All hearts have darkness
All hearts have the capacity of love and compassion
Hatred is embedded in every heart
There will always be two sides in a story
"Another day past, another day of Chaos-making gone; And Agrabah still stands, this can't be so, and yet the stronghold still stands, Aladdin saves the day once again, every trick pulled and he foils it, why?!" thought Mirage as she pace on the tile stone floor of her sphinx-like home. Then she went outside of her floating home in the world of Morbia, an isolated dimension that is an endless nighttime sky with just asteroids floating about.
"If only there was a way, a way to finally stamp out Aladdin and his friends, to stamp out their hopes and dreams, but is there really such a way?" thought Mirage as she sighed a bit as she sat down and watched Agrabah from her main crystal ball in her throne room inside her Sphinx Palace, as she watched Agrabah through her crystal ball; she saw that it was zooming into a scene in the palace.
The scene she saw made her growl angrily; It was Aladdin, of course, with his friends, they were having fun, she saw Aladdin and Jasmine walking hand in hand through the gardens of the Palace, she also saw Genie, Iago, and Abu…Well, mostly Iago blabbering away, while Abu watch on and Genie trying to appease him. Mirage then let a small purr escape from her lips, "Well" she thought "At least someone is having a bad day, even though molting isn't anything catastrophic, unfortunately", then she turns her head away from her crystal ball, and started thinking why she kept on failing every single time she goes up against Aladdin.
As she got up from her chair, she walked to the entrance of her Palace, in the god-forsaken land of hers, Morbia, then she smirked a bit, before changing the asteroids field into a forest, which was full of wild animals and swirls of mist, along with many of the trees fill in with snakes that are poisonous or not, and she changed the weather with her illusion powers and made the sky gray with clouds with thunderstorms, and rain. As she looked at her work, she smiled before saying with a contented purr, " What a dreary, morbid day. Well, I will feel sorry for anyone who dares try to go through my forest, I will even feel sorrier for the one who finds my palace, and me. Wait a second….No…..I take that back, I won't feel sorry, I will savor the dread, which they will feel, when they meet me, and when they enter my land Morbia". Then she laughed oh-so-evilly as she walk through her land to make sure everything was as morbid as she wanted it to be.
As Mirage's world connected with the world of Agrabah, once again, everything in Agrabah is as it usually is calm, peaceful, and quiet as can be, with the people as blind as ever to what is really going on in their world like the special connection of Mirage's world Morbia, and the peace-loving world of Agrabah. But then again like every world, there are people who 'see' the bigger picture, who see the connections between this safe, peaceful world of Agrabah with those of the fearful, mysterious land of Morbia. For Mirage this was good to get unexpected visitors, and then to feed off on their fears as they get terribly lost in her world of illusion before she lets them go back to their own world. The only people who knew about Mirage power over Morbia is her old friend Phasir, and Aladdin, and his gang; for Mirage that was the most terrible thing that has happen, but she thought, "Well there is no one else who knows the truth about my world nor does anyone else know the full extent of my powers". How wrong she was about that.
For as Mirage was using her illusion powers for fun, and to improve her ability; there was someone like a shade moving through different forests trying to find Mirage's world . As this 'shade' travel, for those who have seen it; have told others that they saw a shadow of a wild animal, some say a tiger, others say it was a black bird, some say it was the shadow of death itself, they couldn't be more mistaken. For this 'shade' wasn't a shade, but was in fact a dragoon from a far away country, who was train to use magic, no one knows who his master was, but even though he has learn magic, he has yet to master the ability of shape-shifting. As he dismounted his horse, a pale blonde, white horse, he then led it through the end of the forest since they were a safe distance from the many wolves that were chasing after them.
"Steady now Akira, the wolves are far behind us by now. Hmm...Where are we now?" asked the Dragoon in an awe voice as he saw that he has indeed left the lands he knew of, and enter into what seem like a never-ending desert, and at a far distance he could see what he thought was a wall, and in a desert a wall, meant a stronghold or if not a protected city lies just beyond that wall. As he was observing his new surroundings, he saw that from where he was there were a few oasis to go to for water, and even shade from the sun, which was good for him since, his horse is the type that needed constant care since he always had his horse in tip top shape to fight in battles with him as needed.
