Assassin, until the first moment (🇬🇧)

Tears of darkness

The pain in Magnus' head was all-consuming. It was a relentless pounding, gnawing at him like a parasite - eating him up from the inside. Magnus tried eluding the pain, but whenever he thought he might be edging his way towards the surface of consciousness, the pain became even worse, pulling him back under.

More than once he'd thought he heard a desperate moan fall from his own lips. But the worst thing about this whole situation was the devouring darkness that surrounded him. No matter what he tried, he couldn't escape it. It tugged at him relentlessly, pulling him further down, like a riptide, he was drowning...

Darkness remained his solace; even though it enveloped him mercilessly, at least in such moments he could escape the pain, and it felt like a strange kind of redemption.

Magnus didn't know how long he had been in this state wandering between worlds - and he almost believed that it would never end. Every now and then he heeded a glimmer of light in the distance, and as he tried to get nearer, it moved away from him.

He ran towards the light, stretched his hands out to it, but no matter how hard Magnus tried, it remained out of his reach. Finally, he gave up the endless chase, barely noticing when it flared up again in the distance - as if trying to lure him.

Magnus drifted through the weightlessness of the darkness that was now his new refuge. Would he ever see the light of day again? Would he ever see Alexander's breathtaking smile? Would he ever look into those beautiful hazel eyes again? Magnus couldn't determine if he had already died and just hadn't noticed? Was this hell? A realm where he would need to atone for all his sins, forever? He wasn't certain...

In addition to the all-encompassing blackness and the moments in which he thought he was about to break through the cloak of darkness, there were also moments in which an endless flood of images and memories protruded his mind. Magnus found these moments almost more painful than the deep inky black of the darkness surrounding him. They reminded him of the losses from his past and what he could no longer have. But there was nothing he could do but to observe them. It felt like an endless dance in which he had no choice but to take part. He was jumping back and forth between images without the ability to control what happened next...

The first images were memories of his mother sitting next to his bed and reading to him again and again - from his favourite book. The memory was so real that it felt like he was reliving it once again. Feeling like he was a little boy again, he hung on to his mother's every word in amazement, absorbing each syllable like a greedy little sponge.

"Just one more page, mom."

"It's bedtime now, little star."

Magnus looked at his mother with pleading eyes and his lower lip trembled a little.

"But mom, I want to know if Bastian can save the Childlike Empress."

"Magnus ..." His mother sighed hard.

"Pretty please."

"Very well. But only this one chapter.

***

"Mom?" Magnus ran down the hallways of the huge mansion as fast as his little bare feet could carry him. "Mom where are you?"

No Answer. Disappointment pounded through his body. His mother had promised to watch the rain of falling stars with him tonight and it was already dark outside. They had to hurry up if they didn't want to miss the rare spectacle.

Magnus ran up to the first floor and made his way to his parents' bedroom. His father was on a mission tonight and would probably not be back until the early hours in the morning.