The Soul Keeper

The lifeless body of the man fell on the ground with a thud. Joshua kicked the body, sending it tumbling downhill. 

"They were climbing up – I had to stop him somehow." There wasn't a hint of remorse in his voice. He acted as if killing another human – an actual person who had a life of his own before getting trapped in this game – was perfectly normal. Almost as if it was the right choice.

I felt sick to my stomach. 

A fearful and pained wail sounded. I turned back to see the only guy still standing run off downhill in a hurry. 

"Idiot!" Vincent shouted His long steps carried him to his brother. He grabbed Joshua's shoulders. "Why did you kill him? You just took away the only reason they had to not kill us!" 

"As if they are capable of that!" Joshua shrugged Vincent off and tilted his head towards me. "We've got the 'Pale Demon', the same guy whose strength is on par with a demon's. Do you really think they can harm us as long as Kai is here?" He laughed, then his gaze snapped towards me. "When will you stop holding back?"

Anger welled up inside me. The flames that danced on my feathers grew larger as I gritted my teeth. "I am not invincible, Joshua. We know next to nothing about these people – their numbers, their strength, even why they are attacking us!" 

I wanted to continue shouting, but the now familiar whistling stopped me. I raised my hand and summoned the wind. The volley of arrows heading for us scattered while I continued to glare at Joshua. "Keep Alina safe. Make sure he heals us if we're wounded." I turned my back on him to face the enemy. All of those we had sent downhill had retreated into the woods. As I watched two others – the ones who were circling the hill – also ran to the cover of the woods, carrying the lifeless body of their ally.

"Asher," It took some effort to hide the seething anger within me. "Change of plans. They will probably come at us with everything they have." 

"What happened?" I could feel his worry through our connection.

"Joshua just killed one of them. When will you get here?" 

"He did what?" Asher shouted. "I-"

"When will you get here?" I repeated my question. We had little time left, I could see the unusual activity in the shadows of the forest. They were preparing something.

"At least eight hours." He finally spoke. "I'm sorry Kai, I can only fly so fast."

I sighed. "It's fine. I'll figure something out." I was the one who cut off the connection. I didn't want him to notice how damn afraid I was. Afraid that I'd lose someone else. And afraid that I'd have to kill a person.

Some time passed – Joshua sat in the back with Alina, whose gaze was focused on the distant mountains. They spoke to each other in a low voice. What would happen to her if one of us died? She hadn't even recovered from Samantha's passing. 

Erik fiddled with the leather straps of his shield as we waited. Slowly but surely, the dark sky began to show colour as the eastern horizon slowly lit up. 

I watched the forest below as the leaved turned golden momentarily. The crimson dawn only lasted a few minutes, but it was breath taking as always. Maybe even more so now that I was well aware this could be our last dawn. 

I watched the shadows in the trees as they slowly but surely formed a line, right behind the first set of trees. One of those silhouettes looked different than the others. A silhouette the like of which I had seen before.

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. Was this our end?

"What's wrong, kai?" Erik asked me. Both he and Vincent had used this time to rest a little. They were on edge, just like the rest of us. I hesitated a moment before shaking my head. 

"Nothing." 

How could I tell them who was hiding among the shadows? It would crush their spirit, destroy their hope. And right now, we needed every last drop of hope we could find. Morale was everything, Mother had made sure I learned that well. A broken soldier, no matter how powerful, will not care about the fight he fights. A soldier with hopes and dreams of the future, however, will do everything in his power and more to survive. 

I needed Erik and Vincent to hold on to those hopes and dreams. "How about we go to a hot spring after we return to the city?" I asked, forcing a grin. 

Vincent's eyes shot open. "Just us?" He asked in a hurry. "We could ask your other friends to join us, you know." He grinned.

I chuckled. "I'm sure Mona and the others would love that." 

"Hell yeah!" He said, forming his hand into a fist and hitting his knee lightly.

I felt bed for using such a dirty trick on him but seeing as how much he clearly looked forward to it, I couldn't help but smile. Was this what Mother had talked about? Hope, expectation, any kind of positive emotion to rile someone up.

I sighed; this was all I could do for him. I was going to fight tooth and nail to protect him, but I wasn't invincible. I could very well fall in this battle, considering who we were up against.

"They're coming."

The words left my mouth as I felt magic coming from that direction. A spell was being cast. "Be ready," I warned the others as my scythe materialised in my hands. 

And soon, a small army rushed out of the woods.

My fears were confirmed as soon as I was what the army was made of. Creatures – trolls and orcs. Things from our world, not this one.

"What the hell? These things again?" Erik shouted. I nodded as I created a wind to get rid of the volley of arrows aimed at us. "Players are coming too!" I shouted, pointing to the side. A group of fifteen was slowly but surely climbing the fairly steep cliffs. 

I had to do something before everything fell apart. Fast! 

Flames burst out of me as I let myself fall off the cliff. As I passed by them, the players screamed in pain – didn't hold back this time. Their ropes burned and they fell. While the fall was not lethal, I was quite sure they had broken quite a few bones.

I beat my wings and flew over the horde of trolls and orcs, raining a fiery death on them.

"Kill the remaining ones!" I shouted. As Erik and Vincent got to work, I circled the hill, finding more summoned creatures and destroying them. By the time I returned to Erik and Vincent, they had also destroyed the remaining few summoned monsters.

"He got too excited." Erik said with a sigh as he glanced at Vincent. Alina was healing a rather nasty looking scratch on his shoulder.

"It happens." I mumbled, then turned my gaze towards the woods. It wasn't time yet – they didn't feel desperate enough to trust that silhouette yet. The players were still trying to do this on their own.

"Listen," I said, pulling Erik away from the others. "At some point, I'll have to fight a formidable enemy. When that time comes, I need you to get everyone else away."

Erik's eyes shot open." What? No, we'll help you."

I shook my head. "You wouldn't stand a chance-"

"Kai, you've always been doing stuff alone. You can't keep this up!" Erik grabbed my shoulders. "I know I didn't help at all in the past – hell, I was the one who pushed you away, but you can't always do things alone, ok? We're here, please, if you have to fight, we'll stand with you."

His words came from a place of good intentions. He had realised his mistakes and he wanted to avoid making the same ones again. He wanted to earn my trust, he wanted to fight by my side. He wanted me to be part of the group again. My lips formed a weak smile, but even that shattered quickly.

"What's done is done. I fight at my peak when I'm alone. My flame burns everything – it won't discriminate between a demon and you. It will burn you and kill you." I looked away, at the woods. "I can't protect anyone – I'm built to kill. You, however, are a paladin. You shield others." I tilted my head towards Alina. "Look at her. Do you really want her to be stuck here as I turn everything to ash? Because when I fight for my life, nothing will survive."

Erik's eyes widened. His face was pale as a sheet of paper. He opened his mouth, then closed it. "I see." He mumbled. "Then I'll make sure you can go all out without worrying about us." 

"That's the best thing you can do for me." I said, forcing a smile. I turned my back on him as my flames grew hotter. "They're coming again!"

I leapt off the cliff to fight the second wave of monsters.