Hello! Nzul here with Havanax in a co-witting story we hope you enjoy! (Check out her stories too!)
1 — The Return of a Hero
A shovelful of graveyard soil flew across the dark windy forest. With clammy and aching hands, a young pink hedgehog continued to shovel without pause. Each hard breath stung in her lungs, rasping through her throat.
But she wouldn't stop. Not today.
The world depended on her
As hours passed, her shovel sank into something and the pink hedgehog froze, eyes wide and she felt a flutter in her chest that resembled hope. With haste, she dug deeper and when she made out the form of dark cobalt quills coming out from underneath she dug with her hands and there it was, the future's last hope:
"Sonic the Hedgehog…" she mumbled breathlessly in disbelief.
He was dead, that was for sure. The young witch flipped him over unceremoniously, not even thinking twice about touching him. Even in her panic, she noticed his ethereal beauty, the handsome features that were once there. She imagined his face would be classically angelic if he hadn't been dead.
The pink hedgehog spotted maggots, flecks of doughy white nestled within mangled flesh, feverishly squirming into hunks of gore. The corpse was almost devoid of skin and pitted by burrowing insects. She fought the urge to gag as the smell of a powerful, pungent, disgusting odor that she could only describe as rotting meat smell mixed with a tinge of sickening sweetness of cheap perfume. Without eyelids the pale green eyes stared into the frozen sky while the lip-less mouth hung open.
"I've found you. Finally. I found you."
She met his gaze and waited for his glazed over eyes to move. They didn't. He just stared at the stars, bathed in darkness. Her eyes wandered down his face and stopped at his chest.
A crimson grin smiled back at her. The slash across his chest seemed to have more life than hid listless gaping mouth. It taunted her. She could forever look at this twisted smile but she could never again see his face light up with one.
She swallowed and slowly began to survey the rest of his body. His arms and legs were bent at awkward angles as though he was a marionette that had been carelessly dropped. She sighed. His body was devoid of the grace it once knew. She looked away. He was no longer the hero everyone knew, he was now just another corpse.
"So much for the savior of the world."
That wouldn't be for long though.
She clasped her hands around his bony wrists and tugged him out of the hole he lay decomposing. Despite half of him being decomposed, his weight was heavy and she huffed. Flesh scraping across the dirt, the heel of her boots sinking into the ground in a last, feeble protest.
Live oaks rose from the ground on either side of them and spread their branches like a canopy over the old pavement. Spanish moss hung down in gray-green strands, blowing in the breeze. The last of the day's sum dappled between the waving leaves, the effects of light and shadow lulling an eerie feel.
Candles lit the dark forest around the dark blue hero as he now lay on top of a chalked pentagram with crystals and other metaphysical ingredients. All the things needed for the ceremony. The ritual was to begin soon.
The young witch studied a grimoire book with deep concentration and determination, flipping the pages as she should and with a deep breath, shutting it with a nod and looking over the corpse of the dead hero.
She had studied years for this very moment.
"I can do this," she said to herself, taking out her obsidian silver athame dagger from its sheath and walking over to the pentagram with new proud confidence as she looked over the dead body.
Focusing her energies on the corpse, she waved her hands over the dead body. "Brighid, I call upon you to bring back the power that once was and restore the balance of earth!"
Magic poured out of her fingers and palms, forming a sparkly dust around the decomposing body and twirling within the pentagon, flickering the lights and angering the wind around it. As the shimmering layer grew in size and strength, her energies depleted lower.
A current of wind around them, and her body tingled from the potent magic coming out from within her body. It ticked like mini feathers poking her all over.
"Dilectus meus mihi et illis sequentibus consurgetis de foramine age iam defuncti!" Chanted the witch into the darkness, voice rising at each repetition with both her arms raised out towards the sky. "Manus in manu non erit super id nisi mors tenuit nos non est absque amore vivemus in omni vita teneamus!"
Sparks exploded in the dark and the color ebony came into foggy view, a whirl of countless voices illuminating from the fog. Souls poured out and attempted to rapture the barrier the young witch had created. The young witch shut her eyes tightly to fight the fear as wandering ghosts surrounded her for help.
Fear tickled down her spine but she fought the urge to pay any mind to them. She had to focus on the dead body before her or she could mistakenly capture a wrong soul into his body or worse, her own would be possessed. By a demon, none the less. That is what made this spell so dangerous.
Only the most powerful of witches could perform such a dangerous ritual and even then it took at least five of them to make it work. The only one capable of doing it on their own was the most skilled and powerful. The pink hedgehog was not one of them but she had studied endlessly to conjure this soul.
"I offer you my blood in exchange." With that, she engraved her blade to her palm until she drew blood and casksted it onto the center of his heart and her chalice cup. "I drink this to mend the bond we have built!" She chanted, swallowing the blood and wine.
Thunder roared across the dark sky as she summoned the demon of death. The souls gathering around her with static screams as they desperately tried to possess a body of their own. The young witch felt them taking energy away from her body and her legs felts wobble, but she wasn't going to let this stop her.
