A/N

So, the custom hero has been revealed for Sonic Forces and the Internet reacted as I expected the Internet would. I can't help but wonder if Sonic Team are mad geniuses, well aware of the...interesting uses of OCs within the fandom. Quick! Now you can draw your OC without having to resort to DeviantArt.

Anyway, drabbled this up.

Avatar

A temple had stood here once.

The Avatar knew this to be true, yet couldn't put a finger on exactly how he knew this. He knew that in the Marble Ruins (now well and truly ruins, thanks to Doctor Eggman), this temple had once housed the Chaos Emeralds. Six of them, specifically. After they had disappeared from the Emerald Shrine, before all seven were reunited on Westside Island. For South Island, the emeralds had been six, not seven, yet no less magnificent. And to the man who had once called himself Doctor Robotnik, no less valuable.

He knew all this, but there was so much he didn't. His name. His origins. He couldn't even be sure of his species. He just…existed. In a world where so little was still standing, and South Island was under attack by the Death Egg sentinels, he was just…here. On one island on one world, standing in front of the ruins of a temple. Knew so little, knew so much. But somehow, he knew that in this place, the emeralds had been here. The ruined foundations were roughly in the shape of a hexagon. Slowly, he stepped forward towards its centre.

"Thus the wolf comes. For is this not the wolf's hour?"

Who said that, he wondered? And…yes. Yes he was a wolf. He knew that much. A red wolf with black glasses, white gloves, and grey sneakers.

"Well, at least you're not a hedgehog. There's too many hedgehogs these days."

He frowned – no, he wasn't a hedgehog; at least he didn't think so. But as he squinted through the glare of the setting sun, he saw something before him. Or, rather, someone. A wisp of smoke took form before him. And he, the wolf, who knew himself only by the name of "Avatar," gasped.

It was him.

Or at least, it was him for a split second. A second later, the form before him changed. Again and again, through colour and species. He observed that the species was always that of bird, bear, cat, dog, rabbit, wolf, or hedgehog. But that was the only constant. The colour of their fur, their attire, their equipment. Changing every second. Enough to make him speak.

"What are you?"

The…thing, for there was no other way to describe it, smiled. "You speak? Strange. I'd thought you'd be a silent protagonist."

"A what?"

The thing stopped changing. Its form now exactly mirrored his own. One wolf to another. It (for it was still "it" in the Avatar's mind), smirked.

"Are you happy in your form? You can change it you know."

He stared.

"Oh, I see, you're new to this."

"New? New to what?"

"Fandom."

The Avatar blinked. 'Fandom?' What the heck did that mean? All he knew was that Eggman was attacking, and this time, he'd nearly won. He couldn't remember anything before that time, but…but…

"Was I created?" he whispered.

His doppelganger nodded.

"To defeat Eggman?"

"In theory. In practice…" His doppelganger chuckled. "Look around you, and see what was born."

The Avatar gasped as he did indeed look around. The temple took form before his eyes. It now reminded him more of a colosseum, as stone benches formed upwards around the perimeter. Each of them occupied by a creature – a surprisingly high number of them human, an even more surprisingly high number of them female. But most surprisingly of all, every one of these creatures was holding up a hand-drawn picture. All of them different. All of them a mammal, most of them a hedgehog, and each and every one of them having the scheme of sneakers and gloves.

"Behold what was born, at the genesis of this place," his doppelganger said. "They which gave birth to me, and gave shape to you."

"They…they created me?"

A cheer erupted from the crowd. Or something. Actually, it sounded more like a "squee!"

"Eggman comes, and the powers that be have intervened," said his doppelganger. "You've been given shape, to stop Eggman, and more importantly, to fulfil the desires of those beyond the veil."

"The veil?"

"The veil, the barrier, the screen, the ones who shape this world." His doppelganger shrugged. "Gods, you may call them. Or demons. Take your pick."

The Avatar blinked again, as the scene before him faded. The creatures disappeared, as did their drawings. Before long, all that remained was the ruins of the temple, and his doppelganger.

"I…I'm not…"

"Created? Oh, of course you are." The wolf in front of him snickered. "You are just one creation, whose life is authored, given brief moment in this space and time. As if written on a page." He nodded. "Oh, yes, some of those beyond the veil give creation life through the written word, not through art. Some music, even. But they're always there. Ravenous. Vicious. Gods who bring their creations to existence, mainly to mimic those of this world. Mainly to…well…"

"Well what?"

"You don't wanna know."

The Avatar knew only a few things. Somehow, this claim, he knew to be true.

"So what now?" the Avatar asked.

"Now? Now you help Sonic defeat Doctor Eggman," said his doppelganger.

"And if I succeed?"

"Then your image will be pasted up everywhere on the world, and you'll never be free from shippers."

"…I don't sail."

His doppelganger sighed, putting a hand to his face. "Trust me kid, this is what'll happen. Just be grateful you've got a simple colour scheme."

A wind began to blow, chilling the Avatar to his core. Before him, his doppelganger stood there, smiling. Fading from view, as the wind blew over them – ephemeral, as if a spirit. The Avatar cried out, reaching out a hand, but it was too late, as the hand of the wolf faded through the prey of time. Soon, all that was left was he himself, alone. In the ruins of those long gone. At the mercy of those beyond. Here, as if willed into existence, to defeat Doctor Eggman.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.