Prologue
The southern continent was a twisted memory of its former self. No animals roamed its fields, unless monsters could be counted as animals. Most plants had been transformed into freakish abominations; those that hadn't were struggling for life or already dead. The ground itself was blackened and desolated, and the few people still alive had been all but crushed beneath Kefka's heel.
The rest of the world was no different. What had once been verdant grassland was now a rocky waste. The once glorious sun was reduced to a mere candle; there was a gauzy curtain of haze over the sky that the sun couldn't penetrate, creating a perpetual sunset. The nights were no better, offering only an empty murk devoid of any starlight.
Kefka's Tower stood high amongst it all, like some terrible beacon of death. Composed mainly of pieces from Vector twisted together in some bizarre manner, the tower was visible from anywhere on the continent. While so many other buildings were collapsing in ruin, Kefka's tower seemed to grow taller every day. Even if there had been no visible reminder, nobody in the world, much less the southern continent, would have been able to forget Kefka's Tower. The tower would often blast the countryside with an unholy light capable of searing anything it touched; they called it the Light of Judgment.
For some reason, though, the tower had been unusually quiet today, almost as if its owner was preoccupied with something else. Still, it seemed most likely to the survivors on the southern continent that the calm was just a twisted joke of the tower's owner. Such a joke was undoubtedly something Kefka would take pleasure from. The people enjoyed the lull in Kefka's mad rampages nonetheless.
The peace was short lived. Just after evening, the ground began to quake, accompanied by a deep rumbling noise. Nobody could remember an earthquake so severe since the day the world was destroyed. The quaking intensified, now sounding as if a thousand chocobos were thundering across the plains.
The tower was suddenly bathed in light, but this white light seemed different from the Light of Judgment. Instead of raining death and terror, it shone radiantly, illuminating the sky. The shaking grew worse still, and even those not attuned to magic could feel the energy being expended. It wasn't long before the magical waves were felt across the entire world.
It took several minutes for the citizens of the southern continent to realize what was happening. Those that were watching the tower gave a shout. The light had now completely engulfed the tower and was breaking it apart piece by piece. The tower was being destroyed!
After the initial outburst, the people watched in an almost unbelieving silence. The onlookers heard a deafening boom and the light grew so blindingly brilliant that it was painful to watch. Then, just as suddenly as it had began, the rumbling stopped and the light faded, leaving the southern continent bathed in silence. A single airship barreled away from a now ruined tower.