Sonic X Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Guardian ❯ A New Guardian ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"Shadow."



"Shadow..."



"Shadow. .."



He looked up at them. All of those echidnas were staring at him, floating around his body. Taking turns to address him. He furrowed his brow. He was the only hedgehog. A thousand or so years of Guardians before him, and he was the only hedgehog. He felt a thousand eyes as if he were on the edge of judgment.

At the very center were the original Guardians, Tikal, and the last, the late Knuckles. He was in the main hall of the Hidden Palace.

He bowed before his elders and approached the altar, a solemn expression held for them all to see. He passed several of the echidnas, they were all lined up on either side of Shadow to watch him make his journey to the front of the room. He stopped at the base of the stairs, closing his eyes for a moment, then opening. Everything was so white, pearly, crystalline, holy.

While Shadow himself was not a holy man, he certainly felt the mystical presence around him. Souls come to rest with the powerful Master Emerald. Knuckles bowed his head in acknowledgment of Shadow's return. This was his acceptance. His future. Tikal raised her gloved hands above her head.

As sacred as this ritual was, Shadow knew he could not say a word. He would break the silence like glass with his rough voice, and it would shatter dangerously around him with echoes in the hall; so Shadow kept his comments to himself.

The Master Emerald formed above them, bathing them all in a radiant green. It came to rest on the altar where a fountain and small children of the Chao played. He took a deep breath as Tikal and Knuckles turned to ascend. Two females escorted Shadow close behind. Upon reaching the peak of the pyramid, Tikal and Knuckles knelt down. Behind him, Shadow heard many more follow this example.

He swallowed, taking his final steps as a free man. From this moment forth, the ebony hedgehog was going to tie himself to a never-ending responsibility to protect the world through the Emeralds. He felt a bit nervous, almost trembling before such great power, but he would never tell them. Slowly his hand rose to touch the gem. It seemed like forever before his full palm made contact, but when it did, he knew there was no going back.

All of the Guardians around him claimed his soul. He felt their lives dancing within his heart like flames, each brightly flickering, burning his insides. He opened his mouth to scream. This task was too much for him. Shadow couldn't do it. He screamed for them to hear him, to beg for mercy. His eyes squeezed shut as he cried out for an end to it all.

Shadow woke in his bed with a start. He sighed as his pulse pounded in his ears and chest. Another dream about the Guardianship. He winced and rolled onto his side, then sat and climbed out of bed.

As he relieved himself, he moaned at the thought of having to actually go do this whole thing eventually. The more he put it off, the worse it would get. He sighed again as he thought back to how this all happened.

It was Knuckles's fault, more or less. Shadow was walking along the coast one night, thinking about the time Maria should have been able to witness the beauty of the ocean instead of being trapped in that space bubble, ARK. Knuckles was sitting there, waiting patiently for someone. It turned out to be him.

Knuckles explained the link with the Master Emerald. Shadow allowed Knuckles to talk to him for a while before he actually grasped the fact that Knuckles was seeking him because of something bad that Knuckles was predicting. Or something the Emerald told him, as the echidna put it. “It has a knack of looking out for itself, you see,” he told Shadow. Shadow still didn't understand. Knuckles requested that Shadow come to the island the next week and he would explain more.

Shadow hesitantly agreed.

He wasn't sure how many wees he was in training thereafter. Apparently Shadow was chosen by the Emeralds. He had assumed this “Chosen One” power was related to the Emeralds, but he failed to understand the whole concept. It was absolutely absurd for someone like him to waste his time with the echidna, but every time he considered backing out, Knuckles had explained things in a way that Shadow understood, however insane it was. Something about his pure heart, and how no one else was suited to the job, not even Sonic. And he didn't know if anyone else knew. Shadow doubted Knuckles was telling anyone what was going on, and he certainly wasn't talking.

It didn't really set in until Knuckles died in combat. He really knew he was going to die.

