No copyright infringements intended.

The character, Key Aidan, and the Book of Truth are featured in an underground comic called A.D. Look out for it (^.^;) in your local alternative comic store! Yes, yes, shameless advertisement.

The Book of Truth

Sages say that long ago, the Earth and another world were connected by the will of the Divine. However, within the belly of that other world, there was an evil so terrible that the Queen of Heaven chose to sever all the connection to Earth and thereby saving the planet from the wrath of her deviant brother, the Shadow King. Now only the chosen few can see past the boundaries of reality into this second world, this Second Earth. These few are blessed, for they will have witnessed things beyond all imagination.

Mozenrath, Lord of the Black Sands, stood at the window of his citadel. He looked out onto the desert sea and the ruined cities of his land bathed in moonlight. He looked out further and briefly glimpsed what he shook off to be a mirage. A crystalline lake with pure-white swans floating in water that shimmered like liquid starlight. Mozenrath rubbed his eyes and escaped back into the gloomy confines of his home, he attributed the vision to the way an empty horizon can torture the mind. Yet, he couldn't help but feel curious. He had seen these illusions since he was a child, before power became his main pursuit, and they always felt the same. Sometimes a rainforest with tropical flowers that sparkled like jewels, sometimes a herd of unicorns running through a peaceful glade and sometimes, he caught a glimpse of a grand palace, made of crystal spires and white marble, built among jagged mountains. Whatever shape the images took, they filled him with a sense of serenity and ancient wisdom that surpassed anything he had ever known.

Mozenrath swung open the door to his library and took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the dust of time. He reached up with his right hand, the gloved and hidden hand, to pull a book from the shelf. He brushed his left hand across the cover, wiping away the cobwebs.

"Perhaps this will give me a little insight into those mirages." He sat back into a chair and began to read.

And read. Silence enveloped him and the faint light of the single candle burned steadily above him. Mozenrath closed the book after awhile, massaging his temples. He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. The smooth stone slowly grew out of focus as a clear blue sky took its place. A dragon crossed the sky like quicksilver, moving past his line of vision. The illusions were growing more frequent and this bothered Mozenrath. Was he going mad?

Aladdin wandered the markets of Agrabah, looking for something nice to give Jasmine on her birthday. He glanced briefly over the baubles that the shopkeepers pushed into his face and sighed. He had been at this all day and could come up with nothing. Well, nothing as special as Jasmine, at least. Aladdin sat down under the shade of someone's booth and stared into the wall across from him. He heard the sound of thundering hoofs, coming straight towards him. Aladdin stood up, concentrating, concentrating. He could almost see ghostly horses appear on that cracked and faded wall. He could. . .

"Can I help you?" Aladdin stumbled back in shock and fell into an empty box. A girl stood in front of him, offering her hand. She was as dark as an Arab but her eyes were the colour of the ocean. Her hair was tied up into two long braids and it was as white as the snow of the North. He took her hand and she helped pull him out of the ruined box. She was a lot younger than him, perhaps twelve or thirteen and beautiful for her age. She returned to her place behind the wooden counter of her booth, polishing the face of an intricately-designed mirror. Aladdin looked at the items she had for sale. Such strange and wondrous objects! A row delicate, coloured-glass perfume bottles sat on a shelf at one side. A dangerous-looking dagger with a serpent blade hung against the beam. A basket full of uncut opals, shimmering in the sun. A necklace made of tiny, gold leaves. "See anything you like?"

Aladdin looked up,

"Everything here looks so special!"

The girl nodded, smiling brightly,

"Yes, everything I am selling has a story behind it. Our speciality has always been rare and legendary objects. You should have seen some of the stuff I had yesterday!"

"How did you get the stuff?"

"I get it wholesale from some adventurers. They are looking for something called the Holy Grail and the rest of the stuff they find is useless to them so I took it off their hands. Don't worry, nothing is cursed, I've made sure."

Aladdin looked up from a crystal necklace,

"How? Are you a witch?"

The
girl laughed, showing her shiny, white teeth,

"Oh, no! They have to pass the Oberon test. My cat senses magic, he goes towards good magic and is repelled by bad." She lifted up a sleepy, grey cat from the cool shadow of the booth and held him out to Aladdin.

Aladdin smiled and stroked the cat.

"He sure is cute." He looked at the gold leaf necklace. "So what's the story behind that necklace?"

The girl clapped her hands together,

"Oh! It's a wonderful story. It's about a handsome prince from the lands to the north who falls in love with a faerie princess. You see, their respective parents didn't want them to marry and. . ." She launched into a captivating tale about true love and adversity. Aladdin found himself drawn into the words she wove, captured by a well-told story he wished would never end. When she finished, she picked up the necklace. "It makes a wonderful gift for your beloved and it is rumoured to strengthen the bond between two people."

