Knuckles's Inferno:
Summary: Knuckles is a knight of the Brotherhood of the Guardians who leaves to reclaim the Holy Zone from heretics. However, he comes back stained with the blood of innocents on his hands. He finds his whole family slaughtered and his betrothed Sally Acorn has been claimed by the Prince of Darkness, Mephiles himself. He descends into the Nine Hells to rescue her and atone for his sins. He is accompanied by the Saint Miles sent by Sonic (leader of the angels) to guide him through the layers of the Pit before Mephiles can claim Sally's pure soul for his bride. Warning! Contains gory violence and sexual themes throughout! Enter only if you are 18+ and dare to!
Chapter 1: the Dark Wood:
A red furred individual rode a magnificent warhorse through a dark forest. He wore gleaming chain and plate mail bearing the sacred symbol of the Brotherhood upon its breastplate. The path he traveled was overgrown with brambles and tree roots, occasionally fading altogether under the dense brush. It had been a long time since he had traveled the straight and narrow path, and he doubted he would ever find it again. Not that it mattered; he could sense another presence on the edges of his vision, yet when he searched for this phantom, he found not a trace.
Animals, ever watching, prowled on the edges of the path, taking precautions to avoid emerging into plain sight. Their glinting eyes betrayed hunger and malice, yet never approached, just kept pace with him. Furthermore, the entire area seemed caught in perpetual twilight. There was enough light to travel by, but little more. A mist snaked among the trees and obscured anything hiding there. These were ill omens he had no doubt, but what they meant eluded him. His only purpose was to find his way home and to his beloved Sally.
Sally Acorn was his only beam of light in his otherwise dark existence. His only love in life, and, omens be damned, he would be reunited with her.
He was pulled out of his contemplation by a stranger mounted on a black steed. The figure stopped directly in the center of the path and observed the knight. The dark hunter's features were cloaked in shadow and surrounding him were three beasts. A large wolf, a slender jaguar, and a powerful lion regarded the armored knight with yellow eyes that blazed with unearthly fire. Knuckles unbuckled his sword and put a mailed hand on the hilt as he called out, "Who are you, stranger? Identify yourself!"
The mysterious hunter didn't reply. He studied the knight a while longer, and then with deliberate slowness, pointed at towards him. As if on command, the creatures lurched forward with slavering jaws. The rider spurred his horse and vanished into the mist.
Knuckles drew his blade and dug his heels into his horse's flank, causing it to leap forward, narrowly missing the swipe of the jaguar's vicious claws. He thrust the sword forward and pierced the cat's heart, slaying it instantly. He turned only to be knocked out of his saddle by a pouncing wolf. The canine snapped its foaming jaws in the echidna's face. Knuckles wrapped his legs around the canine's body and squeezed while one hand held the head away from his vulnerable throat while the other groped for his fallen sword.
Not finding it, Knuckles grabbed the wolf's head with both hands and savagely twisted it. The bones audibly snapped and the body went limp. He thrust the corpse off of him and stood, swiping his blade of the ground. He faced the final animal. The King of the Beasts roared challengingly and Knuckles charged forward. A heavy paw smacked him away, but left little more than a scratch on his breastplate.
Knuckles stood up groggily and held his ground while the lion paced him, snarling every couple seconds. Finally, the massive feline lunged forward and shot out a paw at his legs. Knuckles sidestepped and swung with all his might, severing the lion's head clean off. Warm, sticky blood splattered across his armor as the lion's head rolled to stop.
The knight changed his motion to his horse and climbed nimbly atop it. "Hee-yah!" he whooped and charged after the hooded figure.
At length, he came out of the woods and to his father's estate. The house was eerily silent and dark. Fearing the worst, he dismounted and rushed up the garden to the house. The front door hung on one hinge, exposing a gaping hole where no light entered. His heart pounding, he redrew his blade and entered, knowing what he would find. The moonlight from the many windows illuminated portions of the room. What he saw disturbed him greatly. The servants lay butchered and hacked apart all across the floor. He stepped inside and beheld a grisly sight. His father lay upon the dinner table with guts spilling out and his cross embedded in his left eye. Choking back the bile rising in his throat, he turned away.
A horrible thought entered his mind. "Sally," he cried. He dashed past his father's defiled corpse and to his loved one's room. He tried the handle, but found it locked. Bracing himself, he bashed through the wooden barrier, completely reducing it to mere splinters. His worst fear came to life when he found the room bathed in scarlet. The amount of bodily fluids seemed impossible, even splashed on the ceiling and dripped slowly onto the stone floor.
"Sally!" he shouted, although clearly no one was in the room.
Outside, a small voice whimpered in reply. Almost so quiet that he thought he might've imagined it, but acting on impulse, he leapt out of the open window into the back lawn. Several feet ahead, lay a figure that twitched in the throes of death. Knuckles sprinted forward and recognized the dying one as his fiancée, Sally. He knelt by her side and lifted ever so gently up.
"Knuckles?" she whispered.
"I'm here," he answered.
"I'm so cold," she whimpered.
