[-10 HP, soul poison inflicted. -2 HP per second until the Banshee is slain.]
"Aw crap," Alesha cursed, glaring at the Banshee which floated above her.
It lunged down at her, pouncing with both hands outstretched. Alesha rolled to the side, ignoring the slight pain as her unpracticed motions caused her tail to be slightly under her as she did so. She scrambled backwards and to her feet to avoid a one-handed swipe by the Banshee.
Thinking frantically as she continued to barely dodge blow after blow, Alesha watched her HP drop bit by bit from the soul poison.
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[99/117 HP remaining]
Alesha cursed herself for being such a lazy city kid. She'd done Track and Field at her mother's insistence back home, but had always tried to weasel out of anything physically strenuous whenever she could. That persistent laziness brought her nothing but grief right now.
If only she'd taken any kind of fighting or self-defense classes! The week spent with Flynn and the others had only driven home how talentless she was at fighting, so she was painfully aware of the fact that her ability to dodge the Banshee's attacks right now had nothing to do with her own skill. Either it was slow as hell, or it was just playing with her.
Judging by the look of glee on its face, it was definitely the latter.
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
Alesha lunged out with her own claws. They passed harmlessly through the Banshee once again, and it laughed to mock her.
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[91 HP remaining]
They had only been fighting for a few seconds but Alesha was already growing tired. At this rate, not only would the poison eat away at her HP before a minute had passed, but she would probably be too tired to dodge the claw swipes and would be killed even faster.
Panic growing within her gut, Alesha wondered if she should just run for it. Would the soul poison go away if she got far enough from the Banshee? Or maybe if she went into the sunlight?
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
[85/117 HP remaining]
[-2 HP from soul poison]
Alesha dodged another swipe, then turned around and ran. She had no way to defeat the Banshee. Hopefully her group could do something, but even if they couldn't, at least they should be recovered enough to run by now.
The Banshee howled with laughter behind her, the screechy, hoarse voice sending shivers down her spine, which caused her tail to twitch instinctively and thump against a nearby podium. The force of the tail's impact against the podium was enough to make her lose balance and stumble forward, nearly falling.
At that very moment, the Banshee's claws came arcing down from above, the second of imbalance being just enough for the monster to misjudge the distance and merely graze her back instead of scratch her deeply. Alesha was lucky that the Banshee had aimed for her spine rather than one of her wings -- had the Banshee gone for those, one of them would have been torn off entirely even with her lucky stumble.
[-3 HP, soul poison inflicted. -2 HP per second until the Banshee is slain.]
"Crap, crap, crap!" Alesha cursed, starting to cry from the pain and the fear. She was just a normal person! She wasn't cut out for this! She'd never wanted this!
[-4 HP from soul poison]
Eyes blurry from the tears, Alesha tripped over her own feet this time and went tumbling to the ground.
[-1 HP]
[-4 HP from soul poison]
[71/117 HP remaining]
The Banshee was laughing again. "Stupid brat! So weak! Why did you even come here if you couldn't survive even 30 seconds against me? So stupid!"
Alesha got up to her feet and started running again.
[-4 HP from soul poison]
[-4 HP from soul poison]
As the Banshee started to scream again, Alesha noticed a dark shroud rush past her, and the renewed scream cut off again suddenly. She risked slowing down just enough to look back safely, then halted in surprise.
A large, skeletal figure, made entirely of black smoke and so tall that it had to hunch so it didn't hit the ceiling, was strangling the Banshee. It had long, bony arms, a head that looked like a cow's skull, and the lower half of a snake skeleton. Of course, these were all just shapes loosely formed of light-absorbing smoke so black that it made the rest of the dim room seem gray in comparison.
[-4 HP from soul poison]
[-4 HP from soul poison]
[-4 HP from soul poison]
The Banshee struggled soundlessly in its grasp, the newcomer's oversized smoky hands completely disarming its fruitless efforts to escape. As Alesha watched, the pulsing light that flickered irregularly through the Banshee (the only hint that it was there) slowed, then vanished.
[-4 HP from soul poison]
When the Banshee's light disappeared for the last time, the black wispy figure's hands relaxed. A moment later, its entire form dissolved into smoke, traveled past Alesha and entered into a black Ram's horn held aloft in Flynn's hands. Flynn started to screw some sort of lid onto its base.
[47/117 HP remaining. Soul poison cured.]
He mouthed something, a worried look on his face, and rushed over, blood still covering his hands and dripping from his ears. As he came over, he returned the Ram's horn to a sheathe on his belt. Alesha had never noticed it before.
Flynn reached her and mouthed something again.
"What?" Alesha asked, wondering what he had said. Then she realized her ears were probably shot from the Banshee's scream. Wait, but if that was the case, how had she been able to converse with the Banshee? Maybe its words were conveyed mentally rather than vocally?
Whatever the reason, Flynn's words were inaudible to her at the moment.
"I can't hear you," she mouthed in an exaggerated fashion, gesturing to her ears and shaking a finger to get the message across.
His expression relaxed a bit and he nodded in understanding. Overemphasizing his mouth's shapes like she had done, he asked, "Are you okay?"
Alesha laughed a bit and wiped the tears from her eyes with the clean parts of her forearm. She shook her head as residual sobs started to come out, halfway mixed with her laughter. "No, not at all. I almost died! I didn't even last 30 seconds, thank you so much for saving me."
Flynn didn't seem to catch all of her words, but he clearly understood her distress. He pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair gently.
Feeling safe in his arms, Alesha allowed herself to cry.