pointed crown cut out.

"…Well, didn't expect to see THAT now," the Maker muttered to himself in surprise. A Keyblade user of all things. But…he was pretty sure that not even those things could go through the barrier…whoever had the barrier created made sure of that. He scratched his head. "So how'd you get here, then…?" He asked the prone body of the boy. Though with the boy currently out, he won't get that answer any time soon.

His ears twitched and he sharply looked up and to the source. Some demons had also heard the impact and are scrambling to check it out. He whipped his head back down to the boy, utterly oblivious to the danger heading his way. Ulthane grimaced. Keyblade user or not, the kid doesn't deserve to be demon food. He'll deal with everything else once the boy is situated. He can't be delicate about this; he has to be quick.

Ulthane scooped the boy up in his hand, cradling him. If there's one thing he's thankful for with the Makers…is their 'shortcuts'.

With magicks thrumming in his veins, he and the boy soon 'slipped' away.

~o~

The Gummi Ship sailed through space. They had done all they could; fought the Heartless, a couple of members of Organization XIII, and some bad guys that just don't know when to quit. All in an effort to find the clues to the Organization's stronghold to not only stop them for good, but to also rescue Kairi.

They had managed to shut down the MCP and its lackey, Sark, saving the town and learning it's true name: Radiant Garden.

The three of them are just sailing through, wondering where they should go now, since they did what they're able to do.

It wasn't long until the Captain of the Royal Guards, an anthropomorphic dog with black fur, a green turtleneck sweater, yellow caprice pants, a pair of shows, white gloves, and a yellow hat with a pair of goggles on it. He held up a photo that was in the box they obtained from the Realm of Darkness, contemplating. "Hmm…"

"What's up?" A teenage boy with spikey brown hair and blue eyes looked over at the tall dog. He wore mostly black with a crown necklace around his neck.

"It's this here photo," the dog person said, holding it up. "Don't ya think there's something off about it?"

The boy looked at it. "…Huh. I think you're right," he said. He recalled a photo looking like that in the Usual Spot in Twilight Town – but there's no forth head with them.

A small cricket in a formal coat and top hat popped up from his position in the boy's hoodie. "Perhaps we should go and visit Twilight Town again," he suggested. "There could be a clue on how to get there."

"Only thing we can do at the moment," an anthropomorphic duck agreed. He wore mostly blue with zippers, has white feathers, yellow beak and flippers, and an odd sailor hat. The duck is the pilot of their ship, since the sole human of the group still can't drive. "We don't have any other leads at the moment."

"Okay, so it's settled," the boy nodded. "Let's head to Twilight-"

Suddenly, the ship shook.

"Gawrsh! What was that?" The dog exclaimed before it shook again, making them fall to the floor.

~o~

"Ugh." A dull throb is what woke him. His eyes are still closed, but he didn't dare move. Not yet. It took him a while for the throb to dull out before he could open his eyes.

The room is… dimly lit. All around him is just grey. As his vision cleared, he got a better few. The room isn't grey… it's made of stone! He blinked before he slowly pushed himself up, wincing a little. Now that he sat up, he carefully looked around. The source of light is a couple of torches…and looking down, he noticed that his bed is mostly made of hay with a blanket over it. He also noticed that his shirt and jacket are missing. Frantic, he looked around before he saw them next to him, folded up.

He grabbed his shirt, fingering them before he looked down at his chest. It's got bandages on it, with spots of blood on it. How did he get-?

Suddenly, the memories rushed back to him. "Guys!" He exclaimed as he moved to get up- but groaned as his wounds acted up. "Ugh…!"

A door opened up. "You ought to be careful, lad," a guttural voice, laced with a heavy accent. "I just patched you up, pup."

The boy looked up…but had to crane his neck to gaze up…and he sweated a little at the being that literally towered over him. The man is stocky, and… not to mention HUGE! And not just in height, but… he looked like he could snap him like a twig. He mostly wore a brown half open tunic with a large belt around his waist, some armor around his shoulders, a blue scarf/cape around his neck, armored boots and vambraces with chains around them. The large man has thin white markings and a blue tattoo on his left arm, red hair that is braided at the back, mostly bald at the top and a beard and sideburns.

The large man chuckled at his look. "Then again, it been a while since I last saw someone of yer kind."

The boy blinked. "Uh…"

"But, looks like ya woke up! You been out for a few hours, boy!"

"I have?" The boy asked.

"Aye, nearly sunset now," the giant of the man said. "I'm surprised that you survived that crash."

The young man looked away. "Well… I'm somewhat hard to kill." In some cases, that is true. There had been some close calls but… he shook his head. "Uh… who are you?"

The giant man slowly crouched down, holding out a finger. "Call me Ulthane."

The boy blinked. "Uh… okay," he muttered, staring at it. He reached out…and takes the finger, shaking it. "I'm Sora."

"Odd name for a pup," Ulthane commented. "But, it's yer name all the same."

"…Right," Sora muttered before he released the massive finger. As Ulthane stood up, the boy looked around. "So… where am I?"

"Other than ma home, this area is called 'The Hollow'."

"The… Hollow?"

"Used to be a part of human civilization," Ulthane explained. "The 'subways' that humans used to go around."

"Huh…" Sora let out.

He noticed Ulthane gave him a particular look before he turned, heading to the door. "Rest up now. Yer not good enough to get up now."

