DJinn

"She was a mass of charred flesh. Horns sprouted from her head like roots from dead earth. Lipless fangs would have dominated her face if it weren't for those glazen, soulless eyes. I found it impossible to look at anything else."

Based on the following short story I wrote:

The D'Jinn and the Three Wishes“D’Jinn are said to have been borne from fire and came to Earth ages before man existed. They were the first of the Earth's masters. They built huge cities whose ruins still stand in long forgotten places. Aeons later many of the D’Jinn were forced to flee this world for reasons long since forgotten. A few remained, and still roam the desolate places of the Earth. Of these D’Jinn, there are the benign spirits known as the Agatho and the malignant monsters fearfully called Kako-Daemons.”-- an ancient Bedouin myth.At last Irem al Imad was in view. Looking down from the high mountain pass, I saw the city resting at the mouth of a large valley surrounded by impassable mountains. This pass was the only way through. Once rumored to house “a thousand obelisks tall enough to break the clouds”, the city itself was now mostly rubble. Three larger sections of a single pillar remained, but that was about it.“Finally. We’re here,” my guide complained. “My feet are killing me.”“How do you plan to find the Genie’s chamber in all this rubble?” I paid this man all I had to get here. So far I'd only been given earfuls of his complaining. “If a D’Jinn catches you calling it that French bastardization of its name, you won’t live long enough to regret it.”“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time. If we meet any living D’jinn, I’ll be sure to use his correct name.”“Unless it’s a she.”Intriguing thought. I’ve always been biased by the fairy tale of Aladdin and the magic lamp. I pictured a muscular blue Genie, with the voice of Robin WIlliams. My research into the true nature of D’jinn taught me they can take many forms, and were as likely as not to be female. The female D’Jinn were rumored to be particularly clever and deceptive.Questions about how my guide would find and open the chamber were never answered to my satisfaction. There was always a diversion or a “detail that requires further clarification”. Stall tactics for sure, but they worked. Before I was able to get a reasonable answer out of him, we’d already reached the outskirts of the ruins. Immediately he began reading strange inscriptions on one of the largest fragments and asked me to set up camp.“Uh oh.” He said after a few minutes.“What?” I asked.“The D’Jinn that guards this chamber isn’t what I thought it was. It's a Kako-Daemon.”“A...what?”“It’s an evil spirit that's always ravenous. Their only interest is feeding on the flesh and souls of mortals. If you try to get your prize out of a Kako-Daemon, you will find only death and damnation.”“You told me all D’Jinn were required to grant 3 wishes to anyone who captured them?”“True. But what happens after...That's what you must consider here. An Agatho spirit is a being who, after granting your wishes, is usually grateful to be free from bondage and will leave you alone. A Kako-Daemon is something else altogether. They are known to feed on their own masters after being freed from bondage by their last wish.”“Sounds unpleasant.”“More than you know,” He said. “I’m just sorry we came out here for nothing.”“Oh no you don’t! I paid you good money to get out here and you’re gonna do exactly what you promised! I’m not falling for a scam!”“But...But, you don’t understand...”“I understand perfectly well,” I said. “You drag me out here, and then claim it’s an evil spirit so we never actually see it. Nice try but you ARE opening the chamber for me.”“But. I can’t! You don’t understand what will happen if I do...” He pleaded.“You will open it. That’s why we’re here and it’s why I paid you all that money.” I insisted.“If you must,” He grudgingly replied. “But under no circumstances will I enter the chamber with you. You are on your own in there.”“Just get get it open.”He began a strange ritual nearby while I finished setting up camp. I sat down to watch him intently. I assumed his reluctance to open the chamber was due to this whole place being a fraud. I was not going to let him get away without giving me what I paid for. However, the journey was a long one and I was more weary than expected.I awoke with a start sometime later that night. As I feared, the guide was gone. Near his ritual site I noticed a strange door in the ground. The door swung easily upward, revealing a long staircase descending into the earth. A note was attached to the door handle.