Author's Note: I originally began this story in 2019 under a different story name: "Aladdin and the Case of the Stolen Souls" or "Aladdin and the Stolen Souls". Never posted this to and ended up having an entirely different idea of where to take it after writing the story "If I Were Only More Human". This features a minor character from that story who - sort of - helps Aladdin and his friends. But it's not a reunion Aladdin really asked for considering what happens here.
You don't need to read "If I Were Only More Human" to read this one, because I try to recap events in this story as to how Aladdin knows Sufyan, a powerful, moody being in his own right. I also feature another character, Siva, a merchant who was introduced in my story "Turn It Off". For villains, Abis Mal and Haroud make an appearance, but the main villain in this is Mozenrath. You could say I took inspiration to have Mozenrath lead this one considering his efforts in the TV series episodes "Black Sand" and "Two to Tangle", from which I do reference events here.
As per usual, all characters and locales of the original Aladdin franchise belong to their respective creators, while this story and my original characters belong to me. I'm just here to tell a fun story. Hope you enjoy. :)
Story Summary: After a near fatal fall, Aladdin is unknowingly rescued by two sibling spirits in order to escape their magically bound curses, but at a price that could cost them all.
Aladdin realizes things are wrong when he ends up in places he never remembered traveling to, conversations he never had, and other odd events. The events worry him and his friends. Discovering the truth has him reuniting with a familiar, moody magical figure for help. (Hint: Not Genie.)
Realizing Aladdin's predicament and that the two souls inhabiting him are seeking a way out, Mozenrath decides the best way to get what he wants - a magic artifact and Aladdin's erasure out of existence - is to manipulate these gullible spirits into doing what he wants. While one of the spirits goes against Mozenrath's plans, the other may complicate things.
Soul Phases
Chapter 1: Valley of the Ill Fated
Abis Mal struggled to hold onto the disc as he ran away from the magic blasts that Mozenrath fired at him. He ran in a zig-zag pattern along the winding, sandy cliffs several hours (at least it seemed like) outside of Agrabah. The sun hadn't yet set over the horizon, but several clouds drifted in the distance overhead, causing the sky to be darker than usual. He huffed and puffed, taking refuge behind a rock while struggling to catch his breath. His relief was short lived as he heard Mozenrath's booming voice.
"Do you really think that you can hide from me, Master of the Black Sand, when I can see you clearly behind that rock? Do NOT mock me. Xerxes, attack!"
"Yes, master!" Xerxes hissed as he swiveled around the rock, preparing to bite down on Abis Mal's arm to relinquish the artifact. However, Abis Mal had other plans, using the artifact to hit Xerxes square on the head. Xerxes shrieked, before collapsing in a heap onto the ground.
"That's what you get! You slimy...er, uh..." Abis Mal struggled with his words, while Haroud lifted the artifact from Abis Mal's sweaty hands.
"Slimy, filthy monster, sir?" Haroud finished, as he managed to catch up with Abis Mal after lingering behind for some time. Apparently when faced with certain magical related doom, Abis Mal could run away very quickly.
"Yes, that's the word that I was looking for. Thank you...Look out, Haroud!" Abis Mal's train of thought stalled. He had yelled out in warning as a familiar shadow flew overhead of them. One of a magic carpet.
Aladdin, seated just on the edge of Carpet, took the opportunity to snatch the disc artifact from Haroud's hands, flying upwards and away from the rock where they stood. "Sorry, but this precious item wasn't meant for sneaky hands like yours or Abis Mal's!"
"Cursed boy!" Haroud shouted, shaking his fist to the sky. "It's not yours to steal either!"
Aladdin gave a simple shrug. "Not stealing when it belongs to the Sultan. Better suited in my hands since I know it's going to a safe place where you guys can't...Ahh!" Aladdin hadn't seen Mozenrath's quick approach nearby, aiming a magic blast that shot Aladdin in the back. The blast knocked him from Carpet to the sandy path below. The artifact flew out of Aladdin's hands, but Genie was able to recover it, transforming into a football player as he caught it. Jasmine had been with Genie just before he transformed and ran away.
Genie held up the disc artifact with triumph. "I've got it! A little bit of a fumble, but still safe and sound. You okay kiddo?"
Aladdin nodded as he got to his feet. "Good, Genie. Just keep that away from Mozenrath."
Genie gave a quick salute before flying off as Mozenrath chased after him, aiming Black Sand magic blasts that wildly missed Genie's quick strides mid-air.
Carpet few down to scoop up Aladdin from where he fell, as Jasmine met them both to make sure Aladdin was steady on his feet. Not far away, Iago carried an exhausted Abu, the two of them landing on Carpet's surface not far from where Aladdin and Jasmine boarded.