"I will have to say Akira, This is worse weather-wise than where we come from at least, our home has many forest to hide from the sun, when the days are a bit more hot than usual, but this, this is just bad, the heat is almost unbearable, how in the world to people live in deserts like this? It's impossible!" said the dragoon as he sighed, when he finally decided to get on his horse once again, and hurry toward what he thought was a walled city that was still far off into the distance, so he knew more than likely, that he would reach the city in a few days at least or so he hope; as long as he didn't get side-tracked.
After some long hours of traveling, he stopped at a small oasis, supposedly just to rest for a while before he continue traveling toward Agrabah, the walled city that he had seen from a far. As he took off his black colored armour that made it easy for him to hide in the shadows, when he used to fight in battles. Then he pack his armor on top of his horse, and led his horse to a small stream, so it could drink its share of the water there, as his horse was drinking from the stream, the dragoon sat down under a palm tree, then he close his eyes for a bit, but what he didn't expect was how tired he was, so then he went to sleep unexpectedly after having his eyes close for a few minutes.
A Few Hours Past…..
As the dragoon awoke from his nap, he was surprised to see how dark it was with only the full moon out with soo many stars that one can see as far as the eye can see; thousands of glimmering stars lighting his path to Agrabah, it was enough light to see where he was going. But instead of going straight to Agrabah, he stayed in the oasis since he saw a rock wall was close by it, almost right next to the oasis he was in, and, it did look as if it was always there, and on the rock wall look like a naturally made cave. When the dragoon saw the cave, he decided to explore the cave out of total curiosity, then he called for his horse to come to him as soon as it came to him, he saddled up, and race toward the cave as soon as he enter the cave, he slow his horse into a slow, but easy-going trot, when he reached the halfway point of the cave from where he was, he could hear crickets, and felt a small breeze coming through from the end of the cave. As soon as he felt the breeze, he became wary, but also very curious about what he would find at the end of this particular cave. But even so, he kept on exploring, and as soon as he reached the end of this cave, he found out that it wasn't just a cave, but a tunnel to a forest, fill with trees, and so much mist that he could only see his close surroundings, also at random times he heard sounds; sounds from wild animals like big cats, wolves, and even some snakes; this place definitely pricked his interest, so he continue to brave this mysterious forest. After a while he heard the sound of water moving, then he saw streams and even a small waterfall could be seen after a while as the mist lighten a bit when he got closer to the area where Mirage's Sphinx Palace was in. When he first saw the Palace, he stopped his horse, and dismounted, then he went to check it out. After a few minutes from walking toward the Palace, he stopped himself when he got near the entranceway not knowing whether or not to enter the Sphinx Palace since there was no one there yet to meet him, so he just look on, as he did so, unbeknownst to him Mirage just arrive from her rounds that she sometimes do to make sure no one was in her world.
And when Mirage saw him, she stayed quiet observing him, and getting close to growling since she couldn't believe that someone was able to survive in her forest and was able to get this close to her home. Then she smiled evilly, oh-so-evilly, as she got close to him, and tap his shoulder from behind him. As soon as he turn around she disappear, and then appear in front of him, looking peeved. Then when the Dragoon saw that there was no one behind him, he began to think he was just imagining things, but when he turn around, he took a step back, mostly out of surprise than fright, then his horse started to rear its front legs up in total fright, and Mirage just smile at the horse as she watch the scare thing run away from her, then she turn her head a bit to face this young stranger before asking in a controlling her temper voice, "How in Morbia, did you get here?!", then she growled and got her claws unsheathed as she raised her right hand high as if she was ready to slash at him.
