The thread of mana was… confused. It had just done as it was asked, granted that thing’s wish. But why then did the other thing take her away so quickly? The thread would need time to ponder this, time which the thread suddenly ran out of as three forms came through the door, two of them familiar, one small and new. “So, where is this Genie?” the small form asked.
I… think I'll stay quiet for now. The genie thought to itself. As the three of them came fully inside the front door, shutting it behind them with a soft chime.
“Genie? There are action figures playing videogames and a wind-up toy reading Shakespeare! How is it not obvious there’s a genie?” Jamie was out of breath, half-yelling the entire statement in raw shock and panic.
“Well… all of the genies I know, or knew, none of them did anything like this that I remember.” The small newcomer spoke. His eyes growing so large the thread of mana honestly wondered if they were magically connected to the things core so they wouldn’t fall off.
“Well, it didn’t hurt me.” The one who made a wish earlier spoke.
“Of course I didn’t hurt you. Why would I do that?” The old mining lanterns red thread grew out to the size of a flame as it spoke and the eyes of the small being instantly found it.
“AH HA!” A cloud appeared under it as the small thing zoomed to be directly in front of the mining lantern. The thing stuck out it’s hand. “I’m Zippy, and you are?”
“I am.” It was a statement, simple and to the point, one that the thread had discovered during its rest period.
Zippy however, let out a small laugh. “I get that you are, I mean what’s your name? I’ve never met a genie who grants wishes for objects.”
The thread paused, the flamelike form shrinking as it thought introspectively. “I have no name yet. I came to be in this place not to long ago… I think. Genie should be fine for now.”
Zippy merely nodded. “That explains a lot. You got a newborn here, directly formed from the flow of mana in this shop. After it got thicker when you started flying the mana must’ve been pressured or activated.”
“So… Not evil?” one of the forms said quizzically, frumpled cloth all over them.
“Not any more than a small child I’d say. Give it a week, I’ll make sure your antenna works ontop of the shop so you can give it more information.” Zippy said matter-of-factly.
“M...More information?! But Zippy… we’re talking about a being that brought action figures to life here, this isn’t some small power.” The frumpled form said.
“No buts, you just said it yourself Jamie, all they’ve seem to have done is brought some action figures to life. Stifling the growth of this being would be giving in to the weakest of human fears, the fear of the unknown.” Zippy said, an air of finality in his tone.
“I… huh.” Jamie was quiet for a while, internally reflecting about others' fear of the unknown and how it has impacted their own life. “Alright… uhm, genie, do you need anything?” they asked, pausing between each word briefly.
The thread thought for a while, then brightened up. “I’d love more of those books in the corner. I looked for references about them in the books on the bottom of the shelf but I found nothing. They’re so interesting and unique.” A small red glowing aura appeared over a pile of old Dungeon Masters guides and old copies of fantasy fiction on the ground, then at the encyclopedias.
Zippy spoke up first, “Those are fiction, those stories are not real in this world. The other books you found describe what used to be real. With magic coming back and your own birth into this world, I feel that the two will be growing closer, however.”
The frumpled one seemed to brighten, “Those are Dungeon and Game Master’s manuals, they’re for fantasy games where heroes go off and fight villains with a bunch of magical creatures.” Quicky blushing and hushing themself after their outburst.
The thread waited until Zippy and his friend were done; then shining brightly in the lamp, the light illuminating the entire room in a gentle pinkish hue. “Then I would love more of these “Dungeon Master’s guides and these fantasy fictions.”
Jamie, remembering their old stash of more recent volumes from their youth in their old home nodded at the flame. “I think I can do that, I should have ten or so at my old place.”
The flame, roaring again in excitement, “TEN?! Wow, there’s only eight books in the pile, that’s… over double!” The thread sounded ecstatic.
This time the other form shook her head, “Nah, honestly that’s a tiny amount. These things been comin out for near hundred years. You’ll be needin a lot more if thatn’s your favorite kind, buncha authors and even different generations an stuff.” Billie joe said simply.
The thread thought about this for a long while. The room going silent except for the antique toys having the time of their newly acquired lives.
