Chapter Ten: out of Oblivion

Sonic stood in front of the Highers Castile like fortress. He breathed deeply. When he had concocted this plan it seemed so simple. Easier said then done, he guessed. He swung the door open and walked into the entrance hall.

"Hello?" Sonic called slightly apprehensive, "great higher peoples?"

The highers appeared in front of Sonic. Sonic bowed like he had seen Knuckles and Flora do, thinking it might help him get on the highers good side.

"Greetings Friend of Fire, what is it you wish?"

"Well," Sonic said, feeling a little more confident, "I was thinking, since you're the ones that created the chaos, and have been protecting this island from the storms of oblivion, wouldn't you be powerful enough to get us out of oblivion?"

The highers thought about this for a moment, "Yes," they finally said, "we suppose we would."

"Then will you?" Sonic asked hopefully.

"Yes."

"Great I'll go-"

"On one condition."

"What?" Sonic said, impatient now.

"A sacrifice."

"You and your sacrifices," Sonic groaned, "Okay, what do you want?"
"A lamb," the Highers answered, "the purest of your clan."

"I thought you said no more living sacrifices," Sonic accused.

"We said no more child sacrifices," the Highers replied.

"No," Sonic argued, "I distinctly remember you saying that you still wanted a sacrifice but 'it shall never be a living being' ever again."

"Do not test us Child of the Sun," the Highers boomed angrily.

"Okay, okay," Sonic said defensively, "I'm sorry, I'll get you a nice clean lamb."

"You puzzle us, Child of the Sun," the Highers commented, "never has a low Lander, much less an angel islander, spoken to us as if we were equal."

"Does it bother you?" Sonic asked.

The Highers shook their head, "just confuses us."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"I'm guna go get you your lamb now," Sonic smiled, uncomfortable with the silence.

"Yes, of course," the Highers seemed equally uncomfortable.

Sonic waved goodbye and left.

"Flora!" Sonic ran up and kissed Flora.

"You seem quite joyful today," Flora commented.

"The highers are going to help us get out of Oblivion!" Sonic said excitedly.

"What?" Flora said in astonishment, "really?"

Sonic nodded, "except they want a sacrifice."
"Not surprising," Flora said, "did you talk to Knuckles about this?"

"That's where I'm going right now," Sonic ran towards the mystic shrine then ran back to Flora, "they want a lamb, a really good one, I'm sure Alastair would be happy to oblige."

"I'll go inform him right away."

They went their separate ways.

Sonic inspected Alastair's lamb.

"Yeah… I have no idea how to tell if it's a good lamb or not," he shrugged sheepishly.

"Oh, it is," Alastair assured, "she's my prize lamb," he gave Sonic the lambs lead.

"You sure you don't want to come?" Sonic asked.

"What," Alastair looked fearful, "oh no, defiantly not."

Sonic smiled, "hey, I understand, thanks for your help Alastair."

Sonic, and the rest of the protectorate, took the lamb to the Highers Castile.

Excitement ran through Knuckles' clan. The Friend of Fire had done it again; he was truly worthy of his title.

The protectorate sat at the top of the mystics shrine, waiting for the highers to appear.

"They like to be fashionably late, don't they?" Sonic asked no one in particular.

The protectorate shrugged.

The Highers appeared in a flash of light.

"You sure do like your entrances," Sonic commented, "not that I don't like them, their actually quite impressive."

A smile played on the Highers lips, "let us begin."

The protectorate stood where they had been told to, and raised their arms up to the clouded sky.

The highers lifted their arms and they glowed brightly.

Sonic felt chaos fire building up inside of him. It took all his strength to keep it under control.

The Island began to move.

Joyful cheers erupted from the large crowd that wasn't just Knuckles' clan anymore.

The edge of Oblivion was getting closer. Sonic could feel it, but he was loosening energy, fast.

"Come on," he said to him self, "you've used the chaos emeralds a thousand times, this should be nothing."

The clouds broke. The sun shown. The crowd erupted with jubilant cheers.

The fire inside of Sonic subsided. He lowered his hands, "we did it," he breathed, "we did it."