Me: Okay, before you say anything, yes, I did steal some of Elika's lines. Anyway... This is chapter one, everybody, I—

Taka: Shut up and let them read.

Me: *pouts*

Disclaimer: I own a cat. She's really fat. I own this bottle of water I'm drinking from. And I own that T-shirt my cousin is wearing right now. Ubisoft... well... in my mind, I do own them...

Chapter 1

'Why am I wet?'

I sluggishly open my eyes and stand up, looking around. 'Yes, it all comes to me now, but where is Kaileena?'

I spot her on another shore, not so very from myself, and two guards inspecting her passed out body. One of them kicks her in the side, though she does not waken. Uninterested, he walks away. Rage fuels inside me as the other lifts her up over his shoulder and carries her away.

"Let her go!" I pound my fist on the stone railing, but they do not seem to hear me.

"Empress!" A weak voice beside me exclaims, and I whirl around.

"Who are you?" my hand goes to my belt, but I do not find the hilt of any weapon to assist me. Instead, I simply position myself defensively.

"I could ask you the same, why do you call the Empress by her name, you insolent fool?" the girl hoists herself up to a sitting position on the stone railing and huffs.

I inspect this strange girl. She seems not to be older than 20 years, and her behaviour is that of a woman who has not had proper education. To speak to a man in that tone? She has an unusual appearance. Not that I'm not used to it by now, after all I have been through. Her eyes are the color of dark skies, a deep blue I have only seen on cloudless nights, and her waist long hair, albeit wet and full of sand, shines an eerie silver. Her skin is also very pale, making her eyes stand out more.

Her clothes are also strange, but simple. She wears ankle-high boots, made of a material resembling leather, but I have never seen blue leather. A dark blue loincloth reaches down to her ankles, stitched with silver thread and open on the sides. The complicated drawings are of lines connecting different sized dots. Her whole body seems to be wrapped bandadge-like in white silk, covering her from her nose, down to her ankles. Even her arms are covered down to her wrists, where she wears dark blue gloves, the material similar to her boots, but much less sturdy. The rest of her clothing is similar to Kaileena's, but the brown parts in Kaileena's are dark blue in hers.

She winces and looks down at her thigh. An arrow is buried deep in her flesh, blood oozing slowly but steadily out the wound.

"I am the Prince of Persia, and I will not ask again. Who are you?"

She briefly rolls her eyes to the heavens and looks at me.

"My name is Aysun." She looks back down at her wound and breathes shakily in. In one fluid motion, she grabs the arrow and yanks it out.

"Ahh, stars..." Throwing it aside, she hisses loudly and presses her hands to the now profusely bleeding wound.

'Foolish girl.' I think and turn away to start my serch for Kaileena. Leaving the arrow, or pulling it out wouldn't have mattered, the wound would have infected anyway. Even if she could fight, it would slow her down and she would die, either from blood loss, infection or the guards.

"Hey, where do you think you're going? We have to find the Empress!" Her voice seems too near. I look to my right, but there is noone there.

"Down here."

She is a whole head shorter than me. I lower my sight and see her standing perfectly upright. I feel my eyes widen and look down at her leg.

Nothing. Not even the bandage-like silk is cut.

"What...How...You..." I stutter.

"Come, there's no time." She rolls through a hole in the door. I frown and follow her. As soon as I reach the other side of the door, I reach out for her shoulder, only to narrowly miss it when she runs up a wall. I quickly run after her, and before she can jump to the next ledge, I hold her back.

"Wait." I say and turn her around to face me. "Who are you? What happened to your wound? Why are you after Kaileena?"

"So many questions, Prince, and yet you have not told me anything of yourself." I cannot see the lower half of her face, but her eyes tell me she is smirking.

"By the gods, woman, if you anger me, I'll—"

"You'll what?" she put her fists on her hips and raises a silver eyebrow. "Look." She says as I fail to retort quickly. "Let's just say I owe a lot to Kaileena. If you don't trust me enough to team up on her rescue, we can separate ways now." She pulls her shoulder from my grasp and continues on her way, until she shimmies across a ledge and disappears from my sight.

