The Soul Keeper

"If even one of you says, 'She looked just like you', I will burn you!" I threatened the now fairly large group standing in front of me. Then, I glared at Asher who was trying to muffle his giggling. He was not particularly good at it.

Over the course of about a quarter of an hour, almost the entire roster of my allies had gathered. Of course, Erik's group was nowhere to be seen, but besides them, the only person missing was Lucius.

"So," I said, taking a deep breath. "To be completely honest, I don't know where to begin." My shoulders dropped. "Aelith came, the Ereth invaded Earth and I brought the demons to help us out is the gist of it."

Everyone glanced at each other, scratching their heads, and mumbling with low voices. "Come on, what else could I have done?" I asked.

"Not much, really." Rina sighed. She was surprisingly tall in the real world. Taller than anyone else in the room – even Vixia. "But we don't have our powers back the way you do. Why did that person even gather us all here?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe to protect you?" I glanced at Mona. "You said you noticed an Ereth coming towards you before that person dragged you away, right?"

Mona nodded. "We're the only ones in the whole world who know what the Ereth are capable of. They will want to get rid of us."

Asher nodded as well. "It makes sense to do so. The Players are the only ones who have a hope of understanding what Aelith plans. We have been through most of this before – we know what she's capable of, we know what she wants, and we know she hates Kai and probably everyone else gathered in this room."

I clenched my fists. "Yes. I'm quite sure she'd love to get her hands on any one of us." I forced my expression to remain neutral. "But we have an advantage. I don't think she knows our faces; I think her underlings simply followed a trail to try and find us." I glanced at Fetheion, who had carefully remained silent until now.

"I can't say for sure," He said with a low voice. "I don't see how she could have found out what you looked like, unless she took a look at OTHERWORLD's data." He paused, noticing how he kind of gave away some knowledge he wasn't supposed to have. He shot a panicked glance at me, but I ignored him. 

"I highly doubt she'd do that." Asher added. "She wouldn't know anything about technology, and OTHERWORLD stores such data in remote locations only accessible to certain personnel. She would have no way of knowing that." He paused. "Unless she got a hold of Sir Gallagher and made him talk."

That thought sent a chill down my spine. "Or Erik!" I exclaimed. "Inspector, what was Erik's situation before everything went to hell?"

Inspector John furrowed his brows. "He was in a medical facility offshore. We actually made sure there was no paper trail since he was getting so many death threats from so many people." He fiddled with his tie. "Unless the Ereth can smell him, they'd have quite some trouble finding him."

Fetheion chuckled. "No, they can't do that. Not unless they placed some sort of tracking spell on him earlier, and that would be impossible." 

Despite my anger and annoyance towards him, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

A moment of silence was interrupted by Vixia's chuckle. 

"It's almost magical how all of you are on the same page." She glanced at me, then at everybody else. "I can see why your group was capable of destroying the Divine Pillar." She smiled, the turned her attention on Asher. "Your powers aren't gone – they are simply locked behind mental walls. I will attempt to find a safe way to release them, but until then, do try to feel the magic in the air."

She turned her back and left the training hall.

"She's as odd as always." Asher sighed. "Though, I only met her a couple of times before." 

I nodded. "Don't worry too much about it. As for everyone else…" I hesitated. "I guess I should welcome you to my home. And introduce you to the Inspector and to my sister." 

Aoife had been silent up until now. She was clearly overwhelmed by the number of people, and the events that had just transpired. I took care to not let everyone crowd around her, and things went mostly smoothly, up until it was Mona's turn.

"Oh my GOD!" She exclaimed, catching Aoife's hand. "I saw you before! You won that one tournament in last winter – the one in France!"

I raised my brows as Aoife's face lit up. "You were watching?" She asked as Mona's smile widened. "Yes! A friend of mine bought us tickets and we went to see the finals. We were rooting for you all the way through!" 

"Aw, thank you! It makes me so happy…"

"Kai?" Laura's voice pulled my attention away from the girls' conversation. I glanced at her, then approached her as she prompted me to. "I'm glad to see your sister and Mona getting along well." She said with a faint smile. I nodded, though I didn't intend to dwell on the subject for long. It was clear that Laura was bothered by something.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling her a bit father from the group.

"I have a few guesses, but I won't ask if I'm right. I do have some other questions though." Laura took a deep breath and raised her chin ever so slightly. "Where is Lucius? I know he left to be with his family during his recovery, but I'd think he would have been brought here along with the rest of us by now." She smiled. "He was the one you were closest to, after all."

I chuckled. "Well, I'm sure he'll come here eventually. And if he doesn't, I can go get him. It would be good to have him here, even if he never wielded any magic."

Laura nodded. "It's best to have everyone together." She mumbled with an almost dreamy voice. "It will be much easier to keep everyone safe."

I felt magic stir once more, and looked around to see where the next person would appear.

"And it makes it very easy to get rid of everyone too."