The 18-year old in a silk robe, the one with the staff and book, then spoke, his blue eyes opening wide with shock:

"The girl doesn't know what the Multiverse is?! Didn't the Moogles come to her world already?"

"No they did not, Mr. Sardis," was Tocsax's reply. "Nevertheless, she is a Keyblade Wielder with a unique set of skills, and she's a good fit for the position of 'pupil'. Plus, remember her importance goes beyond her ability to fight..." Mr. Sardis, whose blonde hair was covered with a pointed wizard's hat, frowned at that but decided to concede to Tocsax with a nod, before saying:

"Explain everything to her, then. That ought to be a good starting lesson." Tocsax then turned towards Mai, then continued:

"There are basically multiple worlds, multiple timelines and multiple versions of Earth, all of which form the Multiverse, aka a collection of Universes. All these worlds share one thing in common: People with strong Hearts can manifest the Keyblade, which is the weapon that you can manifest from your heart."

In reaction to Rick, Maria di Italia just said:

"You devalue your long history of service in your world too much. You have fought long and hard and loyally, have you not?"

Then came the Emperor's time to respond to Seth, asking:

"You don't believe in underdogs much, do you? Well, all will become clearer once we reveal to you the origins of the Multiverse, all of it," he further explained, before beginning a story:

"Long ago, there was only One Original Earth, and One Original Timeline and Universe. Science and Reason were paramount, with Magic almost nonexistent. 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 ways to save it, and in his research, he somehow mananged to find out about the small spark of Magic in the Original World, which in turn was a flicker of The Light. Delving into the secrets of the Light, he discovered that the Light came 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." Emperor Michael's face turned grave. 

"And he largely succeeded. There were survivors and retired members, but there was no more structure, no more organization. Leo was now free to accomplish the next set of his agenda."

"Under the guise of a student, Leo 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 the latter, 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."

"As Seth and Fredrick can see, I am a Nobody, and my name denotes that I am the Nobody of Ascot, the maker of the Multiverse for good or for ill." He then looked at the aforementioned Seth and Fredrick, before saying:

"And...as anyone who knows how Nobodies are born, that means that Ascot has a Heartless as well."

((Don't reply; I will create a Part 2 for this post))