melancholiania

✵ When his homeland was ravaged and his parents were murdered in cold blood by bandits and thieves, Magnifico, having just barely come into his own as a man, in his grief, swore he would never cause harm like this to befall any home he would find ever again. He would run, and run, with only a tattered tapestry being the last reminder of the birthplace he knew would never exist again.

✵ His gift of sorcery was, despite his innate talent, not an easy one contrary to popular belief. Years of blood, sweat and tears were spent pouring over tomes and scrolls filled with the whispers of strength and potential. He would travel all across the Iberian peninsula, seeking out and absorbing knowledge to protect himself. He travelled often, collecting books and tomes to keep for himself (especially one rather large book unexpectedly given by an odd stranger that he never dared to open), and never settling down in fear of danger befalling him and anyone he would meet.

✵ That is, until he met you.

✵ He'd never have known today was going to be any special. The sky is clear, a light breeze flowing through the ports, with grand sailboats almost flying across the Strait of Gibraltar. Magnifico reads his notebook of spells by a small cathedral, the only place he had been able to beg for sanctuary. As he angrily scratches out the wrong glyphs with his stylus, a leaf, its hues of midnight blue and green rich and fresh, casually falls onto his notebook. Irritated, he looks up.

(In his older years, he would realise it was a mere coincidence that a simple leaf, serendipity, let him discover you.)

✵ You are a vision as you pick oranges from trees by the cliff overlooking the docks, hands skilled and adept. Despite your simple garb denoting your lack of status, you are stunning. Magnifico swears he can almost hear your sighs of exertion as you drop a hefty basket of said oranges. His hardened heart sinks, but it is not a bad feeling, not at all.

✵ His...infatuation feels like he's drowning in marzipan, a sweet, beautiful sight for him to consume and devour, gorge on until he cannot eat anymore. It feels like drinking rosewater, or even like the feel of lavender oil, a soothing balm in his soul he cannot bear to let go of. He shakes his thoughts, palms suddenly sweaty and ruining the ink of his spellbook as he decides, for the very first time since the massacre, to bear his heart to someone.

You.

✵ And it all started with a simple "Are you alright?!" As he haphazardly shoved his book into his rucksack and rushed to help you on that fateful day.

✵ Years pass after your fateful meeting and eventual marriage. Building the kingdom of Rosas with you as his beloved partner is a dream that Magnifico has nearly completed in full earnest. The people adore him and you...you are loved too, yes, but you prefer to be more in the background, wanting to support your husband, yet your reserved nature not being the best suited for public speaking.

(A small, tiny, itsy bitsy little part of Magnifico, tucked away beneath his glossy veneer of a royal persona, secretly prefers it this way.)

✵ By now, the wish-granting is in full effect. Every new resident of Rosas is told of the miracles their king provides (often with great enthusiasm by its citizens.) You willingly petition to give up your wish to the king during court, in exchange for your utopian life in Rosas, and King Magnifico will grant it in front of the entire kingdom, a spectacle of light and wonder.

✵ To be truthful, Magnifico loves the power to help his people. It feels euphoric, granting their wishes as his power flows from his very essence to aid the world. The way the people's faces light up when he gives them their heart's...no, their soul's desire, it strokes his ego in a way little else can do. The hypnotic allure of power flouncing through his fingertips is a tempting feeling for reasons he cannot describe with common words.

✵ But, unbeknownst to the general population, he saves his most powerful magic for you, his darling, his star that fell from the heavens, the one he loves with every fibre of his mortal flesh. You are that little else who matters more than actually granting people's wishes. Your wishes are more important to Magnifico. And that is especially true today...

.

.

.

The sun is rising as you peer over your documents in your personal study, with trade agreements and decrees that make your head spin. Magnifico has little interest in these matters, so as the second half of the royal couple and the ruler who actually bothers to worry about these matters, you have to take on the bureaucratic duty.

The golden hour casts streaks of sunlight all over your spacious chamber, and the ceiling sparkles with accented gold paintings of constellations replicating the night sky above Rosas (Magnifico had instantly conjured them there when you lamented over the plain white stucco on top). You hear your door open.

“My love?”

You crane your neck and smile as the white-cloaked figure of Magnifico saunters in with a restlessness that belies his stormy blue eyes. He seems rather nervous, hands already twitching with sparks of sorcery that make you eye him fondly. He always acted much younger than his slowly graying dark hair would have one believe.

