A/N: Okay, well we're drawing down to the end of the story. One of you asked what happened to the Prince, well of course I was going to convey his battle in this chapter. So, time to get started…
Chapter 9 Imperfection
The Prince darted out the door as quickly as Kaileena could let the permissible words pass from her mouth. Of course the Prince had felt bad about leaving her to fend off two empresses and the God of Time, but he trusted that she could handle herself. Besides, she knew her sisters better than he ever could have. Meaning that Kaileena was probably the better candidate to fight them anyway.
As said, Kaileena was the better candidate to battle against the other proprietors of time. Leaving a very bewildered and shocked Prince at a disadvantage when it came to the green robe-clad emperor that was following behind him like a hawk after its prey. The Prince hadn't given himself the chance to turn around, but he could feel the presence of the emperor's Dahaka. The emperor's shouts of torment at the Prince stayed evident as well. Putting two and two together, the Prince finally deduced that Arlyn was probably riding his Dahaka after him.
Reminiscent of his earlier battles with Kaileena's Dahaka, the Prince found himself rolling through thundering poled spikes and under sword slinging stumps in order to avoid the eminent threat on his heel. All the while the hallways seemed to turn a greenish hue whenever the Dahaka neared too closely. The color was more serene than black, yet the present situation seemed to downsize the serenity.
The Prince rolled to the side just in time to avoid another smashing tendril by the Dahaka. He leapt forward over a gaped pit, and then ran along the walls to avoid a touch-triggered spiked floor. The royal of Persia was becoming more and more grateful that most of the palace's traps were lackluster compared to Kaileena's. The God of Time was apparently confident that no intruders would make it into his palace, let alone through it without his detection. Yet, the Prince was no average intruder.
"Why do you run, Prince?" He heard Arlyn utter behind him. His alluring voice seemed to vibrate through the cracks in the walls. "You know that I will eventually catch you. There is no way that you are faster than a Dahaka. You're just denying the inevitable."
No way I'm faster than a Dahaka, we'll see. The Prince mocked in thought as he quickly ran up a wall and latched himself onto a marble window sill. Propping himself up, he deftly shimmed to the side, avoiding a smashing tentacle from the Dahaka and another spiked floor. Upon reaching the other side he back flipped and used his sword to slide down a golden tapestry. The Dahaka was still very much on his tail.
"Prince, I commend you for your feats of acrobatic talent. It is now becoming more fathomable to realize that you defeated two emperors and a Dahaka. But you still are very much no match for my power. Don't you realize that I am the strongest of all my siblings!"
Instead of a green eel-like limb attacking him, the Prince had to dodge a blast of light shot from his rear. Arlyn was now pelting balls of energy at him in short increments. Avoiding them became less of an issue when he noticed that the traps started to diminish in quantity. He found himself running down another long red and gold glittering marble hallway, his feet slipped and slid at almost every turn. The Prince cringed as he felt a sharp jolt of pain from his left leg. It had become sore from all the acrobatic running and escaping, and much to the Prince's dismay, there was no veil of water to protect him from the ever looming Dahaka. How he wish that a sand portal would just spring forth from the side of the walls.
"Run, Prince! Run!" Arlyn screamed in wicked delight as he shot forth another light ball. "It is becoming deliciously humorous to see you struggle! And I see you've developed a little lag in your leg there. Perhaps from all the running, hm? Maybe you should stop!" Another ball of energy was released from his palm. This time it nicked the Prince just slightly at his waist, tearing through a small proximity of his leather armor. He almost tripped when struck, but maintained his strength and continued his trek of reprieve.
The Prince could've nearly cried when he saw the dead end wall of streaming red and gold before him. Briskly looking from his left to his right, he concluded that there was in fact, no way out. He could've sworn he saw the hooded figure of the Grim Reaper laughing in his face just then. But it was soon replaced by the majestic, yet perilous presence of the jade Dahaka, with his equal colored superior resting on his shoulder.
The Dahaka made no attempt to thwart him, obviously a command by his robed sergeant.
"Well, well, well, this has truly been an endearing chase Prince. But like all endearing things, it must end. For good things, shall never last."
"What kind of pessimistic outlook on life is that?" The Prince retorted, drawing his swords and stalling for time in hopes of thinking of a last minute plan.
