Mickey blinked, hard. Three times. Four. It didn't matter how often he shut his eyes; they just kept opening on the same thing. Long, arching hallways of polished, ancient wood, ornate with carvings of bizarrely beautiful stars and abstract shapes. The rug stripping down the endless floor was a royal blue, covered in twisting, kaleidoscopic doodles that matched the bright yellow of his shoes. Peer though he might, the Mouse couldn't manage to see the end of the corridor he stood in, whether he looked in front or behind. It was peacefully silent.
His toony eyes scrunched again, but his odd, majestic surroundings didn't disappear. If they were real, why was he feeling a sense of displacement, like he was waking from a dream—or maybe entering one? A gloved finger reached to scratch between his ears, and Mickey furrowed his brow in confusion. Come to think of it, how had he gotten here? ...Where had he been before, though?
"Huh...wh-where am I?" The befuddled Mouse asked himself, answered by lonely echoes. Was this weird, ancient place abandoned?
As if in reply, a soft, light blue glow bloomed from a doorway some distance down the hall. Mickey straightened up and gaped at it. Before he'd really decided what to do, the toon was tip-toeing across the carpeted floor towards this new sight with a growing feeling in his belly. Aside from confusion and curiosity, he felt...nostalgia.
While Mickey went, peering at rows of locked doors with untold mysteries no doubt sealed behind, and odd mirrors of all shapes and sizes, and carved tables and pedestals sporting statues of unknown contraptions, he couldn't shake the notion that he'd been in this place before.
Even though he ooed and ahhed at the interesting sights this hallway had to offer, inwardly, the Mouse was beginning to recall images, like déjà-vu, though he wasn't quite sure if they were real or not. Nearing the room the blue glow came from, he found himself imagining these almost-memories, flashing through his brain like a slideshow; walking brooms, smoke that twisted into fantastic shapes, long, artistic fingers, glittering galaxies viewed through star-shaped windows, buckets slopping with water, a work table glowing with an amazing, miniaturized land, a huge book with ancient writing...
Suddenly the scenes all clicked together, and Mickey knew where he was as soon as he laid eyes on the source of the blue glow. He had come to a large room, one that was completely bare and dark save for a lone tea-table in it's very center. There, upon that table, sat a radiant, pointed hat. It shone blue with white star and moon patterns, and emitted, even from this distance, a feeling of power.
With a quiet gasp, Mickey stepped closer. He was too awed by the sight of the hat to say, 'Well, I'll be!' or otherwise give voice to his surprise. He knew this magical hat. He knew this room, this whole place. He knew it was a Tower, a secret, special, impossible Tower filled cavernously with rooms and sights and wonders that a lifetime of studying couldn't brush the surface of. He knew he had once been an Apprentice here, and he knew that the owner of the Tower was an incomparable Sorcerer called—
A tall, robed figure stepped from nowhere into the azure glow of the magic hat. His sharp gaze stared from beneath large gray eyebrows. His matching beard fell behind his long arms, tucked away in great blue sleeves. Upon his head sat a hat almost identical to the one on the table, though it seemed ancient in comparison.
"Yen Sid, sir!" Mickey scrambled back, gulping, feeling suddenly sheepish. That, too, was familiar. He always felt this way when his Master entered a room. Normally he would have hidden as soon as he heard the old man coming, just out of intimidation, but Yen Sid had appeared so suddenly that he hadn't had time...
Wait, thought Mickey, catching himself in confusion, When was I an apprentice here? Didn't I live in Toon Town? Where are Minnie and my pals? Is this a dream?
"Hello, Mickey." Yen Sid's quiet voice was like a thunderclap in the silent Tower's vast halls. Mickey was awed by his presence, as usual. But there was something different about him.
The Sorcerer looked...tired. Of course, Mickey remembered that he often 'retired' to his chambers after experimenting with magic. But this wasn't the same. There was a new depth of exhaustion in the elderly man's sharp face.
"H-hi." The high-voiced Toon folded his hands behind his back and grinned shyly at Yen Sid. "Uh...if ya don't mind my asking, sir...what's goin on? Why am I here? I-I don't remember how I got here."
The robed figure took a deep breath. "I understand your confusion. Come. An explanation is in order, and we have much to discuss."
