Kiri: There! It's a freaking miracle! I FINALLY got through this chapter!

Ravan: With the help of whom?

Kiri: ...

Ravan: Yeah, you had to have your buddy write half of it for you.

Kiri: ...shut up.

Ravan: Only telling your faithful readers what goes on behind the scenes.

Kiri: ... Get back in the damn story. ANYWAY, on another note, you're getting REAL friendly with Erik.

Ravan: What?!

Kiri: On to chapter seventeen! Enjoy!

Chapter Seventeen

I woke up to a world of darkness. Everything was black. I couldn't see anything, not even my hand in front of my face. It took me a while to realize that I was on a hard surface, but where?

"Ah, so the little princess wakes up at last," a gruff, but comforting voice spoke out.

"W-who's there?" I quickly demanded. I heard a familiar chuckle.

"I thought you'd at least recognize my voice." At his words, something clicked in my head, and I knew right then that I'd met whoever was talking to me before. But everything was so dark. I couldn't make anything out…

"I do… but I must've forgotten," I replied.

"Ravan! It's me, Hesam! Ye remembers me, don't ye?" I could hardly believe my ears.

"Hesam? As in Captain Hesam? The one that took me to the Island of Time?"

"Aye, the very one."

"Sorry, if it wasn't so dark, I would've known who you were sooner," I explained, relieved to finally meet a familiar face that wasn't hostile. But after I spoke, he cleared his throat quietly and was strangely silent. "Hesam? Why the silence?"

"Erm…" I heard him shift slightly, "well… Ravan… I don't know how to break it to ya…" I could sense uneasiness in his voice.

"What?" I encouraged him.

"Well, it's not dark in here." My smile faded. "Yer blind."

And there it was, clear as day. I thought he was joking at first, and smiled nervously, but after a minute of focusing my senses, I realized that what he said was true. So that's why everything was so dark. That's why I couldn't see anything. I was blind.

"B-blind?" I gingerly lifted my hands to my face and rubbed my eyes. It had no effect. "Oh no… no, I-I can't be…" The first thought to come to mind was that I would never see my father, mother or Erik ever again. I'd never see my father's strong silhouette, or my mother's smile… or even Erik's deadly skill in combat that fascinated me so. Blind…

"I'm sorry, Ravan. That damn mad vizier got hold of ye. Tried to stop him, I did, but I couldn't." I carefully set my hands on the ground.

"How… How can I live like this?" I muttered, thinking of having to live the rest of my life is darkness, relying solely on other senses to get me around. I'd seen blind men before, and they seemed to have a lot of trouble. "How will I tell father…" I felt Hesam's firm grip on my shoulder.

"Well, maybe it won't be all that bad, aye?" I drew in a shaky breath.

"Blind…" I let the word roll off my tongue and hang in the air. "But… how?"

"How?" Hesam echoed, "Well, alright, I'll give it to ye strait. It was those Sands of Time."

"The Sands? How could the Sands…" I stopped abruptly, "and hold on a minute! I haven't met you in this time! I won't meet you for a long time... How in the—" I could hear him chuckle.

"I was wonderin' when ye would remember that. The answer is simple. I'm a spirit guide, just like Hadi. Father Time sent me to help keep an eye on ye." And just like that, it hits me like a slap in the face.

"Father… Time? Wait… you? You're a spirit like Hadi?" I must be too dumb to make all the connections, or there's more missing.

"Yep. Remember back in town, when we first met? Well, the father gave me specific directions to guide you towards that island. So, guide ye I did. I still dunno why all that nonsense happened, but I do know that he saw something in ye. Not a clue what, though."

"So… he sent Hadi to teach me and you to guide me," I concluded.

"That's about the gist of it. He must see something in you. He doesn't give his power lightly, y'know." He gave me this power? My eyebrows knitted into an expression of slight confusion. I thought the waters infected me. He quickly read my face, even if my eyes weren't doing much. "Ya mean ta tell me you don't know?" I shook my head.

"I don't know what?"

"Those Waters of Ages have no power over time, o'course! All they do is record." And just like that, another puzzle piece falls in my lap.

"Huh?"

