Magnus Bane

Magnus was no longer the same person he had been. With each passing day, his magic grew colder, harsher, and with each breath, his soul was consumed by the darkness. The magic he had once wielded with grace and sophistication was now his tool of vengeance, power, and destruction. The dark side had consumed him, and he was no longer the light magister who had once been able to offer a helping hand, but a cruel, merciless creature who knew only pain and control. There was no longer any room for pity, compassion, or love in his behavior. He had become a tool of his magic, and his gaze on his daughter, the only thing that could still bind him to the world, had become cold, lifeless. He looked at her as if she were a tool that he had created to use. Her every step, her every movement was the subject of his analysis, and he was ready to break her if only it would bring him benefit. He was ready to control her with every gesture, every glance, knowing that her weaknesses were his strength.

He trained with her not so that she would be independent, but so that she would depend on him. He took her magic, her strength, and turned it into a means of control. Each lesson became not just a moment of learning for her, but a test. He taught her to fight, but not so that she would be strong. No, he wanted her to be dependent on his power. He taught her magic, but every spell she mastered strengthened her bond with him even more. Every moment when she went beyond what he taught her became a threat to him.

When she tried to argue, tried to break free from his clutches, he immediately made her feel his power. He did not spare her. He thwarted her attempts at resistance, showing who was the boss here. And if she stood against him, he broke her, cruelly and mercilessly, until she realized her dependence on him. Her every step, every decision was under his control, and he enjoyed it.

She was just a part of his world for him, a part that had no right to freedom. He locked her in a golden cage, in which she could only exist for his pleasure and under his cruel control. He did not see her as a daughter anymore, he saw her only as an instrument, a means to strengthen his power.

And if she ever asked him for help, he held her back, making her feel that her needs and desires did not matter. He coldly answered her that all she had to do was become better, stronger. But his words were not support - they were a command, an order. He forced her to fulfill his demands, forced her to remain silent when she dared to disobey, forced her to be who he wanted her to be.

With each passing day, his cruelty became more obvious. He wasn't just controlling her, he was destroying her from the inside. She had become his weakness, and the moment he felt her pain, he didn't feel regret, only pleasure from showing once again who was in charge here.

She might have still been able to hope for the return of her former father, but in reality, Magnus had long since disappeared. The one she cared about, the one who could protect her, had given way to the one who was now only using her for his own purposes. He was ready to break her, ready to make her his slave, if it meant that she would stay with him. He had distanced himself so much from her that he couldn't see her suffering. And even if she had turned to him with a request for help, he would have gritted his teeth and continued to use her, not showing that his inner world was capable of feelings at all.

He was ready to go down this path because he had lost everything that once made him human. Having lost Alik, having lost himself, he had become someone who could hurt anyone who dared to stand in his way. Even if it was his own child. And if she didn't understand this, if she didn't see how his heart turned to stone, then it was only her delusion.