The Soul Keeper

I froze in place while Lucius started cursing. Had I heard that wrong? Or was that actually someone – or something's – voice?

"Kai?" Asher grabbed my arm. "Don't get left behind." He dragged me along as we followed Lucius. The young man seemed to be getting angrier with each step we took.

"Asher, did you hear someone say 'hmm' just now?" I had to talk loudly just so he could hear my voice over the pouring rain. He seemed somewhat confused as he shook his head. His lips moved, he was saying something, but his voice never reached me. I couldn't hear him over the new addition to our day: Thunder.

As lightning struck somewhere not too far away, we nearly fell on the ground because of the sheer volume of it. The bright flashes blinded me as I grabbed Lucius and we crouched near a large rocky formation.

"We can't keep going like this!" I shouted. Asher nodded while Lucius seemed a bit paler than before. The sky rumbled again. Soon after, the blinding lightning strikes followed.

"We need to find shelter!" Lucius shouted. I could barely hear him over the pouring rain.

Out of all the things that could have happened – monsters, getting lost, traps, and just straight up not finding the primal core of water, it was a god damned lightning storm that had stopped us in our tracks.

"Asher, don't you have a spell to stop this?" I shouted. He shook his head. I clenched my fists; we couldn't stay out here like this for much longer. I could already feel the cold rain sapping my strength away.

Asher flinched as bellowing thunder echoed. He summoned his interface and showed us his map. I was surprised to see that it wasn't a topographic map like mine – it resembled satellite images. How had this not caught my attention before?

"Here!" He shouted, pointing at a somewhat odd rocky formation on his map. I wiped the rainwater from my eyes as I squinted to see the spot he was pointing at. It wasn't too far away, maybe a ten-minute walk, under normal circumstances.

"Let's go." Lucius grabbed us by the arms and dragged us away from the rocks we were leaning on. "This is only going to get worse!" I could barely hear his voice over the pouring rain.

We powered through and somehow took step after step under the freezing rain. Some time later – it felt like hours – we finally made it to a large crack in the rocky surface.

"There!" I could hear a glimmer of hope in Lucius's voice as he dragged us with renewed vigour. As we stumbled into a large, spacious cave, lightning struck somewhere nearby, illuminating the interior for a split second.

As expected of any normal, non-magical cave, it was filthy, stank of damp air and had plenty of moss and mushrooms inside.

There was also a rather large cobweb near the entrance. I shivered with the cold as I stepped away from it. Definitely because of the cold and not at all because I was reminded of the giant spider we fought against beneath those ruins some time ago.

We were engulfed in the darkness again as the flash of the lightning strike faded. I motioned to try and create a flame, but Asher was faster. A small orb of soft, yellow light appeared, floating right above his extended palm.

"I'm freezing…" Lucian mumbled. Asher nodded as he let the orb of light float, suspended in the air. He squeezed some water out of his hair, then sighed. It didn't seem like it was working.

I did the same, creating a small puddle beneath my feet as I squeezed my ridiculously long hair. "This isn't working." I mumbled before closing my eyes and imagining the flames of the phoenix. This time, the flames came to me with ease. Tiny flames danced on my skin and clothes, warming me up.

"That's cheating!" Lucius mumbled as he gave up on getting rid of the water in his cloak. I chuckled, then extended my hand and focused. Flames gathered on my fingertips then leapt towards the ground, forming a little campfire.

"Thanks." Asher breathed a sigh of relief and put his cloak on the ground, near the fire. "I wonder how long we'll have to wait." He glanced at the crack we came in from. Rain was still pouring down like it were the end of the world.

"Not too long, I hope." Lucius sat on the ground and sighed. "How are you holding up?"

I shrugged. "I'm fine." That wasn't a complete lie. I did really feel fine, though the anxiousness was still there, slowly gnawing at the back of my mind.

"I wonder…" Asher mumbled. "The timing of this rain was rather terrible." He glanced outside.

Lucius nodded. "Well yeah, I don't even know how we can be so unlucky." He fiddled with a small, round stone. "What time is it?"

I glanced outside almost instinctively. Of course, it was impossible to tell from the rain and mist.

Asher opened his interface, then froze mid action. "There is nothing to indicate the time here." He quickly went through the different panels and tabs. "None."

I hesitated. I could see how that would normally be an issue – how would someone know when to log off if they didn't know the time?

Lucius' expression darkened. "That's odd." He laid on his back and watched the stone ceiling. The shadows created by my flames danced as we sat in silence. Eventually, I broke the silence. "What's our plan for when the rain stops?"

Asher sighed. "We could fly to the top of the mountain." He threw a rock into the fire. The nail sized rock rolled out of the other side, barely warm. "Or we could keep walking and try to sense the god damned rock."

"It's not a rock." I said with a flat expression.

"Whatever." He waved his hand dismissively. "I wonder if it's possible to even sense the thing in the first place."

I shrugged. I didn't remember much from when Vixia had given me the primal core of fire. The pain of burning alive and what came after was what I remembered clearly. "It should be." I touched my chest, I could feel the souls inside. And amongst them, the burning primal core of fire. While I wasn't constantly aware of it, I could faintly sense its warmth when I tried to.

"Hey," I glanced at the sorcerer. "Could you locate it if we had another primal core?"

He chuckled "I don't see why I wouldn't be able to." He shrugged. "But we wouldn't need the primal core of water if we had another primal core or knew where to get one."

Lucius looked at me as understanding dawned on him. His eyes glimmered with hope as I closed mine. I still hadn't told Asher anything about Vixia and Delthur. Only Lucius knew about them.

I focused on the warmth of the primal core of fire.

"What are you doing?" Asher's voice sounded, confused and somewhat tired.

I focused on the sharp, clean edges of the crystal. I pictured it in my mind in the shape I'd seen in Vixia's hand. I felt something sting, then the warm, glowing crystal materialised in my palm.

Asher drew a sharp breath as I opened my eyes and grinned. "Will this do?"