Echos Of A Soul

The Gathering

"Welcome back my friend! How are you doing today!" A heavy Russian accent filled the air as Saint-14 spoke. Eivor didn't respond. His mind was preoccupied with other things. Saint on the other hand knew what was wrong.

"Still no luck in finding the little warlock, no?" Saint asked, his tone becoming more somber. Eivor clenched his fist, clearly angered by the question. Saint took the awoken Titan's silence as his answer, but soon recalled a certain hunter wanted to speak with him.

"Oh! Little Izaria wanted to speak with you. I believe she said she was at the Rat's place." He scoffed thinking of Drifter. "As much as I do not like the Rat, I feel sorry for him. The little warlock makes him happy." Saint wished for Echo to be found. Her disappearance has been taking its toll on her whole team.

Eivor on the other hand started making his way towards where Izaria told him to meet her. She must have information on the warlock's whereabouts. Then again, maybe she wants to go searching for her dear friend again. As he walked to the bar he felt like someone was watching him. He began to pay more attention to his surroundings as a precaution.

"Eivor…" a soft voice called out to him causing him to freeze in his tracks. He looked around to see nothing there. He quickly became on high alert as he entered Drifter's bar. It was empty, which was unusual. His eyes scanned the bar for anything unusual when he heard the voice call out to him again.

“Eivor” he quickly turned around to see the lone warlock of his fireteam behind him. He froze, eyes going wide under his helmet. Echo was in the bar in front of him.

“Echo?” He stood there in shock. “Where have you been? Do you know how worried we’ve been??” He was slightly irritated, but he noticed a change in her eyes. A sad smile formed on her face.

“I’m not really here Eivor, I…” her voice trailed off. She was weakening once more. “I’m in the Dreaming City, one of Xivu Arath’s children is trying to take me as their vessel. I’m weakening as we speak.” She turned away from him and gazed at the spot Drifter was normally in. He could see the apparition of her change in front of him. It was clear she was exhausted.

“What do I need to do to aid you?” He was ready to head straight to where she was. She walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Izaria wanted to meet you, wait for her here.” She stood beside him, “She and Storm should be here soon. One more thing, contact Orion-13, you’ll need their help.” Within the next few seconds she vanished once more leaving him alone in the bar.
Within the next few minutes Izaria and Storm entered the bar. They saw Evior standing there lost in his thoughts. He didn’t notice their arrival.

“Evior?” Izaria called out to the titan. “Everything alright?” He snapped out of his thoughts and gazed at the two hunters.

“Echo, I just saw her. She needs our help.” His response was short and to the point. He noticed the somber gaze on the hunter’s faces.

“We know,” Izraia spoke softly. “That’s why I told Saint to tell you to meet me here.” He could hear the urgency in her voice. Storm spoke up finally.

“We need to contact Eris, Echo wouldn’t stop telling us to get a hold of her.” Storm was clearly frustrated that they hadn’t taken some form of action.

“One more thing.” Evior brought his hand to his chin clearly thinking. “Echo told me to get in contact with Orion-13.” The two hunters lifted their heads. He thought for a moment.

“If she’s showing herself to us asking for help…” He kept thinking until it hit him. “She realizes how dire her situation is, which means we may need a 6 man team to go and save her." All of them paused, and Storm cursed under her breath.

“Contact Orion, hurry, we need to fill them in.” Izaria stated as Storm summoned Venom.

~~~~

Footsteps approached Drifter’s bar. Purple eyes signaled Bastion was the present personality. Once in the bar he recognized the familiar faces of Fireteam Riot. Worry began to fill his senses as he saw the looks on the two hunters' faces.

“Is everything alright here?” Bastion asked. He knew of Echo’s disappearance and was worried for her well being. He enjoyed the warlock's company, the calmness that seemed to follow her soothed him.

"Bastion, good to see you again." Storm spoke calmly. Storm knew she had to be careful delivering the news or there was a chance his present personality could flip. Evior walked towards Bastion and held out his hand.

"Name's Eivor, glad to make your acquaintance." Short and to the point. Izaria walked forward and placed her hand on Bastion's shoulder.

"We know where Echo is." She paused and thought about what she was going to say. "She's calling for us in a way, she needs our help." Bastion's purple eyes flickered.

"It seems she's calling her closest friends to aid in her rescue" Eivor added, "We don't know who she'll call next, but she asked me to get in contact with you Orion." His eyes flickered once more, shifting to red then back to purple.

"Shit…" Storm cursed under her breath. Ignition was trying to come out. Clearly enraged at something.

"So if she's calling for us to save her, why haven't we gone to do so?" Bastion questioned. Storm turned away and Izaria looked down, Evior piped up.

"She asked us to get in contact with you," he turned away from Bastion. "She's not doing well. When I saw her, she said she was weakening while we spoke. Meaning whatever is trying to take control of her, is winning." Orion's eyes fully changed to red, Ignition was now in control.

"So what's the plan then?" He sounded clearly irritated, Evior could tell he was hiding his worry for the warlock. "We just gonna sit around here and twiddle our thumbs?" Storm slammed her fist on the table, clearly angered by Ignition's statement.

"We have to wait. We don't have enough people to rescue her." She seethed, "We don't even know where Eris is."

"All of you calm down, please. " They all turned their heads to see the apparition of Echo again. She walked towards Storm and Ignition. "I will not tell you where Eris is until I have found everyone I need." She placed her hand on Storm and Ignition's which an unknown force claimed the two of them.

"I still need two more, but I'm not sure who I need." She sighed softly. Sparking another argument between Storm and Ignition. Evior could see her weakening, the apparition of her was becoming translucent.

"Both of you stop!" Evior yelled. He was tired of their bickering. Their friend was clearly trying to calm herself as well as them. He saw the worry in her eyes. "Clearly Echo is trying to calm us as well as trying to stay calm herself!"

The two arguing stopped and gazed at Evior. Even though his helmet was on, it was clear he was angry. He pointed over to Echo.

"It's clear she's weakening more and more." He took a deep breath to calm himself. "She's running out of time and we're her only hope, you think she wants to see us fight like children??" Orion's eyes flickered purple signaling Bastion was back in control. Bastion apologized for Ignition's actions.

"All of you listen," Echo started. "He's getting closer to taking control of my body, but my soul is attached to the crystals I gave to you all a while ago." They each pulled out the pieces of amethyst she's given them.

"My soul is attached to this place as well." She thought for a moment, "Therefore I should be able to keep projecting myself here." A sad smile formed on her lips. She was worried about Drifter. He probably wasn't fairing well.

"I'm running out of time, once I connect with the two others to aid you all, I will send them here." She closed her eyes to ease her mind of her worries. "Once I find them, I will tell you all where Eris is." She smiled softly at the group before vanishing once again.