Chapter Twenty-Nine: Return to Sindria
A/N: I apologize on the lack of exposition with Aladdin and the other Magi, I got lazy with it.
Everyone had regrouped after their respected fights. Immediately upon seeing the young Magi conscious again, Tettia attacked said Magi with a huge, loving hug. "Laddin! You're okay!" called the half-Fanalis, nuzzling her cheek against the bluenette's hair.
Aladdin laughed at the affection he was receiving. "Of course I'm okay, Tet," he said, then turned his attention his master, "Are you alright, Yamu?"
Yamraiha smiled at her young disciple as she answered him, "Yes."
Leaning on and ruffling Alibaba's hair, Sharrkan asked, "Alibaba… how could you and Tettia lose against such opponents?" He grabbed Tettia, pulling her close to him and the blond. "Hmm?! Answer me~~!"
The dark-skinned swordsman' disciples looked at him apologetically, covering their faces, "We're sorry!"
"What about the things I taught you!?" whined Sharrkan.
Masrur held Morgiana in his arms, Tora sitting close by and stroking the young unconscious Fanalis's hair comfortingly. The purplenette laughed and said dryly, "Didn't Tet have to jump in and fucking save your ass, Shark-boy? Like your back, specifically, perhaps?"
Kicking the back of the purplenette's head, Sharrkan exclaimed, "What did you say? Bitch!"
Pinkish-red eyes quickly snapped to shot a deadly glare at the handsome green-eyed swordsman; Marina saw this and immediately pulled Sharrkan away from the now pissed Tora. The dark-skinned swordsman was highly confused at the queen's sudden action, when he looked back at the purple-eyed woman, he saw it. The utter worry and fear in her eyes, but that had him even more confused. "Sharrkan!? Do you realize what you just did?!" she finally asked him.
It took a moment for him to comprehend what he had done, and when he fully understood his transgression, the color drained from his face. "Oh… shit. Tora, I'm sorry! Please don't kill me," he begged the purplenette, bowing his head apologetically towards her.
"C'mere Shark-boy," she said, signaling for him to come to her. Hesitantly, Sharrkan stepped towards the purplenette — audibly gulping. "Bend in closer," she instructed further, to which Sharrkan followed. As the dark-skinned, white-haired man bent in close to Tora, she instantly snatched him by the front of his clothes. "You EVER fucking do that to me again, and you're a fucking deadman, understand me?"
Tettia, Alibaba and Marina watched with bated breath; watching and waiting for the pissed purplenette to send him flying like she had done at the Festival. Not one to disappoint, Tora smiled darkly as she punched Sharrkan in the face, sending him flying into a tree. "Ooouuuccchhh," the three watching groaned in sympathetic pain.
"Tor, don't you think that was a bit much," Marina asked her friend.
Cracking her knuckles, Tora spoke matter-of-factly, "Nah, I didn't punch him too hard. Just enough to get my fucking point across."
Off to side, Aladdin was seemingly spacing out; Tettia noticed that and touched the bluenette's shoulder, asking in a worried tone, "What's wrong, Laddin?"
Aladdin casted his big, blue eyes over his shoulder, looking at his best friend. "Hm… I felt something… just now…?" came his answer.
"Like what?"
"I can't really explain it, Tet."
Tettia gasped out a quiet, "Oh…"
Meanwhile, in the skies over Sindria's main island the dark Magi was readying an attack. A magic attack designed to destroy the kingdom's magical barrier. Judar smiled darkly to himself, oh how he had been waiting for this moment!
Inside the palace, Ja'far was reporting to Sinbad in his study. A worried Sarabi was pacing around in the king's study as well. "Your majesty, we have received contact from Yamraiha," said the older killjoy. Sarabi's baby-blue eyes snapped towards the white-haired advisor, silently asking if he had heard word about her queen. "Aladdin and the others are under their protection, and Queen Marina was found with them. Apparently, she had gone into the dungeon as well," Ja'far finished his report, smiling at Sarabi.
Both Sinbad and Sarabi audibly sighed in relief. "I see. So Al-Thamen actually attacked them," said the king.
Sarabi slumped over on Sinbad's desk, saying, "I'm glad Mari's okay. I was freaking out when she disappeared from the ship on the way back!"
"It was a good thing that you sent Masrur and the others to get them, just in case," said Ja'far.
