2: The Echo

Manna settled in at the Legion. She previously had dinner with the King to get her questions answered, but everything was too vague for her to fully comprehend. More twists await Manna in the Legion.

Darkness. Some people find it inviting and warm, others find it frightening and bitter. Manna was surrounded in absolute darkness. There was no sound, no light, nothing. Neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, Manna sat there alone. She knew she was alone because she didn’t feel any kind of movement near her.

The passage of time was uncertain in the infinite sea of black, for all Manna knew it could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours. She wished she could know where she was, or at least be able to see her surroundings.

Manna let out a loud sigh and an ominous white light appeared from the ceiling. A spotlight. Manna felt like she was about to be interrogated. She slowly made her way towards the white light, carefully watching her step just in case there were objects she was unaware of.

Manna stood  in the middle of the white light and began to look around. Nothing.

“Hello?” She could hear her words echo through the darkness.

A melody began to play, Manna recognized it but I couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Anybody out there?” She asked again to the darkness and continued to look around.

The melody got louder, it was the cello melody from yesterday.

Manna took one step forward and the footstep created a loud echo.

Followed by a loud crack. The crack came from below her. She quickly looked down and noticed that she was walking on a mirror.

Manna’s reflection seemed odd. She knew she was looking at herself but couldn’t recognize herself. As she looked closer at her face, the mirror began to shatter under her feet.

Manna ran away from the light, but the light continued to follow her along with the cracked mirror. The cello melody got louder and it began to mute out the loud echoes of her footsteps.

Manna felt her heartbeat rise, she didn’t know what to do. She was surrounded in darkness and she couldn’t steady herself because the mirror floor was shattering from underneath.

“Help!” She shouted, but it only echoed back along with the cello.

As she looked straightforward into the pit of darkness a second light began to shine. A gleaming silver door was shown under the light.

The door was her only way out of this abyss. The silver door resembled the door that Sam and Alex summoned the day before and it was only about twenty feet away from her.

She continued to run towards it. Hopefully that door will lead me out of this place. Manna could feel panic settle in her body.

The moment Manna grabbed the doorknob, she heard a loud shatter and she could feel herself falling into nothingness.  Mirror shards began to scatter all around her and she lost grip of the door.  The door got farther away as she fell into complete darkness.

Manna closed her eyes and waited for something to break the fall. As she closed her eyes the cello ceased from playing and she back to silence/

Thud.

Manna opened her eyes and she was in her room at the Legion. There was sunlight streaming from the window; the light gently touched her face. It must have been early morning. She heard light ruffling in the room. Manna looked around and a girl was peering at Manna. The girl was frozen in place.

She looked like a doll. Her big hazel eyes looked at Manna in surprise. The eye color complimented her olive toned skin, her face was peach shaped. She had a small button nose and her mouth was in a straight line as she stood there in shock. Her face was framed by shoulder length maple colored hair. She seemed petite in stature.

Her clothes were quite interesting, especially her hat, if Manna was back in the human dimension she would say that she was ready to go to a Halloween party.

A witch.

Her hat was made of what seemed to be tan leather. Pink and turquoise ribbons tied around her witch hat. A big yellow star was in the middle of the ribbons. The star had a facial expression with its tongue sticking out and had its eyes closed.  The hat was adorable and it looked pretty good on her.

She was wearing a dark gray coat that fell to her mid thigh. A black turtle neck, black ruffle skirt, and black and white knee high stockings with black Mary Janes.

The silence was becoming really apparent. Manna cleared her throat.

“Hi.” Manna said simply and sat up.

The girl began to snap out of the trance. “I am so sorry if I woke you up! The door made a really loud thud and I couldn’t stop it.” She was really energetic and she used her hands a lot when she spoke, also she talked really fast and had a bit of a high pitched voice.

“I am Eureka, Eureka Edwards.” She got closer to the bed and held out her hand. Manna held her hand and shook it lightly. “You must be Manna Black. It’s nice to finally meet you.” She smiled.

What is it with people knowing who I am when I don’t know anyone at all?

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Manna returned the smile.

