The ranger encampment was…gloomy…to say the least. As the group approached the poorly pitched tents and animalless wagons, Silver could help but shudder. Only a few hooded inhabitants wandered around, tending to fires and attempting to prepare what little food they could scavenge in the barren petrified forest. Dismal faces and downcast eyes graced the hedgehog as the leader made himself known.
"Shep, why is there a child with you?" A tired woman spoke, setting down her cooking knife. "We barely have enough to feed ourselves, let alone a stray kid."
"He can fend for himself well enough." Shep answered, pulling his cloak back and producing a rabbit from his belt. "This here is no mere child."
"This is the Prodigy, mother." Rake spoke up. "He is here to help us."
Before Silver could even introduce himself, he immediately found himself swarmed by the nomadic tribe. What few among them seemed to pop out of the woodwork on the ancient wagons as young and old alike flocked to the startled hedgehog.
"This is the Prodigy?"
"He can really help us?"
"But he's so young…"
"Where did you find him?
"Can he truly summon the Hero's light?"
"Hold on a second!" Silver gasped, quite taken aback by the barrage of voices. "Let me breathe!"
As if one individual mind, the group stepped back. Catching his breath, Silver placed his hand over his pounding heart and assessed the situation. There were around fifteen rangers surrounding him. An assortment of species too. A massive bull with large horns sticking out of holes in his hood. A young bird with bright yellow feathers and no cloak to adorn her. An elderly doe with blind eyes and-
"Prodigy, have you truly come to help us?"
Silver blinked. In reality, he didn't even know if he could help the traveling rangers. If what he thought was happening was indeed happening…at least.
"I…I'm here to see what's happening." The hedgehog responded truthfully. "I don't know, but I'll take a look anyways."
Like a knife through dough, the crowd of rangers parted.
"Follow me please." Shep gulped, anxiously gripping his tail and wringing it in his hands as he walked through the group.
With a silent nod, Silver followed.
A large tent marked their objective as the dog led the hedgehog on. Suspended from a stone tree, the fabric swayed softly in the slight wind - pinned down with tethers to rocks or wheels of the various wagons in the encampment. The dyed green fibers were heavy and thick. Thick enough to surprise the hoglet as they flapped against him on his way inside.
"Oh Chaos…"
Inside, laying on blankets and straw, were twenty rangers. No cloaks adorned their pale heads. No light touched their dull fur. No rest stained their dark faces with hideous blue-black circles beneath their shineless eyes. Untouched food lay next to their bony hands, slowly decaying from the days it had sat there. Gloom and dread filled Silver's body as he assessed the situation. The air was so thick with despair… It pulled on the hoglet's chest as he stoutly refused to let a tear escape his eye.
"Here they are…" Shep mumbled, stepping aside so Ria could lay her son with the other children. "We've been carrying them with us in the wagons….. But I don't know if we could carry them much further…"
Not responding, Silver immediately kneeled next to the closest patient. Running his hands over her aged forehead, he noted that the temperature was unusually cold - despite the thick blanket wrapped around her boney shoulders. Pulling the fabric off of the lethargic cow's chest, Silver pressed his ears against her chest. The same slow heartbeat. Throwing the woven blanket back over the woman, the hoglet dashed over to the next one.
Still the same cold body, the same slow beats, and the same staggered breaths. Poking at the dull eyes, the hoglet felt that the skin was dry and saggy. Ignoring the lump in his throat, the hedgehog placed his hands on the patient's chilled chest. Honing his mind, he tried to feel for the tingles of energy flowing through the blood.
"What…what are you doing…?" The patient moaned, covering their eyes and curling slightly.
"Just rest, ok?" Silver mumbled, pulling the blanket back over their shoulders. "I'm gonna try to help…"
One by one the hoglet moved through the sea of bedridden rangers. With every analysis and every chest he listened to, the picture he had grew clearer and clearer. Horrifically, Silver found every single ailed ranger had the same set of symptoms. Frantically, he moved from patient to patient. With every slow pulse he listened to, with every cold head he felt, a sick feeling in his stomach grew worse and worse.
"How long have they been like this?" Silver blurted, picking his head off of the pale dog he finished assessing.
"Six months…" Rake answered. "Where are you going?"
Silver had bolted from his place on the ground, throwing open the tent flaps and dashing over to the lit firepit with the three other rangers on his tail.
"Prodigy?"
Hand lighting aglow, Silver pulled a coal from the flames - careful to ignore the batch of roasting rabbits as he set it on the ground and waited for it to simmer out. Two failed touches and the hoglet snatched up the warm stick of charcoal. As if possessed, he feverishly began to scribble notes on the ground.
Cold.
Slow heartbeat.
Pale.
Dark circles.
Aversion to food.
Low amount of energy.
Six months long.
Five dead.
"Prodigy, what are you doing-"
"He's writing." The woman tending the fire interrupted, holding her hand out to stop the rest from interfering. "Let the boy think."
