The Soul Keeper

"Good," Asher said as a smile flashed across his face. With a simple motion of his hand, he cut the rope tying my hands together. "Let's go," He said as he gave me my scythe. "We only have until dawn." With those words, he turned his back on me and walked towards the ruins.

I grasped the shaft of my scythe and hurried after him. I wasn't going to miss this chance to learn more about this world we were stuck in.

As the ruins drew closer, the coldness in my chest grew stronger. The souls circling the building seemed to have noticed me.

"What happens now?" I asked Asher.

"I'm not sure." He quietly answered, watching the souls with narrowed eyes. His lips formed a thin line. "I don't think any of them are particularly strong."

I nodded. I could see they were mostly weak. Or, I should say, weakened. "They probably used all their strength to maintain the no magic zone during daylight."

"That's a probability." He said. "Look out, they've noticed you." As he said that, the souls circling the ruins broke the pattern of their flight. A few of them broke off the group and lunged at me.

"Kai," Asher calmly warned me. "Be ready." He didn't try to protect me or do anything else. He simply waited, his sword of light in hand. I nodded as the first soul reached me.

As it melted into my chest, an image flashed before my eyes.

A white-haired man smiled at me; his purple eyes were captivating. I reached to him with my small, scaly hand, but he shook his head. The image faded before I could see anything else. Before I could even say anything, the next soul arrived, accompanied by its own image. A black-haired young demon girl carried a basket. The image faded.

This kept on for a while, as the souls came one by one. After the first few images, I lost count of how many I saw. They all seemed to mix. After the last soul finally dissolved and I saw a glimpse of its memories, I took a deep breath in relief.

"So, what happened?" Asher asked calmly.

"I saw glimpses of their memories. I… I think some of them were demons." I could swear I had seen someone that looked like Delthur in one of the images, though he seemed much younger. And that white-haired person was in so many of those images. Why did I feel like I'd seen that face before?

He flinched. "Impossible." He said wide eyed. "This place is at least a few hundred years old. Demons only came here a century ago."

I shook my head. "I don't think that's the whole story." I hesitated. That thought once again gnawed at the back of my mind. I refused to entertain it; it was simply too outlandish. "Anyways, we'll probably get some answers inside, so let's not waste any more time."

He shot me a glance, but then nodded and approached the building.

The building itself wasn't too big. It looked like it was intended to be a simple outpost. It had a single tower that had mostly succumbed to the years and the main building wasn't any larger than the inn at Stonepatch Village. The weathered and cracked stones were covered in vines and moss. Time had clearly taken its toll.

"The place is protected by a simple magical field." He explained as we approached the fortified wooden gate. "Look," He pointed at a carving on the gate. "It's-"

"'Protect'?" I mumbled as I read the text. Asher flinched, then hesitantly nodded. "How would you remove the spell, if you were me?" He asked.

"Well," I mumbled as I stepped closer to the gate. "If this thing is maintaining the protective spell," I said as I reached towards the text. "I'd just… try to disable it?" As soon as my fingers touched the wood, I felt some of my mana drain. Moments later, the spell disappeared.

"Nice one." Asher said with a glance. "Let's go." He raised his hand and a floating light appeared. With that illuminating our surroundings, I pushed the gates open.

The interior of the building was almost pristine. The wooden floorboards were still as good as new. The weathered stone walls did show some signs of damage, though that much was quite normal, considering all the years that had passed.

There wasn't much in the name of furniture inside. In fact, the interior was quite empty save for a large wooden table and half a dozen chairs surrounding it. A set of stairs led to the upper floors.

"I expected more." I mumbled as I looked around inside. "I didn't think it'd be so… empty."

Asher nodded. "Let's keep looking around." We checked around the room, but found nothing of note, save for a few bottles of alcohol and a wilted plant near the wall. With disappointed expressions, we headed up the stairs.

A narrow hallway led to another set of stairs. There were three doors on this floor. Hesitantly, I approached the first one and opened it.

"Barracks." Asher said with a sigh. There were half a dozen beds lined up. A set of wooden lockers were lined up against the wall. Unfortunately, most of these were badly damaged. The bedsheets had crumbled to dust while some lockers' doors were hanging from their hinges.

Disappointed, we left the room and tried the other door. This one was a more promising room. It clearly used to be an armoury. Weapon racks lined the walls as well as armour stands.

Asher brushed past me and approached the weapon racks. There were a few swords, halberds and daggers lined up there. I even spotted a longbow. Asher gently touched one of the daggers.

"The design is amazing." He was clearly impressed. "But you're right about one thing," He said as he glanced at me with a serious expression. "These are of demonic design. Look," He showed me the hilt of the dagger. There was a symbol on it. It was a broken circle, with a flame in the centre of it.

"This place belonged to the demons. Can we agree on that?" I asked hesitantly. I remembered this room from one of the images I saw a little earlier. The place was much livelier back then. Asher nodded. "We definitely can." He took the longbow from its rack and placed it in his inventory. "Let's look elsewhere."

The next room was also mostly empty, though this was clearly used as storage. We did find a bunch of empty crates, but there was nothing of use in the room. With our disappointment growing, we headed for the next and final floor.

The wooden stairs creaked as we stepped on them, reminding me of the wails of the souls outside. Something must have caused them to gather here, to protect this place. I wondered what it was, and why they'd given up on it as soon as they saw me.

At the top of the stairs, a reinforced wooden door awaited us. As soon as my fingers touched the sturdy wood, I felt some more of my mana drain. I glanced at Asher, who nodded. He was ready to cast a spell if the situation called for it. After a moment's hesitation, I pushed the door. It creaked open, revealing a dark, circular room.

I stepped inside and Asher followed me. His light illuminated the room, revealing hundreds, if not thousands of books on the shelves lining the walls. I felt Asher's hand grip my shoulder. His gaze was focused on something right across the room.

I followed his gaze, fearing what I would see. He was looking at a painting hanging on the wall. As soon as my gaze landed on the painting, I gasped.

"What?" I whispered.