Blinded by darkness: Chapter.1
By HeroKichona
Edited by SirCharles
--------------------------------------------------------------
In a fierce battle, the jackal and ivory hedgehog clashed in the ruins of a jungle, but it didn’t take long before the hedgehog was overpowered and sent flying, feeling his back smash into the stone structure before he hit the ground.
“This is the end for you.” Charging forward, Infinite prepared to finish Silver off--to rob the life from his body.
Silver knew he had to get up. He had to keep fighting. He had to save the world….he had to go back home to Blaze.
“Aaaaagh!” Suddenly stricken from the air, Infinite was struck by a strange dark energy and fell from the sky and collapsed onto the ground. Silver’s ears twitched to Infinite’s voice and struggled to stand up.
“So this is the toy you’ve been playing with.” Rising up from a pool of darkness was a demonic figure, ripping the phantom ruby from Infinite's body. Its green demon eyes observed the strange gem.
Silver grunted, finally struggling to his feet. The dark figure was quickly taken by the hedgehog’s presence. Reacting to the demonic stranger, the phantom ruby caused the entire surrounding to take the form of the burning ruins of a city.
“W-What is this….? This can’t be!” Eyes wide, Silver trembled at the sight before him.
“No! I don’t want to go back to that!!” He held his head in fear.
“Silver...it’s been a while.”
Silver's eyes widened at the familiar voice and looked up in horror as Mephiles stood before him.
“No...No no no no!! We killed you!”
“And you did...in this world. I am from an alternate universe where your precious friends have fallen...but a miracle happened, on a special day...My world was opened up and I escaped. And now that I have a new world to reside in, my very existence revived the flame of Solaris here.”
“No…”
“Yes, Silver...and because of that, I was able to get my hands on the Solaris flame before those ignorant humans, gaining my true powers!”
“NO!!”
Silver indiscriminately levitated anything he could find, and hurled them towards Mephiles relentlessly. No matter how many times Silver hit him, Mephiles continued to reform from the black puddles.
“Silver...” He approached the frantic hedgehog.
“Take this!” Infinite dropkicked the demonic figure from behind. “I don’t know who you are, but I won’t be made a fool by you-” Suddenly, the jackal was pulled into a pool of darkness.
Silver only stared, frozen, hearing the echoes of Infinite’s screaming fade...
“What a weak mortal,” Mephiles said just before tossing the phantom ruby and reaching for a mortified Silver. He was backed into a wall, feeling helpless, afraid to live in a world of ruins once more, afraid to die...
“You were always my favorite toy.” Closing the distance between them, Mephiles reached for Silver’s throat before getting attacked once more, this time by the unmistakable blue hero.
“Silver, are you alright!?”
“S-Sonic??” Silver calmed down, finding security both in Sonic’s presence, and the buffer it created between him and Mephiles.
“Silver, did the phantom ruby create that Mephiles too?”
“No, he’s real!”
“What!?”
“Sonic, look out!” But before Sonic could react, a shadowing tentacle smacked him hard into the ground. Desperate to get up, his body refused to listen to him.
“Sonic!-” Suddenly pulled and forced against the stone structure, Silver felt a cold, crystalline hand hold him in place as its inhuman fingers carefully curled tightly around his throat.
“Silver...there is no need to worry, I don’t desire destruction this time. All I seek right now...is my favorite toy” Silver struggled to breathe, his eyes unable to focus on the devilish figure.
"S-Silver….!” Desperate to save his friend, Sonic found his strength and stood up, ready to fight again. MEphiles may have been bluffing, trying to scare them. If he really did have the power of Solaris within him, though, the whole world would be doomed.
“Still willing to stand? Perhaps I shall kill you again, Sonic” With his spare hand, Mephiles threatened Sonic with the very same energy beam that had killed him so long ago.
“Not this time!” Streaks of red and black leapt down from the trees and struck Mephiles, setting Silver free and saving Sonic from imminent death. Silver gasped and coughed as his lungs finally got the air they needed. Relieved, Sonic zoomed to his savior's side.
“Hehehe….Shadow, I didn’t think you would find me so quickly.”
Raising from the ground, Mephiles stood once more. “You know, I kept this form just to spite you,” he said.
“I don’t care. So long as you threaten this world and everyone on it, I’ll stop you no matter what it takes.” Ruby eyes looked into soulless demonic emerald ones.
“Hahahaha! Very well. I shall enjoy playing with you.” Melting away into a puddle of black shadows, Mephiles was gone, leaving behind only a badly wounded Infinite.
“Silver, are you alright?” Sonic asked.
“Y-Yeah...I think so”
“Why is Mephiles here?” Shadow wondered. “Sonic, I thought you and Elise blew out the flame?”.
“We did. I don’t understand…”
“He mentioned something about a special day that happened,” Silver said.
“Special day…? Wait a second…” Sonic snapped his fingers as he came to the realization. “On my 18th birthday, there was that weird time demon that Eggman was using! It had the power to bring back fragments--stages of my past--and one of them was Crisis city.”
“You and Elise made sure that could never happen,” Shadow explained, “but it’s possible that the time demon had used a link to recreate that future”
“What do you mean, created a link?” Silver asked.
“I mean the time demon could have gone in the past before Sonic and Elise blew Solaris’ flame out, and used that as a link to reach the future you used to live in.” Shadow had made quite a good point, leaving the other two hedgehogs frustrated.
“Dammit!” Silver slammed his fist against the wall. “So then when he used the link to create that Crisis city fragment, Mephiles must have used that as a way to come into our world without us knowing!” He felt a cold sweat as he considered that he and Blaze may end up right back where they started if Mephiles was allowed to wreak havoc once more.
“Crap, I even remember seeing Iblis in that world too, which further proves Mephiles must have come from there…” Sonic sighed, trying not to remember the day he died.
“Who would have thought something so simple could have brought back such an enemy like Mephiles” Shadow said, thinking back on that day, wishing he had been more vigilant and aware of the possible danger that the time demon may have brought.
While the three hedgehogs had been locked in conversation, Infinite had recovered just enough energy to reclaim his phantom ruby and make an escape. With the Jackal on the loose once more, Silver agreed to inform everyone of Mephiles’s reappearance while Sonic and Shadow raced back to regroup with the “Rookie” and finish off Eggman.
With Infinite’s disappearance, Eggman continued with his plans, but thanks to the “Rookie” and Sonic with all their friends, he was soon stopped, restoring peace back to their world...though the shadow of Mephiles still loomed over their thoughts. Silver, in particular, was worried. The fate of his world could hang in the balance, and he couldn't help replaying Mephiles' words over and over in his head. He had called him his “Favorite toy…”
