Disclaimer: I do not own anything of value...so this includes Final Fantasy VIII

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Chapter 1: The Old World

Far beneath the surface, buried under rubble, lies the document of the first intelligent life on this world. It holds the secrets of the past, but within it lies the future. Destiny is put into words of courage, faith, and hope...hope that this preserved piece of parchment will be found in soon enough time. Hope that it will be legible if read at all. Hope that the detailed instructions will be followed- and the description of what happened when they weren't... will be persuading enough. This is the legend of The Creator, the apocalypse, and of The Old World.

Scribbled onto its thin sheets, it told of what must be done, what must happen, and how to accomplish it. Uncover its layers of dust, and see what was written in a last, desperate attempt to save the world from forthcoming disaster:

Our world is no more than a mere rock, shattered and sent soaring though the universe. Death surrounds the Heavens and consumes what is left of us. Please, heed our warning and regard our messages with extreme care! We've failed once and our Mother can take no more of the destruction. I will put together this remaining document to instruct you in our failure and your hopeful success:

Before time, the World was nothing. No trees grew, no water flowed, and no constellations mapped the sky. The first of any existence was created from our first god, Conditorius. She pulled stars and planets together out of dust, organizing them is such a way to tell the stories of pasts. Soon after, she birthed her first daughter, Gia.

With unconditional love for the New World, Conditorius (The Creator) presented the Solaris to give the first light to the virgin child's soil. Next, she made Lunar, a mobile for the infant planet. The formatted stars lit up the pitched night and told tales while the planet slept. Softly, Conditorius blew onto Gia's face, creating the first life on the New World's crest.

But before long, Conditorius grew old and weak, hardly able to preserve her own existence. With one last effort, she cried over her daughter, embedding large, imposing oceans on Gia's face. Kissing her softly, she surrounded the world with love...and died.

Gia grew and matured gradually, as did the inhabitants on her surface. Lush forests and gurgling streams outlined her features, while barren deserts and flat plains posed beautiful, yet threatening landscapes. Life flourished and grew, evolving into a greater, more intelligent species. Man soon walked to face of Gia.

Man: the one species on the planet Gia that is focused only on making efforts more efficient, discovering the unknown, killing one's self out of arrogance, and...gaining power. Man brought around the first of the five realms. The first was created from power -hungry humans that thrived only on taking power from others and gaining respect through pain. This unsatiated group of people was the first to become known as the Nocents. The satanic realm they created was widely known simply as Nocens.

The Nocents found great pleasure in the torment and pain of others. Easily amused by the disdainful looks of horror upon their victims' face, the Nocents continued their consumption of power for ages on. Most times, even, these demons would turn against each other, jealous of another Nocent's power. Therefore, most of them went about their torturing alone or, more often than not, with minions.

Some of the people, though, rebelled against such treatment. Infuriated, these humans banned together to stop these acts of impudence. But they soon realized that the only way to seize the pain was to cause more. This would never do. Now extremely frustrated and enraged, they created the second realm, Aether.

(Those that did not believe in following either the Aetherics or the Nocents made up the third and neutral realm, Medius. Medians didn't become part of either good or bad for fear that the opposing side would overthrow them. They simply supported their favoring side through faith and prayer.)

The Aetherics, as they called themselves, summoned to Gia herself and called upon the souls of those once lacerated by the Nocents. Revenge infested upon those that have done harm. Stages of pure hatred sprang up upon the lands and the spirits of the planets fed upon those of the Nocents'.

But some Nocents only saw this as a mere challenge- a battle presented to prove who had the greater strength and power. For the first time, evil banned together to defeat this overwhelming feat of strength. With all cruelty and hatred pull into one, the fourth and most abominable realm was born- Diruo.

The massed severity of this eternal acrimony surmounted the Aetherics. Surges of absolute destruction pounded into the crests of Gia and her people. Existing only as one, Diruo mauled over and over. Lightning struck from the sky, oceans flooded over, severe winds tore up forests and brush, plates of land shook beneath the awesome power, and infernos pelted up among Gia.

