Huge thanks to Akumarayne and everyone reading this

Enjoy~

Chapter 4

It would be that fateful morning for Judal when so much would change, yet at the same time somehow remain the same.

The hours had crept by slowly since Aladdin had left Kou, and during that time he had not moved from the tree he sat curled up in. He looked out over the grimy stone docks, and after a while stared, almost longingly, at the ocean. Slowly the rough ground darkened under the increasing pressure of rain. He felt strange, really, even if he had been the one insisting his brother go to Sindria and he remained here in the first place. Before the two said their farewell, he decided such a thing was for the best and thus didn't understand why it fazed him. Yet it did. Even if he didn't quite understand why, it seemed the world around him had grown somewhat darker and less pleasant without his twin brother there.

That statement of Aladdin, of not pursuing someone who would never be interested in him, was engraved on his mind. Surprisingly he felt that was right, and he acknowledged there was no point in pursuing Sinbad and that childish dream anymore. He didn't feel quite himself however, and just admitting defeat on such at thing didn't seem like him, somehow.

On that day, however, Judal didn't attribute his doubt to be partially due to the gathering shadowy smog gradually permeating the docks surrounding him. He wasn't even paying much attention to how those small, strange scatterings of shining darkness that looked like black rukh were steadily more pronounced. Right now, after all he just felt – so – empty, even if he insisted on it being just his imagination.

He remained within that tall tree staring out into that veil of blackness on that soaked morning, not really thinking of anything but his brother. As he did, his fingers had gathered and ran through the long, deep azure streak running through a slim section of his extremely long ebony fringe. Literally the moment they had parted, Judal had decided to weave the braid given to him into his hair as if from a fitful and hilarious notion he would lose such a thing if he didn't. It was now a seamless part of the hair he was so vain about. It was strange, but it was really dawning on him just how they had never been apart and that affected him more than it should. Why was he, of all people, feeling like this?

With a deep breath and heavy sigh, Judal noticed something moving slowly towards him. Wishing to distract himself, his ruby eyes flicked and became curious as Gyokuen approached him with two of - those - strange men in tow. The surrounding morning grew steadily darker as the three figures closed in on him. He had never been that settled around that witch, he remembered. But then he wasn't too confident about men who covered their faces, either.

Those strange men had become steadily more numerous within the palace grounds over the years, as had those strange black specks he often saw floating on the air. He always assumed those men were guards of some sort. Even if they never uttered a word, they were unsettling and often were nearby when he and Aladdin had studied or needed guarding. He, at least, found them interesting enough to stalk when the mood took him. Each of them seemed to wear white cloth to conceal their face, which was held in place by a crown of dark thorns. And they all carried their own, unique black and strange weapons which tended to spark with an equally strange magic even he couldn't place.

"We have been looking everywhere for you, Lord Priest..." Gyokuen smiled softly up to him from where he sat up in that tree. He nodded as he uncurled his body, and dropped off the branch to the wet ground below him obediently. He disliked confronting the woman, after all, and scanned the two men she stood in the middle of with open interest. "Poor thing, do you really miss your little brother so much already? I'm sorry, but he'll be back soon enough."

"It's not that bad..." he muttered and wondered what she wanted. Gyokuen's eyes lingered over that azure line running through his hair, as if she didn't understand what it was. "Ah! That was just some stupid idea chibi had; he's such a brat sometimes it's annoying! So what did you want? And, eh, who are these guys?" he jabbed the air with his thumb towards the taller of the men, who gazed over him slowly and that lingering look made unsettled him. "They look really strange you know..."

"They do a bit, don't they?" she agreed conversationally. "But then, Judal, you've found out a bit about Al-Thamen, haven't you? Ithnan says you've spied and followed them about. And asked questions about them." His eyes widened, and Judal certainly hadn't heard of Al-Thamen or even one of these strange people talk. Ithnan was that taller one, it seemed, who stood to her right and continued to watch him. Gyokuen cleared her throat. "Sadly, you're not quite as subtle or smart as you think you are; but don't worry. They're just here to ask you a question."

"A question?"

"Would you like the power to overtake you brother, boy?" Ithnan's voice was low and gravelly when he spoke and the tall man leaned on a tall black stave. Those cold, lifeless eyes scanned over Judal's body from behind the chequered mask he wore. They weren't normal, or possibly safe, men it seemed.

Judal nodded, telling himself Ithnan didn't make his skin crawl. After all, no one should make him nervous. "Well, yeah, that's obvious. I'm older so of course I should be stronger."

