---

Cosmos Report #01

Your memories are of great significance.
Just as you've already realized,
this tale is most likely closely
related to the coming disaster.


Do you truly believe that is so?
My story is merely that of a single researcher...
no more than the tale of a mother and child.


I fear the telling of this tale will most
likely do little more than add further
confusion to people living in a world that
has fallen into the depths of despair.


I do not intend to tell them.
After taking down your story,
I will keep the reports firmly sealed,
hidden from the outside world.


Yet, someday, a strong-willed person
will uncover the reports.
By the time they are read... this
story will be no more than a myth.
Still, we have a duty to hold it dear.
Stories are proof of life, after all.


Come then, speak.
Tell the story carved into your memories...


Cosmos Report #02

The child was tiny, nothing about him hinting at
the unimaginable power hidden within. Until that
power manifested itself, the state was to look
after him, but we took the child in and decided
to raise him as our own. Looking into those
guileless eyes, it was impossible to do otherwise.


We knew all too well the painful truth: he was
not ours, and someday he would be taken away
by the state. We knew, and yet...


My husband began to question the duty he'd
been given. Levistones and airships, these were
things he had invented to improve people's
quality of life. The child was different. He was
a tool of war.


However, disaster loomed on the horizon.
The neighboring country had powerful weapons
in the form of summons and Omega. We had no
other way to stand up to them.


For the sake of a peaceful world, we had to
continue his research.


Cosmos Report #03

Once the child began to speak, he would try
so hard to express his thoughts. Calling me
Mama and him Papa, there wasn't a hint of
doubt his love for us.


Whenever the child would smile at us,
we, who spent our days preparing for war,
were given a small measure of happiness.


However, that pleasant time was soon to end.
War had finally begun.


The child was taken from us.
The army's decision was swift;
they would use the child.


Cosmos Report #04

As the child grew older, so, too, grew his
terrifying strength, and with it his usefulness
as an instrument of war. But he would not
follow the army's orders.


Emissaries from the government took me into
custody. Assuming he'd be more likely to listen
to orders coming from his "mother", the army
asked me to control him.


In the end, the child destroyed the neighboring
country. Countless homes were consumed by
hellfire; his strength was even enough to seal
summons and Omega alike...


The scene could not have been different from
that of the underworld.


... Yet, there had been no other way. If a weapon
does not perform its function, it is discarded and
destroyed. He was no different, the army
stressed. That is why I did as they asked. I had
to save him.


I wanted to keep the child safe, no matter the
cost.


Cosmos Report #05

I steadfastly refused to help the next time the
child was called to duty. My husband and I were
named traitors and locked deep underground.


As I suffered under the grief of having abetted
the murder of countless innocent people, I
overheard word of another research project
being conducted by the army.


This was to make a clone... one of myself. With it,
the state would control the child as they wished,
without having to use me.


It was proof of how much the child's power
was worth to them that they would go so far.


I could not allow such a thing to happen. Even a
created life is a life. Why was it that only he was
refused happiness? Why must he be forced to
destroy, over and over again?


The date the research was expected to be
completed drew near. I decided on a course
of action.


Cosmos Report #06

The dungeon into which we were sealed was a
cavern, home to many monsters.


After studying the traits of these monsters, my
husband and I were able to exploit them to
escape. Watching our backs the whole time,
we ran to the research facilities where the child
was being kept.


At the labs we found a specimen that, while still
unfinished, still resembled me a great deal. With
it was the child. I barely recognized him, he was
so gaunt. His eyes were vacant, a hazy flash of
hatred flickering deep within them.


There wasn't time to speak in-depth, so I
explained the situation as best I could, and we
set off together.


Cosmos Report #07

It happened while the three of us were fleeing...
A soldier spotted me, and I was shot.


The rest is only nits and pieces...
The sensation of falling.
The child's wail, as if from a great distance.
A sharp, dark premonition.
My husband's face, dark with rage...


Sadly, my premonition was dead-on.
A space-time distortion appeared in front of
the child, and began to draw everything within.
The darkness grew into an enormous vortex...


