Better late than never; my genie prompt

Here it is.  Nearly a full two weeks late.




Once upon a time the world belonged to the Jinn.  They remained for centuries a proud race, eternal creatures born of fire and wind, each possessing great magical power.  Their downfall came with the rise of mankind, jealous creatures of mud and of clay.  Mankind possessed no power of its own, but through their cunning were able to trick the Jinn into trapping theirselves in a realm outside this one.  Their freedom could be gained only through serving the whims of man.  Once summoned, a jinni and all its great power was slave to whomever held the key to their prison.  Once ten thousand wishes had been granted, the jinni could at last live its life within the realm from which it was created.

Time had always been a tricky thing for Raelee, but it lost all meaning in that place.  Mostly she sat curled against the smooth stone of the cell's wall, cradling her sister's head against her shoulder.  Jinn had been created eternal but this place bent all the rules and Maira's fires had long since begun to dim.  The darkness at times was absolute, never granting more than a bleak reprieve.  An ancience bracelet rubbed her wrist raw and red, the sole source of physical pain as her own priceless blood stained ivory skin.  The ones who had trapped her here had used the primeval ore to bind her to this human form.  It had been centuries at least since the bracelet had even been put to the test.  She would not abandon her sister.

In the beginning she had lashed out.  The magic of her own kind forced her to obey the words of those who summoned her but language was a tricky thing and humans were not the only creatures capable of cunning.  Bound as she was, Raelee was not powerless.  They quickly discovered that they could bend the containment magic enough to punsih Maira for Raelee's obstinance.  After that, she submitted swiftly enough, even if that spark of defiance never left her eyes.  There was a promise of retribution there.  But in the inky solitude, with Maira scarcely clinging to life, she struggled against doubts that she would ever have the opportunity to follow through.

It felt as if her human attributes gained ground every day.  That strong spirit became more and more important as time wore mercilessly on.  There was ample time to think, but she only seemed able to move in circles.  She kept coming back to asking why.  She kept thinking of the human she had trusted; the man who had given her that bracelet.  When she closed her eyes, she tried desperately not to see his blue ones laughing back at her.  She never knew what price she and her sister had fetched, but she knew she was considered a prize.

In the early days of her confinement, she had been summoned often.  Back then, the darkness had been a reprieve.  They had stripped her of the pretty dress, the one she had worn to catch that treacherous gaze of his, and now bruises sullied the porcelain expanse of her bare skin.  She had never understood the shame humans felt in their bodies, but she began to, as what had at first been merely wandering eyes became something more tactile.  There was no doubt that, in time, it would become worse.  They were still afraid of her now, but she didn't dare fight back, and in time caution would give way to desire.  She healed swiftly, and the marks would always dissipate by morning to be freshly administered each night.  Maira wouldn't last long, and breaking her by the time they lost their leverage was vital.  She fought against it inwardly, swore never to give up that hope she had talked about with Rock, what seemed like a thousand years ago.

And then something had changed in the world outside and they had stopped calling her back.  She discovered something more terrifying than the pain, left trapped in that empty world.  The next time she was brought forth into the brightness of mankind's pilfered realm she wept.  The creature before her knew nothing of what she was or how she had come to be there.  It might have been an opportunity to be free at once, but she had to think up a lie quickly.  Three wishes, she told him.  No matter how cruel this man proved to be, at least her suffering at his hands would be limited.  He accepted these terms and the twisted magic binding her wove itself accordingly.

Now one wish separated her from true freedom and the key to their prison.  One wish and she could save herself and her sister.

But then those shuddering breaths had stopped and she was truly alone.

Summoning a jinni was always a matter of luck, good or bad.  Rubbing the inscription of an enchanted lamp was akin to tossing a coin in the air while one's life hung in the balance.  The jinn summoned might be kind-hearted and benevolent or full of wrath.  Some were clever, some were not.  Most were something in between, much as mankind itself.  When at last she was forced back into the harsh brightness of this realm, Raelee was prepared to be the demon human legend had twisted her kind into.  Freedom meant nothing now.  It was too late.