“I must warn you once more, commanding an ordinary D’Jinn is dangerous enough. What you are really asking for can be misunderstood. But wishes can also be intentionally twisted. With an evil spirit like the one beyond this door, your wishes will be perverted in ways you can’t imagine. Thinking you can outwit a malevolent D’Jinn only makes you its meal.”“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said out loud. I was still irritated because I’d fallen asleep. I still wasn't convinced there was anything to these D’Jinn stories; even with all the research I'd done. If this was a hoax, I'd be out a lot of money now that he got away. How do I tell Susan I spent our life savings in a failed bid to find a Genie?Down the stairs I went. I could smell stale air that still held a faint hint of incense. There was no light other than the small flashlight that doubled as a keychain. About halfway down, on the 986th step (yes I was counting), my flashlight began to flicker. By the 997th step I was wishing I'd brought a backup. By the 1,022nd step, my light was gone. I lost count of the steps after that. The journey down in total darkness felt like it took forever.Eventually the staircase gave way to a long passageway. A faint light flickered at the far end. The air was warm and dry down here.As I approached the light, I could tell the room at the far end of the passage was on fire. Or, more precisely, something in the the room was on fire. There was no light otherwise. The fire was strange and unnatural; The shadows it created were somehow *wrong*. They didn't belong to the objects they were connected to. They were imposters.Besides the fire, the only thing I could see was a pile of bones lying in the far corner. The bones were clearly human and, from the looks of it, had recently been picked clean.From inside the fire I heard a voice, “Isss there sssomething I can do for you?” The voice was soft and silky.“Ummm,” I stammered. “Are you a D’Jinn?”“Who isss asssking?” The flames abated and I couldn’t believe what came out of the flames. She (if you could even call it a she) was a mass of burnt and charred flesh. Great horns sprouted from her head like cold branches breaking through dead earth. Great, lipless fangs would have dominated her face if it weren’t for her glazen, soulless eyes. I found it impossible to look at anything else.,“I... I am your new master.” My voice cracked as I spoke.“Oh really?” She hissed playfully. “And jussst what can I do for you, my new massster?”I had to compose myself. I’d researched and prepared for this moment for a long time. I couldn’t let her appearance distract me. I had to concentrate.“I understand that you’d kill me in an instant if it weren’t for the fact that you must grant me 3 wishes first. Is that true?”“Isss that your firssst wisssh?” She inquired.“No it isn’t,” I replied. “I am just considering whether or not I should ask for any wishes at all.”“I will anssswer quessstionsss.” She slid a little closer as she spoke. “Your anssswer isss thisss: My power isss vasssst but I am bound by rulesss imposssed on me by powersss far greater than I.”“And these rules include granting any 3 wishes I want?”“Yesss. I am bound to grant any wisssh that isss in my power.”“And just what things are beyond your power?”“Ssso many quessstionsss,” I could tell she was getting irritated. “Only the fate of sssoulsss are beyond my power.”I thought about it for a moment. I knew I had to make these wishes as clear as possible to avoid the D’Jinn’s deception. I remembered a fable read during my research - a story of a great Sultan who, as his first wish, asked for a room full of riches. Unfortunately this also ended up being his last wish as the room quickly turned into an unexpected tomb of gold and jewels.“My first wish will be simple, I wish to have unlimited wishes.”Her face glowered as I spoke. She didn’t seem happy with this turn of events “Asss you wisssh, Massster.”Pleased with myself, I thought carefully about my next wish. While I now had a limitless supply of wishes, I knew this D’Jinn would have some clever trick up her sleeve. I suspected that even though I had many more wishes, she might still be freed of her bond; allowing her to kill me after the third wish. My next 2 wishes would have to be chosen carefully.“For my second wish, I would like you to be bound by chains that cannot ever be broken.”“Asss you wisssh Massster.” She still moved around without any chains appearing.“Why are you not bound and shackled?” I asked.“Fear not asss I will be bound,” She smiled. “Eventually. Eventually I will be bound to obey your command. But you didn’t tell me when. Ssso in a time of my choosssing, I will obey your command to it’ssss fullessssst.”Hmmm. She was more clever than I thought. Thank goodness I still had another wish to make up for her treachery. I will have to make sure I specify WHEN she must do what I command next.