Title: Her Own Path
Chapter 1
Note: This story is a prequel to my previous story, New Rival and it will contain some spoilers for it. That said, it’s completely fine to read this one first, but I’d recommend reading this one second for the best experience. Hope you enjoy!
“And you’ll find your thoughts draining as you sink down, down, down for me.” The servant’s eyes fluttered as she was swiftly pulled down by Sophia’s words. It wasn’t hard. All the family’s servants were already primed to quickly fall into trance. “That’s right, your mind draining, only leaving only my words behind. Just thinking my words as your mind goes blank.” Sophia had done this plenty of times before. She knew she could trance the servants. She wanted more. The servant’s body slumps down as she falls completely into Sophia’s control. Sophia lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Well done, Sophia. Very good.” Sophia’s mother clasped her hands together. “I see you’ve been practicing.”
Sophia barely restrains herself from rolling her eyes as she faces the mother. “I don’t need to practice. I mastered this stuff ages ago. I want to do more. At least let me hypnotize someone who isn’t going to drop for me as soon as I start speaking in the right tone of voice.”
Her mother gave her an onishing smile. “Now Sophia, you know that’s not how we do things. We don’t share our techniques with anyone. And we don’t hypnotize our family. So we can only practice on the servants. They’re the only ones whose loyalty can be assured. Now, as for your technique, you haven’t quite mastered it, as you seem to think. Your start is good, but after that, your wording becomes a bit erratic. You should be more consistent with how you speak to hold their attention more completely.” Sophia gives her a tired look. Her mother just shakes her head. “There’s no need to feel ashamed, it took me years to get it. You’ll do well in time, I’m sure of it.”
Sophia sighed. This was a conversation they had before. She was bored with the standard wording her mother insisted on, she just wanted to try something new. Some elves tended to be a bit removed from other people and races, but her family took it to the extreme. Complete isolationists. Jealously guarding their secrets to hypnosis. From what little Sophia knew of the rest of the world, they probably didn’t care what her family did. Yes, her family was incredibly talented in hypnosis, but what did they do with that? Did they go out, and make their mark on the world? Did they go on adventures to find unimaginable wealth? No, none of that. They hoarded what little they had, and now they expected Sohpia to be content with them and just go along with the status quo.
Some time ed before one of the servants came to announce dinner, mainly filled with Sophia in her room fantasizing about how she could learn some new hypnosis. Her family’s techniques were demonstrably effective, at least to some extent, but there had to be some benefit to learning new styles. Not that her family would ever let her find out. When it came time for dinner, Sophia left her room, making her way to the dining hall. On her way there, she met her older sister, Angela.
“How’d it go today?” Angela asks her idly.
Sophia sighs. “The same as every day. How do you not get bored of it?”
Angela was much more content to go along with their family’s wishes than Sophia. It’s not that she lacked ambition. Rising to the head of her family was just enough for her. She didn’t agree with all of their traditions and rules, but Angela wanted to change the system from the inside. “Patience, Sophia, patience. When I’m in charge, I’ll make sure things change.”
“But how long will that take? It’s not like Mom and Dad are on death’s door or anything. It’ll be decades at least. It’s hard to believe our Mom is the leader of a once great clan of hypnotists. We should be out there, getting as strong as possible.” Sophia groans, letting out some of her frustration. Angela’s the only member of her family she can speak frankly with.
“I know,” Angela sighs, sharing some of her frustration. “But there’s only so much we can do.”
Sophia doesn’t belabor the point. It’s a conversation they’ve had plenty of times before, and it always came to the same conclusion. That it would be better to wait and see. That might be enough for Angela, but Sophia wanted something a little more immediate. But her family would never approve. She leaves her thoughts on this topic as she sits down. She puts a smile on her face as she faces her parents.
“So how was your practice today, Sophia?” Her father asked.
“It was good, Dad. I think I’ll be ready to learn something new soon.” This was usually the most Sophia would voice her true feelings around her parents these days.
Her parents let out twin sighs, not even dignifying her answer with a response. “And how about you, Angela?”
“Very good, thank you. I think I’m finally perfecting the initial part of my inductions. Really grabbing their attention with it.” Angela says, smoothly falling into her practiced lines.
Both Sophia and Angela are extremely talented in hypnosis. They had long since mastered the techniques that had taken their mother years to refine. But their parents refused to accept it, always finding some flaw in their style that they would use as an excuse to keep teaching them the same things over and over. Their parents and Angela talked through most of dinner, with Sophia putting in a word or two every now and then. This had been their dynamic for a while now.
Sophia sighs as she stands up after one of the servants takes her dishes. She goes back to her room to sulk until she goes to bed. The voices of Angela talking with their parents fade as Sophia walks away. In her room, she lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. The servants knew not to bother her unless she asked, and she doubted her family would be coming to her for anything, so she had the rest of the night to herself. So what to do now? Staying wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would be boring, but she was safe and at least she could talk to Angela so she wouldn’t go completely insane. But… Sophia wanted to learn more hypnosis. It felt like her calling. And here, her growth was stagnant. She needed a place to learn. Someplace with subjects who wouldn’t just drop as soon as the idea of hypnosis was presented to them.
She stands up and pulls her smartphone out of her drawer. Their mother limited her and Angela’s access to any information about the outside world, so they would gag at the prospect of either of them getting on the internet of all things. But while none of the family were ever allowed to leave their compound, the servants did all the time to gather supplies. And she was required to hypnotize the servants basically every day. So with a suggestion given to a servant while her parents weren’t listening, made so even they wouldn’t be aware of what they were doing, Sophia had her own smartphone. Her parents truly underestimated Sophia’s talent and assumed she wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything so subtle. She had to be careful with it, of course. Who knows what her mother would do if they found out.
Laying back on her bed, she starts some research. She needs some kind of training academy for hypnotists. There’s gotta be something like that. After a bit of looking around on the internet, she found it. A hypnosis university only a few days of travel away. And it was in the middle of its application period. But how to actually apply? Her parents wouldn’t even consider it, and tuition wasn’t cheap. Her family had the money, to be sure, but could she access it? She also wondered if her family’s name would let her skip the more tedious parts of the application process. They weren’t so great now, but not so long ago, they had made waves in the world of hypnosis. Hopefully, that could help her out. But that still left the problem of applying in secret. She couldn’t get the money herself, her parents hadn’t given her access to it, probably out of fear she’d try something exactly like this. They had given Angela access to it though. Sophia began forming a plan.
And the first step involved starting her application. She pulled up the university’s webpage on her phone and began filling in her information.