Times of magic (Closed for Elayne and I)

[Sky Jade]

Synopsis:

In the middle of the Sultan's court, a strikingly beautiful dancer stood out and held the attention as she danced. Wearing tradional silk attaire of a slave dancer, she also wore something that a normal slave would not. Upon her wrists were a pair of golden bracers with the infinity symbol on facing away from the body.
As the dance came to an end, she knelt before the Sultan with her head bowed. Applause rang out from around the large antetheather. There was one who did not clap, the Sultan's court magican Vzazin. He only stood there to the right of the sultan, his right hand clutching his staff and fire in his eyes as he looked down upon the girl. The dancer's voice was soft and sweet.

"Do you wish to use your last wish, Master?"
"No, no. I shall let you know when. I wish to tell you what a slendid job you did. You are allowed to retire for the evening."
"Thank you, Master."

She rose gracefully from the kneel, her silks whispering softly. Almost every pair of eyes watched her leave, no sound being uttered until she left the court. The air was soon alive with talk and laughter, though one did not join in. His name was Vazin and he was the Sultan's right hand man, taking care of the dirty business so that the Sultan wouldn't have to deal with it. His black eyes narrowed as he continued to watch the direction the girl disappeared into. Without a word, he followed in the same direction, his red robe whispering along the stone floor.

The hallway was lit by torches every few feet, enough to see and yet far enough to leave large blocks of shadows. The girl's quarters was set in the servant's wing and marked with the infinity symbol above her door. He smiled for a moment when he reached her door, an evil glint in his eyes.

He entered without knocking, catching the girl in the middle of changing. She had managed to get into a pair of purple pantaloons, but she still had on her silk top. She had just taken off her face cloth when she felt a slight breeze from the direction of the open door. She turned around and bowed her head upon seeing Vazin.

"How may I serve you m'lord?"
"Serve me? No, I came to say your time is finished here. girl."

He grinned evilly as he stepped into the room, carefully closing the door behind him. The girl blinked and looked up, her head tilted to the side a little as an expression of confusion crossed her beautiful features.

"What does M'lord mean? My master still has one last wish before I can leave."
"Hah ha ha. Do you really think I believe that? I have been watching the sultan. He is smitten with you and I don't think he will let you go so easily. No, your presence only keeps me from doing what I wish because the sultan has become too cautios. No, you must leave now."

The girl gulped softly and stood up, backing up against the the wall. She was scared of the evil look the was getting and she had nowhere to run because Vazin was in her way.

"Please m'lord. Please let me be. I have done nothing to harm you."
"Your very presence is enough to harm me. Now I shall send you to another time and place. Without this..."

He used the end of his staff to pluck her lamp from the pile of pillows it was resting upon. She screamed in fear and tried to lunge for it, but she was knocked away. She whimpered softly as she huddled in the corner. Vazin reached into his robes and pulled out a pair of hourglasses which were connected together by their bases. The sand in the top hourglass flowed downward in the proper direction while the bottom half sand flowed in an upward direction. The two streams of sand hit together in the center, forming a swirling vortex.

"As the sand flows through time
so too shall the flesh of the living.
Let time take control and send
you where it may. Begone!"

He dropped the the hourglass, shattering it into several pieces. The girl's eyes grew wide as the sand became a swirling mass, moving towards her fast. She screamed, but was drowned out by the roar of the howling tornado. The tornado picked her up easyily and engulfed her in it. The sand itself did plenty of damage, leaving her garments in mostly taters, one bracelet destroyed while the other one was severly cracked. Soon the tornado collapsed upon itself, a small pile of sand left upon the floor.

 

[Elayne]

The storm swirled around her, buffeting her. Sand flew into her eyes, blinding her, and across her face, choking her.

Sand blasted across her arms and legs, swirled around her waist and hips, coiled around like a serpent, constricting till she felt close to being crushed by it.

She couldn't say how long the storm last. It might have been instants and it felt like years, both at once.

