FOR BABYLON!
"Ah, thanks to your assistance I am now one step closer to aquire the ultimate power of the sands!" Exclaimed the pleased old man, who was comfortably sitting on king Sharaman's throne. The bronze knight was kneeling before him. "To think the only person I truly needed was all along...you. All of my other men seem to lack a very important faculty which prevents them from thinking straight while they are following strict orders and accomplishing such an important task... Let alone the fact that our greatest obstacle is such a skilled and tenacious man. You will now face our greatest threat yet... The Prince is on his way, probably slashing his way through the city. He resembles a rather unstoppable force, a skilled warrior who has no fear of death" Said Zurvan while admiring the sharp edge of his short sword.
"Every single man who stepped on my way met their end in seconds. Once the Prince is gone, my service to you will reach to an end" Said the knight as he stood back up, then he continued. "Everyone on this land knows very well what he is capable of. As a matter of fact, your own men have witnessed how dangerous that man can actually be. Men after men fell before him easily, three of your most powerful allies encountered their painful end by the Prince's steel... Simply put, he is thought to be the best warrior this land has ever known!" The knight then turned and calmly walked towards the room's entrance. "...But that is about to change. Tomorrow the Prince's dead body shall be decorating this palace's carpets...".
"I can now see that you have quite an obsession with taking his life... Nevertheless, it is an obsession I am willing to accept and even share. Guard the stairs that lead to the palace's upper level and wait for the Prince... Go! Defeat him and retrieve the dagger!" Said Zurvan with a cold yet anxious expression engraved on his old face. The bronze knight nodded without even turning to see his lord and left the room.
MEANWHILE
"Farah! You wait there while I search the palace for some curtains and-" The Prince was then interrupted by the Princess, who was feeling rather anxious and perhaps a little useless always waiting for him. She quickly made up other plan for them.
"No, Prince! You better hurry and free the royal guards without me! I can see the entrance of a sewer from here, it may lead to the baths of the palace. While you free the hostages, I will look for Kaileena!". The Prince quickly prepared to disagree with her new strategy, he was reluctant to get separated from her once again but then his inner voice whispered to his ear.
"Come to think of it, that is a fine strategy. Think about it, Prince. If you split, you can cover more ground in less time and therefore ending Zurvan's pathetic existence and rule over your throne faster!".
"...Fine! But, please, you must be extra cautious once you are in there since the Vizier is likely expecting us. I doubt Dardan arrived the palace yet so the palace's defenses must still function, Farah. So watch your step!" Yelled the Prince without even realizing that he might had drawn the enemy attention. Farah nodded and sprinted to the sewers entrance. On his own once more, the Prince began to explore the inside of the humongous building, searching for the dungeon. "You are quite an insistent inner voice, you know that?".
"Oh, please! Really? If it were not for me we would still be ripping the beautiful carpets and curtain of our home! You need to make decisions faster. Otherwise we may get into trouble".
"You remind me of the old man, I hope he is safe..." Replied the Prince as he walked through a large hallway which was suspiciously too quiet. "These hallways seem to have no end. I remember getting lost while roaming this palace as a child... Me and my brother always caused some trouble while our father was away from home and-" He was suddenly interrupted by 'himself' once more.
"Pay attention! Do not move!".
The man soon realized the painful and lethal reality the traps of the place he called home represented. Without knowing, he had stepped on a hidden switch on the floor. The switch triggered a mechanism which provoked spikes emerge from the floor before him. Had he took another step, he would had met a certain death. The Prince immediately jumped backwards and started to analyze his options. There was a door on the other side. "I know how these things work. They react to the weight and get triggered, however, the mechanism takes a second to start... I just have to keep moving fast and everything will be fin-". He then stepped onto another hidden switch and cause another trap to appear before him. Two rotating columns with spikes emerged from the walls and began to move on a pattern.
"Uh... Carry on, Prince?".
"...Shut up..." Replied the Prince as he reformulated his strategy. The columns had a tricky route, going up and down, each one at different speed. He just had to calculate the precise time the two traps took once they reached the ceiling. After some minutes of preparation he decided to make a run for it. "Here goes nothing!". Thus he sprinted at full speed, easily avoiding the emerging spikes from the floor and performing an acrobatic jump between the two rotating pillars. He had reached the other side.
"What took you so long?".
"Very funny. You see, it is quite obnoxious to hear someone who does not know how hard this actually is! What...?!". As soon as the Prince passed through the door he found himself about to being chopped by an enormous blade. He immediately rolled to the side. Avoiding the attack only to encounter a bald, morbidly obese man, Klompa. "So you must be another of the Vizier's servants, am I correct? Just how many of you are there?" Said the Prince while regaining his composure and pulling out his sword.
