Fire.

     The bonfire flames danced with the music and chased away the night and what predators roamed under its star speckled blanket. A night breeze warmed by the flames and heat of the dancers assured the portable canvas abodes also joined in the festivities. The taught canvas sails, secondary wings, and even canvas balloon body of a coral red airship with a tadpole like shape also quivered in their own dance. But to the blue hedgehog who rested on the ground with his back pressed against a large ceramic jug, the only dancer who caught his emerald eyes was a pink hedgehog girl garbed in a leotard of brilliant white color that reflected the firelight magically. Her feet clad in red shoes that resembled slippers moved with a grace that he could not help but smirk at.

     “Now if only you could run as well as you can cut a rug, Amy Rose,” he doubted she could hear him as he said her name, knowing full well that she preferred to go by her nickname Rosy. But Rosy loved Sonic the Hedgehog like no other, and to her the wind carried his voice to her ear and she looked in his direction forgetting she was in mid-dance, and her grace gave way to an unceremonious face plant. Sonic’s smile turned into a wry smile and he shrugged as he watched a group of children Rosy was dancing with help her to her feet.

     The sight reminded him that she was herself still a child herself, and while he was glad to see her helped up, he wondered if he wasted a chance to join in the festive dance himself. ‘What are you thinking about Sonic?’ he queried of himself as he relaxed watching her continue to dance and play joyously with the children. ‘Why do you need her as an excuse to dance? If want to cut the rug and showoff, you can at any time. Just because she’s there doesn’t make it special.’

     Having assured himself that Rosy did not mean anything more to him, Sonic placed his hands behind his head and tried to close his eyes to sleep. The noise of the festival did not bother him, but still his eyes opened to look at her. Seeing her happy and interacting with people brought a sense of relief to him he was not sure how to explain. It had been some time since they had last seen people and though she was happy as could be running with him, he knew she was far more social than most sapient hedgehogs. It must have been eating her up inside no matter how much she smiled on the outside. Even with as much joy as he felt from her in his chest when she used his speed that he had shared with her through the energies of a Ring sometime in the nebulous past before they were lost in this land.

     “Besides, I’m starting to get used to your smiles now,” Sonic spoke softly to warn her he could easily read her mood while not letting her hear. “I can tell when you’re truly happy or just smiling because you figure pushing through is best. You can rely on us more than that you know.”

     Though Sonic spoke of Rosy relying on her friends his words were hypocritical and a yellow furred fox girl watched him with a frown from the a catwalk along the “tail” of the airship connecting the main body to the tail stabilizer.

     The airship itself was nigh too advanced for being made with only technology born of early industrialism, but the world was only in such an age due to its ever-shifting nature. One night an entire land mass could be across the bay and the next morning it could be gone. It was impossible to maintain any level of reasonable technology in such a world and most was lost, though some scraps remained like the technology to make primitive airships. The engineer of the one the fox stood on was one of the few who could really work with older and even ancient lost technology, but she was little match for the two tailed red orange boy who joined her and took her thoughts from thinking about how Sonic could do to stop isolating himself.

     Griping the catwalk railing with his hands, Miles “Tails” Prower, so nicknamed for his signature twin tails, leaned his weight into it and offered his companion a smile as she looked up at him from where she was resting her head on her crossed arms. “I thought you would have gone down and joined in the festivities, Zooey. You’ve been cooped up on the Skyskipper for… um… How long has it been now?” Tails asked sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

     The smile Zooey offered him did not match the melancholy she tried to keep out of her voice. “Maybe it’s because of that temporal loss that I don’t. How long would it be before it’s barely a memory? Would it be tomorrow or maybe another time? What if I forget I everything we left behind if I let myself join in. I’m scared Tails and the Skyskipper is my only anchor. I feel like if I didn’t stay focused on it, I would lose everything.”

    “You don’t have to worry Zooey, the Rings will always remember,” Tails spoke the phrase that had become the groups catchphrase. It seemed silly to say it to her, but it turned Zooey’s smile genuine and she giggled at Tails’ kindness.

     “Come on Tails, I don’t have a Ring Bond with Sonic so how can the Rings remember for me.”

     Standing up and stretching, Zooey took a step back from the railing and straightened out her sleeveless red dress while Tails watched her disappointedly.

     “Besides, I wouldn’t be any help to Sonic with any of his abilities. I bet I’d be even clumsier than Rosy.” Covering her mouth as she giggled Zooey sheepishly continued while looking at Tails. “No, it’s better for everyone that I stay on the Skyskipper and keep the Tornado and X-Tornado in top shape. With our crazy world and this even crazier land you never know when you’ll need to take to the sky.”

     Tails felt powerless to help Zooey and silently wished Rosy was on the Skyskipper with them. ‘You always know what to say in these situations Rosy. I could really use the help cheering Zooey up.’ Risking a glance out at Rosy as he thought about her positivity Tails missed Zooey clasp her hands behind her back but turned back in time to see her gazing at the airship’s rigging happily as she rocked on her heels. ‘You are kept grounded by the Skyskipper Zooey. In that case…’

     “You know Zooey, even though we say the Rings remember it’s not really a scientific fact how they store and pass on data. Even Sonic doesn’t know how he makes a Ring Bond, so our bodies ‘remembering’ how to do what his does is as much a mystery as how the temporal anomalies of this land work. So maybe Sonic could still make a Ring Bond with you just to make sure your memory isn’t affected.”

