Sora didn't expect things to have changed so, so much ever since he and his friends, Donald and Goofy, fell asleep in that mysterious room…
All he heard was a voice saying "Wake up, Sora", to then find his friends waiting up for him outside.
Nonetheless, he hugged them as soon as he could, knowing that he wasn't alone at all, and finding Kairi, Riku and the King wasn't going to be that difficult.
Surprisingly, this adventure would be exactly like that.
After travelling around Twilight Town, talking to Hayner, Pence and Olette, as well as shedding tears for them… But, why?
He never talked to them before, but somehow… It was like a part of him was connected to their hearts.
Maybe he would find an answer in the future, or so he hoped.
His first surprise was finding out that many worlds ended up disappearing for a currently unknown reason… And only small amounts of survivors appeared into a newer nexus world, since Tranverse Town was among those worlds who perished.
"I know this may be hard to process young man, but rest assured, we will not rest until we find a solution to restore them back to normal." Said the wise magus Yen-Sid in a supporting tone, wishing to cheer up his student's mood before continuing his dialogue. "Yuuko, may you proceed?"
"Of course, old friend." Said a young woman wearing a reddish kimono with butterfly like patterns, long dark hair and reddish eyes in a kind tone. "Tell us, Sora, Donald and Goofy… What do you know about Kingdom Hearts?"
"Isn't that place where all hearts are gathered somehow, gawrsh?" Said Goofy in a confused tone.
"It also is a source of wisdom and power." Added Donald. "Found out after being beaten to a pulp by Ansem."
"It's partially true, but there's a bit more about that entity…" Said Yuuko as she took a deep breath. "For Kingdom Hearts is more like a protector towards a place nicknamed "The Swirl of the Root"."
A place where all hearts, no matter if they were good, neutral or bad, would eventually converge to start again via reincarnation, as well as many different possibilities, those being past, present or future timelines, and the origin of every single dimension existing in the Multiverse…
"Ansem is gone, thanks to your valiant efforts." Said Yen Sid in a somewhat hopeful tone. "But now, there is a menace perhaps even stronger than him… For instead of a single foe, there are thirteen of them…"
Organization XIII.
A mysterious group of people who wanted to access Kingdom Hearts, or more likely the "Root" behind it, allowing them to perform any kind of spell, like restoring people's hearts, gathering lots of information, or who knows, even resetting reality back to zero…
"As you all know, when someone gets consumed by darkness, their heart leaves their body and it becomes a Heartless." Said Yuuko as she made a projection. "But… What happens to their soul, body and mind?"
"All three aspects are melded together to create an entity known as a Nobody." Said Yen Sid as he created another projection. "They do not really have emotions, so they use their memories and thoughts to pretend they still have a heart…"
Apparently, only those who had a strong will could create a Nobody, and even then, it was quite deformed or corrupted… For someone to leave a human Nobody behind, it means they were extremely strong in life.
"Sometimes, Nobodies end up fading away, releasing their souls as Wraiths, or some lesser Spirits, while their mind's lingering thoughts and essence would be some sort of fuel for those entities, until they are destroyed, or let themselves return to Kingdom Hearts." Added Yuuko in a neutral tone, knowing that their current topic was quite dark compared to others.
"Guess we will face a lot more difficulties in this journey, isn't that, right?" Asked Sora in a somewhat worried tone, before giving a small smile. "But as long as we're together, I'm sure we'll rescue our friends and save others too."
"Your optimism is noble, Sora… But sadly, if you three were to fight on your own, you would probably be outmatched or even killed." Answered Yen Sid. "You all have some of your powers, but they are very reduced, I would say you have a 10% of them, so it may take a few months to until they can be regained."
"There are also other types of enemies you will have to face, those being more connected to humanity's core…" Said Yuuko as she projected various symbols.
— Saber: Servants of the Sword.
— Archer: Servants of Bows/Projectiles.
— Lancer: Servants of Lances/Spears.
— Rider: Servants of the Mount.
— Caster: Servants of Sorcery.
— Assassin: Servants of Assassination.
— Berserker: Servants of Wrath.
— Ruler: Servants of Mediation.
— Avenger: Servants of Vengeance.
Those who did great deeds, be it good or bad, are registered in a unique place called "The Throne of Heroes", where they can be summoned using special objects known as "Catalysts", to fight in a war for the "Holy Grail", in order to get a pair of wishes, one for the Master and the other for the Servant.
