Relatively little time had passed since we crossed the border of the mysterious city of ruins. The growing tension continued to plague the four of us, although it was pushing me in some diabolical way to continue the journey into the unknown. Perhaps it was because there were questions swirling in my head that had been bothering me for far too long to remain unanswered?

Some people say that curiosity killed the cat. I earnestly hoped that my guts would put up a fight no matter what I discovered at the end of the road.

"What is this place?" I heard Vector behind me. "Where are we?"

The crocodile was right to be worried; Crisis City looked like a house of cards, ready to collapse at any given moment.

The city lay in the heart of a boundless desert, crisscrossed by a large network of lava flows. Its rivers were constantly carving out new beds and valleys, paving their way to the center of the city. I wouldn't have been surprised if this thick, glowing substance had filled most of the local nooks and crannies before we arrived.

The suburbs seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry. There was an overwhelming heat flowing through the air, and abandoned items lined the residential streets and their shoulders; empty cans, bottles, and rations piled up at every turn, while abandoned vehicles blocked all lanes of traffic, creating a seemingly infinite traffic jam on the roadway.

The wind picked up flyers, papers, and cash and blew them toward nearby lava flows; the accompanying red-orange glow instantly incinerated them. The fiery afterimages of the fires that consumed the city's parks and neighborhoods were often our only source of light.

The bouncing glare of the rust only intensified the extent to which it had spread. Rough reddish-brown stains covered almost everything in sight. Not even the successive layers of ash falling from the sky like snowflakes could interrupt its spell. The surrounding landscape might as well have resembled an Arctic wilderness as the interior of a volcano.

"Blaze?" The crocodile asked again. "Where are we going?"

I didn't answer him. I didn't know the answer, too.

As I looked at the dilapidated asphalt roads and paved paths, almost all the street signs we passed were bent or twisted. There were also some that had been ripped out of the ground and hammered into trees, buildings, and other places that no sane person would have thought of. What and how could make that happen?

Meanwhile, the same thick fog hung in front of us as outside the city. Now, however, it was illuminated by a towering wall of fire: the flames that formed it shone so brightly that even all the lighthouses on all the coasts of my land would not be able to overcome it. The beam of destruction consumed more and more of the urban jungle every passing minute...

"Hello...? Can you hear me?"

I glanced upward and saw the smoking roofs of nearby office buildings. Meanwhile, large piles of crumbled concrete and broken glass were crumbling on the streets below. These must have been remnants of the midtown.

Screens of various shapes and sizes were attached to almost all of the structures. Despite the fact that they were at a great height, they clearly gave the impression of being useless. Well, unless it was their job to spread sparks left and right. They looked cracked or broken, as if someone or something had struck them. Perhaps some unknown force...

Although many of the skyscrapers in the area displayed the craftsmanship of their creators, not all of them could stand the test of time. The collapse of some caused further damage, toppling neighboring buildings and covering the neighborhood in debris. The disaster wreaked havoc on the streets, reducing them to rubble and making even pristine roads dangerous.

Fragments of buildings formed sharp mounds of aluminum shrapnel, and smaller buildings lost part of their structure, revealing their dirty interiors. The debris beneath the skyscrapers, meanwhile, consisted of electronic equipment and office furniture. These items likely fell from the damaged buildings as the entire neighborhood began to crumble and fall down.

Meanwhile, the piles of ash nearby had been shaped into strange shapes. They reminded us of the silhouettes of someone, mostly humans and mobians. This could only mean one thing: life once existed here. It existed before it fell victim to something you don't see every day.

Most likely a cataclysm of unimaginable, maybe even religious proportions.

"This isn't funny, Blaze!" Vector suddenly lost his patience. "Where are we going?! Are we going to find a bottle here?!"

"Forget about it," I replied nervously. "It might be nothing compared to what is buried here."

The crocodile's surprise took on a more mature and adult tone. He looked carefully at his friends and then at me.

"Buried, ya say...?"

