The Fire Within

…

Knuckles vs Iblis (Movie Verse)

Word Prompt – Dragon

year-of-the-echidna

(Warnings at the end)

…

When Knuckles opened his eyes, he could feel the lingering effects of a drug in his system but forced himself to stay awake as he looked around the tiny space of simple stone walls. The only thing breaking up the monotony being a single small hole in the ceiling, where light came through.

Of course, trying to get up and facilitate his own exit, only brought his attention to the fact that his hands were chained to the floor, which he could have easily broken, which nearly made his brain shut down in panic, but the poison in his body had zapped any strength he would have had to do so. Thus, permitting his stupefied attention to take notice of the fact that the chains were unusually fancy. Decorated with gold, and jewels, as if it was some kind of ceremonial garb and not something designed entirely for imprisonment.

He found himself just staring at this strangeness for another minute, his brain struggling to comprehend why this would be a thing, through its drug-induced stupor. Only to find himself distracted by a strange flowery smell, which he tracked to his own fur, and came to the realization that he'd not only been cleaned but painted on as well. With a number of odd white lines that were similar yet nothing like those of his own clan's tribal markings.

This, more than anything else, irritated him the most, as it indicated someone had been touching him when he'd been unconscious. And whoever it was had also taken his gloves and shoes. Yet another reason for him to bash someone's skull in, when he finally recovered enough to break out of this flimsy prison.

Of course, he didn't get a chance, before the room suddenly started to rumble and the wall directly in front of him began to rise. Revealing a dull, smoke-filled sky outside. Not willing to make it easy, Knuckles waited for the guards to come, his fists clenched, ready to attack the second they showed themselves. But, yet again, he didn't get the chance.

Instead, the wall behind him began to move as well, however instead of rising like the last one, this time it pushed itself forward, until he was caught in the motion and thus forced toward the opening.

Immediately, he dug his feet in, trying to stop the motion and seemed to cause some disruption in the wall's mechanisms for a time. However, the drug was still too strong, and he lost his grip, allowing the wall to push him right up to the door, crushing the chain attaching him to the ground in the process. Despite this, he quickly realized that he had nowhere to escape to, as he found himself on the edge of a large slide, leading down into something he couldn't quite explain.

While he was certain that the rather beautiful structure was actually made of glass, he'd never seen glass quite like this. It was thick and looked as if it had somehow been naturally made, judging from all the imperfections and impurities. However, the structure itself was obvious.

It was a cage. And he was being pushed directly toward the opening.

Again, he tried to stop the process, but he soon found that the glass under his feet was too slick to allow him any grip at all. Thus, he was finally forced over the edge and onto the slide, where he tried to grab something, but the walls were too high. All he could do was brace himself, as he fell through the tiny opening and into the prison of something that was clearly a lot bigger than him.

Unfortunately, the whole damn thing was made of glass, so even once he was inside, he couldn't stop sliding. As the ground itself was basically one big bowl, leading down to a pit of what looked to be lava.

Finally able to turn himself around, Knuckles threw his fist into the ground and anchored himself to the spot. Taking a moment to catch his breath and make another attempt to shake away the drug's effects, only to find himself looking at his reflection in the glass, where he discovered something had been drawn on his forehead, in what appeared to be blood.

A flame.

Tearing his eyes away from those of his reflection, he turned to address the fact that the earth was shaking all around him. Eventually he found that it originated from the lava pit at the center. No, it wasn't lava, it was far too – alive.

His attention was quickly pulled away from this strange discovery, when the ground shook again, almost seeming to roar like a living creature, causing the weakened glass around his fist to give way and he slid a few more feet, until he was able to get another hold. Only for the lava pit to seemingly display its anger at having been denied a meal by turning up the heat.

Within seconds, he could barely breathe, the water from his fur immediately evaporating into steam, as he grew hotter and hotter and the ground beneath him trembled again with an even more ominous force, followed by a deep rumble that echoed through the cage. A sound that seemed to come from the very bowels of the earth itself. Then the lake of lava exploded outward from the ground and slowly started to take on a different form.

No – a silhouette.

A towering figure wreathed entirely in flames, its body billowing black smoke, its pure heat turning the sand around it straight to glass, only to melt it again, as it pulled itself across the ground. And, in a split second of thought that wasn't his own, a name rang forth in Knuckles' head.

Iblis The Fire God of Disaster.

Its presence alone seemed to make the very air ignite and turn to ash, until the echidna could no longer keep his eyes open. But even then, its roar alone was enough to make his muscles tense of their own accord, and the already unbearable heat just continued to intensify, as Iblis turned its attention onto him. Its gaze alone almost an entirely suffocating and overwhelming force separate from the rest of its form.

And, like any flame, it was hungry.

Its need to devour pushed the deity forward across the glass ground. Its body shifting and crackling with the ferocity of a living inferno, as he crawled toward him. Its fingers leaving massive, melted scars in the earth as it struggled to get closer.

Determined not to give in to the fear, Knuckles tried to focus, his hands clenching with renewed strength. He knew he couldn't simply wait for rescue; he had to act, to move, to find a way out of this hellish trap. But the slip of the ground beneath him remained a subtle reminder of the delicate balance, that each move he made would be a calculated risk.

Drawing upon his inner resolve, he found the courage to push through the agony and uncertainty and turned to face the flame, finally forcing his eyes open. Determined to watch his fate, should it rise to meet him that day.

