Chapter 8
(Dungeon, Zagan)
The group came to and found they were in a larger area filled with vegetation, there was a massive tree trunk that curved and ran far above where their eyes could follow into a bright light, the large room they were in had doors everywhere of all different sizes or colors, there was also several doors on the tree trunk itself.
"Is this Zagan's dungeon?" Scarlett asked looking around the room.
"Well, he is a Djinn who's domain is life magic so I guess this isn't that strange," Aladdin said with a shrug as he observed everything.
"So do we search all of these rooms?" Morgiana asked.
"I think we should check every door!" Aladdin said then ran off to one of the doors.
"I am going to punch him when he gets us in trouble," Alibaba said while smirking darkly.
(Thirty minutes later)
The group was surrounded by various dungeon creatures that were angry at them because of Aladdin disturbing them in their homes, Alibaba has already punched Aladdin on his head for causing the trouble.
"Use your Magi abilities to find the right path already," Alibaba said to Aladdin.
"Okay," Aladdin said with a pout.
They easily found their way after that, defeating any opposition they faced until they entered an area that had a large number of human shaped trees, some of the trees had not fully integrated the human so it was made obvious what was going on in this twisted orchard.
There were small dungeon creatures tending to the human-trees that are spread out over the area.
"Aladdin, see if you can help these people," Alibaba said with a dark look on his face.
Aladdin nodded and started to examine the people but even after trying for ten minutes he couldn't find a way to help them.
"This was done with a very complicated set of commands, I don't know how to fix them," Aladdin said with frown.
"Welcome to my living dungeon!" A voice said loudly.
They all shifted into a fighting stance looking around for the owner of the voice.
A large flower started to form from the ground and it continued to grow until it changed into a Djinn.
"I am the 61st Djinn, Master of the power of earth, Zagan." Zagan introduced himself.
"So your Zagan?" Alibaba asked darkly.
"Do you like my orchard? Everyone here is a villager from Toran, they serve as saplings for my orchard." Zagan said with a smile.
"What did you say?!" Aladdin asked in horror.
"I can use my magic to make the creatures of my dungeon feed off of humans, the trees suck magic from the humans thus my dungeon creatures are born." As Zagan was saying this a new batch of small dungeon creatures were born from the magoi taken from the villagers making Alibaba glare at the djinn. "What do you think? Cute, aren't they?"
"Why would you do this?" Scarlett asked in a hard tone.
"Why? Because I hate humans, I'd rather die than choose a king and go outside to live among them! I'm going to live here forever, just me and the innocent creatures of my living dungeon! We'll continue torturing these terrible humans together." Zagan bursts into laughter after saying this.
Zagan burst into flames suddenly and Alibaba was standing where Zagan previously rose from the ground with Amon's greatsword in his hand.
"Get out of my sight you filthy thing," Alibaba said in a dark voice.
"What the hell is your problem?! And how dare you call me a filthy thing, human!" Zagan roared as he reappeared at another section of the human garden.
"You aren't Zagan, you are just a dungeon creature made to look like him," Alibaba said coldly.
"Alibaba is right, his magoi is much weaker than that of a real djinn, he us not Zagan," Aladdin confirmed when he used his magi abilities to see the very flow of magoi in the fake Zagan's body.
"Stop wasting our time, we came here to speak to a Djinn not a dungeon creature, open the path or we will make one of our own," Alibaba threatened in a dark emotionless voice.
"You disgusting humans! Fine! If you want to die so badly go right ahead!" The fake Zagan shouted and created a door that resembles his image for them to walk through.
"Is he gone?" Alibaba asked Aladdin.
"Yes, I can't sense him anymore," Aladdin answered him after scanning the room.
"Let's go," Alibaba said and then the four of them walled through the door.
When they stepped through the door they found themselves in a room that had just two platforms, a large gap was between the platforms and there was a large number of floating black cubes that had small pink figures on it with a staff in their hands.
Alibaba didn't want to risk any of them falling off those floating black cubes, so he asked Aladdin to levitate them over to the other side, partway through all the cubes started to attack them but Aladdin effortlessly destroyed them all with a massive explosion of fire magic.