Populations dwindled dramatically, leaving only few to witness the final calm of this devastating puissance. Gia was now bare, scared, and ruined. Everything that once was, now was nothing. Burnt and battered, the planet wept at the inevitable fact that she was dying. Her glory was permanently mortified. The people and animals within her wept along her side in deep sympathy.

Not all hope was lost, though. Beneath the shards of the battered terra, an exiguous amount of Aetherics had remarkably survived. A spark of life flickered in the spirit of the planet. Newfound hope had arisen from the depths of despair. Aetherics and Medians alike joined in a desperate attempt to rejuvenate Gia. Sympathy surrounded her and nourished her starvation. Slowly, and with much patience, the planet grew once more. Plants once again broke through her soil, streams began to flow free of blood, and life started to reproduce.

Not all was well, though- for the Nocents were becoming upset with the rebirth that had occurred behind their backs. They called to Diruo and summoned him to retain the death grip on Gia once more. Hell was to break through again and dispose of the world completely. This would be the final battle. The Nocents laughed bitterly to themselves at the thought that it was even to be a battle.'

The Aetherics and Medians became desperate. Gia would be sure to meet her death this time. They had to find a way, a weakness. Gia would still be too weak to call to the dead souls, physical fighting would be futile, and they surly couldn't cause more destruction. Destruction. That was (obviously) what Diruo had done to her. But there were no effective weaknesses against destruction. No weaknesses, but....there was an opposing force to destruction. Creation.

Creation was the ultimate weapon of resistance. It wouldn't rid Gia of destruction, but it would, without failure, prevent her from being totally killed and destroyed. As long as creation kept running and evolution flowed, Diruo would never succeed in his ultimate goal. Unfortunately, however, Diruo would never stop the destruction of new creations. But, with one thing ruined, another would be simulated. This made the fifth, and final realm, Genero (or Conditor II).

Creation and Destruction clashed in a perpetual dual. The cycle of life passed over and over, aging Gia. Generations birthed and withered throughout a steady and never-changing time. Gia grew ancient and wise, but always remained spiritually young by Genero. Old thoughts and history were stored within the constellations, but were demolished from Gia as Diruo passed. The planet moved in an eternal cycle, no one side overpowering the other.

To the point of raging frustration, Diruo summoned the Nocents to him. Once more, he called them to gather and push all malice into one wave of energy. This would be used to advance greatly upon Genero. The immense power could well wipe out Creation with a single blow, and claim Diruo vanquisher. So began accumulation for the commencing cataclysm.

When informed of the devastating preparations, the souls of the Aetherics and Gia were struck with sorrow - sorrow and rue for what they all knew was the end. There were no alternatives or hopes left for them to thrive on. The world went into a deep depression and anxiety. Great sobs could be heard of the planet's affliction and grief, while darkness spread the to bounds of her destiny.

But, just as the Heavens had always guarded Gia from previous attacks, hope came through a single, yet phenomenal miracle. Light pierced the deeply mourned sky, parting the grey clouds of failure. From above the highest peak, the spirit of Creation, Genero, came down to the level of mortals. Light began to flood the lands of little left time and comforted the disturbed souls of man and his creature kin. With her, she brought a message and request. Standing proudly on an altar of hope, she said:

"My beloved children, I see you're all in great distress. You foresee your dark future, as no human should have to bare knowledge of. Hope has dwindled to a mere nothing through your eyes. But I can see past the ghastly destiny that you all dread. There is still a way; an alternative. But, my children, you get only one chance to secure your fate imperviously.

"One pure, courageous soul must take on the responsibility of myself, Genero. You must bare my duties and create new life upon Gia. You will be her only hope.

"As for me, I will be a sacrifice. I will decoy Diruo into thinking I still own this miraculous power. This will give my successor enough time to hide away into a human society. Diruo will not be able to recognize you as a human, so whoever it will be, will have to live a normal life. The only differences are that you will have the knowledge of your glories and will have to live that as a secret. You must also, after your death, pass your powers and knowledge onto a new successor.

"If you, whomever I choose, will accomplish this accurately, then the world will be forever protected from harm. Now, which brave soul will step forward to gain my endowment..."

