Kingdom Hearts χ

Kingdom Hearts χ is set in a world called Daybreak Town, hundreds of years prior to the other games in the series. The game begins before the legendary Keyblade War, a conflict sparked due to disputes between Keyblade wielders over the light that created the world, triggering a calamity that reshaped the world into that seen in the rest of the Kingdom Hearts series.[7][9] Prior to the war, a precognizant Keyblade Master known only as the Master of Masters bestows a Book of Prophecies to five of his six apprentices, the Foretellers, before disappearing. The book has the ability to manifest objects and people from the future, and contains an account of future events, from which the five Foretellers learn of a prophecy foretelling the world's destruction. To prevent this, the Foretellers use their books to manifest future worlds and defeat the Heartless infesting them to gather pieces of light, called Lux. Each Foreteller creates and leads their own "Union" themed around their individual animal icon: Unicornis, governed by Ira; Anguis, governed by Invi; Leopardus, governed by Gula; Vulpes, governed by Ava; and Ursus, governed by Aced. The player character, a newly awakened Keyblade wielder, chooses to support one of the Unions and works to ensure the chosen faction's supremacy.[6][10] The future worlds created by the Book of Prophecies include several worlds introduced in previous series entries, including Dwarf Woodlands (based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs); Agrabah (Aladdin); Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland); Olympus Coliseum (Hercules); and Beast's Castle (Beauty and the Beast).

Kingdom Hearts Union χ takes place shortly after the events of Kingdom Hearts χ in an alternate data worldline, with the player reliving the past to forget the events of the Keyblade War. Due to the Book of Prophecies' loss of power without the Master or Foretellers present, the Keyblade wielders instead visit simulated datascapes based on the various Disney worlds. The game initially repeats the story of the original, dubbed Unchained χ, but diverges partway through the narrative in a new narrative titled Union χ. New stories feature the player forming a new team with four other Keyblade wielders, who become friends, while a new set of union leaders must contend with new formless, sentient incarnations of True Darkness. Other major story events that do not involve the player were delivered via game updates, serving to expand on the story of Kingdom Hearts χ and continue the narrative after the events of the Keyblade War. All of the worlds from Kingdom Hearts χ reappear, alongside returning worlds Castle of Dreams (Cinderella) and Enchanted Dominion (Sleeping Beauty). The game also introduces a new world, Game Central Station (Wreck-It Ralph).

Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is set many years later, beginning 70 years prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. The story explores the origins of series antagonist Xehanort and his eventual turn to darkness.[11] Scala ad Caelum, a world first seen in Kingdom Hearts III, acts as a central hub for the characters in the story, while gameplay takes place in the worlds seen in χ.

The player character receives a Keyblade and is given a choice of joining one of five Unions, after which a spirit called a Chirithy explains the player's role of destroying Heartless to collect Lux. Under their Chirithy's direction, the player visits projections of future worlds to carry out their mission. As they continue, Chirithy explains that the Foretellers have learned from the Book of Prophecies about a great battle in which the world will be consumed by darkness. To save the future, the Foretellers use the book's powers to project the future into their era, hoarding Lux to protect the world's light.

The player befriends Ephemer, a Keyblade wielder from a rival Union who wishes to explore the Foretellers' tower in the center of town. The player agrees to help, but Ephemer disappears shortly thereafter. Later, the player meets another wielder from Ephemer's Union named Skuld, who is investigating his disappearance. Exploring the tower, the player and Skuld are caught by Ava,[lower-alpha 2] who challenges them to a duel. Upon her defeat, Ava reveals that she has recruited Ephemer into the Dandelions, a group of Keyblade wielders intended to be kept out of the impending war so they may rebuild the world in its aftermath. Ava offers the same invitation to Skuld and the player; Skuld accepts, but the player is uncertain. As time passes, other wielders accuse one another of stealing Lux, and the Foretellers – suspecting one among themselves to be a traitor – begin rallying more wielders to their Unions to bolster their forces for the war.

Seeking a solution, the player, Skuld, and Chirithy find Gula, who believes the only one who can stop the war is the now missing Master of Masters. Ava tracks down the Master's sixth apprentice, Luxu, who vanished to watch the war unfold as per the Master's instructions; when Luxu reveals the true nature of the traitor, Ava attacks him, starting the war as prophesied. Skuld returns to the Dandelions while the player participates in the war alone, battling for as long as they can before collapsing in exhaustion. The war ends with the player as the sole survivor, reuniting with Chirithy, Skuld, and Ephemer before losing consciousness. Sometime later, Chirithy awakens the player and lies to them that the events surrounding the war were all a dream. Unbeknownst to them, Maleficent appears nearby – having traveled back in time after being defeated by Sora and his friends[lower-alpha 3] – and makes plans to conquer her world in the past.

Prior to the Keyblade War, the Master of Masters gives Ava a list of five Keyblade wielders who are to become the new Union leaders; against his orders, she gives a Book of Prophecies to one of them, Brain. Strelitzia, another of the new leaders, attempts to convince the player to join the Dandelions, but she is ambushed and killed by an unknown figure. The Master entrusts Luxu with his Keyblade and a black box, which he instructs him to never open, revealing his plan to end a greater war against thirteen willful embodiments of True Darkness by using his apprentices and the new Union leaders as vessels to contain them. The Master plans to travel into the future and escape into a fictional world with Luxu's help.

After the war, the Dandelions reside in a data simulation of Daybreak Town, with all but the Union leaders made to forget what had happened. To prevent another war, the five new Union leaders – Ephemer, Skuld, Ventus, Brain, and Strelitzia's older brother, Lauriam – agree to keep the world's destruction a secret and form a single Union, Union Cross. Meanwhile, Maleficent encounters a True Darkness, who explains the virtual nature of the world she is in. Fearing the damage she could cause with her knowledge of the future, the Darkness instructs her to use a "lifeboat" pod within the tower in Daybreak Town to return to the real world.

