Righty-o! Here we have Chapter 3! Brief summary: the mountain spirit (a.k.a Knuckles) has journeyed to Green Hill after Tikal told him the seven Chaos Emeralds were there. And here he found a HUGE discovery! I'll let you read on and find out!
Disclaimer: Don't own Sonic cast or SEGA property, only my story and ideas!
Chapter 3
Green Hill... How long had it been since he last saw this place?
The mountain spirit walked down the green-covered path, unable to resist glancing at the gorgeous view.
Green Hill was probably one of the last places on this planet that remained completely untouched by mortals and spirits (the mountain spirit noted the lack of nature spirits residing on the island). Located on an island, right out in the middle of the warmer ocean and protected by the Chaos Gods, it was no surprise. Even among spirits, there were not many who knew of this untouched paradise.
'There are many more Chaos Gods roaming here...' the mountain thought to himself as he stared past the sprawling green hills and tall palms. He could see flashes of colors streaking past, leaving behind a trail of Chaos Energy (though it was in a softer shade of gold, unlike the vivid color he was more familiar with).
Sometimes, there would be a group of Chaos Gods that weren't hurrying by and the mountain spirit could take in their forms. Unlike spirits, Chaos Gods only had one form, one that looked like a small squid with three tentacles. Each had a different number of eyes and slight differences such as their skin color and shape.
"With this many Chaos Gods, no wonder there are no spirits here... They would not be able to handle facing this much Chaos Energy. But for a place full of Chaos Gods, this place sure is peaceful..." he rumbled out-loud to himself. "However...then again, this place is already chaotic itself in its own way," he corrected himself as he spotted one of the many strange land formations.
It looked like a large rectangular block of earth (which was also strange; it was colored in a checkerboard pattern in two shades of brown. Even the grass was striped, how did that happen?) with a hole carved in the very middle (the mountain spirit had long been used to the uniqueness of the world and no longer questioned what kind of weathering and erosion was required to create this formation), each end connecting to the path it was set in.
Shaking his head, he kept on journeying, heading towards the lake situated at the very center of the island. He trudged past the steep hills, crossing log bridges that were set across beautiful waterfalls and soon, coming to the edge of the lake.
The mountain spirit briefly let his senses go, allowing him to 'see' the entire land before him glowing so brightly that he would be blinded if he were using his real eyes. Still, he could only 'watch' for so long before he had to regain his senses; the glow of Chaos Energy saturating the place too bright and vivid, especially in the lake.
'That must be the Chaos Emeralds,' he had deduced when he had arrived at the island, which was the reason why he came to this lake. Without a care, he stepped in. In his elemental form, he was unaffected by the water, nor did he need to breathe.
The lake itself was just as abundant of nature as Green Hill. Several underwater plants grew in large groups and there were small flashes of colors glimmering off the scales of the fishes swimming by. However, they were not the only source of color; the mountain spirit was slightly surprised to see a group of Chaos Gods swimming by.
'Wait...there are more,' he realized, seeing so many groups (more than he could count) all heading in the same direction. 'No...they better not be heading for the Chaos Emeralds! I will not allow them to cause trouble!'
He hurried across the bottom of the lake. The sunlight from above was starting to dim as he reached the deepest part of the lake, but the light from the Chaos Gods was enough to light the way. With how many Chaos Gods were gathering at that moment, the mountain expected himself to see a Chaos Emerald at any moment.
However, what he received was the opposite.
Rather than gathering around a Chaos Emerald (not that there were any he could see. 'So why was the lake glowing? Was it because of the Chaos Gods? No...the light was too golden for theirs... What other source of Chaos Energy is here?'), the swarm of colorful gods were heading towards a large underwater cave.
Unable to deny his own curiosity, the mountain followed.
The cave turned out to have just one chamber, with a single opening that was covered by a roaring waterfall and a rather sizeable air pocket. 'This must be under one of those larger hills,' the mountain thought as he climbed upwards from the bottom, hugging the sides of the cave.
When he reached the surface, he found his surroundings lit up by more Chaos Gods than he had ever seen. They flew all around the cave, as numerous as the bat colonies he had seen in some of the deeper caves in his mountain. Some were busying about on the cave walls and the mountain jolted when one Chaos God popped up right in front of him.
The little god was squeaking in an incomprehensible way, waving its tentacles wildly while gesturing towards the wall he was clinging onto. It took a few seconds before the mountain realized that the god was telling him to move away from the spot.
