Final Fantasy XIII/Timeline

This page details the timeline of the Lightning Saga trilogy: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Supplemental material from companion novels and Ultimania guides is also included.

The "BF" stands for "Before the Fall" and is not a term presented in-game.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Genesis

• The events of the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos take place.
  • The creator goddess Mwynn is banished to the realm of the dead after being killed by her son, Bhunivelze, who wishes to rule the world. Bhunivelze comes to believe the world is cursed by Mwynn to one day be destroyed and seeks to find the door to the world of the dead to destroy her for good. Bhunivelze creates Pulse and Etro to find the door to the unseen realm, but discards the latter upon learning he had unknowingly created her in Mwynn's image. Bhunivelze creates Lindzei to replace Etro, and falls into crystal sleep until the door to the afterlife would be found.
  • As Pulse terraforms the world of Gran Pulse, he and Lindzei create many fal'Cie tasked with finding the door to the realm of the dead while the purposeless Etro commits suicide. Ending in the unseen realm, Etro finds Mwynn being consumed by Chaos. The fading goddess tasks Etro with protecting the balance of the universe. Lindzei creates mankind from Etro's blood, and the first human, Paddra Nsu-Yeul, was made in Etro's image.
  • To stabilize the balance of the world, Etro infuses fragments of Chaos into the humans to give them hearts that reside inside their souls. The deceased humans' hearts and souls enter the door to the afterlife, Etro's gate, where they mingle into the Chaos and are eventually reborn in the visible realm. Yeul's soul is unable to fade into the Chaos, so Etro has her reincarnated through history so she will not be alone.
• Having become worshiped by the majority of mankind, Pulse, and Lindzei disappear from the world with fal'Cie left behind to complete their tasks for them.

Ca. 1300 BF

• Cocoon, an artificial world that floats in Gran Pulse's atmosphere, is created by Lindzei's fal'Cie. They invite mankind to move in, creating a schism with those who remain on Gran Pulse.

Unspecified time

• Yeul becomes the seeress of the Farseers of the Paddra civilization, as her Eyes of Etro—a gift she had obtained as a side effect of being continually reborn—allows her to see changes in the timeline and make prophecies of the future. Protected by l'Cie titled Guardians, Yeul's latest protector is Caius. One day, Caius performs an incarnate summon to destroy invading forces threatening Yeul at the cost of his life. Etro frees him from his fate as a l'Cie and infuses her heart, the Heart of Chaos, into his body, making him immortal so he can protect every incarnation of Yeul until the end of time.
• The city of Paddra falls in a civil war and Yeul casts away her role as the leader of Paddra. Her followers become nomads, and Caius remains at her side as her eternal Guardian.

621 BF

• Oerba Yun Fang is born.

619 BF

• Oerba Dia Vanille is born.

600 BF

• During the War of Transgression between Gran Pulse and Cocoon, Vanille and Fang become l'Cie and are given the power of Ragnarok and the Focus of destroying Cocoon. Fang becomes Ragnarok alone and damages Cocoon's shell. The Goddess Etro puts Fang and Vanille into a premature crystal stasis, and the two are placed in the fal'Cie Anima's temple in Oerba.
• Barthandelus, the leader of Cocoon's fal'Cie, secretly has the Pulse Vestige containing the two Pulse l'Cie and Anima brought into Cocoon.
• In an alternate timeline caused by Noel and Serah killing Caius in 200 AF Oerba, as depicted in the paradox ending "Vanille's Truth", the crystallized Vanille remained in Oerba.

40 BF

• Sazh Katzroy is born.

21 BF

• Claire Farron is born.
• Snow Villiers is born.
• Gadot is born.

19 BF

• Lebreau is born.
• Yuj is born.

18 BF

• Serah Farron is born.

17 BF

• Maqui is born.
• René is born.

14 BF

• Hope Estheim is born.
• Alyssa Zaidelle is born.
• Elida Karmic is born.

