Echoes of the Past

[laraine]

A lanky figure leaped from her horse, landing almost effortlessly onto the busy street. How she was able to land without hitting anybody was a miracle in itself. She got rather harsh glares from nearby people, but the girl ignored them. Short black hair cut in a almost messy style framed her face, deep blue eyes staring ahead.

The clothes she wore more or less disguised her as a male. Long baggy pants, brown in color as well as a white long sleeved shirt, also loose rather than form fitting. black heavy boots thumped against the dirt road as she walked. Finally a tattered brown cape flew behind her in the wind.

She was only 16, but knew her way around the city almost effortlessly. In reality she had never been there before, but knew if she appeared to be lost she would be targeted by thieves or ruffians.

She pulled the reigns of her horse and the steed neighed, following her obediently.

She finally made it to her destination after much traveling through town, a inn. She sighed and tied her horse to a nearby post.

A arrow flew past her, impaling itself into the post, inches from her hand.

Narrowing blue eyes she turned and scanned the area for the assailant.

She spotted him trying to escape through a alley way.

She growled and ran after him, quickly speeding up to the man She threw her dagger at him, catching his clothing and slamming him against a wall.

The frightened man turned to her, his eyes wide with fear.

"P-please...release me."

"Why should I?" the girl asked.

"Because I did nothing wrong." the man timidly replied.

This annoyed her even more, her hand starting to spark with magic. "Who sent you?" She whispered

The man still looked away.

She growled and grabbed him by the collar, thrusting him into the wall hard. "Who sent you?! Was it them? Where are those no good killing monsters?!"

The man shook, but did not respond. "Please...miss.. let me go.. I have a family..I was...just.."

Pulling away from him, she held up her hand, which sparked with a red aura.

"Die...." She whispered.

Quickly his clothes caught fire, and he ran screaming from the alleyway.

She smirked as she watched him run in terror.

"Bet that's the last time he will try to kill Echo the elemental."

[JxSlaughter]

Zhijiru and many others in the city watched in horror as the figure attempted to remove the engulfing fire with little success. He screamed for his life but many people stood back, and some ran away in horror. Zhijiru wasn't working at his stall at this time. He came to the city for leisure time, not expecting to see such a horror. "Water, water! We need water!" People panicked about and had a hard time doing anything useful other than yelling.

Zhijiru was hand feeding and petting his ox before the trip home. Not wanting to leave the man to turn into ashes before all the women and children he dropped the feed and reached for his bucket of water he had just drawn from a nearby public well. It was intended for the ox, but he knew that it was more important right now to save the man. He could always get more anyways, his ox wasn't dehydrated. He told the Akita to stay and guard the cart wagon.

He tried not to spill the water as he quickly walked to the man who was still running about in a panic. Zhijiru yelled at him. "Hold still!" After pacing near him he managed to get the water over him and was able to put out most of the fire but there was some still on his back. The stranger took off the outer layer of the clothing on his back and started to step on it so that the fire would be put out entirely. The stranger sighed in relief. But Zhijiru looked at him with stupidity-- though you wouldn't see it with his straw hat-- and asked, "Have you ever tried rolling? It gets the fire off every-" Abruptly, the man grabbed Zhijiru's shoulders and started to shake him. His eyes roared with fear. "She's a madwoman!!" the burnt stranger bounded off past the people. "Your welcome..." Zhijiru paused and noticed that he was in the center of attention in the city for a moment, a moment too long, he felt very awkward. "Alright people no show here, get back to your business!" People started to go about their business but they did with murmur. Tension and fear was in the air as the people knew that the attacker was around the area.

Zhijiru still stood perplexed and looked at the alley way from where he came. He knew because of the few bits of the stranger's charred clothes seemed to have fallen nearby it. He wondered if the attacker would walk out soon. He didn't know if he should go far away from that place as possible, or if he would peek his head in. He did recall that people who sustained the most damage in battle were sometimes the first attacker. For they were stupid enough to underestimate their opponent. But he thought to himself that he still would have been guilty if he had let the man burn to death. Zhijiru whispered, "I'll probably never know..." and he started to turn for his cart because he thought he thought he heard people murmuring about him in the background for standing there for as long as he did.

[laraine]

Echo walked from the alleyway as the chaos died down. She spotted the man who tried to kill her running through the crowd, screaming about a madwoman. She smirked and walked through the throng of people, unnoticed since she looked so similar to a man.

Either way, if they sent him to kill me, I must be getting close to those...

