The Soul Keeper

The figure was kneeling the ground. Was he picking flowers for my predecessor's grave again? Was he going to visit it once more?

I shook my head and approached him. In the distance, the shriek echoed once more.

"Hello, Fetheion." I spoke up.

The figure, clearly startled, quickly turned to face me. A blade appeared in his hand and darkness spread from him. 

"Hey!" I raised my voice. "It's me." I raised my hands and made away with my wings.

It took Fetheion a moment to recognise me. The blade disappeared from his hand and his power dissipated as fast as it appeared. "Ah, Kai?" He mumbled as his posture changed into something slightly more relaxed. "What are you doing here?" He asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"This might be a surprise to you," I said with a chuckle, "But I was actually searching for you." My smile disappeared. "Where have you been, Fetheion?"

He flinched. "I… I had some things I needed to take care of." He looked away. "I wanted to steer clear of the Demon Lord after we almost got caught by him back at your predecessor's tomb."

I folded my arms and glared at him. "Right. After sending Asher and the others away and then meeting the Demon Lord once."

His expression darkened. "How do you know about that?"

"Doesn't take much thinking to figure it out, Fetheion." I snapped my fingers. "The hard part was to find out whether you were alive, or whether he'd snapped you out of existence." My glare on became more intense as Fetheion met my gaze. 

"And how did you figure that out?" He asked. I could hear the suspicion in his voice. He was right to suspect me too, I couldn't blame him. I honestly had no way of knowing whether he had survived a meeting with the Demon Lord had the man himself not told me so.

"Doesn't take much, really." I spoke. "I simply assumed you were still alive since I could still use my interface." It was feeding off of his power after all. It only made sense that it would stop working if he died.

His eyes widened, then he sighed a breath of relief. "Yeah, that would have probably happened." He mumbled.

"So," I said, taking a deep breath. "What exactly are you doing here?" I stepped closer to him. I felt relieved because he hadn't noticed my lie yet. He hadn't realised that I had met, spoken to and made a deal with the Demon Lord.

My question seemed to have caught him off guard as he hesitated and mumbled somethings. "I… the starsnatchers, I was picking some." He scrambled about as he tried to come up with an explanation.

"Lies." I said as I walked past him. What was he doing here? He must have come here for a reason, something more than just picking flowers. "Where did you disappear to?" I asked once more as I kept walking and looked around. 

It was the first time I was looking somewhere other than the flowers, and our surroundings were stunning. 

We were in a valley between two massive mountain ranges. Cliffs and steep hills surrounded the flower covered valley. "What is this place anyways?" I asked as I walked further ahead. "It's filled with so much magic, it's almost suffocating." The place was indeed brimming with magic.

Pure magic, not tainted by demons or Ereth. Life was the closest word I could find. Despite feeling overwhelmed, it didn't hurt me at all. And that was even more surprising since I was used to any non-demonic magic being basically poison to me.

"The flowers," Fetheion sighed. "The ley lines of magic that run beneath the continent." He hesitated. "Magic converges here – it's the focal point of this world. A sacred place to demons, so much that even the Demon Lord hasn't dared disrupt this place."

I clenched my fists. "Yet, you're here." I said, taking a sharp breath as my gaze fell upon the distant cliffs. "Yet," I said, pressing every word. "I sense magic not as pure." I could feel it, the pulsating, man made magic in the distance.

"Kai, wait-" The Divine grabbed my arm. "Whatever lies beyond has nothing to do with our current conflict." His intense gaze made me feel uncomfortable. What was up ahead that he didn't want me to see?

I took a deep breath. "Our current conflict," I said, deciding to come back here at a later time. It was clear that the Exiled Divine wanted to hide things from me. Directly asking now wouldn't help much. "About that, we destroyed three more Pillars."

His eyes widened once more. "Three?" He exclaimed as we slowly walked back. It took some effort not to constantly glance behind us with curiosity, but I somehow managed to just nod. "That's a huge milestone!" Fetheion mumbled, clearly still having trouble believing me.

"Well, we all worked together." I sighed. "Mona, Laura, Theresa, Alex, Rina…" I showed him a faint smile. "All of us were there." I took a deep breath, "It was still a tough fight. Two tough fights." I quickly corrected myself. "Fetheion, the war begins tomorrow." 

He stopped in his tracks. 

"The war begins tomorrow," I repeated once more. "And the next day, we strike Baile Chailce." I met his gaze and watched the conflict in his eyes. It was difficult for him, despite his previous words.

"Why?" He asked hesitantly. "What is there to be gained by attacking the city?"

I grinned. "We're going to get my predecessor's soul back, among other things." My grin widened. "Main that though."

Fetheion's skin turned pale. "Kai, that's too dangerous!" He scrambled to find the right words. "The Divines, the other divines, I mean, will not just let you waltz in there." 

"They will be busy with the demon invasion," I cut him off. "You can't stop me, so don't try." I clenched my left hand into a fist. I could feel the pulsating dark power within. It was ready to strike even now. Just thinking about the upcoming battle made it throb.

"But-" He protested, yet I cut him off once more. "We will come up with a specific plan tomorrow, I want you to be there, both during the planning, and during our attack." I glared at him. "You want to save his soul too, don't you?"

The crimson haired divine hesitated. I could see the conflict in his eyes. I could see how much he wanted to stop me, but also how much he wanted to come along.

"You do realise that your soul will have nowhere to go once you free that of your predecessor, don't you?" He asked.

"Now you worry?" I asked with a chuckle. "Don't try to dissuade me, Fetheion, you can't."

What I hadn't told him was the threat of the Demon Lord hanging over my neck. If I didn't do this, I was dead, and so was anyone who helped me. Asher, Lucius, Mona, all of them. I couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

"You've changed," He said after a moment's hesitation. "What happened?"

I laughed out loud. What hadn't happened. "Plenty, but nothing you need to be worrying about." I looked away, he was eventually going to figure it out, but the later that happened, the better it was for me.

"Right…" Fetheion bit his lower lip. It was clear that he wanted to say something. He sighed and shook his head. I noticed him fiddle with the end of his long braid. I almost wanted to laugh – Uncle Eion would fiddle with his hair as well. All the time.

"Then," He said with a faint smile. "Should we get going?" 

I nodded. "I'll open up a rift-"

"No need," He said, grabbing my wrist just as I was about to take on the corrupted demon's form. "You shouldn't overuse that spell – there must have been a reason your predecessor never used it."

I hesitated. "Right," I gulped, then sighed. I had believed that to be the case for quite some time now. Ever since I had been dragged into Dorith's memories a few days ago, I was constantly on edge whenever I used Soul's Aspect.

"Is something wrong?" Fetheion asked. I took a deep breath. "No, I'm just a little tired. Haven't slept at all last night." I chuckled. "It took quite some time to get here," I said with a laugh.

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows. 

"Speaking of," I said, taking a deep breath as his dark power slowly began to form around us. He was preparing to teleport us. "There was something I wanted to ask since quite some time ago." 

"What is it?" 

"The Divine who killed me, the one who Alina serves. What's her name?"

Fetheion raised his eyebrows. "Uriithe," He said after a moment's hesitation. "Why do you ask?"

"It's only right I know the name of the one who wants me dead, right?" I took a deep breath. "What about my predecessor? What is his name?"

Fetheion flinched. His expression darkened as his power around us fluctuated. "His name shall not be spoken until he walks upon these lands once more."