"Other worlds possess a lot of "Leylines", which are made from "Mana", the natural magical energy found around worlds, being easily used to summon Heroic Spirits, as that is impossible in a more modernized world." Said Yen Sid. "What we use to create spells is called "Od", our inner magical energy, which can be amplified using external mana and so on."
"This brings me back to those magecraft lessons…" Said Donald in an exhausted tone, remembering his training to unlock magic circuits and discovering his elemental affinity. "Learn as much as you can Sora, this information is worth millions."
In order to save as much magical energy as they could, Yuuko used a spell to analyze the heroic trio elemental affinities, which were:
Donald: Average One (being able to use all five basic elements, which were Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Void).
Goofy: Earth and Water (although he couldn't directly use magic, it allowed him small bursts of defense when needed, having lots of endurance and fluidity in his movements).
Sora: Wind and Water, alongside Light (while Light and Darkness weren't counted as elements, many magi wanted to include them as well, even while "Average Ones", didn't have them as affinities for some reason).
"Until you regain most of your strength, try to stick using those elements you have affinities for, as they reduce the magical energy needed to create them by half." Added Yen Sid in a kind tone. "To end this lecture, we would like to introduce the last type of dangerous enemy, the Undead…"
In a nutshell, they were classified like this:
— True Ancestors: those who were created using Crimson Moon as their base, mediators of the World… Most of them eventually became corrupted as they succumbed to their bloodlust (except for their Princess, Arcueid Brunestud), and they drank human's blood, creating their own descendants.
— Dead Apostles: humans who were transformed into vampires either by magecraft, or by having a True Ancestor/another Dead Apostle drink their blood. They're incredibly strong, possessing unique powers called "Idea Blood", based on their own "Origin", though it only applied to the strongest Dead Apostles, which were 27.
— Ghouls: remains of living beings that need to eat both flesh and blood to reconstruct their decaying bodies, usually being minions of stronger vampires.
— The Dead: humans or other living beings that got their blood sucked by a vampire, and any blood they drink will be transferred to their masters.
There were other entities like Dragons, Fairies, Demons and Beasts, but to save time, their data would be given into a grimoire made both by Yuuko and Yen-Sid. It had many data about enemies, alongside recipes to synthetize in Moogle's shops, which would come handy, as many materials could be found by defeating foes along the way.
"I'm sure Jiminy will like to write in here, it has a lot more space." Said Sora in a cheery tone. "So now, what do we do?"
"Yen Sid will stay here to take care of some business, while I'm going to take you three to my own world, so you can see some of your old acquaintances." Answered Yuuko as she opened a portal below Sora and his friends, to finally walk towards it and activate it, leaving The Mysterious Tower for now.
As Yen Sid stood alone, he hoped that they would be able to find those three keys to unlock the main road towards the worlds… As they existence, alongside that of their former visitors, were the last hope the timelines had.
"Am I interrupting something?" Asked a young man in his early twenties as he entered the room. He had long, light orange colored hair, which was tied into a ponytail, alongside greenish eyes. His clothes were reminiscent of a doctor/scientist, having a lot, white and aquamarine lab coat, as well as white pants and shoes.
"Not at all, Romani." Answered Yen Sid as he welcomed his friend. "How is young Tachie doing these days?"
"Why don't you ask that to herself?" Said Romani as he welcomed a younger girl, perhaps around Sora's age. She had dark hair and purple eyes, while her clothes were a common high school Japanese uniform, being mostly black, white and red, alongside brown shoes.
"Hello…" Said Tachie in a timid tone. "It is an honor to meet such a legendary magus."
"It is also an honor to meet you as well." Answered Yen Sid. "If it wasn't for Chaldea's support, we would not have been able to finish the newer Gummi Ship on time."
"So, are the newer heroes ready?" Asked Romani in a hopeful tone. "Can't wait to see them fight for justice against that Organization."
"Since they still have to face their own quests, perhaps we will find some answers in the future." Answered Yen Sid. "Meanwhile, would you two like tea and some cakes? Yuuko brought them with her a few hours ago, and they are still warm."
Nodding, the kind hearted doctor and her student thanked the old master and started to eat, as having a warm meal could do a lot of wonders for people's mental health.
It was usually sawn as a sign of hope.
Something many worlds needed right now.
Hello, the author here! :D
Here's the second chapter of the series, this alongside the next one will serve as short introductory episodes, and Chapter's 4, 5 and 6 will be filled with tons of action and adventure!
Also wanted to use Proto-Mashu/Tachie in a story, and this one will be perfect for that. Her personality is similar to canon Mashu, but it will have some unique traits while keeping her original concept intact.
Thanks for everything and please take care! :D