illynx,

It was not only pain that brought her to the floor as much as it was the raging that now ensued with in her heart; at her hooves, the pieces of the life she had painstakingly painted were being buffeted across the grass by the breeze, particles of glitter dancing through the air. Surely, her side ached from the impact of horn, body, and magic, her neck was sore, and she expected Deimos to understand very little of what had sent her down into the arms of the Valley.

Inside her chest, it felt as if her heart was going to explode. At first, she accredited the sensation to the magic that had been used on her, but even in the short time it took for her to howl her outrage into the heavens, the pain from the horn grew lesser. It would seem to her, as she lay there with tears poised in the corner of her hatefully narrowed eyes, that her fall to her knees had risen from her desire to murder the man who had just dared cross the invisible boundaries that she felt should be there for her, or any others who chose to spar with the devilish black.

But she didn’t want to be like he was.

What other option did she have but to toss and turn, a child’s tantrum on the lush grasses beneath her body? It was not as if she could just bring him death and maintain any validity in her disgust of him at this moment – no, she wouldn't be a Reaper, a wrathful and useless man of decay.

She snarls most viciously as the man draws closer to her, already half way to her hooves in disgust of their proximity before his voice escapes his damnable mouth.

Get up, that wretched voice says, the one that she has blamed for the unraveling of her finest cloaks and stabbing out the feathers from all her pillows, and her dark tresses fan and spray about her even as her ribs groan savagely under the weight she has placed on them. In comparison, the bruise on her nape is child’s play, though she doubts she’ll be pleased with her new hairstyle in any way, shape, or form. She is pleased to see the red drip down the smooth black of his nape, but it does not fill the holes that have perforated her life ever since this man's rise to power; his blood could not create another Psyche for her to cling to, it could not weave for her a thicker curtain behind which to hide, and it couldn't change the facts at hand that she felt the man was more suited to his former station. It couldn't change that the pair had only fought, creating nothing for their herd in all their loathing of one another.

All she had wanted in those weeks past was a conversation, a resolution to this ugly hatred she felt towards the stallion. Instead, she had been ignored, and had been pleasantly happy to have the man accept a spar, hoping it might ease their ill will in some way. All she was returned for her efforts was this repulsive display of power to a woman who was fully aware of it's existence beforehand.

It doesn’t take her long to get back on her feet. It never has, really. She just wishes that by rising, he will fall down into whatever chasm he was born from.

I’d sooner walk out of Helovia itself with a band of fools and pegasi, she thinks to herself as makes a silent spat at his hooves, neck cringing with the sudden motion of her crown as she turned away his offered shoulder. She would normally fuss and throw her insults his way, attempt to let him see her anger, but in this case – she already knew that it would be a more useful attempt to barter with a stone. There was less soul in this ingrate than in a boulder, anyway. ”Don’t ever come near me again,” she warns, her words broken by the heaves of her sides and the sobs she barely controls, though her eyes portray the seriousness of her credence. She steps the opposite direction from the springs, her newest formulations requiring that she find the keystone that left her so weak as to succumb from an emotional overload as she just had.

If he stabs her in the back as she walks away, it won't be for a lack of expectation on her behalf.

[ Closing Defense : 782 Words ;
Injuries: Illynx's right side (all along ribs) is heavily bruised, her upper shoulder has a small but deep bruise, and her neck is bruised where she was bitten and she is missing a lock of hair in the same upper neck area. Knees are lightly bruised from landing on them. ]

intending to burn - pretending to fight it
everyone learns faster on fire