[center][color=palevioletred][h1][i]Kiri Hae[/i][/h1]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Z7ppeln.jpg?1[/img]

[u]Interactions:[/u] N/A
[u]Location:[/u] Where She Doesn't Belong
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Kiri’s staff cut through the air, readying a blow. But she was too late. Samael was gone. Then the portal swallowed Kiri whole.

The next few moments were a blur. Suddenly Kiri was immovable and fluid at once, not able to control her body and helpless to the push and pull around her. Flits of lights and color appeared and disappeared, strange phantom images that she couldn't make out. And then it was over. 

Kiri's staff cut through the air. Samael was gone. Instead, it moved through open space. Kiri blinked at this new reality, fighting to right herself, stop her own momentum. The air caught in her lungs, thick and [i]wrong[/i]. She took in a breath, stopped short.

Something enormous shot past her -- white light that grew until it blinded her only to disappear a second later, a roar like thunder that vibrated her very bones, wind blowing her clumps of hair and her filthy crimson cloak after it with such force that it knocked Kiri off balance, her footing uneven on the hard, smooth ground. A smell like smoke hit her face. Kiri inhaled to cough only to find she couldn't get enough air in. 

[i]She was six years old, bone thin and pale, sitting up in bed in the dim light of her room, stuggling to breathe as a nurse rubbed her back and held hot tea up to her face, she was wheezing coughing shecouldn'tbreathe-- [/i]

That same grinding roar sounded again, paired with what sounded like a blaring horn, growing in volume and pitch. Kiri spun, still unsteady, in time to see another bright monstrocity shoot past her. She stumbled back, knuckles white around her staff. Just like before, the light  disappeared, the raucous cries growing softer and lower again. There was the sound of someone -- a [i]human[/i] -- shouting but Kiri couldn't make out the words. 

Another roar. Another horn. Kiri looked up, squinting at bright white light on the face of something as tall as a horse and four times as wide. It was charging straight for her. Kiri's staff shot up across her chest. She tried to jump to the side, just as it swerved in the opposite direction, letting out a high pitched screech. It curved around her before speeding off and Kiri stumbled back. Again, there was that wave of dirt and smoke. Kiri coughed, pressure growing in her chest. She took another step back. The soaking red cloak wrapped around her legs. Her heel hit something hard -- a raised section of the ground, like a stone step -- and Kiri fell back, her spine landing hard against what felt like smooth brick. Her head cracked against the ground. 

Kiri gasped -- or she [i]tried[/i] to. She laid on the ground, aching, soaked through with mud, blood, sweat, and rotting remains of the battle that [i]wasn't done yet[/i] -- she had to get up, she had to keep going she --

She coughed. Kiri tried to breathe in but her chest was tight, under some crushing phantom weight, and she couldn't manage more than a few whisps of thick air. She couldn't stop [i]coughing[/i]. Her vision started to swim as she stared up at the sky. There were lights all around her, shining off of smooth metalic cliff-faces -- buildings, or strutures, or --

Her breath escaped her chest with a small, shaking wheeze. She hadn't made that sound in [i]years[/i]. 

[i][color=palevioletred]No no no nonononononono[/color][/i]

Not again, she was better than this, she'd [i]outgrown this[/i]. Her grip tightened around her staff where it'd been thrown to her side. Coughs continued to wrack her body and she squeezed her eyes shut. What was this? A spell? Samael had dones something to her, had made her --

Another wheeze. It was happening almost every breath now, her head swimming from the lack of air. She had to... she just had to get through this. Her frantic mind grasped at memories. She'd had these episodes hundred of times before.

Hot tea. Slow breaths. Meditation. Her nurse's ointment.

[i]The soft sheets of her bed wrinkled in her tiny fists.

Light filtering through the seam where her curtains didn't quite meet.

Her uncle telling her to straighten up, put her hands on top of her head, slow her heart rate.

Her father's voice echoing over the sound of her coughing, ordering that she be taken back to her room.[/i]

Tears sprung to her eyes as another wave of coughing overtook her. The roar of those [i]things[/i] that'd nearly run her over faded into the background, over taken by the sound of Kiri's frantic heart and the weak sound of her breath.