Alibaba was impressed by how far Aladdin has come, when they had met Aladdin didn't even know magic and now he can throw around spells like they are nothing.
After going through the other door they ended up in a large corridor that was brightly decorated.
The fake Zagan was upset that they easily got past the last room so he separated them into groups of two, Alibaba and Aladdin were sent to a dark hallway with a large number of stone statues lining the walls, Scarlett and Morgiana were sent to a similar dark hallway.
As each group started to walk down the dark hallway the stone statues lining the walls revealed themselves to be stone golems, they attacked both groups; Alibaba used his metal vessel to make quick work of the golems that attacked him while Aladdin used his vast array of magic to completely overwhelm the stone golems.
Scarlett and Morgiana were having a harder time dealing with the stone golems because the golems were too hard for them to destroy using pure physical strength, they didn't want to use their household vessels as they don't have a large amount of Magoi at their disposal, eventually the decided to use the golems as blunt tools to destroy themselves which worked spectacularly for the two Fanalis.
Both groups met back up a half hour later, they went down a large staircase that had large vines running everywhere, a large pack of mutant wolves attacked them through the entire journey down to the lower levels of the dungeon, the endless waves of dungeon creatures proved no match for the combined might of the four friends.
They don't know exactly how long they spent traveling down the dungeon until they found themselves in a a massive room with a floor covered in strange plants that somehow were grown to have a perfectly flat surface for them to walk on.
"Finally some open space," Aladdin said as he walks into the room.
"There is a strange scent in the air, we are not alone," Scarlett said as she sniffed the air.
The group kept their guard up as they walked further into the room, suddenly all the vegetation in the room came to life; wolves, golems, tree monsters and carnivorous plants started attacking them.
Scarlett and Morgiana spring into action tearing apart the first wave of monsters, the sounds of bones being broken, flesh being torn, and tree monsters being shattered by the pure physical strength of the two female Fanalis.
Aladdin used a large barrage of fire spells burning through scores of enemies, with a wave of his staff he generated a tornado of fire that he unleashed into the center of the room, devastating the enemy forces.
Alibaba was cutting down a few mutated wolves that were three times his size when a large number of vines wrapped around him shocking the others, before any of them could assist him dozens of Zagan duplicates burst from the floor forcing the others to fight them.
Alibaba was planning to go full Djinn equip when he heard the sound of the stone floor splitting open revealing a large hole that seems to have no bottom, Alibaba had a bad feeling about what was inside the whole and before he could react he was spun around at immense speeds making him slightly disoriented before he was flung down into the hole.
"Alibaba!" Scarlett shouts as she saw him get thrown into the hole, she cut two of the Zagan clones in two but her path was blocked by four more clones.
Morgiana and Aladdin had similar problems, no matter how much of the clones they destroyed the numbers just keep increasing with no end in sight.
Aladdin decided to use his magic to see the very flow of Magoi of his enemy, all the clones had a small Magoi network that connects to something else, he followed the flow until he saw a large mass of Magoi at the bottom of the large hole that seems to serve as the nucleus of all the clones.
They needed to destroy the main body to defeat all the clones but they were getting swarmed by all the enemies, and Aladdin can't use any large scale fire spells because he could potentially hurt Scarlett, and Morgiana.
Luckily in his haste to destroy Alibaba, the fake Zagan ultimately spelled his own demise by revealing his true form to the metal vessel user.
Alibaba was three-quarters of the way to the bottom when he finally regains his senses from the jarring movements before he was thrown, he hears the sound of something large moving and when he looks down he was greeted by a grotesque sight; a mass of green flesh decorated with large animal eyes shifts around quickly and then the green flesh open a up to reveal large rows of razor-sharp teeth, and a large vat of steaming digestive acids.
With the huge mouth now open the putrid smell of the stomach acids assaults Alibaba's senses making want throw up his lunch, he has no time for something like vomiting for he is only a few meters from getting eaten.
White-hot orange flames burst out from his sword surrounding his body while simultaneously slamming into the grotesque true form of the fake Zagan, the monster screams as Amon's powerful flames incinerate it in a matter of moments.