Mickey meekly obeyed as his Master strode regally past him, out through the door the Mouse had come in. He hesitated only a moment to turn and get one last look at the new sorcerer's hat, a smaller duplicate of the one Yen Sid was wearing. To his surprise, as he turned to go, the hat floated from the table and followed!
Mickey jumped and scrambled to catch up with his host, spooked, but the hat silently wafted, on an invisible, magic breeze, behind.
Yen Sid was speaking as they walked, passing various doors that opened creakily as the old man moved by. "In answer to your third observation, I am the one who brought you here. Your other questions will take more time to explain; you must listen carefully, for time...time is now something we do not have, even here, in my Tower."
Mickey had to trot to keep up with the longer, though invisible, strides of the robed man. His round head was tilted up to watch Yen Sid's bearded face, and, from time to time, glance at the floating sorcerer's hat that accompanied them. "Wh-whaddaya mean? I think I remember time being real slow here."
"Yes, but that is because my Tower is normally located in the space between worlds, a kind of twilight zone, where I can observe and study unseen. Now, it has been removed to a new location."
Yen Sid's voice was so low and deep, yet quiet, that Mickey was glad he had such great ears. He tried to concentrate on what that voice was saying despite the libraries, tables with contraptions, and a room encompassed by a giant fountain, to name a few of the things they passed on their walk through the mystical Tower.
Mickey was about to risk asking another question when they finally stopped, coming to a huge, open, star-shaped hole in the stone wall that acted as a window. Being short, he had to walk up and lean over the pointed sill to see out of it. As soon as he did, his mouth dropped open. "Gosh..."
They were hovering thousands of yards above the strangest landscape he had ever seen. Deep violet clouds mixed in glittering gold mist floated by and, with a weak wave of Yen Sid's hand, parted to reveal a continent that bore a vague resemblance to a patchwork quilt seated in a deep blue ocean. Directly below them, the wilds of a savannah, like the safaris Mickey enjoyed, sprawled open, green, dotted with herds of African wildlife and capped by a huge monolithic rock shaped like a gaping pair of jaws. The greenery ended at a long delta river on the northern end, boxed in by a cavernous Gorge to the west, and ending in a tropical jungle that led to a beach in the east. Across the river the land was marked by a long stretch of white elephant skulls and bones, and beyond that it became rotted, dark, and desert-like, spiked with termite mounds.
"The African Pridelands." Explained Yen Sid, and the clouds the Tower was nestled in wafted in response to his deep bass. "The shadowed area you see across the river border is known by the animals as the Outlands, inhabited by hyenas and other loathsome scavengers."
Mickey watched as he waved his hand again, and more of the purple shroud that had been blocking a full view cleared away. Now the Mouse could see the desert becoming more golden, the dunes taller. It was so big that, without any feeling of movement at all, the Tower floated higher, higher, until Mickey could see all of it. The desert was marked by one or two oases, but otherwise was a vast ocean of sand shimmering under heat waves. There were a few settlements speckling the expanse but the largest, by far, was a bountiful kingdom, comprised mostly of varying sandstone buildings, capped by a huge, orb-and-tower palace.
"To the north, beyond the Outlands, is the Great Sand Desert, which joins the Seven Deserts of Arabia. Agrabah is the most notable kingdom. The forest you see there, on the other side where the sand ends, are the Jungles of India. They hold many wild animals, including the wolves of the Seeonee and the monkey hordes of the Ancient Ruins. The jungle reaches into the mountain range you may notice, capped in snow. Through the Tung Chow Pass, though you cannot glimpse it from here, you come to the land of China and it's Great Wall. Within those walls is the Forbidden City, ruled by an Emperor."
Mickey struggled to keep up, stretching on tiptoes to try and glimpse the mentioned 'Great Wall'. Of course, all he could see were the huge mountains the Jungle of India grew up into, going from greenery to icy peaks, but they were tall enough to hide a good bit of the land on the other side in their shadow, even from this bird's eye view.
He turned his head to the west, lifting a hand to scratch between his ears but stopping when it brushed the still-floating sorcerer's hat, which had drifted closer as if it wanted to look, too.
