Decisions Made(A prince of persia story)

Chapter 10

If there was one thing Tamina was good at, it was displaying a front in times when her heart was almost giving away. Arrangements were made to ensure that her kingdom pass to able leaders of the council with her passing and rumors to be spread of an illness which the people would come to believe was the evil of sickness that took her to the afterlife. She had to leave dead of the night, dressed as a commoner, all her things left as it. No farewells said and luck wished. She will not return back. The only article she took with the Dagger of Time as equally as precious was Dastan's scarf. The journey of five days was torturous enough as she had time in her hands, time to occupy her thoughts with Dastan. Asoka had caught her sometimes keeping the scarf on her lips as if to kiss the man himself.

Miles away, Dastan was uneasy at the feeling that had come over him since the past days. He did not know what it was but his mind was occupied with the thoughts of his princess and his heart in deeper pain. Little did he know that life was given to his uncertainty as Tamina reached the temple, the night embracing the whole place with darkness. She stood quiet at the entrance, unusually calm for the situation she is presented with. Asoka stood with his eyes cast down, tears forming at their edges.

"Thank you for your service and friendship Asoka. Take care of my people even without my presence. I hold them in my heart always," she spoke as an angel.

"I will Prin...Princess. ...this should not," Asoka choked giving way to tears.

"Be brave and be happy Asoka. I am fulfilling my destiny and I am going back to my parents in the afterlife," she forced a smile. One last deed had to be done. She removed prince Dastan's scarf she had tied around her waist. Her eyes traced the cloth as she held it in her hands with her mind going back to the time she first saw her with it, when he walked forward to present the Dagger of Time, when they were first proposed to each other. A tear moistened the scarf.

"Asoka, please see this returned to Prince Dastan...it...it belongs to him."

As soon as the scarf was void of her hands, she turned and left to the chambers where the Dagger of Time was to be returned. The interior was lit up with torchers by the guards knowing of her coming. It was quiet save for the cracking of the wood and the folding of the gentle stream. Tamina moved closer to the rock and looked at the Dagger of Time in her hands. Something so beautiful causing so much pain. Worst of all, she could not stop the thoughts of Dastan raging through her mind.

Her hour had now come. She held the Dagger of Time tightly in her right hand making her knuckles white. Her heart racing with the fear of uncertainty, she lifted the Dagger and inserted the tip into the rock. As she pushed the rest in, she looked away and closed her eyes tight awaiting death.

Nothing!

Tamina opened her eyes and looked around to certain herself that she had not already died. Nothing happened in the quiet secret guardian temple. There is no sound of the wood cracking in the fire, no water trickling through and no fame was dancing at the torch. The whole secret guardian temple was frozen in time! Before Tamina could think she felt her hand holding the Dagger of Time tingling. What seemed like ambers of a fire started to crawl up her arm and with an explosion her soul was separated from her being. There she stood looking at herself holding the Dagger of Time in the rock, motionless! Is this death? Is this how she would be torn from her life? Has it already happened?

Suddenly visions started to appear in front of her. As in a play, she sees herself in situations she cannot remember with words spoken and emotions felt as if she was going through them at that moment itself. One by one, the details panned out and she started to live days upon days. Prince Tus questioning her in the high temple, seeing prince Dastan enter in his battle gear to the high temple, looking at him with tears rolling down her cheeks as he informs that he will present her to the king, King Sharaman poisoned by the cloak, escaping with prince Dastan, she attempting to kill Dastan, nights together in the desert, Seso and ostriches, marketplace in Avrat, being with Dastan in the tent for the sandstorm, Dastan covering her hand with his as she tells the story of the Dagger of Time, attempt to return the Dagger and Dastan stopping her, his hand on her cheek so soft and comforting, escape through the catacombs, the floor giving up beneath them and her finding him in grip of death, their kiss, fight with Nizam and hanging by one hand, crying and in pain from the loss she knows she will experience. She hears her own words, "I wish we could have been together."