055: Spirit

Bylta Vatn was, in theory, a very wet place. But theory and reality are often different. There is a place in Bylta Vatn, far away from the seas and oceans, where one can find sand. Coarse sand, fine sand, large rocks being turned into sand, all can be found there. This place is widely agreed to be the driest place in the dimensions, at least by those who know of it.

This ocean of sand is one of the more mysterious places of Bylta Vatn. Legends about it tell of an empire that covered the entire desert. Suddenly, it vanished. Nothing was left. The empire had been lost, and the great riches said to be there had gone as well. Archeologists have tried to find this empire, but even small traces have eluded them. That was why Count Bleck was so eager to find it. The fame and money from such a find would pay his heating bills for thirty years.

Dimentio had been searching through the sand dunes for the better part of a day, and he was getting annoyed at the lack of progress. He began shaping the sand into a model of the Court of Ancients, when a gold object fell by Dimentio's feet.

He was intrigued, and picked up the object, the sand sculpture falling apart as he did so. The object was shaped much like an antique candlestick, with a hole in the top. Dimentio began polishing it. Once there was no more sand on it, he tossed it in the air and caught it.

When it touched Dimentio's hand, the candlestick began to shake. Dimentio dropped the stick, and a vapor poured out of the hole. The vapor swirled and coalesced into a figure. It was a man, quite similar to Mario, but larger and wearing a vest and baggy canvas pants.

"What is your first wish, Master?" the man boomed.

"What?" Dimentio asked.

"You get three wishes. Not two, or four. Five is RIGHT OUT!"

"Three wishes? Hmm. Who are you? I wish to know."

The man laughed, and leapt into the air. "I am Salgen, Ancient Genie of the Deserted Empire! I am at your beck and call! You've never had a friend like me!"

Dimentio rolled his eyes. He'd dealt with genies before, including a particularly attractive female djinn who wanted to be his wife. Naturally, Dimentio had sent her away, chasing after the fabled 'Star of Dimentio.' He hadn't seen her since, but he was happy. This Salgen fellow, though, could be useful.

"What is your second wish?" Salgen bellowed.

"Uncover the Deserted Empire, and put the sand in a void. That is my second wish."

"As you command!" Salgen threw his arms out, and all the sand was gone, revealing a vast expanse of ruined building made of granite and slate. Gold and silver glinted in the sunlight, and mounds of gems were visible in the distance.

"My third wish is for you to be free and leave me alone," Dimentio called to Salgen. The genie froze, then flew away, yelling in delight.

"Dimentio, how goes the searching, asked Count Bleck," Count Bleck asked, appearing next to Dimentio.

"I have found the Deserted Empire."

"How?" Count Bleck was astounded. He looked around.

Dimentio picked up the candlestick and handed it to Count Bleck. "I, like a small kindergartner doing calculus, had some help."

"Where is this help?"

Dimentio shrugged. "It was a liability."

A/N: Man, you don't know how good it is to be back with a chapter of 100 Days. Unless, of course, you do. Anyway, I finally broke that block sitting on this story and wrote this chapter. It's very nice to be working on a long story and not a one-shot, like I've been doing lately. Word association really helped with this idea.

Well, onto the good stuff. There are exactly three references to other stories. Two are movie references, and the other is a really obscure book reference. The book reference is from the series 'A Wizard in Rhyme' by Christopher Stasheff.

Speaking of three, this is the third time Bylta Vatn has been the setting for a chapter! That may be the most times of any fan-place. Well, I'll let you go now, and hopefully this means I'll be updating more often.