The Emerald Tablet Incident

 

 

Synopsis:  Buried deep in the sand of the Mobian country of Hamarapi lies the Emerald Tablet.  Reis and Abnus carry forward with their archeologist’s directions, knowing that they will come across Celeritas’ guards and centurions.    They knock them all out with a soporific gas.   Their young son, Amon, sees all of this in progress, and although he has been taught from birth to loathe everything the hedgehogs and the Freedom Fighters resemble, being a near teen himself, he begins to rebel.   Under cloak of darkness, he leaves, seeing that his younger sister, Cary, is more suited for darker tasks than he would ever be. 

‘Carry on my wayward son, there’ll be peace when you are done. Lay your weary head to rest.  Don’t you cry no more.’—Supernatural’s Theme Song, lyrics from Kansas’ Wayward Son 

‘Greed makes men blind and foolish and makes him an easy prey for death.’—Rumi

 

 

Chapter 1—Amy’s Troublesome Vision

            Amy had been having some issues getting to sleep in prior nights.  

            ‘Reis and Abnus aren’t going to stop until the Emerald Tablet is in their grasp.’, she said, in complete trance.    Sonic lightly shook her to rouse her and noticed that her eyes were filled with tears.  He held her close to comfort her.   He had tried to do everything in his power to soothe her nightmares, but nothing had helped.  They had tried yoga, meditation, sensory deprivation, praying and still nothing gave her rest.    Sonic softly stroked her quills.    When nothing else he tried would work, he figured singing a lullaby might bring her some peace.   

            My sweet, precious rose

            Lying there in repose

            Come now, close your eyes

            Drift away, sleepy bye

            Nothing can harm you here

            Not while I am near

            Come now, close your eyes

            Drift away, sleepy bye

            Starshine, moonlight, all the stars align this night

            My greatest wish was granted tonight

            To have you with me in my life

            My sweet, precious rose

            Cuter than a bug’s nose

            Come away now, dreamboats fly

            Drift away, sleepy bye

           

            While nothing else had helped, the gentle sound of his voice had lulled her completely to sleep.   Turning around to face her, Sonic kissed the middle of her forehead and embraced her as he went back to bed.    The warning, he felt, was a false premonition.   She hadn’t had that dream in such a long time, but her dreams had never been wrong.    Ignoring his intuition, he continued living his life, teaching and training the future rulers of Mobius while learning from their storied past.    What he had seemingly forgotten was that the emerald tablet that Hamarampi had etched so long ago had been infused with Pharaoh Hamarampi’s  own magic and was so incredibly potent, there was no telling what it could do in the hands of chaotic evil.     Having placed all focus on the present, the past didn’t concern Sonic whatsoever.    All he cared about was making certain everyone in Mobius was happy, healthy, wealthy and wise, and that they felt equally treated in his idyllic monarchy.   

 

Chapter 2—Toppling the Guards

            For what seemed to be years, Reis and Abnus plotted to get the emerald tablet.   They had been studying it since Amon was a child.   Amon didn’t understand its significance, but his sister Cary, did.   

            ‘Why are you even bothering with that, dad ?   You don’t even know how it works.  It might have a failsafe in it which disallows you from manipulating the table to accomplish great feats of evil.’, Amon said.    Reis couldn’t believe this was coming from his 12-soon-to-be 13-year-old boy.   One day, he was wearing diapers and the next, he was taking a stance against his old man.   At least Cary hadn’t been like that.   She was more like her own mother, especially in how devious and sardonic she could be.   Amon had none of those traits and couldn’t understand why his dad was so hellbent on destroying the Celeritas Empire.   It had even given villains like the Hannibal family a comfortable living establishment.   The Hannibal family wasn’t hurting in any way, and they had avoided getting themselves incarcerated for violating any of the rules and regulations the Empire had created for a safer community and living arrangement.   

            ‘If you really want to prove yourself, then you can help me steal the tablet.’, Reis said, grinning toothily.    Amon still longed for the adoration and trust of his daughter, but Cary doubted her older brother would have the intestinal fortitude to carry through with his task.    With their plan set in motion, the Hannibals used their drill to burrow their way into the antechambers and were stopped by centurions, armed guards and powerful androids.    Sonic had even established fire breathing dragons as a deterrent.

            ‘I can’t believe he recruited blasted dragons.’, Abnus said, cursing her luck.

