Sonic Haven
Season 1 - Episode 2
"Chaos Bringer"
That afternoon Julian and Snively took a plane to the Emerald Hills. After only a couple of hours in the air, they'd set down at a small town just outside the plains and were ready to get underway.
"Just how far away are these ruins Snively?" Julian asked with a hint of impatience.
"Not that far." He said as he gestured to the horizon beyond the rolling hills. "It should be about three or four hours to walk there."
Julian wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of the trip. "We can't take a vehicle of some kind?"
"Not anything that would be faster than on foot." Snively explained. "This area is almost completely untouched by modern developments. That means no roads, no trails passable by car. We walk, or we can spend an extra few hours digging out our own road."
"We walk then." Julian said in annoyance.
Without delay, the two set off for the ancient ruins in the middle of the nearby forest. They walked over the hills and around a small lake before spending the last hour or so making their way through the trees which the ruins lay deep inside of.
"We should be getting close." Snively said as he pointed to a nearby forested valley. "It should be down there."
"You'd better be right." Julian said in frustration. "I'm getting tired of this trek."
Upon coming to the edge of the valley, the two looked down to the bottom and saw great stone structures rising like spires from the ground. Each of the buildings was weathered to the point that the intricate engravings on their sides had been worn away by both rain and wind. In the middle of the old village was a large temple that was in much better shape than the rest of the place considering it was still standing and seemingly whole. Obviously the builders had taken much greater care when building this structure as opposed to the rest of them.
"The emerald we're looking for should be in that temple." Snively said as he pointed to the massive structure.
Julian didn't say anything in reply as he was holding back further comments until seeing the emerald for himself. If it was real, he would quite obviously be relieved. If not, then he would berate his nephew for his incompetence. He merely stepped down the side of the hill and made his way to the temple in the center of the ruined town in silence, leaving Snively to contemplate the consequence of either success or failure on his own.
They walked up the cracked steps and stepped into the ruins, coughing out the mouthful of dust they inhaled upon stepping inside.
"Are you sure there was a team here already?" Julian asked. "It seems to me like this place hasn't been touched in millennia."
"They were here alright." Snively said. "They just hadn't made their way into the temple yet."
"Why not?" Julian asked.
"They're just college kids with no idea of what they've stumbled upon." He commented. "Most of them are in fact my students from Mobitropolis University. When they told me about what they'd found, I sent them home for the week and told them to come back and finish the excavation a few days from now." He left the reason for his directions unsaid but obvious. He wanted to come in and take the credit for whatever was found for himself, justifying his career to everyone who criticised him.
Julian was surprised at the ruthlessness of his nephew who was known to be a bit cowardly and even spineless at times. He made a mental note to not underestimate Snively again lest it bite him when he wasn't looking.
The two picked their way through the ruins trying to reach the center where the most valuable artifacts, like Chaos Emeralds, were likely to be. It took several minutes of walking through stone halls before they found what they were looking for, the central chamber. It was three stories tall with a detailed mural on every wall including one where a dragon made out of water was destroying some large buildings. Light filtered in through an octagonal hole in the ceiling illuminating the murals and revealing them in all of their glory.
"Alright Snively." Julian said as he walked into the center of the room. "You're the expert, where do we go from here?" He lowered his tone to a more menacing one. "Unless you drug me all the way here just for a dead end."
He swallowed nervously. "Don't worry Julian, I'm sure there's something around here… somewhere." He was nervous for a few reasons, but mostly because he didn't want to have to deal with one of Julian's mood swings right now.
Snively took his time and examined the mural, trying to find meaning in different pieces of the elaborate artwork. He paused when his eyes fell upon a set of dusty letters cut into one of the designs. At first glance it looked like excessive detail just like everything else on the wall, but this was clearly a message. It was in Echidnan, which he knew just enough of to translate.
He read the message out loud: "Only those with a heart of courage may reach the altar of Chaos and obtain the power of perfection which was hidden away lest it once again flood the world with pain."
"And what does that mean?" Julian asked impatiently.
Snively held up a hand. "I just need a minute to think it over."
"It's obviously instructions on how to reach the Chaos Emerald. We just need to work out what it wants us to do." Julian was trying to figure it out in his own mind. While he worked it out, he let eyes drift throughout the room until they fell on a part of the mural that featured an echidna fighting a lion. It gave him an idea.
Julian walked over to the mural and pressed in on the lion's chest. The wall depressed and slid away revealing a smaller room with a pedestal in the center which had a floating ring suspended above it.
"Of course." Snively realized. "The lion is a symbol of courage in many civilizations." He looked over at his uncle. "You'd make an excellent archaeologist Julian."