"On the western side of the Pridelands is the perilous Gorge. Across it, the Outback of Australia begins. The coast of Sydney is the only current available port, and sailing directly west from it will lead you to the island of Kauai, Hawaii. To the north of Sydney, the small swathe of architecture you see is Paris, while further on and neighboring China is Thebes, an Ancient Greek city of turmoil removed from time."
Mickey's eyes darted to and fro over the peculiar landscape, trying to follow the Sorcerer's slow but unbelievable words.
"Down the southern coast of the Outback, in that patch of swamp, is the city of New Orleans. It connects to the south border of the Pridelands. In the Southeast corner of the continent, Sherwood Forest leads to Nottingham, a town in an anthropomorphic animal version of England, and a human London. In the northeast corner, touching the Arabian Desert, the Outlands, and the Andes Mountains is the vast Great Forest. Through it even further to the east is the coastal city of New York. Furthest to the north, the Andes Mountains, ruled by Emperor Kuzco, descend into the Amazon Rainforest."
Mickey felt the weight of Yen Sid's gaze and knew his master was judging whether or not he had followed. To avoid that, he stammered out, "Uh...what's that island out there? To the East?" He pointed at a distant crescent-shape against the ocean's horizon, barely visible through the purple-gold-glitter clouds.
"That is the kingdom of Arendelle. It is ruled by Queen Elsa who was born with magical snow manipulating abilities." His heavy eyebrows seemed to point down at the mouse, as if cuing him to ask another question.
Mickey obliged. "Gosh, sir, I may not know much, but last time I checked, China's not supposed to connect with Paris—a-and Africa rub elbows England—normally." He offered a sheepish chuckle that wilted under the steady gaze of the Sorcerer. "What is this place?"
Yen Sid drew in a deep breath and turned to face the view out the window. Mickey even caught a rare glimpse of his hands as the robed man leaned uncharacteristically against the sill. His sharp gaze looked down at the continent below. "The star-shaped land you see below is a gathering of realms. It was I who brought them, plucked them from their dimensions and sewed them together here, in this temporary land. I took each kingdom, wilderness, and city, and welded a land mass out of them in the center of the Blue Sea, which is a mermaid-dwelt ocean ruled by King Triton." He added the last part as if he had just thought of it, which was unlike the sharp wizard. "Now they are all as surely connected as any world—a Merged World, if you will."
The Mouse's mouth had long since dropped open in shock for several reasons. First, the magical wonder of the topic of their conversation. Second, Yen Sid's mannerisms themselves. His memories of this place and his time as a Sorcerer's Apprentice were jumbled, like a dream, but he knew this regal man of mystery. He always had perfect posture. His presence commanded a room, literally; most of the time, the room and it's furniture seemed to be leaning towards him, waiting for orders! Mickey had never seen him like this. Yen Sid never had to lean on anything for support. His eyes were always sharper than the tips of stars. How much energy had it taken for him to rip kingdoms out of their worlds and knit them together?
But there was an even bigger question sitting like a blot in Mickey's brain. He finally found the words to ask it after groping the air helplessly with his gloves. "You took all those folks from their worlds...golly. But—but Master...why didja do it?"
Yen Sid reached up with one skeletal hand and pressed fingers to his brow with precision, closing those infinite eyes as if he, of all people, had a headache. His answer followed a moment of silence, and Mickey dared to wonder if he was gathering his thoughts. "You will remember, my former apprentice, how, in my studying different dimension and worlds, I remained detached, above and invisible, safely secret in this Tower. I never interfered with the lives, timelines, or problems, however desperate, of any world I observed. Destinies are decided by the actions of individuals, not by my outside influence. That is the rule. I only watched and recorded what I witnessed."
Mickey's black brow furrowed. Actually, he didn't remember any of that, but it felt right, like a missing piece being clicked back in to the puzzle of his brain.
"However," the Master continued with a gravity that sent the second sorcerer's hat dipping to the Mouse's shoulder level, "Two nights ago, I broke that rule."
To avoid his former student's expression of surprise, the man turned aside into a room nearby, which Mickey could've sworn wasn't there before. They walked in, the second hat drifting along like a shadow of the one on Yen Sid's head. The Mouse stared. His eyes were getting sore from all of the staring.