Suddenly, the storm ended and with the lifting of the weight and pressure, she stumbled, over balanced, and collapsed in a graceless heap, a loud moan of pain as she lay limply. She had been spun around in the tornado so much that even lying still, the world seemed to spin and the ground felt like it was spinning beneath her. She would have thrown up, except that she had lost that ability long since.

She lay huddled in a mass on a bed of sand, coughing and trying to clear out her lungs and her eyes. She briefly struggled to rise, but her knees had turned to rubber and she immediately fell back over, another groan at the jolt.

Clearing her eyes, she looked around. She wasn't in her room. She distantly remember fine silks and soft pillows and golden ornament. This place was...

She winced slightly as she rolled over onto her side, looking up. The sky was brilliant and blue and above her. She hadn't been out of doors in... she didn't know how long. Always, there was a comforting mosaic ceiling over her head. But now, a great vastness loomed over her, pressing down on her with an almost palpable weight.

The ground beneath her was grey. It was stone, she realized, but not like any stone she had ever seen. It was coarse and lined and broken into segments. Suddenly, she realized that the segments were in fact blocks, like massive tiles. Slabs of the grey stone stretched out in a narrow band. To her left and a few inches below, the ground was black and smooth. Stone? Or tar? It was hard and slick, but the texture was rough as wove out. Someone had tried to paint the black ground with a white line, but they'd done a poor job. The line was broken. To her right, buildings rose, almost all as tall as mosques, but clumsy squares and rectangles, with no domes or curves. Rather they were heavy and bleak.

"Where am I?" she whispered, shaking her head and staring about blankly, lost.

Then a more pressing issue occured to her. "Who am I?" she murmured. She remember... the palace... dancing... What was her name?

There was something she needed to do... One last thing to complete. But... she... couldn't... remember...

 

[Sky Jade]

ooc: Hehe, you kinda left part of your post off. Maybe you should finish it.

IC:

Josh had just turned 18 a couple of months before. He had lived in an apartment with his family at the center of town, though he was ususally the only only at home during the day. He had finished school earlier, but decided not to start college or get a job just yet. He usually spent his time reading, or playing games. He was a major AD&D player, but he was a little different than his friends and most everyone else. He believed magic was real. Not the slight-of-hand tricks that everyone called magic, but the magic which involved fairies, wizards, and other mythical creatures. Those it was a impossible dream, he wanted to prove very much that such magic existed.

This afternoon he decided to head for a little walk through the city. He knew a route that few people took, so he would be able to relax and think in peace. He usually spent his walks trying to think up scenarios to do as GM for his group of friends.

He wore a baseball cap which bore the logo of the DC United soccer team, covering his short black hair. He stood about six foot and was very lean for his age. He wasn't a wight-lifter, or excerised a lot, but he was still on the skinny side. His eyes were a bright blue, often shining with his intelligence. He had decided to wear a light t-shirt with Taz on the front, and a light wieght jacket which was unzipped. He only wore the jacket because a cool wind was blowing through the street. He usually wore a coat, but he had never felt this cold of wind on a summer day. It had a strange feeling of strangeness to it. His jean pants were loose-fitting, and he wore a pair of black leather boots.

He whistled softly as he walked down the street, not seeing the strange girl a few blocks away.

 

[Elayne]

With another low groan, she rolled over onto her belly and got her hands underneath her, slowly pushing herself up. Using her hands to balance, she collected herself and carefully rose to her feet.

Her knees were still rubbery and almost gave out, but she stumbled to the one of the buildings and leaned against it, long and lithe. She wore a small, sheer top of blue silk that in a whole state would have stopped an inch above her navel and left her arms and bare. Torn as it was by the wind and sand, the strap of her right shoulder had been frayed off and the hem of her top was thread bare to just a few inchs below her breasts. Her pantaloons had been transparent purple silk that had cased her hips and legs loosely. Now they reached only to the middles of her thighs, battered and holed. Her feet were bare, but on her left wrist, she wore a cracked and tarnished gold bracelet that fit her slim wrist closely, an Infinity marking etched across it.

