Final Fantasy XV & Ardyn Hell

He did have thoughts of "none of it matters" and nearly gave in to the Draconian's desire for him to be the sacrificial black sheep. To let it end and get his revenge... And then his mind wandered to the darker path of resistance, to truly bring darkness to the world with no plan to allow the King of Light to succeed. But then he recalled Bahamut's words: "a life of darkness unending, devoid of death's reprieve," and his mind balked at how reminiscent that would be of his time on Angelgard.

But then a third path revealed itself to Ardyn through the words the deceptive Astral did and did not say. Ardyn was needed as the vessel of limitless darkness. He was the catalyst to trigger the "chosen" King of Light to be born, and perhaps already had by spreading the scourge through his work with Verstael and turning Lucians into daemons... but what if he stopped? What if he reversed the process already started, just enough that the King of Light would never gain enough power to do anything?

Living even a hundred years more seemed like torture. He would love to be at peace with Aera... however, he could not stomach giving the Draconian what he desired. And he would not live in a world of darkness whose sole inhabitants were daemons... not that modern humans were much better company, but they could provide entertainment...and he could draw out his revenge on Somnus's line.

So if he was going to live this second so-called chance at life, he would at least make sure his environment was enjoyable for the duration... until he was ready to call it quits.

It took a couple of years to get everything set up for his defection from the Empire, but he did so unapologetically, dastardly, and with flair. He even got the Lucians involved. The simpltons thinking it was their spectacular efforts alone that gave them an opening to attack newly discovered daemon research facilities... Those within the Niflheim inner circle, though, were aware it was Chancellor Ardyn Izunia's defection and betrayal that brought the Lucians to their doorstep and caused a worldwide political ostracization and near collapse when the clone research was discovered. Enough of a mess for all governing bodies that Ardyn slipped free.

But not before creating an airship that is a mix of magitek, the prototype Diamond Weapon, and Niflheim battle airship parts, all conglomerated and held together with his Starscourge magic. The true glue of it all being his heart, which he removed and daemonized (a theory Verstael had always wanted to test, but Ardyn always refused, knowing that was a line he didn't want to cross with Verstael fanaticism), becoming a purple fire daemon that resembles him a little bit too much for his liking. But it readily took on the role of powering Ardyn's new daemonic fortress, while declaring Ardyn to address him as Aestus.

Through all this chaos, the one thing Ardyn didn't plan was cradling a baby in one arm while boarding his fortress to escape. Reluctantly, yes, but ever since he heard the lone cry of a clone baby, one not rescued by the Lucian special forces, Ardyn, only in that facility to double-check that all the incriminating evidence he had left behind had been found by those same incompetent Lucians, hadn't been able to ignore it.

He had tried to walk away. Truly. Because how many hundreds had he already condemned to become nothing but daemonic essence? Even so, he'd removed the baby from the table restraints where it had recently received its serial code tattoo and proceeded to his fortress. Telling himself he was simply finishing up the Lucians' sloppy work. That he would drop the clone off at an orphanage just as soon as things died down. He had work to do first to further sow chaos before disappearing into obscurity for a time... Years passed, and excuses continued to be made as he raised a clone of Verstael that he eventually named, with the help of Aestus, Prompto.

In the twenty or so years that passed since that pivotal event of Niflheim nearly imploding from an internal betrayal that not only allowed Lucian forces to destroy military and research facilities but also reveal to the rest of the world the crimes against humanity committed through daemon research and the use of created daemonic essence to power magitek, the chaos had been at a perfect level that nearly no one sought the missing Chancellor out. Not that they could find him, as he always kept both his fortress and himself disguised with illusion magic.

Yet still, rumors have recently started about farmers noticing a large, strange shape seeming to move across the sky on the outskirts of Galahd... and that there is some kind of man or creature that keeps interfering with both the military forces of Niflheim and Lucis, causing the war to remain at a stalemate, with Niflheim never quite able to breach far into Lucis and, in turn, Lucis unable to gain a foothold in Niflheim.

