“I say we can take ‘em.” Sonic said to his companions as he eyed the heavily armed and angry looking armadillos that faced them.
“They’re armadillos, Sonic.” Knuckles said calmly. “Each one is probably Mighty’s equal.”
“Good point.” Sonic conceded.
“So what do we do?” Tails asked.
“Another good point.” Sonic sighed. “They don’t look very friendly.”
“Stand down, my friends.” A voice came softly, but commanding, from behind the armed armadillos. They lowered their weapons and stepped aside to allow the speaker through.
He was also an armadillo, his armoured mantle a vibrant gold. He was dressed in elaborate robes that trailed on the ground behind him. The other armadillos lowered their heads as he passed them.
“Why do I get the feeling that this guy’s in charge?” Sonic mumbled.
“I am Sacerdote.” He announced to the trio. “Agua…” he bowed at Sonic. “Fuego…” he tipped his head at Knuckles. “Aire…” he smiled at Tails. “We have waited many years for you.” He lowered his head reverently. The trio exchanged a glance as the other armadillos followed suit.
Sacerdote turned to the three armadillos on his right and spoke to them quickly in a language none of the trio could understand. The armadillos bowed curtly and took off towards the jungle at a pace just short of a sprint.
“Come.” Sacerdote gestured grandly after the recently departed armadillos. “You must be weary after your trip.” He started off towards the nearby jungle. With nothing else to do, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails followed. One of the remaining three armadillos fell into step beside each of them, almost like bodyguards, each glancing nervously at their individual charge from time to time.
Tails moved up to walk beside Sonic, more than a little intimidated by the silent warrior beside him. “Why are we going with these guys?” He asked quietly.
“You got a better idea?” Sonic shot back just as quietly. He glanced back at Knuckles for his impression but the echidna was trailing the others, studying his surroundings, only his armadillo bodyguard for company. Knuckles was however completely relaxed in that company, and that put Sonic more at ease.
“We don’t even know where we’re going.” Tails went on.
“I don’t think these guys are gonna cause us any trouble.” Sonic said.
“Indeed.” Sacerdote chuckled. “What could the Tre have to fear from us? Or anyone for that matter.”
“The Tre?” Sonic echoed.
“The three...” Sacerdote explained. “You three…Agua, Fuego and Aire…Water, Fire and Air.”
Tails and Sonic exchanged a glance. They’d heard this song before.
“Just how wide-spread is this little legend?” Sonic wondered aloud.
“The coming of the Tre has been spoken of since these forest giants were nothing but sprouts in the earth…in every land of Mobius, in every tongue…you will set us free…”
“Free from what?” Sonic asked.
“From that which oppresses us.” Sacerdote shrugged. “It is said that you will bring everlasting harmony to all that dwell here.”
Knuckles let out a snort of laughter from behind them. They turned to look at him, Sacerdote raising a curious brow.
“You do not believe this to be so?” He asked the echidna.
“You don’t know our history.” Knuckles said as he caught up. “Our lives are far from harmonious.”
“All we’ve ever known is war.” Tails said softly, head hung low.
“Crisis after crisis.” Sonic sighed.
“Hardship and loss.” Knuckles added.
“We even fight with each other.” Sonic looked at Knuckles.
“Hey, we haven’t done that for ages.” The echidna protested.
“Adversity shapes your character.” Sacerdote said. “It makes you strong, helps you grow and prepares you for what is to come.”
“And just what are we being prepared for.” Knuckles asked.
Sacerdote shrugged. “Prophecies are never clear about such matters.” He admitted. “But it will no doubt be very important, and very difficult.”
“Oh goodie.” Sonic mumbled. “Something to look forward to.”
“But you will overcome.” Sacerdote beamed. “You can overcome anything.”
“You’re sure of that?” Sonic raised a brow.
“Of course. The scriptures say so. Nothing can stop you from reaching your ultimate destiny. Not even death itself.” He looked straight at Knuckles with a quirked brow.
Sonic and Tails followed the armadillo’s gaze. Did he know?
Sacerdote noticed the uncertain look on Knuckles face. “Yes, we saw it.” He confirmed. “Your death, and your rebirth.”
“Rebirth?” Tails echoed. “That’s why it’s such a mess back there…” he looked back the way they’d come. “That’s where Knuckles came back…”
Sacerdote smiled. “Yes. He scared the life out of poor Jardinero…appearing and this disappearing…just like that.” he snapped his fingers.
Knuckles was beginning to look decidedly uncomfortable. He didn’t like to think about the recent events in his life…or was that death? And he worried that he’d be asked something that he couldn’t answer.
