Shock was already an understatement.
He was horrified.
How did Judal even exist inside Fai?
He was cut off from his terrain of thoughts when the dark magi in front of him turned to him and gave the younger boy a friendly smile.
"Yo. Aladdin; I suppose I should say "Nice to meet you" instead since this is the first time you might have met me."
'This isn't how Judal would normally act…' He thought at this somewhat friendly attitude from the Judal in front of him.
"What do you mean…?"
"He's not the Judal of this world Aladdin, not the one that you knew." Aladdin turned to see Fai behind him, this time; he was without his mask unlike how he saw him usually.
He looked alike to Judal only for his facial features. Fai's attitude and mindset are different. Even the shades of their red eyes were different as well. Fai's shade of his red eyes, he noticed, was much lighter; Their hairstyles are rather alike, except that Fai's never had them long to reach his ankles like Judal's. His hair had been more unkempt than Judal's.
It then hit Aladdin, the reason why he wore his mask almost every time…
"Fai-san… is this why…?"
"Yes. Judal was my blood related brother. Was, if I may add… Al Thamen had been there to destroy our hometown nineteen years ago and they were sure to remember this face. If I were to show my face, I'll be on their kill list." Fai told him.
"Why?"
"Because I was supposed to have died in many worlds before this one;"
Aladdin's eyes had widened. Fai was supposed to die?
"In the previous worlds, yes; we suspect that they knew a thing or two about alternate worlds but we don't want to take chances to expose Aniki's existence this time. So he wore the mask. And your expression says it Aladdin." Judal told him as if knowing his thoughts.
Aladdin nodded in understanding.
"So would you be showing him?" Fai then asked. Judal simply shrugged.
"I know. Do pull him out after a while."
Fai nodded. Aladdin shifted to be on guard. But instead, Judal simply stepped away from the flow of rukh behind him.
"What…?"
"You can look at those memories now. If you're curious to know about our true reason to defeating them;"
Aladdin nodded stiffly and walked towards the Rukh. He touched them and soon found himself wandering through the memories.
"Hey, you're up?"
Aladdin looked and saw Amber calling out to Judal who woke up.
'Amber-san…?'
"How long do you think they'll stay that way?" Aaron questioned as he looked at Fai and Aladdin who were both asleep on the floor. Aladdin's forehead shone with an insignia similar to the one of a metal vessel.
"According to him, it might just be hours." Zaire shrugged.
"Him as in… the magi, Judal from another world…?" Spartos wondered.
"Ah, Fai did tell you a bit huh…" Ion then added. "In a way, yes;"
"To think that he'll be related to that dark magi though…" Darius seethed.
"Sir Darius…"
"I understand Miss Ion. But it's still rather aggravating. Even knowing that they are both completely different people;" Darius sighed.
"No offense taken; I understood where you are coming from. If one of my relatives turned out to be involved with something bad, I would have reacted the same way."
"You're rather mature for being fifteen years old, Miss Ion." Darius mused.
"I suppose it's just my nature." She shrugged.
"But there's something that Brother Fai didn't tell me." Spartos looked at Rana who stood next to him and his father. He then asked.
"How long has he been doing this?"
Aladdin was too absorbed in seeing the memories inside. He was around the fifth loop of the memory that this Judal had jumped to another alternate world. He felt choked in seeing how his friends had died in the previous worlds.
It was… traumatizing to say the least.
Before he could venture on, he felt a hand grab him and pull him out of the flow. He looked up to see Fai grabbing his wrist.
"Fai-san, I haven't finished seeing them all..."
"Would you want to drive yourself insane from seeing the many times he had to see our friends dying over and over again?" Fai retorted.
'Over and over…?' Aladdin wondered and he soon asked.
"How many worlds had he jumped?"
Fai swallowed an imaginary lump at his throat before he exhaled a sigh. Answering Aladdin's question;
"One million, seven hundred and ninety five thousand, six hundred and thirty one worlds;"
Aladdin simply stared at Fai in shock, eyes wide as he heard the number.
"Th-That much…?" Spartos's eyes were wide as Ion told the number.
"I know lil bro; it's a crazy ass amount. Even I was surprised. Heck, Fai told me that he went insane at some point more than once." Zaire scratched the back of his head. He really was horrified when he heard from the dimensional magicians how many times he had gone. Even he could have gone insane if he were on his shoes.
"If it was that much… how did he even manage to stay sane?" Aaron inquired. Ion had been the one to answer.
