"It's very simple," Jessica explained, "I found a sub clause in your Contract! Most don't work like yours does, with the stats and all. You actually start out much weaker than a normal genie, however, you can get stronger much faster."
She tripped over the corpses of the family's dogs as she paced the living room of the dead house. She had apparently come upon a stroke of genius.
"Of course you know the basics by now; you grant wishes to earn points to grow stronger, to purchase Breaks, to grow stronger. It's all very pleasant and I'm sure you love watching the numbers go up, but what if I told you, there was another way! Hahaha!"
She cackled madly while cheering herself on. She whirled around at me and held up a small, black leather clutch.
"You aren't the only genie I have, you're not even the only Outsider type with Contracts! And you can take them from others. Every time you do, you gain a portion of their stats!"
"I want to grow from helping people," I protested, "just wish for world domination or something so I can go back to my family, I was kind of in the middle of something."
If anything that just made her laugh harder. She bent over and laughed until she wheezed, clutching her side.
"Why- haha- would I care what you want hahaha!" She got out between giggles, "you're property, and less dangerous than any other kind of property. You can't even stub my toe, or even twist a wish against my intentions."
She slowly calmed down and wiped her eyes. I meanwhile never felt so helpless and angry in my life. If I could have hurt her, I might have done something drastic.
"We're going to have you go into this vessel, kill this genie, and take his Contract."
"I thought you read mine? No murder?"
"It won't be murder if they beg you to kill them."
"I don't understand," I said.
"I wish you would take the contract from any being I direct you towards. By any means necessary."
"As you wish. Wait-"
---
It was an odd experience, shoving my soul into a vessel instead of being yanked into it.
I appeared inside of a giant glass pyramid in the desert. It was just one large room covered in large pillows and beds. Women and some few men were in various states of nakedness, a few also playing some Arabic instruments in each corner.
The constructs ignored me, continuing the not-very-family-friendly acts they had been caught up in before.
Towards the middle of the great pyramid was a massive crystal clear lake. Floating in the center was a large, circus-like tent, loud moans could be heard from within even this far away.
I teleported to the dock directly outside the building, and strode inside.
The floor was somehow made of waterbed, with silk sheets over the top. The fake people inside were even more attractive than the ones outside, and they were engaged in even less wholesome activity.
In the center of the room, in the center of a kind of train, was the genie. I could tell who he was for two reasons: he was obviously a djinn, he had highlighter yellow skin and pointed ears, but also he was fat and ugly and everyone else in here was gorgeous beyond compare.
Seeing me, he quickly disengaged from the team oriented exercise he was a part of.
"Who are you?" He said, conjuring a robe, "how'd you get in here?"
"I'm Tristan MacLennan, and I'm here for your Contract."
"You'd have to kill me first!"
"No, I wouldn't," I said, shooting him in the face with conjured pepper spray.
---
Cadmium, as he was called, didn't hold up to even the lightest torture, breaking after I kicked him in the balls and broke his fingers a few more times. Unlike when they are outside of their vessel, a genie in his home has flesh and blood and a full suite of pain receptors. It made me wonder what an Incarnate was, some kind of astral projection?
Cadmium tried to conjure something again, I broke another finger and kept hitting him. My mind was far, far away from the piss-stained man in the room full of fake bodies. He'd ordered some of them to attack me and I'd simply shot them all. Some still fucked each other, regardless of the blood splatter.
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I'd disassociated pretty quick after that. I was now thinking about Tetris. Why? Because studies show that you should play it after going through something traumatic. I haven't the faintest clue as to why.
"Stop, please!"
Perhaps it's the fact that you're putting things in order, carefully arranging the blocks in a way you can't arrange your life.
"Please, I'll give you my Contract! Just stop, it's been days!"
I looked at the djinn in confusion before looking around. We stood on a scrap of reality, floating in a void.
"Days?," I croaked in a dry voice.
"Yes! Here," he conjured a contract written in yellow glitter and signed the bottom, "take it."
I did, and reality collapsed.
Jessica slept on the couch, still wearing the ratty black dress she had worn when I went in. She woke up with a start when I balled up and threw the Contract at her.
"I hate you," I said.
"What you love or hate does not matter, Tristan." She said back. "Now, let's see if this works like I think it will."
She laid the stolen Contract on the table and then was somehow able to conjure mine. She then simply told both contacts she was combining them and signed both. They snapped together into a longer Contact.
"There you go, pick whatever you want."
Name: Tristan MacLennan
Rank: Apprentice (Inherited)
Please spend 4 points below,
Power: 10
Incarnate: 9
Limits: 3
Domain: 7
Anathemas: Sacred Youth, Murder, Integrity,
Breaks: Magical Mortals, Variable Wishes II, Gifted Incarnate, Philanthropic Reasoning, Contract Amendment,
Congratulations on absorbing a sub-contract of a higher rank! Your rank can be raised to Adept if you merge at least half (rounded up) of the sub-contract's Anathemas. As long as you take on at least one, you will inherit half of their stats as well any two Breaks or any one unique Break or leveled Break.
Sub-Contract: The Flaxseed Contract (Adept)
Power: 18
Incarnate: 10
Limits: 24
Domain: 42
Anathemas: Integrity II, Addicting Vessel,
Breaks: Shared Domain, Perfect Constructs, Wish Refusal II,
I immediately agreed to merge the Contracts. I might not be able to use wish refusal retroactively, but I could hopefully deter her during future wishes.
Name: Tristan MacLennan
Rank: Adept (Inherited)
Please spend 4 points below,
Power: 19
Incarnate: 14
Limits: 15
Domain: 28
Anathemas: Sacred Youth, Murder, Integrity
Breaks: Magical Mortals, Variable Wishes II, Gifted Incarnate, Philanthropic Reasoning, Contract Amendment, Wish Refusal II,
Choose an Anathema:
1. Integrity II: you will be unable to lie to your Master or Outsiders of equal or greater power.
2. Addicting Vessel: being away from your vessel causes you mental anguish and drains your Incarnate stat by 5 for every day you are outside of your vessel for over an hour. You regain 5 stats for every day you are inside for at least 16 hours.
I circled Integrity II, not like I'm much of a liar anyway, and the alternative sounded awful.
You have broken multiple Thresholds, please assign remaining points.
I brought both Domain and power to their next Threshold, and put the remaining point into Incarnate
Congratulations! You have unlocked a Threshold Break for Power. Choose one option from below:
1. Magical Mortals II: you may transform mortals into any kind of Changed or increase their Gifts. You may also grant any Gift they have affinity for.
2. Wish Fulfillment: you may spend three points to grant yourself a wish. This wish can't interfere with any former granted wishes.
Congratulations! You have unlocked a Threshold Break for Incarnate. Choose one option from below:
1. Gifted Incarnate II: you gain the ability to work small magics instantly, or large magics over time.
2. True Form: your Incarnate is permanently changed into a djinn that looks recognizably like yourself. You gain all of the abilities of a djinn.
Congratulations! You have reached a threshold in Limits! Remove one Anathema or reduce the level of a leveled Anathema.
Congratulations! You have unlocked two Threshold Breaks for Domain. Choose two options from below:
1. Perfect Constructs: gain the ability to create and control living beings within your vessel.
2. Arcane Library: choose a specific magical subject, you may summon unlimited magical research materials for that subject.
3. Demesnes: lay claim to a physical property, you treat that property as your vessel for all vessel related abilities.
I gulped, what the hell am I supposed to pick?