Beware the Black Crystals
Characters (c) are owned by Walt Disney Corp.
One morning in Agrabah, a merry rhythm could be heard proceeding from the walls of the city's majestic palace. It was only soft, faint sound from the outside, but as one drew nearer to the palace's prodigious white towers, one could gradually hear the melodic sonority grow clearer and clearer. The lively music was issuing from within a small gold-colored lamp sitting on a table in the palace throne room, and the lamp was vaguely rocking from side to side in time to the harmony's rhythm. For inside the seemingly commonplace object was none other than the Genie of the Lamp himself, playing music for his personal entertainment as he prepared to start a new day.
Genie was taking a shower inside the lamp, running hot water in his personal shower stall and wearing a yellow shower cap while scrubbing himself with a bath brush. The big blue jinn had turned on his stereo and placed it right next to the shower stall so he could listen to music while showering. He enjoyed turning on songs devised by musicians who would not exist in the world until hundreds or thousands of years in the future. Genie's stereo was playing "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham! as Genie jammed to the pop melody inside the shower stall.
"Yeah!" Genie enthused as he scrubbed his back with the bath brush. "Nothin' like a hot shower and some hot tunes to start off the day!" He danced a merry jig in the shower as the stereo blared away.
Genie boisterously sang along to the music as he leaped about in the shower. The melodic sounds rose up from inside the lamp and echoed throughout the throne room.
Outside the lamp, Aladdin came walking into the throne room. He had woken up earlier and had been looking to greet his friends. Aladdin chuckled when he heard the rollicking music issuing from the lamp and heard Genie's riotous singing accompanying it.
"Hey Genie, how are you?" Aladdin called to the lamp. But Genie didn't answer. Instead, more music and more singing continued to reverberate through the lamp.
Genie's voice was playfully ringing out in song along with the lyrics playing away on the stereo.
Aladdin smiled and figured that Genie couldn't hear him over the music, so he called more loudly.
"Good morning, Genie!" he said. Inside the lamp, there was slipping noise and a thud.
"Whoa!" Genie's voice came from the lamp. "Oh man! I slipped on the soap!"
A second later, a puff of smoke emerged from the lamp's spout, and Genie materialized in the throne room after leaving the lamp. A big grin enveloped the blue jinn's cheerful face at the sight of his best buddy.
"Morning, Al!" he said. "I was just taking a shower and jammin' to some tunes. I'm telling ya, some of those pop songs are gonna be really big in the future! Others will just be annoying, but hey, what can you do?" Genie shrugged and wiped himself dry with his bath towel.
"Great to see you, Genie," Aladdin said. "I was going to see if the Sultan needed help with anything, like charting a trade route or launching a diplomatic mission. He's in his study working on a few things."
Genie magically transformed himself into an elegant public official wearing elaborate eighteenth-century garments. "My dear friend, we shall indeed address these most important matters of state," he said in an English accent. "The welfare of king and country summons us to duty!"
"That's right," Aladdin nodded. "I like to help when I can. But I've still got a lot to learn about taking care of a kingdom. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'll ever get the hang of it."
Genie changed back to himself and clapped Aladdin on the back. "Don't you worry, Al. One day, you are going to be a terrific sultan. You've got real strength of character, buddy—I know, because I see it every day. You're a great guy, and I know Agrabah is going to be grateful to have you."
"Thanks, Genie," Aladdin said with an appreciative smile. "I hope you're right. I've lived so much of my life as a street rat that the whole idea of governing a kingdom sounds pretty intimidating."
Just then, there was a rush of air through the palace throne room as Aladdin and Genie's old companion, the Magic Carpet, flew in. Vibrantly resplendent in all of his multicolored silk cloth and gold tassels, Carpet soared through the air to greet his friends.
"Hey, rug man, lookin' spiffy as always, bro," Genie said as he slapped Carpet a high five on the right tassel. Carpet then swooped down and embraced Aladdin in a big bear hug.
"Hi, Carpet," Aladdin grinned as he was pulled into Carpet's hug. "Good to see you, too."
"Awww, that's so cute," Genie said. "You see, Al? Good ol' Carpet here believes in you, too. Right, rug boy?"
