The Soul Keeper

I took the photo out of my inventory and showed it to him. "What does this mean?"

Fetheion first glanced at what I was showing him, then his face turned pale. His eye twitched as his gaze shifted between my face and the photo of the marked cliff. 

"Where did you find this?" He asked as his brows furrowed and his expression darkened. 

"What is this?" I insisted. 

The Exiled Divine gritted his teeth. The air around us grew heavy as I noticed slivers of his power circling us. "How did you get your hands on it?" Fetheion asked.

"Found it, in your house. After I went looking for you because I feared you had died." I glared at him. "What is this, Fetheion? What the hell is a photograph from ­my world doing here?" 

The Divine raised his chin and looked down at me. "Some things are better left unknown, Kai. This is one of those." 

"Hell no," I shouted. "I'm not letting this go." I glared at him, he had avoided answering so many of my questions. I wasn't about to let him do the same about something as important as this. "Where was this taken?"

He remained silent. Our staring contest continued as I clenched my fist. My left palm began to itch.

"Let it go, Kai." He spoke, pressing on every word as his eyes narrowed. "Focus on the task at hand."

"I am focused on the task at hand." I hissed. "What is this, Fetheion? Can I really trust you tomorrow? Or will you betray us?"

He flinched. For just a moment, his expression twisted with pain. "Is that how it is?" He asked as he quickly pulled himself together. "I see." His shoulders dropped. His voice, broken and defeated. 

I took a deep breath. "Fetheion-"

"No, stop." He cut me off. "I saved your life, helped you recover, find your allies and stand up against Aelith and the others." He looked away. "I see now that was not what really matters for a human." He raised his head and looked up at the sky.

"I-" I stopped. "Wait, what?" A human? 

"It doesn't matter," He said, shaking his head. "I promised you my aid in the upcoming battle, and I will provide you with it. Whether you trust me or not does not change that."

I blinked a few times. "Fetheion," I hesitantly spoke. "I-" I stopped. "That wasn't what I meant." I mumbled, looking away. His dropped shoulders raised a little as I only secretly peeked at him. "Sorry," It was difficult to keep this tone of voice. Was he going to see through my charade? Had he noticed that I had noticed his blunder?

"You've got to understand," I explained, making sure to keep my voice low and somewhat pitiful. "I don't understand what this means," I pointed at the photo. "I know how much you've done for me, for all of us, but can't you at least tell me a little?"

Fetheion sighed. "It's something given to me by someone I care about deeply." He finally spoke. "Don't ask any more than that." He looked away, giving me a chance to inspect him without him noticing.

He was fiddling with the end of his long, crimson braid. He seemed a bit less on edge than moments ago. Had I successfully tricked him? 

I sighed. "Fine," I said, then looked away. "I need some time," I finally said. "To prepare for tomorrow's battle." 

"Remember to get some rest." He said as I stretched my wings. I nodded, then leapt into the air.

I flew as fast as I could, as far as I could.

I landed far away on a tall hill.

How did he know that? How did he know to say 'Humans' in that sentence? While I had told him of my life in our world, I was absolutely certain that I had never told him what we called ourselves. How had he known?

Normally I wouldn't have noticed this. Or I wouldn't have cared, just thinking it was something OTHERWORLD had made known to everyone in this world. But now, I simply couldn't bring myself to believe that.

Was Fetheion a player? Was a real human being hiding behind the façade of an Exiled Divine? No, I simply couldn't bring myself to believe that right now. This feeling of something being hidden from me simply refused to go away. 

Despite all of our successes, all of our discoveries, we still could only see a part of the world. A sliver of what was really going on. And I couldn't help but feel like Fetheion was standing at the centre, or very close to the centre. He knew more, much more than he let on. 

I clenched my fists. It was pissing me off. Yet I couldn't risk making an enemy out of him right now. Not today. Not until Aelith was defeated, not until my predecessor's soul was set free. 

And once that had happened, I wasn't going to be able to do so anyways. I'd either remain a stray soul within the Keeper of Souls, or I'd be returned home with everyone else. So, in a way, I was never going to find out what Fetheion was hiding from me.

"Damn you," I whispered as I looked up at the sky. The stars were shining brightly, from eternally far away. Was I going to let Fetheion's secrets remain as such in hopes of finding a way to go home? Or was I going to throw all of our hopes away just to find out what the exiled divine was hiding?

I bit my lower lip. 

I wanted to know. I needed to know.

I closed my eyes as two options – two separate paths were laid out before me.

Was I going to be selfish, or selfless?

Was I going to fight for me, or for everyone else?

The distant skies lit up with a golden light. The Battle of Baile Chailce had begun. At the northern outskirts of the Chalk City, the war between the Demons and the Ereth had begun.

I chuckled. Having decided, I stretched my wings and leapt high into the air.