Darien woke up the next day to find Serena trying to cook
breakfast in the
kitchen. He had stressed to her before about how much he
appreciated a
homecooked meal as apposed to a genie-conjured feast. She was
getting
better from cook books she read and the show on public access she
watched
about trying to be a gourmet.
Ami was looking around in Darien's computer. Considering that she
was
locked away in a gem for hundreds of years, she seemed pretty
capable of
catching up with modern technology.
"She's always been like that," said Serena as she served Darien a
bowl of
cereal after giving up trying to make pancakes. "Ami was always
fiddling
with pieces of machinery and studying the stars back when we were
in the
realm of the djinn. Even though she could use her magic to
produce almost
anything she wanted there, she was more interested in studying
the ways of
science and stuff."
"Good Morning, Master" waved Ami to Darien. "I think I managed to
find out
where the next crystal might be."
"You did?" said Darien and Serena in unison.
"Yes. I used a combination of my own personal magic with that of
my
crystal's ability to sense the other magic gems, and
crossreferenced it
with locations of the city I found on the computer."
"Wow, Ami!" remarked Serena. "I'm really impressed."
"Yeah," said Darien. "Nice work!"
Ami suprisingly got up away from the computer and gave Darien and
small
peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Master."
Serena nearly exploded with jealosy. "Ami! How dare you take
advantage of
the fact that your smarter than me to play kissyface with our
master!"
Later that morning, Darien and his two genies set off in plain
clothes out
in the city to where Amy had calculated one of the other gems
might be.
Ami was was wearing some blue slacks and a buttoned down green
top. It was
her first time in regular human clothes and was a little uneasy
in them.
"What's wrong?" Darien asked her noticing her discomfort.
"Nothing, Darien," she answered. "I'm just more used to being in
silk and
lace. Not cotton and other fabrics."
"Well, as much as I like seeing you in silk, it's kind of a
little
eyecatching."
"Oh, Master! Thank you," Ami said as she started to hold Darien's
hand
while they walked.
Serena was going to have another abrupt tantrum when she saw that
her
jewel was glowing. "Ami! Stop making gooey-eyes with Master and
look!"
Ami looked at her own gem which she had earlier fashioned onto a
braclet.
"You're right, Serena. One of our sisters is nearby!"
Ami and Serena felt themselves being pulled westward. They could
also
sense that something sinister was in the air.
"Do you feel it?" asked Ami as they ran down the street.
"Yes," answered Serena. "There's definately a strong force
converging on
that area to the west."
"But that's an old shrine," said Darien trailing behind them. "No
one's
used it for years."
"That's were our sister is, Master," demanded Serena. "We have to
hurry."
It was times like this that Darien felt the urge to just wish for
them to
be teleported to the temple. But with the large crowds of people
they had
to keep plowing through to get to there, it wouldn't have been as
conspicuous.
They finally made it to the temple. It was on the top of a large
hill. The
three of them made their way up the long set of stairs that led
up to the
temple itself. Serena looked around and saw lights in a room
inside the
temple.
They entered the main hall. There was a huge bonfire at the end
of the
room.
"What's an open fire doing in the middle of this abandoned
temple?" asked
Serena.
"It is the resting place of Mistress Beryl's newest slave," said
a creepy
voice that came from the shadowy corners. Out came two male
figure dressed
in dark grey.
The strange duo caught Darien and the genies off guard.
"Who are you?!" Ami demanded.
"I am Jedite," said one of the strangers. He was handsome with
blonde hair
and eyes like ice.
"And I am Neflite," said the other. He had long dark hair and a
sinister
grin. "We are Mistress Beryl's personal knights and we will stop
all who
get in our way."
"I remember hearing of you," countered Ami. "You are two of the
four Holy
Wizards who kept the Earth realm safe from outside forces. But
then Beryl
corrupted you and made you her slaves."
Jedite sneered. "We gladly serve our Mistress out of duty as she
is the
most powerful force!"
"You didn't used to feel that way!" demanded Ami. "You used to
defend the
Earth and its mortals! How could you let yourselves be
manipulated by that
she-demon?"
"Watch your tongue, marid!" said Neflite. "That is your future
mistress
your talking about. You will serve her and give her your power as
you were
destined too."
Serena had about enough of this. "That's not our destiny! Ours is
to serve
Darien, our true master, and bring peace and love to the world."
"I think we should put you in your place," said Jedite.
Darien was growing concerned. "Hey, can you girls take these
guys?"
