Echos Of A Soul

Rising Tensions

"What...what do we do...?" Crow's voice echoed through their minds. It was so soft, barely above a whisper. They all stood as still as statues, unsure what to do. Do they attack? Do they retreat?

Storm looked over at Drifter to see him still on the ground, staring blankly at Echo's body. He looked defeated as the tears ran down his face. His eyes held nothing but emptiness in them. His hand was placed on his chest, gripping at his clothing which rested above his heart. He looked broken.

The air felt different. Storm couldn't figure out what it was. The air felt, cold, no not cold. The air felt empty, Storm quickly rushed over to the Drifter and forcefully pulled him off the ground.

"Guys!" She yelled as everyone's heads turned to her. "We need to get out of here now." Scoroboth was using Echo's void affinity to draw void light in. He was going to use her light to cast a Nova Warp but release all of the energy at once, causing an explosion.

"Drifter!" Storm called out to him, "Transmat us to the Derelict!" She looked at him to see that he was still in a daze. His eyes locked onto Echo's body. She shook his shoulders trying to snap him out of the daze he was in. Storm cursed under her breath realizing he wouldn't break out of the trance. She looked back to Scoroboth only to see him drawing in more light. A faint purple glow surrounded Echo's body. They were running out of time.

"Storm!" It was Orion, Echo's ghost. "Everyone gather around me! I can get us out of here!" Quickly Storm dragged the Drifter over to the rest of the group. Orion quickly began to glow a bright shade of pale blue as he prepped for the transmat.

"Are you sure you're able to do this?" Evior asked the fragile ghost. If Orion could smile, he would have a confident smirk plastered on his face.

"Of course, I can!" He chirped happily. "Echo stored some of her light in me in case of emergencies." The pale blue light soon surrounded all of them. In the blink of an eye, right as the void light was released, they were no longer in the Dreaming City. They weren't on the Derelict either, but rather Echo's hideaway in the annex.

"I only have a few specific locations I can go to, this is one of the few." Orion floated away from the group.

A loud thud drew everyone's attention off Orion. The Drifter had fallen to his knees again as he took in his surroundings. His eyes frantically began to look around the room and he began to hyperventilate. Storm quickly made her way to his side to try and calm his aching heart.

Another loud thud drew the attention off him. Eris had fallen to her knees as well. She lifted her trembling hands and stared at them. Tears fell from her eyes mixed with the liquid that always fell from her eyes.

"What went wrong..." Her voice was so fragile. "She should've had enough strength, she was responding to all of your light...." Eris was defeated, she once again had lost someone important to her. Everyone was angry, upset, and broken. 

"We can't give up!" Storm yelled. "She's out there still, he said it himself!" She looked around at everyone. Their heads hung low. Tears fell from almost everyone's eyes. The two Exo's turned away in shame. Evior's brows furrowed under his helmet, clearly angered and upset but not trying to show any emotion.

Storm's head hung as no one seemed to believe her words. Her fists balled up tightly, her knuckles turning white under her gauntlets. Anger consumed her. Arc energy began to swirl around her crackling in the air. Izaria quickly went to her friend's side and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Storm, please just take it easy." You could hear the sadness in her voice. "I know you want to get her back. I do too, but we can't rush head-first into things. We need to regroup." Storm knew Izaria was right, but her anger consumed her. It was like her dear brother's death all over again. She never wanted to feel that pain again, but here we are. She harshly pulled her shoulder away from Izaria’s hand. She was about to explode.

"Snakebite." She paused when she heard the Drifter's voice. "I appreciate ya worrying for Echo, I really do...it's just..." His voice trailed off.

"It's just what?" Storm growled. She wasn't thinking. Her anger was consuming her.

"Storm." Eivor snapped. "Enough." His voice was harsh. Storm's blue eyes burned with rage. They began to glow a pale shade of blue. Her arc light being fueled by her anger. She quickly turned on her heel and left the hideaway.

"Storm, wait!" Izaria called out to her friend. Evior placed his hand on the awoken hunter's shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't," He stated. "She needs to cool off. She's not thinking clearly." He turned to the rest of the group in the hideaway and sighed. "I think we all need to take a moment and collect ourselves." His eyes landed on Drifter and Eris. Both were struggling, stuck in their minds. Izaria sighed softly. Evior was right. They needed to calm themselves and regroup before they acted once more.

She paused for a moment and looked around Echo's hideaway. She had the strangest feeling. It was like she was being watched. She kept looking to see if anything was out of the ordinary but she couldn't find anything. Her amber eyes searched for any hidden details that may help her. She soon brushed off the feeling assuming it was her exhaustion causing her mind to play tricks on her.

Little did Izaria know, her intuition was right. She was being watched. However, it wasn't just her, ALL of them were being watched.