Welcom readers, welcome all, after a long hiatus, I have risen from the grave!

I bring you, Obscurum Intus!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Persia, because if I did the people who did music and story for Warrior Within would be put up against a firing wall and shot.

Life.

That's what the Dark Prince felt. Life coursing through him, no longer hindered by the Prince's troublesome presence.

Amazingly, a few minutes ago, the Dark Prince was afraid...yes...afraid, that the Prince would simply walk out of his mind, leaving him, and cutting him off from his true power, anger, hatred, rage, pride, and other dark emotions that lay below just below the human psyche, waiting to be released.

However, the Prince apparently didn't learn as much he believed he did. He was arrogant, he was angry, in other words, he was just waiting to be destroyed.

It was easy enough to defeat the Prince, and the Dark Prince savored the moment of realization that blinked in the Prince's eye, the inescapable truth that this time he was truly going to die, and that this time, the Dagger wasn't going save him.

As the sand was about to crush him, and make the Prince and the Dark Prince one and the same, the Prince said three words.

"It is inevitable..."

And then the sands converged upon him, warping him, and then the sands fused the two of them together.

The Dark Prince got up from the floor where his former host had fallen. He spied the girl that the Prince felt some twinge of affection for unconsious on the floor, perhaps from the shockwave that came from Zurvan's death.

He then spied the Dagger on the floor, and with a smile deserving of a court jester, took it from the floor.

Now then, I am free to expand this empire. One that expands all across the world. Once I am done, all shall fall under the rule of ME! Because now with the Dagger, and the Sands, Time itself is MINE!

However, he noticed his black skin and the golden symbols now extending all across his body now that it was free of the Prince's restraining influence, and the Dark Prince realized that the citizens of Babylon and Farah would not welcome someone who so closely resembled one of the Sand creatures they had fought against recently.

So as it turns, my weaker half has some uses after all.

And then, the Sands began pouring out from every crevice that it had seeped into during the fight, and then they began revovling around the Dark Prince. They began slowly at first, then eveuntually began to quite rapidy pick up speed, glowing brighter as they sped faster, making a whistling noise.

Then, the Sands settled, and the figure that was in the middle resembled the late Prince to such an extent that any citizen would swear that he was indeed the Prince. However, the smirk on his face was one that was so completely alien that none would understand that it was currently inhabiting the face of their beloved Prince.

Then, he noticed Farah began to stir slightly from her slumber. The Dark Prince-Zeheav as he had began referring to while trapped inside the Prince's head-knew that he would have to trick her into believing that her Prince was still the occupant of the body. He remembered well when Farah, when she found out what the Prince had been harboring him, she had tried to shoot him. She missed, yes, but still, he would prefer not arousing her wrath until the Sand had taken care of her.

She saw him, and he noticed that when he was devoid of his dark skin and golden marks that usually marked Zeheav's presence she lowered her bow that she had both picked up and cocked an arrow ready to shoot.

"Are you alright?" She asked in a cautious voice, the kind you would use to approach a frightened elephant.

"I...I think that it's finally over." He replied, mimicking the Prince's voice perfectly.

Because it is over, all over. This fight between me and the Prince is over, and with the Vizier gone, and Kaileena no more, everything is perfectly aligned for me.

The two of them walked over to the balcony, and Zeheav knew that this place, devoid of any annoying witnesses, was the perfect time and place to strike.

"Farah..." He said in a voice quiet. A sudden hit in the throat, and the body that had been turning around to face him fell, like a puppet that had its strings cut.

Looking down at the limp body, and enjoying that surprised look that lingered upon her face even after her conscious mind had fallen.

If anyone had been near the tower when these series of events occurred, they would have been unwilling witnesses to a most peculiar sort of laugh. This laugh was devoid of any emotion, and could be likened to an actor playing a part that he didn't understand.

They would have also felt a strange chill coursing through them, and a sudden feeling of doom upon them.

(Three months later.)

Zeheav was bored. Not a regular type of bored, but an insane kind, the kind that made him want to go out and kill each and every person who called themselves citizens of Babylon.

It had taken far too long for him to implement his actions. However, all the pieces were finally coming into place. The two most powerful people who could have possibly put a damper on plans, Kaileena was gone, and the Old Man was turned into a creature of Sand.

The leaders of the citizens that had come forth to lead the masses when Zurvan had ruled, most of them were either dead with Sand imposters replacing them, or had chosen to be turned into Sand monsters in exchange for power.

In the meantime, the Persian Army was also being transformed into a huge army of Sand monsters, however the process was slow.

Slow...that was the problem. Despite the immense feeling of victory he felt every time he saw another legion of Sand Soldiers or another annoying pest replaced with a Sand being, the restless urge was growing.

"Anything wrong, Emperor?" Two voices said simultaneously. Zeheav didn't give a backward glance; he knew that there were only two people able to access his inner sanctum. Farah and the Old Man, his two most...trusted, for lack of a better word, advisors.

