Chapter 2 Vrale, the Realm of the Ancients
Mavok and Silver reappeared in the center of what looked to be a dense jungle. They were surrounded by countless trees that reached heights taller than that of the Black Tower or any other man-made structure Mavok had ever seen.
"This jungle is huge! It must go on for miles!" Silver said as he gaped at the wooden behemoths.
"Almost the entire world is covered by these trees except for a small clearing where the only population lives known as the Vralearim. We will go meet with them and see if we can find out where your girlfriend is," Mavok said smiling, "But the Vralearim are a very stubborn people and are quite rash against any one who disagrees with their customs. So, please, don't say anything, Silver."
"Fine, but I still don't think that Blaze would be here, Mavok." Silver said angrily.
"Why not? This is a wonderful place to live... if you can get past the countless man-eating insects and carnivorous plants." Mavok said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, that sounds wonderful alright. Why would the Vralearim want to live here?"
"I have offered to give them a new home in a different dimension within Northank, but their... religion believes this place to be holy ground where their gods known as the Ancient Ones were first created." Mavok explained.
"Okay, I already don't like this place. Let's just see if Blaze is here and we can get out of here as fast as we can." Silver said nervously.
"We'll just walk in, ask a few questions, and see if we can find her. Nothing to worry about, Silver." Mavok assured him.
"I hope you're right, Mavok." Silver whispered to himself.
They continued walking through the jungle for five miles until they came to a small settlement where the Vralearim lived. It was quite small. There were only ten large buildings made of wood and thatched leaves. The houses were hastily made with little effort; However, there was a huge temple in the center of the settlement constructed with finely cut blocks of stone. The temple was very well adorned with gold and silver ornaments that scattered its base. But all of these were as dust to the object that stood atop the temple's peak. It was an enormous diamond that Silver guessed was about the size of the Master Emerald.
"Wow! That is quite a sight!" Silver yelled in shock.
"Yes, the Vralearim take great pride in their religion. Like I said, be sure to not offend them unless, that is, you wish to be trapped in here forever. Just be quiet while I do the talking." Mavok said as he patted him on the shoulder.
Silver nodded and the two of them walked into the settlement. The village was a scene of great horror to Silver. All of the people who lived in it looked very ill and malnourished. A few were even disabled or crippled from their diseases and as far as Silver could see he didn't find a single man or woman who looked of thirty years old. He also did not see hardly any children outside the houses. Silver could understand why Mavok and Zambrog had been trying to get them to relocate to another dimension within Northank. If something wasn't done soon Silver imagined that their entire race could be wiped out. It would not be hard at all to move them to another dimension. After all, there were less than one hundred people in the whole village. Silver turned around to see Mavok carrying a crippled man into his house and then bring him water. Mavok returned to Silver with a serious expression that was most unlike him.
"We should enter the temple where we can speak with their priest. He will know where your friend is." Mavok said sadly.
Silver immediately noticed that something must have been wrong with Mavok since he referred to Blaze as his friend and not his girlfriend.
"You seem to have much compassion for these people, Mavok. You look troubled as well... for someone with your personality, at least." Silver said concerned.
Mavok grabbed Silver by the arm and held him up against a building.
"Silver, you may know me as a humorous and immature man, but know that I am over two thousand years old and have experienced many horrors and emotional disasters. If you truly must know why I am experiencing so much grief then I will tell you. My brother and I took our first mission here shortly after we created Northank. My wife and my young daughter came with us. As you might can imagine, my daughter became infected by one of the several diseases here and died. Shortly after that disastrous event my wife left me and I never heard from her again. It is... difficult to return to this place." Mavok whispered very sternly.
"Oh, I am very sorry, Mavok. I was not even aware that you had a family." Silver said sadly.
"There is nothing to apologize for, Silver. I was a failure of a father and a husband. After that experience I decided that I would never marry again. I also became quite a menacing person until my brother reminded me that I was going against my Father and was running away from Him, but thankfully I am heading on the right path again. Enough about my past. We should enter the temple. Their priest should know where the Mobian is that we believe to be your girlfriend." Mavok said attempting to smile.