She ran the tip of her finger across that Infinity, tracing it as she tried to think back. She had been dancing... She was in her quarters, taking off her skirt and putting on her pantaloons... A dark man had been there... The sandstorm...

She blinked running a hand across her bare face. Her hair fell out in loose waves and tumbled down her shoulders and back, falling to just past the backs of her knees. It was streaked lightly, going from warm honey to white desert sand and darkening back to earthy loam near the tips. Her skin was bronzed, like she had been lying naked in the sun, but smooth and soft.

Her hips were perfectly round and well formed, her waist slender, but her breasts were very full, swaying softly with her every breath.. They hadn't always been like that, but the Sultan had wanted more and she had adapted to his tastes. The Sultan had liked blondes too.

She blinked suddenly, looking around. A lamp. She clearly remembered that she had a lamp, brass and tooled with careful markings. A very important lamp. She looked around, feeling a rush of panic as she couldn't immediately see it.

Where was her lamp?

 

[Sky Jade]

Josh had thought of the main plotline for the next session and was just thinking of the dungeon when his attention was blown away. He was only a block away when he caught sight of the strange girl. It wouldn't have been usually for someone to be in this area, but it was the way she was dressed. She had looked like she had been through some sort of fight, but no sign of blood seemed visible.

As he moved closer, he noticed her beauty was breath-taking. He had never seen any girl who looked at beautiful and sexy as she did. Her body, her hair, the tan of her skin, it was so exotic that she seemed so out of place on the street. IT was then he noticed the real state of her clothes.

The clothes she wore were even more strange. Deciding to help her out, he moved to her as he took off his coat.

"Are you alright miss? It's not exactly the best idea for you to be seen like that out on the streets. Here, put this on."

He held the coat out to her for a moment. He glanced away from her out of modesty till she could put the coat on.

 

[Elayne]

She was leaning against the rough grey brick wall, trying to steady her knees when a male voice interrupted her. He wasn't speaking Arabic or any other language she'd known in the Sultan's seraglio, but of course she understood him despite that.

"Salaam..." she replied, blinking as he commented on her clothes. She rarely had been permitted to wear more than this, and often required to wear much less. Her veil, that must be what he meant.

Still, she took the offered coat, looking it over carefully, then tugging it on.

"Where am I? Where is the Sultan, he'll want me back immediately," she asked the young man hesitantly. She considered mentioning the lamp, but she thought it safer to not reveal that for a moment.

 

[Sky Jade]

He blinked for a moment as she asked about a Sultan.

"Sultan? I'm not sure I know what Sultan you speak of. I'm a little rusty on Arabian culture, but I think the last Sultan lived fifty years ago. I'm not sure where you are from, but it's not really safe here."

He looked around for a moment, giving a slight shiver. He knew that gang members sometimes frequented this area, but he had been lucky enough to avoid them. The best place he knew of was back at his family's apartment.

"Well, if you don't want to get hurt or anything, then I suggest you follow me. I can get you some clothes that aren't so torn. Going around like that isn't exactly the best thing to do."

He gave her a soft smile before he headed back towards the apartment. He wasn't sure, but he felt she looked too scared to stay by herself for long. It was only about ten minutes to walk back to the apartment building.

 

[Elayne]

She watched him, sky blue eyes curious as she absorbed his revelation. Fifty years ago?! How long had she been trapped in that vortex of sand? The last Sultan? Who did her last wish belong to now?

She was puzzling it out in her head, when he warned her about the neighbourhood. "Oh? What? Yes... I suppose I don't want to be hurt," she murmured, tugging the coat closed around her as she began to follow him.

Of course, she couldn't age and as far as she knew, she was all but unkillable. Some had tried, thinking to deprive the Sultan of his wishes by depriving him of her. Poison, pillows and cords, even arrows from shadowy rooftops had failed. On the other hand, she could experience pain, even more sharply than the avergae woman. The Sultan liked his women sensitive.

