[ A clunky one-shot to document the dissapearance of Rian Cyrilson ]

SSomething felt wrong.

The evening hair held an uncharacteristically harsh chill as Magda returned to the chieftain’s hut with her guard in tow. The door of the hut was ajar, which wouldn’t have been altogether unusual except for… the feeling. As an animal detects a coming storm, Magda felt the impending doom trembling in her bones.

Yes, something was wrong.

Magda motioned for her guard to stay outside. She stepped through the entryway, her heart racing as she saw their home had been upended, turned over as if someone had sought to steal and ransack what she and Rian had built together.

“Rian?”

The fire had not been kept. Magda walked in the dark through the disarray with caution. Furniture lay overturned, shards of broken glass glittered on the floor like a predator’s teeth. Once again, Magda called out, her voice trembling:

“Rian? Are you—”

Magda felt hands upon her. She felt someone snatch her up, a hand covering her mouth as she struggled. It took her a moment to recognize those hands, the hands that had caressed her ever so softly, that she’d come to seek solace from. She could feel his heart beating as furiously as hers.

“Don’t make a sound.”

Magda would not. She’d nod, tears starting to fall unbidden down her cheeks as she was released and turned to face her husband. Rian gazed down at her with madness in his eyes. Madness and fury, both twisted together into brambles to cover the soul of the man she knew and had come to love.

“You.” Rian put his hands on her as if he intended to seduce her. They roved over her body with longing as he buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent. Magda relented to him, tears still falling as she tried to make sense of the scene before her.

“You…” Magda, true to her word, made no sound. She trembled as Rian’s fingers ran down the metal of her spine and her body prickled with pain. Then, his hands reaching her hips, Rian abruptly halted and whispered in her ear.

“He warned me. I didn’t listen.” Now, her tongue freed, Magda let a curse fly from her lips. Before she could see the curse to completion, his hands were upon her. Magda fought, but he contained her, now crying too as he shook his head.

“They saw you—saw you with Kaalim. With the Neverean. They saw you, and I—” Rian’s hands were tightening on her, enough to make her cry out against his hand. It was then that he released her. Magda then completed her curse. The dark being, the woman that had haunted her dreams surfaced as Rian fell to the floor, spitting and swearing and entirely paralyzed.

They’re all the same, the dark being assured her, All the same…

Magda walked up to Rian, reminded of a memory, where it had been her father writhing on the ground and she standing above him. Only now it was Rian, the man that she’d loved, the man who the power in her veins urged her to destroy.

“All I ever did…” Rian spat in anger as he lay stunned on the ground, “Was love you. Need you.” Tears ran down Magda’s face, even as she smiled down at him.

“Then consider this my last mercy…” Magda’s voice broke as she stooped down and leaned into kiss him. The gem on her finger turned back, the tears coming faster now.

“Run, Rian Cyrilson,” Magda cried, “Run to where I’ll never find you.” For her love was posion. She knew it now—Rian was her weakness. And now, weakness was one thing she couldn’t afford.

It wasn’t before long the curse lifted. And with the power of the ring, Rian ran. To life, or to death, he ran. And Magda was left alone, the dark being wrapping her in its arms.

The official narrative would be that Rian had been driven mad by his brother's misdeeds, and that madness had driven him far from Coheed. Potentially into the sea, from which he would never return.

[ END THREAD ]