I didn't even remember falling asleep on the couch. I probably wouldn't have woken up, but I could have swore someone was calling to me. I opened my eyes to see faint words in a dim light. It took me a moment to realize that it was the pages of a book on my face. Today was a day of relaxation, so I decided to try reading a book and... put it on my head and fell asleep. 

I looked out the window, and it was darker than I thought it would be. The flames in the fireplace were still roaring, so I put the book, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, on the table next to me and stretched my arms into the sky. Again, I heard a sound, like someone calling me. I looked all around, but I didn't see anyone. Maybe I just needed more sleep.

As I got up, however, I noticed something on the table. It was a large metal ring of some sort, and I couldn't remember ever collecting something like it.

"What is this?" I said aloud, picking it up.

"Finally you woke, blue hedgehog!"

I cried out and dropped the ring as something started to emerge from it. In a cloud of blue smoke, a lady appeared from the ring. She had pink hair that defied gravity and slightly tan skin. Also, she wasn't touching the ground.

"What the-?" I asked, taking a step back.

"Please, do not be alarmed!" the woman said. She had a kind smile on her face and picked up the book I had been using to cover my eyes. "I am Shahra, Genie of the Ring."

I stared at her blankly.

"You know... like 'Aladdin and the Magic Lamp?'" she said hopefully.

"Uh..." I said, folding my arms. "Don't think I've read that."

The lady looked hurt. "You've got to be kidding me! It's my favorite in the Arabian Nights! Or, now that I think about it, maybe it's my second favorite..." She paused, staring at me. Then she shook her head, opening the book to a certain page. "But that's besides the point. Please, take a look at this..."

She handed the book to me, holding it open. I looked down, frowning. I turned a few pages, but they were the same. "Hey, what's going on? The pages are blank!"

When I finally found a page with words on it, I noticed that the characters were disappearing from the paper. It was like some sort of magic was stealing the ink away, making it disappear into thin air.

Shahra looked dismayed, and put the book down. "Our world... The world of the Arabian Nights... is vanishing."

"Vanishing?" I asked. "How is that possible? It's a story. How could it disappear?"

"There is a being in our world called the Erazor Djinn," Shahra replied. "He wishes to destroy the story."

"Did you just say, Eraser Din?" I laughed. "What does he do, erase your dinner?"

"Please, be serious..." Shahra begged. "Erazor Djinn," she repeated slowly.

"Erazor Djinn," I snickered. "Got it."

"The Erazor Djinn used his magic to become even more powerful than he already was." Shahra continued. "He no longer wanted to remain a simple character in the book. And so, he has begun to set the inscriptions free, in turn absorbing the power of the book itself."

"The power of the book?" I asked.

"If our stories are destroyed forever, not only will their words be forgotten forever, but the Erazor Djinn will then be able to come into your world, and by then he may be unstoppable."

"That doesn't sound good." I replied. "But, what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to stop the Erazor Djinn," Shahra said. "You must! Only the blue hedgehog can do it."

"So this guy just needs someone to put him in his place, does he?" I asked. "Sure, I can help with that. Might even be some fun! But this is all something out of a book. How am I supposed to do anything about that?"

Shahra smiled, her face becoming gentler and more relaxed. "That is the easy part. You are my master by having called forth the Genie of the Ring. Being so, I am able to grant your wishes." she paused, as if letting me absorb everything she was saying. "Simple wishes, at that. But bringing you into the world of The Arabian Nights is within my power."

"Wait a minute..." I waved my hands in front of her. "Inside that book?!"

Without anymore explanation, she suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind only a ring. It was much smaller than the giant one I had first 'summoned' her with. It was now small enough to fit on one of my fingers. I caught it as it fell through the air, and jumped as the ring said, "now, please! Put the ring on!"

I placed it on my middle finger, because it was still a bit big. "Any finger?" I asked, and she prominently answered with glowing red sparks and becoming very snug on my finger. "Ow! I plan to have this finger after all this, you know!"

