The Soul Keeper

We stared at each other for a moment.

He had long, black hair, though the end of his hair was dark purple. His purple eyes were just like Vixia's… or mine. His eyes widened as he stepped towards me. Fourteen seconds. A glyph appeared beneath me as Asher's magic enveloped me.

"No!" His voice reached my ears as I disappeared in a flash of light. The last thing I saw was his hand, extended towards me, as if he were trying to catch me.

I fell on the ground with a muffled thud.

"Kai!" Lucius' voice sounded. It took me a moment to regain my senses.

"Oh my god, your hands!" Asher exclaimed as I slowly pushed myself to a sitting position.

"I'm…" I hesitated. I wasn't fine. If I had any mana left, I would have used Soul's Respite to heal my wounds.

Lucius helped me get up and led me to a chair the plants here had formed. "What happened to you?" He asked as Asher approached. The blonde sorcerer seemed just as exhausted as me.

"Whatever that was, it led me to another place. And I came across demons there." As my words left my mouth, Asher drew a sharp breath. "I'll need you to explain everything, but first we should take a look at those wounds."

It was only then I looked at my burnt skin. Honestly, it was disgusting more than anything. Before I could even take a good look at them, Asher quickly covered them with a piece of cloth. "I'll heal it." He said as a soft light radiated from his hands. I felt the warmth of it, and the pain slowly disappeared.

Only then did I notice the pain. I was so focused on the battle that I had somehow ignored it.

Even after the pain was gone, it took Asher a few minutes to fully heal me.

"Thanks," I said once the gentle light disappeared.

He glanced at Lucius, then they both looked at me. I gulped; I was about to be shouted at. I didn't really want to deal with it – my mind was already occupied, and my thoughts were a mess.

"So, what happened?" Lucius finally asked. I took a deep breath. "Vixia and Delthur." I said. Confused, Asher raised his eyebrows while Lucius went pale. "What?" He screamed.

"We need to leave." I said as I stood up. "I'll tell you everything on the way."

"Kai," Asher started to speak, but quickly cut him off. "I promise, but we have to get away from here. Now!" For only a moment, we stared at each other. Then, he nodded and grabbed a few books from the shelves. "I'll take only these for now, but we should return some other time to loot this place."

Lucian nodded and we took off. As we passed through the dark hallways and made our way to the exit, I couldn't help but feel more anxious with every little sound I heard. What if they were making their way over here right now? What if they fixed the spell I'd broken?

We stepped outside, to the beautiful garden. I immediately stretched my wings and leapt into the air. Asher and Lucius soon followed, thanks to the blonde sorcerer's spell. We flew over the wall and down the mountain.

"Kai, stop!" Asher's shout reached me as the wind blew in my ears. I slowed down, then stopped mid-air. It took a few minutes for them to reach me.

"You have to stop." Asher said, somewhat out of breath. "I'm almost out of mana."

"Can we please land?" Lucius' desperate voice struck me. In my panic and fear, I had completely disregarded his fear of heights and Asher's wellbeing.

"Sure," I said, clenching my fists. I folded my wings and landed among the tall trees at the foot of the mountain. It was almost mind blowing that we'd already descended the same mountain that took us days to climb.

Soon after my feet touched the still moist earth, Asher and Lucius also landed behind me. Lucius breathed out a sigh of relief as soon as Asher's flight spell ended.

"I really hate this." He said pale faced. "But that doesn't matter right now �� what happened, Kai?"

I took a deep breath before glancing at Asher. "You'll need to know what happened before I met you." He raised his brows as I began to talk.

We sat on the ground as I told Asher about Vixia and Delthur. From the first time we met up to the point she let me go, I told him everything, as clearly as I could remember it. He listened intently, without uttering a single word.

Only when I finished did he speak. "I wish I knew all of this before." He said with a dark expression. "But I get why you wouldn't tell anyone."

Lucius nodded as I shook my head. "My reasons don't matter." I said as I opened my inventory. "What matters is that taking this," The primal core appeared in my hand. "Cost more than what I was ready to pay."

Lucius' brows furrowed. He seemed somewhat confused and wary. "What does that mean?"

I sighed. "Like I said, I met them again". I explained what happened with as many details as I could. As the time came to describe the man that entered the room at the last second, my words got stuck in my throat.

"What is it, Kai?" Asher insisted. Just remembering that man was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

I took a deep breath and forced the words out. "Just before you cast your spell, someone else entered the room. His power was enough to stop everything – I'd have killed Vixia if he hadn't arrived." I looked at my hands. Somehow, despite my brush with death, they didn't shake. I clenched my fists. "I couldn't move at all. No one could." I described the man, then hesitantly looked at the sky. "I think the wyvern knew him."

"What?" Lucius said, wide eyed. "Who was he?"

I shook my head. He was asking questions whose answers I didn't have. A thought surfaced, but I quickly pushed it to the back of my mind. "Asher, we need to find out who he is." I looked at the sorcerer. "Is that possible?"

He pondered a moment, then grinned. "It might be." His expression turned more serious as he directed his gaze at the primal core. The winds around it blew my hair around as I lifted it so he could see it clearly.

"Let's find some shelter." Lucius said with a faint smile. "We still have something to do, right?"

Asher nodded; his gaze focused on the primal core. "Yes, let's use this first."