Echo(On Hold)

Fear Itself

No more news came about the attack; not about what happened to the Miachii host or the training or what the Capital Cities were doing to contain the demons. By the time a week had passed since the incident, the villagers had stopped downright avoiding Ecko. By three weeks, they had forgotten completely. At a month his thirteenth birthday came and went.

It was two months after the attack when the first news of any movement came. Kuro and Ecko were outside doing yardwork for their mom and Mari was doing the laundry. It was an altogether ordinary day and the entire family had forgotten about the fact that news could come.

But it was on it's way, tied to the foot of a Fire Eagle and soaring across the skies above the Stone Village. Ecko heard the screech first, the sound resonating through the sky. A screech couldn't be the right word for the sound. It was more of a bird call. The Fire Eagles made the different pitches of their sound change so rapidly that it sounded like a full chord rather than a single note.

Ecko looked up, surprised to see the Eagle. They only used Fire Eagles in the Light Village, the most powerful Capital City in the two Fire Regions. A sense of dread gathered in the pit of his stomach. There was really only one reason he could think of for why a messenger of the Light Village would be overhead the Stone Village, and that was demons.

His dad had gotten plenty of news from the other Capital Cities, but even if the news had been from the Light Village, it was usually given to another city to send rather than a direct message. If Ecko pushed the dread aside, the message gave him a sense of importance. 

He put a hand up to block the sun, watching the outline of the bird circle overhead, slowly comming down on their house. By then, Kuro had noticed it too. He knew that news would be comming eventually, but he had forgotten about it just like everyone else. Now he was just plain nervous for what it might say.

Echo put his arm out, remembering what his dad used to do with the Mountain Crows from the Mist Village. The Eagle came down a lot faster than the Mountain Crows, though, and Ecko wasn't wearing a glove. The bird dived, then spread it's wings a second before it landed, digging it's talons into his arm and latching on there. Ecko almost shook off the bird off before Kuro even ran over, taking the message from the Eagle's leg. It promptly released Ecko's arm, flying on top of their roof and perching there, watching them.

Ecko put a hand over the now bleeding cuts on his arm as they walked inside.

"Mari!" Kuro called as he untied the string around the message. 

"Yeah?" she said, comming into the room. "What happened to your arm?" she asked, looking at Ecko and handing him a towel.

"A Fire Eagle came," he said. "Kuro's got the message." Mari looked at him expectantly and Kuro sighed, opening the message in his hands.

"To the Teichira Demon Host and Family,

As you may have heard, the demon Miachii escaped recently. Prior to that, Teichira and Ichemaru broke free as well. It is to the best of our knowledge that the demons are growing restless inside the Host, and we think it necessary to train the Host to contain and control the demons and their abilities.

The Capital Cities have made the decision to relocate the Host for the time needed to train them. We ask that the Host and at least one adult guardian travel to the Light Village and report to the former army training grounds within the next two weeks.

We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you a good journey. More information will be provided once you arrive."

Kuro sighed, staring at the message.