Mavok and Silver walked over to the temple and entered through its gate. The temple only had one room which was a large sanctuary. The only thing that was built within the sanctuary was a large alter where a man in red robes, probably in his mid twenties kneeled before it. He slowly stood up and turned around to face Mavok and Silver.
"Ah, Mavok, you have returned, I see. Why are you here? You aren't trying to get us to move are you?" The man said warily.
"No, I am not here to emigrate you. I have come in search for the Mobian you say entered your land a few weeks ago." Mavok said frowning.
"That is wonderful news, Mavok! Perhaps you can end its reign of terror it has had on us! The Prowler, as we know it as, has been swooping in during the night and taking our children. You must find it and rescue our children! They are very important to us as you can imagine." The man said earnestly.
"Yes, of course, we will do what we can to rescue your children, but do you, by any chance, know what gender this... Prowler was?" Mavok asked inquisitively.
"No, it is the first of its species we have ever seen and any time we encounter it we cannot see it from all of the shadows of the night. However, I personally encountered it and noticed some of its features. What gender is your friend here? Perhaps I can tell you if the Prowler is a male or female by comparing it to this little fellow." The priest said as he knelt down to be on eye level with Silver.
"Ah, Silver here is a female!" Mavok said smiling.
"What? No I'm not!" Silver yelled angrily.
The priest jumped back startled.
"Well, if your friend is a male then I can definitely tell you that the Prowler is a female for she did not resemble him in any way." He said as he brushed off his knees.
"Thank you for your help. We will begin our search for her immediately." Mavok said happily.
"Your aid is most appreciated, Mavok! I assure you that we will be very grateful to have our children back." The priest said smiling.
Mavok nodded and left the temple with Silver.
"I don't know about this, Mavok. Blaze would never kidnap children! And if this Mobian only appeared a few weeks ago there's no way it could be her!" Silver yelled.
"This planet is very large, Silver. Blaze could have appeared somewhere else on the planet but never made contact with the Vralearim until just recently. And I can very well explain why she would want to rescue their children, but I'm not sure if you want to hear it." Mavok said sadly.
"Go on, Mavok! Explain to me why Blaze would rescue their children as you say."
"The Vralearim sacrifice their children to the Ancient Ones." Mavok said quietly.
"What? That's disgusting! How could any one be so cruel! And to think that their lives are hard enough without the unnecessary deaths of their young!" Silver yelled in shock.
"Keep your voice down, Silver! I know, I hate it just as much as you do, but now is not the time. We have to find out if this is your girlfriend first. Then we can think about how we will save their children. Trust me, my brother and I have tried countless of times to prove to them the error of their rituals, but they will not listen and because of that they suffer greatly." Mavok said sternly.
"Alright, where do you think she would be keeping their children, Mavok?"
"I'd say she would be concealing them somewhere. Perhaps a cave or inside a tree would be a good place to start."
"Ugh... this is going to be a long day." Silver complained.
They spent the next few hours looking in every hollow tree or cave they could find to no avail. Eventually dusk came and Silver and Mavok decided to camp for the night and wait for the Prowler to come out so they could find her and see if it was Blaze. Mavok began to build a fire while Silver retrieved some bread from their bags. After Mavok started the fire he leaned back against a tree and began to read a very old book while he ate his bread.
"What are you reading, Mavok?" Silver asked curiously in between his bites of bread.
"This is my Bible. It was one of the first Bibles ever translated. I had planned on using it as a family heirloom." Mavok said obviously not wanting to talk.
"Oh, is it a good book?" Silver asked inquisitively.
"Is it a good book? Silver this is much more than just a simple book! It is a written record of God himself! No, I would not compare this to other books. You should read it sometime. Zammy has a few that you could borrow." Mavok said laughing.
"Maybe I will, but I'm not much of a reader." Silver said sadly.
"Ha! Without books we wouldn't even know who we are! In fact if we never..." Mavok was cut off by a rustling in the trees.
Silver caught a glimpse of a dark figure flying amongst the leaves. He immediately used his psychokinesis to pull it down within view of the fire. Silver was very surprised to see that it was not Blaze, but another girl he knew: Rouge the Bat.