"He had to have his memories of us wiped out to save his sanity more than a dozen times."
"Wiped…? How…?"
"You saw it didn't you? The person that helped Judal to start this feat from the first time;"
"Huh?"
Aladdin tried to remember the final memory before Judal went for the second world. It was;
"Would you like to start over from the beginning?"
That was the voice's first question. He would have chosen to do it in a heartbeat, but remembering his past, he opted-
"No."
"What do you mean? Most people would have taken the chance to start over to fix everything."
"If I were to start from zero again if I turn time back, it's just meaningless. I don't even have my friends with me; I might just have to be forced to kill them under that fucking organizations sick orders. I had enough of being played with my whole fucking life and having to experience that again!"
Silence enveloped between them.
"…They're the only ones that gave me a chance to enjoy what I couldn't at first. I'd rather not… have them be a price just to fix my mistakes."
The other voice that communicated with him telepathically then asked. "So you wish for redemption by saving these souls?"
There was silence as a response. They took it as a yes.
"Very well;"
Before he could react, a warp hole stood underneath him and teleported him away. When he came to, he found himself in a vast space. He then found himself staring at a magician in front of him.
"My name is Aparajita, watcher of the alternate worlds and leader of the dimensional magicians. I hereby grant your wish to save your allies."
"Ah, Aparajita-san…"
"Yeah; Dimensional magicians are capable of time and space magic, erasing memories are a simple feat for them since they only simply messed with the target's perspective of time. In other words, having him to start all over again; he will always be sent to point zero. The day he was born nineteen years ago if he was ever insane. If he was sane, Aparajita would send him off to a different point of time that hewished with all his memories intact." Fai explained.
"Every time…?"
"Yes… Though I had a feeling you're about to ask how it was possible for him to have them intact and how he was able to exist as that world's Judal."
"Ah, yes… why is that?"
"Ion told you once, that each world, no matter how similar, have differences, right?"
Aladdin nodded, and Fai continued.
"In some of those worlds, his counterpart had died from Al Thamen's attack with his family or other means. In the other majority of the worlds he jumped where his counterpart was alive, Aparajita used a magic similar to a time slip phenomenon to share his memories and consciousness to that worlds counterpart."
"Time slip…?"
"Time slip is where you somehow got sent back to a point in your past with memories and consciousness of the future given to your past self."
"Ah…"
" Anyhow, in the worlds where his counterpart did die, Aparajita had done the same magic moments before his counterpart was truly killed which should give him some time to protect himself by instinct, but if he wasn't sane before going to that world, the difference is that his memories are erased. Though the memory erasure is temporary since he would remember the moment he meets that world's counterpart of any of our friends. And this magic is harder than it sounds because he himself was turned to a rukh along with his body and transferred to his counterpart's body. And that's a hard process that tires Aparajita's stamina and depletes so much of her magoi because simply having two of your own self together in a world for too long brings a paradox so he'll have to stay there for a few months to adjust in that world to let Aparajita recover."
"I see… But couldn't he simply be de-aged if his memories are completely erased and he was sent back to the day of his birth?"
"Aparajita can't de-age a person no matter how capable she is with time and space magic. De-aging a person is simply going against the law and balance of time and even if she could de-age a person; she would have to risk erasing their existence in many worlds that they truly existed in order to balance the law. Asides that, even though the worlds he jumped through are worlds where Ion and the others existed, time runs differently with each world. If one, for example is around the same point of our own present time, the other worlds may just be ten or even a hundred years back from ours. It maybe even much more ahead;"
"Ah… but Ion-san told me that the king of the Dimensional magician's is the leader…"
"For public eyes, it is. Aparajita was actually one of the first leaders before she chose to stay in the void to watch over the worlds. Only the king's of each generation and their trusted aides and members knew that Aparajita is still alive."
"Wouldn't she have died by then…?"
"The void she watched the worlds from is where time completely stops except for the worlds she watched and where space expands for the many worlds out there. It was because the time there stopped that she never aged. It's also why he was able to look the same no matter how many years had passed."
"What of the worlds Ion-san mentioned before…?"
"Oh, that… Those worlds are worlds where neither of our friends existed. It maybe strange, but Aparjita once mentioned that each world had over a million copies of its own world, each with different outcomes; let's say, in this world, Ion's little brother, Yu, died along with the rest living in their homeland, in another, Yu is the one to survive instead of Ion."
Aladdin nodded in understanding. Aladdin was silent for a while before Fai asked.
"Does that answer everything?"
