Chapter Four: The Lamp

Calvin and his mother stared aghast at the spectacle before them. Their jaws fell slack, their eyes wide in shock, they felt as though energy was prickling through their skin. The scent of fire lay thick and heavy in their nostrils as the last few wisps of smoke dispersed. Across the room, the djinni stood with his arms crossed, staring down at them, expectantly. He stood perfectly still, save for the rhythmic swishing of his tail.

After a great length, Calvin's mother mustered the courage to rise to her feet. She took a few halting steps toward the frightful apparition, saying "Y,you there… djinni. Why have you come into our house?... What is your purpose here?"

The djinni fixed his gaze upon her, causing her to shrink back in fear. "My purpose," he answered "is to serve the one who has summoned me." Then, in the blink of an eye, he stood before Calvin and bent over in a deep bow. "What do you wish of me… master?"

Calvin's mother backed into the wall. She put a hand to her chest, her breathing heavy. Calvin's eyes darted about - to the djinni, to his mother and back again. "Sheesh, put me on the spot, why doncha." he muttered, tugging at his collar. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the djinni and said. "So, uh… you'll do anything I say,... right?"

The djinni gave another bow. "So long as it is within my power to do so… your wish is my command."

"Okaaay…" Calvin said as his mind processed all this new information. "So, what exactly would be outside your power, then?"

The djinni narrowed his eyes at him in a contemplative sort of manner. Then after a pause, he said. "I cannot restore life to that which is dead. I cannot overwrite the free will of a sentient being. I can do no harm to whoever possesses the lamp. And I cannot disobey an order from my master."

"Is that it?" Calvin asked.

The djinni thought for a moment. "... That is all that readily comes to mind."

Calvin nodded, making his way along the wall to where his mother stood. "Okay, then. Well, uh… you just make yourself comfortable while I confer with my mom, here." and with that, he took his mother by the wrist and led her into the living room.

Once the two humans were alone, Calvin let out a sigh. "To think that crusty old lamp really was a treasure, after all!"

"Yes." his mother said, casting a look back toward the kitchen. "Now the question is, how do we get rid of it?"

Calvin gawked at his mother as if she had just suggested cutting off her right hand. "Get RID of it?! Are you CRAZY?! This is our ticket out of this dump! It's the kings ransom of kings ransoms! We'll never have to worry about anything ever again!"

"I don't trust it, Calvin." is mother countered. "What if it turns on us?!"

Calvin snorted. "Oh come on, you heard what he said! He can't do any harm to his master - that's me! And he has to do whatever I tell him! So if I were to tell him not to harm you, were golden!"

His mother narrowed her eyes, heaving a heavy sigh. "You'll forgive me if I don't simply take his word for it."

"It's a sure thing, Mom!" Calvin insisted. "We can finally have a comfortable life! We can be rich beyond our wildest dreams!"

"And what's wrong with getting rich through a hard days work?!" she asked.

Calvin groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Mom, we've been at this grind for twelve years, now! And we're no better off than when we started!"

"Maybe if you found a nice girl and settled down, we could have an extra hand to help out around here!" his mother argued.

"Maybe if I had more money, I could actually attract a nice girl!" he countered.

Calvin's mother put a hand to her head, sighing deeply. "... What about the neibors?" she asked.

Calvin blinked at the sudden change in topic. "What about them?"

"Don't you think people might find it odd that their previously poor neibors would suddenly start living a lavish lifestyle?"

Admittedly, Calvin hadn't considered that. "... Alright, we'll be subtle about it!"

"Subtle how?" his mother asked, eyes narrowed.

"Well, we could start off by getting you some fancier cloth to work with. The clothes you make from that cloth will sell for a higher price - which in turn means getting even fancier cloth which would then sell for an even higher price, and so on and so on until we're living the rich man's life and none would be the wiser!"

Calvin's mother looked at him. She was clearly still uncertain, but he could tell she was at least considering the idea. After a moment, she said "And what if someone asks how we could afford the fancy cloth in the first place? What should I tell them?"

Calvin gave her a wide, cheeky smile. "The truth, of course!"

His mother looked at him in total befuddlement. "... The… TRUTH?!"

"Yeah, tell 'em I went to explore a cave and found a treasure inside!"

