"I'm sorry," Jasmine said. She collapsed onto Aladdin, wrapping her arms around him and weeping against his body. "It's all because of us. If my father had never hired Jafar, none of this would've ever transpired in the first place."
Aladdin wrapped his arms around her and said, "You don't need to apologise. I would've fought to defend you and Agrabah with my life, even if it had been someone else who dared to attack the Kingdom. It doesn't matter who they are. All that matters is that you are safe."
Jasmine nodded, drying her eyes, but she didn't remove herself from Aladdin's arms.
"I'll make sure that everyone related to Jafar and his bloodline is eliminated before they cause any further damage in the future," Rakim said, his tone resolute.
Aladdin shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary. From what I've learned, they don't have any other relatives. Jafar and Nasira were twins who learned to survive on their own on the streets of Agrabah after they lost their parents, before being taken in by a lone sorcerer whom they served, until they discovered their talents in sorcery."
Rakim nodded. "You seem to be more knowledgeable about Jafar. Have you been carrying out your own investigations?" he asked, with a look of curiosity.
"Yes. To be honest, before I confronted Jafar, I had been investigating his background, and that was how I came to find out about his sister. Still, it was difficult to ascertain whether this information was true or not, so I wasn't certain until now," Aladdin responded with a sigh.
He couldn't tell them that he knew about it from the extended Aladdin franchise in his former life, so he gave an explanation he had already planned beforehand.
Rakim nodded. He easily believed Aladdin's words because he had once lived on the streets of Agrabah as a thief, so it was possible for him to gather information about Jafar.
"I will speak with you all later. For now, I would like to speak with Genie alone," Aladdin said, leaning in to kiss Jasmine on the forehead. "Give me five minutes, please," He whispered into her ear.
Jasmine nodded, took Abu into her arms, and, after kissing Aladdin on the cheek, quietly stood and walked toward the door. Rakim nodded, understanding Aladdin's wish for privacy, and exited the room as well.
Carpet nodded at Aladdin before turning and leaving with the other flying carpet beside him.
Aladdin waited until the door was closed before he turned to Genie.
"Don't ask. I've got it right here," Genie said with a wide smile as he manifested a vial from thin air and placed it before Aladdin.
Within it was a white, purplish wisp bouncing across the vial.
Aladdin took the vial.
"What is it?" he asked, seeing Genie's nervous expression.
"Well, you see… there's a tiny… bitsy problem," Genie responded.
Aladdin frowned. "Like what?" He had a foreboding feeling that he wasn't going to like the next words he heard. However, he didn't dare jump to conclusions and instead waited for Genie's response.
"After trapping the soul, I discovered that it was a split soul, and the other half was missing. So there's a possibility that sorceress Nasira is still somewhere out there, although not in her body… since, you know…" Genie transformed into a French mine, and placed his hand under his neck and moved it as though imitating a knife.
"So you're saying that Nasira split her soul in half before attacking Agrabah?" Aladdin asked, stunned by the revelation.
"Yes. Naturally, this isn't something easily done, as splitting a soul requires a person to endure unimaginable pain and anguish. For her to put herself through such horror is…" Genie transformed back to his normal form, wearing a solemn expression.
"Insane," Aladdin stated.
This was one of Aladdin's greatest fears: to have an enemy that lives to fight another day. He wanted to crush them once and for all, whether by wits or by strength, so that no one would turn his new life in this world to chaos.
Considering Nasira's mastery in necromancy meant that she also has a high level of mastery in soul magic, and after discovering that she couldn't find or locate Jafar's soul after his death, despite her capabilities to do so, she would obviously take the required procedure to ensure that she doesn't meet the same fate. Especially since she possibly had no one to revive her.
But for a half a soul to occupy a body meant that it wasn't functioning at its full capacity. This meant that the Nasira who had attacked Agrabah and whom he defeated, was weakened. To make matters worse, this Nasira had acted far too brazenly by attacking the entire Kingdom of Agrabah.
In the Aladdin franchise, she had kidnapped Jasmine and the Sultan and used him to retrieve the artefacts needed to revive Jafar. Although she had succeeded in reviving Jafar, proving her ruthless and cunning mind, her overconfidence was also the reason for her downfall.
The problem was the change in her plans. Just like the Forty Thieves colliding with Nasira to attack Agrabah, Aladdin pondered if perhaps any of those powerful villains had also begun changing their plans too far from the script.
Genie spotted Aladdin's series of changes of expression, but didn't speak.
'I should have expected this,' Aladdin sighed inwardly. With his interference in this world, things were bound to change.
The only thing left for him to do was to place countermeasures and plan ahead as well.
"Is there a way for us to track her other soul? They must have some connection with each other, right?" Aladdin asked, as a lightbulb lit up in his mind.
"That's not possible, Al. Souls aren't that simple to track. Just because they might have a connection doesn't mean that it can be used," Genie shook his head, folding his arms.
