Excerpt: ECHO (Seasons 1) - Grey ghosts in white fog

 

There were hundreds. By the gods. How had they ended up trapped? However it came to pass wasn’t the main issue, though. He needed all lost souls to congregate for this to work. Potentially, any stragglers in the aftermath would not again approach, thinking it would end their existence, terrible as it was for them.

“I see you,” he said aloud. “I can help you.” The forms stilled, but he did notice a thickening in the rear as if many more suddenly joined the crowd. Good. “I swear to send you into your Afterlife, if you will grant me the opportunity to do so.”

A low whistle in front of his horse revealed that Sabian had arrived, although Echo couldn’t see him. “How many, Echo?” came the man’s disembodied question.

“No clue. Can you do this?”

“They are wary, but yes. Talk to them while I prepare.”

Echo raised his voice. “Do you hear me? Someone has come with the talent to take you into the realms beyond this one where you may finally be at peace. Whatever lies in your souls now, whether fury or numbness, does not determine your destination. No supernatural power judges you for reacting to this current state of waiting. Where you go is determined by who you truly are in your deep recesses. You are Diluvan, and you walk in the Light. Please, we mean you no harm. Will you gather all for this to be?”

Sight now was more about grey than white, which meant more and more ghostly Diluvans were entering the assembly. The greyness undulated, due to arrivals requiring space, and then abruptly, all movement ceased. Did that mean all were present? Did it mean they accepted?

“They are ready,” Sabian murmured. “Well done, Echo. Do no more; I will take it from here.”

A dead kind of silence descended then, one that included utter motionlessness. Even the fog felt otherworldly, without substance. The sense of cloying wetness evaporated entirely.

Then, poof.

The fog simply vanished.

Blue sky blazed overhead.

Even unseen Sabian was gone. That wasn’t as much an astonishment, however; Sabian needed to leave with the souls.

Okyd shouted somewhere, and the sound of his horse’s hooves was loud in the stillness.

Mabellee cleared her throat. “What, Echo?”

Brief as the event had been, he had not the wherewithal to explain. Oreun indicated that she would, and thus he released the woman, kneeing his mount forward. A few paces removed, he halted again to lace his hands on his head, and inhaled massive breaths repeatedly. By the gods, that had been strange. Other.

Fair-haired and blue-eyed Sabian reappeared then, grinning, and Echo slid from his mount. The two men entered a back-slapping embrace, something that was all about relief.

“Thanks, man,” Echo said fervently as they drew apart.

“I’m agog as to how a bunch of Diluvans managed to stick around,” Sabian laughed. “They will be fine. I received only gratefulness as they dissipated.” He gazed around … and saw Oreun. “That’s a Kallanon. What’s going on here?”

Might be an idea to fill Sabian in, who could then take the message to Torrullin and Elianas. “You have an hour or two?”

Still watching the dragonne, Sabian muttered, “For this I’ll give you a day or two.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Echo started talking.

Be careful of what you wish for.

The world Luvanor has four continents, but the small one in the south remains abandoned after massive volcanic eruptions destroyed the land a long time ago, creating simultaneously an impassable trench in the ocean few dare cross.

Abandoned. Uninhabited. Perhaps dangerous. The type of adventure Echayn Valla, aka Echo, goes in search of, hoping to discover remains from that bygone era, or perhaps he hopes to find something new about himself.

Don’t they say be careful of what you wish for? Echo is about to embark on the greatest misadventure of his life. Nothing is as it seems, as he will soon realise. Join him now for a journey of discovery that will test his wits, his strength … and his heart.

This is also a love story.

ECHO: Autumn of the Dragon