Consensus Breaking (The Auran Chronicles Book 2) by M. S. Dobing

waved her hand and the door locked from inside.
    ‘She’ll wake in a few hours. She’ll have a headache, but she won’t remember what happened. What was happening.’
    ‘Lucky her.’
     
    ***
     
    Grim and the others were already by the exit by the time Anna and Seb got there. Seb hadn’t spoken once since they’d left the flats. He couldn’t shake his mind off Stephanie, off another lost soul that would never know the joy of the Weave. The magi acted like the only option was purging, or cleansing, as they called it. But was it? Was it truly the only option left for those who’d suddenly become Aware?
    He wasn’t convinced.
    ‘You okay, Seb?’ Grim said.
    ‘He felt the subject’s pain,’ Anna said.
    ‘Ah,’ Grim said. ‘Not good that, not a pleasant experience at all.’
    ‘It seemed worse for her than for me.’
    Anna frowned in his direction before turning attention back to the others.  ‘How did it go with you?’
    ‘We cleansed one,’ Alex said. ‘She was only young, five years old. She was only lightly touched by the Weave. She’s sleeping now. As are her parents.’
    Anna nodded. ‘Good work. And the other?’
    Seb didn’t miss the quick glance Alex gave in his direction. She paused, her mouth open, searching for the words.
    ‘What is it, Alex?’
    The younger mage looked at Seb again. ‘Are you sure?’
    Anna sighed. ‘Come on, Seb needs to hear this too.’
    ‘Hear what?’ he said.
    ‘The other. They didn’t make it.’
    Seb glanced between the two magi.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    Alex looked at Anna for support. Anna pushed her head forwards. Spit it out .
    ‘I mean that he died. His mind couldn’t take the cleansing.’
    ‘He died,’ Seb heard himself say.
    ‘Sometimes, if their mind is weak, or their body, then the cleansing can sever the mind completely from this reality. The man – Keith - was old. He didn’t suffer.’
    Seb looked between the magi. None of them seemed particularly cut up about this development. They glanced at each other sheepishly. None of them dared to speak.
    Then it dawned on him.
    ‘This happens a lot, doesn’t it?’
    ‘Not a lot, no,’ Anna said. ‘But it happens. And not infrequently.’
    He suddenly felt sick.
    ‘Can we go?’
    Anna nodded. ‘I think we’ve seen enough for today.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    The mage known to her friends as Sonika woke up with a head that felt like it had been ripped and then reattached at an odd angle. Her temple pounded, and as she stood from her bed the room spun about her, wardrobes, beds and chairs merging into a swirling blur of colours. She took a shaky step, the sensation strange, as if there was some kind of lag between her mind giving the instruction and the limb obeying.
    Of course, to everyone else they knew her as Sonika. Even the entity that now controlled her body knew that. Sonika, or what was left of her, still lurked in the vessel’s mind somewhere. The entity had debated erasing the woman’s soul entirely, but when the other mage came running over to her, concerned at her apparent collapse, the entity had been able to draw upon the host’s memories and put the stronger mage at ease.
    ‘I am fine, Barach,’ she had said, and the mage had gone away, not convinced entirely, but he had accepted the statement without challenge.
    The entity had struggled to make it back to the waiting vehicle without drawing attention to its host’s strange behaviour. Others had come over, asking questions, probing it with their feeble sense . Thankfully the entity had been able to bring with it a sliver of the energy it could channel within its home shard. It was still far, far, less than its full potential, but yet still dwarfed those of this realm who claimed to channel the Weave. It wasn’t ideal, but it was sufficient.
    Sonika had tried and failed several times to regain control, but a couple of mental blasts had sent her scurrying into the shadows, groaning in agony. She would live, for now, but