Chapter 65: Past
After the vortex closed behind them, Shawn and Silva found themselves in a long hallway that had metallic flooring and a glass covering that showed fish of different shapes and sizes swimming in the water that surrounded them.
"It looks like we're at the bottom of an ocean," Shawn noted and looked over at Silva, who seemed lost in thought. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Silva said awkwardly. "I just realized that we didn't properly introduce ourselves."
"That's it?" Shawn then scuffed and started walking down the hallway. "If you really want to know, my name's Shawn."
"I'm Silva, and I wasn't just bothered about not knowing your name," Silva said as he caught up to Shawn. "After we had stepped through the vortex, I found myself in a decimated city covered by lava. At first, I thought I was in the future that Mephiles had showed me and my sister, then someone who looked like me appeared and told me it was my mind. He said his name was 'Silver the Hedgehog' and—
"What did he say?" Shawn asked abruptly.
"He said he was a spirit that was akin to Sonic, but he was from the future of his timeline and told me how Mephiles had tricked him and his companion Blaze into killing Sonic when he was stopped by Shadow who he thinks is possessing you. He's also apparently the reason for my psychokinesis powers and the one who prevented me from suffocating Sonic in his sleep last night."
"That's more information than I needed to know," Shawn said dismissively. Then he turned to Silva and said, "But he is right about me being possessed by Shadow. He's the friend I was telling you about who knows a lot of things."
"I see, so being possessed by a strange spirit that gives you unnatural powers isn't anything new to you."
"No, but I only discovered it recently."
"What happened?"
"It's a long story, and I'd rather not go into it."
Then just before Silva could respond, a loud booming noise echoed down the hallway. Shawn then warped down the hallway while Silva levitated himself off the ground and followed behind. They eventually came to a ruined laboratory with glass and metal parts thrown about. In the center of the room was a glass reactor that had been broken while three bodies lay motionless on the floor around it. After Shawn and Silva got down, a flaming orb emerged from the glass reactor and floated away.
"That flame has got to be Iblis," Silva said, and then he noticed a black substance leaking out from the bottom of the reactor. "Then that black stuff…
"Is Mephiles," Shawn answered.
Silva's eyes widened. "We can't let them escape. I'll go after Iblis and you take care of Mephiles."
"That's what I was going to say," Shawn said as Silva took off after the flaming orb.
Shawn was then about to go after Mephiles when a series of grunts drew his attention to a tall man with white hair wearing a chemical robe that was similar to the other two men that lay on the floor but he didn't wear a mask. Underneath him lay an unconscious girl of ten years old with short chestnut brown hair. The tall man beckoned Shawn to come over, and so he did.
"If you're going to stop Mephiles," the tall man said, gasping in breaths. "Then you're going to need to seal him in this."
The tall man then pulled out the Scepter of Darkness from his robe pocket and held it out to Shawn. In turn, Shawn took the Scepter and went into the hallway that Mephiles slithered into. This in turn led to a series of other hallways with high-vaulted ceilings and glass windows that showed the ocean outside. Several serpent-like creatures and birds tried to stop Shawn, but he quickly transformed into Shadow and fired Chaos Spears at every single one that attacked him. Eventually, he came to a circular room where the black substance that was Mephiles was still crawling.
Shadow then took out the Red Chaos Emerald and said, "Chaos Control!"
Mephiles halted in its tracks and said slowly, "I know that voice…Shadow, is that you?"
"Who do you think it is?" Shadow responded.
"But your form is so different from the one I remember," Mephiles said. "It looks more…human."
"Doesn't matter," Shadow said and raised the Scepter of Darkness into the air. "You're still going to get sealed away."
As the Scepter floated up into the air, Mephiles laughed as he was slowly being sucked into it. "Then I shall be waiting for you in the future."
"Indeed," Shadow noted as the Scepter levitated back into his hands with the black substance of Mephiles pulsing from within the Scepter's shaft.
###
"You're not going anywhere, Iblis," Silva said as he used his psychokinetic energy to hold the flame of Iblis above a stone altar.
But the flame was resistant and occasionally spattered fire at Silva, which made him flinch.
"Let me take over," said an apparition that appeared in front of Silva. It looked exactly like him except that the eyes had narrow pupils, the hands were covered by white gloves with blue circles on them, and a pair of white hedgehog ears and one matching tail were visible.
"Silver," Silva said as he recognized the apparition.
"You're not powerful enough to contain Iblis," Silver replied. "I can hold him long enough until the Duke arrives."
"The Duke?"
"Of Soleanna. If I remember right, he should be here soon."
"What's he going to do?"
"He's going to seal Iblis away."
"With what?"
"I don't remember."
"Well, that isn't very reassuring."
"Look, trust me on this. It'll make things a lot easier for you if I take over this one time."
"Will I not remember what happens while you're possessing me? That's usually how these things work in comic-books."
"I don't think so. As long as we can communicate with one other, our memories will be shared between us."
