Her strike found true on Kyanna, and the lack of any resistance from the rest of her aggressors must meant that the mastermind magia calculating each and every single movement she did had fallen, too. She had no time but to stare with wide open eyes at the witch who crumbled in that instant. A job she couldn't finish, but disabled was the second best alternative.
With every target she fell three more surged, like the vermin they all were. When her legs begun to fail, Maria's last resort became the abuse of short-distance portals, using them to skip terrain mostly and generate distance from the rapid advancement of Valmont and the cavalry of her previous targets. What she did not expect, however, would be the quicksand (@Toko )that trapped her feet and forced her to fall face first against the floor, only to find it turned into a solid. Yet she didn't hesitate. But why? Why she couldn't hesitate?
The thoughts flee as dark magic begun to melt through the ground and chunks of her ankles and feet, forcing the world to give up it's grasp on her. Maria groaned, graveling over the floor. So close yet so far away from that last portal. Until her body could not move anymore as a voice echoed through her mind, and not just Rael's, as the music begun to roll and silence befell upon the battlefield in her own mind.
That familiar melody, reminiscent of a time she had long forgotten. Memories begun to swarm her mind, living tales spinning within her eyes. She couldn't dare to blink, least she missed a single one of them, a lifetime story from beginning to end.
Why, where?
The singer shared voices with her, only theirs were somehow far more angelical than any other memory of herself. Tears begun to roll across her cheeks, her eyes twitched. She couldn't move, and despite needed no oxygen at all, the sensation of choking in outer space naturally occurred anyway.
She remembers why. Who the singer is, when was that lullaby sang, as one twin put the other to sleep with the delicate tune.
Erika... Please.
But the song never stopped at her pleas, no matter how hard she repeated them. It wasn't the first time she's forgotten, but each of these were placed like portraits upon a wall, repeating themselves over and over again for her mind to piece together, to torment itself. To remind herself of her purpose, and of what she lost.
Of all the many times she lost her.
Grief chained her down to her knees, fingernails dug onto the dirt as purple sparks begun to form across the claw marks.
" STOP IT!" The ground shook to her voice's command, the fragile vestiges of power still left in her wrapping her fallen body on a dark bubble to shield her of the outside, of the harmonics casted upon her: It was too late, however. "Please Erika, please don't- Don't... Why?" Her mind did the rest on it's own, needing no magical incentive anymore. With a voice as cracked as her body that soon begun to crumble feet first, tears foreshadowed her panting...
"E̷̻̻͐͑̀R̴̡̗̼̰̜̥̤̭̩͐̾͐̄́̌͐͑͆͝ͅI̸̤͇̲̘̽͛͋̑̈̃͂̂͘̕K̶͍͕̞̱͎̗̙̙͔̎̏̽́̎́̂A̵̮̟̣̥͙̍͋̀͝A̴̖͔̝̝̺̰͔͍͛̋ͅā̶̛̞͚̖̜̺͍̝̤̃̍̒̀̿͘̕A̵̢̢̛̟̘͚̘͍͎̘̋̍̊̈̑̓̆̀͝ͅÁ̸̡̙̠̣̬̝̲̮͆͛̑̾̍̕͝ą̵̤͚̘̗̼̣̱̯̘̔͐͊̾̉͘Â̴̲̎̄̒̕Á̴͍̺̣́̀͑͝͠a̸̡̯̩̺̿̐́̎͂́̂̈́̕̚A̴̡̟͔̝̗̤̣͓̭̹̚͘A̷̭͆̑͛͑̂ä̴̳͉̪̯̲̩̤͖́͘ä̴̧͖̞̳͖͚̺͉͙́̏͗͝Ȃ̴̯͇̱̜̰͛̑̌̑̋̈́̈ǎ̸̡̛̹̙̇͐͌̅̅͛͝ą̶̟̯͇̈͋͒͗͋̐͜Á̷̡̖͚̰̪͖̞̓a̴̢̺͙̅̇̑̏̅̔̂Ą̵̛͛͊̃̈̋͌̈͘͠à̴̖̝̩͇̭͈͔̅̄̍̂ͅA̴͔͈̮͉͉̓A̶̢̮̻̙͉̔̓͌̀"
The harrowing screams of a banshee, as the little dome protecting her fallen body bursted spikes facing outwards, and the very ground begun to be littered with them, indiscriminately impaling everything the thorns would find on their path, and some of them even homing their way towards members of the group, shattering the earth with their advance, and killing Magia and Lander alike in it's pathway.
@Kyanna Wynne @Eva @MAI @Rael @Asher @Valmont