Prologue
The Vestige, the ruins of a lost world and a constant reminder of the scars of the past, stood on the outskirts of the seaside city of Bodhum. Its massive size towered high above the city's tallest buildings casting a shadow over the city at just past noon. To the citizens of Cocoon, the floating civilization above a land of hardship and peril, the Vestige was a ruin that was brought up to their prosperous land to serve as a reminder to the people of the "Hell on Earth" that lay below them.
The citizens of Cocoon, wanted nothing to do with Pulse. Pulse was a land of fire and brimstone. A land of constant war and strife that bred violent monsters and uncivilized tribes. Cocoon was a floating paradise tucked away in a shell of crystal safe above the land of hell, and it protected its people and provided a prosperous land for humans to live in.
Cocoon's extreme prosperity was brought about by the workings of a handful of powerful fal'Cie, supernatural beings that hold the responsibility to watch over and maintain the land of Cocoon and to keep it protected from a Pulse invasion from fal'Cie that lived upon that hellish world. They indirectly controlled the people of Cocoon by influencing sanctum decisions, though most people remained ignorant to the fact that the fal'Cie were controlling them and chose to believe that the sanctum served as a good government to fall under rule by. And so the fal'Cie that protected and provided for Cocoon became known to the people as Sanctum fal'Cie. The fal'Cie that lived upon Pulse acquired the fitting name of a Pulse fal'Cie, whose goal, was to destroy Cocoon and all of its fal'Cie and bring ruin to the people.
It was this belief that was introduced to the people by the sanctum, and forced the citizens to live in constant fear of the world below and begin to believe that one day there would be an invasion if the people didn't rid their world of anything that was a threat to the sanctum and the world of Cocoon.
The Vestige that loomed over Bodhum was brought to Cocoon by a sanctum fal'Cie and it convinced the sanctum that it was harmless but would serve as a reminder of the threat of Pulse to the people…and it did. The people lived in fear of the Vestige and few rarely ventured near it believing that if they did they would be contaminated by the power of Pulse. The history of the war between Pulse and Cocoon was taught to every citizen living within the floating city at a young age and the tale was constantly reinforced. It was always the same…Pulse fal'Cie saw sanctum fal'Cie as traitors and wanted to destroy them and their beloved world, so the Pulse fal'Cie brand humans with a mark that makes them as their servants…the l'Cie. The l'Cie are given a focus, a task in which they must perform which almost always deals with the destruction and demise of Cocoon. The people of Cocoon were taught that if anyone was branded by a Pulse fal'Cie, they were enemies of Cocoon that were contaminating the land and must be executed.
It was for that reason that the people stayed away from the Vestige even though it remained firmly sealed shut and posed no threat. At the same time the fear that the Vestige fed, allowed the sanctum, and ultimately the sanctum fal'Cie to control the citizens of Cocoon with ease.
What the people and the sanctum didn't know, however was that the Vestige did pose a threat to their paradise. Sleeping within the Vestige for hundreds of years a Pulse fal'Cie began to stir. As it woke the doors to the Vestige began to creak open and deep within the many twisting and folding corridors of the ruins near the chamber where the Pulse fal'Cie was resting, two crystalline statues began to shimmer and crack away to reveal human skin. Piece by piece the crystal cracked away to reveal two human bodies. When the crystal disintegrated into fine shimmering sand that floated into the air two unconscious women were left on the floor of a corridor in the ruins, both had the brand of a l'Cie.
While the two women slumbered, the fal'Cie in the Vestige that woke up from its long rest began to call out for a new human target to brand as a l'Cie and bring about the destruction of Cocoon. It would find its target two days later in the curiosity of a young woman named Serah Farron who lived in the city of Bodhum. It would brand her as a l'Cie and give her a focus to destroy Cocoon. It was this act upon this innocent girl that would throw Cocoon into such a panic that the entire city of Bodhum was put in lockdown, its people waiting for their fate, for now they were contaminated with the essence of Pulse and considered just as much a threat to Cocoon as the girl Serah who was now a l'Cie.
It was 13 days after the doors of the Bodhum Vestige opened that the beginning of the end began…
-Oerba Dia Vanille