(SPOILERS) KINGDOM HEARTS X[chi] - Seeds of Hope

[Sign]

KINGDOM HEARTS X[chi] terminates service in September, and there are some things that must be resolved before that can come to pass.

What happened to Ephemera?
What is the end of the world he speaks of?
What will happen to us if that takes place?

In a new story update, all of these questions are answered. As we are finally able to enter the Foretellers' territory, we uncover many secrets that will most certainly lead us to the truth. Now the only question is, can we accept it?

As always, thanks to goldpanner for the translations!

Edit: English-subtitled videos are now available!

WARNING: The rest of this article contains major spoilers for KINGDOM HEARTS X[chi].

 

STORY 22-2
Reward: 300 Mog Medals, Ether x 10, Moogle SR+ x 5

Let's go check out the underground waterway where we last met Ephemera!

(You return with Skuld to the waterways where you last saw Ephemera.)

Skuld: This is where you last saw Ephemera? There's something secret up ahead, I'm certain of it...

(Chirithy goes to stand in your way.)

Chirithy: Are you really going to keep going in? What with the Black Garments and the dark Chirithy just now…

I've got an awful feeling about this...

(Chirithy looks down as you pat his head. Skuld suddenly speaks up, and he’s taken aback.)

Skuld: Hey you, you know the layout of the inside of this tower, don't you?

Chirithy: Y-yeah...

Skuld: Well then, lead us.

Chirithy: All right already...

But going in there really is forbidden, so we're coming right back after just a quick peek.

Skuld: I promise we will.

(You proceed further into the waterways.)

 

STORY 22-3
Reward: Potion x 10, ULT ATK Moogle x 2, ULT ASS Moogle x 2

Let's look for Ephemera inside the clocktower!

(The three of you make your way into the room you saw in your dream.)

Skuld: What is this place?

Chirithy: This is the last room… The Foreteller's room.

Skuld: I wonder if Ephemera made it here?

Chirithy: Well as you can see, nobody's here. There's nothing here…

And since we're not going to go fiddling around with the things left in here, let's go back already, like we promised. We'll be in huge trouble if anyone finds us...

Skuld: Yeah…

So there's nothing here, huh…

I almost feel like we've been sidestepped. What on earth did the dream of Ephemera mean...

(A voice calls out from behind you.)

???: What are you doing.

(You’re startled.)

All: !

(Chirithy turns around and addresses them.)

Chirithy:

Master [~]....

(The Foreteller enters. The Foreteller who appears is the one in charge of your Union unless you are in Vulpes.)

Ursus Foreteller: Aced
Anguis Foreteller: Invi
Vulpes Foreteller: Ava (but appears as Ira)
Leopardus Foreteller: Gula
Unicornis Foreteller: Ira

Skuld: Excuse us! We are looking for a friend.

Foreteller: Chirithy, how were they allowed to get in here if you were accompanying them?

Chirithy: I'm sorry...

(The Foreteller walks past you, speaking aloud.)

Foreteller: There was another trespasser in here a few days ago. Your friend, perhaps?

Player: Yes.

Skuld: Do you know him, then--Ephemera?

Foreteller: The union he belonged to was gathering Lux in direct conflict with the goals of we [Union].

He got close to you in order to gather intelligence on our union. There's no way you will be seeing him again.

Skuld: You didn't…

Not Ephemera...

Foreteller: ...I had him disappear.

(You and Skuld are speechless. Chirithy turns to you with concern.)

Chirithy: [Player]...

Skuld: You won't get away with this...

Foreteller: What do you think you're going to do?

(Chirithy stops Skuld and begs the Foreteller for mercy.)

Chirithy: No, Skuld, you can't!

Master [Foreteller]! 

I'm the one responsible for everything that's happened today!

Please forgive these two!

(You step in front of Skuld and Chirithy.)

Chirithy: [Player]...

