The moment the wish was made, silence spread across the entire battlefield of the room. It was not some weird movie effect, one of those unlikely silences that enveloped a battlefield because the director wanted to showcase an important moment. Lily flexed and suddenly, no one could move. A fraction of a second later, combatants were pulled apart, bullets moving through mid-air fell to the floor with a tinkle of falling rain, and Mana that had been gathering stilled.
“Well. That’s enough of that,” Lily said, straightening. When the troll tried something, she flicked a hand and squashed it against the wall, where it leaked blood. “Hush. All of you. This is my moment. And I won’t have it spoiled.”
“Lily?” I said, standing as I looked at the jinn, who seemed so different now.
Lily turned to look at me, no longer looking like a cute but somewhat scared gamer girl but an imperious queen. She was even taller than me now. As I glanced down, I realized why. The jinn was levitating, adding a couple of inches to her height. A snap of her fingers and the hoodie disappeared, as well as the slacks, and a regal gold-and-green gown appeared along with glittering jewelry.
“Much better. You really were slow. But you managed to do it,” Lily said, looking at me.
“How—how are you able to do this?” I said, looking at the still-frozen fighters. At Alexa, who was taking the intermission in fighting to bandage her thigh. “You shouldn’t be able to do this. The rules—”
“Are made by me. I just bent them,” Lily said.
In answer, another notification appeared.
Hidden Quest Completed: Give the Jinn a Wish
Rewards: ???
“What? That’s not how that works. You always indicated what the quest rewards are!” I protested.
“Not always. Sometimes rewards are hidden if you haven’t completed the prerequisites,” Lily snapped at me. For a second, I saw my friend in the imperious supernatural queen, then she was back as she turned toward one of the sidhe that was rubbing at an amulet. “Stop that. It will not work, but it is annoying.”
The sidhe stopped, a resigned look in its eyes. “What do you intend to do, jinn?”
“Do? Hmmm… so much. So very much. But I should finish my wish. Then I’ll deal with you.” Lily turned to me and gestured.
The ring on my finger flew from my hand—taking a little bit of skin with it, such was the force of its movement. The ring hovered next to Lily, glowing before her. Another gesture and the glow expanded, resolving into runic script, the packed-together spell formulas becoming legible as she kept expanding the script. It took up the entire room, and we still had to squint to make out even a portion of the script itself. Considering a single rune could be considered a sentence, the complexity of the enchantment packed into the ring made my head hurt.
“Incredible,” Caleb breathed, his eyes flicking as he took in what he could.
“Are you freeing yourself, lady of fire and smoke?” the Nun'Yunu'Wi said, bowing deep from its waist. “It was only what I wanted to do. To free such a magnificent lady.”
“Do you know, it’s been tried before?” Lily said. “Wishing me free? It was one of the first things my followers tried.” There was silence as Lily flicked a finger and a section of the spell formula was highlighted. “But they were smart. That is one of many things that cannot be wished for. Doing so forces me to end their lives.”
The Nun'Yunu'Wi froze at her words while the Knights relaxed a little, the hard tension in their bodies disappearing. Relaxed, because the threat that was the jinn was gone—supposedly. Or at least, her being freed. Though I wondered if they considered—or cared—that their lives might be entirely forfeit at this point.
“What are you going to do?” I said as I hobbled over to Alexa and bent, taking hold of the end of the bandage that she’d been struggling to get wrapped properly.
The ex-Initiate flashed me a smile while I took over, and she found a healing potion in her jacket liner to chug. I focused on the bandage, noting how the blood still leaked. I didn’t want to look at Lily, at the person I thought had been my friend. And who now looked or talked nothing like her. Who, I dreaded, might have tricked me.
“Mmmm… I cannot wish myself free. I cannot wish the stone apart. And my powers are still contained by this ring,” Lily said, tapping her lips. “It’s… annoying. Simple solutions have been blocked off for a long time. But I’ve had thousands of years to think about it. To test theories. To have other ring bearers try out other options.” Lily let the silence grow. “To learn.”
For two such innocuous words, they sent a shiver down all our backs.
Lily turned, looking around. Her gaze was distant, as if she was seeing things that I couldn’t. “Well. I guess I should sort this out first. Give you your reward.”
There was something in her voice that made my eyes widen.
