Final Fantasy XIII-2 begins three years after the end of XIII. Owing to the fall of Cocoon at the end of XIII and the collapse of its government (the Sanctum), at the start of XIII-2, most of Cocoon's inhabitants have moved down onto Gran Pulse, and some have learned magical abilities. Over the course of the game, a scientific body called the Academy becomes a new technocratic government. While the game starts off in the year 3 AF ('AF' being a new timescale set up after the fall of Cocoon), the story of XIII-2 jumps around several different time periods, and even parallel versions of different places, accessed via the Historia Crux. While most of the game takes place on Gran Pulse and inside Cocoon, there are two other major locations. One is the Void Beyond, a limbo between time periods. The other location is Valhalla, the capital of the goddess Etro. This place is a realm at the end of time where the goddess keeps a dark energy called Chaos from escaping and destroying the timeline.
