Sarah hid behind a tree, even from here she could see the smoke and light emitting from Eian's bonfire.

She kept an eye out for monsters across the deep stream, that was the direction the undead horde should approach from.

Still paranoia had her watch behind herself as well, off about fifty yards she could see Alex keeping a similar look out and supposedly Jessica was even farther away but closer to Eian.

They were to relay information back to her, whom was supposed to attack the leader of the horde, Alex had her and Jessica life-linked meaning she could just run if things went south.

Another role of those two was to assist her in combat, well Alex at least as his magic was the most potent against this type of enemy, Jessica's magic would not do anything in this scenario but she could still fight stray undead that remained.

She saw the first undead monster emerge from the darkness, a skeleton by the looks of it, inwardly she smiled when it gravitated towards the light of the bonfire.

Soon more emerged, they followed the light in a sloppy mess of a formation, mindless creatures.

Sarah caught her first far off look of the leader, it was flying so it seemed to be a vampire, she couldn't see much detail but strangely it seemed to be alone in the air.

By now the first skeleton was out of her sight, but likely it was wading across the stream towards Eian, the incline should give it trouble to traverse, buying more time.

Alex gave a single thumbs up, relaying everything was going according to plan, Sarah felt the wait would kill her.

Zombies, skeletons, stitched animal monstrosities, undead wolves, undead bears and even what she thought were those four armed gorillas passed her sight.

In hindsight Sarah was glad to have chosen this ambush tactic, fighting all those monsters till daybreak seemed a good way to get themselves killed.

By now she had lost count of the monsters and she briefly wondered how Eian was faring, were those things following him by now?

Turning she saw Alex still have a thumbs up on one hand, so everything should be fine, they'd taken this into consideration already, she just hoped everyone did their part.

Quickly Sarah took a peek behind her, nothing.

She focused on the horde, the last stragglers were now following along and the leader had and was edging closer for her clear shot, it was watching from the far rear end of the procession.

Sarah's heart began to accelerate, it was soon time, she just hoped it waited nearby long enough.

Her breathing came in sharp breathes as she turned to look at Alex, he now held an open palm on one hand relating to her that it was soon time, but to wait for the ideal opportunity.

Soon Alex lifted both thumbs up then waved his hands about frantically, Sarah took a deep breathe, it was time.

Immediately Sarah summoned her avatar of flame, a spherical ball of writhing flames emerged from her hands, at first it bared a startling resemblance to a fire-ball, but soon it grew a torso, arms, legs, and crude features which suggested a woman.

Quickly Sarah also summoned two lightning bolts, she wanted to be extra sure she got it good, focusing she willed the avatar to summoned more bolts.

Together, she and her avatar fired four bolts of lighting at the figure, all four hit, Sarah whooped.

Immediately she noticed a problem, it was still in the air, she hadn't seen what happened.

Sarah summoned more bolts, the creature had definitely taken notice of her now though, it flew towards her and she shot bolts of lightning at it.

This time she clearly saw what happened, as a bolt neared it collided with an invisible layer of something, it flashed blue briefly for each bolt and vanished.

'Shit! Magic!' Sarah swore.

The visage of the vampire startled her a second, it was skeletal, it's plated armor was the color of an endless abyss completed by spikes.

Sarah has no idea how it could fly with that armor and it's dried up wings, but that didn't matter right now.

Hoping her attacks could eventually pierce she shot another bolt, along with her avatar, both attacks splashed uselessly against the creature's invisible shield.

Near panic Sarah cut her losses and turned to her trump card.

'Isemi!' Sarah called up through her connection even as she took cover behind a tree.

'Yes?' Isemi answered, Sarah suppressed her conflicting emotions.

'I need help!' Sarah's heart was speeding up.

'What kind?' Isemi question with a calm tone.

'Combat! I need help fighting something!' Sarah articulated as she ordered her avatar to keep attacking.

'Excellent! I'll start charging! Remember, like last time, don't resist me.' Isemi's joy bled through the link, Sarah felt a bit relieved at the thought.

Her arms and legs relaxed, and once more Sarah felt the strange feel of her body as it lost all it's excess movements.