I sigh, frustrated, and look around. Though the streets are destroyed, I still know every one of them like the back of my hand. Unfortunately, the way into the city is in the direction that Aysun went.

The Prince made his way along the torn and blasted district, haunted by visions from his past. The dark side tavern where he'd spent many late nights was now reduced to cinders. Babylon's proud armada, which he was often come to greet, laid cracked and broken, cast to the bottom of the Euphrates.

"Everywhere there are signs of battle… but what of Babylon's guard? Where have they all gone?" I mumble to myself as I make my way through the city. After climbing a ladder, I see that woman with her back to the wall, next to a door. Inside, a guard is patrolling.

I smirk. Seems she can't fight after all. Even though I do not have a blade, I could easily knock the guard out. As I confidently walk up to her, I feel the corners of my mouth tugging upwards, in what Kaileena often refferred to as my 'cocky smirk'. My expression turns to confusion as I notice how her eyes are closed, and her chin moves quickly up and down, as if she's mumbling to herself, or praying. After a moment, dark blue swirls emerge from her upturned palms and form into two same-colored scimitars, one in each hand. One of them is pointed at me, right under my chin.

She seems to recognize me, and turns away. She strides openly up to the guard, who sees her and attacks. In two swift arcs, her blades come down on his flesh, and he dissolves into sand.

"Why is it that every time disaster strikes, I find myself without a proper blade?" I walk to a table and take a small dagger that is stabbed in the wood. "Still, it's better than nothing."

I hear her snort and twirl her scimitars playfully at me. I look back to my pathetic little dagger, then to her dark blue blades. They are finely detailed in silver lines connecting dots.

"You couldn't make me one of those, could you?" I ask sheepishly.

"You're right, I couldn't." She turns away and continues. I huff angrily and sheathe my dagger.

The more I follow her, the more irritated I become. She seems to know her way around the city as well as I do. When encountering different choices of paths, I start to tell her where to go, but she simply looks up briefly, nods, and goes on, even before I finished my instructions.

We finally reach a high wall separating one of the city's districts, and Aysun gasps.

"Empress..."

I run over to her and see guards take Kaileena inside the city.

"Kaileena!"

As the gate closes behind them and Kaileena is out of sight again, I pound my fist on the railing.

"No!"

Breathing heavily, I try to think straight. "No way into the city now…I will have to climb the siege tower and enter from above." I look to my left, where Aysun has her neck craned back and is looking at the sky.

"You shouldn't let your rage control you." She says, her voice a little lower than normal due to the extremely bent back position her neck is in. "Control you feelings and you shall have control over yourself." After a moment, she nods and walks off.

Wondering what that was about, I follow her to the edge of the platform and look down. I hear her say something in a foreign language. I turn to her and see her looking down at the far-away floor. She looks up to the heavens and frowns, as if blaming them.

'Finally.'

"Allow me." I walk past her, wallrun to a red curtain on the wall and slide down it with the aid of my dagger. Bending my knees on impact, I look up to Aysun and grin.

"Are you coming?"

She sighs irritably and follows me. I marvel at how she can move. Of course, Farah and Kaileena were great fighters, but Aysun is very graceful in her acrobatic skills, and—

"Look out!" I hear her shout, and immediately my vision is blurred by a dark blue cloth in my face. I instinctively hold out my arms and feel a weight fall on them.

The cloth falls from my face and I look down at my arms, holding a frowning Aysun. Apparently I was thinking too much and forgot to step from underneath the curtain. I put her down and we continue on our way.

I continue to wonder why she always looks up.

When we reach a ledge where we can see most of the city, Aysun turns to me.

"Prince?"

I turn to look at her so that she knows I'm listening.

"How do you feel?"

"What do you mean?" I frown in confusion.

"What are you thinking of right now?" She looks back up at the skies.

"Why should I tell you?" I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow.

"Sometimes, when our feelings are too strong, it helps to rely on someone to let them out. If you want, I can listen." She says in that strange voice. It bothers me that she constantly looks up instead of looking me in the eyes when talking to me. I sigh and shrug.

