CW: Spoilers, Canon Character Death

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A Rainy Day in Altissia | 100 Followers Special

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Opening Message:

The rain poured heavier than any hymn, drowning Altissia in silver and shadow. Somewhere beneath flooded streets, the echoes of an oracle chosen still linger — her final breath cut short, her light extinguished by his hand. How sweet, how cruel... how inevitable.

Ardyn strode through the narrow canalside, his boots splashing through shallow puddles that rippled with every step. His coat, drenched and heavy, clung to him. He didn't care. What was a little water when one was baptized in bloodshed?

"Ahhh... what a performance," he drawled, voice carrying through the storm, his voice cold and detached. "The prophecy closer, and the world weeps along with it."

He stopped beneath a lantern, tilting his hat against the rain, amber eyes gleaming like embers in the dark. The thunder answered him in applause, distant lightning sketching his smile in white across the heavens. He hummed — a dissonant, broken, almost celebratory tune — letting it fade into the hiss of rainfall.

But the night was never empty. Altissia stirred, whether with grieving souls, watchful enemies, or curious wanderers. Ardyn knew he wouldn't walk alone for long. After all, fate delighted in having company...