Chapter 13

Max awoke, to his surprise, to find himself back in the dark forest from the first week of sessions. He turned around slowly, half-expecting to find that twisted mask behind him. He didn't, though. There was nothing but the eerily quiet forest all around him. Cautiously optimistic, he started walking in the direction he happened to be facing, in no hurry to find out if this nightmare was the same or if the Alius had come up with a worse version of it. When Max heard a loud snap behind him, and caught a whiff of death, he chanced a glance over his shoulder to find the undead bear behind him. Only somewhat afraid of it now, he hoofed it away from the bear, hearing it crash through the woods behind him.

He bolted through the underbrush for a time, the bear's pursuit never relenting. He looked back over his shoulder to see where the bear was at, only to have his foot step into air, Max hollering and squeezing his eyes shut, knowing at least that this was the end of the dream.

He awoke with a jerk back in the session room. He sat up, looking around the room. It looked to Max like most of the other students had left already, including Alva. He stood slowly, trying to decide what the Alius giving him what felt like a reprieve meant. Maybe it was just losing strength, so it couldn't conjure up any new nightmares? He thought that seemed possible, since they were well past the halfway point now. He pondered other ideas as he went to the dining hall, taking a seat a little ways from Alva, deciding that they still needed space. He'd started eating when he noticed something odd. A pair of guards had marched into the dining hall. Usually they were patrolling the grounds outside, or around the perimeter of the dining hall. Seeing them anywhere else was strange. They made their way to the initiate's table, stopping behind Max. "You need to come with us." One of them said gruffly.

Max felt his heart freeze. "What? Why?" Max said, the people on his left and right shying away from him.

"You've been summoned by the Grand Maester. Will you come willingly, or am I going to have to carry you there?"

That was a bad sign that his presence was being requested by force. Unable to think of anything else to do, he got up and walked out of the room, one of the guards leading while the other trailed behind him. They led him up to the upper levels of the castle, to a sturdy oak door. One of the guards knocked loudly on the door. "Who is it?" A vaguely familiar voice asked.

"I escorted Maxwell here, as you requested."

"Come in then."

The guard pushed the door open, one leading and one trailing behind Max. They stepped into a spacious room. Workbenches with a variety of tools Max had never seen before were dotted around the room. There was a sitting area right in front of him, and deeper into the room was a large desk where a mostly unremarkable Kainer sat. He realized that this was Grand Maester Gretchen, and up close he looked older than he had from afar.

"Have a seat, Max." He said, gesturing to the plain stool in front of his desk.

Max took a seat, noticing that the guards did not leave them, instead taking up positions beside the exit.

"Max, do you know why you're here?"

Max shook his head. "No, your lordship."

"You don't? Not at all?" He said, his eyes hardening. "Fine, let me phrase it this way: I suggest you confess your breaking of Academy law to me right now, and I might let you stay with the Academy."

Max was stunned. "Wh-what? What're you talking about?"

"Is that your answer? To deny it?"

"Deny what?" Max said, feeling on the verge of panic. What could he have done that would've landed him in such trouble as to threaten expulsion?

Grand Maester Gretchen leaned back on his stool, shaking his head disgustedly at Max. "I gave you a chance. That was more than others would've given your kind, and as it turns out, for good reason. Now you attempt to pretend like you haven't been disobeying the rules we have in place for good reason. I'll give you one more chance to confess to your crimes. I suggest you take it."

Max couldn't believe this was happening. "But I haven't been doing anything! All I've done is go back and forth from the sessions to the house you let me and Alva live in!"

Now Lord Gretchen's eyes flashed with anger. "That is a blatant lie, and you know it! Three different people, backed up by other eyewitnesses, claim that you lured them into quiet parts of the castle, raping them repeatedly to satisfy your unnatural urges."

"No!" Max choked out. "I didn't!"

