Hello, Pax.
Did I scare you?
You found this book, and when you opened it, it was addressed to you with a name known only to you and a few. Freaky, right?
I'd be spooked too!
Don't worry, your identity as a Soul Stealer is safe with me, but now that I have your attention…
As the sole inheritor of this book, read it well.
Read the story of the noble King Ixion…
But first, a little message to you.
Your father… he's a weird guy.
He doesn't talk about you much — at all, really; he scorns you in fact. Your very existence makes his blood boil.
He loves your sister, though, because your sister is actually his.
Ah! Did I shock you?
Your doting mother was a filthy cheater.
How deplorable!
Then again, you were probably more shocked at the mention of a father.
After all, you hold no memory of him.
I don't know what that terrible man did to be cursed like so, but his name and history are forever lost, unable to be reclaimed. Even if you remembered him, you'd simply forget again.
You'd even forget you'd forgotten!
But enough about him, let's get onto something way more interesting.
That key you've been searching for…
I can help you find it, but the most I can provide is a hint. Interpreting it and obtaining the key will be up to you…
Look down at the stone in your hand and focus on what's right but feels wrong.
Within yourself you'll see an empty void.
That hole in your heart is due to time's twine unwinding.
Unravel and search, but the source will never be found — or perhaps fated to be found and lost again. That past became the present, the present forever and now.
Don't look back, but go back safe and sound. To the place where you've forgotten.
The key will be there, held by something lost.
…
Now, I don't know what any of that means myself, but good luck!
And, remember, a heart of a monster does not mean you possess the mind of one!
Trust me, I would know.
As they say, I have the heart of a human but the mind of a monster!
Ah, but finally, it's time for the true preface.
The preface of me, Ixion the greatly terrible!
I'm no hero, I think you'll come to see that pretty clearly as you read, but everything I've done and will do, I've done with a purpose.
Not that the purpose was particularly noble.
Though I am noble in my pursuit, therefore it shall be described so…
Maybe the means don't justify the ends. Maybe the ends aren't even justifiable if the means were ethical.
After all, I've sworn to destroy the world!
See! I'm an awful man!
Who can call themselves noble after claiming such a diabolical plot!
Ah… how pitiable I am.
A specter walking amongst three worlds, unknown to one.
I walk a path of lonely darkness.
But how I decided to tread my path, and why I'll take the steps I've yet to take.
Oh, you'll see. If you decide to keep reading, of course…
You'd better! Else I will haunt you!
Perhaps even literally!
In any case…
You'll see the story of a child of war. One who grew up to wage a war in turn — a war waged through the sacrifice of innumerable Souls.
Yet, each Soul sacrificed by my hand will be one more the Scourge will be unable to claim.
You'll learn how a king who wished for solace seeks it at a dreadful cost.
Listening to the screams and pleas of his people as he mercilessly slaughters them…
You'll learn how feigned madness turns into true insanity.
I'll learn that one as well.
Ah…
I don't want forgiveness for my sins.
Nor do I want my actions to be lauded.
I simply want my story to be remembered by someone.
Even if someone knows nothing of my legacy or the people named.
Even if that someone is one with their own fair share of blood on their hands.
After all, memory of me must live on if I am to finish my final quest.
***
Ixion put down his quill and looked at the nonsensical words he'd strung together from a sense he'd never make.
'Blasted!'
He'd written about how awful a man he was, but Ixion was awesome and venerable!
…
'Ah…'
'I'm tired.'
Nothing had even started. His plans in their nascent state. He'd done little of his necessary, terrible actions.
'But I'm already tired.'
Was Ixion really the right choice for this? The right person for this job?
'Oh, Walker of Fate...'
'What made you choose me to do your bidding?'
Why was Ixion chosen to commit these abhorrent acts?
Why not pick a man already mad?
Why pick the Hollow Crowned King?
Well, he was asking a question he very much knew the answer to…
Hate.
Ixion hated this world, so he wouldn't mind destroying it.
Ixion also hated the Scourge, so why not destroy them too while at it?!
Not to mention…
Ixion possessed the strength to see the world to its end.