Darkness filled the atmosphere as Shadow wandered in an endless motion. He pondered on the fact that he couldn't see anything in front of him, neither behind nor in front of him. There's nothing he can fall back on if fallen, nor anything can he set his sights on, so he kept his guard steady and ready. Pupils blinded by the shocking darkness, he searched for any object to light his way.

"Damn", he thought, "No light. Now I know something is going on around here. Is this going to keep up forever?"

A rush of wind blew behind him.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Feeling a tad bit threatened, Shadow regained his fighting stance, following the direction of the cold breeze. Fiery orbs averted behind them and saw a bright light ahead. Shadow thought he'd seen that light before…it came closer, growing in color...

"Ahh…it's you."

Right in the distance, he saw the same pink blur, standing in seclusion. His face had a look of justified confidence, realizing that maybe now he'll know who is responsible for the intrusion in his dreams. "Maybe I can finally know who you are. You can't get away from me now!"

The dark hedgehog ran toward the pink blur, speeding as he got closer. Strangely, as he hovered towards it, the cold breeze has left and a warm wind substituted for it. His icy heart turned into a mushy, concerned, anxious, satisfied, comfortable vessel containing an emotion he wasn't familiar with.

'What the hell,' he thought, 'what is this I'm feeling? Does this thing have some kind of influence on me that I don't know about? A force, perhaps, that I can't overpower by myself? Well, I'll find out soon enough.'

Suddenly, pink petals started falling out of nowhere, getting in the way of Shadow's path.

'Flowers! Wait a minute…rose petals?'

As soon as he thought he made it, the pink blur was gone. In its place instead, was a pure pink rose, lying on the ground. It's light pervaded the place intensely and an aura of mystery haunted the atmosphere. Shadow slowly picked it up from its place. As he did so, another emotion sprang from him. Staring at the rose, he had a dreamy state in his ruby eyes. His usual hardened expression softened a bit. Just looking at the rose, he had the urge to embrace it…to kiss it…to caress it…to protect it from the dangerous world…to die for it…

'What am I feeling now? What does all this mean?'

Something alerted him to look up in the sky, and sure enough he saw stars starting to appear. A peculiar thing was happening with those stars. They had begun to assemble themselves in a shape…letters…a sentence. The confused Shadow thought about it as he read along:

Follow the rose; it is the key to your future.

The rose? The key to my future? What does this mean?

The stars shape-shifted again. This time, they traced out a ring-like shape. It was a star spectacled ring with the shape of what seems to be a shape of a jewel on the front.

'What? A ring? Will this ring lead me to the key to my future...?

Shadow woke up in his bed, beads of sweat dripping rapidly down his cheeks and forehead.

"This dream means something, that's for sure. And I'm certain that the rose do mean something important. It has to be because it's involved in my future…the kingdom's future," Shadow said.

The future king looked out his window at the least bits of light in the gray sky. Rain pattered against his windowpane like hard pebbles. His face grew bored and exasperated. Great. To add with it, I have to meet my fiancée again today…what a drag.

Shadow later visited the sacred Umbrian Shrine, where he sees his…well, accomplice. As he arrived in the large room, bejeweled and watered every morning with holy water. It was the room with the Umbrian jewel, where a red echidna was standing erect in front of the jewel.

He had a source of stubbornness and intolerance in him when he's doing his job, but he talks to the young monarch when he can. Numerous times, he fought off the evil wizard Eggman with his martial arts skills, but for now he's getting suspicious of how the wizard got quiet all of a sudden. He saw the black hedgehog head his way. That's when he knows that it's time for Judo practice with him.

"Hey Knuckles. Are you prepared to get your posterior kicked…again?" Shadow said while smirking. Knuckles chuckled a while, but fetched two long sticks and handed one to Shadow. They started to fight, with Shadow winning by a neck. Afterwards they just sat down and talked.

"I heard that your fiancée is coming back to see you…tell me, are you going to dance with her for next week's ball?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow glared at him, and leaned backwards a little bit.

"Knuckles, you know me too well to ask that question. I might dance with her, I might not. I bother myself too much with eating and just sitting back to argue about twirling around and spinning at ridiculous points that it makes you lightheaded, which makes you very stupid to begin with. Now what's the point of that?"

Knuckles didn't bother arguing about the issue at all.

"Besides, I don't know how to dance so there."

"Humph. You know, you know how to put down an incredibly good conversation, do you? I know how to dance and I have fun, so why can't you?"

"I'm fine without dancing, thank you very much. Kings do not dance, since I sit on the throne all the time anyway." Minutes later, they laughed about the thought of the sight of Shadow dancing.

In the afternoon, preparations were made ready in the castle for the engaged other half to arrive. The king and the queen were waiting silently for her, Shadow standing in front of them also. A fiery looking carriage glided like Helios's chariot in the sky. The livery footmen opened the door and out came Prince Shadow's arranged fiancée.

She was a lavender cat, with a red and orange evening gown glimmering against the rain. Her tiara sparkled brighter than Shadow's, a face of glee growing on her face as she saw her future husband, running to hug him. Shadow just sighed.

"Shadow! Darling! It's so good to see you again!"

"Hello Princess Blaze. You're always welcome to our kingdom, as long as you are the lovely bride of the heir of the Umbra Kingdom", his father humbly said. His wife smiled along with him.

Princess Blaze nodded to her footmen to take her stuff inside, and then looked back to Shadow.

"Oh, I can't wait for the ball! I'm going to try my hardest to appear beautiful, so the ladies will be so jealous of our adoration of each other. We'll be dancing, dining, eating, conversation, more dancing…"

Shadow had an annoyed impulse in his synapses. I adore no one. This will be a looooonnnnng month…