“¿Mi rey?” You soften your gaze. "What's wrong?"

Magnifico sits on the armrest of your chair, leaning in to inhale the scent of the nape of your neck as he sighs in relief. He seems rather apologetic suddenly, arms hugging himself as he eyes you with those same blue eyes, lightening just a bit so they seem like circles of roiling seawater and not storm clouds crying in anger.

“It’s your birthday today, my love.”

You raise your eyebrows, relieved that it is nothing more than a trivial matter. "Oh, who cares about that nonsense? You know I never truly celebrate my birthday publicly, Magnifico. Just you and I—"

“My...Our people have not made celebrations in your honour.” You tilt your head at his rather matter-of-fact statement, your brows furrowing in concern as you realise Magnifico has become rather upset.

“Magnifico, I—“

“Rosas should be celebrating YOU LIKE I DO! I would create miracles for you, destroy mountains, reshape forests for you, my love. The least my people can do is to acknowledge that you even exist as my spouse and consort!”

You sigh and ruffle his hair, soothing his heaving breaths as you gently wipe his glimmering eyes. “No, Magnifico...all I need is you, mi rey. You, the man I love, with me by my side.” Magnifico leans into your touch, chest slowing as he calms down.

"I just wish the world saw how much I adore you, my light," Magnifico mutters as he pulls off you and gets off the armrest. He turns around in a flourish of his shimmery cape to face you, left hand outstretched as his magic conjures a small figurine of your visage, made of glittering, mirror-like crystal. You chuckle. "You are such a hopeless romantic, mi rey." "Only for you, my love." He then leans in to kiss your forehead, eyes half-lidded as he watches you with adoring eyes.

"Only you."

✵ Rosas is no exception to the rule of time, so years pass as is the natural order of things. The kingdom has only grown in scale and vibrancy, people slowly but surely filling the kingdom with every day that passes. You and Magnifico settle into your roles as King and consort, Magnifico's magic allowing you both to last longer than your people could ever imagine.

✵ And, well...Magnifico begins to grow resentful. ✵ Wish-granting is becoming more of a chore than a true display of his powers for the common people to admire and sing their praises for. Week by week, day by day, he must grant wishes to the people who seem utterly ungrateful, only waiting for their turn at a chance for power, opportunity, or some other useless wish that Magnifico, for lack of a better term, could not give a rat's ass about. And they have begun to take his sorcery for granted.

.

.

. "¡Joder!" You startle as Magnifico sends his tubes of potions flying, clattering, shattering onto the polished marble floor with a CRASH!, the purple liquid seeping out onto the tile. Your husband is not like himself tonight, all anger and no lighthearted smugness, no kindness at all. He heaves, arms crackling with pale blue energy, fingertips craning as if they were claws. You had come here to bring him to bed, the moon having risen long ago and the lights of Rosas dimmed for the night. He had recently become more irritable and gruff, but you had been assuaged with honeyed words from him assuring you it was alright and he was just having an off-season. When you had opened the mirrored door to his private laboratory with a wave of your hand (only he trusted you with the gestures), you had not imagined it would be this dire. "¿Mi rey? Please...come to bed. You seem unwell, and experimenting all night is not good for your health, even if you want—" "NO!" He angrily circles the laboratory, furious as he crunches the glass of the broken test tubes beneath the sole of his boots. His pupils are contracted, and his breaths are constricted, as if he needs to explode lest he causes something truly harmful. "My people....they take and take and they take, with no thanks or gratitude for me! I take care of them, I clothe and house them out of the kindness of my own heart, and all they want is their wishes!??" He sends a bronze cauldron flying with his magic, a burst of pale blue that makes the cauldron clatter next to your feet. you step back, and the squeak of your slippers alerts him, his head snapping at you. He is on you in an instant, arms wrapped around you like a vice as he gasps and snarls hefty breaths, chest rising up and down in rapid succession. He breathes your scent of orange and cinnamon, and his heartbeat slows to a simmer, and he quietly murmurs, voice tired. "I'm sorry...sorry, so sorry, my love. I just...I cannot keep giving and giving and seeing n-nothing given back to me from my people..." Magnifico's voice is chock full of exhaustion, a pain he cannot let you truly feel. "Our people are a demanding bunch, are they not?" Your attempt at a joke makes Magnifico huff with mirth, a rare occurrence these days. He pulls back and brings his hand to caress your cheek, and you lean into it. His magic, now much less volatile, manifests as small glittery specks around you both. "They are. they really are," your husband replies. He looks at the glitter surrounding you both and brings his other hand to reach out for them. You watch him do this and quirk a small smile. "You do not need to bow to our people's wills every single day. You are only one man." You push in for a kiss on his soft lips, and he clearly wasn't expecting it, his blush hot and red as you pull away, turbulent blue eyes brightening like clouds parting on a sunny day.

