The echo floated above the ruined center of Grimestone, its body shifting between black liquid, broken crystal, and distorted reflections.
Its shape never stayed still for long.
Even now, after forming a proper voice, it still looked incomplete.
The chieftain stood across from it with Varkhalion in hand.
The entire village could feel wrath, pure unbridled rage devoid of any trickery.
Trolls instinctively moved farther away from him.
Even those who had fought beside him before had never seen him like this.
Humbaba sat against a damaged wall while Grisha treated his wounds, both of them watching silently.
The echo tilted its head slightly.
“You hate me,” it said, its voice uneven but understandable now.
“That feeling… I can understand it a little more now.”
The chieftain did not reply.
He stepped forward and swung Varkhalion.
The axe struck the echo before most people could even follow the movement.
The impact blasted apart the ground beneath the creature and split its body into fragments of black fluid and floating shards.
For a second, it looked finished.
Then the pieces started moving again.
The liquid dragged itself back together while the floating fragments slowly returned to the center.
The echo rebuilt itself in front of everyone.
Rujark narrowed his eyes.
“It survived that?”
Grisha quietly shook her head.
“No… it reassembled itself.”
The echo laughed softly while its body continued reforming.
“I continue because I have not stopped yet…”
The chieftain disappeared from where he stood and appeared above it.
Varkhalion came down again with enough force to crush the crater deeper into the earth.
Stone cracked outward across the village floor.
The echo screamed as its body split apart once more.
But again, it started pulling itself back together. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
The chieftain landed heavily and stared at it with growing irritation.
Veins rose along his arms as he tightened his grip around the axe.
The echo noticed.
“You regret not ending me earlier…”
The mirrors around its body started rotating faster.
The air around the chieftain bent strangely for a moment.
One side of his body looked farther away than it should have been before snapping back into place.
Several trolls stepped back nervously.
The chieftain planted Varkhalion into the ground.
The distortion around him broke apart instantly.
The echo stopped laughing.
Without another word, the chieftain rushed forward again.
This time the echo created several reflections of itself around the village.
Some stood on rooftops while others floated above the broken streets.
Every copy moved differently, laughing and twitching as they surrounded him.
Rujark immediately tried tracking the real one but even his eyesight struggled to follow the movements.
Then Varkhalion swung.
A massive shockwave tore through the village center and shattered every fake body at once.
Buildings already damaged from the earlier battle collapsed completely from the pressure.
The real echo appeared behind the chieftain immediately after.
A distorted limb shot toward his back.
The chieftain caught it with one hand.
The echo’s body twitched violently.
Then he slammed it into the ground hard enough to flatten the crater floor again.
The trolls nearby nearly lost balance from the impact.
The echo’s body spread across the ground before struggling to pull itself back together once more.
But this time, it moved differently.
Grisha noticed first.
“It’s trying to leave.”
Behind the echo, cracks started spreading through the air itself.
Dark fractures opened slowly, forming a space large enough for its body to pass through.
The chieftain’s expression hardened further.
“You are not leaving this place.”
He lifted Varkhalion again.
The echo laughed nervously now, its voice shaking.
“You still do not understand what I am…”
The fracture widened.
The echo started sinking backward into it.
The chieftain moved instantly.
Varkhalion crashed down before the opening could fully close.
Half the echo’s body disappeared under the strike while the force of the blow tore through the distant forest behind the village, dropping entire rows of trees.
The remaining half of the echo slipped backward into the fracture.
Its voice echoed weakly as the space began closing.
“I do not even understand myself…”
Then the crack disappeared completely.
Silence spread through Grimestone.
Dust drifted through the ruined village while broken wood and stone settled around the crater.
The chieftain remained standing there for several seconds, staring at the empty space where the echo vanished.
Humbaba exhaled slowly.
“It escaped.”
The chieftain finally rested Varkhalion against the ground beside him.
“No,” he said quietly.
“It ran.”