Fabula Nova Crystallis: Savior of Kresnik
A fictional story set in the Final Fantasy Universe mixed with the Tales of Series. Contains spoilers for several games in both series. Set after the events in Final Fantasy 13-2
Prolog: The Time before the Beginning
It all began with whim, well that's what we humans have been led to believe. The fact is our world, no our entire universe became a joke between three spirits. The Great Spirit Maxwell, he who ruled over the four Great Spirits of the Elements and all other lesser spirits, The Great Spirit Chronos, he who governed and controlled time itself and The Great Spirit Origin, the one that ruled over all of creation. Origin became interested in us and so decided to see if we were truly worthy of existence despite the protests of Chronos and Maxwell, and so he created a challenge, it came to be known as Origin's Trial. However we mere humans are chaotic in nature, we seek out and destroy that which we do not understand, we are also selfish beings, willing to do anything for power. To prove that point Chronos added to Origin's Trial, selecting a single family among the many humans to complete Origin's Trial. He blessed or rather cursed this family with a certain power, the power to alter time and reality on a limited scale. This family was known as the Line of Kresnik.
Powerful these Great Spirits were, but they were not all knowing and that's what led to their downfall. Etro Kresnik was different from others in her family, she was truly powerful, skilled and willing to do anything to pass Origin's Trial. She discovered that the more a Kresnik used this accursed power the more their lifeforce was drained away. However she also discovered that by slaying another human with this power she could add their lifeforce to her own. Determined to clear the trial she slaughtered hundreds upon hundreds of humans, gaining more and more power until she could live a thousand life times over, with her new found strength she used an ancient ritual to open the Temporal Crossroads and traveled to where she would meet Origin only to have Chronos stand in her way.
"I will never allow a human as vile and selfish as you to stand before Origin!"
He bellowed, and the two did battle. For the first time ever a mere human was able to stand against a Great Spirit. With the power of her Chromatus she couldn't not be affected by Chronos's power of time, thus forcing Chronos to fight using general attacks. For a solid year the two battled, neither one willing to yield for they both knew what would happen if Etro won this battle. You see by clearing Origin's Trial the human that stands before him can ask for one wish, any wish they desire and it will be granted. Could you picture what a mere human could do with such a thing? Any desire no matter how selfish or distructive could be fulfilled, it is a power that no person should ever be granted. Their battle had not gone unnoticed however, drawning the attention of Maxwell as well as every other spirit in existence. They could not believe that a mere human could stand against a spirit as powerful as Chronos, it showed just how powerful and dangerous all humans could become if left unchecked.
Etro despite her power knew that fighting against a Spirit that could control time was futile. No matter how much damage she caused with a mere thought he could reverse time on himself and negate the damage. That is when the idea struck her, those of the Kresnik line that used up their lifeforce using the Chromatus became encased in crystal, a sign to show others that they had failed. These members are perfectly preserved throughout all of time, a joke by Chronos to dissuade others from using that power. If time couldn't affect the humans encased in crystal, what would happen if it encased a spirit? She channeled the full power of the Chromatus into her lance and pierced Chronos through the chest. He watched in horror as silver crystal erupted from the wound, beginning to encase himself as well as Etro.
"I may not be able to truly defeat you, but I can ensure you aren't here when the next of my line comes to complete Origin's Trail. With you out of the way mankind will prevail and all you will be able to do is watch!"
In mere moment's they both became crystal statues, frozen forever in time in the realm of the Great Spirits. All was silent, the spirits couldn't believe what had just occurred before their eyes. Chronos the Great Spirit of Time outsmarted by a mere human, what they all believed to be a lesser being had managed to defeat one of their most powerful comrads. It was at this point Origin realized how foolish it was to issue the trial, he now knew that when truly driven humans would do absolutely anything to achieve their goal no matter what the cost. Using his divine power he sealed the Temporal Crossroads off from the human realm, and then he decided that he needed to limit the power which humans of the present and future could draw upon. He transformed the Great Elemental Spirits into four crystals and sent them to the human realm. The humans later in the future would be able to draw upon that power of these crystal to gain strength but it would be limited and thus ensure they no human ever became as powerful as Etro ever again. As for Etro though, Origin decided that to atone for the grave sins she had commited, slaying thousands of her fellow humans, decided to turn her into a goddess. Now you may think this to be a reward, it wasn't, for you see she had become a Goddess of Death, forced to witness her fellow humans live, die and be reborn to witness it all over again. Her soul was to manage the cycle of death and rebirth from its new prison Valhalla while her physical form was trapped in the spirit realm.
