Chapter 4
The Prince awoke on the floor after a few seconds and got back on his feet; he looked around the room and found himself in the same ruined throne room as he had before he touched the sword. As the Prince got back up, he remembered everything his mother had told him and that now he needed to find that horse statue at the ends of his ruined homeland. He saw a large hole in the torn up gate in front of him and walked through it and found himself in another long, tall room filled with more shrieking heads; he looked at them and pitied them when he recalled his mother telling him that Jaffar's black magic had cursed them and ended up without a body and zombified. The Prince wondered how long these heads had been floating around in here, cursed and all alone; ten years, twenty? He didn't know exactly how long, but he knew that he couldn't worry about that now; he had a Princess and an entire kingdom to save. The Prince rushed down the long hall and dove for the trigger panel as the zombified heads noticed him and then shrieked. "Not again..." the Prince said in frustration; he pressed the panel down and drew his sword as he ran for the opened door that would lead him to the end of the ruins. One of the heads attempted to bite the Prince as he ran up the stairs to the next floor that lead to the end of the ruins and out into the desert; the Prince swung his fathers sword and sent the head flying away in two pieces. "Finally, I'm at the end. Now I just need to find this horse statue to get to that red temple my mother told me about" the Prince said to himself with determination as he made it up to the last floor and to the ruins end. The door slammed shut behind him as the Prince ran down the long path and came up to a large gap which he jumped over. As he made it across the gap, he saw something old at the end of the platforms that ended from the ruins and old into the desert sand dunes; it was the horse statue that his mother told him about. And then, far across the dunes, the Prince saw a red building on a large sand dune; it looked like a small speck from eye view since the Prince was so far away from it. "That must be the red temple; I'd better get there quickly, I only have 36 minutes left until hope is lost" the Prince said and then noticed several large walk paths held up by pillars above him which ended at the horse statue; he got an idea. The Prince climbed up several steps and up onto the long platform that lead to the horse statue at the end; he then noticed that the long platform had quite a few gaps in it and realized that he'd have to time his jumps right or else he'd fall 10 feet down to the ground. The Prince looked at the gaps, timed his jumps and took off running across the platform; he jumped over the first four gaps and saw three shrieking heads below him which began to chase after him as he continued across. "No, you darn heads; I haven't got time for this!" the Prince shouted and came to the last platform just a few feet away from the large horse statue and drew his sword. He struck down the shrieking heads and turned to the statue; he ran across the platform and with a leap of faith, landed on the horse statue. As the Prince grabbed the reigns of the horse statue, it came to life and whinnied as it jumped off its pedestal. The Prince tapped the horse and pointed at the red temple far in the distance. "Yeah; all right! To the red temple, run like the wind, bullseye!" the Prince cried out proudly and the horse took off running across the sand dunes at full speed; the Prince was now on his way to the temple of the bird Goddess. Soon, once he'd gotten the power of the blue sacred flame at the top of the temple, he'd finally be able to take on Jaffar once again and hopefully destroy him for good this time. The horse came to an enormous gap that lead thousands of feet down below and with a mighty leap, it jumped across the long gap and continued towards the red temple. "Good horse; keep going!" the Prince cried as they both raced farther and farther until finally, they came up to the front of the red temple and slowed down as they rode under a small pillared entrance. The horse then walked slowly into the temple as the Prince looked around and observed this new place. The temple was enormous with lots of platforms, strange writing on the walls, bird people statues, and an emblem of the temple built in above the opened entrance. "Whoa boy" the Prince said softly to the horse and it then came to a stop and the Prince climbed down from it and onto the red tiled floor; everything was almost red in this temple. The horse transformed back into a statue as the Prince started onward into the temple to find a way to the top to obtain the power of the sacred flame.