"I could've told you it was a bad idea to get in the line of Mozenrath's magic," Iago said with a sly grin.
Aladdin gave Iago a firm side-eye in response. "You were close enough that you could've warned me he was coming. Anyway, we've gotta help Genie keep that artifact so we can return it to Agrabah before nightfall. Bad enough that Abis Mal and Haroud stole it from the Palace. Didn't realize Mozenrath wanted it too. So the rumors might be true that it has magical properties, at least from what the Sultan was saying."
Jasmine sighed, shaking her head. "Razoul tried his best to stop it from happening, but there's only so much you can do between dealing with a sorcerer wielding Black Sand magic and two thieves who don't know when to stop."
"Make that three thieves! If the monkey hadn't tried to steal it in the first place, we wouldn't be in this situation! It's because it looks like gold, but it's not. Totally different material. If you were paying attention, you would've realized. Some thief you are." Iago gave Abu a hard glare, which Abu flinch.
Aladdin recognized the truth of Iago's words. The artifact's shiny golden surface had intricate hieroglyphics and notches looked like jewels if you didn't see them upclose. Abu could never resist touching shiny treasures. He'd known that for as long as he'd known the monkey. "But if Abu hadn't tried to steal the artifact, then we wouldn't have known Abis Mal and Haroud snuck into the palace looking for it specifically. Still, since we lost it to them..."
Jasmine shook her head as she placed one hand on Aladdin's arm, which made him pause. "We can't worry about what's already happened."
Aladdin's brow narrowed. "Right. Let's see if we can support Genie as much as we can."
Carpet flew between several large rocky ledges, finding one with a large boulder atop. Below the ledge, Abis Mal and Haroud were making their way through the path the only way they could on foot. Since they didn't have a means of flight, they couldn't chase after Mozenrath or Genie very easily. That also gave an advantage to them all.
"We need to push this in the direction of the path south of here. That'll send them running away from the cliffs. There's nowhere else to go but back the way they came." Aladdin and Jasmine began to push on the boulder, followed by Abu and Iago at the base of it. Only when Carpet joined did the boulder budge and eventually fall off the ledge. It spun in midair before crashing onto the ground, rolling down the pathway.
Abis Mal and Haroud watched in horror momentarily as the large boulder approached them. Abis Mal let out a loud wail that echoed through the large rocky labyrinths, before the two thieves turned tail and ran away.
Iago pointed a wing. "Ha! Look at 'em run! Like fleas!" Abu screeched in agreement, whistling as if to cheer the boulder on.
Aladdin used his hand to wipe at the base of his brow. "Whew. Easier than we thought, at least for that. Hopefully Mozenrath hasn't given Genie too much trouble."
Genie was having far too much trouble between Mozenrath and Xerxes double teaming him in their attacks. A few times, Xerxes had bitten Genie on his ankles, which nearly made the artifact slip out of Genie's grasp. Genie was able to recover it, but quickly dodged Mozenrath's relentless magic blasts from a distance away.
"Stop your meddling and hand that artifact over already!" Mozenrath shouted. "I have little patience for semi-phenomenal beings who don't know how to use the magic items they possess properly."
"Oh yeah? I've been around a lot longer than you!" Genie stuck out his tongue for emphasizing his taunt.
Mozenrath aimed a well timed blast that caught part of Genie's shorts on fire. Genie yelped, dropping the artifact. Xerxes positioned himself to catch it, but the artifact was so heavy in its drop that it hit the side of Xerxes's head with the impact of a brick. The creature saw stars circling his vision.
In the meantime, Aladdin, alongside Jasmine, Abu and Iago on Carpet, saw and caught the artifact with both hands outstretched. "There we go. Now to get this back to Agrabah."
Mozenrath's expression twisted into one of unfiltered rage. "I'm NOT done with ANY of you yet!" The outside of his body started to glow with the white hot magic of his power. Genie readied a blast of his own, intending to outdo the sorcerer with his own magic blast.
Aladdin realized only a second before what would happen, but his words fell too late. "Genie, NO! Not here! Having both of those blasts collide will...!"
Jasmine screamed while Abu and Iago let out equal cries of alarm as the blasts converged, exploding through the air with a mix of blinding light and shaking earth.
Abu was the first to wake. Luckily the impact hadn't thrown him a far distance, nowhere near the rocky cliff edges that dropped off to a winding river below. He wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious. The side of his head ached. He rubbed it while thinking a bulging bump would form there eventually.
Nearby, Mozenrath slowly peeled an unconscious Xerxes from the ground. His voice was casual, but menacing with its usual sarcasm.
