[h1][u]Ciara Ventura[/u][/h1]
[i][color=gray]Wingram Academy, Auditorium[/color][/i]
[@Nanaya] [@ERode] [@Psyker Landshark] [@Sifr] [@AThousandCurses]
[hr]

[i][b]"Begging is beneath you. All of you."[/b][/i]

Cira's face turned towards the knight, a mesmerized, Hungry glimmer in her eye.

[i]"It's all the more tasty when it speaks like that."[/i] said a Voice.

Her eyes burned, still aflame from her feast on near-empty Mannekin. Everything was tastier now, her Hunger pangs were stronger from the lack of satisfaction, causing the knight to burn and glow temptingly in Ciara's eyes.

Her lips pursed. [i]"We aren't going there."[/i]

[i]"We'll see."[/i] Was all the Voice replied.

Ciara's gaze turned Otis, cataloging the students so, then to the hunter and the analyst, locked in an intense stare with each other. Then, the analyst walked away, shaking off the shadow gripping his wrist. Ciara sighed and gave Davil a once-over. He seemed fine, no worse for wear. [i]Good.[/i]

Her attention turned to the hunter, who was now standing on her other side without the analyst blocking the view, and gave a friendly nod. [b]"You're quite admirable. I'm Ciara." [/b]

[i][b]"You have truly brought the best of us forward with this request, chaff." [/b][/i]

Valen mocked her as he sat on his throne. She knew exactly why. The swarm of students that crowded around her area of the stage... were not the virtuous souls they claimed to be. She looked at them with disgust, watching the lies spew from their lips as dark, sludge-like auras and ashy grey lights greeted her. Totally inedible. Entirely unappetizing. Completely unacceptable.

Briefly, in the back of her mind, she considered the possibility that Valen's eyes might be as good as hers. However, judging from their actions, shoving one another to be the closest to her made it obvious. 

Yes, the truth was obvious.

[b]"All of you are a disgrace. None of you... not a single one of you holds a candle to the virtue of my companion. Your lies... make me sick."[/b]

[i][b]"I can only wonder how this resolves. Go on."[/b][/i] Valen's mutterings behind her. She turned, taking in his bored expression. The symbols he was drawing were similar to what Otis had once drawn. She was no expert when it came to the arcane-

[i]"He's gonna kill them."[/i] The Voices informed matter-of-factly.

Her eyes narrowed, staring a bit harder at the noble. Just how dark was his aura to do something like that?

[i]"Better for us."[/i]

A tip-tap of coldness crawled up her shoulders, her spine.

[i]"What's a little less darkness and ash in the world? Not enough Light is here anyway."[/i]

She could feel cold hands pressing around her neck. 

[i]"It's better like-"[/i]

Maybe it really was better like-

[i]"-this. It's... It's..."[/i] Ciara snapped into focus, feeling her apparition's hands around her throat. Quickly, she snarled, locking eyes with it before her shadow vanished from sight. The Voices almost had her, [i]almost[/i] convinced her of something so dark, so [i]awful[/i], to even consider it-

Her eyes snapped onto Valen.

She almost stood by and let this boy kill a bunch of students just because of her passing disgust.

She vanished, reappearing in the shadow behind Valen's throne. Her hand was gripped around a gleaming silver dagger, the sharp point pressed lightly against the jugular of Valen's throat. 

[b]"Cancel the magic. Now."[/b] There was a hard edge in her voice.

She had to... She had to prove to herself she wasn't what [i]they[/i] wanted her to be.