A set of dreams that are forgotten, the words that never connected, I want to save your memories… and you mine.
Creak. Creak. The compass needle thrashed violently.
Tucking it back inside his pocket, he slicked his white hair back and looked at the building before him. A luxurious villa, surrounded by black iron fences—each spear-tipped like a warrior's lance.
The reaction from his compass confirmed an imminent threat. Though afraid—Walker Soliraine knew better than to run away. In fact, he wanted this to be his end, just like any other hunt he conducted.
The sanctified water bottles on his waist made a harmonious melody clashing against each other and his resolver's cage rolled as he checked if he was ready.
His sword—an extended gladius that he carried on the other side of his waist. All things considered, Walker was prepared.
"Here goes nothing." Walker drew his revolver and shot the lock clean off the gate. The chains loosely came off and fell on the ground, the lock itself was sent somewhere flying.
And with a gust of the wind, the gate opened.
Walker finally entered the yard of the Relené Mansion. He had heard rumours about the family being absent from social gatherings, or even from responding to letters.
As a professional hunter, Walker knew that cases like these were out of the normal… especially where he lived.
A sudden chill ran down his spin, strengthening the grip he had on his revolver while heading to the main door of the villa.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
No one answered the door and that was Walker's cue. He busted open the door by ramming it with his shoulder and surprisingly, it hadn't even been locked.
Walker muttered an apology as he crossed the threshold.
He noticed the windows cackling violently even though the wind was fairly calm outside and suddenly a dark figure passed him.
Meeting a dark hallway dimly lit from the windows, Walker kept his revolver up.
"Anyone home?" He shouted while fixing his gaze forward.
He felt the compass raging on his thigh inside his pocket.
The dark figure jumped towards Walker, making him fire a bullet purely on instinct.
The bullet tore through the smoky figure, which dissolved into mist.
It's not dead… He realized as the raging of the compass did not stop. Walker rolled the cylinder out and checked how many bullets he had left—there remained 4.
I ought to be careful from now on. Taking in a fresh breath, Walker slowly walked towards the main hall and eventually got there without trouble.
The hall was empty, two cups of tea were on the table near the sofa, and a plate of dried cake to go along with them.
The slice of cake crumbled with a single touch of Walker's finger. Walker rubbed the dust between his fingers, It's been a few days at the very least.
A thumping noise sounded from behind him, pushing him to turn around just to find nothing moving.
His heartbeats became more intense as the seconds passed but the quietness both calmed and alarmed him.
"HEEELLPPP!!!" A voice came from above, likely a woman's.
Walker adjusted his revolver and quickly moved past the furniture and began climbing the stairs when suddenly he saw the world turn upside down on him as a force pulled him back.
He felt a strong weight crawling on his body, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a grotesque faceless creature with black tentacles growing out where its face should be.
Walker noticed his revolver missing—It lay just out of reach—and the creature knew it.
Its tentacles latched onto Walker's neck but rather than flesh biting onto him, it was a spiritual attack that Walker felt sucking his energy away.
Walker took a swing at him with his left but it was pointless, then he poured all his energy into grabbing the revolver.
He raised his gloved right hand and somehow grabbed the tentacles that grabbed him by the neck. He was astonished with his ability to grab onto it when he couldn't with his left.
But the time spent being surprised could be focused elsewhere and that… was the revolver.
With the struggle eased, Walker quickly grabbed the revolver and fired three consecutive shots, which none of them connected but it was enough to free himself since the creature dispersed again.
So it really isn't an Echo… Walker stood up and checked the cylinder again, only a single bullet remained and unfortunately, he couldn't afford to buy spare ones before coming.
And with how anxious he'd be taking on jobs like these, Walker preferred his fights to be long ranged but now, he only had one shot.
He banged the cylinder open and released the bullet on his palm and dropped it in one of the sanctified water bottles before taking it out and loading the revolver with it again—then rotating the cylinder exactly where he'd need it to shoot.
Sanctified Water was produced by boiling pure water, garlic, salt and dusted iron which made it only suitable for combat and not drinking as it had both rancid taste and smell.