Sinbad smiled at both of the news, "Yeah." Just then, the whole kingdom seemingly shook. "What was that!?" yelled Sinbad. They all looked outside and above them, the barrier had a hole burning into it. "Impossible! Yamraiha and Tora's barrier was destroyed!?" a shocked Sinbad exclaimed.
"Ah, Sin, look!" exclaimed Ja'far, pointing to the hole in the barrier. From the hole, Judar infiltrated the kingdom. "Judar!" everyone shouted in confusion and shock.
The dark Magi landed in the courtyard and the military sprung into battle-stances. "What's wrong? You all have such scary faces…" he said with a grin.
Ja'far growled and readied his weapons. "Damn you… Household Vessel, Balalark Sei!"
Not having any of that, Judar used magic to attack Ja'far. "Step aside, small fry. I have some business with Sinbad…" spoke Judar.
"What did you say…?!" exclaimed a now deadly Ja'far.
"Stand down, Ja'far!" demanded Sinbad. Reluctantly, Ja'far stood down. Casting his golden gaze at the dark Magi, Sinbad continued, "Why are you here, Judar?"
Judar smiled and waved at the purple-haired king. "Hey, those old men from our organization went to fight that Midget, do you know?"
Looking at the black-haired Magi, the purple-haired king spoke, "That matter's already been dealt with. They were protected by the Eight Generals."
Snickering, the dark Magi said, "Heh. I guessed as much. As if those fake Metal Vessel users could do anything against them. Hey, Sinbad. What do you think about that guy?"
"That guy?" asked the king.
Judar's red eyed pierced Sinbad and sneered. "I'm talking about Aladdin. Don't you think it's strange? That there exists another Magi in this world!?" he exclaimed. Sinbad looked at him darkly as Judar continued, "In all the previous eras… there were only three Magi… you know about this, right? History proves that there were three Magi who created kings, created countries and built this entire world! It used to be like that in this era also, right? For the first, there is me. And then that old hag in Reim. And the last one is that guy who travels around the world, making dungeons appear and disappear as he pleases. That should be all of them. If a new Magi appears, someone among these three people have died… but, I didn't get such information. So then… what the hell is that guy…? For the first time in history the Fourth Magi has appeared… Aladdin!" Everyone looked at Judar with cold eyes. But he continued, "Plus, that time… he displayed a mysterious power that even I don't know anything about… From that moment onward, those old men from my organization desired that power. Could it be that you're interested in that, too?"
"… What are you trying to say?" asked Sinbad.
Judar snickered, "Quit acting innocent! What do you intend to do? What do you intend to achieve by using that Midget? How would Red act when she finds out you're just using her precious Midget best friend? She'd be devastated that her favorite king is using Aladdin, wouldn't she?"
"It's none of your business," came Sinbad's cold response.
The group of dungeon capturers, and their masters, had returned. At the dock, the boat of treasures was unloaded and as everyone looked at the treasures, the heavily beaten up dungeon capturing group of five were helped off of the ship. "It's the Dungeon Conquerors! Blessings to our heroes!" the Sindrian people exclaimed.
Aladdin and Tettia were the only two not really being helped off the ship. In fact, Tettia was helping her romantic partner off of the ship. Marina strolled off of the ship, smiling a bright smile. When Sarabi's blue eyes caught a glimpse of her queen and screamed, "MARINA! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, NOW!" Marina heard the long-haired purplenette's scream and decided to run off. Away from Sarabi. Without warning. Which left her now adoptive half-Fanalis daughter raising her eyebrows in confusion.
"You did well, Alibaba," the purple-haired king praised. As the people decorated the dungeon capturers with beautiful and colorful leis, Sinbad walked over to them, wearing a smile.
Tettia and Alibaba smiled at the approaching king, greeting him with an excited, "Sinbad!"
"You accomplished the dungeon conquest and returned safely," exclaimed the king, opening his arms like he was about to hug them.
Nodding vigorously, Tettia pointed to Hakuryuu, saying happily, "Duh, of course we did! They had me after all! Hehe, Haku obtained Zagan, too! I'm so proud of my little Haku!"
Clearly surprised, Sinbad looked at the heterochromic, navy-haired imperial prince. Hakuryuu looked over at Tettia for a moment before returning his gaze to Sinbad. "Thanks to God, I obtained a Djinn as well," he spoke with a gentle smile.