"If you think this is over, you would be wrong, monkey. I would worry about finding the rest of your friends after that explosion. While you collect them and check to see if they're even still alive, I'll be handling some much needed business and strategy. I'll be back for that artifact, somehow." With a wave of his cloak, Mozenrath disappeared in mid-air.
Abu dusted off sand from his arms and fur, looking wearily around him. He called out several times to his friends, his tiny voice echoed and carried through the area along the wind. It wasn't until he peered over the dangerous cliff that he saw Aladdin lying on a ledge that was a fair distance down from where he stood.
The monkey screeched with alarm, using his paws to scurry down the rocky wall onto the ledge.
Aladdin was hurt badly, possibly from the blowback of debris that was scattered from the magic blast. There was a big bloodied cut on his head just below his browline, bruises on his arms, and a gash across his chest that was way too bloody to not be serious.
"Aladdin, wake up." Abu pleaded. Aladdin opened his eyes part way, looking up at Abu.
"That...was definitely not okay," Aladdin managed, wincing. "Where is everyone?"
Abu screeched a few things - that Aladdin was the first person he encountered, Mozenrath got away, and that he'd hadn't seen anyone else.
"We need to find them." Aladdin tried to sit up, but Abu could tell the prince wasn't well. Things quickly got worse from there.
The ledge they were on had been shaky at best to start, but the moment it started to crumble had Abu's insides twisting in fear.
"Abu, go! Now!" Aladdin shouted between clenched teeth. As Abu raced to find a place on the rocky cliff to grab, he barely managed to get a firm grip. But Aladdin hadn't been quick to follow. Between his injuries and his disorientation, Aladdin wasn't fast enough to make it to the ledge of the cliff, let alone find any rock to grab onto.
It crumbled completely, taking the prince with it.
Iago groaned, realizing that he, Jasmine, and Carpet had been thrown back in the blast in an entirely different direction than Abu and Aladdin had. Probably also Genie and Mozenrath too, but he wasn't sure of anything with his senses knocked out of alignment. He was lying on a mix of sand and rocky debris, flat on his stomach.
"Someone needs to to tell Genie and Mozenrath not to have any kind of magic power contests any time soon. Collateral damage is a doozy."
Jasmine started to wake a short distance away from where Iago was, groaning. "We're lucky that wasn't worse than what it was, Iago." Her arms and hands were covered in cuts and bruises. Apart from a few other places where her palace attire tore at one pant leg, she seemed okay. At least to the bird's eye.
"Eh, bad enough we lost sight of Al and the monkey. Not to mention Carpet being trapped under a boulder that big."
Jasmine turned in the direction where Iago pointed his wing. Her eyes widened as she saw a large piece of boulder, which could have very well been the former edge of a cliff, trapping the magic rug. Carpet was trying his hardest to move out from under it, but nothing worked.
"Carpet, did you push us out of the way of that when it came down?" Jasmine asked. Carpet nodded quickly before continuing to try to dig through sand and push his way out of his trapped space.
"I hate to state the obvious, but I don't think we're gonna get him out of there unless we find where Genie went. Landed, more like," Iago said. He winced as he tried to sit up from the ground. "I think I might've pulled something in my back. Not a great angle to stay in."
"How far are we?" Jasmine asked. She winced as she slowly stood to her feet. "Looks like we went in the opposite direction of the cliffs and river. And where did Mozenrath and Genie go?"
Jasmine worried if Mozenrath had somehow taken the artifact and trapped Genie at the same time. The artifact was the least of her worries, but something like that had happened before when Genie had been captured and a dangerous magical orb had been taken on another one of their adventures. In the end, it had worked out, but it wasn't an easy journey. She weighed her options. "Iago, can you stay here with Carpet while I go look for Genie and the others? If I find Aladdin and Abu on the way, I'll send them here."
"Trust me when I say that I am NOT going anywhere anytime soon," Iago grumbled. "I'm literally unable to move from this spot."
The princess sighed, but nodded before she turned and walked in the direction she thought was closer to the edge of the cliffs. The magic blast had been a lot more powerful than any of them expected. She walked a fair distance before she started calling for her missing friends.
"Genie! Aladdin! Abu!" She tried calling a few more times as she walked the winding path. A few times she had to avoid parts of the narrow path that crumbled under her feet. One wrong step, and she would be plunging into a narrow opening of one of the dark pits. No doubt they were as dangerous as the obvious open cliffs, if not worse because it was hard to tell how deep they went. This place is dangerous on the best of days, she thought. Didn't realize how far we chased Abis Mal, Haroud and Mozenrath to get here.
