Echoes from the Past
Entry One Point Two (1.2)

Aegis nearly screamed as the lights turned on by themselves. It made Vilcība jump and gasp too, which was funny. He put both hands over his mouth to stifle a giggle, ignoring his best friend when he turned around and gave Aegis the ugliest angry face he had ever seen. Vilcība was always so moody.

They tiptoed on into the giant room full of black machines. All the rooms looked giant to him, with ceilings that reached the sky. He couldn't even reach the windows along the walls like the bigger boys could.

He ran his hand along every machine as he passed it. Some looked like huge bicycles, while others were totally strange. They all looked bumpy though, so it was a lot of fun when they ended up being smooth as he slid his hand along them.

"Over here," Vilcība whispered as he walked under a yellow barrier and into the hall behind it.

Aegis didn't blindly follow his friend. The yellow barrier had writing on it.

'Do Not Enter'

The words were written in black again and again all the way from one side of the barrier to the other.

"Vilcība!" Aegis tried to whisper as he called, first standing on his tiptoes and then squatting so he could see where his friend went. "V! We're not supposed to enter!"

"Then stay outside!" Vilcība snapped from somewhere out of sight, and he was so loud that Aegis had to turn around to make sure no one was coming to punish them. "I want to see the fire. I'm going!" he declared.

Aegis' lower lip trembled, he didn't want to stay alone, but he didn't want to break any rules either. Punishments were so painful. He turned around again and looked at the empty room full of tall, scary machines.

Staying alone was worse.

"Wait!" he whispered, and he too ducked under the barrier as he ran after Vilcība, "Wait! I'm coming!"

Aegis ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The dark didn't scare him as much as the lights turning on by themselves did. So he squeezed his eyes shut and made a beeline for the end of the hall. He didn't stop running until he collided with something. He let out a short cry as his legs tangled and he tripped, knocking his head against something hard.

Aegis let out a small whimper and rocked back and forth, clutching his knees for comfort. Across him Vilcība stood up, rubbing his own head with a scowl. He turned to Aegis and was about to say something but let out a huff instead and stomped away.

"It was the lights!" Aegis tried desperately to explain, but his friend was already too busy looking at a giant window across them. The room they were going now in was big, square and white. There was nothing in this room other than the biggest window that ran from the ceiling to the floor and all the way across.

"Look Aegis! Look!" Vilcība cried, and he jumped to try and reach a button high up on the wall.

Aegis looked. There was a small room inside the window and he could see a pipe on one side of the room. There was only one door that led to the room, which was shut. It was also right next to the red button his friend was trying to push. There was nothing exciting at all about this plain, boring room. Aegis didn't understand what Vilcība saw here.

His best friend jumped again, missing the button by inches before letting out an angry howl, "I can't reach!" he wailed, "I bet this button turns the fire on." He let out another huff and pushed his long black curls out of his face.

"Maybe we can use a chair," Aegis suggested, chairs and ladders always helped him reach high places.

Vilcība's face lit up at the suggestion and he dashed back down the hall without another word. Aegis thought about following him, but he didn't want to go back to the other room where the lights could turn themselves on. So he continued cradling his knees.

A minute passed and then another.

Aegis stood up, he didn't like being alone for too long either. "Vilcība!" he hissed, "V! What's taking so long?" He moved towards the hall to shout again but stopped when he heard a scream. Aegis ran back to the window and shrunk against it. He could hear laughter now too. And loud, heavy voices like grownups had.

Three new people were walking down the hall. The biggest of them had white hair like Aegis did, but his hair was short and like Vilcība, his forehead and the Eye on it was visible. Aegis would have shown his own forehead if he was allowed to, but he hadn't found his Gift yet. So he wasn't allowed to display his Eye like the others.

The big boy had a different Eye too. It was a bunch of red circles instead of a normal red and blue eye like he had or like the moon Vilcība had. Aegis knew this person.

Caleb Sanguevod.

He was the meanest of the big boys, and he hated Aegis.

There were two boys behind Caleb without forehead Eyes. Zane, a short boy with a brown ponytail and Crach, a big one with gold hair. They were Caleb's best friends and were just as nasty. Aegis eyed the boy with golden hair first, he was holding Vilcība with one hand. He watched his best friend scream and kick wildly, but it didn't seem to make a difference. The big boys were just too strong.

"Lookie here," Caleb said with a toothed smile that made Aegis shrink away even more, "it's little Lichtsija."

He puffed his chest and made the bravest face he could muster, "Go away!" Aegis declared

Caleb's voice cracked as he laughed loudly. He suddenly stopped, a wide smile forming as he pointed at the room behind Aegis. He snapped his fingers, "Zane! I think little Lichtsija wanted to see the fire."

Zane smiled too, making Aegis suddenly very sick with worry, "I think we should show it to him then," he said, "we wouldn't want to disappoint his little highness, would we?"

"No," Caleb agreed and he lifted Aegis by the scruff of his neck.

