Old Souls
A/N: Sorry that this took so long for me to get out. I just typed up a twenty four page chapter to another of my stories, The Mummy: A Magi Inspired Edition. If you like that sort of thing you should check it out, it's pretty different from the movie. Aladdin is genderbent and cast as Evelyn just so you know. Now onto the next chapter of Old Souls!
Song For The Chapter: Antarctica - By Hands Like Houses
We'll Be The Kings of The Air
Now judging by how the way things had gone in the first dungeon that the two teens had gone into they probably should have expected something like this but Barak was in denial about his luck and Myrddin was overconfident to a fault. Which lead to this:
"What the fuck is that?!" Barak had a bit of a potty mouth though that could be excused as he was running for his life away from a herd of bee-like monsters that every so often shot something at him.
"I don't know! Shit, watch out it spits acid!" Myrddin was unusually flexible for a male his size Barak absently noted as he leaned back away from the acid spray. The white-haired boy had it a bit easier as he was riding his staff like a broom while the smaller boy ran the whole way. Said smaller boy withheld a pout as he kept running away from the bees. It took them a few moments to find an alcove to small for the fairly large monsters to get into and hurried into it noting as they did so that it was actually a rather small cave that went for quite a ways.
They followed the cave for at least a few hours stopping every once in a while to eat a bit of dried meat and drink some water to keep their strength up. By the time they found the exit it had been seven to eight hours inside the dungeon and Solomon knows how long outside of it. The two were nearing exhaustion but knew that with only the two of them they could not afford to stop for more than a few moments lest they get caught off guard by a monster. Luckily, as they entered the room that the cave opened up into, Barak saw that it looked like there was an inscription on a stone tabled dead center of the room. Trading a glance with Myrddin the two nodded and hurried over to the tablet.
Barak groaned softly as he took in the scribbles on the stone. There were three separate places in the stone monument where something was supposed to be placed. As a matter of fact, it looked sort of like someplace where you would place a quill Barak noted as he reread the inscription once more. Myrddin read it aloud as he tried to work it out, he may not be able to actually help Barak with the dungeon but he could give hints.
"Three things are needed to pass further. One is something from a creature which no one can lie when around, The Second comes from a being who burns when death nears, The last comes from an omen of death. Find them and thou shall be rewarded."
Myrddin groaned this time as the subject of magical beings was something that he was never particularly good at even as Hermione. Barak meanwhile had figured out two of the three but was stuck on the last one. Sighing he put a hand to his mouth and tilted his head up looking at the top of the cavern as he thought. He heard Myrddin shift around and turned to ask him what he thought when he caught sight of the other boys face. The magi had paled and was looking behind them with a great amount of horror. Barak shakily turned his head as well only to blanch. Apparently, they did not have to wait to figure out the riddle as three humongous creatures began to stir in three separate nests that the plum haired boy was absolutely sure had not been there when they came in.
The largest one by far was a rather menacing eagle headed griffin that had wicked looking talons on its lion's paws standing at a good twelve feet high with a rather large wingspan of twenty feet. The other two were noticeably smaller with one being only three or so foot tall but had fire spanning its wings, A phenix Barak absently noted. The last was a huge crow that looked to be made out of the shadows themselves and had a rather scary aura around it.
"Oh fuck me sideways." was all Barak had time to mutter before the three attacked. He threw himself to the ground and rolled before wringing his swords free and lunging at the nearest flying beast.
It took over three more hours to get the damn things down and stay down while he plucked a single father (That was for some reason usual a flight feather) that had a stone band around the base of it from them. Myrddin who was actually not allowed to help during fights bit his lip as he looked over the slightly battered plum haired teen who limped back over to the stone tablet. The white-haired male frowned as Barak passed him and slid the feathers into their respective slots before casting a glance back at the downed monsters. He froze for a moment and then prodded at Barak, accidentally hitting a bruise making the smaller male curse at him, and pointed back at the way he came.
Barak turned with a snarl thinking that the damn things were back for more when he to froze. In place of where the three monsters had fallen was a set of rather intricate double doors that had definitely not been there before. Of the monsters, there was no sign of them ever being there in the first place. Myrddin was the one who spoke up then.
"Well, Yunan did say that this Djinn is rather devious. Do you think they were an illusion the whole time?"
Barak just let out a long string of curses before stopping to the door Myrddin following him with a tiny ironic smile on his face. The slightly smaller gold eyed boy stopped in front of the doors and waited until his friend or rather lover as Myrddin liked to be called came up beside him. He glanced up at the taller teen and raised a brow silently asking if he was ready, receiving a nod in reply. He put his hands on either door and pushed slightly, sighing in relief when they slid open almost immediately. For a moment there he was afraid that he would have to say something embarrassing to open them.
The two teens exchanged one last glance before turning and walking into the slightly open doors. One last room to go.
The two were blinded for a moment as they entered the vastly more lit up room beyond the doors. Barak blinked for some seconds until his sight came back to him and then sucked in a breath of horror as he saw where they where. Myrddin was much the same.
They stood in a large cathedral-like room that had a vast high ceiling that on was painted a scene straight from hell. Flames devoured great cityscapes while soldiers killed and pillaged along with a great many other atrocities. Barak shuddered as he saw a portion of a painting in one corner that held a man beating a small child with an almost sick look of pleasure on his face. Suddenly he was not so sure that he wanted to have this Djinn. What kind of being felt comfortable no, at home, around this kind of thing?
