Chapter Seventeen

It's the year 53 B.C. in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt is being ruled by Cleopatra, known by few, a Genie. Few can resist the temptations of a Genie, male or female. Cleopatra led not only the people of Egypt, but a guild of Genies. Egypt became a place of great wealth and even greater Genies. At the time a Genie's biggest rival was an Enchanter. They could cast their magic onto anything or anyone and make it fight for them. Enchanters are long extinct in present day. Killed off by various civil wars and then invasions on their weakened states of authority. Among the Genies in Cleopatra's guild was Emily and both of her parents. At this point Enchanters were still a major problem for the Genies. They held regular meetings to talk about what they would do in time of an attack. Many men planned to hide their women and children inside their bottles and protect them, knowing the only way they could be harmed was in the chance the bottle was broken. Emily's father was one of those men. 

One day it appeared as regular as any day might. Until very early in the morning bulls took over the street, stampeding and charging. Destroying anything and everything in site. Emily's dad woke up her up, as well as her mother and Emily's child, who was just a mere three years old. Emily's father locked the door and puts a shelf in front of it making the house harder to get into. Emily gets her child inside of his bottle, as her mother gets herself into her bottle. Emily turns and hugs and kisses her father before she begins to put herself in the bottle. She opens her mouth and a purple mist surrounds her body until she disappears and the dust remains. The dust finds it's way into a tall but skinny silver lamp. Emily's father puts the three bottles into a safe and locks it. The door begins to get beaten down. A Genie's bottle is supposed to be their dream room, but the only downside is one Genie per bottle. You can still hear the outside world. So Emily can hear her father yelling, and the door being battered. 

Emily heard no noises after that day for hundreds on hundreds of years. Time does not age those in their bottles so they were unaffected by time. Emily has no idea what became of her mother, her son, or her father. Finally after hundreds of years Emily heard a voice. A male voice. Maybe the voice of an older man. Through listening to his conversations with others he was an archaeologist, but Emily had no idea what that meant.  Emily heard the date, January 16, 1836. How was Emily to know such tremendous time passed? What happened of her little town? Little to the knowing of Emily, Cairo would become one of the greatest civilizations to ever exist. Emily however was stuck under dirt and rubble that was once her and her family's home.

Emily lived her life inside that tiny little bottle. It became her home. The bottle was passed on through time, from generation to generation. Being sold to merchants and sly dealers, Emily picked up English very quickly. Through time she began to pick up the slang terms and and expressions of the English language. Emily knew one day she would once again have her chance to roam the vast world that was barely known in her day. She knew one day someone would be smart enough to open the bottle, even though they were instructed not to. That day finally came. In a small town in Ohio. Emily's bottle was sitting on a shelf in a pawn shop that was owned by two older gentleman who had a secret crush on each other, but not the heart to divorce their wives. On that day Emily's bottle was opened the two men were in the back room having lunch. And the elder of the two decided to open the bottle.

"What's the worst that could happen?" asks the elder of the two.

"Well a three thousand year old Genie could come out of the bottle?" says the younger of the two laughing. 

"Well let's find out?" says the older of the two as he picks up the bottle and starts to remove the cork confining Emily in the bottle.

"This is my chance" says Emily as the bottle begins to open.

"What the hell is this?" says the older of the two as the purple dust once confining Emily now sets her free.

"Well you asked for a three thousand how about one a little older?" asks Emily with a smile.

"You can't be real." says the younger of the two men.

"Yea, Genies only exist in fairy tales." says the elder.

"Wow, you humans really couldn't tell a Genie if it bit you in the a*s." says Emily

"Well I thank you for releasing me into this glorious world. I guess I owe you each one wish." says Emily.

"I thought it was three wishes" says the elder.

"Maybe in those wild fairy tales of yours sir." says Emily with a smile.

"Well I wish to find true happiness" says the younger of the men.

"Well that's easy" says Emily as she snaps her fingers.

"True happiness is something that can be granted by getting rid of something that is making you unhappy." says Emily.

"My wedding ring is gone, you thief!" says the younger man.  

"You hated your wife, from what I gather she is a cold-hearted thief. Been stealing your money for twenty years." says Emily.

"What about me?" says the elder man.

"Where's my wish?" he says.

"Your wish is to have him, you didn't need to tell me. Now your both away from your wives and can simply live together, in true, blissful happiness." says Emily with a smile.

Emily then leaves the pawn shop and goes to the alley where she met Raven and April. This leads us to where we are now. 

"What kind of Genie needs friends?" asks Raven.

"A lonely one" says Emily.

"You try spending about three thousand years or so alone in a bottle. No one to talk to, but only yourself to listen to." says Emily.

"What about your family?" asks Raven.

"I assume long gone. But that's what you guys are for. I want your help. To find my family. Not right now, because you clearly have other problems ahead of you. I'm willing to help you to the best of my ability because friendship is a two way street, and if one side of the road is under construction then traffic must use one lane and collision is all but certain." says Emily.