"…May I ask one last thing?"
"Hm?"
"Has Aparajita-san told you about Alma Torran?"
"…No. I heard it from Judal. Not her."
"…I see."
Aladdin had a nagging feeling that Aparajita is very familiar… Where?
Aladdin let out a sigh after much thinking before he flashed a small smile to Fai.
"I think I know what to show to uncle Darius and the rest, though I'm sure they knew a little bit of this. Thank you, Fai-san."
He smiled before he left him alone. His body and spirit disappearing like fluttering butterflies;
Fai took the chance to talk with Judal who had been silent as they talked.
"Are five loops enough? He didn't know about how you managed to save me in the first place." He questioned.
"It's enough. He wouldn't like it if he knew of this spell either way. And he wasn't supposed to know of the existence of the other thing just yet."
"Haha, I suppose…" He chuckled lightly.
"Once you use this spell to save your brother. Your body will disappear from the physical plane. You will be bound to him as the life force that keeps him alive and that will be your only sole access to existing in the same world as your counterpart without completely causing a disruption of that worlds balance. As you are his life force, you have no control over his will though you are able to communicate with him in his spiritual mindscape. But since you had so many memories in you, he will be likely to see your past memories."
"…Sorry for having to let you see and experience all those memories, Aniki."
"Heh, its fine; It may be painful to see, but… I wouldn't have met Ion and the rest because of you. Other world or not, you're still my biological brother, even though I don't get to remember you here."
Judal laughed lightly. "You're too forgiving Aniki."
"I suppose it's just how I am."
Judal snickered a little before he laughed. Fai laughed along. Judal stopped laughing after a while and asked.
"Say, Aniki? Can you do me a favor?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
Fai was later woken up before Judal had finished speaking his request.
"Fai, buddy. Wake up." Zaire shook Fai's shoulder and he stirred awake.
"Oh, is Aladdin done?"
"Yeah, though we only agreed here and there. Except Aladdin, we told your family about the few things that Aladdin didn't show. About that… you didn't show him all of that guy's memories?" Zaire wondered.
Fai shook his head. "No. Aladdin may be strong, but he's still a kid. You remember how Ion reacted when she saw what is left of her home?"
"Yeah, what of it;"
"Ion took long to recover, even if she didn't say much. And besides, Aladdin's only eleven, almost twelve. Having to let him see all the memories are just too much on him given that he has the memories of Alma Torran to worry of."
"Oh, I get the picture. He might just have a breakdown…"
"Yeah…"
"Say, when do you think you'll tell him everything?"
"Maybe when the time is right, we will. There's something that I got to do in his request."
He'll tell the rest of this request later. For now, they needed a break.
Five days later…
"Spirit of loyalty and purity, in the name of my magoi and my will for a great power, I order you and your members…" Hakuryuu chanted as he held onto the Quan Dao with his two hands. The tilt stood at the grass plain.
"Come forth, Zagan!"
The rukh flowed to Hakuryuu. Transforming him;
His hair changed to black, black streams with a pattern to the patterns of a peacock's feather formed near him and black armor plates formed.
When Hakuryuu looked at himself, he was in awe.
"I… I did it! I did it Fai-dono!"
Fai patted the younger boy as he got closer to him. "Good job Hakuryuu. I had to say you're doing well. Your training of Magoi manipulation with the Yambala tribe in the past made it easy for you to master the full DJinn equip. I couldn't say or tell you anything else after this point since every Djinn has a different power. So from here on out, I suggest you do solitary training to master Zagan's ability."
"Yes! Thank you very much for all these helpful advices Fai-dono!"
Fai chuckled as he patted Hakuryuu's hair. "No problem Hakuryuu. If it was to help you out, then I'll help out however I can."
At the side, Ion and Morgiana watched.
"Hakuryuu-san seems glad…"
"Fai always had the older sibling mentor vibe with him." Ion chuckled lightly.
"Ah yes… Fai-san does seem to have that kind of aura…"
"…But I'm a bit worried." Ion murmured.
Morgiana turned and wondered. "Is something the matter?"
Ion shook her head. "No. It's nothing."
Morgiana only raised a brow before leaving the matter alone.
"By the way, I heard Hakuryuu planned to return to Kou two days ago." Ion said, trying to change the subject.
"Ah yes. I'm also thinking of leaving too…"
"Hm? Where are you planning to go?"
"I had a talk with Masrur about the dark continent yesterday. I wanted to see it for myself… if anyone of the Fanalis were alive."