The thought itself thrilled her that she could finally end the suffering. Her hand clenched into a fist and she placed it against her chest.

As she walked, she didn't see a large cart, ox and its owner before her she looked up at the last moment and gasped, falling straight back onto her rear.

"Oh, geez.." She began to stand up. "Sorry about that sir. I was lost in thought and didn't see where I was going."

[JxSlaughter]

Zhijiru held back the ox's harness and it pounded its hooves into the pavement and gave a small snort. He came down to see if she was alright. At first glance the teen appeared to be a boy, but the voice reassured him of her true gender. He replied to her, "It's quite alright, it tends to happen in such a busy place." He tried to help her up and dust her shoulders off. Zhijiru noticed her clothing and wondered if she was a street kid. "Are your parents around?" He asked with a slight hint of worry.

The Akita in the front seat of the wagon started to lay on Zhijiru's side of the cart too while he was off. It started to pant and wag its tail.

[laraine]

Echo was slightly annoyed, obviously treating her like a kid. It was true she was 16, but very able to take care of herself. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, but you might have gotten the wrong impression of me. I'm a traveler, I don't live here, nor do I plan to stay long. As for parents....I don't have any." She looked to the side, determined not to say anything else to this stranger.

"Anyway, thanks for the help." She gave a small genuine smile and started to walk past him. "I have to gather my horse and continue on. Can't stay in one place for too long." She started to walk past him.

[JxSlaughter]

Zhijiru smiled at her and turned to his cart. He hoped onto it and scooted the dog away from his seat. He tiped his hat to her, "I guess I'll be off then, have a safe trip stranger." He reached into his pocket and tossed her a gold coin. "Buy yourself a drink, it's on me." His ox started to move along and he left her. Zhijiru kept some thoughts to himself as he started to head for home.

[laraine]

Echo watched him leave, fingering the gold coin in her hand slowly. She sighed, turning around and shaking her head.

Traveling with a partner would be dangerous, especially what I plan to do. So he is better off without me...

She walked to the Inn where she had her horse tied up and untied it, glancing at the inn.

"Can't stay here anymore since that guy got away. I Will have to head to the next town. This could get fairly ugly."

She jumped onto her horse and rode it through the same exit as the strange man left. She stayed a fur piece away from him, so he didn't think she was following him. As for the gold piece he gave her, she had better ideas of how to use it.

[JxSlaughter]

The dog started to bare its teeth quietly, though it didn't seem to be looking in a specific direction to avoid suspicion. Zhijiru knew the dog did so when a familiar was a ways back on the same road after parting. Zhijiru put his hat down over his face to keep from looking about, or making eye contact. He went off to the side of the road and halted his cart there. He intended to appear napping until the dog stopped the slight aggression. Zhijiru didn't want any trouble and he would start his trip again when he made sure that the stranger was far ahead of him- and possibly through another route. "It may be trouble if I let this kid into the village..." He thought to himself as he shut his eyes. "Even if it was a coincidence, a kid with enough strength to travel alone without parents justifies my suspicion enough."

[laraine]

Echo continued down the road, when she noticed the man on the cart napping, she raised an eyebrow and shrugged, then continued down the road without paying much mind to him. She was heading towards a village called Sacra, which she knew might be the place where those demons were hiding. It was a close village, filled with wealthy people.

A perfect hiding spot...

She pushed her horse faster, the horse now starting to run, but before she was completely out of the mans sight, a few robbers appeared from the trees in her way.

She stopped the horse and frowned.

The robbers grinned and she stared at them hard.

"C'mon give us your valuables young wretch." One said.

Echo rolled her eyes. " I will only say this once, get out of my way or else. I don't have time to deal with the likes of you!"

One robber smirked. "Oh so the young wealp wants to test their wings d'ya?"

"Final warning!" Yet, she pulled back her horse, it stepped back a couple steps.

The men leered, getting the wrong impression of her backing away.

All attacked and Echo grimaced, holding out one hand, which glowed green. Suddenly the earth around the men began to shake and break apart. All three fell through the hole she created, which seemed to have no end. Their screams echoed through the empty space of the hole. She panted a bit, bringing her hand to her chest.

Two...down...I must not use up the rest of my strength....I only have two elements left for today....

Still panting, she urged her horse around the hole and continued on.