The human was little more than a boy.  Once she might have taken pity upon one so young and obviously naive to her struggle.  Now he was the symbol of her oppression.  His people had hunted down her own, enslaved them.  It did not matter if he was unaware of his heritage, the evil of his kind was innate within him.  He even had blue eyes.

"I possess the power to grant you one wish," she told him icily, unimpressed as he scrambled back from the form of a woman that had appeared quite unexpectedly before him.

"Only one," she repeated.

He did his best to swallow his fear and summon his pride then.  It did nothing to stop him from asking his stupid questions and Raelee reluctantly suffered through answering them for the simple sake of moving things along.  Then came the waiting.  With no magic of their own, and having somehow lost their grasp on the enslaved Jinn, humans had come to take their wishes quite seriously.  They were a rare commodity now.  While once she had been subject to every simple whim, now she was granted a view of each new master's deepest desires.

"I could grant you riches," she offered, the words dull.  Wealth was a popular demand.

He wavered, the temptation clear in those wicked blue eyes but not strong enough to pull him in.

"Is that what most people wish for?" he asked, a repulsive innocence coating his words as he sought out guidance.  Raelee inclined her head to indicate it was, but still he stood considering the world at his fingertips.

"I wish..."  The words broke through the anticipation.  Raelee had become quite adept at waiting, but she was understandably eager to see this transaction through.

"I wish I didn't feel anything ever again."  It was an easy enough thing to grant but Raelee could not help but hesitate.  She had heard exactly ten thousand wishes now, spanning every sin of mankind's creation.  She was prepared for greed and hatred and lust.  Others had wished for the return of dead loved ones, Everyone, every last one, had wished for some change they thought would mold their future into what they wanted it to be.  She was not prepared for this brand of pain.  This boy who had scarcely yet lived wanted an end to it.

"You wish for death," she repeated numbly.  She had never before asked for clarification.  The more vague the desire expressed, the more room she had to shape it as she saw fit.  It was his turn to nod, and he did so without hesitation.

"The magic holding me prevents me from harming the one who summoned me, or from altering their perception," she lied.  She had killed so many of her masters through their own foolish words that even she had lost count.  Some had not even suffered.  It seemed somehow wrong to take this life though.  Perhaps simply because he wanted such an easy release when her own had been anything but.  He looked truly crestfallen over her words but he did not argue.  The waiting began anew.

"You said magic is trapping you?" he asked, looking at her with those plaintive true blue eyes.  Her answer was clipped as she felt herself growing impatient once more and reconsidering her decision not to kill him and be done with it.

"Can I wish it away?"  For a moment, Raelee forgot to breath.

"I--...  I think so."

"Then I do.  I wish you weren't trapped anymore."

It could not be accomplished through her own magic, but her prison had been designed to respond to human impulses.  Her answer came as the bracelet at her wrist crumbled away, Raelee watching it in wide-eyed wonder.  The boy gave a tight smile as she gasped.  She could not remember if she had ever experienced this feeling of elation, but it overtook her now.  It consumed her until that male voice broke through the moment.

"Will you stay and talk with me?"

No.

"Yes."  The word came unbidden, in spite of any internal protest.  The bracelet was gone, but she was still subject to obey.  She had not been the one to grant his final wish, she reasoned.  Her debt to the spell had not been repaid.  It made sense enough to calm the flicker of panic inside her.

"I have a lot of questions.  Tell me your name," he insisted.

She tried to resist for the sake of it.  She was free of the prison now.  That was how the spell had been created.  Yet it had been centuries and she could not remember the integral details where her free will was concerned.  It seemed the Jinn were not the only ones who could twist the meaning of words.

"Raelee."  She choked out the word despite herself.  "My name is Raelee.