The Forbidden Mage: Veins of Verdance

I froze.

The words didn't make sense at first. They echoed in my ears, distant and unreal.

Strip me of the name?

It felt like I had fallen out of time, suspended in a moment that would never end. My chest tightened. I couldn't breathe.

All the years I'd spent trying—gone. Erased in one sentence.

I had followed every rule. Trained harder than both my siblings. Garran awakened at thirteen. Lyra awakened at nine. Their gifts came naturally. Mine didn't. I had to fight for everything—study late, train longer, obey faster. I had to earn it. I thought if I worked harder, they'd see. That I'd matter.

But I was wrong.

Because I had no magic.

And now, I wasn't just unwanted.

I was being erased.

The High Mage watched me with no emotion. Like this was routine. It wasn't.

"Lord Renald—" one of the council members began.

"Silence," my father snapped. "The boy is a disgrace. He has shamed this house. There is no place for him here."

I didn't cry. I couldn't. My body was burning, but my eyes were dry. My legs were unsteady. My hands numb. Inside, something was caving in.

I looked around the chamber, desperate for someone to meet my eyes.

Even my mother stared at the floor.

Even she said nothing.

"No elemental affinity," the High Mage repeated. "Kael Ardyn has failed the Awakening. The Council will deliberate, and he will be stripped of the Ardyn name."

The words felt like a blade.

No one in our house had failed in five generations.

But I had.

And now the world would know.

---

When I entered the council chamber, my father was already standing. The High Mage and several council members were seated beside him. My brother was there too, standing by the wall with his arms crossed.

My father's eyes were cold. His hands were clenched behind his back. He didn't speak right away.

The High Mage stood. His voice was clear, loud enough to echo off the walls. "Kael Ardyn, step forward."

I obeyed.

"Today, the council confirms the result of your Awakening," he continued. "This hearing is held to determine your fate, under the authority of House Law and the Mage Accord. Speak with honesty, or not at all."

"Father," I began as I walked forward. My voice came out too softly. "Please..."

He raised a hand.

"Silence," he said. "You've spoken enough with your failure."

I stopped walking. "There must have been a mistake. Please, let me try again. One more chance."

"You have been given five chances by the Wellspring already, Kael." The High Mage shifted in his seat. "There is no mistake. No interference. We have checked the circle. The Wellspring answered everyone else. It did not answer you."

"So he's a Null," one of the council mages said, shaking his head.

"A born Null in a High House," another whispered. "What a disaster."

I stood there, frozen. My chest burned. My throat tightened. My hands trembled at my sides. I was trying to be strong, to hold my ground, but I felt the tears building. I fought them down with every breath.

"This isn't fair," I said. "I trained just like Garran. I studied harder than anyone. You saw it. All of you. I did everything I was told. Just one more chance... Please."

"You are a disgrace!" my father yelled. "To fail the Awakening is shame enough. But to do so as a son of House Ardyn? Unforgivable."

"I didn't choose this, Father," I muttered. "Please."

"No," he said. "But your failure has chosen your path."

"There is no place here for a mage without magic. You cannot serve the house. You cannot defend the realm. You cannot even light a fire without help."

I clenched my fists. I looked at my brother, but he just looked away.

"Then… where will I go?" I asked.

"The Outlands," my father said, without hesitation.

Whispers moved through the room.

"Exile!" one of the mages shouted.

"It's the only option," another replied. "If word spreads that House Ardyn keeps a Null, it will damage their standing."

"You will be sent out by morning," my father said. His jaw was clenched. His hands were fists. He didn't look at me. Not really. But I could see the anger and the hurt in his face.

The High Mage raised a brow. "And the name?" he asked.

My father stood beside him. "As Lord of House Ardyn, I strip Kael of all name, status, and inheritance. He will be exiled to the Outlands, effective immediately. This decision is final."

My mother stepped forward.

"Renald," she said. Her voice was low, but something was trembling in it. "Please. He is still our son."

My father turned his head just slightly. His jaw tightened.

"You will not speak, woman," he said. "Not here. Not about him."

She stopped. I looked at her. She didn't meet my eyes. But I saw her hands. They were clenched into fists, trembling at her sides.

She didn't sit back down. She just stood there, unmoving.

I looked to the other council members, hoping someone would say something. No one met my eyes.

"From this moment forward," my father continued, "you are cast out. You are not to return. Your name will be removed from our records. If you dare return, you will be hunted and killed."

I opened my mouth to speak.

"You will not speak!" he snapped. "Leave with what little dignity you have left."

I stopped. The words I had gathered vanished like breath in cold air. My lips stayed parted, but no sound came. Disbelief pressed down on me, heavy and slow, as if the whole chamber had turned to stone.

I didn't respond.

Couldn't.

My mouth was dry. My thoughts scattered. It felt like my mind was blinking, struggling to catch up to what was happening. This couldn't be real. They wouldn't actually cast me out. Not like this. Not after everything.

But they had.

And they were still doing it.

The High Mage looked back at me. His eyes held no malice. Just duty.

"Do you understand the sentence?"

The words echoed through the room like a final toll.

I nodded once. "Yes."

"You will be allowed a small supply of food, water, shelter, and a mount," he continued. "You may not return to any city or noble territory. If you do, the penalty is death."

"I understand," I said.

My voice didn't even sound like mine. It was hollow. Far away. As if someone else had spoken it for me.

I felt myself shutting down, my mind folding in on itself to stop the ache. Numbness crept in like ice. I clung to it, because if I let the heat come back, if I let myself feel, I would break apart right there in front of all of them.

I stared ahead, blinking slowly, as if the world were made of smoke.

"Then it is done," the High Mage said, rolling up the scroll. "Leave this chamber at once."

But it wasn't done. Not yet.

My brother stepped forward. Garran. The fire prodigy. The one who awakened at thirteen and destroyed his first target dummy with a single flame spear.

He stopped a few steps from me and looked me up and down.

"You won't survive out there," he said.

I didn't respond.

"You're not strong enough. You're not anything. Just as father said, you were never one of us."

He smirked as he said it. Not out of cruelty. Just certainty.

Like it was a fact.

I wanted to say something back. Anything. But there was nothing left to say. No defense. No way to prove him wrong.

I turned and walked out of the council chamber alone.