Author's Afterthoughts

Although this may be hard to imagine, the original concept for Altered Reality was a single sentence. When playing through Final Fantasy VII for probably the fifth or sixth time, the line "No one has ever seen him bleed, or cry" in regards to Rufus, struck me as being some what over stated. While Rufus had certainly been a good villain, he was hardly as unstoppable as that quote would lead one to believe.

Thinking this over, inspiration stuck in the form of one, simple idea. What if Rufus were the main villain, and truly lived up to such powerful words? From this single concept, Altered Reality began.

AR went through many changes during its draft stage. Although the general idea and primary characters stayed the same, the events that pushed the plot were constantly evolving. For example; in an earlier draft, Jenova's soul was split into three parts, and Rufus only obtained one of them. Sephiroth was created to home in on the other two pieces, which led him to locate one and take its power without Rufus realizing it. The last piece, which had been passed down through Cetra blood for centuries, was sealed inside of Aerith, which was the reason that Rufus was after her.

In this draft, Aerith would eventually be captured, and through Rufus' attempts to remove Jenova from her she would be consumed by the awakened demon's soul. Her body would eventually mutate into something akin to the Jenova parts that served as boss battles in the game.

During an attempt to rescue her, Cloud would be forced to kill her, as it was the only way to separate her soul from Jenova's, and set her free. This would inadvertently cause Cloud to become the new bearer the repressed fraction of Jenova's soul that Aerith had been carrying. Aerith's death would, of course, be the catalyst that sent Cloud out to finally confront and defeat Rufus. After this, our hero would be forced to go into hiding, as the revelation of his newfound Jenova powers made the Holy Shinra Empire, the Wutai Republic, and his own allies fear him.

As you can see, this earlier draft was very different than the much more complex and conspiracy laden story that Altered Reality finally evolved into.

Although it might seem odd, some of the more important plot elements and twists of AR were actually last minute editions. The inclusion of Holy and Chaos, for instance, came when I was well into my final draft, but became incredibly crucial to the overall story.

Another last minute decision was who Cloud would choose as his true love interest. Although the story may seem to have been about him and Tifa all the way through, it wasn't until around chapter nine that I decided how the love triangle would come to a close. My reason for picking Tifa, in the end, was her undying loyalty to Cloud. I felt that having him fall for Aerith after how long she had stood beside him would simply be too cruel. This wasn't an easy decision, however, as I liked both pairings very much.

Now, I'd like to take a moment to talk about my portrayal of Sephiroth. Although it may seem this way (and it has been brought up before by a few readers), it was never my intention for Sephiroth to be the "true villain", or the "final boss", or however you want to say it. In fact, the idea of making him turn into a villain was another of those last minute additions I was referring to earlier. In the beginning, Sephiroth was going to remain a hero (anti-hero, whatever), through the entire story. This idea was inspired by the flashback sequence where you were able to fight alongside of Sephiroth in the game. Even then, when he was a respected hero, he was somewhat dark and distant. I felt that changing him into a permanent hero, but with something of a dark side, would be an interesting way to look at his character.

Although he is technically the last enemy our heroes face, Sephiroth was intended to be a minor villain, as this story was never about him. Altered Reality is a story that is primarily about religion, and how even a wonderful thing like faith can become a terrible thing when those in power do not live up to the very things they teach. The villain of this story was always Rufus, as the quest to end his deception of the masses was the driving force of the entire adventure.

While it could be argued that Sephiroth posed the greater threat due to his use of Chaos, it must be kept in mind that he himself said that he could never have used such a thing if Rufus hadn't already been defeated. This was the sole reason that Sephiroth "helped" the heroes in their quest; so that Rufus would not be there to stop him.

I would also point out that because Sephiroth failed, his deeds would become the least damaging over time. While he may have caused massive destruction, Rufus created a religious lie that will live on for generations. Rufus created an idea, and such a thing can never truly be destroyed. He sowed seeds of hatred against anyone who didn't worship him as god, and sparked a holy war that will cause the people of the former Holy Shinra Empire to forever hate Wutai, for doing nothing more than being different.

With all this in mind, Sephiroth is best through of as another threat, rather than the greater, and an additional villain, instead of the main one. Does anyone remember how much trouble Ruby Weapon was in FFVII, even though it was only a bonus boss? Ah, memories.

For those of you who are curious as to the reasoning behind the two endings for Altered Reality, it's really quite simple. For one reason, I had thought of both endings, but was having difficulty deciding which one I wanted to use. As I struggled with the choice, I came to the conclusion that I would offer both variations up. One of the nice things about writing a fan fiction like this is that I didn't have to conform to the conventional writing methods of a physical book.

A second reason why I made both endings available is my personal preference for story conclusions. I'm a big fan of happy endings, but I rarely see one, especially in anime, a form of media that seems hell-bent on depressing the viewer. With that mindset, I originally leaned towards Ending B, which while not exactly an all around happy ending, did at least keep the main characters alive and offer hope.

However, I couldn't bring myself to shelve the more depressing Ending A, as I felt it was the more powerful of the two. At its core, Altered Reality is a tragedy. The actions of our beloved heroes, however pure in intention as they were, resulted in even more chaos and death than Rufus could have caused on his own. In that aspect, Ending A seems almost more fitting; a tragic end to a tragic tale. However, I had no desire to force the reader into taking an ending they would not be satisfied with, so I made it an option.

I feel the desire to list all of the hidden references I placed in AR, but unfortunately I never made a list of them as I went along, so even I don't know all of them. Some that I do recall are the chapter titles, which were all songs by bands I enjoy, Star Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, Invader Zim, Full Metal Alchemist, Penny Arcade, Outlaw Star, and many more.

As I often do when I want to touch on several different subjects, I'm rambling by now. So, before this gets as long as one of my actual chapters I will bring this to a close. Before doing so, however, I'd like to thank those of you who read Altered Reality through to completion, and I'd like to thank those who reviewed the story even more. Words can not express the gratitude and joy I feel when I read the kind words that have been submitted to me. I am very proud that my story managed to bring such entertainment to my readers. A writer can know no greater compliment than seeing his work be enjoyed and appreciated, and such things really do mean a great deal to me.

Very quickly, I'd like to urge anyone who hasn't yet visited my website to do so. My wife put a great deal of her talent and effort into the art work that is found there, and they are beautiful representations of Altered Reality's characters.

I honestly can't say what the future holds for me now that Altered Reality is completed. I have turned my attention to my original fantasy series, which I believe I am now ready to begin in full. Whether or not I ever write another fan-fiction, I don't know. While I greatly enjoyed working on Altered Reality, it was an enormous undertaking, so at the very least, any future fan projects I might do would undoubtably be much smaller. Regardless, as I set my sights on future projects, I will carry the kind words of my Altered Reality fans with me and use them to inspire my work.

Thank you all for reading a story that I truly put my heart into.

- Luminus