the academy

Sequestered away within the Academy lay a particular courtyard. It was smaller than most, but it was private, quiet, and most of all, it was heavily warded. This courtyard served a specific purpose, and it had been a personal request of Proctor Evangeline D'amour upon confirmation of her tenure...

"Solitary." "Yes, Count Walter. Solitary confinement," the Proctor, Andre Magomo, said again. Hardly enthused was he to be speaking to a nobleman. Both the Proctor and Walter were in the Academy's infirmary. After the incident at the First Annual Solstice Ball, Walter--along with a host of...

As if the day's earlier spar wasn't enough! Bull found Kristen as she was walking back to her room in the dormitories. A late night visit to the girls' privy room. The walk there had been torturous, for still she was sore all over from the beating she took from Bull in the afternoon...

Hadn't had a runaway since the revolution. Nobody knew how to handle it now. The old Proctors suggested the old way of doing things: send out capable Apprentices to kill the defector. The Guardsmen were adamantly against this and thought the runaway should be brought back by a whole search...

They weren't kidding. When the Guardsmen had proposed that they throw a formal ball for the Apprentices, Mars had laughed. It was no joke. Prior to the ball, seamstresses were brought (blindfolded, of course) onto the castle grounds to size the students for their outfits, then they left. When...

Iron Maiden. Epithets were a great honor bestowed upon the most renowned, successful Dreadlords. It was a testament to an individual's might and reserved for those that have committed only the most heinous of atrocities against their fellow man. So, when Mars Pallatrix learned that Noel's peers...

"What is that?" Mars Pallatrix asked, knowing full well that the bottle that had just been put in front of him was a variety of liquor. It was late, just past midnight, and in a few hours, the slumbering bodies within the castle would begin to stir as they went about their morning routines. A...

Near the Cortosi Coast - The Academy Blood trickled down his face, a cut above his left eye slowly blinding him enough that his peripheral vision was starting to fail. Blinking didn't really help, only letting the slick of red coat his eye even further. Mixed with the sweat it stung, but there...