Shadow left nurse Tikal's office after completing an uneventful follow-up exam. They were becoming tedious by now. He felt fine, aside from the nightmares. Tikal asked about them, but he wasn't interested in going into too much detail. She told him not to worry, but he did.

They always ended the same. With Sonic dead. Sometimes, he'd cradle his meister in his arms and cry. Other times, he'd gleefully continue ripping him to shreds. It was painful and exhausting to think about. He'd just ignore them until they go away.

Shadow reached the end of the hall, then saw Blaze sitting cross-legged in a chair around the corner. She glared at him right as he came into view. Shadow got the impression she had been waiting for him.

"What did Starline tell you about the Black Arm series?"

The abruptness of her question gave Shadow pause. "That they were powerful weapons that-"

"They were monsters,"

Shadow glared at the princess. "So what?"

"So, the meisters who wielded those weapons end up becoming corrupted. Black Arm weapons don't just destroy their enemies. They destroy everything,"

"I'm not like that,"

"Oh really? What was that ambition of yours Sonic mentioned? To become the ultimate death scythe? Why would a dangerous weapon with no memories have an interest in obtaining ultimate power?"

"I just…"

"Sonic suddenly has a real interest in obtaining more power as well. Is that really such a good idea?"

Blaze glared at Shadow for a few seconds to give her question some time to sink in. After seeing the black hedgehog falter and look away, she left him to stand in the hallway alone. His gut felt tight and heavy. Sonic was waiting for him outside. Shadow hoped that lingering in the hall would save him from having to face his meister. In the end, he walked out to meet him.

"Hey. Starline's setting things up for our training," Sonic said.

"Not interested. Just go without me,"

"He said it's for both of us. Come on,"

Sonic started walking, then looked back when he noticed his weapon was hesitating. Shadow relented and they walked to another building. Their walk ended after reaching a small, dimly lit room.

"Starline should be here in a bit," Sonic said.

Shadow crossed his arms and noticed various incense burners and candles forming a half circle opposite the door.

"This room smells,"

"You smell,"

Sonic grinned and looked for some indication that his weapon wasn't as troubled as he suspected. No such luck. Shadow refused to look at him during the few minutes leading up to Starline's arrival.

"Good, you're both here. We can get started right away,"

What Starline hadn't told them was that the incense burning in this room was part of their training as well. It was a substance that would heighten the emotional responses of those who breathed it in. Now that Sonic and Shadow had been in this room for a few minutes, there was now doubt they were under its effects. If the two could maintain their resonance after working through their heightened emotional state, their resonance would reach new heights.

"The exercise is simple. Start by sitting on the ground so you're facing each other,"

Sonic and Shadow did as instructed. Sonic checked his weapon's expression, then saw that he was still avoiding eye contact.

"You've both been dealing with a lot since Shadow's injury. I want you to talk about what happened and be as honest as possible about how you feel,"

"I knew this would be stupid," Shadow began getting up until Sonic grabbed his arm.

"Seriously, what's your problem?"

"I told you I don't want to be here,"

Sonic frowned. 'Well I do. I'm your meister; doesn't that matter?

"Maybe you shouldn't be,"

"What?"

"My meister. Maybe you shouldn't be my meister!" Shadow stood up and turned away so he didn't have to look at Sonic or Starline.

Sonic looked hurt at first, then looked furious. "Why not?"

"Blaze told me about the Black Arm weapons. They corrupt their meisters. If she's right, it's not safe for us to be partners,"

Sonic flinched. "No way! We've been partners all this time!"

"But you only just started tapping into my power as a scythe. Eggman was hoping we wouldn't stay partners. Maybe it's because I've been corrupted from the start. You saw the darkling yourself. How could it be any good if I'm related to a monster like that?"

Sonic turned to his professor with a look of exasperation. "Starline, Blaze is wrong about the corruption, isn't she?"

"Shadow, you're in good health and you've consumed the proper amount of kishin-egg souls. If Lord Death had any suspicion you were a danger to Sonic, you wouldn't have been allowed to be partners when you met, and you wouldn't be cleared to go on missions now," Starline spoke in a calm, flat tone without changing his expression.

Sonic threw up a hand. "See? You're just being stubborn. If something's bothering you, you should just say so,"

"Shut up. I'm fine,"

Starline looked at his two students with a growing concern. Tension was forming between their souls. It was unlikely that they'd be able to resonate in their current state.

"That's enough for now," Starline stepped partially between the two and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "I want to send you on a mission with Tails and Knuckles. You'll be there as backup. Something simple that should help you ease back into things. Would that be alright?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not the one giving up," Sonic sneered.

"Whatever," Shadow scoffed.

Sonic stormed out of the room with Shadow following. They maintained a generous distance between them. Starline removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. If those two lose their ability to resonate with each other, at least Lord Death would be happy.

