Chapter 1
When Mozenrath opened the door to the citidel, he never expected to see a child sleeping in a basket on his front step. The child was wrapped in a velvet cloak, then set into a large wicker basket. There was a letter ontop of the sleeping child. If someone dropped the child off here then the person wouldn't be too far. He sent some of his mamluks to find the person. He looked at the letter and noticed that it was addressed to him. If they knew who he was then they wouldn't leave the child here. Mozenrath opened the letter to see flowing scripture of a womans handwriting.
'Mozenrath,' The letter started. 'I have left this child here in your care. She is very special to me and hopefully to you someday. Ella is two years old, her day of birth is January 11th of the 213th year. Keep her safe Mozenrath, for what awaits for her on the other side is more than pain and suffering and it will folow her spirit back to this realm and do destruction upon this world. Keep her safe and the world will live.' Mozenrath skipped to the bottom. 'She is more like you than you know, I want her to grow up to be like you more than anything. Strong willed and stubborn. Live long, my love. S.K.' Mozenrath was in shock.
"S.K." He said to himself. "The last time I saw you, you were running away from me." He smirked. "Scarlett Kingsley, my dear love. Is this your child?" Mozenrath looked away from the letter to see Ella staring at him with one black eye and one green eye, and a small smile on her face. She squirmed a little but stayed content. Mozenrath noticed how cold it was and picked up the basket and took Ella inside. Xerxes, Mozenrath's familiar flew towards his master.
"What master got?" The slimy friend said. The brown eel squeeled when Ella grabbed his tail. "Master have baby?" Xerxes asked. Mozenrath nodded.
"Indeed Xerxes. I have aquired an apprentice." The sorcerer laughed. The eel cirlcled Ella again, high enough to be out of her reach.
"Awful small, smaller than master, when master was little." Xerxes said. Mozenrath looked at the girl.
"She'll have to grow up more before we teach her but yes she's little." Mozenrath sat down the childs basket next to his throne. He sat there wondering why Scarlett would leave her baby here. Then he thought about it. 'I don't know how to take care of a baby!' Mozenrath paniced then. 'I don't even think my magic...' he didn't even get through his thought. "Oh but magic can." Mozenrath said aloud. Xerxes was confused wondering why his master was talking to himself. Mozenrath took of his turban and ran his fingers through his mass of black curls. His onix eyes stared out into space as he thought of ways to make this easier. "This is going to be challenging." Mozenrath said smirking.
* Three years later *
Ella awoke suddenly as she heard a crash downstairs. She got up and put on her slippers. She opened the door quickly and quietly, something she learned from her father. She silently crept down the stairs. Not even the stupid eel will catch her. 'Stupid troublemaking eel.' she thought as she walked through the hallway. She heard the crash come from the throne room. 'Maybe its that stupid eel. Maybe he got into papi's magic.' The only sound in the hallway was Ella's footsteps, and the dragging of her teddy bear Edward. It was a golden brown teddy bear with blue eyes. Ella heard the stupid eel call it an 'eddy' bear so she started calling it Edward. Ella turned the corner to see the front door blasted open. Her father was closest to her, facing the front door and the intruders that had just entered. They were arguing about something. They contiued they're argument until the monkey on the brown mans shoulder started to squeek.
"What is it Abu?" The man said. The monkey pointed towards Ella. Mozenrath spun around a look of pure fear and anger platered to his face.
"Ella. What are you doing up?" He asked. Ella walked towards him, like she does when she's affraid. He picked her up. She was small for a five year old and Mozenrath swore the teddy bear weighed more than she did.
"I heard a crash outside. It woke me up." She said. Mozenrath smoothed back her hair from her face. He smiled at her.
"Its ok, these guys just banged on the door a little too hard. They'll be leaving soon and you should go back to bed." He said. She rested her head against his shoulder. He set her down and whistled. Xerxes came flying in, ready for a fight. "Take Ella back to bed please Xerxes." Mozenrath ordered. Xerxes looked dissapointed but led Ella away. Mozenrath turned back towards the arsenal of intruders. They all had there mouths open.
"You kiddnaped a little girl? Have you lost your mind?!" The brown man asked. Mozenrath chuckled.
"For your information Aladdin, I did not kiddnap a little girl. That's too low even for me. She is my daughter." Aladdin looked more shocked.
"Who would ever love you enough to have a child?" The woman next to Aladdin said. Mozenrath chuckled again.
"Ah Princess Jasmine. There are things in this world that you don't yet understand, now please leave my home peacefully. I will not harm you if you do not harm me." Mozenrath said. He turned to leave but Aladdin started to speak.
"And since when did you stop hurting people? After you killed Ella's mother for not birthing a son?" Aladdin smirked. Mozenrath turned towards Aladdin slightly his face sollem.