6 BF

• Dajh Katzroy is born.
• Claire and Serah's mother dies. As the Farron sisters' father had died when they were still young, the girls are left orphaned. Claire casts aside her name and becomes Lightning to toughen herself as she is left to look after Serah as her sole guardian.

2 BF

• After middle school, Elida attends an all-girls school with a special music program as she dreams of becoming a singer.

1 BF

• The events of Episode Zero -Promise- take place and the events of Yumemiru Mayu, Akatsuki ni Otsu begin.
  • Vanille and Fang awake to find themselves in Cocoon, the latter having amnesia with her Focus halted, while the former lies of losing her memory as well as she no longer wants to destroy Cocoon. As they visit Euride Gorge, Fang and Vanille get separated and the former is found by the Cavalry, a rogue military branch that wishes to overthrow Cocoon's totalitarian fal'Cie government. Fang and the Cavalry search Bodhum for Vanille until the announcement of the Purge causes them to withdraw. They go to Lake Bresha, planning to find Vanille by intercepting the Purge train when it enters the Hanging Edge.
  • Serah ventures inside the Pulse Vestige and is branded a Pulse l'Cie with the Focus of destroying Cocoon in Fang and Vanille's place. Serah reveals her l'Cie status to Snow who vows to help her complete her Focus. Snow proposes marriage to Serah and she accepts. With Lightning turning her back on them, Serah is trapped within the Pulse Vestige when Snow brings her to it to escape pursuit from PSICOM.
  • After PSICOM discovers Anima within the Vestige, the Sanctum declares a Purge. PSICOM gathers the civilians and tourists in Bodhum to be secretly executed in the Hanging Edge.
  • Hope and his mother Nora Estheim spend a 10-day vacation in Bodhum for the upcoming firework festival. When the Purge is announced, they are trapped by the quarantine of the town, unable to return home to Palumpolum, and forced to board the Purge train joined by Vanille.
  • After being separated from Fang at Euride, Vanille returns to Bodhum and wander around avoiding detection from PSICOM. She befriends Serah when they meet on the beach. With the Purge's announcement, Vanille is trapped by Bodhum's quarantine but, believing the Purge to be a forced migration to Pulse, she boards the Purge train with Hope and Nora to return home.
  • Learning of Serah's capture by Anima from Snow, Lightning quits her job and gets on the Purge train to save her sister.
  • During Fang and Vanille's visit to Euride, Dajh is branded a l'Cie by Kujata and taken into Sanctum custody. Sazh stays with Dajh as PSICOM tries to determine his Focus, discovering the boy has gained the ability to sense Pulse entities. Sazh takes matters into his own hands to save Dajh and joins Lightning on the Purge train.
    • While Alyssa visits her friend Nena Stein in Bodhum, they are both sentenced to be Purged.
    • Believing the Purge to be a hoax concocted by the Sanctum to increase their power and strengthen Pulse paranoia, Aoede infiltrates Bodhum and boards the Purge train, recording everything with hidden cameras.

