Chapter 1: Forbidden Wonders
1127 A.D. Persia...
It was an indeterminate number of months before the coming of Nathaniel that the same Persian king who awoke him roused Victoria by unknown means and brought her out into the world of man and woman. He had been shocked at first, and then astonished, to see this lovely form before him. She stood head and shoulders taller than him, and had long waves of black hair. Her face was kind, with dark eyes, a nice smile, a perfect-looking nose, and pink lips. She was dressed in a dark blue dress, almost translucent, so he could see that her physical figure was as perfect as her face, and her feet bore low-heeled gray shoes that revealed the tops of her feet.
She bowed before him and said, "You awoke me and brought me to the Earth. I am honored to be summoned by you, king of Persia."
The king blinked in surprise. "How do you know who I am?" he asked, "If I may be so bold?"
She smiled again. "I know many things by instinct when one summons me. 'Tis true for all the djinn and djiniri who come out of the void."
The king's eyes widened. "You are a djinn?" he asked. "Or rather a djiniri, a female djinn? Then the legends are true after all! The djinn are for real! I did not originally believe them, for I have always been something of a pragmatist. Does this mean that you can grant me wishes? Anything I ask for?"
"Indeed," she said, "Because you are the one who awakened me, you may have as many as three wishes. But heed this warning, Your Majesty: every wish given to a djinn comes with a price. With everything you gain by wishing for it, you lose something, or someone close to you loses something."
"Ah," the king said, uncertain, "Well, then I suppose I should wish for something that isn't likely to have a lasting effect on my people, or on myself, right?"
"It is your choice what you wish for, not mine," the djiniri said carefully, "Choose your desire carefully, and choose your words carefully, as well. The better the clarity in your sentence, the closer your wish will be to exactly what you want. Make your first wish whenever you are ready to do so."
The king thought about it. "I wish for my kingdom's unrelenting enemies to be crushed and destroyed like the finger of God Himself destroyed the heathen nations that dwelt where the nation of Israel stood. Can you grant that, m' lady?"
The djiniri didn't look entirely happy with this wish, but she bowed before him again and said, "As you wish. One of your best armies is even now riding out to defeat your worst enemies."
"How will I know when the wish is fulfilled?" the king asked.
"Only time will tell," she answered, "Be patient, and your answer will come to you."
The king waited about an hour or so, keeping up his business with the people in his throne room. After said amount of time passed, finally, news came in from one of the king's messengers that his forces had succeeded in defeating his foes throughout the Middle East. The king was now officially a believer.
"I thank you, O great djiniri!" he said, getting up from his throne and bowing before the djinn. "You have made one of my greatest wishes come true!"
"Do not bow to me, O king," she replied, "I am the servant, and you are the ruler. But be prepared for whatever repercussions this wish brings with it!"
"I'll do my best, m' lady," said the king confidently. Then, suddenly, the messenger returned with some not so good news. He explained that some of the stronger folks and soldiers of his enemy nations had escaped the battle with their lives, and they had made a vow to get vengeance on Persia one day.
The king was disappointed to hear these words, but he knew he couldn't pass all the blame on to the djiniri. She had warned him, after all. He politely dismissed the messenger and tried to apologize to the djiniri.
"You should not apologize for what you wish for," she said. "Whether a wish turns out more good or more bad, an apology cannot undo it. I do not have the power to undo wishes unless one has at least one wish left and wishes to 'un-wish' the previous wish."
"Well," the king said, "My wish did not entirely turn out for the worse, so I suppose I should be grateful for that."
"Indeed," said the djiniri, "for I am not of the evil race of djinn like so many others are. I am one of pure heart and unending selflessness, and I encourage you to make wishes that are more helpful than harmful to others."
The king looked at her in amazement. "What is your name, O djiniri?"
"My name is Victoria," the djinn replied.
"Well," said the king thoughtfully, "I want my second wish to be something that will bring awe to my people and I, and I want the third to be something that can help my people thrive and survive as one of the greatest nations in the world."
"Then make your second wish," said Victoria.
"Give my whole court and I a light show, Victoria!" said the king. "Show us wondrous images of light and sound!"
"As you wish," she said, and at once, the torches seemed to go out of their own accord in the chamber. The people were startled, wondering what was going on.
Then, from the hands of the djiniri, which looked delicate but were in fact much stronger than any human hands, white light started to pour outwards, and whisperings were heard coming from them. The king and his court indeed did stare in astonishment. The lights then took shape and became spirit-like wisps that swarmed throughout the courtroom.
