literature

2 - A Master for Alessia, pt 1

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Literature Text

Alessia swirled in her lamp, her cloudy form running along the smooth curved walls that trapped her soul. There was no light to see by, and barely something to feel in her new prison. She was no longer human, but a formless Genie of golden smoke.

She found the nozzle of her lamp, a place where silvery light reflected off the gold. Alessia rushed toward it, putting every ounce of will into escaping the dark prison. But before she reached freedom, her spirit dissipated and returned to the safety of her vessel. Back into the pitch black.

"Let me out!" Alessia spun around her lamp, pushing and hitting the edges of her world. Then her smokey form brushed along something that did not exist before. Something hard and solid near the edge of her prison. She stopped near it and reached out with what was once her hand. She felt something coarse and tough beneath her palm. Something like brick. She saw faint mortar outlines along the wall.

Light began to filter into the lamp, bringing the dark prison to life. Rectangular brick walls took the place of sloping gold and a wood panel floor shimmered into existence. The lamp became a room from Alessia's imagination.

She was still cloudy form that might have looked like a human if she squinted. Instinct overcame her and Alessia focused on her hands and the feeling of the coarse bricks, and watched as her cloud became solid, her fingers appearing from nothing.

Alessia caught the familiar scent of spring rain. She tethered herself to that scent and breathed it in. It felt like she collected herself, pulling her body back together. She closed her eyes and let her mind linger and imagine herself. When she opened her eyes, Alessia saw her body had returned, almost like she had left it.

She still had her olive skin and short brown hair, and her round cheeks and deep hazel eyes. But the knife scar on her left arm was gone, and so were the purple bruises she received in her last fight. Her clothes, however, were replaced by a costume she would never have worn.

Cut from gold and yellow cloth, her attire consisted of veiled pantaloons, and a vest and bra set. She wore slippers slippers with curls in their toes. The bottom half of her face was covered by a translucent veil. The entire outfit was airy but didn't reveal what Alessia did not want revealed.

She looked at her wrists, which were covered by bronze shackles. They bore flowing inscriptions across their surface. Words that were familiar and sent chills along her spine.

Find in this vessel a servant of the djinn. Whomever owns this lamp shall own her. Wish upon her three desires and they shall be made true.

May she serve the lamp. May she serve the will. May she serve eternally.


Alessia forced herself to look away from the stark truth of her new life. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Focused on the rapid beating of her heart. And then she heard racing winds. The sound was so strange that it caught Alessia's attention, and she turned to see a pair of French doors open to a small balcony. She walked through the doors and gasped as she saw the world beyond her lamp.

She looked out to a sandy desert expanse and to a shimmering city of marble and gold with towers that floated in the air. A moon twice its true size glowed silvery light down onto the world. Alessia reached out past the balcony and her hand touched a smooth metal surface. The image faltered for a moment, but snapped back into place when the Genie pulled her hand back.

A familiar feminine voice spoke from behind her, "The city of the Djinn is a breathtaking sight, is it not?"

Alessia turned slowly, not knowing what to expect, and saw a woman of dark skin and red silk veils standing in Alessia's lamp apartment.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The woman cocked her eyebrow, "Genie Alessia, where are your manners?"

"I left them outside." Alessia said flatly.

The woman laughed, "Oh, such a spirited Jeen. I do wish you will serve in my palace one day,."

Alessia took a step forward, anger rising in her body. Her skin took on a red tint and heat rose from her. "I will not serve you! I will not not be owned! I will not be a Genie!" Her shouts echoed and reverberated through the lamp.

"Oh, yes, you will." The humor and kindness vanished from the woman's voice. "And you will not raise your voice to your Masters, Genie Alessia." Her voice was calm, and yet had all the force of a hurricane upon Alessia. The Genie's anger vanished as quick as it came, and her skin returned to it's normal tan shade.

The woman opened her hand and revealed an image of Alessia in her palm. It shouted and cried, its body made from blood red smoke.  "I have taken your anger," she said, "and I shall return it when you have learned to control your temper." The image snuffed out and sank into the woman.

Alessia felt entirely different. Lighter. Her heart beat with a calm rhythm that felt unnatural to her.

"Do you feel better?"

Alessia nodded. Despite everything, she felt better.

"Good. What was it you were going to say, before anger got the best of you?"

The Genie looked up, worry creased into her, but she replied truthfully, "I do not wish to serve you."

But the woman was not angered or hurt by Alessia's words. She nodded, "That, I understand, my dear Jeen. But I have faith that you will find happiness in your new life." The woman cocked her head, as if listening to the world outside the lamp. "I do wish that I would have more time with you, to teach you the ways of the Genie. But time mine to command."

"I don't understand." Alessia glanced around her little French apartment, and watched as it began to vanish. Her body began to tingle.

The woman disappeared into a radiant flame, "I do apologize for what's about to happen." The entire lamp shuddered just as her bright form went away, and then went end over end. Alessia's body burst into it's cloudy form once again while her prison skittered and screeched. The Genie tried to scream, but a powerful force yanked her from the lamp.

Her body pushed and billowed back into the alleyway where she had been bound to serve. Cool air intermingled with her soul. Car motors hummed nearby. Alessia focused on the feelings and the sounds of the night, and like before brought her body back to its solid state.

She stood between two men in the small alley. The larger of the pair stood with a silver pistol in one hand and a curved, wicked knife in the other. She knew him, or at least she had learned his name before her she got her lamp. His name was Francesco, and he was one of Carmine Salvatore's thugs.

Francesco smiled, showing his chipped teeth as the blade in his hand glowed inky black. He cocked his gun and pointed it at the man behind Alessia. The man who cowered on the ground, scarlet blood pouring already from a wound in his side. And his bloody hands wrapped around Alessia's golden lamp.
A continuation of 'A Lamp for Alessia,' where we get to see what it's like to first come inside a lamp.

This part was fun, but troublesome to write. I kept getting sidetracked by crazy Djinn/Genie worldbuilding stuff. It was neat stuff, but pulled me away from Alessia's new life. I think I will post some of that worldbuilding stuff later in the week.

In any case, after a few redoes and rewrites, I finally decided to just shove Alessia out of her lamp and right into a serious situation.

Reading order
1 - A Lamp for Alessia
2 - A Master for Alessia, pt 1
3 - A Master for Alessia, pt 2
4 - A Wish for Alessia
5 - A Lesson for Alessia

Also, be sure to check out character sketches of Alessia, and Chione.
© 2011 - 2024 Senor-Refresho
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charlee718's avatar
It is getting better and better