Chapter Nine: Echo's Echo
Chorus:
Sometimes, the loudest voice is the one inside your head—or, in Echo's case, sometimes it's a whole choir. When visions, memories, and mysterious whispers start crashing her thoughts like an unruly tavern brawl, Echo must sort fact from fancy. And maybe, just maybe, figure out if she's haunted… or just really, really tired.
Thebes, early morning. The city is waking up with its usual clatter—merchants shouting, goats bleating, and the distant sound of someone arguing with a particularly stubborn olive tree. Echo sits cross-legged on the rooftop of the council chamber, staring at the horizon with a furrowed brow. Her mind is a whirlwind of images and voices, some hers, some not, all clamoring for attention.
Echo (muttering):
Okay, brain, can we maybe pick one voice at a time?
Preferably one that doesn't sound like a drunk bard.
Antheia climbs up beside her, balancing a basket of oddly shaped fruit.
Antheia:
You look like you're wrestling with a chorus of ghosts.
Echo:
More like a full-on opera.
And the lead soprano is singing in riddles.
Antheia:
Maybe it's time to find out what's really going on.
Scene One: The Mysterious Visions
Echo's visions have been growing stronger—flashes of unfamiliar faces, places she's never been, and whispers in languages she can't quite understand. Sometimes, she even hears her own voice answering back, but with words she didn't say.
Echo (to herself):
Who are you?
And why do you sound like you're auditioning for a tragedy?
Agent Gray arrives, clutching a notebook filled with scribbles and diagrams.
Gray:
I've been reviewing your reports.
You're not just imagining things.
There's a pattern.
And possibly a curse.
Echo (deadpan):
Great. Just what I needed.
A curse.
Maybe it comes with a free goat.
Scene Two: Seeking Answers
Antheia, Echo, and Gray visit the caravan's healer, a woman with a gentle smile and a suspiciously large collection of herbs.
Healer:
Voices from the past can be burdens or gifts.
Sometimes, they're both.
Have you tried talking back?
Echo:
I have.
Mostly, I get sarcastic replies.
Healer (chuckling):
Then perhaps it's time to listen differently.
She offers a tea brewed from leaves that smell faintly of lemons and mystery.
Scene Three: The Investigation Begins
Echo spends the day retracing her visions—visiting places in Thebes she's never been, talking to people who seem to recognize her in ways she doesn't understand.
At a dusty library, a scroll falls open to a passage about "Echoes of the Soul"—spirits that carry memories across time and space.
Echo (reading aloud):
"Those touched by the Echoes hear not only their own past but the whispers of others—friends, foes, and strangers."
Antheia (peering over her shoulder):
Sounds like you've got a party in your head.
Echo:
And I wasn't even invited.
Scene Four: A Ghostly Encounter
That night, Echo returns home to find a figure waiting—a translucent woman with eyes full of sorrow and mischief.
Spirit:
You hear us.
You see us.
You are the bridge.
Echo (startled):
Great.
Now I'm a bridge.
Can I at least get a toll booth?
Spirit (smiling):
Your journey has just begun.
The spirit fades, leaving Echo with more questions than answers.
Scene Five: Humor in the Haunting
Echo confides in Antheia.
Echo:
I'm haunted.
By voices, memories, and apparently, bad timing.
Antheia:
Maybe the ghosts just want to be heard.
Echo:
Or they want me to do their laundry.
They laugh, the tension easing.
Scene Six: The Chorus Joins In
The Chorus, never missing a chance, composes a song about Echo's predicament—mixing humor, mystery, and a catchy tune about talking to ghosts and dodging spectral laundry.
Chorus (singing):
Echo hears a thousand calls,
From ancient halls and shadowed walls.
She juggles voices, laughs, and sighs—
With spectral laundry as her prize!
The city hums along, laughter spilling into the night.
Scene Seven: A New Understanding
Echo begins to embrace her gift—or curse—learning to listen without fear and to find humor in the haunting.
Echo (smiling):
Maybe being the city's echo isn't so bad.
As long as the ghosts don't start asking for rent.
Antheia:
And if they do, we'll charge them in olives.
Chorus (closing):
Echo's echo is many voices—
Some serious, some silly, all part of Thebes's song.
And sometimes, the best way to hear the future
Is to laugh at the past.