A Primordial Chaos
"I drowned into the darkness. I wandered for what I thought to be an eternity…I landed ashore at the very end of time. Chaos swelled and the goddess emanated, in all of existence."
Lightning Farron: otherwise known as Claire Farron, stood at the edge of time, upon the barren shores of Valhalla.
It was the true form of chaos, in its entirety. Everything had been to the goddess' will. Her hands had touched and breathed a strange surge of life unto that existed within this plain.
There was no end, no beginning, only infinity at this place. Beyond the reach of civilization, how Lightning had been summoned to this place was a given…the darkness had taken her here. But the question was, why?
"I better find something to get me on track…" Quietly she muttered, and the sound of footsteps upon the golden, barren sand had revitalized this still block of existence.
Her feet dragged upon the sand, steadily climbing the large dunes to reach stable ground. Her years of combat had honed her sensory. Gripping her gun-blade, she remembered that she had no magic to rely on, for she was a human once more. But what lied in this chaotic land was unknown, even to Lightning.
The sand had trembled: animals rose from their hiding place, the birds wailed, waves retreated and even dunes began to crumble! Something awoke; Lightning had understood. Her pose changed in an instant: a defensive stance was taken; sword obscured her nimble frame, shielding her body and readying her senses.
It lunged from the ground! Its head pierced into the sky; a loud wail beckoning from its giant mouth. Lightning instantly reacted to this menace. Its head swooped for pretty, but Lightning was no princess! And definitely not one that this Naga could eat for dinner!
Her knees bent, and feet rose off the ground. A graceful somersault allowed her to land on its neck. She scanned around immediately, briefly noting her gaze on something that glimmered. A large, pulsating, red crystal! That was the weakness, and Lightning made no delay in exploiting it.
Her efficiency, however brutal, was remarkable! In a matter of three seconds: she dazed the monster with a high-powered grenade, slid across its spine and bisected the crystal with one sharp blow.
It wailed! Its cries echoed within the vicinity. Stone cracked, glass shattered and monsters hid. For the first time in centuries, perhaps thousands of years, this monster had been quelled, by something more powerful than itself!
It retreated, and the environment gazed to Lightning: in awe, fear and respect. She paid no attention to them. She wanted answers, and she would get them.
"Good." A small chime, and from that chime was a voice.
"What?" Lightning was puzzled, and found nothing had even moved." Is this telepathy…?" She questioned aloud.
"Come to me." Again it spoke! Lightning paid more attention, and it appeared to be a feminine voice.
"Huh? Where are you!?" Lightning beckoned, her brow tensed, and her grip on her blade tightened.
"Follow…the truth," was the entire chime said, as the echo quietened.
"What…what was that?" Lightning's thoughts raced. She attempted to piece things together, but nothing seemed to fit.
"Follow the truth?" Lightning widened her eyes, realizing that monsters were guiding her. But to where? This is what she needed to answer.
She strode through the sand, leaving temporary imprints as they faded away, as swiftly as they were left on the ground. Monsters guided her path, though she remained wary and alert nonetheless. Upon stepping onto the dark stone, she noticed they emanated with a particular essence…something abstract, something so simple, yet something that carefully remained just outside of her grasp.
"Tsk. This feeling…it's strange. My senses…why are they reacting like this?" She looked to the northern sky: for inspiration, for hope, for motivation, and continued onward on the perilous path.
"There is Order and then there is Chaos. But why has Etro taken Chaos to fight me? I who is the embodiment of chaos itself." A dark, contempt voice echoed within the throne-room of the ancient tower.
"Is it that she has lost all forms of what I would call, common sense?" He spoke again…finally exposing himself.
