Remember the beginning of Kingdom Hearts? Sora is in a limbo-like shadow area standing on cathedral-like objects made of stained glass showing a Disney Princess in a scene from a movie. Usually, if you were to be defeated by the Heartless, you would start over from the beginning of the fight. However, If you were defeated on top of the Snow White cathedral and died exactly in the center of the apple she is holding, you won’t start before the battle.
Instead, Sora respawns in a different cathedral.
The first thing one notices about the area is the music. Instead of being choir-like or happy, as the music in the game often is, the music is nothing but this odd static sound with a single broken violin attempting to play a scratchy version of the Kingdom Hearts theme. The longer one stays in this area, the louder the ‘music’ gets, and even trying to mute or turn down the television won’t shut the music up.
As for the stained glass floor, it’s like the Snow White one, but the color of the glass is harsher and the scene is somewhat more frightening than the original. Instead of having Snow White eating an apple, she is dead at the bottom and holding the apple, blood leaking from her eyes, nose, and mouth while the evil queen laughs in triumph while holding a bloody heart. As you progress sin this place, the other cathedrals have similar scenes, Beauty watches in horror as her father is devoured by the Beast, Sleeping Beauty lies completely still, her face a gaunt gray (hinting at some sort of decomposition) while King Phillip is burned to death by Dragon Maleficent, Cinderella is sold into slavery by her step-sisters… The scenes basically show what dark ending could have been put into the story. The detail in the pictures (especially the gruesome segments) is far more advanced than one would expect from a game of this time.
The Heartless you face in this area are also different. Instead of being cute shadows, they have yellow eyes with red irises and are taller than Sora, more slender, and have claws at the ends of their hands. These creatures move insanely fast, and they often dispatch all but the most experienced players with ease. They are also difficult to see as they blend in with the black background. Most people are only able to see their eyes. The staff and the shield don’t work against these creatures, so only people with the sword are able to fight them.
Most people who randomly stumble upon this often reset the game, thinking it’s a glitch, and because they’re unable to get farther than the first cathedral…however, there are some who have made it further to other cathedrals. The music gets louder (as mentioned before) and a strange whispering can be heard beneath the noise and violin. Finally, the player makes it to the last cathedral in the area and fights the giant Sora-shadow Heartless. He is different than the one you usually fight. There is no heart-shaped hole in his chest, and his eyes are red with yellow irises.
The fight is rather short, as well. The giant grabs Sora, who begins to be wrapped up by the darkness; it begins to enter his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Sora begins to scream while the violin begins to play louder, combining with the whisperings and other screams, when it soon becomes a mess of noise until the darkness covers Sora completely. Most of the noise (save for the whispering) abruptly stops and the words “Game Over” flask continually on the screen.
Players who try to reset the game and start over find that every time they try to play that copy, all the screen show is the Game Over sign with the whispering in the background. The very few players who made it that far have also reported to hear whispering when they are alone in rooms and have seen red eyes with yellow irises in dark and distant places.
The designers of the game deny ever making this section and say that creatures, area, story, and music don’t appear in the code. They claim it is a fabrication by people with a sick sense of humor. However, there was one designer, one Akane Hoyotami, who was on the game only in the beginning stages (when this level was being created) and left shortly after this section was finished. Because of the fact that he left so early, his role in the game is unaccredited. He made some calls to the Japanese police, claiming that there were creatures following him with red eyes and yellow irises.
The police dismissed his reports as the ramblings of a lunatic and led him out of the police station. He was found dead the next morning, cut up with what appeared to be sharp nails. The neighbor in the apartment next to him claimed that they heard Akane screaming about eyes and whispering when they called the police.
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