After so long, I overcame my newfound obsession with "Beauty and the Beast" and replayed WW. That reminded me that this story needed a new chapter!

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Chapter 9 – the Fall

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The gate smashed closed behind us and I ran straight ahead, certain that the Prince was at my side. But the sounds of angry noises – Sand Creatures, no doubt – alerted me to the fact that he had stopped. I turned around at once, but the door slammed shut in my face. I attempted to get it open angrily, but to no avail. Typical, I thought. This just has to happen to me. Slamming my fist at the door, I heard the Prince call to me that he would get the door opened in a moment. Giving up, I turned around and went to explore the corridors I had entered.

Apparently, this was an important part of the palace surroundings – I entered a large hall with high walls, a strange device in the center. But I recognized the designs almost immediately. It was simply magnificent. I had never dreamed that I would be able to see a device so marvelous while fighting for my life and the fate of two empires.

"Incredible!" I couldn't help but breathing the word, wide eyed. I noticed that the Prince appeared on one of the balconies a floor above me, apparently unharmed. "I have only heard of such marvels, but to see one up close…Is there not a similar device in Azad?" I asked, never having been in the fabled city myself.

The Prince, however, seemed to be more interested in practical things, such as the destination and functionality of the life. "This lift will bring us to the throne room." He said pragmatically, a sarcastic and bitter tone creeping into his voice as he continued. "But wonder of wonders, it seems to have stopped working. I will try to bring it back to life." were his last words before vanishing in the balconies.

I took that as my cue to enter the lift, looking around eagerly. "I do hope to visit Azad one day." I whispered, examining the interior of the cabin. Within moments, I felt a pull and I looked out of the cabin to see that it had left the ground. but I wasn't afraid. I had been expecting – and hoping for – this.

I was watching the Prince progress upwards as a quiet whisper of words I wasn't able to decipher came to me.

"What?" I asked, presuming that he had said something to me.

"I said I'm sorry!" the Prince said, more clearly and loudly. "I never apologized…for the way I acted, for the things I said…for who I was…"

While I appreciated this, I knew it would be unfair to continue this. As hard as it was, I knew that… "I owe you an apology as well." I admitted, looking down for a moment. "It was wrong of me to accuse you of such terrible things."

"But I have done terrible things!"

"We all make mistakes, Prince." I said, shaking my head, tracing his movements again. The elevator moved again. "The difference is that you've accepted yours." I paused, but I felt that this apology wasn't enough to express my relief… and perhaps give an explanation as to how come I managed to find him. "I saw what you did at the factory, and if what the Old Man said is true, then you are a Prince."

I took a step back as he leapt towards the cabin of the elevator, which was high above the ground by now. Naturally, he made it, and swiftly climbed up the ledge, straightening up as the lift began to move once more. It was an awkward moment as we both looked different ways, clearly unwilling to acknowledge the apology that had been far from face-to-face. then, a thought came to me.

Somehow, he seemed to know much about me. But I knew very little about him. Actually, save for his name, I knew next to nothing about him. And I hadn't used it because it seemed slightly too personal. Just as he seldom used mine. There had never been the time to actually talk with all the battle and death around us. But now was a semi-tranquil moment… and I found myself unable to contain the first question that came to my mind.

"What is your favorite color?" I blurted out, looking at him suddenly.

The question startled him, apparently, because he turned to look at me with clear surprise and confusion. However, as the meaning of it entered his mind, he gave me a look that questioned my sanity… or, more likely, my judgment when it came to timing of random questions.

"Color?" he asked, with mild contempt and surprise.

I simply couldn't resist. "Shall I repeat the question?" I asked calmly.

For a moment, it seemed that he was going to snap back with one of his semi-witty comments and start another verbal fight. And then, throwing his arms up, as if to mean he was giving up, he said: "Blue." There was another pause before he said what he probably meant to say originally. "What is the point of this?"

"Must every conversation we have be so serious?" I explained with a small frown. "I know so little about you."

"Very well." Did this mean I won? "What is your favorite food?"

"The pomegranate of course." I said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. Actually, I thought it was.

But the Prince shook his head. "I do not like pomegranates."

Now that caught my attention. "What's wrong with you?"

" They are messy, impossible to eat with dignity. Too much work for a few seeds." But he had lightened up slightly, I saw that. His tone wasn't so dark anymore.

