The Soul Keeper

We didn't have to walk more than a few seconds to come across another set of doors, much more massive than the ones leading to the library.

"This looks promising." Asher said with a faint smile. Despite his usually emotionless tone, I could hear a hint of hope in his words. Hope, stemming from desperation. Lucius approached the large set of doors. "Let's go inside then." He placed his palms on the smooth wooden surface and pushed.

At first, the door didn't move at all. Then, a loud, ear-piercing creak sounded. The doors opened slowly, revealing a massive throne room.

"This is…" Lucius' voice faded as we stepped inside. It felt weird, walking on the soft, dark blue carpet. The air was heavy and filled with magic. My entire body was tense as we stepped closer to the throne.

It was made of a dark material. It didn't reflect any light at all – it was almost as if the light of my flame couldn't touch the throne. It was quite an intricate design – many long, thin strands of this dark material coiled around themselves and each other to form the throne. They extended outwards, both to the sides and up as if trying to reach the ceiling, to form something that almost looked like a spiderweb.

I shivered. Definitely not because I disliked spiders, it was just a bit chilly in here.

"Who did this belong to?" Asher mumbled as we arrived at the set of seven steps leading up to the throne. "It's not large enough for an Ereth." He tilted his head. "Kai, summon your wings, would you?"

I did as he asked, albeit with a bit of confusion. "Why?"

"The Ereth we've seen so far – especially the ruling caste – all have wings that are about the same size as yours, if not larger. Right?" He asked, shooting me a glance. I nodded, especially the Matriarch's wings were massive.

"Well, as far as we know, they're not capable of hiding their wings like you are." He gestured at the throne. "None of them would be able to sit in that."

Lucius whistled. "I didn't think of that." He grinned. "But you didn't need to either. Look," He pointed at the ceiling. We looked up. As soon as his gaze fell on the sigil up there, Asher drew a sharp breath. "A feather, a blade and a flower – the sigil of demons." The sorcerer whispered.

"Well, I'd say that proves it." Lucius sighed. "This place belonged to demons."

Asher sighed. He clearly couldn't believe what he was seeing, or he didn't want to. Honestly, I didn't want to either – the existence of this place alone proved so much of our knowledge false.

"This makes no sense." Asher stepped back. His face was a lot paler than before. "The demons came a hundred years ago, according to the Ereth library. They invaded the land and destroyed the Ereth's pillars…" His voice faded. He looked at us, wide eyed. "None of that is true." He whispered. "None of what we know is true."

We hesitated. It wasn't a new revelation – we all had our doubts before, but definitive proof like what we found on this mountain, the ruins below, everything in this castle… It was naturally disorienting.

"I need some time to think." Asher whispered as he sat on the steps. "I don't want to jump to conclusions."

I shook my head. "There is nothing to think about." My cold, harsh voice echoed in the empty throne room. "The demons existed in this world for much longer than what the Ereth claim. They built castles, towns, outposts and the like." With each word that left my mouth, my voice rose. "The Ereth claim otherwise. Our next goal is to figure out why."

"Kai, does that mean we're not killing the demon lord?" Lucius' voice sounded as I fixed my gaze on the throne. "Does that mean we aren't getting out of here?"

I shook my head. "None of this is real, remember?" Though, despite my words, a thought I'd long forgotten scratched the back of my mind, trying to catch my attention. "If we find an easier way to get out of here, we'll use that. If not…" I took a deep breath. "I don't intend to let everyone remain trapped in here."

Silence followed my words. Heavy, deafening silence. Only after quite some time did Asher sigh and get up. "What now?"

"We keep looking." I smiled, albeit faintly. "I still need that primal core."

With that, we left the throne room. Once again, the long hallway stretched before us. Once again, we had a decision to make. Go back and check that sphere or go forward and explore. I took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward. I had promised Asher we'd check everywhere else first. I wasn't about to go back on my promise. I still had time. I could still keep the wyvern's soul under control.

We came across several doors and even more narrow, dark hallways. We explored them, one by one. Some led to empty rooms, probably once used as storage. Some led to large, barely furnished rooms. We found bedrooms, common rooms, study rooms, smaller libraries, even the god damned kitchen.

"What the hell is this?" Lucius asked as we looked at a room filled with plants. We had arrived at the last wing of the castle. There couldn't have been many rooms left we hadn't checked. The sun had set ages ago.

"A botanical garden?" Asher asked as we stepped inside. The plants were… unusual, to say the least. First of all, they moved. Were those tiny teeth I spied?

"I don't like this." I mumbled as we stood by the door. "I'm pretty sure the primal core of water isn't in here."

Lucius shrugged. "I want to at least take a closer look." Before I could stop him, he stepped between the plants. "See?" He grinned.

"Wait." Asher mumbled. "Lucius, don't move." His voice was calm, despite his widened eyes.

Lucius turned to look at Asher and immediately screeched with pain. He jumped back toward us, bumping into us in the process. As we all fell right back to the long hallway, he started cursing.

"What the hell!" I pushed the young man off me and stood up. Then, I saw him look at his leg. A tiny, hardly visible bite mark was bleeding a little bit.

"It bit me!" He cried out. He was clearly offended as he glared back at the room. "A plant just bit me!"

Our laughter echoed. Though we were having fun at his expense, Lucius also laughed after a short moment. Once our laughter subsided and we pulled ourselves back together, I took a deep breath.

"Ok, this is the last hallway. Let's check it out."