house pirian

(Art Credit) No brighter sun, no fairer sky, could Kristen ask for on this day of fateful return. The country air was refreshing, cool to the skin and invigorating to the heart. Sparse clouds gave large deference to the sun, and they marred little the sea of afternoon blue in their drifting...

THE ACADEMY "This is the last time I want to see you, Pirian," said Proctor Magomo. It sounded harsh, from his tone to the words themselves, but to Kristen's trained ear this, from Magomo, was high praise. "Yes, Proctor," she said. Though she maintained her military bearing, standing rigidly...

Kristen sat in the infirmary of the Academy. Her arms she had held together, helplessly staring at their symmetry. Symmetry, that was, until it came to the wrist of her right arm, where the hand above was no more. Bandages concealed the stump. Yet underneath, she knew, there lay a most horrid...