“Let’s start... not at the beginning. That’s far too much. But recently...oh, sixty years ago I became the patron, the founder of a people so disenfranchised and beaten down by their Eorzean neighbors. There is a race of people, the Garleans, who are entirely unable to wield aether. But they are tenacious and mighty... And I admit I became enamored with their struggling. My attention was captured by someone who looked just precisely like me, eerily so. His name was Solus from the noble Galvus, and like most men his age, he entered the military. Unfortunately for him, he subsequently died of exposure in the night as he worked in his lab. I found him after, and I saw what he was working on.”

Hades paused, taking a breath before resuming. “He had died entirely too young. The cold had preserved his body... and so... I assumed it. I reheated the flesh and reinvigorated the aether and stepped out to explore these people.”

Hades softly petted his child, lowering his voice and rocking him when he began to stir.

“I finished Solus’ project, and with it, I gave the Garleans the chance to survive their horrible predicament. And with our survival came flourishing. I married the woman who had been arranged for my host since he began to walk. And we had a son,” his voice quivered for the first time in his emotional monologue.

“And though he was tall and strong... He passed away just shy of 22 summers from an illness that I was not even aware of.”