Aladdin studied the rest of the display,

"Well, how about those perfume bottles?"

"They were obtained from the magicians of Egypt and each is filled with an inexhaustible supply of perfume. They were made especially for the mistress of a powerful general. The sordid tale of Nam'hut and the wizard, Sethys."

Story after story, Aladdin convinced the girl to tell until night was on the horizon and the rest of the shopkeepers had returned to their homes. The girl gazed up at the first star of the evening. "Night." She looked back at Aladdin. "So, would you like to buy anything or will you come by tomorrow?"

Aladdin picked up the gold leaf necklace,

"How much?"

"Three dinars."

"But that's way too cheap!"

The girl smiled, packing the rest of the items into sack,

"I sell these things to make other people happy. All the money in the world couldn't make up for that."

Aladdin set down the money,

"I didn't even ask your name."

"Key. My name is Key." She swept the coins into the sack with her things.

"I'm Aladdin. Are you going to be okay on your own?" Key nodded as she carefully wrapped the perfume bottles. He dropped the necklace into a pouch tied to his belt. "Well, I'll see you around."

"Take care!" Aladdin was barely down the street when he heard a scream. He ran back and found two, big men at Key's booth. One was digging through the sack and the other was trying to keep a hold of the girl. She was kicking against his great belly and struggling to release herself.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" The two men looked up and in that moment of distraction, Key released herself from the man's grip with a strong push with her foot and launched herself into a backflip. She landed neatly on her feet and ran to Aladdin's side.

"You have to stop them! They'll take it!" She said frantically and before Aladdin could reply, one of the men lunged at him. Aladdin stepped back and tripped the man into a booth. The force of impact knocked him out. The other man glanced at his companion and then at Aladdin before running away. Once the danger was over, Aladdin looked down at Key.

"You okay?"

"Fine, thank you."

"You're pretty feisty but you should be more careful. What were they going to take?"

"Well, everything, but my book is the most important. It was my mother's."

"Do you have anywhere to stay, Key? An inn? I'll walk you there. . . "

Key sighed,

"No. No home. Just the roof." Oberon meowed in annoyed confirmation as if to complain that cats shouldn't be subject to that kind of miserable life. "Oh, hush, Oberon. It's not like you've never slept on a roof."

"I have an idea. You might be able to stay with. . ."

"Your beloved?" She finished for him. "I couldn't impose on the Princess like that! I'm not even a citizen!"

"How. . ."

"I tell stories. You're Aladdin. How could I not know?"

Aladdin. How he hated that wretched street rat. Mozenrath thought about the hero and why their lives had to be so connected. He found it extraordinarily annoying that the one place he wanted the most was the one he couldn't conquer. And all because of that street rat and his big, blue genie. He pulled himself out of the chair and headed to his main hall. There must be some way he could defeat that worthless boy. The music of a flute haunted his ears. And there must be a way to rid himself of these maddening hallucinations. Mozenrath slammed his hand against the wall, the pain momentarily drowning out the music. His mamluks was worthless, his books were worthless, even his magic was worthless against this inexorable force.

"ARG! This is so frustrating." He slumped into his throne and sullenly watched his eel swim towards him.

"Something wrong, Master?"

"Go away, Xerxes." He threw a bolt of magic at his familiar and it quickly escaped his sight. Mozenrath muttered to himself, "I need to get out of here." He opened a portal and stepped into the middle of the desert. The great void was filled suddenly with flowers and
butterflies and mountains in the distance. His frustration ebbed away and was replaced with calm. He lay back into the flowers and closed his eyes. For a long time he was in this pleasant mirage, filled with the serenity of some distant place. Mozenrath felt a cold shadow fall upon him and he shivered involuntarily. He opened his eyes and saw only darkness as if he had been swallowed by shadows. The field was gone, replaced by hard black stone beneath him. Mozenrath stood up, trying to find an object to focus on. There was a hiss, like the sound of a torch being lit and a pair of eyes shone through the black. They were like two flames, bright and malicious. They drew near to him.

"Mo. . . zen. . . rath." The voice came from several places at once. The eyes examined him, judging him. "Lord of the Black Sands."

"Who are you? Where are you?"

"I am but a humble shadow who seeks to aid you in your quest against Aladdin. I am everywhere where there is darkness."

"Where am I?"

"In my sanctuary, my lord, within your mind. I find refuge wherever evil thoughts lurk. You are still in the desert, trapped in your mirages."

"Why should I trust you?" Mozenrath narrowed his eyes, trying to find the body that belonged to those eyes.

"By helping you defeat your enemy, I can hurt my enemy. I have no substance, I have no influence except through you, my lord. So I only wish to serve."

"Well?"

"There is a book, my lord, full of ancient and forbidden knowledge. There are but two beings in the world who can read the script of the book and I am one of them." The prospects sounded interesting, Mozenrath thought to himself, and taking the book would be a simple task for him. . .