"Okay, I'm not even going to ask if she is your girlfriend, Silver! She obviously isn't! She's way out of your league and I mean way out! However, I don't think she is out of mine. Listen, my lovely lady, I don't say this to every Mobian female I meet that I happen to find attractive, but I could turn you into a human and then you and I could-!" Mavok said as he began to laugh uncontrollably.
"Be quiet Mavok! And No, she's not my girlfriend and quite frankly I'm not even sure if she's my friend. Rouge, what are you doing here in this different dimension? How did you even find out about Northank?" Silver asked confused.
"I would ask you the same questions, Silver, but I really don't have the time or the desire. Now, I'd appreciate it if you would let me go so I can be on my way!" Rouge said angrily.
"Honestly, you look like you could whoop Silver with your hands tied behind your back, but I am the Warden of Northank and therefore deserve to know how you were able to trespass in my land without my notification." Mavok said becoming solemn.
"I really don't have the time, but since you're cute I'll tell you." Rouge said winking at Mavok.
"Oh, boy..." Silver muttered to himself.
"I tricked a friend of mine, Knuckles, into telling me where he had been the past few months and mentioned this place called Northank. So I flew over to your little graveyard and found some juicy information on you Mavok and your brother Zambrog. I was just about to return to Earth and report you two to the government when I glimpsed a short passage about this dimension known as Vrale and after I saw a drawing of that huge diamond on their temple I just had to have it." Rouge said cunningly.
"What? I told all of Sonic's friends to never tell anyone about Northank! I should have just erased their memories and convinced them that Shadow had died. That would have been a wiser decision. But I will forget about that for a moment and focus on the present. We are both aware that you have been harboring their children, and we would like to help you." Mavok said angrily.
"Look, I don't need help from an old man and a little kid. Sure I took their kids. I flew them each up to a cave on that mountain over there, but they seemed very happy to leave their homes. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about." Rouge said sadly.
"Yes, I do, but I have a plan to get them and their children to safety where they will never have to suffer the brutality of this realm and they won't harm their children in any way." Mavok said smiling.
"As long as this plan involves me getting that diamond, I'm in." Rouge said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"And there I thought you actually had a heart, Rouge." Silver said frowning.
"Silver, I care about those kids just as much as you do, and besides it's not like it matters. Once I tell the government about Northank they'll give me all the jewels I want!" Rouge said excitedly.
"Or they might just throw you in a mental hospital. If I had my ring I'd make sure that they didn't believe you, but alas I do not." Mavok said sadly.
"Is this ring of yours quite valuable? Maybe I could find it for you." Rouge said quietly.
"The ring is no longer mine but belongs to another. And I'll just tell you that, to the right buyer who understands its value, its worth more than that diamond you want." Mavok said smiling.
"Oh, did someone else already steal it from you?" Rouge asked sadly.
"You could say that." Mavok said rolling his eyes.
"Enough of this, Rouge! Let's here Mavok's plan so we can rescue these people from their self destruction." Silver said impatiently.
"Alright, here's the plan! These people may not be very fond of me, but they do respect me and understand my power. We need to convince them that the Ancient Ones don't exist so they will accept my terms to leave Vrale and settle in a more hospitable land." Mavok explained.
"And how do you expect us to do that?" Rouge asked.
"Simple we will get them very angry with me and then their priest I'm sure will attempt to summon the Ancient Ones. When nothing happens they will understand that they were wrong this whole time!" Mavok said happily.
"That sounds like a great plan!" Silver said excitedly.
"That sounds like a terrible plan! Obviously they'll just blame me for taking their children and not being able to make their sacrifices when they can't summon their deities." Rouge said as if Mavok and Silver were stupid.
"You may be right, but I still think it's worth trying." Mavok said frowning.
"Fine, but I'm telling you, it's not going to work." Rouge said quietly.
"Alright, we'll head out to the village right now." Mavok said happily.
Mavok, Silver, and Rouge traveled back to the settlement where all of the Vralearim looked very displeased with them. The priest stepped forward and continued in a flurry of motions.
"Mavok, where are our children? And why have you escorted the Prowler into our premises? Don't tell me that you're doing this out of spite toward our customs and rituals!" The man said angrily.
"Actually I am, and you can tell your Ancient Ones that Mavok the Warden of Northank does not fear them and will force you all out of Vrale and allow you to live in Northank for the time being until he finds you a more suitable home!" Mavok said smiling.
