Echoes of the Past

[laraine]

"Echo!" Sterling ran over and helped her to her feet. She looked at Jiru, seeing his eye now open and seeing what he was becoming. But that didn't matter to her. She ran over to him and nearly lost her footing as she reached him, unconciously grasping him for support with her cold hands.

"Jiru? You okay?" She asked him. She was still worried for his safety. "I was worried with your eye. Is it all right?" She didn't seem to understand the situation.
That the three boys seemed to be fighting for her.

Suddenly she realized the tension in the air and looked up at them all.

"Lord...what are you doing here?" Echo went to her knees before him.

Sterling sneered. "Get up Echo you owe this guy nothing!"

"I owe him my life Sterling!" She got up and met his eyes.

He stared harshly back. "That demon planned on taking you from the very beginning!"

"Liar! Lord tell him you are lying!" Echo looked to Loki, but he would not meet her eyes. Only silence answered her.

"Lord......Loki!" She called his name, looking baffled.

The silence stretched on. Finally Echo looked down.

"I see..." She said softly. Then she turned and ran off, not wanting any of them to see her cry.

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru reached for her. "Wait, Echo!" He called out to her but he hesitated in pursuing her. As she ran off the lanky, part stone, wounded girl limped and nearly stumbled as she tried to get away from it all. One would wonder how she could even move after using up so much magic, but it appeared that Loki could not take her yet. Jiru ended up not chasing her, maybe she was afraid of him. Maybe seeing and hearing that her friend, family and lord-- the ones she held dear, bickering and fighting over her.. death.. was too much. In the end he let her run, she couldn't go far. She surely needed to be alone for a while.

Jiru put his hand down, "You said that there was... another way." He turned toward Loki, angry at him again. "Tell me what it is so I can free her from you!" He said this because he knew that he couldn't defeat a demon with his current power. It was the very first time his left eye had done anything more than tear up ink. But what would happen to Echo if Loki died? He revived her, if she was human she would have been dead a long time ago. She wouldn't even be here. Maybe trying to kill Loki was a bad idea from the start. Both Sterling and Jiru were at the mercy of this god.

[laraine]

"Do you think I would give you the answer?" Loki replied, staring hard at Jiru. "You, my boy have as small a chance of freeing her as...her brother over there. Let me say this plainly so you can understand, She will be mine. There is no doubt about it. Whether she comes willingly or I have to force her." he looked dead serious. "But here's a riddle to entertain you What can separate a supreme power from a human body without destroying it?"

Sterling scowled. "You and your riddles... does such a thing exist?"

"I'll leave that to you. Good day gentlemen. I'll be back and the next time.. Echo will be mine."



Meanwhile, Echo ran as far from them all as she could. It was hard to process everything. The fact that loki lied to her. Her brother betraying her... just everything was too much.

She stumbled and finally fell to the ground, staring into the eyes of a dead corpse.

She stood up and survayed the area. She did this destruction and it hit her. She destroyed Jiru's town. She fell to her knees in shock...disgusted with herself.

"What....have I done?" She whispered. She couldn't show her face to Jiru ever...not after what she had done. But there was still a lot she didn't understand about any of it.

So she managed to get herself to her feet and walked back to the others in time for Loki to say his farewell.

"Wait.."

Loki stared at her.

"Why do you want me?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Why? Don't you believe that I am in love with you?" he smiled.

She shook her head. "You don't love me. People who truly love others wouldn't make them do this. People who wouldn't lie!"

"Oh..I wonder.." Loki gave a sideways look to Jiru as he said this, then turned back to Echo. "Truth be told my dear, but I want you because of your fate. Same reason why your parents wanted to sacrifice you to me at 16. You are a priestess. But you are one with a power all your own. But this power can be corrupted or purified. I'm not the only one who wants you my dear...Some want the dark priestess. Others want the light. I just want you to be mine alone." His voice was cold, no emotion.

Echo's hear skipped a beat. She swallowed and looked at him, scared.

Loki smiled. "That's a good girl..." With that, Loki vanished.

'That....that.." Sterling growled.

Echo fell to her knees, her energy drained once more.

[JxSlaughter]

"...What can separate a supreme power from a human body without destroying it?"

Sterling scowled. "You and your riddles... does such a thing exist?"

