The Soul Keeper

Time slowed down as I watched the shadow of the massive blade descend. The air grew heavier as I tried to move my body. My heart felt as if it were about to burst out of my chest. Was I really going to die here? Was this the end?

Suddenly, the air grew thicker. It felt as if I was trying to move in jelly. With each passing second, the air solidified, eventually completely trapping me. I could feel the cold metal of the blade touching my skin.

"What is this?" My assailant shouted. I could see from our shadows before me – he couldn't move either.

"Enough!" A commanding voice echoed. It was only then I noticed – the entire arena had frozen in place. Joshua was in the air; he was leaping onto his falling opponent. Vincent was stuck in the middle of an attack. "We shall not tolerate any treacherous actions on this day!" The voice sounded.

I tried to move as I felt incredible amounts of magic gather all around us. Yet, I couldn't even move a single muscle. All I could do was wait for what's to come.

The crowd fell silent as I heard the sound of beating wings. Something landed a little ways behind me. I glanced down to try and see its shadow.

It was tall, much taller than me or the man whose sword leaned against my back. I could see two massive wings extending from its Body. A long tail slithered on the ground. On its head, I could see a pair of horns – thick, curved horns that reminded me those of a ram.

It reached out to the man behind me with its claw-like hands. "None who disrespect the code of honour shall be tolerated." The male voice echoed. My heartbeat quickened – what was going to happen?

Magic crackled in the air around us. "Thee have attempted murder." The voice declared. "Thy punishment shall be equivalent to thine crime." The shadow raised its claw-like hand as a blade appeared seemingly out of thin air. With a swift motion, he cut the man's head off.

I flinched. As I watched the shadows, the head fell on the ground with a muffled thud. Then, the rest of his body collapsed. The blade leaning against the back of my beck slowly dropped to the ground.

"This match is finished." The Ereth declared. "Thus, I declare the treacherous team disqualified." Magic cracked around us as the air finally stopped being solid. Vincent and Joshua fell on the ground as I slowly turned with shaky legs to face the Ereth.

I barely reached his chest – that was how tall he was. His face was covered by the hood of his ceremonial robes. I could see his two massive wings, they were almost as large as mine, though they looked more like a bat's wings rather than a bird's.

"Thee may leave now." He said. Despite being unable to see his eyes, I could feel his intense stare. His power was incredible – He could probably toy with Vixia as she did with me.

I gulped. What was I supposed to do now? I didn't have a clue as to his identity. How was I supposed to respond to him? Was I supposed to bow? Kneel? Just nod?

As these thoughts flashed through my mind, he lifted his head and stretched his wings. With powerful beats of his wings, he flew back. As his wings raised the sands around me, I shielded my face with my arms. Only when he left could I breathe properly again – at least until I my sight fell on the corpse.

The cut off head's expression was twisted with fear – no, terror. Blood still seeped into the sand below. I felt nauseous and quickly looked away.

"No!" The man I had just defeated shrieked a moment later. "No! No!" With tears in his eyes, he ran up to his friend's body. I moved away, unable to bear the screams of the grieving man. "This is your doing!" He screamed as I slowly walked to the metal doors. "You killed him! Murderer!" His screams followed me as I finally stepped through the gates.

"A healer will help your friend." The Ereth gatekeeper said as I brushed past him. "You-"

"I'll be in the room, please let my allies know." I said with a weak voice. I could still hear the man's screams. With fast, uneven steps, I went into the room we were given and puked my breakfast to the small garbage can.

I collapsed on the ground. I felt sick to my very soul. A person had just died in front of me. A player! A real human! A human!

I couldn't get the sight of his head falling to the ground out of my mind. I couldn't forget the muffled thud as it touched the ground. I couldn't forget his expression, frozen solid with terror.

That could have been me, who died there. Or Erik, Vincent, Joshua, Alina, Samantha, Rina, Alex, Asher, Astrid-

"Kai?" Alina's gentle voice sounded as the door creaked open. "Oh my god, Kai!" She said, drawing a sharp breath. I quickly tried to hide my tears, but it was already too late. She ran up to me and knelt by my side. "Kai, what's wrong?" She said wide eyed. I felt the soft warmness of her healing magic envelop me.

"I'm not injured." I said with a catch in my voice. I didn't want her to see me like this – weak and broken.

"I was so scared for you." She whispered, suddenly hugging me. "I thought you were going to die when he..." Her voice faded. "I'm glad you're ok." She finally said. She sniffed, wiped her tears, and got a piece of cloth out of her inventory. She used the glass of water on the table to wet in and gently wiped my face.

I wanted to stop her – I felt embarrassed enough already, but she firmly pushed my hand away. "The others will be here soon." She said as she fixed my hair and shook the sand particles off my hair. "Do you really want them to see you like this?" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝒘𝙚𝓫𝒏𝙤𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎

I was about to shrug when I noticed – I did care. I needed them to trust me for the next fight. If they saw me weak and broken like this, would they follow me? The answer was clear. No one would follow a weak person into battle, irrelevant of their personal opinion on that person.

I took a deep breath, then slowly stood up and dusted off my clothes. "You're right." I said, forcing a bitter smile. She brought me some water so I could wash my face.

"You're lucky to be so pale." She said as I dried my face. "Even after you cry, your eyes don't get red."

I couldn't help but smile. I heard the door creak open as I drank some water.

Vincent, Joshua, Samantha, and Erik stepped inside.

"Well," Joshua said after a moment of awkward silence. "That was weird, to say the least."

"Yeah." I said. And this still wasn't the end. We still had the final match tomorrow.