

### Echoes in the Wind

### Written by Marisa Quinn-Haisu

### Published by Marisa Quinn-Haisu at Smashwords

### Cover design by Katie Quinn

### Copyright 2018 Marisa Quinn-Haisu

### Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Ancient Greece, The Golden Age

Narcissus was tired. The woman he had chosen to bed was chatting about something, but he wasn't paying much attention. Her cheerfulness was like the chirping of birds in his ears. It did little to rouse much emotion in him. Finally, she noticed he wasn't listening, and caressed his cheek with a brush of her hand.

"My lord? Is something the matter?"

They were lying on a patch of grass under a tree. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze in the air and water was rushing over rocks in his beloved river. Narcissus shifted his weight. He didn't like her touching him.

"Be silent, woman." He waved a hand at her in annoyance. Corina wasn't fazed by his show of irritation and continued to smile at him.

"The sun is bright. Shall we go for a walk along the river?"

He sighed. "Woman, I am weary. Leave me be."

Narcissus was one of the Gods. It hadn't taken much effort for him to be able to persuade this woman to indulge in a love affair with him while her husband was out of town. He had lost count of the amount of lovers he had taken over the centuries. Any other man would have felt guilty, but not him. He felt nothing at all. He had been alive for so long the only thing inside him was emptiness.

Corinna rambled on, pretending to herself that she still had his attention. Every few minutes she would pause in the middle of a sentence, giggle to herself, then snuggle against him and continue speaking.

Narcissus stared up at the sky, silent and still, his face devoid of emotion. The woman lying next to him meant nothing to him. None of the lovers he had taken over the centuries ever had. There was only one woman meant for him, one destined for him, one that he ached for with a desperation that bordered on physical pain. Somewhere out there he had a soul mate.

Soul Mates were paired together by the Three Fates, the Goddesses of Destiny, because they could see which souls would make the best matches. Narcissus knew he had a soul mate out there somewhere but he had no idea who she was or where he could find her. He had just one clue from the Three Fates to help him and that was a mysterious mark on his arm.

The circular symbol had appeared on his wrist two hundred years ago. It resembled a tattoo. It had appeared on his arm the moment his soul mate had taken her first breath. It was her symbol. An image crafted by the Three Fates to mark him as her soul mate and to give him a clue to her identity. The only problem was Narcissus didn't know how to read the tattoo to help him figure out what her name might be. The mark on his arm continued to be a mystery to him.

"Is something troubling you, my lord god?" Corinna sounded worried now. He had been ignoring her for too long. She put a hand on his shoulder. Narcissus pulled away, anger rising sharply in him. "Corinna..." He flicked a glance at her over his shoulder. His eyes swirled and changed from glittering white to icy blue.

A quivering smile touched the corners of her mouth.

She's nervous. A frown flitted across Narcissus's face. She thinks she has done something to displease me. He lowered his head. She has done nothing. He took a deep breath and let it out. I am the one at fault. There is only one woman meant for me. No one else can take her place. Why do I do this to myself?

"Narcissus?"

He remained silent.

"Shall we bathe in the river?"

I am so alone.

"We could take a walk through the forest if you like."

Where could my soul mate be?

"Or would you like to pick some flowers together?"

I cannot bare much more of this. "Corinna..."

Corinna pulled herself into a sitting position. Her eyes travelled over his face nervously. "Is something troubling you?"

Narcissus felt his insides twist with guilt. How many times am I going to break the hearts of others? He straightened to his feet and squared his shoulders.

"Clothe yourself and leave." He threw the harsh statement in her face then turned his back on her. Her breath escaped her lungs in a rush. He pressed a hand against his forehead and cringed. I am weak. So weak.

Corinna stood upward slowly, her entire body trembling. "Did I do something wrong?" she sounded so wounded, so fragile. Narcissus balled his hands into fists and gave a barely audible sigh. "You did nothing wrong."

Corinna began to cry, deep wrenching sobs. "Then why do you wish for me to leave after what we shared?" she crossed her arms over her breasts and looked at him with large, sad eyes.

Narcissus felt a stab of anger. "Did you think we were destined for each other?" High above his head the sky darkened with thunderclouds. The wind rose to a whine. The trees started to sway as if awoken from a slumber.

Narcissus stood up slowly, his hands balled into fists. His eyes flashed, one minute the colour blue, the next metallic green. "Did you think we would wed?"

"You don't seek a bride?" Her voice was trembling.

Narcissus made a sound of disgust at the back of his throat. "You could never be my wife. Do not pretend to love me, woman. I can read your thoughts."

His hair rippled around his shoulders like a long, silken cape. "All you see when you look at me is someone who can rescue you from mediocrity. You want to become like me." His teeth flashed white. "Immortal."

Corinna threw herself at his feet. "Forgive me, Narcissus. It was wrong for me to think such terrible things." She peered up at him. "I love you," She shuffled towards him on her knees. "I really do. Give me a chance to prove it."

The anger smoldering in Narcissus rose to boiling point. A roar welled up into his throat, built and built until it burst past his lips and echoed throughout the woods like a thunderclap, shaking the ground itself.

Corinna whirled and tried to run. Narcissus snagged hold of her wrist and pulled her backward. He circled her within his arms and lowered his head until their brows were almost touching.

Corinna stared up at him hopelessly, unable to free himself from his grasp. Narcissus raised his left arm and held it in front of her face forcing her to look at the mark on his wrist. "You are not my soul mate!" he bellowed.

With a sob, Corinna fell to her knees at his feet. Narcissus remained as still as a statue. His anger ebbed until there was nothing left inside him but sadness. After a long pause, he lowered his head and took a step backward. Corinna took the chance he was giving her and grabbed her things and ran off.

Narcissus's shoulders sagged and his face fell into lines of despair. He dragged a breath of air into his lungs, held it for a moment, and then let it out.

He turned his back to the forest and stepped into his river. Water pooled around his ankles and rose to his knees. He dissolved into liquid and disappeared beneath the water, from the eyes of others, to a place where he could be alone.

****

"Hear me!" shrieked a voice into the night.

Nemesis, Goddess of Vengeance, slapped a hand against her forehead and groaned. "Ugh," she sat upward, water trickled between her breasts and cascaded over her shoulders in the bathtub she was sitting in.

"Now what?" she muttered, unable to hide her irritation. She leaned over the edge of the bathtub and waved her hand over the top of a candle. The wick burst into flame filling the room with a flickering light. Nemesis turned her head to the side and cast a glance out a window. Outside the temple, rain fell in silvery sheets, shrouding the surrounding woods in fog. Huddled at the foot of the temple steps, shaking with sobs, was a mortal woman. "Goddess!" she cried.

Nemesis rolled her eyes. "Oh, in the name of Zeus..." she turned away from the window and sunk to the bottom of the bath. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps began to approach. The noise ceased outside the room.

"Uh, Nemesis?" said a voice. The door opened a crack. A young priestess peered round the corner. "Are you in here?" Her gaze fell onto the tub. "There's a worshipper out the front calling your name. She sounds a little distressed. I sense that Narcissus is to blame."

Nemesis lifted her head from beneath the water. "Again?"

"I'm afraid so."

Nemesis got out of the bed. "Why do mortals show up at my temple when I'm in the bath?" she pointed a finger at a wooden chest. The lid flipped open. A robe rose out of the box and floated towards her out stretched hand. Nemesis snatched hold of the garment and pulled it on. "Are you sure this woman was involved with Narcissus?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Wasn't one of his mistresses here the other night?"

"That was ten years ago."

"It was?" Nemesis pressed a hand against her mouth and uttered a small laugh. "Oh, well, you know me, Eutropia." She swept across the room regally, shoulders squared, head held high. "I can never keep track of the time." She flicked her wrist. The door swung open. Nemesis smiled at Eutropia.

"A decade passes quickly when you are immortal." She turned her head away and set off down the corridor with long, graceful strides. Eutropia followed behind her at a respectful distance. The door swung shut behind them with a hollow boom. Nemesis flicked a sideward look at Eutropia. "How many lovers of Narcissus does this make now?"

"Two hundred and ninety."

A corner of Nemesis's mouth curved upward. "A couple of thousand more and he'll be able to rival Zeus." At the end of the corridor a set of double doors swung open with a low insidious creak. A blast of wind blew in through the entranceway pelting the goddesses with raindrops.

Nemesis stepped through the open door and out into the rain. Her hair streamed around her face and bands of mist coiled around her legs. She raised her arms above her head. "This ends." The wind silenced and the clouds broke apart bringing an end to the rain. The moon shone down onto the ground and stars glittered high above. A hush fell over the woods.

The mortal woman lifted her head and gasped. "You came!"

Nemesis descended down the steps. "Rise," she said.

The woman stood upward, trembling. Nemesis stared at the anguish so transparent on her face and fought the urge to sigh. "Tell me your name, child."

"Corinna," she said.

"And what is so urgent that you had to interrupt my" Nemesis broke off in mid sentence and gave a little cough. "Uh, what I meant to say was" An expression she hoped looked sympathetic crossed her face. "Tell me the name of the fiend that treated you so terribly you felt compelled to seek me out?"

Corinna sniffed. "I am here because of a god named Narcissus."

Nemesis raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "What did he do to you?"

Corinna wrapped her arms around her stomach. "He seduced me into having an affair with him. I knew it was wrong. I am a married woman, I should not have allowed him to touch me, but I did. He was so beautiful I could not resist him."

Her voice began to tremble. "He murmured something to me while we were making love. He called me his soul mate. He whispered it so lovingly, so tenderly, I believed him. I thought I thought he wanted me." A bitter laugh escaped her mouth. "I was wrong, so wrong. I meant nothing to him. He wanted my body, nothing more. I was a whore to him. A whore."

"What happened then?"

"After we were done, he shouted at me to leave." Her expression turned defensive. "And just because I had a fleeting thought about how different my life would become if the two of us were to wed."

Nemesis folded her arms over her breasts. "You thought he was going to make you into a demi-goddess." The edge of her mouth hardened. "You wanted the gift of immortality, not his love."

Corinna uttered a gasp and moved a step backward, wide-eyed, like a quivering rabbit. "I...I..." she fell to her knees on the ground and buried her face in her hands. "It's true," she sobbed, jerking her head. "Please, please, understand..." She peered at Nemesis over the tips of her fingers.

"I am from a poor family, my father forced me into marrying a fisherman twice my age, people spit on me in the streets. When Narcissus chose me to be his lover, he made me feel beautiful for the first time. I began to wonder what it would be like to be eternally young, to be beautiful, to be worshipped..."

Nemesis narrowed her eyes ominously. "I see."

"Narcissus told me I could never love him." Corinna was almost shouting now. "I would've left my husband for him. I would have done anything for him." Her voice crumbled into sobs. "He forced me to go back to my husband."

"Narcissus is not destined for you," said Nemesis in a quiet voice.

"You're wrong," cried Corinna, shaking her head.

Nemesis sighed. "You're carrying Narcissus's child, aren't you?"

Corinna sniffed and wiped her cheek. "Yes. As long as Narcissus's child sleeps within me, I cannot return him. If my husband found out he would beat me to death for dishonoring him." The wind began to rise. Somewhere, deep in the woods, a voice cried out, a long scream that shook the ground. Corinna uttered a tiny shriek and clutched her stomach protectively.

Nemesis circled her fingers around her wrist. "Be calm, child."

Corinna jerked her head from side to side, searching the shadows, half expecting for Narcissus to stare back. "Narcissus must know I am here. He is angry with me, I can tell." Her panicked gaze swung towards Nemesis.

" I do not have much time. Narcissus has ruined my life. He seduced me into dishonoring my husband to please his own selfish desires. It is because of him that I was forced to flee my home. I demand that he punished."

In the distance clouds began to spin above the treetops. Nemesis cast a nervous glance towards the woods. The wind strengthened, lifting twigs and leaves off the ground and spinning them around.

Nemesis rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Do you sense something, Eutropia? she spoke telepathically, on a private mental path that Corinna would not be able to detect.

Eutropia turned her head to the side. Something is happening in the forest. One of our kind is enraged about something. I cannot tell who it is.

I sense power.

Yes, I know, I can feel it too. The mortal might be in danger.

Nemesis turned her head, fixing her gaze back onto Corinna. She squared her shoulders and drew a deep breath into her lungs. "I have heard your tale of wrong doing. I will grant your wish for vengeance if you will promise to do one thing for me." She moved a step forward. "I want your word that you will not abandon the child growing within your womb after it is born." A second step brought her so close her shadow enveloped Corinna like an eclipse.

"Stand still." Nemesis pressed her hand against Corinna's stomach and furrowed her brow in concentration. After a short pause, a smile curved her mouth. "Narcissus has blessed you with a daughter, she will be half mortal and half immortal, a demi-goddess. She will need your love and guidance, Corinna."

"I'm going to give birth to a demi-goddess?" asked Corinna.

Nemesis nodded. "Yes, you are. It will be difficult to raise her on your own but not impossible. Narcissus has given you a precious gift. Your daughter needs you, Corinna. Are you going to be a mother to her?"

Fear flashed across her face. "I have no home. No husband."

"I can send you to a safe place to give birth. Your daughter has powers even in the womb, Corinna. She will not let you starve or spend the rest of your life cowering in a gutter." She cupped the side of her face in her hand. "All she needs in return is your love. Are you up to the task?" she asked.

Corinna paused, then jerked her head in a nod. "I am," she said.

"If you are ready I can send you from this place to a safe haven."