"I can sense the others that have passed through this place, intent on bringing harm to my family." I look over the remains of the town. "Four weeks I'd been at sea…and everyday spent dreaming of my return to Babylon…but never, in all my visions of the future, did I suspect a homecoming such as this…war…it is the only answer…but war with who?...And why?..."

She looks down and sighs.

"You may tell me your thoughts when you are bothered by them, Prince." She looks back at me. "Do not let them rule you."

Not understanding completely, I nod and thank her. We keep walking.

You should know that it was not love that drove him, but duty. The Empress was his responsibility. He had made a promise, a promise that was now broken and undone. As with all mistakes he had made, the Prince meant to fix this. A noble goal to be certain, but a selfish one as well; for he was motivated to ease his own pain.

"I know these streets!" I say as I look around. "Knew them, anyway. We must keep pace with Kaileena if we are to find the one responsible for this."

Aysun nods and increases her pace. We pass a broken down stand, with fruits and flowers trampled on the ground.

"Where is kind Asha, who would stand before her stall, selling foods and flowers? Or the errant children, making trouble as all young ones do? Gone…All gone…" I shake my head at the scene.

"They are well now." Aysun tells me in that low tone. I do not turn around. By the sound of her voice, she is once more looking up. Then I understand what she said. I turn and see her, indeed craning her neck back.

"How do you know that?" I ask.

She looks back down and blinks.

"We must hurry." She says and continues walking. I throw my hands up and groan. I look back to her when I hear her say something in a strange language. The same one from before. It seems she is cursing. I look at the next obstacle and grin. A chute. Below are more guards. Tired of having her walk ahead of me and kill all the guards herself, I jump forward and brace myself on the chute's walls. Winking at her frown, I slide down and clear the way of guards.

"All clear!" I call up. She hesitates a moment, then jumps forward. Sliding down, she lets go near the ground and falls clumsily. I offer her my hand with a grin. She looks at it for a moment, then slowly takes it. Hoisting her up, we continue in a hastened pace.

We reach a ledge where the palace balcony can be seen.

"Home…and yet, nothing is as I remember. Objects once familiar and comforting now fill me with uncertainty and dread. What has happened here?"

Aysun looks at me. With only her eyes and forehead to see, her expression is hard to read. Her big dark eyes look at me with uncertainty.

"I should be resting now, recovering from my time away, or sitting with father…" I explain. "But instead I am forced to run and hide; sneaking around like a common thief; hunted in my own city."

She nods and wallruns until she is in front of the palace balcony, then jumps on it, killing the guard there. I follow her.

We silently make our way through the palace. I want to ask more of Aysun, but silence is crucial, since there are so many guards. Though we must not talk, we have agreed on some sign language. She, being the smaller of us both, looks around a corner and holds up her fingers for me to know how many enemies there are ahead of us. If her palm is facing me, I know the number she holds up are archers. If the back of her hand faces me, I know they are sword wielding guards.

We finally reach the throne room, and I notice how she looks around. Maybe she is impressed? We continue on our way to the throne and look around. She nudges me and points to a doorway, where voices can be heard.

Pay attention to what the Prince overheard as he drew close to where the Empress was being kept.

I walk forward to enter, but she holds my wrist and points to her ear. We crouch next to the door and listen.

"Many years ago, I journeyed with the Maharajah of India to the Island of Time, intending to claim its secrets. What we discovered was a barren, ruined place; its halls deserted, and its guardians gone to sand. Strange tales adorned its walls, which spoke of an Empress. An Empress of Time! But, of this enigmatic creature there was no trace. We returned to India with treasures nonetheless: a staff, a dagger, an empty hourglass covered in jewels, and books! Such secrets they contained, for even then I was an older man and knew that my time would soon be at an end."

We looked at each other.

"The books showed me that life eternal was not beyond my reach, but it required the essence of the Empress herself, the power of the Sands. But, you were gone, they were gone. I turned my attention towards…other pursuits, and left that dream behind. But then, four weeks ago, the Dagger stirred! And showed me things; whispered to me in my sleep. It drew me here, towards Babylon. Alas, the Maharajah did not share my vision, would not grant me leave. So I slew him and claimed his kingdom, his army for my own. Nothing would stand between me and my desires!"

