Abyss's scythe slashed at incredible speeds. Dawn barely fended him off, her sword clanging against his scythe. His skill was truly impressive. She roared, and a wave of heat threw him backwards. She lowered her shoulder and charged at him. She rammed him, driving him into the wall with an almighty bang. A piece of yellowish paper fluttered out of Abyss's pocket. Abyss reached for it, but Dawn kicked him in the face, sending him flying. She snatched the paper out of the air. Abyss came charging back at her. She couldn't win. Abyss was too good, too fast, too strong, and he was dead, which meant that he would never get tired.
The hooded figure began to chuckle. Dawn stamped her foot on the ground. With a loud crack! the ground split apart. Dawn jumped into the crack just as the hooded figures chuckles became booming, cackling laughter that rang in her ears.
•~•
Uro and the other two council members present had just received a message from Aunty Nani, updating them on the events that had just happened. Uro nodded calmly and put the report in his desk drawer. He was about to speak when a crack split the floor in front of their table in two. Dawn leaped out of the crack, landing lightly on her feet just in front of the table.
"Lieutenant Dawn," said Uro, "What brings you here?"
"Grave news," said Dawn, and told him what had happened.
"This is bad," stated Armatus, "By the power of ancient magic, whoever wears that crown has the power to give commands to the Aes Sidhe. We are in trouble."
"This piece of paper fell out of Abyss's pocket. It is a list of people he was sent to kill," said Dawn, pulling out the piece of paper and handing it to Uro. He read through it, brow crinkling.
"I must take my leave. The children will need my help," said Dawn. She leapt back into the crack in the ground and it sealed over.
•~•
"We're going to see dragons!" cried Melody excitedly, bouncing around in the back of the car.
Umbra cleared his throat, "Yes, well, about that..." Everybody looked at him. "We don't actually know where the Dragon City is,"
"You're a Master. Don't you know? Didn't the damn knowledge come with the job?" asked Aunty Nani.
"Well, the knowledge is only given to Masters with seniority. Uro and I haven't been Masters for more than a year. We don't know," said Umbra.
"Useless," muttered Aunty Nani.
"Hey!" cried Umbra.
"Not to worry, everyone!" said Aida in her usual cheerful way, "I have a plan!"
•~•
The castle was intimidating. It loomed. It towered. The five children were momentarily tongue tied.
"Who lives here, again?" asked Lifei, already recovering her wits.
"A djinn," said Aida.
"A-" Aunty Nani whirled to face Aida. "Are you mad?!"
"What's a djinn?" asked Lifei.
"They are the entities from which the myths of genies arose," explained Umbra.
"Cool!" exclaimed Lifei. Melody had to agree.
"Not cool," spat Aunty Nani, "Djinn are powerful and dangerous. They are beings born of Chaos and Evil. They would rather kill us for the fun of it then help us."
"...oh," said Lifei.
"This djinn is imprisoned. Everything will be fine. I just need to negotiate with him, give him something that he wants. And I know what he wants. Trust me on this," said Aida.
Aunty Nani hesitated. "Can we at least leave the kids out here?"
"No. The djinn may see it as an insult. We need to all go," said Aida.
And so it was that five children, one sword wielding woman, one seemingly normal young lady and a spirit entered the djinn's lair.
•~•
The castle was not magnificent. From the outside, it had these tall towers and enormous battlements. The doors had swung open by themselves, and Melody had been disappointed. The entire interior of the castle was hollowed out. There were no levels, no rooms. Only one enormous room, with pockets of space denying the ceiling where the towers were.
In the center of the room was a stone statue. An enormous statue, easily three times as tall as Aida. It was dressed in armor.
"WELL, WELL, WELL. HELLO AGAIN, LADY AIDA," boomed a voice. It was coming from behind the children. They turned, but there was no one. "LONG TIME NO SEE," the source of the voice seemed to be moving, slowly shifting from behind them to the ceiling.
"You know why I am here," called Aida.
"OF COURSE," boomed the voice. It was coming from their right. "I SHALL LIST THREE TRADES. YOU MAY ACCEPT OR REJECT. THEN, YOU WILL SUGGEST A TRADE AS WELL. IF WE FAIL TO COME TO AN AGREEMENTS..." the voice trailed off. It was somewhere to their left now. When Melody looked closely, she could see the djinn, a patch of shimmering, displaced air. It shifted, moving behind them, "IN EXCHANGE FOR THE DRAGON CITY'S LOCATION... YOU WILL RELEASE ME."
"Fat chance," replied Aida.
"HA! RUDE AS EVER. VERY WELL. CAN'T BLAME AN OLD DJINN FROM TRYING, EH?" the djinn laughed. He proceeded to ask for lifelong servitude (keep dreaming was Aida's reply) and the death of a friend, a family member and a lover (why? you wish you had one of those?). The djinn had growled in irritation, the shimmering patch of air drawing closer.
"WHAT THEN DO YOU PROPOSE?" boomed the djinn.
"For long have you been stuck here, djinn. The world advances around your prison, yet you cannot witness it. I will give you a device that will allow you to keep in touch with the events of the world, in exchange for the location of the Dragon City," called Aida.
The djinn was silent for a moment, as though surprised. "TRULY? SUCH AN OBJECT EXISTS?"
"Of course. Technology has far advanced since last you were sealed away," called Aida.
"THEN YOU HAVE A DEAL!" roared the djinn. The shimmering patch of air whirled and flew into the statue. With an ear splitting BOOM, the statue came to life, fire trickling out of its eyes and down its arms. The flames collected together until it formed a sphere of energy. The sphere shot downwards and hit Aida, sinking int her head. Her eyes glowed briefly, then they returned to normal. She nodded calmly.
"YOUR END OF THE DEAL," boomed the djinn.
Aida pulled out her iPhone and handed it to him.
