Another shorter chapter this time. I'll try to have the next one longer, but just be prepared for some chapters to just be short compared to the others.
Chapter 4: The Realm Eternal:
The Realm Eternal – Bifrost Gate
"Welcome to Asgard," greeted Heimdall, gatekeeper of the Bifrost, as the magical delegation emerged from the swirling portal of Asgard's famous rainbow bridge into the Bifrost Gate that served as the midpoint between the flat portion of the bridge leading back to Asgard and the cylindrical half used to transport people and objects across the Nine Realms. Jake Long and the rest of the delegation from Earth dizzily walked forward as they tried to regain their balance after the disorienting experience of traveling by Bifrost. Heimdall informed them that Odin was waiting for them in the throne room, and a squad of guards arrived to escort them all to the palace.
The journey across the bridge into the city was remarkably pleasant. While the guards rode on horseback, Jake and the other fliers in the group took the opportunity to stretch their wings and fly above the bridge while some of the smaller members of the delegation rode on the back of the Centaur. It took almost half an hour to reach the palace, but thankfully they were provided with a banquet full of food upon their arrival so they could refresh themselves before the meeting. Looks like Rose'll be getting home first, Jake thought to himself with a chuckle. Regrettably, his cell phone didn't get coverage all the way in Asgard. He'd have to figure out how to send his wife a message that he'd be out really late.
Once everyone finished eating, they were lead from the banquet hall to the throne room. There, they all came face to face with the imposing and intimidating figure of Odin Borson, the Allfather, Forst Slayer, One-Eyed Warrior, and King of Asgard. The aging king held a variety of impressive titles and sobriquets in the magical community, and most of the delegation approached the throne with what would almost be called reverence. Jake however, thought everyone else in the group was going overboard. Despite Thor's repeated insistence to the media that the people of Asgard were not gods, the magical community had a tendency to ignore that in favor of ancient traditions going back thousands of years.
Sure the young dragon was respectful and followed protocol, Odin was a king for crying out loud! But he wasn't going to trip over himself trying to kiss up to the guy like some people in the party were. Odin smiled in a way that reminded Jake of his grandfather when Jake simply greeted him with polite words and a small bow. Although the ancient king's face was impassive, Jake could tell from the look in his eyes that Odin was clearly thinking Finally, a mortal who doesn't fall over themselves genuflecting at the mere sight of me. Odin may be a little out of touch with the times according to what Jake had heard, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy beneath his grisly exterior.
The meeting went by pretty smoothly. Odin was perfectly understanding of the magical community's desire to remain secret. After all, even after nine years of The Avengers operating in public, there were still a few prominent anti-superhuman hate groups. The magical community didn't want a new Huntsclan or government persecution, and the people of Asgard could accept that. The end result of the treaty was that Odin would pass a law forbidding any visitors to Midgard from mentioning Earth's supernatural population. In return, the magical community would try to deal with any mythological monsters that came to Earth as long as it was away from the public eye. The meeting adjourned, and Thor led the group back to the banquet hall two hours later for some light refreshments before the trip back to the Bifrost. Jake was just about to sit down when the castle walls shook.
"Attention, people of Asgard" boomed a voice that every one of the magical diplomats recognized. Oh great, Jake thought to himself. This guy again. Just when I thought this meeting might actually go by without anything crazy going on. "I am Eli Panderas," boomed the voice of the megalomaniacal sorcerer who had been a constant member of Jake's old rogues' gallery back before the now former American Dragon's retirement. "And I intend to claim your realm as my own!" Here we go again, Jake groaned inwardly as he raced outside with Thor and the royal guards to stop the megalomaniacal wizard.
Unknown World – Unknown Location
"Forgive me for asking, Madame N.I.," the young man began, slightly nervous out of fear for disrespecting his superior. "But why do we stand by and do nothing while those fiends lay siege to Asgard? Our duty is to protect the Realm of Light and destroy the Darkness." N.I. sighed. Every member of the legion had known each other for years now, but many of them often forgot the subtleties of battle strategy and war tactics. Tearing herself away from the window of her office, she turned around to face the young Legionnaire.
"Because, Legionnaire Martin," she replied. "The three most important rules of The Legion when engaging an enemy are to act smoothly, swiftly, and secretly. The three S's. If our existence is exposed, the common people would label us villains for daring to disrupt their precious status quo, and the false heroes would view us as threats to their own power. Therefore, every move we make must be carefully chosen and calculated to be pulled off quickly, without incident, and with the least chance of revealing ourselves to the public."
"An attack on the false gods of Ygdrasil, though cathartic and just, would be premature at this point. We do not have the necessary resources to launch an assault on Asgard. Therefore, we must wait and listen for the ideal time to strike. The heathens laying siege to the blasphemously named "Realm Eternal" will eventually retrieve the object we seek, and once they are out of reach of the other false defenders of light, we will destroy them and take the Tesseract ourselves. A Win-Win scenario that will result in the fewest lives lost and the lowest risk of exposure. Wouldn't you agree?"
