A/N:Things that don't make sense now, will make sense later, I promise! Also on a more general note: Rhea Hiryuu now has written a Warrior Within crossover as well ("Dark Dreams". It rocks. Go read it. NOW!) but any similarities between our fics are pure coincidental. I have the plot already planned out and I'm pretty sure she has to.
Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Enter the towers
"AkahaD eht epacse tonnac uoy!"
I had no idea what that thing said, but something told me he wasn't asking for a Scooby Snack. With a startled yelp, I decided to forget about Prince's name and make a run for it.
"Water!" Prince shouted. "We must find water!"
I was about to agree, when realization suddenly dawned on me. For the second time, there wasn't supposed to be a Dahaka chase at this point in the game! There weren't any convenient planned escape routes, reinforced doors to hide behind and if I remembered correctly, it would take us at least twenty minutes and a shitload of sand creatures to get our asses to the nearest Portal Room. Uh oh.
"Prince, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…"
"Can't it wait?" he asked, while smashing a couple of barrels to clear the way.
"Eh… not really. It's important. Really important. Really, really…"
"WHAT?!"
"The palace layout is totally out of whack, the Dahaka was not supposed to show up until you returned to the present and there's no way in hell we're gonna make it to the nearest waterfall in time!"
"What's the good news?" he panted, while we both did a wall run over another spike pit.
"I found a nickel and named it Phillip," I snapped sarcastically. "THERE IS NO GOOD NEWS!"
Prince was about to retort when he suddenly plowed into a giant door. Paying slightly more attention to the road, I managed to stop myself just in time to see we had run into a dead end. Emphasis on 'dead': I pulled, pushed and pounded my fists like an idiot, but the massive stone slab refused to budge!
"Alex! There's a ledge switch over there! If we pull it down, the door might open!"
Prince jumped on the ledge, which slowly started to move down as the door moved up. Unfortunately, things went a little too slow for my liking: perhaps the ridiculous size of the door has something to do with it, but I could barely see it moving up at all! I jumped when I heard the Dahaka roars echoing from down the hall. He was still standing on the other side of the spike pit, but I knew it wouldn't take long for that creep to remember he could teleport. I joined Prince on the ledge, hoping the extra weight would push it down faster, but the door continued to move up in a painstakingly slow pace. At this rate, it would take at least fifteen more seconds before the opening was wide enough to crawl through: fifteen seconds we did not have.
"Can't you slow time or something?" I squeaked as the environment started to lose more and more color.
"That might slow the Dahaka, but it will also slow the door! I would only prolong the inevitable."
"Well, you've been doing that for seven years now, I'm sure you could manage a few more seconds!"
I glanced nervously at the opening. It was now just wide enough for a hand to fit underneath. Oh, we were so royally screwed.
Another loud roar alerted us to the fact that the Dahaka had finally teleported and was now standing only a few meters away. I nearly threw up from fear when it's haunting white eyes met my own. Oh god, this was it! I was going to die!
I was about to have a panic attack when suddenly three figures appeared in front of us. I recognized one of them: the Sand Wraith. When still playing the game from the other side of the television screen, I'd seen him before, just before the final fight with Shahdee. But what was he doing here? And who were the others? They looked similar to him, only one of them seemed female, and the other one… well, I had no idea what his story was.
"We don't have time for this!" Prince protested, drawing his sword when the shortest of the male wraiths tried to join us on the ledge in some kind of twisted group hug. The female wraith tried to tell me something, but with a startled cry, she was suddenly hoisted off her feet by the Dahaka and pulled into that dreaded black void. Both males looked in horror, and the tall one let out an enraged shriek as he began slashing furiously at the writhing mass of tentacles. The Dahaka was not impressed and quickly grabbed him and the other wraith as well, ending their lives on the spot. In the blink of an eye it was over and the guardian of the timeline, apparently satisfied for now, jumped up and disappeared.
"That was… weird…" I mumbled after a long silence, my brain still trying to wrap itself around the fact that we didn't die.
"What… were those things?" Prince asked, his eyes still wide with fear.
"I don't know, and frankly I don't care," I shuddered. "Let's just find Stumpy so we can get that audience with the Empress."
Before Prince could object, I quickly jumped of the switch and made my way to the door. I didn't know about sand boy, but personally I didn't feel like waiting for the Dahaka to change his mind.
