Pallez Zoroast

Biography

Encounters Across Both Eras

Pallez is a Fourth Epoch noble of the Zoroast family and a Sequence 1 Worm of Time whose life becomes defined by survival against Amon. Amon's earlier attack leaves him badly injured, so rather than remain exposed as an independent angel, Pallez enters Leonard Mitchell as a parasite. His weakened condition explains both the choice of a long-lived human host and his caution: repeatedly changing short-lived hosts would burden his body, prevent recovery, and shorten his remaining lifespan. Although outsiders initially fear that Leonard has been possessed, Pallez limits himself to preliminary parasitism, hiding as a mass of ringed worms in Leonard's Soul Body without taking control of his mind, Astral Projection, Ether Body, or physical body. (Chapters 770, 877, 951, and 980)

That restraint develops into a practical partnership. Pallez protects Leonard when he is in danger, teaches him mysticism, and becomes Klein Moretti's best local source on Amon's avatars, theft, and parasitism. When Amon infects Böklund Street, Pallez agrees to act only after concealment shields the operation from fate; he then uses his superior position in the same pathway to draw together the characteristics in Amon's avatars. The dead avatars leave Worms of Time whose characteristics would normally return rapidly to Amon, but Pallez can retain and absorb them. That replenishment lets him recover significantly, while memory fragments taken from Flora Jacob expose the Jacob family's hidden treasure. (Chapters 984–992 and 1003–1009)

The treasure becomes Amon's thousand-year trap. Pallez first recovers to Sequence 2, sends an avatar to watch the excavation, and absorbs the characteristic it steals, briefly restoring his Sequence 1 strength. Amon's true body then isolates Leonard's home with the corpse cathedral and kills Pallez's main body. Pallez survives because he had designed a costly contingency: after the true body dies, he revives in an avatar kept inside Leonard, but loses the Sequence 1 characteristic and passively falls to Sequence 2. Amon deliberately allows the escape because a survivor with hope is less likely to fight to mutual destruction. Pallez nevertheless saves Leonard before dying and, once revived, warns that Amon's new characteristic completes the material requirement for Error's apotheosis. (Chapters 1204–1206)

As a Sequence 2 Trojan Horse of Destiny, Pallez remains Leonard's adviser and lends Klein the knowledge needed to reproduce high-level Theft even though he can no longer personally use Sequence 1 time powers. He later becomes the Angel of Time named in the Church of The Fool's scripture. By the later era he has advanced back to Sequence 1—the corpus confirms the restored rank but does not narrate how he reacquired the characteristic—and continues living in Leonard because familiarity is comforting and because the Churches' protection mitigates the pressure created by the conflict between The Fool and the Celestial Worthy. Pallez helps analyze the dream city, deploys Worms of Time during Project Vortex, fights as an Archangel of the Error pathway during the apocalypse, and afterward joins Fors Wall's journey to another star dominion. (Chapters 1243, 1264, 1327, 1392, 2289–2307, 2563, 2589, 2595, and 2610)

Appearance and personality

For most of his early appearances, Pallez has no independent visible human body. He speaks inside Leonard's mind with a slightly aged voice, while observation at the soul level reveals a luminous mass formed from innumerable ringed Worms of Time. When he later separates from Leonard, those segmented worms assemble into an elderly man with neatly combed white hair, deep brown eyes, a sombre expression, few wrinkles, and an asymmetrical black robe. His time-related manifestations can also take the form of an ancient wall clock. (Chapters 951, 2563, and 2566)

Pallez presents himself as a weary, conservative old man. He grumbles when disturbed, mocks Leonard's slow deductions, reads newspapers through his host, and prefers the safety of a cathedral to heroic risk. That manner hides exacting judgment. He studies the cost of every confrontation, refuses to treat a low-probability loophole as a solution, and considers allegiance to a true god a rational protective arrangement rather than a matter of pride. His fear of Amon is informed caution: Amon injured him, can detect disturbances in fate, and repeatedly modernizes avatar techniques that Pallez admits have surpassed his own. (Chapters 877, 984, 1004–1009, 1175, and 1206)

His conduct toward Leonard is gentler than his sarcasm suggests. Preliminary parasitism preserves Leonard's agency; when Amon attacks, Pallez expends his main body's chance of survival to push Leonard out of the sealed battlefield. He jokes that Leonard is not truly his grandson, yet remains with him even after regaining Sequence 1 and continues to protect and advise him. Pallez also places ethical limits on casual Theft: when Leonard asks about stealing artistic flair, he explains that the concept is too vague, proposes a consensual exchange for a clearly defined talent, and finally points out that simply hiring a talented person is better. (Chapters 951, 1205–1206, 1392, and 2289)

Pathways and abilities

Pallez belongs to the Error pathway. His relevant state chronology is injured Sequence 1 Worm of Time, recovering angel sustained by preliminary parasitism, briefly restored Sequence 1, self-preserved Sequence 2 Trojan Horse of Destiny after Amon takes his characteristic, and restored Sequence 1 Archangel in the later era. He never becomes Sequence 0 Error. Consequently, a feat from before Chapter 1206 or after his later advancement cannot automatically be assigned to his intervening Sequence 2 state. (Chapters 790, 1008, 1204–1206, 1243, 2289, and 2563)