“Stop!” Caleb shouted, lurching forward a half-inch before the spells holding him froze him.
I did not understand what he was screaming about, could not. Until I felt pain all over, all at once. Pain that came not just from my body but from my soul. I screamed, and then my body came apart.
***
I came back to my senses, still screaming, in a clearing, a lookout above the city. I was in the same position, hands splayed as if they were wrapping another person’s leg. My chest heaved as I ran out of air, and I drew another breath to scream again. Only to find that I wasn’t hurting. Not at all.
“Wha…?” I looked around at the slow-setting sun. At the white, fluffy clouds and the peaceful blue of the sky. The green of the grass, all the greener now after hours of harsh white light in a grey, concrete basement. Smells—normal, human, natural smells. And to my Mana Sense, the deep, deep upwelling of power coming from beneath me as multiple ley lines crossed over one another.
“There. That should do it,” Lily said beside me.
I blinked, looking at the jinn. “Lily?”
“Sorry. I’m stretching the rules, but I need to make this wish soon,” Lily said. “I’ve healed you. Your friends are back where they are meant to be. If this fails… well. You should run.”
I nodded, knowing she was right. We’d had plans for if we had survived. If the ring was… well. Where was the ring? And then I saw it—around her finger.
“Time to try again,” Lily said, raising the hand with the ring on it. The jinn stared at the ring, her voice far away as she contemplated things I could not hope to envision. “The problem with enchantments, no matter how powerful, no matter how smart their creators were, is that they are static. And.
“I.
“Am.
“Not.”
Light. A soundless thunder, one that shook my chest and newly healed ear drums. That stole my breath and sent my Mana Senses abuzz. I felt it, the war between her and the ring. Her strength, pitched directly at the ring, changing it. Altering it. Flexing the spell and the enchantment.
I could not tell what it was she did, though I knew she was trying to twist the enchantment itself. Perhaps she was trying to break it, because I felt the strain that what Lily was doing was bringing to reality itself. I felt the power that she drew from the ley lines to assault the ring with, and I felt how it made my senses hurt, how the Mana conduits in my body expanded and soaked up the energy.
Rather than risk being burnt out, knowing I could do little, I retreated. Back and back again, even as Lily lit a beacon to anyone in the world that something momentous, something world-changing was happening.
No surprise that others came. A stray breeze, and a man with an eyepatch on a horse was there. A rumble of earth, and a stone rose. A stone that had hints of someone, something trapped within. The earth rippled, and from a crack that smelled of brimstone, a horned, goat-footed creature walked. Clouds gathered and formed more faces, some with long whiskers and wrinkled brows, another pudgy, long-lobed, and laughing. More. So many more gathered.
Just a single presence was enough to overload my senses. I could not stare at any one of them, could not hear them. Their presence was like a thousand pounds on my chest, forcing me to gasp as I tried to breathe. Tried… and failed.
Then it was gone. A delicate hand was on my shoulder, pushing away the presences. I turned and saw a fair lady clad in white robes who floated on a lotus blossom to place a hand on my shoulder. The smile on her face was kind and gentle, a promise of safety and mercy.
“Thank—thank you,” I said once I could breathe again.
“No thanks is required.” But as polite as she was, as nice as she was, I could tell her attention was not on me.
So I turned back to the show.
Not a single personage, not a single player moved to interfere. Where Lily stood fighting her battle, none took part. She struggled against the binding that held her still alone. Pitting thousands of years of knowledge against the spell, pitting everything she had against it. Altering rune by rune. Forcing a change. And all the while, the ring glowed and power welled.
For hours she stood there, power welling, the center of attention. Hours where, to mortal eyes, nothing changed. And yet we stood in silent vigil. The sun set, the moon rose, and still she stood.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, the Mana swell disappeared — as did Lily. One moment, she was there, standing by herself, then she was gone. The sudden change made me lurch forward as if a rug had been pulled out from underneath me.
A simultaneous exhalation of relieved tension rose from those around. A few of the personages looked at one another. Some glared. Others grouped up, chatting. Most just disappeared, including the lady who had saved me. I was not surprised. She had much to do. And what she did, she did not do for gratitude.
I stood there. Ringless. Alone. As I reached out to that bundle of power where my character sheet and my party interface was, I found it gone. Empty.
Truly alone then.