Wishmaster – Devil's Games

Chapter 1

Saralias woke with a start, black hair matted from sleep as her breath came in short gasps.
"That dream..." She frowned, a book had been lying open, and on a spell she didn't know but reckoned on being far more powerful than that of what she had ever tried before.
Smiling softly she turned her head to the side, a soft rustle had disturbed her train of thought and she stood up, the shirt she wore falling to her thighs as she walked silently on her toes to the door and peeked outside her bedroom, a small package lay at the side and she laughed quietly, in spirals were written the words
'Happy Birthday Saralias' and underneath was written in smaller spirals

'I know you can't usually get presents, so hide this well or my job is gone and your only secret friend goes with it'.
At reading that she had to cover her mouth to avoid outright laughing in the corridors, taking the present she stole inside and locked her door quickly. Upon opening the present to her surprise was a book, legends of Persia and dark gods, the smile widened at that point, apparently her good friend Salem had been listening to her again as she had snuck out of her coven to meet up with him and have a second life.

Saralias stroked over the pages, eyes closing as she turned over and over till she stopped, one page felt warm, enticing enough for her eyes to open, the page itself read
'The Djinn, imprisoned for eternity within the stone of secret fire by a Persian wizard always awaits for a single waker to whom three wishes shall be granted.' The next few lines had been scrawled out; with a sigh she closed the book and hid it in a secret stone she kept all her presents safe from the prying eyes of her elder.

"Saralias, get up and get moving!" the voice echoed from within her room and she jumped slightly, her elder had a habit of ensuring that you did not sleep when you thought she was watching over you that very second as you relaxed, even a little before breakfast, plus Saralias had the suspicion that the woman just loved to scare all her underlings with any tactic she had.

As breakfast commenced, the elder watched over all of her children quietly, eating her food as she kept a closer eye on Saralias than the others. Knowing full well it was one of her youngest children's twenty third birthday ensured that there would be at least one different attack on her power, but she would be ready, she always was. A soft sigh passed her lips before she stood up and waved her hands
"Children! You will all convene in our hall immediately. Go!" With that she stalked out into the hall herself, her second witch in command falling into step with her and murmuring softly
"What has gotten into you Elder, has something spiked your worries?" The Elder shifted her gaze mid-step to the younger woman.
"It would appear that I am in need of a new spell to ensure that all of you remember why I am the elder, go to my room and the book will be open at the page with all the instructions you need. I will go prepare myself". With that she stalked off in another direction.

As all the women joined in the hall, they noticed the circles being drawn in the centre and edges of the room by all the head witches, most ignored the symbols outwardly, the youngest however all opened their eyes wide in surprise to the number of old symbols being used in this particular ceremony. The elder herself seemed to be impatient to get the entire place into starting the words, she chanted to each row that came in, keeping on till they all had memorized the words that she wanted for herself.

Saralias frowned softly, chanting but not keeping every word within her mind, she watched carefully as all the other women began to lull into a hypnotic joining. Frowning she began to mime the words while saying repeatedly in her mind a spell she had learned within the first week of being allowed within the elders library as such. The spell she used kept her mind free of anything that anyone could tamper within the confines of herself.

The elder breathed deeply as the magic swelled within the circles, she smiled as she watched the eyes of all the other witches roll slowly upwards into their heads and their chanting grew louder, symbols glittered before shining brightly along the hall and seeping out into the rest of the rooms. She grinned as every single one of the witches secrets were found and ripped out into the mind of the elder.

"My children, the moon is high tonight so we shall begin our chants for the solstice, with all our guards up we shall praise our gods this night!" Saralias frowned slightly, keeping her face as neutral as possible while keeping her eyes mostly closed. The elder had cast a spell she knew wasn't meant to ever be used, it was against her own laws amusingly, but then again, the elders always broke their rules in order to stop the younger witches rebelling and changing the order. With the elder ordering the chants again she mimed while considering the present left behind her stone wall, in all honesty to herself, she wanted to escape, but not without making sure that the elder got her comeback after forcing Saralias to join her coven. With any luck, she would end this torture within the next few weeks.

Once all the ceremonies had ended, the witches filed out to do their duties, Saralias disappeared to the library to keep out of sight, with a quiet click, the door closed behind her and the librarian looked up, a small smile passed over their face before beckoning her into the office and saying loud enough for the others to hear
"Ah! Young Saralias, please come in while I explain your duties today". She bowed her head as the librarian quickly shut the door and raised barriers up against the walls and ceiling.
"Happy birthday, I presume you got your present?" The librarian stretched and she smirked, the librarian held a secret as much as her; only he would be killed if the elders ever knew.
"I did, thank you Raphael, or should I call you Rosanna?" His eyes twinkled briefly.
"You know me well enough Saralias; I presume that you are after something to have come all this way in such a manner as to quietly close my doors". She nodded, looking down the laugh bubbled up as her chest swelled to hold it in, he had eyed her ample amount of breast being shown to him.
"If you want to look more I'll be demanding payment Raphael" He coughed and rolled his eyes up in innocence.
"What are you after?" She smiled wider
"You have wards…a small area for creating them…I want to borrow them for awhile and cast a spell…" His eyes widened in mild surprise.
"Elder hidden?" She nodded
"Elder hidden" Shrugging he nodded, pulling back on the façade of an old witch he motioned her to the door, placing one hand on her arm and murmured in her ear
"I'll give you your space, its up to you to get everything you want" She smiled and nodded quietly, setting off to rearrange books in the elder section under his eyes for several hours till it was time to eat again.

The chants in the hallway grew as the moon begin its rise, Saralias hid in the shadows, knowing the elder would notice her missing but didn't worry, she was far too busy collecting all the ingredients to summon the Djinn without having the stone to aid her. Using a small series of demons that wrapped around her body and kept her hidden from the elder's gaze she collected the last of the items and ran down the halls to the library, where Raphael had left the door unlocked for her. Closing it she saw the wards flare up from floor to ceiling, all but one small section flared bright silver as she slit her finger and let her blood touch the unmarked space, the marks glowed red before fading to pale silver again, she grinned.
"Clever man Raphael, clever man" With that she went about setting up the book to read which symbols she required to summon the Djinn safely. Mark after mark was laid, the circle wide enough to fit three people easily before the second circle, this one marked with her blood and three herbs at each point. Then the final circle was made, one to shield the magic from the others in case Raphael's wards didn't work completely.

Taking a deep breath in she placed both hands over her heart briefly to still the pounding, she added the final ingredient that she had stolen from the elders room itself only half an hour ago and set it ablaze, chanting a spell over and over until the room vibrated with the sounds, the fire rose higher than her head, growls echoed from the flames, eyes opened and turned to look at her; then the fire died, darkness left in its wake and left Saralias rubbing her eyes to make sense of the dark itself, as she did a voice rumbled in front of her.
"You summoned me?"