The Soul Keeper

"Now…" I said as I put the primal core into my inventory. "I'm not sure." I grinned. Her smile soured, had she noticed that I lied?

"Asher, get me out of here – now!" I called out to the sorcerer through the bond that connected us.

"Delthur, we've wasted enough time." Vixia's ice cold voice caught my attention. How angry was she? And how much more dangerous did that make her?

"If you say so, Lady Vixia." The tall demon's posture changed in an instant. He dashed towards me, swinging his blade at my chest. Was he actually trying to kill me?

I leapt back and narrowly avoided the sharp blade, only to be met with Vixia's purple flames.

"Two against one, really?" I shouted as I cut the black mist tendrils reaching towards me. "I thought any one of you was strong enough to crush me!"

"Silence!" Delthur raised his hand as his voice echoed in the hall. I flinched, what was he doing? A dark orb formed in his raised palm – I could sense the dense magic within it. "Give up – now!"

I grinned. "I don't think so." Despite my words, my heart was beating so fast, it almost leapt out of my chest. Why hadn't Asher replied yet?

"We want him alive, Delthur." Vixia warned the tall demon. She sounded almost bored, as if she'd seen this scene many times before. I gritted my teeth – whatever Delthur was doing, I couldn't get hit by it. I had to stop him before he pulled that spell off.

I dashed towards him, brushing past a surprised Vixia. With my scythe raised, I approached the tall demon. The pale, crystalline curved blade of my scythe reflected the light as I swung it at his arms. He blocked it just in time, breaking his own concentration and thus, his spell, in the process.

"Sorry," I said with a grin as his eyes burned with wrath. "I really want to get out of here alive today." Our blades remained locked for a moment before I leapt back with a backflip, kicking his stomach in the process. He grumbled and swung his blade towards me, but I was already out of his range.

"Asher!" I shouted in my mind. I could only keep this façade up for so long. "Get me out of here!"

I felt a faint tingle at the back of my mind. It was almost as if Asher was trying to tell me something, but he was too far away. If I had a moment to stop and ponder, I might have figured out why, but Delthur seemed adamant on not giving me any time at all.

With his wings stretched wide, he leapt into the air and dashed towards me. Not wanting to give him the height advantage, I also leapt up. We clashed in the air as our battle became a battle of wills, rather than that of pure strength.

Seeming frozen in the air, I clenched my teeth as Vixia's power leapt towards us. Not fair, was what I wanted to shout, but this was a matter of life and death – I doubted anyone cared about fairness at this point.

I focused; I needed that power now, more than ever. As crimson flames burst out of me, I channelled all of my power to feed them. Vixia's expression soured as my flames spread around the room. The air grew hotter as Delthur coughed. His grip on the hilt of his sword loosened a bit, his body shook.

"Delthur!" Vixia shouted as her flames threatened to douse mine, just like they'd done to the phoenix on that day. I tightened my grip on the shaft of my scythe. The still cool metal helped calm my nerves as I pushed against Delthur with all my might. He coughed again as my flames tugged at his clothes.

"Back off!" Vixia's voice echoed around, momentarily dampening everything. The demon I was locked in combat with leapt back – as soon as his feet touched the ground, he stumbled. He thrust his sword into the ground to keep his balance. "You dare harm him like this!" Vixia shouted – her voice filled with not only wrath, but also pain and worry.

I flinched – I wasn't expecting such emotions from a demon, much less of one who enjoyed tormenting others. Her words and tone were almost enough to make me feel somewhat guilty. Almost. "Did you expect me to just let you kill me?" I shouted back as I fed more magic, more power and more hatred to my flames – they spread once again, threatening to envelop the entire room.

She didn't answer, choosing to convey her feelings through raw power. Her purple flames doused mine as her dark power converged in her raised hand. "What the hell?" I whispered as she leapt up into the air. As her wings beat, lifting her in the air, a purple barrier appeared around Delthur.

"Lady Vixia, wait." He tried to speak, but another coughing fit caught him off guard. He had to lean on his sword as his entire body shook.

"You've harmed someone I care about; despite the kindness I've shown you." Her eyes let out a purple glow as she stretched her arm. She swung her arm as if wielding a weapon. Confused, I hesitated, what was she doing? It was only when I noticed the thin strand of darkness coming at me that I raised my scythe to protect myself.

"Kindness?" I replied as I just barely cut the strand into pieces. More tendrils leapt towards me as her flames continued to douse mine. "Every time I met you, I almost died!"

"Asher!" I reached out to him again – I really needed to get out of here. Where the hell was the idiot?

"I saved your life!" She shouted. I felt the purple flames tug at my clothes, dance on my hair. Her power threatened to burn me to ash. I spun my scythe, cutting off the dark tendrils leaping at me. She swung her arm again, causing more black tendrils to leap at me.

"Kai!" I heard Asher's faint voice echo in my mind as I folded my wings and touched the ground, rolling away from the tendrils and purple flames.

"What do you hope to accomplish?" Vixia's shout echoed as the flames leapt on me.

"Asher, get me out of here, now!" As I shouted at him through our connection, the purple flames burnt the skin on my hand. The clothes Matriarch Aelith had given me protected most of my body from the flames, but anywhere they didn't, hurt like hell.

"I need a little time to cast the spell. Just… stay alive, ok?" Asher's voice echoed in my mind. "How much time?" I cried out as I cut another set of tendrils reaching for my neck. My mana was almost completely depleted because of the phoenix' flames I used.

"Fifteen seconds!" He replied.

I gritted my teeth. The smell of burnt skin filled my nostrils as her flames danced on my hands.

"So," She said, with a surprising calm and composed tone. "Finally done resisting?"

I sighed, slowly raising both of my hands. Two seconds. "Well," I said, looking in her eyes. "I'm all out of mana."

She smiled. "Those flames were quite impressive, I must say." Four seconds. I stepped towards her slowly leaning forward as if I were about to place the scythe on the ground. "Thanks, I guess." I replied.

Seven seconds.

"You will pay for hurting him though," Her voice suddenly grew colder as she glanced at Delthur, who was now leaning his back on the wall. Had I really hurt him quite that much?

Nine seconds.

As Vixia lowered her hand, I dashed towards her, expending the last of my mana on one last burst of Fallen Grace. As power filled my body, I appeared right before her. My scythe arm extended to the side; I swung the pale blade at her neck. My eyes flashed purple at the same time as hers.

"Lady Vixia!" Delthur shouted.

Eleven seconds.

"That's enough!" A commanding voice echoed. As my gaze focused on the owner of the voice, my heart skipped a beat. I knew that voice and… I knew that face.

My body was frozen mid-air. I couldn't move, and I couldn't look away from him. When my eyes met his, his enraged expression left its place to something different.

Thirteen seconds.