Whether Sacerdote noticed the echidna’s discomfort, or it was simply a case of good timing, he was spared any such problem when the armadillo suddenly spread his arms and declared. “We are here!”
They had come to a break in the trees where a huge ziggurat reached for the sky, only its very top touching the canopy of the forest. It was adorned with intricate carvings and paintings. Huge staircases ran up and down its sides. And around the spire that crowned its very top was a carving of something that closely resembled Perfect Chaos.
Sonic let out an involuntary gasp. It was almost an exact replica of the temple from his dream.
“Seems I’m not the only one with a strange sense of déjà vu.” Knuckles mumbled at Sonic’s reaction.
“You know this place too?” Sonic glanced at the echidna.“Yeah…” Knuckles frowned. “Can’t tell you from where though…”
Tails glanced at Sonic. He remembered when he, Sonic and Julie-Su had had those weird dreams back when they’d all thought Knuckles was dead. And he remembered the description Sonic had given of the place where he’d almost become a sacrifice for Chaos until an unusually attired Knuckles had stepped in to save him. But how could Knuckles know of it? To his knowledge, Sonic had never mentioned the dream to the echidna.
“My people have dwelt here for many years.” Sacerdote was explaining as he watched the trio craning their necks to get a good look at their new surroundings. “Countless generations waiting for your arrival.”
As they walked past the main ziggurat, Sonic turned back to study the spire. He rose a brow when he noticed the reverse side, where a trio of creatures held a blade aloft, carved beams of what he could only assume was light, curling around the spire to encompass Chaos. He stopped, squinting as he tried to determine just what the three beings were.
“Agua?” Sacerdote asked quietly as he noticed Sonic’s distraction.
“I suppose they’re supposed to be us?” He pointed at the carving.
“No.” Sacerdote shook his head. “They are the original three.”
“Original three?” Tails frowned.
“The Ancient Walkers…” Knuckles whispered.
“Yes.” Sacerdote confirmed.
“They created the Blade?” Tails asked.
“Yes.” Sacerdote nodded. “When they were flesh.”
“They were flesh?” Sonic asked, wide-eyed. “I thought they were gods or something.”
“They were once as all of us.” Sacerdote said. “Until they reached their divine status.”
Sonic and Tails exchanged a worried glance. They remembered what Mammoth Mogul had said. It seemed so long ago, but he had said that they would never reach their divine status. He himself would see to it.
Were they destined to become like the Ancient Walkers? Tails had thought this before and it would seem he was being proved right. He had never thought of Knuckles as being dead, he’d thought he’d attained that divine status. He looked at the echidna.
Knuckles seemed strangely calm, as if this revelation meant nothing to him, or he wasn’t thinking on the same wavelength. Or maybe he just knew something that they didn’t…
He’d been back for several months now, back from wherever it was that he’d been, and he hadn’t said a word about where that actually was, what he’d experienced during the time he was gone. Everybody that knew him knew it had to be something fairly major. He’d been very quite since his return, not that he’d been a big talker before, but this quietness just seemed different somehow. But he was also more open. He wasn’t so worried about showing how he was feeling, especially where Julie-Su was concerned. He had always been an enigma and it didn’t seem he was about to change.
“Come.” Sacerdote beamed. “You must be hungry after your long trip.” The robed armadillo lead them to a large table, lavished with an unending variety of food and drink. It was amazing how quickly they had set it all up.
“Sit.” Sacerdote gestured towards three rather ornate chairs. “Sit and eat your fill. There is something I must now attend to, but if you need me I will not be far away.” He bowed gracefully and strode off purposefully towards the large ziggurat.
“What a spread!” Sonic said as he took his seat. “You think they got chilli dogs?”
“Sonic,” Tails sighed as he took a seat beside his friend. “You’ve got a one track mind when it comes to eating.”
Knuckles sat slowly, watching as the hedgehog and fox began to sample the delights laid out before them, but took nothing for himself. He was more interested in the crowd that was slowly gathering around them. They weren’t threatening, far from it, if anything they were in total awe of the trio, and Knuckles found that extremely uncomfortable.
~~~~~~
“Dominar?” Sacerdote said softly, reverently as he entered a room high atop the ziggurat. He bowed low to the armadillo, his armour a snowy white, seated at the very back of the room, dressed in robes even more ornate than his own. “They have arrived.”
“As I knew they would.” Dominar replied with a smile. “Where are they?”
“In the main square.” Sacerdote gestured out the small window. “I arranged nourishment for them.”
“Very good.” Dominar nodded as he walked to the window, gazing down at the trio below.
“Hmmm…” he mused.
“What is wrong, Dominar?” Sacerdote asked with concern.
