Chaos Control: Emeralds Of The Eightfold Path

Lightning scarred the sky above Robotropolis, illuminating the normally dark mechanised city. Rain poured down the slick metal surfaces of Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik's egg-shaped central control tower. Eggman was not concerned about the storm, in fact, any strikes of lightning hitting the lightning rods placed strategically around the city would increase the power of his critical anti-hedgehog project. Eggman was stood by the window in his observation control room, silhouetted by a console covered in video feeds and blinking lights, looking out at his perfect machine utopia being lit up by the strobe flashes from above. Had he a heart, he might have been moved by the display.

"Snively … Tell me how the experiment has progressed. Delays are no longer acceptable, if the Hedgehog interferes I will hold you personally responsible"

Snively gulped, already sweating profusely, even though he only had good news for his Uncle and master.

"Well Dr. Robotnik, Sir … Your Grandfathers False Emerald that I ... we recovered from the ARK wreckage has now been confirmed to be undamaged, and has responded well to your Power Amplification theories. We are ready to begin the final phase, bringing it in line with the Chaos Emeralds." Snively's whiny nasal voice crackled from a speaker on Eggmans console, Snively himself being hard at work in the main top secret laboratory.

"Excellent Snively, my plan will finally rid me of those meddlesome Freedom Fighters, and I will see the Hedgehog suffer."

"Very good Sir"

"Is the Emerald in the Amplification Matrix Snively?"

"Of course Sir"

"Good, increase it to Maximum Power!"

XXX

Falling skies. Twisted land. Curse of the Machine. End of all things.

Knuckles the Echidna's eyes snapped open. The red spined echidna had been sat outside, in front of the Master Emerald Temple on Angel Island, meditating in the sunlight, until the whispers started.

Metal Flesh. Lightning Forged. Broken Worlds. Broken Minds.

Knuckles scanned the area, but nothing seemed amiss with the jagged mountains, crystal clear waterfalls, or the verdant jungle around him. His gaze turned back to the temple. Outer wall still intact. Each of the Chaos Emeralds, Blue, Cyan, Green, Grey, Purple, Red, and Yellow, still in place on their pillars in the inner ring. Water still calm. No-one on the steps. Master Emerald, glowing faintly, seemed ordinary. There was something wrong, but he could not work out what it was. He stood slowly, stoically readying himself for conflict, before striding up the temple steps towards the Master Emerald.

The Guardian comes. The Guardian hears. The Guardian does not see. The Veil bleeds.

"Guardian?"

Knuckles made an impatient grunt as he started up the steps to the Master Emerald,

"You've got my attention voices, stop wasting my time and show yourself!"

Voice without mouth. Warning without form. Future vision without eyes. Patience.

Knuckles had reached the Emerald, indistinct shapes moved within the gemstone. He knew the Emerald could sometimes project visions, but he couldn't make it out.

The Changer of Ways. The knowledge of what to come. Clear your mind.

"I don't trust you, but the Emerald … Fine. This is important."

Knuckles sits down on the cold stone of the temple floor before the Master Emerald, staring intently into the green gems facets, slowly letting his mind sink back into a meditative state. He then felt it, there was something wrong with the balance of Chaos energy, it was as if an additional element had been superimposed over the normal flow of energy.

The Eightfold Path. HahaHAha. Eighth item of power. haHAHah. Worlds Collide. Hahahaha. Fire, lightning, death. HAHahaha. Destruction hatching from a shell of madness. Madness. Chaos. Chaos fractures the World. Chaos, the only force to repair the damage.

The whispers ever present in Knuckles mind, now sounding like multiple voices all whispering not quite in synchronization, echoing, discordant laughter breaking up the short sentences. Instead of being disturbed by this, Knuckles just let it slide off him, uncaring. He would have gotten up in frustration, and found a way to shut the whispers up, but he couldn't look away from the images coming into sharper focus within the Emerald. Scenes of Mobius being torn apart by cataclysmic storms, whole sections of landscape being sucked into swirling vortexes of unreal colours and nightmares. Superimposed over these images was Robotnik laughing maniacally, with an orange coloured emerald clutched in his hands.

