"The Crown's Curse" by Adrian Tymes [Legal disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by SEGA and Archie Comic Publications, Inc., Sandra Nightweaver and Commander Packbell by David Pistone, and "Postcards From Mobius" #2 by Richard Ray Roberts. Permission is granted by the author to freely distribute this story, so long as: a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who distributes the story, and b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored. In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it. The griffins in this story are my own creations. If you wish to write a story including or referring to the griffins as presented below, or the events in this story, please contact me in advance - I would like to know who uses them. Copyright (c) 1996, all rights reserved, et cetera.] ****** Time: a month after "Surprises" ****** Somewhere under the Great Unknown, a grand network of caverns known only as Home had fallen silent. Its inhabitants never made enough noise to be heard outside Home out of fear of discovery, but inside, Home used to echo with the sounds of griffins going about their buisiness. Now, however, most of the griffins no longer had buisiness of their own. All throughout Home, silence was the rule, except in the throne room. For all that it had changed, the throne room was not that different from a few days ago. A plaque with the names of all the griffins that Snively had roboticized was taken down after they had been deroboticized. A griffin sat on the throne, her crown glowing brighter than the room's lights. Several piles of dust surrounded the throne, similar to piles that had appeared throughout Home. The most significant changes, though, were the two shackled prisoners lying on the floor in front of Grisha. "You really can't guess what I've done?" Grisha laughed uncontrollably. One of her captives, a griffin as large as Grisha but with the same color scheme as Kenal and Kishar, struggled helplessly against his restraints. "I can guess, but even you wouldn't dare..." "I would and I have," Grisha interrupted. "And it feels wonderful. All this power, and all I had to do was take a few lives." She gestured to the dust piles. "I didn't even have to lie to those I let live. Just a simple tweak of their minds, and they became my slaves." "Then finish the job! Take my mind too, and be done with it!" Impatience, anger, and fear were audible in the griffin's tone. "No. I want you to appreciate the folly of your ways. You were King when Acorn betrayed us, and even now, you would still have us trust outsiders like her." Grisha pointed to her other prisoner. "Acorn did not betray us. He was himself betrayed." "I do not believe that. This must all be a plot to get us to reveal Home's location. Anyone who would trust a Wyrm, even Kenal, can not be trusted by us." "At least use Kenal's right name, Grisha. Your crown is fake. My son is King now." That caught Grisha off-guard. After a small pause, she retorted, "He may be King at the moment, but he won't be once I take his crown away." "And how do you intend to do that? Even you aren't powerful enough to tamper with the crown." "Oh, but I will be. I just need a little more power, and who better to take it from than the one who showed me how to take?" Before the former King could reply, Grisha leapt onto his shoulders and sunk her claws deep into his skin. No blood spilled. Instead, greenish energy was pulled from every cell of his body through the wound. The energy snaked up Grisha's arms, fusing into her body as it traveled. Her victim's body faded to monochrome gray, then disintegrated into another pile of dust, stopping the energy drain. With no body to hold them in place, the shackles that had held a griffin hit the floor as the other set, sans prisoner, was kicked towards it. "Nice light show," their former occupant remarked. "Now tell me why your slaves brought me here, and why you thought you could hold me." After removing her own restraints, she had silently dissapeared into a shadow. "I knew I couldn't hold you. But I also knew you'd stay around to watch. And that..." Grisha concentrated, and her crown glowed brighter. "...was your mistake, Sandra." Mesmerized by the same force that held the rest of Home in thrall, Sandra Nightweaver walked back into the light. "Whatever should I do with you, outsider? You've always given us info about the world, and only asked for material things in return." Grisha smiled while she pondered, then continued, "This time, why don't you give info to the world? You can start by giving a message to King..." ****** King Skyer was playing air tag with Dulcy and Tails in the Great Forest. Or rather, trying to play, but he was hopelessly outclassed. Dulcy's size made it hard for her to hide, but any time King got near, she could "crack the whip", as she called it, and dodge away faster than King could fly. Tails was also faster than King in the air, and his tails let him turn on a dime. Dulcy whipped past King just below the treetops while yelling, "You're it!" King did not see Dulcy coming. The air turbulence in Dulcy's wake launched King into a credible imitation of Sonic's spin. King fell, bounced off two soft pieces of underbrush, then managed to come out of his spin and regain some altitude. Dizzy, King looked around to see which way Dulcy had gone. A hand reached out behind him, grabbed his tail, and yanked him into the especially dense-leaved tree that the hand had come from. King let out a started "Awk!", but made no other sound after entering the tree. Five minutes later, Tails led Dulcy towards the tree. As he looked around, he asked, "Are you sure this is where you tagged him?" "Yeah. I wonder why he hasn't come after us?" "Look down there." Tails pointed to some disturbed underbrush, which he flew to and smelled. "King's been here." Tails raised his nose to the air and sniffed again. "He's hiding nearby." He was proven correct as King rocketed away from the tree he'd been pulled into and dove into Dulcy's pouch. "Ok, ok, I'm it. Stop squirming," Dulcy said. King only wimpered in reply. Tails flew over to the tree and pulled aside some leaves to reveal Sandra, eyes unfocused, kneeling inside the tree's cover. "Sandra? What happened?" After a few seconds of no response, Tails flew closer to her. "Sandra? Hello?" Tails waved his hand in front of Sandra's eyes, which got her to blink. "What...Tails?" Sandra looked around. "Where's King?" Tails pointed to the wall of leaves surrounding the tree. "He's outside. What happened?" "That's what I'd like to know. Last I remember, I was trying to trade with the griffins, but they grabbed me and took me to see Grisha. When I got there, she boasted about hypnotizing everyone, and...oh, no, I think I just lost a customer." ****** Gradually, Dulcy managed to calm King down, then settled down for a surprisingly soft landing in a clearing nearby. Tails led Sandra to them as King peeked out from Dulcy's pouch. King started to duck back in when he saw Sandra, but she interrupted, "It's ok. Grisha's no longer got control of me." Tails looked from Sandra to King and back, his confusion obvious. King answered his unasked question. "Grisha used her magic to take over Sandra's mind and the minds of every griffin at Home. Now Grisha wants me to return. She sent Sandra to tell me." "So? Can't you just stay here?" "Grisha also threatend to destroy the Great Forest while looking for me if I don't go. Knothole would be exposed, and I'd still have to face her. I have to go." "If you're going, I'm coming with you," Dulcy replied. "Me too." Tails leapt at the chance to go on a mission, even if it wasn't against Packbell. "And me." All three flyers turned towards Sandra in surprise. "She read my mind. No one does that to me." None of the others had ever heard Sandra get emotional over anything until now. King asked, "We bought your information all the time. Was mind reading any different?" "Some information is beyond price, King. I wanted no one to know it, but she took it from me." "What did she take?" "For your sake, I hope you never know." The ice in Sandra's voice sent shivers down everyone else's spines. Dulcy looked down at King. Almost unconciously, she shifted her weight to give him a more comfortable perch in her pouch. "So how do we get close to Grisha?" "We don't." King looked up at Dulcy. "I'm sorry, but you can't come with us. The only way we can stop Grisha is to take away her powers. If the other griffins saw a dragon when they woke up, well...let's just say they hate dragons as much as your powers made you hate us." Sandra's instincts for acquiring new information kicked in. "Made? As in, she doesn't anymore?" "I showed her how to control the anger when we rescued Grisha." "How?" King's crown glowed. "Like this" sounded in everyone's minds, but no one spoke. "You're a telepath too?" "No, but my crown gives me some of the same powers Grisha has, including mind control and telepathy. It should be powerful enough to counter anything she tries." Unconciously, King started looking through Sandra's mind for her forbidden knowledge. "Stop it! STOP IT!" King's crown stopped glowing. "Oops. Sorry, Sandra." "Just don't let it happen again." Tails started to ponder. "How do Grisha's powers work? Did she get the Chaos Emeralds or something?" King looked to Sandra. Sandra looked to Dulcy. King followed Sandra's gaze to Dulcy, who responded, "Sally told me not to tell him the legends. She thinks he'll get nightmares." She lifted King from her pouch, let him perch on her left arm, then lowered that arm to the ground. "Legends? What is Grisha