6 Years Later
It was like any other afternoon in the Goldenfields, Sun was beaming and the wind blew gently. Anecus was sitting on the hill with the fig tree overlooking the land reflecting over the past few years and how they blinked by.
'A lot has happened in these six years I had just turned 13 and in just six years I have reached a star level dad says is only possible doto my one of my soul traits...'
[Water Pillar: ★★⯪☆☆]
'...father has become adequately satisfied with my training for now.'
a shiver runs down his neck. 'I have grown even taller, almost to dads shoulders. Naia had finally awakened and has been my training partner for the past five years...
We have grown close.' He looked to his left to see her resting against him.
'I have a feeling one of us will finally confess... Maybe one of us would have already if we didn't have this Bond, sometimes I wonder if all my feelings for her stem from it.'
Anecus fell into a slumber...until.
Subtly so subtly Anecus felt it fall more and more in front of his mind. Like it had always been there but it was just now surfacing…alig' he sits up straight unsure what he just heard. Then again,
'…aling.' His movements wake Naia.
"Ane, what's wrong?"
Focused on the voice he didn't answer. Finally it all came in clear, [Alignment Completed].' His hand clenched '[Echo Stream confirmed…Welcome Accursed Anecus]'
Then in an overwhelming motion a display appeared, it was in a language he didn't know...but he could understand it. "My Echo Stream is here."
Naia worried now clutched his hand. "Really!?"
Anecus POV
'woogh' staring at the floating text I try to reach out and touch them for the thousands of times. My hand passes through them like air, but there is a faint humming sensation when I do.
Scrolling past familiar runes
Fire: Talent Level: 5
[Star Level: ★☆☆☆☆] [Deviant Trait: Sun King]
-------
EMPATHIC MIRROR
▸ Origin: SouldRend
▸ Effects: [Subject absorbs the emotional states of others]
▸ Identity Drift: [If not anchored in self, subject may temporarily adopt foreign emotional patterns, behaviors, or beliefs.]
Then I reach the bottom where the progress bar was now complete.
[Echo Alignment 100%]
[Commencing With First trial.]
[Prepare for transfer. 10 seconds]...[9...8...7...]
"Oh crap…Naia! Tell my dad I'm entering my Echo Stream!"
That was the last thing I could say before my vision was covered in this white light and I felt my body falling.
While 'falling' this angelic voice vibrated my ear drums.
[We Look Forward To Your Ascension.]
'Ascension?'
Naia's POV
"Anecus!"
It happened so fast, one moment Anecus was describing his Divine Circuit the next…he disappeared.
No that's not right, It almost looked like he fell through the space in front of me.
Unsure what to do I pounded the ground where he stood, foolishly hoping it'd do something. "Anecus!" Sniff…sniffful Wiping some tears away I stood and rushed to find uncle Red.
What could have been only mere seconds felt like minutes 'What am I thinking!' I took a big breath in and did what made sense.
"Uncle Red!!"
I heard this sharp whistle and crack sound, uncle Red materialized in front of me, his familiar voice calming. "Naia what's wrong."
Holding back the tears and the cracking in my voice "...it's Anecus."
Anecus's POV
It was dark, the only thing lighting the immediate area was the chromatic glow of my circuit.
'and these stars?'
Stars…there were stars above me but they seemed different. They were not in any sky I remembered and the space between was too dark to be any normal sky.
What made Anecus certain this place wasn't natural was the twelve bigger star perfectly aligned with the rest.
The floor I stood on was black, marble in texture. 'So this is what the space between world and Echo looks like.
*ding!*
[Echo stream Alignment Is Complete.] I would have thought I'd be nervous about my first Echo, I wonder why I'm not...
» DIVINE CIRCUIT ALERT «
[ "Before They were gifted, Before they were cursed. Could they endure?]
[If you had nothing left...could you?]
[Goodluck]
I heard the wind rushing past my ears then I saw a gray sky 'Huh?'
I was falling again. Turning my body I could see the ground approaching fast. 'Too fast!'
Panicking I tried to counteract my fall with a short burst of flame…but nothing came out.
I recalled the words instantly 'could you survive…If you had nothing left.' Gritting my teeth bracing myself for the impact I cursed the system "Dam you!"
The impact was blinding Whump! The the air in my lungs left, "HUURK!"
White sparkles filled my vision dancing at the corners of my conciseness my sense of direction shattered. I had already forgotten I fell more worried I couldn't breathe, "HHHHK !"
sharp sounds of inhaling but no air flow filled the area.
I writhed on the ground arms and legs moving in any way I could in a false attempt to get my breath. My hands squeezed the loose ground that escaped my touch, my mind too occupied.
"HHHK." The only thing I could do was ride it out. 'This sucks!'
"HHK" So painfully slow I felt my breathing return to normal, finally my lungs filled.
"HHHH!" coughing echoed off the jagged rock I could now see.
Sitting up and taking in my surroundings a gruesome thought came to mind. "Good thing I didn't get impaled…"
'So this is a Echo stream huh?' there was nothing around, some rock that I assumed to be obsidian and loose grey sand being swept by the wind...looking up at the sky it was dark.
Other than the fall my arrival "could have been worse."
When it came down to the immediate details about Echo streams the world had a decent understanding however when it came to the underlying works of the Echos and its origins it could be said that understanding nothing would be an understatement.
One needs to at least know what they don't know to then begin learning.
"where do I go?"
'ugh remember dads training.'
scanning his surroundings Anecus found a somewhat easily climbable rock to get an advantage point. Reaching the top "There's nothing…" Anecus scanned the horizon to only see an ever expanding desert of grey sand peppered with black rock.
Anecus couldn't even tell how big this place was the conditions made the horizon seem just as close as the rocks few meters ahead of him.
After a few minutes of scouting Anecus noticed the wind hadn't stopped blowing in one direction… "I guess this way it is."
An unknown amount of time later…
'I have been walking… I don't know for how long, other than the natural time dilation in Echo streams, the perpetual dusk here is making it difficult to have a baseline on time, let alone a direction.'
"Greate..."
But there are things I do know My Pillars are not working, my divine circuit won't appear. This place was a rocky wasteland filled with endless dunes of grey and black sand, with these giant jaggs of obsidian. So food and water is going to be a problem...'
Anecus stopped himself "All I know is the bad stuff!"
Pressing his back against a large mound of obsidian he peers around its corner 'and lastly, I'm not alone.
He noticed them shortly after landing.
There have been these vine like creatures covered in this cloud like shrouds. Only the lower half what I'll call its legs for now could be seen.
They don't seem to have noticed me yet and I don't feel like testing their perception. Luckily I could somewhat track them, for whatever reason I could still feel a faint connection with SoulRend and as a consequence I could use their emotions for tracking.
The vine beasts all had an overwhelming sense of loss and some form of self depreciation emanating from them.
Prismatic soul and Empathetic mirror seemed to be working as well. 'Hopefully this will be of help later.'
It was then when I was studying their movement something smooth and refined caught my eye. "An arch?" It looked man made. Hurrying to it a finely carved archway came into my view with a staircase leading down into the fine sand.
Only to be blocked by collapsed obsidian. "Dam…"
Inspecting the structure more There was a lantern hanging above the arch, cracked and lightless.
"There's got to be people here then…" moving around to the side Anecus noticed a recessed portion of the wall…with carvings. Very detailed, picture like carvings.
"These look way too detailed…"
looking over his shoulder to make sure nothing was approaching he got busy studying the carvings.