His smile was charming as he considered her, his gold-flecked eyes warm. “I am glad you are comfortable introducing yourself now,” he said with a crooked smile, the wind pushing his back forelock away from his eyes. “The world is brighter for it.” His voice was genuine as he considered her, and it was easy to see that he actually believed it. Not because she was physically beautiful, although it would be impossible to deny that, but rather because of that internal light that flickered so softly.
All Magnus wanted to do in this moment was to see her smile.
He watches, amused, as her scales fall off and her body ripples into a more recognizable form, and he nods his head. “That is quite an interesting ability.” He could only imagine the prowess you could have on the battlefield if you could command your body on whim. He himself had never had such magic. He had bore wings for a short time, but they had been an awkward weight; he had been happy to see them gone. Now, immortality sizzled in his veins, but it was a quiet magic—one that was easy to miss.
But this? This was something altogether new.
“Epithet, the pleasure is all mine.” He laughed lightly, the sound smoke and fog. “I do hope that whatever you have heard about me has been good.” A wink. “Just know that half of it is probably not true.” At her request, he turned his gaze out toward the land unfolding around them, studying the horses that milled around it, the air warm despite the winter setting in. “I would be happy to tell you anything you would like to know,” he offered, glancing back at her. “Tephra is a wild, wide, wonderful place.”
out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll
![[Image: gqYjsHr.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/KjqNDKxc/gqYjsHr.png)