The Soul Keeper

As soon as we stepped into the narrow hall that led into the darkness, I shivered. I could feel the demonic magic in this place – it had permeated into the very foundation of this castle. Seeing Asher's cold, hard expression, I could see I wasn't the only one who could sense it.

"Are you two ok?" Lucius asked after a short moment. He waved his hands in front of our faces. "Snap out of it – one of you really needs to create some light. It's really dark up ahead."

I blinked a couple of times and forced myself to focus on our current situation. I raised my hand to create a flame, but then froze mid action. "Dark?" I asked as I looked up ahead. I could see a set of stairs leading down. A faint light was visible from here.

Asher glanced at me. "Do you see something, Kai?" 

"Wait," I pointed towards the stairs. "Neither of you don't see that?" I asked, shocked. 

"See what?" Lucius asked, looking at me like I'm insane. "Can you, like, be a bit more specific?" He made a few meaningless gestures.

"Well, there is light down there." I said, shrugging. "I don't know anything else!" 

"Then let's go and see." Asher said, carefully. He raised his hand as a small orb of light appeared. It wasn't as bright as he usually created them. "Kai, make sure you're careful. I can't protect you from something I can't see."

"I can protect myself, don't worry about it." I slowly stepped forward and approached the stairs. We slowly descended the spiralling stairs. As our footsteps echoed in the darkness, I couldn't help but feel a bit excited. My entire body was tense with anticipation.

We finally reached the bottom of the stairs. A narrow hall once again stretched before us, but now, I could see the source of the faint light. 

A dark purple streak of… something was in the floor. I blinked a few times. It was quite literally inside the floor. I could see the stone surface above thing. 

"Kai?" Asher tapped my shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head. "Can't you see that?" I asked, pointing at the purple line. It was blurry, almost like I was looking at something far away as a far-sighted person. As I described what I saw, Asher's face lit up.

"Lucky!" He said, grinning. "What you have is called 'manavision'. It allows you to see the mana in your surroundings." He hesitated. "Do you see this?" He raised his hand. I could feel his mana gather on his palm, but I saw nothing. 

"Nope." His shoulders dropped as soon as I replied. Lucius sighed, then brushed past me and stepped into the long hallway. "Maybe he just needs to adjust first." He said as he carefully stepped forward. "Let's keep going, maybe a more powerful source of magic will eventually help Kai figure this out." 

Asher nodded, I also agreed. We couldn't afford to wait here for who knows how long just to see if I would adjust to this. I followed Lucius as we carefully continued exploring. The streak inside the floor became more visible as we approached the source.

It wasn't a streak, it looked more like a vein, or the end of a root. I could see it pulsing with magic, and I could also feel it beneath us. It was demonic magic – the same type that Vixia, Delthur and that other, incredibly powerful man used.

"Demonic magic." Asher said at the same time. "Be careful, Lucius."

The young swordsman nodded. His sword materialised in his hand. His posture changed as his steps slowed a little. 

We continued a while, until we reached the end of the narrow hallway. As we stepped into the large, circular room, I drew a sharp breath.

The room was quite large. Paintings hung on the walls, a nameplate beneath each portrait they depicted. At the centre of the room stood a pedestal. I could barely see the pedestal from all the purple veins spreading from it. And on the pedestal stood the source of all this. The core Divine Matriarch Aelith wanted me to destroy. 

"This is it." I said as I slowly approached the core. 

It was shaped like an egg that wasn't any larger than my fist. It was black, with purple veins on it. 

"Are you supposed to destroy it?" Asher asked after a short moment. I shook my head. "She just told me to cleanse the corruption. She doesn't care about what happens to this." I took a deep breath and glanced at the other two. "Let's check the place out, then we do the cleansing."

"Alright." Lucius said. Asher also seemed to approve. He was probably worried about the same thing – that core might be the only thing still keeping this place in one piece.

Asher and Lucius began checking the other hallways leading away from this room while the portraits caught my attention. Why did all these faces look just so familiar? They all had similar features. It was clear that they were all demons, but I also suspected they were family. Reading the nameplates quickly cleared any doubt I had.

"Kai?" Asher called my name as I finished checking the last nameplate. 

"They were all Forlorns." I said, somewhat lost in thought. "Asher, where did we hear that name before?" I was sure we'd come across it not too long ago. But… my memories were a mess – I had too many of them. Too many lives that I never lived.

"The chest." Lucius' voice sounded. He knelt on the ground and opened his inventory. The large chest popped up in front of him. 

"Oh, right!" I said. How had I forgotten that? 

Lucius showed us a key. It was shaped like a flower. He gently placed it in the lock and the chest opened with an audible click as soon as he turned it. 

"I found a room." He said with a bitter smile. "The same decorations were on the other furniture." He pointed at the carvings on the chest. "There was a key on the desk there."

"That's… a lot of luck." Asher said. He was right – what was the chances of us randomly finding the chest in a monster nest, and then come to this place to find the key?

"Yes, but this is a game, remember?" Lucius grinned. "It's supposed to make things convenient for us."

A thought scratched the back of my mind. I refused to entertain it. "What's inside?" I asked instead. Asher shot a weird look at me but didn't say anything.

Lucius slowly opened the chest.

A dust cloud lifted. We coughed and stepped back. Then, we finally saw what was in the chest.

"Books?" Asher asked, confused.

"No," Lucius shook his head. "These are leather bound notebooks. Look," He carefully picked one up and flipped through its pages. Words were scribbled down, though they were barely legible. Beneath the books, I noticed some crumpled papers, some clothes and even a toy. Or, at least, it looked like one. It was a wooden figure of a dragon. It was small enough to fit my palm.

"I don't know if we should be looking through this." Lucius said, slowly placing the notebooks back in the chest. "It feels wrong."

I knew it was silly – this was a game after all – but I couldn't help feeling the same way too. I was about to help him put everything back, but a neatly written note caught my attention. I reached out and took it in my hand.

'They are here, the winged death bringers. Brother, I'm sorry. I lied – I won't be coming back. If you survive, I know you'll come for me. I know you'll find this note. I finally did it. She's alive, she'll survive. Take her to him and tell him I'm sorry. I'll need his help once more. To free those trapped here by my own magic. My soul is probably gone by the time you read this. Tell him to not look for me. 

Goodbye, brother. Live the life you always wanted to live.'

My chest tightened. Despite not knowing the person who wrote this, I could feel their sadness and pain. 

"What is it?" Asher's voice pulled me out of my daze. I read the note out loud, then slowly placed it back to the chest. "We shouldn't disturb this place." I closed my eyes. Where were the trapped souls mentioned in the note?

I heard a faint whisper, then another. More and more of them sounded as I stood up. "Let's free those souls first." I said silently. My steady steps carried me through the narrow halls as Asher and Lucius quickly followed me.

The hallways twisted and turned. While the other two clearly weren't sure of whether we were going in the right direction, I could hear the faint cries and whispers of the trapped souls getting stronger with each step. And the souls weren't the only thing that proved me right – the purple veins of demonic magic were all around us. In the walls, in the ground, even in the ceiling. Wherever this led, it was a place filled with power.

"Magic." Asher warned me as we arrived at a large, metal door. I nodded; I could also feel the magic inside. Lucius readied his sword as I reached for the door handle and turned it.

The metal door opened with a loud creak. 

We stepped inside, but before we could even take a look around, a dry voice sounded. 

"What are you doing here?"