Everyone was affected. Shadow held a sinking feeling. All the stupid history lessons, meditation, all of it, he was really going to have to use. And he'd have to take over the Guardianship soon. It weighed heavily on his mind. Whereas others held other burdens that included Knuckles's death its self and the emotional roller coaster ride his friends endured.

There were various reactions that followed his demise but Sonic's was perhaps the most reserved and distanced from how everyone else (aside from Shadow) expressed their emotions openly, most of which led to tears. A few of Sonic's friends couldn't help but show some concern about the blue hedgehog who didn't appear to react much at all. Perhaps he had been shocked by the unexpected death and to tell the truth he was still a little stunned about it. It was evident that he was affected and hurt; that much was obvious by those closest to him. But he had a bad tendency of bottling up his emotions and striving his best not to let them show.

Sonic reflected on the memories he had of Knuckles and couldn't help but wonder if there was anything he could have done to prevent the unfortunate incident that occurred that day. He stared up at the night sky, somehow managing to find peace amongst the stars that glittered back at him. It helped him relax even while he pictured Knuckles's last moments on the planet. Somehow Sonic wasn't fast enough to save him, but he was there to pick him up later; unfortunately this time Knuckles was unable to hold his own. He would have never dreamed he would have lost him in what appeared to be a routine fight with Doctor Eggman's robots and his next attempt to stir trouble between all of them. Eggman succeeded, no doubt a lucky break on his part. The tragedy occurred so suddenly not much could have been done about it. It took the echidna completely off guard that led to a fatal blow to his head from a shredded piece of machinery off the large bot that was being destroyed at the time.

Sonic couldn't help but think Dr. Eggman was surprised too by his accomplishment (as though he didn't expect to really lose any lives at all that day – except for maybe his androids).

Sonic's arms rested behind his head as his ankles crossed from where he lay on the roof of a tall building in downtown. It was high enough to allow him to see the stars unhindered by the city lights below.

Shadow made his way back into his room but stopped at the sight of his bed and turned away in disgust. There was no way he could go back to sleep tonight. He walked to the living room and pulled on the pair of red, black and white jet shoes by the door. Shadow had no indoor shoes, but he usually wore his same white socks while at home, so he, thankfully, didn't have to go back to his room for a pair.

Instead of going out into the hallway shared by all the other tenants, Shadow walked to his sliding door and stepped through onto the balcony. After shutting the door behind him, he froze. He almost felt someone nearby. Upon the roof? It didn't take him long to disregard the sensation, and he jumped from the railing to the ground several stories below. He hit the ground with both feet, knees bent. A tremor of gravity fired through his lean figure, threatening to break his landing. He managed his won, however, and broke into a run. The run soon turned into long strides as he glided along the sidewalk with the jet shoes, his destination set firmly in his mind.

He had a job to do, and he wasn't going to back down.

Unbeknown to the other's intentions, a blue ear twitched at the sudden sensation that washed over him, something just to grab his attention; very vague and almost indistinguishable. Although he barely noticed in his current state of thought, Sonic responded to the something nagging at him to look over.

Grunting, he rolled over onto his belly and peeked over the top of the roof, noticing a familiar figure on the sidewalk below. Unlike Shadow, he was looking for a distraction and responded to the feeling. He was a little surprised at who he found though. For once he almost felt uninterested but it was a good way to run off these upsetting thoughts and see if the black hedgehog was up to anything he should know about. He doubted it but it was still better than moping around – something that just wasn't him.

Hopping up to his feet, his eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the blur and instantly followed, leaving a cerulean streak behind in his wake.

He followed Shadow and stalked him upon the roof tops, gliding effortlessly to each one, and remaining far enough behind in hopes of not being detected.

