find what you love and let it kill you; ALL

[magnus]

— find what you love and let it kill you —

Magnus did not fear much.

It was difficult to fear when you had felt your own skull crushed—when you had felt your life drip onto the sand and watched helplessly as your only love was washed out to sea. It was difficult to fear when you had sat in the center of wars as they raged around you, when you had been pulled to and from third world on the whim of the magical. So he did not flinch at the gray stallion’s words, did not move a muscle.

Instead, he held his gaze calmly, the only movement the shifting of his mane from the autumn breeze. As the others spoke, Magnus turned to each, dipping his head in acknowledgment. In truth, it was good to see them. Lucrezia, who had come on hope alone—fierce, sarcastic, strong. Spear and Spark, the two children he’d watched play amongst the magma, more grown, more mature then the last time that he had laid eyes on them. Malis, someone who had the wild trapped in her throat, darkness burning along her edges—his unknown niece a mirror to the same demons clawing at him. Offspring, the behemoth who Magnus had found companionship, camaraderie, understanding. Sahm, his friend in turmoil at the Gates and trusted advisor. And then, finally, Thanata, a fierce follower of Offspring and hopeful mainstay in the new land.

As they arrived, he felt his heart swell with appreciation and a savage protectiveness. He did not care for titles or the power that came with them; he knew better than most that to lead was to serve and there were few things as grueling as running a kingdom. Magnus, however, knew it was his responsibility to care for those who gathered around him. It was his job to protect them with whatever might he had.

Finally, he spoke, his whiskey-voice even, low, nearly a growl as it poured into the air between them.

“No, I don’t think that I shall.” his shoulder twitched, the only sign of the war drums that beat in his heart, the hunger that simmered in his belly. “Are such weak words effective for you often? Do you expect the people of this land to bow to your demands like saplings before a hurricane? To cower before you?” He took a small step forward. “The people of Tephra are stronger than you could ever imagine, and we do not take well to orders from strangers. Perhaps you can find some other group who is willing to bend the knee to a false god, another land who cannot see you for the opportunistic, blind, foolish coward that you are.”

Magnus snorted, shook his head and then laughed.

“I trust that you can see yourself out.”

magnus