"And you must be the Prince of Persia, if I am not mistaken. Ha! You do not seem to be soo tough! In fact, I cannot see why so many are afraid of such a tiny, weak little man like you!" Exclaimed the fat man between chuckles.
"And that comes from the man who seems to have problem counting up to three".
"I may be small in comparison, but I am certain about the difference between our skills... To me, you mirror nothing but a fat child with a knife..." Mocked the Prince, who was actually trying to find a quick way to dispatch his new foe. The room in which both were had four pillars supporting the ceiling. The pillars were made of solid marble but were also thin and didn't seem able to resist any attack from that brute's blade. He now had a plan.
"You...cheeky bastard! I will cut you like a fish!" Roared the fat man before charging at his opponent without bothering to hold back. The Prince made a backflip and positioned himself next to one of the pillars.
"I see now... That is actually really clever, Prince. Do not waste precious stamina on him, let the environment do the killing!".
The Prince rolled away when Klompa attempted to cut him down. He instead wrecked the pillar. "Get back here!" He yelled.
"Come on, filthy ball of fat. Try and catch me!". The Prince knew pretty well what kind of enemy he was dealing with. He just had to play with his simple mind until death comes to him. His opponent then charged at him, furiously swinging his blade, desperately trying to hit him. He managed to once again make him hit another pillar. "(Two down!)".
"The ceiling wont resist for long, Prince! Make sure to position him directly below!".
"You little pile of scum! What are trying to do?!" Said the man while trying to catch his breath. He was puzzled by the erratic actions of his opponent. "Defend yourself!"
"Not even close! Come on, you mean to tell me that you are done? Tired already?". One final blow, that was all he needed. Fortunately for him, the obese man furiously attacked in the direction he wanted him to. After one blow, the third pillar went down and pieces of the ceiling began to fall.
That was when Klompa finally understood the Prince's plan. "I SEE NOW! That was a smart move, Prince! But I will not hit the last column. I will just keep attacking until you run out of space!" Exclaimed the man thinking that he had the situation under control.
"He really is a slow one! Now send him to his doom!".
"Sorry, but I do not need your assistance anymore!" . With nothing more to say the Prince jumped and kicked Klompa in the chest as forcefully as he could, causing him to take a few steps back.
"Hahaha! You puny weakling! You cannot hurt me!" Yelled the bald man.
"Heads up, big guy!".
"Perhaps I cannot... But a ton of marble surely can!" Said the Prince before a enormous portion of the ceiling broke and fell directly on top of him, crushing him like an insect.
"Wonderful, Prince. I can already taste the glory of our victory!".
"You seem to be quite exited all of a sudden. May I ask why is that?" He said as he came across a rather large stairway.
"It is I who is in position of asking those questions. I reckon you have lost you fighting spirit, Prince! Your kingdom, your throne is begging for you to come and save it! But you limit yourself to think only about less important things".
The Prince remained silent and began to question about his "other self's" true intentions. "... Anyway, we shall see where these stairs lead us to. If I remember correctly, the dungeon is in the third level of the palace's basement. We should be able to find it if we keep going down... Of course, finding the whereabouts of the captive men is the easy part" Said the Prince before walking into the stairs.
"Yes. That is the easy part, but the guards, traps and other hazards are the funny one!".
"I wish I could share you optimism. Every single thing that happens, every single drop of blood spilled by my people is MY fault... I just cannot figure out why the disgrace follows me wherever I go. Like the flees to a rotten corpse". The Prince's voice reflected guilt and anxiety for he knew that he was the only one to be blame for all the pain and suffering of his people, of his loved ones.
"Do you ever listen to yourself, Huh? Death is one result of your actions, there is no doubt about it, but spilling some blood in order to fix the disaster of the timeline is justified. A means to an end! You are just doing what you are supposed to do, Prince. The sword got you into this mess and it WILL take you out of it!".
MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE IN THE PALACE...
Farah crouched and hid behind one of the many pieces of furniture that were adorning the room. She had killed many men to reach that place and she knew that Kaileena was close. "(Wait for it...)" Thought the Indian Princess while a guard walked bear the table in which she was hiding. She was about to strike, however, another guard rushed into the room.
The exhausted man quickly began to report that someone had broken in. "We have an intruder! Someone has killed eleven of our men!".
The other guard almost jumped when he heard the amount of deaths the intruder had provoked. "E-eleven?!... Call Klompa. We need him here right now!"
"H-he was supposed to report twenty minutes ago, but he has not... I-I wonder if the Prince-" The cowardly man suddenly stopped when his partner pulled out his sword. "What is happening?!" He asked terrified.
"We are not alone here... I heard something..." Said the more experienced guard. "Behind that table, quick!" Yelled the man as he prepared to swing his sword. The other guard quickly followed him and pulled out an axe.
