The spirit paused for a time, seemingly taken aback by what I had asked for before speaking again. "I do not understand. Explain what you mean."
"I thought you said you could read my mind." I continued before giving it a chance to respond. "An interview.. well it's basically asking a bunch of questions, who..or what you are. What your story is.. things like that." It hovered there, shifting like a breeze as it remained quiet. I wasn't sure if my explanation was making much sense to it. I suppose in retrospect the concept of an interview could be rather strange to a being like this.
"You.. wish to know my own tale?... ", its eyes blinked and looked around as though it were confused as it spoke. "This is...most unexpected.you are strange."
"I get that a lot...so where to start...I suppose I may as well start with what I may call you....I mean who are you. your name?" As I asked this I scrambled for a notepad, my mind beginning to focus on the interview and not the strangeness of the situation. "Um..ah..take a seat if you'd like. " I motioned to the two chairs I had in the apartment, a beanbag chair and a rolling office chair. I felt like it was smirking as it settled down atop the beanbag chair, its presence pressing down into the bag like a normal person would.
"My name... as best as I can replicate in the spoken languages is Sool-Lith-ewe-eye, and I am an Al-jin, in your written language the words would appear like this." It began to literally write out in the air, the letters sparking in the dimly lit room and remaining as I copied Súl'lithui and D'jinn down onto my notepad. "You may call me Súl' if you wish."
"Alright..Súl'.. let's begin with.. well what is a D'jinn?.. Just so I have a frame of reference.. we have legends and stories, but.. well I've never met one nor have I heard of anyone meeting one.. well in the last couple thousand years." I scratched at the back of my head, still not sure if I was delusional or suffering from food poisoning yet. Súl' seemed to nod at this as though it knew that no one had met a D'jinn in a long time.
"D'jiin are beings of power, magic if you will, we have free will and can affect the world around us if we so choose. Normally most D'jinn prefer to keep to ourselves and commune with the world in remote places, however.. well in the past some of us actually preferred to interact with the world and see what you mortals were doing and watch, interact and live life. Sometimes we would offer aid, trick and deceive some of you and act like wild children occasionally, however when you went to war we tried not to choose sides though some of us were a bit more attached to certain factions of your people." Sul paused as I scratched a cliffnotes version of what it had said down as I absentmindedly threw questions out as I wrote and thought aloud. "would you say D'jinn are immortal?... could they be perceived as gods...what about ...well why do we only have legends and have never met D'jinn in recent history."
The D'jinn waited for my writing to catch up before beginning to patiently answer my initial questions. "No D'jinn that I have known has died of old age if that's what you mean. We can die, however the means to kill a D'jiin takes an equal or greater power." I interrupted with my interpretation, "So magic?" Sul nodded but added, "a bolt of lightning would work just as well, but that is rare, a mortal like yourself is much more likely to die from a bolt of lightning than a D'jinn....As for gods... yes there were some of us that were so interested in your people that they pretended to be as such... though your fledgling civilizations flocked to them for guidance, and blessings, as for why your people have not seen us for some time.. I suppose that could be the result of the midnight war."
"The midnight war?" I had stopped midway through writing something down as that had been brought up. "What was the midnight war?"
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Foreward and Introduction
Like my other blog, Blog With the Blastwave, this too is an exercise in SciFi writing. Yes I was inspired by Ann Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" for the idea, however I don't intend to stick to one creature from cryptozoological myth.
I also do not intend to stop writing Blog with the Blastwave, however for obvious reasons (second strike systems launching a salvo of nuclear hellfire and the Soviet/Sinno etc. automated response) the character in that blog is currently unable to connect to the internet for the time being. However as a little hint, the earth itself will respond to the atomic annihilation in... unexpected ways.
But moving on, this blog is about a character's step into the realms of the unknown, sort of a chronicle if you will, or how things change unexpectedly from a simple decision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking now over the things I have seen, done and witnessed, I suppose now would be a good time to begin writing it all out. From the beginning. Once upon a time that seems long ago, though it really has only been a couple years, normalcy was irreparably shattered for me. To take and paraphrase from one of my more favorite webcomics, hunt it down try and find it, it is an amazing read, there's normalcy, and then there's a step above normal. Like the difference between the daily routine of walking to work and stopping at the starbucks for coffee, where a step above that normalcy would be getting to the shop and finding that the person before you is paying for the next customer's drink, that customer otherwise known as you. About two years ago, you could say I took a super step away from what is considered normal, though to say the world I'm involved in now, I'm more of an oddity than any of the other people I've met. A so called normal person, involved with and meeting such abnormal things and people.
