The Brotherhood

There he stood. The First Brother. Seth's guards poked him with their pikes. He scowled at them, but began moving forward. The room was dark but for the circle of light created by the four torches around the Brother, however, Seth sensed it was much larger than that little ring. His boots echoed on the stone walkway. "Well, well. Over two centuries, not a single Mind Magician entered my presence. But now, within the last decade, you are the second to have turned up..." He stretched out his hand. Seth felt a sudden cold feeling grip his mind. "Seth." Seth tried to run, but his legs wouldn't move. He was paralyzed by this... thing. "Interesting. You were a blacksmith. Oh, this is rich! The Iron Blaze! Of all the sanctimonious, hypocritical— kidnapping a child simply because he has magic powers! And then attempting to convince the child that they are the 'good guys'." "What do you mean?" "The Blaze's only purpose is to keep the Sremm out of Aerlyn. I want to restore that right to them." "But you mind control innocents and wipe out villages! You're a monster!" Seth yelled. "Is that what they've told you? I don't wipe out villages. I take them. And soon, the former inhabitants will be living where they belong. In the green valleys of Aerlyn." "All of them?" The Brother laughed. "My Brothers. Light the fires!" Eight giant circular braziers, filled with fuel, ignited all at once. Thousands of people sat silent in an arena surrounding the platform Seth stood on. Between the platform and the stadium there was nothing, an abyss. Suddenly, thousands of pairs of eyes blazed green with the Brother's magic. Seth felt an overwhelming power flood his senses, and he was drowning. His mind was slipping away, it felt like he was suffocating in the First Brother. He couldn't resist. There was nothing to resist with. He was a thin stick trying to resist a hurricane. A pebble trying not to be pushed over a waterfall. He couldn't give up, but there was nothing to give up with because it was already too late. It was far too late.