He scoured the library for anything he thought could be of even the slightest use. He decided to spend most of his time with the older tomes that Valeria had read so often before, thinking that whatever spell had befallen her, it must be old magic. He took note of everything he could find, hoping it would help him unravel the mystery. Any time he came across a particularly old or powerful spell he couldn’t decipher, he copied the entire thing into his notebook so he could study it further at home.
A few days into his search, he came across an old tome that looked like it had never been touched once since it had showed up at the library. The bindings were rather dull and the title – A Brief History of the Sages – was nothing all that interesting, but the author caught his eye. It was written by Sage Gallian. While there were many stories about Gallian, the last of the Great Sages, he’d never seen one written by him.
Eagerly, he looked inside, only to find the pages completely blank. “That’s odd,” he mumbled to the air around him. He rifled through the worn pages a few times but none of them had any words on them at all. Then he turned the book over on its back. There in dark letters were the words of the knowme spell emblazoned on it. Or, what he thought was the knowme spell. He’d never actually cast it himself – he had little reason to read the minds of others – and the words didn’t look quite right, anyway. Most likely it was an earlier version of the spell from a thousand years ago. The incantation should still work, though, and it might unlock the secrets of the ancient book.
He started to recite the ancient words but never got a chance to finish. At that moment, a couple armed guards walked into the library. Instinctively, Teryn knew the guards were coming for him. He’d skipped work and class several days in a row and hadn’t notified anyone. That was against the rules, and he wasn’t above punishment. Quickly, Teryn stashed the ancient tome beneath a chair in the corner where he hoped no one would stumble upon it and distanced himself from the spot in an attempt to draw attention away from it.
The guards approached him. “Teryn Auroch,” the big one said. That one had dark skin and stood at least a foot taller than the others.
Teryn winced at the sound of his last name. When the Guild had officially adopted him after his parents died, they’d given him a new last name. Legally, it was his, but he hated it. “Yes, that’s me,” he replied sullenly.
“Your presence has been requested by the Guild Leadership Council,” the tall guard said matter-of-factly.
Teryn sighed and lowered his head. “Lead the way.”
Teryn knew that trying to resist the guards would only make the situation worse for him, so he complied quickly and followed the guards without issue. They led him through a labyrinth of hallways to the Guild Council’s chamber. Teryn tried to focus on where he was going to distract himself from what was about to happen but could not – the pathway was too obscure, undoubtedly on purpose.
At last, they came to the Guild Council chamber and the guards ushered Teryn inside. He walked through the doors, secure in the knowledge that at least he was entering under his own power, even if he might not leave the same way. The inside of the chamber was surprisingly dark, and the darkness hid the faces of the Guild Leaders from view. Teryn supposed this was probably done on purpose. If no one knew for sure what the Guild Leaders looked like in person, they could mingle among the other wizards without the need for a disguise.
“Teryn Auroch,” one of the leaders called out from the darkness. His voice sounded cold and distant even though he was standing only a few feet away.
“Yes sir,” the young mage replied.
“You have been accused of missing your assignments for a full week, destruction of property of a second-year female student’s dorm room, and of making false missing persons reports for one . . . Valeria Faire, thereby wasting Guild resources in pursuit. What say you?”
Teryn looked down sheepishly. He couldn’t really deny the first two charges. “Sir, I’d like to deny the last charge, but I will take full responsibility for the first two.” Inwardly, he hoped his cooperation would lead to a lesser sentence.
“So you won’t back down from that foolhardy story of yours, then?” Another of the leaders said. The voice sounded familiar. The owner of the voice stepped forward into the light, revealing his face to be that of the Book Warden.
Teryn gasped in surprise. “Yes, I’m a member of the Guild leadership,” the Book Warden said. “Good disguise, don’t you think?”
Teryn had to admit that it was.
“Sir, please. You know me. You know I wouldn’t make up a story like this. Certainly, some part of you remembers Valeria? She came by the library with me every day for months!” His voice had a pleading tone in a vain hope that he could reach some part of the warden’s subconscious that hadn’t been affected.
“Enough of this foolishness!” the Book Warden admonished him. “I’d never even seen you until this past week when you took a sudden interest in the library and a bunch of old memory spells. Sounds pretty fishy to me.”
“You can’t mean that!” Teryn insisted, feeling frantic.
“Stop,” one of the other leaders demanded. “Teryn, it’s time to part with this fantasy,” she implored. This leader stepped forward as well to reveal that she was the clerk Teryn had confronted over a week ago.
“You!” Teryn said,