The king was wide-eyed and smiled. These spirits were awesome to look at. The men and women in his throne room were astonished, too, but they found themselves dodging and ducking the spirits constantly. It was a kind of wonder that had not been seen before on the Earth since Old Testament times when God performed miracles through His own power and the hand of Moses. The king shouted that it was beautiful, staring as Victoria seemed to glow with bright light that shone like the full moon at its brightest.
Then, suddenly, the spirits turned into skull-faced ghosts and pounced on everyone in the room, including the king, everyone except the djiniri. Everyone shrieked in surprise and alarm, even His Majesty. The ghosts vanished, and all was dark in the room again, until the djinn's power allowed the torches to re-ignite.
The nervous people started to run out of the room, afraid to be near the djiniri any longer. The king composed himself and asked Victoria, "What was that? Are you trying to kill my people with our own fear?"
"Nay," she said straight-faced, "When one asks for supernatural wonders to be shown to him, especially from a being such as myself, or God, for that matter, he must expect to be frightened out of his wits sooner or later."
"Oh," the king said as it dawned on him, "I suppose that was the price of my second wish, then."
"It was," admitted Victoria. "But be careful with your third wish. Clarify if very carefully, if you do not want to regret the repercussions of it. I cannot grant you a fourth wish."
"All right, then," said the king, "This is the most selfless wish I can make for myself and my kingdom. I wish-"
"NO! STOP, YOUR MAJESTY!" a voice suddenly yelled from the other end of the room. "Do not make that third wish, at all costs, I beg you!" They looked across the room and saw a bearded man dressed in black robes and a black magician's hat striding towards them. Victoria was particularly taken back by his sudden arrival.
"Zoroaster!" she said, her voice trembling, "Please, I beg you, do not send me back to the dark void with my evil brothers and sisters!"
"What do you want of us, sorcerer?" the king asked. "I've already made two wishes with mixed results. I want to make my last one a wish that will change my nation and my people for the better-"
"And by wanting that, do you wish to risk the whole world becoming subject to something it is not at all prepared for?" Zoroaster shouted, then more quietly, he said, "No more wishes, please."
"Zoroaster," said Victoria, "This great man wants to make up for his mistakes with his first two wishes, and you know that granting wishes of selfishness, death, and destruction, and other vile things saps my strength and leaves me vulnerable to the muscle of the evil djinn. Surely you cannot fail to recognize that good must prevail over evil!"
"Perhaps," said Zoroaster, "But the world is not ready for whatever you and your good brothers and sisters have in store for it, anymore than it is prepared for an evil djinn to unleash the legions of the evil djinn upon the Earth. And one more wish," he directed at the king, "is all this being needs to achieve her goal of purifying a world that is not ready for purification. God may frown on my abilities as a sorcerer, but I still hold true to the fact that all men and women, no matter how vile or corrupt, should have a chance to find salvation through God's mercy, and I am willing to burn in Hell if necessary in order to prevent that from happening!" Then, he suddenly produced a stone from his pocket, blue as the light of the angels, and the hottest fire. It was a sapphire, the largest one ever dug up and chiseled into a beautiful stone. Victoria looked at it in fear and screamed, "NO, SORCERER! DO NOT DO THIS TO ME!" But Zoroaster ignored her begging and spoke a Zoroastrian spell of enchantment as he held up the sapphire.
In a few seconds, it seemed to the king that the djiniri was being stretched and pulled into the stone by some kind of magic. Shortly, she was trapped in what would be her most beautiful but confining prison for centuries. Zoroaster held the stone before the king and said, "This stone must be kept hidden from all prying eyes at all costs, and I will see to it that it remains that way, Your Majesty." He bowed courteously before him and left the castle.
The king watched him leave, and then, when he was sure no one could see or hear him, he wept for a long time.
It was, of course, several months later, that the same king, by some misfortune, awoke another djinn, this time the evil Nathaniel, and made two wishes before him, too. But because Nathaniel was evil and twisted, and the king was initially unaware of this despite the djinn's much uglier appearance, his wishes didn't just leave mixed results; the king's whole court was destroyed through torture and mutilation after he wished for more "astonishing wonders," thinking that the djinn would show him something like Victoria had. And of course, Zoroaster, distressed at the fate of the king's court, returned once again, and banished Nathaniel as well, this time into a large fire opal as red as a ruby, and put it in a separate hiding place.
A/N: The light show that was the king's second wish is loosely based off of the "miracle of the ark" sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark, except nobody died painfully while watching it, and nobody had to shut their eyes to survive. I just thought it was cool to write, as well as easy. Djiniri, by the way, is the Islamic word for a female djinn.