"Is this a fairy tale?" Rika asked.
"The oldest and truest." I said.
She frowned. "So... what you just said happened is real? Not a metaphor for the Big Bang or something?"
I smiled. "Kingdom Hearts is quite a literal thing."
Ba-bum.
The six of them instantly froze, their attentions caught and held in a single instant. I held a hand up, and the Light of Kingdom Hearts shimmered into being above it.
"Darkness, and Light, are a pair of primordial powers." I say. The six are paying attention, but all of them are staring directly at the Light. They can feel it, the radiance of Kingdom Hearts, even this small mote MORE than anything else they've ever known. "Darkness, at first, was everything and nothing. Infinite, but with nothing to define, also nothing itself. In this chaotic state of contradiction, the Great Darkness birthed an equal and opposite, and that became the First Light."
I tuck it away, and the three flinch, suddenly aware once again.
"Oh." Rika said, in a small voice.
I nod. "Now, listen closely." They straighten up.
"As I said, that First Light was called Kingdom Hearts. In the beginning, there was harmony between Kingdom Hearts and the Great Darkness. From this harmony, there came a promise, and this promise took the form of the χ-blade, that which protects Kingdom Hearts."
"The..." Takato shook his head. "Sorry, but, how do you pronounce that?"
"The letter 'χ' is primarily pronounced as 'Key', though sometimes also as 'Chi' or 'Kye'. The meaning, regardless of the pronunciation, is the same." I explained. "Continuing; from the harmony between the Light and the Dark, concepts began to emerge. Time and Space came to be, followed afterwards by Energy, which then took the form of Matter."
The book followed along as I spoke. Time was represented by clocks-like symbols, with Space being stretching axises. Energy was shown by waving lines, and Matter by those lines compressing into simple shapes.
"Over time, these concepts refined themselves, and so The World was formed, piece by piece."
The page flipped. Now, it showed an animate picture of a grey land, stretching across the page.
"The World..?" Rika repeated. "You used 'Worlds', before."
"I did." I agreed. "But we'll get there in a moment. Inevitably, Life came to be, and with it, the concept of Soul and Will. Simple, at first, but under the Light of Kingdom Hearts, it rapidly grew more complex. Life came to harbour Emotion, and so Hearts came to be." They grey land took on colour, with grass, flowers, and trees forming.
The outline of a person appeared, a heart-shape at its center.
"Hearts?" Henry asked. "You don't mean literal ones... Right? Not with something called Kingdom Hearts."
"A more metaphorical sense, in this case." I explained. "There are three components to true existence; The Heart, the Soul, and the Body. The Heart is the center of Emotion, and provides guidance and direction. The Soul is the seat of Will, and provides the drive to continue living. The Body is a vessel in which the Heart and Soul inhabit. That said, there is a considerable crossover between the Heart and Soul and their functions."
Henry nodded, considering it.
"What happened next?" Takato asked, leaning forwards.
"The People, of course." The page flipped, and showed the outlines of a great deal many beings, most of which were humanoid. "The People had Hearts and Souls, more complex than anything else in The World."
"Some of these don't look Human." Rika noted.
"Humans were a part of The People, but far from all of them." I explained. "The People, befitting their complex Hearts and Souls and variety of origins, were a varied sort. Some types of which, you are familiar with. Other types, you have not conceived of. All shared the same ultimate origin, however."
"The Light and the Dark." Renamon said.
I nodded. "For a time, all was well. The World expanded as The People thought and dreamed, and became a place full of other places. An multiverse, to use a term you recognize."
The book shifted. The original land was replaced with a few dozen circular drawings, connected to each other by lines and and swirls.
"For a time?" Rika frowned.
"For a time." I agreed. The page flipped, showing Daybreak Town in its old glory days. "However... Some of The People began to desire the power of Kingdom Hearts, and sought to take the Light for their own."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Takato asked, frowning. "They started fighting?"
"Indeed." I nodded. "It took time for things to come about, of course. Many would prepare for it, both in order to take the Light and in order to defend it. To do this, weapons known as Keyblades were created, brought forth from the Heart. These Keyblades were forged in the image of the χ-blade, which was sought after as it was the means to access Kingdom Hearts."
Terriermon's head tilted. "Don't you have a giant key thing?"
I held a hand out, and summoned the Proof of Courage. "Keyblade. And yes, I have one."
Hey.
