Chapter 14

The Path of Time Opens

The air was cold and damp as the prince pushed himself to his feet from the dust covered floor. A sudden stab of pain surged through his body, causing him to fall back onto the ground. He was sprawled on the ground, pain coursing through him, and reduced to nothing more than a crippled man.

The pain soon subsided and the prince relaxed a little. He inhaled and exhaled in a tired manner and he turned to his side. Thankfully, there was no pain when he did so and he peered at his right arm which had pained him before. A large cut was on his hand the cut was bleeding. The blood stained the ground and the prince soon grew worried.

That must be where the vizier had cut him from before, he thought. The prince struggled to rip off a piece of cloth from his now tattered clothes while not trying to activate his pains. Tearing off a piece of cloth he wrapped it around his arm wound to stop the bleeding. It did and the prince pulled himself toward the nearest wall and slumped against it. A slight tingling sensation prodded his subconscious and he knew it was the dagger's doing.

Everything alright prince? The prince sighed.

Seems to be. It was lucky that the vizier had a weak point for if not, we'd been dead by now, said the prince.

You would be, but I won't. Instead, I would be used against my will and in that period, the world might never see the light of day ever again, replied the dagger, rather fearfully.

Yes well, the world will live to see another day still, doesn't it?

The dagger snorted and their mental link was cut-off. He picked the dagger which was now at his heels and stuffed in back and tidy into his waist belt.

And then he heard a groan. He tilted his head to his left and saw Jamal lying on his back next to a crumbled wall. The prince head ached but he ignore the pain.

"Are you alright?" asked the prince, trying to support himself up by using the wall. There was a long pause and the prince felt awkward standing there unheeded by his friend.

"Seems like it," muttered Jamal finally. He turned his face to the prince and look at him straight in the eye. "Besides the broken leg, and arm, I think I'll be alright." He grinned.

The prince couldn't help it, he laughed. He hadn't done so in a long and tiring time and it felt good to be able to laugh once more.

"Oi! What are you doing there laughing like some crazed Neanderthal? Help me up, it hurts just to try and turn my body to the left." The prince wiped off tears of laughter from his eyes and apologized to a now sullen Jamal.

Limping on his way to help Jamal, the prince noticed the destruction caused by the vizier encounter. How long has it been since we were unconscious? The prince wondered curiously. Jamal groan as he tried to lift his fingers. It pained him so.

In their midst was rubbles, broken platforms and decapitated walls. Fortunately, the hard floor that they were on leaded towards the large door before and with a few more steps, they would be free from this underground pit.

The images from the prince's sight brought him reeling back into his past memories, the time he was on the Island of Time and the real Dahaka. Now he truly remembered and knew what the Dahaka was capable of doing.

"Be careful there!" said Jamal, worried. The prince heaved Jamal up, which proved to be quite challenging due to his injuries but he managed to do so without too much problems. There was a sigh of relief from Jamal and the prince regained balance while supporting Jamal with his shoulder. This was no easy task.

"Well, I guess that I shall not be able to move quite as much from before," said Jamal. The prince understood well. "But there is one thing I want to ask from you my friend." Silence. All that could be heard was the rhythmic footsteps of the prince and Jamal which echoed across the passage.

"What is it?" asked the prince. He knew what Jamal was about to ask and it was inevitable. He had seen everything. A slight moment of pause ensued between them.

"What in God's name was that thing? It seems that I am not the only one who has a past untold," said Jamal finally, voice firm. "Tell me; what in the world have you been actually doing?"

The prince did not hesitated but instead, he told everything about his past, the Dahaka, everything. He kept the secret of Jamal as his ancestor a secret to himself though.

At the end of his presumably incredulous story, Jamal was shaken.

"So this thing here, chased you around so that it may consume you and end your life once and for all?" said Jamal dumbfounded. The prince nodded.

"It seems that only I, with my dagger," he patted it with his free hand, "pose a threat to this monstrous being." They passed a series of pillars, each of the pillars having been engraved with ancient runes the prince did not understand.

"What an amazing story…" Jamal turned silent after that, clearly blown away by the tale told by the prince. In the midst of their silence, the prince noticed a small buzzing sound that remained inside his ears like a beacon. He shrugged it off and continued on with his journey.

As the two men approached the heavily steel plated door, the buzzing became more and more evident than before and the prince looked at Jamal with worried eyes.

"What do you think is behind these doors?" asked the prince, praying that they do not meet the vizier again. Jamal shook his head.

"I don't know…but this is the only way we can venture on. Behind us lies a path of utterly unmanageable in our current condition. I say we press on."

The prince did not object and they both nodded to each other in agreement. Pushing on the handle of the large doors, the sounds of metal grinding onto each other filled their eyes. The doors were heavy and the prince and Jamal struggled while trying to open them. With one last mighty push, they managed and a sight of magic entranced them.

The cool and fresh air entered their lungs like a sensation none could describe after having been in a tunnel with the air unhealthy and dust filled. Birds and animals flew around the sky in a harmonic manner and it made the prince's heart lift.

Light from the sun shone down upon them like a warming ray, heating their limp and tired bodies to the maximum extent. They both loved it.

"Amazing…"whispered the prince. He turned to Jamal whose expression was no more different than his. "Do you know of this place?"

Jamal shook his head, but the prince did not intend to press on Jamal further. He was savouring every little bit of the sight that lay before them.

They were out of the underground tunnels and into the world of nature once more. This time, there was no desert, only lush grasslands. Among them, beautiful flowers filled the empty spaces of land, giving it a tranquil feeling. On the western side of the land, lay a waterfall, its waters thrumming against the rocks from below it. A lake was in front of them, far away in the distance but manageable.

And in the middle of a lake, lay a temple so grand it could have been mistaken for a king's palace. And sudden jolt of excitement rushed through the prince for he knew that the monument before him held something powerful in it.

"Jamal…please tell me…" the prince was cut off by Jamal's own mutterings.

"We actually made it…we actually made it…." The prince smiled as he laid his sight back upon the newly found temple. The Temple of Time was found and his quest to return order to the timeline was soon to be fulfilled.

Author's Note: I have finished this chapter and I think it's kinda ok. Hope you guys like it, and thank you so much for the reviews! More prince of Persia and Jamal to come in the next chapter!