[He wonders if he's feeling generous enough to entertain this conversation. It is true that X'rhun asks out of curiosity, a desire to understand. But the prophecy, that destiny that he fell into by way of trying to avoid it, forever remains something that sticks bitterly at his spirit.
But he humors him, for now. There was no harm in enlightenment, though Ardyn's grin has become a bit facetious at this point. He recites something from the Cosmogony, without missing a single beat.]
'O'er rotted Soil, under blighted sky, A dread Plague the Wicked hath wrought. In the Light of the Gods, Sword-Sworn at his Side 'Gainst the Dark the King's Battle is fought. From the Heavens high, to the Blessed below, Shines the Beam of a Peace long besought. Long live thy Line, and this Stone divine, For the Night when All comes to Naught.'
[He hums a little, a sound of satisfaction coming from his throat.]
The Starcourge, as I told you before, is something that plagued all of Eos -- but this was not a new development. Millennia ago, it existed. Its spread was finally delayed, quelled for a time, the darkness receding in that ancient age long past. But the Astrals, the gods, they knew it would return. That at some point, darkness would once more encroach upon the land, and so they granted my star the Crystal, an ancient artifact that dispels the dark with its light and immeasurable magic.
And to guard the Crystal, a family line, chosen to found the kingdom of Lucis, to become its royalty. To eventually... [He can't help but laugh here, again.] To eventually produce a True King, a Chosen King, that would fight against the darkness when it returned. One that would finally destroy the Starscourge and the avatar of it, at the expense of their own life.
But why wait for the Prophecy to fulfill itself, when there was healing to be done? When I could end the pain of others, stop their transformations into daemons, one individual at a time? Even if it meant taking in that darkness into myself, I would do so. Just to help my people — I wanted nothing more. But when it came time to ascend to the throne, as a proper Lucis Caelum should, I was denied because of that corruption alive in me. Called impure of heart and soul, and by workings of gods and family alike, I was exiled from my home. From everything that I cared about.
[It was like having his heart ripped from his chest. It did so much more damage than anything the Starscourge had twisted him into. This, he knows.]
In trying to aid the Light, I became Darkness. I wonder, sometimes, if that was always what I was meant for. That my good intentions were only the moving pieces of a great, cosmic joke, and that I was always destined to be crushed under the heel of fate. But it didn’t matter any longer, I had a part to play, and motivation to see it through to the end.
[Sometime during all of this, Ardyn's body had grown taut. Tense. Only when he's finished does it seem to uncoil, slowly.]
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But he humors him, for now. There was no harm in enlightenment, though Ardyn's grin has become a bit facetious at this point. He recites something from the Cosmogony, without missing a single beat.]
'O'er rotted Soil, under blighted sky,
A dread Plague the Wicked hath wrought.
In the Light of the Gods, Sword-Sworn at his Side
'Gainst the Dark the King's Battle is fought.
From the Heavens high, to the Blessed below,
Shines the Beam of a Peace long besought.
Long live thy Line, and this Stone divine,
For the Night when All comes to Naught.'
[He hums a little, a sound of satisfaction coming from his throat.]
The Starcourge, as I told you before, is something that plagued all of Eos -- but this was not a new development. Millennia ago, it existed. Its spread was finally delayed, quelled for a time, the darkness receding in that ancient age long past. But the Astrals, the gods, they knew it would return. That at some point, darkness would once more encroach upon the land, and so they granted my star the Crystal, an ancient artifact that dispels the dark with its light and immeasurable magic.
And to guard the Crystal, a family line, chosen to found the kingdom of Lucis, to become its royalty. To eventually... [He can't help but laugh here, again.] To eventually produce a True King, a Chosen King, that would fight against the darkness when it returned. One that would finally destroy the Starscourge and the avatar of it, at the expense of their own life.
But why wait for the Prophecy to fulfill itself, when there was healing to be done? When I could end the pain of others, stop their transformations into daemons, one individual at a time? Even if it meant taking in that darkness into myself, I would do so. Just to help my people — I wanted nothing more. But when it came time to ascend to the throne, as a proper Lucis Caelum should, I was denied because of that corruption alive in me. Called impure of heart and soul, and by workings of gods and family alike, I was exiled from my home. From everything that I cared about.
[It was like having his heart ripped from his chest. It did so much more damage than anything the Starscourge had twisted him into. This, he knows.]
In trying to aid the Light, I became Darkness. I wonder, sometimes, if that was always what I was meant for. That my good intentions were only the moving pieces of a great, cosmic joke, and that I was always destined to be crushed under the heel of fate. But it didn’t matter any longer, I had a part to play, and motivation to see it through to the end.
[Sometime during all of this, Ardyn's body had grown taut. Tense. Only when he's finished does it seem to uncoil, slowly.]
Is that explanation enough?