"It's about time you showed up!" Proculus barked.

We were herded into the throne room, which gleamed with shiny black stone. Pillars supported the dome of the room, which was about fifty feet tall. Imagine a glossy black Yamaha piano, and you can visualise just how shiny the room looked. Right in front of us was a dais made of obsidian, and on top of the dais was the Hurricane Throne.

Maximus gave Chloe a book, two days after we were kidnapped, about the Throne. The Throne was the seat of power for the Storm Prince, which is what Proculus was. The Throne is made of platinum and abalone stone from the sea floor. Poseidon made the Throne himself, since he was the Bringer of Storms. Zeus attempted to take the Throne once before and it didn't go well.

Proculus, who sat on the Throne, pointed at Chloe and me. "On your knees," he ordered.

The soldiers who stood next to his Throne marched forward and kicked us in the back of our legs, making us cry out in pain, forcing us on our knees.

Proculus stood up from the seat of power and crossed over to us. He wore a tombstone grey tunic and jeans, and had a blood red cape on. He had a dagger at his belt. His face was as pale and gaunt as ever in the firelight of the hearth, which was placed right in the middle of the throne room.

"You must be thinking that I'm wasting my time on you two," he said in a calm voice.

"You're probably right," I snarled.

The Storm Prince tilted his head at me, like a confused dog. "Oh, but I'm not. You see, all of us have been testing you..."

He pulled out a booklet of crumbled up notes, which made me confused. Why he'd keep something like that, I had no idea.

Chloe gave me a nervous look. I shrugged in confusion. At this point, I can only wonder what Proculus was playing at - which was useless.

Proculus read through several notes with his finger. "Ah, here it is: 'Subjects have shown incredible endurance to weapons, such as swords, spears and daggers, in battle training that have lasted for over three months. They have also acquired water resistance and can be able to breathe underwater. Their brain patterns suggest that they can also speak telepathically with each other and can see more clearly at long distances. Maximus, our general of the army, has reported them as growing stronger and have gained more agility than before. Subjects should be ready for the final trial in a matter of days, but should be more cautious about the candidates.'" He looked up at us and smiled. "You see? You've impressed us with your...uh, how do you say it - rebel attitudes."

Chloe suddenly lunged at Proculus and punched him in the face. Several of the soldiers who escorted us in, including Maximus, grabbed her and reined her in. Proculus held his mouth like it was about to drop off. He then looked at Chloe.

"You're spirited," he laughed, "I'll give you that."

"I'm not impressed after everything you've done to us!" Chloe screamed. "You've treated us like cattle for slaughter - putting us through tests, forcing us to do what you want. You've killed our mother..." Her voice broke and she lowered her head.

Proculus reached out and yanked her hair back, forcing her to look at him. Chloe yelped.

I struggled against the guards hands. "Don't touch her!"

"Calm down," the soldier behind me whispered. "We'll get you out."

Proculus still gripped Chloe's hair in a vice grip.

"You know what?" he sneered. "Let's just get it over with."

He looked at the soldiers holding us and nodded.

At that moment, they threw me to the floor and pinned me down with their hands and feet. I tried in vain to get up, but failed. One of the guard's Proculus had at his side went over to the hearth and picked up a red hot rod. He walked over to me and placed the rod over my right wrist, which was held outstretched so tightly it felt as if my arm was being ripped off.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed at the Prince. I was seriously beginning to think that Proculus was going to kill us. If so, how will he do it?

Proculus crossed his arms and continued to smile at me, as Chloe was also thrown to the floor. "Maximus did tell you, no? This is your gift - we're branding you."

"Branding us?" Chloe exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

The Cyclone Prince sneered. "This is how we name our soldiers - we burn a mark on them, so we know what their code name is. Now, we are doing the same to prisoners - which is what you are. Take them over to the hearth!"

Before I knew it, before I could even so much as protest, I was dragged closer to the hearth, the heat making my face sweat uncontrollably. The Storm Prince nodded at the soldier with the hot rod, and the soldier pressed the rod onto my wrist, pressing it so hard that it would probably leave a bruise.