She padded after him, the streets confusing, all sharp lines and similar buildings. She felt a sudden chill. No trace of the city she remembered was to be seen. Either she was somewhere else entirely, or so much time had passed that the old city had faded away, buried beneath the new.

Or worse, both.

She was practically shivering by the time she reached his apartment.

 

[Sky Jade]

He gave a nod to the doorman at the door to the apartpent complex. From the outside it didn't look like much, but it was one of the more pricey apartment buildings. His family wasn't near being upper class, but they were very well off. That was part of the reason he could spend so much of his time with his friends. That and the fact his parents both spend so much time working.

He looked over at the girl as they waited on the elevator for a few moments before the doors slid open soundlessly. He gave a little chuckled at her look of surprise. There was definately something odd about her if she acted so strangely.

The apartment was a large three bedroom, two bathrooms, a large living room, and a balcony to look out at the bust cityscape. There was two large leather couches in the living room, a big screen tv and complete entertainment system.

He opened the door to his sister's room with a smile.

"Feel free to get a change of clothes. I doubt my sister would care. You seem to be the same size as her. If you're hungry or anything, just let me know."

 

[Elayne]

She nodded briefly, stepping into his sister's room and murmuring, "I'm fine, thank you."

A quick search of his sister's clothes left her confused. Most of the fabrics were unfamiliar. There seemed to be little silk or linen, or even wool. The style of the clothes was equally random and erratic. Some of the silks were skimpier than anything worn in the seraglio. Other pieces were so absurdly prudish it was a wonder the poor girl didn't cook in them.

Eventually, she settled on a pair of blue pantaloons made of some coarse but fairly sturdy material and a shirt with a star embroidered on the breast. The shirt was almost uncomfortably tight across her breasts and the pantaloons surprisingly loose around her waist, hips and legs, but then even what few women shared her height rarely had her build.

Afterwards, she emerged from the bedroom, looking around the rest of the apartment. The rooms were appointed well. Whomever had decorated them had a sense of proportion and reserve. From the height of the building and the number of doors in the hallway, whomever made this palace their home must have been wealthy beyond all belief.

"Am I dressed sufficiently?" she murmured to him. "Perhaps you can tell me who the lord of this building is?"

 

[Sky Jade]

He had made himself busy while she was geting dressed making some sandwiches. He had made some ham and cheese sandwiches and poured a couple glasses of milk. He had placed a plate for her on the coffee table for her and was in the middle of eating his when she came out.

He gave a low whistle for a moment at the sight of her. Even wearing normal clothes she looked sexy. He thought for a few moments about her question and chuckled. Since the girl seemed so confused, he thought he would play with her for a little bit.

"You look wonderful in those clothes. Well, as far as who is the lord right now, I would guess that would be me. No one else is around at the moment. Oh, I fixed something for you to eat."

He motioned to the plate of food for a moment before he finished his sandwich.

"What is your name? Mine's Josh."

 

[Elayne]

She looked him over with a raised eyebrow. He didn't have any of the lordly manners that she had become familiar with in the Sultan's care. But then, he was young yet.

She padded over to the low table, her feet still bare. The bread had been covered in forbidden pork, but she took the glass of milk to be polite.

She sipped her milk and shrugged. She had a name, of course, before she had been changed, but she could no longer clearly remember it, or much about that life. To the Sultan and his court, she had simply been Genie.

"I don't really have a name," she replied serenely. "But you can call me whatever you'd like, m'Lord."

She looked him over, with a sense of some dread. "Perhaps you can help me with something? I had a... lamp. It was brass and very dear to me. I've lost it and it's very important that I find it."

 

[Sky Jade]

He shook his head softly for a moment at her question.

"No, I didn't..."

He trailed off for a moment, looking at the girl. The wheels had been turning and soon things started to click into place. First was the manner of her dress. When he foundt her, she had been wearing silk clothing, something had not been the style for several, well, a long time. Then when she had asked for the Sultan and now asking about the lord of the place. He liked being called a lord, but that was beside the point. It was arabian in style and manner.

