Chapter 8 – Taken

            Thanatos brooded over Mobius. Within the counsel of his being, he thought.

            "Twice, in one of its days, has this planet resisted my power? A Voice, and a Sword, defeated my efforts. But there is always weakness. Mine has been proven twice, but these are mortal creatures, there is always a vice. Ah, yes…"

            His eyes saw far. He focused on one apartment, in the city under the Voice's protection, where a feline of soft lilac fur was entertaining her companion.

"There is one activity predominant among the creatures of every planet… it is inescapable, undeniable to the very nature of living beings."

His eyes detected powerful emotion, but only from the male. It was just another session for the female.

"An activity that is so… desirable… that it has become a trade."

            Thanatos watched the scene played out to the end. He smiled.

            "An activity that promotes… weakness."

            ***

            With Tornado parked outside, its pilot Tails and Sonic entered Corona Den. By the eight Emerald glows, they saw Knuckles, with head in paws, sitting on a hump of earth.

            "Yo Red! What, you got a hangover?"

            "Would it were that simple," the guardian muttered, "I can't sleep."

            "One night makes no difference," Tails said from experience.

            "It's been a week. I just can't sleep."

            His friends sat around him.

            "You're the 'sleepless guardian', huh? From that poetry of yours."

            "Ancient Walkers made that up, not me. Anyway, why are you here? You should be helping Freedom's injured."

            "We wanna know what happens next."

            A deep grumbling sigh came from Knuckles. He stood and shuffled over to the Earth Emerald, leaning against its unmoving, hovering surface. Yellow light played over his gaunt features. Exhaustion lines were etched onto his face.

            "As Seven, we gather where the Master is, and release the full potential of the Servers."

            "And what is their potential?" the young kitsune asked.

            "To kill… Thanatos."

            Sonic did not believe it.

            "You can't kill a god. Banish him from Mobius, lock him away in some void or the other, yeah, I can believe those things, but kill?"

"Even the gods do not persist forever."

            "Then why are they called gods?" Tails objected, "Immortal, almighty… isn't that what gods are?"

            Knuckles' sigh could not be wearier.

            "Tails, we do not know the true nature of Thanatos, or Destiny, or any other gods. All we know, is that they perceive, control, and understand infinitely more than we do. We name them gods because they are above us."

            "And yet, you say we can kill this one god," Sonic mused.

            "Yes, for Chaos Emeralds are dual by nature, partly of the physical and partly of the divine. We're just using them for our survival."

            "Fight god with god," nodded Tails, "Well, it won't make sense telling everything until everyone's here."

            "So why don't you call them."

            Tails blinked.

            "Huh?"

            "The voice of the wind travels to all corners of Mobius."

            Knuckles gestured to the sky blue Emerald. Tails was the picture of confusion, his ears and tails a-twiddle.

            "But how?"

            "Same way you gave birth to it, believe."

            Sonic watched with arms folded as his friend touched the Emerald.

            ***

            "Um… hello?"

            Lazer woke up and looked around. Tails was nowhere to be seen. Hannah, Emess and company were bustling around with bandages and antiseptic powder while Freedom's citizens groaned.

            "Tails?"

            A while later the voice came again.

            "Uh… anyone out there?"

            Emess and Hannah stood still this time and also looked for the kitsune that was not there.

            "If you guys can hear me, come to Floating Isle, Corona Den, ASAP."

            They went outside, leaving Jubel in charge of the small hospital. There were fewer sirens now and the fires were gone. Freedom, though mostly rubble, still retained some of the grandeur it had lost in the past few hours. R'Thrys came down and was caught by Lazer's paw.

            "That is not your sword," said Kootan, slinking out of an alley. His ancient eyes told him this sword was not of Mobius.

            "True. R'Thrys saved my life, I believe it will save many more."

            Lazer tilted his head and frowned at the hollow sword, enormous, though its weight was as a feather.

            "It has been watching Freedom. It tells me this city is incomplete."

            "The place is a mess," Hannah said, gesturing to the near-total ruin.

            "It means more than that. Anyway, you're all coming with me to Corona Den?"

            "Excuse me, but where is Floating Isle?" Emess asked.

            "About a mile up, few hundred kilometers to the west."

            "Up?" he wondered in perfect innocence. His knowledge lay in the Forest and no further.