The creature was inches away, its eyes shifting like a living form of lava, as it studied the unexpected stubbornness of its meal. Causing something resembling a grin to form on its face. The heat was unbearable, and every breath felt like swallowing embers, but Knuckles gritting his teeth, refusing to succumb and stared back into Iblis' fiery gaze. Only to realize that the deity had stopped moving.

Surprised by this, the echidna tried to figure out why. Was it just playing with him or – Then he saw it. A chain of molten lava, bolting the creature to the center of the pit. And suddenly the last of his fear turned to understanding.

It was a prisoner – just like him.

The god huffed as it realized it had been found out, but the meaning was clear. It did not want to be there. This was not its purpose to act as a divine hole in the ground for a group of people bent on worshiping and sacrificing to it. It was a being of pure nature, while its reason for existing might have been to cause destruction, it was all in the name of keeping the balance. But it could not do that anymore. It's reason, its purpose – was gone. Taken away.

And Knuckles realized in that moment how much they actually shared. His own purpose had been taken from him as well. Though he'd spent years searching for that which had been stolen from his clan, he had continued to fail in his guest. His role, his purpose as Guadian of the Master Emerald was little more than a fairytale.

They were the same, he and Iblis. However, the deity could not take pity. It had to eat. Even in this imprisoned state, it was still necessary for the universe to survive. It had to live. Even if it meant devouring the first creature to come along that actually recognize its pain and see it as more than what it was on the surface.

Understanding this, Knuckles bowed his head to the god in respect and it actually returned the gesture. However, as much as he wished he could have just waited, allowing himself to be fed to the soul of the universe – he couldn't.

He'd never be able to face his father if he just gave up.

In a sudden, defiant move that he wasn't sure he'd actually initiated, he lunged to the side, narrowly avoiding the searing grip of Iblis as it crashed down upon the place where he'd just been.

The creature's roar of fury reverberated around the pit, shaking the very ground in retaliation, as Knuckles scrambled against the glass terrain, threatening to take him straight down into the lake of fire. But he finally managed to dig in his fist again and, driven by sheer willpower, he turned back to face his greatest opponent. A god turned mad by its own hunger.

It struck again, but he was already moving. Using his superior agility and mastery of his own body, to stay one step ahead of the blazing inferno. Even though each step was a battle against the fiery agony, his resolve did not waver. But even he had to admit he couldn't hold out forever.

He had to get out of that damn bowl.

While the glass had been melted and, ironically, reharden into a form that actually made it easier for him to move around. His path to escape was still a treacherous one. Molten glass and choking smoke blocking his every attempt. Until the only way forward was the scorching pit of flame at its center.

He wasn't entirely sure what drove him toward it. Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was an internal choice to die by his own hand. Either way, he jumped into it without any hesitation. Only for the hot air to push back against him and, with a snap of his chains, he spread his body to catch it.

In a split second, he was no longer falling but instead rising up, past the treacherous glass terrain, past the scorching heat and blinding smoke, past even Iblis itself. Causing the creature to roar in anger, trying to grab for him, but he'd already escaped its reach. Allowing the echidna to catch the top of the glass cage and actually rest for a moment.

Finally able to breathe again, as cool air rushed to meet him from above. He took a moment to study his situation, turning back to find that the living flame was not about to give up so easily, as it constructed a pair of wings from the smoke and fire in order to take to the sky. However, its own chain kept it anchored to the ground, far from achieving its goal. And it roared with hunger and pain, struggling to reach, but simply could not.

It was only from that angle that Knuckles could finally see what it was attached to. A red gem, at the very center of the lake, its core. The thing it simply couldn't live without and couldn't leave behind.

Looking back at the sky, Knuckles found that he could easily fit through the glass bars, but his heart wouldn't allow it. He couldn't abandon the creature that shared so much with him. So, despite his body screaming in protest, he turned to position himself against the cage bars, focusing on the crystal at the prison's core.

Feeling a familiar power rise to his call, the air around him began to pop and snap with a buildup of red chaos energy, until he was ready. Then, taking one last breath, he pushed off the cage with such force that the whole thing shattered, sending massive shards of broken glass raining down, as he and Iblis clashed in the air. Their opposing powers colliding against one another, with neither giving in. That was when something in his soul clicked into place. And he finally understood. Iblis was a pure form of Chaos, but it was only one side of a coin. There was another side – Him.

He was the living embodiment of Control over Chaos. And it was time he started using it.

In a split second, the crackling red power around him burned away, replaced by a solid, immovable force of green, that all but crushed the god of fire under its pure authority. Allowing Knuckles to pass right through to the core.

With his heart pounding, he prayed that he knew what he was doing and threw his fist and all the energy he had left into the red gem. Before simply closing his eyes and letting the resounding wave of heat and power wash him away.

…

He woke to find himself staring up at the sky, as it slowly shifted from its dark gray smog of smoke to a healthy light blue. The soft crackle of glass filled the air, as it all settled into its final resting positions and, among the sounds, he heard something else. Like a whisper on the wind, but it only said one thing.

"Thank you"

He didn't bother responding. The source was already gone, returned to the void from which it had been created, where it would be reborn and returned to its true purpose. But it had left something behind, and Knuckles found himself lifting his hand to watch in aw, as a soft, comforting flame flickered around his fist, never actually burning him.

A small parting gift. Something to connect the two guardians of nature and maybe even help him find his way back to his own purpose.

…

The End

(Warnings: imprisonment, sacrificial offering, ritual, pain, suffering, trauma)