XXX

Black and dark red were useful colours to be when hiding in the shadows, especially in this pollution stained landscape. Shadow the Hedgehog stared out across the barren plains between the edge of the forest and Robotropolis. Such wanton, uncaring destruction made his blood boil, today even more than usual. It was clear to Shadow that Eggman was insane, a despotic ruler hell bent on controlling the world, only to watch it choke under his unclean industry.

Shadow didn't hate industry; He was created, and had grown up in, a scientific laboratory in a space station, the ARK, that had orbited Mobius. Almost nothing there was natural, but it was clean and efficient, what Eggman had done was sick, poisonous to its core. The edge of the forest around him, these hardwearing trees and shrubs, were almost stained black by the acrid soot particles in the air. Beyond this corrupted boundary lay a desolate wasteland, stripped bare of anything natural by acid rains and choking smog. Pools of acid and industrial waste, a mixture of oils and dumped chemicals, pool in the areas that used to be lakes and rivers. The land itself scarred and pockmarked with Eggmans experimental tests, some that had just failed, some that the Freedom Fighters had destroyed, or some sad metal shapes of ex-Mobians that had failed in some way.

Shadow struggled to believe that Eggman was related to his creator, Gerald Robotnik, and his granddaughter, the only person Shadow had truly ever cared for, Maria Robotnik. It is why he always thought of the cancer that was Ivo Robotnik as Eggman, Robotnik was a name too good for him. While he had not always seen eye to eye with Gerald, Shadow had understood that he was a good man, and had always tried to do his best for Maria. The ghost of Maria's face hung before Shadows vision for a moment, before he shook his head, clearing it from his mind. He could not dwell on that right now, not them, not what happened, and even though Eggman was somewhat responsible for his continued survival, he would see him pay.

Shadow had been struggling with concentration for the last few hours, something very wrong was going on with the levels of Chaos energy readily available for him to tap into. What could have been the normal drop of power had turned into a sea, making him have to fight not to just drink it all in and accidentally cause damage. If not for his cuffs limiting his absorption rate, he would have already reached critical levels. Not that he had a problem with large scale damage, there just needed to be a reason and a focus for it.

His first thoughts had been that Eggman was setting up another plan to destroy Sonic, and as usual it was affecting him too. However, now he was looking across the desolation towards Eggmans headquarters, he could not sense any definite direction for the increased Chaos energy. The only strange thing he could see was a storm flaring over the city, only over the city. Eggman had probably created a futile weather control device that would likely be broken by the Freedom Fighters before the week was out.

All the lightning arcing off the metal city would make closer investigation dangerous, and with no focus of Chaos power present it would not be a worthwhile risk. He needed to look elsewhere for answers. He needed someone else who would be able to feel the wrongness of the ambient power. As much as it galled him, he needed Sonic. With an irritated grunt he turned away from Eggmans wasteland, dashing off at speed towards Knothole.

XXX

Not a single cloud in the sky, only a light breeze, its a perfect day for running. That said, every day is a good day for running. A flash of blue streaks across the landscape, contrasting with the vibrant green of the grass and the earthy terracotta oranges of the scattered ruins in the Green Hill zone.

Sonic the Hedgehog knew this path better than he knew his own quills, his mind racing even faster than his feet, jumping boulders, dodging hidden pitfalls, smashing through expected mechanised patrols of Robotniks Badniks. This always made him feel alive, his need for speed, a constant force in his mind. That and chili-dogs, they are delicious and gave him plenty of energy for his runs.

"Just over this bridge, bounce up this cliff face, and JUMP! Two heart beats and land on the swing bridge ... land ... Woah!"

Sonic was falling, the swing was out of position. He readied himself to hit the ground safely, but it seemed to be taking an age to drop, his foot was already tapping impatiently against the empty air. Sonic looked to his left, the waterfall he was sailing past seemed to almost be frozen in place, even tiny airborne droplets were hanging in the air, only lazily making their way towards the river below them. How fast was he going? Sonic started to realise something was off. He should have taken nine hundred seconds to get to this point in his daily run from the start in Knothole, now he was really thinking about it he had been going for less than ten, no wonder the swing had been out of position. He must have been traveling around seventy thousand miles per hour. This revelation pleased him as much as it worried him, he had been approaching the speeds he achieved when he had absorbed enough Chaos energy to transform in his golden spined 'Super' form, but how could he have obtained that amount of energy without having access to a Chaos Emerald? Hurriedly he checked his arms,

"Nope, still good old blue,"

Now Sonic was really focused, he could feel the increased ambient Chaos energy. His mind started to race with questions about how this has happened, momentarily causing him to forget about the fall.

