Into the Void

Sacrifice

"In other words, you're gonna sacrifice us?" Jake asked. "Is that why you knocked us out and tied us up?"

"Wouldn't want the sheep to run rampant, now would we?"

"No! NO NO NO NO NO! You can't do this to us! We have friends and families! We have homes to get back to! We have dreams, too! Listen, we can talk about this! It doesn't have to be this way!"

"SILENCE!" Sammy shouted, making Jake close his mouth. "I have spent too long in this prison! I have spent my existence wandering around in this disgusting, inky husk I call a body! NO MORE SHALL I BE BOUND TO IT!"

"Disgusting?" Kinger raised an eyebrow. Then, he shook his head and continued, "No, no, no, I beg to differ, Sammy. I find it quite attractive."

"Kinger!" Kipo exclaimed.

Kinger turned his attention to the girl. "What? He is attractive! Just look at how handsome he is!" He then looked back at Sammy. "And I bet the face behind that mask of yours is just as gorgeous!"

Sammy hissed, "Are you trying to make me feel better?"

"Is it working?"

"No, it's not."

Kinger drooped his head. "Worth a shot."

Sonic sighed, "Look, man. We-" But before he could continue, his ears caught the sound of heavy thuds from the ceiling. As he looked up, so did the others, for they heard it, too.

"What was that?" Jake asked, his voice filled with dread.

"It's him!" Sammy said with twisted joy. "He's above us, crawling!"

"Wait, the Ink Demon is here?!" Kipo's eyes grew wide as dinner plates.

Sammy brought a finger to his lips. "Shh. Hush now, my little sheep. The ritual must commence! He will set us free." With that, he stepped away from the four, approaching the door he had walked out of.

"No, wait!" Sonic called, but the inky man had already closed the door.

While Sonic, Kipo, and Kinger wore faces of apprehension, Jake nervously chuckled and said, "Well, this is it! We're never going home! We're all dead! DEAD!" He leaned his head back as tears began to flood his eyes. "Could this day get any worse?"

Suddenly, the sound of feedback was heard from a set of speakers above their heads. The four looked up at them as they heard Sammy's voice coming out of them.

"Sheep, sheep, sheep. It's time for sleep. Rest your head. It's time for bed."

Sonic rolled his eyes at those lines and muttered, "What kind of stupid sacrificial ritual is this?"

But then, Sammy continued, "In the morning, you may wake. Or in the morning, you'll be dead."

That last line got the group's attention, leaving them silent and shaken.

"I knew it! We're dead!" Jake cried.

Next thing they knew, a door before them opened. When it did, all they could find within it was the darkness.

Sammy kept going. "I summon you, Ink Demon! Arise from the darkness! Take my offerings and release me from this hell! Claim these tender sheep! Set me free, I beg you!"

"Would you stop calling us sheep?!" Kipo shouted, annoyed.

As Sonic stared into the black void, he expected to see the Ink Demon again. He imagined the beast crawling out of the shadows, bearing its teeth at him and his group before lunging at them to devour them one by one. The last sounds he would hear were the screams of his peers, filled with agony and fright, and the last sight he would see was the demon's face. He would never live to see his friends or fellow Pillars again. He would never return home and fight Dr. Eggman to stop his evil schemes again. And worst of all, he would never reunite with his cohorts to stop the Black Mass from corrupting the multiverse. With that in mind, Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, resigning to his fate within the inky world.

Yet, what he thought of just now never happened. Instead, something else happened. It all started with loud clattering and Sammy's angry shouting.

"You! What do you think you're doing? Get back in your cage, you vile creature!"

Sonic opened his eyes and looked up at the speakers once more. Behind him, the others did the same. All four of them wondered what was going on. From the speakers, a child's coo was heard.

"I said get back in your-" Sammy's speech was disrupted with a slam followed by a thud.

The four could only stare up at the speakers with wide eyes. Then, the door opened again, and they turned to find a tiny creature with big, beady eyes and long, pointy ears dressed in robes walking out of the room. Hovering above him was a net filled with their gear. Behind the tiny creature was Sammy's body lying on the floor. Next to his head was a dustpan; they quickly realized Sammy was rendered unconscious. As they watched the little one approach them, the net was placed on the ground, and the child sat down with an exhausted sigh. When he looked up at the four, they were all awkwardly silent.

But then, Kinger broke the quietude. "Thank you."

The child stood back up and stretched his body before reaching into the net to pull out what looked like a pocket knife. The four gasped, watching as he walked up to Sonic so he could start cutting the ropes binding him. The hedgehog was surprised at first, but then, he put on a grateful smile.

Before any of them could rejoice, they all heard the floorboards rattle. The group turned their attention to the shaky boards, watching as ink began to leak from them. Then, the ink formed into five of those blob-like monsters with their arms touching the floor.

As the sentient blobs slowly approached them, Sonic frantically yelled, "Uh, little guy? I think you should hurry up!"

With that, the child whimpered and sped up his cutting.

Meanwhile, Kinger and Jake were yelping at the sight of the blob monsters moving toward them. But then, they both looked at Kipo, who was looking down with her eyes closed as she was taking deep breaths.

"Kipo, now's not the time to meditate!" Jake shouted in a fit of panic.

Kinger turned his attention to Kipo's ropes, which started to vibrate. "Huh?" The chess piece raised an eyebrow at the sight of it, but before he could question it, Kipo suddenly jumped upward. Once she landed in front of the ink monsters, the ropes kept quivering before they burst into pieces. Sonic, Kinger, and Jake became stunned, for Kipo's arms were now those of a jaguar.