Chapter 121
Black Doom
Shadow woke on a cold wet floor. His head throbbed as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. A dark world of vague shapes slowly solidified in front of him. Black metal bars encased him within a suspended metal cage overhanging a deep pit. Dozens of smaller passages tunneled out from the pit and Shadow could see a faint trace of torchlight coming from down the tunnels.
He groaned as he used the bars of his cage to lift himself up. Shadow pressed his aching head against the metal and looked down. At the bottom of the pit was a series of razor sharp rocks that were stained with dry blood. What the hell? Shadow closed his eyes and tried to piece together everything he remembered. One moment he had been sitting across from Theodora, she had been staring at him intently, drawing him forward. Shadow had been looking at her lips. However, Shadow could not remember what happened after that. Everything had become dark and confused until he had suddenly awoke inside his prison.
Shadow moved gingerly to his side and the change in weight made his suspended cage lean precariously. The rusted iron links that connected his cage to the ceiling groaned at the slightest movement. Shadow tiptoed the circumference of the cell, moving his hands along the bars as he searched for a lock. However, he did not find one and was forced to accept that his prison was completely sealed.
There has to be some way out of this. Shadow looked down at his arm and saw that he still had the Reticus. That made him feel slightly more confident, but he didn't know how it would help him escape. However, the Reticus wasn't the only band on his body. Shadow saw that someone had attached twin metal bracelets around his ankles. He leaned down and tried to pry them apart but they were locked firmly in place. Red lights blinked on their sides. Probably trackers of some kind. That wouldn't matter. If Shadow did escape he would not allow his captors the opportunity to track him down.
A few hours passed in still silence. The only sound in the pit was the faint trickle of water which seemed to seep through the ceiling. No one came to tell Shadow why he had been imprisoned, nor did he hear the sound of anyone else nearby. His stomach growled audibly and Shadow started to wonder if anyone was going to come for him. Perhaps his captors meant to simply leave him to die of starvation or madness. Whatever the case, the longer he waited, the less energy he would have to make an attempt to escape.
Shadow moved around the cage and searched frantically for some way to erode his bars. Moving around caused the cage to start swaying from side to side. Shadow paused in the middle and tried to hold his balance. The iron links sounded as if they were close to snapping.
"That might be the key." A woman's voice echoed out of the darkness. Shadow spun around and saw that someone was standing at the edge of one of the tunnels. The figure covered their face with a white mask and wore black robes. They held up a torch and turned their head as if curious as to what Shadow was doing. "If the chains break then you will plummet to your death. But breaking the chains is the only way to escape. Your liberation walks in lockstep with your doom."
"Who are you?" Shadow yelled back.
The figure shook their head. Their mask was mostly blank with only the most crudely drawn features. The eyes were small black splotches and the mouth was a jagged line across the bottom. It gave off an impression of sinister impersonality. "Do you have what it takes to save your life? To stand at the edge of death and conquer?"
Shadow ignored them. The freak would get what was coming to them as soon as he escaped. For now, all that mattered was that Shadow knew what he had to do to escape. He retreated to one end of the cell and pushed his hands against the bars. The chains groaned as Shadow pushed as hard as he could, before turning abruptly and running in the other direction. His cage swayed to the right, just as Shadow turned and ran back to the left. His movement made the cage swing back around, this time extending further, almost to the walls of the pit.
He listened intently to the groaning of the metal, waiting for the moment when the pressure would climax and his cage would drop. Again and again, he ran back and forth, causing the cage to sway until it was mere inches away from the walls. Almost there. Shadow's plan was to use the cage's momentum to smash it into the wall and break the cell bars. However, for that to work, the chains holding up the cage had to hold out. One more time. The cage swung up and prepared to crash down with great speed. Shadow gritted his teeth as he prepared for the impact.
SNAP! The chains broke right as the cage was over the center of the pit. It hung suspended in the air, carried by its own momentum before it started to fall. However, Shadow had anticipated this. He activated the Reticus and used his moment of suspended time to absorb the energy of the fall. The cage dropped, but Shadow was still carried by the sideways momentum from before. When time resumed he was thrust forward so rapidly he smashed through the metal bars. Shadow rocketed across the pit, slamming hard onto the wall. He quickly regained his balance, kicked off the pit wall and leapt onto the edge of one of the tunnels.
