1 00. Dawn of the Messiah

"Shadow, wake up! Shadow, we have to go!" the voice of a middle-aged man cried outside Shadow's room, banging on his door with his fist over the loud sounds of fire alarms and screams. As Shadow the Hedgehog woke up, the first thing to blind him was bright red flashing lights coming from the roof of his bedroom. Immediately he knew something was wrong...very wrong. He quickly got out of his bed, his black fur with red streaks in his quills illuminated by the lights, as he quickly grabbed and put on his golden inhibitor rings on his wrists, the only things that held his power back from a point that would exhaust him, and rushed to the door, opening it to see his creator, Professor Gerald Robotnik, in his white lab coat, his bald head and long brown moustache his trademark appearance.

"What's going on, father?" Shadow asked as Gerald grabbed his wrist, dragging him along.

"We have to find Maria and get you two out of here! The bad people have come to take you two away and kill me!" Gerald explained quickly, Shadow's eyes widening, "I've gotta get you and Maria to the escape pods before they find us." The two of them frantically ran through the halls of the Space Colony ARK, Shadow's birthplace and the only home he'd ever known, as alarms continued to sound, with screams and gunshots heard in the distance. Soon enough, the gunfire became louder and the screams following on with them, as Shadow began to witness Gerald's fellow scientists being shot down by soldiers in black camouflage suits in the distance of the hallways.

"Professor, help me, please!" A voice cried out alone, catching Gerald's attention, as he quickly went to see one of his younger employees, a man named James, who'd been shot in the abdomen, slowly bleeding out.

"James, I'm here, kiddo, stay with me, okay?" Gerald started as he kneeled next to the man, grasping his hands over James' hands which were clasping his wound trying to apply pressure.

"I don't wanna die, professor, I don't wanna die, I wanna go back home," James pleaded to Gerald, as Shadow stood next to them.

"I'm gonna help you okay, James, just stay with me, please," Gerald promised, as they all heard the footsteps of soldiers heading towards them, prompting Gerald to turn to face Shadow, "They're coming, Shadow, you need to find Maria, and escape with her, it's the only way my sacrifice will not be in vain." Shadow's face suddenly turned from confusion to sadness.

"Father, I can't leave you here, I don't know what I'd do without you," Shadow tried to reason with his creator, who took one of his hands to place on Shadow's shoulder.

"You must, Shadow. I knew this day was going to come, it's now or never, if you and Maria get killed, nothing will change, and my entire life and yours would've been wasted," Gerald explained to Shadow, as both of them leaked tears from their eyes, knowing this was farewell, likely forever, "I was always meant to die here, for the chance to change the world through you."

"Please, father," Shadow pleaded once again, as Gerald brought his creation...his son, in for one last hug.

"I love you, son, but I can't come with you...now go," Gerald finished, as Shadow stumbled away in tears, "Go!" Shadow ran away from Gerald and James to find Maria, wiping tears from his eyes. Inevitably, the group of soldiers they'd heard appeared around the corner next to Gerald and James.

"Gerald Robotnik, you're under arrest for high treason and sentenced to death as per the executive order of President King," one of the soldiers announced, as Gerald stood up in despair.

"Please, save my boy here, don't let him die like this," Gerald pleaded for James' life, "Kill me, I don't care anymore, I've done my job, but don't make others suffer for my mistakes!" Suddenly, from behind the soldiers, another man emerged, wearing a navy blue suit and black jeans and dress shoes.

"Men, take this young man here for medical treatment, then have him tried for treason, accordingly," the man ordered two of the soldiers, before taking a pistol from one of the others, as another placed handcuffs on Gerald behind his back, and pushed him onto his knees, "I'll deal with Robotnik myself. Keep searching for the others...and the hedgehog." The soldiers helped James away and dispersed, leaving the man alone with Gerald.

