Set Me Free
As a droplet of blood drizzled down his chin, a sharp pain erupted in Shadow's chest, as he was hurled to the ground by an invisible force. The darkness around him taunted him, and the cries of phantoms, long dead rose to his ears.
He could not suppress a shiver, and the moment he moved, he was thrust up upon his feet, rushing head first into the stone wall. The demon loved punishing him. With what was left of his ability to think freely of Mephiles' control, he wondered how one creature could devise so many methods of torture.
Apart from his own control, his body got up, and hobbled over to one side of the cave. He wrestled with the malicious presence inside himself, but it was too strong. He willed himself not to pick it up, but even as he did, he saw the hand reach down to grip the sharp rock.
The expression in his empty eyes was totally placid, carrying no suggestion of the evil that behind those dull red flickers. Shadow watched helplessly as his own hand came down with the rock, crushing his other. In his own sadistically ironic way, Mephiles had left him the ability to scream.
A deafening yell surged from his throat, his blood-shot eyes burning with stinging, salty tears. His hand drew up and crashed down again, doubling his agony.
"Poor, poor little Shadow..." a venomous voice echoed inside his head, they've all abandoned you now!
As the chilling voice rung in his head, he mentally challenged it, but his defiance was met with another rush of agonizing pain. He fought the burning in his hand, determined not to give Mephiles the sadistic pleasure he sought.
"Oh yes, not even one of them cares enough to come for you... But that's alright. Once there is no Shadow left, they'll meet the new you... it'll be a 'once in a lifetime experience'!" Mephiles dark chuckle rang forth in Shadow's head, as the blood-stained rock slipped idly from Shadow's fingers.
"N-no, you're... you're lying through your teeth you bastard!" Shadow shouted, before his legs gave out under him, sending him toppling to the ground in a bloodied heap. For a moment, all was silent except the lazy drip of water falling from the cave's ceiling. It was almost totally black. Shadow began to claw his way forward, desperate to try anything and everything to escape from Mephile's chilling grasp.
"On the contrary Shadow, you'll find that everything I've told you is true. I promised you answers, power, revenge... and you shall have it all, in my name." Shadow halted his advance at the sound of Mephiles haunting voice ringing in his head. The words of his taunt echoed over and over, causing a dull throb to howl through his skull. A bright light flashed, and the world disappeared, leaving a blankness surrounding the black hedgehog.
Mephiles taunting laughter rumbled in Shadow's mind, the demon was amused by how easily Shadow had been fooled. Slowly, the world began to come into focus, as swirling, blurry images appeared around the black and red hedgehog. He stood atop a grassy knoll; the surrounding field was being gently caressed by the evening sun. In the distance, slicing up the horizon and devouring the blood red sun were the jagged peaks of a majestic string of mountains. Their snow encrusted slopes fell and rose rapidly in succession, and at their bases rested a vast desert. Spreading over the desert as far as the eye could see, there were innumerable swarms. Hordes and hordes of fiery, demonic soldiers surged forward, their attention utterly fixed upon a single invisible point. Suddenly, Shadow felt his legs moving of their own accord, it was as if some invisible, all-powerful puppeteer were yanking the strings that moved him. With his incredible speed, he was at the scene of the battle in moments. To his great surprise, he discovered that he was levitating in the air with the use of some sort of violet energy burns. To the crude observation, it appeared as though his feet were encased in sheaths of purple fire.
Amassed below him were row after row of enraged minions, each one in the form of a dark, crystalline phantom with violet markings. They were easily recognizable as Mephiles replicas. Despite Shadow's initial wariness, they were completely ignoring him, focused entirely on something else. In the center of their conglomeration there blazed a mighty fire, which rivaled the very sun itself. The mindless copies of the demon surged towards this fire by the hundreds, and each one met is eternal fate in the burning embers of the crimson fury.
As Shadow watched helplessly, he floated through the air to hover just above the brilliant vermilion light, which he dared not look at for its glaring intensity. The scene felt so hauntingly familiar, like a bad dream that fades away the moment you awake from it. It lingers in the back of your mind, its icy screams reverberating, yet you cannot specify exactly what it is that unnerves you about the phantom memories. Then, like a sudden blow to the face, Shadow recalled, this was his final battle with Mephiles before that fateful incident had occurred; the demon had bonded with Iblis to form a god, the all but invincible Solaris.
After a furious battle with Sonic, himself, and the newcomer, Silver, Solaris had supposedly been destroyed, and therefore, Mephiles had also apparently been destroyed. The entire series of events had been erased from history, everything had been put right. Or so they thought.
