City Limits
Well, after mulling it over, you decide to keep on with your previous plan. You fly toward the shop and descend when you’re closer to it. Once there, you circle about and notice the path you took to get to the shop.
You drop lower, fluttering your wings very slowly to ease the descent. Once you’re low enough, you begin to follow the path. It is a strange, empty path, one that weaves about. Yet after a few minutes of flying low through it, you begin to hear familiar noises - the noises of a city, of cars driving about.
Moments later, you break from the wooded area and find yourself now flying into the city - a familiar sight for sure. You steady yourself and pick your body up, flapping your wings to push upward on the current. The wind seems a bit stronger now, you note, but it isn’t so bad that you can’t fly against it.
You keep going until you stop, and you perch on a building’s roof. You then take in the sights with your new, stronger eyes - and you see much, and strangely farther than you expected. You even notice pigeons and other small birds - there’s a group of pigeons chilling on the ground a few yards away, and a handful of small robins scattered about.
“So this is what your realm looks like now,” the genie says. He seems equally intrigued and perplexed at the same time, and he hovers down to stand beside you as he looks around. “I have not been able to witness the strange growth of your kind for a long, long time now. How things have changed…”
You eye him, curious to hear more. You enjoy hearing about this being.
He crosses his arms. “The last time I truly was able to explore your world was… I would say over a century ago, perhaps two. Technology was nowhere near this level.” He shrugs. “I wonder what it would be like to live among your kind. I did that, you know, for a time. It was… enlightening to say the least.”
But he offers no more after this. You don’t press, and instead, you take in the sights. Your mind wanders - being this high up, despite the fact you’ve never been a huge fan of heights, you don’t have that fear now. You feel without the fear of falling you would possess, and you imagine having wings helps.
‘It’s kind of cool to see a city from up here,’ you say, and you wonder what you can get up to now that you’re a falcon. A thought pops into your head. ‘Genie, you said I’m not the only master you’ve had, and that there are other genies. Am I the most recent one for you? Are there others like you? Like me?’
“So many questions,” the genie says, yet he sounds quite amused rather than annoyed by that. “You are the most recent, yes, Master - my previous one was… I would say two years ago, perhaps. As for other genies? Oh yes - many djinn are here and there, yet they are hidden from the plain-eyed. It is a process to be able to come across one, my friend, another thing I cannot properly articulate to you. But yes, there are many about this world.”
He floats over to you. “And to answer the last question? Yes, as a matter of fact, there are others like you. I am one of a number of djinn whose specialty is transformation. You may very well be looking at a human with the power you possess, or, you may come across an animal that is in fact a human in mind.”
This fascinates you. ‘How will I know?’
The genie considers this question. He seems to be dithering on something, but what that is, you don’t know. After a moment, however, he smiles and extends a hand out to you toward your eyes. Your eyes go dark for a second, then, he pulls his hand back. You blink a few times, and nothing has changed?
“I have decided to gift you two abilities, Master,” the genie says. “Neither are tied to your third and final wish - consider them gifts from me, for being courteous and thoughtful of an old djinn. I don’t do this normally, but, I like you, as I said before.”
‘What have you given me?’ you ask.
The genie grins. “First, the ability to see time. Simply focus on your desire to know how long has passed from the moment you transformed, and an astral clock will manifest before your vision for as long as you need it. It will not hinder your direct line of sight, and, it will remain with you as long as you will it.”
You blink. That sounds immensely useful, you note.
‘Thank you,’ you say.
“And the second is a similar gift of vision,” the genie says. “Concentrate your sight, and, you will begin to see the world in a different way, in a way I can and often do. You will be able to see the auras of all living beings, Master. And it is the aura that will tell you what you wish to know.”
The genie hovers near your shoulder. “A pale blue aura will denote an untouched person - someone who has never seen magic of any sort. Pale yellow will be the same, but for creatures - animals like those pigeons below. A pale green aura, however, will denote a human who has been touched by magics. They will be able to sense and see you, as you do them, though they may possess different traits. And pale red? Pale red will be a creature, yes, but it will be human, too - gifted transformation by some other means.”
You absorb these details and nod. ‘Thank you, genie.’
“Try it, Master,” the genie says. “Try your vision, see if any below are like you.”
You do so, concentrating at the cityscape beneath you. And after a moment, you begin to see auras - an array of auras, little glows all about. At first, you see simply blue ones, but then, you suddenly notice one that is green…
Written by Hollowpages on 17 April 2020