Echo Chapter 10: The Shadows

Is he ready?

Yes, I’ll get him immediately.

If anything happens let me know.

Nothing will happen. He may be amazing, but not that amazing.

Don’t underestimate an adept. Especially one as gifted as he is. They have been known for their surprises when things get hard.

That’s what she said.

What?

Lighten up Hans.

The sound of clanking metal surrounded me. I wanted desperately to open my eyes, but I couldn’t. Some other power was keeping them closed. I felt as if I was lying down, but I wasn’t sure. My whole body was numb, but warm.

A new sound started to penetrate through the crash of metal. It was a sound that I knew that I knew, but I couldn’t understand it. The jumble of noises was confusing and abrasive, why couldn’t it go away and leave me in the sweet sea of crashing metal?

The confusing sound gradually grew louder and louder, until it completely blocked out everything else. I writhed in discomfort, trying to refocus on the safe sound of metal. Suddenly, an overwhelming pain grew in my chest, a horrible, consuming pain. My eyes jolted open. A rush of sensory information flooded my body, all at once. The feeling knocked me back down from my upright position. The room returned to its darkened state, but the confusing sound, clanking of metal, and pain in my chest weren’t so intense anymore.

<Get up knave.>
It was the confusing noise again. I know it wanted something, but I didn’t know what. I rolled over onto my chest and groaned. The floor seemed to roll up underneath me, flipping me onto my back, forcing me to look toward the ceiling. I blinked repeatedly. It was still dark in the room. Eight silver pillars lined the walls, or at least they seemed to. Under closer inspection they were placed carefully inside the room, forming the outline of a perfect circle. Slowly I stood up. Long black pillar like things snaked up from the ground and held my arms stiff, keeping me in an upright position. As soon as I got firmly on my feet, I felt as if I were being dragged toward the silver pillars. Quickly I grabbed onto the black things sticking out from the floor. They writhed in my hands, but kept me from flying backwards.

“Pay attention.” The black pillars receded into the floor, and a throwing star came flying at my head, seemingly from no where. I leaned backwards, so my body was parallel to the floor. The star flew over my head and disappeared into the background. All of the sudden, everything seemed to snap back into focus. The strange noises didn’t seem so odd anymore.

“Finally, you’re back.” I snapped around, the motion nearly threw me off the stage. A man was standing on the very edge of the circle, arms folded. He had an extremely cocky expression on his face, his dark brown hair styled fancily in a spiky pattern. His blue sweatshirt and black pants stayed strangely perfect, even though the winds in here were blowing unbelievably fast. His eyes were a polished blood red. It was the man I fought in The Mind. He grinned.

“You’ll be taking all of your combat classes with me from now on. You should get your new schedule when you get back to your dormitory. We don’t have much time now. . . because of the poison and all. Oh well, let’s get started.” His smile grew as he suddenly disappeared. Six stars came flying at me from my left side. I quickly deflected three of them and dove out of the way dramatically, allowing the other three to pass over my head. Slowly I started to slide to the edge. I jumped to my feet and dashed over to where the stars came from. He wasn’t there. The room was only so big, where could he have gone?

I heard another star fly toward the back of my head. Quickly I flung my head to the left, narrowly avoiding the projectile. Jumping forward, I caught the star in midair, letting the unbelievably sharp edges cut into my skin. Resisting the urge to scream, I turned around and flung the star back were it came form. The familiar clank of metal and flash of sparks signaled the star had been blocked. As my feet touched the floor, they were automatically flung out from under me.

<Haven’t you realized it yet?>

{What?}

<Don’t jump. Not only does it waste energy, you also loose your balance. The platform spins for a reason knave.>

{Is that the word of the day or something?}

“He’s right you know.”

The man appeared right in front of me. He lunged with his clawed fist. There was no time to dodge. The cold metal slammed directly into my face, causing me to fly backwards. I landed and slowly started slipping toward the edge.

<Stop being a baby and stand up.>

“Don’t think; let your instincts guide you.” He jumped back and flung several more stars at me. I rolled out of the way and flung myself up with my hands. I picked up my dagger and threw it directly at his chest. He jumped into the air, over the dagger.

“Not a wise move to throw away your only weapon.” I rushed at him, clothes lining his legs, causing him to flip over. He grabbed my arms from behind, his legs in the air and head on my back, and put enormous pressure into his legs. The force lifted me off the ground, allowing him to land safely on his feet and slam my unprotected head into the floor.