Gyokuen's constant smile widened slightly. "That's good, not that I doubted you wouldn't want to be stronger. This is Markkio," her soft eyes flicked to the shorter and broader of the two Al-Thamen men. "They both will teach you many fascinating things."

"Teach?" Judal repeated. They looked like mad men, to him. However it was a more unsettling eccentricity compared to the stuffy and self important magicians he was used to. The type who bored him, unless they talked about something interesting like ice magic. The rain grew steadily darker and heavier, and he tried not to notice it had worsened since their arrival. "What can I learn from pervert weirdoes who wear masks anyway? Are they really ugly or something?"

Ithnan didn't seem too offended by that. Instead he reached in, drawing the black and ruby sceptre out from where Judal stashed it. His eyes widened and instinctually the dark Magi backed away, insulted he'd get that close but Gyokuen glanced at him. Irritated he stayed still, watching Ithnan caused the sceptre to spark with curious black light before reaching in to hand it back to him. His fingers remained gripped over Judal's as he did. ""For one thing, boy, I could tell you that wasn't some common djinn given to you. Weren't you curious how such a thing was brought into this world?" Judal shook his head. "Not one for questions? Very well. Back in Balbadd and during that revolt, we were secretly there. We fused a man's soul to black rukh as he took his life. This djinn is different from the one I'm told your brother uses."

With a final and slow stroke over his fingers, Ithnan released him. Judal snatched back his hand and sceptre almost angrily and couldn't believe Gyokuen allowed that mad man to touch him, but thought better than to answer back to the Empress. Either way, he cared little about a man who died in a revolt. That demon-like creature with its black wings, however, was certainly interesting and powerful. "Eh? Black rukh? What the heck are they?"

Markkio turned to him, and he was a bizarre looking man. His eyes were uneven and wild, as much as Ithnan's were cold and void of life. Judal noticed three crimson dots running vertically down his forehead, focusing on them as Markkio spoke in a high and creepily cheerful voice. "Black rukh are what our organisation has been bringing into existence, young oracle. With your help, soon there will be a lot of them and we will teach you to use them effectively. And that is how you'll become strong, and lend us your power."

Power appealed to him, certainly. Judal paused. "Hang on. You didn't seem to want me using Kassim in front of people, like Sinbad or anyone?" Ithnan nodded at him. "But I was going to go to Sindria. You know I was going to take Kassim and use him there, right?"

"You could have tried, but it wouldn't have worked," Gyokuen informed him. "Outside Kou, there are few places which hold black rukh. Soon there will be more. But without black rukh, you can't summon a black djinn. Kassim as you call it was a test, and its purpose was just to see how it – and you – fared against Ugo. We wanted to see who won; and it seems Aladdin is much stronger."

"Even so, I like the feel of his one. The boy has so much doubt and confusion around him. And he wants power..." Ithnan said in a low, weighted voice. The staring, touching his hand...everything about the man just made Judal want to take his stave and hit him with it. Hard.

Judal scratched his head. "I don't get what you mean by that. I don't doubt myself and you know, getting stronger than chibi can't be so hard..."

Ithnan shook his head. "You'll understand this soon. Exposing someone to these black rukh means making them curse their fate. They fall to depravity, and come to understand true despair as everything they care for is taken from them. They feel their very emotions wither away, and become very different people. From that moment their bodies and minds – and ours – are fuelled by our worst fears and nightmares."

"Eh?!" Judal had to have heard that wrong. "What kind of weirdo would want to go and do something so stupid like that anyway? You're so creepy!"

"Enough," Gyokuen warned him softly. "You don't need to be so offensive, Lord Priest; you're special and that's why they're going to make you strong. And isn't being strong important to you?"

Judal paused. Something within him warned him this wasn't a request, but an order; and he didn't like this at all. "Right so...these weir-people are going to be teaching me about this depravity stuff and black rukh? Is this alright, really?"

"If it wasn't, it's not like you have a choice anyway. But you won't regret it. Soon you'll be capable of things you – and Al-Thamen – never dreamed of," Gyokuen told him.

He felt himself being led away from those filthy docks on that dark, rainy morning by those two strange men. He doubted he could stop that happening. For now they remained silent, and were perhaps content to start whatever they had planned for him as soon as possible. Judal had no idea what would happen, and wish he had remained ignorant to those he had curiously stalked for years. Whatever they would do, he doubted it would be confining him study in some old and dusty library. He would have preferred that, or leading someone through a dungeon; or anything but this.

