Peace!

The air in Black Sun Castle didn't smell of old stone or dampness; it smelled of ozone that was already somewhat burnt, as if reality itself were wearing away at the edges.

Pace clenched his fists, feeling cold sweat trickle down his palms. There was no trace of the mythical speed spoken of in legends of other worlds; here, he was just a hedgehog with trembling legs and his heart hammering against his ribs like a caged bird.

He had spent months studying maps with Brain, listening to Rosy's warnings and Brawn's tales of strength, but nothing prepared him for the scale of this place.

"Where are they...?" he whispered to himself, his voice barely a thread . "Only one emerald... I only need one to stop this."

Suddenly, a sharp, metallic clang echoed in the corridor. Pace lunged behind an obsidian column, holding his breath until his lungs ached.

The Encounter in the Shadows ​A silhouette began to materialize in the center of the room.

He didn't walk, he floated like an ink stain on water. Black Sun—or Shadow, as the whispers of the elders called him—was not a creature of flesh and blood, but a mass of vibrant darkness desperately seeking something tangible to possess.

"I can smell your fear, little hedgehog,"

"It's such a... human scent. So fragile," hissed a voice that seemed to come from all directions at once.

Pace shrank further, hiding his spikes behind the stone. His eyes fixed on a pedestal a few meters away: there, shining with a violent and unnatural light, rested the Chaos Emerald. He was so close, but the space between him and the jewel was under the watchful eye of that living shadow.

The atmosphere becomes tense

Black Sun stops right in front of the column where Pace is hiding. The hedgehog can see the shadow projected on the ground, lengthening toward him like claws.