Manna stood up from the bed and grabbed her toiletries bag.

 “So I’m guessing you’re a witch?” Manna asked politely.

She nodded cheerfully, “Yup, I’m from the Pagan clan, but I embrace each form of witch craft and sorcery.” She began to open her desk drawers and looked for something. “You know you are the only human that has ever been a part of the Legion? Not only that the King personally chose you. It’s pretty awesome that I get to say that you are my roommate.”

Manna nervously laughed. “I don’t even know why I am here to be honest.”

“I guess we will all find out soon enough. By the way Manna.” She turned towards Manna and there was a bit of shock on her face. “How rude of me, can I call you Manna?”

“Yeah of course, can I call you Eureka?” She was so polite Manna liked Eureka. She was very friendly.

A smile began to form on Eureka’s face. “Well Manna, after you get ready is it alright if I take your measurements?”

Manna blinked a couple of times. “Yeah sure. How come you need my measurements?”

“Oh you’ll find out soon enough. Let’s just say that it’s a welcoming present from me to you.” She pulled out a measuring tape from her drawers.

“Alright, I won’t take long.” Manna went over to the door that connected to the bathroom and opened the door.

“Make sure you lock the doors.” Eureka said quickly.

“Ok.” Manna replied.

 It didn’t take Manna long to get ready. She stepped out back into the room (She made sure she unlocked both doors in the bathroom). Manna wore a basic white shirt, jeans, and black sneakers, plain and simple. Her hair was completely down. She clipped her bangs back so they would stay out of her face.

As Eureka mentioned before she took Manna’s measurements and neatly wrote them down on a small notebook. They had idle chitchat during the measurements. She asked Manna a lot of question about the human dimension, such as what a cell phone was, Manna showed her the cell phone and Eureka was awed by the technology. She also asked how cars worked, and when Manna’s birthday was.

“October 17^th. I’m almost nineteen.” Manna said.

“I recently turned nineteen on August 26^th.” she replied and paused for a minute as she stared at the notebook and a sly smile appeared on her face. “You know I was actually born in the human dimension?” she looked up at Manna sheepishly.

“Really? Where?” Manna was actually mildly surprised that a real witch was born in the human world. Hell, she was surprised at everything that had been going on since she got to the Legion.

“In the county of Essex, Massachusetts in the United States.”

“Oh cool! When did you move to the alternate dimensions?”

She struggled with her words for a minute. “When I was very young I moved to the Salem dimension and not too long ago I joined the Legion.”

“Do you like it here?” As Manna asked her the question she closed her notebook and set it on her desk.

She turned towards Manna. “Yeah actually. It can get pretty crazy at times but hey it’s for the better of the world.” She smiled at me “Why don’t you go down to the southern dining hall? I’ll catch up with you there. I just need to run a few errands, you can wait for me at the entrance.”

“Sure. Is it far from here?” I ask.

Eureka gave Manna basic directions. It was on the first floor and said that it wouldn’t be that hard to find. Also, Manna had the holographic map Oscar gave her yesterday.

As Manna made her way out of the room she turned on the map by enclosing the bead in her hand. The map found her location in a few seconds. She spotted the southern dining hall on the map and just like Eureka said, it wasn’t too difficult to find and on the bright side, Manna didn’t have to go through that crazy room with the flying creatures to get to it.

There really wasn’t very many people roaming around, just the occasional passer by, they all seemed normal from Manna’s perspective there was nothing supernatural about them as far as she could tell.

Her mind began to wander as she made her way through the Legion. The dinner with the King kept replaying in her head especially when he mentioned the soul’s Echo and described the possibilities of the Apocalypse because of the Queen who was supposed to be the enemy. Even though he explained many things everything still seemed unclear. She began to recall that she had to go see a woman named Zonia. Manna wondered what type of woman she was and what exactly she was going to make Manna do to see her ‘Echo.’

The map in Manna’s hand started beeping and she snapped back into reality.

Right as that happens Manna collided into something. A pillar? Whatever it was, it was thin, cold, and felt like a stone.

“Watch your step, my lady.” Said a voice, a rather seductive and smooth voice.

