Chapter 29 - Primordial Intoxication

'...uuuggghhhhh...' Sonic mentally uttered.

Feeling lethargic and heavy, he tried to move a little. Seemingly like time had slow down, his movements were at half speed for some reason and dragging. Not able to see or hear anything, curling his fingers seemed to be surprisingly hard. Trying to open his eyes, the eye lids either didn't react or were constrained. It seemed as if a weight was keeping them down. Wondering if he was a prisoner in the evil dungeon, the adrenaline from panicking started kicking through his system.

Only getting a fraction of his senses to react, something seemed wrong. Able to move a bit more freely, it felt as if he were in dense water or liquid. However, it didn't seem like he was at the same time. Able to open his eyes, everything seemed to be in an odd blur. Some things were distinctive yet everything else was out of focus.

The surroundings appeared to be in a forest of some kind. There was vegetation like the ones around his village; however, a haze or fog overtook everything. Slowly getting up to a sitting position, his movements were sluggish. Not positive why, he continued till he got on both feet to stand. Rubbing his head and trying to rid of the clammy sensations, he shook his head in slow motion.

'...where...am I exactly?' the child wondered. Moving forward, he began to look around in the strange new environment. Walking by one of the shrubs and touching it, the sensation made him stop in mid step.

'...that...doesn't feel right...' the boy thought.

Looking at his hand and seeing that it was defined, there was no residue left from the plant. Trying again and touching it, it felt the same like the first time. Trying other vegetation, all of them gave him the same feedback of surrealism. A couple that he held on with two hands would sway. As if the object was transitioning from a solid to semi-liquid, it trying to re-solidify its form before it couldn't hold it.

Pondering to himself why does everything feel odd, his feet kept walking without his control. Trying to stop and think about if this really was a dream or not, the child's legs continued going forward without ceasing. Shaking his head again lethargically, the hedgehog looked up. Seeing him about to run into a tree, he was too late to react. Not able to halt or close his eyes in reflex, his body went through it. Bizarrely, the vision changed from being head on into a tree to a dark hallway with a light at the end.

'...!?' the boy reacted perplexed.

As if the passageway was curved downward, everything seemed to arc as if beginning to do a loop. With his feet not stopping, his perception changed by 90 degrees after several steps. Coming out of the hallway and able to stop, he blinked slowly and looked around only with his eyes. The environment changed to being in a building of some kind. Seemingly an industrial look, he narrowed his eyes. Everything gave an unclear visual. Gritty walls, floor, and ceiling. Furniture appeared to be pixelated though was defined enough to make objects.

Walking forward and slowly turning his head to look around again, the environment started to become more unfocused. Seeing things slowly change to little squares of individual color, they began to make the things surrounding him undistinctive. Stopping and immediately going backwards, the visual change reversed itself. Feeling less weirded out and seeing everything back in focus, he bumped into something. Turning around and about to apologize, he looked at what was there.

"I'm sorry abou-!?" Sonic spoke then stopped.

A dark silhouette stood in front of him. Focusing more on the person, its figure seemed familiar for one reason or another. As if triggering something from thinking that, a pair of crimson ring eyes came to life like a machine would. Seeing the two immediately look down to stare at him, the silhouette began forming to something in his previous dreams. Slowly walking forward with heavy metal footsteps and getting into some illumination, it was the adult mechanical version of himself.

"...no..."

[...the chase...continues...] it spoke in a robotic tone. As the boy continued backing up to get distance, it ignited its turbine core. The instant sound of it turning on and seeing a building of heat was strong enough for the dreamscape to tremor a little. Getting enough power to hover, it lifted off the ground a couple of inches.

[...I...am...Speed...] the unit declared levitating towards the child.

"...!?" Sonic reacted by turning around. Dashing forward, he launched off with great speed. Like he did in previous dreams, his vision of objects zoomed by him as he sped through multiple rooms in the building.

[...I...AM...THE...BLUE...HEDGEHOG...] the doppelganger announced. Engaging the throttle for the engine and feeling the thrust, he launched after the child.

Not daring to look back, the child stopped harshly and flanked left. Blasting back to great speeds, he zipped through hallways. Reaching another opening of bright light and going through it, he didn't stop running. When the brightness dimmed to be bearable, he was in a different place. Travelling on an extremely long pathway, it multiple bends and curves going in different directions. The altitude of the track varied seemingly to appear as a one lane road that didn't match to what the environment was. Not thinking about it and continuing to run, he followed the winding path.

