Hi all, I'm back in business, if anyone still remembers me. Just want to tell you all that I've been somewhat busy as of late, so I haven't been able to complete this new story yet. Good news is I'm half way through already, so it shouldn't take too long. Anyway, this is the first chapter for the events that will come later. Hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to drop a few lines. Thank you for your time.

Prologue to darkness

(Continuing from the Epilogue of Brothers' fight.)

Recap:

The day after the event of the One-day War and the destruction of Eggman's Egg Citadel, Sonic and Tails had made up and decided to throw a party to celebrate their latest victory. However, the party was abruptly canceled when an unexpected guest arrived, all wounded and beat up, in the form of Blaze the Cat, Sonic's comrade and the guardian princess of the Sol Emeralds in her dimension. The cat explained that her world and all worlds were in peril from an unknown group that called themselves 'The Lords of Pandemonium'.

End of Recap.

"The Lords of Pandemonium?" asked Sonic.

"Yes, I have never seen them before, but I have heard stories," replied Blaze as she tried to remember the events that had led to her sudden appearance, "They possess powers that I cannot fathom, much less counteract."

"Why don't you explain everything from the beginning so that we have a clearer picture of what happened?" suggested Tails as he handed Blaze a cool glass of water, which the princess gratefully accepted.

After drinking a few sips and calming her restless nerves, Blaze looked at everyone in the room and began to tell them what had transpired in her dimension a while ago.

"It began as just another peaceful day in our kingdom…"

Blaze's story

It was a beautiful day in the Sol Dimension, and everyone was minding their own business as usual.

Blaze, bored of being cooped up inside the confine of her castle, decided to take a stroll to town and enjoyed the peace that the kingdom was experiencing.

After the crisis of the stolen Jeweled Scepter, the world enjoyed a long period of peace. Although Eggman Nega, Blaze's most hated enemy, sometimes showed up and stirred up trouble, Blaze always managed to foil his plans and saved the day.

That day, when Blaze was enjoying her walk, she suddenly felt a strange sensation coursing through her body. Due to her many years of protecting the Sol Emeralds, she was capable of sensing things normal people could not sense, much less comprehend.

"What…" said Blaze as the sensation got stronger and stronger, which caused her quite a headache, "What is this feeling? It's almost…ominous."

Blaze took a brief moment for her splitting headache to somewhat subside. Once it did, the lavender cat whipped around and quickly made a beeline back to her castle.

Completely disregarding all forms of manners, Blaze broke straight into the treasury, where the sacred Sol Emeralds were being safely guarded and kept, to make sure that everything was fine.

When she opened the door, she was met with a horrific sight. The Sol Emeralds were levitating in the air, and there was an ominous dark violet aura surrounding each of them. Quickly overcoming her initial shock, Blaze used her powers to calm the Emeralds down.

However, when Blaze used her soothing powers on the sacred gems, she was blown back by a mysterious aura coming from the very things she was trying to protect. The dark aura hit Blaze directly and sent her flying out of the room, demolishing the giant gates leading to the chamber.

The guards heard the loud noise and came down to check. To their horror, they saw the royal princess on the ground, squirming and groaning in pain.

"Your…your highness," stammered one of the guards as he looked at the horrifying scene, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Blaze, trying to appear strong in front of her loyal subjects, "You need to get out of here immediately. Something is wrong with the Sol Emeralds, and I have to find out what."

"But, your highness," said another guard as he helped Blaze get up on her feet, "You are badly injured. You require medical attention immediately."

"I am fine," growled Blaze angrily, "Now let go of me. I have my duty as the guardian of the Sol Emeralds to carry out. All of you, leave this place at once."

The guards looked at each other and at Blaze perplexedly. Blaze knew full well and respected the extent of their loyalty and sense responsibility toward her, but she couldn't risk having any of them get hurt, especially when she had no idea what was making the Emeralds glow ominously like that.

Blaze turned her head around and looked at the guards with the sternest face she could work up.