"I prefer to look forward to the future, not back to the past." He said in a slightly condescending tone.
"Very well." Snively said trying not to take it personally. "Let's just get the Chaos Emerald and get out of here." He pointed to the floating gold object. "If you pass through the center of that ring you'll be taken to a pocket dimension where you can find the emerald."
"How do you know that?" Julian asked without even a modest attempt to hide his skepticism.
Snively explained. "It matches the description of a Warp Ring that was mentioned in ancient Echidna texts. They used the rings to protect valuable items, including Chaos Emeralds apparently."
Julian pointed at Snively and lowered his voice to make him sound more threatening. "You'd better not be grasping at straws Snively."
"You say that like we have a choice here." He rebutted. "You and I both know that the only thing we can do now is walk through that ring and see if the Emerald is on the other side. If it is, we're both better off. If it isn't then we're both done for."
"Agreed." Julian nodded. "I'll go first." He started to walk towards it before Snively could object.
Just as Snively opened his mouth, he heard a voice from behind him. "Who are you?" The deep voice demanded. He turned around to face the newcomer. It was a red Echidna with a white moon tattoo on his chest and white stripes on his dreadlocks. He also had mean looking purple eyes and white boxing gloves with spikes on their knuckles.
The Echidna walked toward Snively with his arms crossed. "Tell me who you are now!"
Snively glanced over his shoulder only to notice that Julian was nowhere to be found. Dang it! He'd have to come up with something on the fly here. "We're archaeologists here to study the ruins."
The Echidna gestured around the room, which at the moment only contained the two of them and the Warp Ring. "Who's we?"
Snively coughed out a nervous sound that was completely incoherent. "I khe uhm heh I beduh... " He cleared his throat and started again. "I meant the 'royal we'. You know, me and the people I work for as a group. I'm the only one here right now."
"So I see." The Echidna was far too curious. It was only made worse when Julian fell out of the Warp Ring and stumbled to the ground, ending up on one knee to keep from mashing his face into the stone floor. He had a purple gem clutched in his right hand that glowed with power.
"It is real!" Snively exclaimed.
"You!" The Echidna pointed at Julian who was pulling himself off of the floor. "Put that Emerald back where you found it or I will take it from you by force."
Julian only let out a contemptuous grunt and a small smile formed on his lips. "Suit yourself." He said in a low tone that sent chills up Snively's spine. He pulled a small sphere out of his pocket and tossed it on the ground where it then rolled to a stop next to the Echidna's feet.
Just as everyone was about to make another move, the sphere exploded, releasing a blue gas that surrounded the Echidna and left him coughing in the center of the cloud. Within a few seconds, the gas hardened into ice and froze its victim in place.
Snively was more than a little upset. "Julian, what have you done? You killed one of the natives? We thought that they were dead thousands of years ago. You may have just gotten rid of the last one."
"Relax Snively." He said easily. "It's only a form of cryogenic stasis. He'll thaw in a day or two."
The two of them turned and started to walk away, Snively being only somewhat satisfied with his uncle's answer. However, a sharp clicking sound made them stop in their tracks and turn back to face the block of ice. It had started to crack and chip at its edges.
"Impossible!" Julian exclaimed. "That material should be able to withstand more than a ton of force! No creature is that strong!"
"I suggest that we leave." Snively said with a considerable dose of urgency.
"Yes." Julian agreed. "I think so."
They turned and made a break for the exit as the ice broke completely and the newly released Echidna roared in anger. He spotted them rounding a corner and took off after them. Within a few moments he had caught up and reached out to grab hold of Julian's red jacket. Julian unzipped his jacket and let it fall off his shoulders, leaving him with only a black shirt and the Echidna with only a red jacket.
They ran outside where it had been raining since shortly after they'd gone into the temple. While trying to run down the mossy steps Julian slipped and tumbled down them, dropping the emerald and landing face first in mud. He lifted his head to see the Echidna falling gracefully through the air and coming to a gentle landing in front of him. He reached down and scooped the Chaos Emerald out of the muck, wiping it off with his gloved hand to clean it.
"I'm giving you one last chance to leave in peace." The Echidna growled at him. "If you don't…"
He didn't get a chance to finish that sentence as Snively smacked the bottom of his arm, causing him to drop the rain-soaked Emerald. He spun around to hit the slimy archaeologist off his feet before hearing a hissing noise and once again being encased in ice.
Snively reached into the mud next to the Echidna and grabbed the Chaos Emerald before both of them quickly made their way out of the ruins and back down the trail they'd taken to get here. By the time the Echidna had broken free once more, they were long gone. He dropped his head in defeat, the other members of his tribe would not appreciate his failure to protect the Emerald.
If only he'd known what would become of those two thieves...