Considering on how roughed up he was…yeah. "Uh… okay," Sora nodded before the door opened and closed. After Ulthane had left, hearing his footsteps receding, Sora muttered to himself, "…he seems nice." Still… how did he end up on other world? He hoped that his friends got away safely…

Sighing, he laid back down, pulling the blanket over him. At least it's warm. He got himself comfortable before he went back to sleep.

~o~

The next morning, Sora awoke to notice that there's some bread and a cup next to him. Taking them, he slowly ate his breakfast – he hadn't eaten at all last night, but it's no reason to scarf his food down. And at least the water is fresh.

Sure enough, he finished his food, and looked around. It's still the same, but…with a start, he noticed his weapon leaning against the wall on the other end.

The Kingdom Key Keyblade. It's a simple looking weapon with a grey shaft, a yellow guard around the hilt, with the token being the hidden Mickey, and the teeth looking like a part of a crown is cut out.

Had Ulthane noticed it?

If he had, why didn't he mention anything about it? Better yet, why is it out?

Looking at himself, Sora felt that he felt a bit better in moving around a bit. Slowly, he stood up, planting his feet onto the ground. He had been laying down for a while, so he should at least stretch his legs. His legs wobbled a little before he caught himself onto the wall. Slowly, he moved away, standing straight for several moments.

When he's sure that his legs won't give out on him, he slowly began to put his shirt and jacket back on, followed by his shoes and his crown necklace. He glanced at his weapon for a moment before he decided to head to the door.

He wouldn't need his weapon at the moment.

It took a bit of effort to open the door but… he got it open. With a sigh, we walked around the 'home' for a little bit, exploring a little. He found a 'kitchen' but looked rather old fashioned, with an old stone stove, a stone table with wooden stools (big enough for someone as massive as Ulthane to utilize) and another large door.

There are others, but it's pretty rude to just go into other people's rooms.

He perked up as he got further into the hall. His ears picked up on something – a sound of something hard clanging against something metallic. Curiosity filled him as he followed it to the source. As he got closer, the sound got louder and louder until he found another large door. He pushed it open… and felt uncomfortable when he felt a mixture of heat and cool. He quickly found the source when he noticed that there are to parts of the 'moat' with one side filled with water, and the other filled with lava. Several more clangs were heard before the boy looked up to see Ulthane having a hammer and hitting something on an anvil. There are tools around a concave area away from the lava and water, from pincers, among others.

Sora approached him, as Ulthane said, "Nice to see you awake, pup."

"Uh… yeah. Morning," Sora nodded before he looked around a bit. Glancing at the large man, he noted that he seems to be busy with something. So, Sora decided to leave him alone for a while, exploring the rest of the place.

The rest of exploring didn't yield much, however, other than finding what seems to be an equipment room. He had SOME experience with finding some accessories… but not as much as much as equipment in terms of armor. Some of them looked kind of old, and there are other miscellaneous things.

Sora looked at each of them in interest, noticing the design on all of them, each of them vastly different from each other. There are lances, shields, and some other forms of weapons as well. Yet these didn't look like they've been in use for a while, with some of them rusted.

Sora picked up one of the weapons, looking over at it. "Huh… some of these look… odd," he murmured. This weapon looked… demonic. Who would use a weapon that looks like this?

He sets it down, looking around one more time before leaving the room.

Exploring a bit more reveals that there is a garden at the 'back', with what a person would expect, like tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, etc. He wondered where Ulthane get his meat from.

But other than those, that's it. The garden is nice but he wanted to know on what the world is like. He felt a little strong enough to walk around… but not enough to defend himself. After his battle with Sephiroth the first time a year ago, he did something stupid and hurt himself some more when he thought he was healed enough. He was forced to be put into bed rest for a while as a result. He isn't going to do the same mistake twice; he isn't THAT dumb.

Though, he isn't sure on what else to do.

With a sigh he headed back to where the room he woke up at is.

And for the rest of the day, he just sat around or paced a bit. He wanted to go out and do something, not sit around. But he isn't …sure about what's out there.

He thought about a lot on what could be here on this world. Earlier, he held onto his weapon. Not only did he notice something wrong… the Heartless didn't appear at all. While it's a good thing, since it also means that the Organization isn't here… it's also a bad thing as well. But it also disturbed him. Usually, Heartless goes after people because of the darkness in their hearts, whether they are humans or not. But… if there's no Heartless then… where are the people? He wanted to ask Ulthane about it… but… something tells him that he may not want to know on what happened.

Something felt really, really wrong. He felt it crawling in his skin.

With a sigh, Sora stood up and headed off.

One way or the other, he'll have to ask the large man about it. He didn't know when, but he'll ask him eventually.

Brok and Sindri are based off of the Huldra brothers from God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarök. The Dwarves.

I have some liberties with the lore of the story and the Darksiders world. I know that the Makers are nearing extinction according to Darksiders II…but there may be survivors hiding out from the Corruption. Do note that the only ones who know of it were the first 'sightings' back then before the seals were forged, a couple of instances like the cult Death had dealt with, and in Darksiders II. The first sightings were mostly forgotten because no one knew where the Corruption actually came from. And they thought it was a one-time thing, a concoction of Lucifer's.

And over the years, the sightings are far fewer, and most races were more concerned about their own dealings and problems to even notice what was going on within the Well of Souls nor the Tree of Life. Though Earth's Tree of Life was destroyed after Lucifer's sabotage onto the human race, it can still…leak out from other sources (ie, angels and demons who somehow found their way to Earth). Some DID notice, and the identity of the source, but…

Anyway, the Makers have a similar ability to what the Dwarves could do with their limited magic/magick.

And that's it for the lore corner. More to come for this universe I'm making.