Chapter 10: Banishment

    "So tell me, then, why are you here?"

    "I came here looking for the third item in this set," Deklos replied, pulling the two siguls he had from his pack, "A journal I have in my possession led me to believe that I might find it here, in the land of the vampires."

    The Elder plucked the two siguls from Deklos' outstretched hand.  After looking at the design on them for a few minutes he remarked, "Very interesting indeed.  Would you mind showing me that journal?"

    Deklos reluctantly complied.  The vampire flipped through the journal briefly, paying special attention to the section in the back, where the information about teleportation spells was written.  The host then sat back in his chair, and tilted his head up at the ceiling.  He remained motionless for several minutes before returning his gaze to the human.

    "I see... so you're looking for the book that Relos sealed away, are you?" the vampire remarked.  The look of shock on Deklos' face told him all that he needed to know.  
    
    The vampire continued, "Before I tell you anything related to this book, let me ask you one thing.  What is your name, young human?"

    This request confused Deklos, and he replied cautiously, "I am called Deklos the Archwizard.  Professor Deklos to my students."

    "Have you no surname?"

    A pained look shot across Deklos face, and he said, "No, I don't have a family name.  My parents were executed as traitors, and afterwards the Magi put me into a boarding school instead of a foster family.  I've merely been called 'Deklos' my entire life."

    "How... interesting.  Would you mind if I cast a scrying spell of sorts on you?" The Elder asked.

    This request only served to further Deklos' confusion, but he nodded in response anyway.  The vampire placed his right hand on Deklos' shoulder, and closed his eyes.  He seemed to be concentrating on casting a spell of some sort, but Deklos didn't see him chanting, waving his hands about, or using any other sort of caster's aide.  The human sat there and waited while the vampire scryed him, worried about the reason for such a procedure.  In time, the vampire opened his eyes again, and removed his hand.  A smile crept across the Elder's face.

    "You seem to be who I thought you were.  Welcome back, Deklos!"

    "Welcome back?" the human repeated incredulously, "I've never been here before in the first place!  I'm a human!  Why 'welcome back'?"

    "I have a story to tell you Deklos, about who you truly are.  Listen to me first, and then if you still wish I'll tell you about the emblems and the journal."

    "Very well," Deklos responded, "Let's here this story."

    Deklos leaned back in his chair, and listened closely as the Elder began to speak...

* * *
    "It all began about thirty years ago, when a human wizard named Tolah Magus arrived at our village.  He didn't even try to conceal himself, as all the others do when they come here to study us.  At first, we thought him a fool, but over time it became clear to us that this wizard did not merely desire information about us.  Rather, he truly wanted to understand us, perhaps for the reason of reconciling the humans and the vampires.

    When he first arrived, the Elders received him with suspicion, and questioned him for several days before deciding what to do with him.  During that time, the human stayed in a prison.  In the end, though, the Elders accepted his request, and allowed him to live among us under one condition:  he was to live with the Demi-Vampire clan and keep contact with the other clans to a minimum.  This would disrupt everyday life the least, or so they thought at the time.

    For the first few months, Tolah lived with the Elder of the Demi-Vampires and learned our ways.  During this time he also worked at finding a job he could fill as he lived among us.  He ended up deciding to work as a scribe, but then his host found out that the human specialized in magic theory and research.  The Elder asked him to teach magic theory to the Demi-Vampire wizards.  The reason for this is that we vampires are naturally skilled with combat magic, and over the years we've worked on applying magic to improve daily life.  However, we've never studied the basic mechanics of magic since casting is instinctive to us.

    When the human wizard had earned enough money, he moved out of the Elder's Mansion and bought a small  house in the Demi-Vampire compound.  By this time, he had observed us enough to know about our innate abilities: natural night vision and being able to become invisible to humans at will.  He took this knowledge and worked with one of our artificers to develop a special pair of casters gloves.  The right glove granted the wearer night vision when activated, and the left glove generated stealth spells similar to the innate stealth of a vampire.  With these gloves, Tolah was able to blend into the society of the Demi-Vampires.

    Over the next year, he tried to live as one of us.  He continued to teach magic theory, and in his spare time studied our history and our art.  During this time, the turning point of his stay with us occurred.  He married one of the Demi-Vampire women.  They were happy for the most part, and the other Demi-Vampires were for the most party happy about it, they thought that it might serve to bring the vampires and the humans closer together.  Then Tolah's wife became pregnant, and everything changed.