"I'll leave that to you. Good day gentlemen. I'll be back and the next time.. Echo will be mine."


Jiru thought he knew the answer, but he kept looking away at the ground. He stayed utterly silent. He held his fist tightly to his side. He wanted to punch Loki with all his strength, but even Sterling couldn't hit the demonic being.



Echo and Loki were then speaking of lies, it made Jiru feel uneasy.

"Oh..I wonder.." Loki gave a sideways look to Jiru as he said this, then turned back to Echo.

Jiru looked away slightly after glancing at him. He wondered how he could have found out. His teeth was clenched, and his demon eye was still fixed on Loki as the apparent little tremors continued to make it spasm.


When Echo fell Jiru ran to her. The man left, and Jiru's left eye closed slowly as if the eye was deliberately controlling the lid. "Echo, please rest...", Jiru said as he got to her side. He himself was having a hard time keeping himself together, all this was hard to handle. But he wanted to prove the demon wrong. So he refused to let it show.

[laraine]

Echo looked up at Jiru, then away. "Jiru...why are you still so nice to me? Even... after...I..I killed so many people and destroyed your city." She started to cry as she said this, not able to wipe away her own tears since her arms and hands were stone. She was crying so much.

"How can you still even look at me?"

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru tried to keep his face straight, "It isn't your fault, it's Loki's! He is the cause of all this... If he just revived you instead of using you like this..." He tried to reassure her. "Nothing is your fault..."

Besides... I... planned this from the start... I don't really care-- do I...?

[laraine]

Echo was still crying, but looked up at Jiru's angry face. She looked down. "But...he only did what I wanted him to." She whispered. She still defended him, but only because it was true.

"I wanted to live just to kill my family's killers..." She closed her eyes and more tears came. But soon she became unsteady and weak. She leaned against him, not having the strength to sit up anymore.

"I'm..sorry...I'm just so weak..." she whispered as her eyes stayed closed.

She fell asleep leaning against him. Her head resting against his chest.

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru looked at the at Echo, who was now sleeping. He put his hand on her head and said, "Sterling... I know the answer to Loki's riddle. But I'll need your help." He didn't want to ask Sterling for help, he was one of the bandits after all. But, Echo still loved him and he loved Echo. Sterling must really want to help Echo in any way he could. But when Jiru looked at Sterling he noticed that he was still a bit weak from surviving Echo's wrath. Jiru didn't want to belittle Sterling so he spoke nervously, afraid that Sterling would get mad at him. "If you can handle it... that is..." Jiru looked away. He didn't really need Sterling's help but he wanted to give him some way to bond with Echo. Jiru didn't know if it would work, but there was a chance. If it failed, at least the two spent some time together.

[laraine]

Sterling stared at Jiru, trying to tell if the man was serious or not. Then he saw him holding her, and his jealousy flared. But he turned away, wondering if Jiru could really save his sister.

"Jiru, the only reason Loki hasn't taken her yet is because I'm still alive. If I die, he will take her instantly. If I go, will my life be in danger? What the answer is, or what you think it is, I want to know desperately. But, if I end up dying everyone will lose. Mostly Echo. I want to go with you, but if you care for her at all, you must make the hard decision whether I go with you or not." He stared at Jiru, hard.

He glanced at his sleeping sister and brushed her hair gently with a finger.

"But keep in mind, if you fail.. the only way left would be to kill her and pray her soul would find peace...I won't let anyone have her and dirty her soul.."

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru told Sterling what he thought the answer would be. "To separate a supreme power from a human body without destroying it, is to switch it with another supreme power to take it's place. I need your help to bring Echo up one of the sacred mountains, if we start now we should be there before dawn tomorrow. Theres a deity there that might give blessing to Echo and release the demon's grasp from Loki. I know you probably hate the idea of another deity, but it's our only hope!! I hate them... but I'm desperate too... The dangerous part is... that it doesn't like sinners upon the mountain, but surely it will at least allow us to take her there." Jiru put Echo on his back and started to carry her in a piggy back ride. "We can switch places mid-way up. You coming? It's up to you. It will take longer on my own..."

[laraine]

"Another Deity?!" This idea seemed to alarm him. "But what if this deity will want her as well for his own purposes?! I can't trust that..." Still he knew in the back of his head that this was the only way.