Manna could feel someone hold her steady from her arm and she looked up at the thing she ran into. It wasn’t a pillar, but rather a really tall guy. Not quite as tall as the King, but pretty close. The man, well more like young guy, was handsome. Pale skin, dark brown hair that swept neatly across his face, his eyes were a dark red wine color and his face was filled with sharp angles.

He was wearing a loose white dress shirt and a chain necklace with a giant metal cross with a big red stone in the center of it.  He had dark blue knee length trousers with several belts hanging from them. For shoes he had giant black sneakers with chains hanging off of them. Very gothic punk, he could have passed as a couture male model with that outfit.

What was rather strange about him was what he was holding on his right hand, a bottle of red wine. Wasn’t it a bit too early to be drinking? It’s only mid morning. Manna thought as she sized him up.

“Are you mesmerized by my appearance, my lady?” he asked very soothingly.

“Um.” Manna looked up at his face and backed away in embarrassment.

“Ah, I’ve made you speechless!” His statement was full of triumph and he quietly laughed. He smirked, took a swig from his wine bottle, and held Manna’s hand to his lips and lightly kissed it.

“So tell me, is your name as pretty as your face, my lady?”

Manna could feel her cheeks begin to flush as he stared at her with his dark red eyes. His confidence was pouring out of him.

“It’s Manna.” She croaked.

His eyes widened in shock. “Manna Black?” he paused for a minute. “No wonder you smell so good! You must be the human and Eure"“ his sentence got interrupted by an ominous voice that echoed through the hall.

“Seth Zyguut!” The girl’s voice echoed through the hall. That girl’s voice was Eureka Edwards’s voice. She speed walked towards them, and glared intently at Seth.  Seth quickly let go of Manna and his face looked horrified as he saw Eureka making her way towards them. If looks could kill, Seth would be dead by now.

“Manna are you alright? Is Seth being a flirtatious pervert?” She shot a dark look at Seth. Eureka looked intimidating even though she was the shortest and bubbliest person in the trio.

“I ran into him. Literally.” Manna said bluntly.

“Eureka I was doing nothing wrong.” Seth gave out a nervous laugh and backed away slowly.

Eureka’s eyes narrowed. She got on her tiptoes and looked up at Seth. It was rather comical to witness it because Seth was at least a head and a half taller than Eureka even when she was on her tiptoes.

“That’s what you say all the time Seth even when you are doing something wrong.” She pointed her index finger at his face.

“Not the poke, please! Anything but the poke!” He was practically begging at this point.

Eureka stood normally but was still looking up at him.

“Then please behave yourself.” She smiled slyly.

Seth nodded quickly.

Eureka had complete control over Seth, they acted like an old married couple.

“Are you ready to go eat Manna?” Eureka’s kindest smile flashed through her face as she looked at Manna.

Manna nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

Eureka turned towards Seth. “You are more than welcome to join us.” She began to walk towards the dining hall, which was only down the hall.

“Do we have to check in with Zonia at Head Quarters?” Seth asked Eureka.

She nodded. “That’s what we are doing after breakfast. We have to take Manna there anyways, she needs to find her Echo.”

Seth smiled at Manna “I wonder who you’ll share it with.”

“Share it with? What do you mean?” Manna asked in a bit of shock. She remembered the King talking about it briefly during dinner the night before.

“It’s your partner.” He took a swig from his wine bottle and continued. “I think in Terra it’s called a soul mate.”  Seth tugged lightly on the back of Eureka’s hat “Eureka shares her Echo with me. We work better as a team and understand each other best.”

Eureka rolled her eyes and smiles “Yeah you can say that. I am stuck with this guy. He can be a handful sometimes.” She nudged Seth on the side and they both smiled at one another.

“However, some people don’t find their Echo and work better alone.” Seth continued but then Eureka interrupted.

“That’s very unlikely though, so you don’t have to worry about that Manna.”

They walked into the dining hall and just like the other rooms it was spectacular. It was one floor with tables of buffets lining up three walls of the square room. There was a fountain in the center of the room and endless amounts of tables surrounding the fountain.

