This is written from Farah's POV, it may seem a little repetitive because something similar is going to happen to Farah as what happened to Shirin.

Chapter Twenty-three: Betrayer

As I opened my eyes, I realised that we were no longer at the Temple, actually, it wasn't so much a matter of 'we'; to be exact it was just I that was no longer at the Temple, Shirin and the Prince were nowhere to be seen. I looked at my surroundings and they seemed incredibly unfamiliar. It was dusty and dimly lit. I saw cobwebs, but they were drifting slightly, I saw an opening to the room I was in in front of me, I saw down a corridor was some sort mirror tilted at an angle. There was something about this room that made me feel uncomfortable. I dusted myself off and stood, I wondered how I had got in here; I might have fallen in here, I couldn't see anyway how that could work though. I was sure I was in the Temple, we were on the third platform, so how on Earth did I get here? I turned round and to my surprise, I saw the Prince. He was lying on some sort of stone vault of some kind, there were three of them. I suddenly concluded that I was in a crypt, I shivered; I didn't want to be here at all. I thought it best to just wake the Prince and find Shirin. He looked slightly different, his hair was shorter, but only slightly - the most obvious thing I noticed about his hair was that it was a brown, lighter than it had been when I met him outside Amber. Well…maybe the dye had washed out somehow…it was odd and incredibly unlikely, but it was a possibility. He was also topless…well, he could have just taken the top of his armour off, though, of course, if he did do that in the weather conditions that the Temple was in he would be freezing so it was something I didn't expect him to do. His trouser were white too, he could have changed - but we didn't have any other clothes because all our things had been with the horses. Well…it mattered not, plenty of unorthodox things had happened since starting this journey and this was obviously one of them. I reached out to tap the Prince on the shoulder in hope of waking him as to continue our journey, however, something very unexpected and frightful happened. Instead of my hand making contact with the Prince, it went straight through him as if I wasn't actually real, as if I was a ghost! I quickly jumped back with surprise. I blinked, bewildered and scared. I suddenly heard someone move in the shadows that cloaked the corners of the room. I saw a woman emerge from the shadows. I didn't recognise her at first but suddenly it hit me. It was I! 'I'…I mean 'she', was wearing my red dress, her hair was pleated, I usually always had my hair pleated; her hair was shorter than mine was…maybe this was all happening in the past, but then how could I be here? Her face looked slightly hurt and perplexed. She was holding a dagger, the dagger, the Dagger of Time; she also held a sword and I assumed it must have belonged to the Prince what with the fact he had a strap across his chest designed for a sword. I couldn't recall this ever happening so I stood watching everything attentively.

She (she being the version of me that was holding the weapons) seemed a little nervous, and I could see in her eyes, she was trying to make a hard decision. Why wasn't she trying to wake the Prince? That's what I would do…or, obviously not, with what I was watching. The Prince looked rather peaceful in his sleep…I still couldn't remember any of this happening but at least one of us was happy. Finally, after what must have been a little argument in her mind the other version of me; placed her (or mine I suppose) medallion down near the Prince. She mumbled something incredibly quietly so I could barely hear: "It's better like this, you know that," I stared at her as she looked down, hesitantly, at the slumbering body of the Prince. She quickly bent down and kissed him briefly on the lips. She quickly hurried out of the room through the entrance; it wasn't until she out of sight fully (when she had turned in the corridor that had the unusual mirror-like device I obviously couldn't see her anymore) that I actually began to wander in her footsteps. However, to my absolute shock, a disfigured creature that resembled a Human (but only just) appeared in front of me with a golden flash! I screamed and immediately ran back into the crypt. I knew it was a dead-end, and that I had nowhere to run but my fear wasn't as strong as I had expected it to be as I sensed that all of this was slightly…unreal. As if it wasn't even happening, but nevertheless, I feared the whole situation and the creature, that had now been joined by several more, which was approaching. I looked at the Prince and screamed several for him to wake, but I guess it should have dawned on me earlier that if the Prince couldn't feel me then he certainly couldn't hear me. A thought drifted across my mind and suddenly became a heavy weight on it. If I was correct, from what I had seen, I had just left the Prince defenceless, with no weapon to protect him. I wouldn't do that would I? I found to my surprise, everything darkening, as blackness bled down into my vision until I saw nothing but black. I found, however, I was able to seen my body, and so, this darkness couldn't be the sort that came when there was no light. Although the mutated creatures had vanished from my sight, I was still swamped with terrible fear - I didn't know where I was, or if anyone was with me so how could I not be fearful?

"You betrayed him!" a voice whispered harshly in my ear, I turned to find the voice didn't seem to have a owner and that I was still alone. The voice, although I saw no owner, belonged to a man, it was a low voice and a harsh one that struck fear in me, it sounded incredibly indicting. My eyes darted around the shapeless world.

"Where are you?" I asked quietly. The voice repeated what it had just said but louder and harsher. I began to walk, feeling uneasy, as I didn't know where I was walking - it was like walking down many steps blindfolded. I asked another question: "Who are you?" Suddenly, in front of me appeared a ghostly, meagre figure. I wouldn't call whatever it was a human although it had a likeness to a human, it didn't look as if it were physical, it looked like it consisted of some sort gas-substance, like smoke, its limbs flowing and not having an exact end. Features, especially the eyes, were darkened as if to emphasise them or to show where they were.

