Chapter 82: Appreciation
Once they reached the castle in Dinosaur Jungle, Sonny and Shahra made their way back to where the Ifrit was located. A thick smoke clouded their path and once they were inside the fiery chamber, the Ifrit was still in its pool of liquid metal but the flames coming from its eyes were stronger and its arms and torso were ignited by several fires.
"Hey, genie, sorry to keep you waiting," Sonny said as he held up the Water Blue Ring. "Oh Ring of Water, bring forth a mighty storm!"
The ring glowed in response, and a large raincloud appeared over the Ifrit's head. Then as a heavy rain poured down, the liquid metal pool sizzled and the Ifrit roared as the flames in its eyes and along its body diminished. Sonny then used this opportunity to leap onto the Ifrit's head and smash the glowing object on its head. While the Ifrit cried out in pain, Sonny jumped back as the golem-like creature lifted itself from the pool which started to solidify as more water poured into it. With only its upper-torso and arms remaining, the Ifrit crawled along the pool's circumference and breathed fire from its furnace-like mouth. Fortunately, Sonny manage to dodge the flames and hit the glowing object on the Ifrit's head two more times which caused the creature to blow up and sink into the liquid metal.
"Whew," Sonny said breathlessly. "Did we win?"
An object floated from the liquid metal pool and fell at Sonny's feet. It was about the size of a small ball made of metal with orange veins that seemed to glow. Sonny picked up as Shahra examined it.
"Do you know what this is?" Sonny asked.
"I don't know, but I hear something like a faint heartbeat," Shahra said listening closely. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, the beating just got faster."
"Then this must be a bomb of some kind!" Sonny exclaimed. "We got to get out of here and toss the object outside."
So Sonny and Shahra made their way out of the castle as quick as Sonny's feet could run. Then once they were out in the open, Ali-Baba and Sinbad watched in confusion as Sonny kicked the round object out into the swamp. An explosion soon followed, and then another object floated back to Sonny. It was another large ring, only this one was red with gold carvings. Once Sonny touched it, a fiery heat radiated from the ring.
"Ow!" Sonny said as he flinched.
"Did it burn you?" Shahra asked.
"A little," Sonny replied.
"Hey, Sonny," Ali-Baba said as he and Sinbad approached. "What was that thing you kicked into the swamp?"
"Just something the fire genie left behind that turned into this after it exploded," Sonny said as he showed the ring to Ali-Baba and Sinbad.
"A World Ring," Ali-Baba exclaimed.
"It must've been inside the fire genie the entire time," Sinbad responded.
"Yeah, and probably the source of the fire genie's power," Sonny said as he placed the ring into the same pocket where the other rings were. "So where do we go from here, Shahra?"
Shahra was silent in thought for a moment, and then she said, "Let's meet up with King Solomon. He was the one who sealed away the spirits Erazor Djinn has been summoning long ago. Maybe he could tell us more about the World Rings."
"Sounds good to me," Sonny said excitedly. Then he turned to Ali-Baba and Sinbad saying, "You guys should probably go look for King Shahryar. I accidentally left him on the other side of the swamp with no means of getting back to the Sand Oasis."
"No problem," Ali-Baba responded and used the lily-pads as platforms to get to the outcropping Sonny left Shahryar on.
"Fine," Sinbad grumbled as he followed Ali-Baba's lead. "Just don't damage my ring, will you?"
"Sure thing," Sonny replied, then he and Shahra left the Dinosaur Jungle on the magic carpet.
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"Whoa, this place gives me the creeps," Sonny said once he and Shahra arrived at the entrance to a trench made of solid bone with small white flakes falling from an overcast sky.
"This is Skeleton Dome, the home of King Solomon," Shahra responded.
"He sure has an odd taste in decoration," Sonny said as he took off down the trench.
After traversing through the trench, Sonny traveled through a bone-filled forest and into a palace that was also made from bone.
"Where do you think Solomon is?" Sonny asked as he looked around.
"Probably in the tombs," Shahra answered.
"How fitting," Sonny replied sarcastically as he made his way down to the lower levels of the palace where dungeons were filled with piles of gold coins and long-winding corridors never seemed to end.
Eventually, Sonny came into an empty chamber with a long stone walkway leading up to an imposing throne made of red velvet. Upon closer inspection, the throne was occupied by a large skull wearing a purple hat adorned by a golden crown and a necklace of frills around its neck. Then just as Sonny was about to touch it, the skull's eyes glowed.
"Don't you dare think about touching me, young man!" the skull barked as it floated off the seat of the throne.
"K-King Solomon?" Sonny said in disbelief.
"Yes, what do you want?" replied the talking skull.
"Did the Erazor Djinn do this to you?" Shahra abruptly asked.
"Unfortunately, he did," responded King Solomon. "He resurrected the legendary 40 Thieves to attack me and scatter my bones everywhere. So if you two could somehow find the rest of my body and take care of the 40 Thieves, I would very much appreciate it."
"No problem," Sonny said, and then he and Shahra left the chamber.
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After they had gathered Solomon's bones and defeated the 40 Thieves, Sonny and Shahra made their way back to the chamber where King Solomon was waiting for them. He then floated toward the bones that made up his body and put himself back together with Sonny's help. But once he realized he was a naked skeleton, Solomon quickly went back to his throne and put on the purple robe and white tunic that were lying there. Next, he sat down at the throne and picked up an ornamental scepter.
"Now, to show my appreciation for eliminating the 40 Thieves and putting my body back together, I shall give you this," King Solomon said and waved his scepter before Sonny and Shahra.
A flash of light appeared, followed by a white ring that floated into Sonny's hands.
"Another World Ring," Shahra said.
"All right, that makes six," Sonny said. Then he bowed to King Solomon. "I appreciate your gift, King Solomon, but we were wondering if you could tell us everything you know about the World Rings."
"There isn't much to say," replied Solomon. "They are mystical artifacts that hold great powers and may be used to link this world and another together if the one who collects all seven sacrifices himself."
"So can we use the rings to defeat Erazor Djinn?" Sonny asked.
"It's possible, but there is another way," Solomon said turning to Shahra as he spoke. "You see, Erazor Djinn is actually the Genie of the Lamp."
"The Genie of the Lamp? From 'Aladdin'?" Sonny said with disbelief.
"Then I take it you're familiar with the story," replied Solomon. "The Genie's power comes from his lamp. Without it, he is completely powerless. However, since he became Erazor Djinn the lamp has gone missing."
"Do you know where the lamp is?"
"It is much closer than you think."
"I see." Sonny looked at Shahra and then back at Solomon.
"You will find the last World Ring in Erazor Djinn's palace, which can be opened with the White World Ring," Solomon responded pointing his scepter at the ring Sonny held.
"Oh, well that's convenient," Sonny responded, then he took off with Shahra following behind. "Thanks again, King Solomon!"
"That boy," Solomon mused as Sonny and Shahra left. "He reminds me of a certain blue hedgehog who came here before, but I sense death is approaching him swiftly."
To be continued…