Arlyn laughed. "It's merely a factual statement based on what I have perceived. Think about it, marriages between your kinds don't last. And when they do, are usually filled with anger and madness and of course well-planned adultery."
"But what about when they do last?" The Prince asked.
"When they do last, and are unlikely filled with happiness. Sooner or later one spouse will die, leaving the other barren and distraught. As said, no matter what is good, it will eventually end in a bad way. But Prince, before I kill you, I want to give you a chance to make your case. Perhaps a sporting pity I suppose. Tell me, what drove you to do what you have done?"
The Prince sighed. The man was down-to-earth, despite his depressing philosophy. He began his tale.
"Years ago I was nothing but a mere young prince, seeking glory for my home, and for my father. So in the midst of an invasion on a castle in India, I managed to steal the Hourglass of Time, and the Dagger of Time. Two time relics which I am sure you are aware of."
Arlyn gave out a deep cackled laugh. "Haha, so I take it that you were the one who released the sands? My father had sensed it but time seemed to be reverted before we had a chance to look into it. You actually solved your problem rather quickly, hm?"
The Prince gave out a feverish nod. "I managed to place the Dagger back into the Hourglass, saving my life and my kingdom's life. But years later after fruitful years of conquering, I was suddenly hounded by Kaileena's Dahaka. I was supposed to die when the sands were released. But I managed to avoid my fate, so hence the Dahaka came to finish the job."
Arlyn was listening attentively. "So you went to Kaileena's temple, where you managed to kill her human guardian Shadi. And kill her…"
"Yes, my plan was to stop the sands from being created. Thus creating a complex turn of events where I never stole the Hourglass, merely because they were never created."
"Of course this failed why?"
"Because as soon as I struck Kaileena down the last grain of sand fell through to the bottom of the hourglass, creating the Sands after all."
"So what did you do then?"
"Using the Mask of Wraith I devised a plan to force Kaileena into the future and kill her there. But instead, I ended up fighting her Dahaka, which had attempted to kill her."
"So that is how this little situation came to be, eh? Oh poor Prince. You meddled in affairs that were out of your power. You somehow managed to defy your fate, well, at least you thought you did, and now you're in this terrible, terrible predicament. Well, this is truly sad. You are a remarkable human do you know that? The only one I've known to actually manage to defeat certain fragments of time itself, but now you must—hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
In the midst of Arlyn's false congratulatory speech the Prince's eyes had started to rudely dart in several directions. But he soon caught the attention of a tiny alcove high on the wall to his side Reaching it wouldn't be easy, but to manage it would be a lifesaver.
"Prince!" Arlyn bellowed in his hypnotic voice. "What has suddenly occupied your attention, so?" The Prince remained looking up, causing Arlyn to investigate the source of his diverted attention. He smirked upon sight of it.
"Haha, oh, you have noticed that have you? It used to be a window, before father made a few renovations on the palace. It now remains just an indent in the wall. Nothing special, but I assume you are going to use it to try and escape. Go ahead! I challenge you…"
The Prince turned back to Arlyn briefly. Their eyes locked as the Prince mentally met his challenge. With a heavy roar the Prince dashed to the wall opposite of the alcove, running up it swiftly, he pushed forth from the wall with all the strength he could. Soaring to the alcove, he pulled out his sword and sliced at an oncoming tendril. The Dahaka howled as it withdrew its assault. Eyes remained on the prize, the Prince reached out as if a ladder was to come out of nowhere. But swinging his sword seemed to have broken his momentum, for just as he was as close to the alcove as possible, he started to descend. His eyes briefly caught sight of Arlyn forming another ball of light in his pale palm. With the ever omnipotent theory of death pursing him, he pushed to renew his vigor. Then, in a swift motion, removed his Water Sword from it's sheathe and rammed it against the marble wall, then, scraping it against the wall he used it to vault himself upward. The push wasn't much, but it was adequate. The Prince landed a hand on the ledge and quickly pulled himself up and through the alcove, falling into a damp stone corridor and right on rigid stone spiraling stairs.
"ARRRRGGGH!" He heard Arlyn scream from the other side of the wall. The Prince let out a small laugh as he forced himself to stand. Grimacing, he gripped his shoulder and began to speed up the stairs. Falling on stone stairs had made a few of his muscles sore, but that didn't matter. He had to get out of the palace. His knees cracked as he began to ascend the stairs, his middle-agedness was catching up to him.
