The sailor screamed again and kicked the creature, making lose its focus on Sonder.
The creature's grip tightened, claws digging into the leg of the sailor and breaking his leg in the process, to which the sailor gave a scream of pain instead of fear and passed out.
The creature lifted the sailor up, as high as it could.
And its head lowered and its mouth opened wide, far winder than a human's.
And it latched onto the side of the sailor's neck.
A wet, tearing sound followed.
The sailor's body spasmed then slacked, but the creature didn't let go. It stayed there and drank, not just blood.
Sonder could feel it. It was drawing something out of the man; his essence.
The sailor's skin seemed to dull. Color draining unnaturally fast.
He wasn't pale, but empty. Like whatever made the sailor him was being taken away, along with his blood.
Sonder couldn't save the sailor, but she moved anyway.
Her staff came up and a bolt of energy shot forward toward the creature.
It wasn't wide or wild, but a controlled attack.
The bolt struck the creature's side with enough force to tear it away from the sailor's body.
It hit the deck hard, skidding across the wood.
The sailor dropped, limp and unmoving.
Sonder didn't look at him.
Her focus locked onto the creature as it twisted itself and rose again.
The creature, with blood running down its mouth, did the same, locking onto Sonder.
It was seemingly more aware, and sharper, now that it had drunk its fill.
It spread its wings.
They were larger than they first appeared, stretching wide enough to nearly span the deck's width where it stood.
They trembled and then snapped downward, lifting the creature up into the air.
Then it lunged.
Sonder side stepped its attack, being fast enough to dodge due to the distance between them, even though the creature was fast.
It's claws tore through the air where she had been, slicing into the railing behind her.
Wood splintered.
If it did to one of those masts, Sonder thought, then it would clash it in two. She couldn't let it do that again.
She also thought that using water, instead of mana bolts, may be more efficient, seeing that she was surrounded by an ocean.
She drew some and curved it into the air, directing it in a sharp arc, striking the creature again. This time across its wing.
The impact twisted it off course as it lifted itself into the air again, slamming it down before it could gain height again.
It hit the deck, but it didn't stay down.
It pushed up immediately, wings snapping erratically as it tried to regain balance.
Sonder adjusted herself.
She didn't attack again right away.
If she had to put it into words, she thought herself of more of a reactive and defensive fighter, rather than an active, aggressive one.
Or so, she liked to think.