Echo, p.5
Echo, page 5
"We knew you’re strong enough, Echo," he said. "We were prepared for you to win...but not like that."
"Strong enough?" I scoffed. For months, all I wanted was to become strong enough. Secretly, I wished to taste the magic of my grimoire and feel its power run through me. So why did I feel so ashamed? I dropped my chin to my chest. Why do I feel filthy?
"What am I gonna do now?" I asked, desperate for some form of salvation.
"You move forward," Vanna said, coming to her feet. "You passed the test, Echo. Now you begin your mission. Find portals. Stop Katarus. Save lives."
"No way in hell." Kirby shot up in his seat. "Yesterday proved she isn’t ready. If she keeps fighting, darkness will take her over."
"I disagree," Vanna argued. "Echo isn’t a dark witch. She only used Dark Magic out of fear. It was her last resort. Next time, she’ll be less afraid. She won’t need Dark Magic."
"But what if she makes a mistake?" Kirby asked.
"Then she’ll learn to deal with the consequences."
Kirby gritted his teeth.
"You think it’s too easy," I uttered. Memories from the night before came to me—the panther digging its teeth in the Kataru’s flesh, the blood streaming, the cry of death, and, worst of all, the perverse joy I took in watching. Like rushing water, Dark Magic gushed into every fiber of my being, and I let it subsume me. I let myself become one with it, and it made me feel invincible. How could I explain this to my friends? How could I tell them I was less scared of using Dark Magic than of liking it?
"You have to meet your fear in order to beat it," Vanna said. Even though I failed to put my feelings into words, she seemed to understand.
***
Starting that day, my mission began. Kirby gave me a circular device that had a screen and a sensor but no buttons. I called it PPS—as in portal GPS—since it detected the disruption of energy a portal caused one to two hours before appearing. Whenever the PPS beeped, I had to leave what I was doing and go prevent a portal from opening somewhere.
Oracles Island was a semi-island, surrounded by the ocean from all sides, except for the mountain range Northeast. A river flowed from north to southwest, dividing the country into East Dawns and West Dawns. While West Dawns was a land of greenery and a few peaceful neighborhoods, East Dawns had the major cities and the breathtaking Northern Desert.
I lived in the capital, right at the center of the map. That made it easier to drive wherever the PPS led me. Sometimes I’d be on time, I’d seal the portal before it opened and call it a day. Other times, I’d have to fight, and the more I fought, the more comfortable I was with my powers. I could kill Katarus without reverting to Dark Magic—even if a part of me craved it. Vanna was right. I needed to meet my fear, and I did that in every battle.
For a few months, Vanna, Kirby, and I hunted down portals, preventing Jivar from taking innocent people. But I felt defeated, thinking of all the portals we couldn’t seal. Jivar’s troops didn’t just attack Oracles Island. They were all around the world, and the Magic Board didn’t do much. They just removed everyone’s memory.
Whenever I expressed these concerns, Kirby reminded me we were still saving lives. Vanna, on the other hand, saw what we did as preparation. "It’s not enough to stop Katarus," she said. "You need to get used to your powers so you can eliminate Jivar himself. Cut off the head of the snake."
The three of us failed to see the big picture, but we were soon to find out that what we did on Oracles Island grabbed more attention than we knew.
***
From Jivar’s castle, the witch in a red dress, Viessa, watched through her crystal ball as Echo and her friends destroyed the portals she had opened.
"I like her," she said. "But she’s a coward. She always tries to seal the portal first."
"We don’t want her interfering with Herotreat quest." Doyle, the blue-eyed swordsman said. With a drop of benzene and a piece of cloth, he wiped his blade clean. "It’s important to Jivar."
"Lord Jivar." Viessa corrected him.
He let out a quick snort. "Why does he care about this quest anyway? Who’s that girl?"
Viessa shrugged. "A witch."
"He has had many," he said. "What makes this one different?"
Viessa dismissed the question. Gazing at her crystal ball, she played with a lock of her hair. "Maybe I should go to Herotreat Coast."
"You’re not going to Earth alone, Viessa."