They leaned forwards, examining it.
"It seems... really simple." Takato frowned. "But there's something more to it."
I nodded. "Keyblades are powerful things." I let the Proof of Courage vanish. "As one would expect. They have a great deal many abilities."
Rika shook her head. "What happened next?"
"War." I said. "The most terrible War that has ever been."
They sat up.
"The Keyblade War was the name of it." I shook my head. "Apt. Simple. It does little to describe the sheer destruction that it wrought. Entire realities were lost as part of the collateral. Dimensions were destroyed, empires were shattered, existence itself was sundered, Darkness running wild- and none of it compares to the final battle of the Keyblade War."
"That's..." Takato frowned. "Dimensions?"
"How do you destroy a reality as collateral?" Henry demanded.
"Terrible, terrible power. That's how."
"You were there." Renamon said, after a moment.
I hung my head. "I was there. From the start of it to the end of it."
"How was it?" Guilmon asked.
"Awful." The page shifted. Daybreak Town showing a ruined and twisted shape. Gold and blue shifting into red fire and terrible black. "Those who wielded Keyblades came into conflict with each other. As a result, the powers we unleashed caused immense destruction."
"You said that none of it compares to the final battle. What happened at the end?" Rika asked, in a soft voice.
The page flipped. A barren land, millions of figures fighting each other.
"At the end, the χ-blade was found. The final battle was fought over it." I answered. "To make a long story short, the χ-blade was shattered, and with it..." I shrugged. "The World. The χ-blade was the protector of Kingdom Hearts, and when it broke, Darkness surged forth."
The page began to blacken. The people were consumed.
"Darkness, you see, can grow out of control. When The People began to use it, some of them proved not strong enough to wield it. They were twisted, and became corrupted parodies of themselves. Throughout the War, these corrupted creatures would cause problems, spreading the Darkness further and further. While many of us tried to curtail their expansion, they were a blight that spread like poison. We couldn't contain them, and so they just caused more and more problems. Eventually, when the χ-blade was broken, the Great Darkness came forth, and... Well, there's no good way to put it; The World died."
"Died?" Rika blinked.
"Died. Vanished. The World drowned under a flood of endless Darkness."
"But what about the people?!" Takato quickly spoke up.
"And if it died, then how are we here?" Henry asked.
"Both of those questions have an answer." I said. "I will say this, however; The World, and all of existence, came very close to ending completely. It was by the thinnest, barest of margins that some parts of the World managed to survive."
"What do you mean?" Rika asked.
"When The World was shattered, most of it was covered in Darkness. Kingdom Hearts, the First Light, was also plunged into the Great Darkness." I explained. "Kingdom Hearts, however, was the First Light, not the only one. Within the Heart, there exists Light and Darkness, and this is most true of The People. While most of The People were consumed by the Great Darkness, those who held enough Light and very little Darkness provided a small safe haven from the Darkness. For the most part, this group consisted of children, and those small safe havens were the only parts of The World that survived."
"Children?" Henry grimaced.
"There was something of a sweet-spot to it." I said. "Enough Light, but not too much. Darkness, below a certain threshold. Small groups, spread far enough apart. There were a few exceptions; those of sufficient power and skill to hold the Great Darkness off for a time, those who were not inside The World when it was consumed, and those who simply got very, very, very lucky."
Takato frowned, before blanching. "Wait a second. The people who lived here-"
I nodded. "Survivors. Magic, strong and powerful. And they lived in a place that was associated closely with the Light, so they managed to live just long enough to survive the Great Darkness. Still, the Darkness blighted them."
He sat back. "Oh."
I nodded. "The World was shattered. Its fragments were small, weak things."
"How are we here, then?" Rika asked, quietly.
"The fragments of The World took upon life of their own, and became, collectively, the Worlds."
Henry jolted. "You said we travelled between Worlds."
I nodded, again.
He swallowed.
"The Worlds took on a shape and form reminiscent of The World. Realities, universes and multiverses unto themselves. The details between them differ, but fundamentally, they're all parts of the greater whole, now separated." I said.
"The World." Rika nodded, slowly.
"Indeed."
"Our World was one of those fragments." Henry considered it. "How long has it been since The World was shattered?"
"A very, very, very long time." I stated. "Many years have passed since then, and that brings us to here. I trust that you can figure out the implications of that?"
They nodded, thinking it over.
"Do you have any questions?"