Tails from echidna's tribe

"Tails!" Of course, this is not what Knuckles wanted to say at that moment, but the fox could catch the word, which is too early for his age, and he wanted to shout at least something, because he barely managed to grab the child by the scruff of the neck before he bathed in lava. Tails, too excited by the opportunity to explore a new place, ran into an unclear, half-ruined corridor, thinking that Knuckles would stay there and wait for him to return. Only he did not know that Knuckles did not have time to explain that this palace is not safe even for echidnas, because the palace is slowly collapsing, and lava is filling the empty spaces. Yes, the fox noticed that the corridor ends abruptly, but fire is famous for the fact that you can watch it endlessly. Mesmerized, he stood at the very edge and did not hear how the shaky stone under his feet slipped and flew into the lava. Tails' body, having lost its support, fell down, Tails himself could only be scared. Then he felt a grip from behind on the scruff of the neck, and his body was still pulled down by the inertia from the abrupt stop. "Ouch!" Tails rubbed his neck after he found himself on solid ground. Knuckles looked around him, afraid that his fur could have been singed from contact with the lava. "I told you: don't go away. Some places crumble with time. As you can see, it's better not to fall here. Just walk next to me, I know these places..." He patted the fox on the shoulders and lifted him by the hand. "We've almost reached the most interesting part." In the main corridor, drawings began to appear on the walls at some point. Tails looked around and began to discern figures of creatures similar to Knuckles in them. There were a lot of these figures lined up all over the wall, all heading in one direction. "What is this?" He got Knuckles' attention. "It's a guide. Nothing interesting..." Knuckles didn't even turn around. But he had to turn around, because he stopped hearing the patter of feet. The fox continued to stand under the drawings and look at each one. Having looked at probably every single one, he felt his head. "Dad... Why do my ears stick up?" "What do you mean?" Knuckles walked up to him. "Well, look, theirs are long and hang down. Yours too." Knuckles couldn't help but laugh, which confused Tails. "These aren't ears, Tails. The ears are here," he lifted the spine at his temple and showed the place where an ear could be, but there was only a hollow there. "What are these then, if not ears?" "These are spines. Well, in our terms, it's hair. The older an echidna gets, the longer it gets," he lowered his hand to his shoulders, where the tips of his quills touched. "One day, they'll reach their tails, like their ones..." Suddenly, Knuckles' smile faded as he looked at the drawings. "Come on, you'll soon see what this palace was made for." Tails followed: "But still? Why are my ears different? Do they cut them off?" His ears dropped down in fear at the idea. "Where did you get that idea?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "No, they've always been like that. You're just lucky to have them. I can't imagine you without them." He tried to joke, which didn't work out well. Tails narrowed his eyes, as if he was starting to suspect something. They came out into the main hall, which captured the imagination. In the center of the hall there was a huge altar, on which stood seven large emeralds. Their colors remained a mystery, as they did not glow and looked gray, unlike the largest, eighth emerald, located in the center. It slowly rotated, emitting a bright green light. Next to it, the fox cub felt a surge of strength and felt a desire to either get all the power of this emerald, or protect it from any threats, so that it remained only with him and all the echidnas. "Woah..." all he could say. "Yeah..." Knuckles agreed with his emotions, only he was already used to seeing this picture, and with the influx of responsibilities, it could not even please him anymore. "This, Tails, is why I always come here. This is what we echidnas have sworn to protect from any adversity, and what many generations have done. This is the Master Emerald, one of the most powerful artifacts on our planet. Its power is limitless, because the spirit imprisoned inside represents Chaos itself. Thanks to this artifact, our Angel Island floats in the sky, which is why it is sacred. They came closer, and Knuckles put the fox on his shoulders. The needles lay on his legs, but did not even prick, as if they were soft. “Stretch out your hands,” Knuckles suggested. Tails did so, and felt the warmth emanating from the emerald. “Warm…” Tails said unconsciously. “Yeah?” Knuckles was surprised. “Usually it blows a pleasant cold. Maybe it adapts to everyone...? Now listen.” Different sounds rushed through my ears: first it was the wind, then a thin ringing, like you sometimes hear near rivers, and after a long wait, an angelic voice rushed through, monotonously singing an unknown melody that you want to listen to forever, hoping that it will change notes. "As far as I can remember, and as other echidnas told me, the Master Emerald always stands in its place. Despite our strength, we cannot take it anywhere, because it is almost considered stealing. The palace was built around it to make it harder for anyone, who