there's still fire in the darkness; aysel

[magnus]

I wanna give you wild love, the kind that never slows down
I wanna take you high up let our hearts be the only sound

She does not take long to ask more questions, and he is glad to appease her. He settles into a more comfortable position, a back leg casually cocked, his short, sun-bleached tail casually flicking at his sides. For a moment he is quiet as he looks from her to Tephra, worry beginning to churn in his gut but such concern not reaching his eyes. “It is a mixture of things.” A muscle jumps in his jaw as he considers it.

“When the Reckoning happened, and the lands of old folded into Beqanna, we were left with nothing but fear and uncertainty. After several days of chaos, I made my way up the mountain alongside Offspring, the last King of the Tundra. We petitioned the faeries for a home to draw together members of several kingdoms and were granted the first land of the new Beqanna. We called her Tephra.”

He pauses, mulling over the history, spreading it out and mapping his way back.

“At first,  it was led by committee by Offspring, Malis of the Chamber, Eight of the Valley, and myself, formerly of the Gates.” It had burned him to ally with the Valley, a bitter pill to swallow to join with a kingdom for which he held such historic prejudice, but it had been what was right for everyone and he had eventually found it in him to overcome it. “Eventually, the three others stepped back.”

He had not minded that they wanted to lead their lives in quiet, in private.

He had simply wanted to do what was right for the land they founded.

“Tephra grew strong in number. We were a peaceful, neutral land with room for private citizens to simply live here and a central caste for those who wanted purpose. We were home of Kings and Queens of old, of warriors, of magicians. We did not want for security.” He frowns here, the scars within him aching as he peels them open, letting the fresh air wash over them. “Eventually, I stepped back. I…I struggle with time sometimes. When you have lived as long as I have, when you have spent years dead beneath the sea, it is difficult to hold onto time in the same concrete way that it feels for others. It becomes…fluid.”

It doesn’t strike him that he hasn’t told her about his death, his resurrection, and she he just continues. “When I returned, Kromium had just challenged for and taken the throne from a friend of mine, Warrick, who is sick and left to be with his family. Kromium is young and untested and I have seen him little since our initial interaction.” He swallows, bitterness on his tongue. “I hope he lives up to the task of it all.”

Finally, he grows quiet, the weight of his words, the reminder of it all pushing down on his spine. He turns his gaze back from the horizon to her, watching as she steps away. His voice grows huskier when he watches her. “Careful who you challenge to a mock.” She comes back to his side and he nips playfully at her neck as she presses kisses up his own. “I do not play nice.” His eyes spark at this, knowing that if she is anything like the Amazon that he knows her to be that she will not play kindly either.

I wanna go where the lights burn low and you're only mine