Paradox Paradox is the term used for an anomaly in the spacetime continuum that causes the events in " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 . " Paradoxes are believed to be responsible for the apparent overlapping of different time periods , causing unusual types of monsters to appear and otherwise impossible events to occur . They are also believed to cause people to disappear without a trace ; the first being Lightning , right after the events of " Final Fantasy XIII " . Datalog . " Following the appearance of the gate that appeared in New Bodhum in 3 AF , Time Gate s began showing up in a multitude of locations . The research institute , the Academy , gave a name to the anomalies that accompany the arrival of these gates and cause impossible things to happen — they called them < nowiki > ' paradoxes . ' < / nowiki > " " In any location where a paradox is present , people report strange occurrences , such as the sudden appearances of unusual monsters , and odd connections to other times and places . " " With our continuing progress into paradox research , we ' ve come to learn that the future can influence the past . Once events in the future are decided , the past is altered to support that outcome . " " For people in the future , the past is like an unopened box . Say , for example , at a certain point in time , someone makes a discovery in a set of ruins and learns a fact about the past . In that instant of understanding , past reality is defined . " " But then the question must be asked : who , along the entire span of history , is considered to be ' in the future ' ? " Story . When the goddess Etro reached into the mortal realm to release Lightning and the other l ' Cie from their crystal stasis and to wipe their l ' Cie brands , chaos seeped into the world and altered the timeline . Lightning was caught in the paradox and dragged to Valhalla , erased from history and only her sister Serah remembers Lightning ever reuniting with them on Gran Pulse . Lightning becomes Etro ' s protector and calls for Serah to come and find her in Valhalla . After the appearance of the Time Gate in New Bodhum 3 AF , more begin appearing in other locations on Gran Pulse as well as in Cocoon . Along with the gates , paradoxes affect the surrounding areas and objects , monsters , and in some cases people from different time periods , would disappear from their current time and reappear in another . Paradoxes are known for altering landscapes . The night a Time Gate crashes outside New Bodhum in a meteorite , Serah wakes and finds her clothes mysteriously changed . She ventures outside and witnesses a time paradox where she sees New Bodhum as a post - apocalyptic wasteland and the crystallized Cocoon disappear from the horizon . Rift Beasts from Valhalla attack the town and Serah is helped by a man who claims to hail from the future , Noel Kreiss , who later takes her on a journey across time to find Lightning . In the Bresha Ruins 5 AF , the war machine Atlas appears within the site , followed by its control device . Despite Serah and Noel resolving the paradox , the ruins in 100 and 300 AF are affected by paradoxes , believed to had been caused by the appearance of Atlas ' s control device in 5 AF . In Yaschas Massif 10 AF , the appearance of the fal ' Cie Fenrir 190 years earlier than its predestined time causes the area surrounding the Paddra Ruins to be darkened by an eclipse . Resolving the paradox in Oerba 200 AF unlocks an alternate time in Yaschas Massif , known as 1X AF , where the eclipse never happened and the memories of the Academy scientists ( including Hope and Alyssa ) have been altered . In Oerba 200 AF , the desolate village ' s past and future collide and the area is being sucked into a void . Noel and Serah restore the area by solving multiple Temporal Rift s but in 300 and 400 AF , Oerba continues to be affected by paradoxes . In the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF , large numbers of Miniflan appear and merge to form the monstrous Royal Ripeness that threatens Cocoon ' s crystal pillar . Noel and Serah visit the Coliseum and Archylte Steppe in unknown years and retrieve the White Hole and Black Hole fragment s that cause the flan to appear in Sunleth Waterscape and Royal Ripeness to grow . With the flan reduced to Mutantomato , they defeat it and save the pillar . In Augusta Tower 200 AF , the Proto fal ' Cie Adam uses a looping paradox to regenerate itself after each time Serah and Noel defeat it in battle . When Serah yells at Hope for having created Adam , he gets her message through the Oracle Drive in 1X AF , and Adam disappears from existence as Hope resolves to never build it the first place . At 300 AF , a paradox caused by someone from another time period affects the tower , causing Noel and Serah to reset the revolving rooms to their proper positions . After Serah , Mog and Noel leave Academia 4XX AF , they get separated in the Historia Crux and fall into Caius ' s trap as Alyssa betrayed them by giving them a booby - trapped artefact she received from Caius . Alyssa fears Serah and Noel ' s actions in correcting the timeline will erase her from existence , as she is a living paradox . In reality , Alyssa died during the Purge but when the timeline was corrupted , she was revived . It is eventually revealed that it is Caius who is creating the paradoxes across the timeline to shape the future toward the goal he seeks : world destruction . When Noel ' s blade pierces Caius ' s Heart of Chaos , the source of his immortality , he fades away while asking Noel to bear the burden of the eternal paradox . The Time Gates begin closing one by one and Serah and Noel use the final gate to return to Academia 500 AF . The world is soon engulfed in chaos as Caius ' s wish for an " eternal paradox " is fulfilled . Temporal Rift . To solve an anomaly that distorts a specific area , Serah and Noel can enter a Temporal Rift and rid of the anomaly by solving a puzzle . There are three types of puzzles with at times multiple levels . paradox ending . Paradox endings are alternate events in the timeline unlocked by certain actions taken by Noel and Serah , making them " what if " endings . If they defeat certain enemies without first resolving a paradox , or make a different decision towards certain events in the main storyline when given the option , a paradox ending is unlocked . Musical themes . " Paradox " , composed by Naoshi Mizuta , is the second most recurrent theme of the game , behind the main theme , " Wishes " . Variants of this theme are " Giant ' s Fist " , " The Story So Far . . . " , " Paradigm Shift " , " Song of the Farseer s " , " Oracle Drive " , " Eyes of Etro " , " Oathbrand " , " Yeul ' s Theme " , and " Time ' s Master " . It is also featured in the " Closing Credits " .