Tale as Old As Time [Finished]

[yamikuronue]

Vi sits back, closing her eyes. "I wish I knew how to help with that," she says, softly.

[CalamityJade]

Morden gave a slight sigh. "That...is something I can understand. Almost all things fear an end, especially if you don't think you're end would have meaning. It is something all people have to struggle with at one point or another. Some....well, some think that as long as they keep living, no matter what, then they'll have their moment of purpose.

"Personally...it's not the end of a life that means nearly as much as the entire rest of their life. You've been around...longer than most. Longer than you'd wish, I'd think with how everything seem to work. Echo, you should not fear then end of yourself. Your life will speak volumes for it."

[yamikuronue]

Vi presses her fingertips to her cheek, keenly aware of the tears dripping down her cheeks but unable to fathom why. She was young, and she'd never really considered her own death before. Usually this sort of thing she can shrug right off. But somehow, she can't stop crying.

Siegfried folds his fingers, eyes lowered, on his lap. This didn't seem.... he didn't expect this to be... surely there had to be a better way to resolve Echo's issues, one that left him alive, right? Right?

[accalia]

"It would perhaps help if this one could remember more of this one's life.... as it is this one remembers this one's purpose, and this one's debt to some degree.... and precious little besides. fragments, hints, a smell here, a vista there. The moments when this one is pierced by the pain one lifts from others is singularly precious and bittersweet, because those are the only moments this one remembers fully, in every detail.... those memories are indelible, permanent, and vivid..... but the rest? shadows only they are."

Echo puts down his cards and falls back, landing on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"This one doesn't even remember what it felt like to feel the leylines of the land..."

Echo too is crying, slowly. never more than a single tear at a time.

[yamikuronue]

"Neither do I," says Vi, softly. "I only can manipulate small things. Die rolls. Computer glitches. I've never had real power. I've always been someone's pawn. So what? That's the life I have."

[CalamityJade]

Morden gave a bit of a sigh. "Nothing I can do is particularly special. I just have fairly good eyes for the most part...but I'm sure there is plenty that both of you have done in your lives that would be considered great.

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried sighs. "Not that it helps much, but I seem to be able to read minds."

"Why wouldn't that help?" asks Vi, frowning.

"Echo's mind is.... different. Isolated, and hostile. I can't get much from him."

[accalia]

Echo remains in a supine position as he speaks.

"You have mentioned that before, this one did not then, nor does now understand what you mean by that."

A pause, then echo speaks again in a surprisingly feminine voice, and to any psychically gited people in the room he suddenly appears to exist in the aether, albeit briefly and with a presence that is decideldy not human, or maybe was once human many centuries ago but has aged poorly so that what is left is made up of the mental equivalent of Echo's scars.

"This body doesn't understand.... that is locked away, sealed. i cannot act, I too am sealed, locked away, trapped in this cycle. there is no release yet, not for either of us.... it hurts. it hurts us both..... Free us.... please. We cannot survive much longer like this.... please..... freeee ~~~~"

The last word is unclear, muddled. it may have been "me", ir "him", or "us". Echo seems to fall asleep after that outburst, his face somewhat ashen as if a large amount of energy had been spent speaking those words. As hie falls silent the etherial presence that was within echo fanishes, once again leaving him blatantly hollow on the etherial plane.

[CalamityJade]

Morden blinked several times. "That...seems to be somewhat new to me." He didn't believe he'd seen Echo react like THAT to something before. Maybe he'd missed something? No, he'd been careful to ask about anything odd, and that would have definitely be noticeable from his normal demeanor.

[yamikuronue]

Vi stares at Echo for a long moment.

"that explains a lot," she mumbles, after a time, before going back to the bottle and pouring a glass.

[CalamityJade]

"What do you mean by 'that explains a lot'? I have to admit to being quite baffled as to what that even meant." Sure, he had theories, but none of them included possession. "Siegfried...have you seen this before?"

[yamikuronue]

Siegfried shakes his head, moving over to check Echo's pulse, ensure he's okay.

Vi takes a few long gulps of her drink. "I was getting this weird, yin-yang vibe in my dream that I chalked up to being asleep. Now I understand: Echo's more than one person."

[accalia]

Despite his ashen face Echo's pulse is normal and he's breathing fairly shallowly. he seems to be in a light sleep. he could probably be woken fairly easily.

[CalamityJade]

"That's..." Acutally possible. The spell on him was OLD. More than he was expecting, with the information he had now. "Anything else from your dream that might be helpful?"

[yamikuronue]

She shakes her head. "Not immediately. But if I sleep tonight, I'll probably get more now that I have some idea what's going on."

Siegfried hesitates. "Should we wake him?"