Had Galdis taken his time to make a good sweep of the courtyard with his abilities, he would have, no doubt, realized that in a room that was quite close to the master chambers he was about to enter, a girl was wide awake.

It had been a terrible oversight on his part. He knew that Ellen had come with a companion, and it was only natural to anticipate that both of them be assigned the same courtyard. Not taking the time to verify both girls' situations was quite foolhardy.

And so it came to be that as the intruder slipped into the room as quietly as he could, Camilla caught sight of him from the door to her room. Frowning, the young lady hurried over, making certain to keep her footsteps as light as she could as she crept close to the open door.

Upon reaching the door she glanced into the room stealthily and caught sight of a dark silhouette creeping steadily toward the bed.

Camilla pursed her lips and her eyes scanned the room quickly, using the shafts of moonlight streaming through the window to see as best she could. She took note of Ellen's hair glinting like metal under the moonlight and her eyes slid to the crystal lamp atop the bedside table. More specifically, the slim metal stand of the lamp caught her eye.

Good enough, Camilla thought and flexed her fingers as her manipulation stirred. But too far away.

She slipped into the room, trying to time her footfalls with that of the assassin. Camilla was no fighter but she would be damned if she allowed harm to come upon Ellen.

In a bit, the intruder reached the bed but Camilla was not near enough to where she wanted to be. As she saw Galdis put his hand into his robes, she threw caution to the wind and lunged, her manipulation surging, and the connection between her and the metal snapping into place swiftly. She landed heavily on her feet, Galdis turned, and she yanked the metal forward and upward, catching him on the side of his head. The man stumbled and Camilla used the chance to pull the lamp into her hands and lunge at the man swinging wildly.

Galdis ducked just in time, bending forward at the waist and sliding to the side in one fluid movement. He caught Camilla's free arm as she passed and twisted it behind her back. The girl gave a cry of pain and swung the lamp at his face. Her wrist was caught in his other hand and for a moment the girl seemed to struggle; before the metal in her hand stabbed forward, shooting toward Galdis' head.

Galdis had little time to register what was going on before the lamp shot straight into the right half of his face, slamming into his eye and making him see stars upon a painful red background.

Screaming, he pushed Camilla forcefully to the side and cradled his face. Camilla stumbled into a table and in little time both she and the table met the floor.

With a quick flex of his manipulation, Galdis tried to dull the pain radiating from his skull as much as he could, but the effect unraveled as quickly as it was applied. He continued to pull more from his gift, reinforcing what threatened to be undone, and marched up to Camilla as she tried to get to her feet, planting a vicious kick on her chest and sending her back to the ground wheezing and coughing.

"Camilla? Is that you?"

Galdis whirled about quickly and spotted the Maeser sitting straight up on her bed, half awake. The girl on the ground wheezed something unintelligible, but Galdis was already moving. In two quick steps he was by the waking girl's side, the white cloth already out and over her nose and mouth. Almost immediately, he felt the Maeser go slack as her eyes closed and she leaned into him. From across himself, he could make out Camilla rising to her feet clutching her chest and, with little time to spare, he stirred his manipulation and focused.

A small violet ethereal blob of energy condensed upon his fingertips and he flicked it at Camilla. The projectile blazed a path straight to his target and unraveled with a muffled whump inches from her face. Camilla's head snapped back, pushed by some unseen force, and she collapsed to the floor.

Gritting his teeth, Galdis tried to stem the pain trying to overcome him. Using his manipulation while injured was never pleasant and he just wanted to get out of the manor as soon as possible. He placed a hand behind Ellen's knees and lifted her in a princess carry. Avoiding the guards would be much harder now but Galdis was sure he could pull it off.

He pulled out a common De-weight talisman, activated it, and slapped it on the girl in his arms. He felt her get lighter and with a satisfied nod, left the room.

Not long after the next morning rolled about, Valerina was all packed up and ready to go. There was just one little thing to do first. Duel. Or more accurately, lose a duel. Since she would not be allowed to leave if she didn't.