"Get out of the chamber right now! That's an order."

The guards once again looked at each other hesitantly. They didn't want to leave, but they couldn't disobey a direct order from a member of the royal family. In the end, the guards decided to leave the room, albeit reluctantly.

Blaze sighed in relief now that her subjects were out of harm's way, but she quickly turned her attention back to the task at hand. Protecting the Sol Emeralds was her sacred duty, and thus it was upon her to purge whatever evil was plaguing the gemstones.

Blaze focused her powers and used her flames as a means to purify the ominous aura eclipsing the Emeralds. She used everything she had, but still, the strange aura refused to disappear. If anything, the mysterious aura simply grew stronger and stronger as it completely shadowed the entirety of the Sol Emeralds.

"What is happening?" asked Blaze in bewilderment, "I have never seen anything like this happen to the Sol Emeralds before."

Quickly shrugging off her doubts, Blaze stormed into the chamber and once again focused entirely on the task of purifying whatever it was that was corrupting the scared jewels.

"The Light shines bright as Darkness dies

To protect all that's just and right

Let those who turn to Evil's wight

Be cleansed by Sol's brilliant might."

Blazed chanted her secret spell of the guardians to help strengthen her powers and influence over the Sol Emeralds (Something I made up for fun, also, the spell may be subject to change).

At first, it seemed to work as the darkness slowly dissipated, revealing the usual brilliance the Sol Emeralds normally possessed. Blaze smiled happily and continued to purify the remaining darkness.

However, the darkness suddenly grew once again, completely dominating the room the princess was in. A huge beam of pure darkness shot from one of the Emeralds and once again hit Blaze directly, sending the feline back a few feet.

When the guardian princess tried wobbly to get back on her feet, she picked up strange voices whispering to her in the dark chamber.

"Darkness grows strong as all Light dies

To claim men's hearts and their demise

Let those who live, bathed in Sol's Light

Be swayed by Evil's supreme might."

The wicked chanting voices continued to sound in Blaze's ears as she tried to locate their owners. The spell that was being said was a completely twisted version of the guardian's. Soon, she noticed that the voices were coming from the Sol Emeralds themselves, a fact that shocked her immensely.

Before Blaze could react, the entire room shook vigorously, causing her to lose balance. At that time, the ominous aura surrounding the Emeralds gathered in one place and began to merge.

Soon, the lighting of the treasury returned to normal, but the number of individuals inside had changed dramatically.

In front of the shocked and dumbfounded princess were seven cloaked characters of dubious and questionable nature and motive. Each of them wore robes of different colors, which precisely corresponded with the colors of the sacred gems. The seven enigmas took their time to look around and at each other briefly before directing their cold gazes toward the lone guardian princess.

Due to their hoods, Blaze couldn't see their faces.

"You must be Blaze the cat," said the one in the middle, whose robe was of a shade of gray, with a soft, and somewhat suave, tone, "The current guardian of the Sol Emeralds."

"What if I am? State your purpose, creatures."

"For a guardian, you have quite a temper I must say. I assume that your temperament has, more than once, gotten you into awkward, or should I say unfortunate mishaps with other people around you…perhaps even with people that are not even of this world" replied the same individual in a mocking tone.

Blaze could only stare in shock as she listened to the cloaked creature's words. "How could they know about…"

"Oh, we know," said a woman's voice among the group, whose owner was the one in purple right next to the first being, "We have been watching you for a really long time, your royal highness. How long has it been now? Probably ever since you were welcome into this world."

Once again, Blaze was shocked speechless.

"Who…What are you? Why are you here?" asked Blaze as she desperately tried to regain herself.

"Regarding the 'Who'," said the first individual, "That will be answered in due time. As for 'Why', do excuse my impoliteness your highness, but I must answer that with another question of my own."

"What is it?"

"Have you ever heard about the legends of the day when all living things, be it organic or inorganic, will cease to exist, the day that many great minds and prophets once referred to as The Great Cataclysm in the distant past?"

