There is a legend spoken of in ancient times. A hero with a unsurpassed bravery, an unbreakable spirit, and an incorruptible heart, will rise, and will save countless lives from the minds of an evil genius, and several evil beings, such as monsters, demons, entities, and even a god of chaos. However, the hero's impassable heroism shall come with great price. To save his world from an evils determined goal of complete and utter destruction, he must make a sacrifice. A sacrifice that will eat away at him slowly, and unknowingly. A sacrifice that will bring him to his knees. A sacrifice that could destroy everything around him, leaving him in the cold emptiness of nothing.

Our story begins with the guardian of the Master Emerald named Knuckles the Echidna, believed to be the last of his kind, due to the god of chaos's wrath. Gifted with incredible strength, and an iron will, Knuckles is a powerful guardian, though he is unsure why he is guarding the jewel, still knowing though that it is his destiny. He is an intimidating to figure to anyone who threatens the Emerald. Very few can defeat him, and even fewer can repeat it. On his floating island in the sky named Angel Island Knuckles was resting his head at the shrine of the Master Emerald. It had been a quiet few months since he was last needed ,allowing him to train to become even stronger. Knuckles had one goal that he wanted to accomplish in his life. That goal was to one day, by some way however impossible it may be, to beat his greatest rival, and one of his closest friends, Sonic the Hedgehog, in a fight. However that goal would have to rest for another day.

As Knuckles lay asleep, a dark light began glowing from inside the Master Emerald. In his dream, Knuckles had seen himself being free from his duties being able to finally enjoy his life and running happily in an open field. Being guardian of his prized possession, Knuckles constantly had to keep watch over the Master Emerald from thieves such as the evil Doctor Robotnik, more famously known as Eggman, the sly and cunning Rouge, and any power craving lunatic. However in Knuckles's dream, a form of seemingly dark mass appeared in front of him. Knuckles was surprised by this 'thing' and suddenly felt as if he was frozen in his tracks, yet his limbs felt perfectly fine. Suddenly a great voice began speaking to him, and it could have been mistaken for a heavenly voice, had it not been for the darkness that surrounded this thing.

"Greetings Guardian of the Master Emerald. Knuckles the Echidna to be precise, am I correct?"

Knuckles could barely nod his head to respond. He was absolutely petrified.

"Good. Now listen Knuckles. This is a message I want you to carry over to all your friends, or acquaintances, or anyone alive for that matter. You see, I can not explain the details right now, however I can tell you this. Have you ever wondered why YOU were chosen to guard after the Master Emerald. I can tell you that I am the reason."

The dark figure then turned into a mist that began to circle Knuckles. For the first time in quite a while, Knuckles felt completely scared and useless. The mist then grew two eyes that slowly were changing colors. They then put themselves right in front of Knuckles's view

I am capable of doing more destruction then you could imagine. Be sure that you enjoy these times with your friends, because they will not last long.

If you'd like to be safe, you must just keep a simple task in mind. Don't be too far from your precious Emerald. Goodbye for now."

The dark mist began to disappear into the air before one of the eyes remained behind. The dot crept up to Knuckles, and the voice whispered menacingly. "By the way. You have three months. And Happy Birthday."

The eye then began to grow and swallowed Knuckles into an empty nothingness. Suddenly it seemed a burning red face appeared before him with insane looking red eyes, a purple mouth witch a blood-curding smile with green teeth. The face then let out a terrible screech that ripped apart the nothingness, swallowing Knuckles whole. Knuckles could then feel himself literally burning, and feeling pain going throughout him. He felt like he was being torn to shreds. He could literally feel his limps being torn.. no... destroyed into thousands of pieces.

Knuckles then awoke with a yell from his bizarre dream. He franticly looked at his arms and legs to see if they were still attached. He was relieved to see that absolutely nothing was wrong with him, aside from the heavy breathing he had to endure.

"It was all a nightmare." He tried to assure to himself. "Just a nightmare. But the Emerald." He took an immediate glance at the precious stone. Sure enough it was still glowing brightly with absolute brilliance before he slept earlier tonight. Nothing seemed to be wrong.

"Easy there big guy." He thought to himself. "Don't let this get to your head. Nothing is wrong. You just have to keep it together. Even if that dream was true, all you have to do is guard the Master Emerald for another three months. Then you'll be in the clear... hopefully... Ugh.. I need to see the others soon. Maybe I can get some help soon. Let's just try to get some shut eye for now."

Knuckles then began to fall asleep again. The Emerald as well began to glow inside with darkness.

(You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villian.)