The Soul Keeper

Mona's spear pierced the massive creature's forehead. 

"Not good enough." Laura said with a sigh. Her eyes shone golden as a similar light engulfed Mona. The crimson haired druid pulled her spear out and just as the creature tried to strike her with its tail, she backflipped, gracefully landing on the creature's back.

"You don't belong here." I could hear her shout despite the echoing thunder and lightning strikes. Massive roots sprouted from the ground near the manticore. It tried to leap into the air with its massive wings, but Mona had no intention of letting it leave. The roots and tendrils wrapped around the creature's body, forcefully closing its wings and immobilising it.

Mona didn't hesitate, she jumped to the tendrils and let them carry her to the monster's throat.

"Kai." Laura's calm voice caught my attention. "Another one is approaching from the opposite direction. Can you take care of it?"

I nodded wordlessly and let my wings carry me into the skies. Soon, I heard the beat of much larger wings. Soon enough, another manticore entered my vision.

Now that I could take a good look at it, I could safely say that this creature didn't belong in this world – just like the orcs and trolls. All of them were from our world – our mythologies. 

I knew about the manticore. It belonged in the Persian mythos if I wasn't mistaken. Though, later the Greek had also welcomed in into their own mythology as a man eater monster. Now that I could clearly see it – it definitely was a man eater monster. Though, something felt off about it.

Wasn't it supposed to be something like… the head of a man, body of a lion and tail of a scorpion? This thing looked more like someone had taken a lion, gave it a scorpion's tail and a pair of bat's wings.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I was sure I had seen this rendition of the mythological creature somewhere else before. A movie perhaps?

Yet right now I had no time to think about this. The creature's bloodshot eyes focused on me as soon as it spotted me. It landed on the edge of the cliff and reared on its hind legs. Moments later, I found myself looking at a rather large fireball coming my way. I easily moved out of its way, then let my own flames retaliate. 

Below, Erik had joined the fray. He was standing by Vincent as they tried to keep the trolls and orcs at bay. Theresa was shooting arrow after arrow at the smaller creatures that so desperately tried to reach Mona. Laura had begun casting a spell as Rina let Asher do the killing. She had focused on making sure Samantha and Theresa's arrows were imbued with her magic.

Lucius was holding off a host of creatures on his own at the very back – I didn't watch him for long, I knew he was skilled enough to not be in any danger at all.

Mona had finally killed the massive manticore and she once again turned into an eagle. I think she was coming towards me, but I didn't intend to let the manticore live for much longer. I folded my wings and flew towards its head. It swung its tail towards me, but I cut it off nearly effortlessly with my scythe.

As the tail fell to the ground below, I reached its head and with a single swing of the pale crystalline blade of my scythe, killed it. 

Below, the battle continued just as fiercely.

"There is no end to them." Mona said as she landed besides me. I nodded. "If they are being summoned, we probably have to wait for the summoner's mana to deplete." But how had it not depleted for all this time? I had arrived last evening, now it was almost noon. How could anyone have so much mana?

"I don't think that's it." Mona said as she thrust her spear into a wolf-spider hybrid that came too close. "I mean, you're right, but it doesn't seem like that's a viable option. Your wizard's mana must have gotten really low by now and Asher already used half his mana just to bring us here." She glanced at me. "I don't know what exactly you are, but I don't think you can keep everyone safe for long enough either."

While her words did hurt somewhat, she was absolutely right. I could, theoretically, kill every single one of these monsters in a heartbeat. But I couldn't keep doing that forever. 

"How far away does the summoner have to be?" I asked. Mona tilted her head. "I'm not sure…" She mumbled, then glanced at Laura. "She talked to the young girl a lot more than I did." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me towards the others.

"Laura!" She shouted. "How far away did Elise need to be to control her summons?" 

The blonde woman hesitated for a moment, then furrowed her brows. "I remember her telling me that she needed to be able to see them, for the most part. Or at least see their goal."

Mona's eyes glimmered with hope. "If sight is enough, we should check the neighbouring peaks." She glanced at the other mountains. "Kai, you should stay here in case other powerful creatures show up. I'll go scout the other peaks." 

"Be careful." Laura said. I wanted to stop Mona – it was too dangerous – but she flew off anyways. 

"She can take care of herself." Laura said with a faint smile. "Besides, she's just an eagle – not a threat to anyone and certainly not something to pay attention to. You on the other hand look like the grim reaper. There is no way you can sneak up on anyone."

She was right. "I know," I said, looking after the eagle who'd already disappeared from our sight. "But I'm still worried." 

Laura nodded. "Then make sure she has people to come back to." She glanced at the battlefield, prompting me to do the same.

