Chapter 1 – Square One

I remember it very clearly, as if it just had happened yesterday. It was a cold, dark, but peaceful night. I was sitting on a cliff, a very high and remote one. It was part of an immense field; covered with grass.

I just leaned backwards and lay my head on the hard, yet soft tree bark. The grass felt like if it were my bed. It was extremely soft. Only one thing kept me company that night: the glimmering stars. They are truly a natural masterpiece. They can hypnotize you with their glittering bodies, and you can stare at them as long as you want, and you can never get bored of them. Once they take hold of your eyes, you start to navigate the sky above you, and start thinking things you’ve never thought before. Or you can just lay there and let them lull you to sleep.

I remained in that wonderful place for hours. You could hear absolutely nothing there, except for the sound of my breathing, the wind, and the crickets chirping. I wish I could remain here forever; I thought. But nothing lasts forever. Everything that has a beginning has an end, and that’s what happened.

I saw a blue, flashy ray of light zooming across the field. I immediately knew who it was. It was that hedgehog that always looked on the bright side of things, the one that was always there to help others, the one that tried his best to give himself entirely to others; Sonic The Hedgehog. He looked kind of confused; like if he was desperate to find someone or something. He ran to my far right; then to my far left.He then spotted me and ran towards me; stopping abruptly.

“Hey, Shadow. What’s up?” I stared at him coldly, but I tried to be as nice as I could. “Nothing much.” I shrugged. “I’m just staring at this vast universe we live in.” I said, extending my hand towards the sky. “Heh. That’s kind of deep, don’t you think?” He sat next to me; crossing his legs and leaning on his hands behind him. “I guess so. Maybe yes, maybe not. What’s the difference anyways? Can’t you see the magnificent beauty of these stars? They just grab hold of you and never let you go.” Sonic stared at me with his green emerald eyes.

“If you take off your gloves and skates off, you’ll enjoy them even more! Trust me.” He gave me a little wink. I glared at him and then raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?! But I’ll be all…” “Yeah, I know, just like you were created.” He said in a sarcastic tone. “Come on, it’s not that bad! Besides, we’re animals! Nobody would ever turn to watch a hedgehog with bare hands and feet. We’re ignored by humans; what could go wrong? Besides, I’ve done it a ton of times.”
I turned my sight away from him and started pondering. Then I found out the hedgehog was right. “Ok, but if somebody comes around here laughing at me, I’m outta here; and then I WILL make you pay.” I pointed at him menacingly. “Hey man, relax! I promise nobody’s here except us. I don’t think anyone could be awake at these hours, Shadow. It’s near 12:30am.”

I started to take off my power rings, one by one. They made a “ching” sound, and they all lost their glow. They turned pale. “Hey, wait a sec.” Sonic grabbed one of my arms; like if he were trying to stop me. “What?” I asked. “When you take your gloves and skates off, put your rings back on. Otherwise, your power will be depleted and then you’re gonna have to go to the hospital like the last time you took them off.” “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

I was missing a hover skate. I pushed it out of my foot with both my bare hands and other foot. Then I grabbed my four power rings and I put them on my wrists and ankles; making sure that it made a “click” sound when I put them on. They recovered their glow. My hands and feet looked very white, compared to my black fur. It was obvious. I had never taken my gloves and hover skates like about 54 years ago. They had never been exposed to daylight or moonlight in that big lapse of time.

I started to rub my feet against the cold grass. It felt fantastic. Sonic stared at me and said, “See? It wasn’t that hard. I still don’t understand why you get all embarrassed.” He chuckled a bit and did the same as me. When he was done, I just stared at his blue feet. They had their usual blueish color. It seemed like Sonic took off his shoes constantly. I felt bewildered and couldn’t understand well enough: why did he do that? I then explained to him:

“Well Sonic, ever since I was created, I was taught that my feet were personal; a private part of me, never to be shown in public.” Sonic cocked his head to one side and said, “Oh, so that’s what has been troubling you so much! Here on planet Earth, we animals are SUPPOSED to live with bare hands and feet. I just wear my gloves because I feel comfortable with them; and I wear my shoes only because if I were to run at high speed without them, I might burn my feet, and it’s not a pretty sight.” He shuddered a bit.

“You must have a reason for putting your gloves and skates on. And,” –he smirked- “whoever told you that your feet were a private part?” I turned as red as a tomato. I started sweating a lot and my pupils shrunk. “It’s kind of hard to explain... Maria was the one that had that kind of ideology. And I agree with her thoughts.” “Oh. Yeah, some humans are like that too, so don’t worry, Shad. I won’t laugh at you. Friends take care of each other, don’t they?”

Sonic gave me a huge hug. He embraced me tightly, as if saying, “I’m here for you, Shadow.” I suddenly felt something: a giant sensation of love. No, it wasn’t that kind of love; the girl-boy love. It was friendship love. Heck, it was greater than that; it was brotherly love. I knew Sonic wasn’t my brother, but he looked a lot like me, and he was always nice to me, even though I acted cold and dark around him and his friends.

I wanted to hug him back, but I sat stiff as a rock. I pushed him away, quite sad about what I had just done. But I knew it was the right thing to do. Sonic backed away; scratching his head. He then lay down on the grass, staring at the moon’s beauty. I had lain down as well, putting my hands behind my head.

“You do realize, Shadow that you have the power to create your own adventures; do anything you want to?” “What?” “Yeah, I mean, you have the power to create your future, you know? It doesn’t matter why, how and where you are. Just let yourself guide you towards the correct way.”
“Why are you talking to me about this?” “Because I’ve seen you feeling down lately. Is it because of Maria?”

I looked up at the sky; feeling ashamed. “Yes. I still can’t forget her. I try to leave everything behind but I still have my doubts about Mephiles and what he said about me being a menace for the human race in the future. He said I would be too powerful enough for them; that I would go around killing everybody by accident.”

“Don’t pay attention to him. We all know that happened in the future and HE had changed it. But then we destroyed him and now you can change your future. You’ve gotta do everything in order to stop that from happening. Light up, Shadow! Maria may be dead, but you still have us! That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I inhaled a lot of air and then exhaled. “Yes, it is. But I feel like if I needed someone who could guide me, like a compass, or a map. Sometimes I feel I’m the only lonely guy around here.” I started to cry. Tears streamed down my face.

“Sorry, Sonic. Maybe you must think I’m just a stupid hedgehog that’s selfish and just cares about getting through life.” I curled up in a ball and hugged myself, just like a little baby.
“Hey, don’t say that! You just need to live life more positively and learn stuff each day. Life isn’t a tragedy. It’s a mixture of everything. We all need to concentrate on the positive things, and that way we’ll enjoy life even more, won’t we?”

He winked at me. I just smiled and turned back to look at the sky. That sky… it took you everywhere. It reached into your deepest corners of your imagination, and it became one with your thoughts. Heh. Me and my little but vast fantasy world. After a while, I turned to look at Sonic and was sound asleep.

I soon drifted off to sleep too; in the dark, warm and cuddling night. I still can’t get why the blue hedgehog looked puzzled when he was running around the field. Oh well. I guess he must have a fantasy of his own as well.