Agony… Absolute agony keeps Rei coiled in a breathless ball of silence. She can't scream; the noise is clogged in her throat. Her muscles are begging to release from their locked state, but the pain keeps them clenched in an exhausted trembling state. The ground beneath her bucks and trembles, debris raining down on her from nearby explosions. She doesn't even notice. She can't hear the wails of the injured or the shouts of anger that fill the air. She's locked in a cocoon of isolation, entirely focused on the excruciating feeling of foreign magic coursing through her and attempting to rip her apart from the inside out.

A hand jostles her shoulder, and her smothered scream finally escapes. The hand jerks away as her wordless cry pierces through the chaos of battle and brings a momentary hush.

Multiple shouts break the pause, and the air suddenly vibrates with power as emotions suddenly spike into a frenzied swirl of anger and panic.

Rei is gasping, desperately trying to replenish the breath she still can't quite grasp. Stars flicker behind her eyelids, so tightly are they clenched. She can vaguely identify the coppery taste of blood staining her lips and tongue. She cannot feel the warm salty tears that rain down on her cheek as a figure hovers over her in uncertainty.

The shock is instant when the magic burning her from within suddenly snaps off, making her body jerk violently and lose what little breath she'd recaptured. She crumbles limply to the ground, chest heaving as her body twitches after such intense abuse.

Her hearing begins returning, alerting her to the voices yelling around her and the roar of the fight still occurring. Her own soft sobbing is hardly discernible as her fingers flex, clawing into the soil to brace herself from the roiling sensation filling her senses.

She'd never experienced pain like that before, nothing so consuming as that. It was…terrifying.

Her scattered thoughts are grounded as a hand gently tips her onto her back. She's so exhausted she has no energy to protest even as blood begins to run down her throat. She must have a broken nose on top of the fact she'd probably bit through her lip when that spell hit her.

"Exura! Goddess above! Speak to me! Exura! Are you alright?!"

Rei doesn't respond. She wonders who Exura is as her thoughts drift in and out of focus. The person above her sounds very anxious.

"Exura! Answer me!" Demands a second voice.

A hand gently grasps her shoulder and jiggles it. Rei's breath stutters, a flicker of the previous pain making her limbs seize for just a breath before going slack. A rattling groan escapes the raven haired woman as she attempts to shift away from the hand still resting on her shoulder.

"Pits!" Growls the second voice. "We need to get her off the battle field!" A shrill whistle sings through the air and hurts Rei's ears, making her twitch. "Jupiter! Cargo, now!"

There's a distant cry of assent.

ReI chokes on a gurgling cough, sending a splattering of blood all over her face and chin.

"She's choking!" Cries the first voice.

"Curses! Quick, put her on her side!"

Rei feels herself being thrust awkwardly onto her side. She's relieved that the blood stops pooling at the back of her throat, allowing her breath to come a little easier. The return of her breath allows her to notice that there is a lot of magic being thrown above her. She can feel the shockwaves as spells clash.

"Mercury!" Calls a third voice as footsteps come racing towards them.

"Grab Mars! Moon and I will form a defense perimeter! Get her to the staging area for the wounded!"

There's a stuttered gasp, and then she's being lifted slowly. Her world tilts dangerously.

"No!" Cries the first voice. "She'll choke! Over your shoulders!"

Rei is shifted from a bridal style carry to a fireman's carry. She whimpers as someone's shoulders dig into her body and her stomach protests as the person carrying her begins to run. They hardly make it fifteen steps before she vomits all over them.

There's a yelp and some muttered curses, but the running doesn't even slow.

It's a very painful trip. Rei's thoughts jumble as her mind can't focus on any dominant pain as her injuries flare sporadically at each step. Eternity stretches on in a timeless loop of agony and hiccupping gasps of air. Her brain feels like it's been thrown into a blender, and she can't figure out which way is up or down, let alone which direction they're moving.

The disorientation only clears several minutes after she's placed on a cot and the medical team has run several scans on her to assess the damage.

The voices in the tent drop after a heated debate and several different doctors run the last scan.

"Answer me!" Booms a voice. It sounds like the voice that had carried her here. "Why are you looking at her like that?!"

"The d-damage…" stutters a male voice. "I-it's impossible!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Th-this type of magic…" His voice is wobbly, weak. "This… It's been outlawed during the last Planetary War!"

"I don't know what you're talking about! I just want to know if she'll be okay!"

"Y-you don't understand! Th-this magic was considered so vile that all records but vague descriptions was destroyed!" His voice turns slightly hysterical. "It-it was created to cause raw intense pain! Targeting and wreaking havoc on nerve endings! It was meant to torture the body until it exhausted itself and shut down!" He sounds like he's backing away. "Often, those subjected to it lost their minds due to its intensity! How did you break it?!"

"Mercury killed the caster," the female voice answers hotly. "Why is this such a big deal?!"

"B-because it was created on Mars!" He shouts.

Dead silence.

Rei finds her own thoughts coming to a halt, suddenly intensely caught by the levity of the situation.

"What?" Rei's throat is raw, her voice cracking and breathy.

There's a shuffling of feet. Someone leans over her. "Exura?" Hesitantly calls the woman.

"What...do…mean?" Demands Rei, horror starting to coil in her gut. A vague thought…a warning bell rings loudly in her mind as she tries to decipher what was just said. She manages to crack open her eyes to slits and gaze over at the balding man hovering a few feet away.

The man clears his throat. "D-during the last War… Mars c-created a spell so unethical that all those who had knowledge to cast it were put to d-death once the War ended. It was the catalyst to the ongoing rift between Mercury and Mars, as Mercurians were unable to effectively protect themselves from it as they were not as in tune with their magical cores. M-Martians knew and abused this weakness, slaughtering Mercurians by the droves. Even if freed from the cursed spell, those hit by it suffered lasting damage to the nervous system and had reoccurring reflashes of the agonizing pain…" He swallows thickly. "Mercury ended up dropping a massive bomb that completely destroyed an entire continent in response…"

Rei is struck mute, eyes wide and mouth dry. Her people… Her people… Had done such an atrocity?!

The shock is too great. Rei's body begins to convulse violently for several tense moments while shouts of alarm fill the tent. Rei doesn't even feel the needle pierce her skin as the world around her goes dark seconds later.