After climbing for a few minutes, the glimmer of a light began to shine through the stone corridor. He sped up upon seeing it. The warm light seemed to soothe his veins as he neared it. Finally he would escape from the palace, hopefully Kaileena would be meeting him outside.
"Damn…" the Prince muttered when he finally exited. He had gotten outside, but not out of the castle. Before him was a large circular stone platform surrounded by graveled railings. It seemed he hadn't left the palace, but rather moved to its watchtower.
"I cannot believe this." The Prince said as his knees weakened and he kneeled to the ground weakly. He had tired himself from fighting, and now he may be forced to fight.
"This challenge isn't over Prince!"
The Prince felt the air around him return to its emerald haze as Arlyn and his Dahaka floated from the side of the tower and land onto the circular platform where the Prince rested.
"So, Prince. How does it feel to know that you just blew your last chance of escape out the window! Stupidly no less! Did you know that had you just went down the stairs you would've entered the main hallway that leads to the entrance of the castle! Did you! Hahahaha! In your haste you managed to forget to think! Haha! What an idiotic mistake! You've just secured your demise over a mere—a mere—error! Hahaha!"
"Is this what you receive your pleasure from?" The Prince asked with his head nodded to the ground.
"I'm sorry? What was that?"
"Do you get pleasure from humiliating others?"
Arlyn gritted his teeth. Then adjusted his glasses with his fore and middle fingers. "Not particularly. But the embarrassment of you pitiful humans does indeed get enjoyable."
"That confuses me."
"What confuses you, dumb human?"
"That. Dumb human. Statements like that, Decquaris said something like that, and so did Aria. You say things like that, knowing that you are half human. Why? Why do you reject your humanity?"
"Fool! If you were the son of a peasant man, and a rich queen, which one would you boast about? You truly expect us to accept the human side of us? The side that shows no morality, no strength, no loyalty? The side that has no power whatsoever! How can you ask us to accept that?"
"I admit that we humans aren't perfect creatures. And some of us are nothing but backstabbing adulterers, but all of us aren't like that. Your kind isn't perfect either. Your father raped his daughters. Is that showing morality? Strength? Loyalty? No, frankly I believe that it breaks all of those emotions. If humans are so weak, why does your father sleep with them?"
"I don't know. My father is just as weak as they are."
"So which side are you on? The human bloodedness of your mother, or the godly bloodedness of your father?"
Arlyn snapped. "Neither! I wish to accept neither one."
"That doesn't make sense. Which side are you on?"
"Don't try to play mind games on me, Prince! I am the master when it comes to those. But to answer your question, the side I'm on—is my own!"
"Your own?"
"Yes, you see. I loathe all creatures. Humans, for your weak sense of reality. Gods, for their equally weak contentment in their status. And even the poor animals that walk the earth, so dim-witted and inhumane, just like my little Dahaka here. I hate all of you, I wish to see you all dead. Even my siblings and my father."
"Why do you hate everything so?"
"Why do I hate everything so? Because I am one of the few inhabitants of this universe that actually accept the fact that nothing is perfect. I would even let myself die if necessary."
"What?" The Prince's face contorted. "You would kill yourself? Just because you realize that you aren't perfect? What sense is there in that?"
"There's perfect sense! Everything is imperfect! Therefore everything must die! You see, I've had a plan in motion all along. Once I accept the throne from my father, I'll destroy him, my siblings, the other gods, and all the rest of humanity. Then, finally I'll kill myself. Truly, wiping out all imperfect things from existence."
"That's psychotic."
"To your human mind. Which revels in imperfection just as well. Now, Prince. Let us settle this now. Whoever shall be the victor of this match shall have his or her wish fulfilled."
"Fine." The Prince concluded as he removed his Water Sword as well as his secondary weapon. At once he heard the Dahaka let out a groggy sounding roar as it launched a massive tentacle at the Prince, who narrowly avoided the attack by rolling to his rear. At once the Dahaka followed up with another tendril. Which knocked the Prince off his feet and rammed him into a stone wall. His grip loosened on the Water Sword, but he retained it best he could. The Water Sword was his only means of winning the battle.
