Kingdom Hearts Dark Road: Difference between revisions

<!-- Base -9 years -->Living quietly on [[Destiny Islands]], child [[Xehanort]] and his blue-hooded mentor rest at a bonfire on the beach. The mentor believes Xehanort to be the "child of destiny", who is said to come from the Destiny Islands and able to feel what is in the hearts of others, combine hearts with another to become one, and save the world from darkness. The mentor's belief is affirmed by Xehanort's dreams, which accurately represent the mentor's previous life as {{c|Player|khx}}, and by Xehanort's shared bloodline with [[Ephemer]]. As the years pass and Xehanort grows into a young man, his mentor eventually passes away.

<!-- Base time period (+0) -->Two years after his arrival in Scala ad Caelum, Xehanort, now a Keyblade wielder, and his classmates [[Eraqus]], [[Urd]], [[Bragi]], [[Vor]], and [[Hermod]] are told by their master [[Odin]] that seven upper classmen - [[Heimdall]], [[Helgi]], [[Hoder]], [[Sigrun]], [[Vala]], [[Vali]], and [[Vidar]] - have gone missing while training for their [[Mark of Mastery exam]]. However, fellow lower classman [[Baldr]] has been assigned a different task, and has not been informed that his older sister Hoder is missing. While the lower classmen are far from ready, Odin tasks the youths with finding the missing seven by scouring the many worlds.

Xehanort and Eraqus are curious about the Queen's darkness, and decide to continue investigating Wonderland while the rest of the group proceeds into other worlds. After observing the residents' fear of the Queen, Xehanort finds that the Queen's darkness is born of her anger, and that her darkness maintains the world's order. Due to the vow that Keyblade wielders should not disturb world orders, Xehanort reasons that the upper classmen may have been defeated in a world ruled by darkness, unable to oppose it. Xehanort concludes that pursuing darkness will be necessary to finding the upper classmen. The lower classmen regroup to share their findings, and recall a lecture from Odin, where they learned that darkness in ancient times would spread and infect people - but that as time went on, people began to spawn their own darkness through negative emotions. Eraqus recalls a conversation with Baldr a week prior, where he expressed concern over Hoder's well-being during her Mark of Mastery training.

The lower classmen try to inform Odin of Vor's departure, but are unable to contact him. Eraqus and Xehanort get into an argument over whether to search for Vor, or to keep pursuing the upper classmen - ultimately, Eraqus and Bragi leave to ask the Magic Mirror about Vor's location, while Xehanort, Urd, and Hermod decide to search for the upper classmen in new worlds. However, Eraqus and Bragi are unable to approach the Mirror due to [[The Queen]] guarding it, and leave to pursue other methods.

Urd suggests finding Eraqus and Bragi, so Xehanort's group returns to Agrabah in search of them. [[Jafar]] approaches the group and requests that they search for the lamp in the [[Cave of Wonders]], supposedly to assist Agrabah. Xehanort feels the darkness of Jafar's greed, but nevertheless agrees so that the group can search a new area. In the Cave, Xehanort's group reunites with Eraqus and Bragi, who Jafar had also sent with the same mission. Bragi begins to leave in disgust, but Urd suggests finding the lamp anyway, as it may be a world-order-essential object that the upper classmen are targeting. Her suspicion is correct, as Vidar and Vor appear through a portal just as the lower classmen reach the lamp. Vidar explains that the upper classmen need seven lights to defeat true darkness, but they have lost some lights - so they are seeking the objects in hopes of finding "true light" to replace them. Vidar rejects his vow to respect world orders, only concerned with avenging his fallen friends. Vidar asks that Eraqus join the upper classmen in their shared goal of defeating darkness, but leaves with Vor before Eraqus can respond. Eraqus is shaken, but maintains his allegiance to the lower classmen.

The lower classmen are lost as to what to do next, when they are approached by Baldr, who has returned from a task to study different types of darkness. He suggests that the fallen upper classmen could be contacted in the [[Underworld]] of [[Olympus Coliseum]]. Eraqus lets slip the mission to find the upper classmen, but Baldr reveals Hoder's fate; shortly after Baldr's conversation with Eraqus, he followed Hoder to [[Enchanted Dominion]], where she was then slain before his eyes while protecting him from [[Maleficent]]. Baldr lost consciousness and woke in the infirmary at Scala ad Caelum, and shortly after that was when Odin gave the task to find the upper classmen - Baldr was not assigned an alternative task, but instead given time to heal.

At Olympus Coliseum, [[Hades]] assists the lower classmen in reaching the Underworld, but splits them into two groups. Xehanort, Eraqus, and Bragi request to talk to Hoder, even though she died in a different world. Hades complies, with the stipulation that one of the lower classmen must stay in the Underworld as his pawn. Hades finds Hoder along with a group of others, and directs Xehanort's group on where to find them. On the way, the group is obstructed by [[Cerberus]], but Baldr appears and suggests that Xehanort and Eraqus go on while he and Bragi fight the beast. Xehanort agrees and runs with Eraqus past it, where they find Urd and Hermod just regaining consciousness. The latter two go to help Baldr and Bragi, while Xehanort and Eraqus continue down the path, where they find Hoder alongside Heimdall, Helgi, and Sigrun.

Inside the corridor of darkness, Xehanort locates Eraqus, and the two quickly put on their [[Keyblade Armor]] to buy time while they search for a way out. Urd and Hermod do the same, but Hermod is overwhelmed by the darkness and collapses. Urd recognizes a shadowy figure as a friend, but it then kills both her and Hermod. Eraqus and Xehanort collapse in a similar manner, but Odin arrives, and his light prevents the shadowy figure from finishing them off. With the [[Master's Defender]] Keyblade in hand, Odin opens a portal leading out of the corridor.

One month later, Xehanort places flowers on eleven graves, naming his fellow lower classmen as he does so. Eraqus arrives soon after with his own flowers, and does the same. Xehanort asks about Odin, who has grown glum over recent events, but wishes for Xehanort and Eraqus to take the Mark of Mastery exam as his final students. Afterwards, Odin wishes to have them replace him, and then retire to a world other than Scala ad Caelum. Eraqus suggests playing a game of chess to lighten the mood, and the duo leave the graveyard together.

<!-- Base +2 years -->Two years later, Xehanort and Eraqus return to their old classroom, and discuss what they learned on their travels in preparation for the Mark of Mastery exam. Xehanort laments that one lifetime is not enough, and Eraqus suggests finding people that can carry on one's legacy. Xehanort would rather do it himself, and decides that he needs fourteen lives - thirteen to remake the world, and one to explore the new world. Eraqus states that his dream is to stay true to light - that if anyone were to become lost in darkness, he would be a beacon to light their way back.

<!-- Base +6 years -->Seven years later, Xehanort and Eraqus become Keyblade Masters. Eraqus, considered the "true heir", is bequeathed the Master's Defender Keyblade, while Xehanort is bequeathed the No Name Keyblade, so that he might inherit the resolve of the Lost Masters.