The Soul Keeper

With a loud splash, I fell into the water. It took me a moment to find my bearing and swim to the surface. Unsurprisingly, having two massive wings on my back was quite the hindrance underwater. When I finally broke through the surface of the lake, I gasped for air. I almost ran out of air just trying to get back to the surface.

"I'd be quite funny if you drowned while trying to fly." Vixia said with a chuckle. She was sitting on a large rock on the shore, dipping her feet in the jade green water. I rolled my eyes as I made my way to the shore. "Aw, come on. It would be pretty funny."

"For you, maybe." I grumbled.

"Don't be so grumpy." She splashed some water my way. "It's been two days and you already learned how to take off and fly short distances."

"Not fast enough," I said as I closed my eyes and focused on the embers of my wings. The embers burst into flames momentarily, evaporating most of the water on my wings.

"You're too ambitious." She said with a sigh. "You have all the time in the world." She extended her hand. Purple flames danced on her fingers. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Who knows when you decide I'm not fun to keep around anymore?" I said with a dismissive tone. "I might as well find myself dead by tomorrow." With those words, I stretched my wings and leapt into the air. With a few powerful beats of my wings, I was already soaring in the sky.

It was an amazing feeling. The wind touching my face, the beautiful green forests beneath me. Despite everything that happened in the past weeks, I felt free. Like I could go anywhere, do anything.

Though that feeling was misleading, I did have more options than I did before. I still needed to train my muscles; I was feeling muscle pain all over my body. It wasn't too surprising, all things considered. I had never used my body this way before.

The most challenging part of flying was, funnily enough, flying in a straight line. I tended to veer towards wherever I was looking at. The second most challenging part was maintaining the proper rhythm required to actually keep flying. It actually took quite a lot of effort to move these massive wings. When completely stretched out, each wing spanned a whole three meters. And none of those three meters were wasted – it was all muscle. They were quite heavy.

For now, I could only fly for about ten minutes before running out of strength, hence my frequent visits to the lake. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. I was slowly getting the hang of adjusting the rhythm to adapt to the wind.

Once I started feeling my muscles burn, I quickly turned back and folded my wings a little. The wind hitting my face only became stronger as I approached the ground. I stretched my wings and with a few powerful flaps, realigned myself and landed on my feet.

"Nicely done." Vixia clapped. Out of breath, I approached the lake and splashed some water on my face.

"This is exhausting." I mumbled as I lay on my back. The sun warmed my skin, though it seemed to be unable to get rid of the coldness in my chest.

"Of course it is." Vixia chuckled. "Did you expect it to be easy?"

I shook my head. I'd always wondered how she never seemed to get tired, despite moving around quite a bit. Now, it made a lot more sense. "It'll take a long time before I can fly any more than this." I clenched my fist.

"Yes," She said with a chuckle and splashed water around with her feet. "But don't you think it's worth the effort?"

I nodded. It really was worth it.

"Now," She suddenly said with a heavy voice. "I've played my part." She pushed herself off the rock and stepped towards me. I quickly stood up, that change in her tone and demeanour couldn't mean anything good. She looked me in the eye. "We've saved your life many times. You owe us a debt."

I flinched. She wasn't wrong, but I disliked the idea of owing them. "What do you want?" I asked after a moment's hesitation.

"When the time comes, I will ask you to meet someone." She brushed past me and walked towards the campfire. "You will not ask any questions; you will come with me." She looked at me over her shoulder. "I will promise your safety. Deal?"

I hesitated. I could feel Delthur's gaze on me as he gently stroked the hilt of his greatsword. I wasn't really given a choice, was I? With a sigh, I nodded. "Deal."

She smiled; it was bitter, almost painful. "We won't meet again until then." She said before stretching her wings. "Survive until then, Kai Friseal." She leapt high into the air, followed by Delthur. Their wings carried them far away as I watched.

I had survived another encounter with them, though at what cost? I glanced at my wings, then at the northern sky. What the promise I made would entail, I didn't know. I shook my head. There was nothing I could do until then. Thinking about it wasn't going to do me any good.

With a sigh, I looked to the south. It was time to go back. I opened my interface and checked the party panel. Everyone's names were still there, and two more were added – Rina and Alex. A smile appeared on my lips. At least they were safe.

I glanced around. I had enough food to last me a while in my inventory and Vixia had given me the chain back. All that was left of the campsite was just a bunch of fallen trees. With a sigh, I stretched my wings and leapt into the air. It was time to go back and find the others.