"I'm afraid my capricho wasn't the best idea. And even more so taking you with me..."

"Why?"

I paused, then reluctantly turned to face the detectives.

"I know this place."

It was enough to make all the members of Team Chaotix lose their excitement and feel a strong need to abort the operation.

"Every month I see it in my dreams," I continued shyly. "I see the same ruins. The same skyscrapers. The same flames. And it's all on the same day of the same week. Ever since I can remember. Always."

It got uncomfortably quiet...

"Y'know, maybe I'm not good at this, but it all sounds too predictable to be a coincidence," Vector admitted, scratching his head. "Have you ever talked to anyone about this... errr... city?"

"And why do you think I have my own psychologist?"

The detectives were momentarily overcome by a wave of uncertainty.

"Do you mean Amy?" The crocodile asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." I glanced back at him and shyly grabbed my left shoulder. "We both thought I was the only one with this. That it was no biggie. Just something that went with my territory, I guess..."

"Maybe... Silver might have overheard your convos, then?"

"Nonsense. All the meetings were held in the most soundproof room in the entire palace. There was not even the slightest chance that someone from the outside could hear a word!"

Vector snorted softly and smiled contemptuously.

"You sound like you're really proud of this..." He muttered under his breath.

"Because I was. It was the only way I could feel safe. I told her how my day was going, how I felt, what was bothering me..."

I paused for a moment.

"Silver," I pointed out. "I mentioned to her once that I felt an uncontrollable disgust for him. That I force myself to endure his presence. But I never admitted that I wanted to fix him. To make him feel like garbage around me. To transform him into the guardsman of my dreams."

The corners of my mouth dropped and my ears hunched to sides of my head.

"Never in my life would I have expected to break him instead..."

"Specifics, Blaze," Espio grumbled. "We don't have time for melancholy..."

"I have a feeling that creature from the mirror was not his real tulpa."

The chameleon raised his eyebrows and his curiosity peaked for a moment.

"Silver really believed that I was his good lady," I began to explain. "But when he found out the truth, something awakened in him. Something that convinced him that it wasn't bad-intentioned. It was only through his boundless trust that it came close to taking control of him."

Now, even his friends were raising their eyebrows.

"And the scar on his face?" I added. "That thing could erase it before it could remind his host of the day he was betrayed to rob me of my life. But something went wrong. His faith in my innocence proved stronger."

The members of Team Chaotix looked at each other. I could feel them slowly connecting the dots. Their thoughtful faces suddenly turned into satisfied muzzles.

"I'm not entirely sure you mean exactly what I think you mean..." Vector said. "But I am absolutely sure that we are on the same wavelength!"

"Maybe?" Espio shrugged slightly, then looked in my direction. "By the way, when Silver was talking to that thing you've mentioned, he said that he was dreaming about this city as usual. Did you notice that?"

When I realized what the purple ninja was thinking about, I was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of triumph and horror.

"I noticed... what? - I asked through clenched teeth.

"That the city we are in looks exactly like the one he described to that being. As if you were both dreaming about the very same place."

An overwhelming shiver ran down my back. My eyes opened as wide as they could and my jaw dropped of its own accord. I hadn't felt such raw, primal terror in a long, long time.

Every time something unpleasant happened, there was a moment of silence. And this time was no exception.

Because what I had just realized shocked me to the core...

"Sweet Chaos..."

I didn't know how, but maybe that ashen hedgehog I knew had more in common with myself than I originally thought. This thought was both disturbing and fascinating to me. But for him? Just one look at our current surroundings was enough to dampen anyone's optimism.

"But how?!" I gasped in terror. "How is it even possible that Silver dreamt of the exact same place as me? I mean, he did mention that he saw some kind of giant monster in his visions. Do you see any giant monsters here?!"

Vector, Espio and Charmy lazily looked around the deserted cityscape. It didn't take a brilliant mind to figure out that the four of us were the only living things in the area.

"Well, uh... maybe not." The bee admitted.