"Oh, sorry!" he apologized as a habit, slightly stunned by the sight before him to react properly. He pulled himself further away from the spot and the god chirped happily, giving him a nod before turning its attention to the wall. The mountain spirit couldn't help but lean a bit forward to see what the god was doing.
"Is it...carving?!"
Indeed, the Chaos God had lifted a tentacle. From its tip, a tiny beam of Chaos Energy was being shot out, powerful enough to carve into the stone wall. The tiny god hummed as it moved its tentacle, carving the strangest letters the mountain spirit had ever seen. Despite their strange form, he could see a slight pattern in them. Looking around at the other gods, the mountain soon noticed that almost half of the Chaos Gods inside the cave were doing the same.
The mountain couldn't help his awe. All he knew of Chaos Gods was that they exist, contained Chaos Energy and sometimes had the tendency to create some sort of chaos. He had heard of Chaos Gods gathering around sources of Chaos Energy, even a rumor of some incidents occurring because a particularly troublesome god stumbling on a Chaos Emerald and using the energy to wreak havoc. For a god, most spirits thought of these Chaos Gods to be more like charges or sprites with only the barest amount of intelligence.
But here was proof that they were more than sprites. To have their own written language...that spoke of intelligence.
Curious to see what the other gods were writing, the mountain carefully started moving. The steep and slippery cave walls were not what he was concerned about (he was a spirit of a mountain, of the earth, so such things were negligible in his elemental form). Rather, it was the numerous carvings on the walls; he did not want to damage the Chaos Gods' work. Moving around was a challenge because of that; the walls were littered with numerous carvings!
"It's not just letters though... There are pictures too."
Several of the pictures seemed to depict Green Hill (he recognized one of those strange land formations, the loops) and the lake (there was a ring carved above the lake, and the mountain wondered what that ring represented). There were carvings of other spots (Mystic Forest, Emerald Bay...why are these places here as well?) and, with a jolt of surprise, he recognized some of the carvings to be of the Gods.
The mountain stared at one particular carving. He may not have seen the God in person, but he could recognize the God of the Sun, Solaris, all too easily for its unique shape akin to a stylized sun. And that shark-like form hovering over an all-too familiar shape...there was no doubt that it was Chaos himself.
'Wait...who's that?'
The carving of Chaos was accompanied by the seven Chaos Emeralds. However, rather than surrounding the Master Emerald as they are prone to in most carvings, the Emeralds were instead circling around another.
It looked like a mobian...though he couldn't tell what species exactly because the features were too generalist to be a good identifier. Though it did look like a bird...or a mammal (but definitely not a reptile).
'Is that...is that a Chaos adept?' the mountain wondered. It wasn't unusual for Chaos adepts to sometimes be lucky (or brave or motivated or stupid or whatever reason there was) enough to obtain all seven Emeralds at once. When that happens, for a brief, extremely fleeting moment, they obtained ultimate power before quickly losing that power and coming back down to earth (literally in some cases).
Shaking his head, he moved onto another spot. As he climbed higher and higher, taking the time to look at all the carvings, he soon reached the ceiling.
Looking upwards, the sight would have taken his breath away were he in mortal form. Despite the not-so-detailed artwork, there was meaning in each line. Carved into the stone was the image of the planet. Hovering in the position of the sun was the God Solaris, with two other much smaller forms floating by its side. On each side of the planet were two other Gods (they were positioned in a Yin-and-Yang position, but the mountain didn't recognize the two Gods), and in a ring around the planet, inside the circle the two Gods made, were the seven Chaos Emeralds.
The Master Emerald took its place right in front of the planet. And just like the previous carving from before, Chaos was there...but...
'It's...it's that mobian again.' Carved on the left side of the Master Emerald, facing Chaos, was the same mobian he saw before. 'But why are they here, on this carving and with Chaos of all Gods? I have never heard of a Chaos adept that has gotten as close to Chaos himself or even befriended the Chaos Gods enough for them to show up in their carvings...'
'Just who is this person? And what makes them so significant to the Gods?'
At that thought, the mountain couldn't help be remember the last time he asked that question to himself.
-Flashback-
"Mountain."
It was just a word. It didn't even have a personal meaning to him. But it still touched him deeply, the earthly voice echoing in his mind that came from Chaos himself as he reverently knelt before the Master Emerald and its deity.