Why then had Mephiles returned. Why was he only now beginning to recall his battles with the demon? The chilling voice rang in his head, but it only taunted him, it provided none of the answers he wished to hear. Forcing himself to wrench his eyes from the horizon and glance down at the burning red below him, he peered beneath its surface to gaze upon the obsidian hero within, struggling with all his might against the thing he hated.
He wondered at how he could have been so foolish as to trust this thing. He had been promised it all, power, revenge, the truth, every desire in his heart had been offered to him on a silver platter. And he fell right into the trap. He had always had a problem with lusting things... But the figure before him, who stood battling enshrouded in garnet flames had no hinting of this despair in his eyes... he was free.
"It is truly pathetic, Shadow... look at what you once were! You were once my equal, a worthy opponent. You contrived to stop me, and you succeeded, a worthy accomplishment indeed! You were once in total command of yourself, incorruptible by any temptation! But over time, you have allowed me to poison your heart, and chink away at your armor." Mephiles' cold cackle arose, and it was accompanied by a flare of unbearable pain. Shadow's eyelids lurched shut, as he abruptly crashed to earth, slamming with great force into a great rock. The side of his head had gnashed against the stone, tearing a hideous laceration in him. Raising his fingers to his temple, he removed them to find them dripping with a hot, wet crimson.
"You once stood proud and tall in opposition to me... now look at you... you're whimpering on the floor!" Images flooded Shadow's mind, of every battle that he'd faced Mephiles, every daring resistance he'd made. Wrenching his thoughts from such tormenting images, Shadow looked down to find himself staring into a puddle of murky water. Inside the brown liquid, his near invisible reflection stared back at him, bloodied, bruised, beaten. He stared at it in disgust before slamming his fist down into the water, disrupting the image.
Shadow felt himself being forced to his feet, a burning pain erupted in his right leg. He winced, and rubbed it a bit, muttering curses and vulgar insults.
"Oh... does Shaddy's leg hurt? Here, let's make it all better!" The demon's voice rang with an air of contempt. Without another warning, Shadow was ripped off his feet, and tumbled to the ground in disorientation. His head spun in dizziness, and strange colors floated about his vision. The picture before his eyes blurred, as if he had put on someone else's glasses, and fresh blood began to drizzle down his side.
Shadow felt himself lose conscious control of his body, yet he saw himself moving. Mephiles truly had full control over him now, didn't he? Shadow clenched his teeth in anticipation of the coming agony, as his arm reached down, and roughly grabbed hold of his leg. He could already picture the dark thoughts racing through the demon's mind, already see his body lying lifeless in a pool of blood.
"Why are you doing this.… why do you hate me?" Shadow pleaded in a pathetic voice. For awhile, the demon was silent, as if thinking about it. After a moment of thought, Mephiles gave a sinister chuckle, which echoed through Shadow's mind, before giving his cryptic answer.
"Why? A variety of reasons I suppose. Firstly, you made yourself my enemy when you defied me two years ago. Second, revenge is so very sweet, and I've got a terrible sweet-tooth you see. Lastly, I will profit greatly from your death. Without you, those pathetic fools will be utterly incapable of stopping me!" Mephiles boasted with flaming arrogance.
"No. You're wrong," Shadow coughed, rising shakily to his feet, ignoring the waves of pain that washed over him, "Someone will stop you. Perhaps it won't be me, or Sonic, we may all fail. But someday, your reign will end, and all will be made right. I can feel it Mephiles, your days are numbered!"
A chilling silence filled the cave after Shadow's outburst, and for awhile, he wondered if Mephiles had left him. When his face met the cold, wet floor a moment later, such thoughts were far from his mind.
"Even if you are correct, it does not matter because you will not live to see it." Mephiles snarled, as he began to slam Shadow's head into the rocky floor. The demon continued to growl incomprehensible mutterings as he continued his torturing, his hate overflowed. There is nothing you can do, nothing anyone can do to save your friends now!
Shadow sat slowly up, fresh blood snaking down his temples, his head buzzing. That was when he began to see strange things. All around him, he saw his friends, pleading to him, begging him to save them. Shackled tightly around his hands and feet were heavy, iron chains, and because of them, he could not reach his friends. There was Mephiles, standing in front of him and grinning wickedly, the keys to his bonds clasped firmly in his hand. He was powerless to stop it.
And then they all disappeared. His associates and colleagues faded into nothingness and a single individual was left, dying on the ground in his horrific vision. The chains grew tighter as his pupils shrunk, he could have sworn the blood froze in his veins.
"Maria!" Surely enough, there on the ground was the dying form of Maria. Shadow surged towards her, stretching the chains to their longest reach, but he could not break them.
