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When you first wake up, your chest hurts. It burns and you feel something bubbling up inside you. It hurts, but something squeals, hot steam comes out of the cracks and the pressure slowly subsides, the agony ceasing after a while.You open your eyes, which creak, and find yourself finally noticing the space around you.There is a man in front of you. His hair is sparse and white, his face has deep, dark marks, bags under his eyes, large and black, staring back at you with an unholy air. His hands are thin and wrinkled, he's shaking too much.The man is looking at you and he's shaking.No one speaks for a while, a part of you wants to, but you feel like you'll fall apart if you try, so you wait. The pain bubbling up inside you isn't as painful as before, given a calming effect by the way it hums under your guts. Like someone waiting for water to boil, you wait patiently.The man moves, clasping his hands together after straightening the glasses that were threatening to fall off his nose. His eyes move from you to the stairs, to the windows and their darkness at night. There's the sound of waves in the background that you only notice now.“Hello,” he says, his voice not what you'd expect, but you don't say anything. “Hello, little one. I'm Albert Julien.”You don't think it's small, you want to correct the man, but before you can speak, the man keeps talking.“I have a son, you know. He's far away from here, I don't think I'll ever see him again.”It's only now that you notice that his eyes are bloodshot, red and trembling. There seems to be water in them.“I'm getting old, I'm living longer than I should, and my mind isn't the same anymore”There's regret in his eyes too.“I can't forget Zane, no, not ever”He puts his hands together, seeming to praySeeming to begAnd now, he's looking at the clouds outside, and he's not talking to you, but to someone else.He begs for forgiveness
He begs forgiveness for his actions
He begs for forgiveness for his actions that he can't take back nowAnd so you live
Your name is Zane
Zane lives with his father in a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean.
Zane likes to read, draw and is very obedient.
Zane plays with his father, talks to him, brings him tea, along with T-Dai, his friend and brotherHis father teaches him to read. Zane loves the dictionary
His father teaches him to hide. Zane loves hide and seek
His father teaches him how to defend himself. Zane loves to protect
His father teaches him how to heal. Zane loves mechanics
His father teaches him to be Zane. Zane loves being ZaneAnd Zane learnsYou learn to read about things you don't know
You learn to hide from tentacles
You learn to defend yourself against skeletons
You learn to heal yourself when you fall down the stairs
You learn to be Zane, the boy from Birchwood ForestOne morning, after breakfast, Zane plays chess with his father. His father explains the rules, how to play, how to win.They play. Zane loses, his father smiles, everything is fine.
They play. Zane loses, his father smiles, you'll get the hang of it.
They play. Zane loses, his father smiles.
They play. Zane loses, his father looks at the tea
They play. Zane loses, his father...
They play. Zane loses, his father looks at the sea
They play. Zane loses, his father trembles
They don't play. Zane says nothing, and his father laughs and shrugs
They don't play. Zane doesn't know what the joke is, and his father...Your father laughs with gusto, but Zane doesn't know what the joke is yet, so you smile, and wait for Dad to finish.
Your father is still laughing, he shakes his shoulders vigorously, his glasses come off his face and fall onto the table, messing up the chess pieces and almost knocking over the tea
When Zane reaches out to pick them up, his father says“By now, Zane would have left me in the dust”Zane doesn't understand, doesn't move and waits anxiously for his father to explain, so they can get back to playingThey don't play
The tea gets cold
The glasses are picked up carelessly
His father goes to bed early
Zane creeps quietly down the stairs
Zane walks down to the beach, sand on his feet
Zane looks at the sea
Zane wants to know what his father is looking at
Zane wants to understand the joke
Zane wants to laughStrangely, Albert Julien isn't in the dictionary.Zane returns, and the days go by
His father works
His father works and doesn't notice
His father works and doesn't notice that Zane has taken up chess
His father works and doesn't notice that Zane has taken up Chess and tries to beat T-dai
His father works and doesn't notice that Zane has picked up Chess and is trying to beat T-dai under the stairs
His father works and doesn't notice that Zane has picked up Chess and tries to beat T-dai under the stairs and tries desperately
His father works and doesn't notice that Zane has picked up Chess and tries to beat T-dai under the stairs and tries desperately to be ZANEOne day, Zane breaks down.
His father takes him under the stairs, instead of the balcony at the top
His father says you should sleep, and wait
His father has deep-set eyes, white hair, thin, trembling hands.
It's like seeing him for the first time, all over again.Zane obeysZane goes to sleepZane wakes upYour father is no longer there.And so you live.
Your days are the same. Zane makes tea with T-Dai, but no one takes it. Zane reads the dictionary, even though he's read it many times before. He hides, even though the tentacles are no longer here. Zane fights, even though there is no one to protect him. Zane heals himself, because he's still obsolete. Zane plays chess and...Zane loses to T-DaiYou're not Zane yetStrangely, T-Dai is not in the dictionary.There's noise upstairs, so you go up.
There's a boy and a girl. They're talking. You don't know what about, but T-Dai helps them, even if you don't understand why. But that's okay, because T-Dai tries to talk to you, and then the strangers notice you and you decide to run away.It's not long before they both find you. You introduce yourself, because it's rude not to. The girl doesn't look hopeful, but the boy comes to the rescue, giving her a chance and also... a name.Echo ZaneEcho helps Nya and Jay on their mission.Strangely, Nya is not in the dictionary
Strangely, Jay is not in the dictionary.
Strangely, Zane is not in the dictionary.
Strangely, Echo is in the dictionary.
Echo (noun)
A sound or series of sounds caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface back to the listener...
And finally, you understand the father's joke.
Echo can't stop laughing.