The room they were in was huge. It was domed at the top, like an observatory. It was oval-shaped. Positioned in a circle in the center were ten half-pillars, pedestals, at Mickey's eye level. They were clearly for display, but they were empty. As he got used to the size, the Toon began noticing details. Scorch marks on the floor. A fracture in the wall. One of the pedestals was blackened all down one side. In fact, even the magical floating lights were dim and dipped low to the ground.
Yen Sid placed a palm on one of the pedestals. "Some time ago, I felt a great heave in the energy of my Tower. I inspected the various worlds that I had been observing for the cause of this outburst and discovered ten magical Orbs."
"Orbs?" Mickey asked.
Yen Sid lifted his hand and waved it tiredly without so much as looking up. The Mouse suddenly found a large book, the cover heavy but new, resting in his gloved hands. It opened on it's own, displaying blank, leathery pages. Mickey looked up for an explanation, got distracted by that pesky duplicate Sorcerer's cap (which was hovering as if reading over his shoulder), and when he glanced back down, he found a glow coming from the pages. It bloomed outwards and became a moving image, lifelike enough for the Mouse to want to reach out and touch the miniature picture.
The deep voice of his Master continued. "These Orbs were mystical concentrations of pure, untainted Good energy; entirely magical, unfathomably powerful."
The image Mickey was looking at followed along with the Sorcerer's narration. It showed a large golden ball of light, radiating and pulsing gently. Smaller eddies of light, like large fireflies, twinkled and danced around the central core. It was just a ball of light, but even the picture struck the same cord of awe Mickey felt when he was around Yen Sid. The image shimmered, and nine more identical Orbs joined the first. "Where did they come from?"
The blue-clad man leaned on one of the empty pedestals. "It is impossible to be certain, but I believe they were created from pivotal points in ten heroes' timelines—ten 'happy endings', if you will—from different worlds. I removed them from the worlds they were created in and brought them here, to my Tower."
The book's pages flipped to show a new scene with the Ten Orbs hovering over the same pedestals, now empty, that Mickey stood near. He glanced up, curiosity getting the better of his shyness towards his Master. "G-gosh, didn't the heroes get mad when you took their Orbs?"
Yen Sid's pinprick eyes stabbed at Mickey frightfully, and he shrank away. But the old man merely continued, his deep bass weary. "The ten heroes, in their different worlds, were oblivious to the existence of the Orbs. I took them here to study and ensured that none of them knew anything about it. Understand, their power, the sheer possibilities of the energies they produce, is without equal in any realm I have ever observed. The fact that separate worlds could produce ten magical essences so identical to one another is unprecedented. In short, I believed they would be safer here. In my pride, I thought that the heroes and their worlds would be better off without such an unnatural addition to their existences."
He paused, swept one cloaked arm around to indicate the room. The hovering lamps shone out a little less weakly in response. "I was absorbed entirely in studying them. I took to calling them Virtues—the Ten Virtues, for each could not only strengthen, but create feelings of Good in any being who came close to them: bravery, kindness, humility, wisdom, selflessness, love, hope, happiness, contentedness, and trust. They could help anyone relive their happiest memories. They responded strongly to any good intentions in the hearts of creatures around them. And their energy, as I have said, could be tapped into limitlessly. I learned all of this in but a short time, and let down my guard in my fascination, believing the Tower to be secure."
"What happened?" Mickey asked, glancing at the empty room. Wasn't the Tower safe? In all of his life, in every adventure, Mickey could never remember getting into or getting out of this Tower of his own will.
Yen Sid closed his eyes. "I was wrong. I am not the only being of great magical power. Three of the most formidable magical villains I have ever known of—an Arabian Sorcerer named Jafar, an undead ghoul called The Horned King, and a corrupt fairy of darkness, Maleficent—they sensed the Ten Orbs' power, as well. I witnessed their demises in their respective worlds from my Tower, but I believe they found a way to return from the dead. With their combined power, they were able to enter my Tower and try to take the Virtues for themselves."
