Part One: Echo

[wsxedcr08]

I'm just going to post all the chapters of Echo (which is the predecessor of Pirates for those of you who don't know.) in this one thread to make my life easier and to cut down on spam.

Echo

A History

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No one is sure how the Earth came to be. Some believe the explosion of a star was the beginning of it all. Others believe some great deity created the earth. However, I know that’s not true. The gods were born from the earth.

There were not many gods, but each one chose a domain to rule over. Zeus chose the sky. Hades ruled the earth. Poseidon ruled the seas. Athena ruled over nature. Hera ruled over the supernatural. Hermies ruled over the shadows. Eris ruled over the darkness. It is said that she did not only rule over darkness, but was darkness herself, spawned from the source of all evil, which of course I cannot write down for fear of the consequences. Aries ruled over conflict. It was Aries, of course, who gave shape to the first humans.

Humans had obvious flaws. Since they came from a god of war, they were naturally inclined to fight. They did not care to go explore the Earth; they had absolutely no interest in the world around them. Their focus was to get stronger than everyone else, to become physically dominant over their fellow humans.

Zeus, the ruler of the gods, deemed these creatures to be unworthy of life, and set out for their destruction. However, Aries whined and complained and even resorted to the closest thing to crying that a god could possible get close to. Zeus felt pity for Aries, and allowed this breed to survive, on one condition. He forced Aries to become their patron god and care these creatures, which was a task Aries readily accepted. These humans which he named “Warriors,” built their homes in the mountains and called their city, Perion. Aries visited them often, and his people loved him.

This act of pity from Zeus caused a wave rage and jealousy from the gods. It also didn’t help to see Aries beaming with pride as he walked into the palace halls, bragging and telling tales of the monuments erected in his name, or how much his humans adored him. Soon three other gods demanded the right to create their own race of humans and Zeus reluctantly approved.

Athena created a curious group of humans, in tune with the gentle creatures of the earth, only killing when necessary. Athena saw their potential, and trained them in the art of using her most prized tool, the bow. She personally came down from the heavenly palace gates to tutor the human’s in its use. Many excelled, and the ones who did she moved to a separate town, Henesys, and named them “Bowmen.”

Hera’s humans were extremely intelligent. Their creativity and mental capabilities rivaled hers. They craved and begged for knowledge, and Hera gave it to them. They adsorbed the powers of magic like it was water, and learned to use it as second nature. Soon they were creating spells hat even Hera herself could not think of. These “Magicians,” moved to the forest area of Ellina, where the magic was most potent.

Hermes made his race very quick, very smart, and extremely lucky. They excelled in life, and lead an easy existence, playing, relaxing, and honing their skills with the dagger and the new weapon they developed, the claw. They got along well with the Bowmen because they shared their casual attitude toward life. They made an impressive looking city from fields cleared and paved over. These relaxed individuals called themselves “Rogues.”

These races of humans became restless, tired of the confines of the earth, which was becoming too small for the great mass of people. Zeus was pressured to create a magical city in his domain which he named Orbis, in honor of his beloved pet, Orbi. Humans who felt no particular allegiance to a god left to live in Orbis. Poseidon became jealous of Zeus and created his own city under the sea. He named his city Aquarium. People also flocked to Aquarium, nicknamed Aqua, for its isolated lifestyle and exotic wildlife. Hades felt like he should create a domain to fit in with the crowd. He created the toy city of Ludibrium, named after his pet the Ludiar. People came to Ludibrium for the fun, excitement, and worldly delights. The gods were content, and so were the humans. This peace continued for millennia, until Eris became uneasy.

The peace disturbed her. People should not get a long, they are meant for war. She was the smartest of the gods. She was cold, calculating, and just plain evil. After the one thousandth year anniversary of the creation of the earth, Eris introduced evil into the world. She corrupted the minds of the once peaceful animals of earth. Numerous attacks occurred against the seven towns before the humans discovered the creatures, now regarded as monsters, were something to worry about.

Eris and her pet, the Lucida, lead the army of monsters against each of the towns. Most were destroyed, and the humans flocked to the last remaining town, Perion, of the Warriors. Here they used the terrain to their advantage and managed to destroy the bulk of the army. The monsters went back into hiding into the dungeon in the center of Victoria, which is the continent where Perion, Ellina, Henesys, and Kerning are located.

The humans were outraged at this attack. After rebuilding most of their cities, they rebelled against their once loved gods, who they felt were responsible for these attacks. They challenged the gods, vast armies that stretched on for miles assembled for this assault. The battle raged on for months, but the humans eventually emerged victorious. The gods were forced to retreat to the palace, thinking that all hope was lost, until Zeus decided that each of the gods should disguise themselves as humans and assimilate into their patron towns. Eris also disguised herself, and wandered around Victoria, waiting for the right time to disrupt the peace again. On one of her travels she was courted by a crafty fellow who lived in Kerning. She lived with him for awhile and they eventually wed. She had one child with her husband, but then she mysteriously disappeared. No one knows what happened to her child, or to her. No one cared. The other gods lead uneventful lives, and are presumed dead.

[wsxedcr08]

Echo

Prologue

__________

No one is exactly sure where the boy came from. He was first seen outside of the only orphanage that remained standing in Kerning City, wrapped in a golden scarf, head resting on a gold bound, rune engraved book. Tucked inside his clothing was a note, telling whoever happened to find him to give him the items he was sent there with when he became of age.

The head master of the orphanage took the child in and gave him a warm bed and hot meal. At first the child seemed content, but as he grew older he was given less and less special treatment, and became more like one of the troubled children from the orphanage. He wasn’t a pickpocket or ruffian like most of the other children, but he had a dark air around him. He almost never smiled and only spoke when spoken too. And even then his reply would only be one word as most. His anti-social attitude gained him the nickname Echo.

Despite the boy’s attitude, no one could doubt that he was brilliant. Unlike the other students, he worked for his money and spent and spent all of it on books. He started his own personal library in the room he sometimes shared with the other orphans. He taught himself to read, and read all he could about combat and strategy. His first couple pay checks went to saving up for a silver lined field dagger he had his eye on in the self defense store. The time he didn’t spend reading he spent practicing techniques he read about in the back yard.

No matter how skilled Echo got in combat, he chose to not use talents in an underground fighting ring, like the one created by the notorious Jin. He only fought in self defense, and in the defense of the younger members of the orphanage. For this the youngest ones came to love him, and often followed him around the orphanage, trying to look as important as possible. Most of them tried to learn to read or fight for themselves, however most gave up and just lived under the protection of Echo.

Although Echo cared for the younger children, he didn’t really talk to them, at least not meaningfully. He still stayed mostly to himself, and locked the younger kids out of his room to read. None of this changed until he was about seven.

One day when Echo was training in the backyard, a new boy came to the orphanage. The new boy’s name was Yian. Yian came in and made himself right at home in Echo’s bed, reading some of his books. When Echo came back inside, he found Yian in that same position, intently staring at one of his most expensive combat strategy manuscripts.

As you can imagine Echo was furious, he ran into the room and pushed Yian off the bed. Yian landed gracefully, and calmly counterattacked, sending Echo to the floor, gasping for air.

At first the relationship between the two boys was venomous; they would always find ways to punish each other when they least expected it. One time Echo put laxatives in Yian’s milk. He was in the bathroom for days. Anyway, after the first few months, the boys became best friends. They both had an intense love of reading and combat, and Yian was the only boy who could compete with Echo intellectually. They would have long conversations about complex theories they had about battle, constantly contradicting and correcting each other. It was their goal in life to be smarted than the other. They also knew how to work together to complete a common goal. They started classes to start teaching some of the younger orphans about combat, and they even developed a new irrigation system for the crops the orphanage planted for selling. The years after that were the most plentiful and prosperous years for the orphanage, every kid got a fresh pair of clothes and a hot meal three times a day, which was unheard of in Kerning. Almost no one in the city got three full meals a day.

