Previously:

"That girl's insane." Said Seishuu, sweat-dropping.

"Yes, but at least we know what we have to do to cross now." Said Kin.

"…" Kouen stared up at Hope as she sat on the bridge above taking deep breaths to calm herself down. The hint of a smirk formed on his lips. She might be insane, but she was his kind of crazy and he liked her spirit. He stepped up on the lion's head and took the plunge.

Chapter 4: Her Name is Faith

To Hope's immense relief the tunnel they entered once everyone had safely crossed the bridge led straight to the treasure room. At least, that's what the others said it was. For all appearances the room seemed to be filled with nothing but items carved from stone.

"So, what now?" she asked. Kouen raised his sword and concentrated, silently asking his Djinns to help him locate the vessel of the one in this dungeon. He wasn't sure it would work since something had been blocking his household members and himself from equipping earlier, but whatever it was seem to have lifted. A beam of light shot out from his blade and directed him to a small oil lamp. Hope watched as he approached the lamp and touched it. In an instant all of the stone in the room transformed into precious metals and gems. The eight-pointed star on the oil lamp shined with a black light, and from its spout leaped a great blue creature with white wings, the head and body of a lion, the tail of a hare, and the feet of a goose.

"Wow…" Hope breathed in amazement. She had expected the Djinn to look a little more human… but that was undeniably cool.

"I am Ipos, Djinn of Wisdom and Valor." The Djinn's voice boomed with authority. "Who will become king?" He asked, scanning the room for candidates.

"… King?" Hope asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "Does this mean you're not the type of djinn who grants wishes?"

"Only if your wish is to have the power to become king." Responded Ipos, turning his sharp gaze on her. "Do you?"

"Not really." She answered rather bluntly, to the surprise of everyone in the room. "With great power come great responsibility, and I think I have enough on my plate already."

"Then why have you entered this dungeon?" asked the Djinn, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Would you believe I was lost and looking for shelter?" she said with an apologetic smile. "Anyway, if you want someone to be king, you might want to go with him." She said, pointing to Kouen. "He's already a real prince and everything. I doubt I'm " Kouen raised and eyebrow at her while his men stared at her in shock. Aside from Prince Kouha, they had never seen someone turn down the power of a Djinn before. And in her case, she was practically giving it away to a stranger she barely knew.

"No, he has already made contracts with three Djinn. I didn't like that, so I blocked his Djinn until you passed the trials to reach this room. Besides, I think you and I would be much better suited to each other." Said Ipos. The corner of his mouth curved upwards into the hint of smile. "For just as you are not a normal human, I am not a normal Djinn."

"!" Hope started as an unreadable expression flickered across her face. "… What do you mean by that?" she asked cautiously, almost bristling at the implication.

"The flow of your magoi is strange, but you are not a magician. I can tell that not only are you not of this world, but you are half fallen."

"!" Kouen's eyes widened slightly in surprise while the others stared at her in shock. Fallen? That happy-go-lucky girl?

"Fallen? What's that supposed to mean?" Hope asked, furrowing her brow.

"At some point in your life, you felt that you had reason to curse your fate and began to fall into depravity, a state of separation from the flow of the white rukh and Solomon's will." Ipos explained. "Am I wrong?"

"…" Hope's expression darkened for a moment. "Maybe, but even so it's none of your business. Ya'll keep going on about 'rukh this' and 'rukh that', but I don't even know what rukh is. And whose this 'Solomon'? Are you taking about King Solomon, the son of King David?"

"You know of King Solomon and King David!?" Kouen asked excitedly.

"Huh? Well, yeah." Said Hope, not seeing what the big deal was. "Pretty much everybody knows about them where I come from." After all, they were major players in the Old Testament of the Bible.

"Does this mean you come from the other world that Solomon ruled over, a world where there were many different languages and races?" Kouen demanded.

"Well, there's lots of different languages and different kinds of people. But isn't that true of this world, too?" Hope asked. I mean, most of the people he had with him were super unique-looking.

"It isn't." answered Ipos. "And I can tell from your magoi that you are not from the same world as the King Solomon I knew." Not to mention the fact that Alma Torran had died long ago. "They may be similar, but they are not the same."

"Yeah, I don't doubt that." Hope agreed, though it was an odd coincidence. "In my world djinns only exist in myths and legends. And we don't have 'magic' in our world, not like this." She noticed that Kouen seemed a little disappointed to hear that, but he didn't look entirely convinced. "Anyway, I know why I'm not normal, but what about you? When you said you weren't a normal Djinn, what did you mean by that?" Ipos' lips curled into a smile.

"You'll see," he said with a pounce in her direction as he started to glow again, diving into the heart-shaped ring on her finger, "when the time is right…"

"Wha?" Hope said, taken aback when a seal in the form of an eight-pointed star formed on the gold heart. "Wait just a—!?" Before she could protest, another eight-pointed star formed under their feet, and numerous sacks of treasure appeared with in it as it began to glow with power, transporting the dungeon challengers away with their riches. The next thing Hope knew they were all sitting on their pile of treasure in a deep hole where the dungeon had once been. "Okay… What just happened?"