Walker didn't know why his mentor made him carry it during every hunt but now he understood. Perhaps the Sanctified Water was effective against the mysterious creature he encountered.
He quickly climbed the stairs again, recalling the scream from earlier. While aiming his revolver forward.
His ears suddenly rang, the view before him completely changed into a desert with a scorching heat, despite the sky being dark. The desert sand was grey like the ashes of a scorched earth.
On the sand crawled creatures of a different kind, ones of weathering form, resembling an old tree with a human-like body, their faces were nonexistent and they relied on vibrations to track their prey.
Seeing them, Walker eased a little, being familiar with their kind. He withdrew his revolver and unsheathed his sword from his waist.
He took a swing and ran towards the Echoes, around 6 of them stood before him, in varying sizes.
The Echoes felt alerted hearing the vibrations of Walker's steps, launching an attack of their own.
Two attacked from the front, Walker struck and beheaded the one on the left and kicked away the one on the right in the meantime.
He turned his sword and stabbed the one behind him and withdrew it before turning and striking another one the same way he did the first.
The one he'd kicked before launched itself to him and pushed him to the wall, placing both its hands on his neck, the teeth growing out of its plans dug deep into his neck.
Walker's sword fell. With a slight struggle, Walker punched a hole in the Echo's stomach. The night creature crumbling like a withered tree.
Two from the remaining came from both sides. And sensing that, Walker quickly picked up his weapon and slashed them with a single spinning swing.
He stared down the remaining one, an Echo much smaller than the rest… about 3 feet tall. His medium length white hair messy and unruly, dropped on his face.
He walked with merciless, mindless steps.
"Hmmm…. Hmm…." An ethereal hum came from the double-doored room in the middle of the hall. Also where the remaining Echo ran.
His vision returned to normal and his head ached, he grunted but used his weapons to keep himself up.
That place… I haven't seen it before… He brushed it off, focusing on the matter at hand.
The Echo entered the room before as Walker took a moment to reflect.
Still on its tail, Walker busted the door open in the same way he did the previous one.
What he saw shocked him, the savage and beastly creatures attentively listened to what looked like a girl.
The girl had blonde hair, hair that illuminated the moon that shone from the huge window that showed the moon in all of its beauty.
But one might call the girl more charming than even the moon, as her essence captured the attention of even wild beasts.
Her eyes were closed while humming. Near her were corpses, the corpses of the Relené couple.
Walker snapped back to reality, noticing the forms of the echoes slowly crumbling but no one was slaying them—not physically.
Black smoke began spiraling near the girl, and the thicker the smoke got, the more the Echoes' deteriorated.
Finally realizing the situation, Walker drew his revolver and immediately fired the moment the smoke took a humanoid form. Exactly where its neck was formed.
That's when the girl finally stopped the hum and opened her eyes. She was oblivious. All she was doing was offering peace to the deceased.
And before she knew it, she was in a strange man's arms. His inner colors showed her a depressing grey, the visual prowess of a Maiden.
Right as they neared the exit, the door closed shut and everything in the room began shaking violently following with a shriek capable of deafening to ordinary.
The entire room transformed from an office to a wheat field, the sky was cloudy in the dark, a chilling night.
He couldn't make sense out of these visions, the temperature shifts were no illusions, he felt them. Still felt sweat dripping down his back.
The dark creature with tentacles growing out of its body made a painful shriek while covering its chest. The tentacles in its mouth waved aggressively with the deafening sound.
Walker suddenly felt himself moving… moving rapidly in the air before being slammed on the wall.
He saw the room again, decorated nicely with shelves filled with books.
He grunted and gradually opened his eyes and coughed up blood. He then saw the girl in pain, frozen stiff with the creature's tentacles choking and lifting her while sucking her essence.
I wasn't the target… I was just in the way! Walker used his sword to stand up and took out one bottle after another and drowned his blade into it, the water dripping from it even as he marched towards the unknown creature.
