A/N: Wow, over 120 views as of today! Amazing! You guys are so epic for reading (and hopefully enjoying) this! Anyways, I've only got two finals to go so I'm gonna try to get more of this done; helps keep my brain from being college-fried! LOL; also, saw today I had my first reader from Jamaica! Welcome! And Switzerland too; and France. Hey Europe; hope you guys are enjoying too! And of course my home sweet home in USA Anyhow…onward! Enjoy and please review! Feedback is epic!
XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Aladdin & the Heirs of Magic Ch. 4: Dark Power
"But what can planets do to help Mozenrath?" Jasmine asked.
Iago sighed, and flapped a wing against his face. "Oh for crying out loud; planets can amplify a sorcerer's powers enabling them to open inter-dimensional portals."
Everyone looked at him.
"What!?" Iago said defensively, "Jafar was a specialist in that sort of thing; he did it all the time."
Jasmine's eyes widened. "Here!? In the palace!?"
Iago dropped face first into a pillow, incredulous. "No, of course not, Jaz; he went to the moon to do it."
Jasmine cuffed him.
"Hey! What did you expect me to say?" Iago huffed. "It's not like I thought it was ok; but there was nothing I could do about it." Or what he did after, he thought, keeping that to himself.
"You could have told someone, Iago," Aladdin said harshly.
"Yeah, like that would have helped," the bird muttered, looking up, "and who would have believed a talking bird? Against the sultan's most trusted advisor?"
Everyone was silent.
"Yeah," Iago concluded flatly, "that's what I thought. No one knew he was a sorcerer. And he would have charred me to a golden crisp if I acted against him…as you all already saw."
Jasmine pursed her lips. She patted him on the head. "I'm sorry, Iago."
He shrugged with mock indifference. "Just give me a few barrel-fulls of gold; we'll call it even."
Jasmine gave him a look.
"Uhhhh," Genie intervened, poofing back to himself, "not to ruin the moment, but bird-man is right," he poofed out another huge tome, "according to Every Scary, Blood-Chilling Thing You've NEVER Wanted to Know About Magic, Updated & Expanded, planetary arrangements can do this. Andddddd…..," he flipped through the pages, "it says tomorrow the planets will align like so," he showed them the open book, both pages lavishly painted in a vivid picture of the solar system, "and this will enable any crazy wizard with way too much ego, to open a portal to," he suddenly gulped, and his face turned bright green, "uhhhhh…."
"Tell us Genie," Aladdin urgently pleaded. He rested a hand on his blue friend's arm.
"The Kingdom of the Wraiths," Genie gulped out. "Oh, this isn't good Al. These guys can't be harmed by swords; my semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers probably won't even put a dent in them."
Abu's mouth fell open. "Whah-do we do?" he asked.
Jasmine got up. "We tell father," she said, suddenly all business, "then we prepare for this."
"Jasmine," Al began.
"I know, Aladdin," she softly replied, "we…we don't have a plan—yet. But, we will. Something will come up. But we can't sit here and wait; we need to be doing."
"Uh, at the risk of getting back-handed again," Iago said, raising a feather as an imitation finger, "might I suggest, since we're dealing with a dark wizard, we rummage through our own dark wizard stuff? Jafar had no shortage of books in his lab; or other odds and ends that might come in handy."
Jasmine gave him a hug; Aladdin swore that Iago turned even redder than his scarlet feathers already were. "Great idea, Iago; see, we're already going in the right direction."
Aladdin crossed him arms, his eyes thoughtful. "Now if only Mozenrath in the meantime could be going in the wrong direction."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Land of the Black Sand shook with power; inside his largest lab, Mozenrath's hands glowed with sapphire flames as he shouted magical incantations to the Onyx Gate, which shimmered and rumbled with power.
Xerxes hovered quietly behind his master. It should be a glorious moment; why did he feel so…in danger?