I yelled and wailed in agony. It felt like my wrist was being ripped open. All the blood in my right arm felt as if it was not circulating anymore. My hand felt like it was on fire. Chloe cried in agony as well, as her wrist was being burnt with the brand, sharing her pain with me.

I felt myself slipping further and further into unconsciousness.

Then all of a sudden, Maximus tackled Proculus to the ground. The Princes men tried to charge Maximus, but several of the soldiers threw their spears at them, and they shattered into black glass. A couple of the soldiers removed their helmets and drew their swords. Just before I blacked out, they sliced at the guards holding me and Chloe and their bodies turned to dust.

It only seemed like a few seconds had passed when I woke up.

Standing above me was a soldier, holding his hand out. He didn't wear his helmet

"Come on," the man said, still holding his hand out. Through the red gaze of pain, I grabbed his hand and felt myself pulled to my feet.

"How long was I out?" I asked, slightly embarrassed.

"A minute or so," the soldier answered.

"What in the name of Poseidon are you doing?!" Proculus roared, who was tied up on the floor. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Oh, shut up!" Maximus pounded the Princes head with his sword hilt. The Prince passed out.

Maximus got to his feet and crossed over to me and Chloe. "We'll get you two out. Now, come on!"

I tried running but the pain in my wrist was too much. My eyesight was blurry, since it was still red. I gripped my wrist tightly. My legs felt like jelly and I had the very bad thought that someone was gonna call me 'Old Man Dimascio'.

I held my hand up. "Give me a minute. I can barely stand or see."

Maximus looked like he was going to protest, but I quickly added, "You can't get us out of here if we're in no condition to run, much less see anything. Just give me a minute."

Maximus fumed. "Alright, you got one minute. But that's all you'll get. After that, we run like hell. You understand?"

I nodded.

I walked over to Calliope, who leaned against one of the marble pillars. She kept looking at her wrist. As soon as she saw me, she quickly looked back at her marked wrist. It was covered in black splotches, like she had a terrible case of gangrene or something.

"What does your brand say?" Chloe asked me.

She showed me her burnt, tattooed wrist. On it was the image of a dolphin, which was one of Poseidon's sacred animals. There were words underneath the dolphin image:

WHA

Chloe Dimascio

The Whirlwind Archer

I refused to look at my brand. Just to be sure, I marched up to the unconscious body of Proculus and grabbed his cape. Ripping off a long shred of the cape, I tightly wrapped it around my right arm, covering the mark.

"What's wrong?" Chloe frowned, concern in her voice.

I shook my head. "I am not looking at what he's put on my wrist. Not yet, anyway." I tied it tighter around my wrist to numb the pain even more. "Please tell me you guys have got a piece of armour?"

"Here," Maximus said, holding out a piece of wrist armour. I took it and placed it on top of my wrapped up wrist, tightening the straps.

"Now, are we finished here," one of the soldiers demanded, removing his helmet to reveal a teenaged face, "or should we wait until this pathetic accuse of a Prince wakes up?" He kicked Proculus in the stomach, which, in return, got a moan from the Prince.

I reached into my back pocket and brought out the silver cylinder from earlier. Doing as I was instructed to do I pressed the button at the end of the cylinder and the thing grew in my hand. It grew heavier and firmer until I was holding a metallic silver sword. Its blade was over a metre long, the grip was covered in leather and the hilt had studs of sapphire hammered into it.

On the hilt, the word Tsunami was etched in the metal.

I think that was what the original owner called it - if this sword had been in battle.

"Whoa," I muttered. I held the sword in my right hand, swinging it about. It felt as light as a feather.

"Wait a minute," Chloe said in excitement.

She closed her left hand into a fist and a slick, black bow appeared in her hand. Black and shiny, it looked as if Chloe had just picked up a curved meteorite and shaped it into a crescent moon shaped bow.

"Where's the arrows?" she asked Maximus in confusion.

In answer, Maximus pulled the string of the bow. A long beam of white light appeared on the bowstring, like daylight coming through the seam of the door.

"It's beautiful," Chloe breathlessly said.

"That was my wife's bow," Maximus said. "So you look after that."

After all that, we ran out of the throne room and charged down the corridor.