It was hear that he could also discard the illusion of the Prince he created in order to fool the gullible morons that inhanited the city. Also, Farah and The Old Man ridded themselves of the fascade of normailty, and let their true Sand infested forms through. Farah skin was now paler than the finest marble, and her eyes held a luminous glow to them. The Old Man skin turned black as night, and he resembled a mass of black clouds held inside robes.

"How much longer must I wait for these miserable insects?" Zeheav said, allowing a small sign of anger to show in his voice that only hinted at the much larger hatred boiling inside of him like the hottest volcanoes.

"The last of the civilian leaders has been...persuaded My Emperor," The Old Man, Navareh, said. "All they need is your order, and then the crackdown will begin."

"Have you decided which country to invade first, King?" Farah asked, indicating the rather large map of the known world hanging upon the marble walls.

A sudden buzzing noise, and then there was a knife in Greece- Athens, to be precise.

" Greece, sir?"

"Yes, they will provide a nice testing ground for my Sand army. Besides, their arrogance at the defeat of the former pathetic emperors of the land I rule need to be shown a little bit of reality. And beyond that, this gives us a direct way to attack Rome, which is beginning to expand past Carthage."

The Romans were just beginning to stumble upon the world empires. They defeated the Carthaginians in what was now being called the Second Punic War, and were beginning to test the Greeks. An indecisive thirteen year war showed them something that Zeheav already knew-that the Greeks were divided and would be unable to defeat a major enemy.

Navareh saw a small hitch in his King's plan to attack Greece. "My Emperor, what about the Kingdom of Pergamum. While they cannot resist the might of the Seleucid Empire, if we invade them it will surely tip the Greeks off about our intentions."

"Those fools are too weak to merit an invasion. I specially created some Sand monsters to take out the key officials. With them out of the way, the Kingdom with its tenuous strings of loyalty already buckling under the weight of the Romans, Greeks and us, will snap. Anarchy will follow, and we will claim to stop the destruction of the country, move in, and then an invasion of Greece will quickly follow."

"The Sand monsters, sir?"

A smirk on his face, Zeheav turned around, "They're already here."

This surprised Kaileena and Navareh, although they did not, and could not, show upon their faces. The only type of Sand Monsters that could possibly hide from the two of them would be Sand Monsters closely, if not entirely, linked to shadows, similar to the Silhouettes that the Empress created on the Island of Time.

Forms suddenly rising out of the many shadows in the room confirmed what Farah and Navareh suspected.

The shape was roughly humanoid, however, it lacked eyes, mouth, nose, and looked like someone took the bare basics of the human body, and decided it would have been too long to add on the other various body parts.

"The Sand monsters, sir?" Farah asked, although it was quite obvious that they could be nothing else.

"Yes, call them Shades. Their task is to assassinate the royal family, and all the top officials. The two of you shall go with them to Pergamum, and assist in whatever ways you can."

"Yes sir." The two replied simultaneously, and began walking away.

"Oh, and Farah?"

This caused Farah to stop in her tracks, although Navareh continued walking out the sanctum.

"Accompany me to the harem."

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Pergamum emissaries from the marvelous Seleucid Empire." Boomed out King Attalus of the Attalid dynasty.

"We humbly accept your greetings King Attalus." Farah and Navareh replied, bowing.

"My servants shall show you to you quarters, and negotiations shall begin in the morning. Until then, sleep peacefully." And with that, the King dismissed Farah and Navareh.

The two bowed down, and followed the servants to the lavish quarters that were prepared in their honor. The servants bowed and made their exit.

"So, when should we strike Navareh?"

"Not tonight, tomorrow when all the chief advisors are assembled."

"We shall need to kill all the servants that might serve as witnesses. The Seleucid Empire must seem to have absolutely no ties to this."

"King Attalus is hardly going to trumpet us as his guests. Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Aelius Paetus have their eyes on Greece, especially after the Macedonian War, and Pergamum would be an important ally against Philip V of Macedon."

"Whom we have just signed a non-aggression treaty with."

"Which our Emperor has no intention of obeying when the time comes. In any case, the death of the top of the Kingdom shall break the kingdom into many small feuding factions that will bicker over a successor, and by then, our Sand armies shall sweep across this land."

"What about the Aetolian League, or Rhodes?"

"By the time the news reaches them, it will be too late to do anything. They may protest, but they can do little else."

By a concentration of her will, Farah made a Shade come out of the floor. "Tell Zeheav that everything is going according to plan, and that by noon tomorrow, this kingdom shall fall."

Making no sounds, the Shade disappeared into the floor.

"Zeheav?" Navareh's amused voice rang out. To this, Farah glanced at him, allowing no no emotion to leak out.

"What?"

"It's strange that you refer to him by name, not title."

"What are you insinuating, you old fool?" Farah's replied, voice cold.

"I'm saying that no matter how hard you try and deny it, a bit of the old Farah lives in you." Navareh replied making no sign he had heard the slight.

"So what if it does? If Zeheav wanted to get rid of me, he could easily."