"Besides, I've told you that I can't kill. Even if I wanted to, I can't bring myself to do it… And if I go searching for a soul in the middle of the desert and get discovered by the council, then the repercussions will be terrible," Genie said, before sighing in defeat. "I'm Sorry, pal."
"The Genie Council?" Aladdin asked, confused.
He had heard Genie mention being restricted by a Genie Council previously, but he still didn't know what it was. Though he was a hardcore fan, he wasn't the type who scoured the internet to unearth every piece of information or make sense of the entire Aladdin franchise. He simply enjoyed the show and every bit of fan content he could get his hands on.
Back then, he hadn't been able to rewatch all the episodes once he began his corporate life.
"Genie Council… otherwise known as the Genie Union…or The Union... We normally use that to confuse normies… get it?" Genie chuckled loudly while holding his stomach. Then he transformed into a professor, with a chalkboard on a stand, appearing before Aladdin, and began to explain.
"The Genie Union, or simply The Union, is a group of extremely powerful genies responsible for ensuring that genies abide by the 'Code of the Genie', which are rules enforced to ensure that a genie does not abuse their powers for personal gain. A few of them are the wishing rules, which you already know. Any genie who breaks these rules is sent to a very dark world where they endure all sorts of inhuman torture," Genie explained.
A look of fear crossed his expression for a moment before quickly vanishing.
"That's terrible," Aladdin said, surprised.
"Yes, it is. Some genies decide to break these rules at times and are successful, while others are not. Even if they succeed, it's only a matter of time before they are caught. So you see why I can't go around doing whatever I want," Genie responded, defeated.
Aladdin nodded. He still believed that Genie was one of the most powerful beings in this world, as this had been made clear through the franchise. This revelation meant that there were other genies on the same level of power as Genie, or even beings who surpassed him, making it impossible for any genie to disobey freely.
A shiver ran down Aladdin's spine as the thought crossed his mind.
There was no way to gauge beings with such power except through the weaknesses they possessed. However, he had no information on them, so if they ever came after him or Genie, he would be like a struggling fish pulled out of water.
Aladdin soon calmed down, remembering his limitless talent in magic and the fact that these beings wouldn't come after him without reason.
"Good. Now let's find out what plans you have. We don't want you recklessly charging into danger again. You're not Captain Danger..." Genie said, spinning the blackboard. He transformed in a puff of smoke back into his normal form and hovered before Aladdin with an attentive gaze.
A flicker of golden flame appeared beneath the vial in Aladdin's palm. The flames wrapped around the vial, incinerating it until it turned to ash and settled on his palm.
Then the golden flames slowly dissipated.
Aladdin controlled the wind and scattered the ashes out the window and into the air.
"I doubt Nasira will be troubling us anytime soon. She already knows what we're capable of, and she doesn't seem foolish enough to return without a proper plan. Besides, if she returns, she'll probably still be in a weakened state, unless she obtains something like the Elixir of Life, which, according to legend, can heal souls. However, I've already sent my best soldiers in search of it, so we'll be immediately alerted if she comes looking for it," Aladdin responded, his tone and expression serious.
"Even if she finds another way to heal her soul, it would take a long time. By then, I might have the power to face her."
After several weeks of training, his magical reserves had grown from allowing him to continuously cast spells for twenty minutes to lasting up to three hours before exhaustion hit him. He could also push his spells beyond their normal limits by burning his reserves.
For someone like Nasira, her reserves were on an entirely different scale. A sorceress of her level, especially one specialised in necromancy and soul manipulation magic, could likely sustain continuous combat for days with her magical reserves or by drawing from external forces of dark energy.
Enough to bring down a Kingdom like Agrabah without exhausting her reserves.
To put it into better perspective, an average sorcerer, who had spent studying and mastering basic spells over five to six years, could only main contonious spell casting for about two to five hours before exhaustion set in. And even then, they couldn't match the control or intensity of someone like Nasira... or even him.
As long as he continued training, it was only a matter of time before he caught up to her.
"Nice thinking… You've got a good head on your shoulders…Don't lose it. I don't have health insurance… Now that's done, I've got places to see, guests to chat with, and delicacies to taste," Genie said, transforming into a tourist wearing dark shades, with a large suitcase in his hand.
"I'll be back in a jiffy.. Maybe after I have a snack break… Maybe tear a page from you and save a Kingdom or two… Anyway, don't wait up. Adios!"
Then, Genie vanished in a puff of smoke.
Aladdin realised that Genie was gone, probably to who knows where.
He sighed tiredly.
Aladdin shifted his focus to how to confront his father. He wasn't a man who could be trusted. He didn't know how to break the news to Jasmine and others.
Does Genie already know?
Given the way he had vanished, Aladdin suspected that he knew something. However, he didn't give it too much thought because there was nothing he could do about it, even if he knew.
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