I didn't used to keep a journal. It's a damn shame really, had I been doing so I would have a proper record of what happened then. Living my ordinary life, going to college trying to get a degree and figure out what I want to do with my life. All such normal and mundane things, that, well seem silly to me now. On an off chance I chose to go into a shop of oddities. I can tell you exactly where it is if I wanted, but there's no point to it, the shop itself isn't different from any other oddity shop in the world. You're better off poking around and tapping at bricks in the courtyard of a small pub on Charing Cross Road in London if you're after that kind of adventure. Anyway in this shop I found a crystal pendant on a silver chain. At least I think it was a pendant. Having been at a college that had surprisingly cheap credit costs, (3 dollars a credit) I had taken a lot of extra curricular classes in search of finding my true calling, and as such I recognized it as appearing to have been made to match the style of Egyptian jewelry, and the stone of the pendant was marble with a seam of uncut garnet along one of the larger cracks.
Because I was curious, and the price was low I chose to buy it, take it back to my flat and promptly forget about it for a week. Only when I stepped on it did I remember it. By that point it was too late. With my foot stepping on the stone, two things happened. I broke the pendant, and unleashed a being from its confinement. I'm still not quite sure if it was malevolent or not.
It stood before me, the sound of cracking stone, louder than it should have been, and the pain of the rock digging into my bare foot, fresh in my mind I was a little surprised to see someone, or something else in my apartment. It was roughly human sized, but seemed to be wrapped in the heat and dust of the desert like a cloak. I distinctly remembered it having two red eyes like garnets staring at me as it shook and stirred looking around before returning its gaze on me. I felt like it was looking through me, or past me, as though it could tell everything about my past at a glance. At first it hissed at me, in some indecipherable language, before steadily speaking in tongues, latin, greek, italian and others, starting with old phrases and moving on to more modern dialects I caught and understood bits and pieces before it stopped and "spoke" a quite whisper flitting about the living room in plain English, soft and indeterminate in gender. I vaguely began to wonder if the chinese food I'd had for breakfast had gone bad.
"You have freed me from my prison, for that you have my gratitude, in the custom of my kind you may have three boons granted, provided they are within my power of course."
As my mind registered what had been said and I began to understand I shook my head in confusion, not sure if I should run, or just move to another room, thinking this was a hallucination, muttering to myself.
"Boons? who uses words like that nowadays."
"I chose it because that is the lexicon your mind would accept."
"So you can read minds..what are you...when you say Boon.. do you mean Wishes?"
Despite my dawning realization of what it was I may have just found I wasn't fully ripped from my happy warm normalcy just yet, and other things pressed my mind, like the journalism class I had enrolled in that semester. Here I had a person..well sentient being, in my apartment that I could more or less ask of anything, and all I could think of was "Hell, I still have to find someone to interview someone."
"To an extent, yes I can skim a person's mind to better understand them and communicate. It seems the world has changed greatly from when I was sealed, perhaps I may need to take a different form than this. " The being looked around slowly, motioning towards the television and electric lamp, out the window at the coastal rain that had blanketed the city. "As for your question about what I mean by Boon, the word wish is an acceptable replacement."
"Huh...I...wellll."
I stood there for a bit rubbing my head, thoughts of lottery tickets and other mundane things flashing through my mind, but the warnings from every bit of lore stories and "fiction" I'd ever read and seen brought me back to reality, how wish granters were tricksters, or the monkeys paw always turned things badly for their user. Things like that. The fateful words, actually slipped out as an accident as my thoughts turned to school once again.
"I wish to interview you."
With that choice of words my fate was sealed, life had changed, and my world tossed up on its ear.
I also do not intend to stop writing Blog with the Blastwave, however for obvious reasons (second strike systems launching a salvo of nuclear hellfire and the Soviet/Sinno etc. automated response) the character in that blog is currently unable to connect to the internet for the time being. However as a little hint, the earth itself will respond to the atomic annihilation in... unexpected ways.