Carpet nodded vigorously and gave two thumbs up with two tassels.
"It's nice of you to say that, guys," said Aladdin. "But I don't know. It's always been hard enough for me to handle fighting some giant monster on one of our adventures. How am I going to be able to handle an entire kingdom?"
"You'll get the hang of it, Al," Genie assured. "Just you wait, it'll be just like learning to ride a bicycle. Once you learn how, you never forget!"
Aladdin looked confused. "Uh…what's a bicycle?"
Genie smacked his face with one hand. "Oops, sorry! My bad! I keep forgetting that you haven't seen everything I have. Here, I'll show you."
With a wave of his hand, Genie conjured up a bicycle in the middle of the throne room and immediately hopped into the seat. "Look how easy it is to ride this thing, Al!" he shouted as he started peddling. "Gang way!"
"Genie! Don't ride that thing in the throne room!" Aladdin yelled out. "You might break something!"
But he was too late. Genie was already speeding across the marble floor on the bicycle, with Carpet hanging onto Genie's shoulders as they tore around the room on the two-wheeler. Genie was peddling so fast that he didn't even see that he was on a collision course with a table and chairs.
"Genie, watch out!" Aladdin shouted.
"What'd you say, Al?" Genie called back.
CRASH! The bicycle rammed into the table and chairs, and Genie and Carpet both went flying through the air and landed with a thud on the floor. The pieces of furniture scattered all over the marble floor as Aladdin winced at the sight of the crash.
Genie picked himself up off the floor. "Yeesh. Sorry, Al. I got carried away again."
"Oh, it's okay," Aladdin said. "But do you think you can fix the furniture?"
"No sweat," Genie replied. He waved his arms and magically reassembled the table and chairs back into place.
"Whew!" Aladdin breathed a sigh of relief. "At least we won't have to explain that mess to anyone. And speaking of messes, has anybody seen Abu and Iago?"
Carpet shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he had not seen the monkey or the parrot that morning. Genie transformed himself into a Sherlock Holmes-like detective, complete with hat and pipe, and assumed a knowing expression on his face.
"It's quite elementary, my dear boy," he said. "Whenever your incorrigible animal friends are missing without a trace, it generally means they have wandered into some place where they shouldn't be wandering, and have done so in order to procure something which they shouldn't possess."
"You know, I never did see Abu or Iago during breakfast," Aladdin realized. "That probably means—the kitchen!"
Aladdin, Genie and Carpet raced toward the palace kitchen. When they entered the room, everything was quiet, but there were traces of food spilled and scattered across the floor. Someone clearly had been in the room and had been eating. As Aladdin stepped further into the kitchen, he heard the sound of the munching of food somewhere in the room. It was just as a he thought—Iago and Abu were in here somewhere raiding the food stocks for an extra big breakfast. He followed the munching sound to a cabinet above the counter, and then he flung the cabinet's doors open.
Inside, Abu and Iago were sitting on the cabinet shelves eating various foods stacked within the cupboard. The monkey and the parrot, startled by Aladdin's sudden intercession, jumped in fright, with Abu chattering nervously and Iago letting out an appalled squawk. Caught red-handed, the animals cringed as Aladdin scowled at them.
"Abu! Iago!" Aladdin shouted. "I've caught you! You two know what I've told you before about raiding the kitchen!"
"It was the monkey's fault!" Iago claimed. "He's the thief! I just came in here to try to convince him to stop stealing the food!"
Abu reacted to Iago's accusation with a stream of loud, angry chatter. In his monkey talk, he was clearly calling Iago a liar. Aladdin, of course, knew very well that the monkey and parrot had conspired together to steal food from the palace's stocks.
"When will you two learn to behave?!" he scolded. "I've warned you about things like this! I ought to take away your palace privileges as punishment!"
Iago's jaw dropped. "You mean—you'd kick us out of the palace?!" he whimpered.
"That's right," Aladdin said. "You'd have to go live in my old hovel in the city for a while until you learn to behave yourselves."
