“Wait. Wait. Wait.” Michael exasperatedly asked with expressive hands splitting the space between them. “Can you start from the beginning? I’m confused.”

The young witch tilted her head in confusion. “Really? I would’ve thought the details would be easy enough to figure out. Guess I got a bit of a thick one, hmmm…”

He didn’t quite appreciate what she muttered at the end there, but the cold chill still lingered menacingly in the air and the frozen chunks in his peripheral vision silenced any desire to vocalize his discontent.

“So~ here’s the deal. I was in a bit of a pickle, ya see. I was traveling like a good girl, minding my own business, when Tareek came swinging like a loon. The dude’s a super important guy, ya see. Guy’s got one of Satet’s djinn weapons.”

He tried following her flow, but it was kind of difficult parsing the truth out of what sounded like a swindler’s rambling. One thing that did stick out to him though was Satet. It was the nation that governed the western continent. It was rumored to be ruled by constant in-fighting by powerful semi-nomadic tribes that battled over the ancient relics of some ancient civilization. The place was often named Ma’al’s (the Devil’s) Coliseum after the copious rivers of blood spilled there.

It was also apparently where his mother was from, not that she shared much of her time there aside from her old title.

“What’s that?” he interjected.

“What, the djinn weapon? Never heard of it?”

“Not at all.” He replied cluelessly.

“Hmm…” she pondered for a moment. “Ah, I completely forgot. You live in the boonies. Makes sense you wouldn’t know, I guess. I’m not judging… out loud.”

He couldn’t help but gaze at her with dull, questioning eyes.

“But, yeah; Djinn weapons are super cool, ya know. Some can control storms, others can raise hordes of the dead, and his can dominate the earth or… something like that. Hard to tell if it was him or the weapon, ya know. I didn’t pay much attention when pops went over them.” She explained with a joking expression, scratching her head in jest.

“Anyways, the nation of Satet wanted my head or something so they sent him to capture me, even gave him the hammer to do the job. Doesn’t belong to him, of course. It was probably just collecting dust and they wanted me taken care of. Takes a holder to beat a holder, or so the saying goes. Tareek may not have been the true owner, but he’s close enough in descent to compensate, I guess.

“But yeah, he comes swinging and catches me off guard. You see, my trident doesn’t work too well in the woods. It needs a good power source and that definitely can’t be found in any large amounts. Ya probably didn’t see it, but I had to run pretty far to get to that river and even that wasn’t the best option. It’s a bad match up and he knew it; he had my number for sure.”

She pointed at him. “Then you came in, watching us like an idiot.” He winced. “I mean, damn, who the hell watches a fight that could blow them to kingdom come?”

“To be fair…” His thoughts raced as he tried fruitlessly to come up with a justification that could remotely make him look any less foolish. “… you don’t exactly see such flashy battles out here.”

“Yeah, no.” She replied bluntly. “Even if that was how you actually felt during that fight, it’s not the reason you stayed.”

“It’s not?” His brows furrowed, confused at what she was suggesting. How would she know? She just met him.

“Nu uh. It’s the hammer. You know, the one you took from the big baddie? It sought you out. Tareek wasn’t the true owner, remember? He just had it on loan. When it found a real one though.” Her face morphed into an eerie smile. “It ditched him, leaving him jack, giving me the perfect opportunity to turn him into a memory.”

“But… it disappeared. I thought it was just a weird dream.” He rebutted disbelievingly.

“Nope. It’s still there. It just decided it wanted to get to know you better is all. It’s right…” She casually pointed at his chest. “…here.”

“Weapons can do that?”

“Djinn weapons can!” She happily replied.

“Sounds a little convenient.” He tersely questioned.

“Oh, it is. Luckily for the masses, these babies are uber rare. Otherwise, you’d never know when someone could spring one on them.”

“I guess… kind of hard to see them as rare when one just falls in my lap.”

“Oh, there’s a reason for that. Surprised you haven’t asked the obvious question yet, you know.”

“What question?” He felt that he’d asked most of the pressing questions on his mind.

“You know, the ‘why me?’ question. I mean, you were compatible. Surely you want to know why.”

“Why would I care about that? I mean, sure, it’d be nice to know, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.” He dismissively waved off.

In his head, he thought, ‘Probably has to do with mom with all the context clues. She’s from there and all. Not that I’d tell a stranger all that, especially not one as suspicious as her.’

“Ahh~” She voiced understandingly. Her eyes gleamed calculatingly as she practically purred, “You’re one of those people. That’s convenient.”