She heard a series of muffled mutterings at that moment, but it was hard to tell what direction it came from. Jasmine stopped walking, tried focusing as much as she could past the occasional wind gust. She realized it was coming from a little further inland, walked in that direction and quickly found the source of the voice.
Part of Genie was buried by several large boulders. His predicament was the opposite of Carpet's. Where Carpet at least could see above surface and try to push his way out, Genie's upper body was trapped, while his feet were outwards, kicking without purpose. Not far from where Genie was trapped, the artifact remained intact, unscratched and untouched.
Well, at least we were able to keep it away from Mozenrath, Jasmine thought with a sigh. Guess I need to pull him out of there first.
She waited until Genie stopped kicking, then grabbed him just above the ankles to pull. It took several attempts, but by the time Jasmine pulled what seemed like the 10th round, Genie was free. Most of his body was flattened, apart from his feet. He looked as flat as the paper of a scroll.
"Oh, hey Jas, thanks. Wondered who was trying to pull me out," Genie said. He used his magic to make an hand air pump appear. Like inflating a balloon, he managed to pump himself back to his usual shape before zapping the tool away.
"I'm guessing you haven't seen anyone else since you were trapped?"
Genie shook his head, using his hands to knock sand out of his ears. "Nope, stuck since Mozenrath's and my magic collided. Didn't think it would be that bad, worse than expected." His expression turned serious. "How about you?"
"Carpet and Iago were with me." She gave as brief an update about them as she could before continuing. "Haven't seen Aladdin, Abu, or Mozenrath."
Genie winced. "Yeah, not a great sign. Probably a good idea to get the others and search..." He trailed off when they both heard a loud rumble and series of frantic screeches nearby.
"Is that Abu?" Jasmine asked, panic rising to her throat.
"Definitely. Can't make out what he's saying, but doesn't sound like anything good. Come on." Genie transformed into a moderately sized salamander and urged Jasmine to ride on his back. It was a little weird, but Jasmine couldn't argue. She quickly mounted him like a camel and they rode in the direction of where they believed Abu was. It took them a moment for both of them to realize, at the cliffs, that Abu had gone over them.
And it was an all too quick moment when Genie realized Abu lost his grip. The monkey screamed.
"Yiiikes! Hang on!" He quickly left Jasmine's side, swan diving down the side of the cliff and catching Abu midway down the short cliff. It wasn't huge compared to most of the other ones in the valley, but a fall like that could do some serious harm, even for someone as small as Abu. Then there was the matter of the river, which had too strong of a current and could easily drown man or animal.
"Whew, close call. Better timing than we thought, I think..." Genie said with a small grin, but he realized Abu's fear was not eased as the monkey's claws clung to his shoulders. The monkey screeched so fast and frantic that it was hard to understand him. Genie figured the first thing he'd do is get Abu to solid ground to calm down. He started to fly upward, but Abu kept resisting and pointing downward.
"No, no, no! Aladdin fell! Aladdin fell!"
"He what?!" Genie looked down, his eyes widening before looking back up to meet Abu's. "The river? Not long ago?"
Abu nodded quickly.
"You tell Jasmine exactly what happened. I'm gonna go look for him." Genie used his magic to quickly transport Abu to the top of the cliff where Jasmine was. Didn't have to know the full context of what happened, there was no time to hear it. What he had to do was clear enough.
Jasmine realized something was wrong the moment Abu appeared near her, courtesy of Genie's magic. The poor monkey was trembling so much that it was hard to hold him, let alone understand him.
"Abu, I need you to slow down. What happened?" Jasmine at first had thought Mozenrath had somehow kidnapped Aladdin and taken him downstream in the rocky valley, with Genie following them. But the reality was way worse. Worst still, it happened just before they reached the cliffs.
We were just a short trek from them both. If only we arrived sooner.
The shock didn't wear off much, even as Jasmine heard Iago and Carpet approaching from a distance. Iago had made their presence known, but neither Abu nor the Princess had recognized it.
"Hey, did either of you hear me?! I said Carpet made it out from under the rocks! You never came back to check." Iago said, still lying on his stomach as Carpet flew over. "Ignore us more, why don't ya?"
But Carpet picked up faster than the bird that something was wrong. And that was even before Jasmine turned to them with her quick order. "Carpet, we need to follow Genie. Down there." Jasmine pointed downward into the valley. "Riverside. Right now."
Carpet didn't spare a moment's hesitation letting Abu and Jasmine board him.
"Hey, is anyone gonna tell me what's going on - whoaaaa!" Iago barely had time to grip Carpet's edge as they all swooped over the cliff, flying towards the river below.