For a long time Malor had plotted and schemed in secrecy, using promises and threats to recruit followers and to form alliances. Many djinn refused to betray Gabel, but the majority of the strongest djinn warriors rallied to his cause, and since Malor had been plotting his insurrection for a long time the rebels were well-prepared. When Malor finally gave the signal his minions attacked the palace in full force, planning to kill Gabel swiftly. Their attack was deadly effective, and the palace guards were quickly overwhelmed. However, Gabel, who had received warning about the conspiracy was saved in time by his trusted aide and friend Fa'hradin. He managed to flee in the darkness, and that very night he started to gather his troops in order to take revenge on the usurper. Malor, on the other hand, had to acknowledge that his plan to get rid of Gabel quickly had failed. And he ordered his followers to prepare for a long-term military engagement. Neither he nor Gabel realised then that this was the starting point for a war that would last for eons.

The war took a long time to unfold. Both Malor and Gabel tried to win over as many followers as they could, and the need to take a choice war weighed heavily on many a djinn's conscience. Still, few of them managed to remain neutral in this terrible war, and so a deep rift opened within the djnn race. Families were torn apart as children turned against their parents and brother fought brother. Worst of all, it soon turned out that both sides were roughly equal in strength, so that even though a number of vicious battles ensued it become more and more apparent that victory could not be won easily in this war. In fact, it appeared more and more likely that even if one of the sides could win it, it would so be crippled by the endeavour that the very existence of the djinn race would be threatened. Still the war raged on relentlessly. And the mutual hatred between the two fractions, who began to call themselves by the distinct names of Marid and Efreet, increased with every battle that was fought.

At last, Malor prepared for a decisive strike. He sent a messenger to Gabel and challenged him to a personal duel. Gabel, who was prepared to do anything to stop the fratricidal war, accepted the challenge. The enemies agreed to meet in the fertile plains of Kha'labal. There they stood, face to face, the old king and the usurper, and so did their armies, because neither of two was gullible or foolish enough to come on his own. It was the greatest gathering of djinns in recorded history.

Eventually Gabel stepped forward to meet his opponent. This was the moment Malor, who had never intended to fight honourably, had been waiting for. All of a sudden the earth opened in a thousand places, and hordes of vicious undead attacked Gabel and his army. For Malor had secretly formed an alliance with the dreaded necromancers of Drefia and it was them who controlled the undead hordes that fought for him. Faced with an overwhelming enemy, Gabel and his army turned to flee.

A number of Marid was caught and slaughtered on the spot, but much to Malor's disappointment the majority of Gabel's troops managed to escape southwards in what appeared to be a well-planned strategic withdrawal. And how much greater was his surprise to find that the Marid fled to the city of Ankrahmun where they appeared were expected! It was then that he realised that Gabel had suspected a ruse all along, and that he had prepared a counterstrategy. Malor immediately ordered his troops to abandon pursuit, but it was too late. The undead marched against Ankrahmun with all the determination of a mindless killing machine, and the Efreet, blinded by rage, did not lag behind, only to be met by ceaseless barrages of arrows and catapult stones. A cataclysmic battle ensued. Wave after wave of undead and Efreet stormed against Ankrahmun, and wave after wave broke at the huge fortifications of the ancient city. Both the Marid and the humans were well-prepared for this battle, and even though Malor's army wreaked havoc they never yielded.

At last even Baa'leal, who led the Efreet in battle, had to admit that the Marid and their despised human allies fought valiantly. However, despite the heavy losses he was determined to decide the war there and now. He summoned the most powerful Efreet wizards and ordered them to unleash a huge column of magic fire onto Ankrahmun in order to render the city and all those in it to cinders. The Efreet wizards' followed his orders and soon a wall of devastating fire rose up to the sky. However, when they tried to move it onto Ankrahmun they soon realised that it did not move into the desired direction. The Marid had soon seen through Baa'leals plan, and Fa'hradin and his fellow Marid mages used their own magic to turn the devastating flames against their creators. A fierce battle of wills ensued between the mages from both sides, and the whole battle came to a halt when the two armies watched in horrified fascination as the terrible pile of flames wandered seemingly undecided to and fro. But then, all of a sudden, the pile made a sudden leap to the north, and within seconds those who had summoned it from the sky were reduced to smouldering ashes. That was the turning point of the great battle.

