The Soul Keeper

"What?" I asked, freezing in place. 

"The paladin and his team are losing a battle?" Aelith asked. "Against whom?"

"Demonic beasts! Aelith, my power doesn't extend that far – we must send help. All our chosen are there!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Send me there!" I said, foregoing all caution and looking Aelith straight in the eye. "Send me there – I know I can make a difference! I can help them!" 

She hesitated. I could see how conflicted she was. I clenched my fists.

"Fine. Do your best," She said as a teleportation sigil appeared beneath my feet. "But remember – do not die."

I nodded. I didn't intent to die and I didn't intend to let anyone else be killed.

I disappeared in a flash of light. I felt the soft earth beneath my feet. When I opened my eyes, I saw distant hills – mountains, really. 

"The Howling Hills are the mountains you see before you. Your friends are fighting a horde of beasts somewhere on there." I heard Aelith's voice whisper to me through the earring.

"I'm on my way." I replied as wings sprouted from my back. I leapt into the air and used Fallen Grace to go even faster.

"Asher!" I shouted through my mind. I could feel his shock as he carefully replied. "What's wrong?"

"Erik and the others are trapped somewhere in the Howling Hills. They're fighting monsters and can't retreat – I'm on my way right now. Try and get here as soon as you can!"

"We'll be there." He said. I could feel the urgency in his mental voice.

I rushed to the mountains, worry filling my heart. Why had they gone there? Who had Erik talked to? How had they gotten themselves trapped? As these questions and more raced in my mind, I felt magic – familiar magic too. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the all too familiar lightning strike somewhere near the peak.

Eventually, the people and the battlefield entered my view. It was complete and utter chaos.

The group was split into three smaller groups. On one side, near the steep cliffs, Erik and Alex were fighting off a large group of creatures. Some ways away from them was Samantha, Alina and Joshua. They were facing off against a massive creature. It looked like a mammoth, almost. 

I noticed that Samantha wasn't firing any of her arrows at the mammoth. She was focusing on the creatures attacking Vincent and Rina. The duo was on the lower side of a chasm, not too far from Samantha. 

My eyes wide, I approached the nearest group – that of Erik and Alex. 

I sent a volley of dark bolts towards the smaller creatures swarming them and folded my wings. My scythe materialised in my right hand as I swooped down low. 

"Kai?" I head Alex's relieved shout but ignored her as I swung my scythe at the horde of monsters. As it cut through the wolf-like creatures' fur with little to no resistance, I let my wings carry me to the next group – Samantha, Alina and Joshua. As soon as I was close enough, I folded my wings and flew right above the mammoth's head, swinging my scythe and wounding it badly.

"Joshua!" I shouted as I landed on the mammoth's back. "Regroup!" He stared at me wide eyed as I struck the monster again and again, until its lifeless body collapsed on the rocky ground. "Go!" I shouted, once again leaping into the air. I swooped by Erik and Alex again, killing several more wolf like creatures in the process. Now that they had some more breathing room, I could focus on the remaining two. 

Rina and Vincent had their backs against the deep chasm. I could see the loose pieces of earth roll down the cliff as they were forced to step back. Vincent was holding off a horde of wolves. Rina's lightning strikes thinned them out whenever they struck, but they were replaced by new ones almost immediately. Rina shield around Vincent was barely enough to protect him against the hungry claws and teeth staring at him.

I gritted my teeth and folded my wings. "Rina!" I shouted. "Vincent!" I placed my scythe in my inventory and as they turned towards me with shock, I grabbed them by the arm. 

My muscles burnt with pain as I gritted my teeth and lifted them both up. 

"Kai?" Rina screamed. A mix of fear, confusion and relief filled her voice as I beat my wings and carried them to where the others were.

It didn't take me long to spot the others, they had all regrouped where I killed the mammoth like creature. Once again, they were staring at a massive horde of monsters. But at least now, they were together. They stood more of a chance. 

My wings gave out under Vincent and Rina's weight moments before I landed. We fell from a couple of meters onto the stone surface.

"Oh my god, Rina!" Alex shouted, tears in her eyes. She ran up to the green haired wizard and hugged her. "I thought I'd lost you too!" 

