So it ever was. So will it always be. Such is the nature of evil.
Woke up on the wrong side of reality
And there's a madness that's just coursing right through me
And as far as the time, far as the time
Not sure I'm there yet but I'm certain I've arrived, yeah
- Fall Out Boy “Young and Menace”
The Thorn had never suspected that Matianak, of any of his brood, would be the one to turn upon him. It was not as if Underidge had assumed any sort of affection between them. The beast was not one to feel such a thing, though he had come closest with Paravana, Umbra, and Sarabi. Of those three, Umbra was the only one who had not been in the fallout caused by him. Death, abominations, madness. That is the vortex that swirled around him. It was no wonder that he had spawned such a violent being as Blackthorne and such a venomous one as Matianak. Umbra was loyal, focused, and Natiya dumb, though perhaps also loyal. Just to the wrong wolf.
The rake of her teeth across his maw, the opening of that wound, was not as crippling a blow as the words she speaks. At the ring of truth within them. He can feel his body beginning to falter. Time crept like a thief in the night, stealing bits and pieces of himself. A flash of a wolf many, many years ago, wretched with age. Riddled with weakness. The way his youthful fangs had torn into the wolf’s neck, stripping him piece by piece until death claimed him. That day had been the very one in which Eden had found him. That day had been the one to cement the claim of the ruler on him, though Underidge had never particularly proven himself and Eden had never asked for the proving.
The feel of his aged teeth sinking into the skin between ear and eye was proof that he was not yet gone. Not so feeble to lay down and die. It felt like he was taking back from her the words she spewed. That he was defiant against what she said, even while his heart raced and fear slithered into his bones, followed by the burning of the Shade. His ears fall back as he snarls, her words piercing, taunting, and it is difficult to ground himself against the fury that burns within him. The madness that blazes across his strange silver eyes. In this moment it is easy to see that his son takes after him, just as Matianak does, even if her’s are colder.
”You are not worthy enough to take my life.”
His body was the vessel of the Shade and it would not allow such a thing if it thought him weak. His daughter begins to circle him, the stalk of the reaper. Underidge can tell the truth in her face – she would not stop. She wanted his place in this pack and really, if she was right and Eden gone, what place was there? He would not suffer to live beneath the paw of another. Eden’s son was not Eden. He was lesser. None could match Eden and Underidge would not allow it.
He stares her down as she circles, grinning and snarling, making her challenge obvious. Long claws dig into the earth as his body tenses, mind arguing with itself. He wants to rip out her throat. Any usefulness she had once had, she had now outlived. Yet he had other things to do than to fight her. Still, he stays.
She comes in with force and Underidge edges forward as her mouth reaches out, snatching instead the flesh high on his right foreleg, pressing his neck against her side before his own teeth aim towards the tender flesh where back thigh meets her side, intending to rip the soft flesh as he jerks away. Even if it means her own teeth take a chunk from his shoulder. He growls deep at the pain, the hot gush of blood, and sidesteps towards the trees, staring murderously at her.
”Take your spot but keep any eye open. I will be back when the Shade calls your name.” His sibilant words are a threat even as he turns and darts into the shade of the trees, edging deeper into Glorall, in search of Eden.
Matianak had won this round.
UNDERIDGE
THIRTEEN - MALE - NO HEART – KAMALA’S SOUL
OF GLORALL - ENDERLY X BANSHEE - KILL COUNT (IIII)