"…I see. Good luck."
"Thank you… I'm also wondering. What are you going to do from now on Ion?" It was Morgiana's turn to ask.
"Hm… I was thinking of paying a friend of mine at Magnostadt a visit."
"Magnostadt…?"
"You heard of Denzel that I talked to Amber about a week back, right?"
Morgiana nodded.
"Denzel had been staying in Magnostadt for a while, he doesn't completely agree to Magnostadt's views but he wanted to check a few things there."
"Ah."
"By the way, are you planning to leave Sindria tomorrow?"
"Yes… why do you ask?"
"No. I just thought of going along with you since we're on the same route."
"Ah, that would be wonderful."
As the two girls talk, Fai was later approached by Alibaba moments after Hakuryuu left to find a suitable place to train by him own;
"Say Fai-san, can you help me out a bit with my Djinn equip? Master's been helping out as much as he could, but it doesn't really improve much…"
"You know Alibaba, I think the problem isn't with the methods Sharrkan used. But the magoi in you;"
"My magoi…?"
"Yeah; from what I see, you haven't been fully able to manipulate your magoi, that's why you couldn't perform a full Djinn equip."
"Sinbad told me the same too…"
"Why don't you go to Reim and train under the Yambala tribe?"
"Yambala tribe?"
"If Sinbad told you about it, then he must have an idea what to do about it. He may have a link to the Yambala tribe settling at Reim so I think you should take the training. Besides, if you don't take the initiative to grow stronger now, you wouldn't be strong enough to fight against Al Thamen. Or even taking back your homeland;"
Alibaba flinched at the last sentence.
'Fai-san's right… Aladdin wanted to grow stronger too so he could help us. Even Hakuryuu… I felt like an idiot for thinking that they're leaving me all by myself.'
"Thank you Fai-san! I'll ask Sinbad right away!"
"If you're talking about that, I'm right here Alibaba."
Both of them turned to where Sinbad's voice was heard. Sure enough, he was standing distance away from them with Jafar beside him.
"I'll grant you permission to train in Reim. I'll contact the man in charge to train you so you can start packing for preparations so you can leave with Aladdin and the rest tomorrow."
Alibaba's eyes lit up with glee.
"Thank you! I'll be packing right away!"
With that, Alibaba sped up and left the grounds. Leaving Fai on his own with Sinbad and Jafar while the two girls didn't notice them;
"May I ask why you are here? It's not just to talk with Alibaba about his training, is it?"
"You're very sharp Fai. Or I suppose I should call you… long lost brother of dark magi Judal?"
At that moment, Fai's eyes had widened in response.
Fai Leoxses is an enigma.
He had thought as much the first time he and Ion had come over to the harbor the last month.
He noticed how his rukh seems fluctuating. As if he had been in depravity once and recovers from it, so many times.
There's also how keen and sharp his eyes were, seeing that he could somehow perceive what will happen next. Such as that time when Hakuryuu was about to speak in defense of princess Kougyoku's attendant, Ka Koubun;
It was after it was all over that he recognized him for he had once seen Fai during his first visit to Sasan.
Fai Leoxses, brother to Mistoras and Spartos, he heard from Mistoras himself.
While he had only seen him once with Spartos during the day Mistoras had joined in his adventures, he had remembered his face.
It wasn't similar to Mistoras and Spartos so he thought he was a half sibling at first until he found out that Fai was actually adopted as a cousin by Mistoras's uncle, Aaron Leoxses during his adventures when Mistoras had still been there.
He didn't think much of him in the past until Spartos called him out after the mayhem with princess Kougyoku had been solved. Which he finally recognized him and remembered the face under that mask.
It looked horrifyingly alike to Judal's.
And so he decided to take him and Ion in as a guest. Mainly to find out if he really was with the organization. Or was a clone of Judal's.
But he was sadly mistaken when Judal invaded Sindria just two months after Fai and Ion arrived and asked that question.
"I'm not stupid enough to send some clone over to your country idiot king!"
That was Judal's reply to his question.
Another was from what Sharrkan, Yamuraiha, and Masrur had told him when Fai had apparently volunteered to join in helping them to save their respective students.
"He admitted himself that he would have killed us when we let our guard down if he was part of Al Thamen, so the idea that he was part of that organization is out, my king."
Which made his curiosity to Fai Leoxses's origins grow;
Fai Leoxses may have been raised in Sasan, but he was unbound from the rules of Sasan for being an adopted child. Though he had however, noticed that Darius and Aaron had loved him like a son despite his rather mysterious origin. Even Spartos sees him as a beloved family member regardless.
