The Soul Keeper

"Why on earth would you get drunk on virtual alcohol?" I glared at Vincent. Clearly ashamed, he lowered his gaze. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked pale.

"Sorry..." He mumbled. I felt like a parent scolding the child. With a sigh, I shook my head.

"Just... Can you keep it in moderation next time? My back still hurts from carrying all of you back to the inn."

"I think I'm done drinking." Vincent quietly said. I smiled and lightly squeezed his shoulder. The cool breeze blew my hair back.

"You look different." He suddenly said. I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?

"Well..." He hesitated, then dragged me to the shadow of a nearby tree. "I knew it! Your eyes are glowing in the dark, Kai." I flinched. "Wow, it's almost as if they're burning with magic."

I quickly pulled my hair in front of my eyes. I didn't want to look any weirder than I already did.

"Aw, man." Vincent said with a grin. "Joshua is going to lose his mind when he sees this."

I shook my head. "Can you try not to pull too much attention to it?"

Vincent paused, then nodded. "Sure," He gestured towards the entrance of the village. The rest of the group was headed our way. "I wonder what the plan for today is." He mumbled as they arrived.

"Good morning." Erik said with a tired voice. He also had dark circles under his eyes.

"More like good afternoon." I said pointing at the sun. "It's past noon." 𝒻𝓇𝘦𝘦𝘸𝘦𝒷𝓃𝑜𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Sorry," Erik said with a faint smile. "I guess we might have overdone it yesterday."

"You guess?" I cried out. I couldn't fathom how he could be so carefree. I clenched my fists, was he really trying to get out of here? Or was he enjoying living a fake life in a fake world?

"Kai," Vincent grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Calm down."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Let's go." I said, forcing myself to remain calm.

"Ah, before we get going." Vincent summoned his interface and soon after I received a notification.

'Party Request Received'

I accepted it. "By the way," I suddenly said as I remembered. "Why did you guys remove me from the party?" The group glanced at each other with confusion.

"We didn't." Erik said after a momentary silence. "By the time we escaped the Torchlight Woods, you weren't in the party anymore. That's why we assumed you died."

"I see." I mumbled. It made no sense. At that time, I should have been fast asleep on the peak, by Vixia's tree. "Anyways, let's get going. I'd like to be back before dusk, if possible."

Vincent and Samantha nodded. Erik mumbled something I didn't quite catch. Alina seemed unhappy; she was clearly still hungover. Joshua simply followed us wordlessly.

"Erik, you always lead everyone, right?" I asked as we entered the woods. He nodded. "Great," I said with a forced smile. "I don't want to disrupt the way you've been doing things too much, so lead the way."

"Sure thing." He said. His voice was low, and his steps were slow. He seemed lost in thought. I wondered what the matter was. What was troubling him?

"Our quest is to clear a nest north of here." Erik declared, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "As usual, Alina will focus on healing while I and Vincent protect Samantha. Joshua, you make sure nothing can get to Alina." He hesitated as he glanced at me. "I'd like you to be on standby. If anything unexpected happens, make sure to keep Alina safe so she can heal us."

"I can fight just fine, Erik. You don't need to-"

"I know." He said cut me off. "I'd still like to do it like this though."

I clenched my fist, hidden under the cloth of my cloak. "Sure." I faked a smile and slowed my steps, falling to the back of the group. I couldn't fathom why he didn't want me to fight. I was the highest levelled one, I had more experience – both here and back at home – than any of them. It made no sense.

"You seem annoyed." Samantha's voice sounded from behind me. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head as I matched her speed. "No, it's nothing. I'm just a bit tired." I glimpsed at her hands. "Are you ok? You seem a little unsteady. Can you shoot properly with such shaky hands?"

She smiled. "I'm fine!" She tilted her head towards Alina. "She'll use a spell before the battle that'll help us with our grogginess. She's also got some buffs, but I don't think we'll even need them."

"I see." I mumbled as I glanced at Alina. She needed Joshua's support to walk in a straight line. Her face was still a bit red and the dark circles under her eyes were clearly visible. She didn't look like she'd be useful in a fight. I understood why Erik wanted to protect her ??? she was their only healer – but I didn't quite think she was sober and aware enough to heal people during a fight.

"We're here." Erik quietly said. "Alina, you're up."

I felt Alina's magic spread to the others. The dark circles under their eyes disappeared. The tattoo under her eye glowed for a moment before returning to normal. "Done." She said with a yawn.

"Alright. You know the plan. Let's go." Erik and Vincent took point and stepped out of the woods. After a moment's hesitation, I leapt up, caught a low branch, and pulled myself up the tree. Now, I had a clear line of sight of the battlefield.

It was a small area, surrounded with fallen trees and large rocks. Our group was holding the only exit from this place. Erik and Vincent were facing off against about twenty creatures. They were about the size of a large dog, though they looked nothing like one. They looked more like scorpions without the barbed tails. They had hard shells and their colours ranged from brown to dark green.

Erik stepped forward with his tower shield, pulling their attention towards himself. Vincent was standing right next to him with his shortsword ready to strike. Nervous, I watched them as the creatures drew closer. I summoned my skills panel, ready to cast Dark Bolt at a moment's notice. My simple straight sword wouldn't do anything against creatures with such hard shells, but magic could probably pierce their defences without too much trouble.

The first creature struck Erik's shield with its pincers. The young man grumbled and stepped back. Vincent was facing off another one, he blocked the first few strikes with his sword. They seemed to be doing fairly well, so I held on to my Dark Bolt.

An arrow flew past Erik to hit one of the creatures right in the eye. It fell on the ground motionless with a disgusting squelch. I flinched; I didn't know Samantha was such a good sharpshooter.

Almost as if she were trying to prove me wrong, she missed her next shot. The arrow struck a fallen tree on the other side of the battlefield with a loud thud. I sighed and glanced at Erik and Vincent. Nearly all the creatures had reached them. They were soon going to be surrounded.

Vincent screamed as one of the monsters' pincers found its mark. He staggered and stepped back as blood flowed from the wound on his arm. Even more creatures approached him now, they had smelled the scent of blood – they weren't going to let their prey get away.