"Then come with me." She drew a mischievous smile. "Come with me, Doyle. We’ll make a game of it."
Chapter 5: The Sixth Element
I loved my car. The 1997 Jeep Cherokee first belonged to my father. When I learned how to drive, I took it out of the garage, cleaned it up, and painted it blue. On the dashboard, I kept a custom bobblehead doll that Joe bought for me. She wore a lawyer’s gown and had a silly grin on her face.
From the rearview mirror hung a tassel with small crystals. Tara once said it would keep me safe while driving. That was before I knew about magic, so I just laughed at her, but I kept the gift anyway. It was nice to have these little mementos of the people I love, so no matter how far I drove, I had a part of home with me.
Although my father and I never met, that Jeep made me feel connected to him. The more time I spent on the road, the more I felt like he was watching over me. God only knew how I needed that, especially when I was driving around the island, sealing portals and hunting Katarus. One day, I’d drive Northeast. A few days later, I’d go all the way to the south.
When I had no portals to seal, my guides and I drove to the abandoned factory where I killed my first beast. I’d use a shapeshifting spell to transform Vanna and Kirby into Katarus, and to reverse my spell, I had to kill them. That was my training. I’d kill them over and over again until my powers were drained.
After my long training session, I usually drove home and slept for hours. But I remember one day when I couldn’t get any sleep. Walking into the house, I glimpsed Joe in the living room. He stood near Tara’s old piano and drummed his fingers on random keys, his gaze flitting between his watch and the door. He grabbed and ungrabbed the black panther figurine, scraped his scalp, and adjusted his tie.
"Joe?" I tried not to startle him when I walked in.
"This didn’t use to be here," he said, referring to the black panther.
"I almost broke it one time, so I thought I should move it." With this, came the realization that Joe hadn’t been in our living room in months. "I didn’t know you’re coming over."
"I figured this is the only way to talk to you." He turned to me.
I put my backpack on the couch. "I have been busy at school."
"Too busy to answer your phone?" he asked with a hint of annoyance. "It’s been days, and I can’t get a hold of you."
Ever since I learned I was a witch, my relationship with Joe had gone south. I had to keep my mission a secret, which meant I had to lie to him all the time. Where have you been? How was your day? —I couldn’t answer the simplest questions. I hated this so much that I chose to avoid him instead. My mission became a wall between us, a wall I was too scared to break.
"I get that you’re mad, Joe, and I wish I could explain."
"Echo..." He blew out his cheeks. "Are you having second thoughts about us?"
"Of course not." My voice rose an octave.
"Then let’s go out," he said. "Let’s sit down and talk... I miss talking to you." Despite his justified anger, he looked at me with wistful eyes.
"I miss talking to you too, but I’m spent. I had a really long day," I pleaded. "Can we do this tomorrow?"
"One hour." He put up a finger. "Give me one hour of your time."
I leaned my back against the piano. I had been training since sunrise, and I needed to rest, but saying no to Joe would’ve crushed him.
"Give me a few minutes to freshen up," I said hesitantly.
Ten minutes later, I walked out of the house to find Joe with a bouquet of roses. I wondered if he had them ready in the car. He had always been that thoughtful.
"Thank you." I took the flowers and sniffed their sweet fragrance.
"So where would you like to go?" he asked with excitement.
"I’d go anywhere with you, Joe." I meant that.
He smiled and opened the car door for me, but before I got in, the PPS beeped and vibrated in my pocket.
"Oh, God," I murmured.
"What’s wrong?" Joe quickly noticed the change in my expression.
"I have to go." I looked up to see the smile on his face disappearing.
"What? Where?" His eyes widened in shock.
"I can’t explain." I turned away, avoiding his gaze.
"Don’t flake on me, Echo," he shouted.
"I’m sorry," I called out as I ran away. I truly was sorry.
Joe watched as I got into my car and drove away, never looking back to see him. I didn’t want to watch his heart break.
***
The PPS pointed to Herotreat Coast, a small fishing town, two hours to the south. I had no time to spare, so I used a spell to speed the car up. Our ride was like a roller coaster that only went down, but at least we got there on time—almost on time.
