2) Plot

The Keyblade War. Many stories tell of it; a great battle between the greatest swordsmen and women in the known world, fighting for control of what they believed was the greatest power in the universe. Kingdom Hearts. Throughout the known history, beings have often sought control or understanding of the mysterious world. Some believe it will grant the one who enters it godlike powers. Others that it will grant a knowledge and understanding that not even today's wisest would comprehend.

And there are some who believe Kingdom Hearts is a cursed place. Where the strong of heart are whisked away to upon their death. Where the wicked hearts of men and women lie for punishment in eternal combat against the heroes they died fighting. Still others say it is a prison made of the strongest hearts the world produces, protecting us all from a greater threat than we could ever know.

The mystery came unraveled two weeks ago...

the Keyblade Master Xehanort, after ten years of failure, managed to break the lock surrounding the mystery of Kingdom Hearts. He discovered the hearts of warriors who could best even himself easily, all forming a great seal around a monster of unbelievable power. They spoke of the last battle of the Keyblade War, fought not against each other, but against the threat that had come to devour the entire world. It was a monster forged from the lust in their own hearts, of light and dark, contesting over the realm they until then had no way of knowing actually existed. Whatever lay beyond the door to Kingdom Hearts was lost to time, and to the monster sealed within its gates. With all their power, the warriors of the last Keyblade War sealed their hearts within the entrance to the great power they had fought so hard for, keeping the beast they battled from fully entering the sacred world, and to keep it from emerging and devouring our world.

But their hearts were not enough. In a final bid for peace, the last, greatest Keyblade master to exist used all of his power to create Shatterpoints; nodes in the earth itself that could convert vast land in to darkness to put the full power of the planet behind the seal. The worlds were separated in this final act, and eventually the story passed out of memory.

With the re-opening of Kingdom Hearts, Xehanort's ambition grew, and he sought to study the monster he could not reach. He planted seeds of mysterious treasure and powerful artifacts through the worlds, a bid to get the people of the worlds to hunt down these Shatterpoints for him, to restore the world and break the seal on the great beast he sought to control. The activation of the first two Shatterpoints on Radiant Garden and Twilight Town caused an instant reaction, causing land that had been shrouded in darkness for longer than any could remember to suddenly reappear, connecting the two worlds together on a solid strip of land, bringing with it swaths of the Heartless who had for years made their home in the abandoned lands.

The triggering of the Shatterpoints also caused a sudden reaction within the planet itself, drawing the residents of the world to the newly awakened lands of what had once been a northern kingdom, roads and inhabitants brought back to life. Unknown to Xehanort, he has already released the beast he sought to study, and it now hides deep within the darkness of the world's remains, strengthening itself to devour the world at last...

<Kingdom Hearts: Shatterpoint takes place shortly after Kingdom Hearts II's ending.>