[h1][u]Ciara Ventura[/u][/h1]
[i][color=gray]Iris Record, First Floor Eastern Halls[/color][/i]
[@Nanaya], [@Sifr]

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[quote=Ozhiah]"Lord Leuvalt declared it folly to turn back and see what the mobilization of security was for, but I for my part could not ignore it."[/quote]

Ciara scoffed, holding her abdomen with a wheeze. [i]Lord[/i] Levault. That boy deserved to have the hordes upon him, not her.

[quote=Ozhiah]"If you give yourself up now, you will not feel pain when the hammer of order is brought upon you. Of this, I can be certain."[/quote]

Ciara's red eyes stared back, before glancing at Hildegunde. The tingling running down her back. The splatter of blood on the floor.

A moment of hesitancy, soon preyed on by The Voice.

[quote=That Voice]"Is this Ciara Ventura? Will this be her last dance, bleeding and limping like a cornered animal, prancing like a court jester soon to knowingly reach the king's guillotine?”[/quote]

It was true. If she was caught, she wouldn't survive. All the slivers she knew about the Umbralists told her they didn't survive. They were killed with impunity. Such a fate awaited her, if she stopped now. If she gave in.

She'd never give in.

Her lips pulled back in a snarl, her eyes fixed on Ozhiah. Her words were for him, and for the Voice taunting her within.

[b]”Go to hell.”[/b]

And she breathed in.

With all her might and speed, she drew in the energy, the life force from [i]both[/i] Ozhiah and Hildegunde, hoping to, and aiming to wither them down to immobile, barely breathing husks. Not kill them, but bring them close to it.

Ozhiah was an obvious target, but Hildegunde? Ciara didn't have time to negotiate, to beg for help. She assumed Hildegunde would react poorly to her attack on Ozhiah, so Ciara made it easier: she simply included Hildegunde in the attack. 

The sound of breaking walls spurred Ciara on. To hell with Davil, she had to get out. Now. She was foolish for even daring coming this way. Now? Now she would follow Hildegunde's path. It would make sense it would lead to the arena, then to the entrance. 

Without sparing Hildegunde or Ozhiah a look, Ciara gritted her teeth, and teleported down the hall, retracing Hildegunde's likely pathway in an effort to make it outside quicker than the encroaching feeling she could feel breathing down her neck. Quicker than the consequences of her actions. Faster than whatever was coming for her.