Laughing and gently pushing Hakuryuu's shoulder, Tettia exclaimed, "Not solely thanks to God, Haku! Thanks to your own abilities!"
Sinbad smiled at them. "I see. We were all worried. Because something could have happened to you," he said. After a moment, he turned to his people, "Come on! Let's prepare a banquet, blessing to the heroes!" His people rallied behind their king, punching the air and cheering.
The banquet was in full swing, everyone was laughing and carrying on. In the background, a renactment of the event of the group of five's adventures in Zagan's dungeon. While the actors were good, they were not as visually pleasing as the people they portrayed.
Hakuryuu sat at a table all his own, Ka Koubun relaying to him what happened with Judar upon their return. The dark-pinkette's advisor went on to explain how they had arrived back in Sindria, "Well, Princess was so avid about returning to Sindria, so we took a ship from Balbadd, where we were residing and began our journey back to this country. On our way, we were basically shipwrecked — our sails had been destroyed by a storm, luckily we were still afloat. Luck was on our side when that Atlantean advisor stopped to help us out; and that is how we arrived back in this country."
"That is a stroke of luck," answered Hakuryuu.
Kougyoku was getting completely drunk off of sake, babbling drunkenly about Sinbad's kindness. Tettia, from her table, was whooping loudly as she watched Kougyoku get drunk. Of course, that irritated Ka Koubun. "Do not encourage the princess to act in such a way!" he exclaimed.
"Fuck you, Cuntbun! Nobody fucking likes you," exclaimed a slightly drunken Tettia.
Back on the stage, a very muscular impersonator had been selected to portray the young blue-haired Magi. Flexing his biceps, he exclaimed, "I'm Aladdin!"
From their table, Alibaba, Sharrkan and Tettia were all dying of laughter. Sputtering and pointing, the trio laughed, "Wh-why is the person impersonating Aladdin so muscular!?" Aladdin jumped up and started mimicking the impersonator, flexing his almost non-existence biceps. Crying from laughter, the trio spat everywhere, "You don't resemble him!" The young Magi continued mimicking the impersonator, sending the trio into more laughing fits.
"Aladdin!" called the king. Looking back at his best friends, Aladdin smiled at them, waved at them before running off to the king. Sinbad began to tell Aladdin about the other three Magi, subtly asking the young Magi to be Sindria's Magi.
Tettia smiled as she sat in Alibaba's lap, fairly drunk and still drinking cup after cup of wine — her favorite drink. "Hey~ Ali~" she cooed, caressing his cheek.
"Hey, Tet~ what are you doing?" asked the blond.
Giggling drunkenly, with a small hiccup, Tettia answered, "Can I not just," she hiccuped again, "admire the love of my life~?" Her warm hand was still caressing his cheek.
Alibaba blushed, unsure how to answer that. Taking in a breath, the blond collected his thoughts before opening his mouth. Letting his deep breath out, now having his scrambled thoughts somewhat collected, he spoke, "I'm not saying you can't, Tet. I was just curious is all."
Leaning up towards his face, Tettia chuckled lowly, "Curosity is perfectly fine, Ali~" The closer she got to his face, the hotter it became. Smiling a devious smile, Tettia continued to lean in closer to her lover's face. "I am going to kiss you now, Mr. Saluja," she said, drawing her face ever-closer to Alibaba's face.
Just as their lips were about to touch, Sharrkan cleared his throat, "Ahem…" The reaction he got was priceless and laughter inducing.
Tettia pulled away from her lover's lips, leaving the blond leaning forward, their foreheads smacking together. "OW! FUCK! Alibaba?!" exclaimed Tettia, holding her forehead. Alibaba also held his forehead, but quickly recovered and leaned in towards Tettia; grabbing onto her waist, the blond kissed her cheek and forehead, muttering apologizes. "It's okay, Ali," smiled Tettia, "I know you didn't mean to head-butt me," she then turned her attention to the duo's master, "Master! Excuse you!"
Sharrkan snickered, "What? What'd I do, Tettia?"
Leaning over Alibaba, Tettia slapped her master's shoulder. The loud smack reverberating through the air for a brief few seconds. "You know EXACTLY what you did! Ruined a perfectly good moment between Ali and myself you did," exclaimed the huffy half-Fanalis.
