Lucas walked down the street, hands in his pockets. It had been a tiring day; up early to work his job at a local fast-food place, and then straight off to attend the college it paid for. Midterms were coming up, and the professors seemed to have all decided that now would be a great time to heap work on their students. Working fast food never got easier either; there were days when it wasn’t terrible, but for the most part it was just…dull. The monotony seemed to only be interrupted by a rude customer, but Lucas tried not to let that get to him. After all, who knows what that person had been through? Maybe they were having a worse day than him. His thoughts were interrupted by the call of a man nearby. “Sir, do you have any change?”

Lucas blinked in surprise; he lived in a small town, and beggars weren’t very common; they tended to hang around the nearby larger cities. He looked around to see if there was anyone else that the man might be referring to, but the street was empty. It was rather late on a Tuesday, and most people were asleep by now. “Me?” He asked

“Yes you. Please, sir, I just need something to buy food with, anything would help.”

Lucas smiled. “Sure thing, let me see what I have…” Lucas rummaged around in his pocket, finally coming up with a wrinkled dollar bill. “Take this. It’s not much, but it’s all I have on me at the moment, I left my wallet at home.”

The man smiled. He was the picture of a beggar – scraggly beard, dirty clothing, and a backpack which presumably carried his belongings. “Why, thank you sir!” He took the bill from Lucas’ hand, and began to speak again. “If you would wait for one moment, I have something I would like to give you in return.”

Lucas tilted his head at this. “Wait, why are you giving me something? I just handed you a dollar.”

The man grinned. “Yes, but it’s a bit more than that for you, isn’t it?”

Lucas frowned. “What makes you say that?”

The man was rummaging in his pack, obviously looking for something. “Call it intuition.” He stopped, finally seeming to find what he was looking for. He pulled out a lamp and a small book. “Here, take these.”

“What? No, I couldn’t possibly! You could probably get something for those at a pawn shop or something! Please, if you’re going to give them away, at least sell them and get some food!”

The man shook his head. “No. These are…special. They can’t be given to any old pawn shop.”

“Then why me?”

“You’re kind. I’m sure you’ll take care of them.”

“Are you sure? I just barely met you!”

“I’m sure. Please, take them.”

And with that Lucas relented. He took the slightly grubby lamp and book and moved to look closer at the book.

“Not here. At your home, if you would.”

Lucas shrugged and put the items in his backpack. The whole conversation was starting to make him uneasy. “Well, uh, thanks? I guess I’ll be going now, take care of yourself.” This was a hasty exit from the conversation, but Lucas didn’t really care at this point. He just wanted out of the situation.

“You too!” The man said and waved as Lucas moved on.

Lucas made his way home faster than usual, eager to relax after the odd encounter. He rented a small house in the outskirts of the city from his aunt Judy. He didn’t really want to, but she had insisted. “I know you, and I know you’d find some cheap apartment, probably in the bad part of town, because you’re short on money after bailing out some friend. No. You’re going to stay in this house and use the time you’d save making extra money to pay for that to study.” He felt uncomfortable with the outrageously small rate she was charging him, but as she put it “It needs fixing up, so if you don’t like the rate then do some home improvements and drive up the value of the house. Think of it as saving me money in the future.”

The house was clean and moderately furnished, a little big for his needs, but that was something he could deal with. He walked into the living room, which was centered around a small coffee table. There was a TV and gaming console on one wall, with a couple of couches and armchairs providing sitting room in the event that he had a visitor. He sits down on an armchair, opening his bag and taking out the lamp and book. He puts the book down to take a close look at the lamp; it’s an old lamp for sure, made to burn what he thinks would be oil. The color of the lamp is a faded blue, splotched with what seems to be dirt from the beggar’s travels. Lucas frowns as he spots an engraving partially obscured by a patch of dirt, the letters VI. He licks his thumb and begins to scrub away the dirt on the lamp, revealing the full inscription “VITHI”. As he does, a dark smoke begins leaking from the lamp, and jumped up, dropping the lamp in shock.

