Cloudy skies covered the plains of the floating angel island with Its guardian sitting high on the stairs of an ancient altar. A giant, bright gem of extraordinary value he swore to protect with his life proudly stood in the center. Knuckles just had returned home after having been on another mission with his blue hedgehog friend, and was glad to be back.
No one knew what kept him motivated to stay there so long, or what kept him on there but they did know that no one was changing his mind.
He had many unanswered questions about himself, but he knew that there was no one alive to answer any of them. So it seemed pointless to ponder them.
He was oftentimes described as the strong one, the one no one dares to mess with. And that's why he'd never let anyone of his friends know how he felt sometimes. Not like he had any desires to share anything anyway. It seemed weak and useless anyway.
But lately something else had been bothering him. Ever since he got back; there was a spot that ran all around his upper arm, almost like 3 rings, that had been burning for days, and it just became worse. The skin underneath his short fur had a mild rash and it felt warm to the touch.
When small raindrops fell from the skies, the guardian stretched his arm out and rested his hand against a stone pillar. The rain felt soothing and cool. He knew that it would start to hurt again as soon as the rain stopped falling, so he enjoyed the feeling for as long as the weather allowed.
During the next week, the pain almost became too much to bare, the hundred degrees summer sun was burning into the bruise and there wasn't really any shade somewhere so there was nothing he could do about it. Knuckles had already tried everything that could help, but none of the usual methods or herbs seemed to work this time. And the pain kept him from gathering much water or food, so he only got weaker.
He also noticed the hairs on that particular spot were almost all fallen out, he was afraid he caught something serious and knew that if he should need it, he would never get to help in time.
Suddenly, as a gift from the heavens he heard a familiar propeller noise in the distance. He couldn't believe his luck when he saw the tornado zooming through the air.
The plane landed a few yards away from the altar. Sonic had been staying over at Tails' house ever since they last foiled Eggman's plans two weeks ago. And thought it'd be nice to pay Knuckles a visit. As they ran towards the altar they saw Knuckles sitting there on his usual spot.
"Hey knuckles!" Sonic shouted, but didn't receive any response. When they reached their friend's side, they noticed he was obviously in pain and Tails pointed out the burned bruise on his arm.
"Hey, guys..." Knuckles said with a weakened voice. "What happened to you?" The echidna shifted in his seat and accidentally rubbed the bruise against the stone behind him and uttered a painful shout. "Sonic, get the first aid kit from the tornado. It's underneath the pilot's chair. And some water." Tails instructed and merely a minute later he returned with the white case. Tails inspected the wound, and the skin was so fragile that the gentile friction of the stone was enough to tear. The bruise was obviously sunburned, and it didn't look good at all.
But Tails knew just the thing to do. He checked the contents of the kit and treated the wound with some special disinfectant. This really stung into the wounds but Knuckles tried to block out the pain. Sonic noticed how heavy he was breathing and beads of sweat running down his face. After a while, Tails was finally finished with torturing his poor friend as the pain started to fade.
As soon as Knuckles was able to catch his breath again he could finally clear his mind for a moment. "Thanks, Tails..."
"What happened?" Sonic asked concerned while handing him a water bottle. "This started just after I got back. And it only got worse." He explained while looking down on his arm. "Well, It's definitely going to leave a mar..." Knuckles paused as the other two didn't understand what was going on.
The guardian laid his hand on his forehead. "Of course..." He whispered with a smile on his face. Feeling stupid for not thinking of it before.
"What is it, Knuckles?" Tails asked. "This happened to me before." He explained while pointing at the crescent symbol around his neck. "Does that mean?" Knuckles nodded. "I'm getting a new mark, the first and last time it happened was so many years ago, I almost forgot about it." Sonic and Tails were carefully listening to what he was saying, this was the first time he ever talked about his past.
"Could you tell us more about it?" Tails asked. "Huh? Why would you be interested in that?" Knuckles asked confused. "We're just curious, we've been friends for years but we know almost next to nothing about you." Said Sonic.
A delighted grin appeared on Knuckles' face. "Okay, I'll tell you..."
The guardian gazed across the plains as he started his story.
"I must have been about seven years old at the time. I was wandering alone without knowing where I was going that night, but I remember finding the altar.
The only thing I knew about this place and the master emerald was that it was the cause of my people's extinction, and the birthplace of our deities. I was warned to stay away from it, but something made me go up there."
