Mozenrath sat on his throne deep in the heart of his citadel. He was sulking. There wasn’t much else to do in the Land of the Black Sand. He was a good sulker. He had the lips for it.

“Master! Master!” came Xerxes’s voice from the hallway. He zoomed into the room, a look of panic on his face, making a whistling sound as he cut through the air straight towards Mozenrath. Without looking up, Mozenrath reached up with one hand and stopped the eel in midair.

“What is it, Xerxes?” he snapped. He hated interruptions, even if all that was being interrupted was his sulking.

“Magical intruders!” Xerxes choked through his master’s iron grip. The Lord of the Black Sands released his hold on the eel and sighed. It seemed these days that he couldn’t sit down for a good sulk without some magical being invading his kingdom. It was time to invest in a better security system.

He strode out of the throne room and towards a balcony that overlooked most of his kingdom. Sure enough, every one of Mozenrath’s magic-detecting lamps was lit up, giving the city a twilight glow.

Mozenrath growled in annoyance and turned back to Xerxes. “Did you see Aladdin or his Genie?”

“No Aladdin. No Genie.”

“Did you see anything?”

“Dust, master.”

“Dust?”

“Sparkly dust.”

Mozenrath raised an eyebrow. The flying eel had always been slightly mad, but now it seemed that he had completely snapped. Still, it was better to be cautious when dealing with unknown magic. The sorcerer ripped open a portal with his gauntlet and went to investigate.

He climbed through to the other side of the portal, followed by Xerxes. They were in the middle of the city. Overhead, one of the blue, magical lamps blazed, and, sure enough, on the ground there was a trail of metallic, silvery dust mixed in with the black sand. Mozenrath scooped up a handful and ran it through his fingers. It didn’t seem to contain any magic itself, but magic was surely used to create it; it certainly wasn’t natural. Shaking the stuff off his hands, he stormed off, following the trail in the direction of the citadel.

The trail led all over the city, sometimes crossing itself or leading in circles, as if the intruder was trying to set off every magic lantern in the city. Occasionally he passed mamluk patrols that were reduced to piles of body parts covered in silver sparkles, which shrunk away from their master, shell-shocked. Again the sorcerer bemoaned his woeful lack of security; mamluks worked fine against mortals, but were practically useless against magic. Angrier than ever, Mozenrath turned a corner and finally saw where the trail was leading: over the land bridge and through the citadel’s gates. While he had been out searching, the trespasser had entered the citadel.

Furious, Mozenrath raced over the bridge and into the citadel, with Xerxes close behind, until he reached the trail’s end: his throne room.

On the throne sat a female figure – it was definitely female. Mozenrath’s first thought was that she resembled Princess Jasmine, since the shape of her face, hair, and body were similar. A closer look, however, revealed many differences. She seemed far taller than the princess, at least a head taller than Mozenrath, and was more – um – well endowed. Her eyes were bigger than even Jasmine’s, like big shoujo eyes, and were inexplicably purple. Her outfit was similar, except that the top was skimpier, the pants lower cut, and the whole outfit was colored dark blue, black, and gold, as if she had dressed to match her surroundings. The final difference was her hair – it was golden blond and wasn’t tied back like Jasmine’s; there was also about twice as much of it. Her golden locks fell in waves that cascaded down almost to the floor, but never touched it, and –

Mozenrath shook his head quickly; he wasn’t used to thinking these kinds of thoughts, especially not about hair. Mentally chiding himself for acting so out-of-character, he turned to Xerxes. “Xerxes, is the is the intruder you... Xerxes?”

Xerxes hung in the air, transfixed, with little cartoon hearts in his eyes. “Pretty lady...”

Mozenrath rolled his eyes. Some people had no self-control. He charged up his gauntlet with magic so it glowed red and pointed at the girl. “You have one minute to explain why you are trespassing in my kingdom before I turn you into a smoldering pile of ash!”

“Oh, how silly of me,” the girl exclaimed, slapping her hand to her forehead and standing up, sending a cloud of silver glitter into the air, “My name is Maridah Sumaya, but people call me Mar–”

“I fail to see how this is meant to dissuade me,” Mozenrath said, not moving.

Maridah seemed to ignore him and continued. “I know who you are, though. You’re Lord Mozenrath. Pleased to meet you, Mozey!” She bowed, and Mozenrath was surprised she didn’t fall out of her outfit. She shook his gauntleted hand, unhurt by his magic.

