The Soul Keeper

For just a split second, I didn't understand what she meant. Then, I felt something familiar. The sun seemed to dim as I noticed my movements become slower.

"Hell no!" Fetheion shouted. His darkness burst out and enveloped both of us as I noticed that rift I knew all too well form in the air. Just as time began to slow down, Fetheion's spell finally finished and I found myself in a field of long grass.

I heard a thud behind me as the heaviness in my actions disappeared and I could properly move again. I quickly turned around to see the source of that noise.

It was Fetheion. He was laying on his back among the long grass, breathing heavily.

"What happened?" I asked as my heart raced. What had happened to him?

He didn't reply for a moment, then took a deep breath. "That was too close for comfort." He said with a sigh. I gulped – I knew what he was talking about. I knew only one person who could slow time like that. "Sorry," He continued, surprising me. "They know you're alive now. They will come after you." He pushed himself up to a sitting position. "I shouldn't have gone after the snake – I took an unnecessary risk, and your secret is out because of it." 

I shook my head. "Never mind that – are you ok?" He didn't seem well at all. It was the first time I had seen him so exhausted and pale. 

He nodded. "I'll be fine." He slowly got back up on his feet, though I could see his uneven balance. "We should go back." He said after a moment of silence. "I need some rest and you should stay low for a while."

I shook my head. "You go ahead." I said, clearly surprising him. "I'm weak," I tried to explain. "I'm nowhere near being strong enough to defeat those I need to. I know I can train plenty when I'm safe near your home, but training in a completely safe place will only do so much for me." I made a vague gesture indicating our surroundings. "I need to fight – I need more souls, more experience. More of everything if I want to become strong enough to stand a chance against Aelith." I hesitated. "Or the Demon Lord." I added.

Fetheion averted his gaze. "You shouldn't think about killing demons right now." He finally said after a few seconds. "It's…" He glanced at me, then shook his head. "Just… be careful what souls you take in. You should know better than me – they affect your mind as much as they affect your strength."

I nodded. "I know, don't worry." 

Clearly my words didn't help as Fetheion seemed just as worried as before. He sighed, then called forth his power. As darkness swirled around him, he showed me a weak smile. "As I've promised before, I won't stop you. But I would like to talk to you sometime soon so, I'll be waiting at home." With that, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

"Right…" I mumbled.

Now that I was alone, the sudden silence seemed deafening. I had grown accustomed to always having someone around, be it Asher, Lucius, Mona or Rina and Alex. Even Fetheion had taken care to not leave me alone for extended periods of time. 

I wondered, how come had he accepted to leave me be so easily? Was it because of what happened just a little earlier? The Demon Lord's power could have been a stark reminder of Fetheion's own limits – he wasn't all powerful after all.

It wasn't just a stark reminder of his limits, but also mine. While I had been able to cross swords with Fetheion twice before, I knew I wouldn't even get that chance against the Demon Lord. It had once again reminded me to not stop – ever. I needed more power if we were to ever be free of this virtual, fake world.

With such thoughts whirling in my mind, I summoned my interface and navigated to my status panel.

'Kai Friseal – Level 110 Soul Keeper | Exp: 96780/180000 - - Souls 100/100 + 342 - - Mana: 2240

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 | Keeper's Sight Lv. 1 | Explorer | Crystal Sage

STR: 33 – CON: 11 – DEX: 100 – INT: 100 – WIS: 100'

I sighed. My levelling speed had really slowed to a crawl. I allocated the three stat points I was given, increasing my Strength to 36. How much difference would that even make? Not much, I was sure. 

I needed more power. With a deep breath, I summoned my wings and leapt into the air. First of all, I wanted to figure out where exactly I was. 

I could see the fang-like mountains in the distance. Thankfully, they were quite far away. I don't think I needed to worry about Vixia and the Demon Lord finding me over such a long distance. Still, I turned my gaze to the opposite side of the mountains. I could see a forest in the distance – almost an hour of flight away.

Forests meant creatures, and creatures meant battle. I felt bloodlust. I wanted to fight – I needed to fight even. I beat my wings without hesitation, allowing them to carry me towards the forest.

As I flew over the grassland, I couldn't help but try and see the place where I killed two demons and then met Mona, Laura, and Theresa. Naturally, I couldn't find it. It was hardly surprising – these grassy fields were almost endless, stretching all the way to the horizon. On foot, travelling through them took days. It was only because of my wings that I was able to move so quickly.

Flight did really make the world a much smaller place.

As soon as the fields of grass ended and I started flying over the woods, the atmosphere seemed to change as well. The air was slightly colder, and it wasn't as silent anymore. I could hear the birds chirping and the gentle swaying of the trees.

I looked around for a bit, looking for a good place to land. A hill, an opening among the trees, anywhere that I could fight without worrying about burning the whole forest down. 

I soon found the place I was looking for and it was perfect. A rather large lake was visible not too far from here, with a large rocky formation in the dead centre of it. The water was crystal clear – I could see the fish and… not so innocent creatures swimming under the surface. 

I didn't waste any time as I landed on the rocky formation. As soon as my feet touched the rocks, I could see the surface of the lake suddenly ripple.

"Well, that was fast," I mumbled as my sword appeared in my hands. Creatures I could only describe as 'bloated corpses' began to crawl onto the rocks as I spoke. I held my breath – they were utterly, completely disgusting. They smelled like dead, wet corpses – and that was basically what they were! 

A single glance at them was enough to convince me that I did not want to stick my sword in them. Instead, I had a much better and cleaner way of dealing with them. I summoned my flames and got to work.

I don't know how much time passed – I fought until no other bloated corpses crawled out of the water, checking my stats ever couple of hours only to see the numbers not really rise much. They gave minimal experience, and they had no souls – something I was grateful for – so I did feel like I was wasting time a bit. Though, I think it would have been much worse if they did have souls. I don't think I wanted to harbour the memories of such disgusting creatures.

But looking at them again, I felt like I was doing a service to this place by disposing of them. I made sure to burn them until nothing but ashes remained, and by the time they stopped coming, my mana supply was halfway depleted.

"What's that sound?" A faint voice sounded as I sighed. Startled, I shot a glance towards the source of the voice. I noticed some movement along the trees. Were they players? What were they doing here? Had they seen my flames? Felt my magic? 

"Don't run off on your own!" Someone shouted. I clenched my fists and looked around – where could I hide? The shore was too far to get there in time and the rock formation didn't have anywhere I could stand on that would hide me from view.

Rumours of a demon here would do no good to me. I didn't have time to fly off – they'd see me for sure and the same could be said about escaping via a rift. If they had a magic user with them, I'd be found out immediately. 

Seeing no other choice, I closed my eyes, held my breath, and jumped into the cold water.