Corinna's attention drifted towards the line of trees. As she turned her head, a gust of wind circled around her body, showering her in fallen leaves. Her robes rippled around her legs, parting occasionally, each time revealing a glimpse of her bare thighs. Her vacant stare gazed deep into the woods. The shadows surrounding the trees was like a void. Deep. Dark. Black.

Corinna gave herself a light shake and turned away, shuddering. A man with curled horns on each side of his head stepped out from behind a tree in the corner of her vision. With a gasp, Corinna glanced to the side, but saw nothing.

Nemesis squeezed her arm. Corinna whirled around, breathing heavily, her face pale with fright. "I want to leave," she said in a whisper.

Nemesis closed her eyes and focused her energies onto the demi-goddess nestled in Corinna's womb. Her mind entered the child's and brushed against the tiny pulsating light that was her soul. The little girl stirred, curiosity awakened inside her so strongly, her emotions rebounded back onto Nemesis filling her with child-like awe for the first time in centuries.

Smiling, the older goddess probed deeper into the mind of the infant. Too young to speak in words, Narcissus's daughter used her powers to communicate with images thrust directly into Nemesis's head. Despite her age, she could sense her mother's distress and wanted to know if she was in danger.

Nemesis answered by filling the child's head with flashes of all the dangerous creatures lurking in the forest. A ripple of panic gripped hold of the girl. Nemesis pressed harder, bombarding the demi-goddess with an overwhelming desire to do everything she could to protect the fragile mortal that was her mother.

Corinna gasped and circled her arms around her waist. "My baby." Her gaze dropped onto her stomach as a golden light began to grow inside her womb. As she watched, it began to pulsate, bathing her in a flickering glow. "What is happening?" She lifted her head and cast a fearful glance at Nemesis. "Where am I..." Her body paled, turned transparent, and then vanished.

Nemesis turned her head towards Eutropia. "Follow me." She spun around in a circle and disappeared in a flash of flame. The world turned black and soundless for a moment then rematerialized into a dome shaped chamber as large as a cathedral. A series of columns ribbed the walls, each one ornately carved with suns and moons. High above, in the centre of the ceiling, there was a large circular opening that looked up at the sky; far below, directly beneath the hole, was a shallow pool filled with mysterious liquid in the middle of the floor. In the corners of the room there were four copped pots filled with crackling flames.

"Eutropia?" called Nemesis.

A cloud of smoke seeped under the crack of the door and moved into a patch of moonlight. Nemesis glanced over her shoulder as the particles of vapor stacked on top of each other and began to rise upward in the shape of a woman. Eutropia stood pale and transparent for a moment then solidified into flesh.

"I am here," she said.

Nemesis sighed. "I am tired of women like Corinna seeking me out to demand vengeance against their immortal lovers for getting them pregnant then leaving them because they are not their soul mates."

"It is beginning to grow tiresome," agreed the younger woman.

Nemesis swung away, her face darkening with anger. "I have ignored Narcissus's sins for far too long." She crossed the length of the room in three long strides, her jeweled eyes glittering. "The time has come for him to be punished." She loomed over the edge of the pool and stared down at her reflection. "How many children has he sired now?"

"Including myself, three hundred. All of them half-breeds."

Nemesis kneeled next to the edge of the pool. "I should have done this centuries ago." She reached into the pool and pulled out a long, thin scepter topped with a sphere made out of glittering crystal.

A bolt of lightning shot down through the hole in the ceiling and struck the top of the staff illuminating the room with a flash. Nemesis ran her hand over the top of the crystal. It was warm beneath her palm. Trapped within the globe was a flicking ball of electricity. On the other side of the room Eutropia pulled out a small leather bound drum and began to pound a mallet against it in a monotonous beat. Nemesis began to dance. As she weaved her spell, bubbles rose up out of the pool and spread throughout the room.

A single voice cried out. It was joined by another. And another. More and more joined in. All of them weeping. All of them shouting. A shrieking cacophony of anguish. All around Nemesis the faces of Narcissus's former lovers peered out from within the bubbles with sad and haunted eyes.

"Why did he leave me?" shouted one.

"I thought we were destined for each other," sobbed another.

"I can't live without him!"

"What did I do wrong?"

"Bring him back, please."

"He left me...he left me..."

In the center of the pool the largest bubble of all arose from beneath the water and floated up into the air with the face of Narcissus contained inside. Nemesis brought her staff down in an overhead plunge and slammed the bottom of it against the ground. A flash of light lit up the room. A set of solid gold scales appeared in front of Nemesis. The weighing machine hovered in the air surrounded by a glowing light.

Nemesis whispered a command. The bubbles containing the faces of the women merged into a single glistening sphere and lowered onto the left scale. At the same time the bubble with the image of Narcissus trapped inside dropped onto the right side. The left scale dropped downward lifting Narcissus upward.

A wicked smile unfurled across Nemesis's mouth. "It is decided."

****

Echo Oread dropped onto a tree branch with the gracefulness of a jungle cat and bent forward in a crouch. Rain drops pelted against the top of her head and rolled between her breasts down to her taunt muscular stomach. Her jade coloured hair clung to her shoulders, the strands glistening wet. Her eyes glowed luminescent green in the darkness. The piercing stare of a goddess.

Return to me, spoke a voice inside her head. She recognized the telepathic touch instantly, there was no way she could not. She not only heard it while she was awake, she heard it in her nightmares, as well.

Let me go, Pan.

You belong with me.

No, I do not.

We are soul mates.

No, we are not. My destiny lies with another.

You bare my mark.

Echo circled her fingers around a birthmark on her wrist. It was pale white and smooth to the touch as if it had been inked into her skin. It spanned the width of her wrist and was intricately designed like a tattoo. Echo rubbed the tip of her thumb over the raised lines. Who are you? She thought.

Imprinted on her skin was an image of a man kneeling on the edge of a riverbank smiling down at his reflection. It was the symbol of her soul mate. An image designed by the Three Fates, the Goddesses of Destiny, to represent his name. Its mark on her arm symbolized that she was his soul mate.

It was a brand, a sign to others, that said she belonged to someone. All Gods and Goddesses bore similar tattoos on their wrists. Echo had been born with the mark of her soul mate imprinted on her arm. A sign from the Fates, she would later learn, that her soul mate had been born before her.

Pan, Lord of the Satyrs, did not have a symbol on his arm. His soul mate, whoever she might be, was not alive yet.

It does not represent you, Pan. It is the symbol of a river God. You are a forest deity, a satyr. We are not meant to be. You know I speak the truth. You just do not want to believe it. If we were truly soul mates you would bare my mark.

It will appear one day, I know it will.

No, Pan, it won't. Not mine.

An edge of desperation entered his voice. Please come back, Echo. I will prove you wrong. We are soul mates. We have to be. I knew, from the moment I first heard you sing, that we were destined for one another. I do not know why your mark has not appeared on my arm. Sometimes I fear the Fates have cursed me. Do not abandon me, my love. You are my destiny, I know it.

It is not love you feel for me, Pan. It is obsession.

If you do not return to me willingly I will have my servants drag you back.

Echo seized hold of a branch and pulled herself up to her full height. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky behind her. "They can try."

She threw herself off the top of the tree and plummeted downward. The wind whistled in her ears and her hair whipped around her shoulders. The moment her feet touched the ground there was a colossal clap of thunder. She didn't need to look up at the sky to know that Pan's emotions were fueling the storm. She could feel his sadness in the rain and hear his cries of anger in the shrieking wind.

Echo straightened upward in a ripple of muscles and put on a burst of speed. The wind hit her face. Her hair billowed behind her shoulders like a streak of green flame and rain drops splattered against her dark skin. The world flashed past her in a blur of sight and sound. She weaved in and out of the trees, her body sleek and stream lined, faster than the mortal eye could catch.

A robed figure stepped into view directly in her path. Echo crouched within the shadows of a tree and sucked in a deep breath. "Hello, Callias. I thought Pan would send you. Have you come to stop me?"

He lowered the hood of his robes. "You are an Oread." He had the upper body of a man, the legs and tails of a goat and large, curled horns on each side of his head. His teeth were very white. "A Goddess of the mountains. Your powers are minimal compared to ours."

A ripple of alarm shot through Echo. Another satyr stepped out of the bushes in front of her. He had short black hair and a mean tilt to his mouth.

"Echo," he said.

"Agathon," she replied. A third and fourth satyr stepped into view surrounding her in a circle. Despite her nerves, she laughed. "Helladius and Evaristus as well. I didn't expect so many friends to follow me into the woods" She spread her hands wide. "Do you expect me to surrender? Is that it?"

"It would make things simpler."

"If you hurt me Pan will rip out your heart."

Callias smiled. "We have no intention of hurting you, Echo." He raised a pan flute to his lips and started to play a song. One by one the other satyrs took out their own pan flutes and joined in causing the music to swell in volume.

Echo fell to her knees and pressed her hands against her head. A wave of drowsiness passed over her stealing the breath from her lungs. Her skull felt as if it was filled with smoke. The urge to sink into a deep slumber was almost too strong for her resist. A thought flashed inside her head of the pain and suffering she would be forced to endure if she was brought back to Pan.

"No," she breathed, her voice a thin thread of dread. She lifted her head back and looked up. The satyrs had stepped closer and were now looming over her. A deep male laugh sounded within the confines of her head. Surrender

A scream rose into her throat. "I will not!" she threw herself forward and slammed her fists against the ground. A hollow boom reverberated throughout the forest disrupting the sound of the music. The forest floor began to splinter and crack, long winding fissures that spread out from beneath Echo, forcing the satyrs to retreat backward. The fractures widened into chasms, gaping holes that opened like mouths, swallowing chunks of rock and vegetation into the earth.

Echo got onto her feet and raised her arms above her head. A whirlwind descended from the clouds and circled around her body ripping branches off trees and lifting boulders off the ground. She pointed a finger at Helladius and sent a rock hurdling towards him. The boulder slammed into his stomach knocking him onto the ground unconscious.

Echo flung a tree branch at Agathon impaling him in the chest. Evaristus shrieked in rage and raised his arms blasting her with lightning from his fingertips. Echo lifted a boulder off the ground with the power of her mind and sent it hurdling at the satyr crushing him beneath its weight.

Callias began to clap his hands. "I always knew you had violence within you." Echo closed the distance between them with a single leap and lifted Callias off the ground with the power of her rage. Unable to move, he hovered in the air motionless, like a puppet hanging from strings.

Callias startled to cackle with laughter and then a bulge rose into his throat which made him start to gag. His lips parted as something large and scaly started to unfurl from his mouth. Echo closed her fingers around the snake and squeezed causing it to disappear with a soft pop.

"I know all of your tricks, Callias. There is nothing you can do to stop me. I will never stop running. I would rather die than go back to Pan."

"He will find you." Callias wasn't smiling now. He was all serious. "You can't escape our Lord. You are meant for him. His whore. His queen. His everything."

"Never," she breathed. Overcome with rage, she clicked her fingers. The satyr's head twisted violently to one side with a loud and ear-splitting snap. He then crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Echo stepped over the top of him and took off running. A flock of birds swooped down from above, screeching and flapping their wings. Echo shot a glance up at the canopy, her face contorted with dread. A large black bird dug its claws into her left shoulder and scratched its beak down the side of her face.

Echo threw her head back and shrieked. A second bird fluttered down and latched itself onto her other shoulder; six more perched themselves onto her arms and one sunk its claws into the top of her head. The birds lowered their heads and began to poke and scratch.

Echo spun around in a circle, arms wheeling, a scream ripping from her throat. The birds stirred wildly, wings fluttering, their shrill cries piercing her ear drums. She could feel the bite of their claws digging into her flesh and hear her skin rip with every touch of their sharp, wicked beaks.

Suddenly, a skeletal arm burst up from the beneath the ground and closed around her ankle. Echo's head arched backward and her mouth fell open in a wordless cry of shock. Her knees hit the ground. The birds scattered in all directions, squawking fearfully, clipping her in the side of the head.

Echo's body tilted, lurched forward. The ground rushed up and slammed into her forehead. Her chin dropped onto her chest and her back twisted, causing her to roll onto her side. Echo could feel herself falling, toppling down the side of an embankment. The world spun wildly, leaves slapped against her face and branches clawed at her skin. The resulting impact at the bottom of the slope stole the breath from her lungs and left her sprawled in a pile of tangled limbs.

Echo moaned and blinked up at the canopy, her hair had become mattered with leaves, there were scratches up and down her arms and legs and streaks of mud on her face. A glint of light shone in the distance. Echo pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared straight ahead.

A few meters in front of her was a long, winding river, edged with reeds. The channel stretched several feet across and extended deep into the woods. The surface of the water was dark and glassy, tree branches drooped over the edge of the bank like tendrils, lily pads floated in the water, and dragonflies and butterflies flittered throughout the air above the reeds.

Echo was so enraptured, so enthralled by her discovery, she never noticed a tree branch hanging above her head twitch suddenly, she never saw the stems curve inward and form a grotesque shaped hand. The skeletal limb coiled around her right ankle and pulled her backward ripping a shriek from her throat.

A loud crack sounded in her ears the moment she struck the ground. Echo moaned and rolled onto her back. A tree uprooted itself out of the ground and bent over her body, faceless. A nose and lips pushed out of the tree trunk and a pair of eyes flicked open. The hamadryad smiled.

Echo's mouth dropped open and her eyes grew round with fright. She arched her back off the ground and drew in a deep breath, her lungs swelled, lifting her breasts upward. A scream built inside her throat forcing her lips apart. A ripple spread across the river behind her back. The hamadryad raised a branch and brought it down towards the ground like a club.