All was fine until one day, when Echo was eight; a call came to the head master. Echo’s parents, Ceryxus and Daiia, had been found. Apparently they had to give him up as a baby because at the moment they both had no job and were living on the streets. They now had good jobs and could afford a child.

The headmaster found both Echo and Yian training together in the backyard and relayed the message to him. Echo was obviously ecstatic, but Yian was clearly holding back blinding rage. How dare those two deadbeats give up my best friend, and then come out of nowhere expecting a huge parade or something. They gave him up, how dare they take him away from me now! No, they will not take him away from me!

Echo’s parents were scheduled to travel into Kerning from Ellina. Yian gathered up his meager belongings, a black bandana, his field dagger and pan lid and 300 mesos for food. He traveled for two days straight to set up an ambush on one of the most well traveled roads from Ellina to Kerning. Two and a half days later, it happened. Ceryxus was an experienced fighter, but not even he could stand against a well planned out ambush from an extremely angry, surprisingly talented warrior. Echo’s parents were slain.

Three days after Echo’s parents were supposed to arrive, Echo completely lost hope. He completely stopped talking to everyone, including Yian. Yian knew the kind of pain Echo must have been feeling, but he still thought it was for the best. After Echo’s behavior continued for over a month, Yian decided the best thing he could do for Echo was to tell him what he did, and why he did it.

When Echo finished hearing Yian’s story, Yian was grinning ear to ear, and Echo was dead inside. Everything he thought was definite in his life was now proven to be lies. The kind of sadness he was feeling was like none ever experienced before. Although his eyes were still blue, they held the pain and suffering of generations. His eyes glazed over, and he lost complete control.

When Echo woke from his trance, it was too late. Yian lay dead at his feet, covered in bruised and lacerations. There were pools of blood everywhere. Echo didn’t even cry. He stumbled over to his bed and went to sleep.

It was around this time when the Combat Specialists Institution became interested in Echo. They sent several recruiters to the orphanage, and even offered to “donate” a substantial amount of money to the orphanage if Echo agreed to attend their chain of schools. Echo agreed, he was tired of his old life. Three weeks after accepting, five hundred million mesos were donated to the orphanage, and Echo moved into Basic Training.

At first Echo excelled in all of his classes, but when he heard some of the things teachers started to say about him and his performance, that he was obviously cheating because he was just and orphan and he couldn’t possibly be on a higher level than the kids they were training for years on end, he gradually and purposely lowered his grade point average to about a three, which is the average of all the students attending. With his teachers satisfied he continued his work, but one kid still had a problem with him. His name was Soren, and his goal in life was to make Echo as miserable as possible. He would attack him randomly in the halls, and destroy his homework every so often, just to keep him on his toes. This went on for at least a year, until one day Echo has had enough.

This is where the story starts. The tale of a boy and the destiny he must create for himself.

[wsxedcr08]

Echo I

[/b][/i]

First Offense

[/i]

__________

"So what are we going to do?"

"About what?"

"The boy, could he possibly be the one we've been looking for?"

"All the signs seem to fit. But you are aware of the inherent dangers of going through with this?"

"Of course. I am aware of who his father is."

"All true. . . we will have to watch him closely. If we push him too far. . . "

"I am aware of the consequences."

"So what do you intend to do?"

"I will continue as planned. If he gets to talking with the wrong people our whole plan could be unraveled."

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

__________

I slowly walked into the school, a dark cloud above my head. “Another day, another beating,” I thought to myself as I tried to slip down the hallways unnoticed, my padded dagger sheath banging softly against the metal lockers.

"Hey Echo." spat a boy from behind me.

"Leave me alone Soren." I grumbled, a hint of anger lingered in my voice. In my mind I imagined slowly stabbing him with my field dagger, watching him writhe and twitch in a pool of his own blood. Well, maybe that's a little dramatic, but still, he really got on my nerves.

"What's with the cold greeting? Are you asking for an early beating?" He grasped his trident tightly around the grip made of old rags.

"I'm warning you, just walk away." My grip on the hilt of my knife tightened. My knuckles turned white from the pressure.

"Why? What are you going to do about it?" The way dragged out the you made my blood boil. My hand began to shake violent and fire manifested itself in my stare. My iris' turned blood red and my canine teeth grew into fangs. I was ready to kill.

"I warned you." My voice sounded rough, like sandpaper. I unsheathed my dagger and ran directly at him. He looked awfully confident with his little spear. He held the trident diagonally across his chest. I had to find a way to get behind it.

Well, if I attack from the side...

Soren began to pull down his spear. If I continued in this direction at this speed, I would be pretty badly with the lower left side of the trident tip. I did not want that to happen.

I shifted my weight to the right and pushed off hard with my right foot, left foot dangling slightly in the air behind my right. The trident barely brushed past my shoulder. From my perspective, it looked as if I am zoomed out of the world around me, And I can zoom in when I focus.

With my new found momentum, I reached out with my dagger as far as I could. My dagger made a large gash in his left bicep. He screamed out in agony as his muscle was lacerated, becoming limp and unresponsive to his commands. His trident dropped to the floor at the precise moment I slammed into the wall. I cleaned the blood off my dagger with my shirt and started to walk away, satisfied with my work.

"Get back here you little s***! I'm going to kill you!" By now a large crowd had gathered. I slowly turned my head and shot him a look that could kill him 1000 times over, if looks could actually kill. I channeled my energy into the dagger and charged in for the final blow.

I rushed directly at him, dagger perpendicular to my torso. I lunged, and he rolled to the left, causing my dagger to become embedded in the wooden wall of the school building. I didn't even bother to take it out. I picked up his limp and trembling body by the head, thumbs above his eyebrows. Blows rained anon my stomach, however I didn't care. I wanted him dead. I applied tremendous pressure to his skull. I heard a small crack. Tears were streaming down his face. His body wend limp.

"Please . . . I'm begging you . . . don't . . . don't kill me." It was pathetic how he begged. I heard another small crack, and his whole body began to lurch.

"Stop this madness!" Someone yelled behind me in the crowd. I felt a myriad of small jabs on my back, and then everything went black.

[wsxedcr08]

Echo II

School

__________

Get over here and look at this!

What exactly am I looking at?

Just watch . . . now.

That power . . . it couldn't be.

But it is, and I'm genuinely impressed.

Well what does this mean?

It means we're about to get a new ally.

__________

I opened my eyes to find myself in a small undecorated room that oddly smelled like day old fish and stale red bean porridge. It was approximately a perfect cube, about 6 by 6 by 6 meters. The only other thing in the room were two chairs, one I was sitting on, and the other one facing me about a meter away.

A tall slot opened up in the wall behind me. “Ah, Echo. . . you’re awake.” An older man, somewhere in his 40’s walked in from what I assume was an extremely well hidden door. He stepped with an even rhythm to the chair opposite me. He sat down slowly and laboriously, as a result of an obvious lack of joint strength.

He sat there and stared at me for a while, thinking about something that must be important to him.

“You know, you almost killed him.” I didn’t say anything because this was not a question, so I just kept examining the walls for impurities. So far I couldn’t find any. Man, whoever built this place did a decent job.

“He is in intensive care. He is going to get a metal plate implanted into his skull. Again I said nothing.

“Echo… do you know why you’re here?” I wasn’t sure what to say. If this is a rhetorical question I shouldn’t say anything, but I don’t think it was because the mans face looked very quizzical.

“Because I hurt Soren?”

“No, I just thought you’d like to know how he’s doing. The reason you were brought here instead of prison is because we need your help. You are going to be transferred to Battle Academy immediately. The ship leaves in 20 minutes.”

