Author's Note: This was a random idea from a while ago and the plot is in its very early stages. Nevertheless, I think this story has a good chance at being great. Trust me, it gets a lot more interesting and complicated as the story develops. This snippet is only a tiny peek at the suspense and excitement that this story will hold.
Unreality
Summary: It's been three and a half years. I can't contact my friends, my home. This planet...it's a nightmare. Everyone's gone. I'm alone now, except for that thing. That thing...that turned me into this. That took them away from me. I won't rest until it's dead.
Amethyst eyes opened, narrowed against the blinding white light that was slowly dying down. Knuckles lowered his arm and looked around with wide eyes.
"Where...are we?"
This couldn't be Mobius. Everything was...dead. There was no grass, no trees. Clouds completely blotted out the sky, casting the land into darkness. The dirt under his feet was like soot, black and cold. There was no warmth here. He had a feeling that they didn't just happen to appear in the middle of a desert. The atmosphere of the planet alone, morose and unforgiving, made him shudder, instinctive fear beginning to well up inside of him. The only sign that there had ever been life here was a decrepit stone wall towering to his right a few feet away. Rubble littered the earth around it, and the stone appeared old and worn. The wall was the only structure he could see in this desolate place, and yet it, too, was crumbling from existence.
He turned, relaxing faintly when he found that Shadow and Espio were still with him. They were scanning their surroundings as well and looked just as confused and uneasy as he did.
"We seem to have been transported to another planet," Espio observed half to himself.
Shadow cocked an eyebrow. "How can you be sure?"
Espio crouched down, picking up a handful of the ashy soil. "I know we're not anywhere on Mobius."
"Then where are we?" Knuckles asked again, though he knew neither of his comrades could answer.
"I wish I knew..." Espio straightened up, gazing around warily.
There was a short silence. The only sound was a slight, biting wind that stirred the blackened sand and made the three furries shiver.
Shadow broke the apprehensive stillness. "Well let's not just stand around. We need to find a way back."
"What if we can't?" Knuckles' expression turned very worried at this idea. "That weird rock sent us here, and now it's gone. And I don't see anything here but a wall and a bunch of sand."
"Maybe there are natives somewhere," Espio suggested. "They might be able to help us."
"Or maybe they'll serve us up for dinner," Knuckles muttered.
"Quiet!" Shadow hissed, ears perked and narrowed eyes searching the space around him.
The other two furs fell silent at the command, just barely catching a faint growl brought on the wind. The three of them tensed and moved closer together. Espio pulled out a shuriken from his glove and Knuckles clenched his fists, shifting into a defensive stance.
"Is it just me or is it getting darker?" The echidna's tail twitched nervously.
The dim light was indeed fading, and the wind picked up, whirling around the furries lost in the middle of a barren land. The shadows of the stone wall beside them seemed to be moving, shifting as the growls and hisses grew louder whilst a pair of red eyes watched the furries' every move...
Then there was a chilling, vicious howl, and Shadow's eyes widened as a large, wolf-like creature three times his size leapt at him from the shadows. It's long, thick fangs glinting as it opened its powerful jaws, preparing to close them on its victim's throat.