     “You’re so sweet Tails,” Zooey interrupted Tails with a tilt of her head, her long hair swaying to one side. “But we know that wouldn’t work. Even Sonic’s sense of time has been affected by this place and we can’t use the Rings to make a Ring Gate to go back home. I’m surprised we can use them to still fuel and repair the Skyskipper. It seems miraculous that Sonic can make Ring Gates at all that can connect anything besides the Ring Beacon onboard and the ones in your communicators. The Ring Gates between the Beacons are the only ones the rest of us can make. Maybe it’s because he touched the Red Star Ring. If only we could find another one and safely study it without interference this time…”

     Zooey’s words became as background noise to Tails as his thoughts drifted back to that day when they found the new type of Ring.

     Though to say they were all part of the same adventurer support company was not inaccurate, only Zooey worked for the adventuring company, serving as a liaison between interested parties in the skills and discoveries of various adventurers and the adventurers themselves who called the company their patron. There had been an incident that led to Zooey working from the field aboard the Skyskipper and Tails and Rosy pretty much living within the small airship’s quarters. As a result the three of them lived as wandering adventurers, gathering Rings for the sake of the world which needed them to use Ring Gate Beacons’ to generate Ring Gates that kept the civilized world connected.

     Rings themselves were a thing of mystery as it was, but it was known that they could be used to repair structures tools, even undo injuries with enough them, as well as form the Ring Gates. More uniquely though, it was known most landmasses were themselves made of Rings and that the shifting layered dimensional nature of the world was due to that nature. Without Rings there would be no world, which was odd since not everyone could even see or interact with Rings in their golden loop forms. Yet they would spontaneously appear in strings and clusters everywhere and anywhere waiting to be collected, their energies expended for some purpose or another. Yet the Red Star Ring was different, and everything changed for them the day they detected its anomalous Ring reading.

     When they first discovered it, Tails had advised that they not interact with it as they had never seen anything like it. That and the ancient ruin it was housed in was horribly unstable and anything could go wrong. As Zooey was Sonic’s representative with the adventuring company as repayment for him once saving her life she called him to assist with his instinct for Rings and their more unique properties. When he arrived though they came under attack by a band of sky pirates who wanted revenge on Tails and Sonic took the Red Star Ring unprepared. Or at least he claimed he touched it as the white light that engulfed them all and sent them to this land where the flow of time seemed wrong was all the others saw.

     It was not even certain if this land shifted as the rest of the world did, as though they traveled from land to land, island to island, seeing countless ruins and sprawling vistas of untouched nature in this seemingly abandoned world, their journey was always forward. Even when they slept, they rarely woke to a different view then what they say when they went to sleep. Still as adventurers discovering unknown lands and histories was a thrill to all of them, and a lifestyle they cherished, even as long stretches of time seemed imperceptible and the safety of their memories of home seemed at risk of disappearing.

     Tails was sure though their current lifestyle was difficult for Zooey due to the feel of the passage of time. While she did not like being left out and felt responsible for the situation they were all in making her want to be useful and helpful, constantly being on the road in a nigh abandoned world with no one to interact with, the work she busied herself with surely had her worn down. She was likely living in a state of perpetual denial just to function. It was the opposite of the red armadillo who rested upon the top of the Skyskipper’s main body watching the stars with a smile.

     For Mighty the Armadillo it was the life. A world where the touch of man had long since begun to fade was joyous and peaceful. He felt like he could wander these lands forever and be perfectly content, but he also knew better as he listened to the festivities beyond the airship.

     “You promised everyone you’d get us home right Sonic?” Mighty laughed to himself before shifting his thoughts to Sonic’s actions. “But I know you better than that. I’ve seen the joy you’ve had on this peculiar little adventure of ours. Everyday you’ve looked for new ways to challenge yourself. You’re enjoying yourself too much to make this quick. And even if you weren’t you would never go at any pace but your own. I know you’ll get us home at your own pace, but I wonder if you’ve been influenced at all…”

     Leaving his thought unfinished Mighty rose to his feet and walked towards the side of the body of the airship until he was far enough without threat of falling off and still able to see the festivities. Among the crowd who was currently dancing and making the ruckus that would let the others sleep in peace without fear of the predators that roamed at night, he spied Rosy trying to pull away from children who ranged from younger than her to almost if not older than her. Watching the fun, she and the children were having he smiled softer than he had been and rested a hand on his hip while the other dangled freely at his side.

     “You’ve grown softer towards her Sonic. I wonder if that is because of the Ring Bond. You’ve established more with her than anyone else to lend her strength and even at least once to make use of hers. You two are becoming more and more intertwined, yet with your personality I’m sure you would deny it. But that’s fine. Like you and me, I don’t think she’s in a hurry. Running by your side makes her as happy as can be. And I’ve enjoyed seeing more of your softer side thanks to her. I’m so glad I joined you that day and was able to come along on this wonderful adventure.”

     Lingering just a little longer to see Rosy’s efforts to get away from the other children become more insistent, Mighty pondered if she needed his namesake strength. Shaking his head with a smile he was sure she would be alright and returned to his stargazing.

TO BE CONTINUED in Prison Prairie PT 2