Aladdins dreams were plagued with images of his friends burning, being engulfed by unquenchable flames, silent screams emanating from their gaunt faces. His beloved Jasmine was tied to a stake on a pyre, her body engulfed in the inferno. Her bonds broke and she stumbled forward, she began to dance. As he watched her dance Aladdin could see her skin and flesh melt from her like candle wax. In the end it was her skeleton dancing in the flames and in the distance Aladdin could hear music, almost festival like music. Jasmine's skeleton stopped dancing and walked over the where her beloved was standing. She ran her hot clickity bone fingers through his hair and asked him "Do you trust me?"
The scene shifted and Aladdin was running through the streets of Agrabah an un-dead Razoul close behind , a low moan rising from his chest. "Brains...brains...brains!" The image distorted again. Now he was at dagger rock, looking at the giant crystal Mozenrath had used to try and trap his best friend. Mozenrath's face appeared in the crystal and began to speak.
" Sutures. Antiseptic." It said without any expression. "Apply more pressure...it's in there deep...on my count, one two, three." All around, Aladdin's world was flooded with red. Then he was falling into darkness, but he could still hear Mozenrath's voice. " Don't move, keep the pressure there. We don't want to loose him."
Loose who, loose Aladdin? It was a very confusing dream. The darkness dissipated, Mozenrath's voice came in again "breathing is normal. Slight fever, we will have to watch that. Xerxes, stay with him. I'll be back."
Aladdin drifted in a grey void, through dreams where his friends became dust and nightmares where an insidious liquid ran up his hands and burned him. Melting flesh off bone. He woke, jolting out of sleep. There was a soft "umph" from behind him. Aladdin was covered in a cold sweat, he was shaking, from terror or illness he did not know. He felt something stir behind him. It was Xerxes, Mozenrath's wretched eel.
"Hero awake!" Exclaimed the eel.
"Excellent," said a voice in the dark. It was ,of course Mozenrath, he strode over to where Aladdin was laying and knelt down beside him. Aladdin noticed that his arch foe wasn't looking like is normal evil self. His traditional regent garb was gone and replaced by close fitting black cloths. Every inch of him from his neck down was covered in black, his turban was gone and his hair was pulled back tight and secured at the back of his neck. He looked like a shadow,a smug, arrogant, evil, egotistical shadow
"How are you feeling?" he asked with a sadistic smile.
Aladdin gave him a blank stare. Those were four words he never expected to hear come from the young rulers mouth. They almost sounded sincere if not for that wicked smile. Mozenrath shook his head, "Never mind, don't answer that. You probably feel horrid. I would too if I had lost that much blood. You are quite the bleeder, must be from all that running. I almost couldn't get the bleeding to stop, but you're alive."
Aladdin was suddenly aware of a throbbing pain on his left inner leg above his knee. It was bandaged with a clean white cloth, that had been Mozenrath's doing. But why? Why help someone you hate? This wasn't making any sense and Aladdin wondered if he were still dreaming.
"Don't touch that!" commanded the sorcerer. Aladdin moved his hand away and back down to his side. "It needs time to heal. Unfortunately time is something we don't have a lot of."
"What do you mean." Aladdin hated it when his foes were cryptic. Was it too much to ask for an adversary who didn't like riddles or petty mind games?
" Ah, so you're not in shock then and do in fact have the power of speech. Very good." Mozenrath said in a mocking tone. "I was so worried you weren't going to be able to talk, we would have been deprived of all the wise and wizened things you would have had to say."
Aladdin tolerated the sorcerers rude remarks, if Mozenrath was being snarky then clearly all was not lost. "Whats happened?" asked the hero.
"A coup, my heroic friend, a coup. The mamlocks have decided to revolt and become their own nation apart from the Land of the Black Sand. Which is treasonous on a variety of levels, not only against me but the basic laws that govern our state. They have decided they no longer need a form of government to protect them, and they are off to conquer this forsaken city, all it's inhabitants and soon all of the seven deserts and most likely the world. They are an unstoppable force unlike any other. It is equal parts inspiring and terrifying."
"Terrified?" Said Aladdin with a smirk "Big bad you, terrified?"
"They're eating brains! I can understand your lack of concern, but unlike yourself some of us use what's up here." He indicated the top of his forehead "however you probably have less to worry about." His eel tried to suppress a laugh.
Aladdin turned to his rescuer "So whats the plan. How do we stop this?"
"Stop it? You don't stop something like this. It would be like stopping a hurricane. No, we don't stop it, we get out of the way" Mozenrath sighed " the best we can hope for is escape."
