Chapter 22 The Crystal Prince

"Where are we going?" Olivia asked, as he nodded thoughtfully and turned around.

"I have an acquaintance to ask a question of." He held up one of the PED devices that hadn't been damaged from the jumbled mess of them.

"Is that one still working?" she asked, taking it curiously.

"Only one way to find out."

They made their way back to the big cave, and then started climbing up to the hole.

"Hey! Wait! How am I supposed to follow you up there?"

"Learn to climb," said Dustin, not really caring.

"I can help you figure out how to get past the sonic attack!"

"I've got a pretty good idea."

"I know what other defenses they have!"

Dustin paused. He was almost to the hole, but turned to look at him.

"And just how do you know that?"

He squirmed for a moment. "I used to be Josagn."

"What?"

Dustin and Olivia both began climbing back down.

"How is that possible?" demanded Dustin.

"I was young and stupid."

"More," demanded Olivia.

"The Josagn are the best hunters in the galaxy, but only because of our weapons."

"I'd always thought they died really easy."

"Wait, you stole a PED from one of the prisoners, didn't you?" asked Olivia.

"It was my first hunt here, I was sick of watching my people die just because we had to stay pure. If we were willing to change, to evolve, like other races, we could grow stronger. I wanted to prove it, but the device malfunctioned. Once I changed, it wouldn't let me go back." His voice sounded bleak.

"Spill everything." Dustin crossed his arms.

"When I came across the human, he was dead. He never made it out of his pod alive. I took his PED and upgraded my own. I spent the next couple of hours, evolving and goofing off. None of it was serious to me. When I was attacked by one of the aquatic creatures, I got a sample of it, then decided I wanted to explore the oceans. There was so much to explore, I lost track of time. My father came in search of me, but obviously couldn't find me. When I saw the shiny crustacean on the floor of the ocean, I of course acquired a sample and became what you see now.

"When I surfaced, to see the sun's reflection on my new skin, I was captured by other prisoners. I watched them kill some of my father's men, who were obviously looking for me still. They brought me here, where I have been ever since."

"So, who actually, are you?" asked Olivia, looking at him suspiciously.

"My father is Aioth."

She opened her mouth, then turned to Dustin, who had no clue who that was.

"That would make you the prince!" she finally managed to sputter.

"Yes, but I'm not sure it would make much of a difference anymore. I am no longer pure."

"They've been looking for you for years! It's known you disappeared…" she drifted off, and stumbled back.

"What?" asked Dustin, standing up straight.

"Right before I was thrown in prison, there was talk about a reward for who ever found him. It was in the billions."

"But I thought they considered you dead if you didn't return in 20 hours. Wouldn't it be incredibly stupid to put out a reward for a dead guy?"

"You don't understand," she said, shaking her head. "There is a gem that glows for each royal family member. I know because I saw them. The prince's stone still glows, so they know he still lives."

"It wouldn't know that I wasn't still pure," he confirmed.

"Wait, so if we waltz into that place, with him, claiming that he's the prince, they might just let us off this hell hole?"

"Maybe, if you can get inside," he said.

"Whelp, good enough for me," said Dustin, grabbing the guy up. They started climbing up again, with the crystal guy clinging to his back.

The hole was really deep, so they had to climb for a long time. As Dustin finally reached the surface, he was amused to see that they had killed a vine tree. He climbed around to avoid the black ick still on the ground, and Olivia followed his lead.

"Now all we have to do, is get to the shuttle port."

They looked over the forest, and after a moment, to catch their breath, they started walking. The prince turned out to be very annoying. He wanted to look at everything. It was a good thing he couldn't be hurt, because he would have died a hundred times over, otherwise.

They were attacked by the color changing giant wolves with four eyes and six legs, but Dustin bit the first one, and the others fled when it died. Then one of the thick-skinned creatures with the spikes on its forehead, tried to charge them, and Dustin sidestepped it, again biting it, when it impaled its spikes in a tree, getting temporarily stuck.

When the dragon charged, Olivia climbed a tree. Dustin watched as the crystal prince went flying. Then as it was gnawing on him, he charged, jumping onto its back, and digging his claws in to hold on. It roared and started to shake, running and rubbing against trees to dislodge him. When it started for a tree, he knew had those black beetles that could strip a body in minutes, he decided he'd had enough fun and bit it.

Jumping to the ground, he walked away as the beetles began to crawl over and cover the body behind him.

Olivia climbed, and jumped from the tree, to land next to him.

"You guys are crazy," said the prince, picking himself up and trying to brush the dirt off his crystals. He wasn't having much luck, when there was a distant rumble of thunder.

Dustin chuckled and the sky opened up.

"What the…?" yelled Olivia, over the downpour. She started to run for cover, but stopped when neither Dustin or the prince appeared to be following her. She followed them as they trooped along, in the mud of the storm as every other sane creature sought shelter. At least they weren't getting attacked every other step they took.