[open] find what you love and let it kill you; gates, any

[magnus]

— find what you love and let it kill you —

What had become of them?

What would happen next?

Fear was thick around him, and he struggled against the chains of it, looking helplessly on at the sight of those around him coming to grips with the shift in the land. Kingdoms gone. Powers bled from them. He had no such gifts; he had left the kingdom in what he had deemed not only unfit but dangerous hands. So, in essence, he had nothing to lose in this shift. So why did he feel as if he had lost it all?

The loss of the Gates was a heavy blow to his heart, and he found that he struggled around it. So many memories had been created there. Standing under the trees with Joelle, the shadows dappling their back. The sleepy mornings with their children frolicking around them. Even the darker memories, but his own nonetheless. The fights with Spyglass. The moment he had thrown his crown at Joelle’s feet and left. The more recent storms to strike the kingdom when his rage had come to a head and he had struck out at Zeik.

The loss of the jungle was somehow worse. Somewhere, beneath the soil, was the bones of his mother. Lost in a flood that had struck the kingdom years and years ago. She had rested there at one point with his father, their skeletons tied together—that is, until, the kingdom had called him back. (She always called him back.) The thought struck him that without the Chamber, and his heart beating steadily beneath the soil, that his father may have gone back to the depths of the ocean. He had no way of knowing either way.

Moving from beneath the shade, Magnus began to make his way around the meadow—one of the only places that felt familiar anymore. There had to be Gates residents around here somewhere, or anyone who was feeling lost. If he could help bring them comfort or help look after them when the reality around them was still shaking with change, then he felt obligated to do so. Perhaps he could even find a corner of the meadow to gather and keep them safe. It wasn’t much, but it would be a start for them.

Purpose struck his heart and he lifted his head, the wind picking up the inky tangles of his forelock and pushing them to the side. Perhaps there was something that he could do here.

Perhaps there was a way for him to right all of the wrongs he had done in the past.

magnus