The man stood up and pressed his hand to the wall. The same door appeared and he walked out; however, it didn’t close this time. I wasn’t sure if I should leave or not, but he didn’t say no to. I followed him through the narrow corridors, jogging behind him to keep pace. Soon we reached the exit, and came out into a harbor of sorts. In it were four ships, similar to the ones that carry passengers between Orbis and Ellina. Only one of the ships had a platform for boarding. I scrambled up the ramp after the man and walked into the cabin on the ship. The cabin was filled with children, but I seemed to be the youngest. I walked inside and took a seat between a girl with a really big head and a guy with green eyes and dirty blue hair.

The man walked up to the front of the room. “Launch will commence in ten minutes. If you choose to not fasten your seatbelt you will most likely die. After launch you will receive further instructions.” The man walked around the crowd and into a copper lined door in the center of the back wall.

As soon as he walked out of the room the children erupted in nervous and excited chatter. Because the two people next to me decided I wasn’t worth their precious time, I took the time to conduct some observations. There was a kid in the front of the room that was particularly noticeable. He wasn’t talking; he just sat there, hands folded, eyes closed. He had wild red hair and a fierce look of concentration, like he was calculating something important. I noticed another girl, four seats in front of me. She was talking, but seemed distracted, as if she was calculating or making observations, like I was. I could have sworn she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. I also couldn’t help noticing she was attractive. . . very attractive. She had long silky black hair and beautiful shiny green eyes. I would definitely have to keep and eye out for these two. Everyone else was talking normally, unconcerned with their surroundings. Idiots, this time would be critical.

After the ten minutes were there was a small rumble coming from the front wall. These must be the engines. So the cabin is facing backwards. Interesting. With each passing second the whining sound got louder and louder, so loud it seemed to cancel out your thoughts. Then, as fast as the sound had started it stopped, and the ship blasted into the sky. The force on my chest from the launch was as powerful as Soren’s spear stroke; it nearly took my breath away. Soon the pain subsided and the ship reached a fairly even speed.

“Well, looks like another adventure.” The people sitting next to me looked at me quizzically, but it didn’t matter. The man walked back into the cabin.

“Hello. You have all been transferred to the Battle Academy because of your exceptional performance in Basic Training. Here in Battle Academy your training will be intense. You will have a break period for two and a half hours every day, in which you may resume your training, eat lunch, or take the time for yourselves. All of you are now rank one. You will be provided with your rank one uniforms for your respective professions. There are five ranks; however, the fifth rank is reserved for captains of guilds, which is where you will be assigned after the satisfactory competition of training. When the ship arrives you will file out and be escorted to novice quarters.”

He walked back around the crowd and into the copper lined door. As soon as the door closed the ship lurched again, and suddenly came to a complete stop.

The ship had arrived.

[wsxedcr08]

Echo III

The Mind

__________

Sister?

Yes?

Come and look at this boy.

What about him?

I can’t seem to view his future.

Pish posh, we both know that is impossible.

This is interesting. I’ve never seen someone whose future wasn’t . . . flexible before.

Well what does this mean?

It means that he is the only one who can determine the fate of the war ahead.

Impossible! The fate of the war has already been foreseen.

This boy should not even have been born. If the right people can figure out how to use him, they have the power to override fate.

I only pray Demitri can get to him before Eris does.

__________

It seemed like an eternity waiting for the doors one the ship to open. The crowd of children were split in attitude. Most were excited while the rest of them were nervous, and did a bad job of hiding it. Where ever we were going, they would be first to go.

I didn’t feel either excited or nervous. Why should I? I didn’t choose to be here, I was chosen, so why should I worry about what’s ahead. Either I’ll make it through the night or I wont; I’d be okay with either of these. I did, however, feel slightly curious as to what was in store for us. I assumed it would be rigorous training, most likely in combat, only slightly touching on academics.

Why was I chosen? I didn’t perform to my full potential in Basic Training; I wasn’t that grand of a fighter. Maybe it was my intellect, but I purposely tried to keep my grades average to avoid attention. Maybe it was the fact that on every test I got a three of five. Maintaining regularity in my grades might have aroused suspicion, why couldn’t I have though about this before?

After about five minutes of sitting idly in the cabin I heard a soft yet noticeable crack. A giant gate on the right side of the ship slowly creaked open. The stress on the old rusty hinges gave off a loud buckling noise. Several people around me covered their ears to fend off the obnoxious sound. The sunlight flooded into the compact cabin, momentarily blinding me. After my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see we landed in a dock identical to the one that we departed from.

“Hello!” The shrill voice of an overly eager boy filled the air. Everyone turned to see the man who made the announcements and a boy who looked to be around ten years of age standing in a much smaller door to the left of the large gate.

“This boy will lead you to your rooms.” The announcer looked around the room. “Do not underestimate him because of his size. Happens to be 15 and could kill one of you without even blinking.” The announcer looked at me a moment longer than everyone else. Hah, the fool. He thinks he has me figured out, like I cannot bear to have anyone in control of me. That was not the reason I fought Soren at all. I would not challenge the boy because there was no reason to. Soren was going to hurt me, so I fought him. This boy was only sent as an escort, not as an opponent.

“Ok everyone, follow me!” The boy started to briskly walk out the door and down the platform. I jumped over a few rows of people and shot the announcer a look before launching out the door after the boy, who was already down the platform.

Everyone behind me was jogging slowly, probably admiring the facility. Even I had to admit it was a very well crafter building. Definitely reaches out and grabs attention, whether you want to look or not.

The boy led us through the twisted hallways of the building, and eventually we came to a large room.

“This will be your sleeping quarters. First everyone choose a bed.” The children frantically ran around the room, trying to find a bed closest to their newly made friends. I chose the bed closest to the front of the door, under a large poster that said “PEPS.”

“Now that you have chosen your sleeping quarters, look behind you.” Everyone turned to the walls.

“Stick your index finger in the lock and turn.”

I twisted my finger in the lock and felt a tingling sensation travel up my arm. A door to the right of the lock opened. Inside were two pairs clothing and something that looked like a large flat piece of wood. Amazing, yet again they made doors so well designed, measured, and hidden that even I could not tell they were there.

“The lock has registered your finger print, width, and sweat signatures. You will find these locks all around the building. They will be used to open doors and dispense food, and also double as a way to track your movements throughout the facility. Wouldn’t want you noobies wandering around and getting lost now would we?”

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Several of the students made smart remarks to each other. They didn’t have the courage to talk back to the boy who apparently could kill them as easily as getting a drink of water.

“These lockers will be used to store your books and whatever personal possessions you may have brought with you. Inside the locker you will find two pairs of clothes and your desks. Desks will be used for your studies. The silk outfit is for relaxing. The thicker outfits are your rank one uniforms. Put them on now.” The students all reached for the uniforms and grudgingly put them on. The uniform was to big for me. It felt like I was swimming in it.

“Ok look on the left sleeve. There should be a blue button. Press it.” I pressed the button and the uniform snapped tight around me. It fit like a glove. I reached over to close the locker, but my arm wasn’t were it was supposed to be. I looked around and the other students seemed to be having the same problem.

“As you may have noticed, it takes much more force to move your limbs now. This is to constantly train your bodies in strength. During battles the extra force required will lessen, you should be surprised with the results.” I tried to move my arm again. It seemed like I had to try and use as much force that would normally be required to make a successful punch to move my arm normally.

“No time to rest you lazy cadets, lets get moving.” He started to walk out the door. I noticed he didn’t move as awkwardly as the rest of us. He must be strong. I followed him rather easily. He wasn’t moving slowly enough to allow us to get used to the suits. Not a very courteous guy.

He led us into a bright room with many ridges in the wall. “Ok I have to leave you guys now, good luck!” He disappeared in a flash of light. Good luck? With what?

A man walked out from another hidden door. “Welcome trainees. We are now going to give you a little test of mind and body.” As he said this the suits began to relax, and I could move normally again. “In a few moments I will walk out of this room and you will be free to attack each other. The last man standing wins.” The man walked out of the room, and everything went black.

