Kylo's head tilts slightly, his unblinking eyes locked on the boy's face. Shrouded in his long black robe and peering down from above, the contrast between his dark, menacing bulk and the pale, frightened boy below is almost comical. Of course he's the monster. What else would he be?

"I am," Kylo agrees. He likes the way the boy says it: the monster. Singular. Exceptional. But—

"No-one sent me," he continues, fascinated. "I heard you."