Evident that Darius had actually thought of having Fai to be the next knight king in his place. And Spartos's inspiration had been Fai himself.
When Aaron had told him of how he first found Fai, he then remembered Judal mentioning that Al Thamen had killed his family as an infant and brainwashed him.
And he came to the conclusion.
"Could Fai Leoxses actually be the sibling Judal actually lost?"
It seemed impossible since Judal himself believed that all his family had died from the looks of it. But he still wanted to make sure of it.
So far, Fai and Ion themselves aren't that capable of fully trusting him.
He had tried to listen in and spy on them for some time but only to have some of the important conversations blocked. Which he thought that Ion used magic to block it so it wouldn't reach his ears;
Especially the conversation five days ago when he asked Jafar to listen in; he knew it was something serious when he saw Darius, Aaron and Spartos going in the same room where Fai's friends had stayed.
And he tried to ask Darius and Aaron if there was anything that bothered Fai, but they are bound to his privacy.
"I apologize, but it is not my matter to tell, king Sinbad. Should Fai be ready to tell you, then he would."
He then tried asking Spartos, but no luck as well.
"I'm sorry my king. But I would like to respect Brother Fai's privacy."
When he found Fai on his own with Alibaba, he thought of this as a golden chance and ask him directly after Alibaba left.
So when he saw Fai's eyes widening before it reverted in a flash, he had inwardly smirked that he had hit the mark.
"…What are you talking about king Sinbad?"
"Nothing; I just remembered seeing you once when we first visited Sasan and when Mistoras joined. You looked like him."
"…There's no point in hiding it if you're able to figure out that much just by seeing me once, don't I?" Fai sighed before he added.
"Don't get me wrong king Sinbad, I am never part of that organization. I only found out that I actually had a blood related family still living through an acquaintance from the dimensional magician's land. I really don't like the fact that he's involved with some freak group. But I do not have plans to see him just yet."
Ah, Yamuraiha once said that the dimensional magicians are once close with the spell fencer's before the spell fencer's disappeared which led them to stay away from being reached by anyone on land. They must have been able to reach there with Ion's help.
"Oh; why not?"
"…You're a dangerous man king Sinbad. I'm sure you had some ulterior motives if you plan in helping me, do you?"
And there it is; the sharpness that gets him to an edge.
It was true. He had thought of having Ion join in the ranks and train some of the magicians with spell fencing. But she refused, seemingly knowing of his intentions.
"I'm sorry sir Sinbad. But I cannot trust you with the knowledge of the spell fencer's."
And hearing Fai's answer proves that Fai and Ion had been somewhat aware of his motive which was why neither can trust him.
"If I ever plan to see him, I would have to risk being seen by the organization and they would have likely placed me on their kill list once they saw me."
"Hmm; why is that?"
"…I do have to apologize, but I can't trust you with this information just yet. It's not the time." Fai had spoken the last few words in a whisper, which he can somehow make out. He raised a brow at that.
Not the time? Now he's getting curious.
But before he could ask, Fai had given him a warning.
"If you are planning to control one of my friends, or even Rana for the sake of finding out, I have bad news for you, Ion and Denzel can sense your magic and Amber is a sound magic user with her Djinn so she could repel your magic so you'll never be able to control anyone of them at all."
With that, Fai had walked away from them and went over to Ion who had apparently watched them. The two bids "See you later" to Morgiana before going over their own ways;
"Sin, is it alright to leave him alone?" Jafar had asked.
"It's fine. It seems that he had a counter measure against Zepar's magic so it's pointless. But;"
"But…?"
"At least we know that Fai's an enemy to that organization."
Yes. At the very least, he had managed to acquire good information about Fai and his friends.
And he isn't going to give up without a fight to gain their trust on him.
"That was a close call Fai. Too close if you ask me." Ion pointed out.
She was quiet infuriated that she wasn't there in time to notice Sinbad approaching Fai. This was when Fai had finished giving Sinbad the warning;
They had known that Sinbad had seen Fai once during his first visit to Sasan, but they didn't think Sinbad would have remembered Fai's true face.
Even if Sinbad was someone with good intentions nonetheless, they were still careless.
"Yeah, at least I gave him a good warning if he ever planned to use Zepar on any of you." Fai assured her.
"It looks like he isn't giving up just yet. He'll try hard in gaining our trust on him, which isn't exactly going to happen for a while." Ion told him.