The book's pages now showed three dark figures appearing in the room out of swirling clouds of green, purple, and scarlet fog. One was an antlered fiend covered in rust-colored rags. Bony. Silent. Regal. The second was a sinister, tall figure in Middle Eastern black-and-blood-like robes and a matching turban, with a twisted beard and a golden serpent staff. The third was a feminine form, draped all in black from horned head to toe, carrying a staff of her own with a jewel topping it that matched her pale green skin. Her eyes were as heartless and savvy as any nightmare incarnate.
The three intruders closed in on the nearest Orb. The next page showed their hands, one pair artistic, one clawed, one bony, raised around the Virtue, and Mickey could imagine the awful power between the trio. To his horror, the picture of the Orb turned from a warm yellow to an inky, anti-radiant purple. It swirled, blotting out any light that the Orb had shown before.
"I found them attempting to turn the Virtues into something else—an anti-good, corrupt, dark version of their original form which I called a Spite. Surely any Spite would have unknown abilities and effects as powerful as the Orbs were when they were in their Good state, if the Wicked Three succeeded. I intervened."
Listening while he watched the magic book's pages flip, Mickey almost felt bad for the villains when it showed Yen Sid's sudden presence breaking on the room like a thunderclap. He saw the three evil ones turn to meet him, the Virtue they had been turning into a Spite waver between purple and yellow, then begin to return to normal whole the other untouched nine glowed with the heat of Yen Sid's own good intentions. Maleficent raised her staff and shot an arc of poison-green electricity at Yen Sid, who deflected it with upraised arms. Jafar, mouth open wide in a crazed cackle Mickey couldn't hear, leapt forward with a flash of misty red sand issuing from his serpent's mouth, but Yen Sid prevailed through that, as well.
Page after page of the sorcerers dueling in the very room he stood in now, three evil against one good, struggling for every inch.
"I do not know whether, in my full power as I was then, I would have been outmatched by their combined efforts, for our battle was interrupted." Yen Sid's voice changed the book's scene once more. "The Ten Orbs became volatile and unstable as the fight raged on. I believe that the Good power within me, combined with the Evil within all three of the intruders, confused their nature. Like magnets with their negative ends drawn too close together, the Ten Virtues dispersed. They could not remain in the presence of such warring Good and Evil together."
Mickey watched as the image showed all ten Orbs vibrating, then suddenly shooting away as if thrown by some invisible force, right through the walls, out of view, out of the room, out of the Tower, leaving the battling beings still and exhausted, in shock. Gone. Vanished. "Where'd the Orbs go?"
"That, my apprentice, even I do not know. The battle left me weakened. I could no longer sense their presences, but I believed them to have exited my Tower and scattered into the worlds I was observing at the time. They are somewhere on that mismatched continent below."
The book slipped shut and dissolved into thin air, but Mickey didn't lower his palms, still desperate for more answers. "So...that's why you merged the worlds. To find the Orbs before those Wicked Three guys." He resisted the urge to look around nervously. "Where are they, anyway?"
"After the Orbs disappeared, they fled my Tower together. If they had not been working as a team, I would not be taking such...drastic measures. The fact that those particular individuals are combining their efforts brings a danger, greater than any I have ever known, to threaten all worlds. That is, as you said, why I chose the lands below—out of all those that I have studied—and tied them together in this dimension. They may be able to withstand the Great Struggle ahead."
"Great Struggle?" Mickey echoed, stepping toward the Sorcerer, who had turned to face him fully.
"Yes. The Wicked Three are trapped in the Merged Worlds; their powers are not strong enough to overcome my spell. But if they collect the Ten Virtue Orbs and turn them into Spites, not only will they overcome it, but they will have unlimited magical energy to ravage the lives and destinies of all heroes. Chaos, death, and evil would reign. This must not be allowed to happen."
Mickey felt like the magic lanterns around him; dim. Drooping under the weight of that news. Fading away into fear. He could see how weak his Master was; and Yen Sid was never weak. This world-merging spell must have been a doozy. How could they hope to...?
No. Mickey's chest swelled, inflated with determination. The feeling of despair was chased away. He glared defiantly at the room's little lamps, at the idea of giving up. The odds might be against them. It might seem impossible. It might beimpossible. But he wouldn't believe it was hopeless. Nothing was ever hopeless; not if you stuck up for what you believed in, not if you kept on trying and never quit. Besides...in my experience, its kind of fun to do the impossible.