using?" King took a deep breath, then replied, "There is a reason I only refer to the magic that we use as 'our sorcery'. It is a polite name for necromacy." Tails' eyes widened. "Death magic?" "Yes. It is called that because anyone who uses it must kill to do so. There is a spell anyone can cast to absorb the life of one who is dying. The spell redirects the fading life as it leaves the body, binding it to the caster. Once you have done this, you can use it as a source of magical energy that can power any spell you know how to cast. The more you have bound, the more powerful your spells become. You can even talk to those whose lives you have taken, since all that is left of them is bound to you. "But there are two catches. First, every time you cast a spell this way, the lives that power your spell re-experience their deaths. Second, this magic warps the caster's mind, turning it evil, driven by a lust for power and a disrespect for life. The power addicts those who use it, making them desire more. "One thousand years ago, almost all of my ancestors were addicted to the power. It was the only form of magic they knew, and their favorite lives to take were those of dragons. Those of us that survived the dragons' revenge swore that no one else would learn our sorcery until we could find a safe way to fuel it. We tried to find other sources that didn't change the user's mind, but the only ones that we know of are the Chaos Emeralds, and we have never been able to find them. Our last attempt to track them down failed when Snively captured and roboticized our scouts." Tails was alternately fascinated and horrified by King's tale, but he saw one flaw. "How do you know so much?" "I was one of the scouts. After Snively roboticized us, he put most of us to work in his labs. In an attempt to create more intelligent workerbots, he merged our memories and copied the result to each of us. I knew everything that our other scouts did, including my father, who was King when he was captured. As King, he knew what I just told you. Even now, after deroboticization, I can still remember everything." Sandra added, "From what I saw, it looked like Grisha's already taken the lives of over half of Home's population. She said she had enough power when she mesmerized me." King shook his head. "Grisha's addicted. She will want to take more lives before long. We must stop her before she does." "How do we do that?" "We have to free what she has taken. Once she has lost what she has stolen, her power will be gone. If I can control her mind, I can make her free them. If I can't, then we go to plan B." "Plan B?" "Figure out another way of stopping her." Sandra rolled her eyes. "Greaat." Tails articulated, "What if she controls your mind? Didn't you say there's some kind of curse on your crown?" "I forgot about that," King replied. "If Grisha makes me retire, or takes my life, the crown would go to whoever's my sucessor. But since I have no sucessor, the crown's been enchanted to turn Home into a volcano. And we'll be facing Grisha at Home." "How do you get a sucessor?" "Well, there's no time for the usual method..." Tails was about to ask what that method was, but Sandra and Dulcy interrupted in unison. "Don't ask." "...but if we could find another griffin, I could appoint that one as my successor." "Why do you need a griffin?" "Appointing involves a ritual that must be done in flight, and needs fur to fur contact. The only ones who have fur and can fly are griffins; that's why the ritual was designed that way." Tails jumped up, spun his tails, and hovered in mid-air. "Fur to fur in flight? That's all? I'll be your sucessor." "But you're..." King looked upwards as his voice trailed off. "...about to be a Prince," Dulcy finished. "You're right. Ok, Tails, take off your gloves. After this, we take care of Grisha." Tails complied, letting his gloves fall to the ground. King took off and flew to Tails. They joined hands while King's crown started glowing again. King's voice dropped to a whisper. "Show me your thoughts, your dreams, your fears. Show me your self." For Tails, reality dissolved. He felt himself floating in a void as everything he'd ever experienced flashed by. King was there, taking it all in, but Tails could only watch. Memories long forgotten played out along with those of a few days past. Reality faded back in after a few minutes, but Tails saw only his reflection in King's eyes. "Do you promise to wear the crown? And, should you get the crown, do you promise not to let its curse erupt?" Tails nodded in reply. "Then you are my sucessor. May the crown never find you." King's circle of golden feathers leapt off of his head, formed a halo around both of them, then returned to King's head. "Never find me? But I thought..." "Trust me, Tails. If the crown were to spend eternity