Player: Master, until today, I have devoted myself to the union, to gathering light, in order to save the world. I've even competed against fellow fighters I think of as friends. I thought it was just what had to be done to save the world, and I've tried not to dwell on what that means. But, in the middle of that, someone asked me that same simple question.

That person was Ephemera.

My encounter with him only lasted a moment, and he even broke a promise to me, so my memories of him aren't exactly fun, but they are huge and important in my heart.

I'm sure that's because he is my friend. For a friend like that to be snatched away....

Even if these feelings, anger and sadness, signify darkness, pushing them down is proving impossible.

Even if I cross Keyblades with you, Master, I don't think I will come away from this with any kind of peace.

Maybe I'll disappear, too.

But even so, I'm sure that if Ephemera were here, this is what he'd do…

(You get into a battle stance.)

Player: Master [Foreteller], raise your Keyblade.

(The Foreteller summons their Keyblade.)

Foreteller: Come.

Skuld: [Player]!!

Let's fight the Union Master!

(You put up a fight but are easily defeated by the Foreteller, and are engulfed in a blinding light. When the light fades, you find yourself back in the waterways.)

Foreteller: You avoided being swallowed by your anger and sadness--you fought well.

(The Foreteller glows and reveals themselves to be Master Ava.)

Chirithy: Lady Ava...

Ava: [Player], Skuld.

You allowed me to determine the strength of your hearts.

The Master you were just fighting, as well as the location, was an illusion I created here.

Skuld: What is the meaning of this?

Ava: As Ephemera told you in your dream, the end of this world seems to be upon us.

If all of us are swallowed up by the end of this world, that will be the end of Keyblade Wielders.

That must be avoided.

I began carrying out my own missions.

I've been preparing so that superior Keyblade Wielders, regardless of Union, will last in the next world.

Chirithy: Last… in the next world?

Skuld: This is all happening too fast…

What happened to Ephemera, then?

Ava: As I just said, this world is facing its end.

Perhaps in a way, he felt doubt and started to make inquiries because he began to feel that.

He got close to the truth faster than any other.

So, I asked him a favour. 

I asked him to guide the dandelions in my stead.

Chirithy: Dandelions?

Ava: The Keyblade Wielders that will last in the next world. They are the dandelions. They who shall not witness the end of the world.

My duty is to establish those dandelions. 

However, I must witness the end of the world.

Thus, so that he may guide those who are left for me once I'm gone,

I decided to have Ephemera wait ahead somewhere else.

Skuld: Somewhere else…

Ephemera is safe, then, right?

Ava: This world will end because among the Keyblade Wielders are some who have been swallowed by darkness.

I'm sure you've met the dark Chirithy.
He is proof.

So that the power of darkness will not persist into the next world, I give the hearts of you Keyblade Wielders a shake, and choose those who cannot be swallowed by a little darkness to be dandelions.

And so, I wish to ask you, too.
Will you join the dandelions?

Skuld: I understand.

(You stay silent. Skuld turns to you.)

Skuld: What's wrong, [Player]?

Player: But what will happen to all the other Keyblade Wielders who don't get chosen to be dandelions?

Ava: At the end, this world will face a Keyblade War.

Skuld: A Keyblade War...

Ava: It's already unavoidable...

Player: Please let me think over your offer to join the dandelions.

Skuld: [Player]!

Ava: I understand. You are under no obligations.

However, so that we don't fall into chaos, please don't speak of this.

(You return to the Fountain Plaza with Skuld and Chirithy to reflect.)

Chirithy: Why are you holding back on joining in?

If you'd said yes, you probably could be with Ephemera right now.

Player: Ephemera is an important friend, yeah.

But, the Keyblade Wielders I've fought alongside all this time are important to me, too.

Chirithy: Oh...

(Skuld glances over.)

Skuld: Can I say something?

The truth is, back when I became a Keyblade Wielder, I made a party, but no one would join me.

And then, Ephemera did.

For a while, it was just the two of us in the party, actually.

The party did grow in members after a bit, and we all got so involved in collecting Lux together...

