Remnas Baten

“Remnas Baten, you stand here before us as the last survivor of the Circle Magi. As far as we are aware, in a matter of months you have become a mage of the Circle. Officially appointed by a fool with his last words.” “I would like to object that, my master was” “a fool. He appointed you as Circle Mage without any qualifications, only to keep their council alive. After all, before you, it was he who was the last remaining survivor.”

Remnas stood there, simply looking at the floor. He could not believe the High Council would speak so low of his master and the rest of the Circle Magi. Even if it had been a move of desperation, Remnas had proven himself to be a worthy mage. But here, in the courtroom of the High Council, he just seemed to them like another 18 year old wearing a fancy robe.

“The matter is that you’ve been there for only three months, and suddenly all of this occurs? Does it not strike you odd?” “I think you’ve been mistaken, sir. I’ve been there for a year, not just three months.” “A year? You spent a year there? You only became 18 but three months ago, yet you say you were there before your birthday?” “Yes, I have been around to” “Silence. That just means the old magi were even bigger fools than we had initially thought.”

Remnas shakes his head, his face showed obvious signs of anger towards the High Council. “If you would just let me speak!” “And what would you hope to reach with your words, young mage?” Another council member spoke up, surprisingly more calm than the head of the council. “I wish to prove to you that the Circle Magi did not die of old age, despite the claims of the council. I believe that in a few days, every single mage was murdered. And to be honest, this is exactly why I came to the council, in the hope for protection. I may be young, but I am not a fool. If this murderer is going after Circle Magi, then I am quite probably the next target.”

Several council members started laughing, aside from the head and the member that had spoken up just now. They just wouldn’t believe it, would they.. After all, none of the mages had clear signs on their body of being murdered.. but as a mage, would it not be incredibly easy to take another’s life? Create a barrier around someone, barring oxygen to pass through, and the person would die of being unable to breath. No proof, only the body of an old man, given up after several years of age.

And the council knew it. They knew it was that easy, and they feared mages because of it. It’s always that irrational fear of the unknown that drives men to crazy actions. The fact that nowadays, there are tens of thousands of known mages, and hundreds of thousands more that have not registered themselves.. it just drives them crazy with fear, does it not? One in ten children born every day possess the talent to use magic abilities, but only one pair out of thousands can afford to send their child to a school where they can learn to control it.