“Huh?” Shadow glanced over his shoulder, voice below a whisper. The feeling from his dream of being watched rushed over him again. He slowed down to see if he heard anything, then gave up and plowed on at full speed. He looked out at the body of water ahead of him, glistening below the monorail. The train station was still up and running even at this hour, but he elected to stay away from the people inside and darted across a couple of street vendor trailers to reach the track. As he flipped into a sharp landing, his knees buckled and he twisted his body to the side. His jets hugged the sides of the rail and he ground toward the Mystic Ruins.

Upon arrival, Shadow jumped off the train's support line and raced for the caves. A couple of boulders rested at the mouth of the wide entrance, and he used these like large stepping stones to reach his destination. The inside of the caves were dark, but twinkled mysteriously with a blue light. It was freezing cold, but Shadow knew that was only temporary, and as he rounded the corner, a sparkling cavern entrance to the Ice Cap mountain range came into view. Shadow ignored this sight, as it was far from his list of places to go any time soon.

Shadow stopped. He could have sworn he heard someone in the caves behind him – an echoing of steps that were unmistakably fast. He stared at the dark space behind him and allowed his shoes to drop to the cave floor as the jets clicked off. He started towards the direction of where he knew the other was – or should be – then exhaled and turned back to his personal mission. It didn't matter. If that hedgehog wanted to follow him, it was his choice. Shadow had nothing to do with it, but he would think that Sonic would notice the obvious differences in their methods of travel. Shadow slid almost silently above the ground at his top speed, whereas Sonic still had to run. He shook his head as the metal base of his shoes clacked against the rock, slow at first, then faster until he began to glide above the Earth again.

Sonic had pressed his back against the freezing cave wall from around a sharp corner, keen ears picking up on Shadow's footsteps; and the realization that his abilities as a stalker wasn't as good as he previously thought they were. Despite this, Sonic's interest in pursuing Shadow had not been daunted.

He shot from the caves after Shadow into a sudden burst of moonlight. It was shockingly bright after the cool glow of the Ice Cap caverns. Shadow slowed to a halt as he looked up at the silhouette of the floating wonder – Angel Island – against the pure moonscape. He wasn't sure if Sonic had a Chaos Emerald, but he didn't have time to feel sorry for leaving the hedgehog behind. Besides, what should he care?

“Misemono,” or “lookalike thing,” didn't mean they had to do the same thing, too. He let out a single, “hmph,” of amusement and clutched his red gem. “Chaos Control!”

Within the second he was at the edge of the island. He walked slowly towards the familiar stone steps...

Sonic slid to a stop from where Shadow had once been standing, eyes narrowing up at Angel Island as he realized this had apparently been Shadow's target all along. Memories flooded his mind, impairing judgment. He was even more curious now than ever.

As Shadow made his way to where Knuckles once protected and resided, Sonic clenched his fists and hesitated. Pulling out a shimmering green emerald, he touched it tightly in his hand and used its power to catch up.

“Chaos Control!”

He didn't care if he was noticed at this point. Like jets bursting from his shoes, in a matter of an equal time of Shadow's ascent, Sonic planted himself where Shadow's feet landed moments ago. He stood, not making any effort to hide himself.

Shadow held his breath and his body tensed upon Sonic's arrival. He waisted a second to see what would happen but tried to push the thought of the hedgehog far from his mind as he lifted his red emerald into the air. It hovered, then settled into the closest pillar.

A breeze streamed in from the ocean below. Shadow closed his eyes and corrected his posture. He breathed deep, releasing his mind from his nervous body in one moment. He spoke gently, almost unlike himself. His voice was still rough, but the harshness was replaced by a seemingly childlike innocence. “The servers are the seven Chaos... Chaos is power...” His eyes slowly opened as he stared somewhat sadly into the perfect light of the Master Emerald at the top of the alter. “Power is enriched by the heart...” A deep breath, then, “The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.”

The Master Emerald's bright glow began to engulf the alter.

Sonic's mouth opened, wanting to say something. He was impatient, as always, so it was natural that his curiosity was at its peak and he was just dying to know what was going on. It appeared things were just going to get more complicated though; yet something kept him from interrupting Shadow.

