"Good point, Rei," said Emperor Michael. "And, yes, there is some super-urgency here, but I am not leaving your city undefended; Tocsax will go to your world and fight the Heartless in your stead." The Emperor knew that Rei would not be satisfied with that, but, he needed the Japanese man to go on the quest with the others; like he said, there was some super-urgency there. Now for Ninty, Usula, and Jupiter's concerns.

"The Heartless are black creatures with yellow eyes that, despite their name, are actually made up of disembodied Hearts - the name comes from their behavior, not their nature. You may remember them attacking you and your band, Ms. Ninty. And, as for this place, this is the Palace of the Blachrenae, in Constantinople, in the world of Renovation. Renovation, in turn, is an Alternate Timeline of Earth, a planet in the Original Universe."

"Yes, Ms. Ninty, you're on another planet," said Michael. "No, another [i]universe[/i]. The Moogles must not have told you; nor must they have been buying and selling stuff in your world for more than a few days. All understandable." He then looked at Henry, slightly displeased, but the annoyance left the boy's face as soon as he looked at the older man.

"As said, this is an Alternate Timeline of Earth, which is a planet in the Original Universe. In this Timeline, that conquest you were thinking of was averted - barely averted - and it was the Ottomans that were crushed, instead, though not without great cost. But that is centuries ago now in this world, while the Original Timeline, for better or worse, is gone. That is something I'll elaborate on."

"Long ago, there was only One Earth, One Universe, One Timeline. Magic was completely unknown, Science and Reason paramount. It wasn't a bad world, not entirely, but it had more Darkness than Light. Then came a child, [i]Ascot[/i], who thought the world was doomed, and so sought for ways to 'save' it, delving into the secrets of the Light as he did so. And he discovered, that the Light flowed from an unseen land by the name of Kingdom Hearts."

"If he can burst the barrier separating Earth from Kingdom Hearts, he thought, he can save the timeline. And so he fashioned a weapon, the X-Blade," he pronounced it 'Key-Blade', and broke the seperation between the Original Universe and Kingdom Hearts. And what was one, became more, what was absurd, became possible. Why? Because the Original Earth was split into several timelines, several universes, including yours'."

"Seeing the consequences of his actions, Ascot broke the X-Blade into several pieces, then vanished. But by then, it was too late, for the people of the worlds fashioned weapons in the shape of the X-Blade, and warred with each other to dominate Kingdom Hearts. They mostly killed each other, but a few repentant survivors foreswore any attempt to conquer the Multiverse, forming the Old Keyblade Order."

"The Old Keyblade Order prospered, taking new recruits from people with strong hearts. One of those recruits was someone from this world, Leo the Second Mathemathician. Leo was a bright soul, but one who chafed under the strict restrictions of the Old Keyblade Order, as well as doubted their beliefs in cosmology; that Light was always good. To him, Light and Darkness were merely two sides of the same coin; neither can exist without the other."

"In fact, in his view, Light was tyrannizing over Darkness, and so the worlds had to be remade, so that Light and Darkness had to be in equal balance. So, he moved to do just that, summoning three Dragons - Alduin of Skyrim, Deathwing of Azeroth, and Acnologia of Fiore - to destroy the Old Keyblade Order. It was a mutual kill, but it was of little comfort to the Multiverse, for Leo, under the guise of a student..."

"...Went to the world of Shining Field, a world where Genghis Khan was never born, and his son Hulegu never destroyed Baghdad, allowing the latter to remain a centre of knowledge and wisdom. There, he convinced Hakim the Wise, the Grand Vizier, to conduct experiments on Light and Darkness, experiments that caused the world to be consumed in Darkness, and the Heartless to spread and become organized."

"And that is when worlds began falling and falling in quick succession." He then paused for breath. 

"Michael, let me continue," said Tocsax, his face turning towards the group. 

"I used to be a part of a group created by Leo, the Circle, which in turn was the precursor to the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. From there, I discovered many of his secrets before defecting to Emperor Michael. The tales of my exploits would keep you standing for far longer than comfortable, so I'll make this brief."

"The Seven Princesses of Heart, Seven Women with Hearts of Pure Light, they are in truth seven pieces of the X-Blade. If Leo and his Thirteen Seekers kill them, then they can recreate the X-Blade and create a New World that fits Leo's ideals...but at a high cost."

"You must stop him. By any means possible."