"They are formidable, Master," said Ami. "But we should be able
to handle
them."
"While we engage them, look around for the crystal," added
Serena. "It
should be in this room."
The two dark warriors advanced quickly on the genie duo. Darien
just
mangaged to get out of the way in time as each of his genies were
knocked
out of the room by the force of the attack.
Darien ran over to the fire. It was the only possible place in
the room
the jewel could be. He saw a small red ruby floating inside the
heart of
the flame.
"What'll I do?" he thought to himself. "If I don't get this other
genie
out to help Serena and Amy, they could get hurt or worse." He
decided to
give forget the possibility of having his arm burned off and
thrust his
hand into the fire.
Nothing happened. Or at least his arm wasn't burning. He felt it
around
for a few seconds to make sure it wasn't an illusion. "Maybe," he
thought,
"I can reach into this fire because I'm the Chosen One or
whatever Serena
kept talking about."
Darien reached for the ruby and grabbed it. It glowed and then a
familiar
light rushed out of the jewel's point.
A girl emerged from the light. She was about the same height as
Serena
with long brunette hair and she wore a red outfit in the style of
the
other genies except slightly altered. She reminded Darien of a
character
from one of his Dreamcast games. The genie stretched her arms and
cocked
her head from side to side. Then she looked directly at Darien.
"Oh," she said. "You must be the one who released me. Thank you."
She
dropped to her knees and bowed down before him. "My name is Rei,
the
Ifreet. I pledge myself to serving you who are now my master."
She rose to her feet and stared all over at Darien. "Hmmm. You
are a
cutie! I'm going to enjoy being your slave!" She then lept over
and
started to kiss him.
Darien was so swept with the moment that he almost forgot the
others. He
stopped Rei in mid-smooch. "Listen, there's no time for that now!
Your
sisters are in danger."
"My sisters?" asked Rei. "They're here?"
"Yes. They're under attack by two of Beryl's flunkies outside.
They need
your help!"
"Yes, Master," complied Rei with much determination. She waved
her hands
in the air and was gone. Darien was left alone in the middle of
the room.
Strangely, the fire had now gone out.
Outside on the grounds of the deserted temple, Serena and Ami
were locked
in combat with Jedite and Neflite. Even with their own immense
powers,
they were slightly outmatched by the two wizards.
"I don't understand this, Ami," said Serena as the two of them
took refuge
behind a small shed. "No Holy Wizard was ever as strong as one of
the
geniefolk."
"Beryl must have given them a big power upgrade when she took
them over,"
answered Ami.
"She did more than that," said Jedite who appeared out of nowhere
in front
of them and assuming an attack posture. "Mistress Beryl lent us
some of
her own energy to stop you."
"She would have come herself," said Neflite appearing in behind
him. "But
she is still recovering from her previous encounter with you."
Jedite turned on him. "Neflite, you fool! Why are you telling
them this?
We musn't give them any advantage!"
"What's the difference? By the time we're through here, we'll
have the
other crystal and will have defeated these stupid genies!"
"Stupid?!" yelled Ami. "That's it! I hate being called stupid!"
She hurled
an energy ball at Neflite who repelled it with invisible shield.
"What was that?," sniffed Neflite. "A joke? I don't know why the
Mistress
needs to waste her time with the likes of you. We Holy Wizards
are more
than capable of carrying out her wishes."
"It's the wishes of the pure hearted that matter!" yelled a
distant voice.
"Not the dark ones of your sinister mistress."
Rei teleported in front of them. "Neither of you are worthy of
calling
yourselves Holy. I don't know how Beryl corrupted you, but you
obviously
weren't holy enough to withstand her evil."
"Sister Rei!" sceamed Ami and Serena in unison.
"Hello sisters!" replied Rei. "We can do the family reunion
later. Right
now we have some rubbish to deal with."
"Right!" said Serena. "You boys are burnt baklavas now!"
The Holy Wizards were set back by this turn of events. "That
human master
of theirs must have freed the ifrit," said Jedite.
"And what's worse is that she is temporarily at her full power
since she
has been released," said Neflite. "What do we do?"
"We stay and fight," assured Jedite. "Mistress Beryl will not
accept any
kind of defeat."
The two wizards prepared to attack when they were in awe of the
huge
flaming aura that started to surround Rei. She began to chant
something.
"In the name of sun, the fires of the earth, and the purity of
the soul, I
cast you out!"
A burst of flames shot from Rei's hands aimed at the wizards. The
two of
them then instantly disappeared into ashes.