“It would seem Fuego is not hungry.”
“The echidna are a suspicious race by nature.” Sacerdote pointed out. “They do not trust easily.”
“True.” Dominar agreed, stroking his long beard thoughtfully. “But I believe it is something else…”
“What do you mean, Dominar?” Sacerdote asked quietly.
“We are both aware of his recent…experience…perhaps he has learned how to channel his energies to the degree that he no longer requires sustenance.”
“Are you saying he can live on air?” Sacerdote asked, a little shocked.
“Possibly.” Dominar shrugged slightly. “He is, after all, a living embodiment of Chaos…his power should therefore be infinite…self sustaining…and such an ability is mentioned in the prophecy.”
Sacerdote nodded his agreement.
“And he carries the Blade?”
“It is in his boot.” Sacerdote confirmed.
“His boot?” Dominar frowned. “It is not still within him?”
“I saw it, Dominar.” Sacerdote said quickly. “He carries it in his boot.”
Dominar began to pace. “This is not good.” He shook his head. “The Blade should not have been removed. It was supposed to remain where it was, to deny him access to his full power until the other two are ready.” He looked at Sacerdote.
“I do not like this.” He said simply. “I do not like this at all.”
~~~~~~
“You are enjoying your dinner?” Sacerdote asked as he rejoined the trio. Night had fallen suddenly, bonfires had been lit, and the curious locals remained just outside the circle of light, the fire eerily illuminating their expectant faces.
“Yeah,” Sonic smiled. “This stuff is great…but are we the floor show or something?” He thrust a thumb at the armadillos gathered around them.
“It is not everyday that you see a prophecy come to life.” Sacerdote shrugged.
“I thought you liked this kind of attention.” Knuckles said softly with a raised brow, as he chewed thoughtfully on a grape. He had noticed Sacerdote and his companion, Dominar, had given him a strange look on their arrival, Dominar glancing at the empty plate in front of the echidna with a look that bordered on suspicion, so he’d decided he’d better eat something.
“Yeah…” Sonic admitted, “But this is just a little too weird.”
“And what makes you so sure we’re the ones this prophecy spoke of?” Knuckles asked.
Dominar raised a brow, curious that it was the echidna that had raised the question. “You have seen the mural, have you not? Do you believe it coincidence that fate should bring together three such diverse individuals, that you should each be blessed with extraordinary abilities, if you were not destined to fulfil the prophecy?”
“What exactly are we supposed to do?” Sonic asked, hoping Dominar might have a better answer than Sacerdote.
“Bring balance to the world.” Dominar informed him. “One fuelled by Order…” he gestured at Sonic. “One by Chaos…” he turned to Knuckles. “And the third to bring stability.” He smiled at Tails. “Only when the two forces of creation are in harmonic alignment can this world know peace.”
“You gotta admit.” Tails said. “It certainly sounds like us. Though I seriously doubt that you two could ever be in ‘harmonic alignment’.”
“That’s where you come in, bud.” Sonic smiled. “You’re supposed to keep us in line.”
“So how do you know THIS is the time of the prophecy?” Knuckles asked.
“We do not.” Dominar admitted. “We can only interpret the writings. Centuries ago, the Primero Tre entrusted our people with the Blade. For generations we have kept it safe from any who have sought its power.”
“So how come you let us get it?” Sonic asked.
“We watched closely when you arrived.” He told them. “But, due to your appearance, we held back. The Blade was guarded with sorcery as well as by our warriors. The cantrips let you pass, that is how we knew you were the three.”
“But you didn’t step in when Dimitri took it from us.” Tails pointed out.
The armadillos exchanged a glance.
“Only because we knew it would not be necessary.” Sacerdote said softly. “The prophecy told of what was going to happen.” He glanced briefly at Knuckles.
“You knew I was going to die.” Knuckles said, more than a hint of anger in his voice.
Sacerdote nodded solemnly. “The prophecy spoke of a great evil snatching the Blade from Auga and Aire, and that only through the extinguishing of Fuego’s light could disaster be averted.”
Dominar leaned forward and spoke quietly to Knuckles, too quietly for either Sonic or Tails to hear. The echidna shot him a dirty look, but said nothing.
“And did it speak of our disposing of it?” Tails asked. “Of where we should go?”
“I do not know…” Dominar said, moving away from the quietly simmering echidna. “I will have to check the scriptures.” He turned to Sacerdote. “Show them to their lodgings. If I find anything, I will let you know in the morning.” He rose and bid the trio goodnight.
~~~~~~
Sonic yawned and opened his eyes. The room the trio had been given for the night was quite large and fairly well furnished. There was no glass in the windows and the stone walls were bare, barring a few tapestries. But it was very comfortable, even if it was a little drafty.
