Chapter 9: A Five Hundred Year Old Past

“Did you say five hundred years?” Desmond asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, I have been here for a long time. On this land, long before your city appeared,” Mykel said. “This land is cursed itself. A gateway hangs over it to a dark world full of malicious creatures.”

“The Dark?” Desmond questioned.

Mykel nodded. “As we have always called it. The Dark is a void where nothing can survive but those things you’ve seen. They slide through the gateway and try to gain power by devouring lost souls or corrupting them, changing them into something dark.”

“So what do they want? Why are they here?” he pressed.

“What they want is to be strong enough to cross over to The World of the Light and take over living humans. They want to be alive and I’m sure nothing good could come out of it if they were,” Mykel explained.

Five hundred years of being trapped in The Echo. Desmond couldn’t imagine what it was like over all that time. He wondered if that was the reason why Mykel was so hostile towards him from the start. This was something he had been doing for so long, maybe there was a chance he didn’t want that fate for someone else. Of course, there was no way to know for sure without knowing everything about Mykel’s past. He wasn’t sure if they had passed that point of hostility or not.

Desmond was forced out of his thoughts when Mykel’s grip around his wrist suddenly tightened. The touch had him startled since the two had been talking the entire time without any pressure applied to his grip.

Desmond was forced to find the silver eyes which up to this point had only looked back at him with malice. The look in them was stern still, but they lacked the hostility they held before. In fact, Desmond was certain he could almost see a sadness locked into Mykel’s gaze.

“That’s enough, you’ll only make your binding to this world faster,” Mykel spoke in a tone that matched that stern look in his eyes.

“What? But you’re still hurt,” Desmond protested.

“I’ll survive. Look what you’ve done,” he responded.

Mykel pulled Desmond’s hand away from his abdomen and showed it to him. The dark markings that had twisted down to his elbow now extended about halfway down his forearm. It was true what he had been told and what he had witnessed. Anything that he did which pertained to The Echo only made the curse develop faster.

The question still remained with him though, how much time did he have before the curse bound his soul to The Echo? There was still more he needed to learn and he wasn’t sure if Mykel would be willing to explain much more to him.

“If you don’t know a way to break it then, how long does it take until I’m stuck here?” Desmond asked.

“That depends on how much you interact in this world. Like I said, the more you use those powers you discovered and the more you interact with the creatures from The Dark, the faster it takes hold. That’s why it’s important you stay out of The Echo,” Mykel answered.

“You’re really sure there’s no way to break the curse?” Desmond pressed once more.

Mykel shook his head. “None that I could find as of yet. Enough chit chat, you should head back to where you came from and this time… don’t come back.”

“But wait, I still—” Desmond started in protest.

The sentence went unfinished though as Mykel released his hand and pushed himself up to his feet. Desmond was too slow to get his attention again before Mykel faded into a cloud of white mist. His departure left Desmond sitting there, hardly feeling any better than when he had arrived at The Echo in the first place.

He had some of his questions answered, but not all of them. Not just that but the fact that there was still a sizable gash in Mykel’s abdomen weighed on his mind. He hadn’t given Desmond the chance to fully heal his wound and the creature that had attacked them was still out there.

Slowly, Desmond rose to his feet and brushed himself off. There was a helpless feeling in him. He had been told that he shouldn’t be involved and to leave The Echo, never to return. After that touch of sadness he was certain he saw in Mykel and the truth about being stuck there for so long, he didn’t feel right just letting it go. It had him wondering how many others he had told the same story to or if there had been anyone else for the last five hundred years.

His attention turned to Lydia. Ever since Mykel had regained consciousness, she had fallen silent. She was still nearby though it looked like she had moved away from the two when they started talking. When she noticed Desmond looking in her direction, she gave him a little smile and came walking over to him. He thought that asking her a little more about Mykel’s past might be a good idea. She was dressed in a fashion that dated a few hundred years ago.

“Lydia, when did you first meet Mykel?” Desmond asked once she was close enough.

She slowed in her step at the question. “It had to have been in the late 1800s, why do you ask?”

“Was he always so abrasive?” he asked.

“Yes and no. I wouldn’t say he was as hardened then as he is now. He was still a little outlandish to new arrivals to The Echo,” she said.

“New arrivals as in new souls or… people like me?” Desmond said. “I’m not the first person to have been marked, am I?”

She didn’t answer him and he watched as her smile faltered. If it was another thing he was catching onto fast, it was the fact that anytime either she or Atlas paused, there was nothing good to be said about what he was asking.

He could only infer that by her reaction, the answer to that wasn’t a happy one. It meant that he hadn’t been the first in the last five hundred years to be marked to take Mykel’s place. Yet, Mykel was still the current Keeper. Something must have happened to all the others who had been marked before him then.

“What happened to them?” Desmond spoke up again.

“I think Mykel is right. You’re a sweet kid, Desmond. We should get you back home,” Lydia said and turned away from him.

“Lydia, what happened to the others that were marked before me?” he demanded.

She stopped in her tracks and kept her back to him. “They… didn’t make it. Which is why I think he's been telling you to go home. You should listen to him.”

Lydia turned then to glance back at Desmond over her shoulder. The look she gave him was mournful, but she said nothing else to him. Instead, she faded from his sight and left him standing in the empty shop alone.

After he got the response from her, he was starting to put together some of the pieces that led to Mykel’s hostility. It had been done with the ideal of protecting Desmond from the same fate as others like him had met. There was still a piece missing to the story though that would help him in understanding how the curse worked completely.

Desmond had to know what happened to all the others and how they met their end. He needed to know if it had anything to do with the final stages of becoming the next Keeper. That answer, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to find with Atlas. As knowledgeable as the medium had proved to be, the only one who knew the truth from the last five hundred years was Mykel.

In order to be able to get to Mykel again, Desmond felt that he needed to understand these abilities of his a little more. After the damage he had already caused to the Keeper, he didn’t want for him to suffer anymore. The sake of the souls that needed his protection depended on that. Already, Mykel probably wouldn’t be able to do as much in the state he had left in. That sort of answer, Desmond felt he could ask Atlas about. Someone who had abilities of his own, and Desmond knew the quickest way to get back to Atlas.