"I've borne witness to this tyranny long enough, Ixion."
A gallant man, Hope, adorned in gold-plated armor, stood in the middle of an elegant throne room, with spears and swords pointed at him from all directions. A blade of legends sheathed at his side.
In front of Hope, sat a treacherous king who'd long made a mockery of the world from a throne of lies. Long joked about the deaths of innocents. Long catered to his own desires rather than the will of the people.
Long had King Ixion given up. On Catatran. On Kaldora.
The king, a youthful man with sharp features and short, wavy, deep blue hair, stared down toward Hope with an arrogant smile plastered on his face, but didn't even deign to respond. Instead, he let his jester.
The busty jester with quite the scandalous silk outfit grew a shocked expression on her face, and said:
"Tyranny? Ixion, are you a tyrant? Why did you never tell me?! Oh, the humanity!"
Hope ignored the jester and unsheathed his sword, pointing it toward King Ixion, forcing the guards in the room to stiffen their form and point their own blades with a little more purpose.
Then, Ixion finally broke his silence.
"Hope, my friend… what's the meaning of all this?"
Hope scowled as he steadied his golden blade.
"Meaning? You dare ask for meaning when you very well know it?"
Ixion laughed, then looked over at a guard who'd been shaking, causing the clanking metal to echo throughout the chamber.
"You can all stand down. Only attack if he attacks. There's no need for senseless bloodshed."
Hope's brows narrowed through the slits in his helm, and his grasp tightened on his blade's hilt.
"Senseless bloodshed? Are you not the source of all the blood this kingdom has shed? Is it not by your will that the people starve and die? That the Scourge goes uncontested and steadily marches closer to Catatran's borders? What sense is there to be made of your passive actions?"
The jester looked back at the king and pointed.
"Ixion, since when have you coveted blood? I knew you were a bit of a freak, but sheesh, that's a new kink even I wasn't expecting. Blood play?!"
Ixion leaned back in his throne, then rolled his eyes and, looking down at Hope, replied:
"I've done well to keep my people alive. I've established embargo after embargo. Shut down borders. Protected them well from even encountering the Scourge…"
Hope gritted his teeth.
"All you're doing is delaying their deaths! You're not thinking about the future! The world is dying!"
Ixion laughed, then replied evenly:
"The kingdom is my world, and I hold the key to its survival."
Hope screamed:
"Well, your kingdom is being destroyed!"
Ixion laughed,
"Well, yes, stone weathers every day. Your point?"
Hope ground his teeth, hidden behind the helm, then screamed:
"People are dying!"
Ixion smiled.
"As they so often do."
Hope slashed his sword toward the king, making every guard's spine tingle in fear as a wave of Aether shot through the air and ruffled Ixion's hair.
"Hope… have you lost your head?"
The jester looked back at Ixion. Then her view quickly flipped to Hope, then back to Ixion, then back to Hope. With a beyond-confused look on her face, the jester muttered:
"You think he lost his head? But it's right there… Am I missing something?"