"Are you positive this god will give her life without strings attached? I have never heard of a god with such compassion. And you said so yourself.. that god wont let sinners on it. She's killed so many souls just now. Do you really think this god will take pity on her?"

He continued to follow Jiru while saying this.

[JxSlaughter]

"She.", Jiru corrected him. "It's a female deity, and we can only hope that she doesn't want her-- at least not like Loki does." Jiru continued walking. "I doubt that there will be no strings attached but... anything is worse than this." The group had to cut through the ruins of the town to get to the mountain the towered over the area. It was in the middle of the range of mountains that surrounded over the city as if it was to keep it's eyes on everyone the whole time.

Jiru started making conversation to kill the time, and to keep his eye from darting at the ruins. "As for the sinner deal, well that's just as I was told anyways. As a kid me and my friends would sneak up anyways. Some of the kids in my group weren't... nice kids you can say, and they didn't die. We thought that it was just to scare us. But, I know she's up there..." Jiru thought about his encounter with the deity.

He looked over at the fields of crops in the East. It appeared as only some property in the far distance were spared.

The area he was traveling now looked as if it was burned by Echo's fire magic. It must have died on it's own when Echo became weak. On the streets there was roasted carcasses of animals that were tied down. Flies started settling into some. There were kids poking at debris and they turned their heads to the group who was walking by. While some were just crying.

One kid whispered to the other "I think he did it."

"Who?"

"The skinny lookin' boy that one is carrying. I heard he does magic, my dad was on guard duty-- maybe the kid is insane and unleashed magic on our side too."

A surviver came by and pulled their child away. One family was trying to find what was left of their store and home. The place was filled with despair, heart-ache and sorrow.

In the west, where the mail tower full of falcons once was now collapsed. Yet, some of the birds sat perching on their home. There were always chicks in the tower to train, so to replace the old or lost. The parents were probably the ones that stayed, even if most hachlings died in the fire. Where else could the domesticated animals find home? They were easy prey in the wild and didn't have strong hunting abilities. There was instincts but their talons and beaks were much weaker compared to those that always lived in the wild. They waited for their masters to appear to feed them, but it wasn't going to happen.

Jiru stopped looking around. He stared at his feet and kept moving.

[laraine]

Sterling was silent for a long time as they walked. Finally after a hour or so, he said. "You know.. she did all of this destruction for you." he said simply. "That monster consumed you and she kept trying to find a way to save you. But the people of the town were hurting the monster, trying to stop it. She couldn't take it. She was desperate, she believed it was the only way to save you." He looked over at him. " I honestly don't understand what she sees in you. You may have emotions for her, but they are not strong enough. You will only end up hurting her. We will see if this god will help." he looked down at her arms made of stone.

They got closer and closer to the mountain, and finally Sterling couldn't handle seeing Jiru hold Echo any longer.

"Here give her to me." he ordered. His eyes were alight with a strange jealousy.

[JxSlaughter]

Oh... so that's what happened... I guess I didn't realize...

Jiru looked displeased when Sterling said it was his turn. "Heh... fine." But he started to think about him saying that 'he didn't have strong enough feelings for her.' These kids... What am I supposed to do? I act with my head, not my heart! Geez'. Besides... He reluctantly handed her over with a nearly threatening look at Sterling. She was now with him. When she was in place he teased him with an amused face. "You better not drop her."

[laraine]

Sterling shrugged. "I'll be fine, I did this all the time when she was little. She loved to play with me so I'm used to it." He held her firm to his back and continued up the way with Jiru. They continued on in silence.

Echo herself was lost deep within her dreams. Dreams of the past, and the present; never the future. It was something she gave up long ago. Yet, there was so much she didn't understand. Sometimes she felt as if she was being torn into two. It was the price of living on emotions. She was smart, but she felt it was easier to live based off emotion than her head all the time. Sometimes it felt like if she became emotionless she would lose her humanity. The one last thing she had to grasp onto. This crazy world wanted her to become either evil or pure. That was another thing she didn't quite understand. But she knew the answer would come soon. She hoped that it would come before she vanished into the unknown.

But for now she had the warmth of those who still cared for her, despite her fate and despite her mistakes. She never wanted it to end.

Even though she knew it would all crash down soon enough.