"You know, Prince." Arlyn saw fit to comment once again. "I think that you could really ease your pain and suffering right now if you just toss the Water Sword away. It is the only thing keeping the Dahaka from just being able to pull you into his dimension of time altering fools and warriors. Why not save yourself the pain?"
The Prince ignored his statement and climbed to his feet shakily. He was so tired. Arlyn called out another command and watched as his pet slammed another one of its massive feelers into the Prince's chest. This time it nearly knocked him of the stone railing.
"Is this the best you've got, Prince? This is so very disappointing. I expected a bit more oomph from the man who is slowly making himself a legend upon the time world."
The Prince used the stone sides of the watchtower as support to bring himself back to his feet once again. The watchtower rumbled as the Dahaka took a massive step toward him. It seemed to have been becoming bored with whacking him from a far. Flexing its massive fists, it took another lengthy stride.
"Well, my Dahaka must want to smash you up close, Prince." Arlyn still was seated comfortably on his time corrector's shoulder. "I guess it has that drive for torture instilled in its master. I completely understand. Hahaha."
Once again the tower rumbled as the Dahaka took another step towards the diminished Prince. He shivered as the few jars of water resting at his hip clinked together from the shockwave. The jars of water…he had completely forgotten them. He reached a withered hand down to one of the smaller glass vials and quickly removed it from his belt. The water inside it shifted once again as the Dahaka took another stone shuddering tread. It was dangerously close this time. The Prince quickly uncorked the vial and began to take a sip—when he got a better idea.
"What is that you have in your hand, Prince?" Arlyn inquired, focusing his eyes. "A vial? What's in it? Hmm…no matter. You'll be dead soon anyway."
The Prince quickly corked the vial once again and quickly dropped the Water Sword right next to him. The Dahaka paused, almost stunned by the Prince's sudden abandonment of his sword. Arlyn was equally intrigued, adjusting his glasses as soon as the sword collided against the stone floor.
Arlyn parted his lips to speak, but was interrupted abruptly when the Dahaka quickly darted out its tendrils and wove them around the Prince's ankles. In a quick swipe the Dahaka pulled the Prince to his body as fast as it could.
Arlyn wanted to command his Dahaka to stop. He knew the Prince had some sort of plan when he dropped his sword. But being the curious person he is, Arlyn was interested in seeing what the Prince had in mind. He watched from atop the Dahaka's shoulder as the Prince's feet began to disappear into the abyss of darkness that seemed to form in the Dahaka's chest.
The Prince gripped the vial of the sacred water firmly as his knees began to enter the green fog. He wasn't close enough yet, he thought as his waist became engulfed.
Just as the green swirl reached his mid chest, he took a deep breath and chucked the vial of water right into the Dahaka's face. It shattered at once and the Dahaka reared back as the water splashed onto its face. Stinging badly.
The Dahaka gripped its face in anguish and began jerking wildly about, flinging his master off of his shoulder. Arlyn looked in disbelief as the Dahaka began to twitch about violently; it gave out a throaty roar as the water seeped into its skin. Finally it smashed against the railing and fell off the edge of the tower. The Prince smiled as the Dahaka roared ever more loudly, then, after a large splash of water and another long throaty roar. The Dahaka's madness ended. It seemed to have unfortunately landed in the even larger mass of water that flowed in the river below.
Arlyn stood and began laughing excitedly, clapping his hands in quick succession.
"Brava! Brava, Prince!" Arlyn chimed. "How ever did you know that the Dahakas were weakened by the magical waters surrounding the castle?"
The Prince took another remaining jar and quickly guzzled it. The coolness surged through his body, and he once again went through the sensations of his bones and tissues rejuvenated. With a heavy gasp as he pulled the jar away and replied.
"Kaileena's Dahaka pursued me in her temple, but it always stopped when I entered the time portal room, which was guarded by a wall of water. I knew that the waters had healing powers, so I gathered some just in case. I only just guessed that the water could actually harm the Dahaka. I just assumed since it never wanted to go past it."
Arlyn was beaming. "Miraculous, you truly are a warrior, Prince. You have good instincts as well. I am truly starting to admire you." He reached in his robe and grabbed the golden bladed, ruby studded sword that the Prince had seen earlier. "You see," he continued, "all the children loved to swim back when we were younger. At the time the Dahaka's that roamed the castle weren't familiar with us. So were of course prone to attack us whenever they were especially agitated. Father then made the water hazardous to them, so that we could always run to a pond or a pool whenever they scared us. Your sword was, believe it or not, forged from that same water. Kaileena was the one who had the most chance of her Dahaka attacking since it was newly assigned to her. So the waters around her temple are the same as here, and that sword is her defense item."
