"What is your name, dark mage?" The priest pulled the chair into the cell and sat down.
"Vallthar." He answered with a tired voice before he caught on to the implication. "Wait! I'm not a dark mage."
"So the reports about dead plants appearing around you, if not about dark magic then what's happening there?" The priest narrowed his eyes.
Cold sweat dripped in Valthar's back.
'What? How do they know?'
The Church of Burning Light has a lot of power, but they can't read minds or monitor every inch of the Outlands.
"Non-standard magic..." Valthar stuttered.
"What does that even mean, Dark mage? Some fancy way to describe demonic magic." The priest glared as spite pulsed from his life energy.
Non-standard magic? One that by the multiple anonymous tips said it killed things?
In the priest's mind Valthar was already tagged as a dark mage, someone tainted either literally or morally.
"No no no! I swear its not demonic, it might not be elemental magic, but since I never hurt anyone it isn't dark magic."
"So it can hurt people." The priest scoffed.
Valthar was stunned.
'Is there an elemental magic that is incapable of hurting people?'
No! Even the least lethal element could kill dozens in the hands of a good enough mage.
Such a comment was clearly biased and bulshit, but chained in the Church's dungeon Valthar did not dare to point it out.
Not that the priest expected one anyway.
"Why did you leave the Inn this afternoon?"
Panic rushed through Valthar's mind, he wasn't great at lying but to say the truth here would bring no good.
What could he even say?
'I needed to collect life energy so I went to kill some trees at the edge of the city.'
A decent response, if not for the demon executed just the day before.
Panicked, he made a split second decision to dodge and deny everything.
"What do you mean? Your priests took me out of my room! You guys must have caught the wrong person!"
"Then why is it that we received tips from multiple people about your suspicious outing?" The priest didn't budge for a second.
Valthar's chin fell to the ground.
"Impossible! Today is my second day in this city! How would someone even know I'm…" -banished- Valthar tried to say but the mark on his chest flared up in warning.
While the banishment mark stood he could never explain his past properly.
A problem that might be solved by itself if the priests did in fact decide to 'purify' his mana veins and he survived the process.
Granted if anyone had to choose between a banishment mark and destroyed mana veins, they would always pick the first.
Mana was present everywhere in the world so once your body's main way of connecting to it got damaged everything became worse.
Food would satiate less, sleep would take longer and even movement would be harder to do.
Such a state would take years to cure with the right treatment or decades without one.
The priest rose from the chair and pushed it out of the room, he had heard more than enough and had made his decision.
"To think an affiliate mage personally asked for us to double check your situation." He shook his head and threw a letter to the floor. "Such a waste of time."
From outside Valthar heard the priest say one last phrase to someone before the door closed.
"Keep him in the purification list, a filthy dark mage for sure, might be corrupted also… "
*Bang
The door slam shut.
"Fuck me." Valthar cussed under his breath.
His palms tightened around the chains and indignation overflowed in his chest.
In his mind he searched in silence what actions he took that brought him to this place.
The Church was clearly going after him because they considered Valthar a dark mage.
Much to his surprise since only the caravan members should be suspicious of that, a suspicion he had not wasted his time trying to clear.
Looking back, the worm incident where Amber saw him use his life energy affinity was the most obvious mistake, though in hindsight it had helped them discover a demon.
But also was when the others truly tagged him as a dark mage.
"Wait no… at that time they already thought I was a dark mage."
As he searched further he recalled it.
The first suspicions appeared after the night where the foxes ambushed the clearing.
It was after he openly talked about his ability to locate the shadow foxes that people jumped to the dark mage conclusion.
'I'm not a noble anymore, nor do I have a powerful family to protect me anymore.' he thought with a sigh.
The truth might be a powerful tool, but Valthar is simply not strong enough to wield it.
With a troubled frown he stared at the marble floor.
Slowly it settled in his heart that now he is a banished mage, a dark mage in the eyes of others.
It filled him with sadness to watch his noble self die before his eyes, but for the foreseeable future he would tuck his tail and hide his magic.
It felt pathetic but the best way to not be locked again, to not be forced to wait in chains as others decide his fate.
A fate he was almost sure would involve having his mana veins 'purified'.
"Hopefully it won't affect my current energy ring." He sighed again.
From his magical knowledge the life energy ring should survive, but the consequences if it was purified as well would be almost as bad as death.
Valthar shook his head and pushed the thought away, he couldn't control the outcome so ruminating over it would only make him suffer more.
Resigned, he crawled forward to the letter the chains growing taught as he opened and read it.
—-----------
For starters I'm sorry Valthar,
I intended to have this talk tomorrow, in person and with your reward, but now with the Church involved the situation is murky.
I'll be blunt with you, we will not take you to Deep Bonfire.
Though you helped us a lot, especially on the ambush night, the team doesn't feel comfortable to travel with a banished dark mage.
It also doesn't help that many of us saw you leave the Inn and reported you to the Church.
For that I'm apologetic but also suspicious, in doubt I send Balthazar to put a good word in.
In any case,
if we see each other soon I'll buy you a drink, if not your reward will be left with the Inn's owner.
Wish you well and may the light guide our path, Lionel.
PS… If you still go to Deep Bonfire contact Salazar Silverfang. Be sure to mention my name and show him this letter.
—-----------