Calvin's mother stared at him for a moment; then, with a world-weary sigh, she turned and fell onto the couch, massaging her forehead. After another pregnant pause, she looked to her son and said, "I can see that you've already set your mind to doing this; and I can tell there's no way to dissuade you from this path…" Hearing her say that put a wide smile on Calvin's face. "That being said, I still think this is a bad idea." Calvin's smile faded, replaced by dead weight in his stomach. His mother then took in a deep breath and finished. "But,... you're an adult, now; the choice is ultimately yours to make… Just remember; you can make your own choices, but you cannot choose the consequences of those choices."

Calvin heaved a deep sigh of his own. "I know, Mom… I know."

Calvin turned and headed back to the kitchen. And when he stepped in, he was taken aback by what he saw. The djinni was laying on his back, floating in the air. His hands were interlaced behind his head, one leg crossed over the other. He gently swayed from side to side - as though her were laying in an invisible hammock. Calvin was so surprised at the sight, he gave out an audible "Uuuuuhhh…"

Upon hearing the sound, the djinni dropped down, then did a sort of flip in the air before floating to the ground. "So then, ready with that first wish?" he asked.

Calvin started in surprise. "Wait, y-your voice!"

"Hmm" The djinni gave him a passing glance. "Oh, yes! The booming voice is good for making a big entrance… but it's muuurder on the throat."

"... Oookay then," Calvin breathed. His eyes shifted about, uncertainly. It wasn't only his voice, but the djinni's entire demeanor seemed to have altered. His posture, once stiff and straight as an arrow was now more loose and relaxed. His formerly cold and haughty expression had softened. Even his eyes which had previously burned with crimson light had changed to a soft amber color. Getting ahold of himself, Calvin said "Anyway, yeah I'm ready to make my first wish!"

The djinni then interlaced his fingers and stretched his arms out, popping his knuckles. "Alrightie! One fortune comin' right up!"

"Wait, how did you know I was gonna ask for money?!" Calvin asked.

The djinni tsked. "Please. Money is always the first thing you humans ask for!" He then stretched his arm out, pointer finger extended. Slowly, he swept his arm across the room, his eyes squinting as if focusing on something far away.

Calvin watched the djinni in utter befuddlement. From the corner of his eye, he noticed his mother stick her face in through the doorway - her fear finally yielding to her curiosity. After a drawn-out moment of staring, Calvin finally asked "Uh, what are you doing?"

"... Searching." Came the reply.

"Searching for what?" Calvin asked.

"Fooooor - THIS!" With a loud proclamation, the djinni snapped his fingers and a sudden pattering sound could be heard.

The two humans turned their heads toward the kitchen table and gaped in awe. From out of the air directly above the table fell a shower of tiny, golden flakes. The humans watched with mesmerized expressions as gold dust poured onto the table; first into a tiny little mound, then a large pile and finally a great heap. The rickety old table groaned under the weight of the gold piled onto it.

Calvin stepped forward, as if in a trance. Reaching out, he grabbed a handful of golden flakes. His face spread into a wide smile as he watched it fall through his fingers, rejoining the golden mound.

"My goodness." his mother said in a hushed voice behind him. "This is more gold than I've ever seen in my life."

The djinni floated to the side of the table. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed with a satisfied smirk gracing his muzzle. "Is this satisfactory, master?" he asked.

"It's certainly impressive." Calvin answered. "But,... gold dust, while nice and all, is a little hard to keep, uh… neat." He noticed the djinni's eyes narrow as the smirk melted off his face. "I'm just saying, maybe you could convert it into a more… solid state… like bars or something.

Taking a deep breath, the djinni said "As you wish." and stepped in front of the table. "You might want to step back for this." he told the two humans.

Calvin and his mother quickly scampered to the far wall. And there they watched with rapt interest as the djinni set to work. First, the djinni raised his arm in a sweeping gesture. In response, the entire heap of gold lifted off the table and sat floating in the air before him. The djinni then started rolling his hands over each other in a circular motion. The gold, in turn, started rotating; slowly at first, but spinning faster by the second. Soon, it was spinning at dizzying speed.

