~ Chapter I ~
The World Ends

It all started around... 2 weeks ago, I think. It's hard to tell now, time just blurs together. So much has happened.

It was all over the live news channels. Incidents of bodies found, with no apparent cause of death. It was like they had just died on the spot. Of course, that wasn't the case. Blurry videos of black, shadowy figures began to surface. The footage was mainly recorded on cellphones. It was hard to see what was going on, but it was something terrible. They were... reaching into people's chests, and pulled out something that glowed. Then the person just... died.

The media was rife with analysts and speculators, furiously theorising what was going on. At first the incidents were sporadic, though not isolated to any particular part of the world. Some happened in Africa, where locals thought it was demons, coming to take the souls of wrongdoers and heathens. Whatever was going on, no amount of science or reason explained what was going on. Anyone was a target; young, old, rich or poor.

Then it started happening more. Within 3 days, mass incidents occured. Great mobs of the shadows began to appear in cities, causing the death toll to spiral. Dead bodies littered the streets, governments were calling States of Emergency, citizens were in utter panic. Some churches offered salvation, and some believed; that is, until an entire Evangelist commune was wiped out, children and all. Fifty people. It was then that people really started to see that these creatures had no mercy or discrimination.

Mass evacuations began from the cities, not that they helped: the creatures simply attacked those inside the cars. It was complete chaos. News began to dissipate as the reporters, technicians and executives either died or fled for their lives. Entire cities of people were being completely wiped out, and the mobs of creatures grew into small armies. Many began to speculate it was the end of times. It certainly seemed that way.

Then it appeared. In the sky.

A giant heart-shaped moon. It would almost seem comical in other instances, but in this one, it only further sealed the belief, for some, that the end was nigh.

I don't remember much of what I was doing at this point in time; like I say, it's mostly a blur. I think that my family were trying to escape; my father was desperately trying to reassure my mother and sisters that everything would be alright, although I saw in his eyes that he knew we couldn't run far. The creatures were a worldwide incident now, and they would not stop to take what they wanted from us.

Now that I know what they wanted... well.

From there on it becomes a blur again. I think that my father sent off my mother and sisters in the family car; we would try and get supplies and catch up in "another" car. Dad had probably stolen it, not that anyone cared by this point. We were out on the streets, attempting to avoid the mobs of people in a crazed panic, whilst picking up supplies. Food and water, mainly. We couldn't afford to risk our lives for anything more.

Then they came. They were terrifying back then, great amorphous shadows with eyes that glowed bright, but still they seemed utterly dead. I remember my father, screaming at me to run, run for your fcuking life and keep yourself alive for your mother and your sisters, don't worry about me. He was standing in front of me, trying desperately to keep them away.

He didn't succeed. I don't think he survived, whatever happened to him. I only recall him being thrown aside. I want to grieve for him, but in this situation... I can't.

I must have been knocked out. I came to, and the once chaotic streets were silent. When I fully regained my senses, I wandered the streets for severl minutes, calling for someone, anyone, if they were still alive. There was no answer, and I came to realise the awful reality. The gravity of the situation, the final moments of my father defending me, the likely fate of the rest of my family... I couldn't take it. I simply fell to my knees, and I wept.

The creatures came whilst I was still on my knees, descending from rooftops, creeping from windows. Were they attracted by my sorrow? I do not know. I did not initially attempt to defend myself from them; I knew that I had no chance.

Then something happened which I simply cannot explain. My left arm began to tingle, and there was suddenly a light so blinding that it shocked me from my hopelessness. It glowed piercingly for a few seconds, and once it subsided, I saw that the creatures were acting somewhat apprehensively. They had come within a few metres of me beforehand; now, they were silently retreating back to wherever they had appeared from. At first, I did not understand, and to an extent, I still don't.

I only know it has something to do with this key.

I don't know how it got here, what it is, or where it came from, besides that it simply appeared in that shining light from nowhere. As illogical as it sounds, it's the only explanation i can derive. It is not heavy, in fact it doesn't appear to have any weight, although it looks to be made of a substantial metal. It is shaped, for lack of any better explanation, like a key, although massively oversized. It even has a keychain, which is shaped...well, like...

No. No, it can't be that. How could it possibly be...

It appears to be a weapon, of sorts. I have swung it at any of the creatures brave enough to still attack me, and they explode into black mist. A shining light leaves their body. It travels to the heart-like moon in the sky, the relevance of which I am only beginning to learn, from the key itself. It doesn't speak to me, but it holds some extraordinary knowledge and power. It is hard to describe without being able to feel it like I can. Am I the only one?

The knowledge is vast, but I can only decipher a little, for now. I can only "explain" it as the key does, because I have attempted to describe it rationally and it does not work. There is no rationality to this, even though it is happening in front of my own eyes. The creatures steal other beings' hearts, hearts being in the figurative sense. They have something to do with the new moon in the sky.

It has a name.

It's called Kingdom Hearts.

I do not know what this means, not yet. But it is enormously important. The black creatures are doing... something to Kingdom Hearts, and I must cease this. It has something to do with this key. That's all I'm able to comprehend, the rest of the information is too much for me to decipher. Figures in dark coats... an Organisation of thirteen... other worlds... sky, sea and land... I don't know what any of it means.

I am the one tasked to deal with this unimaginable problem. I need to fight these monstrous creatures, the ones with no heart, alone, in this desolate world, and I don't know why or what the ultimate goal to fighting them is. I am not sure I can bear the task, but when I think this, the key almost seems to talk to me. It seems to tell me that I cannot fail, I must not fail, or the consequences... I've been shown them. I would rather not be shown again. It is horror on a scale that I do not think is possible for the human mind to understand. Even I do not fully understand what it meant.

So I fight, to learn more, to learn what my ultimate goal is. I can only hope that fighting gives me the answers. The travelling, the fighting, the disjointed story forming in my head, the unspeakable consequences of failure... I am unsure if any normal person could ever handle it. I am not normal. Not now. I have a purpose that I must fulfill, despite not knowing the purpose or the means of achievement. I must bear these burdens, somehow. There is noone else to aid me; I have walked and walked, for what must be a hundred miles now, and I have seen no life of any kind. All I see is the lifeless; bodies strewn across streets and highways, many with the same look of utter horror as the last.

I am alone, and alone I very much figured I would stay, achieving this monumental, yet indecipherable, task. Now, though, I have the tiniest glimmer of hope.

Sometimes, as I lie, looking at the sea of stars, at Kingdom Hearts, I ask myself (or is it Kingdom Hearts?): why is it me? Why was I the one chosen for this? I look between the key, laid on the ground next to me, and Kingdom Hearts. There was no answer, at first. However, the more I ask, the more something seems to assemble itself in my mind. Am I being told something?

The last time I asked, a simple reply echoed in my head:

(There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky. You are not alone.)

~ End of Chapter I ~