__________

I opened my eyes in a room. It wasn’t really dark, but it wasn’t bright either.

That’s odd, I don’t see any lights, why can I see? More importantly where am I?

I tried to move my head but it refused to budge.

Odd. . .

I tried to move my arm but it also wouldn’t move.

Drugged? I can’t move but. . .

I tried to call apon the power I used when fighting Soren. Just the memory made me so mad... I felt my teeth beginning to lengthen...

Why can’t I feel any changes in the room? When I fought Soren I could sense the wind patterns shifting changing by the smallest amount, and the heat from the room was amplified. Now I can’t feel anything at all. I couldn’t have been drugged, why would they risk harming some of the most promising children in the world. Unless they wanted us dead, but if that was the case they would have blown up the ship of just killed us when we were knocked out. This has to be something else.

Why couldn’t I feel anything? Unless there is nothing to feel. . . but that is crazy. What had the man said? “A test of body and mind.” Why would he say that? If this was an elimination match, why would you need intelligence for a test of brute strength? I understand we are going to learn tactics here, but we have not taken any formal classes yet, and Basic Training was not all that revealing. The test itself does not make sense either. Why would they want us to kill each other? Weren’t we the prized possessions of our towns? If they killed us then war would definitely erupt. There had to be some deeper meaning. . . unless this is all in our heads. That would explain the lack of temperature and heat, but there is no way. . . The locks. That sensation was probably the transition into this mental simulation. So this was all a test to see if we could figure it out.

So now that I know what’s happening what’s going to happen now?

Almost like an answer to my question, my limbs gained feeling. I could move again.
Well movement is useless without a weapon.

Again, I felt my dagger and sheath return to its familiar place at my side.

Now to kill everyone else.

It looked as if no one else figured out what was happening. It was easy to eliminate everyone else. A simple stab to the head sufficed. I finished eliminating 37 of my 39 fellow classmates. The other two were left on the other side of the room. I slowly walked over to the other side of the room. No need to rush, they could not move anyway. As I got closer, I realized those two people were the boy and girl I noticed from the ship. Funny, I though they were smarter than the rest. Oh well. I prepared to strike the boy first.

My dagger was inches from his face when my blade was intercepted. The familiar sound of metal hitting metal ran through my ears. It was a long silver staff with a blue orb at the end that caused the clash. I looked over to see the girl was the one wielding the weapon.

“What do you think your doing?” Her voice slipped into my ears like honey. She really was beautiful.

“Our task is to eliminate everyone else. I was merely following instructions.” She looked annoyed with me.

“If you were smart enough to break the illusion, you should know that nothing you do here will affect anything in real life. They are just trying to separate the best from the best, obviously your better than him. Why would you still feel the need to harm him?” I hadn’t thought of it that way.

“You broke the illusion even faster than I did, and look; he is coming out of it now too.” I looked and saw she was right, the boy was sitting upright. I put away my dagger and she placed her staff in the holder on her back.

“I’m sorry for acting so hastily. Since we are obviously the smartest ones here, why don’t we work together?” The girl looked like she was considering the offer.

“An alliance?”

“Yes. This test was most likely to see which one of us was most capable to lead. We three have proven that we are equals, and if we make a truce then we will show that we don’t have to win an all costs. This would be the wise decision.” The boy looked up at us.

“What’s going on now?” The girl interrupted him.

“We are not equals. You figured it out before I did.” What a smart girl.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t work together.”

“Fine, I’ll join” The girl stuck out her hand. I didn’t know what to do.

“Shake it. . .” I took her hand and shook.

“My name is Laillie. I prefer Lai.” The boy looked up again.

“I’m not sure what just happened, but if your teaming up I want in. Never can get enough friends.” His hand shot up.

“My name’s Royan, but people call me Roy.”

“My name is Echo. Nice to meet you.”

As soon as I finished my statement I felt my entire body getting hot. It started to burn, like I was on fire. Then came a brilliant flash of light. I found the three of us in an extremely small and dark room.

“Hello you three. Welcome to the mind.”

[wsxedcr08]

Echo IV

Memories

__________

Three of the students have solved the mystery in record time. No one has ever recovered movement as fast as they have.

Hmph. Don't waste your time telling me things I already know.

Sorry sir.

Aid, prepare a link to The Mind. I think I have an idea of where they're going.

__________

The three of us quickly swiveled around to see a tall man with brown hair. He was wearing a gray suit and bandanna, with some expensive looking black shoes. He carried no weapons and the cheerful yet tortured look on his face made him look . . . mysterious. . . and important.

The Mind? I wonder if that’s what this place is called.

“Every thing you see here is a part of The Mind.”

He gestured behind him with his strong smooth hand; the other one remained in his pocket.

“Here you have no limits; you can do things you’ve only dreamed about.”

The man jumped up to an impossible height and landed crouched on the ceiling, upside down. He slowly stood up, or is it down, and put both of his hands in his pockets.

“The trick here is to not think about anything; just let your instincts take over.”

He dropped from the ceiling, face down, and stopped in mid air, half way to the floor. He floated over to me and looked into my eyes.

“See something you like?” I asked while taking a step backwards.

“Think fast!” he shouted before disappearing. Roy and Lai looked even more surprised. All of the sudden a throwing star came shooting out at me from the right. I quickly jumped, even higher than I thought I could, and tried to mimic the strange man's previous feat. I desperately tried to stick the wall that was behind me, to no avail. I crashed to the floor, but strangely didn’t feel any pain.

The sound of laughter came from beneath me. I jumped again and stabbed down with my dagger. There was no one there.

“The point of The Mind is not to inflict pain, so don’t worry if you fall. Attack without hesitating, but don’t purposely put yourself in danger.”

The man’s voice seemed to come from everywhere. Seven stars came at me from all directions at different heights. If I jumped I would still be hit. I would have to block them.

I gripped my dagger with both hands and swung at each of the stars, never stooping my movement. Six of them clattered to the ground, the seventh hit the back of my leg. I didn’t feel any pain, but I noticed the functionality of that leg was reduced. I guess The Mind only simulates the effects of a wound, removing the distraction of pain. The man appeared in front of me. He looked even more cheerful. I think he was crazy.

“You’re doing well for your first time.”

He tried to punch me in the stomach with his now armor clad hand. I caught his hand with my left, and lunged out with my dagger, directly for his face.

“That’s it, aim to kill, you won’t beat me if you are not trying to kill me.”

He moved his head to the side, easily dodging my blow. I continued moving forward and spun around so I was facing his back. I maneuvered his arm around so it sort of looked like he was hugging himself. I stuck my leg in front of his and pulled; catching his leg and making him awkwardly sprawl over his armor clad arm, falling towards the floor head first. Before he hit the floor he disappeared again.

“You impress me Echo. I will have to keep my eye out for you.”

More stars flung at me, from the front this time. I did not flinch. I quickly deflected the stars and jumped to the wall again, just in time to see the man sailing past where my body was just a few seconds ago.

He’s good. Wait a second. . . how did I know to jump?

This time I successfully stuck to the wall with my feet, but only for a second. I jumped off the wall into the air with my dagger out, spinning in midair. The man’s arm collided with the outstretched dagger.

This is weird, it’s like my body knows what it should be doing, but doesn’t feel like relaying the message to my brain.

“This is amazing Echo, no one adapts this quickly to combat in The Mind. You should be proud.”

The man disappeared again. More stars this time, from all sides . . . faster . . . too many to count. There was no escape; they were going to hit me. I kept spinning in the air, pathetically blocking a few of the less accurate stars. They ripped into my skin, completely destroying my clothing. Blood rained down from my wounds. I heard Lai yelp in the distance, further than I remember traveling.

