Chapter 1

The ashes fell as the smoke blotted out the sun. People scattered, as the fire threatened to engulf them as well as their possessions they held in their arms. The fire was almighty, it had raged for more than four days. No one was powerful, or daring enough to stop it. It had originated in the Pyya'r territories, where legend told of a fire spirit, wrathful and vengeful. Of course, the former Watchmaker paid no attention to such stories, they were merely child's play in his eyes. Such child's play was now burning up the entire city, the capital of the nation. The death toll would never be truly found, as many bodies of the unlucky were left to burn. It was currently raging through the slum in the city.

Just like any other major city, Addenia had its fair share of poor people, and Shadow was one of them. He was holding the hand of his best friend, Maria. She was the daughter of an alchemist, as was Shadow, and they both became good friends through their parents. They were rushing out of their homes, the arson was dangerously close.

"Come on, Maria! We don't have time to gather anything! We'll be lucky to escape with the clothes on our backs!" Shadow tugged her wrist urgently, his red eyes pleading with her to go.

"Shadow, please, let me grab the picture of you and myself," she asked, jerking his hand up and down in a mixture of pleading, whining and fear.

Shadow thought for a second, letting the fire rage even closer. He could see its reflection in Maria's eyes. She was almost transfixed, paralyzed in fear, partially what would happen to her home, and partially worried about their lives. She pushed the fear away, and resumed pleading. The picture, and their relationship, was much more important.

"Maria, be quick about it, please!" Shadow let go of her hand and called after her, his hand still out, as if he was still holding hers.

But there was no time. In a split second, Shadow's entire world went crashing down, literally. The small flat that they called home collapsed, Maria still inside. Shadow's eyes couldn't comprehend what he just saw, his mouth agape. The fire was literally upon him, and all he could think of was what he just witnessed.

"Maria!" he called into the burning rubble. He wasn't taking his chances anymore. He booked it as fast as he could out of the slum, with one sad, longing look back at the life he had.

~/~

It was quite a bit ago when that happened. He grew up in an orphanage, along with the multitudes of other kids who lost their parents to the all-consuming fire. He met Sonic, a blue hedgehog, in which he developed a strange relationship with. Sonic was extremely headstrong, and quite popular among the other orphans, all of which Shadow shunned. Shadow had learned about his reputation by overhearing gossip. Some would say that he saved at least a dozen people from the flames using his awesome speed, and some say he got out of there after his Uncle Charles died. But one thing was the same, and Sonic was the incarnation of the word 'good'. But as much as Shadow hated to admit it, he was grateful that the hedgehog stood by his side. They were quite the yin and yang to each other.

They grew up to be teenagers in the orphanage, learning how to fend for themselves, how to fight, how to be decent people. Shadow mentally skipped the 'decent people' classes, it just wasn't for him. If there was one thing he found himself doing, it was not being a decent person, but a soldier in Her Majesty's army. Yes, there was peace and prosperity under Watchmaker Blaze's rule. It would be an honor just to be part of something the Shadow knew got results.

Watchmaker Blaze, Shadow thought. The Lady of the Flame had saved the entire land from the fire spirit. As the story went, she was an apprentice under Professor Daedalus, the world renowned inventor and legendary man of the people. He developed the seven orbs that saved the citizens by absorbing the fire spirit, and ending the conflagration. According to rumors, the previous Watchmaker, Solias, set off the fire. He was quickly ousted, no matter whether the accusations were correct or not. The people were quite finicky when it came to a leader. And Blaze was doing her all to appease the people.

Sonic and Shadow had met her as she was visiting the orphanage they stayed at, more for political reasons, but it was a welcome visit nonetheless. They were teenagers at the time, and the oldest in the place they called home. As the guards came in, Shadow immediately knew what he wanted to be.

The power, the ability to stand up for what was right, and the freedom. It was almost intoxicating. And secretly, Shadow liked that fact that people looked up to him. It made him feel important. He would be able to do his best to atone for letting Maria die in the fire.

Shadow and Sonic both applied as soon as they could, for Sonic it was more of an adventure than anything, but to each his own, in Shadow's eyes. Currently, they were standing in front of Lady Blaze herself, wearing her tiara of metal salvaged and forged from the fire. She was looked down upon them with grave importance from her chair. Somewhere in the palace, gears clicked, and a blast of steam could be heard. The irony that the same tool that killed many multitudes of people was used to keep the cities running was not lost on Shadow.

"What do you think we're here for?" Sonic whispered to Shadow. the black and red hedgehog simply shrugged. In the distance, a caravan of steam-powered balloons made their way across the sky, bringing goods to Addenia.

Blaze stood and addressed the two soldiers in her presence, "Shadow and Sonic." They both turned their attention back to the Watchmaker, "I have an urgent matter for you to attend to."

"What is it?" Sonic interjected. He never really got the 'Respect for Authority' idea.

"If you wouldn't mind me saying what it is, I would like to go on," Blaze froze him with a stare. Sonic weakly smiled and dipped his head slightly to signify her to keep going, "There is a spike in crime in the Bristol slum, and I want you two to get to the bottom of it."

"Couldn't you just have our commanding officer tell us that?" Shadow asked.

"Not exactly. You see, the attacks are specified. Done only on other alchemists. I want to keep this under wraps, I do not want to scare the citizens or the police, and I can trust you two to do it. You know the lay of the land there; you know how alchemists work-"

"Um, Lady Blaze, my uncle was a blacksmith," Sonic interrupted again.

The purple cat glared daggers at him as she spoke again.

"Very well. You know how blacksmiths work as well. Point is, I want you to get to the bottom of this. Can you do it?"

Sonic smiled, "Yeah. Of course."