So it ever was. So will it always be. Such is the nature of evil.
And I lived so much life, lived so much life
I think that God is gonna have to kill me twice
- Fall Out Boy “Young and Menace”
Of all his progeny, Umbra had been his favorite. She had turned to his teachings with a bright mind and even sharper teeth whereas Matianak held herself aloof and seemed to scorn him. It was perhaps due to the favor that the Thorn had shown to her sibling, yet Underidge did not think in such convoluted ways. He had attempted in his own childhood to kill his crippled step-sister so it seemed only natural for her to harbor some resentment towards the other. In any case, Underidge was a creature so wrapped up in his own musings and the trappings of the Shade that he had no care to become present enough for such things like fatherly duties or love.
It had broken him into something warped even further when the Shade had demanded he take the life of Paravana. As she lay beneath him, panting, half dead already from the sickness and he had been forced to chose between her and the Shade. In some twisted way he had cared for her. He hated her in the end because she had become so weak that she had forced the Shade as much as him to call her soul into question.
If Umbra or Matianak had ever shown inclination towards weakness they would have been weeded out as well. He had tried to snuff out Blackthorne and Natiya had infancy, understanding they were abominations. Even he understood that their creation was not natural, that what he had done in a fury to Sarabi had been negligent and wrong. Sarabi had defended them and they survived to create such havoc on his life that he regretted not snapping their necks.
It is no wonder that Matianak regards him now with barely veiled disdain. He looks a mess. Scraggly, matted fur that stunk. Despite gorging himself, Underidge remained thin, haphazard looking. In contrast, Matianak looked healthy, as if nothing could touch her.
But he didn’t come for her. No, he came for the one he
truly cared about. Eden. He had followed Eden since his own youth and while his path had diverged slightly from the Fortitude’s, he always circled back around, a vulture to his meal. Her quick tone is met with his ears falling back and lips revealing yellow fangs. A low growl erupts. A sharp ache in his jaw has his lips falling back down. For some time now he had felt tenderness in his gums yet Underidge was not deterred. He was not growing weak.
Perhaps it’s time you followed him.
Just as abrupt as her words, he launches forward, snarling, snapping at her face in his own madness, spittle flying. Underidge moves quick but even his body cannot contain the marks of time – he is far slower than the youth and no doubt Matianak. His nights were spent hunting and traversing his paths non-stop so he wasn’t brittle boned. That did not mean that he did not ache in his joints at times, more often after long periods of rest.
”He should have killed that whelp of his at birth, just as I should have done to all of you,” he hisses furiously, lost in his anger. It is clear that he does not think Eden stepped down of his own volition – no, Eden could not do something such as that. That was… weakness.
No. Elohim had to have done something dastardly indeed to have gotten the throne.
UNDERIDGE
THIRTEEN - MALE - NO HEART – KAMALA’S SOUL
OF GLORALL - ENDERLY X BANSHEE - KILL COUNT (IIII)