"I don't know what happened to Ella's mother. She left, and I raised Ella by myself. She is too young and too innocent to be shown the blood shed of war. When she is older I will let her choose to follow my path or not. That is why I am sparing your lives." Mozenrath turned and walked away. He walked up to Ella's room to see her sleeping peacefully in her bed, her arms wrapped around Xerxes.
"Master help?" Xerxes asked, his voice weak from being crushed by the toddler. Mozenrath undid Ella's death grip on Xerxes and put Edward in his stead. Ella tightened her grip on Edward and dug her face into his fur. Mozenrath laughed, something he never remembers doing before Ella was left on his doorstep three years ago. He wondered if Ella really was his daughter. It was a possibility, but he never really knew. He took some of her hair, the only thing he could do without hurting her and took it downstairs.
After hours of mixing potions and chemicals Mozenrath finaly got the concoction he wanted. He sighed and placed the hair in the vial. It turned a steel gray color. Mozenrath plucked a few hairs from his head and placed it in the vial also. The color turned an astonishing pink, then died to a clear color. Mozenrath realized he was holding his breath. He let it go in surprise. 'So she is mine after all.' Mozenrath said to himself. 'That's one mystery out of my head.'
* Four years later *
An eight year old Ella was in the kitchen getting an apple for lunch. She always heard her father pacing and yelling at Xerxes in the throne room, but this time it seemed different. She almost swore someone was yelling at Mozenrath back. She unregarded it and walked toward the library where she was continuing her studies. "It's probably the stupid eel, done something wrong to papi." Ella said to herself. She jumped at least three feet when someone answered her.
"I not stupid! Little misstress stupid! Master yelling at intruder! Not me!" Xerxes spat at Ella. That made her wonder.
"If he's not yelling at you..." She said more to herself than to Xerxes. "Then who's he yelling at?"
Ella and Xerxes quietly crept back downstairs towards the throne room. Ella quietly pulled the door open just enough so she could see what was going on. She could see her father sitting on his throne a scowl on his face, one expression Ella rarely saw. He only scowled when he was angry and he was angry alot, expecially when he was alone in his library, or at least he thought he was alone. She also saw a girl kneeling in the middle of the floor. 'Father never has visitors,' Ella thought. 'Why would someone come to the middle of the desert to ask my father for something? He rarely gives, and he has been so angry lately. I wish I could advise the girl against asking my father a favor...' Mozenrath was halfway through a very long speech about something about a place called Agrabah when he stopped mid sentence.
"Ella. Haven't I told you that evesdropping is not a good thing to do." Mozenrath said calmly. The girl in the middle gasped as she saw me walk in with my head down. "Now what do you say?"
"I'm sorry, father. I appologize for evesdropping on your conversation. I swear I will never do it again." Ella said. Mozenrath had a pissed off look in his eye, but it quickly dissapeared. He held up his arm and motioned Ella to come closer to him. She hesitantly walked over to him. Mozenrath grabbed her around her waist and lifted her onto his lap.
"Did you need something sweetheart?" Mozenrath asked. The woman again gasped, like she had never heard Mozenrath speak to a child in such a loving manner before.
"I had heard raised voices, and I figured it was you punishing the stup... I mean Xerxes, but when I found Xerxes in the library," Ella paused to look for the demented eel. "I wanted to know if you were ok. I didn't mean to spy, I'm sorry." Ella said, almost breaking into tears.
"It is ok dear, I was just having an, over excited conversation with this young lady here. It may have helped if Xerxes was not in places he should not be in, per say the library, perhaps." Xerxes looked for the farthest corner to hide in. Mozenrath smiled at his daughter. "Would you like to be apart of our conversation Ella?" The girl in the middle didn't seem to like that idea.
"Mozenrath I don't think that's a good..." Mozenrath cut her off.
"It's Ella's decision, She's old enough to choose for herself. But I do have a warning for you Ella, Once you hear this story, your life may be totally different from what it is now. It might be the same. Do you still wish to be here?" Mozenrath asked. Ella was deep in thought, the same look plastered her face that her father held several times a day. Her mismatched eyes staring at a spot on the floor, or a spot on the ceiling or on the wall forever moving.
"Sure, I would love to hear this." Ella said finally. She then positioned herself right in her fathers lap where he could rest his chin on her head, and not be streched. He wrapped his arms around her, preparing to ask his guest a few more questions.