"Shadow, promise me, for all the people of this planet." Maria coughed, a droplet of crimson forming on her lower lip, "You must be the one to stop him..."
"How Maria? I cannot break free of his control, and soon it shall be too late!" Shadow pleaded to the rapidly fading Maria.
"There is one way... You must... take it from him... You must-" And with those parting words, Maria was dead. The world was silent except for the sound of Shadow's breathing. Maria faded, and one final figure appeared before Shadow.
"Rouge? No, not you Rouge, anyone but you!" Shadow was weeping, everything he had ever loved was soon to die.
"Shadow, I am not gone yet. You have the power to defeat him. What would you do to stop Mephiles?" The phantom Rouge echoed.
"I would do anything! I would sacrifice anything!" Shadow snarled, his hate for Mephiles building.
"Would you give up your life if it meant he would be destroyed?" The apparition asked sternly.
"I would give anything... I am no more." Shadow seethed, his blood-shot eyes intent on the pseudo Rouge.
"Then you know what must be done." And with that, she was gone, and the chains that bound him shattered, bringing him back to the cave. Shadow stood, his resolve mustered. Mephiles seemed amused at his attempts to resist, and jeered at him in his head. Shadow ignored his taunting voice, and began to hobble. Apparently while he had been dreaming, hallucinating, whatever it was, Mephiles had broken his leg. Good thing he wouldn't be using it much longer.
"Still thinking of escape, Shadow? I thought you more clever than that!" Mephiles sneered, knocking Shadow to the ground, who simply rose and resumed his stride without answering. Hm hm hm, so, it's the silent treatment, is it! Well, if that's the way you want to be!
Suddenly, an idea formed in Shadow's head. A wicked plot to finish Mephiles once and for all. Like a sheep to the slaughter, the arrogant demon would deliver himself right into Shadow's hands.
"I have no intention of speaking to you, so you might as well cut my tongue out..." Shadow said in a carefully neutral voice.
"Oh Shadow, when will you learn not to give your enemies more ideas! It wouldn't be half as much fun torturing you if you weren't such a sucker." The demon jeered, while inwardly, Shadow smirked. Now under Mephiles' command, Shadow's body lurched unnaturally forward, like a zombie, towards the razor sharp rock. He drew closer and closer, the agony of waiting was unbearable. Finally, his hand reached down and clutched the rock, slowly raising it high into the air.
"Wait! At least allow me a few last words before you do it!" Shadow yelled in faked urgency.
"Very well, but I advise you make them meaningful, after all they are the last utterances you shall ever make!" With this concession, Shadow's arm hung limply, rock firmly clutched in his fingers. Mephiles had loosened his control, now was his moment to strike.
"I may be going to hell, but I'm taking you with me you twisted bastard. It looks like I'll have the last laugh after all Mephiles!" Shadow yelled with a furious satisfaction, as he raised the jagged stone into the air and brought it down on himself with incredible force.
* * * * *
Shadow lay on the ground, dying, a sharp rock buried deep in his trachea, his head rested in a pillow of crimson. But the pain was bearable, Mephiles was dying with him. All darkness was gone from his mind, and he felt strangely warm, as if he had been in darkness so long that even the slightest light was blazing. His eyelids fluttered uncontrollable, and he murmured softly to himself, like a motherless child who sings himself a lullaby before drifting to sleep.
"I did it, I freed you all from his curse. I suppose that this dying thing isn't all that bad after all. And at least I can say that I died fighting. That is, if there is such a thing as heaven or hell. In some way, I hope there's not, because if there is, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna wake up nice and toasty warm." Shadow chuckled as the white patch on his chest was tainted in the rising puddle of blood.
"Finally, I am free... I'm coming Maria. I kept my promise to you... That's all that matters." And with a final heave of his mighty chest, Shadow the Hedgehog breathed one final breath, before his eyelids slid gently downwards, and his heart stopped beating.
His hands were folded on his chest, and his head was turned to the sky. From the peace on his face one would guess he was sleeping. And he was. Sleeping forever more, he had been set free. And somewhere up in the great blue yonder, and joyous reunion was taking place. As for Mephiles, he never again was seen by Sonic and his friends. Shadow was given a proper burial in a meadow of flowers. On his grave were inscribed the words:
Shadow the Hedgehog
Circa 1950-20XX
Friend, Brother, Hero
All his life, Shadow wanted to be free. In the end, he found his freedom.
Eventually, even Rouge moved on, but Shadow was never forgotten. Every so often, Sonic would swear that he could hear a faint whisper, calling to him, but the next moment it was gone. After awhile, he stopped hearing it. But it didn't stop calling.