As the Prince made his way through the long corridor, he heard strange chanting at the end. "What's that?" the Prince asked himself as he ran down the corridor and to the end; he found himself inside the biggest room he'd ever been in before. The room was square shaped with candelabras around all corners of the room and in the center of the room were thirteen men dressed in black robes and wearing bird shaped hats kneeling and chanting in front of an enormous statue of a nude female figure, half bird, half woman. The statue had bird wings and feathers for arms, stretching out in flight position, and it also had bird tail feathers sticking out from the end of its spine just above its behind; a gold crown sat on the statues head as well. "That must be the statue of the bird Goddess they worship" the Prince thought as he crept behind other objects and pillars to avoid being caught. As he made it past the pillars, he saw a golden gate that was opened up down the long lit corridor. The Prince rushed towards it and walked through it and stepped on a red trigger panel which slammed it shut; one of the temple guards heard the slamming down at the end of the hall near an opening in the ceiling and spotted the Prince. "Hey you, halt!" the guard called out and rushed towards the Prince with a sword; the Prince skidded to a stop and hesitated on striking the guard dead with his sword. The guard was only protecting the temple and its sacred flame from any outsiders who might try to steal it and thought the Prince was also a threat; the Prince refused to draw his sword and instead, struck the guard hard on his bird hatted head with his fist, knocking him out cold. The guard dropped his sword and fell to to the floor, laying still. "Sorry pal, but I have to get to the top" the Prince said softly in regret and turned his head behind him to be sure no reinforcements were coming; there weren't any other guards coming. The Prince sighed with relief and then walked up to the opening in the ceiling and came into a smaller room with a large hollow filled space in the wall behind him and another gate ahead of him above a higher step a few feet above the wall in front of the one the Prince was facing; two trigger panels were built into the red tiled floor in front of him. "Lets try them both" the Prince suggested and ran ahead, stepping on both panels as he moved on. The gate opened up above him but as it did so, a rumbling, squeaking gear sound started coming from behind him; the Prince turned his head behind him again and saw the wall started to close in on him from behind. "Oh great, another booby trap; perfectly natural for a sacred temple" the Prince scoffed sarcastically as he then climbed up the step in front of him and ran through the gate; two bird hatted guards were in the room he entered. "Hey, stop where you are" the front one ordered and drew his sword; the Prince gritted his teeth in frustration and drew his own sword. "Look, I don't want trouble, I need to get to the top. Now get out of my way" the Prince snapped loudly. "Your going nowhere but out" the guard behind the front one replied with his sword drown. The Prince looked at both of the guards with their swords drawn and realized that they meant business; he would have no choice but to fight them since he knew that there was no reasoning with them. The Prince raised his own sword and slowly stepped towards the guards with a look of anger and frustration on his face. He was not going to let these guards waste his time any longer; only 24 minutes remained until everything the Prince went through would have been for nothing. "I'm not going anywhere; I'm going up to the top of this place and taking a piece of the sacred flame even if I have to strike you all down!" the Prince bellowed and then swung his sword at the guard in front of him and stuck him dead; the second guard, outraged, charged at the Prince and swung away at him with his own sword. The Prince block several blows and then decided to make his move; instead of killing this guard, the Prince slammed the hilt of his sword in the guards head which knocked him out like the first one he'd seen near the starting point. "So much for no trouble" the Prince said in disgust from doing what he had to do. He stashed his sword and ran further into the temple and came into a large room with a big door in the wall with a figure of a bird hatted guard drawn on it; a trigger panal lay on the floor in front of a closed gate ahead of the Prince. "Good, I hope this opens the door" he said hopefully as he stepped on it; the big door opened up slowly and the Prince nodded. "Yes, on to the next floor. Gotta get there quickly" he cheered and ran up the steps through the opened door hoping it would take him quickly to the top.