“Don’t call me that! Hey, what are you doing?” While shaking his hand, she had slipped the sorcerer’s gauntlet off.

“Ew, Bone! Icky! We can’t be having that!” She grabbed his skeleton hand, and it was surrounded by a glowing, pink light. In a matter of seconds, his hand was completely healed.

Mozenrath stared at the hand in awe. “My hand... but how...?”

Maridah looked modest. “It’s nothing, really. I am a very powerful sorceress. I was taught by Fasir, Merlin, and an order of monks living in the mountains of Tibet who taught me mind powers. Healing is my specialty, but I am also skilled in teleportation, mental powers, and–”

Still in shock about his hand, Mozenrath snatched his gauntlet back from her and started to sit down. “But that doesn’t explain–”

“Eep!”

“What...did I just sit on?” He reached down and pulled out a small, brown, furry creature, with ears as long as its body.

“Meow!”

“What is it? A cat?”

“Rabbit?” Xerxes suggested.

“Actually, I’m not sure,” Maridah said, “But it sure is kawaii! Come here, Mari-ohki!” The creature jumped up into her arms. “Mari-chan is my magical familiar.”

“Ah, so your soul is inside that creature.”

“No.”

Mozenrath highly suspected that the word “familiar” in this sense meant “cute animal sidekick,” but he decided not to say so. Maridah’s minute had been up for quite awhile, but, for some odd reason, he gave her another chance. “Since you never answered me before, I am asking you again: What are you doing here?!”

“Why, I am here to serve you, Lord.”

Ah, it all started to add up – the dust, the magic power, the beauty, the annoying playfulness... “You’re a pairaka, aren’t you?”

“Who, me? No. No, I’m not good enough to join their little club,” Maridah said bitterly, and then remembered herself. “Not that I’m jealous of course; I’m too good of a person for that.” She grinned, and a light reflected off her teeth, ting. “What I mean is, I am here because I know that there is good deep inside you, and I am going to help you find it.”

“Good? Me? Where did you get that idea?”

The girl looked confused. “Um, would you believe Fasir told me?”

“Nope.”

“We’re connected by Destiny? I just had this feeling?”

Mozenrath shook his head.

“Then it must have been a dream; that’s always a good excuse. Anyway,” Maridah Sumaya continued, “reasons are like character development – unimportant. The point is, everyone knows you’re only evil because of how you were raised by your mother, Mirage.”

The sorcerer was taken aback. “What? Mirage isn’t my mother!”

“Whoops, sorry, I get confused. I meant to say that your perfect, saintly mother sacrificed herself for you, and your get your inner goodness from her. You only act evil because of how Destane raised you,” she corrected herself.

“But...that’s not right either!”

Maridah Sumaya looked slightly annoyed. “Well, then, you do agree, don’t you, that Destane violently abused you as a child, which was why you became evil and overthrew him?”

Mozenrath’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “WHAT???”

The woman looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh, it’s okay, Mozey. I can understand you not wanting to talk about it. You’re emotionally scarred. Don’t worry. It’s okay to cry.” She hugged Mozenrath, almost suffocating him, and began to sob loudly.

“Why do you keep trying to make excuses for me?” he asked, struggling out of Maridah’s embrace.

The girl’s bawling ended as quickly as it had started, and she grinned at him. “Excuses are better than explanations, my lord.”

Mozenrath became angry at himself; why had he allowed this impudent female to live so long? “That’s it,” he said, pointing his gauntlet at her, “it’s smoldering ash time.”

***

An hour later...

“Are you enjoying your food, my lord?”

“Mm, good,” Mozenrath said between bites, “What is it called?”

“Well,” Maridah Sumaya said, “This is spaghetti and meatballs, this is pizza, this is fettuccini alfredo, and this is chicken teriyaki. Anachronistic food is my specialty.”

Mozenrath nodded dumbly.

“I suppose I should tell you more about my past. When you meet a beautiful, mysterious stranger, it's always important to find out about her past.”

The sorcerer nodded again.

“Well,” Maridah began, “To defeat Aladdin, Mirage decided to create a magical being to help her. She started with the DNA of Princess Jasmine, but enhanced it, giving her incredible magic power and making her faster, stronger, and more beautiful. I, of course, am that being. Unfortunately for Mirage, Jasmine’s independent nature and goodness were enhanced, so I would not obey her. She sold me to a slave dealer, and I endured terrible pain and hardship until Fasir rescued me. Now I travel around the world increasing my magic skills and defeating evil power.”

