Within the area where Sinon was healing those that were injured, Jenna gazed and saw that everyone was almost healed, then she turned to Hitori.
He was still seated at the side edge of the room. Jenna's eyes landed on Hitori's hand that was wrapped with a bandage as a thought came to her.
Knowing that he was injured and Sinon could heal Jenna thought of an idea. She stood up and went to Hitori, standing in front of him,
Hitori looked up at her.
"You are injured right?" Jenna asked, her expression showcasing how worried she was.
However, Hitori didn't give her a response.
He removed his gaze from her and shifted it to where the young prince was standing, as he couldn't get off what was in his head.
Seeing this, Jenna stared at Hitori's bandaged hand once more and became curious. She wanted to know how bad his injury was.
"You should meet Sinon, she's a great healer. Go to her so she can heal you, you don't want it getting infected."
As the words left Jenna's lips, Hitori turned to her. His expression; gloomy as always with his dead fish eyes. Jenna gulped seeing the look in his eyes, she had seen it multiple times but this time, it showed different.
After staring at her for a little while, Hitori removed his gaze once more, and rejected:
"Leave me alone, I don't want to."
At this moment, Jenna felt a sting in her heart, she remembered the scene of how Phillip was when they left him and could only imagine how much it must hurt Hitori since they were best buddies. She figured that was what was going through his mind at the moment, which was why he wanted to be left alone.
However, that wasn't the case, Jenna was far from what he was thinking about. In Hitori's thoughts:
'They said it takes about two minutes for a human to turn into an Echo, or they die. Then why am I still alive? Why haven't I turned into an Echo yet? Or died? What does this all mean for me?'
Hitori held his injured hand tightly and Jenna noticed. She looked at his face and saw the sense of a driven determination in his eyes.
He was locked in.
'Tsk… It's not good. I need to get more information.'
Hitori stood up, walked past Jenna like she wasn't even there, and made his way to where Reynold and the young prince were.
Seeing his approach the young prince stopped what he was saying and turned to Hitori.
"Tell me all you know." Hitori uttered, his tone straight like he was giving an order.
As the words left his mouth, the young prince turned to Reynold and the others, then back at him.
"Is there something specific you want to know?" the young prince asked.
At the same time Sinon who had just finished healing everyone turned and saw Hitori's facing the young prince
"Everything. Tell me about the Echoes, how they got there, why our world has turned into chaos, and most of all… these strange abilities."
_
The room fell silent as Hitori's words hung in the air. It was thick and demanding. Those who knew, knew. He had just walked up to the prince and gave him an order.
Just as it seemed that the silence was going to last, Alex jumped in, saying:
"And who are you to question the prince of Luminastra with such a question like that, after we had just saved your lives?"
Alex was about to get up when the young prince stopped him with his hands
"It's fine, Alex." the young prince uttered with his calm voice. "I think we owe them an explanation since it's partially our fault their world got dragged into this madness."
Hearing his words, Hitori turned to Alex and gave him a side eye; it was daunting and piercing, enough for Alex to get up and strike, however, the young prince's hand was in the air keeping him from retaliating.
"Tsk."
The young prince went and sat down in one of the chairs.
"This is going to be a long story," he uttered. "Although I guess it is necessary for what is about to come next."
"First of all, I will start with how it first appeared in our home land, Luminastra."
Hearing this, Hitori stood firm as he folded his hands ignoring the pain he felt. His eyes were locked on the young prince, as he was ready to absorb all the information he was about to hear, without leaving out a single one.
Jenna saw what Hitori had just done. At first she was surprised when he approached the young prince, as the thought of what he was doing swirled in the head.
However, seeing that he wanted to get information about what was going on earth and how all this mysterious and chaotic event unfolded, she concluded that it was a good idea. And also the best time to know about it all.
Putting all these facts together a smile played on her face, as she went and sat in the same place Sinon and the other students were.
_
The young prince began;
"It all started on one of the early days of the Lumi New Year. We were celebrating and honoring our culture which was what we did every Lumi New Year.
As usual, we began the normal celebration in the kingdom and the people were celebrating and enjoying themselves. I was in the castle for the early hours of the day preparing for my speech as the prince of Luminastra.
Just when I thought it was going to mark the birth of my future reign as the next king. It came. Suddenly, the sky turned black and grey. That was the color… right?"
The young prince turned to the others, and Reynold responded with a nod.
"Exactly. I will never forget that day. The weather displayed a forecast like never before. It was neither day, nor night. Everyone was confused at that point as they all looked at the sky.
I was with my parents at the high courtyard, and Sinon was there with us also."
He gestured to Sinon.
Sinon had a silent expression on her face. No emotion whatsoever, as she knew where the whole story was going. It was neither pleasant or a day one would want to remember.
"And? What happened next?" Hitori asked, curious.
The young prince then turned away from Sinon. His grimoire on his lap as he held it with both hands, then continued;
"They descended. Echoes. The sky tore and they poured in. It was as though two worlds smashed each other and one was vulnerable and began taking in everything from the other world.
They rained like a fountain, each bringing with them terror and chaos. As they landed, it didn't take any time for them to begin slaughtering and devouring our people.
Those who were lucky died. And those who were unlucky turn into one of them. It was a true nightmare. A sight created from hell."
As the words left his lips, Hitori folded his hands tightly, as the pain of his injury coursed through his body.
"Tell me about these Echoes and how humans are able to turn into them." Hitori urged, showing an expression of curiosity.
His word hung in the air as it baffled everyone. It was shocking to see that he was rather interested in the Echoes than…
Hearing this, Echidna stared deeply at Hitori, her face frowned at the sudden curiosity that sparked within her.
'Is he…?"
"There is really not much intel we know about them since they descended to us." Reynold spoke. "However, we were able to grab a few things from our observation."
Hitori and the others shifted their gaze to Reynold who was now the center of attention.
He stared at Hitori.
Hitori nodded.
"While the Echoes descended, I was able to find the young prince on time. However, before that I noticed a few things. Most of my fellow knights who were with me at the start of the chaos got bitten while they were fighting off the Echoes. And as you know we are trained from the start to always take notice of the situation we are in. Which was exactly what we did."
"We?"
"Yes we. Myself and some other knights that were able to survive for the time. We were able to come up with how the humans were changing and the time rate. Although, it was one of ours that came up with the theory."
Reynold's face turned sad, as if he was about to shed tears.
"That knight didn't make it. But he was able to leave us with valuable information. Which was how we knew about the two minutes range. Although it might not be accurate, because back at your school they were those who turned instantly, which didn't relate to what we understood. We don't know if it's something relating to the type of Echoes or something else."
"But one thing is for sure. When a human is bitten by an Echo, they either instantly die, or turn into an Echo. One of the two, and there's no escape."
Hearing this, Hitori's face turned pale as he thought:
'Then why haven't I. It's been hours since I was bitten. How am I still a human and also not dead. What is going on?'
Jenna turned at Hitori and saw he was deep within his thoughts. Then she spoke out, her gaze fixed on Reynold:
"What about the Echo who was different from the others? You called it a Converter right? What does that mean?"
"Right! About that, but first, you would need to understand the Path of Transcendence and how we are able to perceive and wield, Othir."