“How do I get them?” the voice from the lantern asked quietly.
***
The old country road Jamie walked along was quiet for the early morning. A few birds and insects chirped but the song of the trees was quiet today. The trees were tall with sparse branches, letting you see through the thickets of trees with remarkable clarity. Moss grew along the base of many of the plants, daring to touch and sometimes intermingle with the gravel path.
Jamie walked along this road to their old home overlooking the edge of the mountain. The mountain actually climbing into the air had changed the scenery quite a lot. The biggest change as far as Jamie could tell; what was once a gentle decline to the forest floor from the far side of their former home, has now become a near sheer drop into the blue sky.
“Sorry about the backyard Auntie!” Jamie called as they finished climbing the steep gravel path.
Auntie Christia was in front of the house now, tending to Jamie’s old garden of near ripe tomatoes and tubers. “It’s no bother, I like lookin’ out the window and seeing all the clouds, heh, think you’ll sell me this place at a deal?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Jamie laughed, she had just given them so much, “I’ll tell ya what, you can have it for free if you let me come by and see ya sometimes?”
“Sure sure! What brings you all the way out here? Need some of yer old stuff?” She said, hunched over and taking a break from the gardening work.
“I do, but boy do I have something you will not believe,” Jamie said as they came over to open the door for the elderly woman.
***
“I believe you,” Auntie Christia said with the largest smile on her face. If it were physically possible it would be touching her ears, showing the shiniest set of teeth and nearly blinding Jamie in the process.
Jamie, shielding their eyes; “Hey, careful with those.”
Auntie Christia just laughed to herself, quite proud of her dental hygiene. “So, really, the genie wants books? Can’t it just… ya know… magic em up?”
Jamie shook their head, “Nope, guess not. Still It feels like Zippy is right, we can’t fear what I guess amounts to a grade schooler just because it’s got the power to bring toys to life.” Jamie gripped their pants hard, the walking toys actually freaked them out quite a bit. Their parents had a love of old movies and none of the movies with walking toys ended well.
Walking over to their bookshelf they pulled down some older game guides from the wall. Choosing to leave behind three volumes of monster manuals.
“Grade schooler you said? I got a player for those plastic boxes, what’re they called again? Tapes? Maybe the genie’d like some of those classic kids movies you wouldn’t let me sell in the shop.” Christia rose from the couch where she was sitting and walked over to the ancient tape cabinet.
Jamie quickly intercepted, filling their already at capacity shoulder bag with a few of them, making sure to leave the copies of Small Soldiers, Puppet Master, and Gremlins 2 behind. There were plenty of tapes to take, but this cabinet just had Jamie’s favorites, they’d bought the stock of an old rental place a few years back and still had the extra tapes stored away under the guest bed.
After a small meal with their teacher Jamie waved at her farewell and began their long walk back, thankfully this time, it was all downhill.
***
Jamie was nearly skipping back to the shop. While the bag was heavy, very heavy infact, they had found a near broken but still useable old metal wagon in the forest beside the road. The gravel in the area was still loosely packed so even though the wheels didn’t always turn, it was more a matter of floating it along in the sea of tiny rocks.
Billy Joe and Zippy were both outside eating what looked to be icecream. “Hey how’d you get that?!” Jamie yelled at them, no ice cream company had a carrier store near them, plus no trucks, how did these two get it?
“Asked the genie.” Billy Joe said as she takes a massive lick of her triple-berry-ripple-rocky road-butter-pecan icecream cone.
Jamie’s face must’ve lost color again because Zippy spoke up next. “We asked it what it could make. When the genie said all it’s made was gears and metal, well, I used a bit of my own magic to gift the genie with Billie Joe’s favorite memory of the stuff and here we are!” Zippy said, getting louder and more excited with each word.
Jamie sighed again, letting a smile come over their face. “Think I can get a cone for this?” Holding up the bag in the old broken wagon.
Without waiting for a reply they walked through the antique shops front door. Taking the wagon with them, determined to fix it up for the arm-saving help it had gifted them with. “Olly Olly Oxenfree!” Jamie cupped one hand to their mouth and belted out.