"Oh yeah, we're heading out tomorrow right? It's that moment Aum Madaura's crew attacks the ship on their trip…"
Ion nods.
She heard a few things in regards of his experiences in between the nine years since the five of them had asked Fai to tell them about it. In one of them, where he isn't captured by Al Thamen, he actually enjoyed a normal life and managed to befriend Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana. Even Hakuryuu and Kougyoku; and he had been there to see the event.
Kou Empire was somewhat Magi-less in that world but he managed to raise some dungeons carefully without Al Thamen's notice for the metal vessel users of Kou.
It seemed strange but he still regarded them as his king vessels no matter the world.
Whether it's out of a reminder that he used to get along with them and wanted to make amends or because he had come to terms and accepts the idea of being their Magi, she really couldn't tell.
"We'll probably have to be careful."
"But isn't it a good thing that Amber's planning to join us?"
Ah yes, Amber actually had made herself a schedule for her performances and Reim was next. It was a blessing in disguise.
"Yeah… speaking of which, where is she? Rana and Zaire too…"
"I think they mentioned wanting to use one part of the gardens so they wouldn't be so rusty with using their Djinn's…"
"Spirit of harmony and joy, in the name of my magoi and my will for a great power, I order you and your members;"
Amber held the bell bracelet, the insignia shone.
"Come forth, Sitri!"
The light shone, Rukh seeping into it and changed the bracelet into a Chakram.
"Man, it's been a while since this three people one on one practice fight!" Zaire whooped.
"Ah come on and prepare your weapon equips already!" Rana shouted as she prepared her spear.
"Yeah yeah I know!" Zaire backed away with hands raised up and took out a butterfly knife from the pocket of his pants.
"Spirit of hope and guidance, in the name of my magoi and my will for a great power, I order you and your members…"
"Spirit of truths and courage, in the name of my magoi and my will for a great power, I order you and your members…"
"Say, what are you doing?" All three turned to see Aladdin approaching them.
"Ah, Aladdin!"
He nodded before he questioned again. "So what are you doing?"
"We don't want to get rusty so we went on a battle royale~" Zaire answered.
"Battle royale?" Aladdin tilted his head in wonder.
"Well, how about you see for yourselves?" Rana suggested.
Both Rana and Zaire then repeated their chant.
"Come forth, Botis!"
"Come forth, Marchosias!"
As they both chanted, the insignia shone. Water surrounded the butterfly knife before it turned into ice. An aura of light also surrounded the spear.
"Here I go!" All three shouted at each other and charged.
Aladdin had only seen clashes of weapons going on as the battle went on. He wasn't sure with how the battle will go and who would be the one to win.
He thought of interfering once but they seem to be enjoying themselves in this spar.
"You guys seem to have fun." He heard Fai commenting as they went on. Aladdin spun and saw him walking towards the three with Ion.
"Yo dude! Nice to have you here;" Zaire greeted when he noticed Fai coming to them. He then offered.
"Wanna join in?"
"Nah; I'd rather take a break from battles." Fai shook his head.
"Man, you're boring." Zaire pouted.
At that point, Aladdin took the opportunity to talk. "Say, can I call all of your Djinn's?"
The four dungeon capturer's looked at each other before they give a nod to Aladdin. Aladdin raised his hand up. The insignia's of their metal vessels shining and soon, four blue giants loomed above them.
"I am Asmoday, the spirit of darkness and deceit." A man holding a serious gaze spoke.
"I am Sitri, the spirit of harmony and joy." A teenage girl smiled.
"I am Botis, the spirit of hope and guidance!" A young boy spoke with a cheer.
"I am Marchosias, the spirit of truths and courage." A teen looking boy spoke with a cheery grin.
"It has been a while since we see you like this our king's." The four Djinn's greeted before they looked at Aladdin.
"It has been a long time since we last see you… our prince. You're looking like a mix of your mother and father." Asmoday greeted.
"A-Ah! Please don't call me that!" Aladdin shook his arms around in panic.
"Ah, I apologize. They have yet to know…" Asmoday coughed into his fist.
"Haha! To think you're a serious old man though Asmoday." Marchosias laughed lightly.
"I take offense in the old man comment Marchosias." A tick mark formed at Asmoday's forehead.
"Um… It's about Fai-san's knowledge…" Aladdin called the Djinn's for their attention.
"Can you tell me something about it? Can you tell me what I can do to help them?"
The four Djinn's looked at each other. Botis is the one to answer.
