Era of Change
Author: Furysetzer
Disclaimer: All existing characters and trademarks belong to SquareEnix. This is a fan fiction based on Final Fantasy VI to be freely distributed for nonprofit.
Prolog: Age of Ruin and Rebirth
In this vast universe, there was a world of magic and beauty. It was a small world, but full of so much wonder and life. The clear blue skies, green earth and deep oceans were paradise, a veritable Eden of tranquility and peace. Even after the Goddesses fell, bringing their magic to the world, peace eventually returned. Even after the War of the Magi over a thousand years ago, the world eventually healed. I remember it all so well, for I was there through it all. Since my creation, I have experienced the deepest sorrow and highest joy, for I am the world, its spirit and consciousness. Somewhere within this plane and the next, I have always been and will continue to be here. For those mortals living within and without, I have given birth to a physical embodiment of my manifestation. I have given this avatar a name, which is Gogo. I am it and it is me.
In a split second, it seems, time turned and I found myself scarred and dying. The Goddesses of Magic known as the Warring Triad, who I had secreted away in my deepest reaches, were discovered and used by who would be the usurper. This vile and mad soul had awakened them and upset their balance. The dread and destructive force of magic exploded and caused destruction, rearranging my surface and nearly killing me. Humankind was swept away and not many survived. Those that did were scattered. This was a bleak time; those left despaired and called me the World of Ruin.
I could not leave those suffering to die, and so, I had saved those souls who tried to prevent this apocalypse. After I had traveled one time around the sun, I awoke a harbinger to gather the rest of them and finally put an end to the one responsible for this terrible wound. Even though he had stolen most of the Goddesses magic and captured it therein his blighted tower, they were triumphant with my intervention, and the one called Kefka was banished to eternal sleep within the realm of the dead. If he had been able to resurrect the God of Chaos, all would have gone to oblivion.
Even though the Goddesses and their magic are gone because of it, I was able to use the natural magic within me to reshape the world to bring about balance again. There is still so much restoration that needs to be accomplished, so much of my strength I need to gather again. The fragile stability that I experience now has made this an era of change, in which an unprecedented age I still do not know the outcome of.
Ten travels around the sun I have now completed since then, and the race of man has begun to rebuild. Still, I sense conflict between the races of man and monster. Technology regained uses resources, and that, in turn, requires expansion. It seems that prosperity for the humans means a plundering of wilderness. The tale and hardship suffered by those animals who had been mutated in the past by the magic has been a sad one. I feel that this conflict between them will soon escalate to a boiling point.
I see other things also. Some kind of manipulation from the past I cannot quite determine. An ancient power is also beginning to stir. And something from the cosmos I cannot discern is coming…