The Soul Keeper

I dried my hair with a towel as the last rays of sunlight reflected off the cracked mirror. After trying to come up with a way to explain everything to Vincent and Erik, we had given up. Asher wasn't exactly great at explaining things and I was socially awkward, so we were the last two people who should have been discussing this anyways.

Soon, our focus had shifted to a more pressing matter – finding Fetheion.

So far, we had only come up with a list of places to search and honestly, it was a long list that I didn't really have much faith in. After some pondering and plenty of sighs, we had decided to call it a day shortly before dusk and Asher had left to sleep some more. He must have exhausted himself yesterday, same as everyone else.

I had opted to take a nice dip in the river, and now as I changed into some fresh clothes and dried my hair, I wasn't as tired anymore.

Once I was done changing, I left my room on the second floor and walked down the stairs to kill some time in the common room.

"Hey," Lucius said as I walked to the couch. "You look refreshed."

I chuckled. "I swear the river waters are magical. All of my exhaustion is gone." 

The young man laughed and sat on the couch on the other side of the low table. "Maybe you're right." He said with a grin. His expression then changed. "What's wrong?" He asked, glancing at me with curiosity in his eyes.

I bit my lower lip. I didn't think he would notice that my mind was somewhere else. "I had a dream," I finally spoke in a low voice. "About a lost couple I meat a few years ago, back at home." My lips formed a bitter smile. "They were looking for the Cliffs of Moher, but they were in the wrong place." 

Lucius chuckled. "I wonder how that happened," He said with a smile. 

"They were looking for another place as well – a cliff, with markings on it." I hesitated. Was it a good idea to tell him about the photo I found? I wasn't sure. 

"A cliff with markings on it?" Lucius tilted his head as he pondered. "I mean, there are a lot of naturally formed patterns on lots of cliffs…" His voice faded as I shook my head. "No, I remember the photo clearly. Those were not naturally formed patterns. I'm talking about a circular pattern with symbols and rune-like things on it."

Lucius' eyes glimmered with understanding. "Oh, I see." He grinned. "That sure is a weird dream." 

I sighed. Was it just a dream? Wasn't it a memory, really?

"Kai, it was just a dream, right?" Hearing the doubt in Lucius' voice, I hesitated. "Kai?" He asked once more.

"I'm not sure!" I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to buy some time. "My memory is all jumbled up. I remember the couple and them being lost – that was real. But the photo they showed me with the cliff with markings…" I shook my head. "Maybe my mind just made it up while I was asleep."

Lucius nodded. "That's probably what happened, because if there was such a cliff, we would know about it." He shrugged. "Why are you so worried about this anyways?"

He had every right to know, I decided. So did the others as well, but for now, I didn't want to cause any panic. I knew Lucius could handle it and so could Asher.

"I went to Fetheion's place the other day." I explained after glancing towards the door to make sure no one was about to come inside. "I was searching for him. I couldn't find him, or any clue as to where he might have gone, but I did find something else."

I opened my inventory and pulled out the photograph. "Look." I gave it to the young swordsman.

As soon as his fingers touched the luminated paper, his eyes widened. "This is-" He drew a sharp breath as he noticed the contents of the photograph. "No way."

"It was hidden away somewhere. I'm not sure what's it all about – maybe some sort of mistake by the developers when they made the game. Because I'm fairly sure the Ereth don't have the technology to take photos and print them."

Lucius nodded. He couldn't take his eyes off the photo. "I don't know where this is." He finally spoke after a few seconds of silence. "But I can tell you this – I know these cliff formations. This is somewhere on the island. There is no mistaking it." He clenched his fist after giving the photo back to me. "But Kai, I don't remember there being a cliff like this. I mean, if it were found, it would be international news!"

He wasn't wrong. Nearly all of our cliffs were documented and were touristic places. While the Cliffs of Moher were the largest such place, they weren't the only one. And a cliff with such markings on it would be a touristic hotspot. And I didn't really see any way this would remain undiscovered for long. 

We fell into silence as neither of us could find anything to say. Eventually, it was Lucius who broke the silence. "It's fake – it has to be. I mean, it's already not real, we're in a virtual world after all. So, maybe this is just something they prepared for some quest or something. Like the remnant of some scrapped idea."

I nodded, but my mind was still filled with doubts. I needed to find Fetheion and as him about this – it was the most certain way to get an answer. He had to know something about this.

"Anyways," Lucius sighed and shook his head. "Let's not focus on this. Not right now. Kai, what's our next move? We stopped the Ereth from completing those three Divine Pillars, killed a whole lot of their soldiers and a handful of inquisitors and basically enabled the Demons to attack without worrying about this side of Baile Chailce." He glared at me. "Why did we do all this?"

I glanced at the door. "I'll tell you all about it, but I want everyone to be here. It's better if I explain it once instead of trying to tell everyone separately." 

The young swordsman nodded. "Yeah, I can see how that's the best way." He glanced outside through the windows. "It's almost night. Victoria will bring the two of them here tomorrow at noon or so, right?"

"Yes." I closed my eyes and massaged my temples. I could already imagine the commotion that was going to happen. "I feel tired just thinking about it." I mumbled. Lucius chuckled; he knew me too well to take my words seriously. He knew I was on edge and seeing Erik and Vincent would be a relief for me.

"You'll be fine." I heard his footsteps as he probably walked to the kitchen. "At least they will be mostly free of Aelith and the other Divines' grasp, right?"

I nodded. That reminded me of something else that was quite important. "We'll need Asher to have a long chat with Erik." I sighed. "He's a paladin – we can't have him using his Divine-given powers anywhere near us or we might be risking getting found out." Asher had somehow figured out how to use his priest powers without resorting to using the power given by the Divines. Instead, he was using his own power for it. I wondered, could he teach how to do that to Erik as well, or was it only applicable to priests?

"I hadn't thought of that." Lucius sighed. "I'm sure Asher can help with that." I heard the noise of plates being put on the table and opened my eyes.

"Let me help with that," I said as I pushed myself off the soft, comfy couch. "You get the others and I'll set the table." I suggested, and Lucius happily agreed. He'd always hated simple busywork. It was almost funny how he hadn't changed at all despite the months we'd spent in this world. Funny, but more than that, a relief.

As I put the plates and silverware on the table, I heard the creaking of the old stairwell.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked as Asher came down. The blonde sorcerer yawned and shook his head. "No, some dumb dream woke me up." He glanced at the table. "At least it did so just in time for dinner, I assume." 

I chuckled and nodded. As I placed the food from this morning on the table as well, the door swung open, and people began to arrive. Alex was first, and her eyes sparkled as soon as her gaze fell on the food laid on the table.

"Oh yes!" She said with a huge smile. "Here we go!"

As the others arrived, we took out seats and dug in without hesitation.