I remember nothing after that. I lost
consciousness. When I next woke, I was in
the ruined shell of the research laboratory.


Neither the child nor my husband were
anywhere to be found.


Cosmos Report #08

Originally, we were both from a clan that handed
down memories through ritual ceremony. In
addition to my own unique traits, my husband's
intelligence and technical skill are also boons
of this tradition.


I decided to use the teleportation device we had
meant to use for our escape to return to the
clan. That way, even if I died, our memories could
live on as they should.


I arrived in the middle of a forest. Nearby was
the village, Wing of the Hawk, where our clan
lived in peaceful tranquility.


Suddenly, as if fleeing from the darkness that
had appeared in the world, the clan used the
Levistones my husband had left so that the
village itself began to float in the air.


I explained the situation, and they quickly
understood. They immediately began the
memory successor ceremony...


Cosmos Report #09

So, those are all of the memories you've
inherited, then?


Yes. Though I am averse to the transcience of
the written word, the skill of handing down
memories is a dying art. These memories are
too precious to die with it.


Do you believe there is some connection
between what you've just told me and the
Four Fiends who currently aim to wreak
havoc within the world?


That is something even I do not know. However,
it seems that several locations key to the story
overlap.


In the memories, they are places with fissures in
space-time. The places where the Four Fiends
reside... Each and every one of them are locations
from my memories.

Cosmos Report #10


I see... Thank you.
I give my word that we will keep the
history you have allowed me to record
in confidence.


...Lukahn, if you would allow me to ask you a
question for once?


The ones of whom you have prophesied, the
four Warriors of Light... You say they will save
the world from disaster. Will warriors bearing
the crystals truly appear?


It is true men call me a sage, but in truth
I am a historian. The omen echoes from
worlds that have been and worlds that
will be.


The Warriors of Light will most certainly
appear.


And with them, this world-no, the
people of this world-can finally be
freed from this endless cycle of death
and rebirth.

---

Chaos Report #01

Who...what am I?
My name no longer holds any meaning
in this world.

Long, long ago, my entire homeland quaked
in fear of the attack of unknown destroyers.

I searched for a final salvation. At last, I
found it...the power of discord, a power that
consumes and controls all others. Intoxicated
by its potential, my homeland asked me to
strengthen it--to use it more and more.

Yet, the one bearing that power had no desire
to destroy any more than was necessary.
Frustrated, the country culled his memories
to create a new being...one of harmony
that could subdue and control discord.


Chaos Report #02

Even if I can create a being of harmony
to manipulate discord, I cannot recreate
the one I loved.

An irreplaceable person has been stolen
from me. Now, here in this new world,
my new goal is clear. I will use anything
I must to achieve it.

Once the homeland decided that dedicating
itself to creating the ultimate weapon was
in the country's best interests... It is long
past time to complete that task.

One might ask if there is any connection
between this decision and the loss of
my wife... To that, I say I am a scientist.
I know well the line between public and
personal matters.

...And it is drawn here.


Chaos Report #03

I have entered into a contract with a certain
dragon wandering through space and time.

I asked that whenever a conflict between
the gods ends, the defeated god be brought
back with new pawns to start fighting again.

In payment, I gave up my flesh. Already, it was
weak and feeble, thus its loss has been
even less of an inconvenience than I imagined.

I need discord to absorb even greater powers...
this is the only way to salvation left to me.


Chaos Report #04

Each of the two entities overflowed with a pure,
unwavering strength. But it was precisely their
diametric nature that kept the power in check
and stabilized the world.

I decided the realms of possibility could not
be allowed to be shackled and end there.

At length, I found a certain intriguing existence...
a knight drive by hatred, trapped within the
chains of time. Discord had called to him...or
perhaps it was he who called discord to
himself. I do not know, and it does not matter.

What does it that he has accepted a destiny
of unending conflict, and that he will stand at
the right hand of discord to see it through.

With this, the eternal war finally begins.


Chaos Report #05

Harmony and discord are both created beings.
While observing how they acquired pawns to
fight in their conflict, I found that a great
number of the consciousnesses had drifted to
this world from other dimensions.