"Until he returns, you will guard the seven Chaos Emeralds and provide myself and the Master Emerald a location to hide ourselves. I am bound to the Master Emerald; the only thing I can protect is it. The seven are beyond my reach. But without him...without him, you are needed to guard these Emeralds. Make sure they stay safe, but do not keep them caged. Let them be. Only interfere should the balance of Chaos be threatened. Do you understand?"
Truthfully, the mountain didn't understand. He had so many questions. Why him? Why was he chosen for this task? He wasn't being ungrateful, rather, he thought there to be others of a better choice, more experienced than him. He was just a young mountain, only a decade old! So...why him?
'What makes me so significant to the Gods?'
And who was this he Chaos referred to? Was he the previous guardian? What happened to him?
'But I am in no position to question a God.'
"I do."
"Very well then, young Mountain. Accept this duty, as guardian of the seven Chaos and watcher over the Master Emerald."
-End of Flashback-
"Could this mobian be the guardian Chaos was referring to back then?" the mountain asked out-loud. The question was meant for no one, but the Chaos Gods still heard and responded. They started dancing around in excitement, flashing their colors and squeaking happily. The mountain watched as the twirling tiny gods gathered around the ceiling, their squeaking and chatter gaining a rhythm as they sang and sang.
Oh, if only the mountain could understand their words...
His wish was cut short when, from somewhere else that felt so near, an answering song came back. The Chaos Gods got even more frenzied and a group of them moved over to the mountain. The spirit yelped in shock when he found himself suddenly levitating, losing his connection to the earth and finding himself quickly morphing into his mortal form to compensate for the loss.
"Where are you taking me?" he demanded as the group started flying towards the waterfall. They easily slipped past the forceful falls of the water and took the mountain spirit higher up the tall rocky hill, flying until they reached a spot which was, if the mountain cared to find out, directly above the ceiling carving inside the cave.
The peak was surprisingly flat and the Chaos Gods deposited him there. Before the mountain could demand more answers, they had flown closer to the ground, using their tentacles to bat away the soil and revealing seven familiar gleams.
"The Chaos Emeralds!" the mountain exclaimed in shock before taking advantage of his mortal form's spiked knuckles to dig at the spots, unearthing each powerful gem. After he retrieved all seven, he remembered the Chaos Gods and stared them down. "Why are you doing this?"
'We want him back...'
The voice came out rather unexpectedly and the mountain looked around wildly. "Who is this?" he all-but-shouted.
'We want him back young Guardian... Our deity...we want him back. It has been so many centuries...ever since The Black came. We have been waiting, waiting for this day to come for so, so long...'
"Your deity?! Is he the one in your carvings? The one the great God Chaos told me of? And what is The Black?"
'Go young Guardian. The Seven are needed for his return. My children will watch over the Festival, and when it is done, they will rejoice! With the Chaos Fields of the planet stabilized once more, he will be able to return!'
DR. GERALD'S JOURNAL OF THE SUPERNATURAL - A STUDY
ENTRY 3: CHAOS GODS
DATE OF ENTRY: 19th January, XXXX
INTRODUCTION
Chaos God is a term used to refer to a rather unusual spirit. At first glance, I initially thought it to be a charge of another spirit, but this small creature is truthfully referred to (and sometimes revered) as gods by the spirits (though I believe the term 'god' is used rather loosely to refer to this particular spirit).
DESCRIPTION (DATE OF ENTRY: 16th February, XXXX)
These little creatures are only half a meter long and squid-like in appearance, though a more appropriate description would be a head with three tentacles coming out of it. There seems to be a limited variation among these gods; subspecies, so to speak. Each subspecies differ from another in terms of number of eyes, skin color, shape, additional features and possibly abilities. When they move quickly, I have been told that they appear as flashes of color with gold trails of Chaos Energy left behind.
BEHAVIOR (DATE OF ENTRY: 27th February, XXXX)
Chaos Gods are aptly named for their frequent bouts of chaos and mischief. I have been told that most events that seem almost supernatural or events that involve an unusual amount of drama (the exact wording is less...professional, so to speak) are caused by these gods. But that is the only interaction they have with the world; Chaos Gods generally leave spirits be, and the times a spirit is able to interact with them, they were unable to due to the Chaos Gods' language sounding absolutely incomprehensible to them. I do wish I could speak with one; I might be able to decode the language should I have enough information...
DATE OF ENTRY: 15th June, XXXX
Three months have passed with no new information on the Chaos Gods, so I have to come to a close on this research temporarily until new information can be found. For now, I will conclude that Chaos Gods are spirits of their namesake, in both form, abilities and behavior.
END OF ENTRY
