Magi: The Tale of Faith and Hope

The Dungeon's Menace

"We're making some great progress," Alibaba remarked as they made their way through the tunnel together.

"There don't seem to be any traps, either," said Faith.

"That's because we picked the right path!" Aladdin said brightly.

"That aside, isn't this cave really bright?" said Alibaba.

"Alibaba-kun! It's the moss!" Aladdin said excitedly, pointing to a patch he had spotted growing on the wall.

"You're right!" said Faith, letting out a whistle of amazement. It was all over the ceiling too, but it was much easier to get close enough to see what the stuff on the wall actually was. "This yellow moss growing on the walls is really shiny!"

"Oh~! It's for real!" Alibaba exclaimed excitedly as he came closer to have a better look. "I've never seen this kind of stuff before~!"

"It's pretty~" said Aladdin, smiling while they all basked in the warm glow for a moment.

"Yeah..." Faith agreed, suddenly overcome with a feeling of nostalgia. "It reminds me of when my sister and I sneaked out to walk along the beach of the 'Sea of Stars' at night during our last family vacation in the Maldives... only Hope told me the glow was being caused by phytoplankton... and they glowed blue, not yellow..." It was a shame Hope couldn't see this too. She would have loved it.

"Sea of Stars? Maldives?" asked Aladdin curiously.

"I've never heard of that, where is it?" asked Alibaba.

"Somewhere super far away..." she answered with a sigh. A whole different world, in fact. "Sorry, but just forget I mentioned it, okay?" she told them, patting Aladdin on the head. "I shouldn't have said anything..."

"?" Aladdin said, tilting his head to the side as he wondered what that odd expression on her face was for. After several more minutes of staring at the pretty glowing moss in silence, they decided that they should probably get a move on.

"There's plenty in this 'dungeon' that we're seeing for the first time," said Alibaba.

"Yep!" Aladdin agreed cheerfully.

"Hey, you guys! There are even more lights coming from that room!" said Faith, pointing to another opening just ahead.

"Really?" Aladdin asked excitedly.

"Let's have a look!" said Alibaba.

"Woooow~!" they exclaimed, shielding their eyes as they entered the bright chamber of light. The source of the glow turned out to be a bunch of huge round things hanging from the ceiling.

"What are these things!?" Faith asked excitedly.

"They're balls of light!!" said Alibaba as they all stared up at the shining orbs in amazement. "I've never seen anything like them!!"

"Awesome!!!" cheered Aladdin. "They shine like rainbows... And they smell kind of good~" He was starting to drool. "They've got to be some new species of fruit!!"

"No way. See that line connecting them? And the lights? That's all treasure, man!" Alibaba said excitedly.

"I don't know..." Faith said. "They seem a little too... 'organic' for that..." Given all the experience she had from watching a million scifi movies and creature features over the years, she was starting to get a sinking feeling. 'Nah, it couldn't be...' she thought, shrugging it off. 'They're way too pretty-looking to be what I think they are...'

"Let's name these things 'rainbow balls'!!" Alibaba decided enthusiastically.

"So awesome!!" cheered Aladdin.