"Don't kick us out! Pleeeeease!" wailed Iago. He and Abu grabbed Aladdin's arms as they pleaded for forgiveness.
"It was just a little snack!" Iago blubbered. "It won't happen again! I don't wanna lose my beautiful life of palace luxury!"
Abu jabbered noisily in agreement.
"Fine, fine," Aladdin relented. "But you two have to clean up this mess in here by yourselves. And no more causing trouble, understand?"
Abu and Iago humbly agreed and set about cleaning up the food they had spilled in some parts of the kitchen. Just as the two animals had begun their work, the doors to the kitchen opened once again. Into the room stepped Princess Jasmine, freshly spruced up for the day.
"Good morning, everyone," she said sweetly. Then she looked around the messy kitchen and asked, "What happened here?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, princess," Genie said. "Just a couple of overly pampered pets trying to squeeze out a little extra chow."
"I'm having Abu and Iago clean up the mess they made in here, Jasmine," Aladdin said.
Jasmine rolled her eyes at the two animals. "Ohhhh, you two! You're always into some kind of mischief. Ever heard of self-control?"
Iago put on a sheepish, embarrassed grin. "I'm kind of a slave to my passions, princess," he said meekly.
"Iago, it's not as if you don't already live a more luxurious life than the average bird," Jasmine pointed out.
"Hey, this kitchen is loaded with obscenely rich, flavorful entrees!" Iago protested. "And I can smell it all over the palace! How can I help it if I'm attracted to the savory aroma of high-class cooking when it's right there?! It's entrapment, I tell ya! Entrapment!"
Abu tapped Iago on the shoulder and mumbled something to him to let him know that he should drop the subject and get back to work. Iago sighed and rejoined Abu for the cleaning job.
Jasmine turned to her fiancée. "Aladdin, Father's ready when you are to go over the issues of state for today. He knows that you will be a lot of help."
"I sure hope I can be," Aladdin said. "Let's go to it."
Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie and Carpet left the kitchen while Abu and Iago continued with the cleanup. As Aladdin headed for the Sultan's study, he considered how strange he felt helping the Sultan of Agrabah with anything. Even though he had been doing this kind of stuff for a while now (ever since he first became engaged to Jasmine), he could never quite get used to it. A former peasant boy from the streets offering consultation on the kingdom's public affairs? Aladdin still couldn't believe he had made it this far. He wondered how long he could keep it up.
Later that day, Aladdin and Jasmine were standing together on the palace balcony overlooking the city. Aladdin had finished going over the day's policy matters with the Sultan, including a few new trade agreements that Agrabah was planning to negotiate with neighboring kingdoms. Now that the meeting was over, Aladdin was content to spend some time with Jasmine and enjoy the rest of the day. He and Jasmine held hands, with Jasmine using her other hand to stroke his arm. Aladdin pensively took in the soft, soothing touch of Jasmine's gentle fingers as he stood beside her, snuggling close to her body and savoring the tender comfort of their intimacy.
Never far from Aladdin's thoughts was the ever-present realization that Jasmine was truly a living symbol of all that was good and benevolent in his life. She was the rock of his life, the woman whose love provided the fundamental support structure of happiness and stability in his world. To know that Jasmine would eternally be a part of him, and he a part of her, was…no two ways about it…blissful. More wonderful than Aladdin could find the words to describe. It was simply the most perfect thing he could imagine.
Jasmine had chosen him, a common urchin, over all of the countless men of high breeding who might have been her bridegroom. Despite the fact that he possessed nothing of worldly value, she had gazed into his soul with those almost hypnotically vibrant eyes of hers, and she had seen something in him which she found more valuable than anything else. Aladdin had felt the same way when he had first looked into Jasmine's soul and perceived her as the extraordinary person she was. It was a beautiful feeling. Totally beautiful.
As the two lovebirds continued to look out at the city from atop the balcony, Aladdin again found himself thinking about what a challenge it would be to someday bear the responsibility for this city's well-being. His face must have betrayed his thoughts, because Jasmine soon took notice.
"You have something on your mind, Aladdin," she said with a knowing, teasing smile. "You're thinking very deeply. I know you. You can't fool me, my love. Come on, out with it. No secrets among fiancées."
