Karen gasped. It hurt. She could feel her blood boil. It rushed toward the Knights hand. Her nose bled. She felt something wet on her eyes. Blood. 

It was cold.

At first, she struggled. She held onto the knights hand. She tried to pry it away. But, her strength failed her. She was weakened. 

Her body thinned. Her hair turned white. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She convulsed. 

"Let her go!" Ted swung wildly at the knight that gripped his friend.

The knight casually parried his blow. It dropped Karen onto the ground. She didn't move. She wasn't breathing. The knight played the deadly game with Ted,  stroke for stroke.

Ted could barely defend himself. He had to scurry and dodge everytime that the undead attacked. He attacked and swiped blindly from the side. But, he overextended himself.

The knight stepped back with leisure and avoided the blow entirely. It countered viciously with a downward swing. Ted watched the sword descend to his head. 

He violently threw himself to the side. He had dodged certain death. Yet, he was even more vulnerable now. He hit the ground. The breath rushed out of his lungs. 

His eyes laid upon the still husk of his childhood friend.

"Karen!" He cried, tears streamed down his face. 

The knight approached him.

Phil stood up. "No. No, no, no…"

He couldn't believe his eyes. He had to protect them. But, He had failed.

He was in a lot of pain. He was covered in heat blisters. His eyebrows were singed. His muscles ached. And, his nose bent at a strange angle. He grit his teeth.

"I have to do this. I have to save them." He avoided the thought that Karen was already dead. He ran, as fast as he could, toward the knight.

He made it just as the knight stood over Ted. 

He collided as hard as he could with the knight. He had been running full tilt. And, tackled it with all of his might. The man and the monster went sprawling to the ground. Their weapons dropped as they hit the floor.

Zephyra stood to the side and let out a disappointed groan. "I guess, I'll have to get involved after all."

"Phil. Ted. Stand up!" 

They both powered through their pain and struggled to their feet.

 The shield hung limply at Phil's side. His arm slumped unnaturally and loosely.

"Phil, place your arm back into its socket."

Phil raised his good arm and grabbed a hold of the other arm. A searing pain burst through his mind. His body continued to move on its own. It ignored the pain. It followed Zephyra's command.

He shoved upward on the arm. He felt a distinct click. The world went white.

"Defend us." Zephyra continued. "Ted. Grab his weapon. Kick the knight's sword away."

Ted scrambled toward Phil's fallen sword. He barely had time to register that he had moved. He felt his fingers wrap around the leather hilt. He quickly stepped and kicked the knights sword as far as he could. 

"Watch the knight and give Phil the sword."

Ted's eyes glued onto the knight. He was worried about Karen. He wanted to look. He wanted to know that she was safe. He wanted to know that she was being healed. He couldn't take his eyes off the knight.

He approached Phil and handed the sword to him.

The knight had stood as Ted kicked it's weapon away. It glowered at them. A tumultuous rattle came from it's chest. And, it watched and circled them. Closely. Carefully. 

"Ted, Phil, focus on defense. Coordinate with each other to fight it."

Zephyra had reached Karen. Zephyra knelt down beside the ravaged body and placed a hand on her chest.

The surroundings had faded from sight. Karen thought that she could hear Tee crying out for her. It could've been Phil, but his voice would've had to jump a few octaves. Even so, it was faint. It had begun to fade away. 

 

"Huh, he actually cared about me." She thought to herself.

 

A bright light floated above her and beckoned to her. She could feel herself floating. Yet, all other sensation had fallen away into the obscurity of her dimming consciousness. She felt at peace. An emotional warmth and welcome spread through her as she approached the light.

 

"Stop!" A sharp commanding voice cut through the numbness. The voice felt familiar somehow. "You're not allowed to leave yet. Turn around."

 

Karen felt everything blur around her, as if she had been rapidly spun around. She could suddenly see her surroundings again. She was looking down at her decrepit body. 

 

"Huh. That's so weird." She thought to herself.

 

Zephyra stood right above his body and was staring directly at her soul floating in mid air. Her eyes glowed an ominous green. 

 

"Fuck. They're scary and hot." She said to herself. She was a disembodied soul, who was going to hear her?

 

Well, the necromancer for one. She should’ve expected it.

 

"Oh? You can still talk. That's good." Zephyra smirked. A dozen needles floated around her, connected by thin glowing threads of necrotic mana. The same greenish hue as her eyes covered them. "Stay still. I'll be gentle."