Echo shrieked and rolled to the side. The branch slammed into dirt with a loud thump narrowly missing the side of her head. The hamadryad reared backward, stood still for a moment, then gave a hard tug on the branch coiled around Echo's ankle dragging her forward. "Noo!" she shouted.

A hamadryad draped in vines stirred awake and wrapped a branch around her other leg like a tentacle. Echo lurched upward and pressed her hands against her thigh with a look of pain on her face. Suddenly, she was hoisted upward. Her head flopped back on her neck and her mouth fell open in a gasp. A hamadryad with glowing green eyes ripped itself out of the ground on her right and swung towards her with its branches shaped into grasping hands.

Echo tried to pull away, but like an insect caught in a web was unable to move and in a matter of moments branches ensnarled her arms. The hamadryads lumbered through the forest for a few minutes longer, then suddenly stopped, like soldiers standing to attention. Echo hung between the trees spread-eagled, her breasts heaving, her brow dotted with sweat.

The satyrs stepped out of the darkness and formed a line; on the left side stood Helladius, quivering with anger, his ribcage crushed; on his right stood Agathon, coated in blood, with a branch jutting out of his chest; standing next to his shoulder was the bruised and bloodied Evaristus, his skull cracked; on his opposite side stood Callias, silent and still, his head twisted backward. An eerie white mist swirled around the horned men. Callias pressed his hands against his cheeks and wrenched his head around so the front of his face was positioned towards Echo. "You didn't think you'd killed us, did you?"

Echo smiled, her teeth small and pearly white. "If you'd be kind enough to order your minions to unleash me I'd be more than happy to go another go at it Callias. Snapping your neck obviously did no good. I suppose I could try ripping your head off with my bare hands." She cocked a finger at him. "Please, please, come closer. I want to look into your eyes when I kill you."

Callias's eyes moved over her face in a calculating study. "You could never kill me, Echo. You do not have the strength." He raised his chin. "Or the power." He reached into the folds of his robes. "May I ask you a question?" He pulled out a long, coiled rope. "Has anyone ever told you that you are like a wild mare?"

Echo kept smiling, but inside she was coiled, waiting to strike. Callias moved a step forward, teeth bared, like a wolf about to pounce. "Beautiful. Spirited." He unraveled the rope with a flick of the wrist. "And in need to be broken."

The tranquil surface of the river suddenly surged upward, sending a loud, reverberating boom travelling throughout the woods. The satyrs crouched low, quivering fearfully, as a geyser gushed upward, spraying the ground in droplets.

The jet of water arched over the top of the hamadryads and touched the ground in front of Echo shielding her from view. The waterspout twisted and rippled into the shape of a man made out of water. Callias arched his back and bared his teeth. "Narcissus." He gestured for him to move aside. "Be gone. This does not concern you. This Oread belongs to Pan. She is his soul mate."

"No," Narcissus's voice had a deep, baritone, edge to it. "She is not."

Echo's heart contracted in her chest. Could it be? Is he the one?

"She bares his mark," hissed Callias.

Narcissus raised his left arm. "If that's true how come I bare hers?" Emblazed on his wrist was a glowing white ring, in the centre was an image of a forest positioned between a pair of triangular mountains, high above the snow covered peaks was a mouth with its lips parted slightly as if about to burst into song.

"I am her soul mate," said Narcissus. "I have been searching for this Goddess for a long, long time. I thought I would never find her until you chased her to the edge of my river. I heard her cries, felt her fear." He pointed a finger at Callias. "You will not touch her. She is mine. Our fates are linked."

"No!" shouted Helladius.

"It can't be," said Agathon.

"Lies," said Evaristus.

Callias remained silent.

Narcissus lowered his arm. "Echo and I are meant to be together. I will not allow you to return Echo to Pan." There was a note of steel in his voice. "I have waited centuries for her to step into my life. I refuse to lose her now."

Callias smiled, a small humorless quirk of the lips, that caused his eyes to turn black and soulless. "You cannot trick me, Narcissus. Pan would never tell me an untruth. I am his most trusted servant." He raised his left hand. "I am going to give you to the count of three. If you do not stand aside and let us take the Oread we will be forced to hurt you. One"

Narcissus launched himself into the air and landed in front of Callias before he could finish his sentence. He placed his hands on his shoulders and pulled him flat against his chest. Callias furrowed his brow angrily and swung a fist towards Narcissus, instead of striking flesh his hand sunk into his stomach.

Narcissus did not move, did not speak. Callias took a step back and gave an experimental tug on his arm. His hand remained lodged in the dark blue liquid as if encased in ice. A flicker of alarm crossed his face. Narcissus pressed his lips together in a thin smile. Callias flinched as the veins in his right arm turned a frightening shade of blue and bulged beneath his skin.

He made a sound that was part shriek and part gasp the blue lines spread across his chest and up his neck to his head triggering water to trickle out his nose, ears and mouth. He stood pinned to the spot with his head tipped back for several moments then suddenly, violently, exploded into water.

Helladius roared, shattering the silence. He snapped a branch off a tree and rushed up to Narcissus from behind. At the last possible second the River God spun around and shattered the bough into splinters with a swing of his arm.

Helladius turned his head away, wincing, as a shower of wood shards fell down onto him. Narcissus closed his fingers around his neck in a choke hold and squeezed. Helladius dissolved into smoke and reappeared a short distance away crouched on the ground. He raised his arms above his head and began to focus his energies into an electrical charge.

A bolt of lightning slammed from the clouds to the ground inches in front of Narcissus scorching the grass at his feet. Narcissus tipped his head back and laughed. "Not good enough." He raised his left arm and unfolded his fingers like the peals of a flower. A pin prick of light appeared in the palm of his hand. The glowing spec swelled to the size of a sphere.

Helladius never saw the River God move. His speed was so incredible he could not follow the blur of motion with his eyes. There was a rush of wind and then Helladius felt something strike him. The jolt shook his entire body. He blinked. Narcissus was standing in front of him with his hand against his chest.

Helladius fell to his knees. A gurgling noise began to build in his throat. A mouthful of water burst past his lips and dribbled down his chin. He blinked his eyes in surprise. He barely had enough time to wipe a trembling hand across his brow before another jet of water arched out of his mouth.

Helladius cast a frightened glance towards Narcissus, then wrapped his arms around his stomach and dropped onto the ground, frothing at the mouth. After a few moments his muffled cries lowered to a rattling gasp and he ceased to move.

An enraged screech echoed throughout the woods like a clap of thunder. Narcissus turned to face behind him. Agathon and Evaristus leapt out of the shadows, their faces twisted with fury, with grief for their fallen comrades. He was about to defend himself from the satyrs when the two of them collided against an invisible barrier erected in front of him and crumpled to the ground.

Narcissus's startled gaze flew towards Echo. Her eyes were rimmed with red. The air crackled with electricity around her body. Dispose of them.

He flashed a smile in her direction. "As my soul mate commands." His eyes glittered, bright white in the darkness, reflecting the flashes of lightning illuminating the clouds. "This ends." He raised his arms above his head. A pair of arms made out of rising and falling jets of water erupted out of the river and rose several feet upward in the exact same pose behind his back.

Agathon and Evaristus stood frozen in place, mouths agape, horrified by the spectacle unfolding before them. Narcissus lowered his arms and pointed at the two men. The water replicas of his limbs bent down and reached towards Agathon and Evaristus with grasping fingers.

Panicked, the satyrs tried to run. The liquid appendages were too fast.

"No!" shouted one.

"Have mercy," begged the other.

Narcissus made a squeezing motion with his hands. The arms lifted the screaming satyrs off the ground as if they were children's toys and then retreated back into the river dragging the men underwater with them.

Within seconds they were gone and the river was flat and silent again.

Echo was the first to speak. "Narcissus?"

He turned and looked at her. He was gloriously naked and dripping wet. He had broad shoulders and a wide chest and a muscular body. He had long, straight hair that fell below his hips in a cascade of blue and white.

Echo gazed in awe at her soul mate. She was so enthralled by his beauty, so enraptured by his presence, she barely noticed when the hamadryads close their eyes and lowered her gently to the ground. The moment her feet touched the forest floor she began to move towards him.

A golden light arched between them, surrounded them, lit up the forest. The light emanated from within their bodies, from within their very souls, basking them in a glowing aura that seemed to magnify the closer they moved towards each other. Narcissus wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

Her body molded against his perfectly, proof they were destined to be together. Narcissus stared down at her. Echo gazed up at him hopelessly, lost in the depth of his gaze. She could see the long length of his lashes and the sensual cut of his mouth. The moment their lips touched the ground rocked beneath their feet and electricity arched between them.

Narcissus fought back tears. You are safe now, my precious soul mate.

****

As the hours passed, the black clouds that had blanketed the sky broke apart and the dark shadow cast over the land lifted. The sun emerged from behind the clouds and shone down onto the treetops. The wind fell silent and the turbulent emotions hanging in the air faded away, silenced by the happiness radiating from the couple running through the woods down below.

Echo and Narcissus spun around in a circle, laughing joyfully, the light of their souls surrounding their bodies in an aura. The God and Goddess toppled to the ground, wrapped in each other's arms. Narcissus rolled on top of his soul mate and pinned her beneath his weight. A sultry smile curved her mouth. His lashes fluttered, his breathing caught in his throat and his bottom lip quivered.

"Soul Mate." A sheen of tears filled his eyes. He knew the meaning of the word now. It was Echo. He lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his own. The taste of her lips was like spice. The scent of her hair like perfume.

The tips of their tongues touched. A flash of fire swept through Narcissus. He pulled away from her mouth and ripped her dress off in a single pull exposing her naked body to his hungry gaze. Her gaze locked onto his. He slid his hand down her legs to the junction of curls between her thighs and thrust a finger into her hot wet core. Echo buckled beneath him. "Narcissus!"

A laugh rumbled in his throat. "Do you want this?"

Echo flung an arm around his neck and lowered his head towards her mouth.

"I've dreamt of this," she said in a husky voice.

Narcissus felt his throat tighten. "Are you real?" he could feel tears sliding down his cheeks. For the first time in centuries he made no move to wipe the moisture from his eyes. He let the droplets fall unashamedly. Echo cupped his chin in her hand and slowly, gently, raised his chin. He gazed into her eyes helplessly. Echo slid a finger down the ridge of his nose. "I was going to ask you the same thing." She brushed her thumb over his bottom lip. "I've wanted you from before I was born."

I searched the world for you.

And you found me. I knew you would. I never lost hope.

You are mine. Now and forever.

As their bodies entwined, a rainbow arched across the sky, eradicating the last trances of the black storm clouds that had circled unnaturally above the forest. A short time later, Narcissus eased his weight off the top of Echo and rolled onto his side, breathing hard. "That was..." he fell silent, unable to find the words to describe the emotions clenching his heart. None of the women he had been with had ever made him feel anything. He had always been so hollow inside. A withered shell devoid of emotion. Not anymore. He felt as if he had awoken from a slumber. He felt alive again and it was all because of Echo.

"Narcissus?"

He turned to look at her. "Yes, my love?" He draped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Echo flung her left leg over the top of his and slid her hand up his chest. "Tell me about your life."

"What would you like to know?"

"Everything. Who are your parents?"

"My mother is a water nymph named Liriope and my father is the river God Cephissus. I am their only child. I haven't seen them in centuries."

Echo raised her eyebrows. "Why not?"

"My mother and father are soul mates. When I was a child, they used to tell me the story of how they met. My mother was less than a century old when my father entered her life. He was not that much older, a few decades, that was all. He first laid eyes on her when she stepped into his river to bathe. He rose up from beneath the water and..." He grinned wickedly. "He knew she was his."

"And your mother?"

"She recognized him as hers. She felt it in her soul. My mother and father have always prided themselves that neither of them were intimate with another person before they found each other. They waited for each other."

"And you did not," said Echo.

Narcissus nodded slowly. "I've been with many women." The confession was painful to admit out loud. "It's why my mother and father do not speak to me. They are ashamed of me. They think I should have waited for my soul mate."

Echo placed a hand on his shoulder. "Narcissus, it's ok."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was lonely, that was all. I am seven hundred years old. When you get as old as me, the loneliness just eat you. You are barely older than two hundred, correct?" He smiled. "I didn't expect you to be so young."

Echo lifted her chin a notch. "I'm not a child."

"No, no, of course not. A child would have not been able to escape from Pan. You are an incredible, powerful Goddess, Echo. I have waited for you to come into my life for so long, Echo. I've seen your face in my dreams every night for hundreds of years. The image of your lips..." He framed her face in his hands. "The colour of your eyes...the shape of your breasts...the delicious colour of your skin...you tormented me, Echo. I became obsessed with you. You were all I could think about. I knew you had not been born because your symbol had not appeared on my arm, so searching for you would have been pointless."

Echo looked troubled. "So what did you do?"

"I became so saddened, so miserable, I realized that I couldn't stand to be around my parents anymore so I left to wader the world. I met a human woman named Eirene and had an affair with her. She was the first. I was so emotionally barren, so dead inside, all I wanted was to feel something."

Echo stared into his eyes unflinchingly. "And did you?"

"Not once," he said in a rush. "None of my lovers ever made me feel anything other then self-loathing. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I could not stop myself. I was so desperate to find you, I used to pretend each woman that I invited to my bed was you, Echo. It was pointless. None of them could have replaced you. It was cruel of me to use them. I hear the whispers people speak about me. The claims that I am a vain, dishonorable man, with no heart."