She playfully tousled Aladdin's hair with her hands, and Aladdin chuckled in response.
"I was just thinking about the future, Jasmine," Aladdin said. "Someday I'm going to be responsible for all of Agrabah. I'll be doing all of the things your father does. Having that kind of responsibility….it makes me kind of nervous. I haven't been brought up to handle this type of job. I sometimes wonder how I can possibly do it."
Jasmine gently took Aladdin's hand in hers again. "You're not alone, Aladdin. Thinking about our responsibility to the people of Agrabah is very overwhelming. I know, because I've felt the same nervousness you have."
Aladdin sighed. "Glad it's not just me. But still…it's especially daunting for someone like me. At least you know all about the duties of royalty. Me, I hardly know anything."
"I think you know much more than you give yourself credit for," Jasmine assured him. "You've been such a help to Father because you have a keen understanding of how to work with others and how to serve the people's needs. You understand people better than almost anyone else here at the palace, because you lived among ordinary people all your life. That type of experience is invaluable for anyone who is going to rule a kingdom someday."
Aladdin appeared flattered and gave a shy smile. "It's really nice of you to say that, Jasmine," he said. "I'd like to think I can do good things for the city. I just hope I can persuade the people to accept a street rat as their sultan. Why, it's hard enough to get myself to accept that idea!"
"Aladdin, you are so much more than a street rat," Jasmine insisted. "You are a kind-hearted, caring person, and you have been gifted with so much intelligence-!"
"Not as much intelligence as you've been gifted with, Jasmine," Aladdin interjected earnestly.
Jasmine blushed and kissed his cheek. "You're sweet. Thank you. But I want you to know that I meant every word I said. Your intelligence, your compassion, your basic human decency….it all adds up to the wonderful person you are! It's why I love you, and it's why I know you will be an outstanding sultan one day. Father knows this, too; he's so proud of you, Aladdin, and so am I."
Aladdin felt himself growing more relaxed and comfortable. "All I really want to do is justify the faith you and your father have in me. I want to do good deeds for the people of Agrabah, I want to make a difference…you know what I mean. But I need to learn more. This morning, it was hard enough for me to manage Genie, Abu, Iago and Carpet with all their antics. Imagine what I'll have to go through managing a whole nation!"
Jasmine laughed. "Actually, if you can handle those four guys all the time, you may be better-prepared to handle a kingdom than you think!" She leaned casually on the balcony's railing as she kept talking. "But like I said, you aren't the only one who has to learn. I have a lot left to learn, too. And we'll both learn together over time. Getting used to royal duties takes time, but you are starting with a huge advantage, Aladdin: your moral character. That's the first thing any good leader needs."
"Then that means you will be a great sultana, Jasmine," Aladdin said. "I'm so happy you'll be with me through it all."
Jasmine dipped her head appreciatively as she favored her fiancée with a grateful smile. Aladdin could never get over just how enchanting that smile of hers was.
"You know I will," she told him. "And no one understands the stresses and pressures of royal life better than I do. It's why I ran away from the palace all that time ago, and it's how I met you."
"How could I forget?" Aladdin nodded. "I guess the stress can get to anyone."
"That's for sure," Jasmine said. "Even with all my experience in the palace, I just had to get away when the royal life started to impose itself unfairly on me as a person. I just couldn't take it anymore!" She then blushed and exhibited a sheepish grin.
Aladdin smiled. It was sometimes easy for him to forget that Jasmine had anxieties and uncertainties similar to his own. This was because she always seemed so confident in everything she did, and it was something Aladdin admired about her. But of course, she was still human, just like him, and as far as Aladdin was concerned, that made things even better. To know that the two of them could face their problems together, and fight their mutual anxieties as a team, was a very comforting thought.
"I'm glad you did what you did, or else I would never have known you," Aladdin said as he gave Jasmine a hug. "You're the most precious thing in the world to me, Jasmine."
While they embraced, Aladdin asked, "Would you like to go for a ride around the city before dinner?"
"I'd like that very much," Jasmine softly affirmed.
