Chapter 05 - A Glimpse Of The Past

Damon let go of Echo's wrist. She gave him a menacing look. The commander kept his hand on Echo's shoulder.

"Let's get out of here before they change their mind," the commander ordered. Echo simply put her head down, and walked out of the dungeon.

Damon looked at Kaia, as he transformed back to normal, "Show them out."

Kaia nodded, and walked ahead of the commander and Echo.

Damon sighed as soon as he was alone. He did not mean anything he told her, but he needed to scare her away. If the other demons knew that he captured two Protectors, they would want to torture them to death.

Damon's inner voice apologised, 'I'm sorry.' He immediately turned around, and walked out of the dungeon.

—

Echo sighed as Kaia closed the large gates after letting them out. She gloomily stared at the road which was empty.

The commander glanced at Echo, he pursed his lips, "Let's go back to the manor we need to debrief."

Echo nodded her head absentmindedly. She turned to the commander who seemed anxious. He looked around, kept his hand on Echo's shoulder and mumbled a spell.

The world around them turned hazy, and they were back in the stone room, in front of the portal.

The commander looked at Echo who was staring at the portal, "Briefing room, remember?"

Echo whipped her head turning to the commander, lowering her head she replied, "Yes, commander."

The commander looked at her for a while, and then turned, leaving the room. Echo followed him leaving a small distance between them. Her emotions were toying with her.

Echo felt dejected, and upset by what Damon told her. It brought that old feeling back that she had tried to bury deep in her heart. She felt as if she was the very problem of everything, like she was cursed.. or moreover she was the curse.

Deep in her thoughts, Echo stood at the door to the briefing room. The commander was holding the door open for her.

The commander felt something was not right with Echo, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Echo answered without giving much thought to it. She forced a pursed smile, as she stepped into the briefing room.

The captains were back, some of them were absent, but most of them were seated at their assigned places.

"We drove the demons back. Some of them escaped," one of the captains reported.

The commander nodded in reply. He then trailed off, explaining what had happened once he and Echo entered the warehouse.

"Echo!" Echo heard the commander call her name. She was too caught up in her thoughts and emotions that she missed the whole debrief by the commander.

Echo looked at the commander, and then back at the other captain's who were clearly staring at her.

The commander raised his eyebrow, "Debrief!"

Echo thought for a while, and began explaining, "I woke up in a room, Damon was there. Then he brought me to you, and we left."

The commander glared at Echo. Sebastian, who was among the captains, couldn't help but share his opinion, "Have you ever been debriefed before?"

Echo looked at Sebastian and replied honestly, "No!"

"You seem to be holding back information," the commander voiced, "You've been deep in thought the whole time we left the demon's lair, and you recognised the demon."

Echo did not know how to react to the commander's keen senses. He was indeed correct, but Echo thought that it might not be that valuable of information.

"He was my brother's best friend.. I didn't know he was a demon. And this is the first time seeing him after a year… after my death," Echo responded without withholding any information.

The officials in the room shared confused looks among each other, until the commander voiced what everyone was thinking, "Your death?"

Echo stared at the commander for a while. She thought that the witches had told everything about her to the commander, but that was not the case. It seemed that they had withheld the information about her origins.

Taking a deep breath, Echo began to explain, "I was a human before. I died in a car accident, alongside my parents. My brother survived, but he's unconscious. Damon was my brother's best friend. I never thought he was a demon, he was sweet… Come to think of it… it's almost too good to be true. After my accident, the witches revived me. They said if I helped them, they'd help my brother. The deal was no questions asked."

The captains, including the commander and Sebastian just glared at Echo. It was pretty obvious to her that they were taken aback by what she said, or they straight up didn't trust her.

"Dismissed," the commander gave his order. Echo looked at the commander, who still had a cold glare on her.

Echo lowered her head in obedience, "Yes, sir." She turned around, and left the briefing room.

Once outside, she sighed. There it was, that curse… the curse that messed everything in her life. Not knowing what else to do, Echo walked to the lift, hoping to get back to her house.

The corridors were long, and confusing, but eventually she found her way to the door that was assigned to her, only to find someone standing next to it, waiting for her.

Echo looked up at the commander who crossed his arms staring at her.

"Commander," Echo lowered her head in respect.

The commander had his eyes fixed on her. He was giving her a cold glare, but she just lowered her head awaiting his order. When the commander realised she was going to just stand there with her head lowered, he gave her an order, "We need to talk."