Slowly, Calvin and his mother felt an odd heat building in the room. It started as an uncomfortable warmth, but kept building and building until it was almost scalding. Looking at the gold, Calvin could see a sort of glow emanating from within its core. No wonder the djinni had advised them to step back, if the heat was so unbearable even at that distance. Yet the djinni, seemingly unaffected by the heat, carried on with his task, his expression never changing even once.

Eventually, the great mass of gold slowed and then came to a full stop. The humans looked in amazement to see that the mound of gold had been completely liquified - sitting in the air as an undulating golden bubble. The djinni then raised his arm, as if pulling something up. And from out of the shimmering globule rose a mass of impurities. The djinni gave a disdainful flick of the wrist and the mass of dross vanished.

The djinni then swept his hand out before him. And the golden bubble moved with it, leaving little droplets behind as it went. With a quick gesture, the droplets formed into ridged, rectangular shapes. The djinni then took a deep breath and blew onto the bars with a great rushing gust. Then, with the bars resolidified, the djinni pointed to the table. The bars then floated over, and with a clack, clack, clack, all the gold bars landed on the table in a neat little stack.

Calvin and his mother went over to the table, looking over their new found wealth with awe. "Now, that's more like it!" Calvin exclaimed. "Nice work,... uh… by the way, what's your name?"

"Sorry, what?" the djinni asked.

"Your name." Calvin reiterated. "I mean, you do have one, right?"

The djinni gawked at Calvin, blinking curiously. "Huh." he finally said. "No master has ever asked for my name, before…" and he stood there for a moment, just staring off into space.

After a while of awkward silence, calvin prompted "So… your name?"

The djinni jolted, turning to look at him. "Oh! Oh yes!... Hobbes; my name is Hobbes."

"Hobbes, huh?" said Calvin. "Well, thanks for all the gold, Hobbes!"

Hobbes gave Calvin a curious look. After a lengthy moment, he gave a soft "You're welcome."

Calvin's mother then picked up one of the gold bars. "Well, I'm off to the market." she announced. "Tonight, we'll have a proper feast to celebrate your safe return." She then gave her son a loving clench on the shoulder before turning to leave.

Once she had gone, Calvin turned to Hobbes, absently running his finger over one of the gold bars. "So then, Hobbes… have you had a lot of previous masters?"

"Oh, yes." Hobbes answered. "The lamp must've changed hands at least a dozen times over the space of… about ten years."

Calvin's mind boggled at that news. "Really?! So many masters in such a short amount of time?"

"Yep!" Hobbes replied. "Same old story time after time. They started out in humble circumstances, but then they wished for riches. Then they would quickly start flaunting their new wealth and affluence, which in turn stirred up suspicion in their neighbors, which inevitably led to them being robbed… or in some instances,... murdered."

Calvin gulped, rubbing at his neck. His mind involuntarily recalled Moe who had been willing to leave him for dead to get his hands on the lamp. "Th- that happened every time?" he asked.

"Pretty much." Hobbes confirmed. "Well,... the only real exception would be my last master… He was a real paranoid sort. He mostly tasked me with spying on his enemies."

Calvin gawked at that. "Did he have a lot of enemies?"

Hobbes' gaze drifted off into the distance. "He certainly seemed to think he did. Personally, I'm not convinced it wasn't all in his head. But, as you can imagine, I was with him for the longest; which still wasn't all that long - he was already old when he found the lamp.

"Anyway, after a while he seemed to realize he was dying. So, rather than risk the lamp falling into some less responsible human's hands, he took the lamp deep into the desert. And there he had me carve out an intricate system of tunnels and install them with all sorts of dangerous traps."

"HA!" Calvin pounded a fist into his palm. "I knew that wasn't a natural cave!"

"Quite." said Hobbes. "And after a hundred years, you can imagine how surprised I was to suddenly be summoned again."

"A hundred years?!" Calvin repeated in shock. "Wow, you must've been relieved to get out of the lamp after such a long time!"

Hobbes looked at Calvin through half-lidded eyes. "Mmm, yeah, I don't actually live inside the lamp."

"You don't?" Calvin asked, looking at the lamp in perplexion. "Well, where do you live, then?"

Hobbes opened his mouth to answer, then abruptly stopped. He furrowed his brow, eyes darting back and forth. "Well, it's… y'see, uh… hmmm, how do I describe it? Uuuuuhhh…

With a sudden snap of his fingers, he said "Think of it this way; when you enter a house, you have to go through a door, right?" At Calvin's nod, he continued. "Well, the lamp is sort of like a door that only I can pass through."