When Alibaba lands with the flames acting as a cushion to break his fall there is hardly anything left of the monster that just tried to eat him, there is only a large pile of ash that got disturbed when he landed, sending a good amount floating around the enclosed space.
"Alibaba! Are you okay down there?!" Aladdin shouts from the top of the hole.
"You better not be dead! Or I'm going to bring you back to life just to kill you!" Scarlett growls loudly sending a shiver down Alibaba's spine.
"Great to see that your love form me transcends death, my love. But I am perfectly fine and I found the entrance to the inner sanctum," Alibaba said with a laugh.
Aladdin used his magic to fly both girls down the hole along with himself, the girls scrunched up their nose at the smell of hole but didn't say anything about it before bringing Alibaba into a passionate kiss happy that he was okay.
They walked to the door to the inner sanctum and opened it, the area around them faded away revealing the dead city of a similar architectural design as the city in Amon, it always made Alibaba feel uncomfortable seeing the large city completely void of life and it wasn't as if the city was destroyed, it looked perfectly intact minus all the people as if they all vanished in thin air.
There was not a single sound aside from the breathing of the four friends and then they all tensed suddenly; Morgiana took a fighting stance with her legs spread and her arms raised, Scarlett took a similar stance to her but drew her blade, Alibaba had his sword drawn but he didn't transform the blade yet until he knows where his enemy is.
As for Aladdin, he was having a hard time with what he was sensing and the rukh were agitated as if in the presence of something unnatural, he has never felt something like this before but the hate, despair, anger that he can sense left him very uncomfortable.
A flurry of rukh flew past Aladdin making him widen his eyes in alarm because the rukh were not the natural golden color, it was an ominous black color.
A large serpent made of stone appeared out of nowhere and was charging at them at high speeds.
The stepped closer together and Aladdin raised a Borg around them which casually repels the stone serpent, a cloud of dust erupts from the collision and it obscures their sight for a few moments before the serpent pulls back into the air.
Standing atop the stone serpent were three figures; two men and one woman.
One of the men had spiky black hair with a long thick strand that hangs in front of his face, he had pale slightly grey skin, a black expressionless face and red eyes, he was tall and dressed in armor similar to what knights wore, he had a longsword strapped to his side.
The female was a young woman around the same age as Alibaba, she was of average height, long aquamarine colored hair with bangs covering her forehead while framing her face, she had beautiful facial features, light blue eyes, milky-white skin, a voluptuous body with large breasts, slim waist, wide hips, curvy ass, shapely legs, she wore an expensive and well designed dress in various shades of pink with a large red gem just under the bust, a necklace with a red gem and high-quality shoes.
The last person was a man covered in thick robes that hides his figure, he had on metal gauntlets, a black and gold mask that further obscures his face, a thick head wrap, he wields a bladed staff made of black metal that looked similar to his mask.
"Ah, we finally meet Magi and King Alibaba, my name is Ithnan, pleasure to meet you," Ithnan the robed magician said.
"Alibaba, he is surrounded by black rukh and I don't think that is his real body either," Aladdin said to Alibaba after scanning the man with his magic.
Alibaba narrowed his eyes when he heard what Aladdin said, it means that Ithnan was a part of Al-Thamen.
"I was wondering when they would retaliate against me but to think that they would strike not long after reaffirming the trade alliance with our nations," Alibaba thought, the only reason he can think of for them directly attacking him like this has to be about him getting friendly with Sinbad.
From the information that they could gather about them and their normal operating procedures makes this action a surprise, it definitely has to do with Sinbad as far as Alibaba was concerned.
Alibaba transformed his sword into Amon's greatsword and sent a intense surge of flames at the three figures on the stone serpent obliterating the stone serpent.
There was a chuckle and when the smoke from the attack cleared up, it revealed the three people surrounded by a black colored Borg floating in the air.
"Aren't you getting a bit hasty King Alibaba?" Ithnan asked with amusement in his voice.
"I don't think so, you want to end all life on the planet and I don't, I can't compromise with you on that so we have nothing to talk about," Alibaba said with a shrug.
"I see King Sinbad has been telling stories, I am sad to see us on opposite sides but if that is what you want you will have it," Ithnan voice took on a hard edge as he finished talking.
