#magilabyrinthofmagic

"What if his younger self is going to vanish? Or his present self? What if Sindria is going to vanish? This damn idiot puts us all at risk. And all of this for a damn girl.", Ja'far went on furiously, already getting a very red face, because he forgot to breath properly in his anger. "You use the word "damn" quite often right now, Ja'far", Yamraiha mumbled absently, while she was trying to touch the shining veil, unfortunately without success. "Hmm, something is stopping us from going in as well. Very interesting.", analyzed the magician, before she decided to walk around the phenomen to inspect it from all angles.

At that moment the veil flickered again before finally their purple haired companion stepped out with deliberate steps. When Ja'far noticed him, he turned angrily to Sinbad, deciding to strangle him for his recklessness. But before he could take action the adviser saw the girl in the arms of his king and stopped abruptly in his tracks.

The generals gasped in surprise at the sight of the couple. A huge amount of rukh fluttered around them as the veil and the flowing lights began to disappear behind them. The glow of the bangle that rested on the girl's wrist went out after a few seconds. The young woman sighed exhausted, but made no move to shift otherwise. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Sinbad's shoulders, while her face was pressed against the bend of his neck. The king's gaze wandered from Salome to his generals as a triumphant grin spread across his lips.

"I'm back! Did you miss me?", announced the king humorously, while he tried to adjust Salome in his arms. His companions raised their eyebrows in disbelief, while waiting for Sinbad to stop joking around, still shocked to find the girl from the magical artifact in their kings presence.

Suddenly the girl began to move in the man's grasp and slowly raised her head. "W-Would you please be so kind to put me down?", she whispered shyly in his ear, as she loosened her arms around his shoulders.

"Ah, yes, of course.", he answered before carefully setting Salome down. However, he didn't let go of her completely, strangely not ready to do so. His hand lingered on her waist as he looked worriedly at her pale face. With a mild smile on her lips, she bashfully looked up at the purple haired man. If he were a different man, the soft expression with which the young woman gazed up at him, would have embarrased him eventually. However, Sinbad was used to the delighted looks most women gave him, so he was pleased that she was doing it too. But if he was honest to himself, he couldn't help but to stare at her in wonderment as well. She was actually here. He had truly carried her through the veil into his time.

Her dainty hand rested on his chest to stabilize her balance, as she turned uncertainly around to face the king's entourage. They all looked at her with wide eyes, hardly believing that Salome really stood in front of them. It was not difficult to guess that she had just come from a battlefield. Her clothes were torn in many places, her skin was covered with scratches and her face was pale from the magoi's deprivation. Still, she looked at the generals with clear, curious eyes.

She watched the three people quietly until Sinbad finally cleared his throat and began to introduce them to each other:"Salome, may I introduce you to three of my closest friends? These are Yamraiha, Ja'far and Masrur. Guys, this pretty lady is Salome.", Sinbad said cheerfully, trying not to show that he too was surprisingly exhausted from the withdrawal of his magoi. She gave each of the three generals a shy smile, while she unconsciously tried to smooth her dress down. Yamraiha gave her an encouraging grin as she winked at the brown-haired young woman. Masrur nodded silently, while Ja'far came up to her and offered his hand for her to shake, greeting her with a friendly smile on his lips:"Glad to meet you, Miss Salome.", spoke the white-haired young man in a kind manner. Salome looked surprised at the hand she was offered, but then beamed at Ja'far and embraced his hand warmly with hers as she replied: "Thank you very much. It's nice to meet you, too."

At the moment she had let go of Sinbad, however, her legs suddenly gave way under her, while black dots appeared briefly in front of her eyes. Before she could fall over, both Sinbad's hands tightened around her waist, while Ja'far grabbed her shoulders hastily. "Uh...I'm sorry ... I'm feeling a little dizzy.", Salome gasped, blinking, while holding onto Ja'far's forearms in hope to stabilize herself.

"It's alright. Sin, we should sit her down so she can rest a bit.", the advisor turned to his king, who nodded in agreement. Together they sank to the floor to sit down for a moment. As Yamraiha came closer to look at the younger girl, Ja'far moved away to make room for them. Sinbad, on the other hand, stayed behind Salome without separating himself from her.

"Hmm, looks like Magoi depletion ... but I'm not surprised. Time and Space magic requires a lot of Magoi, you have to have really high reserves, after all, you're still awake. I have never seen such powerful magic. Where have you been, before Sinbad hd reached you?", asked Yamraiha curiously.

Salome swallowed before answering hesitantly: "Here ... But Dalmasca was under attack. The priests were getting ready to seal the temple." Sinbad stroked gently over Salome's skin of her upper arms, leaving a gentle tingling sensation.

"Wow...That... That's several years ago... That's impossible. I mean it should be impossible.", Yamraiha explained, looking at Sinbad with a worried expression. "The priests said that Alexander is an extremely powerful Djinn ... In addition, the reader of the waves is able to shape fate according to his will.", Salome tried to help clarify as she turned to Sinbad looking up at him admiringly. "I think without you I would have been lost in a time crack until I finally ran out of magoi. But you could see where we have to go. You are so strong.", whispered Salome, looking enchanted into his golden eyes, which resembled the natural color of the rukh that circled around them. Sinbad grinned triumphantly at her, satisfied with the compliments he received from the pretty girl in his arms.

