Mind Defense Breaking

The sphinx was distracted, pulling up more maps and plotting Jace’s information on them, following the Trovian army’s path into the heartland.

Jace had not tested Alhammarret’s defenses in a long time.

He’d be caught, of course. Alhammarret always knew when Jace tried to read him. Jace could argue, reasonably, that it was part of his training—judging when a target’s defenses were down.

He looked inside Alhammarret’s mind.

The sphinx’s thoughts were immense and powerful, a buffeting cyclone of mental force. Jace’s brief explorations had always run up against it like a wall. This time, though, with effort, he was able to slip into the wind….

A flood of sensations, of memories, overtook him.

He was looking down at himself, practicing illusions, concentrating hard to control a few wisps of light and sound. He looked so young.

Something was wrong. Blue-white energy crackled in his eyes. The illusions swirled around him faster and faster.

And then

he began

to fade….

Within the swirling illusions, Jace vanished entirely.

Alhammarret reached out with a tendril of Æther, into the void between worlds (plural!), and pulled the boy back.

Planeswalker.

Jace stirred. He sat up. He asked what had happened.

And Alhammarret wiped the incident from the young man’s mind.

The library. His own eyes. The real Alhammarret regarded him, eyes shrewd.

“Jace?”

“There,” said Jace, illuminating a section of the map. “Sorry.”

“You’re exhausted,” said Alhammarret. “No more bravado. Rest.”

Jace went to his room and shut the door with no intention of opening it. Alhammarret would know. If he didn’t already. How long until he wiped Jace’s memory again? Had this happened before? Was there any way to know?

Planeswalker.

JACE’S ORIGIN: ABSENT MINDS