As the young knuckles climbed the massive stairs, he felt his heart beating faster with every step.
When he finally reached the altar he almost couldn't believe his eyes. The giant gem sat there in all its glory. With a pulsating vibration under his feet he felt the presence of the gods and fell to his knees and took a deep bow under the cover of pale moonlight. When suddenly he noticed a bright glow erupting from the emerald. An orange spark of light appeared in front of him. Knuckles looked up towards the light, not understanding what it was or where it came from. But the light felt soothing and comforting. The light led him closer to the emerald and Knuckles somehow knew the light was tempting him to touch it.
The young echidna was afraid to, knowing the damage it had caused in the past... But he gathered all his courage and laid his hand on the gem.
Suddenly a bright green glow beamed from its surface and strong winds erupted from its standard. When the light turned an aqua blue he could hear silent chanting ringing in his ears. Then as fast as it all started it all vanished again. No sign of the light or winds.
Knuckles knew what he had to do. He felt different than before, he wasn't afraid anymore and while he didn't fully understand where this desire came from, he decided to protect this magnificent gem with his life, and swore that no one would ever lay hands on it again. Knuckles believed the gods spoke to him, ordered to keep this gateway from harm.
"Wait, So the gods ordered you to do this?" Sonic asked confused. "Not exactly, protecting the emerald was my own decision. As the last one of my kind I reckoned that only I could be capable of keeping this powerful emerald from anyone who would want to use its power for evil. That's what killed my people after all" Knuckles explained.
He turned his gaze to the emerald. "Besides, I was just a child. I needed a place to belong. Where else could I have gone?" That was indeed something they couldn't find a good answer for.
"But what about that mark then?" Tails asked.
"Well, After that day, four years went by and I always kept close to the shrine. I fought off numerous perpetrators who wanted to steal the emerald away, but years of training made me stronger than any perpetrator. No one was even looking at her without my permission. Until one day I felt something tingling around my neck and on my chest soon it started to burn, and the hairs started to fall out. I thought I was sick, but when I noticed that when the hairs eventually grew back, they came out white, I couldn't believe what was happening."
Sonic and Tails still didn't get it. "Echidna men get these white markings by earning them with their deeds. The mark I wear is the one called 'the wise guardian'." Knuckles said proud. But Sonic just snickered at the statement. "What's so funny?" The hedgehog did his best to keep a straight face, but failed miserably.
"I'm sorry, but 'wise guardian'? Doesn't really sound like a fitting description to me." Knuckles got up and glared at Sonic. "Alright then, don't believe me! Why am I even telling you this?" He shouted before walking down the stairs.
"Now look what you did!" Tails scolded. "What? It just sounded ridiculous, besides, if he wants to believe in that religious hocus pocus then I'd say go for it." Tails sighed "You just don't get it. He's so proud of all this and the one time he actually talks about it, you make fun of it. Do you have any idea how rude that was? Come on, we have to find him."
Knuckles was still steaming mad. "I should have known they wouldn't believe me." He thought as he walked deeper into the jungle. He suddenly came across the mystic ruins. And knew exactly which temple to go to. It looked like any other ruin, but the inside was almost completely in tact. Except for numerous holes in the walls that let in beams of light and ivy that grew through the cracks in the ceiling all the way down the floor. These temples were of extraordinary value to Knuckles, the last link to his past.
He walked past the narrow hallways, looking at the hieroglyphs and fresco's on the wall. He could read them all, could tell what the pictures meant, knew every single story depicted on these very walls. Sure, the knuckles clan were a violent, war hungry tribe but also excellent craftsmen.
At the back of one of the halls was the mural he was looking for.
"I remember."
Back outside, Sonic and Tails caught up with Knuckles.
"I've seen him enter the temple over there." Tails said while pointing at the entrance. Sonic nodded and quietly followed his friend inside.
Deep in thought, knuckles stared at the mural."I couldn't save you." He whispered. The guardian was suddenly torn from his thoughts as he heard footsteps coming closer.
"Hey, Knuck-" "What do you want?" Knuckles said angry. Sonic stepped up to the echidna with his ears slanted down a bit. "I- I'm sorry about what I said." This was new, Knuckles never received any apology from Sonic before. Let alone for speaking his mind. "It's ok." He said while turning to the picture. The mural depicted a beautiful tribal female echidna dressed in colorful wavy robes in a praying pose and some written text next to it.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" "Sure,Knuckles, but who is it?"
