The Last Cursed

1

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who really, really liked her life.

Her name was Echo and everything was perfect – until she was cursed.

Echo wasn't actually cursed: her family was. Since the first Echo more than 3000 years before, all the women of this lineage have had a chance to end up like their ancestor. Fortunately, Ella had not. Her daughter Agapitos hadn't either. But Agapitos's daughter...

There are four things to know about Echo Augustus and her family: the first one was that they were very rich and famous. Secondly, neither her mother nor her father knew about the curse. Third and fourth? Echo knew about the curse, and she was prepared.

Echo was that rich because her father was Apollo himself and her mother was Agapitos the Lonely. Aggie was one of the Nine Dream Sisters, all daughters of Morpheus, none of them born of the same woman. Aggie' mother, a naiad, was the child of Elias Augustus, descendant of Echo the First. He had carried the curse in his genes and more or less offered it to Echo as a birthday gift.

Echo was nine when the Cataclysm occurred. She was barely able to cast good magic when she was stripped of it, reduced to silence by a mere curse.

In the beginning, her mother thought she was just a silent girl: she'd never been a talkative girl. But as the days passed by, Echo began to change. She'd only repeat the end of other people's sentences. Then she more or less became invisible. Not LITERALLY invisible, of course. She would just... disappear from her parents' thoughts. She became an actual ghost.

So, little by little, people stopped talking to her – or trying to. Her own mother, not bothered by her fate wanted another child to "start anew". Her father was the only one to stay by her side – even if he sometimes forgot about her too. Although, he was soon bored by her, and she was left alone.

Echo also had another particularity: when she spoke, it was either to repeat someone else's words or to tell strange prophecies. She once tried to write that she could've been the Oracle of Delphi, but her father didn't believe her, claiming it was impossible: there as already one.

From times to times, Echo would say things like "Watch out for birds" or "the flame will stop burning", and the next day her father would crush a bird with his Sun Chariot and her mother would see a wildfire dying. In the beginning, at least, it was only that. But, the day of her fourteenth birthday, she declared:

"All is one, and one is all,

Finding the enemy, the gods shall,

For she is closer than you think,

Because her name is written in red ink.

Dream of nine, nine of dreams,

She is one of his."

One month later, Erytete, daughter of Morpheus and one of the Nine Dreams was captured for the murders of Olympia. She'd killed more than fourteen gods, that day.

More often than ever, Echo began to tell the tales of heroes and demons and what they would accomplish – but no one listened to her. Even if she wasn't a real echo anymore, no one would enjoy having a girl like this for a friend for she was too special for the other gods.

But, one day, a young guy of her age moved into their neighborhood. He was not aware of Echo's reputation, so he went to her home and knocked on the door.

It was a pretty white-skinned girl with blonde hair and green eyes who opened. Though she was gorgeous, she didn't look like a girl who liked to play outside for her skin was pale as Death himself.

"Umm... hello! I'm new here and I wanted to meet my neighbors..."

"Wanted to meet my neighbors..." Echo repeated sadly.

"Yeah. That's actually what I said. And you're?"

"And you're?" Echo continued.

She did a sign with her hand, inviting him to enter.

He wasn't very willing, but he knew it would be rude to deny the proposition, so he followed the strange girl through the corridors.

On a piece of paper, she wrote: "My name is Echo and I can't control what I say. Excuse me for my behavior from earlier, it was the curse."

The new neighbor was intrigued by the story of this girl who lived in a giant house and who couldn't speak.

"My name is Narcissus," he said. "I come from North Olympus."

North Olympus – or NO – was one of the many regions that constituted the world of the gods, separated from the human by the Underworld. Except for Zeus, most of the gods wouldn't dare to go in the Mortal Realms because of that.

NO was in the countryside regions and was mostly touristic. Few were the gods and other immortals who spent the year there. And, even fewer were the ones who weren't some kind of farmers.

If Echo was surprised, she didn't let him see it. Her face was unreadable, and she looked like she was about to say something – but she couldn't, of course.

"Don't you have parents?" Narcissus asked.

Yeah, but they kind of suck. They leave me alone all day long and they want a new child to replace me. So, I like to say I don't have any. I guess that would be better if they weren't here. At least I would go in peace. You probably know of Agapitos Augustus and Phoebus Apollo – that's them. My oh-so-perfect parents. And you?

"Oh, I'm a son of Dionysus. Nothing too interesting, you see."

Is he good to you? Only stupid people would care about how important your parents are, you see. I think they should be more concerned by the way they treat you than by their powers and influence. That's ridiculous!

"I guess you're right..."

I always am. By the way, I'm fifteen, almost sixteen, if you're interested.

"We're of the same age, then. I was happy to meet you, Echo Augustus Daughter of Apollo."

So was I, Narcissus Son of Dionysus. So was I.

When he left, he didn't seethe gorgeousgoddess who looked sad enough to cry.