My body fell to the floor and I completely collapsed. The stars sunk deeper into my skin, scraping bones and completely tearing my muscles to pieces. It was hard to breath. My arm started to feel hot. Then warm. Then burning hot. It felt like my arm was exploding from the inside. Mere throwing stars couldn’t cause this kind of pain. Not here at least.

This feeling spread throughout my body. The sensation was almost unbearable. I mustered up the strength to move my head down to look at the rest of my body. It seemed as if I was turning completely transparent.

“It seems as if you are the one we've been looking for.”

The man was crouching next to my head. He was whispering, not so the others couldn’t hear, it was more like he was whispering because he was deep in thought. The quiet didn’t last.

“It looks like they found us. We will have to spar again the next time we meet. I look forward to seeing you again.”

He got up and looked over to Lai and Roy, who were looking over at me, still in shock.

“I want to see you two again also. Train hard, because I must test you too.”

A column of light surrounded them. I saw Lai trying to run to me. The column slowly closed on itself, and they were gone.

“See you later.”

He paused and looked deep into my eyes, with sadness I had only seen once before in my life.

“Ceryxus.”

He sighed and disappeared right before my eyes. Ceryxus . . . how did he know that name? Maybe I had imagined that. Or maybe that man is more important that I realized. Not that it mattered. I was gone now.


I came to staring at the ceiling. I blinked. I couldn’t remember opening my eyes. Oh well.

I was laying on a small bed in what seemed to be a hospital room. I didn’t even feel like looking around.

So you’re alive again.

It was just a simple thought. I paid it no mind, until I realized the tense was wrong. That couldn't have been my thought . . . but it was in my head.

Don’t be alarmed, it’s just me.

What's going on here? I looked down at my chest, only to find a creature resting there like he belonged. It was very small and looked something like a cat. It had dark fur and on its head the tips of it was pinkish red. It had two stubbly wings on the sides of its head and had oddly big red eyes.

“Ahh!”

I felt like I wanted to jump out of the bed onto the ceiling, but I didn’t have the energy.

<I did just say don’t be alarmed.>

“What the hell? Is that you?”

<Wow, pretty and smart.>

“Don’t get sarcastic with me, it’s not everyday you wake up to see a telepathic cat sitting on your chest.”

It was “silent” for a while.

<Cat?>

“Can someone get in here?!” I keep my eyes glued to the door, hoping someone would come.

<Nice try. =P>

What? The cat scampered over to the door just as it creaked open. It let out a kind of growl, bark, yelp combination. The cleric (I assume he was a cleric because he was wearing a robe and had a staff on his back . . . and he was working in a clinic) at the door shrunk back out of surprise.

“Good luck with that.”

He said as he ran out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I heard the creature sigh out of amused fustration.

<Humans scare so easily.>

It chuckled to itself, well, it chuckled in my head, and jumped back onto my bed.

<Stop referring to me as a "thing.” I’m a Lucida.>

“A Lucida? Like from the stories?”

<They’re not stories, they’re real. And I’m not a baby. I may not look it, but I’m at least 300 years old.>

“Three hundred? No way.”

<Yes way. Lucidas don’t mature until they find a master. You should be honored.>

“Am I your master then?”

<Yes.>

“How, though? I haven’t even met you before.”

<I didn’t need to meet you to choose you. These things are a matter of fate, and I think I was sent here to meet you.>

“Sent here?”

<Yes, how else would I have gotten here.>

“Who sent you?”

<I don’t really remember, all my memories before we bonded are blurry.>

I looked down at my arm. There were two small bite marks and the skin around them was scorched.

“Did you do this?”

His eyes saddened. Before he could answer me the door burst open. The same cleric from before burst in. He looked at the Lucida and flinched, but he stood his ground. Two bowmen and a warrior walked in behind him.

“Echo, we are going to need you to c-come with us.”

He spoke slowly and firmly, he only stuttered once.

<Hah, he’s terrified of me. This is way too easy.> I giggled to myself.

“Who’s going to make us? You four? Hah, Yian could take all of you out without even blinking.”

The Lucida looked up at me, before I realized what I had just said. I called him Yian.

Why are all these names from my past coming back to me? I spent so long trying to block them out. . .

I slammed my fist into the table next to me. The cleric jumped in surprise. I looked back down at the Lucida. His eyes looked unbearably sad. I forgot, he can read my thoughts. Okay Lucida, I guess I have to call you Yian now. You should be honored, it’s a powerful name. Yian looked happier, and yelped in excitement. The cleric flinched again. He really was a coward. I could feel Yian chuckling.

I suddenly felt like I had a lot more energy. I hopped out of the bed and onto my feet. I wobbled for a minute, then caught my balance.

“Okay cleric, I’m in a forgiving mood, so I'll pardon you for barging into my room like that. I’ll follow you, if your men put down their weapons.”

“I don’t think I’m authorized. . .”

Yian did another one of his pathetic growl imitations.

“Ok ok, please you leave your weapons here.”

I assume the soldiers were students here, because there weapons weren’t all that strong. Yian jumped on my head while the cleric lead us out of the room, two in front of me, one behind.

Do you think you can see where he’s taking us?

<Yeah give me a second>

We kept walking for a few seconds.

<He’s taking us to see the head cleric, and apparently she’s a knockout.>

I chuckled and the cleric turned around confused.

“Keep walking lover boy.”

He turned around quickly, blushing. The student soldiers snickered, so did Yian. If school is going to be like this, I think I'm going to like it here.

[wsxedcr08]

Echo V

Paint

__________

Demirti, what do you think you're doing taking students to uncharted regions of The Mind?

I was merely curious.

Is that all you have to say for yourself?

I didn't think I needed permission to test students abilities.

You do when that particular person has the fate of the world on his shoulders.

One boy should not have to bare that burden alone.

So is that what you want? Your share of the suffering?

If it is what's needed of me, I'll do it.

__________

We continued walking down the twisting corridors. Occasionally I would stumble a little and fall into the warrior walking in front of me. He would shove me backwards and I’d have to re-steady myself. I didn’t like what was going on here. I needed to get back to my old self.

Just in case we have to run for it, try and remember the path we’re taking. I don’t want to get lost here.

<…You’re kidding right?>

How is that funny?

<I thought you were watching. You’re the observant one.>

And how would you know that?

<I have all your memories, or have you forgotten?>

Well why haven't I gotten any of yours yet?

<Hey, if I had some to share with you I would, believe me.>

We came to a halt in front of an obnoxiously over-decorated door. Not only was a wild snake pattern carved into it, but there were flowers everywhere. The smell was overpowering.

“Ok, we’re here. You can go in now, just remember that we’re right outside the door. So don’t try anything funny.”

“You aren’t going to strip search me?”

“Huh?”

I sighed. “Never mind.”

I walked up to the door and knocked, the sound resonated loud and clear. The hard wood carried a sweet note throughout the halls. The door seemed to open by itself. It didn’t screech or anything, which was weird because of its immense size.

“Come in.”

A woman’s voice rang through the hall even more sweetly than the door. The cleric’s eyes sparkled in delight.

“Seriously dude, calm down.”

The cleric blushed again while the students behind him chuckled to themselves. I walked inside, and the cleric shut the doors behind me a little bit harder than he needed to. Yian coughed and collapsed on my head. I guess the smell was getting to him too.

You ok?

<Yeah sure, let’s just get this over with.>

We walked into the room. It actually as bad inside as it was out. The room was relatively big compared to the hospital room I was in before. There were two big leather chairs and a matching leather sofa, surrounding a simple yet fitting center table. On the back wall were two large windows which filled the room with light. On the left and right walls were two identical doors.

“To the left.”

I walked into the door of what I assume was her office. It was even more modest than the previous room. There was one desk in front of a window to the right. Behind the desk was a slender cloth chair. To the left were two chairs propped up against the wall. The door split the room into two equal parts; equaling about 6 feet long in total.