"Exactly. In my dreams, however, I see something... different..."

I felt it.

He is here.

I jerked my head back and looked up at the crimson sky that stretched all over the city. The detectives did the same, although it was easy to see that they were more interested in getting their job done and returning to home quickly.

There we noticed a small turquoise ball of light. The same one that had guided us for part of our journey. It was Silver's tulpa. It began to elegantly descend towards us, glowing brighter and brighter.

As it descended from the thick clouds, it landed gently directly in front of us.

"Welcome to the void," I heard its dry, male voice. "Now you know everything. Or rather, all you need to know..."

"It's you..." I hissed. "You are what I see in my visions. My monster..."

Hearing this, the tulpa took a brief moment to smoothly transform into the form Silver was communicating with at the mirror in his room. It allowed a pair of arms and legs to grow from its shimmering body, its face take on pale skin, its figure shapeshift into mobianoid proportions, and its eye pupils go narrow.

I noticed immediately that its muzzle was as mouthless as it had been on that damned day when its host had nearly lost it.

"I think we have misunderstood each other," it replied, clasping its claws. "I am not your monster. I am the monster of Princess Blaze of the House of Sol. You, on the other hand, are the monster of a certain hedgehog who is her slave... Pardon me, a servant. There's a big difference..."

I slowly retreated to the detectives who accompanied me, keeping eye contact with the creature.

"I am Princess Blaze," I growled. "And Silver is much more than just my servant."

"No. I'm afraid you're not."

Uncertainty and surprise began to alternate on the faces of Vector, Espio and Charmy.

"I'm sorry...?"

"Where do you come from?"

"From the Sol Empire," I replied, and then fell silent for a longer moment. "This is my home. It is where I entered this astral plane of mine and where I will leave it."

"It depends which plane you are talking about..."

The stoic calm with which the phantom uttered this sentence was as unexpected as it was disconcerting.

"Your Highness?" The crocodile suddenly spoke up, clearly wanting to give vent to his astonishment "What is he babbling about?"

Like him, I could no longer hide my growing surprise. I quickly turned to him.

"I dunno," I suggested, trying not to look into the phantom's eyes. "Maybe he means the city we are in right now?"

"Liar," I heard behind me. "You know exactly which plane I mean."

I immediately looked back at the tulpa. It was pointing the index finger of his right hand at me, holding it stiffly in the air.

"I have been watching you," it added, lowering its hand. "For so many years. You and your loved ones. And then came the moment when you experienced something that changed everything. You stopped calling your plane a Kingdom..."

The tulpa fell calmly silent. Still, its unexpected confession came as quite a shock to me. I tried not to worry too much about it, although the growing remorse suggested otherwise.

"But how did it happen?" It finished dryly, asking rhetorically. "Perhaps because it ceased to exist? A carcass you know as Empire was left behind?"

"You mean..."

I knew what to tell it. About how one day we had thrown a surprise party for Sonic that had been ruined by a monster from another dimension. And yet, I couldn't find the right words to describe the circumstances.

"Go on..." The tulpa hissed, gently interrupting its sentence. "Obviously, that thing of yours was only moments apart, that were..."

Instead of pertinent information, I found gaps, and when I was close to remembering something outside the white space, any specifics would escape me and then disappear irretrievably. This worried me more than it should have.

It was as if that birthday was...

"...nonexistent," I whispered, finishing its words.

The Tulpa slowly nodded its head. Then it began to change the shape of its body slightly. Its transformations slowly accelerated in speed and complexity until they followed each other with the momentum of a pro shuffling his beloved deck of cards.

Vector, unable to contain his awe, took his eyes off the ever-changing tulpa and looked at me.

"Blaze?" He asked softly "What was nonexistent?"

There was a note of indignation in his voice. He wanted to approach the matter with a seriousness not seen from him every day.

I did not answer him.