I smiled. "But is it not the effort that makes them that much sweeter?" Understand, there was no implication under that remark. Nevertheless, he gave me a strange look and was spared the need to answer by the fact that the lift suddenly came to a halt in a garden-like area.

"What is this place?" I asked, awed, as I left the lift. These were gardens, all right, but strange gardens, where the walls seemed to be pumping life into the very plant life here.

"It is the heart of the hanging gardens." The Prince explained to me, looking around with a distant fondness. "These are the instruments of life, regulating and running everything."

I spotted the way we could go and immediately took off towards the tunnel. I wanted to shout that the way was clear, but then I heard a sound behind me, a familiar sound. And as I turned, I realized I had heard it before. The closing of bars. I tried to leap past them, but I wasn't quick enough. I was trapped. And then, I heard another familiar sound. From the ground, two scantily clad figures of women rose, carrying two curved dagger-like weapons.

"Prince! Watch out!" I yelled, trying to at least help him with a few arrows. But as I saw him raise his weapons, I heard a raspy shout behind me and the sound of heavy boots. I turned around in a heartbeat and fired an arrow towards the closest of the three Sand Guards that came running towards me.

It his him straight in the face the reduced him to a pile of dust. The other two hesitated for a moment, allowing me to shoot another one in the chest and in the eye. the third one swung its sword at me. I sidestepped, leapt back in a series of back-flips, aiming my bow at him again, shooting another arrow. Those three were dealt with. I hurried towards the bars again, to see if the Prince was all right, but he and the two Sand Creatures were gone.

My only exit was the other end of the tunnel, to which I made my way quickly. I knew now how fast the Prince moved, so I had to keep up with him. The tunnel, I discovered, lead upward… and soon I found myself at least two floors above the ground. reaching a drawbridge, I looked around and saw the Prince a floor below me, at one end of the area in which's center I was. He gestured to the way he wanted to go, but couldn't. there was an open shutter there.

I bit my lip as I looked down. there were Sand Creatures below us, there was no way to proceed or regroup. I drew an arrow. Perhaps the shutter was just stuck, I prayed, and an arrow in the right place would be able to fix that. I aimed the arrow at one of the shutter's mechanisms and fired, watching the progress of the shot. The small stick that was the arrow vanished from my sight into the night, but I saw the shutter close, a little too noisily for my liking.

By the time I looked at where the Prince had been standing, he was gone again, a floor lower than he had been before. It took him about three minutes to progress to a spot only a meter or two below me, where I finally managed to reach him.

"What was he like? Your father." I asked, curious. I knew little of Sharaman.

The Prince looked at me a bit sadly, but immediately said: "He is a good man." And at once, he corrected himself. "No…a great man. Strong, loyal, kind…forgiving."

but there was guilt and sadness in his expression as he looked down. "What is it?"

"I-" he hesitated, but didn't stop his explanation, "that is to say we- we did not part on the best of terms. It was many years ago. I was young and full of pride, full of fear as well. He offered to listen, but I could not find the word, would not find them. And I only hope that I might find him once more, to say that… I am sorry."

I attempted to nod or to show my sentiments in some other way. But it seemed that I simply couldn't. I knew I was only beginning to see the whole concept of what he had been through during his long exile and what kind of burden weighted him down. hope had been rekindled in his heart only to be crushed by this invasion. I felt sorry for him.

"But this is a story for another time." The Prince interrupted his own narrative, shooing away bad memories. "Surrounded by such sadness, we should not succumb to it ourselves. Moving to the matter at hand, I cannot get to you from where I am."

I nodded, drawing another arrow. "I can close another shutter, then. Let us regroup ahead." The shutter closed, perhaps slightly more quietly.

However, as the Prince descended and dispatched the Sand Creatures and shut the sand portal they had been guarding, he looked up, knowing what I knew.

"There is still no way for me to get to you." He called, "However, you can reach the palace from where you stand. And I can pass through the greenhouse. That will certainly bring us to the same location."

I nodded, though I was uneasy about this parting. "Be careful, Prince." I said before turning away from the edge of the balcony and walking towards the exit.