"Why open portal now, master? Told heroes open tomorrow." He asked instead.
Mozenrath dropped his hands, and took a breath. "I lied," he bluntly gloated, "I want the drop on them. Besides; the portal would be easier to open tomorrow…but," he chuckled, "where would be the challenge in that?" He straightened, and picked a piece of lint off his fine robe, "By dawn, Xerxes, Agrabah will be ours. Then the rest of the 7 deserts soon afterwards. Think of all the new palaces we'll have to build." His tone was slick with mock woe. Mozenrath smirked at him in good humor. "You'll have lots of new workers to bite when they slack off."
Xerxes knew he expected the eel to chuckle at that. And so he did, "Slack off." But there was something in the air…something…foreboding.
His master returned to his work.
The Onyx Gate glowed with swirls of silvery white light, twisting and winding along its gleaming exterior; it seemed to be begging the boy magician to open it. Mozenrath lifted his hands anew; his dark eyes lit with an almost wild desire to oblige it.
Xerxes felt a chill go through him. Something was terribly wrong; he couldn't shake the certainty of it away. "Master…" he murmured in warning. If only he had his full power, he'd be able to tell.
"Quiet, Xerxes," his master snapped. He began the final incantation. Outside, the dark clouds that perpetually hung over the kingdom swelled, and seemed to growl with the thunder. Crimson lightning lit them from within; it was a formidable spectacle. Xerxes watched from a nearby window, still lingering near his master. The sensation of peril drew closer, seemed to chill the very air.
A chill…. Xerxes shuddered. No, that wasn't possible. He was taken care of, forever. Master had seen to it himself.
Mozenrath's power surged all around him; Xerxes hadn't seen his master exert himself so in many years; not since defeating the old master. Xerxes momentarily puffed with pride.
His master was the greatest of sorcerers.
Mozenrath gestured, his eyes unfocused from fatigue. Within the gate, what looked like black-silvery water garbled and snarled ominously. It wanted to open, badly. Mozenrath eyed his progress with exhilarated eyes. He was so close; a few more words….
The Citadel quaked. With a yell, the wizard was thrown against the Gate; Xerxes rushed to him.
Outside, over the Citadel, a long, massive tear of blood-red light ripped across the sky from north to south and then suddenly widened, as though opening…somehow. A brilliant red flash of power erupted from the breech and violently shook the entire dark kingdom. Mamlocks fell on every street, coming apart, houses toppled, and buildings crumbled; ravines opened all over the vast realm. It was as though the end of the world had come at last.
The Citadel rocked on its very foundation; Mozenrath couldn't get up; it was so loud he covered his ears. The ground beneath his feet wouldn't stay still; he coughed as debris from the ceiling fell down over him. Xerxes tried to shield him with his lithe body; but he was too small to make any difference.
"Master, we must go! We must flee!" Xerxes cried; it was close, whatever was bringing this harbinger of disaster, had arrived here, at the Citadel.
Xerxes felt his little heart pound wildly; what was it!?
The quaking finally ceased; the thunderous rumbles let up…it was eerily quiet as all that could be heard was the wizard's coughing and the scraping of rock as he managed to rise. Brushing off his expensive garb, he griped in extreme annoyance, "What could have caused that?"
A dark, familiar chuckle drifted to them from the doorway. Mozenrath and Xerxes spun around. The doors had opened…but when?
A very tall figure stood in the shadows. It chuckled again. Xerxes gulped. He knew that laugh.
Mozenrath didn't waste time. He summoned his power and blasted at the figure.
"Fly Xerxes! Save yourself!" he shouted.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A/N: Oh, I'm so mean, ending this chapter here…but again the time got away from me! Gah; but, my time stalling machine is broken, and with new gov't reg's, well, it's getting harder and harder to get replacement parts. So…bear with me here. Hope you enjoy… PLEASE leave a review! If you're liking, I'd like to know…if not, please tell me why. K? K. So, more later.