Standing by the window was a woman, a cleric. She wore a flowing robe that I couldn’t identify, it was probably custom made. She didn’t carry a staff or wand, but there were two hanging on the wall over the window, which for some reason I didn’t notice before. She had long brown hair and calm, gray eyes. In all, she looked like the kind of person you would want to follow without being asked.

She walked behind her desk and sat down.

“Please, have a seat.”

I sat down in one of the chairs in the back of the room that faced the desk. She sat there for a while, just staring at me. I got a little bit uncomfortable, her eyes seemed like they were boring into my mind. My eyes gradually started to avoid hers and dart around the room. On the wall was painting of Hans Heal, the father of modern medical magic. He was in all of the history books back in school.

He was one of the fiercest mages of his time, he mastered the techniques of ice and lightning by the time he was fourteen. Then, there was the first Great War between all of the four classes. Hans was in the front line, taking down thousands of thieves and bowmen with each swing of his wand, until an arrogant young assassin managed to get behind him. He was shot several times in the legs and back with the assassin’s stars. He crumpled to the floor, but was saved from any further damage by his young apprentice named Grendel.

By the time he got back to Ellina and was treated it was too late, he was paralyzed for life. He still was able to use magic, but he would never be as powerful as he was before. There in Ellina, he became obsessed with trying to regain his mobility. It was rumored that he worked side by side with the gods to find a cure for his paralysis. One day when he was alone in his room, he picked up his wand in frustration. All of his anger, his despair began to bubble up to the surface as he remembered how powerful he used to be. He lashed out with the wand, trying to strike out at something, anything that could break. Something had to suffer along with him. Instead of the familiar shards of ice appearing, the wand exploded in his face. He flew into the wall and fell unconscious.

When he woke up he was still alone, in the same spot as he was before. However now he felt better than he did before. He explained the feeling as if all his negative emotions were expelled from his body when the wand exploded. He felt calm. But what happened next was truly a miracle.

Out of the corner of his eye Hans saw a small mouse crawling along the floor, heading towards him. Its leg was bleeding and he stumbled quite awkwardly, obviously in pain. Hans felt such compassion towards the creature. When it reached his hand he slowly picked it up, still sore from the explosion. It struggled in his hands but then relaxed, exhausted of its energy. All Hans wanted now was to see the mouse healed. He couldn’t seem to bare the sight of someone is worse pain than he was. All Hans remembered was feeling his energy travel out through his hand and into the mouse. The wound on its leg started to glow with a green light, and soon it was no more. He put the mouse back on the floor and watched it scamper away, not caring how its injury was miraculously healed.

For days Hans tried to replicate the same magic on himself, but it was in vain. He kept his power a secret, not wanting to be taken advantage of. He used most of his time working on ways to refine his technique. He used whatever random animal would happen to wander into his room. This was how he lived, until one day Grendel was wounded in battle with the warriors. His left arm was cleanly severed off and there was little hope of reattaching it. Hearing the news Hans quickly teleported to the hospital. To make a long story short(er), he used his new power to heal Grendel’s arm.

Soon word of the miracle working Hans spread throughout the four towns. Injured warriors from all over began to come to him for healing. Hans did it gladly, because all of the hatred in him had disappeared with the explosion. His skill increased over the years, and soon he didn’t even need to be in contact with the patients in order to heal them. He could sit in the middle of a crowd and heal them all at once. He taught all of this magic to his pupil Grendel, in order to prevent the healing to stop after he died. Later in his career he went on to create other healing techniques, and even managed to bring a soldier back to life. He was a true hero, and his efforts of peace helped to end the war that had raged on for so long. Three weeks after the war ended, at least 200 years ago, Hans disappeared. Search parties were sent from all four of the towns, but they came up with nothing. Soon the top researchers from Orbis and Aquarius were involved in the search, but still they could find no trace of him.

Most of the paintings of him were stunning; the artist’s renditions of him seemed to make him look like the perfect being. A god even. This is mostly because no artist ever got the chance to sit near him and get an accurate portrait. Most of them were put together by artists who got a glimpse of him through a crowd, or who had someone who saw him describe his features. But this particular painting seemed to bother me. I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t seem right.

“Echo.”

My eyes slowly slipped away from the painting and back to her calm, understanding eyes.

“Tell me what you see.”

“Excuse me?”

“You must have noticed something interesting by now, unless you make a practice of staring out into space when you’re in a room with other people.”

Was I staring? Where was she going with this?

“I’m sorry; it’s just that painting... it doesn’t look right to me.”

“How so?”

“I’m not sure...”

I looked at it closely. His face didn’t seem to be as... perfect as it was in the text books. His ears were bigger, and so was his nose. His eyebrows were slightly too high on his face, giving him a surprised look. His skin was also darker than in the text books, a tan maybe? His eyes seemed much kinder, gentler, like he truly adopted the concept of “love thy neighbor.” In all he looked... human.

“What kind of paint is that?”

“How would I know, I didn’t paint it.”

“You’re an educated woman, I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of paintings before in your lifetime. Surely you would be able to tell what kind of paint was used on a painting as simple as that.”

She blushed. People who are easily flattered are so easily manipulated. For shame.

“I really wouldn’t know, but if I had to guess I would say acrylic.”

“Yes, that would make sense. But this painting seems a little too precise for that. Almost like a photograph. Acrylic paint tends to leave slight variations in the paper. For each artist these variations are different, but constant. Almost like a painter’s fingerprint. Even if there is no caption or signature on the painting, an experienced artist can look at another painting and tell exactly who painted it. However, on this painting, there are no variations. The only paint that can do that is graphic paint, and that wasn’t invented until... what.... 10, 20 years ago?”

Just for a second a look of panic and surprise flashed across her face, but in an instant she regained control and looked at me with the same calm expression as before, only now it seemed more labored.

“What’s your point? Artists are constantly coming out with new artwork ever year. Who’s to say someone didn’t just try and make a clearer copy of a previous painting?”

You could tell by her tone that she was hiding something.

“Well if you’ve seen all of the older paintings of Hans Heal, then you would know all of them look fake. And-”

She interrupted me. “All the more reason to release a new painting.”

“Hans Heal is not beloved by the public anymore. When the first paintings came out, everyone tried their hand at making one, but no one could ever watch him for long enough to get an accurate picture. Although there are slight variations from artist to artist, all of the paintings of him are glorified, making him look more like a god then a man. This painting is like none I have ever seen before. His face is so real; it looks as if someone took a photograph of him. And his eyes, they have a type of vibrancy that could only be captured by someone who truly knew and loved him. Everyone knows that in the Great War Hans didn’t have a wife, or children. The only person who he was close to was Grendel, but he was the studious, not the artistic type.”

“You talk like you know him.”

“You talk like you have something to hide.”

This obviously startled her. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was a student talking so arrogantly to the head cleric, or the fact that I was close to revealing a close, personal secret of hers.

“You’re parents did a crappy job of teaching you manners.”

My parents?

“I don’t know my parents.” She looked even more distressed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t....”

“It’s ok. I don’t mind. I know growing up hiding the existence of your father must have been hard on you too.”

The look on her face held traces surprise, despair, and... joy.

“So the rumors about you are true.”

Her voice sounded slightly unstable.

“Rumors?”

“Don’t be so modest, you know people talk about you.”

“So if Hans is alive, that would mean that he has found the secret to immortality, or at least extremely long life.”

“That much is obvious.” She was obviously recovering, and quickly too.

“That’s huge. If he knows how to achieve eternal life, then there’s no telling what he could do. I mean, if you could make someone immortal, couldn’t you also make them impervious to injuries? Then you could create a sup-”

Suddenly I realized why she wanted to see me.

“You’re going to experiment this process on me aren’t you.”

“Bravo. Bravo. I would have never expected you to discover both secrets in one day.”

“Don’t mock me.”

Yian growled a little bit, but half heartedly. I could easily see that he was excited.

“Why me?”

