The Legend

‘So no, not really awful. Though, if I were to have it right now, I wouldn’t mind much.’ He grinned. ‘I would love to be able to fly again, even if I was never much good in it.’ 

‘Oh, what is that look? Knights crashing the party, doesn’t mean you have to go each time right? Or did you get some kind of promotion, Dras liking you so much he wants you to follow every bit of action?’ he grinned. 

The mention of Liv crushed him. The casual way he said it, hiding the grief of her dead. It has been many years ago, and despite having lost most of the feelings he had for his former life, he recalled Liv very fondly, and the sadness for her dead could not be burned from his soul, even by the Gods. 

‘Oh man, she loved those. But… in the end, did the hero survive? You know the Hero always survives, it would be a bad story if they didn’t.’ He had tried reading one of those novels once, but he had way too little attention to read those kind of books.

He was beginning to ramble, he knew, but even so it was difficult to stop. In itself magic moving on to someone else wasn’t a half-bad concept, actually; though Marius didn’t even want to begin to guess at what it might mean for the Dark Souls. For Michael, though, it must be awful – clearly the magic-cycle thing hadn’t taken Shini into account. “For what it’s worth, Michael, I’m sorry.”

“If it’s a promotion I must’ve missed it entirely,” he laughed,”I think it’s just my charming personality that gets me sent everywhere, really. For moral support and all that. I can be real, ah, supportive if I put my mind to it, wouldn’t you know.” 

He smirked at the memory of piles of books slowly but surely covering every free space in Liv’s quarters. Said, “I wouldn’t know, honestly – they weren’t my kind of books, truth be told. Gods only know what Liv saw in them, but you know she wasn’t one for sad stories.” Marius made sure to smile extra brightly and hopefully real reassuringly when he noticed Michael’s reaction to the mention of his daughter – he should have expected it, really. Michael had always been close to Liv, and where Marius had had twenty-some years to get to terms with her death, Michael’d never gotten that. 

He looked back at Marius. He had never been much of a intellectual, that was Tarac’s job, he just accepted everything for what it was. His intelligence was always outmatched by his stubbornness. But this subject somehow kept his curiosity in check for once. ‘Has Varamadras ever told you his ideas on Magical balance, or lets say Imbalance. When he taught me about my Magic, back in the day, he always repeated that the Gods gave us Magic, they picked who they wanted to represent them. Which is why I’m guessing some Magicians have similar personalities. He believed that through killing the Gods of Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire Magic he disrupted the balance of the amount of Magic in the Fifth Gate. Three Black Dragon Magicians and three White Dragon Magicians, they had to be kept in check as the most powerful Magicians in our world, but now there are few who are able to kill them.’ 

He looked pretty content for a moment. There was so much they didn’t know about Magic, he enjoyed being able to speculate. ‘Although, that Magic is returning, so maybe balance is returning though. Meaning, could be we loan it from the Gods. They are rising again, and so is the Magic they give out.’ 

‘Thanks, Marius,’ he said with a smile. ‘I think they just want a pretty face there in case they have to talk themselves out of something. I wouldn’t be surprised if they find you useful in fighting situations, you’re pretty grounded you know, despite being wavy and all.’

‘They weren’t mine either, to be honest. But man did Liv like to talk about them. They probably all ended well, at least the few that I heard. I can’t imagine reading those kind of stories every day, even if they’re not sad, the idea of heroes always winning is kind of depressing,’ he said, though he couldn’t explain why. ‘She was one of a kind though.’ He looked away, he thought in his first days as Shini that he left most of the feelings towards his old life behind, however, he could still feel grief.

He laughed. ‘Oh, how they would’ve feared me. After so many years of haunting their memories, I could do with a good scare of our friendly Knights. Aside from revenge though, I would not have my Magic with me to fight those bastards like I did back then,’ he said, looking dreamingly into the air. Somehow he could remember how he had loved being respected for his prowess in the field. 

‘Sure the Goodlands are moving some trade ships up and down the Masadur for you to hassle with? Unless of course those odd jobs are no longer to your liking?’ He sometimes felt bad for Marius, most Mancers knew about living on their own, without family. But Marius had been given one, and they had been taken away from him all over again. Living through something like that twice scared Michael, and he could only imagine what it had done to Marius. Even if it had been years back, the death of Marius’ daughter and her husband was still fresh in his memory. 

The concept shocked him more than he let on – magic was so deeply ingrained in all of them, practically from birth, that to suddenly be without it? Almost like losing a limb, but even more personal. Marius couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like. Had the gods done it on purpose, he wondered, or was that one of the side-effects of being a Shini? Curious, to say the least.