    The Circle of Elders saw this pregnancy as a threat to the Demi-Vampire clan.  They thought, rather irrationally I might add, that it might encourage the Demi-Vampires to intermarry with the humans, resulting in the clan becoming more human than vampire.  The debate lasted for a week straight, but eventually a compromise was made.  The human wizard and his wife would be allowed to stay in the Land of the Seven Clans, but on the condition that their presence did not cause problems in the way humans and vampires interacted.

    The wizard and his wife continued to live among us peacefully, and soon enough their son was born.  They named him Deklos Wraithcloak, after one of Tolah's ancestors.  The odd thing was that Wraithcloak was the maiden name of Tolah's wife.  We all called the child Deklos Magus at first, in accordance with clan traditions of a child belonging to his father's clan.  Strangely, Tolah kept asking us to not use that surname.  It took a while, but eventually he convinced nearly everyone to not refer to his son as Deklos Magus.  At the time, we thought it was because he wanted his son to be thought of as one of the Demi-Vampires, but we never did find out the reason why.

    Anyway, Tolah lived here peacefully with his wife and child for five years.  That's when the disturbances began.  You see, we train our children to use their Shadow Muscles at the age of five.  Tolah sent his son to be trained, but a week later Deklos was removed from the training class by his teacher.  This was done because Deklos didn't seem to be able to even sense the muscle after a week of training, let alone use it.  Word got around rather quickly that the human's son was more human than vampire, and another panic ensued.  This one, however, was among the general population rather than the Circle of Elders.

    The panic began to wind down after a few days, but the damage was done.  The Elders got word that the presence of Tolah's son had caused an uproar, so they decided to send Tolah and his family back to the humans' lands.  The Demi-Vampire Elder protested this loudly, but he was unable to affect the vote.  They voted six to one to send away Tolah's family, and the following week it was done.  Before they left, however, the Elder of the Demi-Vampires gave Tolah a journal that had belonged to a human wizard long ago.  It was supposed to be a gift to the humans to ease his homecoming.  After Tolah and his family left, we never heard from them again..."

* * *
    "And that is what happened," the Elder said, "I told you this because your name is Deklos, and you own Relos' Journal.  This alone is considerable evidence, but to be certain my suspicions were correct I scryed you to see if you had a shadow muscle.  The fact that you do, and that it is extremely weak, is sufficient evidence to show that you are probably one-quarter vampire, and that you are most likely the son of Tolah."

    Deklos sat where he was, eerily silent for about five minutes before speaking.

    "That makes sense...the fact that my parents were killed for conspiring with the vampires against the humans lends at least some credibility to your story, but how do I know I can trust you?"

    The Elder sighed, and slowly rose from his seat.  Deklos watched with curiosity as the Elder walked over to a rather large bookshelf.  He perused the titles for a moment before finally reaching out and pulling a single tome off the shelf.  The Elder walked over to Deklos and handed him the book.

    "This is a record of the decisions made by the Circle of Elders during the time I told you about," the Elder said as he flipped through the pages before finally stopping on one of them, "Read starting about here, and you'll see that I did not make up the story of Tolah and his son Deklos."

    The Elder returned to his seat and waited while Deklos read.  The record, which certainly seemed old enough, recounted the decisions of the Council regarding a human named Tolah and his quarter-Vampire son, Deklos.  Deklos looked up from his reading leveled his gaze upon the Elder before talking.

    "This record seems to verify your story, but it still seems rather incredible.  Why did you tell me such a story, anyway?  What good does it do you for me to know that I was kicked out of here twenty-one years ago?"

    "The reason I told you that story, Deklos," the Elder began, "Is because I want you to consider joining the Demi-Vampire clan.  You are related to the Wraithcloak family, so a place in society would not be an issue.  The council would have no objection as long as you either did not have children, or else had children only by a full-blooded vampire.  Since you are seeking the siguls of Relos, it's apparent that you are not content with your place in human society, or else you would not seek more power.  So I extend this offer to you: join the Demi-Vampire Clan as a wizard.  You will always have a place in our society as long as you belong to one of the families, and there is the potential for political power if you are able to master the arts of diplomacy.  So what do you think?"

    Deklos was again struck silent as he withdrew into himself to think.  He was silent and motionless for a long enough time that the Elder almost called over a healer.  Deklos looked up before the Elder resorted to anything drastic, however.

