I sigh. He's a curious one. You know what they say about curiosity. It killed the cat and everyone else. Wait, that’s me.

A sacrifice. The last of many. The first of more. Die so others may live in peace.

Sweet release. Beautiful surrender. I promised you violence, did I not?

We are the monsters at the edge of the breach. Damned by echoes of blood. Lost in the Eye of the Brave. Haunted by the elegy of the void.

I hate healers, though I frequently need them. They’re damned by decency, condemned to help. And heroism always boomerangs as miscarriages of glory.

He hates me. He needs me. He wants to kill me. And that is how I built an empire.

They have shared history, if that means anything. Most of the time, it doesn’t. It’s only an excuse to avoid the brutal reality that no one cares about you.

He’s awkward and young and bony and short. All suit my reptilian desires. Easy to compliment. Easy to control.

There is a bond between you and Rune unlike any other.