Eureka and Seth picked a table for four near one of the buffet tables.

Manna got the basics and what seemed edible to her because there were some things she didn’t recognize at all. She got fruit, hash browns and some bacon with a glass of orange juice. Eureka got some sort of soup and Seth got pancakes and a wine glass, he poured some wine from his bottle into the glass.

They all started to dig into their food. Manna felt a light nudge on her back. She turned around and saw the chasers from yesterday, Alex and Sam.

“Hello Manna Black!” They saluted her, and she waves and said hello. They looked at Seth and Eureka. “Hello Ms. Edwards and Mr. Zyguut!” They said in unison.

Eureka and Seth acknowledge them. “Got any missions for today?” Seth asked them.

“We are going to check in with Zonia but its doubtful since we got Manna Black yesterday from Terra. What about you guys?” The twins both smirked and looked at Manna.

Eureka placed her spoon down and smiled at them. “We have to go check in with Zonia as well, we just got back from our mission this morning.”

The twins both nodded. “Did it go well?”

Eureka shrugged. “It wasn’t all that difficult, we just had to keep watch in Salem since there was a small dark matter out break not long ago.”

“Well we are glad you both made it back safe and sound. We’ll be seeing you around!” They both walked off and started joking around, they both started to laugh as they walked away.

Seth bit his fork. “Those two are quite the show. They are inseparable.”

As Seth bit his fork, something glimmered in the forks reflection.

Manna moved some fruit around her plate.

“Uh Seth?” Manna asked nervously.

“Hm?” He looked at her curiously.

“May I ask what you are?”

Seth grinned at Manna, exposing almost all of his teeth. She noticed his glimmering perfect white teeth. The canines were too sharp and slightly longer than his other teeth.

“I am a vampire.” He closes his mouth.

Manna gulped and couldn’t hel but move her hand to her throat. “So you drink blood?”

Seth laughed. “Yes but its not like I drink everyone’s blood. For example, I’ve never had human blood, though I do hear its quite…exquisite.” He pointed his fork at Manna’s throat and licked his lips.

“Seth!” Eureka shot a dark look towards him.

Seth laughed again. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Anyways my diet doesn’t consists of all blood, I can eat and drink anything I want except that it doesn’t really fully satisfy the thirst. Plus I only drink from selective volunteers. I am picky with what I drink.” Seth glanced at Eureka and she looked down at her food quickly, she looked embarrassed. Seth continued to talk. “I usually have to drink blood every 10 days or so. I also have this special kind of blood that amps up my vampire strengths but I only use that when I really need it, like maybe if I am going to fight or something along those lines.”

 “So which myths are true and which aren’t?” Manna asked curiously.

They went through almost all of the myths. Crosses do nothing to vampires, the mirror analogy was false, garlic stinks, silver bullets do kill them, decapitation kills them as well, wooden stakes do nothing, they get easily sun burned, and the touch of silver can cause a rash, so all of his chains are made of titanium.  Eureka had a few protective spells on Seth to keep him protected towards things that harmed him.

After the interesting vampire talk Manna began to look around. She was craving something sweet.

“Are you still hungry Manna?” Eureka asked.

“Yeah, I just kind of want something sweet.” She continued to look around.

“Well the pastry table is over there.” She pointed to one of the tables. “Feel free to go and take one.”

“Ok I won’t take long.” Manna made her way to the desert table and looked at all the delicious pastries. Cookies, chocolate cake, angel food cake, pudding, ice creams, crepes, chocolate fountains, and crème brulee.

The crème brulee with a strawberry on top grabbed Manna’s attention the most. It was the last one at the table. She reached out towards it and grabbed the edge of the plate.

Someone else grabbed the crème brulee as Manna grabbed it. Manna looked across the table and saw the person holding the other side of the plate.

Her heart dropped as she the face of the person holding the plate.

“I am sorry. You can take it.” She said quietly and let go of the plate.

The guy glared at her and left the crème brulee on the table not saying anything.

Manna picked up the crème brulee plate and made her way back to Seth and Eureka.  When Manna was close enough to the table she noticed a worried look on Eureka’s face.