“…what does that mean?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Enough about this boring stuff though. Why don’t we talk about something fun?”

“Fun? What’d you have in mind?”

Lifting an eyebrow, she looked at him with judging eyes. “You tell me. Why do I gotta do all the talking, huh?” she asked as if she’d been wronged.

‘Because you brought it up’ he thought, not willing to voice the details.

By now, his fear had mostly subsided. Based on what she’d described, he was someone she was trying to befriend for his newfound gift, whatever it was. If she was planning on doing something untoward, she wouldn’t have taken the time to explain his situation; it only gave him opportunities to resist. Instead, she explained it clearly, or at least, as clearly as she had the care to do. Still, he didn’t know her too well and would rather let her dictate the flow of the conversation.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He'd learn more that way.

“Have you had the chance to visit the markets? They’re nice for this neck of the woods.”

“Yeah? Bassy did say something about that. Supposed to peddle a lot of cool things and stuff.”

“That’s right. This town’s a major trade hub. Being so close to the borders of Atlantia and Durga, a lot of stuff gets brought here to trade.”

Her eyes sparkled. “Ooh~ There must be lots of shiny things! Let’s go!” She reached across the table and, without much effort, pulled him over the table and over her shoulder.

In what appeared to be an instant to him, they were out the tavern and heading at crazy speeds toward the market.

--- The Djinn of Atlantia ---

The two arrived at a bustling market filled with stalls, matts, and highlighted with festive tunes played by traveling musicians working passionately to catch a rich patron’s eye. The market stalls were neatly organized into rows, despite how different they were from one another. Their drapes were brightly colored with some donning strange patterns, sigils, and in some cases coats of arms representing their affiliations. It was such that, if painted, would draw many an eye in the other circles of the world.

“Ooh, pretty. How the hell’d I miss a place like this!? I should’ve… oh, there’s a little barrier here, soundproof and everything. Wait…” A look of realization hit her. “Oh~ Bassy did say something about a local mage staying here. Didn’t believe her at the time, but hot damn I guess she was right.”

Michael could only marvel at how fast and sporadic her thought process was. There was a carelessness that would show most of the time with a calculating gleam that would emerge every now and then. Idly, he wondered which part was real and what was the façade. There was no way she was this weird in reality, right?

“Hey… uhh, what’s your name again?”

“Michael. Just realized you never asked?” He asked sarcastically.

“Meh.” She waved off. “Why do I gotta know the names of people I won’t remember? It’s a pain and a total waste of time, ya know. You should be honored; me asking means I’ll remember you longer than this conversation.”

“Real honored.” He dully replied.

“Exactly. See, you’re getting it.” She happily replied.

Then, her eyes caught sight of an item at one of the stands. “Ooh, shiny!” She bolted toward it with no regard for him.

He could only watch dumbfounded as she hopped from item to item, shopping with glittering eyes. She didn’t buy anything, not yet, but he very much doubted that would still be the case by the time they were done.

For the next hour, she practically dragged him from store to store as she gazed at the gems, jewelry, and ‘artifacts’. Nothing caught her eye, but her mood didn’t dim a bit. She kept marching with the same enthusiasm with which she started.

“Ooh! Mike, lookie here!”

Mike, who’d taken to admiring tunics at a nearby stand, looked over to see Ellua waving him over with exuberant enthusiasm.

“Uhh, OK.” He replied, walking over to where she was, knelt over a dull brown mat.

The shop owner was an older man with peppered hair and piercing brown eyes. He was dressed in a dirty, ragged tunic that contrasted sharply with every other owner in the area.

He didn’t get too long to analyze him though as Ellua’s waving hands quickly drew his gaze toward a small piece of cut ruby inscribed with a strange sigil. While shiny at first, what drew his attention even more was a soft heat he could feel radiating off it.

“It’s pretty cool, huh.” Ellua exclaimed.

“What’s that?”

“What, your folks not teach you how to cast magic yet?”

“Aside from alchemy, no.”

“Hmmm, ah right; I get it. Don’t worry about it. I got ’chu” She remarked, giving him a thumbs up. “So, check it. This is an Elysia crystal, something we mage-types use to learn spells. It’s why there aren’t too many of us out there. Outside of special people like mwah-” she flamboyantly pointed at herself. “People who want to learn spells need one of these. Only special people can make them, so they’re usually really expensive.”

