The Soul Keeper

My flames burst out, swallowing everything in their path. The grass, the trees, even some of the smaller rocks began to burn, melt and turn to ash. The crimson flames pushed the gold-vermillion mist away, cleansing our surroundings.

"You never used their power like this before." The Divine spoke. The gold-vermillion mist resonated with her voice as the flames made their way towards her. "The souls – you would always let them rest. That's why we were able to kill you in the past." She raised her left hand, blood dripping from it. "But I see now that you have changed your ways."

"I'm not the same person!" I shouted. I had it enough with people confusing me with my predecessor. I didn't know him – who he was, what kind of a person he was… I knew next to nothing about him – I didn't even know his name!

She sneered at my words. The drops of blood falling to the ground seemed to hang mid-air as her power suddenly re-emerged. The gold-vermillion mist I had pushed away with my wind reappeared, encroaching upon us slowly.

I clenched my fists and fed more power into my flames. She was outside the range of her Divine Pillar, wounded and angry. I had the upper hand in this fight, didn't I?

My flames reached her, but the thick mist surrounding her dampened them, not letting them touch her at all. I gritted my teeth as her mist began to surround me. Did I really stand no chance against her? 

I wasn't going to accept that. I dashed forward, using Soul's Aspect. My body burst into flames as I called upon the Phoenix' soul. As I reached the wall of mist surrounding her, her eyes shot open. She gasped in shock as I threw myself towards her, sword in hand.

She raised her scythe as my sword reached its target. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed as she stopped my strike with relative ease. She was holding her wound with one hand, so I had hoped to catch her at a disadvantage, but her physical strength was ridiculous. She was able to hold me off with just one hand.

I fed even more power to my flames. The black-crimson flames surrounded us. They were tugging at her clothes and hair. Some of the flames gathering on my hand suddenly leapt towards her face. She looked away as her mist formed a wall to protect her. In that moment where she couldn't see anything, I reared back and kicked her stomach. At the same time, I let my blade slide across the shaft of her scythe.

She screamed in pain as it reached her hand clenched around the metal shaft. I felt my blade cut through something and something dropped to the ground.

She leapt back with a powerful beat of her wings. "You-" She began to scream at me, but a suddenly stopped like she noticed something. 

I was about to dash at her again, but just before I did, I noticed the same thing as her. My eyes widened as the wind, the flames and the mist slowly stopped moving. Everything stopped, even time seemingly came to a halt. My body refused to move, and clearly, hers did so too.

Something appeared not too far from us. Something that felt familiar, yet foreign. It was a slit in the air, at first. Then, it grew larger and clearer as it began to such the light away. Cold darkness spread as someone stepped out of the slit that had now formed into a rift.

Someone I couldn't forget even if I wanted to.

His black hair and clothes fluttered in a non-existent wind. The end of his hair had a purple hue just like before. His purple eyes first glanced at the Divine, then at me. Even with that short glance, it felt as if he were staring right into my soul.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, I finally came to my senses.

"Asher get me out of here. Now!" I severed the connection immediately as I feared he would find out about it. Was the same trick going to work twice?

What are you doing here, Divine of the Light?

His mouth didn't move – it was his thoughts that echoed in my mind. From the Divine's expression, I could see she heard him too. She didn't reply; I couldn't why – was it because she didn't want to, or because she wasn't able to?

We are still at war, and you have come to my land.

I flinched. His land? What did that mean?

And where was Asher? Why hadn't he teleported me out yet?

The demon stepped forward; his hand extended towards the Divine. I could see the same intricate black lines on his hand. They disappeared beneath his clothes. What were those?

And I even find you trying to kill him. 

His words sent a chill down my spine. The Divine's eyes widened. A familiar glow began to appear under her – a teleportation sigil. She was trying to get away – she didn't even try to fight him!

May your soul find respite in the burning light!

The Demon's voice struck fear into my heart. From his fingertip, a black – purple light flashed. 

I felt Asher's magic envelop me at the same time as the Divine screamed. Her scream was cut short as she fell to the ground with a muffled thud. My eyes wide, I looked at her slit throat. He had killed her – it all happened so fast that I couldn't even comprehend it. 

His gaze finally turned to me, a fraction of a second before Asher's spell was completed.

His lips formed a faint smile. We will meet again. 

His words were enough to terrify me. My heart skipped a beat just before a bright light enveloped me. Moments later, I fell to the ground with a thud.

"Kai!" 

I found myself in a dark cave. Asher and Mona were looking at me, their expressions filled with worry.

"You're ok!" Mona shouted as soon as I opened my eyes. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. "You scared the hell out of me!"

It took her a few seconds to let go of me. Only then did I get the chance to look at the others. Joshua and Alina were sitting at the farthest end of the cave. While they gaze did linger on me for a second, avoided looking directly in my eyes. They were talking with each other with a low voice.

Vincent was right here with Asher and Mona, but at first glance, I couldn't see Erik anywhere. 

"Where is Erik?" I asked, my fear clear from my voice. Had something happened to him? Had the other players caught him?

"He was wounded." Mona explained, gesturing behind me. I turned back to see him laying on a blanket. He seemed to be fast asleep. "I healed him, he'll be fine, but he needs sleep." She wiped a tear off her face.

"Who did you face?" Asher asked after a moment of silence.

"Why did you take so long to teleport me?" I asked him instead of replying. My heart was still racing – the fear of meeting that demon hadn't gone away yet.

"Something interrupted me the first time I tried to cast the spell." Asher said, shaking his head. "It was like you didn't exist. I had to do some creative things to get it to reach you."

Mona nodded. "I had to help him out too – we're both completely out of mana because of it." She hesitated. "Looking at your complexion, so are you. What happened?"

"It was almost as if you were in another dimension." Asher added.

All that made me think of was that time had seemingly slowed down as soon as the demon stepped out of that rift. Was that what he did? Trap us somewhere else?

I blinked a few times. Was the demon aware of my connection with Asher? Had he tried to stop the blonde sorcerer's spell? Too many questions popped into my mind at the same time. 

"Kai?" Asher interrupted my thought process. "What happened? Who did you face?"

I hesitated – was it ok for Mona to know about all this? But then again, what right did I have to keep her in the dark after she saved me so many times just these last few days?

"A divine." I said, taking a deep breath. "She was there to kill me."

Asher drew a sharp breath while Vincent's eyes shot open. "What?" The young man shouted. 

"Which one?" Asher asked. I hesitated – I hadn't learned her name at all. I told them what she looked like. "I don't think she saw eye to eye with Aelith." 

"Saw?" Mona raised her brows. She didn't seem even a little surprised as she asked; "What does that mean?" 

I hesitated. There was honestly no simple way to say it, was there?

"I think I met the Demon Lord."