Solar Mage

Chapter 62: The Keeper

If it gave me this, that must mean that it does love me back!

I hold the phoenix feather up at the sun, as if I was offering it to Pyro, while tears of joy flow out of my eyes.

After my uncontrollable excitement passes, I start to thoroughly examine the feather.

Hmm... What do I do with it though? We already have one for Dustin. Maybe it just gave it to me as a memento?

My eyes spring up, my excitement reignited from the cloud of confusion

OOOH, MAYBE IT WILL GIVE ME POWERS LIKE A SECOND LIFE!!

Then, they fall back down into a cautious stare.

I don't really want to test that out though...

I look up from the feather, to the shadow whose face has not changed, his jaw still wide open.

Why does he continue to look at me like that? Is it really that interesting? I mean, he has one too–

I rescind my thoughts as my eyes drift to the left, where he holds onto his Phoenix Feather.

Wait, why is his feather completely red?

I quickly turn and look back at mine.

Mine is fully orange, with no red! Wait, if I remember correctly, which I do, all of the feathers on the Primordial Phoenix were red, I didn't see any orange on it! None of the other phoenixes in the vault had orange feathers either! This must really be something special then. Who knows? It might really give me a second life! I would ask the shadow to tell me about it, since he looks like he knows something, seeing how surprised he is, but he doesn't seem to be in a state suitable for talking.

Well, whatever the case is, the most important thing is to get to Dustin right now.

I open my mouth, about to call for the Sagey to put the feather in its inventory, but I stop as I suddenly see the feather slightly shake.

What? Did it just move? Is it alive? ... Come on Arthur, pull yourself together, stop procrastinating and go to Dustin already. You probably just imagined it. Even if you didn't, it was probably the wind!

Yeah okay, that makes sense. I should stop procrastinating.

I look at the phoenix feather intensely, though, no thoughts are formed in my head.

Huh, for some reason, I feel like I shouldn't put it in the Sage System's Inventory. ... ah whatever, just hurry up with it and stop wasting time.

I sigh and carefully place it in my cloak, before I start to walk to the entrance of the clinic, the shadow's eyes following me intensely, while the rest of his body remains still, his jaw still dropped down.

What the hell is he doing? It's creepy...

I place my hand on his shoulder and look him directly in the eye.

"Shadow, let's go."

The shadow's eyes dilate, before contracting and returning back to normal, as if he was in an unconscious state beforehand.

"Alright."

He says sternly, showing no emotion.

He said alright, like he was agreeing with me, but he isn't moving at all. Well, it doesn't matter, I'm sure he has his priorities in place. He can catch up to me whenever he wants as well.

I take my hand off his shoulder and resume my walk past him.

The shadow stands there, staring at the position where the phoenix once was.

***

Ha, I can't believe it. I knew it liked the kid, but for it to give him that feather? Wow, just wow. That kid really is loved by Pyro.

The keeper turns his head westward.

I can feel the ocean's mana draining by the day. If he really is the chosen one, he better live up to our expectations. He's growing quickly and steadily, faster than any other I've ever seen before, but I still can't shake off this uncomfortable feeling...

"Hooo, well, let's hurry up and save Dustin with this feather. It would be a waste to use that boy's feather and ruin a godly beast's future just to save a mortal."

***

"Hey guys, you remember who I am right?"

The guards shake in fear, their hands looking like it could drop their weapons any second. Ignoring their reactions, I look at the fifteen of them and examine their faces carefully.

Huh, looks like that guard isn't here anymore. That retainer, Martha probably took care of it, I was worried I might not be able to control myself, and do something I wanted to do. I should give her a nice tip later.

"Alright, you can all go. I will give you a warning, there is a creepy man in full black clothes over there so proceed with caution, but he's not dangerous... I think."

I start to walk past them but through their shaking hands, they bring two of their spears together and block me off from passing.

"Oho, what do you think you're doing?"

I say in a mischievous and sly tone with my face looking at the guard who crossed his spear on my right.

He pauses, but finds the courage to speak.

"We- we are afraid of you, but there are protocols set in place and important people rec- recovering here! You- you may kill us, bu- but we will not let you pass!!"

I would normally applaud them for their commitment and dedication to their work, but unfortunately, I don't have the time right now. I think I'll spare them, but they won't be without injury if they try to stop me again.

Just as I start to walk past again, a second row of guards cross their spears before me.

Immediately reacting, but just before I activate Flame Claws, the shadow appears and grabs my elbow.

"Don't worry about him, he's with me, we're going to cure Dustin."

I try to speak, but he covers my mouth with his other hand, as he walks through the guards, who immediately retract their spears as he comes walking.

