The Soul Keeper

Our clash began when the echoes of his words died.

His feet lifted from the ground as he extended his arms to the side. I narrowed my eyes, expecting a burst of bright light – just like Aelith and the other Divines' power. Instead, I was greeted with darkness.

Pitch black darkness, without even a hint of colour in it, spread from his body, covering the entire arena in a matter of seconds. 

I released my power as soon as I noticed the darkness approach me. I didn't know why, But I knew that if I let it touch me, I'd lose.

Purple flames danced on my skin. At first, the light they spread was nothing more than a little candlelight. Then, as I carefully fed them more mana, they grew stronger and brighter. 

Yet, it didn't seem enough to hold back the vast, deep darkness of Fetheion. It circled me, trapping me within with nothing else but my flames. 

I knew he wasn't going to kill me, but that didn't make things any less terrifying. I could feel the darkness slowly dimming my flames. I clenched my fists and fed more mana to them. I knew I could get out of this – I was strong enough to do that before!

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, my flames spread out, just like they did before. Roaring, hungry for more power – more fuel – they leapt towards Fetheion. For a moment, it seemed as if the bright light of my flames dispersed the darkness. Yet, as we both stood on the opposite sides of our arena, Fetheion's slight smile never disappeared.

Our powers continued to clash, I pushed him back, and he simply remained there, seemingly unbothered. Only when my flames began to reach him did he finally move.

He raised his hand, slightly, and pointed at me. 

A thin line of darkness appeared in his hand, twirled around his finger, and then leapt towards me. From the smile on his face, I knew this was where the real battle began.

I raised my hand, and a wall of flames rose along with it. The line of darkness disappeared soon after it touched the flames, but two more took its place.

"The hell?" I whispered. What was he doing? He wasn't even really trying to win.

I got rid of the other two lines of darkness, then glared at him. 

"What are you doing? What's this?" I was annoyed – I didn't want this anymore. I didn't want to fight him at all if he wasn't going to take me seriously.

"Fine, fine." He said with a sigh. Then, I lost my vision.

My flames disappeared just like that as I gasped for air. His dark power filled my lungs, keeping me alive, but unable to breathe. Something lifted me up in the air as I struggled to break free.

I don't know how much time passed – it felt like an eternity, but it was probably only a few seconds when I fell to the ground with a thud.

My vision returned as the darkness surrounding us slowly disappeared. I gasped for air, then coughed as the cold midnight air filled my lungs. 

"I think we can safely say that you lost this one." Fetheion's voice sounded. "Not a surprise, considering you haven't used magic in months, but I still expected a little more of you." Was that disdain in his voice? Or just pity?

It took me a moment to gather the strength to push myself up to a sitting position. "What was that?" I said, my voice but a whisper. Why was his – a Divine's – power darkness?

He chuckled and helped me get back up on my feet instead of answering me. "You should rest for tonight." He glanced at the starry sky. "It's quite late."

"No." I firmly said, not budging from where I was standing. "Answer me – why is your power like that?"

He stopped and glanced at me, somewhat surprised. For a moment, our gazes locked in a battle of wills. 

He finally he sighed and gave up. "You weren't always this insistent," He mumbled, then looked away. "The Ereth take their power from the Divine Pillars, so their power mimics that… aesthetic, so to speak. I don't have access to a Pillar, so I have to make do with other, less pleasant power sources." He raised his hand, letting a tiny portion of his power loose. "It's not evil, or good, or anything like that. It's just one of the primal forces of the world. Darkness, shadow." His hand formed a fist, dissipating the swirl of darkness around it.

"You have a primal core, don't you?" I asked without missing a beat. That was the only thing I could think of. His eyes shot open as he lifted his head to look at me.

"How did you-?"

"But how?" I asked, more questions popping into my mind. "I was sure the demons had all of them – they used them to power their portals." Had I seen it wrong when I stole the primal core of wind from that massive room? Was my memory deceiving me?