searching for its next bearer, we'd all be better off. And remember this." King imprinted a thought into Tails' mind just before the crown stopped glowing. "You may need it." ****** On Dulcy's insistence, Tails, King, and Sandra were riding her to the Great Unknown. She knew that she couldn't stay, but Dulcy wanted to be nearby just in case. King pointed to an especially flat plain near five steam geysers. Only he and Sandra knew the plain to be a hologram. "There. That's Home." "Where? I don't see anything." "Try landing there. You'll see." Dulcy hovered for a bit, then dove towards the plain. Just as she was about to hit the ground, a familiar robot flew into sight. "Watch out! A Spy Globe!" "No problem. I'll drop you off, then..." "No! Wait!" King's warning was too late. Dulcy plunged through the hologrammed plain, then landed in the crop fields surrounding Home that the plain had hidden. King screwed his face up and barely managed to avoid yelling out in frustration. Dulcy's only comment was "Oops." Tails and Sandra leapt out of Dulcy's pocket, then pulled King out before his paws sprouted viciously sharp claws. King was a picture of thinly veiled rage. "For one thousand years, no one has ever given away Home's position. Now you had to dive through our cover right in front of one of Packbell's Spy Globes, and all you have to say is 'oops'?" "Well..." "DUUUUULCYYYYY! GET OUT OF HERE!" Taken aback, Dulcy leapt back through the hologram, grabbed the Spy Globe, and proceeded to tear it apart as she headed back to the Great Forest. Grisha, having seen Dulcy coming, yelled from the steam vents. "I knew it! You wanted to let the world know where we were. You are not fit to be King!" "Listen, Grisha. I know how this looks, but..." "But nothing. I saw this coming all along. Good thing I prepared for it." Grisha and King closed their eyes simultaneously. Both crowns started glowing, but King's faded to nothing in a second. King blinked. "What did you do to the crown?" "I took it away from you, traitor. Now I am Queen, and you are merely Kenal." "Not if I have anything to say about it!" Kenal charged her, but she just raised a paw and smirked. Tails started to give chase, but Sandra held him back. As Kenal turned his charge into a pounce, he started wondering what he was doing: Kenal was only as large as his opponent's paw. That paw landed on Kenal, pressing him firmly into the ground. Sandra and King heard a sickening crack as the paw's owner put her weight on it. "What's this? Another life for me to take? A gift for your Monarch. How..." Queen's speech was interrupted by an explosion nearby as the hologrammed plain faded away. The sky was filled with every hoverbot Packbell had managed to spare, one of which had just blasted the hologram generator. Sandra and Tails hid in a tall patch of crops. "So, this is where you've been hiding all these years," Packbell's voice cackled from the hoverbots' speakers. "And the crowned griffin's here too. So nice of that dragon to show me. I think I won't even follow her this time." Queen tried to control the hoverbots' minds. Unfazed, they unloaded all of their weapons at her. Her last thought was a memory: "Robots don't have minds." ****** When the laser fire stopped, Packbell saw on his hoverbots' scanners that a volcano was quickly building up in the area. He ordered his hoverbots away, since he could not afford to lose any 'bots to the volcano. "Wait...why am I worried about losing robots? After that volcano erupts, all life on Mobius will die, if the legends are true. The only non-robots who will bug me will be the ones begging me to roboticize them, to save their miserable little lives." Packbell would have laughed, but the only emotion he could feel was hate. "And I shall say 'no'." Hiding in an airduct nearby, Snively shivered. Now he knew he couldn't let Packbell find him. ****** As the hoverbots retreated, Sandra watched the steam geysers that marked Home shut down. A rumbling came from deep underground. Tails had other thoughts on his mind as he sprang from cover and dashed over to his fallen friend. "Kenal! Don't be dead. Please, don't be dead." Tails' prayer was answered when Kenal coughed. "I'm not gone yet, but I will be soon." "What do you mean? We'll get you back to Knothole and fixed up in no time." Kenal's voice weakened noticeably. "No good. Even if the volcano waits for us to leave, I won't make it back. Tails, come here." Tails tried to dig Kenal out from under his attacker's dead paw. "No...no time...use the thought I gave you..." Tails searched his memory, and glanced at the thought with his mind's eye. "Ok. But what..." His voice trailed off as green energy flowed from Kenal's body, surrounded Tails, and infused him with Kenal's life. Tails tried to let go, but couldn't until Kenal's body turned to