As if on cue the Prince quickly ran back over to where he dropped his weapon, retrieved it, and resumed a familiar battle stance.
"So, Prince. Are you ready to fight one on one?"
"I believe so. Beware, I have my weapons, am rejuvenated and you can't hide behind your Dahaka any longer."
"Hiding? I never hid behind my Dahaka." Arlyn quickly ran towards the Prince swinging his glimmering sword every step of the way. Though slightly surprised by this frantic choice of attack, the Prince quickly jumped to the side and attempted to strike Arlyn from that angle. But the emperor quickly brought his sword around and parried the attack, following up with a heavy kick that sent the Prince tumbling the ground.
"Damn you." The Prince said as he climbed to his feet. He zipped towards Arlyn again, who blocked his attack. The Prince quickly used the gathered momentum to vault over Arlyn and attempt to strike from behind. But his opponent quickly reversed and blocked the Prince's strike. The Prince jumped back.
"Menial attacks like that won't affect me, Prince. I'm more powerful than you could ever imagine."
"Doubtful, you seem to be the weakest of all the siblings," taunted the Prince.
"Ha! Trying to make me mad to disrupt my fighting? Won't happen, I am the most calmed minded of all my siblings. Even more so than my father I dare say. Now, let me show you how powerful I am!" Arlyn dropped his sword arm, and used his free hand to send another ball of energy at the Prince. He dodged it effectively. Arlyn sent another, the Prince avoided it, another was sent, and the Prince evaded that one as well. Arlyn began bursting with laughter as he sent wave after wave of light balls, making the Prince dance.
"This is quite fun!" Arlyn released between blasts.
"Fun? You're calling this battle fun?" The Prince replied as he began side-flipping and jumping to avoid the discharges. "I feel like a test animal!"
"Well, you are an animal!"
The Prince screamed in frustration as he tripped just as another blast escaped. There was no way to get past it, so in a last ditch effort he knocked at the ball of light with his sword. Much to his surprise it bounced of the blade and was sent to the railings.
His attacks are deflectable! The Prince cheered as he stood up.
"Hm? Didn't know that could happen. Well, I suppose you learn something new everyday. I guess projectile fighting won't be as effective now." Arlyn lifted his sword. "Maybe close combat once again? Yes, I guess that is what would be best right about now. But I am a bit tired, this time, let's take it slow." As the word escaped elegantly from his mouth, the Prince felt the air around him thicken as he suddenly felt very heavy. He tried to lift his arm to defend himself, but it took so long just to get control of it.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooo the Prince even thought slowly as he saw Arlyn bolting towards him with his sword outreached. The blade struck him dead in his armor, it didn't pierce it, but the force sent the Prince knocking backward against the wall. Getting thrown into the wall even felt slower and more agonizing than before. The Prince suddenly felt huge sympathy for all the enemies he had destroyed using Slow Time. This was torture. The word was emphasized even more when Arlyn soon struck him with the flat of his sword once again. He felt blood trickle from his jaw, but it could've just as easily been drool. Slowed time also meant it took a long time for him to close his mouth.
"I bet you're confused on what just happened, huh? It's a power hereditary to our kind. We can Slow Time as we please. Interesting, huh? Surely you cannot even come close to fathoming this phenomenon."
The Prince swore silently. If only he could speak properly, he would surely tell Arlyn that he had used the Slow Time power many a times. But this was not the time to worry about proving someone wrong, he himself was only able to use Slow Time for a small amount of time. But Arlyn was one of the rulers of it, no doubt he could use the power for as long as he very well pleased. Once again he felt a sharp sting as Arlyn sword struck at his un armored leg, cutting through the cloth and unearthing a large gash.
"I hate to kill you this way, Prince. It's almost unfair." He kneed the Prince in his stomach in the midst of this statement. The Prince arched slowly as he made contact with Arlyn's robed knee. It was unbelievable how slow he could feel himself moving. It was almost as if he was levitating in the air for he took so long to get knocked somewhere else.
"I wonder Prince? I know Kaileena had to have used Slow Time on you at one point or another. How did you manage to counteract that if you can't counteract mine?"