"Incredible!"The magician breathed, leaning back, as she thought about the new information's. "You... you are a blessed one, aren't you?", Salome asked, looking briefly at the staff which rests next to the mage's feet, after she turned her attention back to the other woman.

"Eh? What?", Yamraiha replied, blushing.

"You can manipulate the rukh with your magoi, right? You are blessed with the power of magic. It is an honor to meet you!", Salome explained and bowed her head respectfully as the rukh joyfully flew around them. "Oh my, you're so cute. I've never been called that. Haha, I like it!", Yamraiha shouted, holding her glowing cheeks, while she decided to rub this title under Sharrkan's nose later.

Sinbad, who had listened to the conversation, spoke up:"Yam, let poor Salome take a breath before you bombard her with more questions. I think we'll take a break here before we start to leave this place."

.

.

.

After some rest, Salome had left the group for a moment, to sit a little further away, thinking about her situation. Sinbad sat next to Ja'far and Masrur to discuss how to proceed, while Yamraiha stood a few steps below and eagerly deciphered the characters on the walls.

Salome found it difficult to understand what had happened recently. Just a few hours ago she and her brother had ran away from black Djinns and enemy magicians and now she was in the sanctuary, but no longer in her time. She felt disconnected and dreaded what she would discover if she left this platform. It was a comforting feeling that the rukh tried to console her, that she did everything right, but she couldn't stop wondering if the price hadn't been too high.

"Are you alright?", came Sinbad's velvet voice behind her. Torn out of her thoughts, she turned to the man who had spoken to her and looked into his golden eyes. It was still hard to believe that he was with her. His presence felt incredibly right, and yet it was kind of strange. Surreal.

"Ah... yes. Thank you," she replied, watching him sit down next to her. They looked at each other silently for a few moments, not knowing how to start the conversation, when Salome decided to break the silence.

"Did you make it, Sinbad?", she asked curiously and let her eyes slide over Sinbad's appearance. He was a really handsome man who wore very fine clothes. When she spoke his name, a soft gleam appeared in his eyes. Sinbad cocked his head questioningly as he examined her carefully. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you actually manage to form a kingdom?", she asked, turning completely towards him. A big grin spread across Sinbad's lips as he proudly inflated his chest.

"Yes, the kingdom of Sindria! You will love it. I promise!", he answered with a proud expression on his face, before he began to discribe his kingdom enthusiasticly:"It is an island, like this one. We have nice weather all year round. The markets are filled with products from all over the world and the fish that the fishermen catch is incredibly delicious. Everyone smiles and works hard to make this country bloom.", he said excited as he reached for her hand euphorically, overlooking the sad glimmer in her eyes for a moment.

"I'll show you everything. The market place, the harbor, the beach and of course the palace", he begann to count, when he suddenly catched her sad expression:"I am sorry... Are you alright?", he asked when Salome tilted her face to the side. Immediately she sat up a little straighter again and smiled reassuringly:"My apologies, everything you have said sounds wonderful and I am glad that you want to show it to me. I... I'm just a little afraid of what awaits me out there. For me Dalmasca was attacked a few hours ago.", Salome explained carefully. Sinbad could have slapped himself immediately. Of course, she wasn't feeling well. How could he suppress that this was not necessarily a nice situation for her? She looked completely deranged and he had seen what condition Dalmasca was in. "Tell me ... is it very bad out there? I wonder how the people are.", Salome bit her lower lip nervously, as she glanced at the stairs. Sinbad squeezed her fingers gently before he ran his thumb over them. When he shifted a little closer to her, he ran his free hand over her dust-covered cheeks.

"To be honest ... I have to admit that it's not a pretty sight ... This island is in ruins ... and unfortunately I haven't met a human soul yet.", Sinbad said hesitantly, watching how her lips trembled.

"But I'm sure there are still people living on this island. When we landed at the harbor, we noticed currently used fishing boats. Whatever happens, Salome, I ... uh I mean: we are with you. You don't have to go through this alone.", he tried to cheer her up. Sinbad was surprised to feel his ears get hot when he saw a grateful glint in her pretty turquoise eyes as she put her free hand on their intervened ones.

"Thank you, Sinbad.", she murmured gently.

-

"Wow, the rukh are totally crazy about them.", Yamraiha stated with interest after she had joined Ja'far and Masrur at the top of the stairs again. The other two also glanced furtively at the couple. Masrur's expression didn't reveal his thoughts, but Ja'far looked a little worried.

"What's wrong, Ja'far?", Yamraiha asked when she noticed his expression.

"I just wonder how it will go on. Sinbad is not exactly the type of men who keeps a girl. Look at how young she is. Sooner or later he will wrap her around his finger and then what? breaking her heart?", he whispered softly so that only the two generals could hear him. The other two generals thought about what was said when Ja'far continued with his explanation: "I mean look at how she is already gazing at him. It can't go well."

