Falcon: Green with Envy?
‘A green aura…’ you muse, and you narrow your eyes, feeling them concentrate further and closer toward the faint green flicker. ‘That means a person that’s been with a djinn, right? Or maybe they have a djinn with them?’
The genie chortles softly. “I doubt they would have a fell djinn on hand the way you currently have me floating about with you. It is not UNHEARD of, mind you, that some masters are gracious, or, they allow their djinn to come along with them. But it is more common that the djinn in question is likely far from them, if they even have a djinn any longer at all.”
You blink, and cock your head to the side. ‘What do you mean?’
“Many humans who come into contact with my kind tend to use their wishes up and that is that,” the genie replies, shrugging. “Despite what you may think, it’s actually a simple process - while not every djinn is affable or even sound by human moral standards, most are, nevertheless, bound by their own oaths and codes to ensure they grant the wishes asked of them, provided these wishes adhere to our basic rules we all follow.”
‘I see,’ you reply.
You ponder this, but, you also find yourself feeling a bit curious about this pale green aura - it is travelling away from you, and with each passing moment, it gets further and further away. You decide you want to investigate, at least from afar to start with, so you ready your wings and, after a pause, you take off.
Your wings feel light and strong as you fly from your perch, speeding through the air at a speed you wish you could muster as a human - the sensation of feeling the wind beneath you, and the freedom of feeling so airy, are equally things you cannot describe, but greatly enjoy.
‘What happens to a djinn after the three wishes are used up?’ you ask, as you scour the teeming city beneath you, and notice all the different blue auras flickering about - a sea of tiny, calm flames, you think. It’s rather beautiful.
The genie is at your shoulder and responds. “When a master has fulfilled their three wishes, the djinn will return to their original home - that being their lamp, or, in some cases, another housing unit. Think… like a vase, or a bottle, even.”
‘A… bottle?’ you reply, confused. Again, you think of the Disney movie, and recall the words that Genie used. ‘Isn’t that… I dunno, cramped?’
The genie laughs jovially. “Oho, Master, you are thinking of the movie, I see. In reality, the home of a djinn is not as uncomfortable. In fact, within the confines of our home, we are able to use our powers freely - think of the lamp as a separate realm from this one, one where there are less rules. There we are able to alter the very fabric of our reality to suit our needs, which allows us to, among other things, watch the outside world and experience the new discoveries you humans gain as time goes on.”
You dip down toward the streets beneath you, and you spot the green aura not too far ahead. You slow your flight, however, to a steady glide, for your curiosity and desire to understand more outweighs the immediate curiosity of coming across whomever this person may be.
‘Wait,’ you say. ‘So your lamp is… it’s like another world entirely, and you can use your magic to do whatever you want?’
“Yes, within reason,” the genie replies. He has a smile in his voice. “In my lamp, I can do many things - I can change the scenery to an empty void of nothing, to a lush forest with a babbling brook, to a splendorous mountain in the clouds. I can generate food of my choice to feast on, or drinks to indulge in. I can create furniture, or technology that exists in the human world, and I can even access your world wide web or watch your various television shows. I can even view the past when this technology didn’t exist, if I were so inclined.”
‘Wow…’
You are amazed to hear this, and it fills you with even more questions and wonders. You try to steady the influx of thoughts rushing through your mind, of course, lest you lose focus entirely and end up dropping out of the sky, or crashing into something you weren’t paying attention to.
The genie continues with that smiling tone of voice. “Now even with this, there are still limitations - I cannot actively free myself from the lamp, for starters, nor can I bring anything living into the lamp with me. And, I cannot create sentient flesh and blood beings - I can generate a sort of, shall we say, illusory person or creature to interact with, but that is the scope of the average djinn.”
‘Oh…’ you muse, and you lower yourself slightly more as you inch closer toward the green aura - you notice it’s someone in a vehicle, so that makes it a little easier to keep track of them in the air. ‘It sounds like it would be fun, but, it also sounds lonely. And to be stuck in something for… months? Years? Ages? I don’t envy you that. I honestly feel bad you would have to live that way.’
The genie is silent for a moment before speaking, softer now. “Your consideration is touching, Master. But it is not as unfavorable as you believe. We djinn are accustomed to being in solitude for ages. And to be fair, we don’t experience time the same way you humans do. In there, there is no such thing as time, so what you might experience as a decade, to us, would be no longer than a few minutes, if that.”
You ponder this with fascination, of course, but decide to shelve it away for the time being. You instead direct your focus toward the car that is quite close to you, and you finally end up flying above it. As you do, you recall the genie gifting you the ability to see time to find out how much time has passed since you began this.
So, you concentrate as the genie said to do - and an astral clock manifests before your immediate field of vision. The clock shows that, to your astonishment, it has been over an hour since you first transformed!
‘Wow,’ you say. ‘Time flies… Or… Oof, I’m not even going to finish that thought.’
The genie chuckles. “You have approximately twenty minutes remaining before you may change your form into something else, Master. So the choice for what to do now is yours still: do you wish to pursue this current quest, to see what sort of person has been touched by magic like you? Or would you rather explore the city more with the freedom of wings before you decide?”
You soak these words in, and you mull this over for a moment…
Written by Hollowpages on 06 July 2020