For countless centuries Etro had to watch her fellow humans live and die and during those years she witness humans that managed to overcome the handicaps put in place Origin. Humans like Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, Kuja, Tidus, Yuna and finally she decided she would escape this prison she had been placed in. Her soul willingly entered the cycle of rebirth without Origin's knowledge, and thus she was reborn in a strange man-made world called Cocoon in the form of a young woman named Claire Kresnik Farron.
While in the human realm she was safe from Origin's prying eyes, with the crossroads sealed off he couldn't interfear with humans, though that didn't stop the spirits that already existed here from doing so, the humans of this time called them Fal'Cie and humans chosen by them to carry out their will were L'Cie. She had to admit she found it rather amusing that the humans of this time were terrified of Gran Pulse and their L'Cie though she would never express it for fear of drawing their attention. As Claire she had other matters to worry about, specifically her new little sister Serah and her stupid fool of a fiancé Snow. Then came the day, a day she feared might happen, Searh became a L'Cie. Call it destiny, fate or whatever but Claire felt compelled to go save her when the Great Purge occurred. Together with a few others, Hope, Snow, Vanille and Sazh they fought their way to Searh only upon reaching her to find her turning to crystal.
"Save Cocoon"
She said as she was sealed away. Her fiancé in a fit of rage charged into the chamber which held the Fal'Cie responsible for cursing Searh with it's power and it was then he spoke the words that Claire never hoped to hear.
"I'll be your L'Cie instead!"
Following the battle after these spoken words the Fal'Cie Anima reconized who she really was and cursed her with the power of a L'Cie. She is nothing if not driven though, she journeyed and trained in her new found power, forming bonds with the others and eventually preventing the fall of Cocoon to save all of mankind. With their task completed, their L'Cie brands lifted she thought she could live in peace now… she was wrong.
It came without warning… Origin cracked the seal… and she fell through the cracks.
Through the folds of Time and Space she fell until eventually she ended up where she most feared… Valhalla, her former prison.
It was here Origin's voice spoke for the first time in centuries.
"Bow thy head and open your heart to the benediction of Origin's light. Drink in the light and cleanse your soul. Surrender to the radiance"
He spoke of a threat to all of creation, a human that possessed a twisted form of her former Cromatus power. A man that could not be touched by time, Caius Ballad.
Though angered by her escape from Valhalla Origin had also witness he rebirth as a human, how she handled power and how she would do anything to save those precious to her, a farcry from when she was obsessed with completing his trial. So he gave her a task, stay her in Valhalla and prevent Caius from reaching the throne of Etro and stopping the cycle of death and rebirth, in exchange he would release her from the shackles of Valhalla forever and allow her to rejoin her loved ones in the human realm.
Having no choice she became a Warrior Goddess, clad in divine silver armor and did battle with Caius with the help of her trusted partner Odin. However, things don't always go according to plan. Serah determined to find her sister met a young man that also possessed a similar power of chromatus, a man that Claire herself sent to her… Noel Kreiss. That one decision destroyed her last chance at happiness. Serah traveled the fractured timestream with Noel, making corrections, following Caius and unknowingly being exposed to more and more of the Chromatus power. Eventually it became too much and Serah passed away, driven by the sorrow and rage she felt for failing to protect her, Claire finally defeating Caius in the throne room of Etro. Her task completed she was finally free of Valhalla, but what was the point in leaving now? Her sister was gone, lost to the cycle of rebirth, and thus her last source of humanity died within her. Sitting upon the throne of Etro, she willing herself into crystal sleep, vowing to remain there until the end of time as punishment for her failure.
The Age of the Crystals will soon be at an end, mankind awaits the day when its salvation is at hand. The legends told of her coming… Banisher of darkness, bringer of light and redeemer of souls. She'd come at the end of days to guide mankind's souls to salvation.
The Savior…
Author Note:
Writing this was interesting I actually had to play through all the Final Fantasy 13 games to get the entire plot of the series and then play through both Xillia games multiple times to learn everything. Bringing the two together for a unique story line based around Lightning Returns should be interesting to say the least. I hope I can do this new story justice, updates will happen when they can, I'm attending EMT courses and they take up a lot of time but hopefully I can make big updates every other week.