A bitter laugh burst past his lips. "It is all true. I took those women because I wanted their bodies not their love. I did not stop at one. I did it over and over again. I thought if I could feel a woman's arms around me it would distract me from thinking about you, Echo. I was wrong. All it did was make me hate myself."

"You were lonely," said Echo softly. "It is understandable. You are an immortal, after all. Our existence can be a miserable one. Mortals will never understand the depths of true despair. The emotions they feel when they find themselves alone and sad is a pale shadow of what we feel when we are separated from our soul mates."

His heart swelled with happiness. "Does this mean..."

Echo pressed a finger against his lips. "I forgive you," she said. "I can see into your heart and soul, Narcissus. You are not dishonorable." A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Flawed, yes. And arrogant."

"So you think I'm vain?"

"Well..." she tapped a finger against her chin. "I did see you check out your reflection the river a few minutes ago, so that might be true."

Narcissus threw back his head and gave a whoop of laughter. "You did?" he sputtered, his cheeks pink. "I was hoping you hadn't noticed." He turned his head to the side and fixed his stare onto the river. "I don't know why I did it. I saw the water and..." He swung around and flashed his teeth at Echo in a mischievous smile. "I guess some habits are harder to kill then Medusa."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Zeus."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said with a hint of laughter.

He pressed his lips against her forehead. "I do not deserve you."

"No," she said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "You probably do not. I don't know a lot of Goddesses who would stay with a God with a sense of humor as bad as yours even if he was their soul mate."

"What's wrong with my sense of humor?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question?"

They both laughed. Then Narcissus's expression changed to a serious one. Tell me about Pan. Why does he think you are his soul mate?"

"He's delusional," said Echo. "He first laid eyes on me when I was wandering through a field of flowers singing to myself."

"Do you like to sing a lot?"

"Yes," she said, nodding her head. "I discovered when I was a child that I have the power to achieve things through song. I can encourage plants to grow, summon animals, conjure the elements and create illusions. The day Pan discovered me I had been wandering through a valley when I sensed someone in emotional distress. I didn't know it was Pan. I thought he was a mortal, a lonely widower perhaps, not a God. I don't know why I couldn't sense his power."

"Pan is a master of trickery and illusion. He is known for his ability to fool people. What happened next?" There was anger in his voice.

Echo placed a hand on his cheek. "Please understand. The despair radiating from Pan was so strong, so intense, I felt compelled to help ease his suffering."

"So you started to sing."

Echo nodded. "It was a mistake."

Narcissus cradled her trembling body in the circle of his arms. He could feel her heart thudding beneath her breasts. "Tell me more."

Tears pooled in her eyes. "The moment he stepped out of the woods I knew I had made a mistake. The lust in his eyes frightened me. He smiled and asked if I was his soul mate. I knew, straight away, that Pan was not for me. Your face has haunted my dreams for centuries. I did not know your name, but I knew what you looked like, so there was no mistaking you for Pan. I told him that he was wrong. He was not meant for me. It was like he could not hear me."

"Echo," said Narcissus softly.

She continued with her tale as if he hadn't spoken. "He began rambling that we were soul mates, that we were destined to be together. He fell to his knees and told me that he had been searching for me for so long, so very long..." Her cheeks glistened with tears. "I had a look at his arms. He had no mark. His soul mate has not been born yet. I tried to explain that to him but he would not listen."

A note of hysteria crept into her voice. "The more I tried to tell him that he was not my soul mate the more aggravated he would become. I tried to take a step back and push him away, but he would not let me go. The more I struggled the more violent he became. Eventually, I managed to free myself from his arms and run into the forest. He ordered his minions to chase after me. I tried to fight off the satyrs, but there were too many of them. I was knocked unconscious and imprisoned in Pan's lair for the next decade."

Narcissus drew a breath into his lungs to calm himself. He could feel himself shaking with rage. He felt Echo stir in his arms. "Narcissus?" she asked.

Ten years she spent as his prisoner. He squeezed his eyes shut. I should have sensed her distress. He dug his fingers into the palms of his hands so hard blood trickled out from between his fingers. She needed me. The faces of all the women he had taken to his bed flashed inside his head. He groaned and buried his face into his hands. She needed me and I was not there.

"Speak to me, Narcissus." He felt her fingers circle around his arm. He turned his head to the side and brushed his hand across her cheek. "Echo," his voice trembled on the edge of tears. "You have suffered so much." He lowered his gaze to the ground. "I was not there to protect you."

"You did not know what was happening to me."

"I should have known. I should have sensed it."

"Do not blame yourself, Narcissus."

He flung his head upward. "I am your soul mate!"

Echo patted on him on the shoulder. "Yes, you are. That doesn't mean I need you to protect me, Narcissus. I am a Goddess, not a small child. I've been looking after myself just fine for over two centuries."

"Pan kept you as a prisoner for over a decade!"

"Yes, that's true. I had a little bad patch."

"A little?"

"Okay, fine, it was a big one. You're forgetting something though."

"And what's that?"

Echo stiffened in defiance. "I escaped, didn't I?"

Narcissus folded his arms across his chest. His gaze traveled up the length of her body in a long, lingering stare. "It looked to me like you were about to be recaptured when I rescued you, my love."

Echo shoved him backward. "I had everything under control!"

"You were hanging in the air by your ankles!"

"I could've gotten free!"

"The satyrs had you surrounded!"

Echo squared her shoulders. "I would never have allowed them to take me back to Pan, do you hear me?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Never." Narcissus put a hand on her cheek "Echo, look at me."

An electrical jolt traveled up his arm knocking him backward. He flinched and pulled away, wide-eyed. Echo smirked at him. Narcissus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've displeased you, haven't I?"

Echo shrugged and said nothing.

He sighed. "Echo, I'm sorry, but it's the truth. You are an Oread. A peaceful, gentle, Oread. You could never have defeated Pan's minions. You are not powerful enough. They would never have stopped chasing you."

He brushed a hand across her cheek. "You are so precious to me. I shudder to think what would have happened to you if I had not come to your aide. The Three Fates did not pair us together by chance, Echo. The Goddesses of Destiny must have foreseen your future. They knew that Pan would form an obsession with you so they tied your destiny to a soul mate powerful enough to protect you." An arrogant smile curved his mouth. "Me," he said.

Echo pulled away from him. "Is that what you think?" she sputtered, her voice a whip-crack of anger. He shuffled backward, his smile gone. "Uh," he pressed his hands against his thighs and straightened upward, his movements slow, nervous. "I defeated the satyrs didn't I? Doesn't that make me more powerful?"

Echo jabbed a finger against his chest. "I am your soul mate. That makes me your equal in body, mind and soul. I am just as powerful as you are."

Narcissus brushed his lips against her knuckles. "Echo, that's just not true. If you were as powerful as I am you would've been able to defeat the satyrs. Do not be ashamed that I came to your rescue. I was born to protect you."

Echo pulled his hand out of his grasp. "Enough!" she spread her legs apart and bent forward in a fighting stance. "There's only one way to prove to you that we are equally powerful." She put her hands on her hips. "Fight me."

"And risk hurting you?" said Narcissus, incredulous. He shook his head. "I don't think so." A rush of wind whipped his words from his mouth. He blinked, wide eyed with surprise. "Echo?" he said, glancing from side to side. The spot where she had been standing had become vacant. Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps began to approach him from behind. Narcissus turned around and caught Echo's fist hit him in the nose with a loud smack.

Narcissus dropped to one knee on the ground and pressed a hand against his face. His fingers came away wet and sticky with blood. A shadow fell over him. It was Echo. She was smiling. "Still don't want to fight me?"

Narcissus rose to his feet in a ripple of muscles. "You want to fight?" His eyes travelled over her face hungrily, he was breathing heavily and there was lust in his expression. "As you wish." He thrust his arms forward. A blast of blue-white electricity erupted from his fingertips.

Echo uttered a laugh and dissolved into smoke. The crackling bolts rushed past the place where she had been standing and slammed into a tree gouging a red hot hole into the trunk. Narcissus peered upward. Standing on a branch high above him, looking down at him in amusement, was Echo. Grinning, Narcissus reached for her ankle. Echo jumped onto another branch and out of his reach.

Narcissus hoisted himself off the ground and climbed onto a branch. He reached for her again but she pulled away once more. Echo raised her arms and a blast of fire burst from the palms of her hands. Narcissus clicked his fingers. A shield enclosed around his body in a transparent dome. The tongues of flame collided against the barrier concealing him behind a glowing red curtain.

Echo lowered her arms and turned into a bird. Her laughter echoed like the chiming of bells in his mind. Smiling, Narcissus dropped into a crouch and dissolved into mist. A few meters ahead, Echo weaved in and out of the trees with blurring speed, her feathers rippling.

Narcissus could sense the thrill she was getting out of taunting him. Like a lamb baiting a wolf. In answer to her challenge, Narcissus spread throughout the air in the form of a vapor cloud, blanketing the forest in a dense white fog. To his surprise Echo soared through the mist without hesitation.

Narcissus directed his attention to the sky. High above the treetops black clouds began to spread across the sky, spinning and weaving, dragging a long dark shadow over the land. Drops of rain began to fall. The drops of water collected it midair and formed a shimmering net around Echo stopping her in her tracks. His soul mate went completely still. Narcissus solidified on top of a branch and folded his arms across his chest. "Are you done?"

Echo hovered in the air with a small smile in her mind. Instead of answering his question she put on a burst of speed and launched herself at the side of her prison with enough force to burst a hole in the net. Narcissus staggered backward in shock as she shot past him. Her laughter was even louder now. He shifted back into mist and streaked after her again.

Echo fluttered to the ground and returned to her regular shape. Narcissus descended from the treetops in a column of smoke and landed on the ground in a crouch. He raised his head, his eyes glowing white orbs. Echo wasn't fazed.

"Are you angry you didn't defeat me?" There was amusement in her voice. "Open your eyes to the truth." She flicked her wrist and a boulder rose into the air behind her back. "We are equals." She sent the rock hurdling toward Narcissus like a cannonball. Without batting an eyelid, he raised his left arm and clenched his hand into a fist. The rock jerked to a halt as if it had struck an invisible wall and then crumbled into rubble.

Echo smiled. "See? You cannot defeat me." Her soft laughter whispered through the woods. "And I can never defeat you. Our powers are too evenly matched. All soul mates are the same. The Three Fates made it that way for a reason." She arched an eyebrow at him. "Do you know why?"

He smiled. "May I take a guess?" He shackled his fingers around her arms and pinned her against a tree trunk. Her eyes traveled over his face, sparkling playfully, inviting him to touch her more. "They did it..." He nudged her legs apart with his knee. "So soul mates..." He lowered his head towards hers. Echo flung her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Narcissus's breathing began to come in gasps past his lips. "Could not..." He brushed his lips across her mouth. Echo hooked her left leg around his. "Say it."

"Escape," he breathed against the side of her neck. "They did it so soul mates could not escape from each other."

Echo pulled away from his mouth and framed his face in his hands. "You can't escape from me, Narcissus." Her eyes glittered with tears. "You're mine."

He stroked her mind, a soft intimate brush, showing her without words that he felt the same. "And you're mine," he said. The wind rose to a sudden shriek before he could finish his sentence. A clap of thunder boomed. Echo's fingers tightened around Narcissus's arm. "I sense something," she muttered. Her eyes scanned the trees searching for movement. "Pan is coming," she said.

Narcissus placed a hand on her shoulder. "Get behind me."

Echo pushed him backward. "Be quiet. I'm trying to concentrate."

A bolt of lightning slammed from the clouds to the ground throwing the soul mates apart. Narcissus twisted in the air with the agility of a cat and landed on the ground in a crouch, breathing heavily, every inch of him quivering in alarm.

"Echo!" he shouted. He spotted her face down on the ground and pinned beneath a brand on the other side of the clearing. He was about to run to her side when a satyr stepped out of the shadows and scooped her up into his arms.

Pan tightened his arms around Echo possessively and flashed a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth at Narcissus. "She is mine," he hissed.

Narcissus's face drained of colour. "Pan." His eyes flickered between blue and green and white. "Let her go." He took a breath to calm himself. "Now."

Pan tipped Echo's head to one side and caressed her neck. "No." He smiled tauntingly at Narcissus. "She is my soul mate."

"You're delusional."

Snarling, Pan shuffled backward with Echo in his arms. "And you're a fiend for stealing my soul mate!"

"I did not steal Echo." Narcissus was breathing hard. "We found each other because we are soul mates. Our destiny was etched into our flesh."

"Lies!" spat Pan. "Lies!"

Narcissus raised his arm. "I bare her mark," he said. The symbol emblazed on his wrist shone like a beacon in the darkness. Pan made a sound at the back of his throat like a wounded animal. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No..."

"Yes," said Narcissus "Her destiny is linked to mine, not yours."

"I don't believe you," said Pan, his voice thick with emotion. "Look!" He pointed a finger at his wrist. Narcissus's upper lip curled back in disgust. On the spot on Pan's arm where the symbol of his soul mate should have been there was a bloodied circle that had been carved into his flesh with a knife.

"I bare her symbol too," said Pan, grinning. Echo's eyelashes fluttered. Narcissus looked alarmed. "Do not delude yourself, Pan. You carved her symbol into your flesh yourself with a knife. It's not the same thing!"