That little reason was why she was currently within one of the many rings dotting the arena where the Tournament was held. The rings were packed close together, encapsulated by smaller versions of the Grand Ward to prevent an errant blow from intruding upon another's fight.

Valerina glanced about, trying to find Rowe. Unlike her, he had come to Sealarios to test his arm against others, and see if he wouldn't have a prize to take home at the end of it. He didn't have any hopes for first place, but it wasn't only the winner of the contest who had the opportunity to get something good during the contest. Through the rounds, anyone who managed to impress the judges would end up getting something worth his while at the end and that was what Rowe was aiming for.

Valerina spotted Rowe in a ring near the Grand Ward and noted the place so she could go watch his match once she was free. Her eyes strayed over to the Ward and the dark maelstrom of chaos energy swirling behind it, and for no reason, she wondered what she would do if the Ward, by chance or for some reason, suddenly ruptured.

Thinking idly, Valerina tried to plot the best course of action for the hypothetical situation. For one, she would sit firmly within her ring and wait for the dark storm to pass. The Grand Ward had capitalized letters for reason after all. It was the only ward known to be able to keep any sort of energy at bay, and the wards around the rings were the same. They would be able to keep her safe long enough for others to absorb the chaos energy and clear the air. That would also turn them into razatches though, so the next course of action would be to find a way off the island. The arena was near the port and there was no portal on the whole of Sealarios as far as she knew so a ship would have to do, even though Valerina was positive there would be no surviving walking all the way to their locations through a city that would be crawling with mindless killing machines.

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Shrugging, Valerina brought her mind back to the present as her opponent stepped into the ring and a ward sprang into existence around them. It wasn't as though the Ward would ever falter so she was certainly unconcerned.

Valerina didn't take her time to size up her opponent as it was unnecessary. She saw the young man take a stance, and she raised her hands to concede. Her hands were halfway up when there was a loud, ominous crack of what sounded like thunder.

Thunder? From a clear sky?

She paused to look up. Her opponent shot forward, taking the opportunity to attack, and drove his fist into Valerina's stomach. The young girl doubled over in pain, tears springing unbidden to her eyes as she crumpled to the ground.

"Oh come on! I was about to concede," she wheezed. The young man paused.

"You were?" He asked her.

"Yes yes, I concede, I concede. Get out of here," Valerina replied, cradling her stomach.

The young man scratched his head. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Need help?"

"No, no. Just... leave me here. Ugh. Let me catch up with the floor a little."

The young man apologized once more, and Valerina watched him leave, the localized ward falling open to let him out. Groaning, she rolled to her back, trying to somehow appease her stomach with the position. There was another loud crack, less deafening this time compared to before. Valerina disregarded it until she caught sight of a large shard of something gold, vaguely shimmering, and unnaturally transparent spinning toward the ground from high up.

What the...

For some reason, her head snapped to the Grand Ward, and she realized... that it was not there. And also that the chaos energy from beyond was surging in and her erstwhile opponent was trying to get back to the ring.

Her breath hitched and she scrambled to her knees in an instant, her thoughts snapping back to what she'd thought of just minutes before, while at the same time her brain relayed to her the best course of action at that moment - something she didn't recognize consciously - and her hands, knees, and toes found purchase upon the surface upon which she lay just moments before. Even before she knew what exactly it was she was doing, she shot forward toward the edge of the ring, her hand stretched out and her manipulation churning.

The hasty propulsion wasn't quite enough to push her fully to the runes she sought, and she slid a bit on her stomach before her hand landed upon the rune. The enchantment activated instantly. The ward snapped into place, erupting in a cloud of dust, and flinging Valerina back toward the center of the ring. Her vision spun as she went, eventually rolling to a stop uninjured. Looking up, she spotted her erstwhile opponent waving his arms, eyes wide, and gesturing at the ward, afraid to touch the enchantment lest it tossed him as it had Valerina.

Valerina knew what he wanted and if they pushed it, it was possible to accomplish it too - they weren't that near to the Grand Ward. But...

