Chapter 2 : Nightmare

I brush my hands over the surface beneath me—solid, safe, so unlike the air. Taking a deep breath, I push myself up until I can sit, struggling to regain my senses. Safe...

"Just a dream. It was just a dream."

Warm sunlight glows through my eyelids and I rub them, hard. I smile and take a deep breath before opening my eyes to the bright light, trying to push away the dark tendrils of nightmare and fear, forcefully slowing my racing heart. I blink and squint through the light, struggling to adjust to the brilliant glare.

It almost looks... green. I blink again slowly. Wait, this isn't...

Tears prick in my eyes as the fear rises again. Where am I? I stumble forward onto my knees. The surface I had mistaken for my bed is smooth and hard beneath me. A drop of water drips from my hair and glides down my cheek, falling onto the shoulder of my sodden pajamas. I try to block the light with my hand, and realize that its source is beneath me. A familiar Power rises to surround me, coming from the surface below.

No...!

My heart jerks painfully in my trembling body as the Power calls for my hands—they rise smoothly into the air, against my will. I grit my teeth with effort but cannot even move my fingers. The traitorous hands drop slowly to rest, side by side, on the gleaming surface before me.

Suddenly the glow darkens, the Power building in an instant—the surface warms beneath my palms. I flinch and close my eyes. The light flares again, so brilliantly that it pierces my skin. Energy pulses through my hands, spiraling up and through me. It reverberates in my bones, rushing in my ears, burning in my blood, my lungs. My scream ripples with its power, higher and higher until my throat is gone, my face, my hands, my body dissipating in its light until every piece of me is gone...

. . .

A floor of worn stone catches me in a gruff embrace, its cold seeping into the uncovered skin of my arms and legs, making me shiver. Rolling slowly, I rest my cheek against it for a moment before forcing myself up and staggering to my feet. I blink, the world dim and out of focus. I shake my head and blink again, the faint patterned lines of the stone floor slowly swim into clarity between the shudders of my breath.

Where...?

The faint tang of sea salt and the sweet, warm scent of summer brushes past me on a gentle breeze. I cautiously raise my gaze. In the distance my eyes catch the waving treetops and the brightening sky, but then are drawn to a large jewel before me on the stone platform. Just my height, cut like a diamond, the deep green stone floats above a simple altar, rotating slowly as though with the breeze. The deep glow within it, however, suggests otherwise. I shiver and suddenly know - this stone is the source of the pull, the Power that called me here.

This is too real to be a dream.

Suddenly a creature rushes out from behind the stone, its dark eyes sparking. Short red fur covers it completely except for a tan muzzle and a white crescent shape on its chest. Long spikes hang down from its head nearly like dreadlocks, swinging with its quick steps, and a short crooked tail points behind it. It wears only shoes and gloves as clothing, with two spikes rising threateningly from its knuckles underneath the padded gloves on each hand. A jolt of fear goes through me as it charges closer, but it suddenly pauses. I meet its deep violet eyes as they widen with something like shock, as though it is as surprised to see me as I am to see it.

"What - who are you?" it asks, almost incredulously, the anger nearly fading from its expression. I shake my head in disbelief, though I half expected it to be able to speak. No, not it - him, the creature is definitely masculine. I struggle to answer, finally managing to rediscover my mouth.

"I-I, I'm..." my voice shakes. I pause and take a breath to steady myself, but suddenly my mind is blank. I struggle vainly to pull anything out of the blurred jumble of my memories, fighting to even remember where I've come from. I try to think back, but this moment stands forlornly in a spotlight at the front of my mind, surrounded only by a dim mist of fragmented memories. Suddenly a name jumps out from the confusion and I grab it before it can dart away.

"Brooke. My name is Brooke," I finally say, smiling with relief. I dare to meet his gaze again, discovering an incredulous look to be fighting with the impatient frown for possession of his face. My voice wavers. "Who are you...?"

"I am Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald."

I glance behind him at the large green stone, the source of the Power—the Master Emerald? Wait, an echidna... isn't that an animal? I look back to him as the frown wrestles the incredulity into the ground and settles firmly across his features. He continues as though there had not been a pause.

"Protecting the Emerald is my sole charge - the purpose to my life. Understand this and answer: Where did you come from and what did you do to the Master Emerald?" his deep voice gains a serious edge, ringed darkly with anger and suspicion.

"W-what do you mean?" I tremble and cross my arms, unconsciously taking a step backward. I duck my head from his gaze to the safety of the ground. Two shoes rest on the stone beneath me, my feet shifting timidly within them. My gaze follows the dusty gray legs up to knee-length black shorts and past them to a long green shirt patterned with thick, curving white stripes. I take a sharp breath. Where did my pajamas go...? What happened to my skin? I tug at the long shirt, only to find my hands in thin gloves patterned with green and white triangles.

Knuckles clears his throat.

I close my eyes for a moment and open them again. Nothing changes. What... is happening to me? I sway for a moment but quickly regain my balance. "Sorry..." I slowly look up again a dizzying sensation washing over me. "I'm not quite sure what's happening here. Where is this? I mean, where are we?"

At the back of my mind I notice Knuckles resist the urge to tap his foot on the stone floor. With a slight huff of impatience, he answers. "We're on Angel Island." The force of anger and suspicion in his voice eases slightly. "Who exactly are you... Brooke? What are you doing here? Did you just... use the Master Emerald?"

"I..." I sway again, and put a hand up to my forehead, trying to hold it still. "There was..."

"Are... you okay?" I force my gaze back up to the red echidna, finding something almost like concern starting a fight with the impatience and anger for a place in his expression.

"I don't know..." I say softly, mumbling to myself. "Am I?" I stare at my changed hands, then slowly shift to look at the Master Emerald. Knuckles turns to follow my gaze. My legs shake, and a heavily uncertain feeling comes over me. Tears brim in my eyes and I feel suddenly weak. "Is this a dream?" I search the depths of the Emerald desperately. "What did you do to me...?"

I shiver and sway again. Suddenly there's a disconnect. With a dizzying sensation I feel my body collapse onto the ground as my thoughts fall dark. The world fades swiftly away.

. . .

Knuckles the Echidna jumps and turns towards the girl. He hesitantly steps forward and crouches down beside her. "What...?" He slowly reaches out and rolls the girl onto her back, regarding her tired face with surprise. For a moment his expression clears, the suspicion gone in the face of this helpless figure. The Guardian glances curiously at the Master Emerald before standing and taking a step back, his face settling into a frown out of habit.

The echidna glances between the girl and the Emerald for a long moment before stepping forward and cautiously gathering the girl up in his arms. He sighs and turns to the stairs that lead down from the tall altar platform, his steps slow. As the distance between the Guardian and the Emerald grows, his pace increases with each step of the high stairway. The echidna is running by the time he passes under the cover of the trees that surround the altar's clearing. For a moment he slows and pauses in their shadows, keenly aware of the Emerald behind him. The girl makes a quiet sound and he glances down, his face softening for a moment, but then he quickly shakes his head and begins running again, careful to not look back in case the sight of the unprotected Emerald makes him change his mind.