Mozenrath nodded again and smiled. “So...”

Then something dawned on him.

“Wait a second! What am I doing sitting here eating dinner with you!”

“Well, it’s dinnertime,” Maridah replied, “You can’t help that.”

“Girl have point,” Xerxes added. He was also at the table, along with Mari-ohki.

“Oh, now you’re upset again. I could dance for you if you like. Or you could dance, and I could sing or play my flute or harp...”

“I am going to destroy you!”

“Can’t it wait? We’re in the middle of eating.”

Mozenrath hauled the girl out of her chair by her shoulders. Gracefully, she kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying across the room into the wall.

“I forgot to warn you,” Maridah said, “I have a black belt in Jujitsu.”

“Little yappy dog?” Xerxes asked, confused. Mari-ohki shrugged.

Holding his aching head, Mozenrath looked up at Maridah Sumaya. “You said before that you have mind powers,” he said weakly, “You use them to create some kind of... aura or something, don’t you? It makes everyone think you’re perfect and fall in love with you and do whatever you want, right?”

Maridah’s eyes narrowed and glowed purple, and her voice became unnaturally deep. “And why would a perfect being like me need to do that, puny mortal?”

By this point, Mozenrath knew enough about the girl’s power to be able to overcome her glamour, but he couldn’t try to fight her; her power seemed much stronger than his. He had only one chance to defeat her: play along.

“Actually, my dear,” Mozenrath said sweetly as he climbed to his feet, “I have a better idea. How would you like it if I gave you a tour of my citadel?”

“Ooh, I would love that!” Maridah cried, changing back into her normal, sickeningly sweet self. She took Mozenrath’s hand, and he led her around the citadel, showing her all the different rooms. Finally they reached a storage room near the back of the building.

“What’s in here?” Maridah Sumaya asked curiously.

“It’s a surprise,” said Mozenrath, grinning, and he opened the door. “After you.”

“Why, thank you,” she said, and entered.

Once she was inside, Mozenrath slammed the door shut, held it, and called out, “Ixtala!”

Maridah screamed as the Crystal of Ix hidden in the room began to suck her inside. “But you can’t do this to me! I’m powerful, beautiful, and good! I’m perfect!”

“Join the club,” said Mozenrath smugly as he heard the magic trap finish its work. He reopened the door and saw the girl trapped inside the giant crystal.

While admiring his handiwork, Mozenrath got another idea. At the time he had only wanted to stop Maridah Sumaya, but now he realized that the girl’s power could be useful to him as well. He tapped some of her magic from the crystal and let it fill his being. He had gained not only her magic powers, but her aura as well.

“I think it’s about time I paid Aladdin a little visit,” he said grinning and then teleported away.

***

Mozenrath appeared in the throne room, where the “gang” were all present.

“Mozenrath, what are you–” Aladdin started, and then stopped in his tracks.

The young necromancer took off his hat, and his ebony curls tumbled out onto his shoulders, framing his alabaster face. He wore a black and gold silk outfit that suited his handsome frame perfectly. All that was missing was a shower of rose petals. Everyone watched the tall, dark figure with awe, especially Princess Jasmine.

“I’ve just found out,” said Mozenrath, “That I am actually the son of the sultan from a previous marriage. I’m actually the long-lost prince of Agrabah. I’ve decided to give up being evil and return to rule my own kingdom.”

“Of course, it all makes perfect sense now!” Jasmine cried, “Of course you can stay here, now that we know you’ve changed.” And everyone agreed, because Jasmine Is Always Right.

Mozenrath sighed. He could get used to this.

***

Meanwhile, back at the Citadel...

Mari-ohki scampered through the halls looking for her mistress. Finally she found the right door, and crashed into it. Remembering she could walk through walls, she did that.

Seeing the girl trapped in the crystal, she cleared her throat and called out in a little squeaky voice, “Ixtabor!”

Maridah Sumaya was released from the crystal. “Thank you, Mari-chan. Just make sure that no one knows you can talk, okay?”

“Okay,” Mari-ohki agreed.

“Well,” Maridah said, “Mozey will have to come back soon once the magic he stole from me wears out. Until then,” she pulled out some wallpaper and cans of paint, “LET’S REDECORATE!!!”