The thread of red mana wasn’t in its usual lamp, instead, a near foot long quarter thick rope of red mana was floating around the room slowly. Seemingly looking at different things with one end as if it had eyes. “What’s that mean?” The thread asked, their voice seemed clearer now, a bit airy and was so genderless and beautiful sounding it made Jamie more than a little jealous.
“It’s what kids used to say at the end of ‘hide and seek’ sorry,” Jamie blushed, thinking maybe some of the older movies had the lingo in it, they were trying to Impress the magical being. “Anyway, I brought you I think fourteen books and eight tapes.”
“FOURTEEN?!” The thread yelled slightly, shaking a few things in the room slightly before it caught itself, “I mean, foourteeeeeen? Thank you!”
Jamie laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, hey, uhm, think I can get one of those cones too?” Getting to the chase of the matter, they hadn’t eaten today and the idea of all that icecream was making their mouth water.
“Sure, gladly!” The rope moved quickly, closing the distance between it and Jamie in less than a second, then it started spinning. It started fast and only became faster as Jamie started panicking. Then, before Jamie could let out a scream, it was over, and they were holding a gigantic icecream cone.
“I changed a couple of things in it, It shouldn’t melt for a while.” The thread said as Jamie raised an eyebrow. “Your friends have already been eating it, it’s fine, Zippy suggested I do it.”
Jamie raised the other eyebrow, more than a little confused, “Did… you just notice my apprehension? That’s… advanced in development for someone so young. How old are you?”
The rope, as much as it could, looked confused. “Old? I don’t know, not that long…”
Jamie nodded, deeming to pet one end of the red rope, not even considering if it was actually hot. Thankfully it wasn’t but it didn’t feel solid either, petting the young genie was almost like petting the suds in a bubble bath.
“I’ll go talk with em, We’ll be back in a bit so you won’t get lonely.” Jamie took a look around the room, a large plush giraffe, assorted old wrestling action figures, and a piggy bank sat in front of a TV with an old copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang playing. Jamie highly doubted the rope, genie, whatever would be lonely for any amount of time.
Jamie walked out the front door of their newly acquired antiques shop, with an also newly acquired triple stacked icecream cone. “I have my doubts but ya know, I think the lil fellow is growing on me.”
“Us too!” Zippy said, greedily slurping up the icecream cone. “One of the many things you lot have improved upon since our time. Shlllllllp. This concoction is delicious! And you said this is considered the same type of dessert as the ones on the stick?” Making smacking noises with his mouth the entire time.
“Well, yeah, I mean they’re both called icecream just different kind, ya know? Like how lobsters and crabs are both crusticakes?” Billy Joe said, already having downed the icecream and was working on the…. Chocolate filled cone, Jamie gasped happily. The local store owner was a health nut and wouldn’t order any kind of candy to be sold.
The shock of the delicious treat was more than enough to throw them off of correcting their well-meaning friend. Jamie redoubled their effort to down their own sweet treat as well, nearly matching Zippy’s own voracity.
“Shllllllllllllllllp. Oh, I see!” Zippy dunked their head in the now empty opening of their ice cream cone, the image of the gnome wearing such a large pointed thing on their head made Jamie nearly drop their cone… nearly.
Billy Joe, however, doubled over laughing. “Whoo boy lil fella, you really shouldn’t do that when somebodie’s eatin’, they liable ta choke.”
“What do you mean?” Zippy looked up at her, having eaten a hole out of the side of the icecream cone and peering through at the two of them. This, promptly caused both of the larger people to lean against the side of the shop laughing. The site of the small gnome in the tall pointy hat was already too much to bear, but seeing him as a waffle-cone encrusted knight was just enough to cause the triple berry icecream scoop on top to fall off of Jamie’s cone and right on top of the small wizard’s new helmet.
After even Zippy needed to sit down at the realization of what was going on he slowly stopped laughing as well. “Okay, I get it.” A circle of thick purple clouds appeared around Zippy’s head, as they fell to the ground every part of him they passed was instantly cleaned.
Billie Joe let out a long whistle. “You gotta show me how ta do that!”