BANG! At that moment, his cage smashed into the bottom of the pit. Shadow exhaled and turned to the figure in the white mask. They were standing at the tunnel on the other end of the pit. "Now it's your turn!" Shadow readied to leap across the gap, when the figure drew a device out of their robe. Electricity jolted through Shadow's body making him scream and collapse onto the ground. His hands twitched as they grasped for the source of the pain. The bands around his ankles were emitting a high pitched buzzing sound as they flooded Shadow with electricity.
His teeth rattled in his skull and Shadow was starting to smell himself start to cook internerally. And then the pain was gone. He gasped for breath, filling his lungs with air. Someone had lifted him to his knees. Shadow tried in vain to resist as a heavy metal collar was locked around his neck. He lurched forward as the figure in front of him yanked on the chain, dragging Shadow onward.
In this manner, Shadow was brought through the tunnels and out into a grand cistern. He stood at the bottom of a funneled amphitheater. Carved benches filled with hooded figures aligned the walls. The crowds stood in silent observation as Shadow was dragged towards the central platform that served as the stage. His collar was tightly bound to two metal rods and his head was jerked backwards forcing him to look up.
The one who had chained him said nothing to Shadow. It vanished into the darkness which encircled the platform. Crack! A harsh spotlight beamed down upon Shadow. He blinked several times as the room slowly blurred back into focus. He saw that the crowd had moved to the edges of their seats. They wore black translucent robes and covered their faces with white masks. After gawking at Shadow for a moment, one near the top raised a fist and let loose a cry. "HERETIC!"
Within moments, the accusation was picked up by the rest of the crowd. They screamed the word down at Shadow before reaching down and picking up rocks and stones. Shadow tried to avoid the projectiles but he was locked firmly in place. The crowd's rage ruined their aim, but a few stones struck Shadow on the chest and forehead.
"Enough." A cold, menacing voice rose over the tumult. Immediately, there was silence. The crowds drew back and turned their faces up. Shadow squinted into the dazzling light and saw a figure slowly descending. The creature had an elongated skull that was shaped like a pickaxe. Three red eyes glared down at Shadow from the midst of his face. The skin where his mouth should have been was scrunched up and stapled over. He wore a gratuitous dark purple robe with long tasseled vestments. A series of colorful gems hung from a necklace he wore openly down his chest. These were in stark contrast to the twisted metal chains that he also wore. One was topped with a crescent shaped blade, and the other ended with an orb encircled by razors. He had no legs and seemed to float upon a cloud of black fog.
"Who the hell are you?" Shadow asked defiantly.
The creature floated down until it was only a few feet above Shadow. Its chains clanked together every time he made the slightest movement. "I am Black Doom, the Arch Curate of the Imperium." His voice sent a shiver down Shadow's spine. The area around his mouth squirmed like a hive of worms whenever he spoke, and the sound was equally as unnerving. Black Doom's flesh looked rotten, and his voice sounded like the personification of wretchedness, and foul decay.
"What do you want with me?" Shadow replied, trying to appear calm.
"You stand accused of Grand Heresy. The punishment for such an offense is death." At the word death the crowd went into an uproar. Shadow cringed as the creatures in the crowd started to scream hysterically and gyrate their bodies. He was immediately reminded of the dance floor at the Mirage Saloon. The macabre twisting of the robed cultists was like a twisted mirror of that dance floor.
Black Doom held up a three fingered hand, and the crowd went silent. "I don't even know who the hell you are!" Shadow protested. "How could I have committed heresy?"
"It is not against me that you have committed your sin. It is against the Emperor."
Shadow's stomach dropped. "Wait…you don't mean…"
But Black Doom wasn't listening anymore. He had hovered back up into the air to address his followers. "This creature stands accused of heresy. And I know you wish to see him bleed for his desecration. Yet we must remember that it was the emperor who brought us out of disorder and chaos and showed us the way of civility and order. Before a punishment can be brought upon him, we must first show him the way of Enlightenment. There must be a trial. And we must all suspend our judgment until his guilt can be proved. Do not let your love for the emperor lead you out of his glory. Order yourselves, as the emperor has ordered all things."