"Sorry prince, it's not our place to decide if we should tell you. Zaire nii-chan thinks that you had enough burdens to worry of already."
"Yes, it's as Botis-kun says. You still wanted to prevent Al Thamen from succeeding yet, no? While we are grateful for your help, we feel that you shouldn't know the full truth yet and given your status, it makes our preparations in the past nine years… let's say, quiet difficult." Marchosias added.
"There's… something that Fai-san hasn't told me?"
"I'm sorry our prince, but it's as Marchosias said. My king chose not to reveal too many details of the truth given the burden you had right now. Should the time come, we will reveal you the truth."
Aladdin felt frustrated that there is still more to the truth of Fai's memories, but he had to agree that the four Djinn's are right.
He still needed to stop Ill Ilah from coming down to this world.
They wanted him to worry about Fai and his friend's problem, later.
He reluctantly nodded at Asmoday's answer.
"Asides that, asides that! I heard from Amber your king's are getting less awkward!" Sitri piped in. Wanting to change the subject;
"Ah! Now that Sitri nee-chan mentioned it! Zaire nii-chan mentioned it too!" Botis added.
Fai stared at the conversation in horror. He didn't think Amber was serious that the Djinn's are really supporting his and Rana's relationship.
"Ah yes… much better than the last few dates that miss Amber had set up." Asmoday added. Adding Fai's horror;
"Why are you even into this Asmoday!?"
"My king, I am very much disappointed that you lack the courage for love. Where did that brave young man I chose at first had gone…?"
"ASMODAY!"
The other Djinn's had laughed while their master's sans Fai laughed along with Ion who is holding her laughter.
Seeing this, Aladdin was reminded of his memories. One of the happier ones before their deaths;
"You actually liked someone who is alike to Kougyoku?" Ion laughed out loud.
"Hell no! Not that old hag!" He shouted in embarrassment.
"But from the way you described your type, I can only see Kougyoku to be the person you described."
"Shut up!"
Judal's face was beet red as Ion laughed at his misery. Before he laughed along with her after a while;
(He found that he always confide with Ion more among the five and despite being the mature one, Ion stroked a very odd friendship to the point of being best friends.)
"Ready for this?"
"What do you think?"
"Then three, two, one, go!"
They threw a pile of small ice marbles made of Judal's magic to the floor and Amber promptly slipped and fell, causing her to stand up and glare at the two who were laughing at her predicament.
"ZAIRE! JUDAL! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"
"What are you going to do about us then, mom?"
"THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO MAIM YOU ONCE I CATCH YOU!"
Zaire and Judal simply cackled as Amber chased them.
(Despite not looking like it, he looked to Zaire as a father figure and Amber being the mother. He can actually see why since Zaire and Judal himself seems to be birds of a feather while Amber had been that motherly due to her upbringing.)
"Relax; he won't bite your hand off."
Judal slowly approached the Maurenian saber tooth tiger and placed his hand right in front of its head nervously.
But then, he felt the tiger nudging its head towards his hand. A sign of acceptance, as Denzel told him once.
"See, I told you he won't bite you."
(It was then and there, that Aladdin found, that Judal had grown fond of tigers.)
"Why the hell did you have to hit me!?"
"Because you're annoying as fuck!"
"Man, if you're going to act like a guy most of the time, no one's going to marry you."
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
(At that memory, Aladdin laughed at the odd irony that Rana ended up dating Fai, Judal's supposedly deceased brother. While not as friendly as with the others, he is actually quiet close with Rana as well. (He also added that the Rana he first knew is much scarier than the current Rana…))
"…I think I can somehow understand why you're willing to save them." Aladdin murmured with a smile as he looked at them.
They are his precious friends.
They gave him a chance when no one did and accepted him despite his sins. And for that, he was willing to save them.
No matter what;
…And done. I was sick for a while but I'm just glad I had this done over the last few days.
Aparajita: A magician who stayed in the void of time and space to watch over the many alternate worlds and leader of the dimensional magicians. A cool-headed and collected individual who would take measures in order to save the lives and dimensions; She was the one who helped the alternate Judal travel from many alternate worlds to save his friends; Aladdin suspected that she was somehow linked to Alma Torran.
(Her name is inspired by the Hinduism god that is known to be invincible. But unlike the namesake, Aparajita isn't exactly invincible so you don't need to worry about her being all too powerful.)
Sitri: The Djinn of the 12th dungeon. The Djinn of harmony and joy; she resides in Amber's bell bracelet. The only female Djinn among the four but she never minded those things. She is quiet a talkative Djinn.