"Note to self: do not join the army," I groaned as I crouched through the opening on my stomach, military style. Someone offered me a hand and I gladly accepted, only to jump when I saw that standing before me was no one other than Red!
"Eep!"
"What are you doing here?" she glared at me.
"We must speak with the Empress," Prince said after he gracefully rolled under the closing door. Man, I really needed to learn how to do that!
"The Empress speaks with no one, who do you think you are?"
"Well… eh… I'm Alex and…"
She gave me another one of those creepy stares, causing me to shrink back slightly and scoot a little closer to Prince.
"Are you from another world?"
"She is, but what's it to you?" Prince answered rather aggressive. He was loosing his patience and frankly, so was I, though I didn't have the guts to show it.
"The Empress had a vision," Red informed us. "A girl from another realm arriving in our world, trapped in a body that is not her own."
"And dressed in a horrendous outfit," I muttered. "Did she say anything about how I might get out of here?"
"You are not part of this world or it's timeline," Red mumbled cryptically. "Your future is clouded and your presence here was not meant to be."
"Wait… that's a good thing, right? It means I might not show up on her sixth sense radar!"
She sighed and looked at me again, but not as creepy this time. In fact, I almost swore I saw a flash of pity.
"Whatever your fate may be, know that it cannot be changed. Neither can his," she nodded at Prince. "Leave this place now and never return."
"We saved your life! Twice!" the royal spat. "All we want is information!"
Red seemed to think for a moment, then turned around and walked away, motioning us to follow. I suddenly noticed that we were already in the Platform Device Room. WTF?! Stumpy was supposed to be waiting for us in the Hourglass Chamber! What was she doing here? And what was up with that giant door?! The hallway used to be open! That was it, I needed to get out of this messed up world, and I needed to get out now!
When we got to the stone rose in the center of the room, she handed Prince a sword.
"The Serpent sword will activate a series of bridges, granting you access to the Garden Tower and the Clock Tower. To open the door to the Throne Room where the Empress will create the Sands of Time, you must activate both towers. It won't make a difference, though…"
"Enough with the emo act already!" I suddenly snapped. "Maybe you're right, but we won't know that unless we try!"
Red sighed, knowing that she could not change our minds. Prince jammed the sword in the center of the rose and a turnstile rose from the floor.
"So, which tower should we do first?" I asked, glancing at the openings high in the walls.
"Perhaps it would be best if you split up," Red suggested. "There isn't much time left before the Empress will create the Sands."
"Oh, hell no!" I snapped. "I am NOT going to face an entire tower filled with psycho sand creatures on my own!"
"And if you didn't have to fight them?"
A cloud of sand formed between her outstretched hands. Being a priestess (or at least, I assumed she was one) of the Empress, apparently gave her a few powers of her own as well. The cloud suddenly flew in my direction and started whirling around my body. After a bright flash, I suddenly found myself wearing a crimson top with matching fingerless gloves that covered most of my arms. Instead of that cursed loincloth, I now wore crimson pants, tucked into armored knee-high boots. There were pieces of supple armor on other parts of my body as well, but not enough to hinder my movements. My hair was now put up in a bun, no longer getting in my eyes all the time and I had a new, both lither and sharper, dagger. In short: I looked a Blade Dancer and I LOVED it!
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I squealed, tackling Red and almost cutting off her air supply. Then I remembered that she was Prince's creepy new love interest and quickly backed off. I still didn't trust her and a new outfit wasn't instantly going to make me, though it was a good start…
"If you act normal, they will not attack," Red stated.
"You should take the Garden Tower, Alex," Prince said. "You at least partially know your way there… that is, if you don't mind splitting up. I'm not comfortable with the idea myself, but we would save a lot of time and you wouldn't have to run from the Dahaka when it finds me again."
"Well… I don't know…"
"Of course you could also join Prince in the Clock Tower," Red opted. "But the place is ridden with traps and as long as you're with him, you will be considered hostile by the Exploding Dogs, Spike Beasts, the occasional giant Golem…"
"Alright! Alright! I'll take the freakin' Garden Tower!" I yelped, feeling rather queasy at the thought of being ripped to shreds by Batman-knows-what was lurking in that other tower. Besides that, I had enough Dahaka runs for one day. Maybe if we split up for a while, I could finally catch a breather.
Oh, If only I had known how wrong how wrong I was…