"I apologize, O Master, but now the contract has been sealed. I am now bound to protect you. Now, rub the ring."

This was all really weird, but I rubbed the ring with my other fingers. "Like... this?" I asked her.

Shahra appeared in a puff of smoke, bowing to me as if I was some sort of king. "O Master of the Ring, what is thy wish?"

"That's pretty nifty," I said, but before I could say anything else, I sneezed a few times. I rubbed my nose, saying, "I could go for a handkerchief or two!"

The room literally filled with handkerchiefs just seconds later. Thousands and thousands of handkerchiefs. "Thanks! See, I caught this cold yesterday, and-"

"Can't you please be serious?" she pleaded again. "My world..."

"Okay, okay! Thanks for the hankies, though."

She put her face in her hands. "Please, tell me this isn't really happening..."

I chuckled. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's go! Take me to this world of the Arabian Nights!"

She smiled and bowed again. "As you wish, Master!"

"Enough with the 'Master' stuff!" I shouted. "My name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"

She looked up just the slightest. "Very well, then. Sonic... the Legendary Hedgehog."

She waved her arms up, summoning a magic carpet. "Whoa... Sweet ride!" I said, jumping onto it. As I shouted with yahoos, we rode into the world of the Arabian Nights, or, really, we dove headfirst into a book.

The inside of the book was filled with a path of blank pages. It seemed to be surrounded by a big yellow void. I had expected... well, a thousand nights in Arabia. I guess I should have expected a bunch of blank pages, but it was still disconcerting. As we went further toward the ground, There were words floating all over, as if they were being burned away like I had seen before. "The whole book doesn't look like this, does it?" I asked Shahra. I jumped off the magic carpet, and it disappeared in a sparkly cloud.

"No." Shahra was floating beside me, her hands in front of one another. "Since this is the beginning of the book, we must find a way to get through this part quickly."

I smirked. "Well, I am the legendary blue hedgehog, aren't I? How fast can you fly?"

"I need only be in the ring," she replied. "From there I can guide you."

"I'll get lonely!" I folded my arms and turned slightly away, trying to hide the smile on my face.

"I..." She stared at me for a few seconds, as if she was in shock. "I suppose I can try..."

"If the going gets rough, I'll let you back in." I winked. "Don't make me wish for it!"

She nodded and smiled weakly. "We need to travel along this path until we come to the first story that Erazor Djinn hasn't gotten to. Once we get there... We will need to find him."

"Sounds like you've already made a plan. Let's go!" I started to run, making sure she could keep up with my speed. I ran faster and faster, keeping an eye on her periodically. She kept up fine, but she was a genie; it probably shouldn't have been surprising that she was nearly as fast as I was.

The world seemed to liven up just a bit as we got further and further into the stories. There were still pages that I had to run on instead of actual ground, but more and more words appeared; some were burning, and some were normal, unharmed characters. I wondered how many dead stories I had run through. Any that I had read, I had forgotten; and that wasn't just because I was half asleep when I had read them. I actually had forgotten them. Hopefully, once the stories came back, everyone would remember them, and the book would go back to normal.

There were a few barriers that weakly tried to stop me, but as long as I didn't fall off the path, it was smooth running. Though the place felt empty and devoid of anything. I almost wished something would happen - running through this place was cool at first, but now it was seeming like a chore I just wanted to end.

I looked over at Shahra. Her eyes had a hint of purple in them, but more than that, they burned with determination. I guess she really did need my help after all. I guess I couldn't let her down.

As we kept moving on, more and more words filled the air, as if they were only just being taken out of the story. But something else was appearing further up ahead.

"Hey, what's that?" I asked, pointing and turning to Shahra, but not stopping.

"The Erazor Djinn..." Shahra muttered. "He's here!"

A purple field of some sort was emanating from the ground a bit in front of us, little wisps of smoke waving up from it. I didn't have time to stop or slow down. In a split second something appeared, and as soon as it did, it waved a weird sword in front of it. I just barely avoided being cut in half by doing a sort of backflip, landing back next to Shahra. She looked surprised, like she hadn't expected someone to appear. I hadn't realized it was him.