Pan frowned in confusion. "No I didn't. It's a sign from the Three Fates." A murderous rage swept through Narcissus. "If that's true then how come Echo hasn't got your symbol on her arm? How long are you going to keep deluding yourself, Pan? You claim that Echo is your destiny. I do not believe you. Deep down you must know that she is not. You cannot mistake someone for your soul mate. It is impossible. We only have one person destined for each of us in this world." He raised a finger. "Just one. When we find the other half of our soul our hearts, bodies and minds know the truth. There can be no mistake."

Pan said nothing. He was still cradling Echo against him. Narcissus felt another wave of rage crashed over him. "You knew Echo did not belong to you from the moment you first laid eyes on her in the forest." It was not a question. It was an accusation. "You knew the truth but you did not care. You were so desperate for a companion" his voice began to rise "So desperate to be rid of the loneliness that plagues all immortals you stole what did not belong to you!" The wind sent the sound of his voice shrieking in all directions.

Pan retreated backward. Narcissus moved forward, step for step, as if the two of them were engaged in a dance. "You ignored the truth and convinced yourself that she was yours," continued Narcissus, his voice trembling with fury, with hatred. "You took what was rightfully mine." Lightning streaked from cloud to cloud. "Imprisoned her." His teeth flashed. "Touched her in places not meant for your hands. You did everything you could to get her to believe in the lie, to love you, but nothing worked. She never stopped fighting you, never stopped resisting you, because she knew she was not your soul mate."

Pan opened his mouth to speak. "Silence," said Narcissus before he could utter a word. "No more lies, Pan. No more tricks. I should strike you down for what you have done to Echo, instead I am going to give you a chance to walk away unharmed. All I ask is one thing." He raised his arm, turned his palm upward, and spread his fingers. "Give her to me, Pan. Give me my soul mate."

Pan's gaze slid over his face in a lingering stare then pulled away and dropped to the ground, shadowed with despair. A minute of silence passed. The wind held its breath. The trees stood still. Narcissus stood motionless, his eyes fixed on Pan unwaveringly, waiting for him to move.

Pan bent his head and pressed his lips against Echo's forehead. His arms tightened around her body, clutched her against his chest so hard, so desperately, his fingers dug into her arms. A tear drop trickled down his cheek.

"No," he said. A bolt of electricity erupted from his fingertips and spider webbed across Narcissus's chest throwing him backward. He hit the ground flat on his back. Pan threw his head back and cackled with glee. Narcissus puled himself up to his feet. "So be it." He said.

Pan clicked his fingers. The ground beneath Narcissus turned into quicksand and began to pull his legs down into muck. Narcissus flexed his left foot and then his right foot and then looked at Pan in amusement.

"Do you think this will stop me?" His body shimmered and started to turn transparent. Pan made a slashing motion with his hands. The ground made a slurping noise and sucked Narcissus down deeper into the sand. Narcissus lost his concentration and bent over double, gasping. The pressure on his legs was causing him immense pain. He could hear Pan chuckling.

"Having a little trouble there, my lord?" The satyr was dancing from foot to foot in utter glee. Narcissus cast a glance from side to side, his mind spinning, running down roads of panic. The ground was still sucking him down. He looked at Pan and watched, helpless, as the satyr slid a hand down the length of Echo's spine to the curve of her buttocks. Narcissus roared in rage and reached for Pan with both hands. "ECHO!" His thunderous cry shook the entire forest.

Pan clapped his hands together. A hamadryad stirred to life and coiled a branch around Narcissus's throat like a tentacle. Gasping and choking, Narcissus wrapped a hand around the branch and focused his thoughts on fire. His palm burned bright and flames erupted from his fingertips. The hamadryad shrieked and released its hold on him. Narcissus dropped to the ground and drew in a deep, shuddering breath.

Echo's eyes snapped open. "Narcissus," she said.

"Echo, run!" He was up to his chest in the mud now. Echo started to fight against Pan's hold on her. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"No," he bit out from between clenched teeth. "No, I won't let you go!" He picked her up and ran into the bushes with her. Echo clawed at his back with her hands and dug her nails deep, drawing blood. "Stop it!" he cried. He staggered and dropped to one knee on the ground. Echo rolled off his back and landed flat on her feet. Pan reached for her ankle but wasn't fast enough. Echo got up and turned and ran back the way they came.

She dashed through the woods, her body a blurred streak of motion, her heart and soul reaching towards Narcissus. Leaves slapped against her cheeks and branches scratched against her arms and face.

"Echo!" screamed Pan behind her back.

Her heart almost stopped out of sheer fright. She could hear the sound of Pan's feet pounding against the ground and the rustle of foliage as he chased her from behind. His mind reached towards hers, probing, searching for an entrance to her thoughts. Echo drew a deep breath into her lungs to calm herself and conjured an image of a wall inside her head, high and impregnable, a fortress that only Narcissus could enter.

Pan withdrew for a moment and then thrust hard at her defences. An image flashed inside her head of her crawling towards him on her hands and knees begging for his forgiveness, for his hands on her body, for his everlasting love.

Echo uttered a soft cry of distress and shook her head, disrupting the illusion. She immediately reached back along the mental path linking her to Pan and thrust an illusion of her own making into his head of her wrapping her arms around Narcissus and kissing him on the mouth.

"Nooo!" Pan's telepathic touch pulled out of her head like a door slamming shut. Echo threw herself behind a tree and sunk into a crouch. The silence hanging over the forest built and built until she wanted to scream. Pan had withdrawn from her mind but was continuing to follow in her footsteps. She could sense him approaching like a wolf stalking a lamb.

Echo swatted aside a low hanging branch and took a step into a small clearing. Her hands flew to her mouth to stifle her sudden scream. A short distance away, half buried in the ground, stood her soul mate. In the space of time it had taken for her to escape from Pan, Narcissus had been attacked by more of Pan's hamadryads. There were branches coiled around his arms and chest and legs and head leaving only his eyes visible through a small gap.

The moment he saw Echo he flinched and started shouting. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Narcissus!" She took a running leap into the air and closed the distance between them so quickly she almost flew. But before she could touch him a dome-shaped barrier descended over Narcissus. Echo collided against the wall with a painful crunch and then crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Narcissus's muffled cries became more panicked. Echo, flee!

"No," she said, her voice frayed with pain. She pressed her hands against the ground and pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Not without you." She threw herself against the shield with clenched fists. Tears were streaming down her face. Bang. She hit the shield again with her fists. Bang. And again. Bang. And again. Bang. Narcissus caressed her mind.

Echo, he said. I'm begging you, just go. Leave me.

"No!" she shouted, stamping her foot. "I won't leave you!"

A ripple of alarm shot through Narcissus. He tore his gaze away from Echo and peered into the shadows. Behind you!

Echo turned around. On the far side of the clearing, half concealed in shadow, stood Pan. The moment their eyes met a bolt of lightning split open the sky with a thunderous boom. "Pan." Echo was so mad she was shaking. "Let him go." It was not a request. It was a demand.

Pan stepped into the light. "No," he said.

"I said let him go!" the last half of her sentence emerged as a bellow.

"I will do no such thing."

"If you do not release him I will kill you."

"You're not going to harm me, Echo."

"Oh?" she said. "What makes you say that?"

"We are soul mates. It doesn't matter if you believe it or not it's true." He raised his arm and tapped a finger against his wrist. "I bare your symbol."

Echo pointed at his arm and laughed. "That is not the mark of a soul mate. The Three Fates did not bestow it upon you. You did it to yourself."

"ou're wrong, Echo. I've had your mark on my arm from the moment of your birth. I showed it to you the day we met, don't you remember?"

Echo felt her stomach do a little a flip. "You never had my mark."

"You're wrong. I've had it for years."

"Pan we are not soul mates. I've told you this before."

"If we are not soul mates why did you share my bed for a decade?"

"I did not share your bed by choice I was your prisoner!"

"If that is true why did you not try to harm me?"

"I was out numbered," said Echo, defensive. "There are thousands of satyrs and they're all your followers. I knew if I attacked you they would rush to your defense and if that happened I would be killed. I could not fight them all. I am not powerful enough. So I let you touch me."

You were at his mercy, said Narcissus. If you had resisted, he would've grown violent, possibly even killed you. You did what you had to do to survive.

Pan laughed and stroked his wrist. "Tell the truth, Echo. You let me touch you because you wanted my hands on your body. You didn't harm me because you did not want to harm me. We are soul mates. I have been patient with you long enough." He beckoned for her to come to him. "Come back with me."

Echo kept her face carefully blank of emotion. She knew that she would never allow herself to be taken as Pan's prisoner again nor would she abandon Narcissus to the horrors of the forest. This was her moment to decide her fate.

"For the last time, I am not your soul mate." She made a clenching motion with her hand. Pan flinched as his arms snapped against his sides and his feet lifted off the ground. He rose upward, rigid and immobile, caught in the grip of her power. He drifted toward her, powerless, his feet dragging in the dirt beneath him.

Echo brought him close enough so that she could stare directly into his eyes.

"You are nothing to me." She pressed the palms against his chest and pushed him backward. Pan was thrown against a tree so hard the trunk fractured down the middle. He dropped to the ground in a crouch.

"This is pointless," he said. "You can't fight me, Echo."

"You're wrong." She pointed a finger at him and pulled him into the air with a flick of the wrist. "I can." She turned her body in a dancers spin and directed him toward the ground. An invisible hook circled around Pan's waist and pulled him downward so hard his head snapped back against his neck. He landed face down in the dirt. Echo flipped him onto his back with a wave of the hand and loomed over him. "You've left me no choice."

Pan rose upward without bending his legs or flexing a muscle forcing Echo to move backward a couple of steps. His hair rippled around his face throwing bands of shadow across his cheeks. "You are displeasing me ."

An hysterical laugh slipped past her lips. "I'm displeasing you? You have tortured me, imprisoned, and raped me Pan. And now you threaten my real soul mate. I will not stop resisting you, Pan. I will not go back with you."

She spread her arms wide. "Look around you, Pan. There are no loyal servants surrounding you this time. There's only you and me. I am going to give you a choice. For once in your life, do something good, Pan." A beat of silence fell between them. "Let my soul mate go. Let me go."

Pan closed the distance between them with a single bound and flung his arms around her waist throwing her to the ground. He rolled her onto her back and leaned over her body, pinning her beneath his weight. "Never."

A wild feral sound stirred in Echo's throat. She swiped at his face with her fingernails. He grabbed her hands and wrenched her arms above her head. Her eyes bulged, quivering with rage, with indignation. Pan lowered his head and crushed his lips against her mouth. "You're mine." He said into her ear.

In that moment Echo felt Narcissus enter her mind. Her eyes drifted shut. His presence spread throughout her body, infusing her muscles with his strength, with his power. Her heart stuttered and a tingling sensation spread up her arms.

Echo awoke. Her entire body was glowing and her green hair had become streaked with blue. Her eyes glittered, one blue, the other green. Pan flicked a frightened look at Narcissus. A golden aura surrounded him, he had one blue eye and one green eye, and his blue hair now had green streaks in it.

Pan turned back to Echo to find him smiling up him. "You were warned." She punched him in the chest with the combined strength of herself and Narcissus. Pan flew backward in a whoosh of air and disappeared into the foliage snapping several branches. Echo got to her feet.

"Pan," she called in a sing-song voice. "Oh, Pan..." she sauntered forward, hips swaying, a teasing smile curving her mouth. "Come out and play."

Pan leapt out from behind a bush and dropped into a crouch, breathing heavily, his face contorted with rage. "This is madness, Echo." His gaze slid over her glowing, luminescent skin. "Look at you," he said, nodding his head. "Your soul is shining, bathing you in light, that means it recognizes mine!"

Echo moved a step to the side, back arched, all feline grace. A halo of light travelled up the length of her body turning her skin to stone. She sprung forward and threw a punch at Pan's face. Her fist struck his noise with a sickening crunch crushing the cartilage beneath her knuckles. The blow sent him stumbling backward, blood streaming down his face. "How dare you!" He was furious.

Spinning, she brought her leg up and drove her foot into his stomach knocking the breath from his lungs. He bent over her double, gasping and wheezing for a few moments, then lifted his head and snarled. Echo jerked her head forward, instead of fracturing Pan's skull she passed through him as if he were a ghost and cracked her brow against the trunk of a tree instead. The air rung with the sound of laughter. Echo whirled around, narrow-eyed.

Pan stepped up to her from behind and swiped his tongue up the back of her neck. Echo stiffened, shock and disgust coursing through her veins. She jabbed her elbow backward, the blow splintering several of his ribs. Pan threw back his head and whooped with laughter.

Echo whirled to face him, eyes shooting sparks. Her fist flew towards his face so fast it whistled through the air. Pan darted to the side and dodged the blow. His smile widened. Echo stiffened, took a deep breath then spun around in a circle and rained blow after blow down upon him. Thump. Broken teeth flew out of his mouth. Thump. He fell to one knee, wheezing with laughter. Thump. He flopped onto the ground, spread eagled on his back, shaking with mirth.

Echo loomed over him. Pan blinked up at her face and smiled, a flash of red glistening teeth, that stopped her in her in tracks. "This is an amusing game." He circled his fingers around her left ankle and pulled. Echo crumpled into a heap on the ground, the impact stilling the breath in her lungs. Her stone-body returned back to flesh and blood.

Pan crawled on top of her body. "My turn," he said. The outline of his palms glowed brightly, drawing Echo's attention. Head radiated from his hands, as hot as the fires of Hades, triggering pain to claw at her insides. Her hips arched upward and her limbs began to twitch. A scream erupted past her mouth. A long, drawn out cry, ripped from her throat. Pan's eyes bulged, gleaming with madness, with mounting pleasure as he watched her thrash beneath him. Echo could hear herself moaning, the sound low and pitiful, like a wounded animal. Her head ached, splinters of pain piercing her skull, fragmenting her thoughts.