I had the amulet. Thought the Prince. (Sorry Indridason!)
"Actually, I wonder how you did a lot of things while in Kaileena's temple." Arlyn had stopped hitting the Prince for the moment, and had begun watching the Prince's floating body as it sluggishly fell back to the ground. "We set a lot of traps to make sure that Kaileena was safe in her temple. Father and I created those damned towers, designed all the traps and mechanisms. We even had these very large mechanical sand beasts that were mainly a last resort just in case someone got too far into one of the towers. How did you beat them? All those traps—some were absolutely full proof! How did you bypass those? I mean, I saw your acrobatic finesse earlier today, but in no way shape or form could it have helped you in every single trap. You had to have help of some kind!"
Arlyn's state of disbelief was mildly exaggerated in very affected tones of voice. The Prince was assured that he really did believe that the Prince could've done it. Whether he knows that he had the amulet or not. But while he rambled on about trap bypassing (which he did) the Prince needed to find a way to get past this Slow Time. As far as the Prince could guess, time powers had to have some sort weapon to activate them. Well, maybe it was hereditary. But then again, when the Prince used it, he needed the amulet, and when Kaileena used it, she had her swords. But there was no way to determine whether the power came from her or her swords. But that was a good guess. Time also had to have some sort of limit, even when Kaileena used it she didn't use it for long. Maybe Arlyn was just able to use it for a longer amount of time because he was the strongest out of all the siblings. Yes, that's it. Sooner or later he had to become tired, especially if the power was indeed coming from him.
"—we also must consider the sand creatures we put there, they were—oh!" Arlyn noticed that the Prince's body had finally hit the ground. "About time. Now, now, now, what to do with you next?" He chuckled. "I must say, I am having massive fun with this! Knocking around your lifeless body—" He slammed his foot into the Prince's chest. "It's so very exhilarating."
The Prince couldn't let this continue on much longer. If Arlyn's Slow Time was going to wear out eventually, it wasn't happening fast enough. Think Prince, think. There had to have been some type of loop hole in this power. Something that Arlyn wasn't paying much attention to. Why couldn't he figure this out? He had so much experience with time powers previously.
Something that Arlyn isn't paying attention to. Something that one would think doesn't matter that much. The Prince pondered. What is something that wouldn't matter in Slow Time? In Slow Time…what wouldn't matter? Well, thinking obviously, in Slow Time you move more slowly than you normally would. I have to overcome this by doing something he wouldn't expect. What wouldn't he expect me to do in Slow Time? Wait—no, that wouldn't work; it's too simple—or could it?
Staring fiercely into Arlyn, the time emperor could sense some sort of hope in the Prince. He decided to quickly douse that fire of optimism ignited in his eyes.
"Prince," he began, "I trust that you believe this to be a very humiliating way to die. So of course you think you have devised a plan. Let me just tell you now, there is absolutely no way to faster in Slow Time. The magic powers that exude into life with this spell coarse through your veins and manually pulls through your brain and sends signals through your body to slow down. Not only that, but it affects the atmosphere as well. You will die in this state. Be sure of that. Also, if you are hoping that I'll eventually grow weary of this power, you can abandon that thought as well. I can hold this spell for days at a time if I need to."
Damn…glad I decided against waiting. Alright, time for my next plan, no pun intended.
The Prince readied himself as Arlyn grabbed the collar of his armor and pulled him to his height.
"Slow Time also surprisingly makes your opponent weightless. It's like lifting you up in a pool."
Arlyn swung the Prince from his left to his right like a fleshy pendulum. He gave out a hearty laugh as he watched him move back and forth.
"Like lifting in a pool." He repeated pleasantly. "Time to dunk you in…"
He tossed the Prince heavily to the side and watched as his body began to drift slowly in the air. Knowing that the collision would hurt the Prince in many more ways than it seemed evident. The Prince in this time had sprung forth bruises and blood spots all over his body. If it wasn't for the immense tension being put on his vocal cords by the spell, he would've been screaming the whole time.
As he flew, he knew that this was the most opportunistic time to carry out his plan. He took a deep breath (what he could make of it) and began to flex his muscles even further. A massive pain spread through his body as he attempted to bypass the spell. Veins popping out his neck, and his face turning red, he took hold of all the power he could muster—and tried to make himself move slower.