    "I cannot stay here and be one of you," Deklos finally said, "I'm only one-quarter vampire, and I was raised in human society.  I am skilled with combat magic, but completely inept with diplomacy.  As much as your offer tempts me, I'm afraid that I would never fit in."

    "I'm disappointed to hear that," the Elder responded with a sigh, "But I will respect your decision.  Shall I tell you about Relos and his siguls, then?"

    "Please do."

    "Very well then," the Elder began as he tried to remember everything he could related to the subject matter, "The only reason that Relos' arrival is recorded is because he was one of the few humans to visit us and treat us like equals.  He was afraid of us, of course, but he did not treat us like monsters.  He came to us with the simple request of searching our city for a design on a pendent similar to two he already had.  He stayed for about a week to conduct this search, and left upon finding the object he was looking for.  The oddest thing about his visit is that he left behind his journal when he left.  Upon reading the journal, we realized that he had been trying to hide a manuscript from the other humans.  We believe that the manuscript must have contained the secret to some powerful weapon or spell, or else he would not have been as desperate as he was to find the pendent.  And that is all I know about the man known as Relos."

    "Then there isn't a copy of the third sigul -- I mean the third pendent -- anywhere?"

    "No," the Elder said, "All he left behind was his journal.  If it isn't there, then I don't know where else you could look.  I'm sorry that I can be of so little help to you."

    "That's alright.  I guess my clue just didn't pan out.  Thank you for your time, Elder," Deklos said in reply to the apology, with a tinge of regret and sadness in his voice.

    "I'll have someone escort you back to the tunnel, if you don't mind," the Elder offered.

    "Thank you, that would be helpful."

    The Elder called over another guardsman, and had him escort Deklos out of the city.  On the way out, Deklos was not focused on anything but himself and the fact that he had failed again to find the spell he was looking for.  He knew that the answer he sought was not in the journal, and that if the third sigul was not to be found here, then the only copy must lie in the eternal tomb of Relos' manuscript.  Before he knew it, Deklos had left the city of the vampires, and was able to see the cave he had come to these lands through.

    "Here you are," the guardsman told him, "The caves the Elder asked for me to show you to are right over there.  I'll be going now, then."

    With that, the vampire guard walked back to the town, leaving Deklos alone in the land of Pit once again.  For a few minutes, Deklos merely stood there, unable to focus much on what he had to do next.  He eventually pulled himself together, though, and walked over to the caves.  He dispelled the light spell that his glove was generating, and returned to using a light spell focused on his palm.  Making sure that it was focused on the floor, he entered the cave once again.

    The trek through the cave was mostly the same as it was on the way there, the exception being that Deklos found himself being much more careful with his light.  Since he was walking towards the guards, if they saw his light, it would all be over.  He carefully kept his light pointed at the floor in front of him the entire way.  When he thought he was about halfway through the cavern, he cast his stealth spells again, just to be sure that he would not be seen.  A while later, he saw a faint glow in the distance.  He immediately stopped and deactivated his light spell, knowing that he was getting very close to where the guards were.

    As Deklos continued to walk toward the light of tunnel exit, he constantly checked and re-checked his stealth spells, knowing that if they were down, he would very likely find himself in a lot of trouble for deliberately disregarding the Archmagus' orders.  He continued on slowly, making sure to not cause any  disturbances that might give away his position.  Finally, he was at the cave exit, and just in front of him were the guards.  He stepped out into the light of the outpost...

    Suddenly, Deklos felt a counter-spell sweep over him, destroying his stealth spells in an instant.  A voice cried out, "Seize him!"  It was all over.  The guards grabbed him before he could get away, and he found himself surrounded by unfriendly faces.  There were six guards here now, as opposed to the original two, as well as a very familiar magus in his robes of office.  The magus looked down at him contemptuously.

    "Archwizard Deklos," the magus announced, "I, Lideus Magus, am placing you under arrest for treason against the Dark Land and for conspiring with the vampires."

    Turning to the guards, the magus said, "Take him to the Archmagus' dungeons for a while."

* * *
    Deklos had plenty of time to think while he waited for his trial.  Somehow, he never imagined that he would share the same fate as his parents.  He thought that with the amount of effort he put into becoming a productive and admired member of society, the taunts he put up with as he grew up would never turn into prophecies.  As he sat in his cell -- a damp, dark, pungent and filthy hole in the ground that people somehow believed was a decent place to put accused criminals -- he could hear the jeers of his tormentors, reaching across the vast plain of time to assail him in the present.

