Black Lion Entertainment Presents:

Versus

Drizzt Do' Urden VS The Prince of Persia

Both master swordsmen who have taken on and defeated their own fair share of enemies, large and small. But the question has lingered on for quite a time in my mind; if in an arena, who would prove to be the better? My friends, through the course of this event, we will see. Enjoy the show and enlighten yourself with the knowledge of who is the better swordsman.

NOTE: Drizzt Do' Urden is the property of R.A. Salvatore and Forgotten Realms, where the Prince of Persia is the property of Ubisoft Montreal.

Introduction

Darkness overtook him, and he was powerless to do anything about it. The Prince watched as the serenity of his room in his palace fell away from him, falling into darkness. He could do nothing to move his body, and for the first time in his life, he felt entirely helpless. He felt his armor strapping itself onto his body, and felt his swords coming back to their respective sheaths. Suddenly, light stung his eyes after being entrenched in darkness for what seemed to be an eternity. He felt the solid ground under his feet, and took a moment to regain his senses. What he saw paralyzed him as much as the fall; He was back in the map room on the Island of Time. Adding to the queer situation, he saw another dark being before him. His skin was ebony and his head had white hair, though from the fairness on his face he seemed in no way aged. He wore a fur collared green cloak and high black boots. He wore shining chain mail armor with a pendant of a unicorn dangling at his neck. Dazed and disoriented, he seemed as clueless as the Prince. He began to breathe easier until the Prince spied the two scimitars poking out from under the cloak.

The Prince instinctively snatched his Eagle sword from his back and the smaller, simpler blade at his hip and took his defensive stance.

Drizzt felt dizzy, shaken from his trip. One moment he was standing among his friends and suddenly he ended up in this large room. He stood up and admired his surroundings. The room was massive, several hundred feet high and rectangular in shape. However, only a narrow strip of land connecting from the two large doorways behind and before him were seen, the rest of the ground missing, replaced by an endless void of empty space. In front of him were four pillars stretching up to the ceiling, with a strange altar in between them. Above the altar was a large chandelier with several candles lit. Above him was an outlook that no doubt led into another room, crimson sheets waving slowly in the wind.

Wind?

If there was wind, there had to be an exit to the outside world. That was when he spied two other doorways on both sides of the far side of the room. They hung over the void, meaning that he had no way of getting to them. With his keen hearing, he heard the crashing of ocean waves outside, verifying his hypotheses of a way out.

His ears also picked out another disturbance, coming from behind the strange altar amidst the pillars. Apparently someone had snuck behind it while he was dazed and spied on him. Drizzt coolly reached for the scimitars Twinkle and Icingdeath at his hips and unsheathed them, ready to fight if necessary. Strangely enough, Twinkle was emitting its blue glow.

"Show yourself!" Drizzt was about to finish the statement adding that he meant no harm when the stranger dashed out from behind the altar.

He was a human, about his height, and possessed one scimitar and another simple straight sword. His armor accentuated his muscular build, and he wore high, flexible leather boots. His belt had a red cloth coming from under it. His hair was a dark black that covered his bright, blue eyes.

Drizzt's pose remained relaxed, and he called again, "I mean you no harm. I came here by some wizard's ill intention, I wouldn't doubt. Please, I sincerely mean you no harm."

As if to calm his new guest, Drizzt sheathed his weapons. The newcomers pose eased, but he did not replace his weapons.

"Strange. This place is not unfamiliar to me, but my place in it is unnatural. How did you come by here?" the newcomer asked.

"I was teleported here, as I stated before, by a wizard. I have made many enemies, you must understand, many for simply being drow. Did you arrive here in the same manner?" Drizzt kindly asked.

The newcomer nodded.

"Forgive me; my name is Drizzt Do' Urden."

"I am the Prince of Persia, the only name you need to know." came the haughty reply. Drizzt kept his calm composure.

"You said this place was not unfamiliar to you. What did you mean?" Drizzt asked.

"Let's just say that I don't have too many friends around this place, either." came his again cocky reply.

"There doesn't seem to be anyway out; you don't think…"

Drizzt put a space between himself and the Prince. The Prince put his weapons before him, ready to fight.

"I guess there really is only one way out."

Drizzt shook his head. "I will say again, I mean you know harm. But if I must…" he rested his hands on Twinkle and Icingdeath, "…I will defend myself."

"We have no choice. Draw your blades, drow."

