Take two
Where does it begin?
Is this the beginning?
Hard to tell.
My head hurts.
Hard to think.
Open my eyes to bubbles rising around me.
Submerged in murky liquid. Lights and figures distorted around me.
Try to move, but my muscles don't work for me. Fingers refuse to so much as twitch.
Eyes start to sting. Roll back into their sockets as lids force themselves closed.
My name is Shadow.
This isn't the beginning. This is far from it.
-
Falling.
It's dark.
Face first towards the ground, from the sky.
Look down just in time to see a large machine escape my line of vision.
The shadow disappears from beneath my feet, to reveal bright blue skies blotted with fluffy white clouds drift further and further away.
The clouds quickly float along to the left, covering the sun. as peek around and through the breaks in the sections of clouds.
Look up. Or down, rather.
My up. The down.
I'm closer than I thought.
Close my eyes and
-
a man plants a seed
and that seed, it grows roots.
those roots grow upward, out of the ground.
it sprouts into a plant.
that plant grows into a tall tree.
the tree grows leaves and beautiful, bright red apples.
the apples that grow soon start to bruise and die.
the tree, it sheds the dead apples, and they're eaten by insects.
...
i'm not too sure this is relevant.
-
open them once more to a bright, beautiful blue sky.
Only this time it's stationary.
I'm stationary, rather.
There's a loud ringing in my ears.
Feels like someone's slowly pushing a needle through my head.
Strain to get up. Back aches tremendously. Dizzy.
I've landed in a small clearing on the island.
Gaze drifts to the northern sky. Dark clouds drifting slowly in this direction. Not too distant.
A storm is headed this way. Looks like it's going to be a big one.
And it was such a pretty day, too. Oh, well.
-
It started to rain by the time I got to the cave.
The dark gray skies flashing with bright webs of lightening seconds before the loud crashing of thunder.
Hanging by its feet from the tree closest to the cave is a dead black hedgehog.
His head caved in, his arms handing limply. Covered in gashes. The grass beneath him is red. He's still dripping blood.
The rain gets heavier.
Louder.
Make my way by the dead body and enter the cave.
I feel like I've been through here already. Or like I'm running on a track I'm unaware of. Like some unknown being from above is pulling all the strings.
Doesn't matter. I have a job to do.
-
There it is.
My prize.
The emerald.
Hands grasp the base of it, as I gently lift it from its station.
As it becomes dismantled, there comes a loud rumbling from beneath my feet.
Something tells me it would me in my best interest to get off the island as soon as possible.
-
As I exit through the mouth of the cave, I can see a figure running towards me. Get a better look at him as he gets closer.
Knuckles.
Guardian of the island.
Race; echidna.
Age; unknown.
Threat; high.
A dirty shovel in hand.
He stops maybe ten feet shy of me.
An expression of bewilderment draped across his face.
"You.." he says, dropping the shovel. "You're dead. I killed you."
He points to something behind me and I begin step forward.
I have my orders.
The ground underneath us begins shaking violently. Only now does he notice the emerald in my arms.
"What have you done? What in god's name have you done?!"
Before I can react, he uses the shovel to knock the emerald out of my arms.
Emerald is top priority. It must be recovered at all costs.
Dive for it. Unfortunately, he sees this coming. A shovel meets my back as I meet the ground.
It appears I'll have to take care of this nuisance, after all.
Roll over to my back.
Eye contact.
He pulls the shovel back to swing down upon me, but I'm too fast for him.
Push myself onto my knees and launch forward. Head meets his chest. Air loudly escaping his lungs and mouth, as spittle lands on the back of my neck. He limply falls to the ground.
More rumbling and shaking causes me to stumble back down to my knees.
Get up again, and run over to the emerald and suddenly he's all over me again. Jumping on my back and wrestling the jewel out of my hands, he throws it as far as he can in a random direction.
My elbow meets his stomach as the back of my head meets his nose.
Dive forward and turn around to see him holding his oversized mits over his face. Blood leaking from the sides and bottom. His eyes glare at me as his hands leave his face and tighten into fists. He rushes me, and I use his momentum against him by grabbing his arm, twisting it around his back and face-planting him into the grass beneath. Turn to leave, but his feet kick my own out from under me. Roll over, but it's too late. He's on top of me already. His spiked fist meets the right side of my face and knocking my head to the left. When my eyes open, my vision's all fucked up. Doubled and blurry. Another punch lands on the right side of my head. My vision is strangely beaten back into place. Grab his fist as he swings it toward me for another hit. He tries to uppercut me with the other fist, but my hand wraps tightly around his wrist. His knuckles inches from my face.
Dirt and rocks start rolling passed out hands. His 'locks start to drift upward and it suddenly hits me. The emerald dismantled the island. It's tipping over. Top siding.
The emerald rolls past us, bouncing on the tilted ground. Feet instinctively curl and I roll him over me. He lands on his back and skids across wet grass as I compose myself and run by him, towards the emerald.
It's like running down a hill that just gets steeper and steeper. Turn my head to look back to see Knuckles gliding towards me. Jets kick on and I dive at an angle, with the island. The emerald and I are falling at the same rate, so I use my jets to propel me towards it. Hands reaching out before me, stretched as far as they will go. Fingertips straining from the stretch. The island is completely sideways now, crashing into the dark pit that is the canyon below. The distant landscape disappearing into shadows blurs out of focus as I hone in on the diamond. Fingers clasp around the glowing jewel, and I hug it to my chest as my feet curl, forcing my momentum in a different direction. Swooping upward towards Knuckles, I smash the emerald into his head. He goes limp except for his flailing arms as he falls, one of his hands managing to clasp firmly around my ankle. The flame from my boot melting it's way through his wrist, he swings his other arm around to grab my shin as he starts dragging his limp body up to my thigh. He fucks up my flight pattern, crashing us into the side, or surface, rather, of the falling island. My frame goes limp. Firmly clutching the emerald, he's squeezing the shit out of my leg. Suddenly, my chest and stomach crashes into something. My fingers desperately try to hold onto the diamond as my sternum cracks and my chest caves in.
Somehow I manage.
Open my eyes to find myself wrapped around a tree trunk. Look straight forward to see Knuckles falling after me, desperately chasing the object his sole purpose is to guard. I can feel myself smirking. My teeth taste like copper.
Start coughing uncontrollably. Strings of blood and spittle ejaculating from my mouth.
Suddenly the edge of the island hits the bottom of the canyon.
How do I know this? The tree stops moving. I do not.
Launched from my secure position of being wrapped around the tree, I begin to fall towards the bottom of the canyon.
I can see the speck that is Knuckles desperately trying to catch up with me.
But I can also see what he can't.
It doesn't occur to him that the top of the island is heavier than the bottom.
It doesn't occur to him that the shadow around us is growing larger and larger as the island topples over us.
It doesn't occur to him until it's too late. Until the island is crashing down on top of him.
My back impacts against the rocky bottom of the canyon, and my skin rips and tears as my bones snap and break. Clutching the Master Emerald and staring up at the island that's about to land on us both, crushing us to death. I try not to think about how much of a failure I am as I close my eyes and think about the pretty blue sky.