"She's my mother..."
"Your mother?" Sonic and Tails repeated in shock. Knuckles just kept his eyes on the painting. "She was a high priestess. She taught me everything about our culture and the emeralds. And how to survive here." Tails noticed a stray tear running down knuckles' cheek.
"This mural was painted long before I hatched, there must have been at least twenty of us left back then."
Knuckles' mother, Chaska, was a respected priestess. She had a peach colored coat and seven quills that got longer towards the back of her head. Her deep lavender eyes were slightly slanted, giving her a kind peaceful expression. She was dressed in long wavy dresses and skirts in green, turquoise and brown colors. She was covered in gemstones and gold. A woven headband adorned her forehead.
Her guidance and caring heart were an inspiration to the others, but her optimism was put to the test when misfortune kept on striking the shrinking tribe as disease and infant death became a part of their daily lives.
She knew the bloodline would end soon. few of the cubs made it past their first life year, and births were few.
The mysterious disease had struck the tribe's survivors since perfect chaos' attack, but this epidemic was unlike any disaster the survivors dealt with for nearly four-thousand years.
She tried her best to keep the clan as united as possible, and seemed to posses inexhaustible wisdom. They used one of the temples she'd often visit to pray and created the mural as tribute and to show gratitude for everything she's done for the clan.
And in between all of this she met Dargan, a strong handsome hunter who lost his wife to the epidemic.
He had a dark magenta colored coat, like all the other echidna males, a muscular body and deep green eyes. His spines were kept in a thick coarse braid, with four smaller quills hanging from the side. He also had white tiger-like markings on his sides, and one that looked like a scar on his right eyelid, the marks of the fearless hunter.
They fell in love and married. But soon the mysterious disease would win the upper hand, echidna after echidna died. Eventually everyone lost hope...
Chaska knew it would not take long for them to be gone too. On a certain evening they sat together on the stairs of the emerald shrine. They had buried the last echidna aside from them that day.
Tears fell from her eyes. "It's all over for us... One of us will fall ill and then-" Darkan stared into the horizon, not moving a muscle until he finally found the courage to talk. "Maybe, we can delay extinction a little while longer?" Chaska looked up to her husband in confusion. "You mean we should..." "None of us have caught anything yet, so if we have a child now it would have a bigger chance to survive."
Darkan was right, and Chaska decided to at least try. It normally wasn't the norm for priestesses to have children, but sometimes traditions have to be broken. It wouldn't take long before they had an egg to take care of.
They left the village and took refuge in one of the temples. It was a calm, rainy night when Chaska started to notice her egg started to move. She carefully took it out of the fabric pouch she carried on her stomach to keep it warm. "Darling, come quick!"
The expecting mother just sat back with her husband next to her, and the egg in her lap as its shell slowly started to tear. Darkan moved closer, took his wife's hand and placed a kiss on her forehead.
After a while the parents were finally able to gaze upon their child; A tiny newborn with big, vibrant purple eyes just like its mother. But what made it really stand out was its color, neither had seen a crimson furred echidna before. "It's a boy..." She whispered while caressing the cub against her breast. When he stopped drinking, the father took his son and caressed the small bundle in his strong arms.
"Have you thought of a name?" Darkan nodded with a smile on his face. "He's bound to be the last of us, how about we name him after the clan?" "You mean, Knuckles?" Chaska looked down at the newborn. "With a name like that, he's bound to become a fine, strong echidna." She said filled with pride while the small cub fell asleep in his father's arms.
The new little family was happy, but their joy wouldn't last... Just one year after knuckles' birth, Darkan fell ill...
"You can't do this!" Chaska cried. Her husband didn't know what to do to make this easier on them, but at least tried to remain as calm and collected as possible. "If I stay with you, I may infect our cub... or you." Darkan decided that the best thing for him to do was to distance himself from his wife and son as far away as he could. "I won't last long anymore, I will take refuge in the old village, don't go there, and don't seek me out. Stay near the temples and protect our son." He spoke courageous.
Chaska leaned in for a kiss, but was pulled into an embrace instead. "It's not safe..." He said while holding back tears. After letting go of her, he turned to their boy, he had grown so much in just a single year. "Your father loves you, don't ever forget that..." The cub looked with joy and confusion at its father, he had no idea what was going on. He was picked up by his mother as Darkan turned around. "Darling-" "Don't make this harder then it already is. You remember why we got him, he lived past his first year, he's not ill... we have to keep it that way."