The smell of fish pervaded the air at the waterfront. The boats lined up along the pier, bouncing against the raging waves. Colorful piles of fishing nets waited for the sun to dry them, but the sun never showed up.
A group of fishermen gathered, hollering as they watched the whirlpool that surfaced a mile away. The ocean had always been their friend, but that day, it betrayed them.
"Ol’Man Rufus is out there!" someone cried out, shifting my attention to a small boat drifting towards the whirlpool.
My heart pounded.
None of those fishermen knew, but at the bottom of the swirling mass was an open gate to the Land of No Return.
Out of the portal, four Katarus emerged, swimming towards the pier with their bodies submerged in the water, except for the heads. I had no problem fighting four Katarus, but there were people in the boat. Too much was at stake.
"Vanna, you take care of the boat. Kirby, you’re coming with me." I pointed my finger at him and chanted, "Di terra, commoda mihi potestatem tuam."
Kirby let out a cough, followed by a few more. His eyes bulged when a flame came out of his mouth. The skin on his hand expanded and turned scaly and purple. Baffled, he tried to scratch it off.
"What the—?" he uttered, right before his face contorted. His ears sank into his skull, and his nose and mouth extended in front of him and morphed together to give a reptilian look.
Groaning with discomfort, he endured the tail and the pair of wings piercing out of his back. His neck stretched out, like Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four movie. Soon enough, Kirby’s body had grown three times his size and was covered in shiny scales that sparkled like a million jewels. There he was, a flying dragon soaring the sky.
Well, perhaps 'soaring' wasn't the best word to describe Kirby's first flight. Clumsily, he flung his body into the air, flapping his wings quickly then slowly, trying to figure out the right pace. It took him a moment to adjust to his new form and land in front of me on the pier.
The crowd screamed and huddled together. The Magic Board will take care of them. Whenever something or someone revealed the truth about magic, the Board altered the public memory. That was their only job, as far as I knew.
I had never been good with heights, never dreamed of skydiving, let alone shooting into the sky on the back of a dragon. As I held tightly to Dragon Kirby’s back, I prayed not to die of fear. I recall shutting my eyes and holding my breath as we went up, but the thud in my heart was unforgettable. My chest still aches when I think of that day.
The dragon thrust through the air, which blew into my eyes and hair. It was like standing in front of a huge fan. I lost all feeling in my legs and lower body, though I was painfully aware of my hammering heart. Songs always describe love as the feeling of flying. But if that was love, I wouldn’t want any part of it.
Hovering above the Katarus, Kirby attacked with his fiery breath. The beasts scattered in different directions.
He lowered himself to slap a Kataru with his tail, but the Kataru dived underwater. I almost threw up because of the motion.
"It’s impossible to hit them this way," Kirby said.
"O-okay." I uncovered my mouth and pointed a finger. "Let’s do this. Per vires lucis, hoc objectum mihi pareat." Using the object-control spell, I pulled one Kataru above the water, suspending it in the air to give Kirby a chance to attack. The dragon’s fiery breath caught the Kataru’s head, entering from its mouth and burning its way through.
Aggravated, the remaining Katarus leaped out of the water, flinging their claws and slashing Kirby’s abdomen, forcing him to fly back up.
"You okay?" I asked.
"I’m fine. These things are pretty fast, even in water. We need to go all in."
I glanced at my watch. "We’ve got a minute and forty seconds."
After a lot of practice, I had learned to sustain my shapeshifting spells for two full minutes. This might not seem like a long time, but in my experience, most fights lasted for minutes—life-on-the-line, action-packed minutes.
In exactly a hundred seconds, Kirby would transform back to his human form, so we had to make the best out of our time. I pulled the second Kataru up. With the tip of his tail, Kirby slapped it around and threw it back into the whirlpool.
The third Kataru jumped up, its claws extended towards Kirby, who wrapped his tail around the beast, entrapping it. But in doing this, Kirby allowed the claws to cut his skin. The dragon blood poured down into the ocean.
