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Chapter 32: Heights

"Oh, come on, seriously?!" I yelled as soon as we started losing altitude. We were so high up that I couldn\'t even see the building on the summit. Yet, we were approaching it so quickly that I was sure I had no more than a handful of seconds to live.

I pressed my body against the creature\'s feathers and shut my eyes. There was no way I\'d survive this. Seconds passed, filled with the eagle\'s alarmed screeches and my shallow, panicked breaths.

Suddenly, I felt my body lighten. Almost immediately afterwards, we hit the ground with a loud crash. The creature wailed with pain as I couldn\'t hold on anymore and got launched in the air. I opened my eyes to see the world spin before me. The branches of the trees I hit as I flew past them tore into my skin.

"Alex!" Rina\'s voice sounded. I glimpsed the ground as it approached me. Moments before I git the ground, I felt something pull my legs. I felt something crack as my descent suddenly came to an abrupt end.

"You idiot!" Rina shouted as I saw her feet. Only then did I realise that I was hanging upside down from... something.

"I didn\'t think I\'d catch you in time." Alex said with relief as her tail, wrapped around my legs slowly and carefully lowered me onto the ground.

The world was still spinning. I lay on the broken branches and dead leaves as Alex said something about ending the creature\'s misery and walked off with her sword in hand.

Rina kneeled beside me. "Thank goodness my spell worked." She said with a relieved smile. I nodded but didn\'t trust my voice enough to speak yet. Suddenly, I glimpsed a large, dark shadow. I shivered as it melted into my chest.

"Oh, but you\'re wounded." She said suddenly. I felt her warm touch on my skin as she opened her inventory in a panic. "I\'ll clean the wounds and pay for the healer\'s fees, ok?" Her hands were shaking a little.

"It\'s fine, just give me a second." I mumbled as pushed myself up. The world wasn\'t spinning anymore but I still felt somewhat dizzy.

"I found your scythe. Again." Alex said as she approached us. She placed it on the ground next to me and sat down, folding her legs. "It\'s dead." She declared. "I\'d like to say we did good but..." Her gaze focused on me. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," I smiled. They both sighed.

"Let\'s patch you up and get going." Rina said as she took some bandages from her inventory.

"You don\'t need to waste those on me." I said as I summoned my skills panel and used Soul\'s Respite.

Over a hundred souls leapt out of my chest. To me, they were dark, shadowy versions of the creatures I had killed. They brushed against my wounds and disappeared again.

"Amazing," Rina said as her gaze followed one of the souls.

"You can see it?" I asked in surprise. Alex also chimed in. "Wait, what did just happen?"

"Are those souls?" Rina asked me as she gently touched a previously wounded spot on my arm. "Your power is incredible."

I flinched. "I didn\'t know they were visible." I mumbled as I looked away.

"Wait." Alex suddenly said as she grabbed Rina\'s arm. "I didn\'t see anything. What souls? What\'s going on?" She was visibly confused. Seeing her now, like this was funny – she was so dependable and sure of herself until now that I\'d never thought she\'s get confused by anything. I couldn\'t help but chuckle.

"Hey!" She glared at me. Her tail wrapped around my waist and lifted me up. She shook me around like toy as she shouted. "Don\'t leave me out of this!"

"H-hey, Alex, calm down." Rina\'s panicked gaze jumped between me and Alex. I felt dizzy again, Alex didn\'t seem quite aware of how powerful her tail was. "You\'re crushing him!" Rina shouted.

Alex sighed and put me back on the ground. "You\'re no fun, Rina." She glanced at me as if she was making sure I was ok, then looked back at Rina. "Is it because of your truesight that you were able to see something I couldn\'t?"

Rina nodded. "Yeah. I saw some shadowy figures floating around him."

"I saw a darkness spread out." Alex suddenly said. "Pitch black. As it spread around you, your wounds healed."

"That\'s probably what the souls look like from the outside." Rina added. They both looked at me thoughtfully.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. Their glares were somewhat disturbing.

"Well," Rina mumbled thoughtfully. "I wouldn\'t use that word but..."

My heartbeat quickened. I felt the coldness in my chest grow and the pain on my back amplify.

"It\'s just that... Apparently the world has legends about some mythical person called \'The Keeper of Souls\'," She said, still glaring at me. I still felt a little dizzy. "I only know very little," She added with a sigh. "I\'d never think it\'d become relevant. I\'ll tell you what I know though."

I nodded. I didn\'t trust my voice with this lump in my throat. Why did my back hurt still, even after using Soul\'s Respite?

"It is said the Keeper of Souls walked these lands whenever a big event happened, be it a battle, an important discovery – whatever happened, he was there to witness it." She shook her head. "The thing is, I don\'t see any mention of this in any of the Ereth libraries. The only places I found mentions of the Keeper is in old demonic ruins."

"That\'s the weird part." Alex said with a thoughtful tone. I forced myself to focus on the subject despite the pain.

"Wait," I piped up. "Demonic ruins? I thought demons came here several decades ago and attacked the Ereth. When did they find the time to build stuff and have it fall into ruins?"

They paused, then Rina nodded. "Good point. Plot hole, maybe?" She mumbled.

"Hey, Kai." Alex asked. "Are you ok, you seem... sick."

Rina flinched before I could even answer her. "He does look sick! I\'m so sorry I didn\'t notice it before!" She placed her hand on my forehead. "You\'re burning up." She said after a moment. "Kai, doesn\'t that skill you used cure you from everything?"

I hesitated, then shook my head. "It heals my wounds." I summoned the skills panel and opened its description.

\'Heals the targets wounds. The amount and quality of healing scales with the amount of souls that have found respite with the Soul Keeper.\'

"Doesn\'t say anything about curing." Alex said as she read the pale blue text.

"We should get you to a priest." Rina said with a worried tone.

I shook my head. I didn\'t feel as dizzy as before and my heartbeat returned to normal. "I\'m fine," I wiped the sweat off my face with the corner of my cloak. "I just felt sick for a bit because of everything that happened." I gestured towards the eagle\'s corpse. "I didn\'t expect to nearly die today. Twice."

Alex laughed at my words while Rina only smiled. I took a deep breath and rose to my feet. "Oh, and thanks for finding my scythe again, Alex."

"Don\'t make a habit of losing it," She said with a grin as she helped Rina get up and stoop up herself too. "I won\'t always be there to pick it up."

I smiled, though her words hurt a little. It was a little saddening that I wouldn\'t get to spend more time with these two. They were fun and smart. But most importantly, they had good hearts.

I approached the eagle\'s corpse and gently touched the feathers on its head. Despite its hostility, it was a beautiful creature. I hesitated before plucking one of the larger, golden coloured feathers on its head. "Sorry," I whispered. I couldn\'t bring myself to hate it, even though it tried to kill us.

"Kai," Rina called my name. They were standing at the entrance of the ruins. I joined them and shivered as we stared into the large entrance. When Rina finally spoke again, her words sent a chill down my spine.

"There\'s something in there. Something magical."