12. quarry

Before aught else, Zenos yae Galvus was a hunter. The chase, the thrill of battle, these were the things that made him feel what he thought others must mean when they spoke of joy. And though he had hunted all his life, only once had his quarry proven herself to be more than prey, fangs and claws sharp enough to rend and tear, to bring him to an ecstatic bloody end even when empowered beyond what his flesh could withstand.

In falling to her in battle, and in rising again after death, he had but one purpose – to make himself worthy of her attention once more. As she had grown stronger, her appetite whet with the blood of so many, including his great-grandsire, so too had he. Long had he imagined the sanguine conflagration that would consume the star when next they met, but when the moment came, he found her… distracted. Lesser beasts called her hero, called out to her to save them, as if they were worth her notice. The ones she surrounded herself with served as chains, fettering her to the ground when he wished for her to fly, to ascend to the heavens with him as was her right.

And so he had come to the conclusion that he must be the one to set her free.