"Morbia? Is this "The Morbia"? I have heard from my childhood stories that were told to scare kids into behaving good, I have to say they don't do your place justice, especially you, my dear Mirage, isn't that who you are?" said the Dragoon at first in awe but then at the very end he smile at her like as if he was impress that he was able to meet the infamous Mirage, and then he waited for her response and/or reaction, whichever came first.
Then she look at him with an almost surprised face for what seemed to be half of a second, before she regain her composure, before saying in a controlled voice, " Yes, this is Morbia and yes, I am Mirage, which means fortunately you get to meet me or was that unfortunate", and at the end of her answer she gave a smirk at the end, and also a darker edge to her tone of voice as she headed inside her palace wanting to see what this young man will do next.
As he listen to Mirage confirming his guesses, he kept a close eye on her to make sure, she wouldn't surprise attack him or do something similar in that matter of speaking. Then after a few minutes, he watched her turn around, giving her back to him, and silently walks back into her palace. So he looked at her wary as he watched her tail swaying back and forth with the swaying being exaggerated a bit; then he had to hold a laugh that was about to escape from his lips, since he didn't want to anger this female humanoid cat any further just yet. So then he ran a bit to catch up to her, and as he neared her he slow down as he wanted to be behind her for now than in front of her, but as he was walking, some of Mirage's fire cats were taking a bit of a liking toward him as they got near him, other than that there was just silence as they reached her throne room. Then when she opened the grand door to her throne room, he look around amazed how big the room was for just one person, the ceiling seemed to go forever on up as it reached the stars, that he was even questioning what he was seeing, he didn't know if it was real, or if it was an illusion; but he kept looking on.
"So how much do you really know about me? Not many, almost no one, knows about me except for what they have heard, and as we all know word of mouth is not exactly, the most accurate way to get information, right?" asked Mirage wanting to see how he will react, but also wanted to see what type of response he will give to her.
After a while of looking, and observing the room, or should he say the throne room of this woman's palace, he was so in awe, and lost in thought, that he had to stop himself from thinking and looking around, and to focus on what Mirage was saying. After she finished talking, he answer her with a grin that could have meant to her, that he knew more about her, and her problems than she realized, or maybe it was just Mirage reading into his expression a bit too much; " In all honesty I just know that you are a goddess of chaos, a divine deity, who has earn the title of Evil Incarnate, and from my childhood stories, you have been having problems with a certain street rat?" at the end he asked about Aladdin through a tone that could have meant to be disdain, but it also held a note of interest, and, of course, pure curiosity as he watched her sitting down on her throne, watching him with an expression that could have been frustration, or just pure annoyance.
"Well it seems that you have been well-versed about me then, if that is what you have heard in your stories throughout your travels, and yes, I unfortunately, have been foiled by a street rat! Otherwise known as Aladdin, future prince of Agrabah, because he and the Princess Jasmine are a couple, and them, along with their friends have stop me from taking over Agrabah, but what's the use complaining, it isn't like you could do anything about it!" said Mirage at first in a tone that show how please and impressed she was by his knowledge of her, which is very rare for her to feel pleased at something so she decided to hold off doing something that will make him drown in his own fear, because of this. Then when she talked about Aladdin and his friends she got very frustrated, and almost angry.
"It seems like you need help, my dear, poor Mirage; and I think, I am" the solution" to your problem" said the Dragoon in an overly confident voice, as he knelt down on one knee, in front of her as if he was swearing his loyalty to her.
Then Mirage looked and watch as he knelt down on one knee, while he was saying that if she wanted him to, he could help her, she was shocked by this, but she also felt a bit of suspicion creep up on her mind, not believing that someone will willingly help her take over Agrabah, but she hold that thought close, but at bay for now. Then she asked in a bit of a curious, with some wariness in her voice, "Exactly, who are you?"
"I am a Dragoon, a veteran warrior, and my name is Prince, and if you want help, I am here to help" , Prince said as he stayed kneeling to her, waiting for her answer or for her to give him a command, then he smile at her a small smile that at the same time could have been mistaken for a smirk.