Before a Once Upon A Time

A Single Lamp - The Unreasonable Thirst

Story 2 - A Single Lamp

Part 8 - The Unreasonable Thirst

 When he woke, he didn't cry again. He simple sat in the stunned silence of those who had their hearts broken into so many pieces that it was debatable whether they were even still beating or not. He sat this way for who knows how long - there was no way to tell time in the lamp and it ran differently in there than the outside world. For example, in this entire time since he was put in the lamp, the Good fairy has been dancing. It would seem like hours and hours and hours, days even to him. But for her it is only minutes. Mere minutes since he had been insane. Hard to fathom.

He sat in this way for what seemed to be years to him but was really just a day to everyone else. It was then that the Good fairy implemented her evil grand plan. She placed the lamp outside the door of the lamp merchant’s home. He might be suspicious of the lamp but it was a lamp still, to him. He would accept it simply because it would be profit without cost.

And when he saw the lamp, he would polish the rusted surface and her Gene-y would leap out and kill him. That was how she though of him now. She added the y to the end of his name because he was like a pet to her- she was making him less than he was, making him seem smaller and less significant. Because we all know how well belittling people worked out for poor Gene.

And yes. That is where the word genie came from. I know, right? I didn’t know that people back then did that pet name thing either. It's kind of funny, isn't it? I mean, Genie, a word we all associate with magic and mystery and fun and a sudden, lingering almost hidden sadness originated as a pet name. Well. I guess I don't know about you. But it makes me laugh.

When the lamp merchant rubbed the lamp, Gene came out and looked around, surprised. He was...free? And himself? No. He wasn't. He glanced at his wrists and saw metal bands made from the same material as the lamp. He was branded. But protected. And something else. He felt a swelling pressure in his heart and felt the need to look at the person who was standing shocked in front of him, holding his lamp. "I am Genie, and I am here to grant you three wishes."

He was a servant.

The lamp being near the Good fairy had caught her thought of Gene-y and took it, warping it and forcing the name upon its ward. It had felt the magic in the promise she had made him to him and forced this into its metal, the promise magic strong and resilient even against the ancient magic of the lamp.

The lamp had only survived so long because it was so strong and adaptable. If it hadn't been it would have been destroyed or lost long ago. The lamp felt its master’s wishes, words and promises and adapted to them, only reverting to its original state when it lost a ward, normally to old age. To the ward, it would seem they had lived forever, because they would have been living on slowed lamp time. However, the wards did still age, at the rate at which they would have had they had been free, and so, eventually, they did die.

The lamp had so many spells on it after so much time that it could be used for many things. A prison, a trap, a storage room, even a magic, wish granting genie.  And here was one now, created on accident by a woman who didn't understand the depth of the magic she was dealing with.

Genie stood in front of this man who was now his master. The man had been expecting some kind of magic- he recognized the lamp that had been stolen from him. Well, not technically stolen - bought in a manner of speaking - but for much, much less than it was worth- for a small fraction of what he could have gotten for it. And all because of that woman's twisted magic. But this - he had not been expecting her to send someone to grant his wishes - kill him maybe, maybe silence him, scare him. Not help him. How strange. Either way, it was fairly easy to think of something he wanted.

"I want to rich. Very rich. Richer than anyone else." The genie looked at him with dark eyes- the hatred within them was not caused by any spell. It was real. This man was asking not for money but for corruption, hatred, dread, worry, watchfulness so extreme it became paranoia. He was asking for pain and vanity and distrust and angst enough to last him a lifetime. Still, Gene felt a compelling desire to answer the call of his master. He managed to snap his fingers and say “It is done.” before the lamp reclaimed him.

Within the lamp, he understood everything that had been done. He understood the fairy's foolishness. She shouldn’t have messed with something she didn't understand. Her words might ring false, but the fact that she said them told the lamp what to do- whether or not they were honest or meant. He sighed. Now he was trapped for all eternity (or at least his bit of eternity) here, granting wishes. For that was another flaw in her plan - the magic of the lamp was eternal - now that he was marked with it, so was she. The magic of the lamp was in his blood and the lamp remembered its masters. Now he could hunt her for all of his life until she died, if he was ever freed. And he intended to be. Even if he reverted to his crazed state- he would view the imprisonment as a slight against him and hunt her for his honor. It became his sole purpose to continue living- to kill her.

The next time the merchant called him he asked for something else ridiculous- he wanted something to impress a girl who he wanted to be his bride. Genie complied without comment and returned to the lamp.

He was thirsty. He had noticed a few days before and was surprised. He didn't seem to age here at all, not changing in the least and he realized that is too must have been an after affect of the fairy's slip up, though how he didn’t know. Maybe the lamp was now forced to give wishes and he was the only way to do so?

Whatever the reason, he was supposed to continue to age here but the magic prevented him from aging inside the lamp - it was only outside he grew older. This only meant he was going to be trapped here much, much longer than the other had been. Yet, his unreasonable thirst grew worse and he grew crazed for water and wondered - could he conjure some? He tried and tried, using the effortless snap from before and many other things too. None of them worked. Eventually he asked the lamp if he could have some water. There was no response and he fell asleep, restlessly.

*Have you noticed how a genie never appears half dressed or asleep or anything? There is a reason for that. If he was indecent the lamp waited until he wasn't before poofing him out, as long as his intention was to get decent soon. We wouldn't notice the difference - not really. A few split seconds maybe. Nothing anyone not entirely obsessive would notice. However, if he stripped and decided to take up the habit of being nude I have a feeling it would poof him out without waiting - he wasn't going to get clothes on and the person needed help. However, that never actually happened (as far as I know), so it’s just speculation on my part.

When Genie woke up a glass of water sat in front of him. He eyed it suspiciously and took a sip. Ah....He drank until the glass was empty and set it down. Picked it up. Hefted it. Tested its weight. Pulled at it. Checked that it was glass. Threw it at a wall. He wanted to break it so he could cut himself - maybe not even kill himself like he was fantasizing about, maybe just marks to pass the time. The glass, however did not shatter. It simply disappeared and Genie was left staring at the place where it had been. Huh. He wondered about that. What had created such a strange place?