The Dreamcaster: Chapter 18
“No, for the last time. Magic Items. No wishes.”
The genie pinched the bridge of his nose, beyond frustrated by the halfwit who just so happened to stumble upon his lamp. Waving his hand, he produced a small, gold pocket watch from thin air. “Look, never mind, do you want the watch or not?”
The person in front of him snatched the pocket watch from his hands and began to look it over, a greedy smile forming on their face.
Snickering to himself, the genie knew it was only a matter of time until this dolt wound up aging themself out of existence, regardless of what direction they went. Snapping his fingers once more, his body began to disappear into a puff of smoke, returning himself to his oil lamp. “I’d say it was a pleasure, but I shan’t tell lies. Farewell mortal,” he said as he fully vanished.
Rematerializing in his lamp, the genie found himself in the familiar space of a grand elevator, the entry and exit point of his lamp. Hitting the button for the bottom floor, he eased back against the shiny gold paneling that lined the lift. Sure, he could snap his fingers and apparate to where he wanted within his lamp, but he found comfort in waiting, even if it was something as menial as this.
DING!
The doors to the elevator parted and the genie stepped out into his main living quarters. It was a vast and luxurious space that looked more like a wealthy person’s penthouse apartment than the inside of a genie lamp.
“Welcome home, Hector,” said a disembodied voice that echoed out across the entire floor. Its source was the smart home assistant, named Iris, that he had managed to install via magic. It possessed no physical body but could control every aspect of his living quarters, from the objects that existed inside of it to the pieces of hardwood that lined the floor. For a computer in a magical realm, its potential was limitless.
Ever since Hector had installed Iris, his life had been easy breezy. He used to have to traipse all over his lamp by himself. Now, he had the perfect automated maid to look after all his needs. “Thank you, Iris,” he said, walking over to his sectional and lounging across its plush surface, “Can you bring me a Boulevardier, if you’d be so kind?”
“Of course, Hector. One Boulevardier coming right up,” said Iris in a chipper tone.
However, before he could relax with his bourbon beverage in hand, the beads across his wrist began to vibrate. “Another one?” he said, puzzled. Having just granted a magical item, it was incredibly rare to have other mortals to serve immediately after, especially since this was the second time it had happened in a week. Still, regardless of the bizarre coincidence, he couldn’t just ignore a call to action. He stood up from the couch and made his way back to the elevator, “Save my drink for me, Iris. I’m going to make this as expedient as possible.”
“Yes, Hector,” said Iris, already partway through concocting his drink, with a bottle of bourbon being held in pouring position by the ceramic tiles that lined the kitchen walls.
Returning to the elevator, Hector stepped inside and looked at the control panel, pressing two buttons.
It was a short ride before the elevator came to a halt. Hector exited the lift, pressing the stop button on the elevator’s control panel and entering a room filled with floating pink orbs. Inside of each orb were different items that contained magical properties. As the genie moved through the room, the orbs pushed away from him like an opposing magnet.
Sensing the wants and desires through the hands of the person rubbing his lamp, Hector knew he had a gullible little perv on his hands. He approached an altar and summoned the perfect items for his latest victim.
An orb floated away from the pack and soon was hovering just above the altar. Smirking at the small pink bow that the orb contained, Hector instantly knew this would definitely be a transformation to stick around for.
Hector stepped back into the elevator and allowed it to move to its final destination. Once again leaning back against the wall, he waited for the elevator to rise up as far as he could. As he reached his destination, though, the door to the elevator did not open. Instead, he looked up and began to evaporate into the ceiling.
“Greetings, mortal,” said Hector in a grandiose fashion as his physical form physically formed in the center of a decadent private office. His naturally smug smile, however, quickly faded into a scowl. “You!” he shouted, pointing a stern finger at Master.
“Hello, Hector,” Master said, staring coolly into Hector’s big, red eyes, “Why am I not surprised to find you still on my timeline? I thought I told you to get lost.”
Hector scoffed, “Oh, get off your high horse, lady. You got what you wanted. The gods are dead, long live the diaper queen. What, is one little genie really causing that much trouble for you?”
“You guys, we really don’t have time to argue!” shouted Jane, pulling Hector’s attention to the rest of his surroundings. Holding his lamp was a cutely dressed girl with an insanely thick diaper on. She was sitting at a computer that was tethered to mana crystals in a very make-shift fashion. Beside her was Jane, someone who Hector instantly recognized. Suddenly, the link between the two back-to-back summonings became glaringly obvious.
Taking a proud stance, Hector chuckled, “Oh, wow, you really are in trouble, aren’t you? I wondered what chaos that ring might invoke.”
“Can you stop being a prick for even one second? The girl’s right. We don’t have time and if we don’t hurry, you’re fucked too,” said Master matter-of-factly. Storming over to her office’s massive floor-to-ceiling window, she signaled for the genie to see for himself, pointing toward the distance.
Hector’s expression once again turned sour as his eyes followed Master’s gesticulation, seeing the early makings of a black hole. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked, hoping to Goddess this was some sort of illusion.
Unfortunately, Master’s solemn face told him everything he needed to know. “It’s growing at a steady pace of about five kilometers per hour. It won’t be long before all of Los Angeles, and subsequently, the world is sucked inside,” she said sternly.