Even though things were flying past him as he sped forward, the narrow pathway seemed to help him. Almost as his capability to look ahead and see where he was going increased. Taking a quick glance back, his metallic doppelganger was following behind from a close distance. Like a cold killing machine, it expressed nothing except two crimson ring eyes. Piercing at him like a predator, the child moved his eyes forward and continued. Hearing the emergence of something in the background, it silenced everything else. The air friction, the light rapid running steps, the jet engine behind him, and his rapid heartbeat; all of it was gone.

Feeling the rumbling of a booming echo, it was as if a skyscraper giant took a footstep. Not knowing where it was coming from, it made the Sonic pump his legs harder. Seeing the pathway he was on zoom by at unimageable running speeds, he continued to follow it without deviation or question. His evil adult self went faster as well without falling far behind. Seeing the road straighten out, the low decibel rumble came again; however this time, there was a slight tremor on the ground.

Travelling down the never-ending pathway in eerie silence without stopping, something began to emerge. Finding out what was causing the loud and distant booms, a monstrosity of a mechanical being began to come into view. Seemingly standing on the horizon, its figure began to become more recognizable. All silver, it had the proportions of a hedgehog breed. Seeing the materialization of two crimson irises in the sky, they moved down to stare at him.

Both in fear and awe, his mind was not paying attention to the road. Feeling the ground suddenly not under him, he blinked then looked down. Running in the air and falling in a long arc, his eyesight widen from what he was looking at. A sea of different colored liquids was below. White, grey, black, silver, and traces of red filled the body of water with constant currents flowing in every direction.

Going into a freefall and dropping like a rock, he closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands and arms. Impacting the pool several seconds latter, it felt like he slammed hard into a wall. Knocked semi-conscious, he began sinking into the unknown substance abyss. Unable to swim up from feeling no strength anymore, small air bulbs began escaping his mouth. Reaching up and opening his mouth to shout for help, no sound emerged.

'...Speed...Chiara...anyone...I...' Sonic pleaded in his mind. Descending further and further, the depressing-colored sea began engulfing his sight and environment. The thought of drowning filled his mind as his body slowly began to shut down.

'...I don't...wanna die...' he whispered in his mind. Feeling his eyes close, something cold and hard grabbed his arms. Opening his eyes a little, they shot open with fear from seeing the expressionless being in black and white.

[...I...A...M...S...O...N...I...C...T...H...E...H...E...D...G...E...H...O...G...]

"...hey..." Triselle said quietly.

Continuing to walk down the tunnel, it had been at least half an hour since they talked. Traveling relatively in a straight and flat line, they were closer to the mountains. Illumination had changed to be like nighttime to which seeing their hands in front of their face was barely seen or at all. The only thing that seemed to cast a faded illumination was the hedgehog's glowing cybernetic eye. It oddly shot a faint fan out to provide some visibility in the passageway. However to the female, it did not provide any comfort.

"...what...keeps driving you forward?"

"..." the amputee answered. Taking a glance at her and staring a little, he went back to look forward and scan.

"...living..."

"...that's it?" she asked not looking convinced. She was still mildly paranoid about surprise attacks in an environment she can't see in. The only aspect of detecting things was her sharp sense of smell.

"...it is what...I have been doing...since waking up."

"I can see that...has it changed when you became her prisoner?"

"...no..." he answered stoically then looked at her. "...it further solidified...survival mentality..."

"..." Triselle responded with a short nod. Both looked forward and walked for a minute in silence.

"...if you are of survival...then you would have left anyone behind if it wasn't yourself...so something had to change in you."

"...this...inquiry...is for...what...purpose?" he asked with a hint of agitation. She immediately raised her hands and became nervous.

"I-I'm just...trying to find out what you do to keep on living. I d-don't have anyone to rely on or a home to go back to. S-So..."

"..." Speed commented with giving her a small glare. Breathing out of his nose and adjusting his hold on Malaria, they continued walking.

"...Chiara...the eye patch female stout...was abandoned by her village...her difficulty...being accepted."

"...Sonic...the blue hedgehog...speed is his fervor...super speed is his...dream...becoming a freedom fighter...is his reasoning to pursue...the dream."

"Freedom Fighter!?" the female canine reacted with shock. Her voice was louder and made an echoing effect shoot down the tunnel. The nervousness and fear she had of him faded a bit making her get next to him. She failed to see his right eye twitch a little.

"That's the successor of the Rebellion war group. How did the child know about something that isn't even well known or established?"

"...he stated..." the amputee began. The ground began to have a slight incline to which faint light was seen up ahead. Feeling better that there was now an end of the tunnel in sight, it also began to show walls more. As if a slaughterhouse was discovered, old blood and half decayed/eaten corpses laid along the walls. The stench was potent and comparable to the cultured scent in the dungeon that they left from.