Meanwhile, in the next few seconds, in the place of a tulpa, I saw probably everyone I had ever seen with my tired eyes. Once it resembled a familiar yellow fox with a pair of tails, another time a hot-headed red echidna, and at one point it took the form of myself.

Finally, it took the form of someone who looked a lot like Sonic the hedgehog, but with some differences. The figure's spikes curved upward and got endowed with a deep black color, featuring slim dark-blue stripes running downwards. Its chest, meanwhile, was covered in thick, wing-shaped white fluff.

"That thing had turned into Shadow this quick?" Espio fell into silent awe. "Impressive..."

"Into who?" I looked at the chameleon with slight confusion.

"Oh, that guy?" Vector replied, as if he had completely forgotten his last question. "He's the black and red hedgehog we all know and love. He has Air Shoes instead of sum' boring sneakers... and can ride motorcycles! And he's the coolest!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Charmy joined the conversation with pure joy in his eyes. "Shadow is soooo cool! He was born 50 years ago in a top secret research facility in space where-"

"SILENCE!" The tulpa roared, interrupting the bee. "Silence! Silence..."

As it commanded, everyone fell silent and turned their eyes back to its new face.

"I can't believe you all choose to talk about that pathetic mortal," it muttered. "I am Mephiles. The Mind and Will of Solaris..."

Brother? Oh joy...!

This thing? This... Mephiles?!

It's nice to know that he's the same old fool I remembered him to be...

As the hedgehog-like creature gathered its wounded pride, it looked me straight in the eye.

"And you," it said, extending its hand to me again. "You were manufactured for a purpose."

What...? What did he mean by this?

That's complicated.

The feelings of the detectives standing right next to me were similar. However, they were too busy thinking about the sheer cool factor of Shadow the Hedgehog and his jet skates to find the answer to Vector's question.

"What was your name?" I asked him. "Mephiles... Something of somewhat. Was it?"

"The Mind and Will of Solaris!" Vector suddenly rolled his eyes. "I swear there's nothing more corny than this. I could've thought of something better myself..."

The creature's posture slumped and its gaze lost some of its primal, aggressive tone.

"Don't fool me, Iblis," it growled angrily, though there was a hint of disappointment in its voice. "You remember very well what happened to us after the fall of the Great Devourer... don't you?"

Yeaaaah... All thanks to you.

Me?

No. Not you. Thanks to big boy Meph...

"The Great... I'm sorry, how did you call me?"

The tulpa looked like it was about to explode with rage. I had the impression that if I said anything equally unpleasant to it, it would come at us with the force of a thousand hammers.

"God!" It babbled. "The God of Sun and Time!"

"Uhm..."

"The Third Reconciliation? The Irthep Pogrom...?!"

"Dude," Vector fumed, "we really have no idea whatcha talkin' about."

Mephiles nodded nervously, clutching his forehead.

"When he turned to dust, we became nothing!" It growled, bringing everyone to their feet. "Mere specks of dust in the abyss of the collective consciousness... We were fortunate that I was able to create hosts for us to feed on their suffering. They fed us so that one day we could descend and cleanse the earthly plane once and for all!"

Wasn't it me who created them, my dear?

I looked at Team Chaotix and their members looked at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I also noticed Mephiles tilting its head: its fists clenching and pupils dilating. I had a bad feeling about this...

"So what?" I asked him.

The creature raised its head in anger and turned its stern gaze right back on me.

"It's time to end this."

I saw Mephiles raise its hand and freeze it in my direction. The phantom did this so quickly and aggressively that I barely noticed the dark purple beam that shot out of it like a cannon. It took the shape of a spear and flew straight at me. I knew this had no right to end well.

Before the beam had time to reach my body, I managed to do a quick somersault and land with a soft stomp right next to Team Chaotix. Vector, Espio and Charmy quickly realised that things had taken a turn for the worse. Each of them immediately clenched their fists and focused on the silhouette of the sinister tulpa. It, in turn, looked at them with maddened twitching eyes and raised its hand again.