            ‘It doesn’t matter, my darling.   Watch.’, Reis said, a bit flirtatiously as he lobbed a soporific bomb in front of them.   Slapping on their gas masks, the Hannibals were unaffected and the guards lay there, completely knocked out.    Amon did as he was commanded and the tablet didn’t lash out at him.    He felt great guilt in stealing though, realizing it had been wrong.   The tablet whispered that anyone wearing gloves could handle it because it couldn’t tell the difference between someone having a pure or impure heart that way.   After giving his dad this information, Amon questioned if he had done something unforgiveable. 

            That night, Amon couldn’t sleep.  He tossed and turned, awakened by terrible visions.   Wrecked by horrible thoughts, he decided to join the resistance.   His parents seemed to be inconvenienced by him and he was still infused by some of the lingering power of the tablet.   It was like he and the tablet were linked.   He wasn’t sure why, but he could communicate with the tablet.    He was aware that the tablet forgave his impulsive action and then informed him that he was the rightful heir to the magic that the tablet contained.

            ‘That’s not possible though, is it ?’, Amon pondered.    Linked psychically, the tablet responded instantaneously.

            ‘You know reincarnation exists.  You are Hamrampi reborn.   You simply haven’t come into your own yet.   Sonic will need a magi like yourself someday, perhaps sooner knowing your wretched dad contains me now...', the tablet said, morosely.  

 

Chapter 3—The Fabric of Reality Frays

            Amon had come for help and understanding.   When he explained himself, the soldiers knew that he was a tracker to the tablet, and it would eventually be reunited with its true recipient.  

            ‘I find it a little unusual that you want to join us.’, Wave the Swallow said, arching an eyebrow dubiously.  

            ‘Yeah, I mean it’s obvious !  He’s the enemy’s son.  This is probably some sort of plot to trap us.’, Tangle the Lemur chimed in.

            ‘No, Tangle.  There’s no such trickery here.  I genuinely dislike what my parents are doing to you.   Besides, they like my sister more.  Cary seems more, shall we say, adept and driven to do true evil.   What I did was wrong, but now I know it’s my destiny to have that tablet.   I have to make this right.  Besides, I want to see this Empire survive.  Who knows what will happen…’, Amon began.   

            All of a sudden, there seemed to be booms resounding everywhere.    Sticks the Badger was pointing in panic to the sky.

            ‘Tesseracts !’, she cried.    One by one, there were portals opening.   All different dimensions had begun pouring into Mobius, and nothing made sense.   Those on the side of good easily hitched their causes to Sonics and Hannibal was already recruiting for the dark side.    Matters were already starting to get way out of hand but  Amon knew once the tablet was squarely in his hands, all of this would be reverted to normal.   

            ‘What we’re about to face will be our fiercest battle.  I can’t guarantee if all of us are going to live through it, but I need to get back to my tablet.’, Amon said, with conviction.    A newfound tattoo had begun to emblaze itself on his left shoulder.   It was of an ouroboros.  

            ‘He has the mark of Hamarampi.’, Blaze pointed out, as she launched herself into battle.   All around her, various other characters from a wide span of universes were joining in, helping their campaigns.    Fortunately, the scenario was evenly matched, but Reis would have to be distracted to release the tablet, and at this point, that was going to take a miracle.

 

Chapter 3—The Power Infuses into Amon

            'The tablet is very powerful from what I remember from Master Conkdor's lessons from when we were young.', King Sonic said, as he shielded an attack with a psionic shield created by newfound power from his medallion.   

            ‘No doubt…Our hopes rest on that teen.   We have bigger fish to fry !’, Amy said, spin jumping and landing a mallet atop the head of one of Hannibal’s armored mercenaries. 

            One by one, more of Hannibal’s men fell.  Abnus and Cary were holding their own despite their sex and age and with their own unbelievable abilities.   Just at the right moment when they were distracted, Amon retrieved the emerald tablet.    Inciting an ancient incantation, he transformed it into a necklace and forged it onto an unbreakable chain.

            ‘Get it back !  Kill him if you must !’, Reis roared, his eyes flaring with fury.    All that mattered to Reis was regaining the God tier power that he would never be able to wield all because it was back in the hands of its rightful owner.  

            Amon sent back the other warriors from their alternate dimensions.   Familiar faces, old friends and newer do gooders all were hurtled back into their own realms.   Each tesseract zipped itself up and disappeared.    It wasn’t to say that there wouldn’t be another massive influx of time and space disruptions, but currently, there were no more bizarre wormholes to speak of.   

