The Soul Keeper

I grabbed Mona's arm and dragged her back, towards the gap in the wall. Laura did the same with Theresa.

"What's going on?" Mona asked as I dragged her towards the cavern entrance. "Why are we running?"

I didn't respond, not because I wanted to keep her in the dark, but because I didn't know myself. All I knew was that every fibre of my being was telling me to get the hell out of this place.

Suddenly the cave seemed so far away. As we ran up the hilly terrain, Laura and Theresa caught up to us. Mona freed her hand as I stumbled and glared at me. I was quick to regain my balance. "What are we running from?" She shouted.

I took a breath, ready to shout at her to trust me, but before I could get the words out, I stumbled again and fell on the ground.

The moving ground.

My heart skipped a beat as the ground beneath our feet slowly moved up.

"What's going on?" Theresa asked as her bow appeared in her hands. She quickly hooked an arrow, then looked around searching for a target. She didn't need to search for long, though her dropped shoulders were proof enough that finding her target wasn't the least bit helpful in this case.

"How the hell do I kill that?" She whispered as her gaze followed our opponent.

The ground continued to slowly raise to the air as well as becoming steeper. "We're standing on it!" I shouted as the ground in the whole valley began moving. The long, round shaped creature slowly lifted its head from beneath the earth, finally entering our view.

"Oh." Mona said as she grabbed on to Laura for support. The red eyes of the gigantic snake focused on us. "I… think we should keep running." The druid's words were followed by silence as we stared into the creature's eyes.

"Run!" I shouted as its eyes flashed red. It lifted its head higher as I tried to get back up on my feet.

The thing was massive, gigantic – I couldn't wrap my head around how big it was! The four of us were standing on somewhere near the middle of its body and we had plenty of space to move around. That's how big it was.

I was smaller than its eye.

That brought things into perspective for me as I shouted again. "Run!"

I didn't need to repeat myself again. We ran towards its tail as the surface became steeper. Our steps slowed as pieces of loose earth began raining down on us.

"We're so dead!" Laura mumbled as we looked up. The creature's head was right above us. It hissed at us as it opened its mouth. Seeing those massive fangs and the forked tongue sticking out was enough make me decide – this thing was as terrifying as Aelith. Maybe more.

"Down!" I shouted and let go of the blue grass still on the creature's scales. I slid down along its body as it finally made its move. Its teeth snapped right where I was a few seconds ago. I noticed a few drops of a transparent liquid drop on its back. 

Mona and the others did something slightly different. The usually cheerful druid leapt into the air and turned into a giant eagle. Theresa immediately followed her and leapt on her back. Laura, on the other hand, simply jumped down without even a second thought.

My heart skipped a beat as I watched her fall down from this height. The fall was more than high enough to kill her!

Laura, however, didn't seem to mind the height at all as she threw something to the ground as she quickly approached it herself. Perhaps half a second later, water exploded from the ground, cushioning her fall and startling the giant snake. 

"Kai, look out!" Theresa's shout prompted me to look ahead on my own path as I continued to slide down along the creature's body. And I did so just in time to see my own impending death as the creature's tail swung towards me.

I drew a sharp breath. I was going to be crushed under the incredible weight of that tail if I didn't do something. My sword materialised in my hands as I gritted my teeth. I couldn't control my movement at all on the slippery scales of the snake. I had to grip, no way of slowing myself down or doing anything else.

If only I had my scythe that could cut through anything right now. Instead, all I had was this sword. I took a sharp breath as I searched for a chance. A gap between two scales was all I needed – no matter how small, I knew I could make it work.

I saw it just in time as thrust the sword between those scales moments before the tail reached me. As soon as my sliding stopped, I firmly grasped the hilt of the sword, planted my feet on the scales and then threw myself up and back.

The tail grazed my back as my semi-backflip saved my life. I felt the clothes on my back tear and some blood flowed from the shallow, yet painful graze, but I was alive and that was what mattered. As soon as the tail went past me, I quickly summoned my wings. As they appeared on my back, I noticed the creature flinch.

It took me a moment to notice what was going on. It was quite a familiar sight, actually. It was trying to squish me between its tail and body, much like we tried to slap a fly when it landed on us. The only difference was that I was the fly in this scenario.

I almost chuckled, but then had to quickly focus on the present again as the red eyes focused me once again.

I beat my wings and quickly moved away from those sharp fangs while I also looked around to make some sense of the situation. How the hell hadn't we even noticed that we were standing on a creature this god damned massive?

How the hell did Vixia and the other two feel even remotely comfortable being here?

Just in these last few minutes, the terrain around us had changed so drastically that I was having trouble finding my bearings. The building at the centre, where the sarcophagus was, remained untouched. The twin peaks of the fang-like mountains were also visible – thankfully, the creature wasn't large enough to actually destroy them. I hoped.

The creature gave up on chasing me after a few more minutes of me flying around it in circles. While its size and sheer strength made it incredibly dangerous, it also made it difficult for the creature to move quickly. I was too fast for it to catch me.

Mona, on the other hand, wasn't quite as fast. Carrying Theresa was clearly more difficult than she let on at first because I could see her struggling as the creature focused its attention on her. The cheerful druid noticed it at the same time as I did, and immediately dove down. Theresa was quick to react as well as she hooked an arrow and released it in the blink of an eye.

The arrow bounced off the creature's scales harmlessly. I clenched my fists as she hooked another arrow. It wasn't going to work. There was no way her arrows could pierce those thick, sturdy scales.

Mona, now flying only an arm's length above ground, as headed directly to the cave. I chased after her and the creature's head. All she needed was a few more seconds than they had.

Laura, who was running ever since she jumped down, had almost reached the cavern. She glanced back and raised her hand. She turned to face the snake and extended her hand towards it.

I noticed Theresa quickly cover her eyes and Mona look away. I didn't have time to do the same as an incredibly bright light flashed. Explosions and a ringing sound followed Laura's spell as the creature hissed and shrieked. I felt the air around me move as the creature wailed in pain. 

Laura's quick thinking must have saved Mona and Theresa, but she had doomed me. My already light sensitive eyes hurt like hell and I couldn't see a thing now. My head was spinning from the ongoing explosions and the ringing sound refused to go away. 

I heard the crackle of magic not long after and the creature wailed again. What was going on? I blinked and tried to focus, by everything was a mess. 

"Kai!" I heard someone shout, I couldn't tell who it was. I think it was Mona…? 

My thought process was interrupted as something very large and very heavy hit me in the back. I lost whatever breath I had as I found myself falling.

I desperately reached out to try and grab on to something, and my hands somehow caught something. Something cool, leathery yet hard. I felt something slowly lift me up as I grabbed on to it with both hands. 

My vision returned just then and I all I could think of was 'crap' as I stared into the blood red eye of the snake.