"So you are the one who would be king?"
A voice purred out from amongst the vast piles of wealth that littered the floor, the gold having gone unnoticed by ether boy in the wake of the horror up above. Barak whiled around while Myrddin just stood stalk still with a look of annoyance on his face. One more time that he could not help his little love. The Djinn had to be the one who chose.
The Djinn was leaning against a particularly gaudy statue of a dragon. He was blue like most of his kind but that was about the only thing he had in common with his brethren. The male Djinn was about ten or so feet tall, rather short for a Djinn and looked well… odd. He was slim and had a human-like shape with a few differences. The biggest one was the iridescent set of wings that attach to his back. In the shape of an owl's wings, the feathers themselves are what made them stand out the most. Pale blue and violet they were outlined in a deep midnight blue color that made the parlor colors of the insides stand out even more. The only other thing that stood out other than that was flowers that were of similar color weaved into the long curly hair of the male. Barak flushed as he realized that the male Djinn was only wearing what looked to be a female Kimono that was tied only loosely around his waist slowing his muscular torso and slim legs.
The Djinn let loose a musical laugh as he saw that. Myrddin gave him a glare that made him just laugh louder.
"AHAHAHA! No need to glare so little Magi I have no interest in someone already spoken for! No, what I am interested in is just why you two are in my dungeon. The little blond annoyance did not particularly inform me of who I would be waiting for. Ha! Besides my tastes run more along your likeness not his." Myrddin blanched and backed up hiding behind Barak slightly who just gave a slight chuckle and then looked up to the Djinn.
"So is there anything else I need to do to win you over?" The boy asked as his gold eyes met the Djinns blue ones. The winged male looked at him for a long moment before sighing and looking away.
"Not particularly. I have only one question," The Djinn looked back at the boy with an impassive expression this time before pointing up with a single finger clad in many rings. "Tell me what do you think of the painting that I made."
Barak himself held back a flinch as he realized that this Djinn was the one to put the painting on the ceiling. Inhaling slightly the plum haired teen looked up and ran a hand through his ponytail as he took in the gruesome sean once more. His gold eyes slid over the horrible painting once more until something made him pause and look more closely at the center of each painting. Then a tiny smile came to his face as he looked back at the waiting Djinn.
"It's human nature is it not?" He asked making the Djinn blink and nod slightly, apparently, no one else had ever guessed it right. "I noticed, in every painting, there was at the very least one person protecting another. It shows that though it's in human nature to fight it is also in it to protect. It may be for various reasons but there is always something someone is willing to kill or die for." Barak finished pointing up a specific scene of a mother throwing herself in front of a blow meant for a child. He barely withheld a bitter smile at it.
The Djinn blinked once more before letting out a cackle that did not sound earthly. As a matter of fact, whenever the Djinn spoke it never came out like a normal voice would, it always held an unearthly quality to it.
"I am Sitri The Djinn of Truth and Lies. I hold power over Sound and the Will of Humanity." Barak paled once more as he realized just what the Djinn was getting at. "Ah, you understand I see. My brother in power is much the same as I. Only where he can implant an order or the conscious of his host into the mind of another, I, however, with my extreme magic can overweight someone's personality if my welder truly wished it. Also much like a phoenix I can uplift someone's spirit or crush it brutally so that they have no will to fight. The last thing I provide for my welder is the assurance that no one can ever lie to you without your knowledge for like Griffin I know when someone is lying." Sitri smiled a grim smile at the two boys who looked slightly sick and then pointed at Barak.
"And you are now my King!"
~~~~~~ Outside The Dungeon ~~~~~~
Yunan blinked awake as the earth gave a mighty shudder and the dungeon he had summoned disappeared. He inhaled and quickly made his way over to the hole in the earth that the dungeon had left behind. The blond Magi let out a sigh of relief as he glanced down into the hole and saw the two teens standing in the middle of a large pile of bags containing treasure. He was just about to call down when Barak twisted and snapped his head up to look at him with burning gold eyes that were alight with fury. The blond flinched as Myrddin did the same only with the Rukh around him beginning to gather in a rather alarming pattern.
Oh, he was going to have a hell of a time explaining things to the two pissed off teenagers below him but…
Better to have that kind of power in the hands of a person who was unwilling to use it rather than one who had no qualms about it. Yunan's eyes narrowed momentarily as a memory of another plum haired male flashed across his mind.
Yes, definitely worth the confrontation he was about to have with the teens.
A/N: And that is it for this chapter. I know it's a bit longer than most of the other chapters but I kind of had to stuff a whole dungeon adventure into one chapter so please forgive the length. Yes, Barak now has a Djinn that can cancel out Zepar. This is for a reason. Sitri also has a few additional surprises that will not show up until later. The next chapter will be a time skip. I just do not think I can do a dungeon justice so I will not write the other one as the Djinn will be epic and I don't want to fuck it up so I will not put the dungeon adventure into the story. I will, however, say this, Sitri will be the Djinn that will be giving Barak all sorts of problems see to use a djinn you have to want to use its power, it won't work if you're afraid of it. Meaning that for as long Barak has reservations about using him Sitri will not function right. Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter and will continue reading. Please favorite and review!
P.s. The poll for Dinarzad's pairing on my other story is still ongoing with Masrur leading at 13 votes and Aladdin just behind him with 11. If you have not voted yet you may want to!