Now she mentioned something about a lamp being very important to her. Lamp, lamp, what was it about the lamp that was bothering him. Of course, everything matched up to being out of a fairy tale, like Aladdin and the Forty Thieves.

"Hold on a moment. A lamp? Did it happen to be shaped something like this?"

He grabbed a large book of fairy tales and laid it out one the table. He quickly flipped through it to a page with a picture of Alladdin and the genie. He pointed to the little golden lamp the genie had came out of.

 

[Elayne]

She padded over to the table, looking down at the book he set out. It was illustrated with garish pictures of a young man holding a small golden lamp and a legless blue man erupting from the lamp.

She shook her head briskly, "Of course not."

Then after giving the lamp in the illustration a closer gaze, she murmured, "My lamp was much nicer than that and it was brass, not gold. No one really makes lamps from gold."

She pursed her full lips as she looked curiously at the picture. "Why is that fellow blue? And where are his legs?"

 

[Sky Jade]

He was a little disappointed for a moment when the girl had said it wasn't what hers looked like. He was closer enough to hear her murmur and chuckled softly.

"Well, I didn't see any brass lamp around anywhere."

He blinked for a moment as he looked at her.

"You don't know about fairy tales? I'm surprised. Fairy tales are where only magic exists, or that's how everyone thinks. As far as why that guy is blue, that just because that's one of the ways a genie was imagined to look. Genies actually can come in many forms, male or female. Some can be ugly, some beuatiful beyond words, or even monsters. They are said to be able to be good or evil, most of the time just full of mischief. However, they are all in common that they have the power to grant three wishes to whoever has possion of them."

He closed the book and leaned back on the couch for a moment.

"Was there any special purpose behind the lamp you lost?"

 

[Elayne]

She crinkled her nose slightly in distaste. Of course, fairies loved to carry tales and the more absurd the better. Clearly, whatever fairy had been behind that picture had some sort of mischief in mind, though she didn't understand it.

"Actually, most genies are female," she said absently, still looking at the picture.

Well, she supposed she could have turned blue if the Sultan had wanted her to, though floating about leglessly seemed silly. The Sultan had liked her legs. Still, fairies were full of odd ideas.

"It's an... antique. I've had it for a long time and it has a great deal of sentimental value," she replied truthfully. "It would be very bad if the lamp was stolen."

She was honest but tried to avoid revealing too much. Still, she could use his help getting the lamp back if she ever meant to return to the Sultan and her own place and time.

 

[Sky Jade]

He looked over at her for a moment as she mentioned most genies were females. For some reason, he felt that what she said was the truth. Things were just matching up too well to be false. If she was truly a genie, he counted himself the luckiest guy alive. He could say his belief in magic truly paid off.

"Well, it would help if we knew the last place it was left. We can't exactly go off randomly searching. Does it act as an anchor or something?"

He watched her face for a few seconds. Then he smiled gently and leaned forward, giving her a soft kiss on the lips. He wasn't sure why he did it, but maybe it was mostly because he wanted to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Are you a real genie?"

 

[Elayne]

She hesitated slightly. In part, because she had no real idea where the lamp had last been. It was in the Sultan's Palace, in the harem, but what city the Sultan's palace was in, or even what country, she did not know.

"No, it's not really an anchor, more of a ... " she paused briefly, trying to think of the correct word to explain the influence the lamp had over her.

And then he leaned forward and kissed her. She returned the kiss equally softly, pressing her honeyed lips to his, parting her lips slightly to let him catch her tongue, closing her bright blue eyes as she leaned forward. Her nipples stiffened reflexively, visibly tenting the tight thin shirt she wore. She had been a harem girl and a concubine, passing from one owner to the next, for so long that she could no longer remember a life outside of the harems.

He pulled back suddenly, to ask her a question. She groaned softly. "That's what the Sultan called me," she replied calmly.

