Echo

chapter 5

The castle is different at night. The lighst from the village are harsh and untamed running rampant along the walls creating faces from perfectly normal objects.

My feet seem to carry me down the same corridor for what felt like hours, I stop feeling defeated and tired, wondering how I got here in the first place.

I don't remember waking up.

"Hello there" a chilling voice announces themselves behind me and I spin slowly to face the man in the mask.

"I thought I told you not to go this way?" My breathing becomes heavy as I try and hold my ground the best I can, I refuse to answer him and he chuckles.

"You're not supposed to be here" he says darkly and steps into the light and reveals a twisted smile and his mask has a crack but still covers most of his face. I still refuse to answer.

"Do these people know why your a traveller?" he pauses and looks at me with a growing sick smile, "Echo" my name fell from lips and pierced my ears with violence.

"What are you talking about?" I choke out finally but he only chuckles and walks towards me.

"I mean, the reason you had to leave your kingdom in the first place?" I was nothing but a play thing to him and he was toying with me, surely?

"I don't know what your talking about" I answer and he laughs at my response, he gets closer and circles around me like a predator stalking its pray.

"Of course they'll find out in due time" he walks past me and stands only a few feet infront of me, "after all, you have only been here for a day" he spins around and another crack appears on his mask.

"What do you want with me?" I ask and he shakes his hand and let's out a breathy laugh.

"Well you see i was going to offer my friendship if you had just gone the other way" he starts and the scraping of his sword in the stone floor catches my attention as he walks towards me again, "but you ignored me, and came to this town of naive, silly children, you're one of them now" he stops infront of me and smirks.

"I've only been here for a day" I fire back and he shakes his head.

"The second you set foot here, you became one of them" I notice the grip on his sword tighten and its not longer resting on the floor.

I attempt to take a step back but it seems to do nothing. He draws his sword and but before it hits my chest I wake in my silk sheets breathing heavily.

Someone enters the room pretty quickly and rushes over to my side. He gives me a moment to calm I can feel the fabric around my eyes getting damp.

"Hey, whats going on?" He asks placing a hand on my upper arm, its george. I feel myself physically relax but my head and heart can't keep up.

"It was dream" I mutter through breaths and he tenses but doesn't say anything. I pull my knees into my chest and he moves his hand to the top of my knee.

"Eret will want to hear about this first thing" he says and I nod and calm my breaths.

"How did you know I-"

"I was walking past the door" I can hear the small smile in his voice, and he stands from the floor, "try to get some sleep" he says before walking out and closing the door.

I lay back down but flashes of his mask and him driving his sword into my chest fill my head and I have to get up.

I move the fabric from my eyes and stand to look in the mirror, the faint light from the rising sun fills the room and I notice my eyes are no longer a brown honey colour but a flat green.

The power i could once control now completely off the rails and I can't help but let the fear sink in that he truly knows what I did, it was an accident.

I place the cloth around my eyes again and get dressed in a similar outfit to the one I wore yesterday.

I open my door and walk out but something under my foot catches my attention. I lean down and pick it up and the second my fingers touch the fabric I feel my heart drop.

Another string of the same fabric to cover my eyes. Its almost identical to the one I already have, I push the one already on my head up and turn and see a figure duck out of sight.

I quickly slip the new one on and tie the other around my wrist. I aimlessly wonder around hoping to stumble into someone living.

Throughout my time alone I learned to use my other senses and what very little I can see through the fabric to help me get around and fight my way through life.

Feeling calm enough I remove the fabric from my eyes and use an armour stand to check my eyes, brown. I tie the fabric around my other wrist and continue to walk.

Eventually I find the throne room and the door is open slightly. I peer through and notice george and Eret at the end of the long carpet. Eret notices me quickly and waves a hand for me to enter.

He hops down the stairs from the throne and makes his way over to me and when I stop infront of him he rests a hand on my shoulder.

"George told me about the dream, can you explain?" I nod quickly and tell him in as much detail as possible what happened while keeping my eyes fixed on the floor incase my eyes shift colour.

"It was like he was here, it was terrifying" he sighs sympathetically at me for a moment george seems worried.

"What was the reason?" George questions and Eret takes a small step back so I'm infront of them both, My heart beats rapidly in my chest, Eret throws him a confused glance that quickly turns to one of warning.

"You got thrown from your kingdom?" He finishes and I take a deep breath and prepare for the worst.

"My magic spiralled out of control" I admit and both of their expressions twist into guilt, "I accidently hurt someone and so they removed the power from hands and put it into my eyes so I could hide it and protect others" I continue and notice them exchange a glance of concern.

"We can fix that" Eret chimes and I look up at him in disbelief.

"You aren't going to make me leave?" He shakes his head with confusion but from the expression in his eyes he knows the reason I asked. "We'll be able to move the magic from your eyes to your hands, but they'll still change and there may be a chance they'll still hold a certain amount of power" George continues for Eret.

I look between them and can only wonder why they're helping me.

"Why are you doing this? I arrived yesterday, you barely know me" Eret laughs and shakes his head at me.

"From this point on you're a member of this kingdom" he smiles proudly and George makes his way out of the room and towards someone just out of sight.

"If we help you, you must help us" I nod slowly and he motions for me to walk with him. We walk through many corridors exchanging a few words until we reach the top of the castle that overlooks the land for miles.

Its quite beautiful, the sun beaming in the distance with the trees waving with the light breeze and the faint sounds of the residents laughing below us fills the air.

"In a time like this, formalities are useless" he starts and places his arms on the stone wall below him, "you see those holes down there?" He asks and I look around and notice the large crators in certain places around the town and along the edge of the kingdom.

"Wilbur, one of the ghosts haunting the castle" he starts letting me finish examining the odd landscape, "philza's son" my head snapped back to him in disbelief and he let's out a chuckle, "he blew it up after going insane" I take in the information and fiddle with a small stone on the wall.

"I know you need my help" I start and he turns to me and brushes his hair away from his eyes, "but I need to know everything about dream" I finish, he let's out a sigh and looks down at his hands.

"I'll call Halo and after that we'll talk"