"I have, but it's nothing but a myth. There is absolutely no way the Sol Emeralds, which grant us life and protection, would be the instruments of our demise. I protect the Emeralds, and I know that they are pure in every possible way."

There was a moment of silence in the room after Blaze had said that. All of the sudden, all seven cloaked figures laughed like they had gone insane. There was something in the laughter that completely paralyzed and petrified the normally confident and brave princess.

"What's so funny?" asked Blaze indignantly as she completely discarded her usual formal speech pattern.

"Nothing at all," said the female enigma once again, "We just had the same thought regarding the saying: 'Ignorance is bliss', that's all."

Some of the figures in the back continued to laugh, particularly the ones in the cyan, red and yellow robes. Blaze was getting tired of their games. However, before she could open her mouth, the cloaked man in gray, who seemed to be the leader, spoke again.

"Within every living creature, no matter how pure and noble, exists darkness, your highness. The Sol Emeralds are no exception."

At this comment, Blaze shook visibly.

"What do you…Does that mean you came from…"

"Inside the Emeralds, bingo, your fuzziness, heh heh heh. Took you long enough to figure out something so simple. Somebody throw her a ball, heh heh" said the one in a yellow robe with a mocking and sadistic tone that might very well suggest his nature.

"It's impossible. I vaguely remember hearing legends about seven malicious deities of destruction sealed within the Emeralds in ancient times, but I never think that is true."

"Well, it would serve you well to remember from now on that every legend has an origin, and so do relics and artifacts."

"Then that means, you are…" stammered Blaze as she tried to get her words out.

"The ones that were sealed millennia ago inside the Sol Emeralds, now resurrected to finish what we have started" said all seven figures in unison, "Soon, this world and all other worlds known or unknown to you shall succumb to our powers and be wiped out from existence forever."

"No, I will not let you do that, I will stop all of you right here, right now" yelled Blaze as she generated flames from her hands and shot them at the enigmas.

The cloaked deities, on the other hand, simply stood still and waited for the raging flames to reach them. Before the flames hit, the leader of the seven held out his hand and generated a shockwave so powerful that, not only did it extinguish Blaze's flames, it also sent Blaze flying straight into the wall behind her, effectively smashing it to bits.

"You honestly believe that you alone, with your limited skills and powers, can stop all seven of us? That is perhaps the most amusing thing I have ever heard in millennia. I do not know whether to address your tenacity as incredibly brave or disastrously idiotic," taunted the leader as he watched Blaze struggled to get back on her feet, anticipating an attack.

"Please rest your mind at ease, your highness. We are not going to kill you, at least not yet. We need a messenger to go out there and tell everything and everyone that their time is up, that the Great Cataclysm will soon be upon all."

Blaze stood up groggily and tried to generate more flames, but the shockwave had done a number on her, to the point that she could not even stand straight, much less defend herself.

"Tell them," said all seven, "The Lords of Pandemonium have returned from the darkness of the abyss. They will without a doubt trust the words of a member of the royal family more than a random passer-by. Until the end of this pitiful and rotten world comes to pass, do enjoy the remaining time you have left. Farewell, your highness."

With that, a huge portal of pure darkness appeared behind the cloaked figures, and they all disappeared through it, leaving the exhausted and wounded Blaze inside the room.

The princess, with her remaining strength, grabbed the almost lifeless Sol Emeralds on the ground and left the room shortly after the sudden departure of the seven menacing and mysterious deities.

Using the last ounce of strength she had left and the last remaining power within the sacred gems, Blaze opened a portal to Sonic's world, knowing that the hedgehog and his allies could be the only ones in the multiverse that could stand a chance against the deadly threats.

Yes, I wrote the poems myself for added effect. It's just that Knuckles has his own spell for his Master Emeralds, so why shouldn't Blaze have her own incantation for her own gems?

Anyway, this is all for now. Things will get more exciting soon enough (hopefully). Thank you again for your time, everyone.