Lauriam investigates Strelitzia's disappearance, aided by his fellow party member Elrena, before confronting Maleficent in the tower. Maleficent defeats Lauriam and escapes, but the lifeboat is damaged during the fight. Upon returning to the real world, the True Darkness instructs Maleficent to use another pod to return to the future.[lower-alpha 4] Meanwhile, a malfunction causes the datascape to display afterimages of events from before the Keyblade War. While searching the Book of Prophecies for a solution, Brain finds the Master's list and discovers that Ventus is not one of the intended Union leaders. Suspecting that Ventus had replaced Strelitzia, the group learns that a True Darkness possessed Ventus and killed Strelitzia to sow discord between the leaders.

The True Darkness within Ventus emerges and reveals that using the lifeboat triggers a failsafe meant to shut the datascape down with the Darkness trapped inside, but due to Maleficent's earlier use, the process has already begun. Ventus absorbs and binds the Darkness within himself to stop it from attacking. Brain, Lauriam, Ventus, and Elrena use the remaining pods to return to the real world; Ephemer, Skuld and the player stay behind and protect the Dandelions until they can all be rescued. They are confronted by four True Darknesses, but the player pretends to be possessed by one of them and attacks Ephemer and Skuld, who are forced to seal the player and the other Darknesses in the datascape.

In the real world, a True Darkness encounters Luxu, who places a white-cloaked figure into the lifeboat and sends it into the future. Later, the escaped Keyblade wielders use the pods to reach the future, but Brain stays behind and meets Luxu; he is later seen carrying the Master's keyblade and box. Daybreak Town is destroyed, and the remaining Dandelions' Chirithies become Dream Eaters to protect their hearts. The player instead chooses to be reborn in a new vessel; many years later, they become Xehanort's mentor before passing away. The surviving Keyblade wielders each emerge in different time periods, though Skuld is unaccounted for. Later, Brain awakens in Scala ad Caelum, a town founded on the ruins of Daybreak Town by Ephemer.

Xehanort, living bored on the Destiny Islands, is approached by Ansem, his Heartless from the future, and is shuffled through a portal to Scala Ad Caelum, a world where Keyblade wielders are trained. Two years later, Xehanort – now a Keyblade wielder – and his classmates Eraqus, Urd, Bragi, Vor, and Hermod are told by their master, Odin, that seven upperclassmen have gone missing before their Mark of Mastery exam. Their fellow classmate Baldr has also left in search of his sister Hoder, who is one of the missing upperclassmen. Odin tasks the youths to explore the many worlds and find the missing students, reminding them not to interfere in the affairs of other worlds.

Xehanort and his friends eventually find Vidar, Vala and Vali, three of the upperclassmen, who have been stealing items essential to worlds' natural order. Vidar explains that they learned of the thirteen true darknesses from Odin, and that they now seek to purge the world of them by finding the seven pure lights needed to summon Kingdom Hearts. Realizing this could destroy the worlds, most of Xehanort's group opposes this, but a sympathetic Vor joins the upperclassmen. Baldr returns, revealing Hoder perished protecting him, and suggests they go to the Underworld to find her and gain more information on Vidar's plan. While there, they find the souls of Hoder and her fellow upperclassmen – Heimdall, Helgi and Sigrun – learning that Vidar's desire to purge the darkness was to avenge their deaths. Hades attempts to trap them all in the underworld, and the group is separated; only Xehanort and Eraqus are found and rescued by Odin.

After they return, Scala ad Caelum comes under attack by Baldr, revealed to have been possessed by an incarnation of true darkness, which killed Hoder to make Baldr vulnerable. Baldr reveals he killed the other upperclassmen to trick the survivors into summoning Kingdom Hearts, with which he intends to consume the worlds in darkness; when the upperclassmen abandoned the plan, Baldr killed Urd, Bragi and Hermod, planning to use all their deaths to summon Kingdom Hearts. Baldr kills Vidar, Vala, Vali and Vor before facing Xehanort and Eraqus in a final battle. With help from Odin and Hoder's spirit, Xehanort kills Baldr, destroying his darkness in the process. As they mourn their friends, Odin decides to retire, planning to make Xehanort and Eraqus his successors. Unbeknownst to them, Bragi is alive, having secretly been Luxu's latest vessel, and he decides to keep watch over Xehanort.

A year later, while preparing for his Mark of Mastery exam, Xehanort meets the Master of Masters.[lower-alpha 5] Their conversation, combined with his own observations over the following years, leads Xehanort to believe that darkness lives in every heart, and that there must be balance between light and darkness to maintain the worlds' order. Eraqus rebukes him, believing only in the purity of light, and the two go their separate ways. Xehanort spends the next sixty years studying darkness, eventually reconnecting with Eraqus when he leaves Ventus in his care after extracting the true darkness from Ventus's heart, which becomes Vanitas.[lower-alpha 6]

A post-credits scene shows a flashback to Xehanort's childhood, in which he is watched over on Destiny Islands by his elderly mentor, the reborn player from Union χ. The mentor believes Xehanort to be the "child of destiny", a prophesied savior of the world, and has sequestered him there to hide him from the true darknesses until he becomes strong enough to defeat them. Years later, the mentor passes away, content in having protected Ephemer's descendant.

In September 2015, Square Enix announced a new game titled Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The collection features Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, a 60-minute cinematic film that focuses on the Foretellers, elaborating on their actions during the events of the game and their attempts to determine who is the traitor among them.[15] It was released in January 2017.[34]