The Soul Keeper

"I don't like this." I stared at the really wide gap before me. We were at about the halfway point to the summit. Standing on a very narrow path, on one side there was a deadly drop all the way down to the forest floor, on the other, an unscalable cliff face. Looking down, I could see the forest below us. The trees looked more like small bushes at this point.

"Broccoli." Alex suddenly blurted out. "I can't unsee this."

"Not that again," Rina said. I stared at the trees, then glanced at the tall snake lady. She glared at me with a deadpan expression. "Broccoli. Am I right?"

I desperately tried to muffle my laughter. I fell on my knees and held my stomach. Soon, Rina was also giggling uncontrollably.

"What?" Alex asked with a confused and slightly offended expression. "They look like broccoli guys, I'm not lying!"

It took the two of us some time to regain our composure.

"I'm sorry," I said as I wiped the tears off my face. "It's just… I hadn't talked with people for so long… And your comment was just…"

"I get it, don't worry." Alex said with a warm smile. "It's always good to have a nice honest laugh like that." She looked around. "Besides, the more birds are awake, the more experience we'll get, am I right?"

I chuckled and nodded. How could she be so positive about… everything?

"Ready?" Rina asked me. She was holding a staff. "Should I cast it?"

"I still don't like this plan." I mumbled as I turned towards the gap on out path. "Are you sure there's no other way up?"

"We've looked everywhere." Alex said with a shrug. "Come on, this'll be fun."

"For you, maybe." I mumbled, but still nodded. She took a long, thick rope out of her inventory. I lifted my arms a little, allowing her to coil it around my waist and tightly tie it into a knot.

"Is it good?" She asked.

"It's a bit tight," I mumbled. "Better that than being too loose though." I added after a moment of silence. They both chuckled and nodded. Alex tied the other end of the rope to a boulder near her.

"If you don't make it to the other side, we'll pull you up and try again." Rina said, then raised her staff. A blue light appeared at the tip of it.

"I'm so dead…" I mumbled as I stepped back and used Fallen Grace. Alex placed her tail like a steppingstone right before the cliff as I ran towards it with full force. As soon as I reached her tail, she flung me across the gap. I felt Rina's magic lighten my body as my fall slowed and I crossed the large gap with ease.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I heard the clapping of both Alex and Rina. I could see them on the other side, they hugged each other. "You did it!" Alex shouted with a huge grin.

"Good job Kai!" The wind carried their voices to me as I looked around to find a sturdy tree or large enough rock to tie this end of the rope to. I struggled to undo Alex's knot a little and even more to tie an equally steady knot to the nearby boulder.

When I waved at them to cross the gap, Rina cast the same spell again, this time on herself. With her body lighter, she easily carried herself across the gap. Alex didn't even need the spell to be able to do it. Though, I did fear the rope would snap from her weight. Once she too joined us over on this side, Rina spoke with a low voice. "We've got no idea of what we'll find after this point. Be on your guard."

We nodded and with Alex in the lead, continued our climb. Just like her, I summoned my sword. Anything could happen from now on. Walking around without a weapon was just asking for trouble.

We climbed a little further with little to no issues – the few avian creatures that tried to attack us were quickly killed off by my dark bolts – until a small landslide brought our progress to a screeching halt.

"Well, damn." Alex said as she looked at the blocked path. "We either climb over this or turn back."

"If we disrupt its balance, we die." Rina said. Her shoulders dropped as she looked for another way across. Alex carefully touched the displaced dirt and rocks with her tail. As soon as she did, the ground shifted, and even more dirt and rocks slid down, only to fall into the darkness of the forest below.

"There's no way we're passing through here." She said with a defeated voice. I looked up, if only the cliff face wasn't so… well, steep. But then again, cliffs tended to be rather steep in the first place.

"Hang on." I suddenly said as an idea flashed across my mind. "What if we do the same thing, but vertically?"

They paused and looked up. "I mean," Rina said after a moment's hesitation. "It's not a bad idea but… I can't see anything up there. How will we know where to throw you towards?"

"I think I can see an overhang over there," I pointed towards it. If we went towards the way we came a little bit, we'd be right under the place.

"I can barely see a dark shadow.��� Alex said as she looked at me with curiosity. "Kai, do you have dark vision?"

I tilted my head, There was no mention of that in my status panel, or anywhere else in the interface. "Uh, no I don't think so. The moon is bright enough to let me see it."

The two women looked at each other, then shrugged. "Ok," Rina said. "Let's give your idea a try. Alex, do you have any more rope?"

"Of course I do, you know I always come prepared." Once again, she tied a tight knot around my waist. "This'll be a little more difficult." She said as she tried to see the overhang. "I can't see as well as you do. I might miss the throw."

I hesitated. "Rina, can you create a small light?" She nodded. "But I can't see it either."

"I'll guide your hand." It took a few tries, but we finally managed to put a small, faint light right under the overhang. "Does that work?" Alex nodded with a grin and, just like before, placed her tail on the small path like a steppingstone. Her job was a little harder this time as my own leap wasn't going to accomplish as much.

I used Fallen Grace and sprinted towards her. As soon as both my feet touched her tail, she flung me high up in the air. At the same time, I felt my body lighten. The overhang approached me, or rather, I approached it a little too fast. I wasn't high enough! Realisation struck me a little too late as I was nearly there. If I didn't do something, I'd just fly past below the rocky surface and hit the cliffface.

I summoned the scythe from my inventory and swung it towards the overhang. I heard a thud and felt the blade of the scythe dig into the rocky surface.

"Oh my god! Kai, are you ok?" Alex shouted. Considering that I was hanging from an overhang, barely holding on to the shaft of the scythe, I was ok, yeah. Let's go with that.

"I'll… try to… climb…" I shouted between shallow breaths. Though, looking at the situation realistically, chances are I was going to fall. The scythe seemed to have buried deep into the ground as it wasn't shaking or sliding too much. With a deep breath, I slowly moved my hand up on the shaft, inching ever so closer to the overhang.

After a few minutes of struggling, I finally reached the overhang. I grabbed the edge of the rocky surface and tried to pull myself up. Suddenly, the scythe slid. Losing one of my handholds, I let out a small scream as the scythe fell into the darkness below. My left hand couldn't support the weight of my body.

I desperately tried to grip the surface with my right hand, but I could feel my fingers slowly slip. I clenched my teeth as my left hand slipped as well. I started falling.

A tight, painful grip on my left hand suspended me in the air.