Fetheion hesitated. "What? No, they don't have all of them." He tilted his head, looking at me clearly wanting to know more. I furrowed my brows, ignoring him. What the hell was that all about? Then what were the other few portals being powered by?

"Kai?" Fetheion asked, his voice gentle, yet filled with some urgency. "What's wrong?"

I forced my mind back into the present. "Nothing, I must have been mistaken." Despite my words, I was absolutely certain I was right. I had felt the presences of the other primal cores that day, hadn't I?

"About what?" Fetheion insisted. A sudden urge to talk about that day nearly came over me, but I somehow stopped myself and glared at him. "Nothing. You're right, I should go to sleep." I quickly turned my back on him and rushed to the room he'd given me.

Only when I closed the door did I feel a tiny bit better, though it wasn't quite enough to quell my anger. Had he just tried the same trick as Aelith on me? Making me want to tell him things? Tricking my mind to get his way? I wasn't going to fall for such tricks.

I needed to train my mind – I needed to become stronger and get out of here. I had so much to do too; Mona, Asher and Lucius were probably waiting for me. I needed to take those souls back from the Divine who orchestrated my murder, I needed – no, I wanted to take my revenge on Alina and Joshua.

But all of this required strength of mind, magic and body.

And such, another long strip of training began.

The first thing I needed was regaining some of my lost souls. Fetheion was ready to help me with that, he gave me a list of places filled with corrupted monsters. Places I could go to kill things and gather souls. And I did exactly that. The first day, I returned somewhat wounded. 

As the days passed seamlessly, my old reflexes returned. My usual awareness, keen senses, everything that gave me an edge over my opponent – they all returned. I continued to find opponents to challenge, cursed beasts, corrupted monster nests, whatever Fetheion could locate, the next day they'd end up dead.

Slowly, my powers began to return as well – of course, they were nowhere nearly as powerful as they used to be, but at least I could fly again. With each soul I took in, the coldness in my chest also returned. And then, the dreams.

Not long after, my nights once again became plagued by dreams – nightmares, even. The memories of these souls, twisted by my own mind, surfaced once again. It didn't take long for my mind to become muddy, and my usual tiredness to return. 

Yet, I didn't let that stop me. Despite Fetheion's protests, I continued. It didn't take me long to notice him following me whenever I left. I didn't mind – he knew not to help out unless I was in mortal danger. So, I pushed him to the back of my mind and continued to train my body and mind.

"When will you let me leave?" I asked, glaring at Fetheion one evening. He was sitting in the library, reading some text on an old parchment again. He lifted his head, somewhat surprised, then a smile flashed across his lips.

"Do you think you're strong enough?" He asked, gesturing me to sit on the other couch. I sighed – I knew he wasn't going to make things easy for me.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think I was strong enough." My interface appeared before me. I switched to my status panel and showed it to him.

'Kai Friseal – Level 105 Soul Keeper | Exp: 56980/140000 - - Souls 100/100 + 471 - - Mana: 2190

Fallen Grace Lv. 5 | Death's Scythe Lv. 5 | Dark Bolt Lv. 5 | Soul's Respite Lv. 5 | Keeper's Haven Lv.5 | Soul's Aspect Lv. 5 | Explorer | Crystal Sage

STR: 20 – CON: 11 – DEX: 100 – INT: 100 – WIS: 100'

He looked at the pale blue demonic text, then glanced at me. "Am I supposed to understand something from all this?" 

We stared blankly at each other a while before I burst into laughter. He seemed even more confused. Only when my laughter subsided did I shake my head. "Ah, never mind. My point is that I'm fairly strong – not enough to take on a divine, or maybe even a demon, but enough to leave."

He hesitated. I clenched my fist, hidden under my cloak. 

"I won't get much stronger if I stay here. I need the conflict and challenge to grow, you know that." What else could I say to convince him? 

"I know,"