Chapter 570 Seeds Of Doubt

Lily seemed to not register his question. She continued to look down at her legs. Keng cocked his head to the side, staring at her and the creepy shadow hovering over her. It was getting bigger.

'Could I always see these things?' Keng asked.

[You could. You just didn't notice them before.]

'Then why's it happening now? Is it because of Lily?' Keng asked the AI. The AI spun in his head for awhile. Lily and the creepy shadow thing didn't do much. The bubbles of the lava and the hissing of the two different temperature elements continued to collide together. Keng let out a sigh and leaned forward. He peered into Lily's eyes which seemed, at first glance, she was just staring off into space.

"Lily?" Keng called out to her. He waited for her to respond but she didn't. The creepy shadow flickered like a flame, growing a bit bigger. He diverted his attention to the shadow. "You're doing this to her, aren't you?" The shadow grew a creepy smile. It seemed to physically chuckle. It's body moving up and down. Keng stood up and swiped at it. The shadows pulled apart and quickly came back together.

"Let her go." Keng ordered the shadow. The shadow continued to smile at him, laughing, mocking. The shadow billowed outwards, rushing at him. It pushed Keng backwards, sliding him farther away from Lily. The shadow swept around in a circle around Lily, igniting a dark flame as it returned behind her.

Lily mouthed something even Keng couldn't hear with his enhanced hearing. It didn't feel like pressure was pushing down on him. It felt entirely different. Keng sighed and instinctively put his hand on Hydrosphere.

'No, I can't do that.' Keng loosened his grip on Hydrosphere. His arm fell to the side as he studied the shadow. It taunted him, well it tried. It would've probably worked if it wasn't Keng, but unluckily for the shadow, he was here. The shadow flames danced around Lily. Nothing seemed to be happening within it.

A faint silver energy swirled around Lily.

'The Mark should've vanished by now…' Keng thought of himself. He watched the silver energy dance with a small amount of pink energy. It slowly swirled around the front of Lily while the shadow continued to chuckle at him. Keng rushed forward, slamming into the flames.

'A barrier.' Keng jumped backwards. 'If that's the case… Mark.' A silver mark pulsed inside of the barrier. 'Displacement.' Keng flashed through, appearing in front of Lily. The shadow's face went from happy to mad in an instant. If it had the capacity to make actual noise, Keng would've assumed it to be screaming. It lashed forward at him. Keng dodged to the left, almost running into the barrier as he tried to get a hold onto Lily.

Keng danced around the barrier, almost always colliding into it and feeling the energy bite at him. He didn't let his emotions show. It would only empower the creepy shadow even more. The barrier billowed with the shadow caving in on Lily.

'It's going to take me and her.' Keng realized. His body shifted into a small baby Fox. He dashed forward, the silver and pink energy swirling and glowing as he got closer. The waves of shadows rushed at him, colliding onto the ground as he leapt. The silver and pink energy glowed bright as he passed through, landing on top of a hill.

A cool breeze danced through the forest scape as Keng looked behind him. The silver and pink energy closed.

'How did I do that?' Keng asked. 'Is this Lily's Soul world?'

[When a Fox Spirit matures, they gain the ability to shift into someone's soul world. Example: The Elder did this to you.]

'He did? I don't remember that.' Keng didn't bother to shift out of his small baby Fox form. He felt comfort in being a Fox, again. It reminded him of the time he first met Lee Seng.

The suns were high in the blue sky. There wasn't a speck of a cloud anywhere. If Keng didn't know any better, he'd assumed Lily was fine with this sort of Soul-scape. He wandered around the hill for a bit, checking the place out.

'From what I've read in the Saviors' library, people have different Soul worlds. Some small, some large. The soul is a collection of a person's being. Who they are at the core is always created when they're born. It captures the essence of a person. Core memories and the landscapes that come with it were added by the person. So,' Keng came to a stop at the top of the hill. 'What's all this?'

A soft melody came to Keng. His ears twitched and he turned around. He could hear Lily singing. She was coming towards him. Lily reached the top, skipping and glancing around. She looked happy as could be, but there was something… Odd about this.

"Oh! Hi little Fox!" Lily smiled. She ran right up to Keng and crouched, petting him. "What're you doing here? I haven't seen you in a long time! Are you and your family okay?"

'She sounds like a kid.' Keng looked up at her. She was just like he remembered her to be. She just seemed different. 'Can someone be completely different than their outer self? A soul's appearance can be different from the body… Right?' There were many questions Keng had about this, but the shadow was bothering him more.

"Lily." Keng spoke. Lily's eyes widened and she stopped petting him.

"You can talk?" Lily asked. Keng sighed and moved away from her.

"I came here to talk to you. Something's wrong with you." Keng told her. His body began to shift and Lily stumbled from her crouching position onto her butt. She watched as Keng appeared in front of her.

"K-Keng…?" Lily muttered in surprise. "What're you doing here?" She seemed to freeze in her space. Everything seemingly rushing back to her. "What happened?"

'So she doesn't know.' Keng thought. Keng took a step forward and lowered his upper-body over to her and extended a hand.

"Do you remember what just happened?" Keng asked. Lily hesitated. She thought if she wanted to grab his hand or to stay where she was. Keng waited. She eventually reached up and took his hand. He pulled her up onto her feet.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. Her expression was getting dark. She was looking more exhausted. She began to stumble as Keng helped keep her up. "N-nothing's wrong. I-I am fine."

"But you aren't. There's something wrong." Keng told her. She pulled her hand away, looking away. The soul-scape began to darken. "It's already here."

"W-what?" Lily asked. "N-nothing's here. E-everything's fine!" She turned around and the creepy smile appeared on her face. Keng didn't budge from his spot. "Everything will be fine! I'm fine!"

"Don't lie to me." Keng told her. "If you aren't fine then—"

"I'm fine!" Lily screamed. The wind kicked him away, pushing him to the edge of the hill. He began to fall backwards, digging his tails into the ground. The sunny sky quickly changed into dark gray clouds. Thunder cracked and winds whipped around him. "I'm fine! We can do this!"

"No you can't!" Keng shouted. He pushed himself back up onto the top of the hill. The dark energy whipped around Lily. "It'll be fine. I-I understand what you're feeling! I do! I know very well what it's like! Trust me! It gets better!"

"You don't understand anything!" Lily whipped another blade of wind at him. Rain fell as lightning cracked around them. The leaves shook, plucking away as the wind took them. Keng pushed forward, arm in the air as he tried to block the wind and rain. "You don't understand how tired I am! You don't understand any of it!"

"I understand how much you want to be heard!" Keng shouted. He planted his foot down and removed his arm. "I understand you're tired, you're unsure of yourself, you're homesick! I understand it all! I'm homesick too!" He pounded his chest as he moved forward. "I don't want to be here either! I understand it. I want to help the Merfolk as fast as possible so I can not die! I'm going to die, y'know that?!?"

Keng's face grew painful. His eyes shook as he looked at Lily in desperation. Lily pushed her feeling down. The bottle shook within her chest. It was becoming too much.

"Lily." Keng called to her, quietly. He pushed forward as Lily shook her head. Her eyes were watering.

"No." Lily shook her head.

"Do you know why Commander Chimera, Lee Seng and I chose you?" Keng asked the question, again.

"No." Lily shook her head. She raised her arm up as if she was ready to slap him. "Stop."

"It's because you're worthy of it."

"No. I'm not!" Lily threw her hand out. Wind and rain whipped him backwards. Keng flipped through the air, slamming down the hill as the wet grass sent him going.