[JxSlaughter]

When the girl's hand turned green the Akita started barking and nipping at Zhijiru's arm with aggression. He slowly tilted his head up in fear of what he might see. He saw the Earth open and swallow up men that appeared to be common criminals. They yelled in horror and Zhijiru jaw dropped as he leaned forward in interest. The girl trotted around the gapping hole unharmed. The dog stopped barking as she left their view. Zhijiru was scared of the girl, he didn't have any powers of his own. He assumed that the girl could handle herself with such power but he felt guilty leaving her. "Urge! I'm so stupid, I'm gonna' get myself killed!!" He put his head down.

"But then again..." He recalled that he did want to go on an adventure but he didn't intend to join it so quickly. His head lifed and he decided to follow her in case he could help- somehow. He stayed a very long distance away, mostly because his ox was a lot slower than the horse. But he kept the dog on her trail and commanded him to stop barking because of her scent.

[laraine]

Echo urged her horse faster, sweat rolled down her face, half of her strength was already gone, but she staked her life on finding and destroying those evil beings. Her health was of little consequence.

As she neared the town, she felt the death.

"W-what?" She whispered and drove her horse faster. Finally at the gates of the town, she watched in horror as the buildings, people and trees burned.

The entire village was engulfed in a inferno.

Visions of her own village flashed before her.

"No..." She whispered. "No......" She brought up her hand which glowed blue, water from the wells and any nearby stream gathered together on top of the town and drenched it, killing the fire.

Echo quickly got off her horse and ran through the town, searching for any survivors. The horror never leaving her face.

[JxSlaughter]

The Akita whimpered. "Huh?" Zhijiru nudged at the dog's muzzle. "Her scent is getting weaker boy?" He made the ox go faster. Softly, and playfully he also scooted the dog off with his foot to get it off the cart and walk beside the cart. It started to zip back and forth as if to play with the busy ox. With the bear of a dog off it made the cart much lighter so it went faster, but it was still slow compared to a horse.

It was quite sometime before Zhijiru smelt a horrid scent in the air. The Akita started to draw its head low and stopped the playful spirit. Zhijiru whistled and clicked with his mouth and the dog started to nip at the ox to go faster. The ox was tired at the point when the view of the town was in sight. Zhijiru's eye widened and his mind stormed several feared thoughts. "Just a little further guys..." He said in an uncertain tone. The dog's pace started to slow but they got to their destination.

He quickly tried to draw water from a well in the town to water his ox, but it was nearly dry. Though he managed to get half a bucket the ox was not satisfied and started to moo loudly. He quickly got his own water to the ox and tried to get it to stop.

[laraine]

Echo shouted through the deathly quiet and somewhat burnt and drenched town for any survivors.

"Hello?!?! Is anyone still alive?" She shouted over and over.

She ran from house to house, picking her way through the rubble to find anyone..anything still alive. She searched until the sun was slowly setting over the town, which was riddled with bodies, burned wreckage and random potholes filled with water.

She fell to her knees in the middle of the village and closed her eyes tightly. This could not be happening, not again...

[JxSlaughter]

Zhijiru tried moving the ox over to find a better water source, but it refused to move and started to bellow even louder. The dog ran off into the distance. The charred ground may have been hard on its paws. "Will you just shut up?" He whispered harshly to the bull. "Wait, what was that sound?" The steer bellowed again. "Do you want me to eat you?" He looked angrily at it. "Fine, stay here-- I'm going to go look around."

When he strayed far from the ox and the wagon he whistled to his dog to go and guard it, but it didn't come back. A few minutes later he saw the dog with the girl. The dog thought that following her scent was a game and so it stayed with her to prove to his master that he had found her. The white Akita had a gray coating on its back and tail, the same dog of the merchant. It looked at her with its brown irises and sniffed her leg before sitting by her. He wagged his curled tail.

Zhijiru spotted her and he said from afar, "Ah! It's you! Are you okay?" He tried navigating through the charred wood pieces that were spread round. Zhijiru tried hard not to trip and he closed the distance between them. The dog stood and started to bark happily as he came close. He commanded his dog to hush, because he felt as though they were all unsafe.

[laraine]

Echo turned to the voice, her face still one with absolute horror and fear. But she quickly turned from him before he could see the weakness in her eyes. She reached out and pet the dog gently, before forcing herself to stand up and turn around.

"I-I'm fine." She said, but she looked anything but. Not only had she used three fourths of her power, but the memories seemed to tumble back, opening a wound she would have rather kept hidden. She clenched a fist and put a hand over her eyes.

"I put out the fire, but no one was alive...I got here too late.." Anger began to set in and she kicked a nearby piece of wood.

She cursed them. " I can't believe they got away with another slaughter...again.." She growled.

She looked back up at the man. "By the way, why are you here?"