Echoes of the Past

Chapter Two - Part One

Chapter Two: Whispers In The Dark - Part One 

James Island awoke to a howling wind, roaring from beyond the dark cave. He sluggishly looked around, adjusting to the gloomy environment, and made sense of his surroundings. Sitting up, he stretched his sore muscles, joints cracking dully, and flexed his dirtied bare feet. A sharp pain pulsed in his ribs, taking his breath. That's what jumping off a building gets you, he thought glumly.

The pocketed rock walls of the cave curved up to a rough dome shape. A few feet away, a cluster of twigs and wooden shards had burned to embers and released a wispy smoke in the calm air. The dwindling light cast wavering shadows over the cratered rock formation. Behind James, the tunnel they had entered from curled into darkness, with another tunnel stretching out ahead of him.

Sam Hawkings slept beside the fire, his figure half-obscured by the hazy air over the embers.

Rubbing his sore side, James wondered how exactly he had ended up there, and was now travelling with two other people, Evan and Sam. It would take him some time to adjust to not being on his own any more. To trust and rely on other people. After two years as a construction worker in a strange city, with no memories or personal knowledge beyond his own name, James knew it would take him a while to get used to regular company. A part of him still wished he could be back in his home where he could keep his head down, although he knew it wasn't really his home. Just a place he had stayed in while he was in Tyken Town. Now he was free to find his own path in the world, and decide what kind of a person he wanted to be.

The wind howled incessantly from beyond the cave; a bestial moan. The sandstorm must not have passed yet. James reached for his water canister beside him and took a sip, unsure if they should be conserving their supplies.

His grapple hook shifted on his belt and thudded on the dirt. James regarded the handle thoughtfully; a possession of the father he supposedly had. Its silver and black engravings glinted in the low light. It should have been familiar to him, and yet it was just another thing he had no memory of.

Just yesterday - it felt a lot longer than that - James hadn't known if he had a past, or if he had awoken those two years earlier as a fully grown man. But he had learned that not only did he have a past, with a father that was out there somewhere, but that he was a soldier before. An Oneron soldier; which was meant to be a great warrior race of men.

The problem was that James couldn't have felt less like an experienced soldier. He had only ever known a simple life, and couldn't imagine fighting with a sword and throwing around magic.

James turned to where Evan slept. And found him gone.

Not a trace of the Voarn was left in the spot where he had fallen asleep.

"Sam," James called out, his voice catching. He cleared his throat and repeated the name, stronger this time.

Sam rose onto a straightened arm, his dark eyes darting to Evan's sleeping place. His short hair was dishevelled and had flattened on his forehead, but his eyes were alert and showed no signs of sleep.

"How long has he been missing?" Sam asked.

"I dunno. I just woke up and saw he was gone."

Sam seemed to consider this. Though he was around the same age as James - which James guessed to be late twenties - Sam had a harder edge to his countenance that made him look older. He stood up, dusting off his sleeveless jacket - which looked more brown in the low light than its vibrant red - and said, "His possessions are gone, too, suggesting he left of his own accord."