Out of breath, I smiled as the Kestler brothers also had their reunion. I couldn't even find the words to tell how relieved I was to see them all alive. Though, my smile shattered as I turned my stare at the seemingly endless horde of monsters.

"Kai!" Samantha shouted. She ran up to me, Alina right beside her. "Are you ok? Are you wounded at all?" The blonde priestess asked. 

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." I said with a smile. I forced myself to get up. 

"Alina! Josh is wounded!" Vincent shouted. Alina flinched and shot me quick glance before running towards the Kestler brothers.

"They're coming!" Erik shouted.

Samantha said something – I couldn't hear her. There was too much noise. I felt my head hurt a little. "I'll be right back." I said, brushing past her. 

Erik stood there, sword and shield in hand. I could see him shaking as he looked down. A narrow path over the chasm was our only way out of here, yet the other side of the chasm was filled with hundreds, if not thousands of monsters. 

"Kai, how did you-" Erik began to speak, but I brushed past him too. I couldn't take my eyes off these creatures. I could feel them – ever ounce of my being was aware of them. Of the magic within them. 

It was not demonic magic. It was bright, like the sun, yet it was muddy. Almost like I was looking at it through a layer of oil. It was utterly disgusting.

I extended my hand. There was no place for such twisted magic in this world. Flames formed in my palm. I wasn't casting a spell – I was directly controlling the flames of my phoenix. No… My flames.

Fire erupted from my hand, leaping towards these unclean creatures. It spread like a wildfire in a dry forest, jumping from one to the other. The smell of burnt fur and charred flesh tickled my nose. I heard Erik gag and step back besides me. Yes, the smell was rather disgusting. I called forth the winds, blowing the terrible smell away from this peak.

"Kai?" Rina shouted. I could hear the others gather behind me. They were clearly alarmed, maybe even scared. 

I fed my worries, my annoyance and my relief to the flames. The creatures died, one by one, leaving nothing put ashes in the gentle wind. Yet the more creatures I reduced to ashes, more came to take their place. 

Eventually, I had to stop. They were seemingly endless, how could there be so many creatures?

Somewhat tired, I let my flames remain on the narrow path, effectively giving us some time for respite.

"What on earth was that?" Vincent whispered as my flames continued to burn behind us. "Kai, where the hell were you?" 

I shrugged. "I needed to check on something. You were drunk that night, so I just left." I knew that my resentment showed, but honestly, I couldn't care less. I had warned them time and again, and yet they decided to ignore my warnings.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked watching the flames. I felt cold, despite the warmth of the fires. Hundreds of souls had melted into my chest in the last few minutes. 

"Erik asked us to come, apparently there is some treasure here. Something that belonged to the Demon Lord." Samantha explained. "But when we came here, we found nothing. Then we heard a howl and these creatures attacked us." She shot the endless sea of creatures a glance and shivered. "I though we were all going to die."

Alina came and hugged her. "It's fine. We'll be fine." She glanced at the mountain peaks surrounding us, almost as if she were searching for something. "This nightmare will end soon."

While I appreciated her optimism, I couldn't help but feel like she was severely mistaken. I couldn't kill all these creatures. Well, no. That was a lie. I could kill them, but as long as more of them showed up, killing them didn't seem all too useful.

I hesitated. No, that was also a lie. I had gained hundreds of souls in mere minutes. I took a deep breath and once again stepped closer to the chasm. "Rina," I said softly. "I will start killing them again. Can you take the others a bit farther away? They should rest."

The green haired woman glanced at the horde of wolf like creatures, then nodded. "Fine, but remember, you need to rest too." 

"I know." Sure, I needed rest, but I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by. I had seen – felt – how powerful a demon could be. I shuddered at the thought of coming face to face with that demon again. 

But I was growing stronger. What Asher had told me when we first met was right. With enough determination, there was nothing I couldn't do. Now I knew how much stronger I needed to get. My goal was – somewhat – clear. 

I extended my hand and allowed my flames to once again burn the horde of creatures. Painful wails filled the night.