"Ella, this is Princess Jasmine, from Agrabah. She has come here to ask for help, concerning her kingdom." Mozenrath said, tring to keep the sarcastic tone out of his voice, but enough of it was there to catch Jasmine's attention. Jasmine was dark skinned, natural for anyone who lives outside of the citadel. Mozenrath told that to Ella when she saw that Aladdin was dark skinned. She had black hair like Ella and Mozenrath, a common thing umong all people in the desert. Her golden brown eyes glowed like honey in the sun. She was dressed in nice silks, a beautiful teal color, her dresswear for everyday life inside of a palace. Ella looked at her in wonder.
"Please Mozenrath, we don't have time to explain the story again. The winter solctice is almost upon us, and..." Jasmine was cut off. While Jasmine was talking Mozenrath got up and placed Ella in the throne, and started pacing the stones that led to his throne.
"Ah the winter solctice. Is this the part where the bad guy gives you a deadline to finish the quest he has competed for you? At least, this time, I am not the bad guy." Mozenrath mocked. Ella had not liked where her father was going with this. He told her stories in great detail of how the bad guy plans his ruin of the city and how he was going to do so. And what did he mean when he said he wasn't the bad guy this time? Isn't mozenrath always the good guy?
"Please! They'll kill Aladdin!" Jasmine screamed, tears running down her face. Mozenrath's eyes lit up, like someone had just ignited a spark in his personality, or perhaps his interest.
"And the story has a twist in the plot! They've kidnapped Aladdin! The great hero! What in gods name is the world going to do without him!? Tell me Jasmine," He got close to Jasmine, his face only inches away from hers. "Give me one good reason why I should help you and your beloved... Street rat!" Mozenrath spat. She started to sob, not knowing an answer to his deranged question. Mozenrath started to laugh, an evil menacing laugh when he heard a sound he wasn't expecting. A quiet sob from behind him. He turned around to see his daughter silently weeping.
"You see what your father is now child!" Jasmine pointed."He's an evil, meniacal murderer!" She fell flat on her back when Mozenrath sent her flying slapping her. A gasp came out of Ella's mouth. Mozenrath turned around to face his daughter again. She seemed to shrink against the throne.
"I told you that this story was twisted. Yes, this is who I really am, but I tried for years to hide you from the hurt you were only going to feel later. I really do love you, dearest daughter. If it wasn't for you, I would have killed her the moment my guards caught her in my boundries."
"How could you?" Ella asked. She was still a small child but she knew things that not even an adult could fully comprehend. "She comes to you, bowing at your feet, asking you to help her, and you turn her away, without a backwards glance?" Yes this child was smart, even her vocabulary was picking up. Mozenrath truely looked ashamed.
"You don't know what she has done to me!" Mozenrath yelled. "She and her street rat had ruined my plans! Left me with mothing but the clothes on my back my castle in ruins! My magic stolen! It's taken me years to rebuild my castle and plenty more to steal back my gauntlet! I have no sympathy for them and I am going to do this to them because they did it to me! If I were in they're position, they would do exactly as I am doing now!" Mozenrath screamed his point, pacing back and forth. Ella sat in her fathers chair intrigued by his side of the story.
"Please Mozenrath, I beg you. I have not asked you for a single thing, not once. Besides, we did save your life." Jasmine seemed to have hit a soft spot in Mozenrath's memory. He seemed to sadden, then got his pride back.
"I will only help you," Mozenrath said, pausing. Jasmine raised her head in surprise, gasping because he said yes. "Because you saved me, a very long time ago." Ella even seemed surprised.
"How did she save your life father?" Ella asked. Mozenrath picked her up and carried her out of the throne room.
"That my dear," He said, putting her down. "is a story for another time. Perhaps tomorrow. But now you must go to bed." Ella groaned in disproval.
"But father! It's still light out!" She said. Mozenrath smiled.
"I know dear, I know. I want you to stay here while i'm away, but I want you in bed first. I'll only be gone for tonight, and tomorrow in the morning I want you to be ready for your first magic lesson that I will teach you. I'm sure you have already taught yourself plenty, but now its my turn." Ella lifted up her hands waving them in certain patterns, patterns Mozenrath had seen only one person do. In less than half a minute Ella made a little flower appear, one from a lilly. Mozenrath was shocked. "And where did you learn to do that?" He asked. Ella giggled like a little girl, the little girl she was supposed to be, not interfered with magic and danger.
"I read it. In one of your hidden books. It has a lady's handwriting, not like the normal scratch of an old man who does nothing but cowers in his bath water, writing silly magic scrols." Mozenrath made a mental note to find the book that Scarlet had left in his castle. Mozenrath had set Ella in his bed, something he did every time he went away.
"I make my promise to you, as always, that when you wake up tomorrow morning, I will be asleep next to you." Mozenrath said, kissing his daughter on the forehead. He left her, watching her grasp the covers of his bed, a sleep spell overwhelming her body, making her sleep. "Goodnight my princess. May winged horses escort you to the land of dreams."