[open] Moon is High

[magnus]

you and I both know that the house is haunted
and you and I both know that the ghost is me

If he was being honest, Magnus would have to admit that he spent more time here than in his kingdom. In modern terms, he would be dubbed a workaholic, although the truth was that he wasn’t addicted to the process of the grind so much as he appreciated the way it occupied his mind. It was easy for him to forget the pain, the memories, the grief, the regret when he threw himself whole-heartedly into recruiting.

It was easy to lose himself like this.

So, it should come as no surprise that he has already found himself back here after returning to Heaven. He had been dismayed to find the kingdom so quiet—the bodies that had been filling her borders seemingly slipping away once more. (The fact that Minette was not there did not escape him; the knife was lodged deeply in the cavity of his chest.) That night, he had allowed himself to sleep, laying to rest beneath the boughs of the mother tree where magic no longer sprung eternal. Then, this morning, he had risen—determined to bring life back. He would never give up on the kingdom.

He would not let her go quietly into the night.

Without wings, the journey from Heaven to the field was much longer, but he didn’t mind the time reacquainting himself with the trial. He had taken the wings for the reason he did all things: to better serve his kingdom. They had not been a part of him though. He was quite content to live a life without the bells and whistles that so adorned the souls that inhabited Beqanna nowadays.

He was a simple man and he would have liked a simple life.

Shrugging the thought away, his gaze is caught by the play of light on flesh. Smiling in amusement, he alters his path toward the black stallion and the painted mare. “Nice trick,” he chuckles, nodding toward Astray. He nods toward him and then catches the gaze of the mare, holding onto her gaze for a second. “My name is Magnus.” He doesn’t expect anyone to know who he is, did not expect anyone to even when the name meant something. Relaxing in their presence, comfortable in the recruiting process, his lips quirk once more into a lopsided grin. “So what brings you two here today?”

MAGNUS

once general. once lord. once king.