Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* Krewella - Alive *

Walking towards the center of the forest, Raven could already feel the pressure the portal was emitting. 

"Keith," Raven called.

"My mistress?" He answered.

"I want you to know that I really appreciate you and Calcer," she said after a pause, "but please be honest with me, you\'re hiding something from me, correct?"

"That is correct," he admitted. "To be frank, I have many secrets… however, my loyalty to you is not fake, nor am I hiding something that might harm you, my mistress."

*Sigh*

"I believe you," Raven said after a soft sigh. Looking up at the dark sky, she continued.

"It\'s not that I care much." She shrugged. "Everyone has their own secrets. I get that. It\'s just that… it felt weird hearing you talk to the two demons about something that sounded so foreign to me.

"And now you\'re saying that your previous master is one of the rulers of the Demon Plane… those are some big news, you know." She said tiredly. "Next thing I know, you\'re also a demon king or something."

Throwing her hands up in defeat, she continued. "As I said, I don\'t mind it I guess. But it feels like you\'re a wild card…"

Hearing all of that, Keith stayed silent. Remembering back to the first time they met, it wasn\'t his own idea to answer her first summoning, nor was he excited about serving her.

However, not only had she treated him with the utmost respect, but she had also given him a name of his own, something that none has done ever before. 

After all that she\'s done for him, it was only natural that she\'d gain his trust. He wouldn\'t admit it, but deep inside, it felt like everything that went wrong in his life was meant to be.

Everything that he\'s ever done has led him to this point now where he ended up being named by Raven. And for that he was grateful. 

When he was with her, he felt accomplished. He had a purpose. One that he believed in...

"Keith?" Raven questioned. "I\'m sorry, I realize I\'m being unfair and all… I was just sharing how I feel about all of this. But I want you to know that I trust you. 

*Sigh*

"I don\'t trust many… but you\'ve gained my trust. Just promise me whenever you go back to the demon plane to take care of Calcer ok? He told me that you taught him some interesting stuff. 

"I\'m really proud that you guys are getting along well together. It feels really nice to know he\'s being loved when he\'s not here… he\'s just a little kid after all." 

Inside her mind, Tu knew she was saying the truth. After her little talk with Calcer, she came to care for him even more. 

In a sense, she was his mother, or older sister. She didn\'t physically give birth to him, but she gave him a life. She obviously wanted the best for him.

\'Too complicated… immortals,\' Tu sighed quietly. Being the beast he is, he had never needed to deal with such matters himself.

"My mistress," Keith called, "we\'re near."

"Uhm," Raven nodded. She could feel it in her bones. 

Crossing a thick line of trees, she found herself staring at a massive illuminated gate in the ground. \'What the f*ck is that?\' 

Unlike normal gates that were usually set up vertically, this one almost looked like a corrupted black hole of sorts.

Inside of it, an enormous vortex of glowing stars swirled violently, giving it a dangerous aura.

"This isn\'t like the other gates…" Raven said in surprise. Just thinking about what monsters would come out of this one made her gulp loudly.

"That is true, my mistress," Keith said, "this gate is one that was actually opened from the Demon Plane, hence the difference.

"Since the two Planes are connected, the recent effects in the Human Plane were enough to make it possible for such a gateway to exist between the two of them."

"I see," Raven said. \'If the Cardinal Sins are responsible for this, then there might be more than just one of these…

\'Are we going to have to face another war soon? And this time with demons?\' she bit her lower lip as she was lost in her thoughts.\'

*Sigh*

\'I need to get stronger if I want to have any hope of making this easier on my family…\' she said with a soft sigh. \'And there\'s still the secret behind the portals connecting us to the other planets. 

\'Someone is playing a dangerous game, and we\'re their obedient little pieces.\' she gritted her teeth.

"My mistress?" Keith noticed the tense look on her face.

"Um, so where is our guest?" She asked while looking back at the abnormal gate. "I thought they\'d be waiting for us here, is everything alright?"

Just as she said, the portal seemed to pulse with mana as the vortex increased in speed.

Suddenly, out of it came a lone figure. Raven couldn\'t clearly see the person\'s features in the dark, but that wasn\'t the weird part. 

What she found rather strange was that she couldn\'t even sense them properly. \'If I was to put this into words, I\'d say the person is too weak. 

\'But with being Keith\'s previous master and one of the Cardinal Sins, that\'s probably not the case.\'

Landing with the grace of a feather in front of Raven, the person greeted with a young masculine voice: "I\'m honoured to meet you, O\' Great One!" Keith\'s master said with a graceful and elegant bow that made Raven flinch.

She didn\'t know how to react since she wasn\'t expecting something like that from one of the Cardinal Sins, presumably one of the Demon Plane\'s rulers.

"Ah- haha, hi!" Raven said with a forced smile. "Um, my name is Raven. I\'m assuming you already know?"

"That is correct," he said while finally glancing at her face. "Ah~ I\'ve longed for this for far too long!" He said in excitement.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Raven asked, confused.

"As you might imagine, I\'ve been constantly monitoring you, O\' Great One," he said, "I can\'t believe I\'m in your presence at last." He said while cupping his face with both hands, which made Raven extremely uncomfortable.

"So, essentially, you were spying on me?" Raven asked, feeling her cheeks getting warm. 

For someone as powerful as a demon ruler, there was no telling how much he could have seen, which meant that...

"Ah, that\'s one way of putting it," he said with a smile, still unaware of the predicament he was throwing himself in.

"Pervert…" Raven said in a low tone.. A shade of golden hue seemed to spread in a hiss, dying the air around her.