TITLE: Fable of the New Crystal (Fabula Nova Crystallis.)
SUMMARY: How Pulse and Cocoon came to be.
A/N: Basically, I got this idea after reading the analects. It's what I think it means, and how I understood the analects. And it's not 100% of how I originally thought it to be since I made some modifications...you know, to make it more story-like. Plus there are still some things I'm unsure of. :D But here's how I see it. Btw, the last line in italics was taken from analect XIII, also titled "Fabula Nova Crystallis."
The makers.
They were the ones where everything originated, where everything all began.
Everything.
Now, one of them was the God called Pulse.
He was the first to step out of the realm of the Gods- the beyond, and was also the most powerful of them all. He wished to extend the rule of the divine into a different dimension, and with his power, fashioned a world where life may grow and flourish. He created man, so that there would be people he could share his masterpiece with, so there would be someone who could enjoy it for him. He created Fal'Cie, giving them extraordinary power, much like his own, and left the completion of the world he started to them. Fal'cie led men, and men praised Hallowed Pulse, naming the world they were born into after their creator.
Gran Pulse.
In Gran Pulse, men prospered. They were given everything they needed to carry on with life and Fal'cie continued to watch over them, just as Hallowed Pulse had ordered them to do. Hallowed Pulse would watch over his creations as well, smiling down on them as he saw them live in peace and happiness. And when the God was sure that they no longer needed much of his help, he left the world- and returned to the beyond, entrusting his creation to the Fal'Cie, leaving them all behind.
Little did Pulse know that someone was watching from the dimension fo the Gods. So when he left, this someone slipped past the gate and into the realm of the mortals. No one knew of her motive, just that she wanted to destroy the world that Hallowed Pulse created, turn the people against themselves and corrupt this paradise.
It was the goddess, Lindzei.
Lindzei smiled to herself a wicked smile as she used her hands to steal land from Gran Pulse. And this land was fashioned into a planet, a planet that hovered directly above Pulse, swimming freely in the blue sky. This planet, she named Cocoon. And she called out to the men of Pulse, whispering lies in their ears, "Within this shell, lies paradise," and stole them away from their homeland.
Some of the men believed her lies, and allowed themselves to be led on by the goddess, walking into her trap blindly as the false words sprung out of her mouth. They stayed in Cocoon, living off resources stolen from Gran Pulse, and from the day they left, were branded as traitors. Cocoon was, in turn, branded as something to be hated by Pulsians. It was not paradise, but a place where snakes dwell- a serpent's den.
And Pulse was corrupted.
Lindzei did everything she could to keep the planet running. She stole more and more each day from Pulse, and even created her own Fal'Cie. These Cocoon Fal'Cie were the same of that on Pulse, only that they were of Lindzei's line, making them traitors to the land as well. And Lindzei was nothing like Hallowed Pulse. She was a snake. She was wicked. And so her children, the Fal'Cie, were made to be like her. But even though they shared the same line, she still left them. And Cocoon was orphaned by their creator as well.
After the Gods left, the Fal'Cie of both Pulse and Cocoon continued to lead the people, doing everything they could and creating new
things for the people just to impress the Makers. The Pulse Fal'Cie even made L'cie out of men to ease their work, hoping that this will gain the makers' attention and bring them back into the world of the mortals.
But wars broke out frequently between the paradise in the sky and the original earth. Pulse lost too many times to Cocoon because of their lack of resources. They resorted to making more and more L'cie everyday even as the population grew scarce. But it didn't seem to be helping at all.
So the Pulse Fal'Cie chose two people. These two hailed from the North- the village of Oerba- and they would bear both a burden and an honor, for their Focus was to turn into the the beast, Ragnarok, and destroy Lindzei's Cocoon once and for all.
But she saw.
She saw everything that was happening, and could do nothing but grieve for them for she could not directly interfere with the affairs of the mortals.
It was the goddess, Etro.
It was the goddess Etro who lamented, who cried for those whose fates were determined by the Fal'Cie. She was the one who put to rest the people who suffered. She sent her messengers to the L'cie in their time of despair, telling them not to lose hope. She did so much for the people of Pulse, and the people of Cocoon.
But she could no longer take it when she saw the chosen ones transform into the beast and prepare to destroy Cocoon.
So she finally decided to interfere. During the war of transgression, she stepped down from her throne and robbed the beast Ragnarok of power. The goddess put the L'cie destined to destroy Cocoon to an early crystal sleep, focus yet to be completed, and left continuing to watch over them from the palace of the Gods with hopes that the people will once again work together and stand tall.
After Ragnarok's failure to destroy Cocoon, the people of Pulse were as wounded as ever. Fal'Cie grew desperate and turned more people into L'cie, bestowing them with foci they were unable to complete, resulting in their transformation into monsters. Some L'cie were sent to destroy these monsters, thus turning them against themselves and leaving Gran Pulse to crash and burn into the ground. Even the cities of Paddra and Haeri, both of which were the most beautiful cities on Pulse, were turned into a home for numerous Cie'th. It seemed that all hope was lost for the Pulsians. It seemed that all hope was lost for Gran Pulse.
In a few years time, Pulse turned into a home for beasts, for the humans now ceased to exist.
What could the Fal'Cie do?
They grew desperate, desperate to bring back the Gods because of this dispute. Pulse Fal'Cie wanted their creator back so that they could show him what has become of his creation, and Cocoon Fal'Cie wanted theirs back because they felt abandoned, orphaned.
So they continued to find ways to get the Gods to come back, but their methods proved useless. And so, they decided that it would be better to try and break into the beyond instead of waiting for the Gods they weren't really sure would turn up.
There was a theory about arks, saying that they were a way to prepare them for entrance into the gate of the beyond. It is said that they were built to prepare the people against the battle with the menace that lurked beyond. But who was the menace? And where was this "beyond?" It could've been anywhere. But was it built for the destruction of Lindzei's nest in the sky? No one knew for sure.
Surely it couldn't have been built to put and end to Cocoon and the snakes that resided in it, for the Arks dated far back from before Cocoon was created. So the "beyond" must have been the realm of the Gods, and the "menace," no one knew for sure. It was a real mystery, not one person knew the arks' true purpose.
So they decided to try other ways.
The Pulse Fal'cie searched for traces of the door to the beyond, and the Cocoon Fal'Cie did the same. They began to explore new lands and create new worlds. But surely this wasn't a way to impress the Gods, since they left the world a long long time ago.
Later, the Cocoon Fal'Cie came up with a theory. It was said that when humans died, they were sure to go to some sort of place in the afterlife. And they thought that this place was the beyond. So if a huge number of souls would need entrance to the beyond, they thought that the door would open up wide enough to gain them entrance.
Clearly there was only one solution left, since everything they tried never worked.
It was to sacrifice the entire planet of Cocoon- to sacrifice the entire populace.
It was their only option, their only hope.
The door once shut, was now locked away. They wanted to be find it, open it and call out the makers, and tell them to come back. And even for a second, catch a glimpse of the divine realm known as the beyond.
"...When the twilight of the gods at last descends upon this world, what emerges from the unseeable expanse beyond that Door will be but music, and that devoid of words: the lamentations of the Goddess Etro, as She sobs Her song of grief."
No one knew what was waiting on the other side.
But even so, they tried.