Lexi emerged from the dark vail into a square, brightly lit room. It had the same stone construction as the dungeon but felt different. The previous areas had been given the appearance of age, with many of the stone blocks chipped or shifted out of position. Everything in this room was perfect. The space was fifteen feet square; the only exit was behind her.
In the middle of the room stood a marble table.
On the table, resting on a purple velvet cushion, was the lamp.
It was precisely what one would expect if they’d seen any movie or cartoon with a genie. The golden vessel looked like a gravy boat with a superiority complex. Lexi allowed her hands to grow five slender fingers to manipulate the object more easily. It was cool to the touch. She lifted it to eye level, examining her reflection in the shiny metal, and rubbed it.
A swirl of gray mist shot out of the narrow spout, moved to the opposite side of the table, and spiraled down to the floor in the rough shape of a human. Once the fog disappeared, a woman stood silently, observing her. She wasn’t what Lexi expected, but the druid wasn’t really sure what to expect. She had been confident it wouldn’t be a Robin William’s clone. This game was too serious for that, but she expected a little flair or color.
The “genie” appeared as a woman of indeterminant age. She was bald with bronze skin and wearing white robes. She reminded Lexi of the Ancient one from Dr. Strange. Lexi had a hunch. “You are Gandhi.”
The woman didn’t react, which meant she didn’t deny the druid’s claim. That was enough for Lexi. “Of course, who else could grant my three wishes.”
“You know the rules,” Gandhi said, her voice even and low.
“You can’t make anyone fall in love with me, you can’t kill anyone, and you can’t bring anyone back from the dead. Did I miss any?”
The genie cocked her head expectantly.
“Oh, right,” Lexi said. “I forgot the obvious one. I can’t wish for more wishes.”
The other woman nodded.
“How long do I have?”
Gandhi smiled. “Getting here must have been the result of incredible planning. Surely, you have thought out your wishes.”
“What if the second two depend on the outcome of the first?”
Gandhi nodded. “You do not need to make all three wishes at once, but you will not leave this room until you make the first.”
“Jace Thorne,” Lexi started. She waited for a reaction from the game’s AI and thought she detected a slight eye roll. “He follows a divine being. I want him to receive a mandatory quest to pit him against the most powerful monster ever created in this game.”
“How powerful?”
Lexi wasn’t sure how to measure it. She could say level 99, but that might be against the game rules. “Powerful enough so he will be defeated.”
The genie shook her head. “I cannot dictate results, especially with that one.”
“Powerful enough to make his defeat extremely likely,” Lexi tried.
Gandhi smiled. “Nearly every foe he has gone against, including yourself, has had the upper hand against him. His defeat was likely in all of those encounters.”
Lexi thought the AI was generous, allowing her to adjust her wish. She didn’t want to waste this opportunity. She thought a moment and smiled. “Make the monster powerful enough to defeat the Admiral . . .” she searched for his actual name. Julia had used it. “Darrius Koll. Design the monster so it can defeat Darrius Koll.”
Gandhi raised her eyebrows. That was an interesting twist. She, of course, had already started fulfilling this wish, putting pieces in motion long before Lexi had even contacted Pieter. Once the druid had obtained the amulet Gromphy had discarded, the complex algorithms Gandhi ran showed the likelihood of her passing the Cave of Wonders rose high enough that the AI had anticipated this meeting and the type of wish she would make. It helped to be ahead of the game. “Is that it?”
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Lexi cleared her throat. “I wish that you give Jace Thorne a mandatory divine quest where he will need to fight a monster with the skills, ability, and power to defeat Darrius Koll. And . . .” she smiled at the genie, “I want to watch.”
Gandhi nodded. “Granted.”
At the declaration, Lexi felt a distant rumble. The private room did not shake or show any sign of disturbance, but the sound was like thunder from an approaching storm.
“You should hurry,” Gandhi said, motioning with her head past the druid.
Lexi turned toward the door; it was still black and void. “What is happening . . .” She spun back around, but the genie was gone. The lamp was absent from her hands, but she found it in her inventory. Another distant rumble sounded, and she raced through the portal.