"I did no such thing," answered Sharrkan with a shrug and a smile.
"Yes the fuck you did!" shouted the half-Fanalis.
After Sinbad had walked away from the drunken Kougyoku, Ja'far spoke as he followed his king, "You are quite a bad person, huh? How much power do you intend on gathering for the sake of this country?"
Sinbad looked to the sky, answering, "Don't say it like that. I will take all the cards I can. She's a dungeon conqueror and an imperial princess of the Kou Empire. She'll be useful sooner or later for sure!"
"Like the great harvest you obtained in Balbadd?" asked the white-haired advisor.
"Yeah," answered Sinbad with a nod.
Tora snickered and said, "Yeah. Prince Babwa… Morgiana the Fanalis, and my adoptive daughter… Tet, the very skilled half-Fanalis… and above all, the fourth Magi, Aladdin! Right, King Moron?"
"Tora! Don't sneak up on us!" exclaimed a startled Ja'far. He had not expected Tora to just show up like she did.
"Shove off, Killjoy," laughed the purplenette.
Sinbad laughed and asked, "… Ja'far, Tora. Have I become a sly person?"
The adoptive siblings looked at their king and replied, "Huh?"
"Lately, when I see Alibaba and the others, I begin to remember… that time when I ran around the world, knowing nothing," spoke their king.
The three of them looked back on those times. Looking at each other then to their king, the adoptive siblings answered, "That's right… you've become sly."
"Wha…" answered Sinbad.
Tora continued, "You've achieved too many fucking things… and became what you didnt want to fucking become."
"But…" took over Ja'far, him and Tora looking at Sinbad, "this is the path you chose! And things will inevitably change. You don't have any choice but to move forward!"
Sinbad looked at his two closest generals and friends, answering, Yeah, you're right."
The adoptive siblings bowed, saying, "I will follow you to the end."
"Let's go now," said Sinbad, "to draw the next card…"
Sinbad had just finished talking with Hakuryuu when his left arm just… fell off. For no reason. It just plopped onto the ground. Everyone looked at the severed arm of the imperial prince. Suddenly, black Rukh poured from the arm; someone materializing from the Rukh. Upon the fully materialized man, everyone jumped into battle-ready position. "W-who is this guy!?" called out Alibaba in confusion, his knife drawn.
The naked man smiled and put a hand over his face. "Oh, don't you recognize me with this appearance," he spoke. Then the man's clothes magically appeared and his presence was recognizable. His signature mask gave him away.
"Oh fuck! It's Ithnan!" yelled Tettia.
"Magi, King Alibaba, and King Sinbad… I came here to invite you," said Ithnan, pointing to the trio. He then looked around, putting his hand on his hips, "I see… so this is the kingdom of Sindria, huh…" Ithnan smirked and almost sneered, "I have trouble breathing here…"
The magician then executed a magic attacks that injuries some citizens. "You bastard!" exclaimed a soldier. Sharrkan appeared behind Ithnan and cut one of his arms off as well as slicing the magician in half. However, from the severed arm and torso, two more Ithnans appeared; and the lower half of the original reformed to a full copy itself. "What!?" yelled everyone in shock. The copies of the magician lunged towards their targets. "The fuck is wrong with these guys!?" shouted a half-drunk Tettia, staggering back from the enemy.
One of the copies lunged at Sinbad, Masrur, Ja'far and Tora. Aladdin noticed something strange was going on. One copy exploded and got black blood on Sinbad and the same happened to Alibaba; Tettia avoided the blood by jumping out of the way. The young Magi had shielded himself and Ithnan laughed, "Heh. Only the Magi noticed…"
The blood started doing something to Alibaba and Sinbad. "What's wrong with this blood…!?" shouted Alibaba, looking at his blackened right arm.
"But, it's too late now… for those two. Following the will of our Father, we bestow upon you a curse of DEATH!" explained Ithnan.
Looking at his blackened arm, Alibaba asked, "A curse…!?" Tettia touched his shoulder, assuring him that everything would be alright. "Thank you, Tet," he spoke with a smile. The redhead lover smiled and kissed his cheek, saying there was no reason to thank her.
"Why you…" hissed Marina through gritted teeth, lunging at Ithnan along with Sindrian soldiers, "What did you do to Sin the Perv!?"