"Well I don't know what you see Ja'far, but I rather have the feeling that Sinbad is staring at her like a puppy in love. Also ... ah, never mind, we should just wait and see what happens. For my part, I like her. She carried an incredibly warm atmosphere around her, if you get what I mean.", Yamraiha replied and received an approving nod from the two men.

"She is a good person.", Masrur agreed before getting up and walking towards Sinbad and Salome.

"We should go back to the ship. The sun will go down in a few hours.", he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. As if on his sign, everyone rose, before lifting the torches out of their holders.

As they descended the stairs, Salome pointed to the walls, where the golden characters were faintly visible. "This place is the sanctuary of the temple of Dalmasca. It is written that the high priest Alexander built this church with his disciples and immortalized the writings of Solomon on these walls.", Salome described, while Ja'far turned to her questioningly: "Alexander? Like your Djinn?"

The girl nodded.

"It seems so, yes. It is said that he descended from Solomons holy kingdom on behalf of the great king himself to guard the flow of the Rukh and to aid it's listener as soon as she is born into the world.", she replied, trying to get closer to the edge of the stairs, hoping to better illuminate the scriptures.

"You are the listener of the rukh, right? Alexander had called you by that name.", Sinbad said, watching the girl like a hawk. Salome paused and pouted at him:"Alexander spoke to you?" He nodded in confusion before answering:"Yes, he brought us here. Whereby I actually wonder how he could manifest himself without a magi, especially when his vessel was not even present."

"Alexander is a Djinn of the light type. During this time he may not have resided in a vessel anymore, but has returned to Solomon's stream. With light magic one is able to create illusions.", Salome conjectured and got an approving nod from Yamraiha.

"I guess it has also something to do with the amount of rukh that are residing here.", Yamraiha interjected thoughtfully. "Dalmasca has always been surrounded by many rukh. Is that abnormal?", asked Salome.

Sinbad and Yamraiha nodded in agreement before the mage spoke again. "Yeah a lot. Sindria also has a lots of rukh, but I guess that's because of Sinbad. I wonder if it's up to you that so many rukh are gathering here."

Salome shrugged as she continued down the stairs. "No idea. But there were also a lot of blessed people living here. The temple trained them to become priests.", Salome replied.

Once at the bottom, the brown-haired girl paused and took a deep breath. Her gaze slid over the skelletons that lay on the floor as her shoulders slumped. Sinbad immediately stood next to her and put a hand on her shoulder blades.

"Are you alright?", he whispered, stroking her back. Swallowing, Salome nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. "I, yes ... But they shouldn't be lying around here so neglected. It's not fair.", she muttered sadly. Sinbad looked at his generals, who looked back expectantly.

"We don't have much time left.", Masrur said. Sinbad turned to Salome apologetically, but she shook her head and spoke in a defensively manner:"I understand. Just give me a short moment, yes? I want to say goodbye."

Reluctantly, her companions nodded and moved away from her. The generals were already moving in the corridor that would lead them up into the hall. Sinbad, however, stopped at the entrance and turned to Salome, who had put her hand on her chest and bowed respectfully to the deceased priests.

With her profile turned to him, he could see that she was saying something, but he was too far away to hear what. Fascinated, Sinbad watched her head tilt to the side, as she seem to listen to something only she could hear. The light of the torch, which was in her hand, illuminated her face, as a gentle smile spread on her lips. Her face turned in his direction as she nodded confidently. When their eyes met, there was a crackle in the air that sent a shiver down both of their spines. As if by itself, Sinbad's legs moved back to her as she looked up at him expectantly. Her attention was completely back to the man who was attracting her like a magnet and she was surprised to find that her heart suddenly began to beat much faster. When he stopped in front of her, he raised his hand to run his fingers gently over her ear. Her breath caught as his golden eyes stared intently into her turquoise ones.

"What did you hear, my dear?", he asked in a velvety voice, while the gold in his eyes got a liquid sheen from the firelight. "I'm not supposed to be sad because the priests are now part of the holy stream again. They say I should follow you and keep going on.", she whispered, caught by his gaze. His fingers left her ear to slowly brush across her jaw.

"You told me in your message that you were waiting for me because you were meant to be with me.", he recited, leaning forward slowly as his fingers slid under her chin, while he received a silent nod from Salome. A wolfish grin spread across his lips as his eyes slid to her plump ones. Giving in to his need, he ran his thumb over her lower lip, completely overwhelmed by how much the connection between them made the air sizzle around them.

"I don't know why your King Solomon gave me such a nice gift, but I'm very happy to accept it!", he purred as his free hand went over her shaking one, holding the torch to stabilize it.

Salome looked at him speechless. The atmosphere between them had changed suddenly and it was difficult for her to keep calm. She had completely underestimated their connection. Of course, she had felt how it was getting stronger after actually facing each other for the first time, but that ... that was intense. Is that what Solomon wanted?

"Sinbad.", she breathed, while she slowly put her hand on his chest, not sure if she wanted to dig into the fabric or push him away.

Suddenly there was a loud bang from the upper floor which made them detach from each other in alarm. Sinbad hurriedly snatched the torch from her hand and reached for Salome's wrist with his other one.