So it ever was. So will it always be. Such is the nature of evil.
Small.
Alone.
Without hope, without fear, without aim.
LOST!
The word booms into his head as he sits in the forests of Glorall, eyes zoned out and mind tuned inward. It jolts him to his paws and his silver fur bristles, the darkness sliding beneath his coat so that he is ever an interchangeable piece of fog and shadow, a creature from beyond the darkness. He is the maw that reaches out and carries the unwitting into it.
GO! The Shade demands his attention now. It had been complacent for too long, sated on the souls of those they had taken together and the attention it had showered upon Paravana. She was ready, she was complete, and yet Underidge felt a keen sense of dislike at sharing her with the god within him. He felt possessive over her, the need to take her a strong growth within him, yet he refrained from such disgusting things.
She was his and she was the Shade's and they must share.
He finds himself loping through the woods on nearly silent paws. His paws were large, fingers splayed wide with claws gripping the dirt for traction and kicking up very little snow. It once sees his shadow moving they might think he is an old, feeble creature, for his movements are jagged, swaying from side to side and striding further to the left then the right. Grace is not a vice of his but he does not care. Nor does he care that his winter coat has become matted, that he looks half-starved, a usual look for him during the winter. Maybe he even smells, he hasn't taken the time to properly give himself a sniff.
It doesn't matter. He spots the tiny footprints swiftly and moves to walk slowly, an oncoming train, in the direction of the pup who attempts to backtrack. She is ugly, he thinks, when his silver eyes fall on her. It is her scent that snaps him to attention, his ears perking. She smells incredibly like Paravana once smelled and it is that which draws him closer - along with the pressure and the clawing within his bones.
"The Shade wants you. What do you have to give it?"
His voice is scratchy and weird, his vocals much like his gait, uneven and opposite the true form of life. TAKE HER, the Shade demands, but he refrains, because he knows once he takes her that the heat will be stronger than before. He had eluded Paravana's family so far and only recently let her out of the den, a sort of flaunting, and with this he would have to start over again. With a child, a tiny child, a
weakling, an ingrate, one he could put out her misery with a mere snap of his teeth.
UNDERIDGE
FOUR - MALE - NO HEART - STARSHADE'S SOUL
OF GLORALL - ENDERLY X BANSHEE - KILL COUNT (III)