Rei collapsed from exhaustion. Serena and Ami rushed to help her.
"Sister,
are you okay?" asked Serena.
"She's okay," confirmed Ami. "She just used what of her energy
had been
forming up inside her while she was sealed away all those years."
"Like when you attacked Beryl." Serena wondered. Why didn't she
seem to
have a build up of energy like that when she was first released?
"Oh," mummured Rei as she regained conciousness. "Hi, sisters."
The three
genie siblings embraced each other in a hug that was centuries in
the
making.
Serena wondered. "What did you do those wizards, Rei? Did you
destroy
them?"
"No. I just released them from Beryl's control with my Purity
Spell. I can
only do it so often though and it was tough to do it to both of
them at
once."
Then a ghostly image appeared before them. It was Jedite and
Neflite. But
they seemed different. Their clothes were now all white and their
eyes
were no longer filled with rage.
"Thank you, ifreet," said Jedite. "Your compassion has lifted us
from the
veil of evil and now we are free."
"We will now go back to our own realm to redeem ourselves from
our selfish
actions that led to our possession," said Neflite. "Farewell."
Then in a flash they were gone.
The genie sisters rose to their feet and to see Darien rushing
from a
thick of trees.
"I searched all over for you girls!" he said as he came over to
them
panting for air. "Where are those wizards?"
"Rei took care of them, Master," answered Ami.
"That's right! My sis can take care of anything," said Serena as
she gave
Rei a swift pat on the back.
"Watch it, Serena!" said Rei. "That stings, you dumpling-head!"
Serena growled with anger. "I told you never to call me that
again!"
"Dumpling-head?" asked Darien.
"That's her pet name, Master," answered Rei. "Anyway, it's nice
to meet
you. Shall we pick up where we left off?"
"Where you left off doing what?" Serena enquired with a hint of
jealousy.
"Doing this," said Rei as she reached over and gave Darien a
passionate
kiss.
Serena felt like her head was going to blow up. "REI! How dare
you! I
already went over this with Ami! We have to share Master!"
"Oh relax," said Rei after freeing Darien from her lip-lock. "You
can have
a try at him now if you want."
"Now look, girls," said Darien in a stern voice. "I don't mind
being your
master and all, but I'm not some bottle of wine to be passed
around to
each of you. We...are all a family now. Sisters and master.
Okay?"
Serena, Ami, and Rei looked at each other. Then they clasped
their hands
together and bowed.
"Yes, Master," they said in a mocking tone. Serena couldn't help
but
snicker a little. Soon all three of them were laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Darien.
"It's just that this is the first time you've ever really tried
to command
us as our master," said Amy.
"I thought it was funny because you didn't seem like the
demanding type,"
said Rei.
Serena giggled. "Master, can we go home now?"
Darien smirked. "Sure."
"Allow me," said Rei. She began to do her genie-gesturing which
would
activate her powers. "I'll take us there."
Then she thought. "Ummm. Where do you live, Master?"
Ami smiled. "Maybe you should let me do it this time." She
commanded time
and space to fold and within a few seconds the four of them
vanished from
the grounds and ended up back in Darien's place.
That evening, the four of them were sitting around the dinner
table. Rei
hadn't had a meal in centuries, so she was very hungry. Amy had
made a
special lasagna and Serena had baked some cookies for desert with
minimal
success.
"Why don't you just use your magic to whip up a meal?" asked Rei.
"Because Master Darien prefers that we use our powers only when
its
necessary," said Serena.
Darien tried to make a point of it with Rei. "That's right," he
said as he
nibbled on some of his pasta. "It's important you understand
that. People
of this time might not understand or comply with the use of magic
very
much."
"If that is what you want, Master," Rei replied in a sultry tone.
"Is
there any other desire I can fulfill for you tonight?" She winked
at him
in a way that would have made most men's hormones explode.
"REI!" bellowed Serena. "If you don't stop trying to seduce
Master, I
swear....."
"Oh knock it off, Dumpling-head!" yelled Rei. "He's my master
too!"
Serena felt like a volcano about to burst. "I told you not to
call me
that!" Serena stood up and began to charge up an energy ball.
"Serena!" commanded Darien. "No fighting at the dinner table!"
Serena calmed down and bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Master. It
won't happen
again."
"It's okay, Serena," he said. "Let's just enjoy our nice meal.
After all
this is a family reunion."
Serena sat back down and began to chew on her food. "I think we
might be
better off leaving Rei in her jewel for another century."