"Alright, so just open up one of your portals and send us to Agrabah"
Mozenrath turned to him and looked as if he had said something profane. "Interlopers, Outsiders, you're all the same." The dark Official muttered under his breath, "You don't understand I can't do that. It's not that easy. There's a method. I have to have grids and know where I'm going and have a specific destination or person in mind before I open up one of those. If I didn't we could end up in the middle of the sea, inside a volcano, Morbia. Is that something you want? Leave the brain eating inquisition only to suffer an equally horrible death? Why don't you leave the hard mathematics and eldrich geometry to the person who's studied it. "
"Then how did you find me?" asked Aladdin incredulously.
"That flair, after I saw that it was easy to track the only human presence in the area. I know ever inch of my city, so all I had to do was narrow down the probability of where you might be in My home."
" So why can't you do that with other places?"
"Really? Are you that dense? If a place is close by in proximity it is easier to get to than to a place that is farther away." Mozenrath sighed and looked hopeful that his new companion grasped this concept " Do you understand? "
"No." Replied the recipient of this long lecture.
Mozenrath put his face in his hands and sighed. " You wouldn't happen to be able to call up you djinni friend, would you?"
It was Aladdin's turn to sigh " No, I asked him to stay in Agrabah. I was afraid you were going to do something terrible to him."
"I thought as much. It never hurts to ask."
"So what do we do now?"
"Now, you should rest. Water is in the basin next to the mat. If you need anything let Xerxes or myself know and if it is within our power we will get it for you."
Aladdin nodded and went back to his sick bed. Before he sat down though he asked " Why didn't you let me die out there. Why not leave me to the mamlocks, wouldn't that have been easier?"
There was a long silence before the dark wizard answered"Wow, Aladdin, I really thought you knew me better than that. If something or someone is going to kill you I want it to be me." Aladdin could feel the goose-flesh spread over his skin, then Mozenrath said with a wicked smile, "I'm keeping you alive so there is always the possibility of murder later."
Aladdin knew with certainty he would not be able to rest easy now, which was probably Mozenrath's intent.
Mozenrath watched as Aladdin drank the water from the basin, the hero was looking distraught which was to be expected after watching people from your community get ripped to shreds like confetti. No, thought Mozenrath, sleep was definitely not in the cards for his enemy, good thing he had drugged the water. Aladdin was trusting and wouldn't realize until it was too late that something was seriously off about his drowsiness. It was for the best though, the hero wouldn't have willingly slept if Mozenrath hadn't done so. Like many of his endeavors he saw it as a necessary evil. Aladdin had lost at least a two eighths of his blood when Mozenrath had pulled him through the portal and he had lost more when Mozenrath had to remove the crystal shards from Aladdin's leg, he needed to heal,.
Hours had passed and a soft glow was coming from beneath the window. Hmm, he thought, they're rioting. Not that they ever stopped rioting. It was the most lively Mozenrath had ever witnessed the mamlocks being, it almost had a frenzy feel to it. Something that would gather energy, people, Other people and would refuse to stop, something about it was inviting. An exciting enticement, a singular beat, an underlying message, not that Mozenrath wanted to find out what the message was. Probably a petition to recall him from office, those ungrateful jerks. After all he had done for them, now they wanted to recall him?
"Xerxes. Come here." The eel swam through the air toward him. " Make sure Aladdin doesn't leave this room. He's slightly insane with that hero complex he has going on in his head and I'm worried that if he finds out that I've gone on a search and retrieval mission he will follow me. Ultimately leading to his and our doom. This, of course, is unacceptable. Do you understand?"
The eel gave a slight nod and slithered back to monitor the unconscious youth. " What if master does not return?" ask the eel.
Mozenrath sighed " Then find a better way of escaping, and if you happen to encounter my infected body make no hesitation to end me. Is that clear?"
The eel flinched at this last, he knew what his master was saying ' if I don't come back I'm dead, or I've joined them. And soon you will do the same.' If his master couldn't make it no one could. Mozenrath was a lot of things, but he was first and foremost a resilient survivor. He had survived encounters with deadly beasts, he had survived being trapped in the crystal of Ix, he had survived a deadly airballon ride across the most ruthless part of the desert and an encounter with the incarnation of evil. He would survive this, Xerxes knew he would.
Mozenrath concentrated, and with his mind, tore open a space in time and dimension. He slipped through and was gone.
Xerxes knew that opening the portals was dangerous, he knew that traveling between the geometry of space and time could not be brought about by a wholly sane person. Which had been part of the reason Xerxes and his Master had ended up in this wasteland desert. Xerxes had had his reservations about leaving their seaside home in pursuit of knowledge and experience with Destane, but their Dean and Eternal High Priest had been deadly clear that they wanted them to study with Destane. Specifically Destane, it couldn't be anyone else, it had to be with Destane or else.