It had been years since the last time Aladdin had seen the ocean properly, and aside from the rather unpleasant docks back in Kou. Even if he and his brother had in the past studied magic in a far off land, they had been obsessively guarded by the empire when they were. This was different, however. As right now here he was, floating up within the cloudless blue sky and high above the blue and turning tides. He was even bound for Sindria, and he had never been there before. Within his anticipation his only regret was being away from his brother. Judal and he had been parted for hours now, but even if he missed him he was glad to be away from Kou. Those flat and tense lands which had imprisoned him were no longer even a blue on the horizon. He felt free, and he had never felt truly free before.

It transpired he was feeling nowhere near as lonely as he thought he was, and hoped his brother was the same. For now, Sinbad and the others seemed to be nursing hangovers below deck still and he was free to enjoy that beautiful morning. As none of the small crew were in sight, this really felt like all his. How different the world was, void of the empire and being told he was special and his power was needed. Even better, it seemed that until this small ship would return to Balbadd to rendezvous with the rest of Sindria's fleet he was free to enjoy this new freedom all he wished.

So he allowed him to fly there, and scanned over the waves far below happily. At least he did until his musings were interrupted by a dizzily flash of crackling light as it came hurtling upwards from the once vacant decks of the ship far below him. It collided and dissipated in the clear air meters ahead of Aladdin and harmlessly into the momentarily brightened and expansive skies. He looked down, body twisting easily in the light breeze to eye at the lone figure staring up at him.

Sinbad seemed to be more sober than the Magi had thought. The foreign king lowered his long, glowing blade and waved up to him in greeting. The man's arms and body were dressed in a familiar sheen of deep cerulean, armour like draconic scales, and long and ivory toned horns protruded from under a mane of light blue hair. Aladdin remembered this to be a dungeon equip of his, as he had seen Sinbad use it numerous times before. If he remembered currently it was Baal's, and the first the then aspiring king had attained. The figure below him was for now bathed brightly under the weight of the thousands of dazzling rukh surrounding him. The brilliance was bright enough that even Aladdin felt like looking away.

Aladdin dropped down, silently and harmlessly, through the warm air and landed in front of Sinbad, drawing into a respectful bow before standing. He felt as though that equip was definitely a lot stronger than it had been the last time he had seen it. But then Sinbad had also grown steadily more powerful over the years; to the point even Kou were noticing him after all.

"You know, that's a sight I never get tired of," Sinbad told him as he re-sheathed Baal's sword at his side. The surrounding air dimmed and faded as the man's appearance reverted and changed. Aladdin blinked and rubbed his eyes as he did. "Whenever I ran into you and your brother, I always wondered how remarkable it would be to just fly up into the sky like that."

"I couldn't resist it. It feels like they just grounded me in Kou all that time. It's really nice up there, but it's a shame there's no clouds," Aladdin told him. "It's really exciting flying through one of those."

Sinbad eyed over him curiously. "You fly through clouds? What does that feel like?"

Aladdin had never been asked that before, and thought how to describe it. "It's a strange sensation. It feels a lot like fighting with onii-san; really cold. And after a while all you want to do is sneeze a lot."

"Speaking of Judal-"

"Mm, I remember. You kissed him didn't you?" Aladdin watched amber eyes widen before Sinbad turned away, clearing his throat as if his calm composure was momentarily shattered. "Ah, so it's true then? He told me that last night."

"Aha...I don't recall doing anything of the sort," he laughed, and a little too loudly, and crossed his tanned arms over his light robes. Aladdin felt he remembered such a thing extremely well, however. "I think I really need to stop drinking in Kou. Whenever I do, someone somewhere always ends up accusing me of doing indecent things."

"Then maybe you should stop doing indecent things to them," Aladdin replied sweetly.

Again, Sinbad cleared his throat and leaned out over the railing, staring up into the sky. "So – flying through a cloud..." he pondered, as though to change the subject, or possibly to run far away. A moment later the blinding cloud of rukh gathered around him a second time as he raised his left arm, and the silver bracelet on it shone momentarily brightly. Eagerly Aladdin looked over this other equip, as he had not seen this curious form before. Sinbad's hair had reddened and lengthened, becoming feather-like. He looked something like a shadowy vermillion bird with his now clawed fingers and piercing golden eyes. Without another thought, he launched himself up into the skies, "I feel like searching for one of those, as well."