Every step felt perfect, every swing of her pelvis felt predetermined and her mind sharpened as the world gained surreal detail, there behind her consciousness she felt Isemi's comforting presence.

Turning Sarah braced herself.

'Good. Let's start.' Isemi's smirk easily passed through their link.

The armored-skeletal-vampire flapped it's and within it's arms two bolts of darkness manifested.

The attacks shot forward, but Sarah threw herself sideways, rolling perfectly and she was up and moving.

'Focus on fueling spells. I'll keep you moving out of danger.' Isemi voiced.

Sarah and her avatar shot lightning attacks at the monster, they splashed uselessly on it's shield even as the monster countered with it's own spells.

Frustrated, Sarah felt her body dodge both the monsters attacks by a hairs breathe, still she felt Isemi was in complete control and that tiny space was worlds apart in her thoughts.

'What is that thing?' Sarah asked Isemi, that invisble barrier was annoying.

'Hmm? You mean the energy shield?' Isemi asked.

'How do I break it?' Sarah asked.

'You either hit it with more power than it can stop, or you deplete the lich's spiritual energy reserves till it can't support the protection.' Isemi's mental shrug was clear.

'Lich?' Sara asked.

'You're full of questions aren't you? Yes. A lich, as in an undead mage, maybe I should start charging per question.' Isemi smirked.

Sarah kept raining attacks on the lich, while Isemi controlled her body to dodge all it's attacks with ease.

Frustrated Sarah wondered where Alex and Jessica were, they were supposed to help her, unfortunately she had no time to spare.

The lich summoned attacks faster than her, Isemi expertly dodged it's attacks but cold-dread told her it would only take one and she'd die.

She was also on a timer.

'You're weaker than a newborn.' Isemi complained.

'Shut up and help me! What can kill that thing?' Sarah's most recent attack was useless.

'Your offensive power's too low, and it look's like the lich's reserves are far larger than your's.' Isemi lectured.

'You're not helping!' Sarah winced as Isemi dodged another bolt by an inch with her body.

'...No need to be rude...I understand you're afraid, but lashing out at me won't help.' Isemi sounded a bit miffed.

Momentarily Sarah mentally stiffened, if Isemi ditched her here she'd die, no two ways about it.

'I'm sorry! Please, I don't want to die!' Sarah gushed out those words.

'Good. Apology accepted. Now, you can borrow some more energy from me, your credits not done just yet, keep trying to exhaust it's shield and don't miss.' Isemi spoke clearly.

'What if I run out!?' Sarah wondered how much debt she was stacking up here and how much credit she had left.

'...Well, I could grant you a runic enhancement to power-up your spells, but I don't think it'll be strong enough to push past the barrier. This thing seems to have far passed the elite threshold.' Isemi shrugged.

'Is there anything else?' Sarah's hopes dwindled, this monster didn't look worse for wear.

'...Not without a ritual, that takes time. Let's just hope it's energy depletes by the time your credit is near.' Isemi responded.

'What if it's not? Can't you lend me more? I can't pay you if I die.' Sarah was getting desperate.

'I'm sorry I can't lend you more than we agreed on initially. If I broke my contract, I'd be a pariah to the rest of my kind eternally. I won't do that for you, I'm sorry.' Isemi's solemn words brought her a sense of dread.

Sarah prayed it would be enough even as she cast more lightning at the lich.

*****

Alex was killing skeletons, Jessica was next to him, they were killing them together, Alex was using life bolts, he was trying to keep themselves from being overwhelmed.

Eian had long vanished and was taking most the horde with him, but as soon as Sarah had begun her attack some of the monsters at the end of the horde doubled back and were heading to Sarah's direction.

He knew Jessica couldn't handle the amount by herself and together they were keeping the horde away from Sarah while she killed what she called the creator.

Alex wondered what was taking Sarah so long to kill one vampire, she'd killed plenty before.

He could feel she was alive through his life-link, so she was still fighting.

Finally they'd killed the last of the skeletons and Alex turned to try to catch sight of Sarah, they were still too far.

The forest blocked whatever Sarah was doing, but Alex saw faint flashes of light, so she had to be fighting.

