To your immense relief, the memories come back easily enough as the fog starts to clear from your head. Your name is Aerith Gainsborough, you're 22 years old, you lived in the Sector 5 Slums until a few months ago.
It doesn't take long before you're completely lost in the memories. Meeting Cloud, storming Wall Market to save Tifa, saving Barret's daughter from the falling plate, being saved in turn by AVALANCHE from Shinra's clutches, and meeting another lone survivor captured by Shinra in Nanaki.
Then it was time to travel, leaving behind Midgar for the first time in your life. You went to so many interesting places like Cosmo Canyon, Costa Del Sol, and the Gold Saucer. You went to the beach, watched a play, and had so many fun moments with the gang-
And died.
The thought brings a crashing halt to your reminiscence, your heart suddenly pumping hard in your chest as a deathly chill grips you. You remember dying. It was sudden and sharp, pain that instantly shattered your strength. There was no time to prepare or think, it was over in an instant.
But… was that real?
You tentatively look down your shirt, to your stomach. There's a large, pale patch of scar tissue right where you remember the blade piercing you. Is it just your imagination or does it feel… cold to the touch?
"But I'm alive now." You whisper to yourself, as if trying to make it so.
Finally, you shakily push yourself to your feet. You still have a near-endless supply of questions, stuff like
"Where am I?" and
"What happened?" and
"Why does the planet feel broken?" but those can wait for now.
You're alive, and that means that you're cold, wet, and kind of thirsty. Time to stop thinking about existential terror and start thinking about where you're going to get a drink.
The beach you washed up on has what looks like a debris field. As if ships have crashed here before and spilled their cargo on the beach. It looks like it's been here for ages so… no one would mind if you took some stuff yeah?
[ ] A Piece of High-Quality Equipment
[ ] A Pouch of Gill [+3 Funds]
[ ] 2 Potions and an Ether
[ ] A Useful Accessory
[ ] An Unknown Artifact
For lack of any better ideas, you start heading inland. You're pretty thirsty, and saltwater is super not good to drink. But to your dismay, the beach's sand quickly gives way to gritty and dry desert sand.
In the back of your mind is the continuous feeling that something is wrong. The planet feels wrong, the planet looks wrong. And try as you might, the planet can't seem to communicate what is wrong
Not that you were ever that good at communicating with it…
What draws you out of your thoughts is something you spot on the horizon. A city in the desert. For a second you wonder if you've somehow found Corel.
Within moments you realize it's definitely not Corel. At the end of the day, Corel was a pretty small, somewhat desolate place. At least at the time you visited it. This place is huge! Almost as large as Midgar!
There's a massive stone wall around the city, arranged in a ring shape. As you approach the gate you can see sturdy stone buildings on the inside, some short and squat and some reaching for the sky. You'd expect a desert city to be dry and devoid of life, but there are palm trees flanking the streets, and hordes of people on the inside.
The gates are flanked by men in armor, with weapons on their belts and backs. They give you little more than a cursory glance before one of them waves you in.
"Welcome to Rabanastre!"
Rabanastre? "Thank you. This is actually my first time in the city. Is there a festival going on or something?" You look past the guards into the cit. People are laughing, singing, dancing, and eating with the kind of joy that seems infectious.
"You could say that." The guard grins.
"We're celebrating our independence!"
"From Shinra?" You ask, reflexively.
"Who? No, I mean our independence from those bastards, the Archadian Empire!" The guard looked at you funny, like you just asked a profoundly stupid question.
"Miss, if you're feeling a bit tired from the desert heat, maybe you should turn in for the night."
"I… should." You quickly grab onto the excuse like a lifeline. No need to make the guy think you're crazy
"You're right. Are there any inns nearby?"
The guard gave you directions and offered to show you the way, which you politely but firmly refused.
Walking through Rabanastre, you felt like a mourner at a wedding. All around you were people partying and cheering. You smiled and nodded every time someone looked your way, but no amount of good vibes were enough to silence the rising panic deep in your chest.
On the inside, you were freaking out.
It didn't help when you noticed that lots of people in the crowd weren't human. Sure, you had a pretty wide definition of what a person was. You were only half human after all, and Nanaki wasn't humanoid even if he was a wonderful person.
That didn't prepare you to see squat humanoids with scales and long droopy snouts, or tall statuesque figures with masks and wings, or towering women with rabbit ears dressed like they worked the Honey Bee Inn and were built like colosseum champions.
You found the inn the guard suggested, paid for the room (thank the Planet they accepted Gil, though they did comment on the strange design) ate dinner, drank some water, and tried not to scream.
'Where am I? How can I fix this? Can I even fix this? Where are the others? What do I do?"
"Sleep Child." The planet commanded.
It wasn't like you had much of a choice.
You were floating a green flowing stream, sounded by countless wisps of light on every side.
The first time you had this kind of vision you were struck by wonder, running your hands through the whisps and listening for every tiny drop of sound. Entranced by the planet's message.
This time you put your hands on your hips and glared as if the embodiment of the planet could be cowed by a 20-something-year-old girl.
"Alright, planet, Gaia, whatever you want to be called. You've got some explaining to do!"
The planet obliges, not with words, but with a vision. A bird's eye view of the planet, not quite space, but higher than the average airship could fly. And it is your planet this time, you're sure of it.
Then a chunk of the ocean is torn away, leaving a ragged hole that is quickly plugged by an island that appears from nowhere.
You watch in horror as the planet is taken apart and put together again like someone mixed up the pieces from a dozen puzzles and started haphazardly slamming them together. Landmarks and landmasses vanish and appear, vying for space and uncaring of what used to be there.
When the dust settles, the world is nearly unrecognizable. The planet turns its attention to you as if expecting you to know what that means. As if you should have the answers here.
"Why does it have to be me?" You demand, feeling somewhat childish but unable to hold yourself back.
"I could just try to live my life here! Make the best of what I have, settle down with a guy, and enjoy myself."
It's an empty threat. Both of you know that.
"... I don't even know what to say. Can this even be fixed? Did Sephiroth do this?"
The Planet gave its version of shaking its head, the stream briefly turning cold before it showed you another vision.
[ ]
Chaos (FF 1)
A demonic and immortal beast, seeking to continue a cycle of eternal violence
[ ]
Caius Ballad (FF 13-2)
An immortal huntsman doomed to watch the love of his life die and be reincarnated for all of eternity. He sought to break the cycle the only way he knew, shattering the flow of time.
[ ]
Ultimecia (FF 8)
A sorceress with incredible magical power and a cruel disdain for humanity. She desired to compress all of time and space, making herself the only one with dominion over it.
[ ]
Exdeath (FF5)
An evil warlock spawned from countless malevolent spirits and souls combining into one. He plots to return the world to the Void.
[ ]
Kefka Palazzo (FF6)
Once a man, now a God of Magic and Chaos who wants nothing more than to inflict his sadistic urges on anyone and everyone.
[ ]
Ardyn Izunia (FF 15)
Twisted and corrupted by the same affliction he tried to heal, this former king simply wants the world to die out of spite.
[ ]
Something Else (???)
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