I had less and less chances to talk to Ephemera one-on-one, and then one day,

He told me he thought I'd be okay now, and left the party.

After that, I lost myself in collecting Lux with my party members.

But, I realised my party was losing members, and in the end, I was alone again...

I think Ephemera probably kept on worrying about me even after leaving the party.

I think that's why he told me to try and meet you.

(Skuld turns to you.)

Skuld: I've realised a lot of things, thanks to you.

But, I want to see Ephemera, and thank him.

That's why I'm going to join.

(Skuld prepares to leave.)

Skuld: Let's meet again.

(You and Skuld shake hands, and you watch her leave. Later, Skuld and many other wielders gather in the plaza to meet Ava.)

Ava: Today too will involve training imitating all the missions you've completed until now.

You will relive things you have already experienced, only in a world just like a dream, in a space separate from here...

...You are the hope.

(Everyone is shocked by her words.)

Ava: Soon, the conflict will begin.

Fighters who share the same wish to protect the light, divided by nothing but a difference in Union, will make enemies of the friends they once competed with.

I myself do not know how long I can continue to guide them true.

Perhaps I will be swallowed by my own darkness, and swing my own Keyblade in the middle of the strife.

However, this battle will have no victor, everything will only be annihilated.

But, I want you, as seeds of hope, to last on.

After this, when that conflict breaks out, I want you to not participate in the battle, and instead depart for the outside world.

That is why I want you to repeat separate training every day like this.

To you I entrust the future of the Keyblade Wielders, the Realm of Light.

With your hearts guided by the key.

 

[Sign]

sorry guys for the lack of pictures, i'm still at work right now

 

[Deleted member]

Skuld: The truth is, back when I became a Keyblade Wielder, I made a party, but no one would join me.

I FEEL YA GIRL

(side-note: i like how they are incorporating the gameplay into the story like this)

 

[gosoxtim]

sound like ava know the end is comming and she trying to save these kids

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Ava: Today too will involve training imitating all the missions you've completed until now.

You will relive things you have already experienced, only in a world just like a dream, in a space separate from here...

...You are the hope.

(Everyone is shocked by her words.)

Let me try to process this: the events of chi did take place in the distant past, only that we're witnessing these events through the dreams of one of the Keyblade Wielders that was turned into a dandelion.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Let me try to process this: the events of chi did take place in the distant past, only that we're witnessing these events through the dreams of one of the Keyblade Wielders that was turned into a dandelion.

I think what is happening is that chi is the actual past and Unchained X is the dream we are reliving in the Realm of Sleep.

Which would fit since Ephemera is "Unchained"...

NOMURA, I KNEW I WAS RIGHT ON MY THEORY ;A; No wonder he danced around my question in our interview.

 

[DavidO]

So the lost key blade masters are actually those who Ava sent to the Realm of Light?

 

[Blackdrazon]

A correction: Ava doesn't step in if you belong to Vulpes. Instead, you meet Ira, who transforms into Ava later in the scene same as ever.

 

[Sign]

A correction: Ava doesn't step in if you belong to Vulpes. Instead, you meet Ira, who transforms into Ava later in the scene same as ever.

Ah, sorry for the confusion. That's just the list of names corresponding to the Foretellers, not who appears. I need to go make that more clear.

 

[Hirokey123]

Wait so how do we know that this whole game hasn't already been a dream? Like Chirithy being around has implied this place is a sleeping world. And what does it mean by "depart for the outside world"?

 

[Ballad of Caius]

I think what is happening is that chi is the actual past and Unchained X is the dream we are reliving in the Realm of Sleep.

Which would fit since Ephemera is "Unchained"...

NOMURA, I KNEW I WAS RIGHT ON MY THEORY ;A; No wonder he danced around my question in our interview.

Fascinating! And Nomura did say Unchained was a term we would continue to see in KH3. Could it be that it will be during KH3 that the Lost Masters will be Unchained from their sleep? But I wonder... could they be sleeping in the pods in the Twilight Mansion?

