The Soul Keeper

Their gazes first fell on Luhen, whose wound was almost healed. The old, scarred Ereth's breathing had nearly returned to normal. "What happened?" Rina asked as she motioned to run towards us to help. Alex, however, grabbed the short wizard's arm and stopped her.

"Did you do this?" The tall swordswoman asked as her tail pointed at the Ereth corpses. 

I nodded, though I didn't even need to do that as the evidence spoke for itself. Alex's gaze lingered on the corpses for a while. She was clearly at a loss for words.

I decided to ignore her for now and instead, focused on Luhen. The older Ereth was almost completely healed. The bleeding had stopped and as I watched, the wound slowly closed as well.

It didn't take him long to open his eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief as he touched the spot he was hit, then looked at me in surprise as I ended Keeper's Haven.

"You're still here." He mumbled. His gaze fell on the unmoving bodies of his kin behind me. "Oh." His face twisted with pain and sorrow. "Idiots…" 

"Why did you kill them?" Alex suddenly asked. Rina remained silent as her intense gaze inspected Luhen. 

"Because they almost killed Luhen and tried to kill me." I shrugged. "I couldn't let that happen."

Luhen, only now noticing Alex and Rina, quickly rose to his feet. I could see how nervous he was. Was he afraid Rina and Alex would snitch on us? Or was he afraid of them because of something else?

"I'm glad to see you made it out alive, Luhen." Rina finally spoke. She pried Alex's fingers off her shoulder, then approached us. "I was really worried about you when I saw your shop was closed."

The old Ereth's expression softened a bit. "Thank you for your concern, but you shouldn't be here. Either of you." His gaze snapped to Alex. "Do not mourn them, girl. They chose this path out of nothing but fear and greed. At least now they have found their respite." He glanced at me. "Have they not?"

I hesitated. "Not with me, they haven't." I finally said. I hadn't had the time nor thought to look at where the Ereth's souls had gone. If I had to guess, I'd say the same thing as the previous two had happened – sucked away to somewhere by a Divine Pillar. But that implied another issue – one that Luhen too had thought of.

"Then there is a Divine Pillar not far from here." He sighed and shook his head. "I should have known that witch wouldn't have come here for no reason."

I hesitated. I hadn't seen or felt its presence. "Where is it?" I asked.

"Why do you care?" Alex butted in. "Why are you helping him, Luhen? He just killed your own kin!" Her voice went higher as she spoke. It was clear that not knowing the whole story was getting on her nerves.

"Because what the Divines are doing is wrong. They are suffocating this world – destroying its natural order, corrupting the life on it and draining it from whatever magic and resources it has. I can not – will not allow this to happen once more!" Luhen shouted. 

His high voice and fiery passion as he spoke those words startled me. And it wasn't just me who was surprise – Alex seemed more shocked than me. Rina, however, didn't seem too surprised, she seemed disappointed more than anything.

"I had read something similar on an old record – a demonic one. I wasn't sure if I had translated it correctly because its contents seemed just so absurd at the time." Her gaze turned on me. "Do you remember that mural I told you about? The one where the Keeper of Souls stood with the Demon Lord and his army to keep a bright, blinding light at bay?"

I nodded. It had been months since she told me about that – I couldn't even remember exactly when she'd done so, but I remembered her description of it clearly.

"This one claimed the Ereth were here to corrupt and drain the world of its life. It claimed the Demons had been living in this world for far longer than the Ereth." Her eyes widened when I nodded. "You knew?"

"I knew enough to draw a similar conclusion. It's good to have something to back that up though." I glanced at Luhen. "Is she right?"

The old Ereth seemed confused. "You thought the demons came here after us?" 

I blinked a couple of times. "We were told the demons invaded your homeland and destroyed all the great cities you had and what not. We though they were the aggressors."

Luhen's horrified expression was enough of an answer.

"Ok, wait. Stop!" Alex shouted. "Can someone tell me the quick and simple version because none of this makes any sense to me."

Rina rolled her eyes. "Demons aren't as evil as we thought, Ereth Divines are evil. Kai hasn't lost his mind and you're not the brightest."

I chuckled while Alex wrapped her tail around Rina's waist and lifted her up to stare her in the eyes. "Rude!" was the only thing she could say however, since she didn't have any comeback.

"Does that mean you believe me now?" I asked, glancing at the duo. Bickering, they didn't hear me.

"Kai." Luhen tapped my shoulder. "Can I ask you to do something about that Divine Pillar?"

I hesitated. It was dangerous to constantly destroy these pillars. From what I understood, only demonic magic was capable of destroying them, so it wasn't too wild of a conclusion that I was still alive and actively working against them. "I don't know where it is." I replied. 

"I can faintly sense it." Luhen glanced at the mountains where I finished off the giant cursed snake. "It must be somewhere on those mountains." His shoulders dropped. "I know I'm asking a lot, but the more pillars are re-erected, the more difficult it will become for you to move freely."

I nodded. I knew that already. "I'll try." I said with a sigh. "But I can't really promise anything."

"That's fine." He said with a sigh. "If you can't do it, we'll have to somehow let the demons know." It was clear from his expression that he didn't want to resort to that. I could guess it probably ended with a bloodbath, so I chose not to pry, though I did wonder how he could contact demons.

"Let's try and not get them involved," I finally said after a short moment of hesitation. "I don't want to run into them in the near future." With my power still lacking, I wouldn't be able to defeat Delthur, let alone Vixia. 

Luhen chuckled and nodded.

"Rina, Alex," I called to the two as they still bickered. They stopped and looked at me. "Could you escort Luhen back to Stonepatch Village?"

Alex slowly put Rina back on the ground. The short wizard hesitated. "Where will you go?"

I sighed. "There's a Divine Pillar that needs destroying. I have to take care of that."

Alex's eyes shot open as Rina inhaled sharply. Despite the things they had learned in the past few minutes, they were having trouble coming to terms with everything.

"And you two should take care to lay low for a while. Don't get mixed up with any Divines or anything."

"No, wait." Rina shook her head. "I want to see how you destroy a Divine Pillar."

I raised my eyebrows. "Why?" What did she have to gain from that?

She shrugged. "Because. So, we're coming with you." She glanced at Luhen. "We should drop him off first though."

"Oh no, I can go on my own." The older Ereth said with a chuckle. "You younglings should hurry."

"No way." I said, stopping him before he could even walk off. "Come here." I glanced at Rina and Alex, then sighed. "Don't make a commotion please."

As I spoke, I used Soul's Aspect. Their eyes widened as my body took on the form of the Corrupted Demon. Ignoring them, I extended my hand forward and focused. Not a moment after, lights seemed to drain from the spot before my claw-like hand and a rift began to form.

Not long after, the rift had grown large enough to allow Luhen to pass through.

"This will take you under the tree you found me at the other day." I said, somewhat out of breath. "Hurry up or it'll collapse."

He didn't wait for me to say it again. He rushed through the rift like it was a normal, everyday occurrence for him. I waited a few more seconds and once I felt him step out on the other side, I let the spell end.

"You do realise we'll probably have to fight more Ereth right?" I asked as I turned to face the shocked Rina and Alex. I ended Soul's Aspect and soon, my body had returned to normal.

It was Rina who finally pulled herself together and nodded. "We know. Let's go."