"(Damn it! So much for the stealth!)". Farah the made a fast maneuver and jumped on top of the senior guard. With a short slash, she opened his throat. A warm, crimson pool of blood didn't wait a single second and adorned the white floor. The other guard tried to hit her with his axe but the Princess quickly aimed her bow to his head. "Where is she?! The woman, where is she?! Tell me!" Yelled Farah.
The man swallowed and made a pathetic attempt to look tough. "Y-you can forget about it! I am not going to squeal! Otherwise, my master will erase me from this world and-" He then was interrupted by the sound of Farah's bow getting ready to shoot an arrow between his eyebrows. "N-no! P-please!" He cried.
"Fine, lets see... Would you rather to obey your master and die here and now OR would you prefer to disobey his orders but live a little longer?" Said the princess as her fingers adjusted the arrow.
"Fine! I will tell you! Just do not point that thing at me!" Yelled the frightened man before taking a deep breath. "The woman is locked down in the king's chamber. There are four guard guarding the entrance of the room, so you should be careful" He said.
Farah let go a brief laugh, turned back and began to walk towards the stairs which were at the end of the room. "See? It was not so difficult after all! You should run away now, I have a really bad feeling about what is going to happen in the next few hours" Spoke Farah before stopping for an instant. "Oh! And by the way, you ought to change your clothes since you got yourself wet... Farewell" With nothing more to say, the Princess left the room leaving behind the guard, who didn't waste any time and ran away.
MEANWHILE... AT THE PALACE'S BASEMENT...
"Finally! It took you forever, Prince!".
"Well, it is not my fault that this place has so much dead ends and fake doors! Anyway, here we are... Where all of the Persian royal guard lies locked... Lets do this!" Said the Prince before kicking the door and entering the room. Obviously all of the guards that were watching the cells quickly noticed him and prepared their swords, hammers and axes.
"Impossible! The Prince is here! Get him!" Yelled the guard who was in command of that section.
"He said the Prince?! The Prince has come to save us!" Cried one of the locked men.
"The Prince is here! He is going to free us!" Yelled another man. In that moment all the captive men began to cheer and scream.
Immediately four guards sprinted to him and attacked fiercely with their blades. Unfortunately for them, the Prince easily dodged their attacks and with a spinning move he rotated both of his blades performing a deadly slash which was more than enough to cut the four men's heads off. "Why do you even bother?!" Taunted the confident warrior. Two more men then charged at him furiously. This time the Prince rapidly parried one of the guard's attacks, jumped on top of him and made an aerial slash, decapitating the man.
Scared, the other guard hesitated for a moment. "W-what kind of devil are you?!" Screamed the man before swinging his axe in his direction, fruitlessly attempting to hit him. The Prince made an aerial maneuver once again, but this time he situated himself behind the guard. Thus, he began to strangle him very forcefully. "My blade calls for every single one of you! You will pay for slaving my people!" Yelled the Prince before decapitating the poor guard.
"Magnificent!".
"You fiend! You cannot possibly think that because you seem superior to my men you are capable of killing me!" Said the arrogant commander, who was wielding a rather large sword.
"Shut up already! Let us see what you are made of" Said the Prince, already in his fighting stance.
"Die, BASTARD!" Were the man's final words before receiving a powerful slash from his opponent which caused him to split in half.
"I should hurry before someone else comes!" Thought out loud the Prince as he searched for the key in the mutilated corpse of the guard he had just killed. After a minute he finally manage to find a rather numerous set of keys. "(For once, fortune is by my side)". The Prince immediately opened the nearest cell he could find and freed the Persian guard. "Here, take this and free all of the other men. Once you are all free you must organize a strong offense and regain control over this district while also freeing the other captive soldiers!" He said as he handed over the keys to the man.
"I will follow your orders, my Prince! But what are you planning to do?! Do you wish some guards to aid you with-" Replied the royal guard before getting interrupted.
"You do not have to worry... The Vizier and his last generals are of no concern to you. I can handle them myself, it is my duty as the Prince of this kingdom". The Prince's mighty words immediately awoke the hope within all those captive men. "One more thing. Has the general Dardan and a group of men been imprisoned in here?" Asked the worried Prince.
"What? General Dardan knows you? Sorry, my Prince, but I have not seen him" Replied the man.
"I see... Dardan and his men must have been attacked before arriving the palace. If he is not here with the soldiers then he is likely..." The Prince suddenly stopped, fearing the worst and feeling regrets about his friend's possible fate. "Fine... Lets get moving!"
"The more we wait, the more strength our enemy gains!".
"Hear this, my fellow persian warriors! Babylon is not lost yet! WE are going to expel the barbarian menace that has attacked us! You must always remember...the night is always darker just before dawn!". The Prince's speech instantly triggered the fighting spirit inside every single one of the men once again. The Persian royal guard cheered as their hero turned and continued with his task.