• The events of Final Fantasy XIII take place.
  • With Sazh helping her, Lightning derails the train and the two make their way to the Pulse Vestige. Snow and NORA lead a resistance against the Purge that results in Hope's mother getting killed. Snow makes his way to the Pulse Vestige with Hope and Vanille following, as the former wants to confront Snow about Nora's death. The groups meet up and find Serah who crystallizes after asking Lightning and Snow to save Cocoon. Anima brands Lightning, Sazh, Snow and Hope as Pulse l'Cie as the destroyed Pulse Vestige crashes into Lake Bresha, crystallizing it.
    • After Snow leaves for the Vestige, Aoede is saved by NORA from an army attack. Still recording, she joins them and other Purgees as they escape the battlefield and take refuge.
    • In an Eden library, René unconsciously types onto a terminal her theories concerning the relationship between humans and the fal'Cie leading to disaster for everyone in Cocoon. Since her theories are close to the truth, the fal'Cie send one of their own to kill her. René escapes the library only to encounter another exterminator fal'Cie. When Anima is defeated, the energy wave released sweeps throughout Cocoon and momentarily disables all fal'Cie, enabling René to escape.
    • Escaping to Bresha with others during the Purge, Alyssa dies in a cave collapse while Nena survives. In an alternate timeline caused by a paradox in Final Fantasy XIII-2, their roles are reversed, though Alyssa is haunted by a phantom memory of the original course of the events.
  • Forced to leave Snow behind with Serah's crystal to flee pursuing PSICOM forces, he is found by Fang and the Cavalry. They enlist his help in finding the others and opposing the Sanctum. The rest escape Bresha by airship but crash-land in the Vile Peaks after a PSICOM attack.
    • After getting permission to take off for Eden to deliver packages, Cielo sees the l'Cie under attack from PSICOM and sees their airship fall toward the Vile Peaks.
  • The party splits: Lightning and Hope head through the Gapra Whitewood and Palumpolum to get transport to Eden, while Sazh and Vanille travel through the Sunleth Waterscape and go into hiding at Nautilus. Sazh and Vanille are captured by PSICOM and taken aboard the Palamecia to lure in the other l'Cie.
  • Lightning and Hope are ambushed by PSICOM in Palumpolum, reuniting with Snow as he and Fang come to their aid. Snow and Hope settle the matter over Nora Estheim's death, and when everyone is cornered by PSICOM at Hope's house, the Cavalry saves them and sneaks them onto the Palamecia to save Vanille and Sazh.
    • Breaking through PSICOM's defenses, Aoede, NORA, and roughly a thousand Purge survivors escape the Hanging Edge and hide inside an ancient Pulsian building inserted between the layers of Cocoon's outer shell. Aoede continues to record everything as the footage could persuade the people of Cocoon to turn against the Sanctum and the fal'Cie. NORA member Maqui hacks into the Sanctum's information channels and projects a live feed of a broadcast from Palumpolum, depicting a plaza frozen by ice magic, soldiers, and a Pulse l'Cie that NORA recognizes as Snow. Knowing that Snow will take the fight to the Sanctum's doorstep, Aoede and NORA leave their shelter for Eden.
    • As Sazh and Vanille are being rescued, René continues eluding her fal'Cie pursuers and escapes through the network of maintenance tunnels located beneath Eden, where they can't home in on her location.
  • Once the l'Cie are reconvened, they learn that Cocoon's ruling leader Galenth Dysley is the fal'Cie Barthandelus in human form. Barthandelus reveals their Focus is to destroy Orphan, the fal'Cie that is Cocoon's power source, before sending them to the Fifth Ark. The group learns more of the Cocoon fal'Cie's plans from Cid Raines: the fal'Cie intend to use the mass of departing human souls killed in Cocoon's fall to force Etro's gate wide open and summon the Maker into the world so the world can be reborn.
    • When the l'Cie enter the Fifth Ark, it causes vibrations throughout Eden only detectable by fal'Cie. They cause the purger fal'Cie hunting René to open a secret passageway. René follows the fal'Cie down the corridor and finds herself in another Ark, giving credence to her theories about the fal'Cie planning to wipe out Cocoon. As the purger fal'Cie pursuer is about to kill René, it's destroyed by a Centaurion Blade controlled by a Berserker, enabling René to take the fal'Cie's unlocking device.
  • The l'Cie find an airship and leave for Gran Pulse, where they spend days on a fruitless search for answers. They travel on foot to the village of Oerba where Barthandelus awaits them. Claiming he is having the Cavalry kill Orphan in their stead, Barthandelus has the l'Cie return to Cocoon and emerge in Eden. The l'Cie win PSICOM's support before finding their way into Orphan's Cradle.
    • Ever since escaping pursuit, René spends weeks sneaking into vital parts of Eden to tamper with the systems while continuing to avoid the fal'Cie, believing they seek to make Eden fall and kill everyone at once. She puts a program in place to automatically activate the ideal gravitational settings for the AMP gravity control devices to soften the impact of Eden's fall. but needs a passcode kept by the Primarch. After the Cavalry's coup leaves the Primarch office loosely guarded, René sneaks in and hacks the Primarch's terminal with help from Cid Raines within cyberspace, and learns about the fal'Cie's plan to make Cocoon fall.
    • NORA's illegal broadcast of the Purge with Aoede's footage is sent throughout Cocoon, revealing the truth about the Hanging Edge massacre, the fal'Cie's plan, and the Pulse l'Cie. Getting into contact with Maqui, René sends him a text file containing instructions for her control program along with the passcode from Raines. She tells Maqui to inform everyone to find shelter at the nearest gravity control facility. Incorporating Rosch's final order for Cocoon to be evacuated, NORA's illegal broadcast gains the group and the l'Cie unchallenged support from the public and the army.
    • When the l'Cie enter Orphan's Cradle, the weakened network security allows Maqui to disable all safeguards, hack into the gravity control system, and begin installing René's program, giving them full control. Bodhum has been removed from the network by the fal'Cie since the town was emptied by the Purge, and nearly a thousand people, including NORA's allies and the Purge survivors, are now hiding out there. Maqui can't get Bodhum back on the network, so René resolves to go there, use the universal unlocking device to open the facility and install her program directly.
    • Cielo meets René and flies her to the gravity control facility in Bodhum. As René installs her program in the control room, Orphan is defeated and Cocoon begins its descent.

