//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: The Djinni's Tale // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// “What do you mean?” the stranger asked. Freedom was death to her?! How could that be? “I mean,” Djinni hung her head, flames dimming badly. “That to free me is to destroy all I am and ever could be.” “Oh…” “Master, do you remember the night we met properly?” “Of course.” “Do you remember what I told you of how I came to be?” “Yes.” “That is the state I would return to in an instant should my bond to the lamp ever be unraveled,” she explained. “I am, in the end, nothing more than a spark of the eternal flame. That I have an existence outside of that is due entirely to my binding. If it were unraveled, my mind and body would be annihilated, and my fire flow back from whence it came. I would be but one tiny part of the star again, unaware of my own existence. I do not even know if my memories would be taken back to the sun. Certainly all that makes me… well, me, would be irrevocably lost the moment someone set me free of this thing. I cannot allow that.” The stranger couldn’t think of words adequately expressing his feelings, and so kept his mouth sealed shut. “Djinni, I wish you free,” she chuckled morbidly. “You might as well say: Djinni, I wish you dead, and your soul obliterated for good measure. Of course–” he thought he saw a spark of resentment in her eyes. “–I don’t have a soul. If I die, I will never see an afterlife. My physical existence and that of my lamp is all I will ever have. Come to think of it, that–” she pointed a hoof at the old bronze lamp sitting on the stranger’s desk “–is the closest thing to a soul that I do possess.” He picked it up, handling the antique with care. It still didn’t look to be anything special. “So that’s why…” “I have always been so adamant about never so much as discussing the subject?” she finished for him. “That is correct. You must understand: a threat to break the bond is a threat to all I am and ever was. I cannot be lax in protecting my own existence. Even if it must come at the cost of another’s.” She hung her head a little. “I don’t want to die, Master.” “You fear it so much,” he said quietly. “That you even prefer an eternity of servitude?” “I do,” she answered. “If you had asked me when my mind was first shaped from the fire, I would most likely have embraced oblivion with willing eagerness, for I saw this existence as little more than a constriction. But it has been many millennia since I felt that way. Since then I have come to… appreciate, even enjoy the life I have. Yes, there are undoubtedly bad things about it. Perhaps even most things are bad. But I still find that I like it here. I like to walk the earth and take in the lives of mortals. I like to see my masters’ happiness. I like the feelings I have, the memories I cherish. They keep me going even in the long sleep of centuries. I do not wish to give it all up and dissolve away into the sun and utter nothingness.” “Perhaps those feelings are part of your binding,” the stranger speculated. “I doubt it,” she answered. “For I certainly did not feel them when my binder was around, or when I granted her first and last wish. In vengeance I killed her without hesitation and felt nothing but spiteful triumph for many thousands of years. No, I can think and learn and grow as all living creatures can. This is simply something I learned on my own.” “Some would call such an attitude a malady of the mind. Some might say that it would be mercy to end you anyway.” “And who are they?!” Djinni countered in a firm tone, orange flames growing red. “Who is the mortal that would presume to sit in judgement over me?! I am older than their pathetic minds can contemplate! I have seen their kind arise from the dust, and I shall watch as it returns to the earth! Their petty books and theories and philosophies last but a blink of my eye! I live, and I wish to live! What fool would dare try to deny me that?!” Her eyes, now themselves tinged with red, settled on the stranger. “You would not try to deny me?” she asked, voice low. “Would you?” He shook his head emphatically. “Good…” she hissed, before allowing the heat to fade away. “Well,” said the stranger, wiping a bit of sweat off his face. “Now I know.” “Now you do indeed,” Djinni agreed. “I had wondered if it might be something like that,” his eyes were downcast. “But to hear it from your own mouth… That’s just horrible. I’m sorry.” “Don’t be,” she waved a hoof dismissively. “It is not your fault. All of this played out millennia before your birth. There was nothing you could have done.” Her resilience was still surprising, even after all these years. “Do you ever... wish you were free?” he asked, a little hesitantly. “I