Lazer held out R'Thrys to the company.

            "Here. Everyone hold some part of it, and I'll teleport…"

            "No!" Emess cried, remembering the awful darkness afresh, "No one can touch R'Thrys!"

            "Why?" its wielder asked. Emess shook his head.

            "Trust me, it must never be touched by anyone except you."

            He grabbed a handful of Lazer's quills.

            "I think these will suffice."

            ***

            Slightly dizzy from the rush of Chaos Control, Emess walked with his companions into the golden Den, and beheld further wonders of eight large, hovering jewels. He stood nearby Sonic while Knuckles addressed the Seven.

            "Sonic, Tails, Hannah, Lazer, Emess, Kootan and myself… we are the chosen few to save Mobius from its latest oppressor."

            "Lucky us," murmured Sonic.

            "At last, these Emeralds are assembled, and no further role remains to be played except ours. Each of you, to your Emerald!"

            Solemnly they went to their appointed places. Emess, mesmerized by the self-illuminating room, was swiveling his head in all directions.

"You're the white one," Knuckles pointed out.

            "Oh."

            Emess went over, looked the white jewel up and down, tapped it and said, "How do we make them go?"

            "I was getting to that," Knuckles said slowly. Emess shrugged and drummed his fingers on the glowing facets. The six others waited in silence while Knuckles held the Earth Emerald and furrowed his brow.

            "All powers are one," he whispered, and said in a loud voice, "Mobius! Planet, I call to you, the great soul that gave life to us…"

            ***

            Thanatos halted his movement over the realms of Mobius and turned his eyes sharply toward the planet's centre of power. From there, radiating outward, energies were awakening that had slept since the fitful days of creation. He felt them flowing, drawn out of deepest sleep, passing through and disturbing his being.

"Why do they persist? Now my Plan must be altered."

With a murmur of thunder Thanatos sprang toward Half-Floating Isle.

***

Earth Emerald was bright. Seven more remained to be lit.

"The planet is responding. Tails!"

"Yeah?"

"Call to all the creatures of Mobius. Ask them to pray for us! Let your voice fly on the winds!"

***

Words flitted by him, whispering a call for support. Traversing the watery depths, and soaring through fragile clouds, he burst onto the airborne fragment of earth as a dark mountain of cloud. Plants wilted. Moving creatures fell as though dead. Swarming over green valleys and burning deserts, he drew closer to the place where his enemies lay.

***

"Let fire burn in the spirits of those who pray. Let their soul energies fight against the dark god!"

Lazer's thoughts embraced Mobius as a comprehensive whole. So many living beings! Hidden in the planet's core, walking its earthen plains, flying across the skies, swimming in the deep… not all of them had answered the call of Tails. Guided by the Flame Emerald, he touched those who prayed from within.

All their spirits flared with brilliant light.

***

The soul-fire was invisible to all who dwelt on Mobius. But the collective, dazzling flames were revealed to Thanatos, as he searched out his enemies. Throughout Mobius, they were as stars in his night.

"As the Voice, and the Sword, so do these spirits oppose me?"

Swooping down the Mushroom Hills, he found the centre of power, just as the fourth Emerald was about to be lit.

***

"Kootan! Your magic…"

THROOM!

Whatever words Knuckles said were drowned in the sudden destruction of Corona Den. Earth and rock dissolved in the whirling ferocity of Thanatos who snatched the eight Emeralds and those who held them, flinging everyone upward into the full annihilation of his wrath. But they were not consumed. Seven spheres of light darted away from the furious god.

Master Emerald, alone, remained, as black energies sizzled around it.

"You…"

Thanatos recognized the connection this one had to all the others.

            "Before, you resisted me, but no more!"

            Those on the isle who watched the sky saw a sphere of darkness expand, and rise, becoming as vast as the sky itself, stretching from horizon to horizon. At the centre, the tiniest dot of green light could be seen. Then the darkness, all of it, collapsed into the light, and there was a calamitous explosion.

            But the light remained.

            "Yet again, you resist," the god averred after restoring his energies, "But I will break you."

            The darkness gathered itself and flew east, leaving a breathless silence in its wake.

            Its descent was slow at first, but the remaining half of Floating Isle gained speed and splashed into the ocean, wetting half its counterpart with ocean waves. It was Floating Isle no more, for the Master had been taken.