The Erazor Djinn was ugly.

His skin tone was purple and his hair was red-orange, for starters. His chest was bare, and he wore some wild cape. His pants were baggy or something, and his shoes had little tips on the ends of them. The whites of his eyes were also black, with red irises. What was with the color scheme here?

"Hey!" I shouted. "What was that all about? Talk about close shaves! Maybe you know where I can get my quills sharpened, too?"

"Sonic!" No one had seemed to care about what I had said. I looked up at Shahra. "That's him. That's the evil spirit striking the world from its pages!"

The Erazor Djinn squinted as if he was studying me. He looked like he wasn't entirely pleased to see me. "You... you must be that blue rat that just got added to the story."

"Don't you know anything?" I scowled, "I'm not a rat! I'm a hedgehog."

He laughed, and it definitely sounded menacing. "I am Erazor Djinn! I am the one who will carve up this world as I see fit."

"Yeah, well..." I shifted from foot to foot. "If you're going to do that, can you at least wait until I'm done reading it first?"

Shahra frowned, looking extremely disappointed. "Sonic..."

The Erazor Djinn didn't laugh. "One hundred of the One-Thousand and One Nights have already been wiped out. Soon enough, the rest shall join them, night by night. Then, with the seven World Rings..."

I hadn't heard that term before. "What are the seven World Rings?"

He ignored me and lowered his gaze at Shahra. "You have gathered the seven World Rings for me, have you not, Shahra, my dear?"

Shahra scoffed, folding her arms. "Are you still going on about that? I've told you again and again, those things don't even exist! And even if they did, I'd never give them to you!"

Suddenly, the Erazor Djinn smiled. "Oh? Wouldn't you?"

Shahra turned away a bit, as if she didn't want to know what was going to happen. Honestly, I didn't either. This guy really was trouble. I hoped I hadn't gotten in over my head.

"Well, I suppose a suitable punishment is in order, then..."

The Erazor Djinn smiled and put his finger out in front of him. All of a sudden, the tip of his finger ignited with a little flame. His finger was aimed straight at Shahra, but she wasn't moving. The little flame was flying off of his finger, and she was too shocked to move.

"Look out!" I shouted, running in front of her just in time to take the hit. I still got punted into her, making her fall with me on top of her.

"Sonic!" she shouted, looking at my face. I blinked a few times. I was dizzy, and my chest felt weirdly warm, but I was okay. I thought I was, at least, until the Erazor Djinn laughed.

"So, this is how judgement is to be dealt, is it?" the Erazor Djinn said, a smile that I really didn't like on his face. "This should definitely be interesting. You listening, rat? Bring me the Seven World rings before the arrow of flame extinguishes. If you fail..."

I sat up as the purple field started to gather around him, and that's when I noticed the little flame that had placed itself on my chest. I stuck my hand through it and gasped when I didn't get burned. I looked up at the Erazor Djinn in shock.

"...Then your life is forfeit." he continued before I could say anything. "Next, I think I shall collect the life of King Shahryar!"

With his grim demise of the king and the fate of myself secured, the Erazor Djinn left just as he had appeared. "Are you okay?" Shahra asked as she helped me get to my feet.

For a moment, I didn't say anything. I just stared at the little flickering flame. It might have been cute if it wasn't a death sentence. "Yeah," I replied, though I wasn't sure I really believed it. "I'll be fine."

Suddenly, her expression became even more urgent. "King Shahryar is the creator of the Arabian Nights and the main character of the story!"

I stole another glance at the little flame that was burning on my chest. I saw Shahra look at it for a moment as well. I smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. "Well, then, with my speed, we'll just have to make sure we get to him first!"

I started running again, making sure Shahra was next to me every so often. The fire never once faltered, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was a little flame that my life was now tied to. I would just have to be faster than it.