The soft linen of your night clothes swishes as you begin to exit his laboratory, and you turn your head to utter one last thing. "Tell me when you are struggling, please. I'll always be here for you, Magnifico." As you head off, Magnifico places his fingers on his lips, tracing the remains of your lips on his own, heart racing once more with a longing that threatens to consume him. He looks up to the high ceiling of his observatory, the dark austerity of the structure calling to him. Wait.

Yes. Oh, yes, he finally knows how to fix this. "Thank you, my love. Thank you, so very much."

And with a flourish of his cape, he puts on a manic grin as he levitates the broken glass with a flick of his hands. Time to put his plan into action.

✵ Another few decades have passed, and it is currently the present day. Rosas is a flourishing, robust kingdom, a place that most other countries would consider a utopia, all thanks to King Magnifico and his consort ( ). In the years leading to now, Magnifico has only grown in skill and power, thanks in part to his new form of wish granting that has eased his own suffering. ✵ Every month or so, Magnifico takes the people's wishes when they turn of age, the most important wish, the one that powers one's being. He takes care of them in his laboratory, and on the same night, he grants one person's wish, which of course, he does with his usual penchant for spectacle. ✵It's so much easier. No more begging, no more exhaustion, no more fear of handing power to the wrong person's hands. After all, only he trusts himself with this power he worked so hard to hone and maintain.

(What he fails to mention to his people is that their wishes are of no benefit to him, not anymore. He has lost any true care for them, for his new system is to only prevent them from trying anything. He only cares for the one closest to him now.) ✵He has you to thank, after all. His smart, gorgeous, talented, beautiful ray of light, who allowed him to even think of this new system, and who stayed after his outburst that should have scared you off. And he does thank you, by pampering you as much as he can. ✵ He conjures the finest clothes for you, pieces of cashmere and silks and taffetas. He makes (forces) the cooks to cook for your every whim and desire. On public tours of the kingdom, he makes a reminder for any citizen who even inconveniences you just once. ✵ And later on, if people forget the miscreants even exist...well, that is not his problem to care for.

✵ Magnifico needs a new royal apprentice, as the last one blew up part of his front-facing study. He could have easily fixed that with a wave of his hand (and he did, all while glaring daggers at his very terrified apprentice), but he fired the man nonetheless. Frankly, he felt good getting rid of him. He was completely useless at making even the simplest potions anyway. ✵ Sure enough, after a soul-sucking set of consultations, the last hopeful, Asha from the village of Hamlet, arrives. Magnifico sees you talk with the young girl as you two ascend the Sisyphean number of stairs leading to his study. His heart flickers with a sense of paranoia once he sees Asha; something about her bothers him. ✵ He's been recently having similar bouts of suspicions and delusions, all green-tinged scenarios of you leaving him and the kingdom he worked so hard for falling into chaos. The little vegetable seller by the sea during your royal tours could be an assassin to kill you. The little child who you greet by the palace could be a plant from a neighbouring kingdom set out to kill you. The royal kitchen could poison his beloved's meal and you would choke out and pass in his arms. ✵ Whispers cloud his mind, his ears fine-tuned to the haunting words they serenade for his ego. They tell him that this girl is someone who will destroy him and all he loves.

✵ Everywhere, he sees your death. And every time, he vows to prevent those ideas from ever reaching the light of day.

✵ But for now, as you introduce Asha to Magnifico at his doorstep, he quietly grits his teeth and forces his lips into a smile. Maybe this Asha girl will be helpful for him, and not spell the kingdom's downfall he has seen in his visions.

✵ A Star was ripped from the sky. ✵ A. Star. Was ripped. From the sky!!!! ✵ This is not good. Not good at all. Magnifico was specifically reminded of this in his visions. A star falling out of the sky, destroying the kingdom of Rosas and dragging you into the depths of darkness, leaving him forever alone. .

.

. Magnifico paces around his study, you sitting in the armchair by the fireplace, eyeing him with concern masking your wariness. A worried Magnifico is a reckless Magnifico, and as he throws a sacred tome to the fireplace, it raises alarm bells in your heart.