"And even though he might've been very weak at that point, he ran away as fast as he could, not looking back at me, or my mother. Needless to say it broke her heart. But she took good care of me, until-" Knuckles almost couldn't continue, whatever memory he was reliving at the moment must've been a heavy one, Sonic nor Tails had ever seen him upset like this before.
"I don't remember much from my father. I only know what my mother told me. There's so much I could have learned from him." Knuckles took a deep labored breath, he had to get out of there.
"I need some air..." He said while pushing Sonic out of the way.
"Wow..." Was the only thing he could say in response. Tails's ears drooped to the side. "Should we follow him?" Sonic asked. Tails didn't answer, he just walked towards the exit, with his friend not far behind. When they came back up, they didn't see Knuckles anywhere.
Knuckles was sitting on a rock at the lakeside, staring into the water. His mother was the only thing he could remember from those early days. The rest of his knowledge came from old journals and such that he collected over the years. While thinking of her, he felt tears falling from his eyes.
A loner by nature, a hermit, powerful and egoistical; all adjectives people could use to describe him. Knuckles was well aware of this and didn't want people to think of him otherwise. He just hoped no one would ever see him like this. But this wish went unfulfilled as Sonic and Tails came walking by, not expecting to find him there.
The two hesitated at first but then they then slowly walked over to the weeping echidna. "Why did you follow me?" He asked with a shaky voice. Sonic and Tails looked at each other before turning to their friend. "We're your friends, Knuckles, we want to help you." The young fox said while Knuckles swiftly wiped away his tears. "It's ok..." Sonic lay his hand on his friend's shoulder who cringed at the gentile gesture. "I miss her." Saying that to someone felt more liberating than he ever thought it would. "I miss my mother. Some wimp I turned out to be." Tails shook his head and went to sit next to him. "You're not weak just because you miss your mother, Even now you're the strongest person I know." Knuckles still didn't want to look them in the eye, and kept his sight locked on the surface of the water. "At least you knew her for a little while, I never knew either of my parents." Said Sonic with a hurtful expression.
The guardian still wasn't too convinced about it, but decided to tell them the rest of the story.
"I've lived together with my mother for five more years after my father passed away. I was just a child, so I don't remember much. But this place. No memory is as clear."
Chaska and the young knuckles just sat on the very same rock, enjoying the summer sunset. When suddenly knuckles wanted to go for a swim. She just smiled and started to undress before joining her boy in the water. By then he already was an experienced swimmer and Chaska had trouble keeping up.
"Knuckles, come back, it's not safe!" But like any boy his age he, of course, didn't listen and dove into the water, with his mother following. The massive lake was home to the flooded ruins that would later be recognized as hydrocity. Chaska had dived to these ruins before and knew where every trap was hidden. In panic she dived after her son and tried her best to catch up with him. Knuckles swam through most of the traps, not even knowing they were there. Thin wires of lethal booby traps sliding against his leg, almost triggering them. When the young boy stopped for a moment, he was surprised by his mother grabbing him. He struggled, but she was too strong and in her attempt to bring her son to the surface she got her foot stuck in a snare, and accidentally set off a trap herself, with great speed and force a spear came out of nowhere and went right through her body.
Barely hanging on, she was able to take her son back to the shore using all the energy she had left. She tried to get up, but the pain stopped her dead in her tracks, making her fall down flat on her stomach. At that point she knew she was close to her end.
"Knuckles." She whispered through her pain. "Mom?" He then noticed the red flow coming from her body, staining her dress and the water. "I'm sorry, mom." "It's okay. I always knew this day would come." Knuckles came closer and jumped in for an embrace, he knew what was going to happen. "Listen to me, Knuckles. This is not your fault." Chaska's pain was fading, and had to fight to remain conscious. "Don't cry, you have to be strong, You're on your own now. The last echidna standing." She sounded hurt and had trouble breathing. She barely had the strength to place a hand on her son's cheek. "I will be watching you from the heavens... I- I love you." Then, she sank away into darkness. "Mom? Mom!" The cries of the young boy were heart breaking. He locked his arms around her as night fell. After a while he got back up, still sobbing. "I love you too mom..." He noticed a hibiscus bush just a few feet away, and picked the last blooming flower and placed one on his mother's chest. She loved those red flowers, and had told her son that they reminded her of him. He then fell to his knees and started to pray silently. After that he carefully pushed the body further into the water as she sank into the abyss just a few feet further, taking the flower with her. "Good night, mother... I promise to make you proud."
