The Soul Keeper

I swung the wooden sword with little grace. My muscles ached from all the effort I put in, but not as much as last week, or the week before.

"Nice," The instructor clapped as I returned to a neutral pose. "You've recovered a lot, young master."

I shook my head. "I'm nowhere near being what I once was." I approached the benches and placed the wooden sword down. 

She shrugged as she gave me a towel. "That's some years away at best, Kai." Her gaze fell on my still thin and weak arms. "Despite not winning any tournaments, you had trained your body better than anyone else I know." She hesitated. "That includes your sister."

I laughed. "You've exaggerating." I wiped my sweat and looked at the entrance. "I'll head off now, thanks for the help."

"Any time," She said as I left.

Her words were funny – comparing me to my sister was ridiculous. She was so much more skilled than I was that it was hard to believe we were trained by the same person.

I washed myself, then got dressed and headed down. Mother and Aoife were coming back home today. Despite not seeing them for only three weeks, I had missed Aoife. And Mother… well, let's just say I missed her too.

My phone rang as I walked downstairs. I absentmindedly picket it up, curious about what news Laura had to share now.

"Kai," A man's voice sounded as I brought the phone close to my ear. I froze mid step.

"Inspector John." I said with a low voice. "I didn't expect to hear from you so soon."

I heard him sigh. "You're lucky you didn't hear from me sooner. Something came up – we need your presence at the headquarters. A chopper is on its way. It will be there in less than ten minutes, so get ready to go."

My heart skipped a beat. "What? Now?" I shouted in shock. "What's this about?"

"Yes, now. Please don't keep the chopper waiting, they're on a somewhat tight schedule." He ended the call, leaving me surprised and confused. I remained still for a moment as I processed everything.

"Fuck…" I whispered and headed right back to my room. Changing into somewhat more appropriate clothing took only a short time, but as I combed my hair, the sound of the shopper sounded from afar.

I grabbed a jacket, then headed downstairs. 

"Young master!" Someone shouted as I hurried to the door. 

"Instructor," I said, glancing at the pale faced woman. "I'll be back soon." I hesitated. "I think," I added. "Please let Aoife and Mother know that I'm leaving upon Inspector John's request."

She shook her head. "Is everything alright? Are you going to be ok?" I could hear the worry in her voice.

"Yeah," I lied. "No need to worry." The chopper touched down a little ways away from the settlement. An agent waved at me, gesturing me to hurry up. "I'm off!" I said before walking towards the chopper with hasty steps.

The agent helped me climb up inside the chopper. It wasn't like the one they brought me here with before – it was a military one, with the two sliding doors at the side that could be opened during flight. 

I put on the seatbelt as we achieved lift off. The deafening sound of the rotors made it impossible to talk, so all I could do was sit there and watch the island grow more distant with every moment that passed.

The journey was a short yet exhausting one. Not being used to flight like this, my stomach was turned upside down by the time we landed on the helipad near a massive building complex.

After the agents helped me down and I was far enough away from the chopper, I just leaned on the nearest thing – a lamp post in this case – and closed my eyes. 

"Is there something wrong?" The agent who helped me down earlier asked as I took deep breaths. I shook my head. "Just feeling nauseous. I'll be fine in a minute." I opened my eyes and stood straight. "Lead the way."

He seemed hesitant but did so anyways. We walked through a heavily secured gate, then entered an elevator and headed to the fifth floor. 

I gulped. It felt like I wasn't doing a good job at seeming calm. My heart was beating so fast it could burst out of my chest at any time.

"This way," The agent said as he led me through a hallway. We walked for a while before he finally came to a stop before a metal door. "Step inside please," He opened the door and gestured me to continue.

I hesitated.

There was a couch, a coffee table and nothing else in there.

"What am I here for?" I asked, not taking a step forward. 

"Please step inside, an inspector will soon come to brief you." His cold, emotionless voice was getting on my nerves.

I sighed. "Yeah, yeah…" As soon as I walked through the door, it closed behind me. "It's not like you needed to lock me up…" I mumbled as I walked to the couch and sat down. 

The only thing other than the couch and coffee table in the room was a bottle of water and a glass. The walls to my sides and the one behind me were dyed dark grey, and the ground was a dark colour as well. The wall in front of me was a mirror. Or that's what it looked like from this side, though I would bet on my life that it was actually a one-way mirror.

There was someone on the other side, and he was watching me. I could feel it – this detestable sense of being watched. I hated it.

With a sigh, I looked at the glass and bottle of water. I wasn't thirsty, and even if I were, I wouldn't want to drink from those at this time. 

I directed my gaze to the mirror and glared at it.

Was it just my mind playing tricks on me, or had the person watching me just taken a step back?