You immediately get up a second after when he reaches towards the locked Book of Spells, ignoring his buzzing blue sting-flies as they leap from the glass case as a defensive spell. His hands begin to be ravaged, but he ignores the pain and blood as he pulls the book out, ignoring the bottle of obsidian oil as he opens the pages. "Mi rey, forbidden magic is not the answer, you know this!" You yank his arm away from the Book, and Magnifico's eyes lock with yours, eyes narrowed in a desperate glare. For a moment, you swear they flash an unnatural green. "You should do well to not test me, ( )." You frown, upset. Magnifico does not threaten. He whines like a child at times, yes. He even yells if he's truly tested on a bad day, angry and petulant. All of that you have seen in your decades of marriage to your beloved. But to threaten you? You fear something has gone terribly wrong, even as you convince him to put the book away. As you both gaze over the kingdom from his personal balcony, his arm around your waist has never been tighter than it has been today, bloodied fingers gripping you as if you are a doll he cannot bear to let go of. He whispers in your ear.

"I'm sorry, my dear. I just...you are the only thing I want to keep safe anymore. Tell me that you understand. Please." He kisses your hand with an adoration that feels heavy and oppressive. He gazes into your eyes, and they are back to their crystal blue, reflecting the bright blue of Rosas' morning sky. "I am so lucky to have you," he whispers once more. You wonder if you feel the same.

✵ In hindsight, you should have convinced him more effectively. ✵ The minute you had seen the centre of his study already opened, stairs leading a downward spiral into the depths of darkness, you feared the worst. And you were right, much to your exponentially increasing terror. ✵ Your husband, still dressed in his white robes, is hunched over his worktable, inhaling audibly as he pulls out a staff of crystal, sleek and sharp, from the cauldron bubbling with the same unnatural green magic you swore you saw reflected in his eyes. ✵ You know you are outmatched once his laughs of excitement deepen and stagger into maniacal wheezes that fill the dark chamber, the green consuming the background as he turns to face you. ✵ "Daaaaarlinnnng..." ✵ So, the only thing you can do is try and reason with him.

.

.

. "So you side with her, then? That traitor?"

The way he speaks Asha's name with such disgust coating his words already adds to the mountain of warning signs your heart is screaming at you. But you press on. "No, Mi rey, I—" The sharp end of his staff lands only inches away from your neck. Magnifico tilts his head to the side in a mockery of innocence, and if this was a different, much less terrifying time, you'd admire the way his eyes filled with adoration and the way his white hair was slightly dishevelled, his smile wide like a hyena's. "You know, I've realised a few things." He saunters closer to you, staff back at his side like a knight with his sword. He hugs your waist, eyes gleaming green with adoration.

"No one matters to me. It has been this way for a long, long time. Not the kingdom, not my cavalry, not my staff or my alchemists. Not anymore." He gently places a hand on your chin, and you resist the urge to scream and push him away. "But I love you. And me, of course," He adds with a humorless chuckle and continues. "But all this time, I've loved you so much. I built this cursed kingdom for you, I studied sorcery to provide you the best life I could give with my heart and soul. Every bit of anger, every bit of sadness, every bit of happiness, I feel for you." You try and reach for a ceremonial dagger that is only inches away, hanging on the dungeon wall. You're so very close to it, but you miss Magnifico's eyes shift quickly to the left and notice. "So when I see you conspiring...with that STAIN on our happiness..." He grabs your hand, crushing it like a thumbscrew would, and you realise your hopes of escape are dashed. "...I get, well, a little upset." Magnifico grits his teeth, shards of crystal-like mirrors blasting up from the dungeon floor, and you finally scream as he grabs you close, the dungeon ripping into itself as you both rise up on a small platform made of black glass. Now back in the grand study, you can only watch helplessly as he slams you to the floor, staff pointed at your injured form. The mirrors only grow higher and higher, surrounding you both as he laughs the most sinister laugh you have ever heard from him, oily, layered like a crowd of Magnificos are laughing along with him, revelling in your fear. His eyes are acid green, and his smile is wistfully manic as he speaks his final words in a sing-songy tone.

"After all, if I can destroy myself for you and you don't even want me anymore...well, we can't have that, can we?" His perfect white smile is hellish.

"I'll keep you safe here where no one else can harm you...all to myself."