The black haired knight and the young woman dropped out of the air when the Borg disappeared and landed gracefully.
"Pleasure to meet you, I am Dunya Musta'sim, princess of the country of Musta'sim," Dunya introduced herself with a bow, then she gestured to the black haired knight. "This is Isaac, my knight,".
"Musta'sim? I heard that all the royal family died when the country was overthrown by Magnostadt Academy, well not the first time someone didn't finish the job when it came to coup," Alibaba said casually noting how the former princess stiffened in barely restrained anger, the more interesting point was that their was surprisingly no reaction from the knight whose loyalty is so obviously to the former royal family, something strange was at play here.
"A pleasure to meet you, princess Dunya, I am King Alibaba Saluja, my best friend and brother Aladdin, and my lovers Scarlett and Morgiana," Alibaba introduced his group to her just to be polite and also to give Aladdin time to see what he can learn from the enemy.
Aladdin as a Magi can perceive the world differently from Alibaba so he would be a fool not to utilize such a talent.
Alibaba caught Aladdin's eyes as he shifted his gaze to the pitch-black metal scepter that the former princess was holding, then his gaze when to Amon that Alibaba was holding.
Alibaba's eyes widen in disbelief at what Aladdin was implying, the only way one gets a Djinn is if they conquer a dungeon, that is the rule, and if what Aladdin saw is true then that means that Al-Thamen has managed to create their own Djinn, since Aladdin told him in no uncertain terms that a Djinn will never chose a king candidate that has fallen to depravity.
"May I inquire as to why you are working with Al-Thamen?" Alibaba asked Dunya for he needs to know her reasons before makes a decision on how be will handle the confrontation between them.
If she is a puppet being manipulated with false hopes and promises, he will help her not kill her, but if she is a fully committed to Al-Thamen's goals then he will kill her without hesitation.
She paused for a few moments and sent a quick glance to Ithnan before looking back to Alibaba, this was not missed by Alibaba and made him feel that the puppet theory had much more merit now.
"I will prove my worth to the organization by helping them with their goals and they will provide me assistance in reclaiming my lost kingdom," Dunya said with fire in her eyes.
She was taken aback when Alibaba's fierce gaze turned to one of pity, she didn't understand why he should be feeling pity for her and this infuriated her.
"What are looking at me like that?! I will not be looked down on by you!" Dunya shouted at Alibaba and unleashed an attack send a three-headed stone serpent to crush him.
Alibaba destroyed the attacking serpent in one swing of Amon's greatsword which incinerated the stone leaving only ash.
"I pity you because you are a puppet, but you are obviously too emotionally involved with this whole thing to believe my words, so let us fight then and maybe after losing you will be more receptive," Alibaba said firmly before he transformed into his full Djinn equip.
The heat and power from Alibaba's Djinn equip washed over the area making Dunya feel intimidated and she took an involuntary step backwards.
Dunya was disturbed by what he was saying but she couldn't believe him. He is Master Ithnan's enemy which makes him her enemy and he will have to fall so that her kingdom can rise again.
"Dunya, do not disappoint me," Ithnan said coldly snapping her out of her fear.
Alibaba watched slightly disturbed as the events unfolded before his very eyes.
Dunya waved away her knight and took a hold of her dark metal vessel with both hands as if preparing to attack, only to turn the tip of it towards her own body and to the shock of Alibaba, Aladdin, Scarlett and Morgiana, she pierced her own chest with her weapon, she coughed up blood staining the top of her dress and the area around the wound was covered in fresh blood.
Her body started to be swarmed by black rukh in such abundance that everyone there not just the magicians could see it, she smiled and suddenly her body started to transform, her flesh turning black, strange protrusions jutting out of random places on her body tearing apart her clothes, and she was growing larger by the second.
The end result of her transformation was a massive bipedal monster with glossy black skin, two gold eyes with small blue pupils inside with a third one in the forehead similar to a Djinn, it had large hands topped with spear-like clawed fingers, her feet were large and clawed as well, a large mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, she also had two wing-like appendages sprouting from her large head.
She was a monstrous sight and the roar she let out reverberated throughout the necropolis.
Dunya has become a Dark Djinn.