I was filled with rage as I recognized whose voice this was. Aysun was holding my wrist when I realized I had unsheathed my little dagger. She put her face next to mine and whispered something about control and feelings in my ear, but I would not listen.

Recklessly the Prince drew his weapon and charged forward intending to rescue the Empress. It was as if he had learned nothing from his past adventures. Or perhaps he'd simply forgotten, made blind and deaf by fear and rage…This is how it happened. This is how Kaileena died…

I charge toward the guards and see Kaileena being held hostage by a man.

"No!"

"Prince, look out!" Aysun tackles me to my right , but the daggertail that was aiming for my head catches my left arm instead.

"What have we here?" the wielder of the daggertail says and pulls it to make it cut deeper into my arm. I look forward to see Kaileena tied. Somebody is facing her, but turns to look at me. I recognize him now…

"The Vizier?"

"Ah! You must be the Prince of Persia, come home at last. Too late I'm afraid." He says and turns to Kaileena "I believe I have something of yours…"

He takes out the Dagger of time, and stabs Kaileena.

"No! Kaileena!"

"Empress!"

I try to stand, but the person with the daggertail pulls it again and I fall on Aysun, preventing us both to aid Kaileena.

Kaileena starts glowing and her body becomes the Sands of Time. Everyone on the area is engulfed and transformed by the Sands. I pull at the Daggertail, but not before it becomes engulfed by the Sands itself. It breaks, but it is still chained to my arm. It stings, as if it were infected. It glows and golden-red lines form strange markings around my forearm.

"A promise of power, fulfilled! I will be immortal!" the Vizier says and stabs himself with the glowing Dagger and transforms, throwing the Dagger aside. I run to grab it, but the ground below collapses. I fall in the pit, vaguely aware of Aysun falling next to me. I grab the Dagger in midair and stab it on the wall, slowing my decent. Reaching a hand out for Aysun, I feel her grab on and slide down with me. We land on a balcony.

"Father, forgive what I have done…wherever you are." I say, looking at the Dagger.

"Let's go, Prince!" Aysun picks herself up from the floor and sprints away through the crumbling palace.

"The palace is falling! Run for your life!" A guard starts running, but is squished by a piece of ceiling that fell. Aysun swears in that strange language and runs faster.

I cannot keep track of time , but keep thinking that, once more, the wheels of suffering are set in motion by my hand…In taking Kaileena from the Island of Time, I have changed the course of History! Without the Sands of Time, I never journeyed to Azad, never killed the Vizier…Now, he lives again, driven by the same mad desire…I promised no harm would come to her…

Aysun notices me lagging behind because of my thoughts and snaps her fingers in my face.

"Pay attention, you can mope later." She says, but I see sadness in her eyes. She also mourns Kaileena. What is their connection? I'm being pushed deeper into the palace, and further from my enemy…

We finally reach a safe place. Well, safe being enemy, trap and crumble-free.

Aysun lets herself slide down a wall and sits on the floor, closing her eyes and breathing heavily. I start panting to calm down, and feel the heat from my body. Angrily, I rip my tunic off and toss it into a nearby pit. I smugly notice Aysun eying me.

Now that we have stopped running I can feel my arm throb.

"My arm!" I grab it as the pain increases "What's happening? What has the Vizier done to me?"

Aysun jumps up. She is immediately next to me.

"Prince! What is it?"

"I don't—Ahh...!" I stumble back into a pit, and reach out for her hand. I am heavier than she, so I only succeed in pulling her down with me.

Everything had come full circle. The Prince had resurrected his greatest enemy. Worse, he had accidentally delivered Kaileena into the man's hands, unleashing a nightmare plague across Babylon. As if this was not enough, the Prince had nearly been transformed by the Sands himself. Though he had avoided death, he had not escaped entirely untouched…

Me: I'm thinking about putting something down here, like a FAQ, or a Raffle. I'm not sure yet, but please tell me what you like best!

Taka: Review!

Me: Say please.

Taka: ... please.