Prince of Persia: The Chronicles of the Prince
Book I: The Awakening of the King
Chapter 4
The Vision Unwrapped
The sun was completely out by now. The Prince was pacing quickly around the gardens. He and Farah had spent the last hour or so trying to determine what the nightly vision withheld.
"What exactly did you see?" Farah asked once again.
"I already told you Farah," Prince answered, a hint of harshness in his voice, "I am not saying anymore until we can sit with the Old Man. He has helped me before, I am sure he will make something of this mess."
The Prince and Farah started off back through the hallways they had once ventured through. The two of them continued through the city, every once in awhile Farah stopping to question the Prince. When he did not respond, the huntress had to run to catch up.
After some time, the Prince took a back alley and vanished around a singed brick corner. Farah followed and came face to face with the rugged young Prince. She gasped and clutched her chest.
"You frightened me Prince."
"We have arrived." He said pointing to a rottened door that reviled the entrance to the sacred room. The Prince pushed open the door as it creaked loudly, Farah followed close behind.
"I must speak with you now," the Prince said, "It's urgent."
"Sit my Prince," the Old Man gestured to the empty upholstered seat. "You as well my Princess." The Old Man hobbled over and took a seat as well. "Now, tell me what is on your mind." The Prince hesitated.
"I am not sure of this, but I think it might have been a vision, into the future. I saw it as clear as day, this was not an ordinary dream, or nightmare. In it, I saw Farah tied to cross, I was chained to two pillars, and fire was blazing around us. I was yelling something, but I can't remember quite what it was. Then I changed views and saw this creature. It was white-gray, a ghostly tint to it, though it was not an apparition. It floated above us, laughing, and it was holding…something, I am not sure, it was dark. Behind it was a gate, some sort of portal that it had appeared from." The Prince finished in a sigh. Farah had a very stone cold expression upon her face; a hint of terror began to slowly appear.
"Do you know where you two were, was it a building, a field?" the Old Man questioned.
"I don't know." The Prince replied.
"Okay, now what did this creature look like, do you remember any distinct characteristics?"
"It was a light grey like I said, some what transparent, but not much. It was about my height, it was human shape, not much more…but, he did have a symbol on his chest." The Prince stood up and walked over to the Old Man, he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and rough sketched the image. It was circular with intricate designs in the center.
"It looks similar to a medallion that I had once had, but that was long ago. I gave it to the Maharaja of India." The Old Man explained. Farah stepped back.
"That is my medallion." She said, reaching into a tiny brown leather pouch that hung from her slender hip. Farah pulled out a small golden medallion, about the size of an apple. She held it up showing the figures on the surface.
"This is it." Farah pointed to it, "My father gave it to me about 9 years ago. I have kept it close ever since. I allow you to use it in any way you wish, but how could the design on the fiend's chest be the same as my medallion. Does this involve me?"
"It might Farah, if this dream was real…"
"Which it very well could be." Said the Prince, interrupting the Old Man.
"So what do we do? How can we find out if the dream was a real vision?" Farah questioned. Her voice was full of horror, but at the same time, excitement.
The Prince stood up and paced the room. Walking back and forth, pondering about what they had uncovered. His blue eyes traced around the room as Farah and the Old Man discussed the probability that the dream was real. He continued to walk the cluttered hallways, being careful not to knock one of the many wax candles that were the only light-producing source in the room. He kept going back to the part when he was yelling. What was he saying?
"These are my people, this is my war, I will not be afraid." The Prince muttered, a smirk appearing on his face.
"What was that Prince?" Farah asked, resting a cool hand upon his shoulder.
"I remember what I was yelling in my dream. These are my people, this is my war, I will not be afraid, and…" His voice trailed off.
"And what Prince?" The Old Man replied, standing off to the side, leaning on his cane.
"The remains of a building, it looked like the throne room, there were steps, lots of them, and the two columns I was chained to had the remains of an archway behind it. It looked similar to the wall behind the King's throne, my throne."
"This is great Prince," Farah said leaping at him, "if this is real, then we will know where it happens." Her voice slowed down tremendously. "But if it is true, then we will be enslaved and hung where we can die." Her voice trailed off.
"Yes Farah, this is what is to come if my dream was a vision," The Prince said, rubbing Farah's shoulder, "but, if it is real, we can stop it."
"How Prince!" she yelled. "You have no more Sands of Time, the tainted soul inside of you is gone, you cannot alter the time stream any more, we are hopeless. Even if we team up again, there is no way to escape from that…that thing that is going to capture us! We cannot win!" She fell into Prince's arms, tears streaming from her delicate eyes.
"Farah, I have taken out many a foe by my own hand, I have defeated the Vizier twice, and I stopped death itself. I am ready and willing to take on this task. I have already lost some of my people, I will not let any more harm come to them, but in order to do this, I will need your determination and steady hand by my side to help my take down this menace!" the Prince's voice echoed through the small hut. "Please Farah, I have seen you with your bow, your arrows never miss their target." Farah turned her head to look at the Prince. She nodded.
"Let's do it." She said, her tears had stopped running down her check, and the Prince wiped away the remains with his hand. She grasped the Prince's torso in a hug while her breathing settled and her heartbeat returned to normal.
"It is settled then," the Prince said while looking towards the Old Man, "now we must find this gate that this creature is supposed to appear through."
"I might be able to help you there Prince." The Old Man said. He hobbled over to one of his several rickety bookcases, and pulled a large black leather book from one of the shelves. The cover read The Depths of the Darkness. He inhaled deeply and released it as a cloud of dust erupted from the surface. He set it on the table and began to scan the pages. Every time a page was turned, he was careful not to tear it. A musty smell blew through the air, reveling that the book had not been opened in many years. The Old Man stopped at a page about halfway through the book.
"What have you found?" the Prince asked.
"The Medallion of Harutah." He said. "It has been passed down from royal family to royal family for centuries." He continued to scan the page. "It was once used to seal a demon like creature back in its own dimension. The rest is unreadable. This page has been singed, only this page." He said flipping through the rest of the book. The Prince stood puzzled. He turned to face Farah.
"This could not have been a mistake," she said, "someone must have tampered with it. Who else has access to this room?"
"Nobody, but it wouldn't be hard to break in. There is not sign of anything wrong that I have noticed." The Old Man told the Prince. "I can't see how they would have gotten out."
"What do you mean?" the Prince asked.
"I have an opposite spell on this place. Instead of having unwanted visitors not be able to enter. I have made it so they cant leave. I have also placed many enchantments upon my books and knickknacks. This is why I am so perplexed, only a great deal of magic could have broken my spell, and if they could break the spell, then why not take the book, or that page, why burn the one corner?"
"He wanted us to find him. He wants to challenge us." The Prince drew his sword. "We have company."
Farah reached to her back and seized an arrow. She strung the bow and held it steady. Back to back, the Prince and Farah stood, not speaking a word. The Old Man, still sitting at his desk, stared around in amazement. Moments passed, eyes traced 'round the room. The Prince fell to the ground, his hands clutching it.
"Augh!" the Prince yelled in pain. Farah dropped to his side, a worried look upon her face.
"Prince!" she yelled. "Prince! Prince! What's wrong!"
"It's getting worse! The pain! It's getting worse!"
A cloud of smoke, thick black smoke, erupted from the middle of nowhere. A figure, rather tall, stood before them. The Prince screamed in agony.
"Goodbye Prince." The figure said with a smirk, two long slender gold blades draped down his side, each engraved with symbols. He crossed the room and standing above the Prince, he brought the blade down.