"I'm simply making an observation."

"Perhaps you should keep your observations to yourself." Farah replied, and made to leave.

"And where are you going?"

"I'm doing reconnaissance."

"Just make sure you're not caught by the guards. No matter what Attalus said to us, he would be happy to find some reason to say that we made some breach in diplomacy. Also, the Emperor would hate it if anything didn't go according to plan."

To this, Farah dignified the old Sand man with no reply, and disappeared out into the night.

In the inner sanctum, Zeheav poured over map after map, refining his plan of attack for Pergamum. Of special importance were the reports from the traitors and spies that he had planted inside Greece and Italy. He then sensed a Shade sliding out of the floor.

"A report from Farah, my lord." The Shade said in their customary dry, flat sounding voice.

"Proceed."

"She says that everything is going according plan, and that by noon, Pergamum will fall."

"And is that it?"

"Yes."

Zeheav began calculating the time it would take his armies to get into position to wipe out all resistance. The key element was time. He needed enough time for order to break down, and anarchy to break out, and then wait for enough time to make it look like the Empire, and he especially, wasn't causing Pergamum to implode in a controlled way.

"Tell the commanders to assemble their armies at the border."

"Yes."

"Inform them that if one of their troops slips over the border, they will answer to me and an executioner."

"Yes."

"Dismissed."

Without further theatrics, the Shade went to inform the commanders of his instructions. Zeheav had no reason to doubt that his two agents wouldn't live up to Farah's promise. They weren't ones to boast beyond their sizeable capabilities.

Returning to his maps, Zeheav began pour over them with renewed intensity. The world was his for the taking.

It was the morning of the negotiations. The conference room was lavishly decorated with silk, gold, and jewels. King Attalus and all the senior political advisors and the royal family were there. An alliance with the Seleucid Empire could prove extremely useful against Philip V and the Achaean League. King Attalus was at the end of the room, sitting in a throne made entirely of gold.

"Greetings Farah and Navareh. We humbly present to you these demands from our King." The King's rumored favorite son, Eumenes II, presented Farah with a scroll.

Farah briefly scanned the scroll. The basic demands, trade, an agreement not to go to war with each other, a promise to support each other during times of war. She shared a look with Navareh, who gave a cruel smirk, one that Farah briefly returned. It was time.

"King Attalus of the Pergamum Kingdom, I wish to add only one thing to this scroll."

"And, esteemed guest, what is that?"

"Please die."

The silence that resulted in the room was so thick one could slice it into strips with a knife. Farah snapped her fingers once, and out from the shadows, the Shades emerged around the room. As Farah and Navareh went out to hunt down any survivors, and the conference room was being drowned in red. Blood red.

It had been two months since Pergamum's assassination of the all the higher ups. It had gone just as Navareh and Zeheav had predicted. Greedy generals took the men that were loyal to them, and carved out a slice of the now destroyed kingdom.

Proclaiming that in the interest of "stability", the Seleucid Empire swept over the land like a tide. Those that swore their loyalty, and became Sand Generals, kept their territory, and absorbed the territory of those generals that had been killed in the purge.

The reactions from the rest of the world were muted. The assassins left no trace to where their origins, so nobody was able to blame the new Emperor. The reactions from Rome could best be described as muted hostility, and Rome's dependants picked up Rome's attitude.

However, the reaction from Carthage was something that was much more interesting. Zeheav recognized that its citizens weren't pleased at being at the mercy of the Romans. They suffered attacks from Numidia, however according to the treaty that had signed with Romans, weren't allowed to do anything about it.

Add this to the fact that the Numidians were heavily dependant upon the Romans, and also almost completely surrounded Carthage's remaining territory (making it easy to stage an army to wipe them out), made the Carthaginians realize that they were very vulnerable to the whims of the Romans.

All of this combined made the Carthaginians, quietly, supportive of any roadblocks to the Romans' desires of greater power around the known world. This, Navareh and Zeheav realized, would be highly useful against Rome.

"Next target, Greece."

And that is it for this chapter my readers, however few or many there may be!

For this particular chapter, I digged back into history. Believe or not, all of these figures, with the exceptions of the ones from the PoP games, are actual people. Pergamum was a kingdom, and yes it was ruled by Attalus and Eumenes II would succeed him later. The same for Philip V and the Leagues I mentioned. The two Romans, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Aelius Paetus, would be the consuls at the time.

Now then, this story may be hard to understand if you don't know your ancient history. The year would be 201 B.C. The First Macedonian war had just ended, along with the Second Punic War. The non-aggression treaty with the Seleucids and Macedon V mentioned is something that may or may not have been true. Ambassadors from Rhodes and Pergamum presented evidence of this before the Roman Senate, so its authenticity is under question.

Also, the Carthaginians are obviously going to play a larger role in the chapters to come.

Memento mori.

P.S. I must offer my sincerest apologies to all my devoted readers who have been waiting for another story from me. Although this might not what you may have been expecting, I hope you enjoyed.