 

"Uh, I don't think I want to. It'll definitely hurt." Karen struggled to move her soul away. But, she quickly found that it felt like swimming in sand.

 

The needles propelled toward her at an unearthly, ghastly speed. They pierced through her hands, feet, neck and torso.

 

"There. Completely harmless!" Zephyra smiled with relief.

 

But, it wasn't completely harmless. It wasn’t even a little harmless. It was completely harmful. Karen felt as if her entire sense of being had just been violated. The needles pierced inside of her soul in one agonizing moment. She felt herself connected to Zephyra's necrotic mana. It was cold and constricting, as if it squeezed and anchored her into place. She could feel it pulse. It felt alive. 

She could feel a portion of Zephyra's emotions. It called to her. It begged her. It commanded her to come back. It wanted her. But, it also felt dead and dull. Most of all, it felt completely wrong and she desperately wanted to escape.

 

"And, now gently back into the body." Zephyra said softly, almost lovingly.

 

The needles maneuvered Karen's attached soul back to her body with an abrupt flick of the wrist. The needles slammed into her corpse and jammed her soul back into place. 

 “You're going to start convulsing soon. Try not to fight it. You'll hurt yourself.

Zephyra circulated her mana around Karen.

"Now, I need to drain out some of the necrotic energies in your body. You're lucky, drain isn't evolved enough to take all of your life energy."  

A few beads of sweat formed on Zephyra's forehead. "I'm almost out of mana though. This is going to be way too close."

 

Karen regained the blessing of being back within her damaged body. She had fallen unconscious, almost immediately, but she could still feel her body screaming with pain. Her soul thrashed against the anchored pins and tried to escape.

The light still called to her. The light was warm. The light was soft and cozy.

 The damaged body thrashed and bucked around with a surprising strength and ferocity. 

“Zephyra! It’s too much. We can’t hold him!” Phil called out to Zephyra. The knight was pushing them back. Even without a weapon, it outclassed their battle capabilities. 

“You’re going to have to hold him, if you want her to live!” Zephyra snapped back.

 

Zephyra grimaced and poured a little bit more into the mana blanket hovering around Karen. She had to guide the necrotic energy around the major organs. If her concentration slipped, she could decay and liquefy any of them.

The few droplets of blood in Karen's system began to revitalize. Then, her heart began to beat and circulate once again. The bloodless brain mush that rattled around in her head slowly regenerated back into functional organic mush.  She just needed a little bit more. Just a little bit more and she would live again. 

Zephyra gasped for breath. She scraped the very dregs of her mana pool. 

“I have to fix this… I have to save her. Please, a little more. Just, a little more.”

Karen's body convulsed one last time. Then, her chest rose and fell with a steady, pained gasp.

 "She's alive." Zephyra sighed in relief and whispered. "I told you that I wouldn't let any of my things be taken from me."

Zephyra smiled and cupped Karen's pale bloodstained cheek with her hand. 

“Don’t do that again, idiot.” Zephyra whispered into her ear. Her breath was heavy. She was exhausted and collapsed.

It wasn't over. 

Ted and Phil were still struggling with the knight. If it didn't end soon, someone else would be hurt. Zephyra struggled to her feet and ignored her dangerously low mana reserves. 

"Phil, Ted. Tackle it. Pin it down." She croaked.

The two boys haphazardly lunged at it. The skeleton tried to evade them. But, it couldn't stay away for long. 

It scratched, punched and bit at them. But, finally they managed to tackle it to the floor. Ted had dove and grabbed it by the ankles. It tripped and fell over. Phil then quickly pinned it's arms down. 

It took all they had to try and keep it still. The knight was stronger than them. It thrashed and shook them around. But, they held on desperately. They had to obey Zephyra. 

Zephyra slowly shuffled her way to the knight. Her feet dragged behind her. She was so tired. One foot slogged in front of the other. 

Until finally, she reached them.

Ted, Phil and the knight were all still sprawled out on the ground. The red eyes of the undead dimmed as Zephyra drew close. The red glow shimmered with fear for the first time during their fight. 

Her hand drew close to the animated corpse and touched it's head. 

The skeleton stilled and fell apart. 

It was over.

Zephyra collapsed again and immediately fell asleep. She had spent everything that she had