"So, what will we do about it?" His high voice rang strongly, like the note of a clear bell in the ruined study.
It could've been his imagination, but Mickey almost thought he saw a glint of pride in the old man's eyes. He'd been watching the Mouse as if gauging his apprentice's reaction to the overload of crushing information. Now his posture straightened almost to it's old rigidity. He tilted his bearded chin up and looked down his hawk nose at his guest. "It was for this very courage and fortitude that I chose you, Mickey."
The Mouse's determined look slipped into a bashful grin. He rubbed the toe of one yellow shoe on the scorched floor. "Aw, gee...thanks, sir. I-I know I wasn't much of an Apprentice last time, but now that—"
A single upraised hand stopped him. "You misunderstand. You are no longer my Apprentice, Mickey. I have chosen you to be King."
Mickey's muzzle nearly touched his buttons, it opened so widely. "Huh? King? King of what?!"
Yen Sid's firm mouth almost curved in a smile, but he turned to face the pedestals again in thought before the Toon could be sure. "The Wicked Three will not work alone. If they found a way to return from the dead, they will surely use the same methods to resurrect other villains from various demises to join their cause. They believe they will be opposing me, no doubt, as they search for the Orbs."
"Won't they? I mean...you're not gonna help stop them?" The hero's heart rate was picking up. His brain felt like it was in a hurricane, it was being buffeted by so many waves of stunning news.
Yen Sid turned back to him, and the stony look on his face at the tiny note of judgement in Mickey's voice was as formidable as ever. "My spell did not only connect the chosen lands. It broke the language barrier between animals and people. It created portals for other worlds to reach the Merged Worlds. It sent out a magical call to arms to every hero I have ever observed, great and small, no matter what their species, age, gender, background, to come here and join the coming Struggle. It brought you here. All in one great moment. Such a spell has never been accomplished in the history of any timeline, in the adventures of any realm. My powers are greatly diminished. I have very little left. If the destinies of all Good beings are to be saved, the heroes will have to fight for them themselves."
His booming bass had intensified as he went on. Mickey was practically cowering animatedly by the time the lecture was through.
His master had done everything he could. There was no sense in asking him to do more; they had to keep moving forward. The Mouse didn't dare reply, only looked at the Sorcerer apologetically.
Yen Sid closed his glinting eyes once more and seemed to exhale. "The Forces of Good will need a leader, my former Apprentice. I will not lead them. It will be you. And you will not be alone."
Mickey felt a shift, ever so small, in the air behind him. It turned warm, then cool, and when he turned to understand why he felt as if he were being watched, he saw his friends standing, blinking, in a befuddled group.
"Pluto! Minnie! Daisy, fellas! What are you guys doin' here?" The Mouse's voice seemed to snap the six anthropomorphic animals out of their trances.
Minnie Mouse leaped at him first. "Oh, Mickey!" He caught her and she clung to him, polka-dot dress rustling as Pluto bounded around them, woofing loudly. "What is this place? How did we get here?"
"Gawrsh." Goofy lifted his green hat to scratch at his head and yawn, Adam's apple bobbing. "I was havin' the strangest dream..."
"Me, too!" Daisy Duck smoothed her purple skirt and shrank against Donald Duck, squinting at the dim lamps floating around. "Wasn't I just picking out an outfit for tonight? ...Or...was I? Hold on, where are we?"
"Yeah..." Donald garbled quack agreed, and he glared blearily around the room from Goofy's elbow, as if daring it to get any more unfamiliar. "What's the big idea? What's that?" He pointed a feather at the Sorcerer's hat still lingering in the air around Mickey's ears.
"Take it easy, guys." Mickey offered, gently removing Minnie from his hug and reaching down to pay Pluto's head reassuringly. "We can explain everything...I-I think."
"We?" Minnie asked curiously, then gasped as her beau moved aside to reveal Yen Sid's tall, still figure encompassing them in his stare. "Oh!" She whispered faintly. The other four had similar reactions. Even Donald seemed intimidated by the strange Sorcerer's presence.
The man's blue robes shifted as he stepped closer. His shadow arced over the six friends. "Welcome to my Tower, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and Pluto. As my former Apprentice has just learned, we have much to discuss. Mickey needs your help."