Chapter 7: Judgment

The next day Jake was awakened by a booming gong sound. Reaching for Gen, he not only didn’t feel her next to him but also found that he had very little room to move. What the hell is going on? Leaning back he could only wait till someone or something let him in on where he was.

About an hour later, a man that Jake could only describe from out of the Arabian Nights tales came to get him.

Looking around as he was led out, the lavish walls also reminded Jake of something out of Arabian Nights. He was led down a long corridor to a huge open air room with what looked like sultans or rulers of ancient Arabia sitting, no wait a second more like floating beside an oval table.

The biggest of the men motioned for Jake to be brought to him; Jake thought this had to be a dream.

“No, young master Jake, this is no dream,” the man said, his voice booming.

“May I ask...?” Jake started

“NO!” The man boomed out, “You may NOT ask, but you WILL answer truthfully!” he said, a look of scorn on his face.

The others in the room shook their heads in agreement.

“To start off, we are the Genie or Jinn council; we monitor each and every Jinn in the world, past, present, and future.” Again, each man in the room nodded in agreement. “We have been watching you and your Jinn; at first, we were extremely pleased, that is, till the events of last night.” Jake was shocked for a moment, then realized that these men were also Genies, so he could believe it.

“The first question, did you know that you were photographed last night?” the largest man said.

Stepping forward, Jake replied, “No sir, I did not,” each man nodded.

“Did you know that a magical being cannot be photographed?” The largest man said.

Jake looked shocked, “No sir, I didn’t know that at the time, but thank you for informing me.”

Again, each man nodded, though Jake could see a few of them slightly smile.

“As a sexual helper, Gen, as you call her, must exercise her powers every day, even if it’s a menial task. This is to help strengthen her powers and allow her to grow mentally. You have not been using her every day. As a matter of fact, you almost let her fade.”

Jake could see the anger on the largest man’s face and could only wait till the next question came.

“At this point, we were going to take your Jinn from you, and then we heard of something that we thought we’d never see again. You don’t treat your Jinn as a servant or a slave; it appears that you treat her as almost an equal; tell us why.”

“Yes, sir, when I first saw Gen, I thought she was a dream; when I found out different, I still had a hard time believing at first. When she told me of how other masters treated their Jinns, not letting them out of their bottles, I wished that Gen was free from that bottle.”

An older man spoke up, “You wished her free from the bottle she was captive to, so you freed her but not entirely, AH! very wise for one so young,” again the others nodded agreement.

A new light shone in the large man’s eyes, “Is it true that when your Jinn was in distress that you felt it and was actually sick?” the large man said, looming over Jake.

“Yes, I was sick; I hurried home because Gen wasn’t making sense, when I was thought talking to her.” There was a gasp from the others in the room.

“Just how long have you been able to do this,” a wide-eyed man asked.

“I would say since about the second or third day,” replied Jake.

Again, another gasp rose from those present in the room. Many of the men started whispering, discussing this new turn of events. Stopping, they looked at the large man. “They want you to continue with why you treat her more like an equal.”

Nodding Jake continued, “After I freed her from her bottle, I looked forward to seeing her each morning I got up, she is very beautiful. I began to think of her more as a partner rather than a Genie. I apologize for not having her use her powers each day; I didn’t know she needed to. I thought if I had her perform magic every day, I would exhaust her, as her powers are somewhat limited, again thank you for informing me of my error.”

The men in the room’s eyes grew wide open. They couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Even the large man’s mouth was hanging open. The men at the table were almost in shock. They had waited for centuries for someone like Jake to come along. There were still a few things they needed to know first, but many of them were convinced.

“Please continue, young Master Jake,” the large man said.

“It was when Gen told me that we had bonded to each other...” again a gasp went out from those present. Jake looked around at the shocked men what was the big deal?

“You bonded to ... to ... to her?” a small man at the table said.

“Yes,” Jake replied, “When she had started to fade, I felt bad or sick as you said; that was when Gen told me of something called the everlasting?”

Again, a huge gasp went up from there.

“The everlasting has only happened once, well ... almost, the master was killed during a minor battle.” the small man stated bitterly, “His Jinn had tried to intervene, but another Jinn had prevented her from reaching her Master. Jinn was my daughter; she loved her Master very deeply. When he died, she had almost died herself. She only lasted a year after that, growing weaker each day till, as her last request, she gave her powers and love to her much younger sister.” Sighing, he looked up at Jake, “I believe you are well acquainted with her.” That was many centuries ago, the legend he must be told of the legend,” many others said.

