The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 108

[Marco POV]

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"Where is this?", he asked as he looked around the perimeter.

"The Ringed City. The city at the end of time.", replied the red hood with his raspy voice.

"The end of time? What do you mean by that?"

"He meant exactly that. This is the city at the end of time." said Pasithea with her dreamy look once again. She did not say anything other than staring the city with nothing in her eyes. He ignored it.

"And why bring me here?", he asked.

"You seek the dark soul, just like we do."

"The dark soul? You mean the keeper of the old blood?"

"Same thing. same thing. Just a different way of calling it. The old blood, the dark soul, they are the same thing. Basic foundations. Things that made this world possible to exist. Without them, this world shall go to ruin sooner or later."

When he first met that thing, he thought it was coming to kill him. But it did not. It did not even attempt to fight. Instead, it talked and brought them here to the place called 'The Ringed City.'

He has no idea of what this thing is other than the fact that it was not a Great Old One. A Great Old One would not communicate. Even if they did, it would be far too complicated for him to understand.

"And why would you seek it?", he asked. He searches them for a reason. To revive his family but he wanted to know why they seek it.

"Look.", it gestured with its tip of the hood.

"The Ringed City. Less a city and more a prison. The dark soul originated from here. The thing you seek. It was once held here. But now, it is no more. It is gone. Stolen by someone unworthy of it. He used it to paint a new world.

A world that was supposed to be dark, cold and gentle. A world of Ash but that did not work, you see. It is under control by others. Forced to go through terrible events for entertainment."

"By others? Who are they?"

"Oh ... that's the problem. We do not know either."

"What?"

"You see, they exist in a form so high to us we cannot even slightly grasp them. The difference between them is larger than a literal god and an ant. But there exists ways we can challenge them.

We cannot change the large things, but we can always change the small ones. That is how we fight against fate."

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[Firekeeper POV]

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"Leave for now, keeper. 'They' are not something you should be worrying about at the moment. You still have things to do, have you not?"

"Thou art right in this matter. I shall take my leave then." She replied to him as flames enveloped her.

And so, she returned to Earth right above the Abyss. Once she arrived there, she expected people to still be there awaiting right outside the Abyss but instead, she finds no one.

By no one, she did not mean that there was nobody there. There were still tents and other military camps everywhere left but there exists not a single soul she could sense. The tents were still in good condition meaning that all these people disappeared not too long ago.

The question was, 'where were they?'. Morris started squirming from her arms and so, she put him down. He slowly sniffed the ground and started walking.

Since he was small and slow, it took her some time to get from one place to another, but she was patient. After all, the little one did not look like it was in a hurry.

They walked and walked some more. Minutes passed. Then hours passed. And then days passed. Weeks passed. She could continue to walk for eternity, yet nothing would happen. She realized that she was trapped in something, yet she follows the little one anyway.

He walked on tirelessly. One would ask why she would be foolish enough to follow a random animal that she carried. The answer was pretty simple. Ying Li mentioned to her that this was a creature capable of miracles. She believed in miracles.

She could easily recognize that she was trapped in a prison of time. The ancient one has educated her enough on the matters of time but one thing she did not know was how to get out of time prisons. The ancient one would not tell her for that was her greatest strength.

But she needed to get out of this one and Morris was her key to this prison. She should recognize how to get out of time prisons after this. But for now, she had absolutely zero experience regarding time. Even the Ashen One was not immune against the traps regarding time.

Slowly, those weeks turned into months. Then, to years. She continued walking endlessly with no goal in sight. Her patience did not run out in any way for she knew that no amount of time would have passed in the outside world.

Morris did not stop and continued to keep walking. Any being with an ordinary mind would have gone insane but neither of them was ordinary. If anything, she enjoyed the 'break' she was getting. Despite time going over and over, everything else was real.

It reminded her of her two years break back on Earth where she stayed in a church while young men would flock to her like children. It was both a fun and peaceful time. The ground she walks on, the clear air she breathes, everything was real.

This was her paradise. If possible, she would love to stay here forever but she still had things to do. The endless journey came to an end with a yellow portal like door right in front of her.

She stepped out and outside, there was a man staring at her like he saw a ghost. He was wearing a formal brown suit with a tie. With gray mustache and hair, he looked like a respectable person. But the moment he saw her, he started preparing to run away and report.

She quickly flash right in front of him and caught him like a chicken. She held him up high so his feet did not touch the ground. And she asked him a question.

"I now have some questions but allow me to start with the basics. What should I refer thee as?"

"Mobius. You can call me Mobius.", the man answered.