With his arm outstretched, Aladdin called out to the Atlantean queen and the soldiers, "Stop, you can't cut him!"
Marina looked at Aladdin and sighed, "You're kissing me, right?!"
"The Magi has good perception. That's our 'invitation letter'… to the first class singularity, King Sinbad… and the vessel that was chosen by Solomon's arrogance, King Alibaba. Become Black Kings, and surrender to our Father! That thing will possess your blood vessels and dye your Rukh black! Before long, you will be reborn as totally different human beings… because there isn't a single person in the world who doesn't possess a little bit of darkness in his heart," spoke the Al-Thamen magician.
Aladdin and Marina gasped, "Falling into depravity…!?"
The dark magician laughed, "You cannot oppose that flow. If you try to do so, Solomon's Rukh and your black Rukh will destroy each other inside of your body… and your flesh will rot." Ithnan started to float into the sky, "Well then… you'll have to excuse me. This country is so full of white Rukh that I have problems breathing… but," he smirked at Hakuryuu, "it was really comfortable living inside you, prince." Hakuryuu looked at Ithnan in horror; vanishing, the magician's voice lingered, saying a simple, "Let is meet again!" before completely fading out.
Once the bastard was gone, soldiers swarmed. "Help the injured! What the hell was that curse of death…!?"
Later, in the palace, everyone was gathered around Alibaba and Sinbad. Yeah blond held his blackened right arm as he said questioningly, "What should we do about this…?"
"What a shame to allow this to happen to our apprentices…" spoke Sharrkan. Marina looked at Sharrkan, saying, "You're lucky my daughter didn't get hit by that blood. I'd have your head if she was in this situation." After she uttered that, everyone looked solemnly at the blond and purple-haired king. That was when Sinbad spoke, "Don't panic. Curses don't exist. This is most likely some sort of magic. Isn't that right, Yamraiha?"
Taking Sinbad's cursed arm into her hands, the bluenette magician spoke, "Yes. This is magic. This black bruise… it works because of magic. If this is magic, then I'm sure there is a way to cancel it!"
"That's great!" exclaimed Aladdin, Alibaba, Tettia and Marina.
Scrunching her nose up, Yamraiha continued, "But, I've never seen such magic. It's a magic that attacks other people's Magoi! I have no idea what orders of formula made this magic work!" Looking even more at Sinbad's arm, the magician said, "For a magic as complex as this, only the person who cast it would know how to undo it…"
"How come…" sighed Tettia.
Tora looked at the arm, tapped her chin and said to the light blue-haired magician, "I'm sure I can help you figure out a way to cancel it out, Yam. After all, I use some pretty complex magic like this whenever I transform into my snake form. If we work together, we should figure it out rather quickly."
"But, you're certain this is magic. So there must be a way to undo it, right?" asked Aladdin.
Yamraiha and Tora looked up from their king's arm. "Yes," they answered.
A determined look flashed across Aladdin's face as he said, "Then I will undo it. I won't let you two die from such magic!"
"Aladdin…" said Alibaba, looking at the young Magi he had the privilege to call his best friend.
Tora smiled at Aladdin, "You can sure help me and Yam, Short-stack. We'll need all the fucking help we can get."
Sighing, the purple-haired king said, "In any case, Yamraiha… suppress the magic on Alibaba for the moment."
The young Magi looked at the purple-haired king. "But… didn't he cast the same magic on you…?" he asked, along with Marina.
Smiling, Sinbad reassured the young Magi and the golden-haired queen, "Yeah. Well, I'm alright." Everyone looked at him questioningly — save for Ja'far, Masrur, Tora, Drakon, Hinahoho and Sarabi. "Well then… there's only one thing left for me to do. Tora," said Sinbad, standing up.
"Yeah, King Moron? What'cha fucking need?" answered the purplenette, stepping towards her king.
Turning his golden gaze towards her, Sinbad answered her, "Prepare the teleportation magic circle…" Nodding, Tora got to work. Once the magic circle was operational, Sinbad stepped through it. Appearing before Ithnan from the glowing white teleportation circle, Sinbad waved at him. "Hey," his face almost darkened as he continued, "did you really think that someone from Al-Thamen… would return alive after illegally trespassing into my country?" With a smile on his face, the Sindrian king stepped completely out of the circle and prepared for battle against the magician.
