Kingdom Hearts 4: Fractured Memories
Prologue: Fractured Realms
"Ugh." Said Sora as he got off the ground. "Wait, where am I?" As Sora looked at his surroundings, He found himself inside a pure white vortex as he got off the ground. "This doesn't feel right. I went to save Kairi after defeating Xehanort and..." As Sora tried to recall what he was doing he felt a sudden jolt of pain in his head. "Why can't I remember?"
'Voices from the future...'
Sora jumps back and summons his keyblade as he hears the voice. "Who said that!" He shouts as he looks around.
'A keyblade...?' 'More light...' 'Must... We must...'
As the voices talked, the ground shook and these white creatures with red eyes, two short legs and arms, and a wolf-like head appeared with a heart symbol shattered into pieces, lifeless of any colors. 'Feed!' The creatures then lung at Sora as he attacks back.
"What are these things!?" Exclaimed Sora as he kept slashing them in half and watched them crumble to dust. 'Panta' "Is that all of them?"
'Still hungry...' 'We must devour the light...'
"What are you!?" Shouted Sora.
'...Remnants of the Forgotten.'
After the voices spoke, a giant creature appeared out of the vortex as it walked on its hands and its body contorted. The head kept twisting around as its red eyes glared at Sora and let out a scream with two mouths opening on the top and bottom of the head. Sora cringed in terror as the creature charged at him only to be dragged into a portal out of nowhere as the creature screamed in rage.
X
"What the!?" Exclaimed Sora as he fell to the ground as the portal disappeared.
"Good, you're conscious." Said a man who was standing behind Sora. He was dressed in a tattered gray robe and had a long gray beard as his tired green eyes focused on Sora as he got up.
"That's quite a greeting." Said Sora.
"We don't have time for pleasantries." Said the man as he rolled his hand pointing to them being out in the open. "Who are you and how did you enter The Void?"
"The Void?" Asked Sora. "I was traveling to save Kairi's heart. Is it here?"
"You used the power of waking!" Shouted the man as he gripped Sora by the collar. "Do you know how dangerous that is boy!?"
"I know, but, I had to save Kairi. I defeated Xehanort and..." Said Sora as the man let him go with a look of terror.
"That's how they did it." Said the man as he summoned a board with tons of papers and push pins. "After the darkness in the Realm Between faded away and your light entered it, they used The Darkblade holding this world away to pierce into The Realm Between to free them and The Forgottens!"
"Forgottens?" Questioned Sora until it dawned on him. "Wait, you mean those creatures?"
"Yes, I do boy." Said the man as he turned back to Sora. "The Forgottens are a species created by... a group of foolish people."
"Why do they want to devour the light?" Questioned Sora.
"Because their creatures that were made from the light of dying hearts." Said the man. "This makes them crave the light more to make their heart whole once more."
Sora grimaced at the explanation as the man waited for a response. "...If that's true, then shouldn't they not crave the light?" He asked waiting for an answer.
"That's what was supposed to happen when those fools created them, but, something went wrong and it shattered the hearts making them forget everything except for one desire." Said the man. "The light."
"How do you know so much about this?" Asked Sora. "Unless... That's correct boy." Said the man confirming Sora's assumption.
"I was one of those fools." He said in a somber tone. "We tried to create an ally to assist us in the fight against the darkness and failed."
"It sounds like you were trying to make Dream Eaters." Said Sora.
"Dream Eaters?" Asked the man with a look of confusion. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of such a creature."
"Dream Eaters, you know, the Spirit ones eat the bad dreams and fight against the Nightmare Dream Eaters." Explained Sora as the man shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but, I still have no idea what you mean." Said the man. "But what if you say is true, then that means someone perfected our experiment."
"Just who are you?" Questioned Sora.
"You haven't pieced it together?" Asked the man as he summoned a damaged keyblade. "I'm a keyblade wielder like you."
Sora then summoned his keyblade and took a fighting stance. "If you are a keyblade wielder then why do something so foolish!"
"We were trying to help! That was the grand design of The Forgottens, but, as I said it backfired!" He shouted as he let out a sigh and put his keyblade away. "I'm the only survivor of that experiment. After it failed, with what remaining power I had left I sealed mysef and The Forgotttens into The Void. A world that I created."
"I'm sorry." Said Sora as he felt bad for judging him.
"Don't be." Said the man. "I deserve this punishment."
Sora knew that he couldn't change the man's way of thinking and then started a different conversation. "You mentioned something called a Darkblade?"