 

[Sky Jade]

He was surpised a little bit at the way she had responsed to his kiss. He had expected her to pull away or perhaps slap him. He was quite happy that she responded the way she had. He frowned at her reaction to his question though.

"Heh, no that's not what I had meant. I guess I wasn't completely clear. When I asked if you were a real genie, I was wanting to know if you had the power to grant wishes."

He reached over and laid a hand gently on her thigh for a moment, squeezing lightly.

"And since you really don't have a name, I guess I will call you Dalphena. I think it fits you."

He lifted his hand from her thigh and held her cheek softly for a moment, stroking his fingers along her creamy soft skin.

 

[Elayne]

She blinked, thinking over the name. It was an unusual word, one she'd never heard before. And besides, it was odd to have a name at all. None of the men she had served ever saw fit to call her more than genie or girl.

She smiled pleasantly as he rested his hand on her thigh, saying "It's not really granting wishes."

She paused for a moment, trying to explain her function in a way that a human could understand. "It's more like actualizing a whim or birthing a desire."

Dalphena shrugged her slender shoulders, her full breasts bouncing slightly as she did. She didn't think he'd understand, but it was intriguing that he even wanted to. Few men did.

 

[Sky Jade]

He hmmed for a few moments as he tried to think of what she meant.

"So, you have the power to give life to whatever someone would desire to have. Is there any limit to what you would be able to do, or is anything possible?"

A small grin had formed on his face, something a little sinister in it. His fingers stayed on her thigh, squeezing and kneading gently. He looked away for a moment before looking back at her.

"How much power do you have right now?"

 

[Elayne]

Dalphena shrugged her shoulders, her full breasts bouncing as she did. "Of course there are limits. If something's not possible, it can't happen. The laws of the universe still apply."

Dalphena thought it over for a minute and then murmured, "Also, often times possibilties don't occur the way people think they do. Sometimes, unexpected results can be attached."

Dalphena shrugged and smiled. She felt it only just to warn him, though in her experience, men interested in the power of her wishes never listened.

"I have the same power now as I ever do. But I told you, I can't use my powers, without the lamp."

 

[Sky Jade]

He pulled away from her for a moment, standing up. He moved to the sliding glass door out onto the balcony for a moment, looking out.

"Well, since it is important to you, we should start looking for it. Maybe we can get lucky in finding it. I know of a couple of stores around here that deal in antiques."

He chuckled softly for a moment.

"Well, sitting around here isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's go and find it."

He grabbed his coat and pulled it on before moving to the door and holding it open for her.

"After you sweetie."

 

[Elayne]

Dalphena sighed as she slipped out the door, brushing past him lightly. She gave a small shrug of her shoulders as she reached the metallic portals that had brought them to this level.

"Perhaps you should lead?" she asked with a small girlish smile. "I don't know this city, after all."

In some ways, Dalphena wasn't sad at her lamp's absence. It meant that her bans prevented her from using her powers. Or, as was the case, from having them used. She hoped if they did find the lamp, his wishes wouldn't rebound in on him in an odd way. That had happened all too often to people who made wishes.

 

[Sky Jade]

He smiled at her and placed his hand at the small of her back lightly.

"I would be more than happy to guide you."

He kept his hand on her back as the walked, showing her the different sights. The route they took this time was a lot more crowded. People were everywhere, couples fighting, some loving each other, holding hands, even a fight breaking out between a couple of girls. Since it was rush hour as well, drivers were honking their horns at each other when the traffic wasn't going smoothly.

"Here we are."

He stopped outside a small shop which read Old Tyme Antiques. He pulled the door open for her before he slid his hand down to her ass for a moment before she walked inside. The stores was filled with antiques. There was also something that felt strange to Josh, the air had an almost magical feel to it. A sweet old lady greeted them as they came in.

"Welcome my dears. Please feel free to browse. Maybe you will even find exactly what you are looking for."

The old lady gave Dalpena a knowing wink for a moment before she picked up an old leatherbound book to read it. Josh didn't notice the exchange because he had gotten interested in some little trinkets along the back wall.