James mandrake

It was that Vincent came into this world to be given up for adoption. Abandoned at birth, he was taken in by an elderly couple when he was still less than a year old. The young child was raised in Washington by the older pair who chose to live in the country to farm. Yet, the isolated existence only led the boy to feeling as though his own existence was somehow false. He failed to make proper friends due to the fact he was homeschooled and the separation only exacerbated his feeling that life seemed false. He even attempted to eat red candies as though it would wake him out of the Matrix. The odd upbringing eventually culminated when his adopted parents decided to get a divorce, revealing the truth that he was truly not of their blood. It caused Vincent Pollet to realize that his feelings were a hundred percent correct.

He attempted to run away a week after finding out he was adopted at age twelve. The young Vincent tried to run away to join the circus. Oddly enough, he ended up being far more successful than most children. Hiding and doing odd jobs around a travelling group eventually caused the workers to wonder when the boy had not been part of their show. It seemed largely luck that he was able to escape notice, though in his mind it was simply that he was meant to be elsewhere than home. His rather odd upbringing included stage fighting, acrobatics, and other strange things. The time spent among the circus felt to be its own awakening, it was the real world standing out from what had previously been just a lie. However, the fairy tale didn't last forever as the circus ended up bankrupt when Vincent reached the age of 19. All that remained was for him to go home.

Returning home, Vincent's father wasn't sure what to think. He had almost accepted his son had died when he returned home a rather different looking person. Since then Vincent's mother had died as well but his adopted father still saved a place for him to stay. Few options were open for the dropout so he worked to earn his GED and later tried picking up the trade of metallurgy. He hoped the making of metal would at least be an interesting pursuit. The loss of the circus and his freedom had once again mired Vincent in a bog of commonplace reality. Life seemed to be just a continuation of what he had known before. Few other options were available for him to take, or so it felt.

It was at age 23 that Vincent undertook his real Awakening and found that he was not only correct about his previous feelings, even the freedom of before had been a lie. The world bent to will as matter moved to his hand and he spoke with ghosts. In the end, a Free Council mage brought him into the fold to begin true tutelage.