    "Worthless hellspawn!"

    "You're the son of traitors, and eventually you'll be a traitor.  We'll get rid of you before you betray us!"

    "You're not even human, just a worthless piece of trash."

    "What did your parents teach you before they died?  How to talk, walk, and be a traitor?"

    "Kill the traitor!"

    The voices continued to attack him.  Some were the voices of grown men and women.  Others were the voices of small children.  Many of them taunted, others decried.  All of the voices told him how unworthy he was for simply being born.  All of them were merciless.  Every one of the voices was a memory, branded into his mind so that no matter how long he lived and no matter how hard he tried to forget, they would always come to him in his weakest hour and flay him until he was a broken shell of a man.

    The renewed vengeance of the voices of the past were the worst part of the stay in the prison.  However, they were by no means the only bad thing about it, simply the worst.  The food they fed him was unfit for animals, they even told him that they were feeding him the stuff that the livestock wouldn't touch.  The water he drank trickled down the walls from above, contaminated by whatever vile substances that it passed through on its way to him.  He had no place to sit, sleep, or relieve himself other than the floor.  For the first time in years, Deklos truly wanted to die.

    The torment of the prison did not end for five long days, and in the interim Deklos' sanity slowly wore away.  When he was finally pulled from the pit, he was immediately surrounded by guards and taken to the Archmagus' palace.  They led him down the streets like an animal going to be slaughtered.  From the angry shouts of the citizens of the city, it was obvious that they had announced his capture and his crime to the city at large.  Trash was thrown out of windows at him.  Chamberpots were emptied on his head as he passed.  Never had Deklos seen such hostility from these people, and never again would he.  He was the traitor, the son of traitors, and the enemy of the Dark Lands.

    Finally, they arrived at the palace, and Deklos was ushered inside.  The inside of the building was mostly clean, hard stone, with tapestries and other works of art spread about to liven it up.  They led him away from the central part of the building to a side wing where the court was.  He was marched down a barren hallway to a pair of sturdy wooden doors.  The doors were opened, revealing a small court.  At the front was a throne where the archmagus was seated. To the left and right of the throne ran long tables, behind which sat the members of the Council of the Magi.  In the very center of the room was a raised circle of stone with chains and shackles scattered across it.

    The guards led Deklos to the circle, and shacked each of his arms.  Two wizards emerged from the shadows in the corners and cast a warding spell around the circle, preventing him from using any magic at all.  Deklos stood bound in the center of the room, the magi looking upon him with hostility, and the archmagus gazing upon him with utter contempt.  All was silent until the archmagus, that hated woman who ruled the Dark Lands, spoke.

    "Archwizard Deklos, we have spent the past five days reviewing the evidence against you and the testimony of one Tierth Valen.  Over the past year, we have been told that you have conspired to cause chaos in the Dark Lands by utilizing a lost spell of untold power.  From the journal that you carried, we discerned that you have also sought the power that Relos the Fugitive stole long ago.  This power was sealed by the archmagus of the time for a reason: to prevent scum like you from using it against our peaceful society.  Then, you went ever further to conspire with the vampires of Pit to cause terror and destruction with this spell.  For this, you should die."

    Hearing this pronouncement, Deklos went completely numb.  He knew that it would now only be a matter of hours before he would be executed, forever to be remembered as a vile traitor, the worst of the scum of the earth.  The archmagus was not finished speaking yet, so he continued to listen with morbid curiosity for the method of execution that would be prescribed.

    "Since you are the son of the traitor known as Tolah and his vampire whore, and since you are one of the most powerful of all the wizards in the Dark Lands, we have decided against execution in favor of a far worse punishment.  You shall be banished to the accursed lands above, and you shall have your magic sealed away for all time.  You will be a vagrant in a hostile land with no means to defend yourself.  It will be a slow and painful death, with enough hope of a future held out to you to make it unbearable.  This is what the Council of the Magi has decided with a unanimous vote.  Your banishment takes place tonight.  Take this traitor out of my sight, and seal away his power for all time!"

    With this last order, the guards came forward, and the ward was lifted.  The guards roughly unchained him, and took him from the room at spear-point.  They led him deep underneath the Archmagus' Palace to a moderately large magic lab.  The room was constructed of rough-hewn stone, and appeared to have been excavated rather than built.  In this room stood a number of wizards, some of whom Deklos recognized from the university.  They were preparing a rather large spell together, and a vast amount of energy was being focused into the center of the room.  The guards led Deklos to the nexus of the magic, chained him to the ground, and withdrew from the room.

