It was hard to say what part of Isopia won: her mind, or her body. Her mind wanted her body to remain still, to accept Rikyn's attack and allow the pain to wash over her. How else was she supposed to learn to dull her senses so that her mind could focus on things that really mattered? This sort of Buddhist-mindset was one she worked towards often, and given that magical hold Rikyn had just had on her body, it was the perfect time to exercise her control. Her body however had other plans. It (because rather than feeling as thought her limbs were an extension of her mind, it now felt like some meat-suit doing what it wanted, hence the pronoun it), lunged, and Isopia could feel her skull lowering as her body instinctively tried to retaliate by striking out at the retreating unicorn.

It, however - her body - failed spectacularly. Perhaps it was because the connections between her brain and her limbs were still re-connecting after Rikyn's blast, or perhaps her body had underestimated just how far it could go on its own, without her mind to guide it, but pain suddenly gripped her neck and shoulders, as a painful tensing knot of nerves balled up near her wither. The muscles she had just pulled sent flares of liquid fire up her neck and down each shoulder. The demi-goddess felt as though knives were digging into her flesh, and as if that flesh were turning to stone. Once again she felt as though she couldn't move, only this time it had nothing to do with Rikyn.

So who was the real victor here? Iso's mind? Or or her body? You'll have to stay tuned, for both were in too much pain to decide.

A shining thought began to radiate through the wall of pain (amplified by the fact that Iso's head was still turned downwards, and so blood was quickly rushing to it): this was a mistake. All of the anger had left her body, and she was left with a sinking feeling that she should have known better. She should have known better than to let her emotional outrage at Volterra dictate her actions. Look where it had gotten her: her companion was publicly distancing himself from her actions, and here she was feeling paralyzed for the second time in a matter of only seconds, and all because she couldn't manage her feelings thanks to some boy.

Distantly she thought she heard Rikyn speaking, but it was muffled by the bwub bwub bwub sound made by the blood pounding in her ears. Isopia tried to raise just her eyes, but of course her skull followed the motion slightly. Immediately pain gripped her, escalating and radiating in painful and powerful vice grips of fire. Despite wanting to scream, Isopia instead held her breath (and even this small motion caused spiderwebs of tension to descend down her shoulders). Just as she was about to try and mentally ask Hubris what the unicorn had said, she felt her leg and shoulder muscles begin to twitch. It felt as though her legs were being dragged out from under her body, despite any cues from her brain. 

She knew this must be Rikyn, and despite her body's inclination to drop out from under her, the demigoddess could only imagine what that would do to the growing knot in her back. Surely a drop like that would only further aggravate the wound, and cause it to tighten up more of the surrounding muscles? Time to make a decision (to try and fight Rikyn's grip or allow herself to fall) was growing short. Her hooves had begun to slide on the sands, and in that moment, the decision to fight against the control, given the pain in her neck and shoulders seemed impossible.

Isopia tucked her nose to her chest as her legs were pulled from beneath her body. Surprisingly that position took most of the pressure off of her shoulders, and the tension released. For the few seconds until she hit the ground anyways. As she assumed, the jarring motion of her body hitting the sand beneath her caused pain to flare anew throughout her shoulders, wither, and neck.

Unable to see where Rikyn was (and because Hubris was apparently still not helping her), Isopia was forced to scramble to a standing position despite the chorus of pain pounding drums of blood in her ears. Roses and stars flashed and bloomed before her eyes as she spied Rikyn retreating down the beach.

The Mountain groaned, and let her head hang low again so that it would release some of the tension on her neck.

"That was dumb." She muttered to her hooves.