'Are there more monsters? Does she need help?' Alex processed that quickly

"Let's go." Alex firmly motioned to Jessica, they should go help Sarah.

"...." Jessica stayed silent but followed him at a distance.

It still felt weird being around Jessica, she quietly observed everything and only responded to things related to survival with minimal words or gestures.

Putting all thoughts of that behind him he rushed over to Sarah's location, it took only a second to realize something was wrong.

Sarah was raining bolt after bolt upon an armored skeleton with wings, that wasn't what was wrong, the spells were stopped short by an unknown force.

The monster itself kept raining blows at Sarah, but her body moved like water, she danced around every attack and returned her own.

In all it seemed to be a stalemate, Alex wondered what he should do.

On one hand it was obvious she needed help, on the other he wondered what he could do to help.

Distract it maybe, or perhaps his magic worked better on that monster.

"Stay here." Alex didn't wait for Jessica, she wouldn't reply anyways, the undead monster was in the air, and so she couldn't hurt it either way.

Running he prepared bolts of life as he neared, aiming he threw both at the target, only one splashed ineffectively against it's shield, the other went off-course.

Cursing Alex readied more as he opened his mouth to ask Sarah about her plan, she always had one.

The undead focused on Alex, tossing two bolts at him, eyes widened Alex threw himself to the floor and scrambled away wildly to evade.

Alex noted a flash which proved Sarah was still attacking, turning he prepared a bolt of energy and threw it at the monster.

"Keep attacking it!" Sarah screamed.

Alex focused on doing just that, he threw two more bolts which luckily actually impacted on the shield.

Unluckily the shield wasn't going down and Sarah had stopped raining bolts of energy, Alex's heart froze, was she out?

Something splashed and wormed into his shoulder, digging deeper into his flesh.

"ACK!'" Alex flailed backwards, it burned like the sun.

The monster wholly focused on Alex now, Alex focused summoning another life bolt through the pain of a burning sun.

Throwing it at the monster Alex saw it spash feeling helpless, it's return fire was going to kill him.

Alex ran to the right, hoping it would follow him and that it's attacks would miss.

A bolt of darkness breezed past him, and another caught his back, his weapon had fallen from his grasp.

"GAH!" Alex grit his teeth, fighting back tears.

Realization hit Alex a moment later, he was on the floor, squirming he rolled randomly to the right, trying to form a bolt between his fingers.

An instant later Alex heard two earthy thumps vibrate the dirt, his breathing was labored.

Alex focused on keeping an eye open through his pain, he was sweating bullets and a fever was running rampant on his body, burning and freezing.

The monster was just up ahead and Alex threw his bolt at it, a pop sounded out, then another like glass breaking.

Alex felt one more hit catch his stomach, now he just felt cold, soon it's freezing chill ran it's course leaving him wholly numb.

Without pain Alex quickly summoned another bolt of energy and threw it at the monster, it was still in the air.

It attempted to dodge, but his bolt caught it's wing, it spun out of control and Alex heard a thud a few steps away.

Shivering Alex got to his knees, he had to make sure it died, he tried to stand but found he could only crawl on the ground.

Half dragging himself he saw the monster on it's feet, Alex summoned another bolt as the monster ran at him.

He threw it forward even as the creature collided on him.

All he heard was hissing and a gauntlet was choking him, it was strangling him.

Alex tried to summon another bolt, it failed as the creature tightened its grip.

Closing his eyes Alex ran his mind through what he could do, he healed himself desperately as things got harder.

Fear, he felt it vivid and bold, desperate he let both half links he had on Sarah and Jessica break.

Focusing what he could he linked this strange creature, it resisted, but Alex pushed.

He tried to imagine the link as a chain wrapped around the skeleton, and then proceeded to feed it energy.

With a great Hiss, the monster let go.

Finally Alex could breathe, he took a lungful of wonderful air.

Still the chill was relentless, he tried to fighting it off, soon he got sleepy.

'What was I doing again?' Alex blinked, the world didn't make sense.

He needed to take a quick rest, he was so tired.

When was the last time he'd slept?

He closed his eyes and took a nap, it felt easy, relaxing even.