Sonic the Hedgehog: The Flame of Iblis | StH (2006) Rewrite

Chapter 12

In the destroyed future, a purple vortex appeared, and three figures hopped of it. Two hedgehogs and a cat stood there on one of the many cliffs, looking over the ruined city with lava as its floor. Sonic and Silver looked at each other with some sadness in their eyes, and Blaze stared at the whole place with horror.

"This is what happens if Eggman releases Iblis?" She asked, shaking her head.

"Yeah," Silver sighed. "This has been here my whole life, from even before I was born." He looked over the devastated city. "We live in a harsh, bleak place... I always asked how this happened, but no one every truly answered me. Everyone always pointed to the flames. And, well, now I know the answer." He turned to his friends with a small smile.

Sonic still stared. He's been here before, but he still couldn't believe that this is what would've happened if Eggman released Iblis from the Sol Emerald Blaze had with her. He knew they're going to fix this, though. They have to.

The three friends began walking, trying to find the "current" Iblis to defeat him once and for all.

"Sonic," Silver faced him, his hazel eyes practically glowing from the light the fire gave off, "Do you still want me to explain myself...? Now that we have the time?"

The blue hedgehog blinked twice and smiled a little, a small laugh escaping him.

"You don't need to if you don't want to get into it," he assured the white hedgehog. "But uh, I do kinda wanna know what made you think I'm the one who did this." He gestured at his surroundings.

"Heh," Silver chuckled lightly, "Long story short, I met someone who said I can fix all of this by going back in time and killing the one who did this. He convinced me it was you. I'm not sure why he chose you as a target specifically... But no matter what the reason is, it's not good, so I'd be careful."

Sonic frowned a little as the three of them walked. This guy must be really good at manipulating. Trying to convince someone desperate to kill someone to fix everything? Now that is dangerous.

"So," the blue hedgehog turned his head to face Silver again, "How did you find out exactly? The truth?"

"He came across Shadow," Blaze answered for the white hedgehog.

"Yeah," Silver confirmed. "It was actually after I tried killing you a second time and Shadow came to your rescue. I think he had experience with Mephiles since after I said his name, Shadow's expression changed. He took me to the past, and, well, we sealed Mephiles and Iblis there, and a prophecy of some sort was formed."

Blaze's eyes shot open with the realization.

"You and Shadow are the ones who created the prophecy?!" She exclaimed.

"We didn't exactly create it; it was your ancestor," Silver turned towards Blaze. "But I guess we kind of set it up? Heheh..."

The purple feline was very surprised. She always thought that those two hedgehogs from her world's history were from her own world's past. She had no idea that one was from the present and one was from the future, and that both of them were from Sonic's dimension. Nonetheless, she was grateful that they stopped the early forms of Iblis and Mephiles from escaping, even if that caused yearly catastrophes for her world. It would've been much worse if they didn't.

"Guys, over there!" Sonic alerted the other two.

Silver and Blaze looked to where he was pointing. Silver's eyes widened when he saw a giant beast emerge from the lava in the distance. The hedgehog's breath stopped. He didn't even spend a lot of time in the past, and yet he already forgot that this— this destroyed future— is his true home. He wished he could just stay in the past, where the sky was bright, fresh green grass replaced the rivers of lava, and where gorgeous deep blue water sparkles when the sun's light reflected on the surface of it. But, if they managed to stop Eggman from releasing Iblis, wouldn't that mean that Silver's time would be different now? Was there still something else they had to do?