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Within by Sindie
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Within

By Sindie

Chapter One

The hollowing winds batted fiercely at the black sand, picking it up and slashing it violently around in fits. What had errupted a few hours earlier was a sandstorm, one which would surely blind anyone who dared to travel the deserts during those long, terrifying hours. Night had already cast its shadows across the sky and over the city streets below, and the overcast sky nearly blocked the crescent, waning moon. Shutters banged against the walls outside of the abandoned buildings, and besides the clanging of them, the only other sound heard was the moaning of the wind.

All this was of little importance to him, however. There he sat, the young, determined man who had been scarred from a very early age. The sands from the hourglass fell as the candles flickered around him. By this late hour, the wicks had burned quite low, but he relentlessly poured himself into his work, and he pondered and pondered a way...a way to be rid of his worst enemy of all. Just as his eyes grew heavy, one of the shutters on a nearby window came loose, and the wind suddenly burst into the room, immediately extinguishing the candles and blowing the pages of the opened book in front of him. Startled, he stood up in the bleak darkness, but his attitude changed shortly thereafter.

"Xerxes!" he bellowed, an obvious anger coating his tone.

The deformed eel quickly made his way around the corner and into the room. "Master call?" he timidly asked.

"Yes, I called!" spoke his master, his voice growing ever more impatient. "What did I tell you about keeping these windows shut?"

"Master said to make sure they never open."

"Very good," the man retorted sarcastically. "Now, I demand you find a way to fix it! How am I supposed to come up with a plan to be rid of that street rat once and for all when I can't ever read the spellbooks?"

"Um, Master can't," replied Xerxes dumbly.

"That's right!" he barked. "I am Mozenrath, Lord of the Land of the Black Sands, and I'll have no one, and I mean no one, stop me from getting what I want, especially a pathetic familiar like you!"

Xerxes turned to leave, but out of his long-gone patience, Mozenrath sent a bolt of blue and black magic directly at the eel, which in turn caused Xerxes to scamper out of there all the more rapidly.

Mozenrath moved to an adjoining room and lit more candles, seating himself in front of the book again. His silent thoughts found their way to his mouth, and he muttered, "I've tried everything...and nothing works. Any outside force I've ever tried on Aladdin has failed, so maybe the answer to the street rat's destruction doesn't lie on the outside...maybe it lies on the inside."

That last thought gave Mozenrath an idea, and he laughed wickly to himself. He knew just the book he needed, and grabbing a candle off the table, he proceeded to his library.

* * * * *

The next day in Agrabah, the atmosphere outside was a complete contrast to what it had been the night before in the Land of the Black Sands. The sun was shining brightly, and the winds were all gone. People went about their business in the marketplace, filling the streets with the usual thrills of the bustling city.

Back in the palace, however, a different mood had settled in one individual in particular: Aladdin. Aladdin stood right in front of Jasmine, who was trying to convince him not to worry, but the young man wasn't having much luck at it.

"I gotta admit, Jasmine," Aladdin started nervously, "I just don't know about this whole thing..."

"Relax, Aladdin," smiled Jasmine, looking into his eyes. "You have nothing to worry about. Genie has already made sure the decorations are up, and he's doing some last minute checks just as we speak. It'll be fun. After all, it's not every day that there's a party here."

"I guess you're right, Jasmine. I never had a birthday party before, though. What if I do something really stupid and wind up embarrassing myself?"

Jasmine giggled. "What could you possibly do that would cause that to happen? Now seriously, Aladdin, let's get you ready. We've only got a couple more hours."

Jasmine reached for his hand, and as they left Jasmine's chambers, they nearly tripped over Abu and Iago in the hallway. They were in the middle of an argument, which was nothing new. Aladdin and Jasmine stopped for a second to observe what they were fighting about.

"It's mine!" Iago yelled at Abu, tugging on something. "You had it last time!"

Abu squeaked something in his defense at the parrot and then stuck out his tongue. The raspberry noise Abu made caused a little bit of saliva to fly from his tongue and hit Iago right in the eye.

