[voicetest] it's this guy

[unsunderworld]

[To the surprise of absolutely no one.

Shadowbringers spoilers abound beyond this point.]

Comments

[scourgingstars]

Is that so? And here I'd almost be tempted to say the same.

[unsunderworld]

If you were my age, I would know you.

[Stated as simple fact. There is no option but to know each other, after so very long.]

I was old when this world was born.

[scourgingstars]

How remarkable. Just what exactly are you, then?

[unsunderworld]

I stopped counting a few millennia after the Sundering; somewhere between eighteen and twenty thousand is the best estimate I can produce.

[scourgingstars]

My, and here I am a mere two thousand and change. I'd call it humbling if I had the capacity to feel as much.

[unsunderworld]

Don't worry, young man, you still have plenty to learn.

[When was the last time he talked to anyone who even cracked two centuries? Anything like an equal, but those he has been with for so long that they quite literally have nothing to discuss anymore?]

[scourgingstars]

And so little time. I'm not terribly long for this ruined world, truthfully.

[unsunderworld]

And no desire to leave, I take it.

[scourgingstars]

And be condemned to live sometime as long as you? Heavens, no.

[unsunderworld]

It does tend to be less terrible with company, you realize.

[Seriously, you have a very lonely city here.]

[scourgingstars]

I'm not the sort for companionship.

[unsunderworld]

I see. That's a pity.

[It sounds sarcastic, but he does mean it genuinely, in his way.]

[scourgingstars]

[A shrug.]

I see no reason for pity. Solitude is far less complicated than the alternative. It's simply easier this way.

[unsunderworld]

Simpler does not always mean better. Unless you intend to say that buildings such as these are inferior to the mud huts mortals have used in ages past?

[It is possible that he may care more about the buildings than the people who live in them. A little.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn answered in a thoughtful hum, turning enough to look over his shoulder at the Citadel.]

That's not even remotely the same thing. A building can't callously betray anything. If a structure collapses and kills everyone within it, no one's fool enough to presume the building held malicious intent or the like. I'd sooner be alone with an empty city than suffer companionship of anyone mortal or otherwise for very long.

[unsunderworld]

But they will heartily blame the architect.

[Malicious intent or not.]

I envy those who can find satisfaction in nothing but their own company.

[scourgingstars]

...Interesting, I don't recall using the word 'satisfied'.

[unsunderworld]

[Raised eyebrows, now.]

Are you not?

[scourgingstars]

And what, pray tell, does it matter to you? From the sound of things, this world will have lived and died in scarcely an instant by your perspective. What should you or indeed anyone care if the very architect of this star's ruin should be left to live and die unsatisfied?

[unsunderworld]

Because I am still human, if not human as you know it, and all humanity is in want of a kindred spirit. For what other reason would I take an interest? I need no help in ushering in the end of any world I might choose.

[scourgingstars]

The last thing I need or want is a human's advice. Humans are as they have ever been and ever will be--vile, backstabbing creatures only ever working in their own self-interest with not the faintest thought for anyone else.

[unsunderworld]

That's "mortals," thank you. I had no self-interest even when I was capable of it. Such things are a product of the sundered world we wish to restore to its former glory.

[scourgingstars]

Do forgive me if I find that concept as hard to believe as a carnivorous chocobo.

[unsunderworld]

Half of our people gave their lives in an attempt to create salvation for the other half. And then half again, to try to restore those who had already been lost, and the world that was ruined.

And I am entirely capable of creating a carnivorous chocobo here and now if you truly desire it.

[scourgingstars]

Well, I'm properly thrilled for you, but this world has a bit of a history in discarding those who care enough to bother sacrificing their health and life in the name of the people's welfare.