Drizzt saw that in the look of his eyes the human was no longer in the mood to talk. He sighed, drew his blades slowly, and sprang into the human, his blades coming in with a vicious horizontal swing from both sides.

The Prince ducked and rolled back, planting his feet on the elf's stomach and catapulted him over his head. The drow landed and rolled to his feet, turning to meet his foe. This was going to be interesting indeed.

The two began their duel, slashing, blocking, parrying, and stabbing with their blades, neither gaining the advantage. For moments the favor tilted in both ways, but at those times the fighters always managed to beat out the other. It seemed as if neither would win, as if they had finally met their match.

The drow swung his blades with perfect grace, never exposing his vulnerable spots but also delivering powerful blows. His blades danced with frightening speed, but it did not discourage the prince in the least. He matched the elf's footwork with his own, and his blades whirled with deadly precision, exposing himself in feints and trying to catch the dark elf by surprise but to no avail.

The dark elf, blocking with one scimitar, stabbed with his left hand, aiming for the human's chest. With surprising agility, the Prince flipped backwards under the stabbing blade, setting a good distance between him and the elf. Both combatants puffed for air, tired at the relentless battle that they had carried on for several minutes.

The Prince contemplated throwing his blade at the elf, but knew that with such a seasoned warrior, the attack would do little and would leave him with only one weapon. He tightened his grip on the eagle's hilt as he was running out of ideas and time.

Time.

The word rang in his head, and he reached for the center of his chest. The amulet was still there. He activated it and he saw the breathing of his foe slow. Grinning widely, he attacked his foe.

Drizzt saw his opponent flash before him, and he instinctively put his blades up to block. The clang of metal on metal was unmistakable, but it sounded warped, delayed somehow. Evidently, the Prince had cast some kind of spell to slow time. Drizzt had trouble just blocking the whirlwind of attacks coming his way. The Prince was more of a blur of flashing metal than a combatant. Drizzt felt his defenses becoming more and more of a chance of luck than of actual will. Drizzt knew that his foe was a dangerous one, but that he employed magic to slow time to such a degree made him think twice if he had any chance of surviving this encounter.

Thinking fast, Drizzt considered his options, the few that he had, anyway. Going to his most basic knowledge, he cast a globe of impenetrable darkness around himself and his foe. Although he was a dark elf, with unparalleled night vision, he couldn't see through the globe anymore than his adversary.

The attacks stopped instantly, and he could hear his foe stepping back, rather somersaulting backwards. Apparently he didn't know that Drizzt couldn't see through the globe either.

Drizzt backed away from the globe as well, and as soon as he exited it from behind, he grabbed one of the blades from a sheath in his boot and flung it through the globe of darkness. He heard a clang of metal, and saw the blade fly away in another direction. He grabbed for the second one and threw it, immediately following its path. If he could distract his opponent with the throwing knife, he might be able to get through the Prince's defenses and defeat him.

As he leapt through the globe, his opponent easily deflected the blade and readied himself for the drow's attack. Drizzt noticed the spell of slow time had worn off, and the two continued their furious battle. They both heard a snap of rope and both looked up to see what the cause was.

The chandelier above them was falling, its oil following like a burning, melted mirror. It smashed into the ground, and the combatants fell away, trying to block themselves from the flame. A splash of burning oil caught the prince on the arm.

Apparently the blade the Prince deflected from Drizzt the second time deflected upwards, by mere chance cutting the rope holding the chandelier.

Drizzt renewed his fighting stance, and saw the Prince grunting in pain under his breath. Could it be that his opponent was giving up?

The prince clutched his arm where he had receive the burn, and flame dying away as he patted at it. Suddenly, the same arm had veins of golden light shoot through it like an intricate tattoo. The prince howled, and was shrouded in black smoke. Drizzt brought his blades to defend, and finally the black smoke cleared. The prince had undergone a transformation, how, thought Drizzt, he didn't know.

Instead of the handsome Prince, now stood the Dark Prince. His ebony skin and glowing eyes, spiked shoulders, and golden veins around his body were surprising enough. But the most astonishing part of him was the chain wrapped around his arm. Drizzt wondered where acquired the weapon, when he realized that he wasn't holding the chain, rather it was grafted to his arm, like an extension of his own body. Drizzt also realized that the links were no less than sharpened blades, tied end to end. Putting up his guard, Drizzt readied for whatever attack his adversary was ready for.

The Prince's eyes burned into Drizzt, and, laughing sinisterly, leaped at his foe.

Wow, that got long. Tune in for part 2 later.