Shadow, out of his trance, still refused to face Sonic, but addressed him all the same. “You're not allowed to go, but you've got about... five seconds to get on the stone path if you wish to, anyway. I cannot stop you.” By the time Shadow stopped talking, three seconds remained before the entire alter was transported.

Sonic barely had time to register what Shadow said next, and the fact it was specifically directed at him. His eyes widened as he was given a decision he really had no time to consider. Instead the blue hedgehog acted on impulse, leaning towards that nagging, curious side, and using his speed to step upon the stone path at the very last second.

The light temporarily blinded the ebony hedgehog, and as he winced and focused his eyes back into working order, he couldn't stifle his gasp of surprise. It was exactly like his dreams.

Awestruck, he looked around the room. The air itself seemed alive with Chaos Energy. Shadow wasn't sure if it was this that made the butterflies in his stomach double, or if it was the task at hand. Almost immediately, the echidnas began to appear, eyes falling on the distracted Shadow. He stared at the multitudes of columns. Taking a glance behind him, he saw the cloudy heavens of Sanctuary through the hall door. In the massive hallway of the palace, however, gems embedded in the stone of the back of the room gradually faded to white marble and crystal as he redirected his eyes to the front. There were no lights in the room but everything and everyone was glowing. Himself included.

He stepped lightly on the marble floor as he made his way back to the altar that had appeared farther away from him. The Guardians of time passed, bowed, and exchanged respectful glances with the hedgehog. Hundreds of Echidnas, and this time there were two hedgehogs. This eased the unsettled churning in his stomach somehow, even though it wasn't much. It did seem somehow better to know someone was present who knew even less about what was going on than himself.

Tikal and Knuckles. A pang of guilt struck him in the chest. Knuckles looked at him, disappointed that he would bring someone into this sacred realm.

Sonic was gaping at the sight before him, for a second taking a moment to realize just where he was. He recognized the place but not all the echidnas. He was surprised to say the least... and even more so by the sight of Knuckles.

He wanted to yell at him, rush over and say a million things, but by the feel of the mood in here, he'd be afraid to cause such a scene. Something very serious was going on and he didn't want to interrupt it just yet. So for the moment he stayed silent and still, watching the entire ritual unfold before his very eyes.

Shadow swallowed down his guilt and nodded, emotionless eyes boring into Knuckles's. Yes, he had allowed Sonic to come, but he was only responsible for permitting it. Sonic acted on his own will. That's how Shadow perceived it.

He barely heard it, but the sound was there. “It is impure.”

Shadow's face showed concern. Impure? Would that alter the union with the Emerald? No, it couldn't. It was foolish to think so. Mentally chastising himself, Shadow held his ground while Tikal presented the Master Emerald. Finally, Knuckles nodded, cuing the female echidna to escort him behind the leading Guardians. At the top, he felt the air stiffen, as if all of the energy was being directed centrally. One by one, he was accepted as their new leader and sole protector, as the Guardians bowed in his presence.

His eyes fell to the stone. It was much larger than himself. Perfect and beautiful. How did it find him pure of heart, and had this changed? He was being paranoid again, and knew this was unacceptable. Taking no other thoughts, he chanted the lines once more from memory. The light was overwhelming, but Shadow thrust himself into it and placed his hands on the Emerald. This was the last time he'd see this play out again. It was over, but something else was starting.

It started slow, but the waves of power lit him on fire. He screamed in agony as he admitted the souls into his own, each splitting his heart more than the last. Unbearable mental and physical pain swept over him, with it bringing wisdom, sorrow, and an eternity of responsibility he'd rather reconsider. But it was his job, and no one else could take it, even if they tried.

Shadow lost consciousness as the room faded to night around him and Sonic. Forever seemed like such a very long time, but it was too late.

Shadow had become the Eternal Guardian.