Omnipotent #OnceUponNow #JustWriteIt

Aladdin's Story

"Aladdin," Thomas repeated as the channel quickly switched to a different camera. He hurriedly explained about the two dreams he'd had and how at the end of the second dream there'd been a message that seemed as if it had been tacked on after the original memory. It came letter by letter, so he wrote it down to read it:

"Thomas. You must come to me or everything will be lost. Bring Timothy with you; I have implanted the knowledge necessary to do so in your brain. I have also shown you mind exactly where to go. When you get there, wait until I appear again. You will know I am back because the pulses will stop briefly. Make haste. I am not sure how many more times I will come back."

After Thomas finished writing out the message, they looked up and stared at each other in fear as the words sunk in. Thomas would have to teleport again. And Timothy would have to teleport with him.

Timothy broke the silence first. "Well, I guess that's that," he said haltingly. He reached out to grab Thomas's shoulder.

Thomas hastily jerked away from his friend, refusing to allow himself to be touched. "No! no no No No NO! This will not happen again. Never again." Thomas declared, a hint of panic creeping into his voice. "I can't do it, I can't." The image of the dead man kept forcing itself into his head, only instead of a random stranger now it was Timothy who was dying the horrible death. The hand, the skull...

"Thomas, for the sake of the world, you've got to—,"

"No!" Thomas practically shouted, still scrambling away from Timothy. The burning house, the pile of gold, the mutilated hand and the dead man. The towns destroyed, the people dying, the world collapsing. All because of this blasted ring that refused – to – let - him – be!

He grabbed the ring determined to yank it off, no matter what damage it caused him when suddenly the enormous pulse of the earth stopped and the word "STOP!" filled the room as if bellowed by a giant.

Everything froze in place. Thomas tried to move, but couldn't, and it looked like Timothy was having the same problem. Even his eyes couldn't move, so he was stuck facing the ground, only barely able to see Timothy out of the top of his eye. Suddenly, an unnatural feeling of calmness washed over him, and his panic began to subside little bits at a time.

In the silence, he heard someone walk up to their door, open it, and come inside. Suddenly, he could move enough to lift his head, even if everything else was still frozen. It was Aladdin.

Modern jeans, a nice black t-shirt, slightly tanned skin and a short scruffy beard, he looked like a completely normal middle-aged man. At least, he would of if it didn't seem like the very air around him twisted and warped slightly as he moved.

Aladdin walked farther into the room, the air and even the floor flowing in strange patterns with every step. The door closed by itself and, suddenly, Thomas was freed. Timothy as well. Aladdin smiled toward both of them as they stood up properly and looked at him, amazement on their faces. Then he began to speak.

"Well, I guess I'll get right to it," Aladdin said in a much more cheerful voice than Thomas would have expected. Glancing at Timothy, Aladdin said "So you're asking yourself, 'Who is this guy?' a very good question, and you," Aladdin said, looking over at Thomas, "are questioning my choice in coming to you for help." Aladdin said, smiling knowingly at Thomas.

"I'll answer Timothy's question first, since 'who am I?' seems to be a great starting place. As Thomas already knows, I am Aladdin, the man on whom the ancient folk tale and the man from the much more recent princess movie were based on. If you read the folk tale, you might remember that it claims that I found a ring that contained a weak genie and a lamp with a stronger genie. Well, the lamp was a fake. It was made up to divert people from the real prize, the ring, which, rather than giving you a genie, actually makes you a genie, or Djinn as I prefer to be called. Of course, you of all people would know a bit about the ring."