My route was surprisingly quiet, but I progressed slowly and soundlessly, bow ever at the ready. However, no one stopped or attacked me and I reached a pair of high double doors without any kind of problems. But I stopped short behind them – there was no way to cross the circular abyss before me. I had to wait for the Prince to come here. I saw the rest of the gardens ahead of me and there had been another tunnel I had avoided while getting here.

Sure enough, the Prince arrived minutes later, raising the platform thanks to a system of platforms and switches. I smiled briefly as I walked towards him, but suddenly, a sound caused me to tense. It was rather like… the whoosh of air, but it was thoroughly unnatural.

At the precise moment that I wanted to turn around to investigate the source of the noise, I was roughly grabbed from behind and lifted off my feet. The arms that held me were strangely pale and most certainly human, but the rest of the body I attempted to kick against was abnormally hard, like a protective shield, and not at all human-shaped. the Prince stopped short, drawing his dagger and a sword.

"Do not take another step!" a terribly familiar voice with an abnormal tinge of a thunderous sound commanded from behind me. I struggled even more, attempting to throw the traitor off me. So close and I couldn't hurt him. It felt like being part of a stone statue that wouldn't budge.

"I'm impressed you made it passed my little welcome party." Zurvan continued from next to my ear. "Impressed, but also quite annoyed. You have robbed me of my strongest allies. It would be unfair of me not to return the favor." A cool hand came to stroke my cheek and I felt thoroughly repulsed. I attempted to bite the hand, but he tightened his grip around my waist and I couldn't muster the energy. "Farah will make an excellent queen. Fit for a god. Although, we will need to make a few…modifications."

Certainly my face was now turning white due to lack of air as the Prince shouted: "Let her go!"

Zurvan only laughed and then I felt my body collide with the terribly hard marble of the ledge. I was slightly bruised, but nothing that I couldn't survive. "You act as if you have a say in the matter!" I heard the Prince attempt to rush forward as Zurvan let out a stream of spells in the ancient language I have so often heard him use. Sounds of stone crumbling… a fall… and a taunting shout: "Say hello to your father!"

I managed to support myself with my unhurt right arm and raise my head. I was at the edge of the abyss again, but still safely away from falling. Again, I felt arms snake around my waist, lifting me from the ground, but without the roughness of the previous attempt. On the contrary, this time, it would have seemed that I was a glass doll that could break at the slightest pressure. Still in pain, I attempted to kick, since my arms were pressed to my body. All my attempts to release myself were to no avail, even as my captor turned me to face him.

I believe I gasped. His eyes were like those of the Prince when he was transformed – golden like the sands, without pupils, just pools of gold. He had no hair on his head or face, his skin was bleached to a soft beige color that looked thoroughly abnormal, save for a few red markings on his face. But his body was no longer that of an old hermit – rather, he was similar in built to the Prince, muscular, young-looking, agile. However, below the waist, he was no longer human, more like an overgrown scarab, golden and beetle-like. He had wings that supported him in the air effortlessly. And he was studying me with a mildly amused expression.

"Hello, Princess." He said in a voice softer than the one he had used with the Prince. However, it was still chillingly inhuman. "It has been far too long. I'm glad that the time you spent in prison hasn't done you any lasting harm. And now look what a glorious future awaits you! Life eternal as a goddess and the rule over the world as a queen."

"I should rather the prison." I hissed, attempting to recover and hide whatever chills were rushing through me. "You expect me to love you after what you've done to me? You're more of a fool than I thought!"

"Time can get you used to anything, Farah." He said in a soft whisper, smiling at me, with a hint of superiority. "And I have all the time in the world to wait for you to get used to your new position. What else is left for you? Do you really think your little princeling could have survived that fall? This is the Well of Ancestors. He will be dead before he ever reaches the bottom."

Fear overcame me. I realized that no matter how he had betrayed us all, he was telling the pure truth. No mortal could have survived that fall. I didn't even see the bottom of the pit. And I, captured – what was I to do? If the Prince was dead, only I could stop Zurvan. And I got myself captured. Just great.

"I hate you." I whispered, but ceased to struggle.

"Hate is passion." Zurvan said, "So I am satisfied. After your transformation, you will see everything in a different light. And the negative part of your passion for me might vanish. In time." the wicked thing was that it could actually be true. "Now, I hope you aren't afraid of heights, dearest bride."

Before I could question him, we were high in the air.