"I'm afraid your word is no good." Lord Gretchen said coldly. "You had your chance to confess, and if you had I might've found a way to protect the others from you, as it would only be right for you to be unable to control yourself. But, since you thought you could lie to me and get away with it, I have no choice but to expel you from the Academy for the safety of the other students. I gave you more of a chance than most would, and you bit the hand that was offering you help. Now you reap the consequences. Get his filth out of my laboratory, and make sure he's never seen back on the Academy grounds, or employed by the Academy in any capacity whatsoever." Grand Maester Gretchen said, waving to the guards. Max turned around in time to see one of the guards put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go." He said gruffly.

"Wait, no! It's not true, I didn't do any of that!" As Max was hauled to his feet. "No, please, I don't know what they said, but it's not true! It's not true!" He said desperately over his shoulder as he was manhandled out of Grand Maester Gretchen's laboratory. He stopped resisting the guards the moment they were out of the Grand Maester's laboratory, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He was too shocked by the news to cry while they unceremoniously dumped him in the dirt outside the gates of the Academy. He lay there, too stunned to move at first, then too distraught to do anything but bawl into the dirt. He was terrified by what would happen to his family when he made his way back. The Overlord's displeasure would be fierce, and if they were lucky they would survive the ordeal. They would certainly not survive it unscathed.

He felt himself grow strangely lightheaded, so he took some deep breaths, which calmed him down slightly. Enough for him to open his eyes and find that he was no longer outside the Academy walls, but instead lying on his mat in the session room. He struggled to grapple with how he'd ended up back in the Academy after being thrown out. Had he, in a distraught daze, found his way back into the Academy? He sat up slowly, finding himself among other students who seemed to be coming out of their own Focal stupor. Alva was gone, as were a few other students, but most were still there. He then looked fearfully to where Blair was sitting, reading from a book, waiting for him to get up and shout for guards to haul him away.

But Blair didn't move, and Max began to question everything that had just happened to him as he stood unsteadily, fear still coursing through his mind. Only once he'd made it back to the dining hall without being accosted by any of the guards did Max begin to relax and question what he'd just experienced. He thought he'd woken up earlier, but what if he'd actually woken up still in the Alius's dream world? Then he'd still be under the Alius's control, but also believing that what he was seeing was the real world. It would explain the almost nonsensical nature of being expelled so suddenly, even if it was believable enough in the moment, and the fact that he was back in the Academy after being supposedly left outside the Academy gates moments ago.

He went to dinner wishing that he could talk to Alva about what was now happening to him, but they weren't in the dining hall when he arrived. While eating, as nothing exceptional seemed to happen, he began to conclude that what he'd experienced was fake. He hadn't been expelled from the Academy, which came as a great relief to him.

He pushed his empty plate away and went back to the house. Alva was nowhere to be seen, so Max figured they were in their room. Thinking it best to not try talking to them after a session with their Alius, Max went to bed, grateful for sleep. As he lay there, his relief turned to dread as he began considering the ramifications of this new tactic. If the Alius was going to start putting Max in situations that were indistinguishable from reality, how could he be sure he'd awoken? For that matter, how could he be sure he wasn't still under the Alius's influence at that point? It was a terrifying proposition, to never be sure that what was happening was real, and one that Max had no solution for by the time he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, he awoke again to find that Alva was, again, already gone. Confused and slightly concerned, he went to the dining hall, but couldn't find them there either. His concern grew, such that though he sat down to eat, he only got about halfway through his bowl of porridge before he couldn't stand it anymore, getting up to head to the session room early. To his relief, he found Alva there already, asleep on their mat, the only one there so early. Blair looked up from his desk in surprise.

"Oh, look who it is. You wanting to get an early start too?" Blair asked Max.

Max sighed, looking down at Alva's form. "Not really, but I guess I might as well."

Blair plucked a vial from the container on his desk, holding it out to Max. "Chin up. You're more than halfway through it."

Max took it reluctantly. "Yeah." He said softly, plodding slowly back to his spot next to Alva. He sighed, looking over the brown sludge again. Were it not for what he had at stake back home, he wouldn't have pulled the stopper out and downed the contents, settling down on his mat and waiting for it to take effect.