WHAM!

Sonic hit the ground with a thud, his breath knocked from him with force. Gasping, he slowly pulled himself to his feet, being careful not to slip, the thin land bridge was slick with water spray from the falls. Falling into the river below would not be good, the blue Hedgehog couldn't swim.

"Oof! Ugh, glad Sal didn't see that ... hey Sal's smart, she'll know what's going on! Alright, back to Knothole, its juice time!"

With a burst of unnatural speed, Sonic sped off back towards home, leaving only a brief burst of water vapour behind him as he broke the sound barrier almost instantly.

XXX

A bright sunny day, hardly a cloud in the sky, it was a perfect day. You could almost forget you were in a war for survival, almost. Tails couldn't really forget though, he had been born the same day as Robotniks takeover, it was the only time he had ever known. He wasn't even a kit anymore, though thankfully having Sonic as a big brother had allowed him to have a semblance of a childhood. He had been getting more responsibilities in Knothole lately, his keen intellect and ability with machines had become significant since Rooter the Walrus had been captured and roboticized last year. Even with Sonic wanting to keep him out of harms way, in times like these being fourteen was too old to be doing next to nothing, and Knothole needed him. Besides, Sonic was way younger when he started being a hero. With his skills he could help his big brother win the war, maybe even save his life. That thought made the twin-tailed fox smile. Sonic had done so much for him, he wanted more than anything to repay him for his kindness and brotherly love.

A clink-spang-thump noise shook him out of his thoughts, that was definitely not a good noise. The young fox was buried, head first and hip deep, into the engine compartment of his red bi-plane the Tornado, working to fix it so he could carry out more aerial reconnaissance missions for the Freedom Fighters. He should really be concentrating on his work instead of drifting into revery. The noise sounded like one of bolts holding a suspension spring had failed, but he, thankfully, had the parts to hand to make the repairs. Ready with a wrench and a palm full of nuts and bolts, he squirmed further into the compartment, glad that he hadn't really grown at all over the last few years. Sally had said it was caused by Robotniks pollution, hopefully that was the only side effect. Eventually he reached the springs, and he had been right, one of them had failed. The takeoffs and landings over the rough surfaces of the clearings near Knothole were pretty bad, it looked like they were jarring things loose again. He really needed to talk to Sally about getting a landing strip built, he had a plan, he just needed to run it by her first.

The suspension spring had uncoiled up and punctured into a collection tank above it. Tails hooked the wrench onto it, preparing to pull it into place, and bolt the shock absorber back down. With a sharp tug the spring came free, rewarding Tails by splattering him with oily black gunk all over his soft orange fur.

"Aw man ..."

Tails sighed as he bolted the spring back into place, maintenance always was messy work. Pulling himself back out of the Tornado, Tails took off the head torch and apron he was wearing, and looked himself over. He was seriously covered in black muck, apart from several orange stripes where head torch had been and the white fur of his chest protected by the apron. If he had been red instead of orange he would almost look like ...

"Nice look kit, hmph, and here I thought you idolised an inferior hedgehog"

Tails practically leapt a foot in the air, he hadn't even heard or noticed the black and red hedgehog stood right behind him.

"Ah! Sh-Shadow!"

Tails spun around, panicking for a moment before his brain caught up enough to realise the edge of sarcastic humour behind Shadows words.

"I ... uh ... hey Shadow. I wasn't expecting you ... here, in Knothole."

"I need to talk to Sonic."

That took Tails by surprise, Shadows face was set in his customary scowl, and his voice was even, so it was hard to tell if he was still joking, but Tails didn't think so, which meant this was serious. Shadow tried to spend as little time as possible around Sonic.

"You do? I mean, sure, but he's out running right now. Can I help?"

Tails's surprise was quickly being replaced by his enthusiastic optimism, only to be dampened by a flat response by Shadow.

"No."

Shadow turned and walked away, talking back over his shoulder,

"When he turns up, tell him he can find me at the power ring pool. I will be waiting."