"It was something...that his village told...stories to the young ones...legends...war tales...fill the young with...dreams."

"R-Really?" she remarked cringing from the sight of their surroundings. Seeing that the cloaked hedgehog did not make a fuss about the carnage they were walking through, Triselle swallowed the lump in her throat. Covering her nose with her hand, it only gave her a different sent. Her body odor from not bathing was more tolerable than the stank of death.

"Sounds like the same type of stores that previous generations told their kind. To fill them with dreams so they will go pursue things with enthusiasm and wonder," the woman stated then looked down at the ground a little. "Even I was fed those stories."

"..." Speed spoke.

Suppressing a grunt, his left shoulder and torso were beginning to strain. Knowing if he conserved his energy when fighting in the prison lobby, he would have gotten out of the tunnel by now. Even if he was carrying Malaria, he would be able to bolt through the passageway. However given the change of plans for having a straggler, his plan had to be altered. Shaking his head internally and muscling through it, the two continued to climb.

"...if I may continue to ask...why did you leave the two back there to die in the fire storm?"

"...they...are not...there..." he said breathing a little harder.

Hearing Triselle move, he stopped and waited. Seeing her get on the other side of him, she slowly reached to the bat woman. Pulling down to which Speed kneeled in caution, he saw what she was trying to do. Putting her right shoulder to align with his and turning Malaria over, both of them were able to shoulder carrying the bat woman. The load and strain lessened on his body making it easier to breathe.

"...they are...elsewhere..."

"Were you...that shadow that caused the speed booms?"

"...yes..."

"H-H-How are you able to move that fast?" the canine asked in marvel. "The only stories I have heard about someone moving as fast as an attack jet were myths and fairytales."

"...seems to be...a well told one...amongst the legends," he stated sounding less tense and stiff.

"Are you a living legend?"

"...no..."

"...I hardly doubt anyone would not believe you are a living myth."

"..." Speed reacted with indifference.

Not saying anything in response he kept walking forward. Creating another tense silence between them, the incline began to level down. Getting up onto flat surface, the exit of the tunnel was now seen up ahead. Light began to give the environment more color as the air became fresher than cave's musky, stale, and death smell. Feeling the wind breeze and its hollowing through the passageway seemed to lift the female's spirit a little.

"May I ask you a question?"

"...listening..."

"Could I...tag along?" Triselle asked nervously. Glancing at him, she couldn't see if his expression changed or not.

"...you are...asking now...?"

"Well...I mean...to where ever you are going."

"...for what...purpose...?" he asked while staring at her with one eye while the other kept looking straight. "...I am...not your...salvation..."

"...you saved me from that prison...so you are my salvation. Do I need a legitimate reason to follow you?" she answered back a little testy. Looking back at him and seeing who they were carrying, she became ticked off. Dropping Malaria's arm from around her shoulders, Speed stopped to not drop the unconscious bat woman.

"Furthermore, why are you helping this torturous and murderous psychopath!? You killed her two sisters swiftly and left them in that blazing fire. Do you like her or something? Are you one of her followers and worshipers?"

"...gggggoooo...ffffoooorrrrrttttthhhh..." Malaria mumbled faintly as her body twitched a little. "...o...v...e...r...t...h...e...h...i...l...l..."

"..." the amputee responded with staring blankly at the female dog breed. Setting the bat woman down to the ground, he reached to her throat. Grabbing something and pulling the loop up and off her head, he stood up straight.

"...if you are...so full of curiosity...and need a connection...to your past..." he began. Tossing what was in his head to her, Triselle caught the object. Feeling it to be a necklace of some kind, there were two small metal tags attached. Feeling indentations on it, she turned to get light on them. Hearing and seeing the hedgehog go down and pick up Malaria again, he got her over his shoulder. Grunting, he began walking forward.

"...seek comfort...from the war fallen..."

'...uuuugggggghhhh...' Chiara groaned.

Her head felt heavy and in a haze. Moving her limbs around was difficult, sluggish, and numbing. Struggling to get up from being face down on the ground, her legs could not get her to stand or even to sit up. Able to roll over to be on her back, she just breathed slowly and deeply with a grimace. Trying to see in front of her, her eye lids were very heavy and not responding well.

Trying to open her mouth, it also seemed to not want to move. Clenching her teeth together and pressing very hard, her lips barely budged much. Stopping and sighing softly through her noise, it didn't match of how tired she felt. About to contemplate on why everything was hard and difficult to do, something came to her mind. Mildly panicking from remembering where she passed out from, she wondered if her mouth was sown up closed.

