3.
Unnatural coldness… Utter silence… And the impeding sense of inadequacy…
This unique place had them all. A wonderful, majestic location in the middle of pure nothingness… A separated world.
Shiny stalactites hanged from the frozen ceiling of this mysterious chamber… All of it's walls and floor as well, were made of glaciated, soulless crystal.
A spectacle to behold… And to be scared of…
There was no trace of any source of light inside this mystic place… But, somehow, it was still illuminated.
Was that real? Was that an illusion?
What is reality? How do you distinguish it from falsity? Was there only one reality?
Or was it all relative?
One's reality could be someone else's façade…
For Void, one thing was certain… This was definitely his master's world.
The dimensional prison known as… Sanctuary.
In the beginning, this place was nothing more than a dark void (no pun intended), Ixis Naugus, however, managed to use his powers to create a kingdom at his own image… A cold, emotionless castle made of ice and crystal.
There he was, set on his frozen, secular throne in the middle of his universe, he… Urgh!
"Not so fast… Author. The time to reveal my appearance hasn't quite arrived yet…"
Argh… Damn you, Bogus!
"The name is Naugus, ignorant fool, do not forget that… And who the REAL Writer is… I'm the one who controls Fate itself!"
You're not a God, Ixis! You… Aren't… Flawless.
"Eheheheheheheheheheheheh… We'll see about that. For now, I will let you resume your writing… Until I say so."
You'll… Uhrrrn… Pay for this.
"Ahr ahr ahr ahr ahr ahr…"
"Father?"
"Aaaaaah… Void, my precious child… I know why you came here… I've seen everything that happened so far."
"So… You know what I'm about to ask you?"
"Yes… Your mother is alive."
If it could have been possible, the Seedrian's light grey skin would have turned into pure shocking white… His empty eyes were now larger than ever.
Naugus seemed amused… I think… Damn it, I can't see him!
"Here, my apprentice… Let me show you… Her body."
With a swift movement of a hand, a frozen pod appeared out of nowhere… Inside of it, lied the Sleeping Beauty herself…
Cosmo the Seedrian.
"Everything that the Vessel of Intelligence has told you… Was true… I'm the one who brought her into this dimension right after her pointless sacrifice."
For the first time in his young life, Void could see his own mother… The one person from which he inherited everything… All those powers, memories, doubts and fears.
Slowly but convincingly, Void approached the pod in which she peacefully rested. He put his clawed hand on the glass and sighed…
She was so beautiful, so perfect… She had peach like skin and nice leaf hair, two rosebuds on the side of her head… And those hands… She had normal 5-fingered hands.
She had nothing of him… She was pure like an angel… He was a demon. An ugly, deformed freak. He looked down at his gruesome claws he had for hands… He felt sick of himself.
How could a being like Cosmo, gave birth of a monster like him?
Another thing that disturbed him, was the fact that she looked younger than him…More or less, the same age of that vulpine that claimed to be his rightful father.
He was so confused. He looked back at his master and before he could even ask "how and why", the ancient sorcerer answered him.
"It was her decision, Void… To be saved from her fate… She realized, after her foolish gesture, that she wanted to live… That's why she accepted to come here when I asked her. Her destiny wasn't to die for those ungrateful lesser beings."
"But… Why did you put her inside of this pod? Why didn't you let her go? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!!!?" Anger and frustration, along with other more hidden feelings, were all present in the Seedrian's voice.
"She would have died, otherwise… When she used Chaos Control to that filthy weapon, she used all of her powers… Too much powers… The result of that abuse was the bending of time and space themselves and that caused her personal lifetime to be altered forever…"
"What do you mean?"
"I had to freeze her in order to avoid her irreversible, accelerated ageing process… There is a price for everything, Void… Especially when you play with the fabric of existence itself… Without the proper knowledge."
The dark dressed plant life form turned his head to the sleeping angel in the crystalline coffin…
"She would have died..." He muttered within himself. "… What about that nuclear missile?" He then asked.
"I left it to wander in the sheer nothingness between dimensions… It won't do any harm anymore."
Void sighed again… He was still unconvinced, Naugus could feel it.
"Void… Chosen Trigger for my liberation… I think it's finally time for me to reveal you the rest of the Ancient Prophecy!"
The grey black plant's attention was now reached. Naugus continued.
"You see… The 7 Chaos Emeralds alone are insufficient to ensure my escapade… They needs… The proper triggers… Hear me out, young one, for I am about to tell you the secret behind the three Vessels of Intelligence, Strength and Speed… And the legendary Island of angels."
"Angel Island… The legendary floating land."
"So… I'm not dead?"