"You betrayed him! You left him to die!" cried the ghost with its harsh voice. It was walking towards me so it was only my natural reaction to walk backwards and away. I shook my head, disagreeing with what the ghost had said.

"No…that couldn't have been me, I wouldn't do something like that," I tried to explain but before I could say anything else in my defence I was interrupted.

"You cannot defend yourself, princess, you debated in your mind and you finally decided to leave someone you supposedly 'loved' in a situation where he could have been killed in slumber, a slumber you led him in," the ghost indicted.

"No, you don't understand, I do not remember any of that happening, I wouldn't do that!" I cried.

"You are a twisted, evil woman, Farah," spat the ghost. My nose began to sting as my eyes glazed; I had a strong need to break out in tears as I was being condemned for something I was sure I hadn't done. "If you can't even handle seeing one thing you have done, then how could you handle seeing much more?" I muttered to the ghost. I didn't understand what it meant so I ignored it.

"Where are Shirin and the Prince?" I asked as a tear squeezed out of my right eye, I couldn't hold them back much longer.

"Do not change the subject, princess, you have to face up to the facts, you betrayed him and you did it on purpose," accused the ghost

"No I didn't - "

"Yes you did! Stop denying it!" screamed the ghost. I finally gave in to what it was saying, anything to stop it.

"Fine! I betrayed him then, please, just leave me alone," I begged, I turned around, my tears were running down my face madly and I wished terribly to not be here. The ghost's voice now seemed calm and satisfied.

"You are so weak, you could never have the memories that you seek," it hissed. I stayed still; the words it said slowly went through my mind.

"Memories?" I turned round, "Y-you're one of the Spirits of this place aren't you? I'm still at the Temple aren't I?" the ghost remained silent. "What you showed me, really did happen didn't it? That was one of the memories that I lost,"

"And I can assure you will not be receiving anymore, if you do you'll just end up a shaking wreck," the ghost said.

"No! You can't just leave me here! I need those memories!" I exclaimed.

"Why?" He demanded, "what reason do you have?" I tried to explain my reason but no words escaped from my mouth and I just stood. "You neither are strong enough to have these memories nor have you a reason to have them,"

"I - I, I know I technically betrayed the Prince, but, but I also know that, although I may not be exactly the same person as I was then, I do think the same way. I know that I wouldn't have done what I did just out of pure want, or maybe I did, but it was because I wanted the Prince to be safe because I did and still do love him, I must have thought that I could have stopped the Sands myself. Maybe you're right, maybe I do not need these memories, because either way, I will still love the Prince, but…I need to know what I have done in my life even if practically no one else will remember it. You assume I am weak because I am crying, but I am crying because you misunderstand what I did. Look at what I have done, I have come all the way here, surely doesn't that prove that I am strong enough?" I explained. There was silence. What I said, hadn't been said to persuade the ghost or Spirit, it had just been the truth. The blackness diminished and was replaced with a pure white. The Spirit took on a form of a man. He was a slim being with brilliant white chin-length hair. He was an unusual pale colour but his highly decorated eyes brightened his ghostly white face. His clothes were unusual; I hadn't seen any clothes like his before. They were white and he wore something that actually resembled a long skirt on his lower-body half.

"What's going on?" I asked as I looked at all the white.

"Farah," started the voice of the man, the Spirit, his voice seemed calmer now and lacked any harshness it had had. "I am going to allow you to have your memories for the reason that you have given, however, I wish you to understand that you have only 'passed' by a very small mark," explained the Spirit.

"Excuse me?" I asked not understanding the Spirit's words.

"You were correct, I am the Spirit of this temple. This was your trial; it was a process of showing you something harsh from your past and to see whether you could take having to relive it again. Before you can understand new memories you must understand old ones, of course, we did have to change that policy for you slightly for in the past that you know you have done little wrong," he explained.

"Well…since it's over, could I please go back to the Temple now?" I asked.

"As you wish," the Spirit said, and I began to feel as if I was slowly being lulled asleep.

I immediately opened my eyes and sat up. I was back in the cavern where the Temple was. Shirin and the Prince were kneeling beside me.

"I see a little pattern going on here…first Shirin passes out and then you, I wonder if I will be next," the Prince said. I shook my head.

"It was my trial," I muttered. The Prince suddenly got serious.

"Oh, are you okay?" he asked, his worry obvious in his concerned voice.

"Yes…I suppose it wasn't all that hard," I lied, although I had only been there for a short period, the way the Spirit talked to me had scared me terribly.

"Well…what about all those rumours? Shirin, you talked of those warriors of Dahaka's, that they could bleed into darkness and could move with tremendous speed?" asked the Prince. I thought about it, the Spirit certainly did appear from the darkness and he obviously must have been able to move quickly.

"In a way, all those tales were true." I murmured; I looked at Shirin and recalled the fact that she too, collapsed. "Shirin, when you collapsed, did you experience anything," I asked. She shook her head quickly; it must have just been coincidence. I looked over at the Temple. The entrance was so near now, I wrapped my hands in the Prince's and Shirin's and pulled them to their feet. We made haste to enter the Temple - it had taken months, but at last, I was going to have my memories back.

I meant to ask before, someone reviewed my Second Sighted fic, they were called Last Survivor, no one would know their actually e-mail address would they because what they left was somewhat unclear.