The smoke coalesces into the form of a young woman in modern attire, rubbing her eyes and yawning. “Looks like the old man finally found who he was looking for while I was asleep. Name’s Vithi, djinn of the lamp, you are now my master, blah blah blah, three wishes, hurry up and make them so I can be done with this.”

Lucas was frozen in shock at this sudden development, staring at Vithi like she had just announced that he was actually an alien, sent to earth by a mistake.

“What, kid? Never seen a djinn before?”

“N-no!” Lucas stammered “Up until now I wasn’t aware that they were real!”

Vithi frowned. “Did your mentor really not teach you about us?”

“What mentor?”

“Your mentor in magic. You DO have one, right?”

“N-no! Again, not even aware magic was real until right now!”

Vithi looked surprised at this, and a little angry. “You’re telling me he didn’t even give me to a mage! What was he thinking!”

“Who, the homeless guy who gave the lamp to me?”

Vithi snorted a little at this. “That was no homeless guy. That was Tunem, my last master, one of the leaders of the Protectorate, the world’s foremost expert in divination magic, and maybe one of the most powerful people on this planet.”

Lucas tried to make sense of this conversation, but the longer it went, the more it seemed to be getting away from him. “So, you’re telling me one of the most powerful mages dressed up as a hobo, came to my city, and started begging for money with the intent to give this lamp to whoever gave him some?”

Vithi paused. “No, I don’t think so. Again, specialist in divination magic. He specifically chose you, although I couldn’t tell you WHY. You were still veiled for crying out loud!”

“Veiled?”

“Term for people who don’t know about magic. Normal code of conduct for the protectorate is to never reveal magic to one of the veiled unless it’s under dire circumstances, but I’m not sure why he would do that.” Vithi scratched her chin a little, seeming to talk more to herself than Lucas. “Hmmm. He mentioned troubles, but surely he could have gotten more power out of…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “That’s beyond the point. Make your wishes so I can go back to my lamp.”

“In that case, I wi–” Lucas began to speak, but the book beside him started to glow brightly, emitting a soft hum as it did. Vithi just sighed. “Let me guess, he gave that to you too?”

Lucas nodded, and Vithi made her way over to a small armchair across from Lucas. She sat down and looked at him, rolling her eyes a little. “Well, seeing as how it started glowing right before you were going to wish for something, I’m guessing he wants you to read that before you do.”

Lucas picked up the now grime-free book, weighing it in his hands. It was short, and he guessed it was no more than 30 pages in length. The outside of it was a blank brown aside from the word “Lucas” on the front. Lucas started at it for a second before turning to Vithi. “I’m going to go read this in my room.” He shifted a little where he stood, not looking directly at Vithi. “Uh, I guess you could watch TV or play a video game or something while I do?” He motioned to the coffee table, upon which sat various remotes and controllers. “The remotes are there. Come get me if you have any trouble, I guess?” He shuffled off towards a hallway near the TV, glancing back at Vithi before hurriedly walking down the hallway, opening a door and walking inside.

Vithi nearly laughed before remembering where she was and what was happening. She sighed again and looked at the controllers on the table. Might as well occupy myself.

Lucas heard the TV thump to life as he closed his door. The room was clean and tidy, mainly consisting of a bed and a nightstand with a lamp and clock. He sat down on the bed, running his hands through his hair as he did. He was practically the definition of average; short black hair, brown eyes, around 6 feet tall. He got decent grades, but nothing special. He wasn’t particularly athletic or had any other outstanding skill, so why pick him to give the lamp to?

He opened the book. It made a stiff cracking sound as it opened, and the slightly yellowing pages suggested to him that it was quite a few years old. He frowned, looking again at the “Lucas” on the cover. He was 23, and if his guess was right this book was at least as old as he was. Well, she did say the guy was an expert in divination magic. Maybe he made this book when I was born, like a prophecy of sorts.

He flipped to the first page. “Lucas,” it read, “I am making this book to help guide you in making wise wishes. I have given Vithi to you in hopes that you could use her magic to make a difference. I will warn you that she is jaded, used to harsh treatment from her masters, myself excluded. In this book I have included knowledge on the nature of djinn, guidelines for what can be achieved with wishes, example wishes from the past, and other helpful tidbits. I ask only that you treat Vithi kindly and keep my words in mind when wishing.”