“Are you alright Manna?” she asked worriedly.

Manna sat back down on the table and poked at the crème brulee with a fork. “Well there was this guy that I ran into at the desert table and he wanted this crème brulee. I offered him to take it but he just glared and walked away. I don’t know why it bothers me so much, it’s dumb. I feel like I’ve seen him before too.

“What does he look like?” Seth sipped his wine glass as Manna took a bite from the crème brulee. The crème brulee was delicious so that made Manna feel a little better.

She paused for a minute and began to recall what he looked like. “Spiky golden hair, kind of tall, and blue eyes. He was wearing a dress shirt and a black vest.”

Manna’s eyes widened as she recalled where she saw him before. At the elevator when she was heading over to go see the King for dinner last night.

Seth and Eureka both looked at each other with a puzzled expression.

“You might be talking about Ace.” Eureka whispered his name.

“He is mean to everyone, don’t take it personally.” Seth continued.

Manna shrugged. “ So he is always like that?”

“More or less. There’s a bunch of rumors about him but nobody really knows which ones are true. One thing is for sure though, he doesn’t talk to anyone, he is one of the few people without an Echo.” Eureka started piling her plates. “We should probably go to Head Quarters now, we wouldn’t want you to be late for that.”

“Oh alright.” Manna gathered her plates and followed Eureka and Seth to where the plates were disposed.

Head Quarters was in the northern tower in the basement level of the Legion. They had to pass the room with the internal waterfall. In the waterfall room a lot of people were acknowledging Seth and Eureka and asking how their mission was. Many of the people that talked to them gave Manna a weird look or simply nodded their head at her, as if they were afraid of her.

One thing Manna also noticed was that a lot of girls approached Seth. There was squealing, sighing, giggling, and hugging. Seth was very polite towards them and quite flirtatious. Manna now begun to understand why Eureka got defensive, he had a lot of womanizing qualities. Manna noticed that Eureka got uncomfortable when the swarm of girls approached Seth.

“Ladies, ladies. I would love to talk to all of you but right now I have to check in at Head Quarters.” His smile radiated as he talked to the girls.

There were a few sad sighs and a girl with bright orange curls spoke up. “Oh do you have to go?” Casanova. Yup that’s what Seth is. A full fledge Casanova, which makes sense with the whole vampire gig, I guess they really are flirtatious and seductive beings. Manna thought to herself as she observed Seth’s behavior with the girls.

“Yeah, I am really sorry, I’ll see you all beautiful ladies later.” He gave a small wave and continued to walk towards the northern tower.

Once they made it to the tower the took the elevator down to the basement. There was obvious tension between Seth and Eureka. Manna nudged Eureka lightly and whispered in her ear.

“Does this always happen?”

Eureka nodded. “I’ve gotten used to it, but it’s really time consuming having a mob of girls head over towards us every time.”

Seth crossed his arms. “Oh come on. I do nothing to those girls. I am just nice to them.”

“And by nice do you mean kissing their cheeks, holding their hands and talk seductively?” Eureka said sharply.

Seth blinked and a lustful smile appeared on his face.

“Are you jealous dear Eureka?” He ran his fingers across Eureka’s jawline and then he lightly tugged at her turtleneck.  Eureka turned bright red as she stared up at Seth.

“Oh stop it!” She exclaimed  flustered.

Then she poked Seth on the side.

A jolt of movement went through Seth’s body and his eyes widened.

“Why did you do that Eureka?” Seth’s voice was quiet and it sounded like he was having a hard time speaking.

“You perverted vampire! Right in front of Manna you treat me like that. Have some decency Seth!” She turned away from him and the elevator doors opened. Eureka grabbed Manna’s hand and they walked out of the elevator. “You can come join us at Head Quarters when you can move again.” The elevator began to close.

“Hey no Eureka wait! Unfreeze me! Wait!” The elevator doors closed and Seth remained in a frozen position as if he were about to do the pencil dive.

“What did you do to him?” Manna asked Eureka, quite frankly Manna was a little bit frightened by Eureka.