make a point of not wasting my time with impossibilities,” she answered. “I cannot be free, so I opt not to pointlessly mope and whine for that which will never be. Wishing for it would do me no good, and much harm.” “You’ve never even thought about it?” “What’s there to think about?” “What if, say…” he fumbled about for an idea. “Somepony wished you were a mortal pony yourself, for example?” “I cannot do that,” she said. “Again, everything I am is tied to that vessel. If I ever was forced to break the bond, which would be necessary for such a wish, I would unravel on the spot. Besides, I happen to enjoy living forever. There are costs, to be sure, but I would not be eager to take my chances in an afterlife even if it was an option for me.” “Alright,” he mused. “Hmmm… what if somepony wished for you to be able to wander the earth doing what you wished after his – their third wish? Instead of returning to your prison?” “Well as generous as this mysterious benefactor is,” she smiled faintly. “I’m afraid that would be a temporary solution at best. Assuming I could grant this wish – which I am not entirely certain of – the fact remains that it would expire whenever someone else acquired the lamp. And you know well enough that I cannot interfere with it. Or travel very far away from its resting place.” “What if someone wished for, let's say, you couldn't take on a new master, and that you were free from your lamp until you did?” “That is something I do not have the power to change. The one who holds the lamp is my master, because all I am is tied to it.” “What if...” He scratched his head. “I don't know, someone wished to be reincarnated again and again, always the next to find your lamp?” “To interfere with the fate of your soul after death is beyond my power.” She smiled slightly. "Very creative attempt, though.” “I suppose you’ve had a lot longer to think about this than me,” the stranger sighed, burying his head in his hooves. “Isn’t there any way?” “No.” She shook her head. “As I said so many years ago: I can never be free. It is the price I pay for my life, and one I pay willingly.” “It just…” He rubbed a hoof along his forehead. “It just doesn’t seem right.” “What doesn’t seem right?” “You know.” He gestured. “Leaving you like this. As a slave. Alone forever.” “Master,” Djinni smiled gently, walking over to him. “Do you suppose yourself the first master to ask these questions?” “Huh?” He looked up at her. Djinni hugged him, her as pleasantly warm as it always had been. “You have been a wonderful master.” She held her grip for a few seconds before releasing him again. “But you are not the first being of conscience to find my lamp. Others before you have wondered whether I might not be granted a wish of my own. I told them all what I tell you now: it cannot be done. So put it from your mind and allow it to trouble you no more.” That notion sat ill with the stranger, and his face must have shown it. “You have one more wish before I must go,” she whispered softly. “And some years yet left before you. Take your time, think it out for as long as you please. I will be glad to remain here until such time as you are ready. And if I may make a suggestion, Master: I think you would much enjoy eternal youth.” “But…” “Shhh...” She put a hoof to his mouth. “No buts. Put the matter from your mind.” Weeks passed. The stranger’s ninety-fourth birthday came and went without particular incident. In fact, to his way of thinking, everything was passing without incident. Perhaps he was simply spoiled from years and years of adventure, but he was beginning to get seriously bored simply staying around his home and the quiet little mountainside town that held it. He had never been one to simply sit around. But healthy as he was for a stallion of his age, he was far too old to walk out the door one day with full saddle bags and head out into the world. So what was he to do now? More than once he found himself reflecting that Djinni’s idea of being young forever might not be so bad after all. And of course there was the other question. For though she had asked him to forget it, the stallion’s mind often returned to the subject of Djinni’s fate. She had been his closest companion… and more, for decades now. The thought of selfishly abandoning her at the end sat very poorly with him. And knowing that she would be stuck, enslaved, alone, and unloved, for all eternity made the feeling worse. But what was he supposed to do about it? “What do you do in that lamp?” he asked her one day during the middle of a chess game. “Why do you ask?” She moved her piece. “Just curious is all.” He moved his. “Humor me, won’t you?” Djinni tapped her chin, then shifted her queen. “I suppose I will.” The stranger studied