CHAPTER TWO

As he found himself gradually coming back to consciousness, the Prince could overhear terrified-sounding individuals pleading for their lives in the streets as he felt himself being dragged along in what was later revealed to be a cage, held by loyal guards of his as of yet unknown enemy.

Thankfully, Kaileena was in the moving cage behind him.

Bringing him up to speed, she revealed that they'd been dragged for the past few hours towards the Prison, in order to be transformed into obedient servants for their new 'king'.

This worried the Prince greatly. What of his family and friends? And how exactly did this strange foe manage to obtain such power or defeat Babylon's formidable army with relative ease? But even if he did get the answers he sought, would he be ready to live with this newfound knowledge? He could only guess what fate had in store for them this time as they were continually dragged along to their doom, unable to fight back their capturers for fear of putting innocent civilians at risk.

More hours passed before any significant developments occurred as the cages were placed down in secure areas within the Prison, with a guard shouting out loudly to the prisoners what awaited them beyond the massive closed door ahead.

'Attention whelps! You've all been brought here, because our King values your numbers and is willing to let you live on as one of us... if you survive the process'.

Civilians continued to panic while the Prince could only grasp the bars of his cage in frustration as the guard continued on, letting out a sadistic giggle every now and then.

'Those of you that do manage to successfully pull through and emerge anew, will find themselves changed into something better, something beautiful. Those of you that don't... Best pray that you've lived a fulfilling life, because the flames won't treat you any differently. Now, if we could have our first volunteer...'

Two other guards reached down to unlock the cage of a middle-aged man who cried out in terror as he struggled against being pulled completely from it, eventually losing the fight against the overpowered strength of these almost supernatural beings.

'Look, this one is especially fearful,' one other guard said. 'If he makes it out, he'll make an excellent soldier for our king.'

The other guard agreed with a simple gleeful laugh as they both dragged the poor man against his will towards the door, the guard who'd explained the entire process to the Prince, Kaileena and the other prisoners earlier, closing it behind them.

'We need to do something,' the Prince said. 'If only I had a hairpin of some sort to break this lock.'

Kaileena said nothing as she seemed entirely lost in thought.

'Kaileena. Any open suggestions would be greatly appreciated.' the Prince said, coaxing her out of her unheard thoughts.

'If I have any immediate solutions Prince, I will let you know. But at the moment, nothing is coming to mind,' she said.

'Come on, come on. Surely there is something you can do,' the Prince articulated. 'You have the Sands contained within your body. Surely you can use them to speed up the ageing process of these bars and set us free.'

'It's not that simple Prince!' Kaileena spouted out in frustration. 'Were I to attempt this, I would only leave myself greatly weakened afterwards. I may have been the Empress of Time for the greater part of my existence, but even I have my limits.'

'So I suppose this is it then,' the Prince said as he changed his position around within his cage, one of his legs raised while the other lay stretched out. 'We escape one nightmare only to find ourselves in another. The Old Man was right. No one can truly change their fate.'

'But even if this is to be the end of our story,' Kaileena said as she reached out one of her hands and held one of his strongly, 'At least we both tried. At the end of it all, that's what matters most.'

The Prince and Kaileena got dragged back to the reality of their situation as they suddenly heard the screaming of the middle-aged man seemingly being burned alive in the locked room beyond. Despite being hardened warriors, they could only hold each other more tightly and pray for a miracle.