Botis: The Djinn of the 17th dungeon. The Djinn of hope and guidance; He resides in Zaire's butterfly knife. Botis is the most childlike looking and childish among the four Djinn's but that doesn't stop him from being a serious fighter.
Marchosias: The Djinn of the 35th dungeon. The Djinn of truths and courage; He resides in Rana's spear. He had been a contrast to Asmoday's serious personality for being having a cheery side. But of course, he is not what he seems.
A few things to clarify:
1: To differentiate the alternate Judal and the current world's Judal, which is the Judal that we all know, alternate Judal will be identified the same way as the mysterious person linked to Fai in the previous chapters.
2: In Yakuza/gang terms in Japan, Aniki means boss. It's also an informal and a much rude aspect of the usual "Onii-chan" or "Onii-san". Given Judal's personality, calling Fai "Aniki" seems more fitting of him in my view.
3: I think that some of the 72 Djinn's at least called Aladdin a prince given that he's Solomon and Sheba's son. These four are at least one of those that called Aladdin "Prince". When I thought of the Djinn's, I found that not all of the 72 Djinn's which are based on the lesser keys of Solomon are mentioned in canon. So I took some that has yet to be chosen by the others. (I see that Asmoday was a common choice in some of the fics I read to be honest) Sitri and Marchosias are originally picked after a long thought, but what influenced me for Asmoday and Botis is actually the Anime Rental Magica that I used to watch. One of the characters had the usage of the 72 lesser keys of Solomon's demons as a power which got me to pick Asmoday and Botis which are one of the characters used demons in the show.
4: This was a canon material; an official Magi guidebook (I found this information through Magi wiki) said that Judal's type is someone with an opposite personality from him. It can be anyone but my mind went to Kougyoku which lead to the conversation.
5: Any mentions of other alternate worlds back in chapter 4 (5 in index) won't be coming around until a little further in the future. For now, the only mentions of alternate worlds are the worlds where Ion and the rest had lived. The Omake's will also focus in alternate Judal's experience in some of the earlier worlds before World Calling's so keep a lookout for them.
… And just for fun, I made a list of a "What if the OC's are voiced?" for the OC's in this fic. All are in Japanese voices. Characters they had done once for each respective VA's are also included if you're not that familiar with the Japanese VA's.
Fai Leoxses: Ise Mariya (Child) [Killua from Hunter X Hunter (2011), Levy from Fairy Tail], Ishida Akira [Zeref from Fairy Tail, Arisato Minato/Yuuki Makoto from Persona 3]
Amber: Koshimizu Ami [Matoi Ryuuko from Kill La Kill, Agnes Oblige from Bravely Default], Renka (Vocals) [Aqua's vocal for Fire Emblem if]
Zaire: Minagawa Junko (Child) [Echizen Ryoma from Prince of Tennis, Yoon from Akatsuki no Yona], Soma Saito [Twelve/Hisami Touji from Zankyou no Terror, Namazuo Toushirou from Touken Ranbu]
Ion: Morohoshi Sumire [Izumi Kyouka from Bungou Stray Dogs, Fueguchi Hinami from Tokyo Ghoul]
Rana: Inoue Marina [Armin Arlert from Shingeki no Kyojin ,Female Protagonist from Persona 3 Portable (No official name and is exclusive for the PSP version)]
Denzel: Ogata Megumi (Child) [Naegi Makoto from Dangan Ronpa], Hanae Natsuki [Kaneki Ken from Tokyo Ghoul]
Aaron Leoxses: Koyasu Takehito [Braev Lee from Bravely Default, Tsukihiko from Kagerou Project Anime, Mekakucity Actors]
Asmoday: Koyama Rikiya [Klaus Von Reinherz from Kekkai Sensen, Ging Freecs from Hunter X Hunter (2011)]
Sitri: Satou Satomi [Tainaka Ritsu from K-On!, Kanzaki Yukiko from Assassination Classroom]
Botis: Murase Ayumu [Hinata Shouyo from Haikyuu!, Sayo Samonji from Touken Ranbu]
Marchosias: Ichiki Mitsuhiro [Yamato no Kami Yasusada from Touken Ranbu, Yukio Hans Voralberna from Bleach]
Aparajita: Arai Satomi [Azami from Kagerou Project Anime, Mekakucity Actors, Mephilia Venus from Bravely Default]
That's all. Please review on your way out, Ciao!
- TransparentAnswer