Echo

Chapter 2

-Tobias-

One second I was in the attic, the next I was in a desert of ice, shrouded in darkness. I looked up, but I saw no sun, moon, or stars just more darkness. Wind blew harshly against me almost blowing me to the ground. I pulled my arms across my chest trying to keep myself warm, which was not working. I felt like I was being watched, I turned around teeth chattering like no tomorrow.

At first I saw nothing but then out of the darkness she appeared. She was cloaked in a dress made of shadows.

She cocked her head to the side with a puzzled expression, "How did you get in here?"

"Mirrior I think." I answered. "Where is here?"

She frowned, "The Abyss."

"Uh okay. I'm Tobias, what's your name?" I asked.

"I don't know. I don't remember."

"How about I call you Echo?"

"Echo?" She walked closer until she stood only a foot away.

"Yep. So how do we get out of here?"

She looked around quickly before leaning in and whispering low in my ear, "There is no way out, at least for me. You have to go back the way you came....before they come back."

"Who comes back?"

"Wraiths."

And just on queue the wind blew fiercer like it had a mind of its own. I looked up and saw these monsters. Monsters with sharp claws that extended from dark black cloaks that wisped around their bodies, and their faces were the stuff of nightmares. And they were flying right towards us. A hand grabbed me from the side, I looked back at Echo.

"Wha--"

"We have to get you out of here." she pulled me with her and we started running through the darkness.

"Do you even know where you're going?" I breathed through my chattering teeth. I checked behind us and saw them right on our trail.

"Sorta." She shrugged. "Whatever you do, don't let them get their claws on you. Their touch will freeze your skin and kill you."

"They're catching up to us," I told her, I think my voice cracked a little.

She didn't say anything as she suddenly came to a halt, and I crashed right into her back, "Why you'd stop?!"

The air around us get even colder. We were surrounded by more of those ghostly monsters. One of them came at me, it's elongated claws inches away from my face when Echo stepped between us and covered my body with hers, shielding me from the mons--wraith's attack. Where it's claws made contact with her skin turning it black with frost.

"Give us the boy," they all said in union with a snake like lisp.

-Echo-

The sharp sting from claws ripped through my back. I couldn't let them get the kid. He was so small, too young, and above all to innocent to fall in the clutches of the wraiths. So I kept my arms wrapped around him taking everything they were giving. Ignoring the pain I closed my eyes and concentrated what power I had left into fire. I opened my eyes and began melding the fire into a protective sphere around us. As soon as it was strong enough I blew all the fire in every direction. Red flames rippled against the wraiths, setting them on fire. The fire devoured most of them while the rest retreated.

They wouldn't be gone for long. They'd probably come back with bigger and scarier reinforcements. I had to get Tobias out of here before they came back.

Without a second thought I pulled Tobias over my shoulder and ran like I was being chased by hellhounds because technically what was after us was a million times worse and deadlier. I could feel my power reserves draining with every breath I took, but I sucked it up and kept on going. It was the only thing I could do.

Narrowing my eyes I search through the emptiness of the abyss for the doorway out of here. So far nothing but a dark fog and ice, ice, and more underneath my bare feet.

It wasn't like I'd ever seen it before but there had to be a door. The wraiths were always slipping back and forth between this prison and the outside world so there had to be a way out. Focus. Focus. If you were an inter dimensional doorway where would you hide?

In plain sight.

I stopped and something hit my back rhythmically. I put Tobias down and stared at the obsidian green stone dangling from his neck.

"Where did you get that?" I pointed at it. He stared at it and frowned and picked it up, "It wasn't there before, I swear. Wait, what is it?"

"Its a key." I answered even though I didn't even know how I knew that.

"A key to what?"

"A key out of here."

"Seriously? Okay so how does it work?"

"Put it in your hand and concentrate on where you want it to take you then say open." Again I didn't know how I knew this even as it came out of my mouth. He held the stone in his hand and it began to glow through cracks between his fingers. He looked up at me with an expression of determination in his warm chocolate brown eyes, then he took my hand in his free one.

"What are yo--" I asked in suprise at the same he said, "Open!!"

I grabbed onto his small hand too. I held his hand until the world stopped spinning. We were no longer in the nothingness of the abyss instead we were in this stuffy cluttered room. It smelled like something had died up here.

"It worked." Tobias looked up to me with a smile and surprised me with a hug, wrapping his small arms around my waist. He was so small he barely reached my waist. I hugged him back instinctively. Something about all of this tugged at my heart, it felt familiar. It brought both feelings of happiness but also of loss.