Dread Mage

Sonder and Vell were staying at another inn, though this one was worse in quality compared to their last one, but that didn't bother them.

Their minds were fixed on what could only be described as volentary torture.

In their room, Vell had imprisoned Sonder in an unbreakable cube, fixed in place. It wouldn't move, no matter what happened inside it.

In just a few days, the Spellslingers banquet would be held, and they needed every moment to train if Vell was to show off a tamed banshee.

"Are you ready?" Vell asked Sonder.

"I don't know. Are you sure the cube will hold me if I lose control?" She asked.

"Of course it will; nothing could break it. Not even I, until I dispel it."

"Then I am ready."

Vell only had a working theory on how to force Sonder into her full banshee state.

It must be trauma or shock. He already had a long talk with Sonder about what she would have to experience if she really wanted things to work out.

And she agreed to everything. She was driven by the love of her family and her longing to see them again.

He would have to force her to relive painful moments of her life, and he focused on one: her death.

She'd lost the actual memory of the event, but all the feelings were still stored in her body and somewhere in her subconscious.

He would draw them out and, if he really needed to, strengthen them.

Sonder already had apprentice-level control over her own mana and had replaced some of Vell's with her own inside her body. That should have helped her.

If they had more time, Vell would have liked to teach her more about it to make it easier for her, but there just wasn't.

So he began.

With his fingers, he scratched a few symbols in her air, leaving red marks, and then pushed them towards Sonder, into the cube.

He didn't want to use Dico magic for something he found this distasteful.

When they touched Sonder, she felt as though she would lose control.

Her face flushed as red as it could. She trembled, and she couldn't stop shaking. Her muscles tensed against her will. She felt lightheaded and dizzy, and a strong sense of dread rushed over her.

Vell looked at her through the walls of the cube. She was having a panic attack, but that wasn't enough, so he drew another symbol, one of strength, and pushed it towards Sonder.

The girl would be in agony, but it was a necessity.

Sonder's skin started to split; she was growing, and her hair floated unnaturally in the air.

The transformation started, and Vell watched with great interest.

Then it was over. He had a banshee in a cube, and when she got a good look at Vell, she began her wail, though the walls of the cube stopped it.

The noise irritated him and, most likely, everyone else in the inn.

He swished his fingers, dampened the sounds, and turned the walls of the cube opaque.

He let her rage on like that for an hour.

Then he looked to see if anything had changed or if Sonder still had no control over herself.

If she didn't, then he'd knock her out, heal her, and wake her, all in the span of a few minutes, as her body needed a few moments to adjust.

She asked, "And?"

He answered, "nothing."

And then she looked vexed.

They repeated that process every hour or so, for as long as it took, or if time had run out.