Silver The Hedgehog: Rise Of The Gaolers
Chapter 1: The New One
I was there, at the world's safest prison for people with dangerous abilities, where else could I be at that time? I stopped counting the days, as it was useless. I thanked I was not alone, four other freaks shared the big, empty white house with me, Tikal, Mighty, Ray and Abyss, the new one, as we called him, until one day, another 'new one' arrived, we noticed it when her sobs woke us up on a monotone morning. The orange furred fox was sitting on a corner of one of the many twisted hallways, she cried with uncertainty and fear, just as each one of us when we arrived there, I approached her and tried to calm her down as we had done with Abyss before.
"Hi." I said. "What's your name?" The best way to break the ice.
She kept sobbing, then looked at me, devastated, scared and lost. "Ph…" She let out a cry that prevented her from finishing her answer.
"Hey…" I knelt down in front of her, she had her arms wrapped around her knees, her hair was brown and not too long, also not too short, I tried to reassure her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Is okay."
Her sobs started to become less frequent, she raised her gaze and looked at me again. "I'm Philis." She said with a broken voice.
I smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, Philis, I'm Silver, these behind me are Abyss, Tikal, Mighty and Ray." Abyss was particularly frightening, his serious stare didn't help at all, but his face was kind of okay for a newcomer, he reminded me of Tails a little bit, he was also a fox, only that older and with brown fur.
Philis looked at them briefly and then returned her gaze to me. "Where are we?" Her voice was still broken.
"The Marble." I was willing to respond all of her doubts, at least the ones I had the answer to. "Is not the best place in the world, but I'm sure is not the worst."
"W…where are my parents?" Philis was very young, at least twenty two, I could see it on her fright.
"I don't know." It was hard to tell her she was actually on a prison. "The best you can do now is to trust us, okay?"
Abyss sighed. "Tell her the truth, Silver, she has to know." He spoiled my intentions of keeping her calm at least for the morning.
Philis looked at him, scared of what that place could be. "I have to know what?"
"This is a prison, youngling." Abyss turned and started to walk away from us. "Get used to it, it will be your home until the last of your days."
"We don't know that, Abyss." Tikal argued and approached him.
Abyss growled. "Face it." He glanced at Philis one last time. "And move on." He finally left us alone.
I didn't want to lie, Abyss was right after all, the sooner she knew, the better. "See this uniform?" I pointed at my dark blue jumpsuit. "You have the same, just as them."
Philis looked at herself, she gasped at seeing her suit. "Oh, I didn't notice." She lifted her arm and felt the plastic texture of the suit's cloth.
"We are like a team, can't you see it?" I smirked. "We are a team, Philis."
Philis nodded almost carelessly. "I want to go home."
It was getting difficult to reassure her, but Tikal intervened and approached her, kneeling down and looking into her eyes. "I know is hard, all of us know that, we went through the same, but believe me, things will get better."
"How could they get better?" Philis sobbed. "I wan't to go with my family." She looked away, closing her eyes and crying more silently.
"So…what are your powers?" Ray asked, Tikal and I thought it wasn't smart to change the topic that abruptly, but it kind of worked.
Philis looked at him. "Powers?" She sniffed and lifted her hand, but nothing happened. "Uhm, I can make rock." She clenched and opened her fist rapidly and started to get frustrated.
"This place inhibits our abilities, none of us can use our powers here." Mighty said. "Don't worry."
"Oh." Philis expressed. "This place is getting worser."
"Breakfast!" Abyss' voice echoed on the hallway.
"Come on." I offered her my hand, she hesitated a little bit to take it but finally accepted my help to stand up, then we all headed to the kitchen.
It was a conformable place, the food packages arrived from who knows where and the dirty dishes returned clean the next day, there were two machines, one that received and cooked the food and another that received and sent the plates and glasses, it was a strange system that still intrigues me to this day. Abyss had put six plates over the white, wooden table, with a precooked meal that I didn't dislike at all, but it wasn't the best flavor in the world either, a mix of meat and seeds, quite enough if you ask me. "Thanks, Byss." I said, then we all sat down at the table and started to eat.
"Don't call me that way, I've told you so like one million times." Abyss looked at me menacingly and just kept eating.
I was distracted by my hunger, but I didn't forget our newest friend, she had sat down in front of me, her meal was untouched, the fork and the knife were still aligned as Abyss had placed them, she was still very worried and confused. "Eat." I advised. "We get only two of these per day."
"I don't want to eat." Philis crossed her arms. "I want to see my parents."
Author's note: Hi! Thank you very much for reading, I really appreciate it. The events of this story are immediately connected to the ones on the latest chapter of "Sonic Legacy: Downfall", but it also works well as a standalone. I hope you liked the first chapter. Have a nice week and God bless you.