Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
True, and from what we're told of the dark future, it sounds like the planet is essentially dying - "death to the very soil" and all.

It's even possible Emet stuffed up and didn't realise quite how long-term catastrophic Black Rose would be. The Ascians' plans rely on building civilisations in which to sow chaos, and instead he killed the whole thing off.
Yeah I may very likely be wrong about what I said, but yet this doesn't actually quite disprove the existence of Zodiark after the 8th calamity. We know the Ascians intend to sacrifice much of the life on the Source to Zodiark so that he can bring their brethren back. Its quite possible that the apocalyptic future is part of the process of sacrificing to Zodiark. It could also be a result of the war against Hydaelyn, which would be in full effect once Zodiark was free.