The rest of the book, as promised, contained information which Lucas intended to put to use. Two things in particular stood out; the nature of wishes and djinn contracts. When granting a wish, a djinn is able to read the intent of the wish, meaning wording is not particularly important as long as you have a clear mental picture of what you want. Djinn contracts are a special form of deal, a magically binding contract which both parties are forced to uphold. By making a contract with a djinn, one could potentially stop them from twisting wishes or otherwise disrupting things. Apparently, it worked in a similar fashion to the bond connecting a master and djinn from a magical standpoint, but Lucas didn’t have the magical knowledge to understand much more beyond that. Still, Lucas knew what he was going to do.

Vithi was seriously enjoying video games. She had never played one before, and it had taken longer than she would care to admit figuring out how things worked, but once she got the hang of it, she had started to see the appeal. She had picked an open-world game out of curiosity and was not disappointed; the freedom to do whatever she want within the game was something she had never really experienced in life. It gave her a taste of what life could be like if she wasn’t forced into a master’s service.

Her concentration was broken by the sound of a door opening. She paused the game and turned to face the hallway. Lucas strode into the living room, notably lacking the book. Vithi stood and began to speak. “You finally done? Make your wishes so I can go take a nap or something.”

Lucas eyed Vithi nervously. He licked his lips and sat in an armchair. “I would like to make a contract.”

Vithi froze. “So, it told you about those, did it?”

Lucas nodded. Vithi eyeballed him for a moment. “What terms?”

“You grant my wishes according to my intent. In return, I use my last wish to grant you freedom.”

Vithi looked stunned. “Alright, on the condition that aside from the wish granting my freedom, your wishes cannot affect me in any way, and you must make all three wishes at the same time.”

“Agreed.”

There was a spark of magic, and Vithi’s heart soared. Freedom at last! Looks like the old man was right! “What are your wishes?”

“To fluently understand and use any language or other form of communication, and to become a powerful mage.”

Vithi bounced on her feet as she felt the power welling up inside her. “Granted!” She squealed. She felt a snap in her magic, an odd, foreign sensation, and a dizziness. She swayed a little, planting her hand on the wall as spots began to appear in her vision. Crap, I forgot about the backlash. Probably gonna pass out here soon. She eyed Lucas and made a decision. She performed a quick sentry spell, and let the blackness overtake her.

Fighterman481

So, this chapter was originally 3 chapters. As I mentioned in the foreword, they were all quite a bit shorter than I want my chapters to be, so I condensed them into a single chapter. Still, there's a decent amount of stuff to talk about here.

We're introduced to our main character, Lucas. To be honest, I'm pretty conflicted about him, myself. I wanted to go for a "giving and helpful to a fault" kind of attitude, but honestly the more I write the more he just ends up feeling like a doormat that just goes along with whatever happens. As the story progresses, let me know what you all think.

Aside from that, we've got the introduction of one of the things I would most like to fix with the rewrite, and that's the perspective changes. I feel like I might have been better at this in the beginning (or maybe I just don't notice it now?), but I wanted this to be third person, with a single character having the point of view at a time. In the later chapters it feels like that's been sorta lost, so I'm intending to go through and more thoroughly force the story into that. Once that's finished, I'll be sure to mark who's point of view it is as that happens.

I also want to talk about is djinn contracts. The important thing to note about them is that they are spirit of the law, rather than letter of the law. Later on I talk more on how exactly this works, but as it currently stands they're mostly used to allow for a semblance of trust between Vithi and Lucas, allowing for the narrative to continue how I wanted.

Last thing about this is the backlash Vithi mentions. Again, later on I talk about the mechanics behind djinn and wishes, but what's important to note is that this is not a backlash for simply granting a wish, but for freeing the djinn. A massive amount of magical energy was released when that happened, and as the origin of said magical energy, Vithi naturally took a bit of a blow when that happened. Keep that massive amount of energy in mind, though. It'll be important later.