“We can’t make you impervious to injuries, that’s basically impossible. But Hans has developed a method to make any would you may get in battle heal instantly, without the aid of a cleric. We’ve tried it on two other students before you.”

“And what happened to them?”

“... Let’s just say they couldn’t handle the procedure. In order for this to work your body needs to adsorb huge amounts of energy. The pain will be almost intolerable, but there is almost no question about whether you will come out alive or not.”

<She’s lying.>

What?

<There is only a 60% chance that your body can hold all of the energy required. But I don’t think they are factoring in the fact that I’m here.”>

What?

<We're basically two forms of the same being. If the energy is too much for you, I can carry the excess until you're ready for it. And to answer your question from before, I did bite your arm. But it wasn’t my fault. I needed some way to establish our connection.>

By burning me?

<That was the only way I could fully gain all of your memories, and give you mine.>

But I don’t have any of your memories.

<Didn't I already explain this to you? It’s because before Lucida’s find our masters, were basically empty vessels. The only sense we have is the one we use to seek out potential masters.>

So we are really like one being.

<Yes we are.>

“Ok Head Cleric-”

“You can call me Jess.”

“Ok, Jess, I’ll do it, even though I know there is only a 60% success rate.”

Her face went deathly pale.

“How did you kn-”

“Don’t worry about it. When do we start?”

“How’s right now for you?”

[wsxedcr08]

Echo Chapter 6

The Cleric

__________

Interesting how events are playing out. I had no idea he would be this promising when I recommended him.

Don’t try and take credit, you may have recommended him, but I’m the one who make him earn his keep.

Call it what you will, but you can’t doubt his worth. Especially now that he has his own Lucida.

Lucida’s are worthless unless they are trained correctly.

Is someone a little bit jealous of the child prodigy?

Everyone who gets into the school is a prodigy.

I’ll be expecting you to prove that today.

That’s if he survives.

For your sake he better.

Is that a threat?

No, it’s a promise.

__________

Jess lead us through another complex series of mazes. I didn’t even try to keep track of where we were going this time. It was hard enough to walk in a straight line. No time or energy for multitasking.

She could have at least healed my legs before we started walking.

<Stop thinking and walk faster.>

Easy for you to say. Get off my head and walk for yourself.

<Make me. Oh wait, you can’t.>

He did one of his growling laughs. Jess looked back at me and I grinned slightly.

That took more energy than it was worth.

<Then don’t do it.>

I wasn’t asking a question, I was making a statement.

<Your point?>

No more talking.

<I’m not talking, I’m thinking. It’s not my fault if you’re eavesdropping on my private thoughts.>

You have an answer for everything don’t you.

<Surprisingly I do. Just one more thing Lucidas can do better than humans.>

We kept walking for a while more until we came to another decorated door. The design on this one was of two snakes coiling around a magicians staff. On the top of the staff was the skull of some horned animal. It was creepy and beautiful at the same time.

“Ok, Echo, here we are.”

“I figured as much, you know, because of the whole we stopped moving and started staring at a door thing.”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic.”

“Well you don’t have to tell me things that I already know.” She sighed and opened the door.

“Wait here for a second.” She walked in and closed the door behind her a bit harder than she needed too. A few seconds later she reopened the door.

“You can come in now.”

The room was small. Extremely small. Most likely the smallest room in the whole school, or hospital, or where ever I was. On the ceiling was a small skylight. In the center there was a small cot like structure, and on the wall there was a small cubby with several medical tools hanging out of it. At least they looked like medical tools. How would I know what medical tools look like?

Besides those two things there was only really room for two people, unless one was lying on the bed.

“Lie down now.”

“Not even an explanation?”

“Just do it.”

I climbed up onto the bed. I instantly started to feel nauseous. The ceiling was just too close to my face. It really took a lot of concentration to fight my gag reflex.

“How long is this going to take?”

Almost on cue, a blue light flashed above my head. A man appeared where the light originated from. He had brown hair, slightly darker than Jes’ and the same eyes. He wore glasses that were teetering at the end of his nose and skull earrings. He carried the same staff as the one carved into the door, however instead of two snakes, there was a single ribbon wrapping around it, coming to an end at the head of the staff.

“Is this him?” The man asked.

“Yeah. . . unfortunately.”

“What do you mean unfortunately?!”

“Shut. Up.” Jess snapped.

The man raised an eye brow.

“Relationship troubles?”

Jes sighed. “Whatever, lets just get this over with.”

“So you’re Hans?”

“Shut up and lie down.” He frowned.

“Ok. . . whatever.”

“Here drink this.” He handed me a bottle of green liquid.

“What’s this?”

“Shut up and drink it.”

“I thought you were supposed to be kind.”

“I said shut up and drink it!”

<You probably should just do what he says. . .>

Wow, it’s amazing how your comments get progressively more useful.

<Is that sarcasm?>

Yes. Yes it is.

I drank the liquid cautiously, well, as cautiously as you can be when drinking a possibly fatal liquid. It tasted like watermelon. Well, what watermelons would taste like if they suddenly started tasting like crap.

“Bleh. What is this stuff?” I wiped my mouth vigorously with the back of my hand.

“Stop asking questions and lie back down. Please.”

“Thank you, was it too much to ask for a little courtesy.”

“Don’t test me. Take off your shirt.”

“I’m sorry Hans but I think it would be better if we just stayed friends.”

“Huh?”

I sighed. “Never mind.”

I slowly pulled the shirt over my head and released the wrist trainers. Hans walked over to the side of the bed, holding a bowl of foul smelling black liquid.

“What is-?”

“I have things to do. . . are you going to question everything I do or can I just do my job?”

I resisted my urge to make another sarcastic comment. He dipped two fingers in the liquid and started drawing complex symbols on my chest and stomach. The liquid felt slippery. When my chest was almost full of symbols he drew a small circle and placed his hand inside of it.

“I’m going to start the procedure now. This may hurt a little bit.”

Jess walked out of the room and Yian started to follow her.

Where are you going?

<I’ll be right on the other side of the door if you need me.>

As soon as the door closed Hans’ hand began to glow a green light. At first it felt warm, then hot, then burning. The symbols on my chest began to feel like each was boring into my skin. The burning pain traveled through my body, completely engulfing me in pain. It hurt so bad it was impossible to cry out in pain. Imagine that a chief bandit forced you to swallow one million mesos, in coins, and then proceeded to explode each one inside your body, one at a time, while a mage was attacking you with lightning and a warrior was stabbing you continuously with a sword. If you multiplied that by 874.373 that would be about half of what I was feeling.

<Ech. . . . I. . . re. . . d. .n. . .rry>

I could barely hear my own thoughts, never mind Yian’s. The pain was overwhelming. I slowly felt my self slipping away. Heading toward the darkness...

__________

Slowly I came to my senses. The room seemed much brighter than before, but just as small. Oddly the nauseating feeling didn’t come back. I sat up rather quickly. I braced myself for the same pain that occurred when I tried that in the hospital room, but the pain never came. I looked around the room. It looked relatively the same, but the door was basically incinerated down the middle, and the two halves lay lazily on the floor, still smoldering. Who could have done something like that?

<I think I did.>

He sounded scared.

Yian, is that you?

<No, just the other creature that has somehow managed to develop a psychic link with you.>

I see your sense of humor is intact. Where are you?

<I don’t know. . . it’s really dark in here.>

Where were your last?

<The last thing I remember is feeling how in pain you were and cutting through the door, I touched your shoulders and then I ended up here.>

I got up and looked around the room. Everything else looked in tact.

“Echo?”

“Jess? Is that you?”

She ran over and gave me a hug.

“I’m so glad you survived.”

I could have sworn I saw a tear run down her cheek.

“Hey, like you said, I survived no need to smother me.”

She got back up and regained her composure.

“Do you know where Yian went? He broke the door and ran inside but I can’t seem to find him anywhere.”