And so the realm of Creation was passed onto man. Genero's lure worked and her spirit was abolished by the misled Diruo. The privileged human escaped into the rest of human population.

The destruction of the world never occurred - for what cannot be found, cannot be destroyed. Diruo knew, though, that one of the humans had been successor to Genero- for life, evolution, and creation still functioned in a cycle. The Nocents suggested killing all humans, but Diruo strongly disagreed for fear he would kill too many if his own minions. He had his own plans anyway.

Diruo did the same as did Genero. One Nocent, or forced Aetheric, was given the awesome power of destruction. With it, they were sent down to Gia's surface as a bounty hunter. Diruo also granted this minion the ability to sense those that are true Aetherics. Even more, they could pin point the one with the purest (and most burden) soul. Then, without delay, the death of that human would occur. The third, and most powerful gift that was given to the new Diruo, was the ability to speed the process of destruction. Eventually, destruction and ruin would pass up creation. By the time destruction had nearly caught up, the world would be too far ruined to save. Genero would surely present herself to try and stop Diruo and the inevitable. And, even with all of Genero's efforts, the apocalypse would occur. Gia would be killed.

The speed of destruction was not made much faster, but fast enough. It would take approximately 10,000 years for destruction to catch up with creation. Gia was now around 50,000 years old, so Nocents planned that she'd only live to be about 60,000.

All was thought well by Medians and Aetherics. The knowledge of the human Diruo was not known to them. And, unfortunately, they noticed the increasing destruction of Gia too late. Time had caught up with Genero, and was nearly about to lap her. Just as Diruo had planned, Genero presented herself in a desperate attempt to stop Diruo. With overwhelming power and potential gathered within the destruction, it overthrew Genero...as well as Gia.

The Apocalypse had finally happened, and chaos rang out. Gia erupted from the inside, sending her sprawling out of orbit. Energy of never before seen evils tore her limbs away and shattered

her every existance. Gia was dead.

But some of the people still survived. A few Nocents, Aetherics, and Medians had barely subsisted on a star-traveling rock. This is where I am currently writing to you. And now that you know our failure, I will write the rest in an attempt to save your planet.

The process of succession:

The succession of Diruo and Genero had been passed down for about 100 generations before the apocalypse. The process occurs through dreams. Once the previous successor for Genero dies, they view from the heavens the purest of Aetherics. From there, they gradually pass the power by giving the new successor dreams of their responsibility. History is stored within these dreams for wisdom, creation is stored within these dreams for knowledge of the responsibility, and just pure knowledge of Gia is stored within these dreams for awareness of what to create. Images and emotions are also part of the dreams. With this all acquired, you know may call yourself Genero.

Diruo is basically the same process. Destruction is stored within these dreams for knowledge of the responsibility,...and so on. The Diruo also attains the powers of the swifter destruction in the dreams. As said before, with all of this acquired, you may then, with much bemoan, call yourself Diruo.

There is only one way to prevent the forthcoming apocalypse. The destroyer must be destroyed. It is nearly impossible, I presume, with all the power Diruo possesses. I have not the slightest bit of knowledge as to how you can effectively destroy the destroyer. This you must discover for yourself.

If you do manage to eliminate Diruo at all, I can almost assure you that Gia will be at eternal peace. She will return to her original form that Conditorius left her in. This is the haven we humans were meant to reside in. This is the Old World.

I ask you to hurry, though. Time is strictly limited and there will be no hope if you fail. I don't know exactly how much time you have before the end. All we can see approaching from our shattered chunk of Gia is another Gia......Our only guess is that this is a parallel universe. And judging by the fact that we can see your planet is still intact, you must still have some amount of time left.

I hide this document in a box made out of the finest and most resistant stone. We will not be here when you receive this, for the impact with Gia will, without doubt, kill us all. We wish you good fortune and... even better time. Farewell.

Rinoa Heartilly 10 A.A. (After Apocalypse)'

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Yeah, that chapter was kinda weird. I know your probably thinking what's this have to do with FF8?' and I'm thinking good question.' But worry not, its vital later on. Please, please R+R and give me tips on my writing!!!