“You’re not using your instincts. Stop thinking and fight.” Dazed but determined, I got up and closed my eyes, searching for any sign of my attacker. A small ripple of wind brushed past my ear. Without really thinking about it, I moved my head forward. Wind almost like a hurricane passed behind my ears. I was the man’s fist. Using my left hand I grabbed his wrist and elbowed him in the stomach. I leaped forward and kicked backwards, flipping him over my head and onto the floor in front of me. I jumped on top of him and pinned his wrist to the floor, holding my forearm to his neck. He laughed.

“Nice move.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Can’t I be happy my pupil learns so quickly?”

“No. . .” I opened my eyes, barely containing my surprise. Everything was in such definite focus, it reminded me of my fight with Soren. The spinning wasn’t so intense anymore. It was easier to notice small details. . . like. . .

“Okay then.” He grinned and jerked his hand forward. Something shimmered above his hand. Suddenly I heard a whizzing sound coming from behind my head. It was a trap! I knew I sensed something. I leaped forward, harder than I meant to, and smashed into the wall. Conveniently, I fell onto the wall my dagger happened to be lodged into earlier. Funny how that worked out.

<Isn’t that. . .>

{Yeah, strangely convenient huh?}

<It’s almost like a bad fanfic. . .>

{Too bad this is real life.} Quickly I reached out and grabbed it, preventing myself from falling. Looking down, I saw that outside of the circle was only fast moving pieces of machinery, probably where the clanking sound was coming from. I pulled up on the dagger, preparing to jump back onto the platform. Timing was crucial, because those pillars were spinning at about 100 miles per hour. I places my legs on the wall, unfortunately just as the dagger dislodged. I began to fall, headfirst, into the dangerous metal death trap.

{Okay, this is more realistic.}

“Don’t fall.” He lightly drew out the fall, which got on my nerves a little bit. Quickly I stabbed my dagger back into the wall and stuck out my legs, preventing me from crashing into it. I used the momentum of my swing to launch myself back onto the platform, barely missing one of the silver platforms. As I landed I began to slip again, but a quick change in my stance stopped that right away.

“I see you’ve activated your Adept’s eye. Interesting.” He lunged again, throwing punch after punch. I parried and dodged most of them, but some hit their mark. The wounds started to glow a dull green, the healing energy was already repairing my body. I looked at my hand; the wound already stopped bleeding and began to closing up.

“Nice.”

“Would you stop with the comments? Please?”

“When you can beat me in a battle I won’t need to comment anymore.”

“Fine then.” He threw a punch at me while I was still looking down at my hand. My hand seemed to move on its own, directly in front of his fist. I could feel the muscles in my arm tearing as I fought against his blow. He punched at me with his other fist and I caught that one too. He started pushing me back towards the silver pillars. Suddenly I felt a constricting pressure on my arms. I stopped moving backwards. The strength in my hands increased; I suddenly felt an amazing wave of power. I twisted one of his arms over the other and pushed with all my strength. I toppled him to the floor and pinned his neck to the ground with his own crossed arms.

“Check mate.”

“Impressive. If you don’t mind me asking, where did that last burst of strength come from?”

“I thought you said no more comments if I beat you?”

“Silly boy, you didn’t beat me.” Crap, another trap. I didn’t wait to see him pull the ripcords. Turns out I didn’t have to. He pushed up with his arms; giving him just enough room to bend his legs until his feet were touching my chest. He launched me up into the air, right into the flight path of the stars. I spun my body trying to maneuver myself so the stars missed my vital organs. They ripped into my body, spilling blood everywhere. Strangely, it didn’t hurt that much. I landed on the floor, the stars in the front of my body ripped further into my skin. Slowly I began pulling out the ones I could reach, to give the wounds time to heal. I looked up, to see the man standing above me.

“Not bad. . .” He extended his hand, most likely to help me up. I reluctantly grabbed it, and he pulled me to my feet. I was about to say something, when all of the sudden he spun me around and wrapped my arm, the one he helped me up with, around my neck. “We’re not done yet, where’d you get that idea?”

My muscles were too damaged to respond. He kneed me in the back and punched me in the back of my head, sending my sprawling to the floor. He was fingering another star in his clawed hand, smiling a little bit.

“Almost there.” He threw it at my head with all his strength. I pathetically raised my hand into its flight path, like that would make a difference. I closed my eyes and waited for the end. But the end didn’t come. Instead I heard an odd noise, that sounded like a mage teleporting. I opened my eyes. In front of my face was a thin black line, that looked almost two dimensional. It wriggled in the air, as if it were struggling to keep upright in the wind. I lowered my hand, and at once it fell to the floor and seemed to disappear.

“No way. . . I don’t believe it.” I was confused. His statement was meant to be one of disbelieve, but he said it with a tone of complete ecstasy. On top of that, I have no idea what the hell just happened.

