So it ever was. So will it always be. Such is the nature of evil.
It is a slight on Underidge's behalf that he does not even know Eden follows him. Then again Eden did not get where he was by being blatant in his movements or intentions. Underidge, despite his strength and assertive manners, was still young. All he could think about in his travels was getting to the destination that seemed internally computed into his brain. Each step drove him closer to madness and yet also to sanity for once the deed was done then he could breath, then he could sleep and heal and live without pressure. Soon it would be time to call together those he had selected. The Shade would demand more members. It just hadn't selected yet who else it wanted to be apart of the rituals, the cleansing of the new world.
See how he does not fight? It is past his time, all he does now is drain the world. Weak. Old. Useless.
The words practically sing themselves in his head as he moves towards Rio, the male turning to him with a look that is almost soft. He had come here to do the bidding of the creature inside of him yet Underidge presses forward in his own contempt now, disgusted. He did not want this male's attention, did not want his kindness. Couldn't Rio see that Underidge was strong enough? That he was magnificent? He remembers the adults looking upon him once before when his mother, Banshee, had called a group of mothers and how she chastised him. The fury in that moment as he looked at her - he did not need her to tell him what to be. He was glorious all on his own.
Rio doesn't even move fast enough to save himself from what would be a painful ordeal. Underidge works in a very precise manner, shredding the tendons that collapse around the now splintered bone. It is satisfying to feel the male break beneath his onslaught and he imagines his mother, her brittle bones cracking and her confused eyes, and he imagines his sister, Ellie, screaming beneath him.
He expects Rio to fight back. Instead his legs collapse out from beneath his hind in yet he holds himself up, his red head turned around to face Underidge in a sort of disassociated disbelief. For one brief moment Underidge's silver eyes meet Rio's as the male asks only one question.
"Because it is time." He states in a detached tone before he lunges atop the back of the broad male and his fangs seek the place where his neck and his skull meet, intending to grab him by the back and dig in deep, tear and dig, over and over while his claws rake down the sides of the male, shredding.
He is merciless and yet is this not merciful? He is ending the sad existence of this male for what purpose did he have left? It was his time for his soul to fly free and for the world to begin anew. Underidge would find many others after Rio just as he had found Story before Rio. She had thanked him, in the end, because her life had been short and painful and Underidge hated weakness as much as the Shade within him did.
UNDERIDGE
TWO - MALE - NO HEART - OPHELIA'S SOUL
OF TAVIORA - ENDERLY X BANSHEE - KILL COUNT (I)