0 AF

• The l'Cie defeat Barthandelus in Orphan's Cradle, but he is assimilated into the newly born Orphan who attempts to force Fang and Vanille to finish their Focus to destroy it. Deciding to give the fal'Cie what it wants while intending to save Cocoon, Lightning's group destroys Orphan without using Ragnarok.
• With Orphan dead, the Cocoon fal'Cie shut down as Cocoon begins to fall from the sky. Fang and Vanille become Ragnarok to erect a crystal pillar to support Cocoon above Gran Pulse with the event labeled as the Catastrophe and the start of a new calendar. Lightning, Snow, Sazh, and Hope enter crystal stasis at the pillar's base.
• Etro releases Lightning, Snow, Sazh and Hope, as well as Serah and Dajh, from crystal stasis. The act has unforeseen consequences as the Unseen Chaos, the past lives of Yeul, drag Lightning into the Historia Crux and into Valhalla. Except for Serah, who gained the Eyes of Etro, everyone's memories of Lightning's fate are altered to accommodate her removal from that instance of time.
  • Cielo flies René out of Cocoon to Gran Pulse's surface as the army brings down other survivors. Aoede and René meet before Aoede rejoins NORA to get more footage.
• Like the other Cocoon residents settling on Gran Pulse, NORA and others build the town of New Bodhum where Serah and Snow reside with the former making a living as a teacher.

1 AF

• Cocoon's governing body, the Sanctum, is overthrown by Rygdea.
• Bartholomew Estheim and Rygdea found the Academy and the provisional government to replace the Sanctum.

2 AF

• Snow departs on a journey to find the missing Lightning. He travels through time and becomes a Pulse l'Cie, being branded by the fal'Cie Cactuar. Lightning appears to him in a dream, asking him to protect Cocoon's crystal pillar from the Royal Ripeness at 300 AF.

3 AF

• Hope joins the Academy.
• Noel Kreiss arrives from a Time Gate in New Bodhum, and departs on a journey through time with Serah and Mog, a lively moogle Noel claims to be a gift to Serah from Lightning.
• Sometime around this time, Sazh and Dajh fall into the Historia Crux and emerge in Serendipity at ??? AF.

4 AF

• The construction of the Gran Elevator that operates between Pulse and the now crystallized Cocoon is completed.

