Disclaimer: Skies of Arcadia is copyright Overworks and Sega. Ancient Skies is copyright Gannon Hubbard. Any similarities between other fanfics are either inherent or coincidental in origin with no plagiarism or copying intended. Yes, I am paranoid about people accusing me of copying A. Cannon's fic.

The Crimson Civilization, once a proud and prosperous world power, lays in its self-made bed of rubble and sand. The Blue Civilization is nothing but a gathering of scarcely-populated islands. The Green Civilization lies barren, its vast jungles burnt down in the Rains and its Cities of Mist turned to stones and dust. The Mages of the Purple Civilization have fallen to their death, their machine of war having turned into their own harbinger of fate. Bodies lie in the streets of the Yellow Civilization and the water fountains, the ones that still work, churn out the blood of victims. They are not victims of guilt, nor are they victims of angst and sorrow. They are former victims of the Great Atrocities of the World. They have been plundered, murdered, and massacred by world powers, by their own homelands.

Could this have been prevented? Could this whole, terrible occurance have been bypassed by some mundane event? Everyone, the 'everyone' that refers to the paltry few survivors, says no.

Maybe, just possibly, there could have been a way to prevent the War of Ruin, a way to avert the horrible battles that killed millions, the bombings that lasted weeks.

No. To think such optimistic thoughts is foolish. That time has long passed, and it would bring no sigh of relief, no lifting of the weight off thousands of shoulders, to tell the world that there was a way this could have been prevented.

Perhaps future generations, though, will appreciate my story. Perhaps they may study these records and documents I have gathered and organized.

So here is a note to any future peoples, human or not, that may come across my notes. Read the following carefully, and take its sound advice. Do everything possible to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

Ours was a victory for the survival of the human race. However, it was Pyrrhic.

Let yours be a victory for the continuance of peace.