3 Floors Later...
The Prince came into a small room with a gap in the floor behind him and two closed gates; he was still a bit exhausted from the last area he'd climbed. The previous room was very large with a hundred foot platform that the Prince had to climb to reach the next area of the temple he'd just entered. The red door slammed shut behind the Prince as he turned to see a trigger panel behind him over the gap. "I sure hope I don't run into anymore guards; I don't like having to fight them" the Prince hoped as he jumped over the gap and onto the trigger panel which opened the gate behind him. The Prince jumped over the gap and ran through the open gate to find a larger room full of guards waiting for him. "Oh crud" the Prince snapped as the guards turned their attention towards him. "Hey you, stop where you are!" one of the guards called out with his sword drawn; far across the room, the Prince saw through one of the closed gates, a large blue glow emitting from one of the far rooms. "The Sacred flame" the Prince gasped and realized that he'd finally reached the top; his quest was almost coming near the end. He took off as fast as he could, running like a road runner towards the gate; the guards behind him gave chase. "HALT!" they all shouted at once as the Prince jumped over the gaps ahead of him and landed on a trigger panal at the end which opened both gates ahead of him. "Almost there..." the Prince panted as he ran like he never had before; once he had the power of that Sacred flame, he'd finally be able to take down Jaffar once and for all and avenge his dead Mother and Father. "Stop! We won't warn you again" the lead guard shouted and ran closer to the Prince who was already running out of the room and jumping across a huge gap that lead 50 feet down. Once the Prince reached the other side, he entered the last room and stepped on a trigger panel in front of him which shut the gates behind him. The Prince leaned over and panted from all that running. "Man, finally...I'm at the last room" he sighed with relief and looked ahead and saw...the glowing blue Sacred flame of the bird Goddess at the end of the long bridge ahead of him; a large drop stood in the middle of the bridge and of course, ten guards were patrolling the area. The Prince looked at them and then realized that he'd have to fight them without hesitation; he had to get the flame no matter what the cost was. The Prince drew his sword and then took off running towards the Sacred flame which burned in the large stone talon of another bird Goddess statue. The guards saw him and quickly drew their swords as the Prince ran towards them and then past them. "He's after the Sacred flame; stop him!" the guard that the Prince ran past bellowed; the Prince had jumped across the gap and came to a crowd of guards around the glowing flame. The Prince looked at it and felt its heat emitting from it and imagined how powerful he'd be once he had it; he then looked coldly at the guards in front of him and raised his sword. "Step aside and let me through; its a matter of life or death" he said strongly; the guards refused. "Never! The flame shall not be taken. Leave this temple or be struck down" the front guard warned. The Prince stepped closer to the guards. "Don't make me hurt you; now I said move!" the Prince snapped coldly and glared at them with gritted teeth; he was so close to achieving his goal and he had no intention of letting the guards stand in his way. "We will not allow a weakling like you to steal the flame. You are a trespasser and you will not go any further" the guard said firmly; the word "weakling" set the Prince off. Only fourteen minutes remained and he had had enough; the stress built up within him broke free and he flew into rage. "FINE! THEN I'LL TAKE YOU ALL OUT FOR ALL I CARE. I WILL SILENCE ANYONE WHO STANDS IN MY WAY!" he screamed and charged towards them; the Prince struck four guards dead and the rest fought hard to defend their Sacred flame, but they were no match for the Princes fury. He stuck the last four down which left one remaining; the guard lifted his sword but the prince swung his and sent the guards sword flying out of his hands and down to the bottom of the temple. The Prince then pushed the guard aside and prepared to use his secret move that would separate his soul from his body, but the guard then grabbed his shoulder. "Let go of me now! I have to get that flame" the Prince shouted as he tried pushing the guard off him; he drew his sword as the guard continued wrestling him. "LET GO!" the Prince bellowed and then drove his sword right through the guard causing blood to spurt all over his hands and the floor; he pulled his sword out and kicked the body off the bridge. The Prince put his sword away and then separated himself from his body using the magic spin move his Mother had told him about back in the blue ruins. The Prince felt something fall from himself and looked down to the ground to see his own body laying on the floor at his transparent feet; he looked at himself and saw that he was hallow like a ghost. "It worked...it really worked. Now to get that flame" the Prince said proudly and then jumped over the end and pulled himself up onto the flames pedestal. He slowly reached his hand out and the blue flame then suddenly drew towards him like a magnet and engulfed him. The Prince cried out in slight pain as the flames power was absorbed into his soul. A few seconds later, the flame returned to normal and the shadow Prince now glowed bright blue like a live flaming torch. He felt filled with a force stronger than anything in his life and then jumped up in the air for joy. "Yes...YES. Now to get back to Persia once and for all" he cried happily and ran back over the gap and rejoined with his body; the Prince then got up to his feet and ran for the exit to find the next horse statue that would take him home. His quest would soon be over.