The Legionnaire nodded his head and agreement and asked forgiveness for being foolish. N.I. told him that his innocent question was nothing to be ashamed of, and that he was hardly the first to ask such questions. Once he'd been dismissed from delivering the news report of the attack on Asgard, she returned to gazing out the window of the facility's second floor (as opposed to the five subterranean levels in the facility) at the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean. She'd been staying at the Legion's Hawaiian base for the past week overseeing preparations for the next stage of The Plan.
Sighing in frustration, she walked over to her desk and pressed a button on her communicator signaling for the other members of the High Council to report to her office immediately. They hadn't planned on putting Phase Two into action for another year, but the attack on Asgard was a clear sign that they needed to accelerate their plans. The forces of Darkness were going after the Infinity Stones. And the Legion needed to take the lead now while they still had the opportunity to do so. May Kingdom Hearts preserve us all if we fail, N.I. thought to herself as she sat down in her chair and waited for the High Praetors to arrive. Otherwise, the worlds are doomed.
The Realm Eternal – Castle Courtyard
Who are these guys? Jake wondered to himself as he dodged a gunshot fired by one of the three strange men working for Pandarus. Normally, the billionaire wizard usually worked alone, and if he had back up, it was usually in the form of hired goons who worked for his company. These guys were clearly something else. They looked completely human, but fought like nothing Jake had ever seen before. Even Thor's friend Fandral was having trouble dealing with just one of them. And aside from those three, Pandarus' only backup was a legion of small monsters with black skin and beady yellow eyes.
Fortunately, the monsters were extremely weak, and a few fireballs and some sword swings were all it took to dispatch them. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, since there were a lot of them. Fortunately, because of how quickly Asgard's warriors raced into battle, the tide was quickly beginning to turn. As the Einherjar arrived and began focusing on the shadowy monsters, Thor and his friends were able to take over dealing with the three super powered men. Since Jake had fought Pandarus before, the task of dispatching the rogue wizard fell to him.
"I don't get it, Pandarus," Jake taunted as he and the egomaniacal billionaire flew above the rainbow bridge of the Bifrost. He was trying to appeal to the sorcerer's ego to trick him into accidentally revealing his plans. "Conquering worlds isn't really your style. I bet you're just using this as a distraction for your real motives. So what's your real plan? No, wait. Let me guess. You're trying to steal the Bifrost tech and get a patent on it so you can boost your fortune." Pandarus only laughed maniacally. Jake smirked inwardly. He knew he had the guy now. Hook, line, and sinker.
"Your pathetic inability to keep up with my brilliant mind is amusing," Pandarus chuckled. "I made a deal with a like-minded business associate. I keep the armies of Asgard away from the dungeons, and in return, I get the opportunity to plunder the greatest vault of magical treasures in the universe." Everyone's eyes widened in horror as the implications of what the wizard had just said hit them all at once like the shockwave of a bomb going off. Before he could detain Pandarus, the sorcerer clutched his chest as he fell a hundred feet down to the surface of the bridge with a sickening splat.
"Useless idiot," one of the men commented as he blew away the smoke from one of his guns. Blood began to pool beneath Pandarus' disgusting-looking corpse. "I don't know why She even bothered recruiting him if he was just going to blab all of our plans to the enemy."
"It was precisely because he was an expendable weakling, brother," the man with the Tazer gauntlet remarked. "After all, we cannot afford to lose any of our more valuable allies at such a critical stage." While the three men conversed with each other, the Warriors Three engaged the trio while the Einherjar finished off the monsters. Realizing that whoever Pandarus' benefactor was intended to free Loki from prison for some unknown person, Sif, Thor, and Jake made a beeline for the palace dungeons as quickly as they could to protect the disgraced prince and figure out what it was that they wanted with Loki.
I've heard a lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe fanfiction give Asgard the nickname, "The Realm Eternal", and I thought it sounded like a fitting World name for the place in a Kingdom Hearts story. So I took the name and ran with it. Like in the Xehanort War, the story will rotate party POV's every world. So the story will alternate between what's going on in the Kingdom Hearts corner of space, and what's happening on Earth. There is a reason for that though, the two sides of the story aren't going to be completely disconnected from each other for the entire fic.
Final Fantasy savvy readers can probably guess who the three men are. Originally, I wasn't going to include them, but after a round of brainstorming to try and add a few extra subplots where I felt that the storyline was a little too barebones, and I decided to just throw them in there. But their backstory is going to be significantly different in this universe, even more so that the person they're connected to. ;)
Before anyone starts spamming the reviews and my PM inbox with questions about which worlds I'm going to include and "can you include a world for _?" requests, let me just clear a few things up.
1. There will be no Star Wars in any of the Acolytes of Chaos stories.
2. Roughly 40% of the Disney worlds in this story are returning.
3. If it's not something under the Disney umbrella, it's not going to be in here.
Hopefully that clears everything up. Enjoy.