Aegis yelled, kicked and squirmed as hard as he could, but Caleb was impossibly strong. No matter what he did, the bigger boy wouldn't put him down. He kept screaming as he was hauled to the door by the red button and then tossed inside the room. The door slid shut immediately.

Aegis banged on the door and then the windows, "Open the door!" he begged, pounding as hard as he could, "Open the door! Please!"

He couldn't hear anything but he could see the three bigger boys laughing so hard that they had tears in their eyes. Vilcība was still squirming in Crach's arms.

The room groaned and shuddered.

Aegis stopped banging and turned to the wall on his right, it was moving. The wall was closing in on him. He screamed and turned to the other side, ready to run to the wall, but the whole wall was on fire. He was being pushed to the fire.

He banged the window one more time, heart thudding so loud he could feel it in his throat, "Please let me out!" he choked.

He could barely see anything through the mass of tears. The heat of the giant roaring fire prickled his face with an uncomfortable intensity as he was pushed towards it. Aegis curled up into a ball and lay on the floor, weeping.

This was it, this was the end.

He could still see Vilcība shouting soundlessly outside the room. His best friend was crying too. He wondered if it was because they both knew he was going to die. Aegis closed his eyes. He wanted to fly, just once. It was all he could think of.

And then it happened.

Like a jerk behind his belly button before he was lifted in the air. Aegis was flying! The whole world was dark, dark and cold. It was almost like he couldn't open his eyes no matter how hard he tried. But he could hear voices, screams and laughter. He was drawn to the loudest, a cracking voice.

And he was warm again. Aegis blinked, he felt taller. He was laughing at something too. Across him—inside the room with the giant window—a small boy with white hair lay motionless. He gasped. That wasn't a small boy, that was him.

"Shut up, I know!" Caleb said quietly, he sounded angry but his eyes were wide. He immediately ran to the door and slapped the red button. The fire turned off and the wall began to go back, carrying his limp body with it.

"Can't you hear his heartbeat?" Aegis' mouth moved on its own. It was a very weird feeling.

Caleb turned to face him and called him a very bad word. He turned back to the giant window muttering, "Come on, come on."

"If the boy's dead, so are you."

Aegis' head moved on its own, towards the voice. It was Crach, still holding Vilcība tightly. His best friend wasn't shouting or fighting anymore. He was looking at the glass with his mouth and eyes both wide open.

"You killed him?" Vilcība finally asked, and the ground beneath them began to shake. He looked up at Caleb and then at Aegis, his purple eyes were turning white. "You killed him!" he shouted and then sniffed, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" The moon-shaped Eye on Vilcība's forehead turned black.

"Uh-oh," Crach said and the ground between Aegis and Caleb split open. An orange and red liquid began to bubble out of the hole. It hissed and crackled like fire and everything it touched burst into flames.

Caleb used a bad word again and with a 'puff' he vanished into a column of mist that smelled like burnt toast as it scattered in the air. Crach dropped Vilcība and ran away too.

Aegis turned without meaning to, but he wasn't running. His world was dark and cold again as he flew up and down until he was back in the room with no sound. He looked at his hands and feet to make sure he was himself again, and then laughed.

"V!" he screamed, running out the room, "V! Stop! I'm alive!"

Vilcība looked like he was flying, but he had no wings. His head jerked to Aegis and almost immediately eyes became purple again. He slowly came back down as the Eye on his forehead turned blue once more. Vilcība gave Aegis the angriest look ever, even though his eyes were watery, "You idiot! Do you know how scared I was?!" He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

Aegis was distracted by liquid going back in the giant crack for a second, "It was my Gift!" Aegis cried, nearly jumping as he spoke. He had finally found his Gift! Now he could get his blocks back, and he wouldn't need to go to the White Room anymore.

"Your Gift is pretending to die?" Vilcība wiped his eyes again, "It's a stupid Gift!"

"No!" Aegis squealed, "I was inside Zane!" If there was any way to show Vilcība what he'd been through, he would have done so. It was the coolest thing that had ever happened. "I saw you do the lava thing too!"

Vilcība sniffed and gave a small smile, "I can do more," he confessed, "I have lots of Gifts, I just didn't want Tofha-otè to know."

"So it appears."

Aegis gasped and retreated to the wall behind him, Vilcība did the same. Most of the room was still on fire and there was still a giant crack that ran across the centre. On the other side of the crack where the hall ended and the room began, a tall man with long white hair stood in front of an army of soldiers. He had the same Eye on his forehead that Aegis did.

Aegis looked at the man. As much as it frightened him, the grownup's monster left eye was always the first thing he saw. The whites of his eye were black, and his pupil was red. It was the scariest eye he had ever seen.

"Tofha-otè?" His smile faded just as quickly as it had come, all the excitement Aegis had felt seemed to vanish as well.

"Take them both," Tofha-otè said, he sounded normal but Aegis knew better. The man turned his head to the right ever so slightly as he spoke though his eyes never left the two boys.

A gush of bile welled up his throat. Was he being taken to the White Room anyway? He would have begged Tofha-otè, but he didn't want any more punishments today. So when the soldiers in black came to take him away, he let out a small sniffle and quietly submitted.