Many long years ago, a witch named Maleficent tried to destroy the worlds. Commanding a huge army of Heartless, strange creatures formed from the darkness in people’s hearts, she infiltrated the hearts of the worlds, attempting to swallow them in darkness. Before she was finally defeated by an unknown someone, many had actually been destroyed. Although those that had been lost were quickly revived upon her defeat, many of the inhabitants wanted to make sure that no one would forget what had happened, so that it would never happen again.
So what did they decide to do? Why, they’d write a book, of course! Loosely based off the events of Maleficent’s War, as they called it, Kingdom Hearts was a series of mainly fictional stories about a teenaged boy who, with the help of some strange friends and a strange weapon called a “Keyblade”, managed to beat Maleficent, as well as whatever other threats managed to come their way. It almost instantly became wildly popular, one of those classic series that lasts for a long time. Despite its beginnings as a warning for future generations, however, it was easy to believe that it was pure fiction; after all, Heartless were now virtually unknown, and those who had heard of them were certain that their numbers could never grow that much.
Unfortunately, this “fiction” was slowly becoming a reality. One world, at least, had already been destroyed, with only a few known survivors. One of them, a female with strong magical prowess, had heard a little of Maleficent and her attempted conquest of the worlds, and decided that she’s make everyone go through what she had; she’d train herself in dark magics, and using it, she would take control of the Heartless and consume all the worlds in darkness! This plan was sure to work, she thought, as no one yet knew what could slay Heartless. Wasting no time, she quickly took over a neighboring world and used it as her headquarters, starting her plan; the first step was to kidnap seven girls, the Princesses of Heart, to unlock a Door to Darkness.
A refugee of this stolen world, an aged wizard named Merlin, traveled to a little known spot, hovering on the line between darkness and light, and set up a town, to help others who had lost their worlds. While using his magic to set up an inn, he discovered eight bizarre objects, that looked strangely like key chains, inside a box, carefully labeled “Strength is measured by the Heart.” Having read the Kingdom Hearts series and believing that these objects were dormant Keyblades, Merlin took this to mean that only those with strong hearts could wield them, and, seeing the events that would quickly unfold, he used a copy of the first book in the Kingdom Hearts series to summon eight children whose hearts had enough strength to use these Keyblades to fight the hoards of Heartless that would inevitably try to defeat them.
The witch, noticing what Merlin had done, was alarmed; if these really were Keyblades, then her plan could be ruined! She thought of a backup plan; she could find eight other children, manipulate them into working for her, give them dark Keyblades of her own creation, and use them to fight Merlin’s Keyblade wielders, thus buying her time to gather the Princesses and destroy the worlds. She quickly did just that, forming a legion of her own Keybladers, wielders of darkness rather than light.
Will you be one of Merlin’s Keybladers, helping to save the worlds from certain doom? Or will you assist the witch as a Keyblader of darkness, manipulated into working for her or willingly cooperating? Or maybe you’re just there, helping one side or another? Whichever role you choose, know that you’re not alone.
