The Soul Keeper

I drew a sharp breath as her a golden light flashed in her hands. Was this really how I'd die? I closed my eyes and attempted to gather my magic around me in a futile attempt. I wasn2t going to be able to form the shield before her spell hit me!

I felt the surge of mana suddenly disappear and opened my eyes in confusion. Had she missed from point blank range? How was I still alive?

The inquisitor fell to the ground after glancing at the gaping hole in her chest. She seemed just as surprised as I was. Who had done that?

I pushed myself up and glanced around in search of her killer. I didn't need to search for long though, as one of the other inquisitors also fell with a scream cut short.

"Kai!" Fetheion's bellowing voice sounded. I looked up to see him floating several meters above the battlefield. His dark, shadowy powers were whirling around him. "The barrier is done – go to the palace."

I glanced towards the Palace of the Divines. The barrier was indeed down. How had he destroyed it so quickly? The battle had just begun. I stretched my wings and leapt up into the air. I flew up and only stopped when I reached the exiled Divine.

"What about you?" I asked, knowing full well how much he wanted to be there when I finally found the soul of my predecessor. "Aren't you going to come?"

Fetheion showed a faint smile as he gestured towards the battle raging below. "Looks like I have to keep an eye on them."

I clenched my fists. "Then we can just finish this battle and then go inside." I insisted. I had reasons for wanting him to be there. Fetheion though didn't care quite enough apparently as he just shook his head. 

"It's fine, Kai. We don't have a lot of time, remember? Eventually one of the Divines will return here to take control of the situation. Ideally, we'll be done by then." He shot me a glance. "you need to find his soul by then."

I gulped. I didn't have anything to say to that – he was completely right. We really didn't have a lot of time and if one of the Divines came before I found the Keeper's soul, we would have gained almost nothing.

"And remember the places I told you about." He reminded me as I hesitated. I took a deep breath and nodded. I wasn't about to forget that.

With a powerful beat of my wings, I hurried over to the palace of the Divines, only pausing momentarily to let Asher and the others know. The blonde sorcerer seemed more worried than relieved that Fetheion was now actively contributing to the battle.

I landed at the top of the stairs leading to the palace. Rina and Alex were standing guard there. Alex rushed over as soon as she noticed me.

"I should be down there, helping them!" She pointed towards the raging battle below. "They're already outnumbered!" Her eyes filled with determination, she glared at me. I hesitated – I knew why Fetheion wanted her to remain here. In case some Ereth broke through our ranks and followed me inside, he wanted Alex and Rina to be here to stop them.

"You have to stay here – if they follow me inside, I'll stand no chance against any of them." I lied, knowing full well that I always had another option. "And Rina is turning the Ereth's lives to hell anyways," I nodded towards the green haired wizard. She wasn't even aware of my presence as she cast spells to rain death upon the battlefield. "You need to protect her."

Alex sighed. She was clearly not pleased with this. It was understandable rally – she'd lost so much, given up on so much and prepared for so long to get to this point. To this – hopefully – final battle. Of course she didn't want to be stuck on guard duty.

But there wasn't much that could be done – we needed her here.

"Sorry," I said with a faint smile, the directed my attention to the palace. "I'm going in."

"Good luck," Alex said as I headed inside. 

I took a deep breath as I stood before the large set of doors. "Here goes nothing." I mumbled as I placed my palms against the cold, metal surface of the ornate doors. I put my weight into it as I pushed them open. 

They slowly opened, without even the slightest of sounds, revealing a well lit hall leading further inside. It took a moment to gather my courage. Once I did, I stepped inside and allowed the large doors to close after me.

The sound of the doors closing still startled me as I walked forward in the empty hall. The while and golden motif of this place hurt my eyes – how could the Ereth even life in this place for so long before beginning to hate this colour scheme?

The golden carpet muffled the sound of my footsteps as I walked further inside. I had gone through here a few times before, but when devoid of life, it was a much more intimidating place. I hadn't expected soldiers to show up, but where were the servants? The Ereth who lived in this place who weren't Divines?

Were they all gone, or were they hiding, watching me from the shadows? 

Just that possibility was enough to make me anxious. I hastened my steps as I hurried to the throne room.

This morning, before we headed out, I had asked Fetheion about where Aelith may have hidden my predecessor's soul. Unfortunately for me, he didn't have many ideas – Aelith had always been a secretive person, after all – but he did have a list of rooms to search. The throne room was the first such place.

I soon arrived before the set of golden doors. With little hesitation, I pushed them. As they opened with a loud, ear piercing creak, I quickly stepped inside and allowed them to close behind me as well. 

The throne room – this large hall with seven golden thrones – was as devoid of life as the rest of the palace. The spots where the guards used to stand at were empty. It was almost as if this place hadn't been used for quite some time. 

Yet, there was not a speck of dust to be seen. 

I walked up to the stairs leading to the thrones. I remembered which one belonged to Aelith – of course it was the one in the centre. I walked up the stairs and stood before her throne.

The craftmanship on the golden structure was breath taking, though the scenes it depicted were nothing but disgusting to me. I recognised some of those places now. Those were the battles I had seen in Dorith's and other souls' memories.

I clenched my fists and looked all around me.

"Where are you?" I whispered.