The fire, now entirely out of control, turned northwards, driven by a gently breeze coming from the south. Its devastating flames fed on plants and animals alike, and as the inferno slowly spread to the north the Kha'labal was scorched and marred forever by the magical flame.

Thus, the great battle was won by the allied armies of the Marid and the humans. However, for the winners there was little left to feel triumphant about. The losses had been great on both sides, and the Kha'labal, that beautiful garden given to the humans by the gods, had been turned into a barren, hostile desert. Also, the destruction cause the fire had allowed many Efreet to escape, so it seemed unlikely that the war would end now. However, for the time being Malor and his troops were much too weak to pose a serious military threat, so Gabel decided to abandon pursue. Instead he ordered that his army should move northwards towards Drefia. It seemed time to settle old scores.

After the disastrous battle of Ankrahmun Drefia's necromancers knew the end was near. The Marid would never forgive them their treachery, and this would be a battle the necromancers could not win - after all, many of them had already perished in the battle of Ankrahmun, and their Efreet allies could provide no assistance. So the necromancers prepared for the inevitable with the defiant cynicism of those who have been familiar with death all their lives, performing evil rituals and indulging in morbid orgies.

Finally, the end came swifter than they expected. Unwilling to take any risks in the unpredictable halls and passageways of Drefia's dungeons, the Marid performed a fearsome ritual. The tortured earth underneath Drefia started moving like a giant whirlpool, and slowly the unholy city was pulled inside the maelstrom. Within half an hour it was gone completely, and all but the highest buildings were completely covered by sand and by rubble. None of its inhabitants have ever been seen again, but rumour has it that deep beneath the surface the unholy city is still intact, brooding like a vengeful animal in its prison.

Even though many djinns had lost their lives during the fateful battle of Ankrahmun, the war was still undecided. Malor had lost many of his bravest warriors, but so had Gabel, and they both knew that another epic battle like that would bring the whole djinn race to the brink of destruction. In his desperation, Gabel turned to his trusted friend Fa'Hradin for advice. The old djinn suggested using a trick to eliminate Malor. Without their leader, he reasoned, the Efreet would end the rebellion. Gabel, who wanted to avoid further bloodshed, agreed. And so it came to pass that the magic lamp was created and, by means that are unknown to this very day, secretly placed in Malor's private chamber. The mighty Efreet never had a chance. When he went to sleep in what he thought was his private lamp he was trapped inside the lamp, which was soon enough smuggled out of Mal'Ouquah, the Efreets' fortress, and brought back to the Marid. Fa'hradin's trick had worked - Malor was Gabel's prisoner.

With Malor imprisoned, many Marid hoped that peace would finally come. Gabel immediately contacted the Efreet to let them know their leader was his prisoner, but his hopes that the rebellion would collapse without Malor were disappointed. The Efreet hated their Marid cousins too much to yield, and so the war continued. Nonetheless, both sides tried to avoid open conflicts, so there was next to no combat action for a long, long time. In fact, both the Marid and the Efreet planned to wait until their ranks would be replenished. But the losses they had suffered were great, and the djinns are not a fertile race. Century upon century passed and still their numbers had increased little. And while elsewhere the human race rose to power, building beautiful cities and establishing powerful empires, the djnn lived quiet in their remote fortresses. Malor, however, remained imprisoned in Fa'hradin's lamp, oblivious to the strange land his guardians had taken him.

Gabel had decided to hide Fa'hradin's lamp and its powerful prisoner in a forlorn place far to the north because he thought it would be safer there than in Ashta'daramai, his own fortress. Little did he know that these were very the lands where many centuries later a race of goblinoid barbarians called the orcs chose to erect a mighty fortress. One fateful day the lamp was found and brought to the orc king. It did not take the king's shamans long to work out that a mighty spirit was caught in the lamp, and soon enough the reckless king released the mighty djinn that had lain dormant for so many centuries. Little is known about what happened next, but even though to this day the orcs claim their king is still alive there are no credible witnesses who confirm that they have seen the orc king ever since. Malor, however, freely roams the world again, and many scholars agree that he will try every trick in the book to rekindle the fire of the djinn war.