Anna Croi

Anna Croi as she appears in Issue 11

**Anna Croi** is a minor antagonist in the comic series *The Murder of Me* by Gigi Dutreix. She is an Echidna and Stage 3 Soulless, and was notable for being one of Zielo's first 'generation' of Soulless.

## History

### Early Years

Anna Croi originated from the Aki'on Tribe many centuries before the events of the main story. She was exiled from the tribe at a young age due to her lack of faith in the their deity. She eventually came into contact with Zielo and began worshipping him, becoming his first follower and the first Soulless. This transformed Anna into a cruel, sadistic, and insane being, and her madness only worsened over the years.

### Professor Fox and John

Three hundred years later, Professor Fox and his assistant, Jonathan Hedgehog, traveled to the Ini Pyramid as part of a research assignment from SDE University. As they made their way towards it, Anna spotted them and reported to Zielo that the two were coming in his direction. When the two reached the pyramid, they saw Anna about to enter it. This confused the two, as the helpers they were supposed to receive at the pyramid had all left before they arrived. Ignoring John's reluctance, Fox approached Anna and asked for her name. She instead beckoned for the two to follow her into the pyramid, which they did.

Anna led the two to a doorway where she presented them to Zielo as his final offerings. The markings on the wall changed and an opening appeared before the three. Motioning for Fox and John to follow her through it, Anna explained her origins from the Aki-on tribe, which John recognized as extinct. She then led them through the door into Zielo's sacrificial room, where she intended to kill them as offerings to Zielo. When Anna revealed her intentions, Fox put a knife to her back and threatened to hurt her unless she let them go. Using a pendant with Zielo's symbol on it, Anna forced Fox onto his hands and knees. John then started throwing rocks at Anna in an attempt to help his friend, but Anna used a spell to send Fox's knife flying into John's chest. Anna then removed the knife and prepared to kill Fox with it.

Fox, having previously read about the legends surrounding Heephis, Celios, and Zielo, and experienced a vision about Zielo's return and the Sons of Heephis, asked Anna what would happen upon Zielo's eventual return. Anna responded that the universe would slowly end. But, when Fox asked about the Sons of Heephis, Anna realized that he had touched the markings on the walls. She nevertheless declared that nothing would stop Zielo.

Knowing he was about to die, Fox declared he would not be afraid and warned Anna that one day, Zielo might betray her. This caused Anna to hesitate for a moment before she heard Zielo's voice commanding her to kill him. She then did so, and John subsequently died from his injuries. Anna then used them as final sacrifices for her master's reawakening.

### Hollow

Once John and Fox were sacrificed, Zielo was reawakened. Instead of staying down on her knees, Anna, overcome with joy at finally seeing her master, ran forward to hug him. This angered Zielo, who threw her to the ground and roared at her not to touch him. Anna begged for mercy, but Zielo painfully branded her with a Stage 2 mark before disappearing, leaving her alone in the temple. There, Anna remained for many years.

### The Game Begins

Years afters the deaths of John and Fox, Zielo decided to play a sort of "game" with the Sons of Heephis, staging a trap at the Ini Pyramid that Anna took part in. Using Bernadette the Hedgehog, who had become a Stage 2 Soulless, Sonic the Hedgehog was lured out of the Pyramid and the doorway slammed shut, trapping Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog, whom a crazed Anna dealt with personally. Anna vowed she would not be left alone again and attacked the two. Silver was reluctant to fight her at first, but relented when Anna began throwing energy daggers at them and Shadow blocked one that was meant for him.

The battle soon went against Anna when Silver noticed a crack in the ceiling and threw Shadow through it. Shadow then summoned energy guns to blast apart what was left of the weaker area of the roof, collapsing the ancient pyramid down on top of Anna. Shadow and Silver subsequently ran out into the desert to find Sonic, who by now had defeated Bernadette and had ambushed by Zielo. Digging herself out of the rubble, Anna quickly caught up to the two, declaring the two to be pawns in Zielo's game. When Shadow threatened to kill Anna unless she told them where Sonic was, Anna summoned an army of both Mobian and human Soulless.

Shadow and Silver eventually overcame the army by sharing their Heephis powers and Shadow prepared to kill Anna. However, around that time, Sonic had transformed into his tainted form after accidentally killing Bernadette while trying to kill Zielo. In this corrupted state, Sonic forcibly and slowly started to steal Shadow and Silver's powers, weakening them, Silver in particular since Sonic was primarily using his power against Zielo. This forced Shadow to take cover with Silver as the latter became progressively weaker and Anna prepared to kill them both.

### Death

As the Soulless army was upon them, Silver lent what was left of his power to Shadow before losing consciousness. Shadow then used his Heephis powers to reject Tainted Sonic, preventing him from stealing his power, but unknowingly making him weaker against Zielo. Shadow then prepared a powerful attack similar to his original Chaos Blast, causing the army to panic and Anna to wonder aloud why Zielo had abandoned them. Shadow then unleashed the attack, killing Anna and the entire Soulless army before returning to Paradise with the unconscious Silver. Meanwhile, Sonic reverted back to his normal form and was left incredibly weakened after his Tainted form ran out of power. Zielo took him into an unknown portal.

## Appearance

Anna Croi was a Mobian echidna with red fur who stood at about three to four feet tall. Her attire consisted of a tattered brown dress and white quill wrappings. As a Soulless, she had cyan-colored pupils, occasionally had fuchsia whisps emitting from her body, and bore the mark of a Stage 3 Soulless on her left hand. By the time of her involvement in the ambush at the Ini Pyramid, she appeared to have small, cyan crystals growing on her arms.

## Abilities

Anna Croi is capable of generating energy daggers that she hurls at enemies. She can also break through energy shields, like when she broke through Silver's shield during the ambush at the Ini Pyramid. She can also use telekinetic powers, as shown when she hurled Fox's dagger into John's chest and then removed it without using her hands, but instead using vocal commands.

## Personality

Not much is known about who Anna was before she became a Soulless, other than that she lacked faith in the deity the Aki'on tribe prayed to, and refused to worship them. This resulted in her exile and her eventual transformation into Zielo's first Soulless. It is unknown if she had any relatives, and her exact age is not known, either.

Like most Soulless, Anna is utterly devoted to Zielo, almost fanatic in her worship of him. She also became cruel and sadistic, gladly sacrificing John and Fox to aid in Zielo's reawakening. Due to her hesitation in killing Fox, however, Anna was left trapped inside the Ini pyramid for years until Sonic, Shadow, and Silver were lured into the pyramid by Zielo as part of his game. Driven mad by Zielo abandoning her, Anna had become obsessed with redeeming herself in her master's eyes. However, as Shadow was about to kill her and her Soulless army, Zielo, who was preoccupied with Sonic, did nothing to save them, causing Anna to become afraid that Zielo had abandoned her again. This ultimately proved true when Shadow killed Anna and her army and Zielo did nothing to stop him.

## Trivia

* Most people consider Anna to be Zielo's first follower. This is **not true** and Gigi has debunked this numerous times.
* Anna is known as a "first generation" Soulless, meaning that she was one of the earliest Soulless creations **before** Zielo was summoned by her.
	+ Being an earlier Soulless, there are differences in her appearance compared to normal Stage 3's and how she appears in issue 11:
		- Newer generations of stage 3 Soulless normally *incredibly tall* and most of their body is engulfed in magenta fire. Anna lacks both traits as she has kept her small stature and instead has small crystals protruding from her arms. The only fire she has comes from small flames on her head and shin.
		- Stage 3s are also extremely powerful, having shown to have the abilities to level numerous landscapes and towns. Anna lacks this strength.