"He's probably already gone, David, you won't find him," Gerald warned the president in front of him, "It'll only be a matter of time now, your empire will fall to its knees." David King sighed, kneeling down and placing one of his hands on Gerald's adjacent shoulder, the other still holding the pistol.

"You have too much faith in your creation, Gerald, and too little faith in me," David replied, grinning, "The King Dynasty has lasted for centuries on the foundations of human equality and perfection, something that will not be torn apart easily by an army of them at its weakest, let alone just one of them at its strongest."

"You have no idea what I've created, David, the power he holds, if left unchecked...he'll tear you apart limb from limb, and your dynasty with you," Gerald warned David again, grinning himself, "You think you're perfect because you built your name on less bloodshed than your father? Well let me warn you, the people will rally behind my son, because they'll know that with him, oppression and bloodshed will end entirely, and peace and unity will follow for all, not just the humans."

"The anthropomorphs have never lived in peace with one another let alone with humans as well, that's why humanity rose back to prominence, because the echidnas destroyed themselves," David finished, as he pinned his pistol up to the side of Gerald's head, "I assure you, professor, rebellion will die with you." David pulled the trigger, killing Gerald instantly, before he stood up, walking away from his now lifeless and bleeding body. As Shadow continued to run frantically through the halls of the ARK, the alarms ringing through his mind and the red flashing lights blinding his tear-filled eyes, he came to another room with its door open. He peeked around the door to see a young teenage boy with grey hair and two different coloured eyes, his left green and right brown, wearing a black t-shirt, dark green cargo shorts and red sneakers, talking to a blonde-furred hedgehog wearing a light blue dress with matching heels.

"Maria, are you seriously choosing to abandon all your friends for that thing and your grandfather's false dream of a peaceful world without the King Dynasty?" The boy, Abraham Tower, tried to plead with Maria Robotnik, trying to encourage her to go with the other children, "Look what that hedgehog did to you?"

"Shadow's not just a monster, Abe. I love him more than you'd ever know, and besides, even if I did go with all of you, I'm an anthropomorph now, which I don't mind, but it does mean that I'll never be accepted as I was before, especially by a world under the King Dynasty," Maria explained in a desperate tone to Abraham, "My only chance of living a life remotely as good as the one I had before is to go with Shadow, and hope we can change the way the whole world views us. I'm sure we'll see each other again one day, but I can't escape my destiny and live like anthropomorphs do, Abe." Abraham shook his head, his expression turning into frustration.

"You've let your grandfather and that hedgehog drive you crazy. You're not the girl I met when we first came here, the best friend I ever had, Maria, far from it," Abraham responded, clearly annoyed, even to Shadow outside the doorway, "You'll get yourself killed siding with him, and I'm not gonna have anything to do with it." Abraham grunted, storming out of the room, prompting Shadow to hide where the boy couldn't see him. When Abraham had disappeared, Shadow slowly entered Maria's room to see her slumped on her bed, crying.

"Maria?" Shadow whispered to get her attention, as she looked up at him, tears dripping down her face. Shadow moved closer to the bed, as Maria grabbed him for a hug, crying on his shoulder, Shadow running his hand along the back of her hair, "It's okay, Maria."

"Why does it all have to end this way, Shadow, why?! I don't get it!" she cried, as Shadow tried to comfort her, before she moved away, looking at him, "Where's Grandpa?" Shadow looked at the ground in mourning, Maria immediately picking it up.

"He told me to find you and get us both out of here. He said he was always meant to die for us, and he made me promise his sacrifice wouldn't be in vain," Shadow explained as more tears came from his and Maria's eyes, "He made me promise I'd change the world in his honour." Shadow and Maria hugged again, both crying as alarms continued to sound.

"We need to get out of here, then, in a pod," Maria started as they moved apart again, wiping tears from their eyes. They both ran out of Maria's bedroom, heading through the hallways of the ARK, continuing to make their way to the escape pods. When they finally reached the room previously full of escape pods, only one remained, just big enough for the both of them.