“That poke I do hits an important nerve within his body which causes him to freeze in place for a certain amount of time. It’s almost like an electric shock goes through his nervous system. I only do it when he is being…annoying I suppose. It causes no damage don’t worry.” Eureka smiled at the last part of her statement.

“How long does it take him to unfreeze?”

“It depends, it usually takes him a few minutes, or I can unfreeze him as well. It depends on my mood.”

Note to self: Don’t anger Eureka. Manna said in her head as she looked at Eureka. She looked so harmless, she was the type of girl that wouldn’t hurt a fly, or so she seemed like a girl like that.

They approached large wooden double doors and Eureka pulled one of the doors and it slowly opened. The room was like an auditorium with a podium at the center stage. There were several creatures already seated. Winged creatures, people with wolf like ears, several odd eye colors, sharp ears, and people with scales. Manna saw Sam and Alex and they waved at Manna and Eureka. The twins motioned them to sit next to them, and they did.

Manna turned towards Eureka “What now?” she said in a hushed voice.

“Zonia will stand in the podium and call attendance. Attendance is based upon mission status. If the mission is complete your name will be called. After attendance is called Zonia goes over possible missions. After that she goes over the Hot Zones. Then we are all dismissed. She’ll probably want to keep you for a few more minutes though because she will want to find your Echo.”

Manna gulped. “What does she do to find it?”

“It’s nothing bad, in fact its quite interesting and it will only take a minute.”

Eureka didn’t answer Manna’s question, but she didn’t want to push it because she would find out sooner or later.

“Eureka.” A low voice said dryly.

Eureka and Manna both turned around and Seth was hovering and glaring down at Eureka with his arms crossed.

“About time you joined us Seth.” Eureka had a big smile on her face. “Why don’t you sit down?” Seth slumped over next to Eureka and took a drink from his bottle.

 Two loud knocks echoed through the room and all the talking in the room ceased. Eureka nudged Manna and said quietly. “That’s Zonia.”

The floor of the center stage began to open and a platform raised from the opening. A lady that appeared to be in her early thirties was on the platform. She had a flamboyant Victorian styled dark blue dress decorated with all sorts of pearls and lacey. Her blonde her was up in a high bun that was in the shape of a triangle. She was holding one black monocle over her left eye. The right side of her face is tattooed with intricate designs; they somehow made her look more elegant. She was also wearing black lipstick and really dark eye make up which made her amethyst eye color pop out.

“Welcome back to the Legion and congratulations on completing your missions and making it back alive. There were no Legion casualties this week, please keep up the good work.” Her voice was deep and full of authority but it was still feminine.

Zonia started calling out names and everyone said present or here. Sam and Alex’s, along with Eureka and Seth’s names were called. There must have been at least fifty names she called out and almost everyone said here.

“Ace of Spades.” She announced and nobody responded. The room remained silent. Zonia sighed and went on to the next name.

“Manna Black.” There were several gasps and a lot of whispering when Manna’s name was called. Things like ‘the human?’, ‘where is she?’, ‘why would the King summon a human to the Legion’ were being said around the room.

“Order.” Zonia said in a powerful voice and the room ceased from talking.

“Manna Black.” She repeated.

“Here.” Manna said as clearly as she could, which wasn’t very clear.

Everyone in the room faced towards Manna and there were expressions of shock, disbelief, and curiosity all across the room. Manna could feel her face get bright red as she noticed all the faces looking at her.

“Welcome to the Legion.” Zonia said and she looked directly at her.

“Thanks.” I said as loud as I could. Eureka gave Manna a light pat on the back and had a gentle smile on her face.

Zonia cleared her throat and everyone turned towards her.

For about thirty minutes she went over all of the dimensional sectors, explaining its problems, the possibilities and locations of dark matter. She then went over statistics of dark matter fluctuations over time. What Manna understood best was the definition ‘Hot Zone.’

“A Hot Zone is where dark matter is at its peak.” Eureka whispered to Manna as Zonia was reviewing the Hot Zones. “ It’s measured by the number of abnormalities, casualties, and catastrophes. The higher the number, the more likely there is dark matter in that area.” Eureka continued to whisper. “Apparently in Romania there have been a lot of Hot Zones lately so we are most likely going to get missions in that location.” Eureka winked at Manna and leaned back to her seat as she finished her filling in.