“No I don’t. We can find him later, but for now follow me.” She walked out of the room without further explanation. I jumped out of bed and ran after her.

Wait a minute. . . weren’t my legs killing me a second ago? Wow, whatever they did to me really worked.

She led me down a long corridor that I didn’t see when I walked in here. We seemed to be walking away from the light provided by all the windows in the hall. As we continued walking something began to bother me. If we were walking away from the light, then shouldn’t my shadow be in front of me? Yet it wasn’t there.

As soon as I though of it, a shadow slithered around my leg and in front of me in its usual position.

“Holy crap, what the hell is going on here?!” Jes turned around, obviously puzzled about my awfully lame outburst.

“Did you just see that?”

<That was me.>

“You?!” Jes looked even more confused.

<Stop yelling. Somehow I got stuck in your shadow and I don’t know how to get out.>

Can you see?

<I can if you let me borrow your eyes.> On that note my temples began to tingle, then it was over.

Is that it?

<Yeah, that’s it. Let’s go.>

Ok. . . never, ever, do that again.

“Let’s go Jes.”

“Are you ok Echo. . .”

“Yeah, I’m fine, let’s go.”

We continued walking down the hall until we came to a huge opening in the wall.

“In here.”

We walked into the room. It was pitch black. A blue light temporally blinded me, but not for as long as I would have imagined. When I looked over, Jess was gone.

I stood there, listening intently for any sounds that might indicate where Jess had teleported off to.

<I have a bad feeling about this.>

As do I.

<What’s with that? Trying to get all cryptic now?>

Shut up it’s a dark room, and I have no idea where I am. . . I’m just trying to get into the moment.

<Yeah . . . well don’t next time.>

I stood patiently in the room waiting for Jess’ arrival.

Was the room this hot when we got in here?

<No, actually I’ve just noticed it myself; the heat has been rising for a while now.>

How hot do you think it will get?

<No idea but I don’t like the looks of this.>

The heat you mean?

<No. . . the looks.>

But it’s pitch black in here how can you see anything?

<I said the looks!>

Now the heat was beginning to become unbearable. Suddenly I heard a knock on the opposite wall. I ran over to it, and after finding where the sound was coming from, I tapped back. As soon as my hand touched the wall, the tapping sound stopped.

“So. . . you ready?”

“For what?”

“To die of course.”

A sinister chuckle is heard from the wall.

<Get back!>

I obeyed Yian’s command, and it was a good thing I did, because if I had lingered there for even a second longer I would have been punched by the fist that violantly ripped through the wall. Barely a second after punching through the fist opened up and shot a fireball towards me. I was able to dodge by a hairs width, still feeling the intense heat as it rushed past me. I heard it burn right through the opposite wall. I unsheathed my dagger and lunged at the hand, but the hand withdrew causing me to slice through thin air. The dagger felt unusually light in my hands. I bent over to look into the hole in the wall. As I peered through, the man on the other side forced his hand through the wall once again, this time maybe a foot above my neck. Before I even realized what happened the hand grabbed my neck and lifted me off the ground. The hand pulled me through the wall and into the next room, smashing my small body into a large cabinet on the far left side of the room. I hit the cabinets so hard that I actually made a hole in the wall. A shard of wood was lodged deep into my back.

“Some know me as Jin the Ferocious... but most just call me Jin.”

“Oh. . . I’m. . .”

“I know who you are. . . you are Echo. . .”

I clapped as sarcastically as I could possibly manage.

“Good job did you figure that out all by yourself?”

“No. . . I looked it up.” Jin frowned.

I got up and felt a sharp pain in my back. I turned my head around and gazed at the shard of wood sticking out behind me. As I turned, Jin took out the hilt of a blade, and began to focus. As he did a small flame ignited itself on the hilt, growing to the length of a blade. The intense flame caused the air around it to pop. I pulled out the shrapnel and turned back around just in time to dodge Jin’s sword. As I dodged, I quickly ducked down and cut Jin’s left leg. I then jumped away and readied myself for the next attack. Jin turned back towards me and noticed the gash in his leg.

“When the hell did you do that!?”

“After you tried to burn me with that oversized match of yours.”

<They don’t get much dumber than that.>

“Ha, that’s funny, coming from a Lucida who can’t even get out of it’s master’s shadow.”

“You can hear him?”

“I can do a lot of things.”

Jin bent down and put his fingers in the gash to see how deep it went. He then spread the flesh apart, letting blood drip onto his fingers.

<What the hell is he doing!?>

I have no idea but I think he’s crazy.

“Hm. . . well. . . no matter, a small cut is the price I pay for having a bit of fun.”

A wide smile crossed Jin’s face.

This guy is insane!

<Your telling me.>

Why yes, yes I am.

<. . .>

“How about this, since the gap between our power is so vast, I will let you cut me for 20 seconds, anywhere you want.”

“You sure about that? I cut to kill.”

“Well why don’t you come at me ‘cause your wasting your time.”

I quickly contemplated the most efficient and effective way to kill Jin. I rushed at him, dagger poised to slash through his collar bone. I jumped high and brought my dagger down with all the force I could muster. The blade smacked into Jin’s neck, and almost stopped in its tracks. It was almost like cutting through rock. Shock began to flow through my body. I had never encountered this type of power before, how was this man so strong? Why am I not able to cut him? Am I not strong enough? Or is there really that huge of a difference in our power?

Jin laughed menially.

<What the hell is going on!?>

I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.

I took back my blade and slashed at his chest with all his might, producing a large cut. I cut through his flesh four more times and jumped back.

“19, and 20… You’re lucky you jumped back, if you hadn’t I would have burnt you to a crisp.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Hm...?” Jin stole a quick glance at my back, and realized it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

“I see you have some sort of healing ability. Don’t think you’re special, I can heal too. Well, it’s not really healing it’s just a way for me to prevent blood loss, and the only thing that’s left behind are scars.”

“Well that’s not really healing then is it?”

“Just watch.”

Jin mumbled something under his breath. Steam began to rise from his wounds; blood stopped dripping from them and soon all that was left over were scars, just as he said.

“What the hell are you!?”

“I’m an adept, and so are you, not only that but you have a stronger power than me, you just haven’t mastered it yet.”

“And you have?”

“Nope, I’ve been trainin’ for 4 years and I’ve only got the basics of my powers down, but that’s only because my power is so devastating.”

Jin threw a series of fireballs at my feet. I jumped into the air to avoid them, but before I landed, Jin threw several more at the ceiling.

“Good aim… you missed every single shot.”

“Wasn’t aiming for you buddy.”

I looked up and down and saw that he had made a perfect square of fire above and below me. I looked over at Jin and saw that he was hunched over in concentration. He once again mumbled words that happened to seem much more complex then the one’s from before. After no more than a second, my view was obscured by flame that connected the two squares of fire on the floor and ceiling, making, in a sense, a gigantic cage of fire. Jin then began to tighten the cage, and slowly it traveled closer and closer to my skin.

“It’s over.”

The cage was less than a hairs width from my skin now. In a matter of seconds I would be engulfed in flames, and eventually, incinerated.

[spade]

-cheer-

[Reve]

-stares at wall of text-

.....

This'll be a looong day...

[Ganzicus]

MOAR

[wsxedcr08]

hahaha. I'm editing as fast as I can. And it's not really a block of text, just a lot of it all at once. xP

[wishlist]

I'm not really sure why, but there is errors in the text for me, where there would randomly be korean letters replacing some important english letters.
I think it's the punctuation, but this hasn't happened anywhere else.

[wsxedcr08]

um... i'm 100% sure i didn't put any Korean into the story on purpose... maybe it's you're browser?

[Reve]

Korean letters?? I don't see any...

SWEET.... GO WRITE MOOOORREEEE!!!!

I mean. Go work on that Pirates fanfic thing. GO NOW. GRAWR.