 

[PiliChain23]

Thanks a lot goldpanner! So from what I got the 'dandelions' will be sent to the real world and not die in the war, in other words they get out of the dream loop. Still haven't enough to trust this though, I may be paranoid but I have a bad feeling about this.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Wait so how do we know that this whole game hasn't already been a dream? Like Chirithy being around has implied this place is a sleeping world.

Dream Eaters can exist outside of the RoS as seen in KH3D with Riku and the DEs who went to save Sora in TWTNW.

I think it is safe to say that chi is the real world because it is the story that is ending and Unchained X will continue and is directly related to how Ephemera is "unchained" AKA in the RoS.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Dream Eaters can exist outside of the RoS as seen in KH3D with Riku and the DEs who went to save Sora in TWTNW.

I think it is safe to say that chi is the real world because it is the story that is ending and Unchained X will continue and is directly related to how Ephemera is "unchained" AKA in the RoS.

Pretty much. Nomura also stated that Unchained was meant to add-on to chi's story.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Pretty much. Nomura also stated that Unchained was meant to add-on to chi's story.

Yup~ And again, I must share this

Exclusive Interview with Tetsuya Nomura on Kingdom Hearts 2.8 & KH3 - News - Kingdom Hearts Insider

Welcome to the spoiler~

 

[OathkeeperRoxas XIII]

Let me put my own two cents into this...

Let's say Daybreak Town is Keyblade Graveyard, and if all of this is a dream, could Daybreak Town be in the Realm of Sleep? And people have contacted Twilight Town's mansion to the Fair Tellers, you think something of them is still around I'm the Realm of Light?

 

[LightUpTheSky452]

"Even if these feelings, anger and sadness, signify darkness, pushing them down is proving impossible." Lines like this are even moreso making me think that Player is Sora. This sounds near identical to what he was talking about in Coded, when he said he couldn't let go of the hurt--even if it dragged him into the darkness--because the hurt was the only clue he had that he forgot something important. A lot of other things that Player said here remind me of Sora, actually.

So Ephemera and Skuld did have more of a relationship than what was hinted at previously. That's sweet, how he was concerned about her and all. (Though I'm still not convinced that Ephemera isn't somehow Xehanort, which would thus sour this whole thing).

Anyway, this was an amazing update. And I was staring open-mouthed the whole time I was reading this! LOL.

But it's so interesting that the "dandelions" are trying to go into someone's dreams (probably). If this really had been the distant past, I could've understood why they were trying to save themselves, but I feel like this is going to cause some problems in canon now, if they somehow get into the real world (Xehanort's plan to have another Keyblade War, probably).

And if something like this did happen in the past... I almost wonder if it was even a good idea sparing wielders, since in my mind the Keyblades have caused more bad than good, and I don't think anyone should have that much power. Not when they led (or are going to lead in Chi) to the world getting destroyed! But clearly Ava (if this also did happen in the distant past, and not just in the RoS, and this is how some Keyblade wielders did live on after the War) didn't agree with my sentiments. LOL.

Also, that part where Player says the words "Raise your Keyblade", when Ava said that to him last time when they fought, was hella epic to me

There's still a part of me that thinks it might not be Vulpeus/Ava, though. Now that we know she has illusion powers, how do we know we're still not seeing an illusion right now? How do we know if the other people have these powers or not? We don't atm, sadly.

 

[Blackdrazon]

Ah, sorry for the confusion. That's just the list of names corresponding to the Foretellers, not who appears. I need to go make that more clear.

Thanks Sign, I think that's clearer!

 

[ShardofTruth]

Why is everyone expecting the Dandelions to show up again? Wouldn't it make more sense that they were the children who rebuilt the world after the Keyblade War?

Thanks for the translation Goldpanner and Sign, you are the best.

 

[gosoxtim]

Why is everyone expecting the Dandelions to show up again? Wouldn't it make more sense that they were the children who rebuilt the world after the Keyblade War?

Thanks for the translation Goldpanner and Sign, you are the best.

yeah i was thinking that to as well