would want to use the artifact's power, to get to it. However, the ancient echidnas found a way to interact with it: the Emerald can heal any wounds, restore strength, whisper wisdom, give hints... Only sometimes I have the thought that it does this reluctantly to me, or to some other echidna... "It... whispers something. Do you hear it?" "I don't hear it, Tails. It seems that it is addressing you specifically." "It whispers my name... Only my name," Tails tried to repeat his name, but, to his surprise, felt his tongue become heavy. "Do not try to pronounce the name I gave you. The name I gave you has its purpose. You will be able to say it only when its meaning makes sense." Tails looked down at the echidna, trying to figure out what he meant by sense. "What is its meaning? When will I know I can say it?" "You'll understand. The words will come out on their own if I understand it myself." "Why do we hide our real names?" "So that ill-wishers don't have a chance to put a curse on us. The moment we reveal our name, we open our shell, which means we are most vulnerable." Having finished the conversation, Knuckles turned and headed back to the exit. On the way, Tails noticed something else in this room: on the huge wall at the very top was a drawing, part of which was the Master Emerald. "What is this?" He pointed his finger at this drawing. Knuckles looked and decided to come closer, putting Tails on the crook of his elbow. The Master Emerald was as if in the hand of some strange creature. "This is a prophecy. The ancient echidnas learned to look into the future, and this was one of the most important. At the bottom of this drawing is a prophecy: A powerful artifact will unite enemies and heroes in one chain... The hero, shining bright blue, will become the guardian of Chaos and will find help in the death to preserve life... The raging Chaos will leave its ardor and return the last chance to sinful souls..." Tails listened to the prophecy to the end, watching as Knuckles put his hand to the wall, sighing sadly. "And... Who is this hero?" "I don't know. His needles look like an echidna, but we are not blue. Maybe it's someone like... a hedgehog?" "It doesn't look like a hedgehog!" Tails objected. "Look at the patterns: hedgehogs don't have that!" "And have you had a chance to see hedgehogs?" "No, but... They look like the ones that echidnas wear during battle, you showed me yourself." "Okay, okay, let's not argue about it. Maybe this hero is neither a hedgehog nor an echidna at all..". "But who?" "Oh, Tails, if only I knew. I've never tried to look into the future. And into the past - even less."

***

One morning, Tails woke up in the house and got up to look for Knuckles. He found him in a field where the earth was plowed. Knuckles was running around and chasing away birds that were greedily pecking at something. "Get lost! You don't do anything yourself, so you found a treasure trove here?" "Dad? What's going on?" ""What's going on"... These impudent creatures are pecking at the seeds that I sowed for the winter! Nothing will grow at all like that!" The echidna waved his arms and jumped, hanging over the birds to make them fly away. Tails watched this and thought: you can scare them forever, they will still fly back as soon as Knuckles leaves. But now the echidna was busy and, apparently, in a bad mood. The fox noticed that he was in a bad mood for several days, as if something was gnawing at him. He snapped, walked around sullen as a cloud, and when he went to bed, his face changed from irritation to deep sadness. Sometimes tears flowed from his eyes, and the words "Dad... wake up... please..." slipped out of his mouth all the time. "Hmm, maybe we could do something to keep someone in the garden all the time. Something big and bright, threatening..." He looked at the bush, grabbed one branch and pulled it towards himself. He didn’t know how to do it right. Not as strong as Knuckles… He tried to either break the branch off or pull it out by the roots. It was too springy, and as soon as the fox lost his balance, it bent back, and the fox fell and rolled down the slope. Shaking himself off after falling face down in the grass, he looked around and realized that the field was not completely empty. There were trees all around the perimeter, not at all like the same palm trees. Small, thin, surprisingly rectangular in shape. They had only one branch each, forming a cross. The further you walk, the more moss there is on them, and the darker they become. He approached the closest tree, which seemed to him the lightest and smallest. He pulled and was surprised that this tree had no roots. Perhaps that is why it was pulled out so easily. Tails happily ran back to the house. Inside, he looked through all the drawers, looking for something suitable for the creation. He found an old, torn and dirty cloth, charcoal, a couple of feathers from some bird, straw and a small pumpkin. Sticking his tongue out a little in excitement, he tied the cloth around a cross, attached the feathers, and then took the pumpkin. He tried to stick the pumpkin into the top with one blow, but it was futile. Sighing, he took a knife and cut out some of the pulp at the bottom so that he could easily insert the base into the pumpkin. After painstaking work, he drew a face on the pumpkin with charcoal and made