“You are… glad?” Legion tilted their massive, misshapen head.
Ryder nodded.
A Master brings his Childe into this world. He must be there when the Childe leaves it.
Legion shifted from clawed foot to clawed foot. “I could–could serve you, Master. I could serve whatever cause you do. I do not care about the things that Roan does. I only stayed with him because he promised me that he could…”
Legion’s voice drifted off.
“I am sorry I did not show you the love you needed,” Ryder said.
Legion’s eyes widened. “L-love? Master loves me?”
“I do. You are the Childe of my Heart,” Ryder said quietly.
“M-master?” Legion was practically trying to squeeze through the bars even though their skin was smoking.
“Do not hurt yourself. I am going to unlock the cage,” Ryder told him.
Legion stumbled backwards in their haste to obey him. “Master knows that I am an asset? Master knows how good I can be in war? In battle?”
“Yes, Legion. You are exactly what I hoped you would be when I made you,” Ryder told him as he unlocked the cage’s door.
It swung open and he stepped aside as Legion eagerly yet uncertainly shuffled out of the cage. They were also weak from only being fed little amounts. Ryder had brought a bag of blood down and handed it to Legion who took it from them slowly, but then ripped open the plastic and devoured it eagerly. Blood dripped down their chin, but Ryder did not comment. Their long tongue slid out to lick it up. Still clots clung to the patchy fur. Legion blinked silver eyes at him.
“Master does not seem angry with me. Master said… said I was the Childe of his Heart?” Legion asked.
“You are,” Ryder said sadly. “I am not angry with you, Legion. You are… everything I knew you’d be. And more really.”
Those silver eyes grew wide. “Master means this. But… after everything? Master can still feel this after everything?”
Ryder remembered the endless time he had spent locked in the soul gem. He remembered watching Legion slaughter and more over the centuries, the millennia. Maybe Daemon was right. He had suffered for a long time for good reason. It had changed him. It had made him better. But now to continue to suffer would be self-indulgent.
“I forgive you, Legion. Do you forgive me?” Ryder asked.
Again, those silver eyes grew wide. “There is nothing to forgive, Master! You were… you were in pain after Ashyr’s passing. You had many burdens upon you. You did your best for me.”
“I think I did not. But I am glad that we are friends now.” Ryder gently patted Legion’s shoulder.
Legion beamed. “What does Master want from me? I have told the Eyros…” Here they grimaced, “everything I know about the Sect. But perhaps there is something else…”
“I want to go on a hunt,” Ryder said. “Would you come with me?”
Legion’s maw opened in true shock. “A–a hunt?”
“I have not taken you on one. And I do this with every fledgling. I do not want to wait anymore to do this with you,” Ryder told them. “If you feel up to it.”
“Oh, yes, Master! We will hunt! We will kill!” Legion began to salivate. They quickly glanced at him to see if he approved. When he kept his expression mild, they added, “All are our prey. They shall fall before us.”
“There’s a rabirah that has been getting a little too close to the city. We must kill it to keep the student’s safe,” Ryder said. “Will you help me with this?”
“Of course! We will rip the rabirah into pieces! They are quite sweet! Their flesh is like honey and their liver a delight,” Legion enthused, drooling as they spoke of eating the creature.
“Then let us not delay,” Ryder said.
There was a rabirah. It was a monstrous thing. It looked rather like a giant lizard, but was as large as a school bus with poisoned claws and a barbed tail. Its mouth was lined with acid-coated spikes and it delighted in nothing less than eating prey alive. Ryder had been intending on hunting it. Now he was glad he had waited. To do this one last thing with Legion.
The two of them left the prison. Legion shuffled more than walked. They were still recovering but their gait became looser. All the while they would ask Ryder a question or two, but mostly they spoke of the kill. How this was the first of many they would kill for him. So many killings. So much sweet flesh. So much death.