"Kirby," I cried while the dragon and the Kataru wrestled against each other. They hissed and smashed their heads together, each one trying to bite off the other. All that, and I was still holding onto Kirby’s back. At one moment, I was upside down, soaking in my anxiety sweats as the water beneath me spun furiously.
To make things worse, the fourth Kataru was about to attack. It swam our way, ready to pounce and rip off Kirby’s tail.
"Glacio," I chanted. I wasn’t as proficient at Water Magic as I wanted to be. I couldn’t part the ocean or even launch a massive wave, but I had recently learned the Freezer Spell, so I used it to freeze the water around the Kataru’s body into a block of ice, floating on the ocean’s surface. Waving a hand, I pushed the ice block into the whirlpool before the beast broke free.
Meanwhile, Kirby dug his teeth into the third Kataru’s neck and spit out its blood. The Kataru dropped into the water, and Kirby adjusted himself, so I was finally right-side-up.
The waves lapped on the Kataru’s dead body, and I took in a breath of relief. "Now, all I have to do is close the portal."
We are doing well, or so I thought. Right away, Kirby started to move strangely—up, down, side to side, and spinning around 360 degrees. "What the hell are you doing, Kirby?" I fought hard not to fall off.
"I don’t know." Dragon Kirby shouted. "Something is happening to me. I can’t control myself."
"Watch out," he warned before he heaved me into the water.
***
With a similar shapeshifting spell, Vanna transformed into a water dragon with fins lined along her elongated body. While Kirby struggled with his new wings, she plunged into the water, sweeping her tail left and right in a wave-like rhythm. No signs of clumsiness or discomfort showed.
As she swam farther, she saw the whirlpool spinning like a graceful ballerina. It was stunning, yet dangerous, much like Vanna herself. Shredded seaweed and pieces of wood seemed stuck to the rotating body of water, unable to break free from the never-ending motion.
Looking up, Vanna glimpsed the bottom of a fishing boat moving towards the whirlpool. Even though she swam as fast as she could, it was too late for a rescue. The old fisherman soaked in his blood.
Why would the Katarus kill a person instead of taking him to Jivar? Vanna had no time to rationalize. With her teeth, she grabbed the anchoring rope and pulled the boat, fighting against the current. She knew that alive or dead, humans had dignity. That old fisherman deserved to be buried at home.
As she brought the boat to the pier, she was met with hollers. Understandably, the civilians were terrified to see a real-life dragon, but they were also confused. Why would a dragon drag the boat all the way home and place it safely near the deck?
Vanna didn’t care to explain. She turned around to join the fight, though she never expected to be attacked by her brother. By the time she swam back to the whirlpool, Kirby had lost control over his body. He didn’t hesitate to attack her with fire.
***
I sank. My limbs flailed as the waves buffeted me. The surface seemed near but out of reach. No matter how hard I fought off the waves, they drew me towards the portal.
The worst part about drowning was fighting the urge to breathe. My chest was about to explode, and my throat clutched up. I was dying for air, ready to surrender to the water. Yet, all I could think about was my father’s Jeep, parked somewhere behind the pier. I wondered what would happen to it if I died, and I wished I were safe in there, surrounded by my precious mementos.
I felt a tug on my wrist. Dragon Vanna wrapped her tail around it and hauled me out of the water. In a moment, I was back on the surface, holding to her long, slithery neck. I inhaled. There was a loud whoop, then I fell into a coughing fit. Saltwater stung my eyes and purged out of my mouth and nose.
Once I gained back the ability to speak, I yelled, "W-hhat the hell is going on with Kirby?"
"I’m not sure." Vanna’s voice wavered. Looking closely, I could see her dragon’s skin was slightly burned. "He’s going after the people."
"We have to fix this," I said, wiping my eyes and spitting out the remaining seawater. "Take me to the pier."
***
Flapping his wings, Kirby created a gust that blew away the colorful nets off the pier. The crowd bolted. Some people tried to get to shore; others took refuge in the boats. A young boy in a fishing wader ran along the pier. He toppled over and fell into the water, but luckily, Dragon Vanna was there to catch him.
