Prologue: An Arabian Nights Story

The sun shines brightly in the beautiful blue and gold morning sky, above the great blue sea. It's golden rays sparkling in the gentle waves of the massive currents. And nearby, a seaport. This particular seaport is any seafarer's dream come true to gather cargo and supplies for selling, trading, and/or delivery. Even the smell of sea salt surrounded the area from the breeze gently blowing around the port. There are also ships here and there at each dock, whether one ship is old or new, shiny or wooden, and clean or dirty, let alone barnacle-infested. Then, one special ship docked at an open dock, and it was a medium-sized one, made of wood and metal combined together. It's not beautiful like most of the ships at the port, but it still made do to sail the seven seas, and it apparently saw through many a different storm the sea had dished out at it. Then, a wooden plank was laid out in between the ship and the dock to allow its passengers to disembark. Emerging from the ship is a crusty-looking, but wise, merchant and his group, consisting two separate families of seafaring bandicoots and a family of ducks. Yet they aren't the only families, this merchant, in particular, also has a family of his own accompanying them. Spotting a nearby beautiful ship made of gold and metal, the merchant's daughter, Lokina, a girl of age 9, became curious as she gathered her belongings along with her family and their friends from their ship. "Dad?" she asked.

"Yes, Lokina?"

"That other ship looks nicer than ours do." Lokina replied, pointing at the beautiful ship.

"Let alone beautiful than ours." added a girl bandicoot named Sabrina, another 9 year old and the daughter of one of the bandicoot parents.

The merchant and his friends became surprised at such comments like that. 'Nicer than theirs?' 'Let alone beautiful than theirs?' Sure, they expect that their children would want something like that if they so desired, but that's not why they came to their destination beyond the docks.

Then another 9 year old, a boy named Karl, piped in in question, "Why is it that ours is more, well...?" He struggled to finish without hurting his father's feelings regarding their own ship.

"Old than that one is?" A 7 year old boy named Luz, a bandicoot, said, finishing the appropriate answer for Karl.

Then another boy bandicoot named Mohawk, a 4 year old, agreed, piping in, "And ugly than the beautiful ones."

The last of the children, Lisa, a 3 year old bandicoot girl, nodded in agreement, apparently curious as the other children, one of them, Luz, being her older brother. The merchant and his friends gave a light hearty chuckle, for they knew, for a fact, that their children are completely curious about their upbringing in their ship that is not as beautiful as the ones at the dock. An elder duck nods at the merchant and his friends. "I think it's time they understand."

The children got curious and confused combined. 'Understand what?' What did the elder duck mean? Then the merchant and his friends explained away, since they know, for a fact, that their children must know about the difference between their ship and the other ships around them.

"Well, it turns out that our ship is the real beauty besides the rich ships." said one of the male bandicoots.

Then an older boy duck agreed, stating, "So, basically, it's a whole 'Never judge appearances' type of things."

"And besides, it's not what is outside...." The other male bandicoot said.

"But what is inside that counts." said the merchant, gently pointing at Lisa and Lokina's hearts' locations to make his point, making the girls giggle a bit, for they are a bit ticklish. The merchant continued, "In fact, it reminds me of the time these four guys met some friends."

"And they were genies." The older boy duck added.

"Formally." The male bandicoots added.

The female bandicoots and the merchant's wife agreed, "It's true."

That got the children interested. 'Four former genies?'

As they departed from the port with their belongings, the merchant and his friends continued as they walked towards their true destination.

"A tale of adventure."

"Looking beyond the riches."

"Self-discovery."

"And romance."

As they arrived at their destination beyond the port, the children became interested even more. 'Adventure, self-discovery, and romance? Wow!'

And it is here that their destination is revealed to be a huge desert city. A kingdom, in fact, complete with a palace, made of gold, marble, and ivory. with three towering minaret towers and two big golden doors leading to the inside. And just at the entrance to it from the city's marketplace, are the palace gates, made of gold wood. And in the marketplace, there are nothing more than a whole barrage of stalls, selling different items such as fruits, vegetables, jewelry, spices, those kind of stuff. And around the city are alleyways and even walk-on rooftops on most of the stone buildings, complete with wooden boards and poles, and open windows, with some of them hanging laundry on strings. This is what the kingdom of Agrabah definitely looks like for the merchant and his group than what they ever dreamed and/or imagined. After settling down near the palace and the marketplace at an empty spot, the merchant and his group continued.

"In fact," said the merchant, "that's the story of how your mothers and us first met."

"As well as the story of the four genies' eight friends who met and fell in love with the eight beautiful princesses of this kingdom." added the first male bandicoot in agreement.

That definitely caught the children's attention. They are now interested, and they want to hear this story, right now!

"Would you tell us that story?" Karl asked.

The merchant and his group gave a nod, "How can we refuse?"

"But we should warn you...." The older boy duck said, before allowing the merchant and male bandicoots to add in more.

"It's also a true story." The male bandicoots agreed.

'A true story?! Now we definitely want to know it!' thought the eager children.

And thus, the story begins....

"It begins on a dark night."

"Where a dark man's group along with their goons wait."

"With a dark purpose."