Chapter 1
“Jasmine, are they down here?” Aladdin called up the long spiral staircase. Jasmine appeared at the top and looked down.
“I don’t know, Father said that they could be anywhere down here in the basement chambers.” She called down as she made her way down to Aladdin’s side. She looked around at the mounds of boxes and books all around the chamber. She stepped towards one stack, and dust surrounded the couple, making Aladdin begin coughing.
“Whoa,” he claimed as caught his breath. “How long has it been since anyone’s been down here?”
Jasmine shook her head, “Years. The last time I heard about anyone coming down here was even before I met you.” Jasmine replied. “Are you alright?”
Aladdin waved the remaining dust out of his face, and nodded. “I’m fine… just tired. We’ve been looking for hours. I’ve almost forgotten what we’re looking for.”
Jasmine laughed, “We’re looking for the scrolls that contain the Land of Manilea’s laws and customs.”
“Yes, and why do we have to find these again?” Aladdin asked.
Jasmine rolled her eyes, “Because the king and his daughter are coming here next week, and we need to review on how we should talk and relate to them.”
“I’m guessing that you’ve never met these people before, why else would the scrolls that help you communicate be all the way down here?”
Jasmine started going through one of the large boxes in the corner of the room, “The last time they were here was my royal presentation.”
“Royal presentation?” Aladdin asked as he began rummaging through the box right next to Jasmine’s.
“Yes, the day that my father presented me to the rest of Agrabah and surrounding cities,” Jasmine replied. She could see that Aladdin was obviously confused, and she decided she had better elaborate. “Every royal has a presentation day. It’s about three or four weeks after the royal child is born. At that time, the kings and queens gather at the city and see their neighboring kingdom’s new heir or heiress.”
Aladdin looked at her, and the confused look melted away, “Oh. Well, I guess I was too young to remember yours.”
“Yeah, more than likely. Well, that was the last time that King Tredad and his wife were here. In fact, before yesterday, I never even heard father talk of them before,” Jasmine said, almost to herself, “I only read of their kingdom in the books in the library, and the recordings of my presentation.”
“Are they our allies?” Aladdin asked, still looking through the box full of books and scrolls.
Jasmine shrugged, “The books says that the kingdom has no allies, nor no enemies. It keeps to itself. They don’t even use trade routes with other kingdoms. It’s a self sustaining kingdom. Some say they preserve their kingdom through magic.”
“Great, that’s just what we need. More magic,” Aladdin huffed, “Isn’t there any kingdoms around here not ruled by magicians and sorcerers?”
“Does Agrabah count?” Jasmine asked looking through a book.
“No.”
“Then, no, there isn’t,” Jasmine said as she slapped the book shut and threw it to the ground. “Oh Aladdin, this is so pointless, we’re never going to find anything down here.”
Aladdin nodded, he stood up and wiped off his light blue pants, and dust went flying. “Okay, someone really needs to clean down here.”
Jasmine waved the dust out of her face, and then sighed, “That’s not much help to us now. We have to find that scroll, King Tredad has not wanted to leave his kingdom for nearly 19 years, and now he wants to come to Agrabah? That makes no sense, it’s something important, and we need to be prepared for him when he does come.”
Aladdin sat back down beside her and she laid her head on his shoulder, bringing her knees up under her arms. Aladdin shook her shoulders, “Don’t worry Jasmine, we’ll find them.”
Jasmine nodded, and grabbed a column that she sat next to and began pulling herself up. The column became unsteady and began to crumble. Aladdin noticed, and pulled Jasmine out of the way of the falling rock and to the side of the wall.
After the rocks stopped falling and the dust began to disappear, Aladdin came off of Jasmine and looked around. “Now that’ll make it easier to find anything,” he sighed looking at the mess.
Jasmine looked down at the ground where a box had spilt its contents, and her eyes lit up, “You’re right!”
Aladdin turned around to look at what Jasmine was holding. “You found the scrolls?”
Jasmine nodded excitedly, which made the dust come off of her hair and light purple harem outfit. Aladdin coughed a few times before he examined the scrolls. “Well, alright, we can get out of here and find someone brave enough to clean this mess up.” He started towards the stairs, but turned back around when he realized that Jasmine was no longer following him. “Jasmine, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just found some old prophecy scrolls,” Jasmine said as she picked up another set of scrolls. She began looking through them.
Aladdin laughed, “Wow, you guys actually have records of prophecies that happened?”
“And ones that are going to happen,” Jasmine added as she studied the scrolls. “Look at these, some of these won’t happen for the next hundreds of years.”
“A great country will go to war against itself. The north and the south, brother against brother,” Aladdin read. “Wow, that sounds serious.”
Jasmine nodded, “Good thing we don’t have to worry about it. I just hope that Agrabah isn’t involved.”
“Let’s look at some more recent prophecies,” Aladdin suggested, looking over her shoulder at the scroll.
“Well here’s an interesting one,” Jasmine quirked, “a diamond in the rough will enter the Cave of Wonders and discover the key to save the city, and the world.”
Aladdin blushed, “Wow… I didn’t realize that it was that serious. And here I thought that I controlled my own destiny.”
“Well, this is one prophecy that I’m glad came through,” Jasmine replied, kissing Aladdin on the cheek.
Aladdin kept his eyes on the scrolls, “Jasmine, I think this one is about you.”
“What, that’s impossible-” she laughed, but then she read what Aladdin was talking about. Her eyes widened, “Agrabah’s finest heir will be its final destruction. Selfish ways will bring the city to ruin.”
Aladdin looked at Jasmine and noticed that she was shocked. “Jasmine, look at the date… it’s only a few weeks from now.”
“That’s ridiculous. I would never do anything to hurt my city! I would give my life for my city,” Jasmine said as tears began welling up in her eyes.
Aladdin saw her tears and immediately wiped them from her eyes, “Maybe it’s a mistake Jasmine. Maybe we found a way to already turn it around, it may not even happen.”
Jasmine didn’t seem convinced, “Aladdin, you don’t think I would turn my back on the city do you? Please tell me that you don’t think that.”
“Of course I don’t think that Jasmine,” Aladdin soothed as he pulled her into his arms. “Like I said, it’s probably never going to happen. It was written so long ago.”
“We’ll see here in the next couple of weeks,” Jasmine said wiping the tears from her eyes.
“It won’t happen, I won’t let anything happen to you or Agrabah,” Aladdin responded, firmness in his voice.
Jasmine didn’t reply. She just gathered up the communication and law scrolls and allowed Aladdin to lead her back up the stairs.
Jasmine's Prophecy by MysticMeg