When Mozenrath had been elected the head of the political community their dean had been overjoyed. They congratulated them on fulfilling the first part of the mission and that they should standby for further instruction and in the mean time build their numbers. Maybe now that their city was in a state of rebellion the dean and higher circle would lose interest in the project, maybe they would get to go home. But that was unlikely, if they failed to keep the Land of the Black Sand and it's citizens Xerxes knew that a fate worse than death awaited them. It would only be a matter of time.
Down in the lower levels of the Citadel Mozenrath found himself outside an armory, he had only been in there a few times. Weaponry appalled him, which is why in his previous attacks on the seven deserts and Agrabah he had relied completely on his own cunning and natural abilities. He opened up the arsenal and smiled. Oh yes, this was going to work. The first order of business was to find a means of transporting the weapons back to base. He quickly perused his options and found a bag, a few shoulder and traditional belts with their respective sheaths and blades. He then acquired several whetting stones and about six dozen vials of combustible and flammable liquid. He wrapped those up in an extra layer of cloth and carefully placed them in an outside pocket. Those would come in handy during a pinch and he didn't want anything happening to them while he was transporting them.
He placed the machete belt around his waist and slung the bag over his back when he felt that he had sufficient supplies and started making his way back up to base. The portal option was out for the time being. It had cost him a third of his energy to get down to the armory and he wasn't exactly up to snuff right now. What with the revolution and supplies like food a and water hitting an all time low, no he would have to go back on foot.
They had enough supplies to make it through a few more days and then they would need to find more or leave. He wasn't really concerned though, his main priority was making it through the night. If he could do that then he could in good consciousness worry about tomorrow.
He had made it half way back to his hiding place when he heard the moaning. "Brains, brains, brains, brains..." He quickened his pace.
The base of operations was located in the astronomy tower. It was a small room that had once only been accessible by a flight of spiraling wooden stairs. The first thing he had done after getting up there was destroy the stairs. They were now just a crispy pile of ashes lining the circumference of the tower.
Come on, he thought, come on almost there. The moaning was getting progressively louder.
A couple agonizingly terrorized minutes later he had made it to the tower, only he wasn't alone. Three of the living dead stood in his way and they were watching the door intently. He took an involuntary breath in. The zombies immediately sensed the living man in the room and turned around.
Mozenrath lowered the bag from his shoulder and placed it on the ground, he drew his machete and glared back at the slobbering monsters. These were the creatures who had revolted against him after he had sworn, on his life,to protect from harm and destruction. Traitors! Well if anything was going to destroy them now it was going to be him.
They lunged at him, mouths open fingers extended. Their eyes yellow and filmy. He dodged the first one and with one deft move sliced off its head. The decapitated cranium rolled down the stone stairs behind him. Another attacked, he ripped that one open from groin to sternum. Powering through the hard bone of the rib cage into the esophagus, through the jaw and into the brain. With a flick of his wrist the whole skeletal mask ripped in half. It's tainted blood painted the floor.
The third one was smaller than the other two, but that didn't merit the traitor mercy. He dropped to the floor, kicked it's legs out from beneath it , used his momentum to bring himself back up and relieved the zombie of its head. By the end of it both he and the floor were regrettably bloody, but that was the price you paid when you wanted to survive.
He looked up at the now opened door. Aladdin was standing in it's frame with a rope ladder and a somewhat shocked expression. He threw down the ladder which was attached to the interior wall of the safe room.
Mozenrath sheathed the machete, gathered the supplies and proceeded to climb up. Once he had reached the top he pulled the ladder up and draped it over a table. There was an awkward silence between him and his former foe. He placed the weaponry down, leaned against the wall and slid down landing on the floor, exhausted.
"When did you learn to fight like that?" asked the hero
" Along time ago,"
"So why have you never fought like that against..."
"It wouldn't have been very sporting and I don't enjoy killing people like that. It's incredibly in-personable"
"Really? So, if you had had a blade instead of your magic I would be dead?"
"It's a possibility" Snapped Mozenrath
"Not a likely one" retorted his companion
Mozenrath glared up at the hero " Are we done here?"
"No." Said the hero,and he charged the regent and pined him against the door. Mozenrath's back was to the door, Aladdin had him pinned against the flimsy structure, one hand braced on the frame and the other arm across Mozenrath's shoulders, all of Aladdins weight and momentum rested on his uninjured leg. Mozenrath could feel something sharp right under his jawline, so the hero had been planning this attack "If you intend to escape this place alive you will tell me everything I want to know, or the traitor mamlocks will be the least of your worries."
The door frame shook and Mozenrath could feel it beginning to give beneath their combined weight.
"Tick tock, Mozenrath, your choice and if I don't like what I hear I'll feed your insides to your people."