She turned her attention to the shop owner. “So, what’s the deal? What ‘cha want for this beauty?”

“Equal value.” He gruffly replied, earning a big nod from her.

“You must be loaded…” Michael pondered aloud.

She burst out into a chuckling fit. “He doesn’t want money, silly. That’s not worth much to us. An alchemist like yourself should know that.” She reached into her robes and quickly pulled out a sapphire gem. Rather than radiating heat though, this one was much more ominous. It also gave off heat, but… different. If the man’s felt like the heat of a campfire, hers felt like a lukewarm warm, wet blanket. The warmth evenly penetrated his senses, entrapping him in a covering that, despite having warmth, was uncomfortably chilling. At least… that was how it felt.

Equal meant crystal for crystal.

The man took the crystal and inspected it closely for a moment, looked up with strange eyes, before throwing it into a bag by his side.

Ellua didn’t even hesitate. She grabbed the crystal and shoved it into Mike’s pocket without a lick of warning or shame.

“Keep it. I’ll teach you how to use it later.”

“You sure? I mean… that’s got to be expensive.”

“No sweat, big guy. Trust me, you’ll understand later. Now, onward to more shinies!” She grabbed his arm to pull him forward when, for the first time since their meeting, he resisted. “Hmm? What’s wrong?

“Why are you spending so much time looking through these shops? I mean… as new as I am to all this, even I could tell at a glance that crystal’s special. Why not just use some spell or something. Even if you didn’t, surely it doesn’t take this long to check.”

Ellua could only look at him strangely. “You serious? You really don’t know?”

His eyebrow twitched. “Of course not. I just met you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Because it’s fun, silly. Well, that and most treasures aren’t so obvious to see. Mainly the first one though; definitely the first one.”

“Shopping is fun…?” There was a pause as Ellua tried and seemingly failed to process his words.

“Of course it’s fun!” She turned and gestured passionately at the market. “Look at the festivities, the music, the items from all parts of the continent; damn it, look at the hot dancers!”

“….” He just looked at her with confusion, while she returned his gaze with unflinching determination. “You do know… that all these dancers are females, right? Don’t see any of the guys today. You sure you’re not Hector in disguise?”

“Course not. I’m just appreciative of beautiful things. Whether or not I’d do something about it is a whole other conversation.”

“Would you…?”

“Hehe~ that’s a secret, ya know~ Wouldn’t want to spill all the beans at once now, would I?”

“Lots of secrets, huh?”

“I don’t know about that… I think I’ve been rather open. Don’t ya think?”

“If you’re so open then…” He mustered the full force of his courage to ask the question that’d been nagging him since she’d introduced herself. “What do you want out of this? The weapon?”

It started with a giggle and she quickly crescendoed into raucous laughter. “Hahahaha!”

He waited with bated breath, unfazed by the strange action. He’d gotten too used to it at this point. She’d been so flippant all day that, combined with the cruelty she casually displayed when he met her, he expected something like this.

What took him by surprise though was the lack of reaction from the crowd. Unlike what his friend believed; he was very observant of those around him. He may not understand romance the way that guy did, but shifts in a crowd, easy. Yet, despite her boisterous laughter and conspicuous attire, no one showed any interest.

It was almost as if…

“Oh, that’s rich.” She barely let out through her laughter. “Finally let it out, yeah? I’ve been wondering how long it’d take you to ask. Then again, you’re compatible with the hammer so I guess speed shouldn’t have been an expectation.”

“How… what did you do to them?” he asked, voicing the increasing distress at how isolated he suddenly felt.

While he’d never been claustrophobic, he’d later remember this day as an empathetic memory for him. Even if the market had its festivities, this woman should’ve drawn much more attention. His mind raced as the memories of their time at the restaurant came to mind. ‘No one paid attention at the end either.’ He thought. Sure, he was a bit distracted there, but that didn’t mean it slipped his attention. He just didn’t think anything of it at the time.

She grinned with a Cheshire smile. “Ya sure you want to know? It’ll be wild.”

He didn’t reply, letting his silence speak for itself.

Flippantly, she shrugged and strolled over to close the distance. “Well, alright then; don’t say I’m not accommodating. Yeah? You asked for it.” He stepped back on instinct, but she was undeterred and extended her hand to reach for and cover his eyes.

Darkness encroached on the edges of his vision as the world faded to black. Heralding the oncoming oblivion, the shadows of her hands expanded in his vision to encompass everything.

“Nighty night now. I’ll visit you soon, my little shiny.”