Finding the light

The Two Princes

It was the day after the Kou delegates had arrived and everything was, seemingly, back to normal. 

Alibaba and Aladdin were training at the palace and I had headed off to the forest to practice my magoi manipulation. Sinbad decided to join me so he could see the technique and give me some pointers.

We arrived at the grove of trees and I took my stance, my eyes closed. Sinbad leaned back against a tree, silently watching as I prepared the technique. I closed my eyes and concentrated only on the flow of my magoi. I pulled it to my hands and shot forward, striking the tree at the marked areas. The places I hit glowed with magoi for a second before returning to normal.

I opened my eyes and turned my gaze to Sinbad, who was staring at me in awe. " That was amazing! You were able to hit the tree without even damaging the bark." He asked. 

" Yeah. My goal is not to physically harm my opponent, but to disable them." I replied as I got up. 

" Very impressive, but I think I know what's keeping you from using it multiple times. You've only been practicing magoi manipulation for a few months now, so you are still a beginner, which does factor in. But I believe the major problem is the amount of magoi you're using." Sinbad explained.

" How much I'm using?". 

" Yes. You're using too much. If you use less and hit your opponent a bit harder, you'll conserve more magoi and still get the desired affect." He explained.

I stared a Sinbad, a little shocked.

' I didn't think he'd figure it out that fast.' 

" Thanks, Sinbad..."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair, much to my chagrin. " No problem, Alecs. Now, let's get back to training."

~Time Skip~

After a few hours of training, mainly consisting of Sinbad kicking my ass and making a few comments (including one about my "unexpected flexibility", which I responded to by threatening to hit him, but he just laughed the threat off), I washed up and went to look for my friends, who should have also finished training for the day.

I found Morgiana as she was getting back from the metalworker. We walked through the palace gardens and came upon Aladdin and Alibaba resting by a fountain. As we approached them, I heard Aladdin say something about being tormented by Yamraiha.

" Hey, there's Morg and Alecs!" Aladdin exclaimed once he noticed us. " You just got back from the metalworker, right, Morg?" He asked. 

Morgiana nodded and opened the box that held her household vessel. The shackles were no longer dull and rusty, but shimmering silver with a beautiful design and red gems. And there were long chains attached to them.

" So this is your household vessel, huh, Morgiana?" Alibaba asked. 

" Yes. I had them made into leg ornaments. I was told that this emblem is the sun symbol worshipped on the Dark Continent- the Phoenix." She explained.

" They're so pretty! Come on, show us what you can do with it!" Aladdin requested.

' I have a bad feeling about this.'

Morgiana put the ornaments on and performed a kick. I jumped out of the way, but Aladdin and Alibaba weren't so lucky. The long chains wrapped around their heads and pulled them to the ground.

" I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Morgiana exclaimed as she unwrapped the chains. The four of us sat down as Morgiana took off her ornaments.

" Don't you think you'd be better off without those chains?" Alibaba asked as he rubbed his sore head. " Or maybe you can wear them somewhere else instead of your legs?"