The Soul Keeper

It took me a moment to regain my composure as my palms itched with anticipation. I couldn't believe we'd found another primal core. Which one was this? Earth? Water? Something else?

"Kai?" Mona poked my shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?" 

I quickly pulled myself together. I couldn't afford to get lost in thought right now. 

"Nothing, I was just thinking of something." I glanced around. "We should get moving before more troops arrive." 

Laura nodded and motioned me to lead the way. I didn't waste any time as we began to circle the outer edge of the barrier. Despite desperately wanting to rush in there and take hold of the primal core, I knew it would be suicide. The smartest thing we could do was to learn as much as we can, then retreat to return with greater numbers later on.

Yet, my idea didn't seem to be to Mona's liking.

"Shouldn't we get our hands on that source of power?" She asked as we crouched behind some larger rocks. I didn't say anything as my gaze was fixed on the keep's walls. I counted seven demons, each watching their surroundings carefully.

"Sure," I mumbled in response to Mona. "But not just the four of us." I didn't know how powerful each demon was. Assuming they were about as powerful as the two I fought before; we'd stand no chance against seven of them. And even if we did somehow match them in power, we wouldn't be able to stand our ground against any reinforcements.

"You want to retreat now?" Mona asked in surprise. I nodded, calmly. "We have a better chance at killing the snake than getting past those guys." I replied. Theresa shot me a somewhat surprised glance while Laura nodded. 

"There's no need to take unnecessary risks." She said as she pointed at the barrier hiding his place. "It's not like anyone will find this place and with Kai's rift, we can come back at any time." She glanced at me. "Right?"

I nodded. "Yes, we can return here at any time. Preferably with more people." My gaze scoured the keep walls for a weakness – something that could be used to our advantage at a later time. "Let's circle around the keep, then retreat."

Mona pouted. "Ugh, this is so annoying." She glared at the soldiers guarding the walls. "Out of all the games I've played in my lifetime, this is probably the most annoying. Whatever we want to try either turns out to be impossible or too dangerous."

I stopped just as I was about to get up. "What?" I asked as thoughts whirled in my mind.

Theresa quickly nodded. "Well, she's right. Games usually let players feel powerful. You know, give some victories, let us triumph." She made a vague gesture. "This one doesn't do anything like that." 

"You're right," Laura said with a low voice. I nodded absentmindedly. While I hadn't played any other games, I had noticed that everything seemed just a bit too challenging here. I still had a hard time believing this wasn't real.

"Anyways," I said, noticing the three of them losing focus of our current goal. "We need to get going. If we are spotted, we run. We're not fighting them. Ok?"

The trio seemed somewhat unhappy, but Laura nodded, prompting the others to do so as well. "We can return at any time we want." She reminded them. Mona sighed. "Fine, I get it!" She motioned me to get moving. "Let's get this done with."

And thus, I got moving. Carefully circling the keep was harder than we thought at first. While there were plenty of rocks to hide behind, there were also plenty of gaps in between. Whenever we came across such gaps, we had to watch the guards on the walls and wait for them to glance away. Considering there were four of us, it became really tedious really quickly.

Despite the tediousness, the trip was well worth the time and trouble as I did notice some rather important things.

"What now?" Mona said as we arrived at where we started. "Do we just turn tail and run?" 

I rolled my eyes. "Well no." I glanced at her. Why was she so aggressive about this today? Had something happened that I hadn't noticed? Now that I thought about it, all three of them were weirdly obsessed about not going back to Fetheion's place. Had something happened with the Divine? "It's called a strategic retreat." I said with a grin.

Laura chuckled at my words. "That's one way to put it." She glanced at Mona. "Let's get going before they notice us." The druid also nodded, though it was clear she didn't want to just turn her back on the keep and leave.

"Back to Fetheion's place?" I asked. Mona shook her head. "No, there's something we need to do first. Can you take us to the outskirts of Stonepatch Village?"

I raised my brows but nodded. "Sure can." I glanced at the keep. "Let's go a bit farther away first though." On the off chance that they'd notice my spell, we could suddenly have a lot of trouble in our hands. It was best to avoid that possibility. "Come on,"

We retreated, despite Mona's unwillingness. I knew that I'd forced my decision on them, but I didn't feel even a sliver of guilt. We all needed to survive – even if it meant postponing getting a primal core or… whatever Mona's goal was. 

Once we were far enough away, I used Soul's Aspect and took on the corrupted demon's form. I created the rift with ease – I was getting used to this by now.

"Pass through," I said once the rift was large enough. Laura and Theresa were clearly hesitant while Mona just glanced towards where the keep was, then passed through like it were normal. The others also followed her, albeit not without reservations.

Once they were through, I stepped into the rift as well.

"I always liked this place." Mona said with a smile. We were on a hill overlooking Stonepatch Village. "Can you wait here for a little bit, Kai? We need to check up on someone really quickly and I know you don't want to risk being recognised by the Ereth."

"Sure, take your time." As soon as I said that, they hurried off to the village.

I watched them leave, then sighed and sat on the lush green grass. I was a bit tired. Not having slept properly the night before, and chasing those demons for hours upon hours had taken its toll. And now, my mind was filled with the power I felt. The power of a primal core.

I needed that. I wanted that. 

I took a deep breath. We could probably barge in, take the primal core, and leave with some more help. Sure, it would be risky. Stupid even. But we could do it.

But no, I wasn't about risk anyone's life like that. I knew there was a way to do this mostly safely. I was sure we could somehow do it with Fetheion's help. Or when I got my power back.

I sighed again, then decided to keep myself busy with something else, lest I'd constantly think about that primal core. I took out the crystal Luhen gave be before – the one his friend had created for him and inspected it.

I could her a low ring echoing from the crystal. I wondered, could I replicate it, perhaps?

I summoned my status panel, then navigated to my inventory. It was fairly full. There was a lot of clutter in there, like the mane of the giant horned lion that I'd killed a long time ago. Because of all the clutter, it took me a while to find the crystal pieces I had gathered months ago. 

"Guess it's a good thing I never threw things away," I mumbled as I picked a fist sized crystal.

The next hour or so passed with me attempting to figure out how the crystal Luhen had given me worked. Despite my best effort, I didn't have much progress to show for by the time Mona, Theresa and Laura returned.

"We're back!" The cheerful druid called out as soon as she noticed me. I placed the crystals back into my inventory, then pushed myself up. "Did everything go smoothly?" I asked. She nodded. "Yes! We stopped by the guild and sold a few things, dropped by Rina's place and said hi to Luhen."

Laura handed me a small bag. "He said he prepared some gifts for you and 'the storm sorcerer'. He also said you'd know who he was talking about."

I nodded. It had to be Asher. "Thanks," I said with a smile, then glanced at the sky. The sun had begun to set. "Should we go back to Fetheion's place now?" I didn't want to spend another night outside and I wanted to ask the Divine about the dream I had.

Mona seemed a little hesitant. "Is there something I should know?" I asked as my tone became more serious and my expression darkened. She was keeping something from me – I knew it. It was clear as day. Yet, she simply shook her head. "No, not really. Let's go."