Recent content by Mars Pallatrix

The back of Mars' cortex sparked with the threat of danger. His synapses fired, electricity sparking with pain to the very tips of his fingers and toes. The Proctor allowed himself a brief glimpse and saw what awaited him. And he allowed it to be. The bud of a curse rooted in Mars' mind, and...

Mars sharply turned his gaze away from Kristen's raised palm and felt the waning heat of a failed cast warm his cheek like he'd stepped dangerously close to an open flame. The Proctor's assault continued, and with both hands, he reached for the wrist of her outstretched hand and the front of her...

Mars was stunned into momentary silence. What a gaze she held. That spark of malice behind her once innocent and ignorant eyes was akin to what he'd seen from the countless children who had passed through these halls. He imagined for a moment what kind of person it took to earn the hate of a...

Half a cup of tea sat to Mars' left, still steaming. The old Proctor uncomfortably shifted in his seat, then leaned forward and squinted at the blurry letters neatly scrawled on the parchment before him. He grumbled something, leaned back, and blinked twice. The morning was as it should be...

"Shatter a stone to pieces, and you only have smaller stones. But when you cut a man down, you are cutting down a great many people. You kill a man's great many former selves. An enemy and a comrade, a son and a father, a teacher and a student. The life of a man is a vast net that drags out and...

"I know," the Proctor stepped back from Kristen, turning his dagger, inspecting its edge, "I read the reports." From the most mundane tasks to brutal biddings, strict documentation of these missions and assignments has been a standard set by Mars from the earliest years of his placement within...

A firm hand lashed to capture Kristen's wrist in a vice grip. It was unbelievable how much the young lady had changed in such a short amount of time. When she'd arrived nearly a year ago, it seemed impossible that the girl would ever have the capacity to do another harm. But how quickly she...

There had been a time when Mars Pallatrix would have taken any measure, no matter how forceful and cruel, to shape the Initiates into killers. To bring the most out of their magic. Such as when Henry Bauer had been left in the Box for a month in winter, filled waist-high with water, so he could...

The disturbance had pulled Mars away from paperwork, which was a dreadful task, but he had settled into a comfortable rhythm with his quill. He sharply sucked in hair between his teeth and propped the quill on its stand. "One moment," He answered and drifted across his office as would a reaper...

Mars leaned his back against the wall. "Was a time when all you needed to climb the ranks was a tall pile of bodies," the Proctor mused, "but that age has long since passed." He regarded her with those vile eyes of his. Then, for a moment, he relented, and his features relaxed. "That one is a...

They had moved to the weapon racks along the wall. There was a water basin between the door and the first row of swords. Mars splashed his face there. A long silence. The intensity of it is sobering. "It isn't exactly play you'll be doing, come a year from now." The aging Proctor frowned down...

Mars' sword skittered against her shield. It was a light blow, hardly enough to throw the girl off balance, but that meant for a quick recovery on the Proctor's part. Sidesword retracted, dagger lashed out. Quick, alternating blows between main and off-hand clattered against Noel's shield as an...

As Grey flickered in and out of the material plane, and Reeve dropped the young Lady Pirian, Mars' head slumped, and the retired Dreadlord audibly groaned.

Several days passed where Mars would relentlessly drill Noel, and the two conversed almost casually about her improvement, but they did not spar until nearly a fortnight later. It was clear the Proctor had taken no small amount of time and painstakingly crafted a regimen specifically for the...

Mars' expression soured at Walter's quotation. "I do as bade of me," the Proctor remarked flatly. The impossible did not strike fear into the aging killer, for he had faced worse in his time. His heart still thundered healthily and warmly despite this. "I have my concerns, Sir Count, but I...