a hairdo out of straw. He ran out of the house and ran as fast as he could to the garden, as far as the heavy structure allowed him. Carefully walking between the beds, he inserted the scarecrow into the ground and ran to the side. The birds, noticing this “creation”, quickly flew away, croaking. "Dad! Come here, quick!" Tails shouted admiringly. It seemed that Knuckles was already heading his way when he heard the birds suddenly fly away. "What happened... What is this?" He noticed the scarecrow right away. "I call it a "scarecrow"! It should scare away the birds, and you won't have to chase them away all the time! They won't come anywhere near the beds!" "I see..." Knuckles didn't object, even if Tails took away a small share of his daily chores. "Well done, kid. Inventive." "Really?" the fox beamed, hearing the praise. He expected to see a proud echidna smile, but it seems he didn't have time to notice it, because Knuckles froze. "How did you make the base?" Knuckles asked, finding the familiar features of sticks on the scarecrow. The fox felt something was wrong, and this time even alarming, so he decided not to delay with the answer, but to explain everything. "...When I was walking around the island, I saw several trees lined up in a row. These were very strange trees, they had no bark. I decided that the shape was very similar to the pose you take when chasing away birds. ...I accidentally pulled out one of the freshest trees by the roots, sorry, but there were so many of them, so I did not think that it would affect anything. Can you say "fresh" for trees? But it really looked the cleanest among the others, the rest were overgrown with some kind of moss. "Fresh, because it was recently put up..." Knuckles silently came to the thought. Horror was written on his face when he realized what kind of tree the fox had pulled out. His legs became weak, and a shiver ran through his body. The sudden change in the echidna worried the fox even more. "Knuckles, what's wrong?" he asked. "Take it back," Knuckles could barely hold on. "What?" "I said: "Take it back"! This is not a tree. This is a grave cross!" The eyes grew wild, which scared Tails, and he quickly ran up to the scarecrow and tried to tear the base out of the ground with his paws. The sudden fear deprived the fox of strength, and the scarecrow slid from his hands. Losing patience, the echidna approached the scarecrow and tore it out of the ground with one hand. He shook off the entire decoration, leaving only bare sticks. "Lead me where you got this from!" he ordered Tails. Silently, Tails walked in the direction of the original place of the cross. Deep in the forest, they finally reached the field where these very "trees" were located. Tails approached the place where a small hole was formed, where the cross stood. It is not to say that it was necessary to show this to Knuckles, because he knew this place much better than the fox. When he stuck the cross back into the hole, he found that the hole was too small, and the earth he had dug out would no longer support the cross. Gritting his teeth, he crouched down and dug deeper with his claws, so that the cross would not stand by the will of the balance. The cross had gone much deeper now, and all that was left was to fill it back up. "Never. Do you hear me?" He turned his head to Tails. "Never take anything from this field! Do not desecrate this place!" "Why?" Tails asked guiltily. "What is this place?" "This is called a 'graveyard'. The most horrible, yet sacred place on the entire planet." Tails was surprised: more sacred than the palace? Echidna stared at the cross, pain written on his face more than ever. Knuckles knew that he needed to let the child know. He gathered his strength and calmed down, remembering that the fox cub was not to blame for ignorance. "The dead are buried here. Those who no longer live on this earth, but only give themselves to it as food." "Give? Why?" the fox seemed not to understand what he was talking about. "They have no choice. You and I live, so we do not give anything to the earth. They are... dead. The bodies no longer move. Like that animal you decided to chew. It was dead, but it was able to feed you," Knuckles did not know how to explain it. "And why do they no longer move? Are you saying that when I ate that animal, it knew about its fate? And did it feel me? And why are they buried?" "Partly yes - they know their fate. But they do not feel anything. I do not know why they do not move, maybe something simply stops living in them, from which the whole body dies. They are buried to make it easier for the earth to take them, and also so that it is possible not to look at it." "Not to look?" "Do not ask that question. You saw what happened to that little animal, and it's almost the same thing." "They just stop living? I don't understand... I'm alive now. And then there will come a time when I just stop? They'll bury me and I won't be around anymore?" "They say that we all have a soul... That after death we continue to live outside of our body. That's why they also say that we go to peace in the afterlife like that. "They leave their bodies? What if I don't want to leave?" "I don't know. I doubt anyone wants to leave if their body hasn't suffered in any way... That's why there's a risk that not all souls are at peace. Disturb