Chapter 12: To Change a Destiny (Part One)

September 2nd, 15 BC. Glyphic Canyon.

-

My beloved wife, Nole.


Ever since our blood line was gifted with the powers of the wind, it has been our sacred duty to be messengers for our wise tribunal. As my father and his father before him, I have obeyed their commands without question, trusting in the divine knowledge of the leaders of our mighty tribe. But as the Day of the Demon drew closer, uncertainty found me. I knew my faith would falter once the blood storm filled the sky, testifying the return of the dark monsters. I admit that cowardice entered my heart in the face of the demonic invasion.


Before sunrise today, I was given a new mission by the eldest of the Five himself. Although I am no priest, I was given entrance to the Tribunal's temple, and shown the source of their power. The seven magic stones, the ones that we are taught as children that the Gods used in crafting the world, are no mere legend. They are real, and I, Ma'Ik of the House of Hedgehog, was entrusted with the grave task of taking the magic stones to a safe hiding place until the demons departed from our land.


I did not understand why a responsibility so great would be given to one as weak of faith as I, yet I accepted. It was not until I saw the divine traveller that I understood the Gods' plan. Not long after I departed from the village did I witness a raccoon draped in strange cloths. He did not see me, but I know he could sense my presence, for he revealed his divine powers before my very eyes. A large snake attempted to ensnare the raccoon, only to be killed by a mere gesture by the divine one. Every child knows that serpents are allies of demons, and thus the display could not be any more clear: The Gods have taken pity on us and sent a champion to defeat the demons forever.


I should have approached the divine one immediatelly, and delivered the magic stones as proof of our people's piety, but I was a coward. I could not move until the raccoon had left.


My faith is strong once again. To ensure the safety and survival of our people, I will defy the tribunal and travel to the dark lair of the demons, where the divine one must surely be poised to strike against the evil creatures. If I do not return, care for our child and let him know that his father died for the sake of his future.


My love, always, Ma'Ik.

-

It was pretty weird watching days go by in mere minutes, as they stood and waited at the edge of the canyon. Pia couldn't be expected to work out the exact calendar date in the spur of the moment, so she sent them both 2250 years back in time, arriving in Glyphic Canyon before the Black Arms temple was brought down from their passing Black Comet. If the annual arrival worked the same way in these ancient times that it did in Shadow the Hedgehog's time, then the Black Comet only had a window of opportunity of 2-3 days every 50 years. All Silver and Pia needed to do was find an undisturbed spot, then simply fast-forward. So they did.

They couldn't be sure that what Pretorious had changed happened while the Black Arms were inserting their temple into the canyon, but either way the thing they had to make certain was that when the Black Comet's window closed, the aliens would leave the planet without ever getting hold of the Chaos Emeralds. That ought to be enough to put history back on the right track, so everything could play out the way it was supposed to until Shadow destroyed the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. This was one case where foiling Pretorious's mysterious agenda would have to take a backseat to plain old' saving the world from nasty aliens.

"This could take a while," said Pia. "In the meantime, I'd like to hear exactly what happened that got you to round up and bring along Sonic's friends back in the twenty-first century."

"Well," Silver began. The explanation took a while, but it ended with Pia laughing out loud, so that was alright.

"At least you tried," she said. "Can't expect you to shake off Amy Rose when even the fastest person who ever lived failed to do it."

There was a blue moon that night, and a beautiful sunrise the next day.

"Look," said Silver a week later.

Pia quickly turned off her Jumpsuit's time travel function. By that time the red clouds had converged over the canyon and twisted into a funnel shape that extended far upwards and out of sight. Hundreds of black spots were flying out of the tunnel in the sky, and Silver imagined that it must've looked like this when the aliens invaded Westopolis almost two centuries before he was born.

"Alright, let's split up," said Pia. "Black Doom said that a native delivered the Chaos Emeralds to them, so we'll scout the perimeter between here and that village past the jungle to the East. Intercept anyone who looks suspicious. I hate to say it, but this is no time to worry about interfering with history. I mean, well, you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I definitely know what you mean." The sight of the elderly Black Doom had been practically burned into Silver's memory. Black slugs or the mere mention of pink eye would be enough to make him sick to his stomach now.

-

2 hours later.

Dr. Pretorious hurried through the pass at the end of the canyon. Although the raccoon usually kept to a leisurely pace, he could run fast when he had to. He wished he'd invested in a cloaking device like those Temporal Protectorate agents had. That way he wouldn't have had to put so much effort into sneaking around the Black Arms patrols in order to get to what he was after.

Well, he'd been wrong, as it turned out. The arrival of the Black Arms hadn't had anything to do with the Chaos Core suddenly disappearing from existence. He'd found the spot where the Core had been located at the dawn of time, and there wasn't even the slightest trace element left.

This point in time didn't have anything left to offer. At least he'd finally managed to lose his nemesis back in Soleanna. He hadn't seen neither hide nor hair of the interfering pair during his entire trip to this period.

-

My theory regarding the presence of the Black Arms at this specific location on Earth was incorrect. Nothing futher needs to be said. I will depart immediatelly for my next destination.

Doctor Trevor K. Pretorious.

-

In the next chapter:
- Will Silver and Pia manage to stop Ma'Ik in time?
- Are the ancient tribe planning to do anything about the "demons"?
- Is this the last we'll see of Dr. Pretorious for this entire episode?