"H-hey!" deep azure eyes widened in surprise before Aladdin followed him up curiously. "I never saw Focalor's one; and I didn't know you could fly, too."

He smiled back at the Magi. "It would be a shame to let people like you have all the fun.""Mm, maybe. I don't think goi were meant to fly though-" the moment he said that, Aladdin clapped a pale hand to his mouth apologetically. "A-ah! I'm really sorry. They said that wasn't a nice word to use."

Sinbad didn't seem too concerned about it. "As you studied in Magnostadt you must have heard people call people that. Over there I heard they're pretty set with how they view things, I heard."

"Yes. We studied there a while," Aladdin had fond memories of the place. Of the floating, numerous devices shimmering above the spires of the tall, scarlet and gold buildings. Of the clean and wide streets; how colourful it all was and how fascinating the people were. The academy and its many dark floors, rich with the musty scent of so many old books. The hum of rukh was so very loud there, to the point it felt as though they were united in song. "But they're a little strange with g-non magicians. But they were really nice to onii-san and I. They were upset when we had to leave early, but things got too dangerous to stay there."

"Dangerous?" Sinbad inquired, and he nodded. "I understand they don't let any non magicians immigrate there. I hear that includes family members who can't utilise magic, and any spouses from entering too. Not that I heard of any who really want to go there."

"I remember we weren't allowed out of the academy much. But they're so strict with us anyway," Aladdin recalled. Of course, there wasn't many times were he and Judal hadn't been carefully guarded from any wishing to harm or capture them. It seemed so unnecessary, given how strong they were; but insisting that just got him told he was naive and knew little of the world. "If you've ever seen those silent and creepy men who cover their faces, they were in Magnostadt and were watching us. Apparently they caused so trouble, so we all had to leave."

"So these strange men are all magicians, or else they'd never have gotten into Magnostadt. Interesting. This was a few years ago, correct?" he nodded, and Sinbad fell into deep thought. "I guess that's why your Empress was so interested to discover Yamaraiha was in Sindria, then. She was exiled from there, you know."

"I know Gyokuen said that magician-miss was exceptional. If she wasn't, they'd not have let one of us go. Ah...they've always been so suffocating all our lives..." he composed himself, and this time he was the one to change the subject. "You know though, I should write onii-san and tell him about that equip. Even if he said he got his kiss and wouldn't chase you anymore, I think he'll be happy for you." A very strange shadow passed over those brilliant eyes, and at those words Sinbad's smile faded. Aladdin wasn't too sure what to make of that. "How long did it take you to master all those equips, anyway?"

"Erm- a long time?"

"You don't remember how long it was?"

"...You don't have to say it quite like that. As it is, seeing you and Judal all grown when I remember you as small children makes me feel old...er than you both."

"You're not old," Aladdin said softly. "Even if onii-san says you are he's just teasing."

Sinbad took a heavy, and resigned breath. "That sounds like him alright..."

"He's just annoyed still that you never accepted our – well, his – help back when we met you. He just always wanted to pick you as a king and was annoying going on about how strong and amazing you are. So anyway, he'll be happy you can go flying with me."

"Even if he doesn't like me now he finally got his damned kiss..." Sinbad muttered quietly. However he descended as if to avoid being asked about that, and Aladdin followed him down to the ship. The Magi gripped a shiny apple off one of the numerous barrels decorating the sea-water streaked deck and hopped up on the railings to eat it. "Back then I thought that dungeons weren't a safe place for children. I didn't even know who or what you two were when we first met; and I understand most of what I know about Magi from you both. As for Judal...he's really just too..."

"Hm?" Aladdin inquired, breaking off from savouring the tangy fruit and swallowing heavily. When it came to Judal's somewhat ill-fated affections for the foreign king, after all, he worked out over the years it was best off not to get involved.

Sinbad shook his head. "It's alright. But you know, I heard that far to the east of Kou, people still think magic is a bad thing."

Aladdin straightened up curiously, excited about if he'd get to hear one of the foreign king's stories of the foreign lands he had not yet seen. "Really, way past the empire you mean?" He nodded. "I read about that a bit, past those countries Kou is emancipating. Have you been there?"

Sinbad passed him another apple, which Aladdin took eagerly, and leaned on the railings. "Emancipating, hm? Scary to say it like that. But there was this one time, when the oceans proved calm enough for us to dare sail out that far. And you would never, ever believe what sights came to us when we stepped onto those strange shores..."