5 AF

• Hope becomes the leader of the Academy.
• Serah, Mog, and Noel arrive in Bresha Ruins from a Time Gate they entered in New Bodhum 3 AF. They meet Alyssa, now an Academy researcher, while solving the local paradox.

10 AF

• After negating the paradox at Oerba 200 AF, creating the 1X AF timeline, Serah and Noel meet Hope in the Paddra Ruins within the Yaschas Massif and play the clear footage within a discovered Oracle Drive, witnessing the crystallized Cocoon's fall by Caius's hand.
  • In an alternative timeline, Serah and Noel's journey to Oerba in 200 AF is caused by a paradox that manifests the fal'Cie Fenrir 190 years early over the Yaschas Massif, causing an eclipse that distorts the Oracle Drive's footage.

12 AF

• Now a singer, Elida performs during the opening of the New Nautilus Auditorium Opening Concert where Hope gives her a bouquet.

13 AF

• The Academy constructs the Augusta Tower.
• The Academy conducts the Proto fal'Cie Program with overlook done by Hope and Alyssa.
  • In an alternate timeline, the artificial intelligence malfunctions, kills the people in Augusta Tower, then creates machine duplicates of them as a cover-up for the incident.
• The Proto fal'Cie Program is abandoned after Hope sees an Oracle Drive prophecy where Serah, Mog, and Noel fight the Proto fal'Cie and Serah shouts at him for creating it.
• Hope comes up with a plan for a manmade Cocoon. He and Alyssa enter sleep in a time capsule to wake up in Academia 4XX AF, a time the Thirteenth Ark is said to appear.

200 AF

• Oerba is caught within a paradox where different eras are merging into one. Noel and Serah find an Oracle Drive and meet Caius and Yeul, who depart for Augusta Tower.
  • Arriving at Augusta Tower in an alternate timeline from Academia 400 AF, Noel and Serah are trapped in the structure upon discovering the death of Hope and the other Academy members by the actions of the Proto fal'Cie Adam. They meet Yeul whom Caius had brought to the tower, and fight Adam. Serah, yelling at Hope for having created it, alters the timeline and the Proto fal'Cie vanishes.

300 AF

• Serah and Noel arrive at Sunleth Waterscape through a Time Gate they took from Bresha Ruins 5 AF. They witness thousands of flan merge into a giant flan that is slowly melting the crystal pillar. Snow is here to fight the Royal Ripeness to protect Vanille and Fang residing within the pillar.
• After resolving the paradox, the number of flan decreases and the big flan is killed off permanently. Snow vanishes from the area, as the timeline has been altered.

400 AF

• The Thirteenth Ark appears to the skies of Academia. The Academy discovers it floats by the use of Graviton Cores and decides to use the same technology to levitate an artificial Cocoon.
• After negating the existence of the Proto fal'Cie Adam in Augusta Tower 200 AF, creating the 4XX AF timeline, Serah and Noel find themselves in a peaceful metropolis of Academia. They meet Hope who had used a time capsule to travel forward in time to construct a new artificial Cocoon to shelter mankind when the old one would eventually fall.
• Alyssa, helped by Caius, arranges Serah and Noel to get separated in the Historia Crux by giving them a booby-trapped artefact. Serah and Noel escape their predicament, and Alyssa is erased from history as the paradox that ensured her survival is corrected.
• Once his task is finished, Hope uses the capsule again to oversee the artificial Cocoon's completion in 500 AF.
  • In an alternative timeline, Serah and Noel were killed in Augusta Tower in 200 AF, and the Proto fal'Cie Adam rules Academia unopposed. As Serah and Noel appear in the city from a Time Gate, believing they survived Augusta Tower with knowledge of him killing Hope and the other Academia members, Adam begins converting the citizens into Cie'th to destroy them. Serah and Noel learn they were supposed to have died in Augusta Tower 200 AF and travel there via a Time Gate.
• In the Sunleth Waterscape, the Academia scientists learn that the flan have organized and dub this new behavior pattern "Flan Schools". Serah puts the flan in their place when their roughhousing almost damages the crystal pillar.