"All right, then let's get it over with."
As the apparition of Silver vanished, Silva noticed the same bright-blue aura that emanated from his hands whenever he used his psychokinesis powers was surrounding him. He didn't try to resist it, and within a matter of seconds Silva had transformed into Silver. Silver then reestablished Silva's psychokinetic grip on Iblis, which forced Iblis to shrink into a smaller flame than he was before and fewer flames spattered from it.
"You cannot simply contain Iblis," said the white-haired tall man from the lab as he appeared behind Silver carrying the unconscious girl in his arms. "He must be sealed away permanently within a member of the royal family."
"That's right," Silver said, turning to the white-haired man. "You're going to seal Iblis within your daughter Elise, right, Duke of Soleanna?"
The white-haired man raised his eyebrows slightly. "How did you know I was going to do that, young man?"
"It's hard to explain, but you mustn't do it," Silver said urgently. "If you do, you'll die and tell Elise not to cry under any circumstances as it'll cause Iblis to be released from her. She'll follow your advice for ten years not knowing the reason behind your death, but then cry when a close friend of hers dies."
"Then do you propose an alternative?" the Duke said sternly.
Silver paused, and then he shook his head. "If the flames of Iblis rejected me before, then they'll probably reject me again. The other option is to seal them into you instead of Elise, but I'm not sure if that'll work."
"Well, I am a member of the royal family, so it's worth a shot," the Duke responded.
"Even though you might die?"
"If it will spare my daughter from future suffering, then I'm willing to do it."
While Silver kept Iblis floating above the altar, the Duke set his daughter down on the ground before approaching the altar and lying flat on his back. Silver then took out the silver-colored Chaos Emerald and allowed it to hover over the Duke's head. The Duke then closed his eyes and bellowed a chant out loud.
"Eternal Sun! The Living Flame that has been entrusted to the royal family! Fall into slumber within a royal soul!"
Immediately, the flame of Iblis was sealed within the Silver Chaos Emerald, and then a red beam of light shined down on the Duke. At first, the Duke seemed calm, and then he started writhing in pain. Silver let his hand fall and he walked up to the altar.
"Duke, are you all right?" Silver asked.
"The flames…I think they're rejecting me," the Duke said wearily.
"That's what I was afraid of," Silver said, and looked over at the sleeping Elise.
"Quickly, bring my daughter to the altar and place her beside me," the Duke said anxiously.
Reluctantly, Silver did as the Duke ordered and brought Elise to the altar. After laying her next to the Duke, the red beam of light moved from the Duke's abdomen to Elise's. She made no reaction after the beam of light died down and the Silver Chaos Emerald floated back into Silver's hands. The Duke's breathing grew slower as he turned to Elise and stroked her hair.
"I'm sorry for what I've done, Elise," the Duke said softly. "But you must be brave, and never cry no matter…what…happens."
Then as the Duke died, Silver lowered his head and gripped the Chaos Emerald in his hand.
###
Later, Silver and Shadow managed to find an elevator that took them out of the Aquatic Base and up to the courtyard of the castle in Kingdom Valley. While Shadow held the Scepter of Darkness in one hand, Silver was carrying Elise in his arms without too much difficulty. Though the courtyard's ceiling was intact, the place was empty.
"I'm surprised there aren't any servants around," Shadow said looking around.
"Maybe those two men in the lab were the Duke's only servants," Silver mumbled.
"That's certainly possible," Shadow responded. "So where is the Duke? Did you find him?"
Silver lowered his head. "I did, and he's now dead because of me."
"What did you do?" Shadow asked.
"I tried to prevent him from sealing Iblis within Elise, remembering what would happen if he did, and so I suggested that he absorb the flames instead."
"Did he go with it?"
"He was willing to for the sake of his daughter, but I guess the flames rejected him and so they had to be sealed in Elise. Then after the Duke told Elise not to cry, he died."
"Then you shouldn't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault."
"But how can I not blame myself? I tried to change something that couldn't be changed, and someone had to die for it."
"He would've died anyway if you hadn't done anything, but I know how you feel. Forty years ago from now, I tried to save the reincarnation of someone I cared about from dying the same way as she did before."
"Did you succeed?"
"Her life was spared, but I was still blamed for her apparent death like before and put in suspended animation for fifty years."
"Geez, no wonder you didn't want to talk about it back at the Aquatic Base. That's some heavy stuff."
"Exactly."
While Silver placed Elise at the foot of a winding staircase, Shadow put the Scepter of Darkness in Elise's hands.
"You're just going to let it go?" Silver said with slight bewilderment.
"I know the Scepter will be found again in the future," Shadow said as he walked away. "So its current location doesn't ultimately matter."
"Well, in that case, we should be getting back to the present," Silver replied as he picked up the Silver Chaos Emerald.
Shadow nodded and picked up the Red Chaos Emerald in response.
To be continued…