"That was my first night alone- my childhood, and reckless fun-loving nature died with her that night. That's why I never let my guard down. Because if I do, people get hurt. My carelessness killed her." Tears came to his eyes again as he truly felt like he murdered his mother. Tails, as sensitive as he is, felt himself tear up too. But Sonic had no idea how to act. He just sat there, thinking up a response.
"You didn't kill your mother." He suddenly said softly. The echidna looked up at him. "It was an accident, if she trusted you, then she wouldn't have set off that trap."
"You don't understand. If I had just listened to her, she'd still be here!" Knuckles shouted. "You didn't push her into that snare. You didn't even know they were there!" Sonic explained just as angry.
"Eh, Knuckles." Tails said softly. "It doesn't really matter how she died. If she lived, you would never have become the guardian of the master emerald, and it would have been stolen and abused long before you even knew it was there. If for no other reason, that accident may have indirectly saved the world. And there is nothing to feel guilty about that." Knuckles never saw it like that, but Tails was right.
"We're sorry if we hurt you, right Sonic?" Tails said with a shaky voice. The hedgehog nodded.
The echidna closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. "Thank you..." He said before opening his eyes. "I never talked about this with anyone. And perhaps it was faith, who knows. But, even though I will always feel responsible, it's good to know it wasn't in vain." One last tear ran down his cheek as he got to his feet. He looked at his reflection in the water as a light stinging in his arm drew his attention. "Well, let's go find out what this new mark means." He said. The two friends enthusiastically ran along. It was already late in the evening when they arrived at a strange tower neither of them had seen before.
Knuckles beckoned them inside and led them through the hallways and up many stairways. They then came into a room with dozens of echidna's painted on the walls, all the same pose, but all with different markings. The entire building had a musky scent and many windows lit the entire room with the blazing orange light from outside.
"Would you guys help me look around?" Tails and Sonic nodded and went to investigate the walls. They were amazed by the vast amount of markings there were. Then, Sonic noticed it. "Hey, guys, I found it!"
They gathered around and Knuckles teared off the bandage from his arm. "This isn't it Sonic..." Knuckles said. "This is a marking of a full ring, the one I have is a spiral." Sonic looked at the arm, and you could already see some light fuzz of what would become the new marking. "I've seen that one!" Tails said joyous. They followed the fox to the other side of the giant hall and there it was. "What does it say, Knuckles?" He wasn't that great in reading hieroglyphs but noticed that the spiral was next to the painting depicting his crescent one and that there was a title written underneath the two. "'The disciple of war.' So combined with the 'Wise guardian mark' they become 'The warrior of the gods.' " Knuckles seemed honored with his new title and wore a sincere smile on his face as he took a light bow.
Later that evening, Tails and Sonic left angel island, leaving Knuckles to his duty.
When the guardian stood in front of the emerald he placed his hand on the gem. Nothing happened, he didn't expect it to.
Until the middle of the night; Knuckles was awoken from his sleep as he noticed a bright blinding light right in front of him. He needed to let his eyes adjust for a moment until he could make out what it was.
Knuckles couldn't believe his eyes.
Two figures appeared in front of him. "Mother? … Father?" The figures nodded as knuckles rose to his feet. He suddenly noticed how much he looked like them. Chaska's robes flowed gracefully around her body. Her voice was exactly like he remembered; "You have become the man I always knew you would." "We're proud of you son." Darkan added.
"But, how did you-" Chaska smiled and looked around. "The Master emerald shrine has always been a gateway to the heavens. We were just waiting for the right time."
"We knew you were special from birth. And you have become the only echidna who ever lived with both marks. We knew you had a great destiny the moment we laid eyes on you." Darkan spoke.
"Remember us, who you are, and know that this is your home, your legacy. It's the only thing we could leave you." Knuckles smiled and put his fist up, an gesture of the clan that stood for brotherhood and family. "I promise I will never forget." He said proud.
His parents returned the gesture, and in a bright flash of light, they were gone. This was a night he would always remember...
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading this.
I recently have been getting a lot of follows and fave's popping up in my inbox, and after reading through some of my past work, I see a lot of space for improvement. And so, after almost three years of not uploading anything, I will start reworking some of my older stories before starting on something new.