At these words, the crowd let out a cheer. Black Doom held up his hands, and by the time he had descended back to Shadow, there was silence. "You have proven your desire to live. Now you must stand trial for your crime. How do you plead?"
Shadow leaned against his chains, but it was no use. The collar around his neck was too strong. "How can I answer that, if I don't even understand what you are accusing me of?"
"You are reported to have insulted the emperor. Of fomenting insurrection against him. How do you plead?"
"Innocent," Shadow said immediately. This caused the crowd to erupt into another uproar. A fresh barrage of stones came plummeting down on Shadow. Black Doom waved his hand and a barrier of black mist shielded Shadow from the rocks.
"You claim to be innocent, but can you do so in the face of your accuser?" Black Doom's eyes flashed red with menace as he waved his hand. His captor from before tiptoed back into the light. It bowed low to Black Doom before facing Shadow. After a brief hesitation, it removed its mask. Theodora stared brazenly back at Shadow, an expression of disgust and hatred on her face.
"I heard him!" She said, her voice cracking and echoing towards the ceiling. "He insulted the emperor. He called him Eggman, and said that he was a coward!" Theodora's eyes were red and a hysterical expression captured her face. Overcome by what she had been forced to repeat, Theodora let out a cry and stormed forward. Her hand reared back and she smacked Shadow across the face.
"Stop this!" Black Doom snapped and a barrier projected between himself and Theodora.
Shadow flexed his jaw and spat on the ground. The blow had not hurt, but Theodora's crazed reaction had caught him off guard. She stood behind Black Doom's barrier and glared at Shadow. Spit dribbled down her chin as she growled at him as if she had lost all sense of herself and become rabid. However, she was not the only one. The crowd was screaming obscenities down at Shadow. More rocks bounced harmlessly off the barrier that Black Doom had made. Some of the cultists were clamoring on the edge of the terraces, their anger so great they were heedless of their own danger. Shadow watched in shock as two cultists fell. They let out screams of terror as they plummeted to the ground. Black Doom did nothing to help them but simply watched as they broke against the cistern floor.
"Calm yourselves!" Black Doom announced. "Do not give in to the perversity of disorder."
The crowd fell silent. Theodora retreated backward until she stumbled into a wall. She blinked as if suddenly coming out of a trance. She then collapsed into a ball and held herself by the knees.
"How do you plead?" Black Doom repeated as he came over towards Shadow.
"I don't care what a bunch of maniacs say about me. You are all crazy." Shadow raised his head and glared brazenly at the crowd. "The emperor is a pathetic weakling. He came to your planet because you are even weaker than he is." This was too much for the crowd. They screamed until their voices no longer registered as sentient creatures. Black Doom was forced to raise his hands and project barriers in front of the seats so that the cultists wouldn't storm the altar.
Shadow laughed. "Is this the best Eggman can do for himself? A cult of deranged maniacs?"
"Careful," Black Doom whispered as he turned back to Shadow. "Your guilt is certain, as is the punishment. The emperor has brought Arvana the gift of order, and we shall follow in his guidance. We will no longer be guided by emotions nor shackled by compassion. A new future is coming, a perfect future. Those who do not participate in its coming must be destroyed. You do not recognize the splendor of the emperor, which means you are a servant of chaos. Chaos must be destroyed, it must be trodden underfoot. It must be seen to be weak. Your every breath is an insult to our emperor, but you shall not die a martyr. You must be overwhelmed by the glory of the emperor, and forced to see as we do."
"You may as well kill me," Shadow insisted. "I don't serve anyone."
"Death is a release, the dissolution of the body from the soul. The ultimate corruption of order. No, you shall not die. The heretic must live forever, and must be defeated, forever." Black Doom took hold of the crescent shaped blade and drew closer. Shadow cringed back, but there was nothing he could do. "The order of the emperor will bring all under its dominion. None shall escape. No fleeting thought nor wayward action will be free from his complete perfection." Black Doom put a hand on Shadow's neck. His entire being seemed to resist the contact. Something about Black Doom just felt wrong. From this close, Shadow caught a whiff of a putrid scent. The smell of death and rot clung to Black Doom.