"No…"
"And this is not Hell?"
"Neither…"
"Ok… THEN WHAT THE FUNGUS ARE YOU DOING HERE!!?"
Fang's ghost smiled in genuine amusement, showing his huge namesake to the freaked out echidna.
"I'm here, Knuckles… To be your 'Virgil'… Your guide through this forgotten and chaotic land… Your arrival here, was not a case." It said.
"What?"
"It was all part of a plan… A plan made by your beloved sister… A scheme in which I had a very important part in it, although I've improvised a lot… I hate predetermined schemes, as you probably know by now…" His smile grew even bigger.
"Will you be fucking more specific?" Knuckles was understandably impatient.
"I had never been hired by Eggman… I've been sent to the Mystic Ruins by Tikal with the precise order to bring you to her… But then I thought… What the Hell, it's too easy that way! So I did what I do best… I created a more interesting plot! A classic story of abduction and rescue… With it's heroes, it's villain and, of course, it's damsel in distress! I ended up mauled and killed, yeah… But it's been a lot of fun, too!" He told to the even more bewildered echidna.
"You… All you had to do… Was to bring me back to my sister… And you did all that 'killing people - writing messages in blood - Kidnapping girls' cluster fuck, istead!!!? THAT DOESN'T MAKE FREAKING SENSE!!!" Yelled the irate-able one.
"Does this chaotic world make sense to you? Does this place resemble anything near Logic and Rationality?" He said matter-of-factly.
Knuckles gave up… He was right, in some twisted way… Then again, everything seemed to be THAT damn twisted, around him.
The echidna showed the Sniper his purple emerald.
"What about this emerald, Fang?" He asked.
"It's been… manipulated… By your sister's magic. She knew you were a Chosen by Nature… You're the first of your kind that could use healing powers, after all… She just did some trick to that Chaos Emerald so it could bring you where you are now... When you would have used Chaos Control… Unfortunately, it's a one way ticket… At least until you'll find the reason of your coming to this island!"
"Wait a second… Tikal can manipulate chaos energy? Is she a…"
"A selected one, too? No, I'm afraid no… She just happened to learn some of his people's ancient magic… The rest was naturally implanted in her DNA."
"What do you mean?"
"Aaaaah… That's an interesting story, my echidna friend… It involves the genesis of the Chaos Emeralds…" Said the now illuminated Sniper.
Knuckles was hanging from it's mouth… Like a kid during bedtime stories.
Fang began…
As you know… Three individuals are considered the main responsible for the emerald's creation… Three sorcerers: an echidna, a hedgehog and a Kitsune… All of them were capable of manipulating chaos energy like no other… As a matter of fact, they were the first individuals capable to do that…
Natural Selection… Or maybe… Something else? Who knows…
The important thing was that they had those powers… And so their descendents…
Currently… Thanks to Nature's doing… All the Kitsunes, the hedgehogs and echidnas in Mobius possess the ability to manipulate a small reservoir of chaos energy… It's imprinted in their genetic codes… Therefore, they're physic is naturally capable to sustain the instability of Chaos without dyeing…
Of course, it's nothing compared of what a True Chosen One could do with a Chaos Emerald… Not to mention, all 7!
You and two of your friends… Along with other few people… Are the first element of a new evolutionary process for your respective species… Therefore, you are the only ones who could unlock the emerald's true power… To control Chaos, itself!
And Ixis Naugus… Knows it.
The red echidna listened intently… It all started with those three mages… But it was still so confusing…
"Just… Who is… This Axes Gallus guy?" Asked the curious echidna.
"Ixis Naugus… Is a sorcerer who, somehow, managed to defy the laws of Nature and gained more powers than anybody could ever hoped to gain… He became controller of the Chaos elements, meaning that he could bend the fabric of reality for his own amusement… He's immortal and he wishes to create a world without Chaos… A world of Order and absolute Control…" Fang was visibly disgusted while depicting that Naugus character. "… He is the Anti-Chaos!" The ghost finally yelled.
"What happened to him? How did they stop him? And what about this island!?" Again, the impatient echidna.
The specter smirked, namesake tooth clearly visible.
"That… You'll have to find out by yourself… By following me!" He ominously remarked.
Knuckles grunted…
"Why things can never be straight?" He lamented. "Wait a minute… How do YOU know about all these things!? And why YOU, of all people, are my ghostly guide!?"
"I don't know… It's just happened…" His casual answer.
And the two of them (the red "Dante" and the "Virgil" guide) started moving toward the desert land known as Sandopolis.