Rubbing his head in confusion, Hector looked back towards the three women in his presence, “I-I couldn’t have caused this with that ring. It bends reality, sure, but it has safeguards built in to course correct the timeline.”
“Not if a certain someone was never meant to have the ring in the first place,” said Master, turning towards a cowering Crissie.
Gripping the hem of her dress, Crissie stepped forward. “So, I may have altered reality a tad to put your lamp in Jane’s room. It was just a teensy-weensy change,” she said, causing Hector to groan as he covered his mouth with his hand in frustration.
RUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMBBBLE!!!
A shockwave stronger than any they’d experienced in Jane’s office rattled CrissBaby HQ, sending everyone abruptly to the floor. “Is it safe to be in a high rise right now?!” yelled Jane, getting increasingly nervous as she looked down at how high up she was.
“Dunno,” said Master sarcastically, “This building is rated for a 10.0 magnitude earthquake. But, a black hole is a whole different beast entirely.”
Levitating back to his feet, Hector hurried over to where Crissie was holding his lamp. “Might I suggest continuing this strategy meeting in my lamp? It’ll buy us more time since reality moves slower inside,” he said, snatching the lamp from Crissie’s hands and setting it on the ground.
“Hold up,” shouted Master, folding her arms, “After all the stunts you’ve pulled in the past, you think I’m just gonna trust you? Lest we forget that Chicago is a sissy baby wasteland because of you.”
Hector pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “Look, I know I’ve done my best to screw you over in the past, but genies and black holes don’t mix any better than humans do. Besides, what other choice do we have?”
Looking out at the ever-expanding void of darkness on the horizon, Master swallowed hard before swallowing her pride. “Fine, but if you try anything, I’ll see to it that your lamp ends up at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Deal?” she said, squaring up Hector and holding out her hand.
Accepting the gesture of trust, Hector took hold of Master’s hand, “We have an accord.” Waving his hand in the air, he materialized a small, pink bow, before extending his offering to Crissie, “Here. As my summoner, I can’t return to my lamp until you have been served.”
“What is it?” said Crissie, looking inquisitively at the normal-seeming pink bow.
Hector rolled his eyes, “It’s a magical hair bow, do you really care?”
“Nope!” shouted Crissie, grabbing it from the genie’s hands and looking toward a nearby mirror as she held it up to her head, “I think this will go perfect with my pink sequined baby doll!”
Ushering everyone to gather around the oil lamp, Hector and the others clasped their hands together in a circle. “Now that the magical item has been bequeathed to you, the lamp should recall me any second now.”
RUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLEEEE!!!!
CRASH!!!
Suddenly, a shockwave moved throughout CrissBaby HQ that was so powerful that the windows in Master’s office shattered in seconds. Everyone dropped to the floor and covered their heads as bits of glass rained over the space.
Seconds later, Hector could feel his body start to dematerialize, looking back to see himself being sucked into the lamp. “Hurry!” he cried out, “Take my hands, quickly!”
Reaching out for one of his free hands, Jane grasped his digits tightly and closed her eyes, feeling an odd, numbing sensation as her body began to evaporate. Seconds later, the real world slipped from her view.
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“Wooooaaaahh! Oof!” shouted Jane as she landed on the seat of her loaded diaper with an audible squelch as she instantly materialized in Hector’s elevator. Making her landing even worse was the weight of bodies resting on top of hers. Crawling out from under Master’s big butt, she took a deep breath, happy to no longer be in Master’s towering office.
Master rolled over to the side of the elevator and rested her head against the gold paneling. She placed a firm hand on Jane’s shoulder, offering her a sympathetic smile, “Still happy you came with?”
Snickering, Jane nodded her head, knowing she would’ve been an anxious mess wondering if Crissie and Master were going to succeed or not. Speaking of Crissie, Jane scanned the elevator, her smile dropping, “Hey guys…where’s Crissie?”
Back in Master’s office, Crissie whimpered at the oil lamp dematerialized in her hands, its next destination a complete mystery to her. Now all alone, she curled up into the fetal position on the floor and clutched her aching heart, too scared to do much else on her own. This was all her fault and, as much as she wanted to fix it, she was just too Little to save the world on her own.
Lightbulb!
Turning towards the computer that was still linked up to her old hard drive, Crissie uncurled herself and wiped the tears from her eyes before standing up on unsteady legs and taking her seat at the computer. On the screen, the word document she had used to summon the genie’s lamp was still visible, albeit being much more faded than it was before. Noticing that the man crystals it was hooked up to were starting to fade, she knew she needed to be quick. She typed on the computer as furiously as she could.
Jane and Master arrived safely in the genie’s lamp and were able to figure out a full-proọf p̸la̷n̶͔ t̸̳o̷ s̵̲̑a̵̞v̵̳e̶̡ ̷̍ͅt̷̊͜h̵̭̒ȇ̵̤ ̴̲̎w̴̻͒o̵̠̔r̵̝̋l̸̲̓d̶̢̂.̶̱͝
Crissie could only finish out the single sentence before the monitor’s display developed into a jumbled mess of code. The crystals went fully dim, their mana entirely used up. All Crissie could do now was sit back and hope her friends could clean up her mess.
TO BE CONTINUED…