A master's departure.

[Gamling]

The floor was scattered with several items, many of which were books, empty vials, and other mundane tools used by wizards and their ilk. On the elegant bed in the corner of the room laid several folded up robes and articles of clothing. On the table in the opposite corner were sacks filled with ungodly amounts of money, along with gems, rare metals and woods, and a bejeweled spear. In the corner a clean shaven bald man garbed in Red robes went through his bureau, laying several small lock boxes and tomes in the outstretched arms of his knight. A plush carpet covered the floor, with a chandelier eluminating the scene.

The wizard scratched his head as he frantically searched for more of his belongings, and began to speak to his knight.

"Lauan, as you may have guessed, unless you're still as thick headed as I found you... I am leaving this valley."

He laid another heavy tome in Lauan's arms, causing them to dip momentarily, but she recovered with her terrible strength.

"My reasons are my own, and mine only. What I seek this valley does not have."

Lauan nodded her head, slightly relieved at her masters words. She opened her mouth to speak, peeking her head to the left to see Pyras from behind the mountain of items.

"When do we leave, master Pyras?"

Pyras paused for a moment, and regarded Lauan with a firm gaze, speaking in a firm tone.

"You will stay here as a knight of the enclave, Lauan." He closed the doors of the bureau and moved over to his dresser. "You can put those things on the floor for now, Lauan." He waved his hand dismissively.

Lauan continued to hold onto the mass amounts of equipment laid in her arms, and ran her tongue over suddenly dry lips. She regarded Pyras in a firm tone. "Master Pyras."

The wizard looked relieved as he found the box of spell componets he kept in his dresser drawer, then turned to Lauan with a frown. "What is it, girl?"

Lauan ran her now dry tongue over her even drier lips. "Master Pyras, I should go with you. I am your knight, it wouldn't be right for me to stay behind like this."

Pyras set down the box of spell componets and stood up, dropping any previous task that he had been focusing on. Stepping around the books and enchanting equipment on the floor, he made his way to Lauan, who proceeded to set down the massive load in her arms on the table. Lauan fell silent.

"I have given you your orders, girl. You will stay here, and that is final." He cast Lauan a cold stare, and the ever anxious Lauan spoke again.

"But Master Pyras, I am your kni--!" with a snap of Pyras's fingers, Lauan's throat became tight, and dry. Unable to speak, much less breath she fell to the floor, a glass vial breaking her fall. She reached for her neck, grunting and gasping silently as her legs squirmed.

"...you will remain here." Pyras repeated him self, which Lauan knew was something he hated to do. "...and I leave with you all my possessions and works that I have thus far." He motioned to all the items splayed across the room, including the treasury on the table. "Where I am going, they will only be a hindrance."

Lauan's eyes met Pyras's, her hands still clasped around her throat, gasping for air. When Pyras thought that his words had sunk in far enough, he snapped his fingers and she could breath again. She coughed, sputtered, and gasped for air while Pyras gathered what little he would take with him, and placed it near the door.

"You have served me well, Lauan. But now I must take my leave." He spoke to a dumb-founded Lauan, who sat up just in time to see the wizard disappear in a cloud of shadow-stuff. The back-lash of energy from the spell blew out the candles in the chandelier, and the room went silent, black, and still.

Lauan brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin atop them, and once more she was alone in the blackness, the black darkness she was taught to show no fear to, the darkness Pyras had taught her to laugh at -- but it wasn't her laughing this time. She curled tighter into a ball, the darkness of the room laughing evilly. She brought her hands to her ears and shut her eyes closed and began to hum to drive away the fear creeping up her spine, and legs away to no avail. A silent tear ran down her cheek as the shouting turned to whispers.

"Useless... unwanted... hated..." the whispers began, and Lauan retorted.
"No, no, no!" She shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks as she rushed the door. She took the key Pyras had given her and jammed it into the lock, slamming the door open to let the warm light spill into the room and silence the whispers.

Her breathing heavy, she closed the door behind her and glanced frantically to the knights that passed by, looking to her as if she were moon-touched. She frowned, and tried to regain her composure as she addressed the knights, thumbing back to the door.

"...big rat."

The knights shook their head and carried on with their duties. It was at this time Lauan decided to visit an old friend of hers. One she had not spoken with in over a year.

[Kangleton]

Written within the private journal of Pyras Demathos, taken with him upon his departure.

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"My success has been boundless. I was questioned by my peers, superiors, and even underlings who had the audacity, skeptical of my decision to adopt Lauan as my Knight. I was scorned for daring to bring into the Enclave one who lacked the intelligence and cunning of the more traditional Thayan asset, but the true powers in those halls had understood. Whereas Enchan would constantly assault and question my decisions, the Khazark himself did not question me but once – for perhaps he understood my endeavour. What better project was there for an illusionist to undertake than to mold, shape, and fabricate a mind? To build it up from nothingness; to sculpt from a shapeless mound of clay; to paint with beauty upon a blank canvas. That was all the girl was when I found her, but since, she has been forged into a monster of fortitude, strength, insight, and flawless stature. Her mind was once numb and all but obsolete, though through my strictest of regimens and harshest of tests and operations, a true Knight she became; one more effective than any other. All that has happened up to this point, however, has been in preparation for what is to come. Lauan has forever been the summary of my theories, and the subject of perhaps the most lengthly experiment I have yet to proceed with, and I am now ready to publish my findings after I finalize the comparison between the results and the initial hypothesis.

After the extensive planning for this moment, there remains only one final element to all of this – a conclusion to this enduring experiment. Hereafter, I shall be able to publish my definitive work, as the experiment initiated at the very beginning will have come to its end, and all questions will have appropriate attributed answers. I will have successfully devised a method by which the strongest, smartest, and most enduring Knight can be formed. I will have successfully devised a method by which to deconstruct and subsequently reconstruct the entirety of an individuals personality, mental processing, and collective ideologies with impunity. I will have successfully devised a method by which entire legions of Thayan Knights can be raised to a new echelon; a new standard of being, and my place and reputation amongst the most respected and revered Red Wizards will be secured. After all the training, and all the conditioning, it is time to finally study and observe how my experiment, Lauan, endures independence, and the removal of the crutch that she had previously relied on -- being myself. Now, without a source of constant stability and guidance, I will come to see just how effective the girl shall be while left in randomized and uncontrolled, unanticipated conditions. The entire conclusion of my academic work rests upon my creation, and should she prove to stabilize herself effectively now that she has been released from the controlled conditions of this study, it will have all been a monumental success. If Lauan can manage herself with unbound control and objectivity in her success while I academically observe from afar, then I will have proved what I had declared from the beginning; it is entirely possible to mold a self-sufficient, enduring, persistantly effective mind... even from the very foundation."