dust. Kenal's voice echoed through Tails' mind. "That was the binding spell. You must use our sorcery to stop the crown." Tails looked around, and saw that the circle of feathers was still on Queen's head. "Why hasn't it moved?" "Grisha disrupted the crown's enchantment when she removed the crown. You should be able to finish what she started. Concentrate on the crown, Tails. Shatter it with your mind." He stared at the crown, and again felt reality fading away. Only he, the crown, and a ghostly image of Kenal remained. Tails reached out mentally, feeling the golden circle and its fading magic. Curious, he plucked one feather from the circle. The crown exploded like shrapnel, leaving only Tails and Kenal. "What happened?" Kenal did not answer. When Tails looked at his image to see why, all he saw was his friend in pain. "You destroyed the crown is what happened." Reality snapped back. Tails saw a griffin walking towards him from the silenced geysers. Looking around, he noticed that the rumbling had stopped. "I don't know how you did it, but thanks." The griffin turned his head towards a familiar black shape. "Ah, Sandra, I see you finally accepted Kishar's invitation. But isn't this one a bit young?" Sandra stepped forwards, still taking in what had just happened. "What do you mean?" "Don't you remember? Kishar invited you to stop by with your mate." Confused, Sandra looked around until she saw Tails. "That's not my mate." "No? You sure?" The griffin examined Tails. "Is she yours, then?" "What's a mate?" The griffin opened his mouth to reply to Tails, but was interrupted by Sandra. "If you don't mind, I'll sell him that information when he can pay for it." In the mean time, she thought, maybe this will get Sally to belive I'm not all bad, at least long enough for her to buy my services. Tails waved a hand dismissively. "I'll ask Kenal." Both Sandra and the griffin looked around to see what had happened to their small friend. Both saw the small pile of dust at the same time, but the griffin spoke first. "You took his life?" "Yeah. So?" Tails was surprised by his own answer. He could tell from the griffin's face that his answer had not been taken well. "Typical outsider. First you take away our hologram, then you trigger the volcano, and now this?" "Packbell and Grisha started it. Kenal tricked me into taking his life so I could stop it." The griffin advanced meanacingly. "I don't believe you." A wave of anger washed over Tails. "Believe this!" Before he knew what he was doing, the anger coalesced into a beam of energy and launched itself at the griffin, knocking him out. "Was that necessary?" "Back off, Sandra." Still in a rage, Tails jumped up and flew away. ****** As Tails flew, Kenal's voice sounded in his head. "So you're a necromancer now? You must be quite talented to have fired that stun beam without knowing how, not to mention destroying the crown with your first spell." "Kenal?" "Pardon me for not introducing myself. I am your magic. Kenal is how you use me, which is why I am using his voice." "That's ridiculous. Magic can't speak." "Oh, but I can. And I have so much to say. I'm sorry I had to interrupt your conversation, but what I can tell you is much more important." "You made me angry?" "I was your anger. I can be your joy, I can be your tears, I can be whatever you want me to be." "What do you want from me?" "I want to serve you, as Grisha's magic served her." Tails shivered as he remembered his brief encounters with the necromancer. "No thanks. I don't want to be like her." "You don't have to be. She was only interested in her small world. I sense that you want something bigger...Robotropolis. You want Packbell out of power, don't you?" "Well, yeah, I suppose." "And then what?" "I dunno. Find my parents and deroboticize them, I guess." "But you never liked them, did you? You especially hated that name they gave you, 'Miles'." He wanted to object, but something kept Tails from doing so. "That's right." "So why deroboticize them? Or anyone else, for that matter?" "I...I don't know." "I have a better idea. Why don't we take care of Packbell, then just take over his empire?" "No. Sally said it's wrong to control other people like he does." "Oh? And who is Sally?" "She's a friend. She tries to act like my mom at times, but she always knows what's right." "How does she know this?" "I don't know." "She's been manipulating you all these years, Tails. Take over Robotropolis, and you can show her what's right. You could even take her life, and let her watch through your eyes as you do the right thing." "But I..." Tails' resistance faded fast. "Take over Robotropolis? How?" "Increase my power, and you can. All I need are a few more lives." Fear paralysed what was left of Tails' mind as he found himself looking forward to fulfilling his magic's desire.