A haze of purple and black energy appeared in the air. It formed into what appeared to be an innumerable number of wisps. They raced to the top of the tower within seconds, converging at that exact moment. They formed into a man…a man whose demonic grin made even the lightning cringe. The sun had retreated from his abode, leaving way for his dark eyes to glimmer brighter than the moon. Raven hair spilled down his back, and an immense large, unusually shaped purple blade was holstered upon it. His physical frame had been clutched within a pitch-black jumpsuit, purple headband, violet shoes and an onyx strap that covered the entire length of his torso, wrapping his sword around him.
"So it appears I have yet another to kill? What a bother." His raspy voice was but one of the many factors of such evil; his face had deformed into a malicious smirk that threatened to plot something so incredulously twisted, beyond humanity's touches.
"Caius Ballad…" The feminine voice echoed into her immediate atmosphere. Maroon hair raced down her back, her porcelain face adorned with the helm of a fiery chocobo. Her wings spread apart, vermillion feathers littered the sky, and raging scarlet eyes cooled to a liquid chocolate brown.
This was Chocolina, once a young chocobo who had stumbled upon a paradox eons ago thanks to the first change of the timeline. Stumbling upon Valhalla, she would be granted the power to appear in every timeline, every time, in a different incarnation, assisting those who assist the goddess.
A man named Sazh Katzroy, once Lightning's comrade, also possessed a chocobo chick by the same name. She admitted that she was a rather particular incarnation of herself, not conforming to her duties…as of yet.
Chocolina has witnessed the fluctuating timeline for eons: the clashes, paradoxes, beginnings and ends. Yet no matter how much she saw Caius, he exuded an enormous amount of evil. This evil was one that had been transformed from kindness.
"Caius Ballad. The Immortal Idiot, as I like to call him. As you can suspect, he has existed through all the timelines, protecting the one known as Yeul. She was a seeress of the race known as the Farseers. Yet this protective desire transformed into something else. It transcended beyond humanity, beyond even the goddess' will. He is insane; wishing to destroy the goddess herself! But we can't do all that much to stop him either. His powers rival that of the gods, for he possesses the Heart of Chaos, the heart which was once possessed by Etro, but given to him." She paused, her gaze moved downward, sulking before turning towards Lightning navigating through the labyrinths of inner Valhalla.
"Claire…wasn't it? I wonder, will your clear intentions triumph this Bahamut of a beast?"
Guided through these incomprehensible labyrinths, Lightning didn't have; or rather, wasn't given any time to scour and appreciate their beauty or features.
They continued, continued and continued to continue. "Is there no end!?" Her frustration was evident, but was soon replaced by awe, as she looked to the north.
Two doors, parallel to one another, yet entirely different, stood before her. The first; a size so colossal that even giants would treat it as a normal door! It had been ingrained with the finest of carvings, countless miniature images overlapped and connected, forming a gargantuan replica of the goddess. Shimmering with truly innumerable numbers of crystal, they shimmered with countless colours, from the pales of whites to the darkest of blacks.
On the other hand; a far smaller, humane door was present. It was made of a very old timber, evident through its abnormal decay. Only a single glass idol of the goddess was hung on it, with a length of string keeping it stable.
An unconscious desire dragged into the smaller door. She was taken aback, as she fell into the recesses of an unusual darkness.
It was a neither silent nor serene darkness of any kind. Phantoms screamed; their cries resounding within her eardrums. They were cries for help, screams of vengeance and some unusual words of encouragement.
Visions raced through her mind. Epic, yet brief conflicts were most apparent. Warriors have all descents had been shown, yet there was always one single black-haired man with an immensely large broadsword cast upon his back.
Her muscles tensed, and brow went angular. Visibly she was curious. She extended her palm, and asked, "Who are these, these phantoms?"
No answer. Just more screams. They agonised her; resounded through all of her body. Every cell had been in pain. Why was she in so much pain? But more importantly, why did she not scream?
"You could scream all you want, but it wouldn't help, Claire." A voice called out to her in the middle of the visage she saw. Suddenly a bright light enveloped her and expanded outwards, leaving her to slowly descend onto the ground.