Tails watched Shadow leave, his ears drooping a little due to Shadows curt answer. Shadows grumpy personality and stand-offish nature made it hard for anyone to be friends with him, though that didn't stop Tails wanting to be his friend. Tails could see that something had happened to Shadow that made him that way, and there was good in everyone right? Well unless it is roboticized out of you, like Robotnik. Tails shook his head, he had drifted off into thoughts again. He should go and find Sally and let her know Shadow was here, and while he was there he could tell her about his landing strip plan!

XXX

"Zat eez it, put more of your spine into of it!"

"Thats 'put your back into it' Sugah, and you could help out here, ya'll know that right?"

"But I am helping. Supervisation eez what eet eez zat I am doing! Besides you are so strong you could lift zat wheel all on your very own"

Sally Acorn sighed with exasperation. She was a Princess, but not out here, here she was just the leader of those opposed to Doctor Robotniks false rule, the Freedom Fighters. In reality very few of them were even adults, and even those of them that were, like herself, Sonic and others, were only adults by months. Then there was Antoine, oldest of all of them by a few years, still acted like he was thirteen. Time to restore some order.

They were performing some major upgrades to Knottholes waterwheel, a sugestion made by Tails earlier in the day. Bunnie Rabbot was helping out with as much gusto as normal, her partially robotisised body giving her the strength of ten Mobians, allowing her to move the huge wheel with very little help. Sally was running the options through NICOLE, her wrist mounted computer, to make sure they put them in place properly, and Antoine was stood around looking important and offering 'suggestions'. Sally could see the look on Bunnies face as she was turned away from Antoine, holding up the massive power-generating wheel. Bunnie looked more exasperated than Sally felt, though she did note the little twinkle in Bunnies eye as the compliment about her strength sank in just a little.

Sally turned to the Coyote in Royal Guard uniform, "Antoine? Bunnie is right, we need more help than just your suggestions. We could use some more counter-balances for the wheel, could you find Tails and ask him for a 'long wait' please?"

Bunnie looked confused for a moment, before realisation dawned on her face, "Sally-gurl, I don' … ooooh … Yeah your right, go get a good long wait Antoine!"

"But of course My Princess, Miss Rabbot, one long weight coming right up, absolument!" With that he dashed off towards where Tails kept the Tornado.

Bunnie levered the wheel into place and grinned at Sally "Quick thinkin' there hun. Sometimes I don' know if I want to jus' hug the cute right outta him or give him a whack."

"Antoine does try hard, Bunnie … too hard" Sally shakes her head, "But he needs to learn to get involved properly. We need his help, we need to have as much strength against Robotnik as possible."

"It'll be alright Sally, he'll get there … eventually" Bunnie looked off in the direction Antoine had run, "Maybe if'n he had more responsibilities he'd be … hey, here comes Tails, he's …" she trails of sniggering slightly. Sally follows Bunnies gaze to see the young kitsune, still in his Shadow like mess.

"Hello Tails what's going on? Is Antoine being a problem?"

"Oh no, I got him tidying my tool shed while looking for the long weights, funny prank Aunt Sally, but I need to tell you two things. First Shadows here, he wants to talk to Sonic, I told him that he wasn't here so he's waiting by the ring pool."

"Hmm … that is worrying, he usually stays as far away as possible, especially from Sonic. What was the second thing?"

Tails eyes lit up as he started to explain his plan enthusiastically. "You know we have been having problems with landing the Tornado, right? Well I had an idea about creating a landing strip! If we start it by Dulcys landing clearing, and clear trees out from there, we can use the trees we remove to build a canopy over the strip so it is still hidden from Robotniks skydrones. That way the Tornado can come down through the clearing and onto the smoother surface. We can even waterproof the canopy and keep the Tornado there. It would save a lot of resources when I don't have to keep repairing the suspension, and any other parts shaken loose in a rough landing." Tails seemed very pleased with himself at the suggestion, his twin tails flicking with excitement.

Sally smiled, Tails excitable nature always welcome in this life time of war.

"Good idea Tails. How will we get all the trees down without it taking a long time and alerting Robotnik?"

"I thought about that! Sonic can spin like a buzz saw and go through a tree trunk like butter! Then with Bunnies help, her strength means that she can catch them easily. If I mark where Sonic cuts through we can keep the stumps level, turn the tree trunks into planks and make the runway platform from them. Then it just becomes routine maintenance keeping the platform level, which should not expend resources, and generate sawdust that could be useful. Just need to run that by Sonic and ..."

