Lyon could hear the peacekeepers outside his home, and he knew that his time was coming to an end. He looked around the room for something, anything that could help him. The place was pristine - the thick carpets white without a spot of dirt, the wooden furniture gleaming as if freshly waxed, not a cobweb or mote of dust in sight. He’d been very happy about his cleaning spell, until it had also “cleaned” his mana crystals into nothingness. Now he was woefully unprepared for his current predicament, and could hear the armour-covered mages outside setting up wards and barriers to trap him in here. He had to act fast.
He risked a peek outside through a gap in his curtains, and saw that his fears were true. It was always good to check. Sometimes his paranoia meant that he thought every bump in the night were corporate agents or peacekeepers breaking into his home, and a part of him was somewhat relieved that it was real this time. He could see a crowd of people trying to get a look, being held back by some sturdy-looking golems. The Peacekeepers looked more like knights than mages, their interlocking plate armour covering every inch of their body. A faint blue light bled out from between the gaps in their armour, hinting at the absurd amount of runework lining the inside. The Well really hadn’t held back this time.
Lyon wondered what had given him away. He hadn’t hurt anyone, kept his spellcraft to his own personal projects. He rarely even left his house these days, and had all of his groceries delivered to his door. Lyon had never been good with other people. The outside world didn’t agree with him. Now the outside world was coming to him, violating his solitude. Could it be what he’d bought? That much meat could be explained by a number of things. Maybe he was having a barbeque. That wasn’t a crime!
He dashed from the window towards the basement stairs, his slippered feet thudding on every step. It was cold down here, and his silk dressing gown did little to protect against the chill as he descended. The basement was dark and bare, and in the gloom he could just barely make out the silhouette of a person.
“My love, is everything okay? I can hear people outside.” A soft, feminine voice sung out from the darkness. It was Lyon’s favourite sound, and based on a singer he had once heard in Valanc.
“Teya, things are getting a bit hectic out there. I’m going to need your help.” Lyon flicked out some lights, illuminating the shadowed form. She was beautiful, and even now took Lyon’s breath away. Her long, wavy hair was the colour of spun gold, and her eyes sparked like starlight and sapphires. She wore her usual sheer dress, conjured specifically to compliment the shapely form he had spent hours planning out. Each part of her was formed from past loves, unfulfilled crushes, famous celebrities, or just people Lyon had noticed while walking down the street. She was perfect, in every way, and Lyon’s greatest work.
“My love, I would do anything for you.” Teya purred, her voice for a moment taking that uncanny, ever so slightly off note that Lyon had never figured out how to fix. Something for a future version.
“Wonderful, come with me.” Lyon said, grabbing her by the arm and running back upstairs. She giggled as if they were playing a game. He’d never had much experience actually talking to women, so a lot of guesses were made in figuring out how to make her act. She was pretty normal as far as he could tell. Maybe he should have had her go out more, to make him seem more well-adjusted. Surely nobody would accuse a happily married man living in the suburbs of being a Wild Mage? Too late for that now. He’d have to start fresh, leave Damner, maybe. He needed to get out of this situation first.
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Lyon weighed up his options. Teleporting was out, as by now Horizon portal traps were surely set up and running. The cost of overcoming that was too risky. He could fight his way out, but he’d never really fought anyone before, preferring to avoid conflict wherever possible. That left very few options.
His planning was interrupted by a heavy thud coming from the front door. There was a humming sound that rose in pitch higher and higher before being punctuated by another slam at the front door. Small chips of wood started to splinter off near the doorframe, he was out of time.
With more than a moment’s hesitation, he focused on Taya’s forearm clenched tightly in his white-knuckled grip. She couldn’t feel pain, and instead smiled sweetly at him as she always did. So much work. With an exertion of will, he began siphoning the mana that constituted her form into one condensed point in his hand. The blood in her body crystalised in his palm, creating a ruby of highly condensed mana that hummed with power. As her form sagged and crumpled like wet cardboard, she maintained her peaceful smile right until she collapsed into a pile of leathery clumps on to the plush white carpet.
Lyon would have time to figure out that problem later. For now, whoever was trying to break down his door was almost in. He clenched the crystalised blood in his hand and focused on the working of his spell. He needed to wipe the memories of all the peacekeepers in the vicinity, and probably all of the crowd too. He’d also need to just wipe it enough so that they didn’t suspect what had happened, and ideally pack up and go home. If he had any spare mana left after that he’d dismantle the wards and the portal trap too, which shouldn’t be an issue. Taya had been quite an investment, and the mana he’d put into her should be more than enough for what he intended.
The door finally gave in, as a large marble statue smashed through base-first and embedded itself in the opposite wall. A gauntleted hand reached through the gap to unlock the door, and Lyon began the spell. He could feel it reaching out to the consciousness of the dozens of people around his house, each entity a faintly glowing star in his mind’s eye. He pictured reaching out to pluck them, mold them, trusting the spell to sort out the fine print of the workings. There were far more people out there than he thought there was, and without the spell altering much physical matter the cost was already very high. The glowing ruby in Lyon’s hand sparked and fizzed as it dissolved into the working. He had to adjust it on the fly to stop it wasting mana on the birds and insects in the area too. But it was working. He pictured the thoughts being plucked from each star as glittering motes that faded away into nothingness, and opening his eyes he saw the hand reaching through the gap in the door was now holding on to the edge of the hole for support.
One mind was proving difficult. It blazed with a golden light, and seemed to grow brighter, rather than dimmer, as Lyon channeled the mana towards it. Something was wrong.
Lyon had heard of mages that specialised in mind magic - memory wipers at Brimstone, corporate spies, idea thieves for Well of Wonders, even some counsellors that dealt with mental trauma with gentle application of thought alteration, but why would the peacekeepers bring someone like that for him?
The hand at the door retreated, and the door swung open. A peacekeeper walked in, and Lyon knew this was the one resisting him. Cutting his losses, he redirected the full force of the spell at the intruder, and gasped as it suddenly began to drain more and more of his mana away. His head was pounding, and he began to lose control of the spell. It began filling in more and more gaps in his perception to sustain itself, and he began to see his opponent as not a man but a gargantuan steel monster, come to kill him, to obliterate him.
As Lyon’s mind began to fracture and the gem in his hand shattered into dust, he could only discern one remaining piece of reality that cut through his delusions. This was no mind mage, it was someone like him. A Wild Mage, and one that far outclassed him. Lyon’s reality was almost completely broken now, the house and the twisted monster of steel spiralling around one central point - the only thing yet to be warped by his madness.
A pair of iridescent, golden eyes.