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He would have spoken her name had the shock not gotten to him first. [I]Delia.[/I] Here was someone whose face had been firmly ingrained into his memories for all the wrong reasons. It was not that she ever strayed from his mind but the timing and her current state was what had shaken him. A rage he thought he had abandoned years ago surged like nothing he had ever felt. He was deaf and dumb to everything except her struggling as the sight of each bruise seemed to hit him harder the more he saw. There were no long sleeves to hide them, no expertly styled dark hair, no makeup over olive skin in an attempt to cover everything her Duke did. He realized he should have expected this as he had seen first hand how the illusions had affected his mage. It was not enough that he had seen Noah actively drowning but seeing Delia in such a state had been an unexpected and brutal gut punch.

[I]Clear mind. Keep a clear mind,[/I] Ben needed to remind himself to focus on the task at hand, moreso when he realized he hadn't noticed that once he had taken the opal figure in his hands their surroundings had changed. By some miracle he hadn't dropped it but he was grateful he hadn't crushed it in his hands. They had been lifted and the tremors became much more obvious. There was only one thing to do. And yet he hesitated as his previous failures came back and he felt like he had been drowning as he stepped away from the struggling Delia. She was not there. She was not real. Even with that in mind he could not stop himself from recalling how even after her death he had failed her. Looking into her hazel eyes and seeing how frantic they were only hammered in the point.

[color=C0C0C0]"We need to leave,"[/color] He uttered.