As if by saying his name, a blue streak flashed by, immediately doubling back and screeching to a halt in front of them.

"HeySalLil'buddyandyoutooBunnie. SomethingsreallyawesomerightnowI'mgoingsuperfastwithoutbeingsuperImeanIamsuperbutyouknowjustthewaypastcoolkind. IdontknowifyounoticedIwouldhavebeenbacksoonerbuttherewere'ButtniksSwatBotsandIhadtojustsmashthemtheydidintstandachance. Heyareyouevenlistening?You'venotevenmoved. Hello?Hello!"

Sonic was gabbling as fast as he ran, and was now bouncing around waving in the faces of Sally and Tails, who were stood agape, trying to figure out what was going on. Sally came to her senses first.

Sonic couldn't understand why everyone was moving in slow motion, it was like he was running Chaos Control but badly. Sally had started moving quicker, and that had gotten his attention. His pretty childhood friend had tensed like she did when she was attacking Swat Bots. She was coiling, arm raising palm open. Sonic thought it looked like a dance move to some lame slow rhythm music, until a high speed thought passed through his brain,

"She's gonna hit me"

The thought stunned him a little. He could have dodged it, but the strange slow motion hostile action was too surreal for him to take seriously. However when it connected, it was like he'd run into a wall.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Oh good, Sonic you are back to normal. You were acting hysterical. What was that all about?"

"I was hoping you could tell me Sal. I was going Super fast, but without the ol' hedgehog insano effect. I 'aint complaining about a bit of extra juice, but somethings not right. Got any bright ideas?"

"Shadow!" Sally announces like a proclamation,

"Huh?"

"Shadows here Sonic, he wants to speak to you. He must know what's going on, and it must be important."

Tails chimes in, "Yeah, he wouldn't speak to anyone else,"

"Sounds serious, which we wouldn't expect from Shads at all" Sonic rolls his eyes, but holds up his hands at a glare from Sally "Alright, alright, sheesh, do I at least have time for a chilli dog? I burnt a lotta juice on that run."

"Work before snacks Sonic."

"Aww, Sal! …"

Sallys expression softens and she turns to Tails, "Tails, while Sonic and I go and talk to Shadow could you get a chilli dog for Sonic, at least we will save some time that way."

"Sure thing Aunt Sally!" The Foxes twin-tails swish excitedly, happy to help.

"Extra cheese?" Sonics stomach growls in anticipation, tails grins,

"Extra cheese big bro!" with that, Tails rushes off towards the kitchens, while Sally, taking Sonics hand, leads him off towards the power ring pool.

XXX

They found Shadow stood, arms folded across his chest, gazing down into the clear water to the great ring from which all powers are formed.

"Hey there Faker! What a surprise to see you here. Gotten bored of spending time in Loners-ville?" Sonics voice cut across the clearing. The banter carrying no hint of spite, his tone easy and playful, but it still drew a rebuke from Sally,

"Sonic!"

Shadow turned, arms still folded, and fixed Sonic with a glare for a few heartbeats before swallowing his retort. His glare changed to an imperious gaze,

"Enough, hedgehog. I don't have time for your normal insults. We are both in trouble, and we need to act fast."

Sonic scoffed "Actin' fast is all I do, you aught'ta remember that from all our races." his customary grin started to fade as Shadows words really started to sink in, "What do ya mean 'we're' in trouble? What did you do? Is it Butt'nik?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Not that I could tell. It's about the ambient Chaos Energy, even you can't be stupid enough not to notice."

Sally turns to Sonic, "See Sonic, I told you that is why Shadow would be here."

"Nah, you said he'd know what's going on. Seems like he's as clueless as us."

"No one is as clueless as you Sonic."

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over how awesome I am"

Shadow looked between the two incredulously,

"Enough! Hmpf, Sonic the levels are rising constantly. I don't know how long my limiters will last before the dam breaks, and do you want to be stuck as your yellow version?"

Sonics seemed shaken by the idea, but he tried to laugh it off,

"Ah come on Shads, I'm just faster than normal, none of the old insano-hog."

Shadow looked at him, his expression stern.

"OK, OK, serious-mode. Sheesh, someone has ta lighten the mood."