"Okay,..." Calvin pondered, turning the lamp about in his hands. "So in this analogy, what exactly would the house be?"

Hobbes tapped his fingers together, his gaze distant. "That's… a little harder to explain."

"I'll try to keep up." Calvin prompted.

Hobbes observed him for a bit, his expression pensive. Then with a shrug, he said "Alright. So, imagine, if you will, that there's an entire world out there - one that's imperceptible to human eyes."

Calvin gawked at him. "An… invisible world?"

"It's not invisible," Hobbes countered. "It just exists on a plain of reality that humans can't see!"

"Sounds like invisibility to me." Calvin muttered. "Okay then, so this not invisible world is where you go after you've been dismissed?"

"Yes." Hobbes nodded. "The same holds true for all bound djinn."

"Really? Do all djinnis go to the same world?" Calvin asked.

"First of all, the plural form of djinni is 'djinn', not 'djinnis'." Hobbes told him. "Secondly, yes; this world is where my people originated."

"... interesting." Calvin mused. "Hey wait! You said 'bound djinn' earlier… you, you're a… prisoner?"

Hobbes gave him a rueful smirk. "I don't address you as 'master' out of any innate respect… Master."

Calvin looked the lamp over, a sudden feeling of guilt welling up from within. "... But… whenever you're in that… Djinni World, you're free to do whatever you like… right?"

Hobbes tsked "That's not true freedom, being at the beck and call of some frivolous human - knowing that at any minute you could be called on to fulfill some petty demands… And of course, free djinn can pass between worlds at will - bound djinn can only enter the human world when summoned."

"Oh." Calvin bashfully uttered. He cast his eyes back and forth, nervously. His gaze landed on the stack of gold bars on the table. With their new wealth, he and his mother would be set for life; would they really have any further need of a djinni?

Steeling his resolve, he took the lamp firmly in hand and said "Right! There's a brass smith here in the city;... I'll just take this over and have him melt it down!"

Hobbes looked at Calvin, eyes wide. He looked from his master down to the lamp in his hands, then back up again, all while wearing an expression of disbelief. "You… would really give up having a djinni so easily?"

"Sure." Calvin answered. "I mean, everyone deserve to be free,... don't they?"

Hobbes continued staring at Calvin. After a moment, his expression softened into a little smile. "I appreciate the gesture,... but I'm afraid it's not that simple." At Calvin's questioning look, he elaborated. "Turn the lamp over. Look at the base."

Calvin did so and furrowed his brow at what was there. "Oh yeah, that weird writing… what does it mean?"

"Those runes form a protective ward." Hobbes explained. "As long as they're there, the lamp can't be damaged."

Calvin made a drawn out "OH." That explained why the lamp hadn't been damaged after he threw it against the cave wall. "So, how do you destroy it, then?"

"There's a ritual to sever the connection between a djinni and the object that binds them." said Hobbes. "Once performed, the lamp would just be an ordinary lamp afterwards… Of course, the hardest part would be finding a sorcerer who's actually willing to perform the ritual!"

"Are sorcerers hard to come by?" Calvin asked.

"Yes. But that's not the biggest problem." Hobbes answered. At Calvin's confused look, he elaborated. "What you need to understand is that djinn are born with an innate understanding of magic; humans… are not. So, a human sorcerer could study and train for decades, yet their paltry magic would only be on par with the very weakest of djinn!

"So, just imagine; you're a sorcerer, you've spent the better part of your life practicing magic, yet all you have to show for those years and years of study are the most basic of conjuring tricks. Suddenly, some upstart kid approaches you with a lamp that has a djinni bound to it - a djinni you just know could perform feats of magic you could only ever dream of… and this upstart kid says he wants you to set the djinni free!... What would you do?"

Calvin was a little chagrined that the answer came to him so easily. "I'd laugh in his face." he said.

"Yes, well that would be considered the best case scenario." Hobbes retorted. "... Worst case, the sorcerer would kill you and take the lamp for himself!"

Eventually, Calvin's mother returned bearing a rack of lamb and an assortment of spices. Before long, the meat was cooking, filling the kitchen with a dazzling medley of scents - cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, turmeric, ginger and paprika.