Shadow felt the tip of the crescent blade tap him on the chest. "No!" He tried to pull back, but he was locked in place. Black Doom laughed as he began to cut. Shadow screamed. The pain was far beyond a simple cut. He felt as if his very essence was being carved in two. The cistern blurred in front of him. All of Shadow's senses were acutely directed to the pain. Black Doom cut him from the top of the chest to the middle of his stomach.
Shadow's head rolled back just as the pain receded. The room rematerialized around him and he looked down. A jagged cut down his chest poured blood onto the floor below. However, there was something strange about the cut. Shadow's blood was pulsing a putrid orange and yellow color. Shadow stirred and looked up. Black Doom held the blood soaked crescent blade in one hand, and the razored orb in the other. He pierced the orb with the blade and Shadow watched in horror as the orb turned from a metallic gray to a pulsing red.
Black Doom detached the orb from its chains and held it up. The crowd went into another frenzy. They screamed in unison. "HERETIC! HERETIC!" Suddenly, Black Doom's mouth split open. Shadow almost gagged as the festering skin seemed to hiss as a swirling vacuum twisted Black Doom's face. He dropped the orb, razors and all, into the black maw. As soon as he had sucked it down, Black Doom's eyes burst into flames.
A horrible, bestial cry issued out of Black Doom's mouth. He fell to the floor and started to writhe and convulse in torment. Let him die. Shadow thought desperately. Let him die. Black Doom's screams of pain slowly drowned beneath another sound. Black Doom seized his throat as he started to gag. Shadow watched in abject horror, as Black Doom's mouth expanded until it was nearly the size of Shadow's whole body. Something slimy and purple oozed out of Black Doom's mouth. With one final gag, Black Doom spat the thing out onto the floor.
Something stirred beneath the layers of ooze and white mucus. The hairs on the back of Shadow's neck stood on end. Black Doom recovered and his mouth spiraled back into itself like a collapsed telescope. He hovered over his spawn and waited. A few pregnant moments passed. Again, the mass stirred and a faint light shimmered from within it. Please die. Please die. Shadow prayed. He did not want to see the thing that would emerge out of the plasma.
The ooze moved and thick globs of white mucus flowed away revealing a purple egg lined with blue veins. Some kind of all black creature moved feebly inside the egg. Shadow could only watch with mounting dread as the creature slowly emerged from its egg. After tearing through one layer of its cocoon, the creature let loose a piercing cry that was so high pitched, Shadow feared his eardrum might burst.
Steadily, the gap widened until the black creature emerged. Slippery and wet, it fell out of its egg. Its body was spiked and it had scaly reptilian skin. The newborn let out another long cry before it stirred and looked up at Black Doom. "Behold," Black Doom said in a low whisper. "A creature of perfect order."
The creature turned and locked eyes with Shadow. An icy chill raced down Shadow's body. The eyes were a dark violet and the iris were a deep poisonous green. It threw back its head and made a kind of choking noise with its throat. Doing so, caused Black Doom to come over to it and drip some of Shadow's blood onto its face. The blood hissed as it made contact and the creature squirmed as if the blood physically harmed it. Then the creature started to grow. Its limbs extended and the spikes protruded backward. A silent scream died on Shadow's lips as he recognized what form it was taking. Within seconds he was staring at a near perfect replica of himself. Only this version had scales that only partially resemble fur. Its spikes were hard and calloused, and instead of red stripes, the replica had neon purple.
Black Doom turned to Shadow and laughed. "You see, now you will serve the emperor forever. As we all must do. Whatever lies within that is at variance with the emperor's decree, must be exorcized. We must become his perfect servants. Behold your perfect self."
Shadow could barely do that. Just looking at the creature made his skin crawl. Instead, Shadow directed all his focus on Black Doom. There was only one way he was going to escape with his life. "Prove it then," He snapped. "If I am a heretic then your spawn should have no problem defeating me. See if your trust in the emperor is worth anything. I demand trial by combat."