"Hmpf." Shadow turned his gaze towards Sally, "Princess Acorn, this situation is serious, and it could kill us both, along with countless others. Do you have any suggestion of what we might do?"

While appreciative of his courtesy, Sally didn't want her title out here, causing her to grimace when he used it,

"Unfortunately I don't have the answers, Shadow. However, I think I know who might."

Shadow raised an eye ridge, and looked at her expectantly,

"Knuckles. If there is an issue with Chaos Energy, Knuckles can use the Emeralds to put it right."

"Oh yeah, good idea Sal! Ol' Knucklehead will stop Shads from going Boom!" Sonic said, moving his arms out rapidly in a big circle, imitating an explosion.

"Tails can take us there in the Tornado," Sally continued, ignoring Sonic.

As if by magic Tails appeared, freshly cleaned and carrying a giant hotdog covered in heaped chili-con-carni and a mound of cheese.

"Here you go Sonic" Tails passed the chili dog to the blue Hedgehog, who gulped it down in a single bite with a thanks, "Where are we going Aunt Sally?"

"Good timing Tails! Can you get the Tornado ready for a trip to Angel Island?"

"Sure thing! The last few repairs are nearly done. Should be ready to go in … half an hour?"

"That will be fine, thank you Tails,"

The little kitsune dashed off, his twin tails whipping behind him, almost a blur.

"Half an hour? Alright! Time enough for another chilli-dog!"

A flash of blue shot out of the clearing before anyone could tell him no, leaving Sally and Shadow alone by the water's edge. Sally sighed with frustration.

"And that was his serious mode?"

The rhetorical question got an answer from the serious Black hedgehog.

"Annoying as it is, let him have it. I have a feeling this is going to get worse before it gets better."

Sally looked back at Shadow, was that a flash of concern she saw on his face, before his features returned to stern neutrality.

XXX

Knuckles backed away from the vision in the Master Emerald, the laughter still ringing in his ears, another noise had jerked his attention back to reality. His shoulders were tense; though that was the only concession to emotion his stoic personality would allow his body language to reveal.

He continued to back out of the temple, not allowing himself to turn his back on the Emerald in case the voices or visions had any other tricks for him. Once outside, Knuckles saw the Freedom Fighters Bi-plane coming into land.

Normally he would go to meet them, ensure their purpose here, but this time he would let them come to him. Something was coming, he didn't know what, but he could feel it, taste it in the air, like a storm on the edge of breaking.

Sally, Sonic, Shadow and Tails came rushing from the landing zone towards the temple, towards Knuckles.

"Yo Knux, we've got a problem" Sonic was the first to shout towards the echidna, keeping pace with Sally and Tails, not even a light jog for him.

"I know" The terse reply was all Sonic got from the staunch guardian.

"Knuckles!" Sally tried, "We need your h…"

Knuckles cut across her "Somethings coming!"

There was a blinding flash, as a huge fork of lightning crashed towards Robotropolis. Sonic and Shadow stopped dead. They could feel it, the power emanating from the direction of Robotropolis.

An eighth Emerald!

"No" growled Knuckles, "He's going to upset the balance, going to …"

There was a pulse of light from inside the temple, the Master Emerald flashed as it began to crack.

With the sound like nails on a chalkboard over the sound of tearing meat, reality seemed to rip. A great gash in the sky above the temple yawned open, its raw edges like teeth in a mouth, leading to a realm of madness and unreal colours.

Angel Island began to fracture. Great lumps of earth broke away from the ground and launched themselves into the gaping void. Looking around in horror, they saw similar portals opening all over Mobius, devouring whole regions of the planet.

The seven Emeralds around the fracturing Master rose into the air and scattered, each towards a different portal. Knuckles jumped, trying to grab a hold of one, but it evaded his grasp. Instead of falling Knuckles kept rising towards the maw above them, its edges juddering like mirthful lips, and it was now emitting a sound like a scream laughing. A single eye, red but wreathed in blue fire, stared out of the void down upon them.

Sonic looked ready to go after Knuckles, "Shads, throw me!"

"You're insane!"

"I can Chaos Control and bring him back down"

"Who knows what the Chaos Energies will do to you now! You could die!"

"So could he!"

Shadow turned towards Sonic, but weather to disagree or to help, Sonic never found out as the Island violently broke apart, catapulting them all into the sky rift. Into another world.

End of Chapter One.