The lamb was served with a tangy yogourt sauce alongside garlic infused rice and fresh bread with a rich, dark coffee to wash it all down. It was, without doubt, the finest food Calvin had ever eaten. And had he been in higher spirits, he might have actually enjoyed it. As it stood, his mind was elsewhere - hung up on the things he had learned that day.

Bound djinn… Calvin had not one, but two djinn bound to his service. This made him, for all intents and purposes, a slave owner. Now, slavery was quite common in those days, but the practice had never sat right with Calvin - treating your fellow man as if they were no more than common livestock. He had heard people use that very idea to justify the practice, claiming that slaves were somehow less than human. But that simply made no sense to Calvin - if it looked like a human and spoke like a human, you may as well call it a human.

Now, Hobbes and Ursula clearly weren't human. Still, they were obviously intelligent beings.

But what could Calvin actually do about it? Hobbes had told him that only a sorcerer could free them, and that finding one actually willing to do it would be virtually impossible. So what was he to do? Take the lamp and ring and hide them away someplace? Maybe take them back to the cave and figure out a way to collapse the tunnels behind him? But of course, that would only prevent anyone else from finding them; they still wouldn't truly be free…

Still… perhaps that was the best that could be hoped for.

That night, Calvin had a dream. He found himself with a brass collar around his neck. Connected to the collar was a long chain that was held by an indistinct, shadowy figure. The figure led Calvin through jagged, hellish landscape, yanking the chain as it went. Soon, another shadowy figure assaulted the first and wrested the chain out of its hands. The figure turned and ran in a new direction, dragging Calvin behind it. Then a third figure came and stole the chain from the second. Then another figure appeared… and another… and another, each taking Calvin's chain for themselves - practically yanking Calvin off his feet when they ran off. Eventually, Calvin had enough. With a furious roar, fire erupted out of his hands. And with that fire, he seized the chain that bound him - which immediately disintegrated.

It was at that moment that Calvin awoke. He yawned and stretched, the vision still so vivid in his mind. As he prepared for the day, he pondered on the dream… and what it could possibly mean.

For the next few days, Calvin went to man the stall like normal; implementing his plan to make it appear that their wealth was slowly increasing. But all the while, he pondered on an idea that had taken hold of him… It seemed like a good idea to him, at least it didn't seem like it would hurt to try. The question was, would this idea actually bear any fruit?

Well,... he supposed there was only one way to find out.

And so one morning Calvin rubbed the lamp and Hobbes appeared in a great crimson cloud. "What do you wish of me, Master?" the djinni asked, bowing his head.

Calvin made a grimace. "First of all, I want you to stop calling me 'master'. It makes me uncomfortable."

Hobbes cocked a curious eyebrow. "What shall I address you as, then?"

"My name is Calvin. You can call me that."

Hobbes stared at Calvin, as if he were observing an animal he had never seen before. "Alright…" he said after a long pause. "I assume you had a reason for summoning me…"

"Yes, actually!" Calvin exclaimed. "... I want you to teach me!"

"... Teach you what?" Hobbes hesitantly asked.

"Magic, of course!" was the excited response.

Hobbes blinked in utter befuddlement. "You want to learn magic?!"

"Yeah!" Said Calvin. "You said it would be too hard to find a sorcerer to set you free, right? Well, what if I was the sorcerer?! That would work, wouldn't it?"

Hobbes made a dismissive hum. "I mean, theoretically, any human is capable of learning magic; most just don't have the patience for it." He moved as if sitting down in a chair - though there was no chair beneath him. With his arms crossed and finger tapping, he said "You do remember I said it takes humans decades to learn magic,... right?"

"Yeees." Calvin replied. "You also said that djinn are born with an innate understanding of magic!... And, out of aaall the human sorcerers out there, I'm willing to bet that none of them had a djinni to teach them!"

Hobbes opened his mouth to make a rebuttal, but stopped. His eyes widened as he considered the idea. He stroked his chin as his gaze focused off into the distance. He looked back at Calvin, who watched him with an eager expression. Upon seeing such an earnest smile on the young man's face, Hobbes drifted back to his feet. "Well,... I suppose it's worth a shot."