With a flourish of her hand, a pink wand appeared, and more pink dust whirled in the breeze."Dilectus meus mihi et illis sequentibus consurgetis de foramine age iam defuncti!" She chanted in her Latin tongue. "Manus in manu non erit super id nisi mors tenuit nos non est absque amore vivemus in omni vita teneamus!"
A blue orb appeared before her and a feeling of peace, love, and tranquility looked over her. Only the purest of souls could break the barrier and she was sure this was the one she seeked as she weakly opened her eyes and stared at the glowing orb, her quills fluttering in the wind wildly.
"Dilectus meus mihi et illis sequentibus consurgetis de foramine age iam defuncti!" She chanted again. "Manus in manu non erit super id nisi mors tenuit nos non est absque amore vivemus in omni vita teneamus!"
The orb grew bigger, illuminating her and the souls around them and the young witch held her ground and let out all her energy in one blow. She said her final chant and willed the end of the spell and took a brief second to gather her wits so she wouldn't pass out as soon as she stood up.
The souls around her had dispersed and so had the bright blue light before her as the pink hedgehog breathlessly tried to calm herself. Had she done it? Weakly, she lifted her head up and glanced at the lifeless body before her.
But if he's alive, maybe he'll be the key to saving the world. She trotted over tiredly, her heart beating furiously with hope.
Nothing had changed. He was still a copse.
She shook him. He lay unresponsive, like the Greek God statue he resembles.
Nothing.
"It didn't work?" The young witch solemnly moaned, lowering her eyes at the lifeless body that lay in the center of her pentagram."This must be a mistake…"
The young witch's gaze darted upward at the dark starry sky as if expecting an answer from them. She glared, gripping onto her gown with desperation. "I did all you asked for!" She shouted with eyes threatening to tear up.
She nearly lost her soul to spirits and demons, not to mention her blood offer and energy, her jaw tightened. Was she simply not strong enough? She looked back at the corpse, skepticism written across his face.
"Wake up, damn you. Wake up! Don't you know you are our last hope? Why won't you wake up? What the hell are we supposed to do?" She screamed at the top of her lungs, knowing she could be bringing on attention from the village near by and not caring.
She lay her head on chest in frustration and the tears stream out of her eyes. "I don't understand. I did everything perfectly so why won't you wake up?" She mumbled softly, shutting her eyes tightly, ignoring the sound of movement in soi—wait!
She shoved herself away from his form, breathing hard and with widened eyes.
He had moved from beneath her.
To her utter amazement, his eyes open blearily. Deep green eyes glare at her. "Can you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep." His voice was raw and full of pain, but somehow, he still managed to inject a certain level of condescension.
"It worked…" The young witch laughed incredulously, amazed that she had done it. "It really worked!"
"Who are you?" Sonic barked, agitated as he held his head, glancing at her slightly, sitting up. "Another one of my fangirls I assume? Look, I don't have time for signing autographs. I feel like I've been asleep for centuries."
"No," The pink hedgehog said with a bright smile, still bewildered as she watched him, shaking in a mixture of fear and happiness. "My name is Amy Rose and I've resurrected you from the dead."
"From the dead? What are you talking..." Sonic trailed off as he scratched his cheek only to scream at his bony fingers and clutch his hand tightly, glaring at the pink hedgehog in fear and confusion."What the hell happened to me? What the hell did you do to me?"
Sonic tuned her out as he sprawled away from her all while screaming as he looked himself over. She couldn't blame him but they had no time for this, besides she didn't know the savior in the world could scream this loud!
She blew a loose quill away from her face in annoyance as she reached out to him. "Calm down, let me just explain."
He ignored her trying to get away, almost as if he thought this was her doing, which in a way was but he looked about ready to sprint off so Amy inhaled deeply, a look of determination as she jumped on him and tackled him to the ground before he could, twirling around on the dirt with him until she got above him.
"Listen to me!" Amy shouted in his face which shut him right up as he stared up at her in surprise.
She was surprisingly strong.
"Fifty years ago today you lost the battle to Robotnik and with that the world has come under his rule," Amy explained, holding him down underneath herself."But he's planning something horrible. That's why we need the chaos emeralds to stop him. Fortunately before you died you were able to scatter the emerald around the world. Robotnik has spent years searching in vain for the them but only you can attain them."
Sonic paused, watching her wearily. "How do you know all this?"
"My tarot cards revealed it so." She said ever so simply,
Sonic stared at her dumbfounded, trying to process all this information as she held him down. This all seemed like some dream. But as he glanced at his bony hands he knew this was far from being a dream.
He was dead.
Somewhat.
"But don't you see," Amy said, interrupting his thoughts with hopeful eyes. "With you being brought to life, we can find them easily and save the world!"
"About that…" he laughed, scratching his cheek in thought from within her grasp. "I don't remember where exactly I scattered them."
"What!?"
ANND that's a wrap! Also feel free to vote on my poll which story should be updated next! :D
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