Chapter 45: Questions and Confessions
"Whoa!" I shouted and rolled away from the arrow's path. It hit a tree behind with an audible thud. "Guys, it's !" I called out, finally entering their field of view.
"Kai?" Samantha shouted in a panic. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" She ran towards and looked all over . Her hands were shaking.
"No, I'm fine." I said as I tried to calm her down. By then, the others had also reached us. Rina was the first to give a hug, followed by a rib crushing one by Alex. "Alex – can't breathe!"
Samantha also gave a hug while Alina and Joshua opted to do high fives and fist bumps, respectively. "Are you wounded?" Alina asked with a worried glance. "Do you need healing?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm good. Thanks, Alina."
"You really need to stop scaring us like this, Kai." Vincent said with a huge, relieved grin. "If you weren't still in the party, we would have thought you died for sure." Samantha and Alina nodded at his words.
"I'm glad you're ok." Erik said with a low voice. "I'm really glad you're still alive." He seed unsure of what to do. He motioned as if he wanted to hug , but then stepped back. And glanced at everyone's faces. "Samantha, can you take us back to the river? I think we should make camp for the day."
"Sure," Samantha said with a cheerful tone as she led the group through the forest.
"Kai," Erik stopped before I could follow the rest of them. He had a dark expression as he avoided my questioning gaze. I felt nervous, had sothing happened?
"What's wrong?" I forced myself to ask, preparing for the worst.
"Thank you," He said with a catch in his voice. "I don't think I'd have made it alive if I was the one carried off." He was referring to the phoenix. I shook my head; I shouldn't have made it out alive either.
"Don't worry about it." I forced a smile as I lightly patted his shoulder. "We're all alive, that's what matters, right?"
He nodded with a sowhat bitter smile. "Co on, let's not stay too far behind or they'll worry."
We followed the others in silence. Erik still seed to be feeling sowhat guilty. It was only natural since I basically almost got myself killed to save him. I caught him throwing glimpses towards but didn't say anything.
We soon arrived at a small opening in the woods, bordering a shallow but wide river. Samantha was kneeling beside the sandy riverbank along with Alex. They seed to be trying to catch fish. Alina was helping Vincent and Joshua set up so tents.
"Kai," She said as we stepped out of the treeline. "Give us your tent, we'll set it up too."
I hesitated. "I don't have one, actually." I said with a smile. "It's fine though, I prefer sleeping outside anyways." I said as I saw her smile shatter.
"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly. "I can spend the night with Samantha, and you can take my tent if you want to."
"Oh, no." I shook my head. "It's fine, really." I glanced at the blue sky. "I like seeing the stars and moons."
Alina hesitated, then nodded. "Let know if you change your mind, ok?" She gently touched my arm before going back to help Vincent.
"Here you are," Rina's voice sounded. "Do you mind coming with a bit?" She asked with a harsh tone. I felt my heartbeat quicken. Was sothing wrong? I nodded and followed her along the river. Her steps had a sense of urgency to them.
Once we were far enough away, she stopped in her tracks. She slowly turned towards and simply stared at with raised eyebrows. Nervous and sowhat worried, I asked her. "Is sothing wrong?"
"You tell ," She said, tilting her head ever so slightly. "How are you still alive?" Her deathly serious expression sent shivers down my spine. "I can't figure it out, how did you survive after the phoenix carried you off?"
I flinched. I had expected to be questioned, but I didn't think she'd be the one asking the questions. And I certainly didn't expect she would be so blunt. I hesitated; how much could I tell her? I wanted to confide in her, to tell her about my suspicions. But what if doing so put her in danger?
"Kai," She insisted. "Don't you trust ?" Her voice reflected her disappointnt.
"It's not that." I finally relented. "I don't want to put you in danger, but if you insist..."
"What does that an?" She asked, no phased the slightest.
"Well," I leaned on a tree and took a deep breath. "Two demons saved from the phoenix," With those words, I started talking. I told her about the very first ti I t Delthur, how I t Vixia, how they saved my life several tis. She remained calm throughout my story as she listened until the very end.
I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I hadn't told anyone about this. "So, here I am now." I finished my words as I summoned my wings. They appeared on my back with a burst of embers.
"Beautiful," She mumbled as she carefully approached them. "May I touch them?" I nodded. She carefully touched the end of my left wing with the tip of her finger. I remained silent as she inspected so of the feathers in more detail. "It looks like there is great detail to these. What does it feel like when you move them? Can you feel the singular muscles?"
I nodded as I explained how flight worked. When I finished, she nodded in understanding. "I see." She glanced at my eyes. "Your eyes are glowing."
I flinched. I motioned to hide them with my hair, but her next words stopped .
"I think I know why they saved you."
"What?" I froze in the middle of my motion. "Please, tell ." I insisted.
"It's a bit of a long story." She said with a faint smile. "But putting it simply, we were late to find you because we stumbled upon an old demonic ruin. I convinced everyone to help explore it. Inside, I found several murals. One of them depicted a gate of light." She glanced around as she spoke. "From it, beings ca to what I assu is this world. The sa mural depicted a man shrouded in shadows destroying the sa gate, standing side by side with the Demon Lord."
She stared at as her next words left her mouth. "I think the previous Keeper of Souls stood with the Demons during an invasion."
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