The Soul Keeper

"Kai?" Vincent asked, shocked and confused. "Are you ok?"

My laughter finally subsided, I replied with a nod. "Oh, I'm just fine." I could hardly believe it – Lucius was here. "We won, remember?" I asked with a grin.

"We did!" Joshua shouted. "We actually did!" He hugged Vincent, then Erik. He motioned to hug me too but decided otherwise for some reason. I didn't mind, so I just grinned and took a deep breath.

"Let's go back." Erik said after a short moment of silence.

While I did notice his lack of enthusiasm and happiness, I didn't remark on it. There was no need to spoil everyone's happiness right now. In a world where smiles were much harder to come by, I valued theirs greatly.

As we left the coliseum, a familiar face greeted us. The Ereth who always took us to the gates was waiting just outside. "Congratulations." He said with what I believed was a smile. "Your friends are waiting over there," He pointed at the stairs that lead to the plaza. We thanked him and headed down. As I walked past him, he stopped me.

"I know you're strong," He said with a much more serious tone. The smile on his face had disappeared and left its place to a dark expression. "Be careful tomorrow. The Divines are not easy to deal with – they will test you. Not your power, but your resolve."

"Thanks for warning me," I quietly said. He was probably taking a risk by telling me all this.

"Kai, come on!" Joshua shouted. "I'm coming!" I replied, bid farewell to the Ereth and approached the group with quick steps.

Alina and Samantha were sitting at the foot of the stairs. The others had just arrived there as well. As I approached them, Alina jumped on her feet and ran towards me. "Oh my god, Kai, that fight was absolutely amazing!" Her eyes shone brightly under the afternoon sun as she showed me a beautiful smile. "You were so fast towards the end that I only saw you as a blur."

"It was a good fight," I said with a smile. "Thanks, Alina."

"A good fight doesn't quite cut it, does it?" Vincent chimed in. "What the hell, Kai? I thought you could fight 'a little'." While he did grin as he said that I could feel the suspicion in his voice. He was right to doubt me – I hadn't really told them the truth about me. Not all of it, anyways.

"I guess being stuck in here did help me with that." I said with a fake chuckle. "Anyways," I quickly changed the subject. "Let's go back – I'm exhausted."

We soon arrived at the inn. As Vincent pushed the door, the smell of food and cosy warmness leaked outside. My lips formed a smile as we entered the inn – I had only now realised how hungry I was.

"Oh, the champions are here." The bartender said with a warm smile. "I'm sure you're starving. I'll bring you something to eat. Sit down, I'll be right there." She rushed into the kitchen as Joshua grinned and dragged us all to our usual spot.

"Say," He said after a short while. "What do you think will happen tomorrow?" I flinched. I hadn't told them what the Ereth had told me yet. Honestly, I didn't want to tell them as they'd just panic.

"I don't know," I said after a while. "Remember to be wary though. Don't trust them, ok?"

They hesitated; they probably didn't expect me to be so wary.

The bartender soon brought us some food, which we devoured like we hadn't eaten in weeks. Even Alina and Samantha ate much more than usual – the food was the most delicious thing we'd eaten ever since we came here.

"Seriously man, you've got to teach us how to fight like that some time." Vincent said as we sipped our drinks and enjoyed the festive air around us. From time to time, people approached us to congratulate. I could feel many eyes on me as I took a sip from my nectar.

"No way." I said with a chuckle. "It took me my entire life to reach this level. And I'm not even that strong. You guys don't have the dedication for it."

"Hey," Erik said with a harsh voice. "Don't underestimate anyone here." He glared at me. "We're just as dedicated as you are, if not more."

I shook my head. "That's not my point. I'm talking about the training required. Can you imagine yourself – or anyone else here – practicing the same basic moves for twelve hours a day?"

He hesitated, he knew just as well as me that none of them would dedicate so much time for it, especially because their efforts wouldn't be rewarded for years to come.

"Oh well," Vincent mumbled, somewhat disappointed. "We do need to learn something though."

"You need to learn the basics of combat – when to evade, when to block and when to take the hit." I chimed in. "Right now, none of you need to learn specialised moves for your weapons. That takes years to perfect." I wasn't lying about that. In fact, it was precisely because of that, that I only studied the sword and quarterstaff.

"That's boring though." Joshua said with a sigh. "Didn't you get bored at all when you were training?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "I didn't have the time to be bored." What I didn't tell was that, if I did have time to be bored, Mother wouldn't hesitate to 'remind' me of my duties as her son.

"That's harsh." Vincent said after a moment. He took a sip from his drink and glanced at the girls. They had fallen asleep, with their heads leaning on the table. "Anyways," he said after a short moment of hesitation. "We should probably take them to their rooms and let them sleep properly."

I nodded and motioned to get up, but Erik acted faster. I didn't try to stop him as he gently lifted Alina and headed for the stairs. "I'll take Samantha then." Vincent said. They disappeared upstairs.

I noticed Joshua's constant glances at me. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I want to go see Victoria." He said after a short while. "But I think she's hiding stuff from us." His gaze fell on my drink. "And… I feel like you're not telling me the whole truth either."

It took quite a bit of willpower to not flinch. I knew Joshua wasn't an idiot, but I hadn't expected him to be so blunt about his suspicions.

"I have some things in my mind," I replied carefully. The last thing I needed right now was my own allies doubting me.

"Anything you want to talk about?" He asked hesitantly. I shook my head. "No, but thanks. I need to sort through the mess of my thoughts before I can say much." I smiled. "I think you should go and see Victoria. I'm sure she watched the match and I'm absolutely certain she'd be ecstatic if you visited her. Even more so if Vincent joined you, I'm sure."

Joshua smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right."

I glanced at the small windows. "It's dusk," I said with a faint smile. "I'll head out for a walk."

"I'll let the others know." He said with a grin.

With that, I left the inn and headed to the city gates. As I walked through the golden streets, I could feel people's stares on me. Some seemed frightened, while the younger ones looked at me with envy.

As I arrived at the city gates, I noticed a familiar face right outside. Lucius stood on the grass at the side of road, watching the sky.

I passed through the gate and approached him.

"Hey, Lucius."

"Young Master Kai," He replied with a faint smile.