wOOP! Chapter Five! This one got a little tough to write- you'll see why in a second- but I pushed through! :D Look for the Merlin references in the treasure room scene!

And remember, please review to let me know how you like it!

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!

Albionian Nights

A Merlin Aladdin!AU

Chapter Five: Into the Mist

Arthur could barely believe his eyes as he stepped into the room practically glowing with golden light. He had never seen anything so amazing in his entire life- and he was at a fairly large loss of words. Arthur looked all around him as he walked forwards, laughing in disbelief.

"Just a mere handful of this would make me richer than the King!" he crowed, finding himself gravitating towards a large gem, but then he stopped, furrowing his eyebrows and clenching his fists. "But no, I can't touch anything. I have to find this lamp, the honorable way."

Continuing on, Arthur passed by many odd treasures on top of high piles of gold- a phoenix bracelet, medallions with gleaming red stones, a beautifully crafted horn and a staff that looked like a great tree, among others. As he kept walking, he felt a soft breeze from behind him, and Arthur quickly turned around to see nothing- well, nothing unusually there that wasn't before. The teen shrugged it off and kept going. He felt the breeze again, and this time he could swear to see a shadow beside him that wasn't his!

"Alright! Show yourself!" he cried out, whipping around once again, his cold blue eyes searching the dunes of gold. Nothing stirred, but Arthur kept his gaze vigilant. Slowly, from the corner of his eye, Arthur saw a bit of red creep out from one of the piles. Just as cautiously, Arthur turned to face it fully, and his mouth parted.

Crawling out from the gold was a tasseled carpet, standing like a person on its back tassels. It was threaded with red and gold, and hints of purple in its pattern, and in its middle was a large gold dragon. Arthur was dumbfounded, but remained calm.

"Come on, I won't hurt you," he coaxed, holding his hands peacefully and hoping that the carpet understood his words, as odd as it seemed. But, it did, lifting up off the ground and floating towards Arthur carefully. The teen gasped. "A magic carpet…Amazing!" The carpet reacted to his excitement, growing a little more attached to the blond. "Hey- do you think you can help me?"

Carpet froze as if stunned, but then shook its tassels excitedly, signaling a "Yes!" It flew up and wrapped itself in a kind of hug around Arthur, who laughed in reply.

"Okay, I'm looking for this kind of lamp; do you know where it could be?" Arthur requested. Carpet gave an enthusiastic nod and pointed its tassels to a doorway further on, gesturing for Arthur to follow, and the teen did so.

Carpet led Arthur down several darkened hallways, past many other rooms filled with treasures and oddities, but after a long journey, it stopped at a large open cavern, lit only by an ethereal light that shone down on top of a bronze colored oil lamp, settled at the top of a large rock spire. It was surrounded by water, with a small stone bridge that led up to a path of stairs, going directly to the lamp. As if he were drawn to it, he fixed his gaze upon the center of the beam of light and made his way towards the treasured object.

"Perfect," a silky voice hissed from the shadows. Morgause revealed herself, perching on top of a rock. Carpet noticed this scarlet bird and confronted her angrily. She squawked and fought it off, still closely watching as Arthur neared the lamp.

Closer and closer, the young Pendragon climbed the rocky staircase until he reached the top, bathing himself in the ethereal light that shone down upon the lamp. He picked it up slowly, smiling in utter disbelief.

"This is what we went to all the trouble for?" he laughed. "It just looks like a dirty old lamp!"

Morgause veered away from Carpet and spotted a giant golden statue of a monkey holding a ruby the size of a watermelon. She grinned and dive-bombed for it, knocking the ruby off of its place.

"Woops!" she giggled, as the earth started to tremble. Arthur looked down just as Morgause disappeared, spotting the misplaced ruby.

"FOOL!" the cave's voice bellowed, echoing through the cavern. "You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you will never see the light of day!"

Arthur looked around, shocked, as the walls began to crumble and the water beneath the spire turned to lava. The stairs fell apart, as did the bridge, and the young blond felt helpless, until Carpet flew up to him, beckoning to get on.

"Right!" he agreed, hopping onto the carpet and flying out of the cavern. "Carpet, let's move!" They flew through the tunnels and hallways, as a large wave of lava chased behind, lighting their path a deathly scarlet. Within moments, Arthur spotted what remained of the main entryway's staircase, the disguised Agravaine looming over the entrance, leering evilly at Arthur. "There, come on!" he urged to the magic carpet, but then something grabbed the lamp out of his hands, but Arthur could see nothing. "NO!" he shouted, reaching out in vain as the old man reached out his own hands, to the teen's shock.

Suddenly, a falling rock struck Arthur in the head, knocking him out and off of Carpet, plummeting towards the ground. Arthur tumbled against the walls before Carpet swooped to catch him before he hit the ground. The invisible Morgause cackled, squawking victoriously, but then she too was hit with collapsing rock, breaking her illusion and knocking the lamp out of her claws right as she was about to reach her owner.

"NO! THE LAMP!" Agravaine screeched as Morgause landed with a crash beside him and the aforementioned object tumbled downwards through the air. Kilgharrah's mouth roared and growled, collapsing in on itself. Agravaine scrambled to try and reach the lamp, but Morgause quickly pulled him out of harm's way as the dragon's mouth crashed shut. "No…it was mine! NO!"

Elyan entered his sister's room, finding her tight in arms with Morgana, the latter rubbing her back. The King felt saddened and troubled by this sight.

"Gwen," he said softly, approaching her. "Gwen, what's wrong?" Guinevere looked at her older brother sadly, still holding Morgana's hand.

"Elyan," she began tearfully. "Agravaine has…done something awful." Morgana nodded at Elyan, her emerald eyes filled with emotions. Elyan sighed and gave a small smile of comfort, sitting next to Gwen, placing his hand on his sister's shoulder.

"There, there, sis," he murmured softly. "We'll set it right, eh? Now, tell me everything."

OOOHH! :D The story continues~ Next up is the last part of Act One- Chapter Six: Friend Like Me!

*wink woNK* if you didn't guess already a certain dark-haired warlock is coming soon!

-DMRA