Tails was cursing under his breath… He forgot to tell Amy that Shadow… Or Mephiles, or whatever his name is… Was their enemy! He'll have to tell her, eventually.
Knowing the passionate pink hedgehog, this knowledge wouldn't have changed a damn thing. She loved him, that was sadly obvious… And, as the kit has learned, there's no Love without Sorrow.
She'll be forced to learn it, too… The vulpine was undeniably worried about her… Not only for her health but also because, with Blaze's defection, they couldn't sustain another loss in their group.
He dismissed the thought when he approached Sally's hut…
Since the merciless beating she took from that deranged silver hedgehog, Tails took the habit of visiting her everyday… That made her very happy.
As a matter of fact, that made the both of them very happy… For at least two hours at day, they could act like a normal family… They could have a normal "mother and son" relation.
They used to play table games and stuff… He even let her to give him the infamous "funny kiss" (which it was a kiss on his foxy nose) and they would have enjoined every single moment of it.
This day, however, things were going to be slightly different, for the mama's boy's displeasure. Sally wasn't in her hut…
There was a letter on her bed. Tails took it and read it.
Dear Tails,
I received a call from my father asking me to come back to Knothole… I didn't want to do it, I told him that I was retired… But it was an emergency and I had no choice.
Snively Robotnik is dead!
They found his body in his cell… He hanged himself with his own belt.
I need to be there… To represent the commission for "Civil Rights". It seems that Snively has been severely tortured and we need to find the responsible for this…
I swear I will return in time for your birthday, in 4 days… Like it or not, you are my baby and I'm your mother!
I love you.
Sally.
P.S. Sorry for this letter but I was in a rush… Important changes are about to happen, I can feel it.
Despite his immense delusion, Tails could understand the squirrel's motives.
"So… Snively is dead… I can't say I'm sorry for him but… I'm not sorry for him."
Nobody will be sorry for him… Or maybe not?
Suddenly, a horribly familiar floating noise found it's way in the fox's sensitive ears. He knew that sound, he knew it all too well… The same sound that he heard when his parent's house was burnt into ashes… The same device he'd seen right before killing his robotizied parents…
A floating radio with Eggman's symbol on it, entered the hut from it's chimney… And stopped right in front of the visibly disturbed Tails…
That meant troubles.
From the top branch of a tall tree, a certain feline warrior was trying to kill some time… Or burn, in her case… By playing with one of her fireballs.
She was clearly bored.
It has been a while since Void's "homecoming" and she was annoyed at him for the fact that "his almighty father and master" (as she defined him) would not permit anyone else to see his ugly face…
"It's daddy's order, I can't disobey…" She said, mocking Void's tone. "… What a ruffian!" She added with her own voice, now more annoyed than ever.
Her complains, however, did not match her inner feelings… She felt something for the Seedrian… An emotion that she found rather familiar…
An emotion that made her suffer in unimaginable ways.
She feared it, with all her might… She feared that that particular sensation could very well cause her to lose her control, again! Even though, she's been freed from the Flames' will by him… She couldn't help herself into believe that it was safe… To feel that emotion again…
To love…
And to be loved.
As if on cue, the object of her thoughts appeared nearby from the green light of Chaos Control.
"About time…" She greeted him while jumping down from the tree with her natural feline agility.
Blaze immediately noticed Void strangely happy expression… So uncharacteristically of him. His small body was shivering and his hands were shaking.
"Void? What's wrong?" She asked, now seriously concerned.
The plant boy locked his gaze on her and spoke.
"Blaze… We are going… To save… COSMO!!!" He cheerfully cried.
Tails rushed back at the base, almost hitting a bewildered Amy in the process… Panic was easily visible in his features.
Things hadn't gone really well, lately.
Knuckles had left for Chaos knows where and, for some reason, he couldn't be called via wrist com.
Espio left as well to look for the remaining Chaos Emeralds…
And Sonic? He definetelly didn't choose a good moment to disappear.
Only Tails and Amy remained at base… At the exact same moment in which Eggman decided to make his move!
"What's the rush, Tails?" Asked the now panicked as well, pink hedgehog.
The vulpine took a very hard breath before communicating the awful news.
"Sir Charles…" He started. "… Eggman found him!!!" He sadly concluded.
Things were only getting worse…
Somewhere, in a secluded area.
A certain red striped, black hedgehog was figuratively licking his wounds… He was in deep thoughts.
He was smiling too… A dark, mischievous smile.
"I have no doubts, now…" He muttered. "That was definitely him…"
"So… What do we do now?"
"We… Are going to kill him."
"You have a strange way to show your love… Then again, Amy could say something about it…"
"SHUT UP, BROTHER!!!"