Before I and the rest of the detectives had time to react, we were all thrown backwards by a powerful force that felt like a shockwave. During our very short inert flight, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Charmy had used his wings to stop halfway through. Unfortunately, me, the chameleon and the crocodile were not so lucky. We smashed through the glass window of a nearby building and landed with a bang on the rusty shelves.

When the dust settled, I realised that I did not feel the slightest pain. I quickly crawled out from under the pieces of aluminium covering me and looked around, not wanting to lose my guard. Behind me was a familiar bee, who had obviously rushed inside to see what had happened to his friends. Outside I saw Mephiles hovering in the air. His motionless, stern gaze continued to follow us.

I was about to look for the other detectives accompanying me when I saw Vector emerge from under the shelves to my right. He didn't look happy.

"Awww HECK nah!" He growled, slowly rising to his feet and shaking off the excess ash. "Nobody messes with the best detective this side of the globe! NOBODY!"

"But Vector!" Charmy had squealed. "Wait! I can't see-"

The bee did not finish his sentence. Vector passed us and headed straight for the exit, stepping outside. He stopped just right in front of Mephiles.

"Hey!" He shouted with all his might, looking at it angrily. "What d'ya think you're doing, pal?"

The one obviously didn't care about the crocodile and didn't react. I got the impression that Vector was mentally prepared for a direct confrontation. Or at least he was, until he noticed the being calmly pointing its right hand at him and then snapping its fingers.

Then dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of undersized, one-eyed creatures - much like their creator - began to rise slowly from the barren earth and concrete rubble. Soon there were so many of them that they formed an army that stretched to the very end of the city's horizon.

"Everything," Mephiles replied, crossing its arms.

The crocodile's jaw DROPPED. After a brief moment of awkward silence, he began to back away cautiously. After a while, however, he changed his mind and moved nimbly towards the building. His run quickly turned into a frantic flight from the creatures. The angry shadows immediately followed in his footsteps.

Though it was all happening very, very quickly, the crocodile's eyes could be seen trembling with sheer fear. The detective himself looked as dazed as he was confused. When he finally reached the centre, the shadows magically froze, indifferent to their destroyed surroundings.

Vector braked right next to me, then inhaled and exhaled so deeply that I was sure he was about to lose consciousness. Yet he was still standing. It was strangely impressive in its own way.

"I think we have a problem," he said quietly.

I shifted my gaze from the crocodile to the outside. There, Mephiles still hung ominously in the air, waiting for us with its myriad army of shadows.

Obviously aware of my curiosity, it fixed its gaze directly on my face. It extended its left hand towards me, then began to make slow movements with it index finger in silence. It clearly wanted me to come closer. I looked back at Vector and Charmy.

"Oh, well..." I chuckled to him, then set my knuckles loudly. "It looks like we will have to deal with this the hard way."

I pushed him away with a gentle shove of my hand and calmly left the deserted shop. On my way out, I immediately attracted the attention of all of the being's shadows. Although they stood motionless, they occasionally wiggled their sticky bodies, showing a clear desire to rip my body to shreds. But this did not happen, perhaps because their creator was holding them at bay, waiting for me to come face to face with him.

I stopped. Me and the phantom from Silver's mind stood face to face. We waited calmly to see who would make the first move. As I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth, I had the impression that the being hovering opposite me was doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. It was as if there was some higher connection between us. One that went beyond anything that rational knowledge could encompass.

I held my breath. The thing across from me was doing the same. I was about to reach my breaking point. This something too. The tension and nerves boiling between us were preparing us for a duel the likes of which I hadn't experienced in a long time. It was getting hot...

"Mephiles, huh?" I began. "Good evening. As a duly-designated monarch of the Sol Empire, Sol Archipelago, and and all its inhabitants, I order you to cease any and all activities related to the manipulation of an honoured member of the Imperial Guard and return forthwith to your place of origin, or to the next convenient parallel dimension. Stand down or suffer the consequences."

"You need me."

I moved forward with momentum.