"Ravan, only the Sands o' Time can manipulate time! Any idiot from our realm knows that! Did the father tell that to ye?" I turned my head to the side.

"No… no, he didn't," I replied, "he said the waters infected me and that's how I got my power."

"Well, I don't know why he told that to ye, but it ain't the truth. The Sands and Waters go together. One can't go on without the other, and it takes both to keep harmony in the timeline. But the two are also nasty enemies, they are."

"Then… I was exposed to the Sands… and blinded as a result?"

"You got that right, youngin." Sighing, I wilted to the ground, wondering what else could go wrong. Ever since Babylon's destruction, things have gone wrong. Erik tricked me, Hesam's ship was wrecked, Adel was killed, Erik betrayed me, I became a freak of nature… now I'm stuck in a bloody cell in who knows where, in a spot in time I shouldn't be.

"How can things get any worse?"

"Well…" Hesam began.

"Don't answer that," I snapped quickly. Hesam just chuckled heartedly, and said nothing.

Eventually, my thoughts turned back to Erik. I sat against the far wall of the cell, hugging my knees to my chest, wondering where he was or if he was looking for me. I could just imagine him running through Babylon's war torn streets, killing his way to where I was being kept. That thought made me smile. I think that's what made me start hoping that he would come get me… Maybe that was too wishful thinking, though… Father always told me that wishful thinking would lead only to disappointment. Better start looking for a way out on my own.

"Hesam…" I began, "is there any possible way out of here, wherever here is?" I asked.

"I looked while ye were out. 'Fraid not."

I sighed hopelessly. "Damnit, Erik always chooses the worst possible time to abandon me." Suddenly, there was some kind of commotion coming from outside our cell, when…

BANG!!! CRASH!!! BOOM!!!!!!

I heard a ton of noise of what might have been a fight, for there was a lot of grunting and sword clanging. I could feel Hesam standing up to protect me. "What is it?" I whispered, sightless and unknowing as to what was going on. "I dunno," he replied.

A voice shouted, "Where the hell are you Ravan?!" Surprised by the familiar gruff voice, I didn't answer. I heard footsteps approaching and I stood up and backed a few steps away. "Erik?" I asked timidly. "Is that you?"

"Ravan! There you are! Do you know how long I've been searching for you? I told you to stay right there! And what did you do? Go off and get yourself captured! So I had to track halfway across the city to find you sitting here in a dungeon like an idiot!" It was indeed Erik. "Why aren't you looking at me?" he demanded, grabbing my right arm. He stank of something awful. "Thanks to you, I'm covered in some filthy Persian's blood!"

I broke down and blubbered, "Oh, Erik, I'm so glad you came!" I lurched in the direction that I thought that Erik was in, in an attempt to hug him, only to find that he wasn't there.

"What are you doing?" Erik asked tiredly.

"Oh, umm…"

"What's wrong with your eyes? Did you get some sand in them or something?"

"You could say that…"

"What happened?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

"Well, I'm not quite sure. I was unconscious at the time." I could almost see in my mind's eye the look that he was giving me now.

Hesam's voice broke in, "That damn vizier got to her. I have strict orders to protect her from that power-hungry lunatic. Didn't go as well as I'd hoped, though. Ended up down here." Erik didn't say anything, but I knew he was looking at me.

"What did the vizier do to you?"

Hesam sighed, "He exposed Ravan to the Sands of Time."

This was followed with a shocked silence and Erik holding my chin to look at my eyes.

"Your eyes," he murmured. "They look like sand. You're blind aren't you?" He made some movement that I couldn't detect and a cloth was put over my eyes.

"Since you can't see anyway, I'll just put this on to cover them, so you won't scare anyone." He wasn't his usual gruff self I noticed.

"Since when do you care about anyone else?" I asked.

"I don't! I just—" I couldn't help but smile.

"And since when do you care so much about me that you would follow me all the way to these dungeons, attracting who knows how much attention in the process?"

"…I…" I couldn't help it.

"Aw, are you beginning to care?" I teased. I heard him growl in the back of his throat.

"I do not know where you get the idea that I even like you. You can sit in these dungeons and rot for all I care!"

"Oh? Then why are you here?" he didn't answer me. Instead, he just snatched my wrist and pulled me along behind him.