Letting his head hang – not terribly difficult given the situation–, Marius shot Michael the most ridiculously downtrodden look he could manage. “Trust me, Michael, I’d love to set sail again – yet it seems that just about every time I try to, the Knights dig up something new for us to deal with. I step on my ship, news comes that they’re up to something. It’s ridiculous. Did you know we had to race them for a magical artifact, not that long ago? In a desert temple,” Marius added, emphasizing the last words. “Gods beyond, it was like something straight out of those cheap novels Liv used to devour.” The ones featuring mysterious temples of doom had been her favorites too, he recalled with a fond smile.

‘So no, not really awful. Though, if I were to have it right now, I wouldn’t mind much.’ He grinned. ‘I would love to be able to fly again, even if I was never much good in it.’ 

‘Oh, what is that look? Knights crashing the party, doesn’t mean you have to go each time right? Or did you get some kind of promotion, Dras liking you so much he wants you to follow every bit of action?’ he grinned. 

The mention of Liv crushed him. The casual way he said it, hiding the grief of her dead. It has been many years ago, and despite having lost most of the feelings he had for his former life, he recalled Liv very fondly, and the sadness for her dead could not be burned from his soul, even by the Gods. 

‘Oh man, she loved those. But... in the end, did the hero survive? You know the Hero always survives, it would be a bad story if they didn’t.’ He had tried reading one of those novels once, but he had way too little attention to read those kind of books.

All jokes aside, it was good to hear that Michael was taking the whole coming-back-from-the-dead thing with at least a bit of humor. Death couldn’t be particularly good for your psyche, Marius figured, but then again if anyone could come out on top of an event like this it’d be Michael. “I suppose the Knights should count themselves lucky you ain’t out for revenge,” he added with a shrug and a pat on Michael’s shoulder.

He laughed. ‘Oh, how they would’ve feared me. After so many years of haunting their memories, I could do with a good scare of our friendly Knights. Aside from revenge though, I would not have my Magic with me to fight those bastards like I did back then,’ he said, looking dreamingly into the air. Somehow he could remember how he had loved being respected for his prowess in the field. 

‘Sure the Goodlands are moving some trade ships up and down the Masadur for you to hassle with? Unless of course those odd jobs are no longer to your liking?’ He sometimes felt bad for Marius, most Mancers knew about living on their own, without family. But Marius had been given one, and they had been taken away from him all over again. Living through something like that twice scared Michael, and he could only imagine what it had done to Marius. Even if it had been years back, the death of Marius’ daughter and her husband was still fresh in his memory. 

Then of course there were those who had been in his care, though he had trained and cared for: Denian, Borus, many more of his students. 

Also, fathers of former love interests. 

Michael recognized the silly voice of the person sneaking up on him right away. She had one that ringed clear like a doorbell, and warm as a tropical thunder storm. He turned almost abruptly, grabbed her shoulder and drew her in for a hug. He couldn’t help it, seeing her again was such a joy. He had always felt loved and loving about Misha. 

‘So, i did have some impact,’ he mused, trying to keep his distance too, though he had to admit: he was a bit giddy. Being alive again wasn’t all dead. Sure he had no idea what he was supposed to do, and anyone who had known Michael if only for a bit, knew he hated not having a goal to strive for. 

‘Fiance? Excuse you, what is this fiancé business? Who is it? Don’t tell me it’s Se’ref? I knew you had a thing for younger men,’ he grinned. ‘You asked him, right?’ 

Word of the Shini had spread rapidly, and rumours specifically of who they were—but Misha was still taken by surprise when she caught sight of Michael in the hallway of the HagaFosiel keep. She couldn’t stop her heart from missing a beat, to see the dead was a bizarre and unsettling thing, but steadied herself and came up quietly behind the man. He looked so solid, but she wasn’t sure if she should touch him, despite the impulse she had to embrace her friend, unexpectedly returned to them after too long. It was painful to think this was still only temporary.

Michael recognized the silly voice of the person sneaking up on him right away. She had one that ringed clear like a doorbell, and warm as a tropical thunder storm. He turned almost abruptly, grabbed her shoulder and drew her in for a hug. He couldn’t help it, seeing her again was such a joy. He had always felt loved and loving about Misha. 

There’d never been any real reason for Marius to give too much thoughts to the gods aside from those occasions where he’d needed to curse them for something or other. With the Shini around, now, he’d had more reason than ever to question just exactly what sort of game the gods were playing. He’d been actively avoiding the Shini so far, not quite sure what to do or say should he actually run into them and so choosing to just forego that awkwardness altogether. Marius also knew that if he didn’t go and seek out Michael he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself, though– no one knew how long the Shini would be around, after all. Look at it that way, and there suddenly really wasn’t any room for choice at all.

Then of course there were those who had been in his care, though he had trained and cared for: Denian, Borus, many more of his students. 

Also, fathers of former love interests.