Harris Dione made his way through the grand halls of Essex College, passing a few fellow students as he exited the library. He shivered a little bit as he passed by an open door, it was winter here in northern Atlantis, all the trees outside were covered in ice. In fact it was the winter break, a time when students generally returned home. However Harris had no intention of going back to his hometown to see his family. He was still in a phase of despising his father and indifference to his mother. Instead he chose to remain on campus and try to be productive with his studies in the time before classes resumed.

As Harris was already up to date with all of his assigned studies, he had begun to branch out in what he borrowed from the college’s library. Currently he was making through classic pieces of literature, this time picking up a worn copy of Journey to the West. Harris had become quite fond of Chinese culture since seeing an exhibit at the World’s Fair. The idea that such different societies could exist together, a myriad of differences between them, was fascinating to Harris. He wished to one day see these different lands.

Harris made his way back to his dorm room. As he opened the door he immediately noticed that the window was open, snow blowing onto the floor. Harris sighed as he closed the window, figuring that the locking mechanism most of been damaged. He made a mental note to ask the college’s custodian to look into fixing it as he placed his books on his desk and sat down.

“You really made me wait a long time, kupo!” a high pitched voice spoke.

Harris leaped out of his chair, “Who’s there?”

A small pink animal jumped up onto Harris’s bed, “Just me, kupo.”

Harris face shifted from a look of fear to a more curious glare, “And what are you? You’re clearly not one of those shadow creatures.”

“Goodness no, kupo,” the creature laughed, “I’m a Moogle.”

“And what does a Moogle do?” Harris was intrigued.

“We do lots of things, kupo! But I’m here to give you this.” The Moogle pulled an envelope out of his satchel and handed it to Harris.

Harris quickly opened it and read the note sealed within. So the shadows were called Heartless? And he was a keyblade wielder? It was not what he thought he would call the weapon that appeared before him. Without thinking he summoned the weapon into his hand, the Moogle messenger giving a little squeak of joy when he saw the blade. As Harris finished reading the note he only had more questions. What made a ship gummi? And as far as he knew Constantinople had been abandoned hundreds of years ago, there was no council of any kind there. And what did it mean by world?

The Moogle laughed, “I can see you are confused, kupo. But just follow me and everything will make sense.”

Harris nodded as he sent his keyblade away, “I do suppose that if I am needed for something it won’t affect my studies as we are on break.”

“That’s great, kupo!” the Moogle jumped into the air, “But we better hurry as we’re kind of running late.”

Harris quickly threw some books into a bag and departed with the Moogle. As they hurriedly made their way through the campus, Harris hoped no one spotted the Moogle as he didn’t feel like coming up with an explanation. Luckily, as most students were away, no one spotted the pair as they exited into the snowfall of outside. The Moogle led Harris through the snow into the woods that surrounded a part of the school. After walking through the woods for a few moments they came upon a clearing. Sitting in the centre of the clearing, covered in a light dusting of snow, was a large orange and yellow aircraft of some kind.

“I take it that this airship is indeed gummi?” Harris questioned as he marvelled at the ship.

“Yep. Now jump in, kupo!” the Moogle opened the side of the vessel.

Harris quickly got into the gummi ship as the Moogle activated the systems. Harris strapped himself into the passenger seat.

The Moogle turned to him, “Do you get seasick?”

“Well, I once-” Harris was cut off as the gummi ship blasted off from the ground, leaving his world behind.

Within a few seconds the gummi ship had entered the dark void that separated realities. Harris wanted to ask so much, but he was awestruck by the magnitude of it all. Travel between worlds had just been a hypothetical while studying at college. Yet here he was, to his knowledge the first person to ever leave his world. Harris sat in silence as the Moogle put in the coordinates for Renovation, then engaged the warp, leaving Atlantis Ascendant far behind.

***

As the gummi ship landed on the runway of Constantinople, Harris did indeed feel a little seasick. But he shook off whatever feelings of ill that he felt as his Moogle pilot led him toward a group of other people getting out of gummi ships. The group was greeted by two people that seemed to be around Harris’s age, one wielding a shield, the other a staff. As they introduced themselves Harris was immediately interested in the wizard. Before receiving the keyblade Harris had thought that magic was just legend and hearsay. Yet he himself had used it while fighting those shadows, Heartless he reminded himself that they were called. He made a note to speak to Damianos about it if he had the time.

The guard and the wizard led the motley gathering off-worlders into a lavish castle. It was then that a woman whispered to the group, the same woman that had brought along some kind of large reptile, that Harris assumed was domesticated, with her.

“My knowledge of the keyblade is limited,” Harris summoned his keyblade, “But I wish to know more. My name is Harris Dione.”

Harris and the others were led into a large throne room, two regents waiting for them. Harris knew that in the world he was from monarchs were becoming increasingly rare, but Sideros introduced himself as Emperor of Emperors. Harris thought that was quite a smug title for someone to give them self, but he still wished to hear what he had to say.

At the mention of a multiverse, Harris recalled an article a fellow student had recommended to him but he had yet to read. The idea that everything that has, can, or couldn’t happen did happen somewhere was a fresh idea back in Atlantis. Harris noted his lack of knowledge in the field of speculative physics, a point he would rectify as soon as possible.

Two separate wielders of the keyblade enquired about the heartless. The woman with the overgrown lizard wondered about the nature of the shadow beings, something that Harris would want to know as well. The man on the other hand mentioned silver beings. Harris had never encountered such creatures, but he was beginning to realize how little his knowledge was of all of existence.

When the same man demanded to be paid, Harris laughed, “Are you serious? When presented with a chance to do good you squabble for a few pennies more?”

Harris immediately regretted his barb as it probably wouldn’t be very conducive to working together. But sometimes one must release some of the venom that lies within.