Vincent and Erik were still facing off the orcs and trolls, though now they had some blood on them. Alina was somewhat out of breath. Her complexion was a bit pale. Worried, I approached her.

"Alina, what's wrong?"

She grabbed on to me for support. "Erik is constantly getting hit. I'm almost out of mana." She glanced at me. "Vincent only got a scratch on his sword arm, I healed it and he's fine now. Alex didn't get hit once; she's doing great, same thing for that swordsman friend of yours." 

"I'll take over for a bit." I said, glancing at Erik. "Try to rest and gather your mana." The blond priestess nodded. As soon as I helped her lean on a nearby rock, I dashed towards Erik.

"Go rest, I'm taking over." I said as he barely blocked a troll's fist with his tower shield. 

"What? I'm fine, I can still fight!" He shouted. I didn't hesitate to grab his shoulder and pull him back. "Alina needs to rest, and I need someone to protect her. Go!" As I spoke, a purple light shone from my eyes. 

As Erik stepped back in what could only be fear, I turned my back on him and cut off the troll's arm with a simple swing on my scythe. "Vincent!" I called out to him. "Help out your brother, I've got this side covered." The young man nodded and leapt back without even a moment of hesitation. I could see just how relieved he was to be checking up on his brother.

"Now then," I mumbled as I turned my gaze on the trolls. "Time to get rid of you." I took a deep breath and began my dance of death among these summoned golems. I made sure not to use any of my spells or flames – I needed to preserve as much of my mana as I could, and this was a good opportunity to push my newly powered up body to its limits. 

I could already feel the difference that +10 Strength made. And I was just so much more aware of my surroundings with 100 Wisdom. 

Behind me, I could tell that Asher had exhausted most of his mana since he stopped channelling his spell. Instead, he now focused on the creatures that came too close for comfort, killing them with tiny bolts of lightning.

Moments turned to minutes, and after some time passed, I noticed an eagle flying towards us. I breathed a sigh of relief, then shouted. "Erik! Vincent! Your turn." As soon as the words left my mouth, Vincent ran up and took his place besides me. Erik seemed a lot less enthusiastic as he slowly walked up. 

"I thinned them out as much as I could. Make sure you're staying safe." They nodded, and with that, I ran back to the mage group that did their own thing in the safer centre.

"I found her." Mona said as soon as I approached her. She was somewhat out of breath and pale. "It's Elise." She said, looking at Laura.

"The girl you healed?" I asked wide eyed. Why would she be doing that? Mona nodded. I could see just how shaken up she was. "Someone else was besides her. A person in a black cloak. And that's not all, there were more people on the mountain, a bit farther from her, but they were definitely watching this place." She pointed at the mountain they were at.

I gulped. "Players?" I asked. She nodded. "I can't fight players, Kai."

I took a deep breath. "Asher, any suggestions?" I asked the blonde sorcerer. He hesitated, the shook his head. "None, other than the thing you're clearly thinking." He glanced at the battlefield. "Don't kill them, Kai. We need information."

I gulped. "I'll try." 

"Wait, no!" Mona shouted as she grabbed my arm. "You can't fight so many people at once!" Her eyes trembled with fear, anger and a host of other emotions. I freed my arm as my expression hardened. "I have to, or we'll all die." I stretched my wings and leapt into the air. 

I used Fallen Grace. I flew towards the mountain head on, without a second of hesitation. I had to stop them before Alina ran out of mana to heal people. I had to stop them before one of my friends -someone I cared about – died because of them.

It didn't take me long to spot her – she was really just a young girl. 13, maybe 14 years old. I clenched my fists – there was no way she was aware of what she was doing. She stood at the rocky peak of the mountain, along with a cloaked person. 

My eyes widened as I got close enough to see in more detail. Elise's eyes were half closed. Her expression was dreamy as she was barely standing. The person behind her was holding her by the shoulders. Was he… controlling her?

As soon as he noticed me, he raised his gloved hand and shot a bright yellow fireball at me. I evaded it barely, though it still brushed my right arm, burning my skin a little. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to ignore the pain. 

By the time I could see them again, they were both gone.

I landed, confused, angry and yet somewhat relieved. That was when I noticed the other men on the mountain. There were three of them. A robed magic user, a crossbowman and a swordsman.

My expression twisted into something ugly as I dashed towards them. I wasn't letting them get away. The crossbowman shouted something – and shot a bolt into the air. The mage enchanted it.

I stopped in my tracks as I noticed what was going on. I reached for the bolt as it headed towards the other peak – where Erik and the others were. A volley of dark bolts leapt from my fingers towards it, but the magic user was quick to create a weak, but unfortunately effective barrier around the bolt.

My eyes wide, I helplessly watched. Then, something broke.

A connection I wasn't even aware of, severed.

My interface popped up as a name faded from the list of party members.