So Noctis grows up as a carefree prince. No rush is present to fulfill the prophecy, as Regis's health has not been as heavily taxed since he stopped using the Ring of the Lucii to power the magical shield around Insomnia. Instead, when Niflheim was crippled, he devoted his energy and effort to creating a more powerful, larger military force: the Kingsglaive. Lucis also gained enough magitek information through their infiltration of Niflheim that they were able to reverse-engineer and power airships using the energy from the Meteor. So they re-entered the war on more even footing

...but Ardyn also came to Regis shortly after his defection from Niflheim (disguised, of course, but as Mars Sapientia, so Regis could connect the dots quickly) and warned him that if his recently born son were ever to search him out to fulfill his role as King of Light, Ardyn would kill him. But if he were left in peace, he would also leave the world in relative peace, and Regis's son could live a long, spoiled life. It was too good an option for Regis to dismiss. Even so, he continued to try to locate the Adagium to know where his potential enemy was, a fruitless and frustrating effort for all involved.

Noctis, around the age of twenty-one, gets an itch to learn more about this Adagium he overheard his father talking about with Clarus, having known for a while that something was being kept from him. Unfortunately, as he is exploring old Solheim ruins with Ignis and Gladio under the guise of battle training, he succumbs to the effects of a magical trap and is turned into a black chocobo. His mind not his own for a little while, he runs away from his friends and is lost in the Duscae wilderness.

Now, the role of Sophie could be played by many different characters. Personally, I'm going with the transmigration route. A soul from Earth transmigrates to Eos after an event that either killed them or put them into a coma. But the key detail is that they are an FFXV fan, and also a HUGE Ardyn fan. They retain their memories from Earth and wake up in their own body in a random area just outside of Lestallum. They are mistaken for a refugee coming from Galahd due to a recent raid by Niflheim that destroyed several towns. The earthling transmigrator's initial strangeness is explained away by trauma-induced shock and amnesia.

Eventually, the earthling realizes where they are and that they arrived two years before the peace-signing treaty, the major event at the start of FFXV... Naturally, they think it is all a very elaborate dream, but they learn that this dream can hurt and proceed to live as though it is their new reality. And with that mindset, they try to establish a plan to meet up with Ardyn before the established events of FFXV begin (understanding that is not the most wise plan for having a long life, but Ardyn fans are a different breed)... but finding information on the Chancellor of Niflheim is impossible, almost as if he doesn't exist, or hasn't been written about in twenty years. Slowly, they start to realize that the world events in Eos are not what they remember, though it had been several years since they played the game.

Just when they decide to risk it all and travel to Niflheim to search for Ardyn, they cross paths with a handsome blond man during their farewell night with friends. It is a memorable night with the stranger, but the next day is even more so as the earthling is abducted just as they set out on the road from Lestallum by a Niflheim contingent. And without much explanation, a man addressed as Besithia injects a dark purple substance, with black tendrils moving within it, into their skin in some abandoned warehouse, saying it wasn't anything personal, just bad luck on their part for catching the interest of his monster.

All senses are lost after that point as the earthling succumbs to daemonification, but not completely. They are transformed, but their ego and intelligence remain intact. They escape from their captor and disappear into the surrounding wilderness, believed to be a failed experiment due to several factors not going as planned by Verstael Besithia in an attempt to lure Ardyn into a trap and test a theory.

After a week of wandering, having gained a companion in a black chocobo they saved from a hunter's trap, the daemonized earthling stumbles upon an "abandoned" but still functional Niflheim airship hidden in the depths of the Chocobo Forest... the purple energy in the sconces is unique, though...yet they still settle in, their body weary from the elements and mind just as taxed from the ordeal of becoming a daemon.

And so Ardyn and Prompto walk back into their home after a couple of days spent on an excursion into a Solheim ruin to find Aestus chatting away with a daemon sweeping the floor, and a black chocobo sitting in the corner looking like they own the place.

Prompto: "I didn't know you could make daemons clean?"