Pan lifted his arms, smiling. Echo slumped beneath him, breasts heaving, her eyes thin slits of white beneath half-cast lids. A tendril of smoke rose up from her chest filling her nostrils with the stench of burnt flesh. A shudder shook her body and her stomach muscles clenched. Her eyes lingered on Pan's face for a moment then dropped onto her stomach. Imprinted on her stomach was a smouldering pair of hand prints. Echo jerked her head upward, tears of anger springing to her eyes. Smiling, Pan lowered his head and brushed his mouth against her earlobe. "Now you do bare my mark."

A screech unfurled past her mouth. Springing upward, she pressed her hands against Pan's shoulders and pushed him off the top of her causing him to tumble into a heap on the ground. Snarling, he hooked his fingers around her lower left thigh and squeezed puncturing her flesh with his nails.

A jolt of pain shot up her leg. Her mouth fell open and her eyes bulged. Gritting her teeth, she wrenched her leg out of his grasp and struck him in the side of the head with her foot. His jaw twisted to the side, the angle grotesque. Laughter gurgled in his throat. Echo stood very, very still. Blood was trickling down her thigh but she did not spare it a glance. All of her attention was on Pan as he grasped hold of his jaw with both hands and jerked it back into place. His gaze swung in her direction. "I love you," he said.

"Don't say that!" He sickened her. "You don't know what true love is!"

"You're wrong," he said. "There's something between us, Echo."

"You're right," she said. "I do feel something."

A smile softened his mouth. "Lust. Passion."

"Hatred. Revulsion."

He laughed. "Lies. All lies."

"Look at me!" She directed his attention to the red burn marks on her chest. "Is this something a soul mate would do?" Her words robbed Pan of his smile. He suddenly looked confused. He looked at the hand prints etched into her flesh. "I didn't do that." He lifted his head slowly, horror dawning across his face "Did I?"

Pan retreated backward. "No, no, I would never." He pointed a finger at Narcissus. "It was him! He did it! I would never do that to my soul mate." His voice turned pleading. "I love you, Echo. Narcissus must've been the one to inflict pain upon you, not me. How could you think it was me? I would never do something like that. I am not a monster. If I had, I would remember, wouldn't I? Narcissus must've done something to your memories."

He nodded shakily, his eyes boggling. "Yes, that must be what happened. Don't you see what he's trying to do? He's trying to turn you against me. He's trying to steal you from me. He wants you for his own. Look!" He gestured at her burnt blistered flesh. "He has branded you! Put his mark on you!"

Echo walked up to Pan. "Oh, Zeus, please let this work." She pressed her hands against the sides of his head and closed her eyes. Narcissus's telepathic touch disappeared from her senses and a bright flash of light filled her field of vision. When she opened her eyes again the forest and Narcissus and everything else that had been around them was gone. Echo and Pan were standing in a white void alone together.

"Hey, Mum," said a disembodied voice. It was young and girlish. Pan gave Echo a questioning look. Her look back was equally confused. The sound of footsteps began to approach. A young girl stepped out of the shadows. She looked no older than a teenager. She had olive coloured skin, shoulder length black hair, almond-shaped eyes and soft red mouth.

Her body was transparent and seemed to ripple like a reflection on the surface of a lake. She was standing close to them but it didn't look like she could actually see them. As Pan and Echo stared, a room unlike one either of them had ever seen unfurled around the teenager, pale and colourless, as if made out of smoke. The child wandered up a table, unaware of how her body glowed, bright and colourful, like a beacon in the darkness.

"Hey," she said, glancing round. "Who ate the rest of the Coco-Puffs?" She wasn't talking to Pan and Echo.

An older woman stepped into the room holding a strange device against her ear. "Yes," she said into it. "I know, I know, the report was supposed to be handed in yesterday. Phone Natalie and ask if we can reschedule the meeting. Tell David I will be at the office in about thirty minutes. I have to drop my daughter off at school first. I'll talk to you later."

She dropped the object into an odd-shaped bag hung over her shoulder.

"Good morning, Rachel," she said. "Did you say something before?"

"Yeah. I asked who ate the rest of the Coco-Puffs."

A dark-haired man with eyes of glittering amber stepped through an open door and sat down at a seat at the table. "I did," he said. "Sorry, Rachel. Why don't you cook some eggs instead?"

Rachel blew a large sigh. "Dad..."

"So," said her mother. "Did you finish all your homework last night, Rachel?"

"Um, actually..."

"You stayed up reading about Greek Mythology again, didn't you?"

Rachel peered at her mother over the top of her sunglasses with eyes the colour of rose petals. "I can't help it," she said, shrugging. "There's something about those stories that fascinate me. I don't know what it is exactly."

The image changed in a swirl of smoke; suddenly, Rachel was no longer speaking to her parents, she was seated at the back of a room filled with teenagers slouched behind desks. A man stood at the front of the group facing a blackboard. "All right, class," he said, raising a piece of chalk. "Copy this sentence down into your books..."

"Hey," whispered a voice.

Rachel glanced to the side. "Yeah?" she said to the girl who had spoken. Grinning, the teenager cocked a finger, beckoning her to lean forward. After a quick glance towards the front of the room, Rachel inched her chair closer and bent her head towards the bright-eyed girl.

"What is it, Amy?"

"I heard a rumour that Brandon Phillips asked you to the dance, is it true?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh my gosh, he is so hot! Are you going to go?"

"I don't know."

"What! Why not? Half the girls in the school want to go with him."

"I don't think he's for me."

"But how do you know for sure? I don't understand you, Rachel. There isn't a boy in school who hasn't asked you out on a date at least once. Why do you keep turning them down? Don't you like any of them?"

Rachel sighed and rubbed her wrist. "None of them interest me..."

The scene dissolved; out of the mist a room emerged with clothes and pieces of rubbish strewn across the floor. The curtains had been pulled across the window blocking out the light of the sun. In the corner of the room a huddled figure lay on a bed. There was no expression on Rachel's face, no hint of sadness, just emptiness, as if she were hollow inside. Her eyes, once full of laughter, were now swollen with tears. Her fingers scratched against her wrist mechanically, her nails breaking the skin, drawing blood.

The door creaked open. "I'm worried, Jiao-Long."

Rachel stiffened. Her parents were outside her room.

"This depression of hers is getting worse and worse. I don't know how much longer I can bare to watch her suffer. Has she eaten anything today?"

"No," said her father, his voice heavy with sadness.

"I think something happened to her after she left high school. She hasn't been the same since her eighteenth birthday. She's suffering. She won't admit it but I can see it on her face. Don't you want to help her?"

"You know I do, Mei-Zhen."

"I think we should commit her to hospital."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Mei."

"She needs help, Jiao!"

"I don't think medication, or therapy, is what Rachel needs."

The room vanished. The mist parted like a curtain revealing Rachel kneeling on the ground in front of her father with tears rolling down her cheeks. She was older now, in her twenties. Her hair hung around her face in tangled locks and her breasts heaved, rising and falling, beneath the loose-fitting gown she had on.

"What's wrong with me, Dad?" She glanced over her shoulder as a woman wandered past hugging a clipboard against her chest. The sight sent a jolt through Rachel. "I hate it here," she said, lowering her head.

"I know, darling."

"Why do I have to stay?"

"You know why, Rachel."

She raised her left arm. "Oh," she said quietly. A bandage had been wrapped around her wrist. "I cut myself. I forgot."

"I didn't want you to end up in a place like this, Rachel."

"When can I leave?"

"The doctors...and your mother..."

"Think I'm crazy, I know. But I'm not, Dad. You believe me, right?"

"Of course I do."

"I don't know why, but ever since I turned eighteen, I've felt weird." She pressed a hand against her chest. "Hollow, inside. Broken. As if a part of me is missing. And I've been having dreams. Strange, repetitive dreams, which my therapist has probably told you all about, I'm sure."

"I think I might know what's happening to you, Rachel."

"Are you going to tell me that I'm suffering from repressed memories? Or that I'm delusional? Or that I'm crazy to think that this..." She wrenched the bandage off her arm. A circular shaped symbol, similar to a crest of arms, had been stamped on her wrist. The tattoo was bright white as if it had been burnt into her flesh. A mark. A brand. The skin surrounding it was completely different. Dozens of slash marks covered her arm. The most recent had been done on top of old scars creating a patchwork of thin white lines. Strangely, none of the knife wounds touched the tattoo, although it was obvious by the number of slashes around it that rendering the symbol unrecognizable had been Rachel's goal.

"That this is more than just a birth mark?"

"Rachel, I'm sorry."

"Can you tell me the truth, Dad? I can remember the first time I asked you about the thing on my wrist. I must've been, maybe, three? I knew that there was something strange about it. The moment I asked you, you threw Mum this weird look, as if the two of you were afraid about something. If I had been older, I might've questioned you about it, but I was just a kid. I thought I could trust you to tell the truth. I thought I could trust you not to keep things from me."

"Rachel..."

Her voice began to rise. "You told me it was meaningless and just a birthmark, nothing more. But it's not just a birthmark, is it? It's too intricate, too well designed, to be just a random blotch. It's a sign. A symbol. Someone, or something, has branded me with it for a reason. I think you know why."

"You're right," he said. "I do."

Rachel lapsed into shocked silence. "You do?"

"I've been waiting for the right moment to tell you the truth."

"Is that so?" said Rachel, her voice a low thread of anger. "And what were you waiting for, exactly? For me to lose my mind completely?"

"I wanted to wait until you were older."

"I'm twenty five!"

"And I'm six hundred and four."

Rachel tipped her head back and laughed. "Yeah," she said. "Sure."

"You asked for the truth."

"That's right, Dad. The truth. Not more lies."

"I'm not lying."

Rachel's smile wavered slightly. "Oh, come on. You have to be. I know you and I are different from other people. We can do things that no one else can. We've always kept our abilities secret, even from Mum, which has been hard at times. I hate pretending to be normal. You've always told me not to be ashamed of my gifts or to think of myself as a freak. You've always told me that we were not that different from other people. We were special but we were still human."

Her father stared at her silently.

"We are...human...aren't we?"

"Human, yes. Completely mortal, no."

Rachel jerked away from him. "What are you talking about?"

"I am the great-great-great grandson of a Chinese Goddess."

Rachel choked back a laugh. "Wow," she said. "I didn't' expect for you to say something like that." Her father was watching her with a small smile.

"So," she said. "Assuming you're not full of shit...what ARE you?"

"I am part demi-god," he said. "I possess powers, but I am not immortal. I can be killed and eventually, if nothing happens to me, I will grow old and die. My great-grandfather is the son of a mortal man and a Goddess. Half mortal. Half God. Unlike me, he is immortal and very difficult to kill. A few hundred years ago he had a child with a mortal, a daughter, who became my grandmother. She chose a mortal for her husband and had a child, my father. He married my mother, who was also descended from the Gods, and had me."

"You're a mortal descendant of a Goddess?"

"Yes, I am. And so are you, Rachel."

A corner of her mouth twitched. "I don't know whether to believe you or ask the nurses to get you a joining room next to mine."

"Your ancestry is the reason why you were born branded."

Her eyebrows shot upward. "Someone did this to me?"

"Yes. For a special reason."

"Oh, really? And what could that be?"

"You have a soul mate, Rachel."

"A soul mate?" something sparked in her eyes, a fragment of a memory, of a truth centuries old that had been hidden in her heart and soul. After years of misery, confusion and depression, she finally had the answer she had been seeking. The reoccurring dreams, the symbol on her wrist and the growing intensity of her loneliness, she knew the reason behind it all now. The piece of the puzzle that would make her life complete. "Who is he?" she asked.

Darkness rippled and swirled; out of the mist stepped Rachel with a bag strapped to her back and her thumbs hooked into the pockets of her jeans. Her hair was longer now and stuffed beneath a baseball cap. The angles of her face were sharper, her cheeks slightly sunken. Her hips were more narrow, her breasts smaller than before. Her clothes hung off her body, loose and over sized.

A familiar but strangely different landscape emerged out of the mist around her body; instead of grass beneath her feet there was a river of stone; odd-shaped buildings towered over her head, dwellings so large they eclipsed the sun; crowds of people wandered up and down the street, some clutching white wrinkly bags, others holding small black objects against their ears; horseless chariots travelled past the masses and rubbish littered the ground.

Rachel strode to the top of a hill and peered into the distance. A view of the city stretched in front of her to the edge of the horizon. In the centre of the metropolis, perched on a mountaintop, sat the ruins of an ancient temple. Once a grand, impressive structure, the past few thousand years had reduced the shrine to a skeleton of pillars and sun bleached stone.

None of the pedestrians paid the temple a passing glance. It was only Rachel who stopped and stared, transfixed. After a couple of minutes tears sprung to her eyes and her bottom lip began to quiver. A few people turned their heads in her direction and furrowed their brows. Rachel could see them out of the corner of her vision, could hear the echo of their thoughts inside her head:

What's wrong with her?

I shouldn't stare...

God, what a weirdo...

What's she doing?

Don't look. Don't look.

Great. A crazy person.

Misery rose up inside Rachel, clenching her heart. She circled her arms around her waist and began to shake, small tremors that jerked her small frame again and again. She fell to her knees on the ground. "Pan!" her voice echoed across the gulf separating the future from the past to the moment in time her soul mate stood watching, staring, at the woman she would become.