As if needles replaced his blood he felt the intensity of his efforts knock through his system violently. He wanted to give up just then, he halted on breathing, which had become as stressful as swallowing a mountain. His bones seemed to all break and he struggled to pull himself from colliding with the ground, his toned arms bulged brilliantly. Amassing to levels that would make even the strongest bodybuilder roar in envy.
Sweat began to fall from his body in beads as he still forced himself to keep from falling. He was at his limit, his mental capabilities on the brink of dissolving in thin air. His body couldn't take this, it couldn't—
Just then a sharp crack whipped through the air and the Prince watched in relief as he suddenly felt himself fall at normal speed. The collision was painful, but the pain was narrowed by the sudden gasps of breath he could take, and the normal rate of blood flow returning to his limbs. The hazy brown that had fallen into the air lifted, as a dumbfounded Arlyn began to flush with anger.
"What the hell!" He said with an unusual normality to his voice. "Did you--! What did--! You stopped my Slow Time spell! How!"
The Prince started laughing, holding his arms as he forced himself to stand. He may have been finished if Arlyn attacked, but he had probably been the only man in history to counteract the spell with another type of magic.
"I—" he took another heavy breath to get used to speaking properly once again. "I—needed to think of a way to get past your spell. I knew trying to move faster is probably expected of one who is at the more unfortunate end of the incantation, but moving more slowly. Now that is something that one would not expect. I figured out that it had to have some kind of negative effect on the spell. And just as I hoped, it broke it completely."
"I hate you! You foul horrible scum of a human! I didn't even know that that could be done! You don't know that you did! Slow Time is a very sensitive spell that pulls on the bonds of time itself! By moving more slowly you manually added pressure to the spell, which it couldn't handle! You broke the medium! Don't you know how—uggh!"
Arlyn suddenly fell to the ground, dropping his sword in descent.
"That—spell puts too much pressure on the average human body enough as it is. Normally I could've r—r—recovered from usage of it. Especially since I only used it today. B-but, y—you broke the spell. That means the pressure you put on the spell was too unbearable for even it—it had to transfer the pressure to another—and—"
"It chose the body of the one who was making the spell." The Prince finished, with not an ounce of sympathy in his pitch.
"Y—yes. Me. Prince, I will tell you this now. I have been defeated. I don't know whether I will die right now—but, I must tell you. You are truly a remarkable human. The average human couldn't even have broken the spell even if they tried the same tactics you did. You—you—how dare you trifle with the quandaries of time! You don't know what you've—" Arlyn spit up saliva and blood. "Hahahaha! Hahahahaha! Prince!" He suddenly made himself louder. "You have done my job for me! You killed Kaileena's Dahaka! Decquaris's Dahaka died when you killed him! Aqua and Evia, I can sense there's are dead. Rest assured, for Kaileena has defeated both of them somehow. You finished off mine as well! Don't you realize! You have just destroyed all the supports of the regularities of time! With the Dahaka's dead, time won't know how to flow smoothly! You have just cemented the chaos, and eminent destruction, of all life on this planet! You may have killed me! But you just locked the fates of every living being!"
The Prince was nervous now. "No!" He protested. "I didn't! I can't have—! I have beaten you! I have beaten my fate! I will beat this as well! Why can't you just accept your death like a man!"
"Don't you ever call me a 'man.' I am a god! I am more powerful and more perfect that you! Don't ever belittle me to your title!"
"Than why are you dying at the hands of a human?" The Prince bellowed.
Arlyn didn't respond, just laid there like the fool he was. "You," he said after a short time. "May say what you want, believe what you will. Know this, I never said that I was perfect. Just more perfect than humans. Therefore I am not immune to death. My demise would've been the last step to my master plan, anyway. Farewell, Prince. May your mistakes finally catch up to you."
With that, Arlyn's pupils faded and was forever released from the imperfect world he dreaded so much.
A/N: Sniff! I kinda like Arlyn! I know that it sure was fun writing him. Anyway, sorry if you think the fact that he died after what the Prince did was a little lame. But it was the best I could come up with, and the chapter was getting too long. Sorry for the wait as well, I started playing the Sims 2 again, and I got Zelda Windwaker. I was just tied up! (Bad excuse I know!) Anyways, read and review! Hope you liked it!