Lexi popped out on the ledge of the infinite room. The stone walls on either side shook, cracks forming in the massive bricks. Nothing was visible in the black expanse above her, but dirt and debris rained down, threatening the collapse of some unseen ceiling. Before her, the rugs were gone, giving her no immediate hope of crossing. But then she saw it.
One lone carpet remained. Without the others for reference, she couldn't be sure, but it looked like rug 40, the last one she had touched. It was roughly halfway across, and she transformed her body to prepare for the jump. Dodging falling rubble, she sprinted across the marble landing and leaped toward the floating island.
As soon as her front paws hit the carpet, she knew something was different. Before, the rugs had been solid, as if they were wooden boards hovering in the air. Now, it felt like landing on a taut sheet, and she sunk into the fabric, giving her no firm purchase to push off. Her feline body crumpled into a ball and almost rolled off the rug, but her teeth bit hard onto the tassels, and she stayed in place.
Beneath her, the carpet came alive, flexing and adjusting to her weight like an inflatable raft on the ocean. Lexi felt a connection with it, and since she had no hope of making a second jump from this suddenly unstable platform, she willed it closer to the far edge, and it responded. The front rose like a rearing horse preparing for a gallop and then shot forward.
Lexi transformed her body again, giving her hands to hold on to the edge and steer it toward the far side and the arched exit. Already, the keystone in the center of the doorway had fallen, and more stones threatened to collapse. Lexi sped through the opening, into the circular chamber, and out the far side. Behind her, she heard the cacophony of the third stage’s destruction and urged her flying carpet on faster.
The heat of the lava in the next area was intense, and they raced down the slope toward the elevated edge and then shot over the expanse. The carpet knew what it was doing and had angled away from the demon horn, flying dozens of yards to one side. The terrible beast rose out of the lava and waved a massive arm at the streaking object, but it was already out of its grasp. Because they flew over the open lava, geysers shut up to knock them out of the sky, but the carpet turned and dodged the attacks, forcing Lexi to hold on even tighter.
They zeroed in on the crumbling exit and streaked through the narrow doorway with inches to spare on either side. The long passage between the first and second stages was tight, with stones falling all around them, but Lexi was beginning to trust her conveyance, understanding that it knew what it was doing. She took a few precious seconds to enter her inventory and retrieve her wrap.
When she emerged, they were passing through the last tight doorway into the treasure room. The golems were alive and swiped down at the speeding pair, but the monkey creatures were too slow, and Lexi barely registered their attacks. Instead, as they slalomed through the mounds of gold and gems, she urged the carpet closer to one of the piles and unfurled the large piece of fabric in her hands. The rug responded, and Lexi scooped up a significant portion of the treasure, swinging the suddenly heavy wrap onto her back like a sack full of presents.
The added momentum nearly took her off the rear of the carpet as they shot through the last doorway and up the stairs to the final exit. This passage was closing as the stairs beneath them lay flat. Lexi urged her new companion on faster, finding the capacity to channel mana within it. She didn’t hold back, discovering a Haste spell woven into the fabric and activating it. They sped up the last 30 feet like lightning, weaving through the closing teeth of the stone tiger and tracing a path through the desert sky.
The massive head came to life and reached up to grab them, but they cleared its snapping jaws with room to spare and circled high in the air to look back on the Cave of Wonders. Lexi watched the stone head writhe in agony for a moment and sink back into the sand. Wind swirled, and magic crackled as the desert floor opened up and swallowed the cave entrance. Within moments, all was still, and the sand dune looked unremarkable.
Lexi felt the exhaustion within the carpet and guided it to rest on a nearby rise. It generated its own mana, and perhaps at a slower pace, it could continue flying indefinitely, but it was at its limit now. Once on the ground, she could store the magical item in her inventory like anything else. She dumped her stolen treasure inside her character, decided to don her wrap against the cold desert air, and began the slow trek back to the city.