500 AF

• The old Cocoon falls as its crystal pillar grows weak, and a new one, called Bhunivelze, arises, minimizing casualties. Sazh and Dajh are sent to this time by the Serendipity casino's owner to save Vanille and Fang's crystal before the pillar collapses.
• Caius's tampering with the timeline by creating paradoxes floods Academia with Chaos, allowing him to enter there from Valhalla. He intends to have the old Cocoon and the new Cocoon crash into each other, but Noel and Serah stop him and follow him onto Valhalla where they defeat him and the final paradox is solved. As the Time Gates close, Serah and Noel return to Academia 500 AF.
  • Alyssa's place as Hope's assistant is taken by an intern named Aina Stein, an implied descendant of her friend Nena.
• Serah dies and Noel realizes he fulfilled Caius's goal and killed Etro by destroying the Heart of Chaos that had made Caius immortal. As Lightning enters crystal stasis to preserve Serah's soul within her, the Chaos of Valhalla is unleashed into the visible realm as a result of Etro's powers no longer holding it at bay. With Valhalla merging unto it to form the deteriorating world of Nova Chrysalia, a new future is created and the god Bhunivelze awakens.
  • In alternate timelines where the manmade Bhunivelze is not created, Cocoon falls with Gran Pulse becoming a wasteland. The reasons vary on each catalyst: A war between factions using the Atlases, the actions of Royal Ripeness in 300 AF, and the crystal pillar's stability.

682 AF

• Noel Kreiss is born to the Farseer tribe in a timeline caused by Cocoon's fall in 500 AF. In this reality, Gran Pulse has become a Dying World with humans slowly dying out.

685 AF

• In the alternate timeline the final incarnation of Yeul is born. Her past incarnation had requested Caius to let her final self live a normal life, and thus Caius does not isolate this Yeul from society as he had done with the past Yeuls.

700 AF

• In the alternate timeline Noel, Yeul and Caius are the last remaining humans in the world. Caius sees the impending end of the world and abandons Yeul as her Guardian. Using his Heart of Chaos he finds his way to Valhalla so he can destroy history and release Yeul from her curse of reincarnation.
• The final Yeul dies leaving Noel alone.
• Noel follows Caius to Valhalla, a place between time, where he meets Lightning who tasks him with finding Serah and sends Noel to New Bodhum 3 AF where he will begin his time-traveling journey with her.
  • In a dream world manifestation of 700 AF, Noel relives his last days with Serah following close behind, but he awakes before being pulled into Etro's gate in the sky. They find Yeul's Oracle Drive where she had implanted a vision of her reuniting with Noel.

831 AF

• In the new timeline where Nova Chrysalia was created, Hope is recruited by the god Bhunivelze and goes missing, being reverted to his 14-year-old self.
• With the Order of Salvation rising in power in Luxerion, Noel goes into hiding as the Shadow Hunter. Noel obtains an Oracle Drive from Lumina that tells him to kill Lightning to see Yeul again.

837 AF

• Snow becomes the Patron of Yusnaan to not let the Order get the monopoly on food produced in Yusnaan.

987 AF

• Fang and Vanille awaken from their crystal stasis and are taken in by the Order of Salvation within the Luxerion Cathedral. Vanille has gained the ability to hear the voices of the dead and the Order deems her a saint. Despite Fang's objections, Vanille chooses to stay with the Order and prepare for the Soulsong, a ritual they want Vanille to perform, though it would claim her life. Fang departs to the Dead Dunes to seek the relic the Order needs for the ritual to keep it away from Vanille.

