The Secret Society

Chapter 2 - A Disturbing Discovery

[AMY]

The sound of my footsteps echoed against the hard marble floor. I tried as hard as I could to step softly so I didn't attract the attention of the owners of the voices ahead of me. The heat from the flame lamps seemed to be getting stronger as I got deeper and I started feeling real claustrophobic. I started wondering if I should turn back. I knew that this could be very dangerous and I could possibly end up getting hurt or kidnapped, or something worse...

Stopping for a second, I took a time out to gather myself. The smell of incense was almost suffocating now and the distant chatter was more audible, although, try as I might, I still couldn't quite make out what they were saying. I wished someone was with me right now, I couldn't wait to go back and tell everyone what I'd found.

I wracked my brain to think of who in the world could be inhabiting this underground space. I didn't recognise the accents of anyone there, it definitely wasn't Robotnik or anyone on his team.

All of a sudden the voices stopped and a loud, meticulous drumming started. I had never heard anything like it before, it sounded almost... ritualistic. Then to my complete surprise a chant began, male and female voices singing in time to the drumming in a language I couldn't detect.

"What the absolute frig is going on here?!" I whispered to myself. My whole body got the chills and I decided to turn back. But before I could take a step the chant ended with a loud cheer and a round of applause.

"Maybe they're just having a party?" I reasoned. "Well if it's a party, maybe they might be friendly!" I convinced myself to follow the tunnel right to the end. It seemed like I wasn't too far away from whatever was going on now.

Taking careful steps I walked for another few minutes until I could see a gigantic wooden door in front of me. It looked medieval in style, carved from solid hard wood fashioned all over with huge metal bolts and spikes. "Wow, just my luck," I muttered as I noticed it was slightly ajar.

My heart skipped a beat in anticipation. I could now hear exactly what was being said. A deep voice belonging to a male boomed out from behind the door.

"And so it is now we must increase our dominance over the population. It seems that there are a growing number of individuals who don't seem to be affected by the frequencies that the grids are emitting. Their minds are either too strong or they have developed some kind of immunity to it. Either way they are a hindrance to our plan."

I felt my stomach drop to my feet.

What in the world-?

I didn't like what I was hearing at all. This sounded bad. Very bad. It was then I knew I was supposed to find this. Whatever is behind that door is evil.

Feeling a surge of confidence fuelled by anger, I slowly edged myself through the crack in the doorway.

My heart stopped when I saw what was behind the door. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in sheer terror.

An enormous octagon-shaped stone room, much like a temple, stretched out before me, containing what must have been several hundred mobians, all wearing matching grey robes and facing three menacing figures standing in the centre with their backs to me. Every robe had the same weird flower symbol on them that was etched on the marble floor tiles.

The walls were also engraved with the same cryptic code as in the tunnels but on a much larger scale. There were also colossal stone carvings of eerie, mythical looking creatures in all eight corners of the room. There were also several large stone bowls with huge fires burning out of them, giving off a large amount of heat and what seemed to be the source of the spicy aroma. In the very centre of the room at floor level was a pit in the shape of a triangle, burning with a bright blue, liquidy fire. This was beyond the realms of my wildest imagination.

I squinted my eyes to get a closer look at the three that stood in the middle of the crowd. They appeared to be leading the group. I couldn't believe what I saw.

Is that... Shadow?

In the middle of the three was a dark hedgehog with pointy spines. But something seemed off with his. His colours weren't right. The stripes on his quills were dark green.

"Wait, that's not Shadow!" I gasped.

The hedgehog was an exact replica of my friend, almost identical. But it most definitely was not him. I could tell from the way he was holding himself.

This is insane.

I studied the beings on either side of him. They appeared to be a jackal and a green hedgehog. The jackal was black with white dreadlocks that reached to just below his shoulders and a bushy tail with a white tip. The green hedgehog was of similar build to Sonic. As they still had their backs turned to me I couldn't see their faces.

Suddenly the black hedgehog spoke in the same arcane voice I heard before.

"It is now time to conduct the séance. Tikal! Come forth and summon him."

On command, an orange, female echidna with white markings stepped forward and stood at the edge of the blue fire. At this point I wanted to run away as fast as my legs could carry me but I was frozen to the spot – half in fear half in sheer astonishment.

She raised her arms above her hear and formed a triangle shape with her hands. Taking a deep breath, she began singing a mysterious chant in a language I didn't recognise. For such a small creature she had a surprisingly loud voice. Her melody was beautiful yet somewhat unsettling at the same time. Goosebumps covered my entire body. Slowly the whole crowd of people started clapping in time to her chant and the drumming started up again, this time slower but with perfect precision to the claps.

The flames of the blue fire grew until they nearly touched the high celling. I could feel the energy shift in the room. It seemed to get even hotter until I felt like I was suffocating. I thought I was about to pass out.

After a few minutes the room started to vibrate, slowly getting stronger until it was so intense I couldn't bear it any longer. I was about to crouch down into a ball when all of a sudden a loud, demonic roar cut through the air like a knife. I looked up in horror as the most terrifying creature I had ever laid eyes upon burst through the flames, and twisted into a humanoid form with long arms, three fingers on each hand and a pointy head with two spikes falling behind its shoulders. It had green eyes and I could even make out the outline of its brain. Gross! It looked like it was made from blue liquid, yet it stood unfazed upon the flames.

Although it had no mouth, it began to talk. The sound of its voice didn't penetrate my ears, yet echoed in the centre of my forehead in the form of a raspy, intrusive voice.

"State now why you have summoned me!"