"Where is this book?" The shadows swirled around him, moaning and shrieking for a moment as the eyes contemplated the question. A light grew within the darkness and an image appeared, transparent like a ghost. It was Aladdin walking through the streets of Agrabah, triumphant. Except he had hair as white as snow. . .

Mozenrath opened his eyes to the desert sun and a malicious grin spread across his face.

"Aladdin."

Key pulled a beautifully carved mandolin from her sack, cradling it in her arms. She looked up at the Sultan and his daughter in reverence and said, "For a princess who could have everything that I own and more, I can only give you the gift of my mother and her mother and her mother's mother and all the women of my family. The gift of a story. This one is from the far North, in the lands of Britannia and it is a tragic song about an orphan girl." She strummed the mandolin and began to sing. Her voice was soft and child-like but carried weight and emotion beyond her years. They listened in quiet appreciation, their eyes closed tightly and Jasmine's hand clasped in Aladdin's. At the last note, Key's voice quivered with delicate intensity and completed the story.

Jasmine said, wiping tears from her eyes, "That was lovely. You have a gift, Key, and we would be honoured if you stayed in the Palace." The Sultan nodded in fervent agreement.

The girl blushed and ducked her head, "Thank you for your generosity, your highness."

Aladdin stretched, rubbing his eyes, "It's late and I guess I'd better get back before Abu and Iago drive Genie nuts. It's really too bad they couldn't have been here. That song would have made IAGO charitable." They all laughed even though Key was not quite sure who Iago was.

Aladdin and Jasmine paused outside of Key's door after tucking her in. Jasmine said, with an almost motherly contendedness, "Do you think we'll ever have children like her?"

Aladdin laughed, throwing his arm around her, "By that day, we'll be old and grey, Jasmine. We have lots of time to think about things like that." She leaned happily against him and then the door exploded. Key dove out of the room, rolling into the wall and clutching an old, frayed book. She stood up and leapt out of the way just as a bolt of hardcore magic made a window out of the plaster. A familiar voice said in a cold, calculating manner, "Don't make this harder on yourself, little girl." Aladdin grabbed Key, recognizing the voice and placed him between her and the mighty morbid power monger.

"Mozenrath."

The sorcerer gazed at Aladdin the way you would look at an annoying fly, "This doesn't concern you, street rat."

Jasmine shot back, "You're trying to kill our friend, of course it concerns us." Mozenrath glanced at her and raised his right hand. A twist of his wrist sent her flying out of the window. Aladdin leapt out of the window after her, calling out for his magic carpet. Then Mozenrath turned to Key.

"Now, where were we?" He concentrated his power on the book but it would not move from the girl's arms.

"It belongs to me, you sand bug!" He expected her to turn and try to run right now but Key did something very unexpected. Like lightning, she pounced towards him and slammed the book in the side of his face. Mozenrath
fell to the ground, his cheekbone smarting as a bruise began to form on his skin. "AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!" She was standing above him. Mozenrath made a snatch for the book and wrenched it away from the girl. He spun on his heel and opened a portal but before he could step into it, he tripped. Key had pulled the carpet from under his feet.

"You are almost as annoying as that street rat." He raised his right hand, gathering a ball of energy.

Key narrowed her eyes, "Try it. You're just a big, stuck-up bully." He threw the magic at her but she managed to avoid it. Key grabbed the cover of the book, struggling to pull it from him. The portal beckoned impatiently.

"Mozenrath!" Aladdin and Jasmine appeared at the window, sitting safely on Carpet. Mozenrath lost his grip on the book, tearing out a few pages and fell into the portal with those pages in his tight grasp. "Are you all right, Key?" She nodded, gazing forlornly at the book.

"He tore a story out." She began to cry. "Now I'll never be able to tell it!"

Jasmine put her arm around the girl, "What was the story about? I'm sure we can re-write it."

"It won't be the same though!"

"It never hurts to try. What was the title?"

"Um. . . " Key glanced at the table of contents. "It was the tale of the Faustus and the Six Devils of Ba'al." She looked up, wiping the tears away. "It was about how a wicked man called up six demons to do his bidding and lost his soul."

Mozenrath listened to the eyes explain the pages. He exclaimed, "Why, it's nothing but a story made to frighten children into behaving!"

"My lord, it is not the words that make the magic, but the telling of them. Believe me, you will have your way even if you don't have the book." Mozenrath stared back down at the strange words and the old paper. He smiled grimly, "The Six Devils of Ba'al. This is a ritual, a spell, hidden inside a story?" The eyes did not disagree but they did not confirm it either. Mozenrath walked out of his main hall towards the dungeons. Against these Devils, according to the story, Aladdin could never succeed and Mozenrath will conquer the Seven Deserts at last.

To be continued. . .