[center][h3] Stark [/h3][/center]

The fighting around her only got worse and worse with more blood falling to the ground and sticking to her flesh like a second skin. Stark barely able to keep her mind to herself and it was reaching to an odd dark place until the moment that Kori’s voice had rang out and the fighting itself seemed to have stopped. 

Her eyes rounded out and her breathing hitching for just a moment before her ears, as sensitive as they were, heard everything that happened. Of teeth crushing down upon bones and upon flesh. She didn’t even realize she was screaming until it was far too late and the shout died in her throat. 

First, Young Mistress and now Kori. Who else was going to die? Who else was she going to fail?

Those thoughts only passed through her as Kisarin gave the orders for their retreat. It churned her guts to do it but she would do, once again, as she was told and retreat...but not without taking out a few more of them so that a path could be made for their escape. 

Raising her arms she used both her water magics and her own….’hands’ to quite literally throw their enemies out of the way in any various direction.Beings haphazardously falling while trying to make the path of escaping easier for everyone around her.

Eventually they did make it to their escape but they all knew-it was not a success. They all came out alive and for what? 

Kori was dead and there was nothing that they could have done.

Stark made her way to mount the horse closest to her but the thing was spooked by her-she’d raised her hands to calm the beast only to see the arms of a monster still on her body fully covered in blood dirt and other unmentionables.

She seemed to wince as her fingers curled and that tingling sensation returned to her body as her human hands grabbed the reins and pulled her body up and onto the beast. 

The ride back to the base was far from something that she remembered let alone physically felt. 

When they had all arrived at their base of operations she had to resist the urge to cover her ears over witnessing the start of Ayano and Cyril’s conversation. For once she didn’t bother to look for anyone-for Mister Dubois or for Alice. No one. Quite honestly all that she wanted in that moment was to be alone. 

Perhaps to cry and perhaps to scream-she wasn’t quite sure herself.

With no fighting and no initial death happening around them Stark stuck out like a sore thumb. Her normally near silver hair was down in thick locks caked with shiny red blood that was beginning to darken and dry-much like the rest of the blood soaking through her clothing and onto her skin. Her nose was clearly swollen and had stopped bleeding quite some time ago but there was blood trails from her nostrils nonetheless. Her once nicely filed nails were chipped and broken in placed and her skin wasn’t even visible under a layer of red...there were still chunks of ‘something’ embedded under those nails that weren’t broken away. 

Overall she looked something close to nightmare-ish coated in generous layers of blood and with her less than human appearance… but the bracelets around her wrists were as pristine and shiny as the day she had them placed onto her body.  

She stood in the midst of the madness, numb and unfeeling, when Drosil had addressed her. Under other circumstances she might have even been surprised that he spoke to her but she just rolled with it and let the words move around a filter as she spoke. 

[b]”We retreat. We lick our wounds and we heal. We mourn our dead and bury and burn them…”[/b] She squared her shoulders as something cruel flashed across her features, [b]”Then we prepare for an all out assault. We crush them into something less than dust for what they have done. I will rip the heart out of every man, woman, and child that stands in the way of our survival and victory and take everything that they cherish and love so that they can feel even a fraction of the pain that they put the Prince and Princess through. The H’kelean people and their bastard pig king will suffer in the utmost of ways.” [/b]

There was a moment of pause as she stared into Drosil’s eyes, [b]”Does that answer your question Sir Drosil?”[/b]