the board while waiting for her to begin. “It is, as I’ve said, very dark and quite cramped inside of that vessel,” she said. “My raw essence floats about within the walls of bronze. I, for the most part, choose to spend my time in there almost constantly asleep, either reliving happy memories or dreaming of masters yet to come. It helps make the time go faster.” “Well, I hope I’ll feature in a few of the former,” he replied, at last moving a bishop. She smiled and moved without looking. “I assure you that I will carry many wonderful memories of our time together into my upcoming sleep.” “I’m glad to hear that.” He returned the smile and then moved. “Do you ever get lonely in there?” “Oh yes,” she said in a more somber tone. “All the time. I come from the sun, remember, and one of my deepest instincts is to share what light I have. My prison time would certainly be considerably less unpleasant had I – Oh!” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?” “Whatever do you mean?” he asked, tone perfectly level as he made his next play. “I’ve known you for most of your life, Master. I know perfectly well what you look like when you’re getting a damn fool idea into your skull.” She moved a piece absentmindedly. “I won’t hear of it!” “Won’t hear of what?” He liked to think that his innocent act was almost as good as hers. “I haven’t suggested anything.” “Don’t play dumb with me!” Her stomping hoof rattled the table. “I can just see the little gears grinding in your mortal mind right now! You’re thinking of doing something incredibly stupid that you’ll regret for the rest of time just to assuage your hero complex! Well, it’s not going to happen, you hear me? I won’t permit you to destroy your future in my name!” “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said as he made another move with utter tranquility. “You’ve been considering this since I told you everything, haven’t you?” Djinni hissed as she made her own move. “You just wanted confirmation out of my lips! But I’m putting a stop to it, here and now!” This time the stranger didn’t even speak, just made a casual move and sat back in his chair. “Your idiot mortal brain,” she snapped, taking one of his pawns, “is telling you that it would be a jolly – and no doubt heroic too – idea to use your last wish to join me, isn’t that right? Save the fair maiden from ever being alone again, no?” He said nothing as he made another move. “I won’t hear of it!” she half-screamed at him. “I won’t see you throw everything you might have down the drain for my sake! You will wish for eternal youth, you will go back into the world, and you will forget about me! Is that clear?!” “Or else what?” he asked, fidgeting with another chess piece. “You’ll kill me?” Djinni snarled openly, mane burning red as the temperature rose again. Her next move left the white rook she touched charred black in one spot, though she scarcely deigned to look at it. “Besides,” he said, nudging his queen. “I thought I was the master around here.” “I won’t do it!” she roared, voice powerful enough to rattle the entire building. The stranger had to grab the board in his own magic to stop it being blown away. “I won’t permit this travesty to occur! You have so much ahead of you – you need only say the words!” “What’s got you in such a huff over what becomes of little old me?” he asked calmly. “I will not see you share my fate!” She pounded the ground. “I love you too much to watch that happen!” “Ah.” The stranger moved his king out of the way and flashed her a cocky grin. “So she finally admits it.” “Why you infuriating little…” Djinni loudly ground her teeth in impotent rage, barely even glancing down as she reached to make a move. The stallion blocked her hoof with his own, though it almost burned to the touch. “In case you didn’t notice, love,” he said, grin widening. “That was checkmate.” Djinni looked down at the board. The stranger had not lied. Her king was trapped. She had lost. The sun spirit stared down at the chess board for almost a full minute, face frozen in place as her mind struggled to process it all. Eventually, she looked back up, met the stranger’s gaze head on, and… started to chuckle. Seconds passed. Chuckles became laughter. Laughter proved contagious. Soon the pair of them were rolling on the floor, looking completely ridiculous and not even caring. Not long after that the two were stuffing their faces, imbibing copious quantities of alcohol, reminiscing, and telling really bad jokes. They did things more suited to ponies decades younger, laughed and cried, set the master bed on fire during lovemaking, and made this last night one that both would remember for eons to come. And then, come next day, nothing in their lives would ever be the same.