So odds were that the genie would’ve gladly killed Rahil once I became its master, but instead I’d wished to be far removed. Stupid, stupid me. I read on.
Additionally, a genie is bound to its vessel. If one is destroyed, the other will be as well. For this reason, genies will frequently persuade or tempt their masters to wish for reinforcement on their vessels as a protection and safeguard.
The lamp had certainly been well protected. Of course I hadn’t been able to break it when I’d tried. If I did manage to get back and destroy the lamp somehow, Rahil would lose his source of wishes. Was there a limit to the number of wishes a genie would grant its master? I scanned the book again, flipping through the pages until I found my answer.
It has long been observed that the strength of a genie is directly proportional to the number of wishes it may grant to each successive master. Genies of lesser age or power, sometimes referred to as juvenile spirits, are capable of bestowing only a limited number, often no more than three wishes. Such restrictionsare not merely arbitrary but seem to reflect the incomplete development of their metaphysical nature.
I scrunched my eyes shut. Zafir would be able to explain this in easy-to-understand words. Why did academic textbooks have to be so dull and dry? I opened my eyes and squinted at the page, trying to bully my brain into cooperating.
Conversely, elder genies, whose existence can span centuries or millennia as they serve many masters, possess correspondingly greater reservoirs of power. These entities may endow their masters with dozens or hundreds of wishes, though precise numbers remain difficult to establish.
I ran a hand through my hair. If Rahil had been getting many wishes for years, he must possess one of the older, more powerful genies. Why couldn’t he have taken possession of an infantile genie who could only grant three wishes? At least then, he would have eventually run out and another master could take over. But also…Zafir had hypothesized that if the genie could only appear as vapor or smoke, it would be a juvenile spirit. So which did Rahil have? It was all so confusing. I sighed and continued to read.
Reliable data is scarce, as genies are notoriously secretive, and few who have commanded them survive long enough to record their experiences in full, and even fewer are willing to share such knowledge. Nevertheless, fragmentary accounts suggest that the most formidable genies can dispense wishes of such scale and frequency that they have earned the epithet “world-breakers” among certain scholars.
It should be noted that the true upper limit of a genie’s wish-granting capacity remains a subject of considerable debate. Some traditions assert that the number is finite yet vast, while others claim it is tied less to the creature’s intrinsic age and more to the durability of its vessel. Regardless, it is generally agreed that thequantity of wishes granted is the most reliable metric by which to measure a genie’s strength and maturity.
“What are you reading?” Zafir appeared in the doorway, tousle-haired and stifling a yawn.
I jumped slightly. “Just one of your books about genies. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Find anything informative?”
I shrugged. “Not really. I think that lamp’s genie must be incredibly old and powerful. I don’t know what Rahil wished for, but I assume he made many wishes, unless he somehow bundled multiple wishes into one. Can a genie’s master wish for multiple things with one wish?”
Zafir slowly nodded his head. “Yes, but I also think it would be very risky and unwise to do so. Genies are notoriously manipulative, so adding multiple stipulations or addendums to one wish might give the genie more loopholes to exploit.”
“What do you plan to wish for?”
Zafir looked up at me. “What?”
“You’ve said you want to find this genie. What do you want to wish for once we eventually get there? I’m sure you’ve given it a great deal of thought.”
“I have.”
“And?”
Zafir worked his jaw back and forth for a moment. “It’s complicated.”
“How?”
He tapped the page I’d been reading. “I don’t even know how many wishes I would get, and genies will twist whatever you say.”
“You must havesomeidea.”
Zafir paused before finally answering. He spoke clearly and articulately, as if he had repeated it often over a longperiod of time. “My first wish would be to wish that by making this wish and any subsequent wishes and possessing that power and exercising it, that I and those I care for, or those I may come to care for, are never subjected to retaliation, consequence, revenge, punishment, debt, enslavement, binding, death, or harm by any being, including but not limited to genies, spirits, or mortals, for the mere fact of making or benefiting from wishes.”
I blinked. “I’m impressed. So your first wish…”
“Would be to eliminate the genie’s ability to manipulate my wishes into something that would cause me or anyone else harm. I think it is well worth one of at least three wishes to have that sort of protection. Two wishes fulfilled the way I want is superior to multiple ill-fated wishes.”
“Very smart. What else would you wish for?”
Zafir gently took the book I’d been reading and looked at it. “Knowledge.”
“What, no carefully crafted wish this time?”
“It amounts to the same thing.”