"You were chosen by the Djinn, and as a result we were released from the dungeon." Said Kouen as he extended a hand to help her up. Hope accepted, and the moment she was in his grip, he pulled her close and held onto her with a tight, vice-like grip. That scary intense look of possessive curiosity was back in his eyes. "And now, you're going to tell me everything. Just as promised." He commanded her with a tone that left no room for argument. A bead of nervous sweat slid down the side of Hope's face as she stared up at the man looming ominously over her. Wherever Faith was, she hoped her sister was doing better than she was!

Now if you, like Hope wish to learn what became of Faith, then we shall have go back to the night when Hope first entered Ipos' dungeon.

As Faith lay on the cool sand, she became aware of the sensation of someone poking her in the cheek.

"Mnn… Five more minutes…" she groaned, rolling over without opening her eyes. The poking stopped for a moment, but then she felt a pair of small hands start to fondle her breasts. Faith furrowed her brow and frowned in annoyance. What the hell? Maybe if she ignored it, it would just go away… Nope! Now she could feel someone rubbing their face against her breasts. "Cut it out already!!! Can't you see I'm tryin' to sleep here!!?" she shouted incredulously, sending whoever had dared to molest her flying with a powerful slap.

"Oww!!" the little boy with blue hair cried as he landed on the ground a couple of feet away, massaging his poor cheek. "That hurt, Onee-san!"

"It was supposed to. No one touches these puppies without permission, got it?" Faith retorted bluntly while she fluffed her breasts and made sure they were still tucked securely in her bra. "Anyway, who are you, kid? Why are we out in the middle of a desert? Where are we?" she asked, finally taking note of her surroundings. Not only were surrounded by nothing but sand, but the kid was wearing Arabian-style clothing. And for some reason a flute was hanging around his neck.

"Oh, my name is Aladdin!" the strange kid introduced himself excitedly, looking extremely happy for some reason. Faith had no way of knowing, but this was his first time meeting someone new in the outside world. "And this is my friend, Ugo-kun!" With that Aladdin blew into his flute, but instead of music what came out was two giant blue arms.

"…" Faith was so shocked she nearly bit her tongue in half. 'Well, that's something you don't see every day…' she thought, sweat-dropping. 'Am I still asleep? No, I can't be. My hand still stings from that slap I gave him earlier…' As Faith continued to stare at the giant arms, they suddenly turned bright pink and disappeared back inside the flute.

"What's the matter, Ugo-kun?" Aladdin asked his odd friend "Are you shy?"

"Um… That wasn't a genie just now by any chance, was it?" Faith asked as she pointed at the flute, still feeling a little stunned.

"Genie?" Aladdin asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Oh, uh… what's that other thing they're called…? Oh, yeah! Djinn! Is Ugo-kun a Djinn?" She asked. Come to think of it, why were they using Japanese honorifics while speaking English? It made it sound like they were in a dubbed anime or something… Actually, that would be kind of awesome.

"Oh, you know about Djinn, onee-san?" Aladdin asked, perking up considerably. "Do you know where I can find some? I promised Ugo-kun that I would look for his friends."

"Well, my best guess would be The Cave of Wonders, but I'm pretty sure Disney made that one up, so your guess is as good as mine…" said Faith. "By the way, you haven't seen another girl who looks just like me lying somewhere around here, have you? It's a long story, but I kind of got separated from my sister."

"No, sorry." Aladdin answered with a shake of his head. "You're the first person I've ever met aside from than Ugo-kun. I found by following those lights."

"I see… Lights, huh?" Faith said, sweat-dropping. What the heck was that supposed to mean? This kid didn't seem like he got out much.

"Hey, since we're both looking for someone, why don't we look together?" Aladdin suggested.

"Uh, sure. I guess we could do that…" said Faith. "You got a map?"

"Nope!" Aladdin answered brightly.

"But you know where we are, right?"

"Not a clue."

"How many wishes do you have left?"

"Wishes?"

"Yeah, Ugo-kun's a djinn, so he grants wishes, right?"

"I don't think Ugo-kun's that kind of Djinn…"

'So that's a 'no', huh? Haha, great. That's just fan-flipping-tastic.' Faith thought wryly as the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. In other words, they were totally lost and up shit-creek without a paddle. "Well, I guess we'd better start walking then…" It was gonna be hotter than hell once the sun came up, and neither of them had any water. "Oh, yeah. My name's Faith by the way."

"Faith… I like that name." said Aladdin with a smile. "Can I touch those soft things on your chest again, Faith?"

"You mean my boobs?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nice try, kid, but I'm gonna have to say no."

"Aw, but I like boobs! I like them a lot~!" He said with a dreamy expression on his face as he followed her, starting to drool.

"Yeah, boobs are fun." Faith agreed as they walked off into the night together.