"It's up to the planet to decide…" Bugenhagen's words burned onto their memories as they watched the planet struggle against the mighty Meteor. The abrasive red light from the attacker searing their eyes. Fear reflected in the reddened glow. All around the world the people stood still, watching, waiting. Destiny was about to unfold.
The planet screamed the grinding of the aggressor into its core worse than any pain imaginable. Meteor quickened its assault, sensing its prey weakening, knowing that it had an easy victory. It droned on and on like a dentists drill, burrowing its way into the heart of the doomed globe. Red lightening impacting on the ground around it, clouds of dust and dirt thrust up in its wake. The meteor, a distant burned out sun had been summoned to the planet with black materia. Summoned by Ancient magic it overpowered all the natural defences of the stricken sphere.
It sobbed between screams. Indeed it was the frightened child that Cid had talked about. A young planet only a couple of million years old, barely old enough to put up defences against an intruder such as this. A child of a world curled up, frightened and scared. A child without its mother. Alone in the galaxy. The pain dulled, Meteor regrouped itself in order to strengthen its next wave of attack. It temporarily stopped grinding, but still pushed against the exposed crust on its surface. It was in this lull that the planet began to reminisce. It remembered back to its youth. The first few days of its existence.
It didn't remember its birth. It had theories of course, that it had been created in an explosion, or created by a higher power. It preferred to think that it had been created by a benevolent God, one who stood above it now, watching its battle, trying to help it. After all God had given the world humans. Those funny little forms that cultivated the surface, ensuring that it was healthy. Ones that tapped its inner power, living in harmony with it. The ones that spoke to it, Ancients... they knew it wasn't just an inanimate object. They knew it had thoughts and feelings. Until they had been wiped out. Killed by a calamity from the sky. Something that had threatened its very existence. At the sacrifice of the Ancients, it had been saved. But the ancients, so devoted had they been, had never disappeared. Instead their spirits had flowed through it, a sort of bloodstream… the lifestream. The one thing that caused all living things to exist. That strengthened the world and helped it to grow. The gentle green river that nourished and supported all forms of life. That had been forced into power stations and turned into a substance called Mako. Magic turned into crystal materia.
The pain worsened and the planet was jolted out of its memories. Meteor had resumed its attack. It sobbed again as it heard the cackling and crackling. Its outer shell falling off in chunks like diseased skin. Whimpering it wished it wasn't so alone, that there was something that would take the pain away. Water escaping from porous rocks like blood, flowing out around meteor. It bubbled, the heat boiling it. Its wound was deep, penetrating the outer core. The planet could feel the heat; it wanted it to end…
The heat stopped, the grinding silenced.
Holy shone through.
A white, glowing blanket of light. It lodged itself underneath Meteor, forming a thin skin, stopping the invader from burrowing any deeper. The whispers of a prayer reaching the planet. It began to feel stronger, gathering its resources it prepared to fight.
Holy whispered encouragement to the planet, the voices of the Ancient's awakening, mingling with the voices of the humans. The humans on its surface were praying. Enemies had laid down their arms and were praying side by side. Old and young, friends and foes… they all wanted to live, to see the planet survive. The planet could feel something deep inside itself stirring. The heart, the core reacting to the words of the humans. The lifestream was bubbling deep within it. The Ancients were calling, the departed souls of the humans rising to defend their loved ones left behind. To defend the planet, to protect their home. The planet sobbed again, not from pain but from pride. It wasn't alone. There were people all around it, inside it. They wanted it to live, they wanted to protect it. It was their home, their friend, they depended on it and it depended on them.
Cracks appeared on the surface of the planet. Caverns running deep into the planet. Green glows erupting from the darkened pits. Tender fronds of lifestream spiralling into the open air. The essence of the planet. Each frond raced towards Meteor, combining with Holy underneath it to push it away from the planet. Prayers bursting out into the sky, echoing across towns and cities. The humans, who could see, watched, many still praying, as the glowing red of Meteor slowly diminished. The burning receding. The forms of the spirits in the lifestream apparent to them. They saw their loved ones; they saw the Ancients fighting for them. Meteor turning black, the floating chunks falling into the glowing core of Meteor, disintegrating into dust. The ground trembled with one final effort. The lifestream pushed the Meteor out of the planet. Catapulting it out of the atmosphere. The black sphere hurtling out of sight, into the deepest recesses of space.
Only Bugenhagen knew exactly what happened to meteor. In his observatory he could see the whole event. The black mass hurtled into a black hole. It would never be seen again. He chuckled nervously to himself as he wondered what the planet would do. It was its decision. Were humans the problem? The screams had lessened. The planet was resting; maybe it was contemplating its decision.
Like a child who had just come out of a fever, the planet floated in space, worn out. Holy was working hard to heal the crater that Meteor had left. The lifestream had settled down, the Ancients again talking to their planet. Holy, the planet realised, was a powerful weapon. One that could stop the hurt that the latest generation of humans had inflicted onto it. The reactors had plunged into the planets surface, draining the lifestream, diminishing its friends. But the humans had rallied round to save it. Was that for their own selfish purpose? Or did they really care for it? The planet let out a small moan, an earthquake rumbled across the Midgar plains, what remained of the huge structure of Midgar fell. Humans needed to be taught, to be informed how to look after the planet. It thought back, back to the tiny bunch of eco warriors who had battled to save it. Three of them were now in the lifestream. Humans, they were not the problem, technology was the problem. The planet made its choice. Holy, acting on its orders surrounded the planet, bathing it in a pearlescent glow. To the humans it was like the glare of a fresh snowfall. Making the world seem a new and exciting place. It brightened and they felt a feeling of peace wash over them. They closed their eyes, and when they opened them again they found the reactors and the powerful machinery that had once pillaged the planet gone. Research labs left over from Shinra had been demolished. The people did not feel the need to replace them; scientists felt the urge to become more eco friendly. Flowers started to bloom in the oddest places.
An idyllic ending…
A fragment of Jenova pulsated deep inside a forgotten cavern. A steady drum, like a heartbeat, echoed in the darkness.
Is this the end?