"Those words were far from perfect, yet you seem to have awaken something in them... What is the next step then?".
"If I remember correctly, these stairs will lead us to the upper level of the palace, which is where the balconies, royal chambers and bath are. I believe that is when we will find both the Vizier and Kaileena... Happy?" Replied the Prince before starting to run up the stairs. The end was near and he knew it pretty well. The main question was if he was capable of ending what he had started, if he was capable of undoing the error of his ways... "(...Time only knows...)" He thought bitterly.
After seemingly endless minutes of running through the palace's main stairs, the Prince reached an end. Before him was a rectangular room with only one passageway, which was situated at the end of it. He walked silently across the place. The silence and serenity of the environment was more than enough for the Prince to realize that an ambush was about to take place in any second. "Too quiet..." He said to himself before someone's blade was swung in his direction. The Prince immediately parried the attack with the Scorpion blade only to face his new opponent. He finally met the infamous bronze knight, the one who took Kaileena away singlehandedly. "So it is you...the knight. We meet at last" He said as both began to carefully walk in circles, both of them in their stances. The Bronze knight didn't even bothered to reply and prepared his next attack.
The knight then raised his golden sword and with a quick, yet accurate move he partially slashed part of his opponent's torso before he could even react properly to his attacks. Luckily for the Prince, his leather armor protected him.
"You are good..." Admitted the Prince as began to think about the best strategy against him. His opponent was fully covered in armor. From toes to head, not a single portion of his body was uncovered by that yellow metal. With that said, he couldn't even try to read his opponent's next move based of his emotions because of his helmet. "I may not be able to predict his next move, however, I should be able to dodge and move around better than him and at a greater speed since he is completely covered. My agility seems to be my best ally in this fight". He thought. Thus, he decided to make his next move by jumping to one of the knight's sides and trying to hit him. Much to the Prince's surprise, his opponent not only parried his attack but also counterattacked with a powerful kick which launched him into the air for a brief moment. With a fast maneuver, the Prince managed to land on his feet.
"Interesting... Despite being covered with pounds of metal, he was still able to counter your attack with apparently no problem. The kick was empowered by the weight of his armor... He uses both precise timing and his own weight as a means to caught you off guard, Prince!".
"(I must think faster than him! Perhaps using the environment as part of my attack will be effective against him...)" Thought the Price while slowly moving to the nearest wall. His opponent immediately followed him, always remaining in his fighting stance. Once both were close to the wall, he fainted with his sword in order to create a brief distraction. "(Now is my chance!)". With a short leap, he used the wall to gain momentum and build strength for his upcoming attack. The bronze knight received a direct impact on his left leg, an impact forceful enough to shatter part of his armor. Despite being hit with such a strong swing, the Prince's opponent barely flinched and seemed to lack any pain.
"It appears that this one is a little stubborn".
Thus the knight triggered a series of violent swings with his golden sword. Each and every single one aiming to the Prince's core. The Prince barely dodged all of them and with a fast parry he channeled his opponent's force into his next move by slashing great part of his torso armor in half. This time he managed to cut his skin too as blood began to slowly make its way out of him. "You seem to be a remarkable swordsman...it is a shame you serve the Vizier. I do not wish to prolong this conflict any further, so tell me where is the he! And Kaileena!"
The armored man simply moved his head to one side and then to the other before playfully waving his sword back and forth.
"Looks like you are not going to cooperate with me... If you have made your decision, come on!" Cried the Prince just before charging at his mysterious opponent. The scorpion blade collided with his repeatedly as both commenced to attack at a rather high speed. The exchange of swings ended when both the Prince and his rival finally landed one of their attacks. At this point the Prince's deteriorated leather vest was not ready to resist a strong slash from the enemy. The Knight, on the other hand, received a powerful thrust directly to his shoulder. The impact was so damaging that, once again, part of his metallic armor was destroyed.
The Prince immediately prepared himself for another clash, but he eventually noticed how his opponent stopped and began to run towards the exit of the room. The man quickly followed him, however, a barrier of metal bars trapped him in the room when the knight activated a switch near the door. "What are you doing?! Come back and fight me!" He yelled. The bronze knight silently turned and left. Suddenly the floor started to make noises and it began to crumble, leaving nothing but a black hole. The Prince fruitlessly tried to grab on to one of the columns before falling into that dark pit. "No! I cannot! I need more...!".
"As you wish!".
In that moment, the Prince began to suffer once again that burning sensation under his skin. He knew pretty damn well what was about to happen.
SO HOW WAS IT? FEEL FREE TO LET ME KNOW. BY THE WAY, THE END IS NEAR...SO BE PREPARED FOR A FEW SURPRISES!.