But moving on, this blog is about a character's step into the realms of the unknown, sort of a chronicle if you will, or how things change unexpectedly from a simple decision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking now over the things I have seen, done and witnessed, I suppose now would be a good time to begin writing it all out. From the beginning. Once upon a time that seems long ago, though it really has only been a couple years, normalcy was irreparably shattered for me. To take and paraphrase from one of my more favorite webcomics, hunt it down try and find it, it is an amazing read, there's normalcy, and then there's a step above normal. Like the difference between the daily routine of walking to work and stopping at the starbucks for coffee, where a step above that normalcy would be getting to the shop and finding that the person before you is paying for the next customer's drink, that customer otherwise known as you. About two years ago, you could say I took a super step away from what is considered normal, though to say the world I'm involved in now, I'm more of an oddity than any of the other people I've met. A so called normal person, involved with and meeting such abnormal things and people.
I didn't used to keep a journal. It's a damn shame really, had I been doing so I would have a proper record of what happened then. Living my ordinary life, going to college trying to get a degree and figure out what I want to do with my life. All such normal and mundane things, that, well seem silly to me now. On an off chance I chose to go into a shop of oddities. I can tell you exactly where it is if I wanted, but there's no point to it, the shop itself isn't different from any other oddity shop in the world. You're better off poking around and tapping at bricks in the courtyard of a small pub on Charing Cross Road in London if you're after that kind of adventure. Anyway in this shop I found a crystal pendant on a silver chain. At least I think it was a pendant. Having been at a college that had surprisingly cheap credit costs, (3 dollars a credit) I had taken a lot of extra curricular classes in search of finding my true calling, and as such I recognized it as appearing to have been made to match the style of Egyptian jewelry, and the stone of the pendant was marble with a seam of uncut garnet along one of the larger cracks.
Because I was curious, and the price was low I chose to buy it, take it back to my flat and promptly forget about it for a week. Only when I stepped on it did I remember it. By that point it was too late. With my foot stepping on the stone, two things happened. I broke the pendant, and unleashed a being from its confinement. I'm still not quite sure if it was malevolent or not.
It stood before me, the sound of cracking stone, louder than it should have been, and the pain of the rock digging into my bare foot, fresh in my mind I was a little surprised to see someone, or something else in my apartment. It was roughly human sized, but seemed to be wrapped in the heat and dust of the desert like a cloak. I distinctly remembered it having two red eyes like garnets staring at me as it shook and stirred looking around before returning its gaze on me. I felt like it was looking through me, or past me, as though it could tell everything about my past at a glance. At first it hissed at me, in some indecipherable language, before steadily speaking in tongues, latin, greek, italian and others, starting with old phrases and moving on to more modern dialects I caught and understood bits and pieces before it stopped and "spoke" a quite whisper flitting about the living room in plain English, soft and indeterminate in gender. I vaguely began to wonder if the chinese food I'd had for breakfast had gone bad.
"You have freed me from my prison, for that you have my gratitude, in the custom of my kind you may have three boons granted, provided they are within my power of course."
As my mind registered what had been said and I began to understand I shook my head in confusion, not sure if I should run, or just move to another room, thinking this was a hallucination, muttering to myself.
"Boons? who uses words like that nowadays."
"I chose it because that is the lexicon your mind would accept."
"So you can read minds..what are you...when you say Boon.. do you mean Wishes?"
Despite my dawning realization of what it was I may have just found I wasn't fully ripped from my happy warm normalcy just yet, and other things pressed my mind, like the journalism class I had enrolled in that semester. Here I had a person..well sentient being, in my apartment that I could more or less ask of anything, and all I could think of was "Hell, I still have to find someone to interview someone."
"To an extent, yes I can skim a person's mind to better understand them and communicate. It seems the world has changed greatly from when I was sealed, perhaps I may need to take a different form than this. " The being looked around slowly, motioning towards the television and electric lamp, out the window at the coastal rain that had blanketed the city. "As for your question about what I mean by Boon, the word wish is an acceptable replacement."
"Huh...I...wellll."
I stood there for a bit rubbing my head, thoughts of lottery tickets and other mundane things flashing through my mind, but the warnings from every bit of lore stories and "fiction" I'd ever read and seen brought me back to reality, how wish granters were tricksters, or the monkeys paw always turned things badly for their user. Things like that. The fateful words, actually slipped out as an accident as my thoughts turned to school once again.
"I wish to interview you."
With that choice of words my fate was sealed, life had changed, and my world tossed up on its ear.
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