them, and they'll want to come back..." fatigue began to cover the echidna. "Is it bad? That they want to come back?" Tails came closer to him. "Bad or good - I don't know either. But I wouldn't want to see it. More precisely... I would like to see those who are lying here, but..." Knuckles sat on his knees, completely gloomy. To somehow support him, Tails wrapped his arms around his neck, thereby hugging him. Carefully inhaling through his nose, Knuckles looked at the sky. And then he continued: "I'm sorry for scaring you and making you worry. You just pulled the cross out of my father's grave..." "Your father?" "Yes, he would probably be a grandfather to you... He lies right here, under us. I made this cross myself, even scratched his name..." Out of curiosity, the fox let go of Knuckles and looked at the cross closer: indeed, it was possible to read a word in the language of echidnas on it, but for Tails it was just a scribble. "What's his name?" he asked the echidna. Knuckles looked at the cross and suddenly blurted out: "I don't remember... I often called him "dad" or "father", and I heard his name very rarely... And this... In fact, it's just a scribble, because I didn't know how to write then, and I didn't even know the letters until the end. My mother, grandmother to you, lies somewhere here, but I don't remember anymore." "Mom..." Tails repeated like a spell. "What happened to them? Were they killed by the traps?" Tails immediately remembered that even though most of the traps didn't react to echidnas, some of them might still work. "No... Father said that Mom did not live to see me hatch. Dad... I don't know what could have happened to him either... He just... died..." Knuckles stood up from his knees and took Tails' hand. "Let's get out of here," without asking unnecessary questions, the fox cub walked back with him. Knuckles didn't want Tails to know the details, because he himself still remembered those days with horror. "Let me help you with your "scarecrow"", Knuckles broke the silence, returning to the garden. The obviously upset fox immediately perked up, looking at the echidna and nodding. Knuckles took a machete from the house and reached for the branches. "Look how it should be done", he swung and chopped off the stick in two blows. Then he cleaned it from unnecessary shoots and sharpened the tip. "This is necessary to make it easier to stick the stick into the ground." Tails watched carefully and did not interrupt the elder. "Give me the rope", Knuckles held out his hand, and a small palm put a skein in it. He tied two sticks together, and now they already had the same thing that the fox accidentally stole. "These are some kind of hands, am I right?" he asked Tails, who nodded again. "Okay, you can hang up what you did last time, then I'll help you with the pumpkin." He watched as the fox took the scarecrow piece and the decorations, and he took the pumpkin and examined it. The drawn face was a little smudged, so he adjusted it a little, preserving the child's scribbles. Returning to the house, he got out a bowl and got rid of all the pulp from the pumpkin. It was lighter now. Tails had finished dressing the scarecrow by this time. He turned around and looked at the echidna. It handed him the pumpkin. "Here. I thought you'd want to do this yourself." Tails almost dropped it, not expecting it to be so light. Then he stood on his tiptoes and put the head back in its rightful place. The crows flew away again, leaving behind seeds. Knuckles put his hand on the shoulder and smiled. "Great idea, Tails. Would you like some pumpkin pie for dinner?" "I would!"

***

Tails swung his legs on his chair, patiently waiting for the pie to be done. Knuckles was busy at the table, mixing the pulp from that same pumpkin with sugar. Suddenly he turned around and asked: "Why are you sitting there? There are oats in the other hut, we need to sort them. Go and do it", he shook his head. "Sure!" Tails jumped up and ran. "Don't forget: there should be two piles!" Tails went into the hut and examined the huge pile of oats. Work for the whole day, so the fox cub pulled on gloves, took a sieve and got to work. He carefully rubbed the grain between his fingers, thinking with annoyance how exhausting this task was. But what can you do - it's his own fault that he advised Knuckles to give him a job: Recently, instead of going to bed, Tails was jumping on the bed. "Tails, that's enough!" Knuckles ordered irritably. "It's time for you to sleep!" "I don't want to! I want to jump on the bed all night!" the fox did not listen, continuing to jump happily. This continued until Tails jumped so high that the top of his head touched the ceiling. Naturally, this contact was not soft, and Knuckles winced, hearing a dull thud. The child fell backwards onto the bed and did not move. Knuckles ran up and examined the bruise. The injury was not serious, but the fox lost consciousness. At least now he is sleeping. Only the next morning Tails was crying very hard because of the pain in his head, and Knuckles was putting ice on the resulting lump and giving him mint leaves to chew on. "From now on, since you have the strength to jump on the bed, you will help me." And he helps. The work is not hard, if you look at what Knuckles does. And he does everything at once. No, he is not in a hurry, but while