***
"Wretches!" Thayan muttered, as he stumbled through the grass, half tripping over rocks in his haste. He spoke aloud to himself, not caring that he sounded like a madman. "Suddenly, I'm the wicked one. Not Kelden, who has a monster inside him. Not that Jarvin fellow. But me! And what have I done? I haven't hurt anyone. But still they condemn me. Why does this always happen to me?"
He paused, glancing about, realizing he was already lost in the thick fog. "Great, now I'm going to end up having to call for help like a child. Well, I won't do it! I'd rather wander these plains until I starve to death or the worms eat me."
He sat down on a boulder, tears springing into his eyes. Thayan had never been liked by anyone. Amongst the Ulden students, he'd been an outcast. He'd tried to pretend to himself that he had friends and that they cared about him, but they were mere associates. He'd never been invited to anything social and hadn't been inducted into any of the numerous groups into which students organized themselves. Nothing had really changed. He'd always been alone, and he would always be alone.
Thayan knew the reason for his isolation was that he just wasn't likable. Something in his manner turned people off. It wasn't fair, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He was who he was.
Thayan sat there wrapped in self pity, almost wishing he was dead. "What do I have to live for?" he asked himself. He remembered his promise to the gods, when he'd been hanging from the West Gate of Valganleer. It seemed laughable now. He would never do anything great, and no one would remember him when he was dead.
"You're worthless!" he said to the gods. "You just keep people alive to torment them. You should have let me die up there on that gate." His words were intended to be bitter, but they just sounded insane to his ears.
"I don't believe in any gods, or anything else," he went on, still talking aloud to himself. "And why should I?"
"Why indeed?" a voice whispered.
Thayan froze, dread settling over him. "Who speaks? Show yourself!" Trembling, he leapt to his feet.
From out of the fog stepped the Blue World sorcerer, his gleaming spear held like a staff. Dead eyes gazed out from corpse-like skin. A joyless smile was on the sorcerer's face.
"Get away from me!" Thayan said. "I'm not your enemy."
"You are far from being my enemy, Thayan."
"I'm not your friend, either," said Thayan, "if that's what you're getting at. Just because I'm mad at them doesn't mean I'll betray them. Especially Kelden, who has been kind to me from the start. You can kill me, but I won't be your puppet."
"My, how you jump to conclusions," said the sorcerer. "I don't want to kill you, or possess you, or persuade you to do anything."
"No?" said Thayan, his eyes hopeful and desperate.
"Not at all," said the sorcerer. "Actually, I just want to feed off you. May I drink your essence, Thayan?"
"Leave me alone!" Thayan yelled.
The sorcerer shrugged, his smile turning into a leer. "I asked nicely. Had you agreed, I might have drank only a little, or I might have drank my fill and then killed you afterward to put you out of your misery. But you've dared to defy me, so now I'll simply take it all. I'll drink until nothing remains and you're a soulless husk."
The sorcerer's terrible will bound Thayan in place, and he simply looked on in despair as the being approached. Thayan shut his eyes, and he felt two objects attach to his skull like suction cups full of small, pointed teeth. Then began an ordeal that lasted several moments, while Thayan experienced suffering beyond his darkest nightmares. It felt like his soul was being sucked away and he couldn't stop it. It was a fear worse than that of death--a fear that his very existence was being devoured. Mercifully, it ended when nothing remained inside him and he collapsed into the final darkness of oblivion.
The Curse of Credesar, Part 1 Page 36