“You are all dismissed.” Zonia said as she knocked twice on the podium. Everyone rises.

“Manna Black.” Zonia called out. “Please come see me before you leave.”

Eureka looked at Manna, and smiled. “Good luck. You are going to be fine! I’ll see you back in the room alright?”

Manna cracked a nervous smile and nodded as she made her way down to the center stage.

Seth and the twins said goodbye to Manna as she made her way down the stairs. As Manna passed by other creatures they tended to keep their distance and avoided direct eye contact.

Zonia was standing on the center of the podium perfectly still and her eyes were intently on Manna. She awkwardly stood next to her as they waited for the room to clear out. Once the room was cleared Zonia faced Manna.

“I will admit that I am slightly surprised that a human--” the word human had a slight hiss to it. “Would be a part of the Legion. What surprises me even more is the fact that the King hand picked you out of the other seven billion humans there are.”

Manna couldn’t tell if Zonia was disgusted or surprised at the fact that Manna made it to the Legion. Manna was certain of one thing she was uncomfortable.

Zonia took the monocle off her left eye her eye remained shut.  

“Do not move this will only take a second.”

Zonia opened her left eye.

The eye seemed robotic and it was entirely black aside from the iris that had small red rings that fluctuated in size, it looked like a target board.

“That can’t be possible.” Zonia closed her eye and placed the monocle over the eye once more. She seemed really displeased, she began to mumble and say that the eye was never wrong.  

“What’s the matter?” Manna asked nervously.

Zonia had a stern expression on her face. “The results of your Echo are quite interesting. It’s something the King has to be aware of. For the time being go practice in the Legion grounds to summon your weapon.”

“Weapon? I’ve never used any type of weapon, I don’t even have one.”

“That no longer matters, go outside and summon the weapon. Head through the door adjacent to the double doors, take the stairs and you’ll reach a hallway, the door at the end of the hall way will take you outside, practice summoning the weapon there. ”

Manna nodded her head and dismissed herself, there was no point in arguing with Zonia, it was clearly her way or the highway and honestly she was intimidating.

Manna made her way to the outside grounds. There was a slight breeze that made the green trees sway gently in the wind. The grass was trimmed and the bushes were also well kept. The sun was directly above Manna and there was not a cloud in the sky, it was a really peaceful nice day. Manna couldn’t help but feel like she was back home enjoying a nice summer afternoon.

Manna sat in the shade of one of the trees and basked in the tranquility of the place. A few minutes passed and she straightened up to begin her summoning. Honestly, how am I supposed to summon something out of thin air? What type of weapon was Zonia talking about anyways? Sword, knives, bow and arrow, or guns?  Manna could feel embarrassment creep up as she started to get ideas on how to summon it.

Manna made a fool out of her self. She held her right hand out and began to say things such as ‘summon’, ‘awaken’, or do odd hand gestures to see if the weapon summoned. Nothing happened. A long time passed and Manna started to get creative with her gestures and sayings. Nada.

“D****t. Come on!” Manna was at the brink of desperation as nothing happened.

The ground began to shake as Manna held her hand out to attempt to summon the weapon for what seemed like the millionth time. Nothing materialized in front of her but rather a loud deafening shriek echoed through the trees.

Manna could feel her heart beginning to race as she quickly began to frantically look around. The bushes began to rustle. Whatever it was, it approached at a ridiculous speed. The shrieking got louder and heavy breathing was in between each shriek.

Then it was there, standing ten feet away from Manna.

The creature was horrifying, its skin was a purple tone and its body was distorted, with abnormal bent joints and a permanent humpback. It dripped a black fluid from its black eyes and mouth. The creature was tattooed with black marks all over its body. There was a foul scent emitting from it, the smell of rotting skin.

Manna remained frozen in place as she saw the creature intently looking at her. The creature shrieked one final time and long sharp teeth protruded out of its mouth.

The creature lunged towards Manna.