"Do you believe him?"
They had retired to Regis' private lounge once more. On Clarus' suggestion, he had pulled on a dressing robe, which he had neglected in his half-nude flight down the hall. And, following the brief tale of Regis' encounter with Ardyn, they had sat in stunned silence. Until Clarus' question.
"Not an inch," Regis responded. "I can think of a dozen ulterior motives. Very little that he said makes sense to me. I fear I am no closer to understanding his goals than I was yesterday."
"Or to freeing Reina's nights?" Crea asked.
"Nor that," Regis agreed. "He said he might leave her alone if I gave his words due consideration. But I have no reason to believe he should do so. It seems all too likely that his true goal is to convince me to drop the wards that protect her. For now I must leave them in place."
Crea looked disappointed not, he suspected, because Reina would remain locked out of the In Between, but because her support of this venture had hinged on him sleeping again.
"But some good has come of it. Having experienced the walls from the other side, I feel confident that he cannot reach her as she currently is. If he attempted to breach them, I would be immediately aware."
Whether or not Ardyn had the power to successfully break the barrier remained to be seen.
Other than that, they were at an impasse. Whether he trusted Ardyn or not, Regis would be forced to consider what he had said, by mere virtue of the fact that new thoughts and ideas were rolling around in his head. There was no escaping the possibility that Bahamut would never leave them in peace, prophecy fulfilled or not. And there was nothing to be done, save wait. And think.
Days passed in this fashion. They had regular updates from the Kingsglaive team that travelled with Sylva and Lunafreya. Their progress was slow, but not completely impeded, and Sylva seemed optimistic that they would complete their mission. A week after their initial departure, they arrived at their first destination and began the arduous process of cleansing the Starscourge from those afflicted in the Outlands.
Regis was no closer to a decision on Ardyn. Reina was still locked out of the In Between and beginning to chafe at the restrictions he had placed on her. She didn't fully understand what they were for and he little knew how to explain to her. Eventually he was forced to admit that the only way to learn any more about Ardyn was to address the issue at its source.
Once more he laid down, not to sleep, but to walk the black landscape of the In Between. And once more he found Ardyn waiting for him.
"Have you made up your mind, King Regis?" There was a peculiar emphasis that he put on the title each time he said it. As if he regarded it as a joke, or some thin pretense.
"No. I have not. And I shall not until I understand what you are and what you want. I will not ally myself with an unknown entity."
"But I am not unknown."
"So you have said," Regis said. "You claim to be Adagium, as in the tales, and yet you also insist the tales are wrong. What, then, am I to believe?"
Ardyn gave an elaborate shrug. "Whatever you like."
"Tell me the truth."
"Even if I did, you wouldn't believe it."
"I scarce believe that you are what you claim to be, so it leaves us in no worse a position."
Ardyn regarded him and Regis was struck with the uncomfortable sensation of being evaluated. At length he swept his hands out, as if presenting something, and a table and chairs appeared out of the nothingness of the In Between.
"Won't you join me for tea?" Ardyn smiled. What would have been an expression of welcome on any other face was instead repulsive on his. A tea tray sprung up in the center of the table at his words and he seated himself, pouring two cups of tea without waiting for Regis' response.
Sitting in a world of dreams having tea with the imperial chancellor.
Clarus would never believe him.
Regis sat, taking the offered cup of tea in his hands. The sensation was every bit as real and sharp as the physical world: the smooth porcelain beneath his palms, the heat of the steaming tea seeping through the cup, even the mild scent of black tea wafting between them. Yet he did not go so far as to taste the tea. Perhaps he was paranoid. But this world was at Ardyn's command; was it so absurd to imagine he might poison a dream tea as easily as he could a physical one?
Ardyn's eyes flicked from Regis' untasted tea to his face. He laughed and lifted his own cup to his lips, sipping with overdramatic delicacy.
