Heroes of Disney #1: Rise of the Firebird

Ch. 4: Hakuna Matata

The walk took at least an hour. There was no change in the tunnel's infrastructure at all. It was just one long tunnel, not even a cockroach showed itself.

As I followed the faint glow of the magic mirror, my mind began to wander. I still didn't have a clear understanding of where I was exactly. This was too real to be a dream, and I was pretty convinced I wasn't hallucinating. So the only other explanation was that this was actually happening. And I didn't really like that.

I walked for a couple of more minutes until a small light could be seen on the ceiling. It was the outline of another trapdoor, I guessed, but this outline was in the shape of a circle, as opposed to a rectangle.

I used the mirror to guide me to a ladder that was leaning up against the wall. After making sure it was sturdy, I began climbing the rickety old ladder until I reached the trapdoor.

I stuck the mirror in my back pocket and started pushing against the trapdoor. Using all my strength, I managed to push the door upwards, and slide it to the side. As soon as I did that, golden sunshine immediately filled the tunnel. I was blinded for a minute, but I continued crawling out of the door until I had completely exited.

I stood up and surveyed my surroundings. I was in some kind of alleyway. There was trash blown everywhere, but it was completely devoid of life. I could hear a lot of noise somewhere near me. I turned around and found that the "trapdoor" was more of a porthole. The lid to the porthole was completely metal and quite thick.

"No wonder it was so darn heavy." I told myself as I lifted the porthole cover and placed it back onto the hole itself.

Once I was done with the porthole, I stood up and listened for the source of the crowd-like noise. It was emanating from behind where I came out of the hole. I looked around and found a door on the back wall of the ally.

Testing the knob, I found it unlocked, and walked through the door.

On the other side of the door was a musty room with about three people inside. The three people, all of them men, were sitting at a table to my far left. To my right there was a counter with a few glass bottles lying on it, and a sign that read: Out of Stock.

The three men sitting at the table didn't even look up at me. They were playing a board game, which one I couldn't possibly tell you. It had symbols on it that looked like some weird language. Probably Arabic.

The sounds that I was following earlier have increased in volume, and were emanating from a door straight ahead of me. I walked past the three men, who still continued to ignore me, and walked outside the door, to find myself in a busy street.

People in all sorts of different dress and manner were walking around, some heading into buildings similar to that I just came out of, some were talking to shop vendors who lined the walls of the street on both sides. Some were just wandering.

"The Marketplace." I whispered to myself.

Indeed, it was the Marketplace of the City of Agrabah, from Aladdin. The same bustling road full of travelers from all over.

But what surprised me was the fact that there were African animals roaming the streets as well, and none of the Agrabah folk seemed to bat an eye.

I remembered Mickey saying something about characters from The Lion King being moved over to Agrabah. I still didn't really know why, but right now that wasn't my biggest problem. I needed to find Jasmine, who said she would be in Agrabah.

I scanned the crowd of humans and animals. As far as I could see, no Jasmine. Maybe I could ask someone for help to find her, I told myself.

I was busy looking for a character I actually recognized when I heard a voice a ways to my right.