“You don’t think we’d let someone as important and powerful as you go very far without some supervision, do you?” she asked.
Teryn had to admit that her words made sense.
“Look Teryn, I know things have been hard lately, but it’s time to leave your childhood fantasies behind. We all know there’s no wizard named Valeria here. She’s nothing but an imaginary friend you came up with to help you cope with your parents’ deaths.”
“No. No, that can’t be,” he insisted. “She was real, I swear it. She came here months ago. I’ve been with her the whole time.”
The clerk came forward and placed her hand gingerly on Teryn’s forearm. “No, Teryn. I know she feels real to you, but she’s not. It’s time to move on from the past. Please.” She gave him a look that begged him to give up the charade.
Teryn pushed the clerk’s hand off his arm with a forceful shove. “Stop saying that! She is real and she’s in trouble! I will find her, I swear it! Then you’ll see! You’ll all see!”
The clerk shook her head. “So that’s how it’s going to be, then?” she said, a tinge of sadness in her voice. She turned to another of the leaders, the one that hadn’t spoken yet, and bowed her head. “I tried. Do what you must.”
“What do you mean?” Teryn asked. There was fear in his eyes as he stared at the ominous form that the clerk had addressed. He was a tall, imposing figure, even with his face shrouded from view.
“Teryn Auroch, you are hereby sentenced to reconditioning treatments,” the shrouded figure said.
Teryn knew what that meant: they thought he’d gone insane. Reconditioning treatments were basically brainwashing. The targets would undergo a series of spells cast by specialized Knowledge wizards that were aimed at removing bad memories and replacing them with something more palatable.
Only they weren’t always that successful and sometimes the patients came out even worse. Even in cases where the treatments succeeded, the patients were never the same ever again. Teryn had known one such person once a few years ago. When he’d come back from reconditioning, he was but a broken a shell of his previous self.
Teryn shuddered in spite of his resolve. “Please, sir. Anything but that.”
“This is outside of your control now,” the leader insisted. “Besides, it’s for your own good. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
Normally, those words provided solace. But not this time. At that moment, Teryn did the only thing he could think of – he lunged at the shrouded figure. His hands reached for the leader’s neck but couldn’t find purchase. It was like they passed right through his physical form.
The leader moved out of Teryn’s path as quick as a wraith. As he did so, Teryn caught a glimpse of what he could have sworn was an old, tattered, crimson cloak. The image was there in his mind for a second and then gone just as fast. Still, it was enough to stop him in his tracks.
“Guards, take this fool away,” the leader said.
The guards came into the room and took hold of Teryn’s arms to restrain him. They started to march him out of the room when the leader stopped them.
“Wait,” the Guild Leader said. They complied. The tall man walked over to Teryn and put his lips as close as he could to the young wizard’s ears. “You’ll never find her,” he whispered. “She’s mine and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Teryn’s eyes widened in disbelief and anger. He wasn’t crazy. Valeria was in danger. And what’s more, the Guild Leader knew all about it. Rage built up inside him as the Guild Leader motioned for the guards to continue leading him away.
“I won’t let you get away with this!” Teryn yelled at him. “I’ll find a way to stop you!”
“No, you won’t,” the Guild Leader answered with a deep, maniacal laugh. “Poor fool.”
“Get off me!” Teryn yelled at the guards. He struggled against them, but they were far too powerful for him and easily subdued him. “I said get off me!” he yelled again. It was useless.
Teryn reached deep inside his very being to pull out every ounce of magic power he could muster. In his rage, he searched for some sort of spell or command he could cast that would get him out of his predicament. Something that would get everyone far away from him. Somewhere deep inside his soul he found the words of a long-forgotten tongue that lay dormant inside all humans. The words of an ancient banishment spell came to him and he channeled all of the magical force he could muster into a single command.
“GO AWAY!” he screamed.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden, his surroundings started to blur. He felt the arms restraining him let go and the voices of the people around him shriek out in fear before everything went quiet and his vision went dark.
* * * * * * * * *
Teryn woke up some time later. Whether it had been hours or days, he couldn’t be sure. He was in the same spot, but it was much darker than it had been earlier. No one from the Guild Council or the guards that had protected them were anywhere to be seen. In fact, the entire building appeared to be deserted.
He shot up from the ground, but a sharp pain in his head knocked him back down to the ground. He felt the back of his head and noticed a big lump where he’d hit the floor when he fell earlier.
That must be the source of the pain.
Wincing, he tried again. He pushed himself up with both hands, much more slowly this time, and took in his surroundings. The building around him was intact, but no signs of life could be found anywhere.
“That’s odd,” he said aloud to the air. The sound echoed through the empty room. He started walking and slowly made his
