Chapter 4

"And this is where I used to live!" The boy pointed to a tattered old building, which had been corroded and deteriorated. Jasil smiled, she had spent the rest of the afternoon letting the boy show her around the Empire, learning about the customs and the history of it. She had heard quite a bit, but was not happy about any of it.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what is your name?" She smiled at the young boy, kneeling down to him and looking him in the eye. "Oh, my name is Waqi! What's yours miss?" He grabbed her hands, attentive to her words. Jasil giggled. "My name is Jasil."

"Woooow, that's a pretty name!" He exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "Jasil, huh?" A voice from above spoke, a voice Jasil recognized from earlier. Her eyes snapped up, as Judar peered down upon them both. "He's right, its a very pretty name… for a Magi." He smirked. The boy blinked, then turned to look at the girl. "Y-You're a Magi!?" he practically yelled, shocked.

Jasil frowned, not moving her eyes from Judar's smug face. "No, I'm not a Magi." she spoke to the child, but addressed Judar as well, who in turned, quirked his eyebrow. "Oh? A Magician then?" he questioned. Jasil shook her head. "No."

This only made Judar's interest in her raise, he descended slowly, his bare feet touching the ground now, only feet away from Jasil. "So you're telling me, you can see the Rukh without being a Magi, and you aren't a Magician?" he scoffed, disbelieving her. She turned her attention to the child. "Hey lets go somewhere else okay?" She smiled, grabbing his hand. Waqi looked to Judar. "But miss, who's that?"

Jasil made a spooky face, leaning in to the child's ear and speaking. "He's a stalker, he's been following me for awhile now! We'd better get away while we can!" she nudged the child in the direction opposite of Judar, who frowned. "Hey, it's not nice to talk about people right in front of them you know?"

Waqi squealed in reply. "Run miss! Let's get away from the stalker!" He said with newfound energy, tugging Jasil away quickly and starting to run. Jasil looked over her shoulder, to Judar, only to find he was no longer there. "Huh?" She spoke quietly to herself, when suddenly his voice appeared in front of them. "Not this time, Jasil."

She felt the child being ripped from her hand, and he cried out as Judar lifted him with one hand, staring down at Jasil. "You're going to explain to me what you are, or I'm going to force it out of you." He spoke, as his hand crushed Waqi's neck slowly. He began coughing and gasping loudly, clawing at Judar's firm grasp. "S-Stop… Mister.." he choked out.

Narrowing her eyes, Jasil spoke. "Drop him, now." Her voice was low and menacing towards Judar, who loved every second of it. "Now why would I do that, when you're making such a lovely face." he smirked, tightening his grip on the child. Jasil slid her hand into her bag, whipping out her staff, and making it grow in size, it was now just as tall as Judar.

Jasil pointed the staff at him, and began chanting commands as a ball of light formed at the end of the staff. "Oh? You're willing to attack me AND the child?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't expect you to be so heartless!" As he was talking, the orb grew and grew, until it raised to half the size of his body. "M-Miss, p-please… don't!" Waqi began crying- or rather trying to, as he tried to kick away from Judar, who's arm was too long for his attempts to reach him.

Smiling, Jasil spoke to Waqi. "It's alright, I never said I would attack him. She lifted the huge orb into the sky, then swung it downwards, sending it flying straight at Judar. He smirked. "You really think that puny thing can get through my Borg?" As he spoke the ball flew towards him with increasing speed. "Who said.. I was aiming for you."

With this, Judar widened his eyes with curiosity, as the ball smashed into his Borg, shattering it in an instant and consuming him. In shock, he released the child as the orb started burning him. Or so he thought. He looked to his Rukh surrounding him, as they slowly turned from black- to white. "N-No way! You're… Purifying them?!" He exclaimed, as slowly his memories flooded back into his brain, sending him to his knees as he screamed in agony.

Jasil took this moment to lift Waqi onto her shoulders, looking to Judar one last time. "I don't know why you have Black Rukh, but I hope that one day, You'll let me finish this purification." She slipped the cloth for the tent from her bag and threw it on the ground, climbing atop it as the cloth rose, carrying both her and Waqi to the sky, leaving Judar in the blinding light.

Lifting his head, Judar saw the two shrinking in the distance, just as he managed to get out of the orb. As he exited, he looked down at the Rukh surrounding him. They had almost all turned white, some of them were partially turned, others completely white. He clicked his tongue, waving one of his hands, instantly turning them back to their original black color.

"How the hell did you purify my Rukh." he spat, looking to the sky where he last saw them. "You must be a Magi, no normal magician can reverse depravity." he spoke to himself, before remembering the memories she showed him. "Just like Aladdin, you showed me something you shouldn't have. What is this power you have, Jasil."

On the cloth, Waqi sobbed, rubbing his neck as Jasil inspected him. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, let me have a look at you." she spoke sweetly, her voice filled with worry as he swatted her hand softly. "I-it's okay miss, I'm used to things like this.. I am a slave after all..." he looked down, then realized where he was. "W-we're flying?! Woah!" He climbed to the edge of the cloth, looking down at the Empire below him.

Jasil smiled, tilting her head to the side. "Waqi, you are no longer a slave, remember that." Waqi looked at her, then at the cloth. "T-then, I'm free?" he gasped, realizing what she meant. Jasil nodded. "Just as free as I am." She looked towards the sky. Solomon, I've found my first one. A person who I want to protect with everything I am from this Empire. Watch me, Goddess Jasil, Solomon!