Ok, another idea (just for fun)
I forgot to mention 4 bells could also be a symbol of "warning" for that menace (warning that death (in this case DF) came = that's what bells at funerals do)
...and speaking about "warning" - what about Ryucross?
Imagine LaRoof as a narrator of this and imagine also that the programmers' first idea was to tell the origin of Ryucross with a riddle and not a full-text story (an idea that was latter discarted from the ingame > atention! this didn't happened... i think).
In that case the first lines tell us how the Great Light won to the Profoundness of Darkness. (
like it has been already told here).
«4 bells toll – 4 torches were lit»
Bells are also -like I said at the beginning of this post- a synonym of warning and the
4 guardians (who represent Ryucross) have the mission to warn about DF arrival. Besides the “shape” of those 4 guardians are lit torches.
(Presuming that LaRoof** also has the same shape as his 3 "friends")
... and "the world" (Algol or even Universe) continued for thousands of years --- until now... (
end of Laroof speech to Chaz and the rest of the protectors)
** - We cannot fight with La-Roof so he doesn’t appear to us. By his friends I can only imagine he has a shape like the rest of the tower guardians (he also is ("silent") tower guardian right?
At least Re-faze showed himself... Le-Roof only talked
it could be another possibility, but would be very specific and that would never justify why the riddle appeared at the beginning/end of a game.