The Lord of Ruin looked down upon the face of the king, his form wretched and decrepit, rolling in the confines of the grip the Goddess of Death held on him. The scent was familiar, as it also poured from his own eyes and his own lips, but it did not make any manner of emotion flicker to the Accursed’s eyes. He stared, eyes like the void, down at the fallen king like a towering guardian figure, poised to strike judgement down upon Regis.
However, finally, the Accursed stooped to one knee, bringing himself closer so as he could scoop up the Lucian King’s jaw within his fingertips. The touch was almost gentle. Almost affectionate, despite the death’s head that met Regis face to face. When finally Ardyn smiled, it was a leer, brimming with death and equal amounts of decay.
“How alike we sound there, my lord.
Why, you almost remind me of myself.”
Quickly, fingers dug themselves into Regis’ cheeks, gripping into the skin in order to force the king’s mouth open. Ardyn hovered his own mouth over the offering and as he smiled, the darkness around him seemed poised to envelop them both.
The bile spewed forth like a living thin, pouring from Ardyn’s open maw to pour down into the retching, decay filled scum that Regis was becoming. Like mother’s milk, the monster gave and gave, adding on to the corruption that was growing in the king’s heart. For the Accursed could suck the very soul out of this one, if he wanted, and spit it back out into the blathering scum the man was becoming.
There was no telling what was happening to him. He didn’t know, he was too ignorant. All he understood, all he could comprehend was the need for this rot. This sickness this decay this tar, for him to become one with it. To accept it, to harbor it, to grow with it. He knew this was the key to immortality. To never die, to never age. This was it.
But he coughs and trembles, flesh rejecting what he had sprouted in himself. It would not keep, it would die if he did not act. He is weak, he is exhausted, he cannot fathom doing more than what he already has. So much time had gone into it, preparation and failures with each plot. No, there was no giving up.
When the Lord before him lowers himself to the Monarch, when hand clutches his jaw, he obeys. He does not fight. For he sees it already, that Scourge seeping from the man above him, and he does not retaliate. Yet, when digits dig into the sides of his face, when jaw is pried open, he panics.
No, he does not want this. Stop, get away. Get away! Unhand him! Unhand--
The pour of it, the taste, there is a mixture of fear and excitement. Of uncertainty and joy. Body goes limp, system shutting down. Mind moves too fast, with haste he cannot catch up with thoughts as they pass him by. It is panic. It is pain. It is solace. It is salvation. It is immortality. Who is he to deny someone offering it? How could he? After all he had done, after actions proved fruitless... A man under his nose possessed what he sought.
Eyes roll back, lids sliding closed. He does as he is told; he breathes it in. And like fire it sets his lungs ablaze, it forces his nerves on edge. For every hair on his figure to rise in fear. He is dying, he just doesn’t know it yet.