A guard sat half asleep in his chair. His place of employment was a prison belonging to the grand witch. The facility was created to house prisoners who committed the most heinous crimes against witch society. The guard was watching over a variety of cells containing said prisoners. It was always so quiet. Despite the reputations of the freaks kept in this place, they were all powerless here. By the time he realized his power was slowly being drained, he passed out.

A blindfolded jackal man was on the stone floor of his cell. Shackles bound his wrists and ankles. His fur was black with white sections around his muzzle and tail. Around his shoulders was a prominent tuft of white fur as well. His hair, also white, hung down over his face in long, unkempt strands. He had no clothing except a pair of black and white striped pants.

Nearby, a lock clicked. It belonged to the door of his cell. The jackal moved his head as if to look at his uninvited guest. Another sound of metal came after his restraints were destroyed. He removed the blindfold to see an echidna standing in his cell.

"I'm Shade. Come with me," She said.

The man nodded and followed. He stepped out of his cell for the first time in fifty years and took a deep breath. With his enchanted restraints destroyed, his strength was returning.

"You did well to secure a path in this place. Thank you, by the way,"

"Stealth is my specialty. Although, I had some outside help,"

Shade faded into the shadows that filled this desolate facility. Tiny prisms of her pink magical energy lit the path she needed her rescuee to take. The former prisoner followed the lights, walking quietly for a minute or so. Then, a guard jumped from a supply nook that had been passed by without much notice. He stabbed the jackal man in the back of the neck with a spear.

"Looks like you missed one,"

The jackal choked out the phrase and released a stream of blood from his mouth. He snapped the spearhead off and removed the wooden handle from his neck. The stunned guard sat, awestruck, before having the spearhead jammed into his own neck. Sputtering and blood came along with the guard's swift death.

Shade watched the red gem on the former prisoner's chest glow. His neck quickly healed. He went back to following her path as if nothing had happened. After traversing more hallways, then climbing a dark spiral staircase, the two saw the exit. It sat at the end of a room filled with guards, all fully armed with various steel weapons.

"That guard must have alerted them somehow. Oh well,"

Energy pooled up through the ground beneath the guards. Warped duplicates of each guard rose out of the glowing redness below. At first, only a word or two of confusion came from the group of prison officers. Screaming came quickly as the originals were then torn limb from limb by warped reflections of themselves. Torrents of blood splattered onto the gray stone floor. The last of the screams vanished alongside all the duplicates. White souls began floating over a sea of crimson. The jackal strolled through the pool of viscera calmly, admiring his work. Wet, squishing sounds accompanied his steps. Soon he left the prison, leaving only a trail of bloody footprints behind him.

Shade walked along the desolate landscape with the newcomer until they were far away from the prison. She continued to lead him up a path that ended on a cliffside overlooking the withered, barren countryside. Another echidna woman was there, awaiting their arrival.

"I brought him like you asked. Remove the curse,"

"I'll remove a portion of my magic," Tikal said.

"You said you'd remove the curse from my body if I did what you asked!"

"If I undo the spell all at once, it'll kill you. I have to weaken it over time. You can continue helping me out in the meantime," Tikal smiled.

Shade pulled at her own hair and groaned. Perhaps Tikal wasn't just a witch, but the devil herself.

"I'm more than happy to pay you back for helping me escape, but I assume you did it for a reason," The man said.

"There is something you could help me with. I've been researching the black arm series. I even managed to create a weapon of my own,"

"Would I really be much help with that? I helped hunt the Black Arms series into extinction. If you've created one yourself, fine. But the rest are all gone,"

"All but one,"

The man felt his chest clench up with fear. There had been one kill that he hadn't confirmed. One loose end that went untied before his capture fifty years ago. One that haunted him while he was a prisoner, despite his best efforts to forget.

"Shadow?" The man watched Tikal nod and a snarl released from his mouth. "Not possible. Not after all this time,"

Tikal chuckled. "You'll find he's very much alive. Like you, he isn't showing signs of age. If you were hoping he'd succumb to time, it would seem the Grim Reaper found a workaround. He doesn't have his memories though. I'd like it to stay that way. He's part of an experiment I'm running. I need your help, but revealing your identity might bring back his old self,"

"You said you've created your own weapon. The Shadow I knew was a creation as well. Could we be dealing with a duplicate?"

"I'm not sure and I don't want to risk any major disruptions at this stage,"

The jackal felt his stomach churning. He wanted to wipe Shadow out as soon as possible. He needed to. But he was in debt to a witch that was equal to him in power. Besides, he really didn't want to end up back in that cell. After giving the idea some additional thought, the idea became more appealing. Being a witch's test subject was the kind of torture Shadow deserved after all. There wasn't any need to kill him until he could confirm that it was the Shadow he once knew.

"I'll be needing a mask then. And a new name," The jackal thought to himself until he had an answer.

"Call me Infinite,"