Aladdin gave a whistle, and a second later, Carpet came flying out of the palace and onto the balcony. He danced merrily in the air to show that he was ready for a flight through Agrabah.
"Carpet, we're looking to take a quick flight over the city for some fresh air," Aladdin said.
Carpet reached out with two tassels and brought the two lovers close together. Since he was the romantic type, Carpet enjoyed helping Aladdin and Jasmine to have a good time whenever possible. Carpet then moved into position, and Aladdin and Jasmine happily leapt onto his back.
Carpet took off, soaring into the sky above the shining white towers of the palace and flying through the air over the rooftops of the city. Aladdin and Jasmine contentedly took in the picturesque scenery and the fresh air as they sat together on their magic carpet's woven silk.
Elsewhere in the city, vendors were still selling their goods in the marketplace. In one corner of the bazaar area, a jewelry merchant was marketing the various glittering items on display in his vendor's stand.
"Come buy your jewelry here!" he called. "The finest craftsmanship in Agrabah is right here!"
A bearded man wearing a red turban passed walked up to the jewelry stand and looked interestedly at the merchandise. The customer was about to speak to the merchant when a strange noise that sounded a bit like thunder was heard. Both the customer and the jewelry merchant looked anxiously in the direction of the sound. What they saw up in the air above them was a shock to behold.
A strange circular hole had opened up in the middle of the air, as if the fabric of space and time had been cleaved. The hole's center displayed nothing but an empty blackness, while its rim swirled and writhed with a white mist similar to a sorcerer's brew. Then, out of the hole came a floating object—a black crystal with sharply defined angles and faces, molded in a dodecahedron geometrical shape. Its design was similar to a milk saucer or a teacup, and it was about the size of an average soup bowl. The crystal came floating out of the black hole, and it hovered in the air like a flying saucer.
The merchant and the buyer gasped at the sight of the crystal and started to run away. But the black crystal floated after them, and then, from one of its geometrical faces, it generated a beam of white light which engulfed the buyer. The bearded man cried out as the light ray grabbed him, and it sucked the man directly into the interior of the crystal!
The jewelry merchant desperately ran for his life, but when he looked over his shoulder, another black crystal floated out of the hole in space! It was identical to the first crystal, and it flew after the merchant faster than he could run. Soon it overtook him, fired a beam of mystical white energy and ensnared the merchant, dragging the man into the crystalline structure.
The two crystals then flew through the air back toward the open portal floating in space, carrying their prisoners within them. The crystals reentered the portal, and then the black hole closed itself, leaving no trace of its existence behind.
In a worn-down, destitute home located in an impoverished part of the city, a poor woman was preparing to put her two children to bed. The woman was mother to a daughter of about eight years old, and a son of about five years old. As the girl and boy rolled around playfully on the floor of their scanty sleeping quarters, their mother came into the room to help them into their nightclothes.
"Alright, you two, it's been a long day," she gently told them. "Time to get ready for bed. Come along, children."
But as the mother spoke, a loud rumbling sound suddenly filled the room and echoed throughout the small home, seeming to shake the house to its foundations. The woman cried out in terror, and she instinctively crouched down on the floor and clutched her two children in her arms, drawing them close to her to protect them from whatever might be causing the shocking disturbance. The girl and boy, with visibly frightened expressions on their faces, hugged their mother tightly.
The rumbling continued, and then a flash of light appeared in the room. A black hole wreathed in white mist suddenly took shape in the air above the mother and her two children, and out of the hole came three floating crystals as black as tar.
"Run! Run!" the mother screamed. Her two children scrambled to do just that, with their mother pushing them along. But the three crystals flew above them, and as they hovered in mid-air, they each unleashed a ray of shimmering white light.
The three white beams of energy each trapped a victim—the mother, the girl and the boy—like three glowing snares, and they pulled their captives into the inside of each crystal. Now each of the three crystals held one of the three prisoners, and now the helpless captives were frozen within their confinements. They did not move or speak, but only stared without consciousness through their crystalline prisons, exhibiting expressions of dire fear frozen on their faces.
The three airborne black crystals floated back into the dark hole in space from which they came, and the hole disappeared into nothingness.