"Yes, the Darkblades." Said the man as Sora was surprised to hear there was more than one. "After I created this world and sealed mine and my colleagues' mistakes away, several blades of darkness were born and embedded themselves into the ground. Their power was so unstable that I had to send them to worlds that were forgotten from time and threw the Darkblades into the Void's vortex. Only one Darkblade couldn't be removed and when I tried to remove it The Forgottens would swarm me causing me to let go."
"And this other person you mentioned managed to remove it?" Questioned Sora.
"That's correct." Said the man. "I don't know where they came from, but, every time I tried to talk to them they would brush me off." The man then looked up at The Vortex swirling around them. "That person is the only reason why the numbers of The Forgottens have decreased... and why this world is slowly breaking."
"Wait! If the world is breaking aren't we in danger!?" Exclaimed Sora.
"We are, but, the only way for it to break is to leave and there's only two ways to do that." Said the man. "By leaving with a Keyblade Glider which I imagine you can do or use the power of waking which will shatter the world."
"Then I won't do either!" Exclaimed Sora. "I won't leave you by using the power of waking or the Keyblade Glider! ...Wait, what's a... Keyblade Glider?" Asked the man as he finished Sora's sentence.
"That's another side effect of this world. The longer you stay here, your memories will fade away." He explained. "But the one memory that can't be forgotten between keyblade wielders is our light."
"Still I won't leave you." Said Sora as the man shook his head.
"I'm not going to have another stay in this world because of my sins." Said the man. "If I had the power to I'd join you in hopes of forgiving myself, but, the world is already so fragile from my last attempt."
"You tried to leave?" Asked Sora.
"Only to follow that person and prevent them from doing any more damage." He replied as he coughed. "But, I ended up hurting myself when I used the power of waking. I'm not even sure if my heart is whole still." He coughed again as blood landed on his arm. "Honestly, I might have done more harm than good to the timeline by sealing The Forgottens and myself away, instead of destroying us so the horrors wouldn't even touch the timeline."
"You mean they're in every world throughout time?" Asked Sora realizing the situation.
"That's correct." Said the man. "Every world from past to future is affected. Even worlds you've been to."
"Then no world is safe!" Shouted Sora. "And it could get worse if that person could make any number of allies if they have a strong enough heart like the Nobodies!"
"Nobodies?" Asked the man.
"They're part of a group that Xehanort leads called Organization 13. They are created when a heart is consumed by darkness creating a Nobody. If they have a strong enough will they'll become Nobodies, but retain a human form." Explained Sora. He then noticed the man freeze in horror. "Are you okay?"
"No, no I am not." Said the man. "If what you say is true, then that person can use the Darkblade and bring both hearts of light and dark out from The Void."
"Wait, I thought you said all the hearts here were corrupted by dying light?" Asked Sora.
"I did, but there are hearts that were corrupted by darkness that were also forgotten back in my timeline. I made sure those hearts remained outside of the Vortex out of fear of what would happen if they clashed with the hearts corrupted by the dying light." He explained as he shook.
"Are you sure?" Questioned Sora. "That larger Forgotten that you saved me from came out of the Vortex."
"What large Forgotten!?" Exclaimed the man.
In the distance, a loud roar was heard.
'Give us the light!' Screamed the large Forgotten.
"That's the Forgotten I mentioned!"
"...We don't have much time then." Said the man as he summoned his damaged keyblade again. "Use the power of waking to travel to where your journey began!"
"But couldn't the Forgottens be there!?" Exclaimed Sora.
"Any amount of things can happen with The Forgottens out and about boy! The worlds you knew of last could have changed, worlds forgotten and sleeping could reappear, new evils could arise!" Shouted the man as the large Forgotten got closer. "The point I'm trying to make is that the timeline of your journey is broken and whatever changes you make this time around could benefit or damage it more!"
"I still can't leave... but, you must Sora!" He shouted as the large Forgotten charged at them.
'TRAITOR!' Screamed the Forgotten as it lunged at the man, but, was stopped by a reflective wall that the man summoned at the last second.
Sora then started the process of traveling away despite not wanting to leave the man behind when something dawned on him. "Wait, how do you..." Was all he got as the power of waking took him away to the beginning of his journey.
"How did I..." Said the man as a look of realization appeared on his face with a smile. "I see." The barrier then breaks as the large Forgotten charges at him as he goes and attacks it. 'Be strong my friend. We will meet each other sooner than you think.'