    As Deklos sat in his chains, he felt the magical energies swirl around him.  Because of his time in the prison, he was unable to focus enough to identify the spell being cast, or even the components of it.  He simply waited for his doom to come.  One of the wizards, apparently a magus as well, stepped forward and uttered a loud command to the others in the room.  The elemental energy ceased to swirl about aimlessly, but instead gathered in front of various groups of wizards.  Deklos looked around at the wizards preparing the spell, and thought for a moment that he could see the sorrow-filled face of Tierth Valen, the traitor who had given a twisted version of the truth to the council.

    The energy separated itself into six groups, three pairs of elemental power, and the casting of the spell began.  Deklos watched with horror as one of the globs of power flew toward him, and he writhed in pain as it hit him.  Another came, but he was unable to do anything more than cry out in pain as his head seemed to burst into flame.  Another assailed him, and then yet another.  Each time the pain grew ever worse, and each time it felt as if he was losing a part of himself.  Finally, the last surge of energy entered his body, and the final portion of the spell took form.  The magus focused the spell on Deklos' capacity to gather and utilize element, effectively sealing off his ability to use magic.  The pain suddenly ceased, and Deklos fell forward into unconsciousness.

* * *
    When he became aware of his surroundings once again, Deklos was sitting in his cell once again, this time awaiting his final eviction from his homeland.  Several hours after he awoke, some guards pulled his weakened body out of the pit and led him out of the city.  He walked along the road for what felt like an eternity, until they came to a ruin of some sort.  It was a simple circle of stone pillars arranged around a raised platform, with large spheres atop each pedestal.  A mage stood in front of each pillar, facing away from the center of the circle.  The archmagus herself stood inside the circle wearing her ceremonial robes.  The guards led Deklos to the center of the circle, and left him there crumpled in a heap.  One of them threw a heavy bag of some sort on top of him.  The guards retreated to the edge of the circle, standing guard so that he could not escape.

    The mages drew power from the spheres, and held onto it lightly enough so that the archmagus could work with it.  Deklos didn't bother to concentrate on the spell being cast, he simply waited for it to come.  The power hung in the air, moving about ever so slightly as the archmagus focused it into the spell she desired.  Deklos closed his eyes, and waited.  Soon enough, he felt a surge of energy about him, pulling his body apart.  It felt similar to the teleportation spell he had cast so long ago at the university, but far more powerful.  One second the spell threated to rend him asunder, and the next he felt nothing.  The ground now felt different somehow.  Deklos cracked his eyes open, and saw an ocean of green and brown.  He closed his eyes again, and fell unconscious.

    When Deklos awoke again, he felt strong enough to stand once again.  He opened his eyes, and again saw the ocean of green.  This time, though, he was able to discern the form of it.  It took a few minutes for his mind to register what he was seeing.  He was standing in the middle of a massive field of vegetation far larger than the university's garden.  There were plants of all shapes and sizes on the ground about him, and towering over him were incredibly tall trees, the likes of which he had never seen before.  He gazed at his surroundings in awe, before looking about him to see what he had with him.

    At his feet lay the backpack that he had taken with him to the land of the vampires.  He rummaged through it, and found that it still contained a minimal amount of stale food.  Also in the bag were a pair of emblems and a book, the siguls and the journal.  For the longest time, Deklos sat on the ground with his few belongings in his lap and an overwhelming forest about him.

    After a while, Deklos began to realize that this grand place might be actually be his worst nightmare.  He was in a land even more exotic and foreign than Pit, the Land of the Seven Clans.  If people lived here, as opposed to monsters or demons, then they would be even more strange to him than the vampires were.  He had few supplies, and no means to protect himself from harm.  His own people, those he had grown up among and belonged with, had utterly rejected him.  They even went so far as to take from him his magic, the one thing that could have earned their respect.  He had no skill at subtlety as the vampires treasured, and he had no power as his people had held worthy.  He was simply a worthless being that everyone thought a traitor to his own kind.  The world had rejected him and cast him into a vast prison with no hope of ever returning home.  He was utterly alone.  Agony consumed Deklos as he cried out to this unknown world in despair.  He uttered the scream of the hopeless as they face the reality that they have built for themselves, and he was consumed by the utter depths of wretchedness.