Sticking his tongue out, Silver scribbled a crudely drawn face with heavy and dark circles underneath the eyes. Standing up from his work, he backed away to read his notes in full. Silence graced the camp. Each ranger held their breath as the hoglet thought through each letter. Tapping began to fill the air as Silver's thoughts grew louder and louder…
"Did you come in contact with any purple fog around six months ago?" Silver finally spoke, turning towards Shep and tightening his hands into a firm fist.
"Purple fog?" Shep frowned.
"Yes." Silver affirmed, not backing down from his question. "If you did, I need to know."
"Well… we ran into some purplish blue fog around eight months ago." The woman tending the fire shrugged, "I don't see how this correlates to-"
The woman was cut off as Silver let out a loud and frustrated expletive. Shocked, the rangers let out a gasp - one even going so far as to cover the ears of their child.
"I knew it!" Silver shouted, stomping on the bit of charcoal and kicking what was left into the slight breeze.
The rangers flinched as the hoglet cussed again.
"What is the matter?" Ria managed to utter, barely audible over her own worry.
"It's Mephiles." Silver growled, crossing his arms and staring at his list. "He's in their lungs."
"What?"
"I've had this before." Silver explained, tapping his foot and pointing at the quarantined tent. "I've gotten the fog lungs."
"Fog lungs?"
"You breathe him in and he gets in your systems." Silver growled. "They're not sleeping because they're having extreme nightmares. They're not eating because they feel a bit nauseous. And they're dying because they are getting their Chaos energy drained."
"Oh Gaias below…"
"I didn't get that far because I have Chaos Connection." Silver frowned. "I can sap the energy back way easier than a normal person could - but they just drain out until they die."
"So what do we do?"
"I don't know." The hoglet grumbled. "I got cured because Shadow burned my lungs."
The group visibly flinched.
"Tone got cured because Shadow burnt his lungs too."
"Tone?"
"Yeah." Silver mumbled, glossing over the person in question. "I gotta find a way to get Chaos energy in there though."
"How do you propose we do that?"
"We either wait for Shadow to get back, or I try to do it myself." The hoglet groaned, slapping his hands on his face and sitting back on the ground. "But I don't know if I can even do that…"
The group of rangers despondently began to mumble amongst themselves. Voices low and heads huddled, the nomads discussed plans and theories. Silver, on the other hand, was far too frustrated to pay much attention. His first time acting as a real Prodigy and he couldn't even do anything to help. Pressing on his temples he tried to remember what to do in this sort of situation. Way back in River village, the inhabitants had gotten ill with the fog as well. But being too young and still fairly untrained, he hadn't paid attention when Shadow spoke with the village doctor. Heck, at the time he didn't even care that Shadow knew how to handle such things. It wasn't entirely his fault though. Being five at the time, he didn't know much of anything.
Glancing up at the sun, the prodigy noticed its descent towards the horizon and stood himself back up. Nightfall was approaching. And Silver didn't fancy getting caught in the gravity fields at all. Internally cursing once more, the child stood from his place next to his notes.
"Ugh I gotta head home." Silver groaned. "It's best to make it through the Gravity Fields at daylight when it's easier to see the stones."
"You're leaving us already?" Shep gasped, taken aback by the statement.
"I was only given three rules and one was to not stay out after dark." Silver explained, fastening his pouch and making for the edge of the camp.
"I understand." Shep nodded.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." Silver explained,bouncing on his toes and measuring the sun with his fingers. "But I really really have to get going - I promise I'll be back; don't go anywhere."
Before the rangers could respond, Silver turned and bolted into the woods. The sounds of children calling after him and adults shouting safe travels faded into the distance as he huffed and puffed his way through the woods. Even as he ran, the plight of the rangers still weighed heavy in his chest. Mephiles? In the lungs of civilians? Of course he knew it happened occasionally, but just to happen like this? How many were killed on a yearly basis? How many lives did the demon reap as he traveled the planet? Even worse, how was Silver, the Prodigy, going to handle this? Hopping a log and dashing through the treeline, Silver contemplated his options.
He had Chaos Connection, sure. But was that enough? He needed the ability to manipulate Chaos energy to be able to help those poor rangers. And last time he checked, he couldn't do that. Feeling gravity grow light, Silver pushed himself off the ground. Rock after rock crossed the hedgehog's path, yet he hopped off of each of them with ease. Shadow had taught him the art of moving like water. And like a rippling brook, Silver trickled through the sea of floating stones.
Speaking of Shadow, where was that elder hedgehog? He had written it would only be a couple days' absence, and yet Silver had counted eleven nights since he had left. Of course Shadow would be gone when the hoglet needed him most. Shadow would know what to do in this situation. Shadow always knew what to do.
Tumbling into the Null Zone, the hoglet let out an annoyed huff. Best try to sleep off the problems. Good thing he had arrived just as the sun was setting. Now that he was home, he could make himself dinner, think of a plan, and sleep off his stress with what would undoubtedly be trauma induced nightmares.
"Thank you Shadow." Silver growled, picking his feet up and stalking back towards home base. "Thanks a lot."