"Stop there, put your hands up, now!" A voice called out as a group of G.U.N. soldiers started heading towards them, "You're both under arrest!"

"We've gotta get out of here, now!" Shadow cried as the soldiers began closing in. At that moment, Maria looked at the soldiers, then back at Shadow. She knew they couldn't both escape in time. It had to be Shadow or no one.

"Shadow...go...I'll hold them off," she told him, as a look of horror washed over his face, "There's no other way, if I try to come with you, neither of us will escape."

"Maria, no! You have to come with me!" Shadow cried as Maria closed the pod with Shadow inside, "Maria! Open the pod, Maria! I can't leave you!" Maria faintly heard his words, muffled by the door of the transparent escape pod, as the soldiers closed in. She quickly moved to the lever to eject the pod as the soldiers entered. She looked over to Shadow, smiling both lovingly and regretfully.

"I love you, Shadow!" she whispered to him, which Shadow only could lip-read, before she pulled the lever. As the pod prepared for ejection, Shadow witnessed as the soldiers entered, one of them firing at Maria. As Shadow heard the gunshot, he screamed in agony, crying as the pod ejected from the ARK, firing down downwards toward the planet below.

In the room, Maria clutched her leg which had been shot. Suddenly, the soldiers made a path in the middle of the entrance, making way for David King to see the last escape pod ejected and only Maria on the floor. His eyes widened in fury, as he reached down, grabbed Maria, and slammed her against the wall of the room.

"Did you help that thing escape?! Do you have any idea what you've done?!" he screamed at her, as she just smiled at the president.

"I just planted the seeds...just like grandpa wanted," Maria responded, before David let go of her, dropping her on the ground, "If you have to kill me, just do it. He's alive, so your tyranny won't last much longer anyway." David walked back to his soldiers, before having an idea.

"You've got his blood running through your veins, haven't you?" David asked rhetorically, "Men, bring her down in a different ship to the others. We'll get her fixed up...then give her to her older brother, he'll know how to get the serum out of her." Maria's eyes widened at the mention of her traitorous older brother.

"What are you doing?!" she cried as two soldiers grabbed her, as David stood before her.

"You let the serum escape me, but it's in your bloodstream too...we'll just suck it out of you instead of him. Slowly, of course, as to ensure your blood can regenerate to make more of a supply," the maniacal president explained, "Your brother never cared about your family to begin with, I don't see you being an anthropomorph making things any easier for you."

"No, let go of me!" Maria screamed, as she tried to struggle the whole way to the transport vessel waiting to take everyone else back to Mobius.

Several hours later, Shadow sat alone in the escape pod, crying having just seen Maria shot and killed in front of him.

"Maria...no..." he whispered to himself, wiping a stream of tears away from his eyes. Suddenly, the pod began to shake around him, illuminated by the exterior bursting into flames from entering the atmosphere of Mobius, before suddenly, everything came to a stop as the pod crash landed outside the capital city of the kingdom of Acorn. As Shadow got out of the pod, stunned by the impact, he looked up at his surroundings, to see a forest around him, with a medieval city in the distance.

"Stop where you are, intruder, who sent you?!" a voice ordered from behind Shadow. He turned to see a group of anthropomorphs of various species standing around him in a semicircle, holding spears pointed in his direction, led by a chipmunk anthropomorph wearing a crown and holding a pristine silver sword, appearing in his late teens, "I'm Prince Nigel of the kingdom of Acorn, and we are the Freedom Fighters of Acorn. On behalf of our king Maximillian Acorn, I command you to speak your name and purpose." Shadow thought for a moment about his purpose, before kneeling down to the prince.

"Your majesty, my name is Shadow...Shadow the Hedgehog, and I've come on behalf of my creator, Professor Gerald Robotnik, from the Space Colony ARK, to produce a treaty and agreement...to take down the King Dynasty," he answered, willingly following Nigel towards the city.