{Are you a little weirded out right now?} Of course I couldn’t sit it, but in his mind he was quivering. {Yian?}

<I. . . you. . . wha. . .>

{Calm down. What happened?}

<T. . . that was me.>

{What was you?}

<That black thing. It was me.>

{Don’t be silly. That couldn’t have been you.}

<Look, I’m really freaked out right now; you don’t need to patronize me.>

{I’m sorry.}

<It doesn’t make sense to me either. It’s like. . . your shadow. . . it moved. . . became solid.>

{Uhhh.}

<Yeah. . . try it again.> I moved my hand up, this time, instead of a thin line, a whole shadowy mass rose up from the floor. It was as black as black could get; it almost seemed as if it were adsorbing the light that touched it. It was a very eerie sight.

“You figured it out, on your own too. I thought that would take me weeks to teach you.” He was positively glowing.

“What the hell is going on here.”

“It’s your shadow. Usually, even with a catalyst, it takes months to even get it to that point.” He jumped backwards and landed calmly on the edge of the platform. Around him, his shadow began to churn and lift from the floor.

“So those black thingies from before, those were from your shadow?”

“Hella yeah breh.”

“Breh?”

“Yes, breh. Anyway, I think this was enough training for today. Feel free to return to your dorm.” He looked me up and down. My wounds were still bleeding profusely. “Whenever you’re ready.” He reached behind one of the pillars and pressed something. Instantly, the whole platform groaned to a halt. A hidden door opened up on one of the walls, and a long walkway stretched from under it to the platform. He calmly walked out and left the door open for me. I could have sworn he looked over his shoulder and grinned, but I couldn’t be sure.

“My name’s Demitri by the way, in case you wanted to stop referring to me as the man.” My vision was gradually growing darker and darker. My muscles gave out on me. I collapsed, my cheek resting on the cool metal. I stopped fighting the urge to sleep. . .

It was several hours before I woke up, at least according to Yian. I was in the same position I fell unconscious in, the center on the circular platform. Slowly I got to my feet and looked down. My wounds seemed as if they were fully healed, but I was still a bit stiff.

<You ok knave?>

{Yeah, fine.} I brushed off the dirt on my uniform. I don’t know why I bothered; it was all riddled with various scratches and tears. Scraps of it were all scattered around the room. Oh well. I walked, slowly, to the exit, turned the corner and started walking. Not that I knew where I was going anyway. I just needed to loosen up my sore limbs. Eventually it became much easier to move around.

<So. . . where were we going now?>

{I guess the dorm. . . I’ve been wondering how that guild battle ended.} I pulled out my card and pulled up the holo map. I sighed and turned in the opposite direction, after marking this spot on my map. Turns out I was headed the wrong way.

I got to the gigantic Leaf Guild doors and swiped my cards. The light on the reader turned green, and I turned the handle. Everyone inside the room was looking at the door, but when I walked through they all returned to their activities. I looked around for Fye. He was lying on his hammock, looking up at the ceiling. I walked up to him.

“Hey Fye.” He seemed startled.

“Hey Echo.” He looked me up and down. “Wow, you look like hell. What happened?”

“Long story. So, what’s up with you?” He looked really tired.

“We lost.”

“Oh.” I looked down, suddenly feeling really uncomfortable.

“But you did really well. I saw your battle.”

“Oh, thanks. Was that you who shot that arrow at the last second?”

“Guilty.” We laughed.

“But you couldn’t have seen the whole thing. . . you were fighting your own battle.”

“Oh. . . I guess no one told you. Since the whole thing is fought in The Mind, the battle is automatically recorded. I just finished watching your fight.”

“Really? Can I see yours?”

“Yeah sure.” He jumped down and grabbed my desk. It roared to life. He pressed the Battle Report and Library buttons together, which displayed a Video button in the middle of the screen. He pressed it and today’s date appeared in the corner of the screen. He pressed that and the screen went black. A map of the terrain appeared, along with a list of our guild member’s on the side. He clicked his name, and the battle displayed itself on screen.

“Wow. Impressive.” He laughed and scratched his head. “I had no idea you were so strong. Why did you shrink away from Kiel when he was dragging me out of the room?”

“No need to cause problems. And I know they wouldn’t have promoted a 12 year old without having a reason.”

“Awww. That’s so sweet.” He laughed and lunged at me. I sidestepped and pushed his head forward, causing him to fall on his face. We both ended up laughing. The rest of the guild looked at us angrily.

“Just because you all got beat doesn’t mean you all have to be mean.” The boy in the rank seven hammock angrily got up from his seat and walked toward me. Charles jumped from his hammock and landed in front of me, wielding his blood red dagger. Fye grabbed his bow and held in position to melee attack. The boy reluctantly backed off.

“Why is everyone so on edge?”