Able to move her lips a little, there was no puncture wounds or holes. There wasn't any thread or wire felt constricting her facial movements. Relieved a little, she tried to move her limbs again. As if the arms and legs were strapped to impossible weights to lift, they weren't budging. Attempting to grit her teeth together murderously, they only barely touched each other. Annoyed, she tried thrashing her limbs around and giving herself whiplash or something similar. Her body hardly responded.

'Freakin' hell...am I dreaming or not!?' the female stout shouted in her mind. Annoyed and paranoid, she closed her barely open eyes and tried thinking.

'...damnit...I can't tell...if my freakin' body wasn't acting so stupid...'

Opening her eyes without effort, she froze. Two visions were seen. In her left eye, she was in a room of some kind. There was nothing overly distinctive about it that made her recognize the location. Her other eye saw nothing but a fluid canvas of rippling silver, black, grey, white, and traces of crimson. As if in a pool of some sorts, movement in her right was constant. No matter where her right eye looked, it was the same viewpoint despite feeling the eyeball move around.

The contrast between the two was startling enough to keep her quiet and staring. Not thinking of anything due from anxiety of the unknown, she waited. In her left eye, the sun slowly rose from the horizon. Seen through the window, it went from the bottom of the glass to the top within a couple of seconds. The light and shadows that came through the window danced as it became noon within several seconds.

'...?' the female stout remarked. As time seemed to fast forward, her right vision did not speed up or slow down. It remained as the constant, with colored sea flowing aimlessly across her viewpoint. Focusing back to her other eye, it had become nighttime within a 30 second time frame.

'...what kind of dream is this...?' Chiara pondered with mixed feelings. A trail of goosebumps started from her leg and made its way up her body.

'I've never had this kind of dream before...even when I did try those street drugs, it was nothing this trippy...does that mean I was pumped with those wild shroom drugs? Or ones that are used in this dungeon madhouse?'

Hearing something strange to her left, her eyes reactively looked in that direction. The movement caused her visions to alter at the same time. While her left eye showed the scene of turning in the room, her other one did something different. As if causing a current in the liquid environment, it caused swirls and flow movements in the colored water. Stopping from turning, the vision of rippling liquid slowed down.

Carefully looking up, the same results occurred in her vision. Trying a couple more times and stopping to get a hold of herself, the continuous fluid warping in her right eyesight became more concerning. About to comment, the feeling of multiple small tongs were felt. They seemingly held up her eyelids and pulled down on the skin below the eye. Now prevented from blinking, the scene of the fluid world began to pulsate. The currents moving went into a frenzy for a couple of seconds before calming down.

Unable to move her eyes or head down, she could only look forward. In response of waiting, her right eye pulsated again with more force. This caused rippling from multiple points high and low. Slowly, the frequency of the pulses began to get faster and faster. Seeing stronger waves collide with each other added a hypnotic affect as the environment seemed to now constantly shifting. Breathing harder from how right vision world was in chaos, the depressing-colored liquids began to bleed in more crimson with each jolt.

Frightened and telling herself to stop looking around, her effort was in vain. Solely focusing on the vision of the room in her left eye, her eyes widen with fear. Floating in the air and slowly descending toward her eye, it was a syringe. Filled with obscured liquid that radiated a murky aura, it recked of terror and death. Opening her mouth partly from seeing something fade into existence, it was an amorphous black figure. Part of its silhouette had extended to be behind needle.

'NO! NO! STOP IT! DON'T!' Chiara shouted in fear. The sharp pointed injector kept getting bigger and bigger the closer it got to her left eye.

'STOP IT! NO! SPEED! SONIC! FOR THE LOVE OF-!?' she screamed until her mouth closed shut by itself.

Unable to turn away or let out a harrowing cry of suffering, she felt the needle slowly insert into her eye. Despite the immense trepidation from the cruel act, it felt surreal and disturbing. Seeing the obscured liquid began to sink from the vial, the rush of fluid entered into her eye. Acute clamminess washed over Chiara as something was occurring. Her left eye vision began to fill with the same white, grey, black, and red liquids.

When everything became the flowing pool of colored water, it was as if she became submerged in it. The sensation of being dry was replaced with vicious wetness all over her within an instant. Confused, panicking, and terrified, her vision glitched rapidly. In a sudden transition like an explosion, the environment erupted into a fury inferno. Reacting quickly, she covered her face with her arms and hands.

'...!?' the female stout reacted from quick ambivalence. Startled from being able to use her limbs, she became weightless. Blinking and removing her hands from her eyes, she was falling down a familiar cliff. The silhouettes on top were dark with no definitive shape. However, the scene gave her an instant remembrance of an incident in her past

'...no...not again...' she whispered hearing voices invade her head without mercy.