I wondered if I might be able to give those
consciousnesses physical form. After countless
experiments, finally my testing reached success.
The failures were dealed in the Interdimensional
Rift.

Within the created pawns were some whose
faith in themselved wavered--who questioned
their very reason for living. It seemed that
existence itself was not sufficient incentive.

It causes me to wonder...Where those drifting
consciousnesses remnants created in the
past? Or spirits meant to exist into the future?

This is something no one can know.


Chaos Report #06

The pawns continue to fight this war, split down
the lines of harmony and discord. To my eyes,
their power is trivial.

Yet, there has been an anomaly. After one war
ended and Shinryu came to purify the world,
some pawns were reborn retaining memories
from their previous lives.

It does not seem to be limited to any one side's
followers, so long as the being in question is
wrapped in some strong emotion. Faith, regret,
fear, it does not seem to matter.

This must be some sort of omen...


Chaos Report #07

A pawn has appeared, willing to sacrifice
himself to further understand the truth of
this world.

Was he able to retain his memories, somehow?
Or, perhaps he found a way to escape the
world's cleansing?

While the way my people pass down memories
makes a physical body unnecessary, in truth,
there is no such thing as a permanently
physical object to begin with.

As if to illustrate this fact, the goddess of
harmony fragments her own vessel.

Perhaps this unending war to create the
ultimate weapon has already brought forth
its own demise.


Chaos Report #08

It seems someone has found a use for
the failed experiments I sealed into the
Interdimensional Rift.

These soulless pawns are used as tools of
war, destroying the delicate balance between
harmony and discord.

Yet the pawns of harmony choose to stand
and face this challenge, while the pawns of
discord fight on, groping towards an
understanding of the truth behind this world.

The world of a vessel is fluid, only determined
by that which fills it.

In this, the thirteenth matchup of the vessels
of the world--the god and goddess--one can
only wonder what properties they will gain.


Chaos Report #09

All men are brought into the world in a flood of
tears. In the beginning, at least, all men are equal.

However, somewhere along the line, this
inevitably changes. Even pawns--while their
makeup is the same, the experiences that shape
them give them individual forms, sending them
down different paths.

The one bringing this long, long cycle of conflict
to an end is a pawn seemingly bred for war.

I was unable to achieve the power of utter
chaos. I could not complete my revenge. And
yet...I have no more regrets.

I can only wish for a peaceful future for the
world that so long ago was my home.


Chaos Report #10

All was born from hatred--creating this world,
dragging him to it...swearing revenge on those
who ravenously desired power--endless
experiments meant to induce a greater and
more deadly strength.

However, he--they both have taught me
something through this neverending battle...
Even the Great Will himself can be led.

What path will they follow from now on?
As a researcher, I cannot help but be intrigued.

---

Cid of Lufaine (the very Cid from FFI, creator of the Airship) and his wife (not named) served as foster parents for a child and named him Garland, who was born to be a tool of war.

Cid was a scientist working on a system to preserve Lufenian memories using the power of discord. Cid was also working on a weapon to protect their homeland from The Summoned and Omega.

How, a large scale war breaks out and Garland is taken into the army. To save Garland, Cid's wife enlists in the army. However, after her first mission required her to massacre many innocent civilians, she refused to go on any more missions. Cid and his wife are imprisoned for treason.

During the jailbreak, Cid's wife is shot and Garland disappears into Void using the power of discord. Cid disappears as well.

Before dying, Cid's wife returns to Lufenia, telling her story, saving her memories, and using the Levistone to create the Flying Fortress.

What happens to Cid and Garland is a mystery, but Cid meets Shinryu in the Rift and makes a deal with him: Cid loses his body, and Shinryu would recreate the world and revive its combatants after the war's true end. Cosmos and Chaos are placed in charge of the opposing armies, and at the end of each battle, the losing side would replace its god with one of its combatants.

Cid continues his research, thinking that this war is the perfect chance to find the truth of harmony and discord.

Cid and Shinryu work to prolong the cycle for this purpose, but after finally witnessing success in his experiment he works to correct the mistakes caused by the war in the world and seal the rifts in the dimensions.