He lowered his cup and fixed Regis with an unsettling stare. "Let me tell you a tale, Your Majesty:
"Once upon a time, there lived two brothers. The eldest was a kind man who cared little for war, but preferred to solve problems from the lowest level. The younger brother was passionate and hot-headed; a powerful combatant who always played to his strengths. They lived in harsh times: a darkness was upon the world. It crept in the dead of night, consuming and corrupting with grasping fingers. While the youngest fought against it tooth and nail, pulling soldiers from all around and creating an army to combat the daemon threat, the eldest saw to the people. For he was blessed with a hitherto unheard of gift: he could cure the Starscourge.
"For this gift they called him The Healer. And they begged him to lead them. To protect them. Though he had no hunger for power or control, the opportunity was undeniable: as king, he could become a healer of all his lands and create a haven of light within the darkness. Nearly against his will, he accepted their adoration and ascended to kinghood. All that he laid hands on, henceforth, were cured of their darkness.
He extracted it from the land like venom from a wound. And the kingdom became light. Lucis.
"But as all gifts come with a cost. Where light shines, shadows grow longer. He purged the land of darkness not by blasting it away into oblivion… but by taking it into himself. The King of Light became darkness. For his people.
"When his younger brother saw what he had become, he leapt at the opportunity.
"'Daemon!' He decried, 'My brother is become a daemon!'
"And his words laid bare for all to see what the elder had become. Not merely a daemon. But a million daemons contained in one man. The heart of darkness beat within his breast and yet, despite all, he wished only to contain it. To protect them from it. He begged mercy of the gods. Bahamut's light could spare him. The great crystal could cleanse him. If only they would allow him to continue his work.
"But in place of mercy, they sent condemnation.
"'Daemon,' the Gods declared.
"'Daemon!' The people cried.
"Torches and blades, fire and steel, all were brought to bear against him. He was stuck like a pig for slaughter until his blood ran dry… and then black. The daemons within him took hold, no longer under lock and key. It was all the people could do to contain him. At his own brother's orders, he was imprisoned on an isle off the coast of the kingdom. And then forgotten.
"And so fell the healer of men. Into darkness and despair and madness. For death could not—would not—take him. The Starscourge consumed him and became him until the distinction between man and monster dissolved. What once had been a scattered darkness now pulsed with the life of a heart. His heart. And there he remained for two thousand years, plotting his revenge."
The silence that fell after Ardyn's tale was absolute. The In Between had no ambient sound. Indeed, it had no sound at all, save what they imagined for themselves.
Regis gathered his wits and his voice.
"And this, you claim, is the true story of Adagium? Betrayed and locked away by his own brother?" He asked.
"Imprisoned for two millennia," Ardyn said. "A monster. But one of mankind."
"And his brother?" Regis asked."Your brother."
"Why, haven't you guessed? The hero of the tale. The beloved Founder King. Somnus Lucis Caelum."
Regis struggled to put the pieces together. "Preposterous. That would make you..."
He stopped himself from finishing the sentence: Of royal blood. Had Regis, himself, not claimed that Ardyn must have Caelum magic to walk in the In Between? Had he, himself, not suggested that the imperial chancellor was, in fact, a lost Caelum wandered to Niflheim?
Ardyn rose, swept his hat off, and bowed low. "Ardyn Lucis Caelum. At your humble service… nephew."
Regis was on his feet as well, though he had scant recollection of having risen. "I do not believe it."
"Of course you don't." Ardyn shrugged. "Why would you ever question the perfect little lies passed down through your line through my brother? After all, he was chosen by the Gods. You all were, weren't you? Right down to your precious Noctis, whose life they demand… And the Astrals would never lie to you… would they?"
Regis backed away from the table. He would not stand here and listen to this filth any longer. It was absurd. A poorly-veiled attempt to blacken the Caelum name, to stir Regis' anger and turn him against all he had known.
Ardyn sighed and refilled his tea. "I don't know why I bother. I told you: you would never believe the truth, even if I laid it out before you."
Regis tore himself away from the In Between and returned to his body, leaving Ardyn to his imagined tea and ridiculous lies. They had to be lies. How could they not be?
The founding king, a betrayer. The true king, a healer locked away for his own sacrifice and turned daemon—no, turned to the very heart of the darkness they fought against. Bahamut may have had a black and white view of the world, but he would not have so easily condemned one who fought for him…
Would he?
Hadn't he already?