The Romani of Night Raven

~Chapter 4-4: March to the Oasis~

"A dazzling royal palace...?" Ezera thought as when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a foreign designed, not to mention extravagant looking, palace.

Nearby, he noticed a throne in the shape of an elephant, where a small man with a white beard and large hat. Before him stood the tall man with the parrot from his last dream. Quickly, Ezera hid behind a nearby pillar, wanting to keep out of sight as he watched the two men.

"The law says it has to be a prince..." The smaller man says, a little unsure.

"Desperate times, call for desperate measures." The tall man says and lifts his gold snake shaped staff, its eyes starting to glow red. "You, shall order the princess to marry me." He says, the smaller man's start glowing the same color.

"The princess will marry... What? What is that noise?" The man with the big hat begins to say, but gets cut off by the sound of music in the distance. He then gets off his throne and goes out onto the balcony.

Ezera follows them and looks out into the magnificent city, a parade beginning to march through its streets. Consisting of men and women, carrying many expensive looking fabrics and even gold. Along with dancers, even animals, including a large elephant being ridden by a man dressed in extravagant clothing.

"Make way for Prince Ali! Prince Ali is coming through!" The parade goers shout.

"Come and meet his spectacular coterie. Prince Ali! Fabulous he! Ali Ababwa!" The man leading the parade then sings.

"What is all this?" He thought, utterly mesmerized by the scenery.

"Jafar!" A voice squawks from behind him and he turns to see the parrot and the man, who smirks at him.

"Well, well... How did you get in here, little gypsy?" The man, Jafar it seems, asks, rather intensely. "Aren't you...?" He starts to say, but Ezera immediately makes a run for it.

"Guards! There's an intruder in the castle! Capture them!" The tall man shouts and he hears the clink of armor as the guards start chasing him. He doesn't look back as he runs through the palace halls, but it soon goes black and he feels a pair of predatory eyes on him, causing him to freeze in his tracks.

He slowly turns to see a pair of glowing red eyes that he felt were staring into his soul. The next moment, the snake which held those eyes jumps out from within the shadows, right for him!

~*Twisted Wonderland*~

"Ah!" Ezera gasped as he awoke. He at first didn't recognize where he was and started to feel scared, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Mmggh... I don't need no more crackers... Mmnyyaa..." Grim mumbles, still asleep. He then remembers they had been invited to Scarabia, getting wrapped up in its problems and ended up crashing in one of the spare rooms for the night.

"I dreamed of two men and a parade in the desert?" He thought, befuddled by his most recent dream. "Why am I having these dreams? And why do the people in them seem... Familiar?" He asks himself when he hears a click and the door opens.

"Hey! How long do you plan to stay asleep!? Get up!" A Scarabia resident, a different one from who was guarding the door last night, yells as he practically slams the door open.

"Ffgna!? What's going on? ...It's only 6 am, you know." Grim exclaims, having been woken up by the commotion.

"We will be marching ten kilometers to the East Oasis this morning!" The student tells him. Wait, what did he say?