“Because when Matic gets back he’s going to be pissed.” Charles nodded. “It’s best you don’t get everyone against you. He’s probably going to fight someone, so no one question’s his authority.” Charles walked back to his hammock and sat back down, giving me a cautionary look. Just as he lay back down, the door burst open. Matic marched in, clearly enraged.

“What the hell is wrong with you pathetic losers?” He bellowed, to no one in particular. Fye looked downward. Matic seemed to sense the movement.

“Fye! You let me down out there. I was counting on you, you good for nothing. . .” Charles jumped down from his hammock and placed his hand firmly on Matic’s shoulder.

“Get the hell off me you mute piece of crap.” Matic took a wild swing at Charles, which he easily dodged. Charles grabbed Matic’s wrist and held it high in the air, then brought it down in front of his neck, holding him in the same position Demitri held me in earlier. The only difference is that with his free hand, he was holding his dagger to his back. Matic struggled.

“Let me go you bastard.” Charles held firm. Kiel laughed in the background. Matic seemed to hear him, because his anger exploded in his eyes. “What’s so funny Keil? Don’t make me get Echo to beat you up again.” Everyone snickered. Charles let Matic go. He walked over to Kiel and slapped him hard in the face with his spear. Kiel slammed against one of the trees in the room.

“Don’t you ever laugh at me again, or I swear, I will kill you.” With that he stormed out of the room.

{Awkward. . .}

<You can sa. . . think that again, or say it out loud for the first time.>

“Awkward. . .” Fye giggled. Yian laughed.

“Hey Echo, you got a new message.” He was right. The circle next to Messages was flashing. I pressed it. It was a message from Demitri. It read as follows:

Echo,

Nice new abilities. I’ll be looking forward to our training tomorrow. I sent you your new schedule; it should arrive in your inbox as soon as you close this message. Also, I left you a little something in your locker. The orphanage said they found you with them when you arrived, with a note to give them to you when you were ready. They were given to me when you got here, and I think you’re ready now. Make sure to bring them to class tomorrow, I’ll explain everything. Oh and just so you know, your Skills button probably won’t be of any use to you anymore. I don’t plan on teaching you any of the. . . more conventional techniques. Oh well, don’t dwell on it. See you later.

Sincerely,

Demitri

I closed the message and opened up my Schedule. It read as follows:

8:00 – World History

9:00 – Events

10:00 – Piloting

11:00 – Target Practice

12:00 – Lunch

1:00 – Combat practice

5:00 – Scrolling Practice

6:00 – Dinner

7:00 – Free period

8:00 – Combat practice

10:00 – Dismissal

“Busy schedule.” Fye was smiling at me from the top hammock.

“Do you sleep there now?”

“I couldn’t bear being so far away from you.” He laughed as I threw my pillow up at him. “Looks like we have the same event period.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s where we have individual competitions. You’re going to need this one. If you win an event, you get credits, which you can use to buy scrolls, new weapons, new clothes and more. There are some events where you can win a specific prize, like a rare weapon. Some events are one on one, time trial, completion, or team based. Some times they have separate Administrator events, which can be a variety of things. I got this bow from an Administrator Event. It’s the best bow in the school, perfectly scrolled.” He beamed with pride.

“What. . . are. . . scrolls?” He laughed, extremely loudly. Other guild members looked at him quizzically.

“You have a lot to learn little one. Just get some rest. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”

OMG! I can’t believe I finally finished typing this. Ok, comments are appreciated. This was actually finished thanksgiving night, but I couldn’t post because I was visiting family and my loser cousins were hogging the internet. :’(

Also, I’m using RPG Maker to make a game version of Echo! I can’t remember if I said this before, but now I’m really working on it. It’s really, really time consuming, but my goal is to get one map done a day. Eventually I’ll have something presentable finished. Anyway, I had a question. Would you rather have one whole game, which will probably take years, if I don’t give up midway, or release it so it corresponds with the chapters. I could make it so that you fight all the battles Echo fights, but the story and dialogue is the same. . . ish and there are visuals to watch. It would be more like an interactive movie than a game. Or would you rather more gameishness. . . decisions decisions. Oh well, I’ll worry about it when I actually have enough maps to make one chapter minimum. But I mean, if you have any suggestions now I’ll be listening.

On another note, I might not be posting again for a long while. Some really sad things are happening right now in my life. . . I really don’t want to get into it now. That would require a whole blog. Maybe I’ll get that written soon, but don’t expect any Echo for at least 2 weeks. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. I’ll still be around the site though, so feel free to message me or whatever. Ok, thanks for reading.

Pictures of characters
Demitri link
Fye (With a cool hat) link
Kiel link
HELP I’M TRAPPED IN MAPLESTORY! link