The rest of the day went by rather quietly. Mozenrath spent the better part of it in the library of the citadel, seeing if there was anything useful in the ways of magic or getting rid of pesky unwanted ghosts. Stupid, annoying, pesky unwanted ghosts.
Xerxes had tagged along with him, of course, eager to help his master in any way possible. He couldn't read very well, but there was no use for not trying. It began in a typical fashion of searching for spells to try out. Time passed by. More time passed by. Even more time passed by, and it began to get on Xerxes' nerves.
"Why Mozenrath here so long?" The creature asked, peeking his head up from a pile of books nearby.
Mozenrath was currently seated at an old table, surrounded by more books. His mind had been buzzing all day with the events of that morning. It made it especially hard to concentrate on the more important things at hand. "Studying. Getting rid of Disdain stuff." He said without looking up. The fact that the books were completely and utterly boring didn't seem to help at all with the focus issue.
"For six hours?"
"I'd appreciate it if you would shut up and let me read, Xerxes."
Xerxes blinked. He was used to Mozenrath's stubborn attitude, but the man would have normally gotten bored or tried one of the techniques he had learned by now. I mean, sure, this was Disdain they were dealing with. But still…
"If you hiding from Disdain," He suggested, "try the city. He never find-"
Mozenrath finally lifted his head, clearly annoyed by his companion. "I'm not hiding, you flying infadel!"
Well, it was clear that something was bothering him. Other than the eel, of course. "Mozenrath have bad dream again?"
If he didn't give an answer, his twitty little friend would be bothering him for the rest of the day. The wizard rolled his eyes in defeat. "No, Jafar…" He paused for a moment, then resumed, "Jafar put a weird protection spell thing over me to block them."
"Oh." Xerxes smiled at that thought. "Genie very nice to you."
"Indeed…" Mozenrath muttered, biting his lower lip.
Xerxes didn't notice. "Why do Genie like Mozenrath so much?"
The wizard sighed. Fucking curious eel… "Well," he began carefully, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. He bit his lip again. "I really don't know. Go ask hi-" pause.
"Go ask wha?" Xerxes asked, confused by the abrupt halt.
It suddenly dawned on Mozenrath that he hadn't seen the genie once in the past six hours. Despite the events of that morning, he knew that Jafar would've eventually gone to see what was going on, like usual. Being lost wasn't an excuse- genies could locate their master anywhere without batting an eye. What was going on?
He got up "Why don't we go find him and ask, okay?" In all honesty, he wasn't even interested in the question. He just wanted to see what Jafar was up to.
Xerxes nodded in agreement.
In a blurst of blue, the two of them reappeared in Mozenrath's room.
And something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.
"Xerxes," Mozenrath said slowly, but incredibly nervous, "Where's the-"
The red smoke cleared. It took Jafar a moment for his eyes to adjust, but he was eventually able to examine the surroundings. It took him another moment to realize that he wasn't in the citadel anymore.
He was standing in an old building. It was spacious, but still quite small. The floor was dirt. He must be in the city area, unless maybe this was a dungeon or something.
To his right, a shoddy-looking mamluk stood, grinning at him with a mouth full of mostly-broken teeth. Creepy, but nothing new.
But where was Mozen-
"Never thought I'd be seeing you again."
He whirled around. He had been half-expecting to see this, though it still made him gape in unpleasant surprise.
There stood the dark ghostly form of the long-dead ex-lord of the black sands, yellow eyes piercing the darkness, long boney fingers trailing along at the figure's sides. His hair was ragged and most of his beard had fallen off, revealing clay cold dark lips. He was dressed completely in black, adding to the ominous atmosphere. In short, he looked completely dead. But Jafar was still quick to recognize who this was.
"Disdain." He hissed, eyes narrowing.
The ghost grinned a row of terrible jagged teeth. "I should've known this is what would happen to you." He moved closer to the genie. "Find the cave of wonders, did you? And the magic lamp?" His grin widened. "Did all your wishes come true?"
Jafar could feel the anger seething inside him. The pupils of his eyes began to shift into cobra slits upon that reaction. But he knew what Disdain was like, what he wanted, and forced his temper back down. He wouldn't give him the honor of pissing him off just yet. "It's a shame you weren't there to celebrate with my victory." He replied in a calm, but dangerous tone. "I quite enjoyed it while it lasted."
Disdain gave a low chuckle. "I knew that the power would go straight to your head. You underestimate too many things, Jafar. I'm not at all surprised this happened to you."
"Really now." Jafar raised an unphased eyebrow. "I suppose you and I have something in common then."
The grin faded from the dead man's face. "Pardon?"
Jafar gave an unamused smile. "I underestimated what the powers of a djinn would hold over me, and now I'm a slave to it." He twirled one finger in the air, lowering his voice." "You underestimated the powers of the one thing you thought you had control of" His smile vanished. "and it KILLED YOU!"
That was enough to send the ghost into a rage. In one motion, he threw a good-sized ball of fire at the genie, sending him flying into the far wall with a loud 'thwak'. It hurt. But only for a moment. Physical power meant nothing when it came to the world of genies, even if it did leave a nasty indent in the wall. Jafar got carefully back up, glaring profusely at the other man who shared the same expression.
"Don't you dare speak that way to me again, filthy servant!" Disdain yelled, his dead yellow eyes glowing with anger.
Jafar took a few threatening steps towards him. "Ohhh… But it's the truth." He moved closer, his serpentine eyes fixed upon the spectre. "Or are you afraid to admit that for once, someone overcame even your 'invincible' power?"
"That power you speak of" Disdain said, holding out his hand. "has come back." In a swirl of black sparks, a brown sack appeared in his hand. What he removed from it made Jafar's eyes go wide in horror, causing Sahib to burst into a dead sort of laughter. Disdain grinned. "I believe three wishes are in order, my humble genie." He said, clutching the black lamp.