            Although Amon knew his parents, family and by default, his extended family, had disowned him, he had now found himself in the employ of King Sonic.   It would take him a while to mourn the loss of what he had known for most of his young adult life, but he had to come to grips that his ‘life’ truly had never been about him.   It had only been about his father’s greed and monomaniacal tendencies.     He had gotten away when the world had been corrected, much like a reset.    There were still so many who  had lost their lives on both sides.    Much mourning would be necessary at this time, so none of them could state that this had been a victory.   It was a time of bereavement. 

 

Chapter 4—Laying the Good and Evil to Rest

            ‘No one mourns the wicked…’, Amon said, a bit morosely as he had buried a former comrade from the alternate, or evil side he had once known.  Although he had given up being a villain, that didn’t mean he couldn’t show his peers that he had cared about them.    There had been subsequent losses on both sides and Amon prayed that his parents would see their folly, but there seemed no end to their foolishness.

            ‘At least now, none of them can use the tablet for evil.   Only I can tap into its greatness.  I can’t resurrect the dead, but I can heal what has been broken.’, Amon said, after all funerals had been completed and every last warrior had been laid to rest.    Funerals had taken a lot out of him and he needed time to decompress, but luckily, he had made friends with Blaze, Tangle and Wave, Surge and her siblings.    The rest of Sonic’s court had taken some time to get to know Amon and discovered that he wasn’t the dark-hearted hyena that his father had tried to mold him into being.    He was becoming a genteel sort, one getting more acquainted with the immense power that flowed through him.    Hamarampi was reborn, and maybe someday, a ruler in a kingdom not far from where Sonic was, and one that would give them aid. 

           

 

Epilogue

           
            While the Hannibal family had regrouped, they would be formulating new and more devious ways to overthrow the Celeritas Empire.   As for Amon, he decided to study alongside his new friends and learn how to rule a kingdom of his own when he had come of age.   There was a region not far from the Crystal Palace that had no monarch and it was virtually undiscovered, but he wasn’t ready to set out in exploration of this undiscovered country yet.   Amon would need his own transport and friends to follow him.    While he had been in King Sonic’s court, he had made friends with Rascal the Weasel and fallen in love with a fellow hyena named Valentina.    Valentina had always been feared due to hyena stereotyping but Amon and she knew that someday, they would be the first to break the mold and gain more trust from others who might not have trusted them initially. 

            Slowly but surely, Rascal, Valentina, an Eagle named Sirena and a plucky human orphan named Bix formed a group.    With their ingenuity, they had developed an all-terrain mover and their own supplies to head to unknown territory and begin their own ‘outreach’.   They would be part of the Resistance, and thanks to crystal communication, they could be reached by Sonic at any and all times.

            ‘Remember, you’re my right-hand mage. There will come a time when I’ll need magi to fight alongside me again just like I did a few months ago.   “Oh, when you have your own kingdom, what are you calling it ?’, Sonic asked, curiously.

            ‘Since it’s vast, wild and wonderful, we’re calling it Wildvania.  It has no Mobians to speak of, but we plan to change that and create our own civilization.   The Resistance could stand a few more members, especially since we have no earthly clue what my dad could be up do.   I get visons but they’re never clear.   All I know is that that lunatic will stop at nothing until there is no trace of royalty here, not even a remnant.’, Amon said.   It was Amon’s vow to do whatever he could to keep Sonic’s reign instated.   Wildvania was only a thought currently, but Sonic had no doubt that Amon’s small court would become something grand and the Wildvanians would support the Freedom Fighter’s cause.  

            Meanwhile…

            Cary remembered there had been an anthesis to the tablet, but even rarer than the tablet was.   The legends of its whereabouts were even more obscure, perhaps even mythological.   She recalled that in every grain of legend there was truth.

            ‘Since the tablet is untouchable, I know something that can enhance our own abilities tenfold.   We can rearrange reality…The Scarab of Scarcity.   Hamarampi wrote of this in immense detail but never left any clues as to where it could be located.   I, however, know exactly where it is located.   Hamarampi did his best to keep its location obscure, but there is a desert in Mobius that is nearly impassible and almost unsurvivable.    However, I have built a robot to dig in the place where the Vizier Belial had kept his source of sinister black magic sealed.  Only the truly tainted and darkest of hearts can touch it.   You can’t get any more dastardly than Belial was !’, Cary stated, with a crooked smile on her otherwise beautiful and scary face.   

            ‘Then we shall look for that Scarcity.   We shall rewrite this world…Nothing can be done to undo our little ‘reediting’.’, Cary said with her teeth glinting in the light.   Although it was a lighthearted family dinner, there lingered an air of doom, gloom and catastrophe simply waiting to unleash its havoc upon unsuspecting innocents.

 

To Be Continued…