Tails is standing over the cereal, the echidna manages to put the pie in the oven, light fires outside, get several cauldrons, fill them with water and cut different ingredients into each cauldron. Yes, there are only two of them on this huge island, but Knuckles was counting on the fact that in the winter he will be doing other things, and will also be able to treat small animals, like those same impudent birds. About two hours passed, Tails sorted only a third of everything that was there. He got a little tired and began to sort even more slowly. Knuckles suddenly entered the hut, and the fox jumped in fear. "So, what do you have here?" He came up and looked at the progress. Tails looked away in shame, knowing that such work could not be praised. Not hearing an answer, Knuckles took out a bowl and poured in the entire handful of oats that Tails had managed to clean. "Go have a lunch", he turned the fox by the shoulder and led him out of the hut. Tails followed the smell and sat down at a table outside. On the table lay a wooden pot with hot soup in it and a handful of grapes. He grabbed a wooden ladle and carefully began to sip. The carrots, potatoes and cabbage went well together in the broth, although deep down the child felt like something was missing. Curious as to why Knuckles wasn't eating, he turned around and watched as the echidna walked up to the well with a bowl of oats. He pulled out a bucket of water and poured it into the bowl, then put the bowl away, leaving it alone and taking out a crate with a large number of cans. "Are you eating, or are you catching flies?" Knuckles noticed his attentive gaze and empty mouth. Tails looked away in fear and finished the rest of his soup. Then he looked at the grapes. He had gotten a little tired of them after all this time. Knuckles loved grapes, but lately he had started feeding the fox too many of them. The child felt that saying that he was tired of them would be too rude and impudent towards the echidna, but he was afraid that he might throw up from the grapes. Sighing heavily, he tried to eat it as quickly as possible, which really almost made him throw up. Good thing Knuckles didn't notice... Time to get back to work. He returned the pot to the kitchen and went to the oats. This went on all day. By evening, having sorted the oats into two piles, Tails took off his gloves, sighed with relief, shaking his hands and left the hut. "Are you done?" Tails nodded to Knuckles who had come up and looked tiredly into his eyes. The echidna's stern look had disappeared after all day. "Go, there's a pie waiting." Tails glanced towards the dining table, over which a lantern was already shining. There was a pumpkin pie there, as well as a teapot and cups. Jumping up animatedly, Tails gathered his remaining strength into a fist and ran. He quickly sat down at the table and grabbed the previously cut piece and shoved almost the whole thing into his mouth. The taste was amazing, the pumpkin pulp and the sweetness of sugar cane brought joy back to such a stressful day. The child moaned with pleasure, and Knuckles, who had come up during this time, wiped the crumbs from his cheeks. "Take your time, chew carefully", he said, sitting down opposite. The echidna propped his head up with his hand, listening to the active chewing and the sound of the awakened crickets. He took the teapot and poured mint tea into both cups. "Drink it down", he himself did not eat the pie, although he slowly sipped the warm liquid. He preferred to watch the little creature in front of him wagging its legs and tails, as if ready to fly, chewing the pie and sipping its favorite tea. "Very tasty!" Tails said casually, causing the echidna to smile. "You deserve it..." They sat like that for a few more minutes in silence, until Tails had eaten his fill and was simply drinking tea, and Knuckles kept pouring until the tea was gone. "Tails..." Knuckles suddenly spoke quietly, and Tails looked up at him, without taking his lips off the cup. "Forgive me if I scared you too much today." Such words surprised the fox, which is why he stopped drinking tea and stared at the echidna in confusion. "I don't know what's happening to me. It's like everything irritates me. Don't think I'm being mean - you haven't done anything bad." Knuckles lowered his nose sadly, and Tails continued to look at him. Afterwards, he put down the cup, got up from the bench, walked up to the echidna and hugged him. Knuckles flinched from the sudden contact, but did not pull away. "I forgive you", the child said carelessly.

***

After dinner, Knuckles bathed Tails and carried him to bed. The cub was already sleepily rubbing his eyes and falling asleep in his arms. The echidna carefully lowered him onto the bed, covered him with a blanket and stroked the top of his head, touching his ears. Lovingly looking into his little muzzle, his periodically swelling nose, he sadly pulled away, plunging into his thoughts. "So small... Carefree... Defenseless... What if I suddenly die, like the others? What will happen to him then? And I grumble at him, as if he were guilty of ignorance…" The kid unconsciously brought back to him sad memories that he had forgotten for eight long years. When he was left alone with himself and saw no meaning in his existence. To distract himself, he went to the bowl of soaked oats.