“No, Rasmir, not till we are sure.” They all looked at Jake, almost hungry. “The final question, we know now that Gen, as you call her, is in love with you; the thing is, are you in love with her?” “To be completely honest as a man.” Jake started, “Had you asked me a week ago, I would have said no. Today, I cannot say that; Gen said she looked into my eyes and saw the bond that had started. If I am not in love with her now, I will most definitely fall for her. She is the kindest, most understanding woman I have ever met.” thinking harder, Jake’s eyes flew open. “Yes, I am in love with her, but I don’t think I could go on without her.” Again, a huge gasp went up around the room.

“If you are truly in love with her, then you must undergo the test.” The large man said. Many around the table nodded, and Jake noticed that many were smiling. “A test?” Jake had been worrying about Gen this whole time and was starting to get impatient. Where was she? Was she ok? He hoped they weren’t apart too long. It was at that second that Jake knew that he WAS in love with her. Many around the room smiled even larger; to them, they knew Jake would pass with no problem.

“When may I take this test? I am worried about Gen; if we are apart too long, she will die. I cannot let her die!” The force of his voice knocked the others off balance as Jake tried to leave the room. The large man was straining to hold Jake but was losing the battle, so the others reached out to hold Jake.

Jake’s desire to see Gen again was so strong that he was starting to drag ALL of the men in the room with him out the door. Upon reaching the open doorway, Jake walked through; he was about five feet past the door when he found that the weight of all the men holding with their magic was almost too much. Straining, he pulled harder, and hearing a sharp gasp, he began to struggle even harder. He had to reach Gen! Finally, with the last of his energy, he lunged forward, not caring if they punished him, not caring if he died; he knew only that he had to reach her; with that final lunge, the weight suddenly slackened, a huge fanfare sounded along with another gong sound.

Jake didn’t look back; he kept going forward on his leaden legs. Where the fuck was she? Opening every door he came to, Jake was starting to lose hope when, at the end of the corridor, he opened one of the last doors. There he found Gen hugged tightly to another woman, her face and eyes red from crying. “Gen! at last I found you!” A startled Gen looked up and straight into the eyes of the man she loved. Running to him, she flung her arms around him. “Master! You’re alive! Thank the great Jinn!”

Holding her as tight as he could, he kissed her tear stained eyes and face, “I realized just a few minutes ago that I love you.” Gen’s mouth dropped open as she began to kiss Jake harder. The older version of Gen stood and smiled, “I am Yasmen, your Jinn’s mother,” holding out her hand, Jake shook it; it was then that he felt the strain he had endured withdrawing from the room.

Sitting down, Jake felt tired so suddenly, hardly able to keep his eyes open, he heard Gen gasp.

“Father? Is that you?” Gen and Yasmen ran forward, hugging the small man from the room Jake had almost had to fight his way out of.

Slurring his words hardly able to look up Jake stated, “I take it you are here to give me the test? Give me a few moments to rest, then you can test me all you want, I am sorry I left the room I had to make sure that Gen was ok. I felt her pain and loneliness I do not care what you do to me as long as she is ok.” The small man smiled.

“You don’t know what you have done, but...” with that Jake finally surrendered to huge wave of exhaustion that finally overwhelmed him.

“Father, how many of the council are free besides you?” Gen asked, surprised and elated at the same time.

“Take a look; I think you would be proud of your master.” Gen and Yasmen peeked into the corridor; there, they saw the other 11 members of the council hugging and kissing their wives and daughters.

“When we first started the trial, we thought he was another undeserving master that needed to be punished. As we asked him questions, it was almost like someone was reading the legend out loud. When he mentioned the bond, we were shocked, but was it everlasting? That fact floored all of us. When he only wanted to find you BECAUSE he was worried and didn’t care what we did to him, I knew he was the one.” Rasmir could only shake his head.

Yasmen and Gen helped Rasmir get Jake into Gen’s bed, the other council members looked in smiling “He made it this far?” The large man said.

“Yes,” Rasmir said, “Till he saw that his Jinn was ok, they were talking when I entered. I was about to tell him of the legend, but the effort of breaking free from all 12 of us finally caught up with him.” The other councilors heard what he said, and a collective gasp went up from them all. Sighing, the large man looked at the others, “he has fulfilled almost all of the legend, but there is still one test he has to pass. I, too, am convinced, but we must make sure we are only just released. If we place trust and care in the wrong man again, we could end up there in the room again; I, for one, wish to continue the Jinn race.”