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It’s been three months since Rhys had first arrived to Dragon Keep, leaving the Academy and his old life behind; he still remembers how much frightened he was when he met the Handsome Sorcerer for the first time. He was sure the older and powerful mage would have killed him just because Rhys had dared to come there without permission... Luckily for Rhys, the Handsome Sorcerer had decided to keep him there as an apprentice. There's a great potential in you, but you're gonna waste it if you stay at the Academy. Do you want to be my apprentice, Rhys?
Rhys answered yes. Anything to stay alive, anything for more power, even if it meant living in Dragon Keep as a prisoner: he felt so blessed.
Since then, he hadn’t seen his friends anymore, too focused on his studies, but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten them. He dreams of Vaughn and Yvette one night: they’re relaxing in the park of the Academy, practicing with some light spells and laughing together.... When he wakes up, his cheeks are wet and he can't help feeling uncomfortable as he tries to eat his breakfast. Three months. Three long months since his friends have last heard from him, what kind of friend was he? Now they were probably thinking he's died somewhere in the forest or got killed by the Handsome Sorcerer.
“There's a lot of negative energy coming from you, Rhys.”
It's nearly noon and Rhys jumps as his Master comes into the Library unannounced; he seems pleased to see his young diligent student still on his books. He gets closer, his steps echoing in the silence of the enormous Library. "Uh, sorry, Master, I'm just... I was..." Rhys closes his book and looks at the man who is standing right next to him now. He’s folded is arms and he's gazing at him; his eyes glow of pure magic and Rhys shivers.
“Well?”
Rhys bits his lower lip, “I didn't sleep well, Master, that's all." There's a lump in his throat as he tries to keep back his tears: his friends' faces are still so clear in his mind and it hurts just thinking about them.
The Handsome Sorcerer puts a hand on his student's head, his fingers through the soft curls, “having nightmares, haven’t we?”
“Not really,” Rhys clenches his eyes shut and he can’t control his hot tears of shame and frustration. By the spirits, the Handsome Sorcerer has such power on him, he can't hide him anything: words come out of him like a river. “I dreamt of my friends at the Academy. They don't know what I'm doing... They don't even know if I'm still alive,” he confesses, shrugging. He lowers his gaze, looking at his own knees ashamed. “I-I think I miss them.”
"Rhys, look at me," the Handsome Sorcerer says, but Rhys just can't bring himself to look into those eyes. It’s too much, he wishes he could disappear once for all.
“I’m sorry…”
Slowly, the man puts a finger under his chin, “look at me,” he repeats.
“I don't know what happened to me,” Rhys explains, unable to stop his tears. Maybe after three months, he has just to let it go: everything had been so overwhelming lately and Rhys is just one person. And maybe he hasn't considered until that very moment how much he was feeling lonely in Dragon Keep. Something’s broken inside him.
The older man sighs and kneels next to him, so that he could look into his eyes. “You miss your friends so much to ruin your training? After all I've done for you? You hurt me, Rhysie.” He frowns, “you know you can't go back to the Academy. I already told you that, or did you change your mind? Do you want to leave this place to keep on pretending to have a life worth living back there? You tell me.”
Rhys' eyes widen in fear, “No, I-I don't want to go back, I swear! It's just... I miss them, that’s all, they're my friends and-” he doesn’t end his sentence as the Handsome Sorcerer gets closer to his face and kisses him lightly on his mouth; Rhys is taken aback but he sighs and relaxes as soon as he tastes Eridium in his mouth, electric sparks against his tongue.
Oh… Eridium, sweet, precious Eridium!
“They could never understand what’s between us, Rhysie,” the Handsome Sorcerer says as he ends the kiss, “you left them behind the day you got here. You are the one who made this choice. Not me. Not them. You,” the older man whispers his last word as to tell a secret, “you’ve got so much potential, you could be one of the most powerful wizards on Pandora… You have to trust me and forget your old friends. You don’t need them anymore.”
There's a sudden light as the Handsome Sorcerer finishes talking; the brightness makes the young man nearly go blind and then... It’s gone.
Rhys has stopped crying and he’s not as sad as before: he wonders if the Handsome Sorcerer has just made him some kind of spell to make him feel better. Suddenly, Vaughn and Yvette’s memories aren’t so painful anymore. Actually, it’s like he’s never missed them in the first place and he doesn’t feel angry about it.
The Handsome Sorcerer stands up again, opening the book that Rhys had closed before; he caresses the ancient yellow pages and says, “do you really wanna sacrifice all this knowledge for them?”
Rhys knows his answer well: all that he had ever wanted in his life was power and power was what he was getting from the Handsome Sorcerer. He couldn’t compare it with some stupid position in the Academy.
He would have been even more powerful than Headmaster Tassiter back at the Academy.
Those glowing eyes are still watching him with strong interest. “Well, Rhysie, what’s your answer?”
Rhys smiles.
“No, Master. It won’t happen again.”
The Handsome Sorcerer is deeply pleased. “Very good, then. Carry on.”