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"Do you understand," said Proctor Magomo, leaning in dangerously close, "what it is you're asking me?"
Kristen stood rigidly at attention in his office in the Proctors' Building of the Academy. She was keenly aware that the door behind her was closed.
"Yes," she said, her voice quiet but steady, her eyes locked forward instead of precisely at Magomo's own piercing gaze. "I have learned from many of my erstwhile peers of the graduating class the methods by which their magic was...honed."
Proctor Magomo made no immediate response. He was as close to Kristen as he could be without touching her, and his aura was terrifying in its intensity. Though he was shorter than her by a couple of inches, she felt as though she were shrinking around the sheer weight of his scrutinizing regard. Her heart was pounding in her chest, awful embers smoldered beneath the entirety of her muscles, and yet she forced herself to stay resolute. She couldn't imagine what he would do if she crumbled now after making the request that she had made.
Yes. Before he had threatened her with it, back when she requested leave to hunt the spawn of Dark Ones in Alliria. Now, she was openly asking for it.
Finally, after pacing ever so slowly around her, he spoke, "Once you are committed to this path...there is no turning back. And understand this, Initiate Pirian. I want to see you become a weapon of Vel Anir—you are no use to anyone dead. But if you get cold feet and decide you're not committed enough anymore, if you even think about turning this around on me, suggesting even in the slightest that this was not wholly your idea...your body will never be found, and your family will never know what truly happened to you. Do. You. Understand. Me?"
Kristen wanted to swallow, wanted to wring her hands, wanted to cry even, all of the tells both big and small to vent out her anxiety, but she didn't—couldn't—allow for any of them. Not even a single stutter in her response.
She waited until she knew she was able to speak. "Yes, Proctor Magomo. I understand."
"This is your last chance to back out and make it so this conversation never happened. Do you wish to continue?"
She waited again.
And spoke with a little more steel.
"Yes, Proctor Magomo. I want this."
Proctor Magomo burst into the girls' dormitory, Kristen trailing in his wake. Initiates who happened to be in the halls all but threw themselves out of his way, flattening themselves against the walls or fading back into doorways to allow him to pass. He rounded one corner and Ambrosie, a nice enough girl from Kristen's understanding, wasn't quick enough and Magomo simply shoved her offhandedly from his path, yet it was rough enough to send her crashing into the wall.
"Move faster next time," he said to her without looking back.
Proctor Magomo had explained their next few steps. He was pleased that she had learned a deadly spell ("Oh, finally got something lethal, have you?" was all he had said, but Kristen knew him well enough to understand that, yes, he was in fact pleased) and he was given over completely to Kristen's desire to have it honed. She would even say that he was eager to employ some of the old methods on her; that was, perhaps, the scariest part.
Yet she followed after him. She was committed to this road now.
The only question would be who would end up being their, as Proctor Magomo called it, "assistant." He told her flat out that they were going to need a healer for the regimen he had planned—which was to include a "proving ground" phase and then deployment in an actual battle (and then as much more as she wished).
Proctor Magomo had in mind a very suitable pick, especially when it would come to the battle phase. But, he told her, it would be up to Kristen to convince her and to swear her to secrecy. Proctor Magomo was diligent, careful, and was ensuring by all means that it would not seem as though this were coercion of any sort on his part. After what happened during Graduation, Kristen could easily place herself in his shoes and see why.
They approached Marcella's door now.
And Proctor Magomo banged on it hard enough that Kristen worried it might fall of its hinges. "INITIATE ITEIUS. OPEN THIS DOOR."
Kristen stood rigidly at attention in his office in the Proctors' Building of the Academy. She was keenly aware that the door behind her was closed.
"Yes," she said, her voice quiet but steady, her eyes locked forward instead of precisely at Magomo's own piercing gaze. "I have learned from many of my erstwhile peers of the graduating class the methods by which their magic was...honed."
Proctor Magomo made no immediate response. He was as close to Kristen as he could be without touching her, and his aura was terrifying in its intensity. Though he was shorter than her by a couple of inches, she felt as though she were shrinking around the sheer weight of his scrutinizing regard. Her heart was pounding in her chest, awful embers smoldered beneath the entirety of her muscles, and yet she forced herself to stay resolute. She couldn't imagine what he would do if she crumbled now after making the request that she had made.
Yes. Before he had threatened her with it, back when she requested leave to hunt the spawn of Dark Ones in Alliria. Now, she was openly asking for it.
Finally, after pacing ever so slowly around her, he spoke, "Once you are committed to this path...there is no turning back. And understand this, Initiate Pirian. I want to see you become a weapon of Vel Anir—you are no use to anyone dead. But if you get cold feet and decide you're not committed enough anymore, if you even think about turning this around on me, suggesting even in the slightest that this was not wholly your idea...your body will never be found, and your family will never know what truly happened to you. Do. You. Understand. Me?"
Kristen wanted to swallow, wanted to wring her hands, wanted to cry even, all of the tells both big and small to vent out her anxiety, but she didn't—couldn't—allow for any of them. Not even a single stutter in her response.
She waited until she knew she was able to speak. "Yes, Proctor Magomo. I understand."
"This is your last chance to back out and make it so this conversation never happened. Do you wish to continue?"
She waited again.
And spoke with a little more steel.
"Yes, Proctor Magomo. I want this."
* * * * *
Proctor Magomo burst into the girls' dormitory, Kristen trailing in his wake. Initiates who happened to be in the halls all but threw themselves out of his way, flattening themselves against the walls or fading back into doorways to allow him to pass. He rounded one corner and Ambrosie, a nice enough girl from Kristen's understanding, wasn't quick enough and Magomo simply shoved her offhandedly from his path, yet it was rough enough to send her crashing into the wall.
"Move faster next time," he said to her without looking back.
Proctor Magomo had explained their next few steps. He was pleased that she had learned a deadly spell ("Oh, finally got something lethal, have you?" was all he had said, but Kristen knew him well enough to understand that, yes, he was in fact pleased) and he was given over completely to Kristen's desire to have it honed. She would even say that he was eager to employ some of the old methods on her; that was, perhaps, the scariest part.
Yet she followed after him. She was committed to this road now.
The only question would be who would end up being their, as Proctor Magomo called it, "assistant." He told her flat out that they were going to need a healer for the regimen he had planned—which was to include a "proving ground" phase and then deployment in an actual battle (and then as much more as she wished).
Proctor Magomo had in mind a very suitable pick, especially when it would come to the battle phase. But, he told her, it would be up to Kristen to convince her and to swear her to secrecy. Proctor Magomo was diligent, careful, and was ensuring by all means that it would not seem as though this were coercion of any sort on his part. After what happened during Graduation, Kristen could easily place herself in his shoes and see why.
They approached Marcella's door now.
And Proctor Magomo banged on it hard enough that Kristen worried it might fall of its hinges. "INITIATE ITEIUS. OPEN THIS DOOR."
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