Valerina shook her head and his waving intensified.

... Safety first. Personal safety.

Valerina had the good conscience to look away as the darkness engulfed him.

Immediately she came to, Ellen figured that something was very wrong.

For one, the room she awoke in was two sizes too small to be the master chamber she had slept in for the past few days. Secondly, she could spot the Grand Ward shimmering in all its transparent golden glory through the window. That meant that she was near the port, and as far as she knew, she shouldn't be there. She squinted. The shimmer could have originated from the window. Maybe. Probably. Outside was dark.

She yawned.

There was a consistent urge to give the world the finger and go back to sleep, and that shouldn't be. Only sedatives made her feel that way, and she had quit the damn things when she was about eight years old.

Grumbling, Ellen turned away from the window and promptly decided to push everything that was wrong with the situation to the back of her mind and go back to sleep. It was rare for sleep as blissful and inviting as this one to be upon her, and it would be treasonous to wave it off and wake up due to some piddling concerns. Gods knew that sedatives just didn't work normal since eight years ago.

Her eyes were half-open and unfocused when the door opened to let a man into the room. She was vaguely aware of the person walking up to her bed and dipping his hands into his robes to pull out a wrap of something. He leaned down.

Time seemed to slow and something deep within her snapped into focus, resonating with some sort of outside influence, roiling and churning in a song of sorts.

Gain immortality, The cost your humanity;

A poem for the lost.

Rivals and foes, And deadly fights shall come;

A song of songs.

But then mortal you may overcome...

Everything gained sudden clarity, the sleepy fugue that had persisted over her mind until that moment swept away with a vengeance. Her priorities snapped back into focus, the happenings of the previous night coming back in a cascade of thoughts and a conclusion appearing immediately within her mind.

She had been kidnapped.

Ellen burst into motion, the pockets of air between her body and the bed exploding to send her up and away from the man and toward the window. Her angle of take-off forced her into a barrel roll and her right leg shot out reflexively to meet the floor first and gave her a base to rely upon to land as smoothly as she could manage.

She took in the man's features in a second, her brows furrowing when she recognized Galdis. The right side of his face was bruised and his eye was swollen and purple but she was certain it was he. For a second he looked shocked but it didn't last and he thrust his hand forward, violet energy in the form of a chain rushing out of it and toward her.

She dodged it with a snort, the chain unable to compete with the agility of an air manipulator, and shot a couple of wind blades at her attacker. She poised her foot in a half-step and the air beneath it exploded, sending her hurtling toward Galdis just behind her wind blades.

Galdis dodged the blades with relative ease, sliding beneath the cluster, and still managed to catch her fist in a vice grip and push downward, arresting her momentum and forcing her into a cartwheel. His hand shot out and gripped her by the neck, holding her in the air over the bed as his other hand began to glow violet.

Ellen struggled, kicking futilely at him as she sought to break free while berating herself mentally. She knew very well that she was no fighter. What the hell had gotten into her mind to make her attempt getting close?

The violet hand approached and Ellen balled her fist and struck at Galdis' face. Specifically the painful-looking purple swelling of his eye.

Galdis screamed, letting her fall to the bed as he stepped back to cradle his face. As soon as she could, Ellen drew upon her manipulation, condensing the air around her into half a dozen air pellets in about the same amount of seconds and shooting them straight at Galdis.

Despite his pain, the man had the awareness to roll out of the way.

"Fuck you, you fucking bitch!" He screamed at her. Ellen prepped some more pellets. The injured man said something in a flowing, lilting tongue and his whole body turned transparent and he popped like a bubble.

Ellen stared at where he'd been, shocked. What in the realms?

She frowned and gave the room a once over. There was nothing else of interest within the room and so she got off the bed and strode over to the door. After scanning the room once more to make sure she missed nothing, she opened the door. There was a small, little pop like a bubble bursting and Ellen's vision swirled with darkness as a sudden wave of vertigo hit her and she collapsed to the floor.

And all she knew was black.