"You would dare insult the Ancient Ones and force us to leave against our will? You will feel their wrath! O mighty Ancient Ones, I summon you now to punish this fool for his insolence so that he may learn to respect you!" The priest yelled.
Mavok waited a few seconds and began to speak again, but to his surprise something actually did happen! A mountain behind the temple came to life and two stone behemoths emerged from it. They were the largest structures that Mavok had even seen! At full height they were much larger than the mountain they were born from and were even larger than the mighty trees of Vrale. And now these two monstrosities of masonry began to charge at Mavok, Silver, and Rouge.
"Alright, plan B: we destroy the Ancient Ones in order to convince them that they don't exist!" Mavok yelled in shock.
The first Ancient One charged at Mavok bearing its mighty hammer of stone. It swung at Mavok, but to its surprise Mavok caught the hammer, swung the entire stone giant around in a circle, and threw it at the other Ancient One which was preparing to attack Silver. The two collided and were sent toppling into the trees.
"Wow! That was very impressive, Mavok!" Silver said excitedly.
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet... Where's Rouge?" Mavok asked bewildered.
He turned around to see Rouge beginning to fly away with the temple's giant diamond.
"We have to stop her before-" Mavok was cut off when a giant fist of stone slammed into him.
He was launched through the air and crashed into one of the huge trees. In an instant of horror, Silver thought that Mavok was dead, but to his shock Mavok simply got up without any problem. The Ancient One that had hit him charged at Mavok again while the other charged at Silver. As it swung at Mavok, he jumped on its wrist and ran up its arm where he punched its head with devastating force, causing it to shatter into hundreds of fragments. The Ancient One then fell to its knees and the remainder of its body was destroyed as well. As the second Ancient One charged at Silver, he used his psychokinesis to uproot one of the mighty trees and launch it like a javelin where it skewered the second Ancient One through the chest and it in an instant they were both destroyed.
There was a long moment of silence as the priest and the other Vralearim gaped at Mavok and Silver.
"I do not understand... The Ancient Ones were supposed to be the supreme beings of the universe! How did you destroy them?" He asked in shock.
"Perhaps they are not as supreme as you thought they were. Now, will you all agree to come and live in Northank for the time being while my brother and I decide a new home for you?" Mavok asked exhausted.
"We will do so, Mavok, and thank you for your kindness. My ancestors were wrong to despise you." The priest said sadly.
Mavok then transported All of them, including Rouge, back to Northank. When Mavok and Silver reappeared in Northank to face a very angry bat.
"I can't believe you, Mavok! I was going to keep your whole Northank thing a secret if you would have let me keep that diamond, but now I'll make sure that the whole world knows about you and your brother!" Rouge yelled angrily.
"Rouge, I don't even need my ring to tell that you are lying. You go right ahead and tell your government about us. They can come to Northank and have a picnic for all I care, but trust me they'll regret it." Mavok said darkly.
Rouge laughed and flew away obviously thinking that Mavok wasn't being serious. Mavok turned to face Silver.
"I am sorry that we couldn't find your girlfriend, but if it makes you feel any better, we just saved an entire race of people that Zammy and I have been trying to save ever since we created Northank." Mavok said as he patted Silver on the back.
"It's fine Mavok. I suppose saving a hundred people is more important than just saving one." Silver said sadly.
"That is a very difficult lesson to learn Silver. There are a few Mobians I know that have had to make that choice before, to save the world or save the one they love. I believe you know two of them." Mavok said smiling.
"Are you talking about Shadow and Maria?" Silver asked happily.
"Yes, and two other friends of mine. My brother will tend to the Vralearim while we travel to our second dimension that I suspect your girlfriend could be trapped within."
"Sounds like a plan! Let's go!" Silver said excitedly.
Mavok waved his hand and the two of them disappeared in a flash.
SILVER, ROUGE, KNUCKLES, SHADOW, AND BLAZE ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA
The first adventure Silver and Mavok go on together. I don't think that this story is a good as Redemption of the Lost, but I still enjoy writing about Mavok. I wouldn't have written this story if it didn't have Mavok in it and even if I had, let's be honest, you wouldn't be reading it either.