'CHIARA! YOU GET YOUR FUR ASS...' 'YOU CAN NEVER BE ONE OF US' 'YOU CAN'T BE LIKE THE GUYS! YOU'RE JUST A SMALL GIRL!'

'I AM NOT GONNA CALL YOU AGAIN CHIARA! WHERE THE FREAKIN' HELL ARE YA!?' 'AN ADVENTURER? HA! STUPID SHRIMP. YA CAN'T BECAUSE YA SMALL!'

'A SOLDIER? GO PLAY WITH THE FLOWERS. ONLY REAL ADULTS CAN GO IN THE FIGHTING FORCE!'

'...SHUT UP...SHUT UP!' the female stoat yelled looking up. Still falling down, the mockery and taunting only grew and multiplied. Reaching a boiling point of unbearable and losing control of herself, she screamed at the verbal bombardment while shaking with hatred.

'SHUTUP!...SHUTUP!...SHUTUP! SHUTUP! SHUTUP!...'

"...!?" Triselle reacted with shock. So much so, she had to remember to breathe.

Almost succumbing to an avalanche of questions and denials, echoes of footsteps and dragging where heard ahead. Clenching her hand over the dog tags, she forced herself to jog to catch up. By the time she did, she felt exhausted. Looking at the amputee, his face was tense again as if the muscle strain from the fast running and carrying the bat woman had worn him down. Glancing ahead, the exit out of the tunnels was only a few yards away.

Shaking her head, she went to the side she was on. Hoping he would stop so she can support the weight again. Speed didn't. He continued hauling while breathing a bit heavier. Biting her bottom lip and fast walking to catch up, she was back being on the right side. Able to see his facial expression with more light, the amputee looked agitated.

'I made it this far...I can't back down...what does he mean she is a war fallen? These dog tags can't be real,' the female canine reasoned with herself. 'I need to understand...he hasn't hurt me so far...'

"...Is this...a joke?" she asked as normally as possible.

"..." the gray ash hedgehog answered with ignorance.

"These are yours...right?"

"...are your...eyes bad now...?" Speed asked trying to battle against the growing strain.

"..." the female canine replied with pressing her lips together. Too many thoughts were blaring in her head that it made her cringe.

"...what is wrong...denial creeping...in your mind...?" he asked in a constrained tone.

"Shut up. I'm trying to collect my thoughts," she retorted not turning to look at him.

Both were quiet for a moment or two until they got outside of the tunnel. With more light everywhere and fresher air, it seemed to lift the invisible weight of dread and apprehension. The sense of freedom from actually seeing the environment above ground took hold. A delayed realization overcame her making her stop in her tracks. Feeling herself trembling and water beginning to build in her eyes, she began to silently cry.

"..." Speed reacted with grunting to hold up Malaria.

Seeing Triselle slowly kneel to the ground, she placed her body face down. Frowning a little at the sight, he struggled in side-stepping away before setting the bat woman down. Standing up and feeling his body become less tight, a sensation of hunger began to gnaw at him. Looking around, they were at the bottom of the mountains. A flashback came to him giving a sensation of deja vu.

'...wonder how much...they grew...from years ago...' he pondered looking to the left. Seeing vegetation over a mound, he quietly walked toward it and left the two women.

"...I-I-I'm...finally...free..." she whispered letting the tears roll down her face and fall to the ground.

The feeling of earth and gravel on her hands and fingers was joyous. To feel the breeze again, was liberating. Hearing the wildlife and the outdoors was pumping life into her. Smelling various things far and wide, her mouth began to water. Seeing a grassy bush near her hand, she grabbed it hard. Letting go and bringing it to her face, she licked her hand.

"...to taste...something other than death and decay...I...I can't even express it...it's like...I am in a utopia," Triselle muttered with a beaming smile on her face.

Looking up to the sky and put her hands together tightly, she placed her forehead on her crossed thumbs. About to say a silent prayer with mouthing the words, a deep vibrating growl was heard nearby. Cringing and clenching her hands together hard, the euphoria she felt was replaced with anxiety, anger, and fear. Bringing her head and hands down, she cautiously glanced to her right. Seeing a reptile predator a few yards away, it hissed and gave her a death glare.

Appearing to be a mutated goanna, it was five feet long, two feet high, and three feet wide. Watching it open its mouth to let out a more primal shout, it had many sharp teeth. Triselle figured she and Malaria were seen as munch meat to the massive lizard. Not knowing if she could out run the predator, she was in no shape to test her endurance. Glancing quickly to her left in the hope Speed was there, he wasn't. Not seeing him made her panic faster.