Similar to that of the original PoP but instead of the Vizier betraying the Maharaja, a jealous brother of the Prince (who is jealous as his brother was just named heir to the throne as he and his friend (the General) just conquered Babylon) sides with a Babylonian Priest to release the Sands. When the Prince believes he is stopping it, he actually releases the sands. Prior to this, the General and his fleet had been sent back home to defend the Empire's capital as the defending forces in the new territory needed to be strengthened. Also, instead of finding the dagger he finds a gauntlet. When the sands are released, they begin to spread in a slow radial sand cloud, engulfing everyone but the Prince, the Princess of Babylon, the Priest and the Prince's Brother.
During the releasing of the Sands, the Priest, who is actually a worshiper of Ahriman (although he claimed to be a follower of Ahuramazda/Ormazd) makes the Prince's brother swear an oath to Ahriman to ensure his survival and leads him out a secret passage way.
The Prince tries to barricade the room but the sands make it out anyways. He tries to run down the hall, trying to get ahead of the traveling sand cloud and soldiers keep converting into sand creatures on the way and attacking him, he needs to fight them and run ahead of the cloud to get into the hall and warn his father away. He bursts into the room, barricades the door and quickly explains the situation, the King orders some men to rush by horse back to warn the general and to order the general to protect the people of Persia. Just as the messengers run out, the Priest appears telling the soldiers that if they want to survive they must swear their allegiance to Ahriman, the King becomes angered and walks towards the Priest and just then, a spear comes piercing throught he door, hitting the king in the chest, sand leaking through the hole in the barricaded doorway. Soldiers begin praying and swearing as the sand creatures begin cutting through the doorway. The Prince goes over to his father and speaks to him as he dies. While they speak, Soldiers are either slain, consumed by sand or are overcome by a blue light, lifting them into the air and dropping them back down. As the Prince cries over his father's body, some sand creatures walk up behind him, he looks over his shoulder and when he draws his sword, he is thrown back by his father who was overcome by sand. Eventually, he fights the sand creatures, has a 1v1 fight with his father, can't kill him so he breaks through a closet and jumps down a well using a gauntlet to slow himself down.
We see a scene of the messengers reaching the General in the streets, telling him the warning, and behind them a giant sand cloud starts forming. Quickly they begin escorting civillians and then sand creatures begin appearing. We follow the General and two of his companions mostly as the rest of the army continues in the background. Eventually, the rest of the army and civilians get ahead, and as the three remaining warriors look back to the sound of screams, they see the cloud is closing in on them. They mount their horses to try and outrun the cloud.
The Bad Prince comes to the Priest in the throne room (where there are a few lesser Priests and soldiers who just converter standing along the walls) angry about what had happened and at the fact that his father is dead and the Priest replies "Your father was a weak old man anyways. Persia requires a much stronger Shah." and the Priest hands the Bad Prince his father's crown. He holds the crown looking at it and asks "What do you need me to do?" He asks the dark prince to take the soldiers with him and round up as many followers as they can. The Prince sits on the throne and wears the crown.
We cut back to the Prince running crying in the dungeons. He asks Ahura Mazda what he has in mind for him, and just then he sees a light pass far away in the dark. He runs after the light and just when he turns the last corner, the torch goes out and he is alone in the dark. Suddenly, an arrow hits him in the chest and time stops. He looks down at the arrow in pain, looks to the glowing gauntlet and clenches his fist, slowly the arrow comes back out of his body and time resumes as he steps out of the way. "Who's there!? Show yourself!" The Prince is holding out a sword and a smaller dagger. A woman with an arrow appears before the Prince and they talk. The woman is actually the Princess of Babylon and she thought she was the only one innaffected. Her father had not been affected by the sands as he had killed himself on a pyre before the Shah had entered the Palace. She doesn't know why she can't be transformed to a sand creature but she thinks it has to do with a Pendant (in the shape of the faravahar) she received from her Persian mother before she past away. When the Prince asks where she was going, she says that her mother's father, a Priest is living in a temple where the dungeon tunnels leads. The two decide to head there together.
We return to the three warriors racing against the sands which all closing in behind them, as they also fight sand creatures who are passing through the sands beside them. This is a fast-paced chase scene and the once they catch up to the other soldiers, many of them fall with their horses into the sands. They ride down a cliff to avoid the sands and reach the next city.
When they speak with the old man (also wearing a faravahar), he explains the origins of the sands and how they are connected to Ahriman and that him and the Princess both wear pendants of the Avesta, protecting them against Ahriman's darkness. He aslo explains how the Priest is trying to collect one thousand converted souls in the name of Ahriman to bring out his appearance.
We get a scene of the Priest in meditation, communicating with Ahriman (we only hear voices) and how the Dark Shah is only a tool to collect more followers, and their dialogue keeps going. Think Darth Vader speaking to the hologram of the Emperor in Ep. V
The Dark Shah and his men, take a small village and collect 100 followers.
We see the warriors make camp and talk.
The Warriors awake to the sounds of royal trumpets as the Shah and a group of soldiers stand atop a hill. They have come to explain their side of things and find followers. A small number of soldiers leave the camp to join the Shah, and the General calls to speak with him. They meet between their two groups of soldiers and the General warns off his best friend's younger brother (the dark-shah). The Dark Shah tells the general that his friend/the prince is dead and for him to just join and that there isn't anyway of undoing the Prince's mistake. The General gets upset to learn the Prince releases the sands but tells the Shah that he will not stop until he either finds a way to undo what has been done or die trying.
The Old man trains the Prince in using the gauntlet. He then casts a spell on the Prince's dagger telling him that in order to undo what has been done, he needs to first take the Priests soul and then stab the hourglass from which the sands were released. To control time, the Prince must reload the gauntlet by tabbing an infected or converter person with the dagger and then grab at a light that streams out of the wound. This will also preserve the lost souls of the converted and infected. Once the Hour Glass is destroyed, the souls will return to their rightful owners. The Prince says that he cannot take the Palace alone. The Priest says he will join the Prince and the Princess but first the Prince needs to retrieve his lost army. The Priest gives the prince a box of pieces of wood with faravahar's engraved in them and tells him to pass them out to un-affected soldiers. The Prince and the Princess leave as the Priest goes down the dungeons towards a stronghold hidden in moutains.
End of Part 1
I give up. PM me if you care to, otherwise I'll just be adding you to my ignore list. (That would make you the lucky THIRD poster to be on my list of ignorees!!!)
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