“Okay, for my third wish...”“Yesss?” I paused. I needed to get this one right.“I wish that, from this time forward and to the end of time, that you cannot feed on any part of me whatsoever.” There. That should keep her from using that trick. Now she can’t feed on me, then still keep her promise by not feeding on me after she is done. I bet she’s fed on a lot of people with that trick. I was catching on.“Asss you wisssh” She said. Was that a grin on her face? Hard to tell since she didn’t have lips.I felt uncomfortable. I couldn’t see how she might get around my wish, but I could also sense the deceit this creature was capable of… My thought was interrupted by a flash of light. To my surprise, Susan was standing in front of me.“Wha…? Rob? What’s going on?” She was confused after being instantly transported almost half a world away. I shared in her confusion.But before I could react, the D’Jinn was at my wife’s throat - tearing and biting. There was so much blood.“Stop!” I shouted. “STOP!!!” The gurgling sound coming from my wife made me ill.“Asss you wisssh massster.” Her grin dripped blood as she backed away from my wife’s lifeless body. Now I could tell she was really smiling.“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.“Don’t you recall your vowsss with your wife when you married?”“No.”“Let me remind you,” she said. “You promisssed to your deity that you would ssshare your livesss for the ressst of eternity.”“So?”“By doing ssso you gave me the power to feed on her life inssstead of yoursss. Her life isss forfeit in your place.”“No! You can’t do this!”“But I already have. Unlesss you wisssh me to undo it...”“Yes. Undo it right now! Make her exactly as she was before you brought her here!”“Asss you wisssh,” She smiled.I saw my wife come back to life. The open wound on her neck was gone. Her hair, clothes and skin were no longer drenched in blood, She looked exactly as I remember her before any of this happened. I didn't notice anything was wrong until I tried to talk to her.“Suze...are you okay?”She didn’t move or say a word. I looked into her eyes and saw...nothing.“What’s going on?” I asked in panic. “Why didn’t you bring her back like I wished?”“But I did bring her back,” She replied. “Asss I told you, I have no power over the fate of sssoulsss. Her sssoul wasss ripped from her body when I fed. That I cannot undo but physssically ssshe is unhurt.”Oh no! This thing twisted my wishes just like the guide warned. I had to think. THINK ROB! How do I fix this? It was hard to concentrate with my wife staring at me. Her eyes reminded me of an old photograph - details fading or forgotten. I had to turn away from her just so I could think. My head was spinning.Then an idea struck me. It seemed crazy, but I needed a plan this creature couldn’t anticipate. I turned to look at the D’Jinn.“I want you to take me back in time. Back to a point before you summoned my wife.”She looked at me quizzically. Clearly she didn’t expect this. “Asss you wisssh.”There was a flash of light. I found myself and the D’Jinn alone in the chamber. My wife was nowhere to be found.“Is my wife okay?” I asked.“Yesss ssshe isss,” The D’jinn replied. “It isss a thousssand yearsss before I fed on her.” A thousand years? Still, I felt pleased with myself. I figured out a way to save my wife and all it took was for me to defy the laws of space and time. I can always go back...a sharp pain in my neck interrupted my train of thought. The fangs of the D’Jinn sank deep into my shoulder. I tried to talk but couldn’t. There was blood filling my throat. How did her mouth get so big? The pain was...beyond natural. Her fangs didn’t just tear thru my body - it tore thru...something more. I could actually feel her ripping chunks out of the very essence of who I am. This made the pain far *deeper* and *sharper* than anything natural. That pain became the only thing to me.“Deliciousss” I could hear the D’Jinn’s thoughts now.“How... How could you defy my wishes like this?” I could barely think coherently now.“You sssaid it. From thisss point forth, you sssaid. Now it isss before that time. Before the time I can't eat you.”Then she began to bite and chew and gnaw. I was awake for all of it. I felt EVERYTHING. The *deep*. The *sharp*. Then she took me to see the *Maw*. That's where I learned about the pain that would never end. Madness settled into my bones but was never a comfort to me. Even with the torment, there was one bit of irony I had to laugh at.Those remains that had recently been picked clean? It turns out they were mine.