Darkness descended like the fall of a curtain. There was a peal of thunder and a flash of light. The forest reappeared around Echo and Pan. A gust of wind blew through the cluster of trees, branches creaked above their heads and leaves rustled, filling the air with whispers. Echo lowered her arms and moved a step backward, her breathing coming in ragged gasps, her heart thudding beneath her breasts. She looked up at Pan. Tears were streaming down his face.

He fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands and wailed. A few feet away and still trapped in the mud was Narcissus. The moment he saw that Echo and Pan had reappeared, he started shouting Echo's name in her head. Fighting back tears, Echo thrust a metal wall between them to lock him out. She knew she needed to finish things with Pan.

"Pan," she said quietly. "Look at me."

He lifted his gaze onto her face. The glimpse into the future that they had seen had shaken him to his core. "Rachel..." He stretched the word out under his breath, shaped his mouth around the sound, the taste of it. "Rachel..." He circled his fingers around his arm and squeezed his arm. "Is she..."

"Your true soul mate?" asked Echo, her voice gentle. "Yes, Pan, I think so."

He looked like he might faint. "I don't understand."

"Listen to the truth in my voice, Pan. I do not belong to you, Rachel does. You have seen what will happen to her if you fail to find her. She will need you desperately, Pan. Without you in her life, she will never know happiness. You saw the mark on her wrist. It was your symbol. Do not deny it. Accept the truth."

A short silence fell between them. Pan pressed his hand against the knife marks carved into his wrist. "This isn't her symbol, is it?" His voice was dazed, confused, as if he had just awoken from a dream. Echo placed her hand on top of his and stared up at his face. "No, Pan, it's not." A white light emanated from her hand and spread up his arm. Pan blinked down at his arm. The slashes he had cut into his flesh had knitted back together turning the skin on his wrist from webbed with scars to unblemished marble.

"There," said Echo, her expression kind. "All healed. When your soul mate is born her symbol will appear on your arm and your search for her can begin." A flicker of nervousness crossed her face. "You do know, don't you, that it will be centuries, maybe even thousands of years, before she is born from what we saw in the visions. Will you be able to wait for her, Pan? Do you have the strength?"

He jerked his chin upward. "She is my soul mate," he said.

A trembling smile touched her mouth. "Yes, Pan," she said, her voice thick with tears. "She is your soul mate. Do you understand now that you were wrong about me? Do you believe me that I am not destined for you?"

Pan looked at Narcissus. "Yes," he said, nodding his head.

He turned his attention back onto Echo. "It is almost too strange to put into words but something inside me has changed. It is as if I can think and see properly for the first time in eons. The past few centuries..." He pressed his hands against the side of his face and shook his head. "The loneliness inside me would not stop growing, it consumed me, made me think things..."

He dropped to his knees on the ground and lowered his head, shoulders shaking, sobs threatening to choke him. "Rachel..." He wrapped his arms around his waist and started to rock from side to side. "Rachel...Rachel...Rachel..." He began to weep, the broken cries of a man riddled with guilt.

Echo crossed towards him and circled her arms around his waist. Pan pressed his cheek against the swell of her breasts smearing his tears against her chocolate coloured skin. "I'm a monster."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am." He peered up at her face. "The things I did to you..."

"You've done some terrible things, that is true."

"How could Rachel ever love me?"

"She is your soul mate," said Echo. "She was born to love you. She will forgive you for your sins. There is good and evil inside all beings, Pan. You are not the first immortal to stray from the path and wander into the darkness. Things are different now. The question of who your soul mate is has been answered. You have something to live for now and her name will be Rachel."

"Rachel," he murmured, the name sacred on his lips. He lowered his head, dragged a shuddering breath into his lungs, then glanced upward. "Echo..." He blinked rapidly, tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. "I must know..." He raised his arm. "Could you..." He brushed his hand across her cheek. "Ever forgive me?"

His words robbed Echo of her smile. Her eyes swept over the tortured expression masking his face, paused and stared for a moment, then shifted away, teardrops clinging to her lashes. "I don't know." She answered truthfully.

"I understand," he said. He was silent for a moment and then asked, "Echo? How were you able to show me any of that?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "I took a chance and hoped I might be able to show you something of her, anything of her, to prove to you that I was not her."

Pan raked a hand through his hair. "I understand now. I understand. I didn't want to before. Oh Echo, how could I have been so wrong? "

"You were blinded by loneliness."

"That's no excuse. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I refused to admit it to myself. I chose to believe in a lie." He shook his head in shame. Echo p reached down and squeezed his hand.

"I forgive you," she said.

Pan let go of her hand. "No, you don't." His smile was sad. "I know you are lying, Echo. It's ok. You don't have to forgive me. I don't deserve it. I have not been a good man. I will try to become a better person so that I will one day be worthy of my soul mate. And now," he turned a pointed a finger at Narcissus. "Let me return your soul mate to you."

The hamadryads released their hold on him and retreated back into the forest and Narcissus started to rise back up out of the ground. The moment he was able to free his legs out of the mud Narcissus crossed to Echo's side and the two embraced. Pan watched them sadly. "Echo, may I ask you something?"

Narcissus turned his head and sent him a murderous look. Echo took his hand in hers and linked their fingers together. He responded by bringing her hand to his mouth and planting a kiss on it. Echo looked deep into his eyes and something seemed to pass between them. He nodded and walked a few steps away from them. Echo brought her smile onto Pan. "Yes, Pan?"

Tears glistened in his eyes. "Are you...happy?"

"Yes," she said, with a glance at Narcissus. "I am."

Pan seemed to draw strength from her words. "Good," he said softly, nodding his head. "Good," he said again. He cast her a final, lingering glance. "Go in peace, Echo." A gust of wind circled around him. There was a flash of light and a sound like a thunderclap and suddenly, Pan was gone. The forest fell quiet.

Echo held a fluttering hand in front of her mouth. "He's gone." A peal of laughter bottled up into her throat. "After all this time he's finally gone." Radiant with happiness, she turned to embrace Narcissus. His gaze collided against hers. His face was as dark as a thundercloud with anger – and hurt.

Her smile faded. "Narcissus?" A dozen questions crossed over her face. "Are you displeased with me? Did I do something wrong?"

"Displeased?" He gave a short bark of laughter. "I do not think that completely describes what I am feeling. Do you have any idea what it was like for me to be forced to watch while Pan attacked you? To be helpless while my soul mate was in peril? I could not move. I could not speak. All I could do was pour my strength and powers into you. We merged souls, Echo. For a brief moment in time we were one in heart, body and mind."

"I know," she said quietly, lowering her head.

Narcissus began to tremble with barely restrained rage. "After our connection was shattered, I tried to go to your aide a second time. You rejected me, Echo." His voice was low and flat. "You pushed me away, your soul mate, and welcomed the embrace of Pan instead. You betrayed me."

"That is not true," said Echo, squaring her shoulders. "I did not betray you. I did what had to be done. I had to try and find a way to break through to Pan or else nothing was going to stop him. I took a chance. If he had sensed your presence within me, he would not have trusted me. Please understand."

"You told me we were supposed to be equals. Partners."

"We are," said Echo, her voice tinged with irritation. She linked her fingers through his and gave his hands a light squeeze. "And we always will." Narcissus wrenched his hand out of hers. "If that were true you would've welcomed my help to stop Pan but you did not. You do not need me." He lowered his head shamefully. "I am a pitiful soul mate."

"What are you really displeased about, Narcissus? Is it because I was the one to stop Pan or are you feeling ashamed that you were rescued by a woman?"

His cheeks turned slightly pink. "Echo, I..." He swiped a hand through his hair and blew a small sigh. "Of course I am pleased you were able to make Pan see the truth. I could not be more proud of you. I just wish..." He raised his arm and brushed his fingertips across her face.

Echo moved a step back out of his reach. "That it had been you."

The patches of colour on Narcissus's cheeks grew brighter. "Echo, I know where this going, please try to understand..."

"I do not need your protection."

"You are my soul mate!"

"That doesn't mean I need you to fight my battles for me, Narcissus. If I chose to act alone, instead of growing angry at me for not wanting your protection, you should have faith in my abilities to succeed. I am just as powerful as you are, I proved that to you, didn't I?"

Narcissus pressed a hand against his forehead. "Yes, yes..."

"I can read your thoughts, my love." Echo looked angry now. "You don't really consider me your equal. You don't really think that we should be partners. You think you are better than me. You think you are meant to protect me."

A flicker of guilt crossed his face. "I don't want to rule your life, Echo. I only want to keep you safe. You are the most precious thing in the world to me. I spent centuries searching for you and now that I have finally found you if anything were ever to happen to you, would not be able to go on."

"I understand that Narcissus. I feel the same way about you too. But that doesn't excuse your actions. You are being possessive. You want to control me and to force me to do what you think is the right thing to do."

She lifted her chin. "I spent ten years as Pan's prisoner. When I wasn't shackled to a wall, I was tied to his bed. He did not let me make my own decisions. I will not be in another relationship like that again. I don't care if you are my soul mate, I will not let you, or any other man, control me."

With a sob, she turned her back on him and ran away. Narcissus dropped to his knees on the ground and buried his face in his hands.

### ****

Hours later...

Narcissus opened his eyes slowly, high above his head streaks of sunlight spread across the sky, extinguishing the light of the stars. Memories from the night before flashed inside his head; running through the forest screaming Echo's name; shrieking Pan's name in fury; cursing himself for pushing Echo away and finally, after hours of wandering aimlessly, breaking into sobs beneath a tree.

He sat up and buried his face into his hands. "Echo," he muttered, loneliness constricting his throat. "I was a fool. I was such a fool. Please come back."

"Narcissus," whispered a voice.

He gasped and lifted his head. "Echo!" A few feet in front of him stood his soul mate, half hidden behind a tree, her face lit with a smile. "You've come back!" He was so relieved to see her again he felt almost breathless. "I was so afraid. I thought I had ruined things between us. Please forgive me for being so arrogant. I have a lot to learn about how to treat others. I want you to show me." He spread his arms wide, beckoning her to come to him. "Come. Let us start again."

Laughing, Echo turned her back on him and skipped away, like a child playing a game. Narcissus frowned. "What are you doing?" He was amused, but also confused. Echo ducked beneath a low hanging tree branch and flashed a smile at him over her shoulder. He chuckled at her. "Oh, I see, it's a game is it?" He started to follow her. Echo pranced away, leading him on a chase. He followed her through the woods until he found himself at the edge of his beloved river.

Echo had waded into the water and was standing waist deep amongst the reeds waiting for him. With a giggle, she ducked beneath the surface and disappeared with a small splash. Excitement coursing through his veins, Narcissus followed her into the water. "Echo?" he called.

An image reflected on the surface caught his attention. It was Echo. She was smiling up at him from beneath the water. Her hair was flowing around her face and her eyes had turned eerily bright. Narcissus went completely, utterly still. All of the air left his lungs. The world seemed to narrow all around him until all he could see was Echo beneath the water. "Echo...?"

Echo's face changed and suddenly he was looking at Nemesis, grinning wickedly, with her black hair swirling chaotically amongst the reeds. He blinked and the illusion disappeared and he found himself looking at Echo again. His mouth curved into a dreamy smile. "Beautiful."

He fell to his knees. The reflection rippled and changed again this time becoming a mirror image of his own face. Narcissus didn't stop smiling. His face remained frozen in an expression of adoration. "So beautiful," he said.

### ****

A short distance away, Echo strolled along the edge of the riverbank with her head hung low, her stomach knotted with nerves over seeing Narcissus again. It had been a long, dreadful night. After leaving Narcissus, it had almost broken her heart to hear him begging and pleading for her to return. His cries had echoed throughout the forest for hours. It had taken nearly all of her strength not to answer back or give into the temptation to touch his mind.

It had been after dawn that she had made her decision. She would return to her soul mate, he may not be perfect, but he had goodness in his heart. His actions, though wrong, came from a place of love. In time she would teach him that she was not his property or a precious gemstone that needed protecting. She was his soul mate, destined to stand by his side, not in his shadow.

Suddenly, Echo felt the symbol on her wrist twitch. She staggered and gripped her arm in alarm. "Narcissus!" Something is wrong, she thought. She was about to start running, when she saw something in the distance. It was her soul mate kneeling on the edge of a riverbank. He was just visible between the gaps of the trees. "Narcissus!" she shouted, relief coursing through her.

Narcissus said nothing. He continued to stare downward, his smile unwavering, dream-like, as if he were lost in his own thoughts.

As Echo drew closer, she began to grow concerned. "Narcissus?" she asked. He was sitting knee deep in the water and staring at the rippling surface of the river with a fascinated, almost bewitched expression on his face.

"Beautiful," he muttered. "So beautiful..."

"Narcissus who are you talking to?"

The sound of her voice did nothing to rouse Narcissus. He remained motionless, his expression never changing, as if he were a statue that had been left to sink into the mud. Echo stepped closer. Narcissus was staring at a reflection of his own face. His reflected self was smiling arrogantly.

"Beautiful," said Narcissus.

He's staring at his own reflection. Echo balled her hands into fists as anger began to build up inside her. "Narcissus," she said in a terse voice. "Look at me."

"Beautiful," he said. "So beautiful..."

Echo came splashing over to him. "I said," she grabbed his chin between her thumb and forefinger. "Look at me, Narcissus!" she tried to turn his head to make him look at her, but he would not move. He was frozen in place.

"Beautiful," he said again. He didn't seem to realize she was there. Echo's anger turned to concern. "Narcissus, can you even hear me?"