Iago immediately let go of whatever they were yanking on and rubbed his eyes, "Ew, gross! You just spit in my eyes, you miserable primate! When I get my wings on you, you'll be tiger food!"

Abu ran over to Aladdin and up his body until reaching Aladdin's shoulder. Abu felt a safe haven there, and he hid his trophy under his vest. Aladdin looked puzzled and asked, "What were you two fighting over?"

Iago was now done freaking out over Abu's spit in his eyes, and he claimed rather loudly, "It's called chocolate! Genie said we could split it, but last time Abu got it all. I'm tellin' you the truth, so this time it's mine!"

Jasmine shook her head. "You're hopeless, you know that? Why don't you just share?"

Aladdin nodded in agreement and held his hand out to Abu, expecting the monkey to comply. Abu refused and shook his head no. "Come on, Abu," prodded Aladdin. "We don't have time for this. The party starts a couple of hours, and I need to get ready."

"Oh, okay..." muttered Abu, handing the chocolate candy bar over to Aladdin. Aladdin broke it in half and gave a equal-sized piece to both Iago and Abu.

"Come on," Jasmine motioned to Aladdin.

As they left the two animals in the hallway, Aladdin could already hear Iago's voice complaining, "Hey, my piece is smaller than yours, Monkey! Fork it over!"

They walked down the hallway until coming to a room where the servants were waiting for Aladdin. Jasmine couldn't help but to let out a small giggle as she opened the door. Aladdin gulped and felt a lump growing in his throat as the door opened to reveal a room full of people, all of them ready to wait on him, hand and foot. He wasn't used to other people dressing him or cleaning him up, and this certainly wouldn't be the last time in his life that he would be subjected to such treatment.

"He's here," Jasmine announced to the servants. "And he's all yours."

Aladdin gave her the evil eye at that last remark, and she smiled sheepishly in return. "You'll be fine," she whispered in his ear. "Love you." With that, the princess left the room, leaving poor Aladdin surrounded.

I've fought monsters of all kinds, thought Aladdin, and yet, this scares me more than any of that.

"Come here, young man," said one of the servants, a young lady. "Your bath is ready for you."

Aladdin could feel his stomach churning as he approached the tub full of hot water and soap suds. There were three servants standing around the tub, watching his every move.

"Uh, if you don't mind," began Aladdin, stuttering nervously, "could you leave the room while I take a bath?"

"But, sir," replied one of the servants, sounding shocked, "don't you want our help?"

"Uh...right... No, that's okay. I'm perfectly capable of taking a bath myself, thank you."

The servants looked at each other in utter confusion. The awkward moment seemed to drag out for an eternity. They had never been told to leave the room like this. It was their job to wait on the royal family and their friends, especially on special occasions. They finally nodded slowly and turned to exit the room.

That's much better, thought Aladdin, smiling to himself as he removed his clothes and stepped into the bubbling tub.

* * * * *

"It's nearly ready!" proclaimed Mozenrath with a newfound happiness echoing in his voice.

"Almost done? Gooood," cooed Xerxes, practically drooling over his words as he looked into the cauldron of smoking liquid on the table. He smiled wickedly, the very same expression written across his master's face.

"A little bit of toad liver," mumbled Mozenrath, "and there we go! The potion is complete. Now all we need to do is get Aladdin to drink just a small amount of it, and then his life will start to come undone."

"How Master gonna get hero to drink?" Xerxes asked dumbly.

"Oh, I've got a plan," smiled Mozenrath. "Yes, Xerxes. I've got it all figured out. By tomorrow morning, our hero won't know what hit him. By the end of the week, his life will be completely shattered. See, Xerxes, I've got the inside scoop on what's going on at the palace tonight. It just so happens that Aladdin is having a special party for his birthday...How sweet," he spat sarcastically.

By this point in the explanation of his plan, Xerxes understood exactly what Mozenrath was up to. As Mozenrath uttered his last words, he blew out the last burning candle on the table, saying, "Come, Xerxes. Let's get dressed. We have a party to attend."