"Don't you leave me, yet," he demanded. He looked at her wound. A large gash split her side open and the nearby ground was soaked with her blood. He had limited knowledge of healing, but knew that this was irreversible, yet didn't want to accept it. "Who did this to you?"
"I know not, he was hidden by shadow," she managed. "I must leave you now, but we'll be together in Heaven, my love. You didn't break your promise did you?"
"No! Never, my love," he assured her.
"Good," she gasped. Her eyes glazed over as her last breathe escaped her.
"No! Why?! Why, God?!" He cried to the heavens. He sobbed over her dead body, until a bright light winked into existence from within her body. He blinked as the light's intensity as it grew brighter and brighter, almost excruciatingly so. The light traveled up and out of her mouth before assuming a more recognizable form. "What is this? Do my eyes deceive me?"
"It is me, my love. I'm going to paradise, but you join me in time. Do not try to before your time comes, or we will never cross paths again." Her voice rang like a heavenly choir. The sky opened into a golden light and her soul began to rise. Knuckles watched as this event unfolded.
However, the golden light faded as the darkest shadow to ever touch the earth blocked the way. "What?" Knuckles asked. The darkness gathered into an ethereal form. It was monstrous, black as a bottomless pit and red eyes that burned with the fires of Hell. Two wings sprouted and spread open nearly 20 feet across.
"Knuckles?" asked Sally's spirit. "Did you betray me?"
"No!"
"You lie," the devil cut in. Its voice was the most horrible thing he had ever heard. It made his blood run cold and palms sweat. "I have come to claim my prize," it continued, "a pure soul meant for heaven."
"Help!" Sally's soul cried as the demon grabbed her wrists.
"Let her go, demon! You have no claim to her!" Knuckles demanded as he picked up his blade.
"Wrong. Your sins will be suffered by her," it asserted. Then with a beat of its massive wings, the monster took off.
Knuckles put his fingers to his mouth and whistled sharply. His horse whinnied and trotted around the building. He grabbed hold of its reins and swung up while it continued to charge after the demon's path.
The horse galloped at break-neck speed in order to catch the demon. The black shadow looked over its shoulder and noted that the mortal was giving chase. Turning back to its flight path, it intoned a few words in an ancient, dead language. The forest set instantly ablaze and a doorway appeared several hundred feet ahead.
Knuckles slowed his steed as a burning tree fell across the path, but instructed it to jump. It cleared the flames and continued the chase. "This will not deter me and nothing will stop me! I will follow you to the ends of Hell!" he shouted.
"So be it," the demon replied with an evil chuckle. The double doors opened and revealed a desolate landscape beyond completely different from the forest. The ground trembled and cracked opens while groping hands, grabbed the horse's legs and sent it tripping. Knuckles again went flying out of the saddle a skidded to a stop. He looked back to see his horse being dragged underground by skeletal hands. He heard ripping and crunching, while blood sprayed from the hole along with pieces of the organs.
Knuckles felt sick and averted his eyes. He stood up and started proceeding on foot after the demon while more skeletons clawed their way out of the ground. He ignored those behind and swung his sword in a wide arc at those who moved in his way. The skeletons snapped and collapsed as he cut through them.
"You lied to me! You must save me!" Sally shouted as the demon passed the doorway's threshold.
"Sally! I will find you! Neither Heaven nor Hell shall stop me!" Knuckles swore, unable to push his way through the skeletons. The doorway slammed shut behind the souls and the undead deteriorated into dust. Suddenly able to move unhindered, Knuckles surged forward to the door, but was unable to force it open. He pounded it with his fist and cracked the stone beneath his fist.
"Open, damn you!"
The ground trembled once more as unnaturally long arms shot out and grabbed the knight. He struggled and swore as they tore off his breastplate. Ribbon of blood red snaked out of the chasm and laid themselves across his broad chest. The hands produced needles and thread out of thin air and began to sew the ribbons to his skin; in mock form of the Brotherhood's symbol. Scenes from Knuckles' past blazed for an instant on the ribbon before fading away. One for every sin he had committed was recorded there.
He was then thrown forward at the base of the door as the demonic hands retreated. The ground sealed back like it had never cracked open. Knuckles stood unsteadily as beads of blood oozed from his fresh wounds. He ignored the pain and put his hands to the door and pried it open with renewed strength. He yelled with fury and pain as he pulled the doors completely open.
"Wait," said a voice behind him. Knuckles grabbed his sword and turned swiftly, expecting yet another demon. Instead, a regal looking fox carrying a staff stood a few feet away. "The way through the Nine Hells is treacherous," he said.
"What are you?"
"A guide sent by the angels to accompany you on your quest," he answered.
"Angels?"
"Yes, Sally's soul was meant for heaven and you must retrieve it for her salvation."
"You must be Saint Miles then, exarch of the angel Sonic."
"Indeed. Now, let us go. I will guide you through the passages of Hell, but you alone must overcome the dangers presented within," he warned.
"Very well," Knuckles agreed. He turned back to the open doors. A black, desolate land was spread before him. He took a steadying breath and stepped into oblivion.