"Great job, keep up the good work guys!"

Be shouts back at them.

"THANK YOU SIR!"

They immediately shout back. Turning around, I see all fifteen of the guards showing their respect to the shadow, dropping their spears and saluting.

Wow... how is this guy respected but I'm not?

Once we get far enough, and take a turn, he removes his hand from my mouth and lets me go, giving me a chance to catch my breath before continuing.

God damn, he has a strong, airtight grip, I couldn't even breathe with his hand over my mouth! It's almost as if– no wait, yeah, he's an assassin. He's probably killed people the same way before.

After the shadow looks at me, and sees that I've slightly recovered, and my breathing has mostly stabilized, he confronts me seriously, his voice getting louder with a slight anger to be heard.

"Arthur, we gotta hurry, but before that, I have to say this, you can't just go killing anyone who stands in your way just because you're in a hurry. Sure, there are some cases where it is necessary, but you can't just say that one life is more important than fifteen innocent people, just because you know that one person!"

I feel my heart rate increase, listening to him, childishly snap back, shouting defensively at him in anger.

"I wasn't going to kill them! I was just going to scare them off, or maybe just injure one of them slightly!"

"That's not the point! You had another way out of that situation! You could have flown away, or just waited for me to come!!"

He's right, what the hell is wrong with me? I thought that since I never had these emotions in the capital city, and only in Ashland, when I came back, I would be fixed! But reflecting back on how I acted toward that guard in the Mint Estate, when I came back, when I saw Agon II, and even now, it's still the same!!! Has the barrier, the capital that the Demon said was protecting me all this time disappeared? No. That's not it.

The shadow continues after taking a deep sigh, and seemingly, calming down.

"Hooo, do not think of me as harsh, Arthur, I would not have acted this way to any other child, and especially not Pyro's true apostle. But I know. I know who you really are, and I will use all of the world's resources so that you can complete your mission, if I have to. But right now, you are not ready. You are not stable enough. Dustin is a great man, but he will only be a small part of your great story, and so will I. You do not know my powers, but even with them, I do not see or know everything. So after this, make sure you fix yourself. I am certain that you will become the strongest in the future, but I know not which path you will take afterwards. And I cannot take that risk; I would rather sacrifice the whole world in order to kill that monster instead of giving it to you, and have you kill that wizard, if there is even the tiniest chance of you becoming like him. I would kill you here right now and do it."

In his speech, my mind is forcefully made calculative, as I examine every part of his words and memorize them.

"After we heal Dustin, you must promise me that the first thing you do is to fix yourself. Get yourself into the correct mindset and love life and mortals, for they are all important. I will take care of the situation with your father, so promise me you will do this. I do not have the Eyes of Truth like you, but trust me, I will know. If you don't know how, if you allow me, I will erase it, and make it again. But if you refuse, that's fine, I will not force you."

I continue to stare at him intensely, focusing not on his face, but his words, engraving them deeply into my mind.

Everything he says is true. But how does he know all of this? Who is he? What– no, the questions can wait for later.

"I promise I will take care of it, don't worry about me."

"Very well, now let's go pay Dustin a visit."

He begins to run, though still at a pace I can keep up with as I run after him using mana to enhance it.

Damn, how is he so fast? I don't even feel him using any mana! And I can't even use Flame Claws right now because my current state wouldn't be able to control them well!

We continue running, entering the building in one second, and going up stairs in the next, while I pant heavily, starting to slow down.

Damn, am I really going to fall behind when Dustin's on his deathbed? No! I won't!

Knowing that I am still in no state to control Flame Claws, I try something else, changing the regular mana used for Body Enhancement, to my orange, solar mana.

This works... better? It's faster, but even at a lower concentration, it's still hard to handle! Ugh... I don't have the brain power right now to think of names! Gah, whatever, lets just name this Solar Body Stage one or something!

Noticing me struggle and fall behind, the shadow slows down with me, still going at a speed faster than any ordinary Knight Swordsman could run, as we continue up the stairs.

"One more thing I forgot to mention earlier, I know I was bad at explaining the functions of the Sage System, but you should use it more!!"

What is he talking about? He says that like... he knows everything about it! God, it's so hard to think!

The shadow continues as I continue to pant uncontrollably now.

"I was short on time, but I mean, you didn't even use it to check my status, or even that bird's!"

He pauses, as if to let me reply, but I am unable to.

"I'll hurry and prepare the Phoenix Feather before you get there. Make sure you bring the Red Dragon Flower!"

He says, before dashing off and leaving me to climb the stairs myself.

Oh god, hurry up legs!

I continue my speedy but ugly ascent up the stairs.

HOW MANY STAIRS ARE THERE?!?!