His smile remained fixed on his face in the water. "So very, very, beautiful."

"Narcissus, I am not joking, please look at me!"

He did not acknowledge her.

"Narcissus!" Echo slapped him on the cheek with the palm of her hand. The sound of flesh hitting flesh was very loud, but Narcissus did not flinch or bat an eyelid. His smile remained etched on his lips. "Beautiful." As he spoke a large hand print spread across his left cheek reddening his face. "So beautiful."

"Enough!" Echo flung a handful of water in his face. The icy droplets splashed against his brow and dribbled down his cheeks but he did not notice.

"Beautiful," he said again. "Beautiful...beautiful...beautiful..."

"Why are you doing this?" Echo was weeping now, great heaving sobs that left her breathless. "Is it me?" she asked, her lashes glittering with teardrops. "Are you punishing me because of those things I said?" She waited anxiously for his reply, but all Narcissus said was "Beautiful," again.

Echo's expression crumbled. "Please, please, stop doing this..." She bent forward and slid a hand up his arm. "Talk to me." She curled her fingers around his wrist and gave him a light shake. "I am begging you, please talk to me. You're displeased with me over how I acted, aren't you?" she blinked up at his face with red swollen eyes. "That's it isn't it? I should never have questioned your judgement. I should never have challenged you. I belong with you, Narcissus. Do you hear me? I belong with you. Forgive me. Please forgive me."

He stared past her as if she was non-existent. "Beautiful."

"Have you even heard a word I've said?"

"Beautiful...beautiful...beautiful..."

Echo stared into Narcissus's vacant staring eyes and was struck with a frightening, horrifying thought. "Pan!" She bellowed as loud as she could. "What did you do?" She glanced from side to side. "Did you do this to him? Did you? Did you?" The forest was silent and offered no reply.

A bird took flight from a nearby tree in a rustle of feathers. Echo arched her head back and narrowed her eyes as it flew overhead. Scowling, she dropped her gaze to the ground and furrowed her brow in concentration. She pushed aside all thought of Narcissus and reached out with the power of her mind to scan her surroundings for any sign of her former tormentor. A bead of sweat dribbled down her forehead. A minute passed. Two. Three.

"Nothing," muttered Echo, opening her eyes. "Nothing." If Pan is not controlling Narcissus to try and punish me... She lowered her head, fell silent for a few moments, then raised her saddened gaze onto her soul mate. Narcissus must be ignoring me. Her mind flashed back to the fight that unfolded between them the night before and the devastated look that had crossed Narcissus's face when she had turned and fled into the shadows.

I abandoned him. Echo could feel panic rising inside her body, constricting her chest and clouding her thoughts. "Narcissus..." A nightmarish vision of a life without her soul mate filled her head; wandering the world alone, loneliness her constant companion; watching with envious eyes as a man and a woman walked past her holding hands; standing on the edge of a cliff staring into the distance, her face devoid of emotion, happiness a distant memory; falling to her knees on the edge of a river bank screaming Narcissus's name.

"No!" shouted Echo, shaking her head. The tormenting images flashed behind her eyelids again and again. "No...no...no..." Her breathing began to come in gasps past her lips. I will not let those things happen. Her eyes travelled over Narcissus's face hungrily, desperate for his attention, for his forgiveness.

A gust of wind blew past ruffling his hair. The corners of his mouth tipped upward slightly. The tension stretched between them grew and grew until Echo wanted to scream. What have I done? She pressed her hands against the top of her head and bunched her hair into her palms. I cannot live without him. A howl of misery began to build in her throat. I cannot. I cannot. I cannot.

"Narcissus!" Echo lowered her head beneath his chin and circled her arms around his waist. Her small frame began to shake. Tears rolled down her face and smeared against his chest. "Forgive me," she murmured. Narcissus stared over the top of her head with unblinking eyes. The silence cast between them continued to grow. Echo peered up at his face. "Please..." She raised her hands and trailed her fingertips down his cheeks. "Forgive me."

Narcissus did not move, did not utter a word, his rejection final. Echo lowered her head, lashes fluttering. Her shoulders began to shake. All of the sadness, all of the guilt, brewing inside her body twisted and coiled, forming the beginning of a scream. The noise building at the back of her throat grew and grew in sound until it rose up into her mouth and erupted past her lips in a long, saddened wail.

The expression etched upon Narcissus's face did not change. Echo tightened her arms around his chest and began to sob uncontrollably, great gasping cries that caused tears to leak out of the corners of her eyes and etch trails of moisture down her cheeks to the tip of her chin. The minutes turned to hours then passed into days and then weeks and weeks.

Echo remained crouched beside her soul mate, refusing to move, her head nestled beneath his chin. Her breasts heaved, her lungs burning, struggling to inhale air past her lips down her dry, scolded throat. "Narcissus," the single world unfurled past her lips in a long, hoarse whisper. "Forgive me," she tipped her head back and blinked up at him with red rimmed eyes. "Please." He did not reply, did not blink. Echo turned her head away, fresh tears etching tracks down her sun blistered skin.

As time passed the seasons began to change; the wind began to rise, heralding the arrival of clouds from the north; drops of rain fell from above, silver streams of liquid that pelted the treetops and turned the ground to mud; storm clouds rolled across the sky, dark and swirling, plunging the land into shadow; leaves broke off tree branches and floated to the ground; animals scurried into burrows and the air began to grow cold; only one thing remained the same, only one thing remained unmoving as the weeks went by, Echo and Narcissus.

Echo's eyelashes fluttered weakly. Her arms were wrapped around Narcissus's waist and her head was tucked beneath his chin. Her limbs felt heavy and sore, her neck muscles ached and there was a dry, bitter taste at the back of her throat. It had been months since she had last moved, weeks since she had last opened her mouth and spoken.

High above, snowflakes began to fall from the clouds, silver flecks that dusted the top of her head. Echo loosened her arms around Narcissus and arched her head back slowly, her gaze brushed against his face, a tentative glance from beneath her lashes. He did not return her stare. The cold sting of tears began to build in Echo's eyes. "Narcissus," she leaned forward, breasts heaving, her distraught face inches from his own. "Why are you doing this?" His continued silence made her want to scream. Echo curled her fingers around his arms and gave him a light shake. "Why are you tormenting me?" Her breathing began to come in gasps past her lips. "Don't you love me?"

The moment the question forced its way past her tongue Echo cupped her hands in front of her mouth and uttered a gasp. The fear that Narcissus might not love her anymore had been growing inside her for months. It had entered her head as an insidious voice in the beginning, whispering terrible things, consuming her thoughts. In time her anxieties began to plague her dreams as well. Night after night images of a life without Narcissus would flash inside her head, disrupting her sleep, causing her to awake screaming her soul mate's name. Until now, she had never managed to gather the courage to ask Narcissus the question she had been dreading, fear of his answer had kept her silent.

Echo lowered her hands into her lap and slowly, tentatively, began to move backward into the reeds, water sloshed against her thighs and licked her lower back but she did not notice. Her eyes had turned round with panic and she was trembling, as if she were a small, frightened animal. The wind fell silent. The trees stood still. A minute passed. Narcissus did not lift his head, did not utter a sound, he continued to stare downward as if Echo had not spoken.

Another minute came and went. Echo could feel her heart hammering against her ribs, could hear the sound of her rapid breathing. Her stare rested on Narcissus's face pleadingly. The silence pressing down on her was like a heavy weight on her chest. Narcissus still did not speak.

In that moment Echo knew she had her answer, she knew that her fears had come true. It was as if she had been dealt a physical blow. As the truth dawned, the last embers of hope that she been clutching onto extinguished, like a candle in the wind. A breath she had not been aware she had been holding expelled past her lips in a cry of anguish.

In an instant the life she had been dreaming about, that she believed was her destiny, was snuffed out. She would never watch her belly grow round with Narcissus's child. She would never see him smile at her in love again.

And that was when the lingering threads of her strength broke. Echo could feel her body folding, bending forward, like a broken doll. Her head arched backward and her mouth fell open wordlessly. Her hair fanned out around her face, caught in the grip in the wind, like a rippling green cape. The glistening surface of the river came rushing up to meet her, to drag her down into its dark depths, far from the light of the world. Strangely, she never felt its cold kiss.

She could not feel anything anymore. Not the caress of the wind against her skin or the pounding of her own heart. Her body had gone, faded into nothingness. Echo could feel herself hovering, weightless. Her flesh and blood shell had crumbled, fallen away, exposing the light of her soul. Her gaze travelled over Narcissus's face. She tried to raise her arm to touch his cheek only to remember, sadly, that she had no body. She had become a spirit. A pale shadow of her former self. The shackles binding her to the Earth had been released.

"My love," she whispered.

Narcissus showed no sign that he had heard her speak. He continued to stare down at his reflection. The top of his head and the back of his shoulders had become dusted with snow and strands of hair hung in front of his brow throwing bands of shadow across his face.

"Beautiful." The corners of his mouth stretched higher. "So beautiful." He never saw Echo vanish. He never heard the sound of her disembodied voice weeping, he never felt the last trace of her essence fade away. She was gone. Utterly and completely. Nothing remained. Narcissus did not notice.

The days turned into weeks. As time passed, a thick layer of snow fell over the forest turning the ground white and covering the trees in frost; the wind turned cold and bitter; snowflakes swirled throughout the air; icicles began to develop, glistening spears that hung off the trees; the surface of the river crusted over with ice trapping Narcissus's reflection within it; a thin film of snow crept across the glass obscuring his face except for a single, piercing eye.

High above, a snowflake descended from the clouds, twirling and spinning in the wind. The white flake fluttered down to the ground and settled over the last visible part of Narcissus's reflection. A bolt of electricity shot out of the ice and struck Narcissus in the forehead waking him up.

He gasped and lifted his head. A snowflake landed on the tip of his nose. His eyes grew round with shock. He turned his head from side to side. Somehow, without his knowledge, snow had fallen over the forest and the river had frozen. He lowered his gaze onto his legs. His thighs had become lodged in ice.

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "How..." His mind was whirling, struggling to recall the past few months, but there was a hole in his memory, as if he had just awoken from a deep sleep. His thoughts turned to Echo. The silence in his head was deafening. Narcissus looked from side to side. "Echo!" He could feel panic constricting his chest. Her presence was gone. Once a shadow at the back of his mind, his soul mate had vanished, leaving him empty, hollow inside.

Narcissus turned his wrist around so that it faced upward. Echo's insignia on his arm was gone. His heart slammed against his chest. "No," He dug his fingers into his arm and leaned forward, until his pale, terrified face was inches from his wrist. He blinked and shook his head but the illusion did not fade. Her symbol had disappeared. A cold wind rustled through the trees. As if to torment him Echo's symbol reappeared for a few moments and then vanished again.

"No, no, no!" he shouted.

"She is gone, Narcissus," said a voice.

"Nemesis!" He freed himself from the ice and got back onto his feet. A few feet away, standing on the edge of the riverbank, was the Goddess of Vengeance. Narcissus suddenly felt ill. "What have you done?"

"Something I should have done centuries ago, Narcissus."

"You have punished me."

"A cry for vengeance was made. I answered it."

Corinna, he thought. "What happened to Echo?"

A cruel smirk touched the corners of her mouth. "She found you sitting next to the river looking at your reflection. So vain, admiring yourself like that. She tried speaking to you, but you would not answer. All you did was stare at yourself in the water. She grew upset, Narcissus. Do you not remember the sound of her weeping? Of her pleas for forgiveness? She sat next to you for months, Narcissus. Did you notice at all?"

Narcissus pressed his hands against his temple. "She did?" He was breathing heavily, deep rasping gasps. "I don't remember!"

"Do you remember when she asked if you still loved her?" Her question was as painful as a knife thrust into his chest. "No," he said. "No, I do not."

"Do you remember all the other women who have asked you that?"

He lowered his head shamefully. "Yes."

"You have spent centuries breaking the hearts of women, Narcissus. You made them fall in love with you, then after you implanted them with your seed you abandoned them." Nemesis pointed a finger at his face. "As punishment for your crimes, I have taken your soul mate from you. You do not deserve such a precious gift. Only now that Echo is gone will you be able to understand how it feels to have the one you love disappear from your life."

Her words struck him like a physical blow. "Nemesis, do not do this to me. Please, I beg you. You can't. Its cruel. I cannot exist without her. I cannot!"

"Do not bore me with your petty excuses. It is done." Nemesis raised her arms above her head and disappeared into a crack of the Earth. Narcissus dropped to the ground and clutched is head in his hands.

"Echo!" He screamed. A gust of wind answered him.

"Echo..." It was her. Echo. Her voice was in the wind. Narcissus glanced from side to side, eye-eyed and desperate. "Echo? Where are you?"

"Echo? Where are you?"

Heart pounding, he rushed over to the nearest tree and peered behind it. His hair ruffled in the wind. "I can't see you, Echo."

"I can't see you, Echo."

"Why are you repeating everything I say?"

"Why are you repeating everything I say?"

A sound of pure misery escaped him. His heart was breaking, shattering into a million pieces, never to be repaired. "Echo!"

"Echo," she replied, a shattered fragment of the woman she once was.

"Echo..."

"Echo..."

"Echo..."

"Echo...."

"Echo..."

"Echo."

"Echo..."

The End

About the Author

Marisa Quinn-Haisu is a fiction writer, a blogger and a freelance journalist from Western Australia.

Discover other titles by Marisa Quinn-Haisu

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When I Look Into Your Eyes

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