It was still dark out, Sonic guessed it was around two or three in the morning. He glanced over to where Tails was snoring softly, curled up in his massive bed. He sighed. Tails was still just a kid, not that he and Knuckles were much older. Where they ready for the trials of which this prophecy spoke?
He looked towards the room’s other inhabitant, or rather, his empty bed. It hadn’t even been slept in.
‘Now where the heck has he gone off to?’ Sonic wondered. He slipped quietly out of his own bed, pulled on his sneakers, and snuck out to find the elusive echidna.
He didn’t have to go far. Knuckles was sitting on a small retaining wall, his back to him, facing the ziggurat. He approached quietly, noticing a faint scratching sound with a frown.
“What do you want, Sonic?” Knuckles asked quietly without turning his head or stopping whatever it was that he was doing.
“Uh…” Sonic was a little taken aback. He didn’t think he’d made enough noise to be heard, and Knuckles had correctly identified him without even looking around. ‘How does he DO that?’
“What are you doing up so late?” Sonic asked.
“Guess I’m still on Floating Island time.” Knuckles shrugged. Sonic had come up to stand beside the echidna and could now see what he’d been doing. He was holding a small pad of white paper. He’d been sketching the ziggurat. It was an excellent sketch too.
Knuckles noticed Sonic’s expression of surprise and amazement. “It’s for Julie-Su.” Knuckles explained. “She gave me the sketch book before we left Knothole so I could draw some of what I saw…”
Sonic noticed the strangely wistful expression that came over the echidna’s face.
“You two are pretty tight, huh?” Sonic asked with a smirk.
“I guess.” Knuckles shrugged.
“You guess?” Sonic’s smirk deepened. “I saw the way you said goodbye to each other. You guys were intense.” Sonic clasped his hands to the side of his tilted head and spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice. “I will count the moments until you are home.” He batted his eyes at the echidna. Knuckles didn’t appreciate it.
“Well, we HAVE been separated for a year.” He admitted.
“You two set a date yet?” Sonic continued to needle his obviously irritated friend.
“Give it a rest, Sonic.” Knuckles growled. “I get enough of that crap from my family.”
“But you two are just so sweet…” He said. “Won’t be long ‘til you’ve got a whole mess of little Guardians crawling ‘round your feet.”
Knuckles stood up with a snarl and leapt off the retaining wall, taking to the air where the hedgehog couldn’t follow.
“Was it something I said?” Sonic called after him.
He landed on one of the upper tiers of the ziggurat, sitting down heavily. He wasn’t sure why Sonic’s playful taunt had upset him so much. He knew what he felt for Julie-Su was real. He knew what Sonic had said was true. He couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was because he was such a private being, preferring to keep his private matters to himself. And there was nothing more private, in his mind anyway, than his relationship with his intended.
“So you do not sleep either.” A voice said from behind him.
He turned, startled, to find Dominar standing in the shadows. How had the armadillo managed to sneak up on him?
“Sure I do…” Knuckles said. “I just don’t need all that much.”
Dominar nodded. “The time will come when you will not need it at all. The Chaos power in your blood will sustain you, as it sustains you now, as it sustained you in the dark place.”
Knuckles closed his eyes.
“You do not like to think about that.” Dominar stated rather than questioned.
“No.” Knuckles admitted, his voice a little shaky. He looked up. “How do you know about…that?”
“I am the Primero Tre’s high priest.” He explained. “They speak to me often. They are very proud of you, that you found your way so quickly.”
“My journey is not over yet.” Knuckles said softly.
“And you are wise enough to realise that.” Dominar nodded, impressed. “You are everything the prophecy says you are. But, still, you must be careful. There is great darkness in you…”
“I know.” Knuckles sighed. “I’ve seen it.”
“When it threatens to overwhelm you, let Metal be your anchor.” Dominar said.
Knuckles smiled now as he looked up at the armadillo. “She always has been.”
“Ah,” Dominar smiled back. “So you know of the other Tre? Metal, Madera and Mundo?”
“Metal, Wood and Earth? Yes.” Knuckles nodded. “Without them, we are nothing.”
“You should sleep now.” Dominar informed him. “I have found your answer in the scriptures. You still have a long journey ahead of you.”
~~~~~~
Sacerdote looked up as Dominar returned, puzzled by his slight smile.
“I do not think we need worry about Fuego.” He said.
“But what if he accesses his true power?” Sacerdote questioned. “He could be a danger to all.”
“I believe he has the ability and the will to control it.” Dominar smiled. “He is a most exceptional young being.”