Parasitism and recovery

Pallez can divide off Worms of Time, place an avatar in a host, and survive through a parasitic connection. Preliminary parasitism hides him in the Soul Body and permits internal speech without controlling Leonard's other spiritual bodies or flesh. Deeper parasitism would let him seize those layers and perceive communications directed to Leonard's Astral Projection, but it would also compromise Leonard's autonomy and make Pallez more exposed; he deliberately does not deepen the state. A host must be durable enough for long residence because switching parasites strains Pallez and worsens rather than repairs his condition. (Chapters 951, 980, and 984)

Recovery requires compatible Error-pathway characteristics, not merely rest inside a host. Pallez can retain the otherwise returning characteristics in dead Worms of Time, digest what he absorbs, and reconstruct higher-level strength. His avatar-based resurrection is more drastic: an avatar becomes the surviving body after the main body dies, but the Sequence 1 characteristic remains with the killer, forcing Pallez down to Sequence 2. The method therefore preserves identity and life at the price of rank, power, and a characteristic that an enemy can use. (Chapters 986, 1005–1009, and 1204–1206)

Theft, fate, and deceit

Theft allows Pallez to take objects, Beyonder powers, thoughts, time, fate-related states, or other sufficiently defined qualities. The target and meaning matter. “Natural talent” can be isolated as a trait, whereas “artistic flair” is too vague to steal reliably. At the angel level, Theft can also act through mystical connections: Pallez's pathway position lets him force characteristics out of lower or divided beings of the same pathway, and his knowledge later enables Klein to steal the connection between the Dark Angel and the first Blasphemy Slate. Such demonstrations do not mean any abstract idea can be taken without definition, range, connection, or resistance. (Chapters 1005–1009, 1264, 1353, and 1392)

Pallez can analyze rules and deceive an established order when a usable contradiction exists. He proposes using a Deceit charm made from Amon's Worm of Time to trick the world's resurrection rules, but explicitly assesses the chance of success as extremely low. He is a Cryptologist capable of reconstructing secrets from signs and symbolic structures, yet this is expertise rather than omniscience: he fails to identify Amon after the latter changes his symbolic form in Lumian's dream, and foreign powers can misdirect even the Worms he sends to locate a flaw. Concealment, repaired rules, disrupted connections, and stronger control over the same domain all counter his methods. (Chapters 877, 1175, 2303, 2308, and 2446–2452)

Time, avatars, and survival

At Sequence 1, Pallez's Worms of Time are both parts of his Mythical Creature form and distributed agents. They can search for temporal flaws, assemble into his body, and support survival across locations. His time powers can suspend a target and its actions, symbolized by a clock whose hands stop; the recreation of Pallez through the Staff of the Stars freezes a Demoness and her Sealed Artifact long enough for Leonard to force the battle into a dream. That particular manifestation is a one-attack recreation produced by the staff, not Pallez personally leaving his battlefield. (Chapters 770, 951, 2303, 2563, and 2566)

Pallez's distributed form has limits. Worms can be misled or made to disobey under higher interference, an avatar carries only the characteristics assigned to it, and the same-pathway convergence that lets him reclaim fragments also attracts Amon. At Sequence 2 he retains angelic Theft, parasitism, deception, avatars, and accumulated knowledge but loses the Time-domain powers reserved for Worm of Time. His strongest defense is therefore layered preparation—avatars, concealment, divine protection, and retreat—not immunity to capture or theft. (Chapters 1005–1009, 1104, 1205–1206, 1243, and 2303–2307)

Relationships

• Leonard Mitchell: Pallez's host, student, and long-term companion. Their bond begins as a survival arrangement but becomes reciprocal trust: Leonard provides a protected place to recover, while Pallez preserves his agency, teaches him, and sacrifices rank to save him.
• Amon: Pallez's principal predator and same-pathway rival. Amon's attack causes his weakened state, his avatars provide material for Pallez's recovery, and the Jacob treasure trap lets Amon seize Pallez's Sequence 1 characteristic.
• Klein Moretti: An initially uncertain ally whose concealment and plans make operations against Amon possible. Pallez supplies Error-pathway intelligence and later serves as the Angel of Time under the Church of The Fool.
• Fors Wall: A later-era collaborator. Fors consults Pallez's cryptological judgment, works beside him in the operations surrounding the dream and apocalypse, and leads the interstellar journey he joins afterward.
• Arianna: Her concealment prevents Amon from reading the fate of the Böklund Street operation, supplying the protection Pallez requires before committing himself against the avatars.

Items

• Worms of Time and derived charms: Pallez's separated worms are portions of his mythical body rather than ordinary equipment. Once their active characteristics return or are retained, the remaining material can serve as a vessel for Fate Siphon, Deceit, and related charms. Creating a charm requires the correct symbols, materials, and invoked authority; possession of a dead worm alone does not grant Pallez's full powers. (Chapters 770, 986–990, 1008–1009, and 1175)
• Staff of the Stars: Leonard uses the staff to visualize Pallez's Angel of Time form and reproduce a single time-freezing attack. The staff is Leonard's borrowed Sealed Artifact in that battle, not Pallez's personal possession. (Chapter 2566)