"You underestimate me, vile creature!" Walker shouted to avert attention to himself right before he took the swing, targeting its neck once more.
The reason Walker assumed striking its neck was ideal was because the first round that was effective—although without damage, was the neck.
Walker's eyes widened as the sword clashed against its neck. Then a smoke-like tentacle grew from the creature's waist and slammed Walker away, but this time towards the window.
He crashed and broke the window glass and was thrown outside the window where he immediately latched on with his sword.
His vision snapped again. This time he found himself clinging onto a tall architect of unknown origins but it was incredible in size and height.
His breath grew heavy when he looked down and saw the land beneath him appearing very far away.
Gulp.
Not being able to trust his current leverage, Walker immediately climbed up and found himself rolling down what seemed like a hole.
He reached the end of the passage before his eyes opened and he saw the room again.
Just then purely out of instincts, he noticed a pattern.
First: the creature had grown tentacles that scoured the area Walker had previously crashed and spat blood.
Second: it had grown an extra pair of hands that covered the middle of its shoulder blades.
Walker pulled his sword out of the wall but it snapped in half as he did. I really should've bought a new one… but it might still do.
Analyzing in his mind: Echoes depend on vibrations to detect prey or anyone hostile and they don't have faces… so this creature might depend on a similar philosophy. And if it's still wringing its tentacles where I coughed up blood then… It's attracted to blood.
With that figured, Walker took his broken sword and cut a portion of his coat. This'll cost a whole week's provision. And finally, biting his collar, stabbed his thigh and immediately covered the wound with the cloth he just cut off… he also made sure to get some blood on his broken sword.
Soon as he felt it was enough, he held both things covered in blood and while marching, he threw both towards each of its extra hands.
Confirming his suspicions, the creature moved its hands to deflect the incoming objects and that's when Walker pierced the part it was covering with his right hand.
And grabbed onto something that thumped but was also unbelievably hot but thankfully, his right arm was immune to temperature.
"They say the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear… and the same way, the most prevalent fear is the fear of the unknown." He tightened his hold on the hot object.
"The moment you let your enemy know your weakness is when you know you're dead… I'll see you in the afterlife." With a strong hold, the object in Walker's hand crushed and with it, the creature's form began dispersing… like smoke.
Not like you'll have an afterlife… The disperse was strong, like a strong wind that comes over for a second and disappears. Its strength pushed Walker's hair back without even him needing to slick it back.
The girl returned to normal and slowly regained her vision. In front of her stood a man who had just achieved victory over something, although she did not remember what.
The man asked her gently, "You alright?" To which she could only nod to, uncertain of the answer herself.
"I'd ask you what you were doing here but for now… your name will suffice." His nonchalant attitude was strange for someone who had a big injury to his thigh.
The girl helped her head straight with her hand and slowly answered: "Lucille…" She paused before returning the question. "And you?"
He smiled before answering, "Me? It's Walker. Walker… Soliraine…"
He felt nauseous while checking the compass after taking it out… it had stopped. and with that feeling of certainty, he suddenly fell on his back, losing consciousness.
The same way, Lucille found herself out of energy and collapsed right after.
•••
A little later in the same place the events occurred.
Through the broken window, a faceless raven entered the room. It sat on top of the office desk which was messy with paper work.
The raven examined the corpses then thoroughly Walker and Lucille, then the entire room silently for a while.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Footsteps came from downstairs, the sound gradually growing, signaling to the raven that it was time for it to leave.
It flew far, far away through the sea and the forest until it reached a completely new land by sunrise.
The raven casually passed through the opened window of a distinct and beautiful library and landed on a man's arm.
The man with curly black hair, wearing an old school suit of the same color, closed the book he was reading and gently patted the raven before it dissolved and entered through all the holes of his head.
His eyes turned black then returned to normal as he leaned back on his chair.
A young girl, worker at the library, approached him, and asked, "Are you alright, Mr. Socrates?"
He shook his head and dismissed her. A faint smile curved on his lips as he muttered, "So begins a world of imbalance…"