1000 AF

• The events of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII take place.
  • Lightning awakes from crystal stasis and finds herself in Nova Chrysalia with a maximum 13 days before the end of the world.
  • Bhunivelze purges Serah's soul from Lightning. It ends up in the possession of Lumina, a personification of Lightning's discarded vulnerability made manifest by Chaos. Made the savior tasked to save the remaining human souls, Lightning is aided by Hope who has become a thrall of Bhunivelze.
  • Snow has become the Patron of Yusnaan, but his heart has grown burdened with guilt over Serah's death. Lightning makes him come round and saves his soul.
  • In Luxerion, Lightning solves a serial murder case committed by the Children of Etro cult. She fights Noel who realizes Yeul wouldn't want him to kill Lightning, and thus destroys the Oracle Drive with the false prophecy. Yeul's spirit appears to him promising to be with him soon.
  • In the Dead Dunes, Lightning helps Fang find the relic, the holy clavis, but it is taken by the Order. They promise to meet in the Luxerion Cathedral on the world's final day to stop Vanille's Soulsong as it would obliterate the dead and thus erase Serah's soul.
  • In the Wildlands, Lightning meets the numerous incarnations of Yeul and Caius, and discovers that despite losing the Heart of Etro, he has become immortal and bound to the Chaos of the world as the Yeuls are not of one mind to release him. In another part of the Wildlands, Lightning saves Dajh's soul, rousing him from a deep slumber.
  • On the final day Lightning, Fang and Snow meet at the cathedral. Vanille stops the Soulsong upon learning the dead carry the hope of being reborn and do not wish to be destroyed. With Fang's help, Vanille guides the dead to Hope's Ark to be reborn. Lightning rebels against Bhunivelze upon learning he had lied to her and wished to condition her to become the new Goddess of Death to replace the late Etro.
  • Lightning accepts her vulnerabilities and Lumina is incorporated back into her. With Serah's soul freed, she is reborn. Lightning, her allies and the souls of humanity defeat Bhunivelze together. The reality in which Gran Pulse, Cocoon and Nova Chrysalia exist is sucked into the new unseen realm, and a new visible realm takes its place. The many incarnations of Yeul remain in the unseen realm to oversee the world balance with Caius staying by their side. Caius allows the final incarnation of Yeul from the 700 AF alternate timeline to depart with Noel to the new world with the rest of humanity, where they can begin their lives anew and determine their own path in life.

??? AF

• Dislodged from time, some timeless realms exist.
  • Valhalla exists between the visible world and the unseen realm through which souls pass on their way to be reborn. Lightning arrives in Valhalla after falling into the Historia Crux on 0 AF. She battles Caius Ballad, who has arrived from the Dying World 700 AF to slay Etro and destroy the balance of the universe. Noel and Serah enter Valhalla from 500 AF and kill Caius, but he is revived by the Chaos in the Void Beyond and continues a shadowy existence at Yeul's beckoning.
    • After Serah dies in 500 AF her soul passes on to Valhalla. Lightning saves Serah's soul from the spirits of Yeul by housing it and crystallizing herself to withstand the corruption of Chaos.
  • Sometime around 2 AF or 3 AF Sazh and Dajh Katzroy fall into the Historia Crux and emerge in the timeless realm of Serendipity, where Sazh must save his son. Afterward, the casino's owner sends Sazh and Dajh to 500 AF. Serah and Noel also end up in Serendipity either before or after Sazh and Dajh were there.
  • The Arbiter of Time rules the Coliseum, a battle arena that exists outside of time. Snow ends up here during his time travels but becomes trapped and is unable to help Serah during her quest.
  • In the Void Beyond, Yeul's numerous incarnations live out a shadowy existence, her soul having splintered as a side effect of being continuously reborn, always unable to fade into the Chaos.
• Valhalla and the other timeless realms disappear when Caius's Heart of Chaos is destroyed, killing Etro, and the unbound forces of Chaos take over the world. Snow, the many incarnations of Yeul and Caius enter the forming world of Nova Chrysalia at 500 AF.

Spoilers end here.