"D’Jinn are said to have been borne from fire and came to Earth ages before man existed. They were the first of the Earth's masters. They built huge cities whose ruins still stand in long forgotten places. Aeons later many of the D’Jinn were forced to flee this world for reasons long since forgotten. A few remained, and still roam the desolate places of the Earth. Of these D’Jinn, there are the benign spirits known as the Agatho and the malignant monsters fearfully called Kako-Daemons."
-- an ancient Bedouin myth.

At last the 'Irem al Imad' was finally in view. Across the mountain outcropping was the valley where the great City of the Pillars once stood. It’s buildings were now a shattered ruin, and only 3 of the original pillars still stood (mostly) intact.

“Good, we’re finally there,” complained my assistant. “My feet are getting tired.”

“When we get there you’d better find a way into the Genie’s chamber” I said in an irritated voice. I’d paid this Muqarribun (an Arabic Magician renown for knowledge of pre-Islamic traditions) good money to help me find the fabled city of the Genies and he’d done little more than complain and slow me down along the way.

“First of all, its not a Genie’s chamber. If a D’Jinn catches you calling it that French bastardization of its true name, you won’t live long enough to regret it.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time. If we meet any living D’jinn, I’ll be sure to use his correct name.”

“Unless it’s a she.”

Intriguing thought. I’d always been biased by the fairy tale of Aladdin and the magic lamp. I always pictured a Genie as the muscular man with blue skin whose lower body was nothing more than mist. My recent research into the true nature of D’jinn led me to believe they could take many different forms, and were as likely as not to be of the female persuasion.

We reached the city by nightfall. The tall, looming pillars cast long and ominous shadows against the full moonlight. My guide was reading the strange inscriptions as I set up camp.

“This is not good.” He said.

“What?” I asked.

“According to these in inscriptions, the D’Jinn that guards this chamber is a Kako-Daemon.”

“What does that mean?”

“Kako-daemons are evil spirits that are always ravenous. They are only interested in feeding on the souls of mortals. If you try to get your prize out of a Kako-Daemon, you will find only damnation.”

“I thought you said all D’Jinn were required to grant 3 wishes to anyone who captured them?”

“That is true. But the outcome can be very different depending on the spirit involved. An Agatho spirit is a benign being who, after granting your wishes, is grateful to be free from bondage and will leave you alone. A Kako-Daemon is something else altogether. When freed from bondage by your last wish, a Kako-daemon will feed upon your flesh for eons.”

“Sounds unpleasant.”

“More than I can ever describe to you,” He said. “I am just sorry that we journeyed out here for nothing.”

“Oh no you don’t! I paid you good money to get out here and you’re gonna do exactly what you promised. I’m not falling for this scam!”

“But, you don’t understand...”

“I understand perfectly well,” I said. “You drag me out here, and then claim it’s an evil spirit so we never actually see it. Nice try but you ARE opening the chamber for me.”

“But, do you realize what might happen if I do?” He pleaded.

“Do you know what will happen to you if you don’t?” I replied.

“If you insist,” He grudgingly replied. “But under no circumstances will I enter the chamber with you. You are on your own in there.”

“Just get started.”

The Muqarribun began his meditation while I finished setting up camp. I sat down and watched him intently. The day had been much longer than I expected, and before I knew it I fell fast asleep. I awoke with a start some time later that night. As I feared, the Muqarribun was gone. In his place, a strange door lay on the ground. There was a note on the door:

“I must warn you once more, binding yourself to a good spirit is dangerous enough. Wishes can easily be misinterpreted and often times do not provide you with the happiness you once thought it would. With an evil spirit like the one that lays past this door, your wishes will most assuredly be twisted and malformed in ways you cannot possibly imagine. Thinking you can outwit an evil D’Jinn only makes you a fool and a meal.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said out loud to myself. I was still more than a little irritated that I’d fallen asleep and let him get away. If this was a hoax (and I was still not convinced that there was a real D’Jinn at the end of this passageway), I would be out a lot of money.

I opened the door to find a staircase leading deep into the ground. There was a faint reddish glow coming from somewhere deep inside the earth. As I walked down the long passageway, the air felt warm and dry. Hissing sounds could be heard from somewhere deep inside the passageway. For the first time, I had pangs of doubt about my quest.

I eventually found myself in a large chamber and saw the source of the red glow. There, in the center of the room was a humanoid creature that I could barely see thru the vapors of heat emanating from the fire that it occupied. There was also a pile of bones lying in the far corner of the room. They were clearly human and had been recently picked clean.

“Isss there sssomething I can do for you?” A voice that was soft and silky came from the fire.

“Ummm,” I stammered. “Are you a D’Jinn?”

“Who isss asssking?” The creature moved out of the flames and I couldn’t believe what I saw. She (if you could even call it a she) was a mass of burnt and charred flesh. Great horns sprouted out of her head like roots from dead earth. Great, lipless fangs would have dominated her face if it weren’t for those glazen, soulless eyes. I found it impossible to look at anything else.

“I. I am your new master.”

“Oh really?” She hissed playfully. “And jussst what can I do for my new massster?”

I had to compose myself. I’d researched and prepared for this moment for a long time. I couldn’t let her appearance distract me. I had to concentrate.

“I understand that you’d kill me in an instant if it weren’t for the fact that you must grant me 3 wishes first. Is that true?”

“Isss that your firssst wisssh?” She inquired.

“No it isn’t,” I replied. “I am just considering whether or not I should ask for any wishes at all.”

“Well in that case, I will anssswer your quessstion.” She slid subtly closer as she spoke. “While my power isss almossst limitlesss, I am bound by rulesss imposssed on me by powersss far greater than I.”

“And these rules include granting any 3 wishes I want?”

“Yesss. I am bound to grant any wisssh that isss in my power.”

“And just what things are beyond your power?”

“Ssso many quessstionsss,” I could tell she was getting irritated. “Only the fate of sssoulsss are beyond my power.”

I thought about it for a moment. I knew I had to make these wishes as clear as possible to avoid the D’Jinn from twisting my wish into something else. I clearly remembered a fable I read during my research of Genies. It was a story of a great Sultan who, as his first wish, asked for a room full of riches. Unfortunately this also ended up being his last wish as the room quickly filled with gold and jewels, turning it into an unexpected tomb.

“My first wish will be simple, I wish to have unlimited wishes.”

Her face glowered as I spoke. She didn’t seem happy with this unexpected turn of events “Asss you wisssh Massster.”

Pleased with myself, I thought carefully about my next wish. While I now had a limitless supply of wishes, I knew this D’Jinn would have some clever trick up her sleeve. I suspected that even though I had many more wishes, she would be freed of her bond and able to kill me after the third wish. My next 2 wishes would have to be chosen carefully.

“For my second wish, I would like you to be bound by chains that cannot ever be broken.”

“Asss you wisssh Massster.” She still moved around without any chains appearing.

“Why are you not bound and shackled?” I asked.

“I will be bound,” She smiled. “Eventually I will be bound to obey your command. But you didn’t tell me when I would be ssshackled. In a time of my choosssing, I will obey your command.”

Hmmm. She was more clever than I thought. Thank goodness I still had another wish to make up for her treachery.

“Okay, for my third wish...”

“Yesss?”

“I wish that, from this point forth, that you will not be able to feed upon my flesh or hurt me in any way.”

“That isss two wissshesss. I can only grant one wisssh at a time.”

“Okay than, I wish that you cannot kill me from this moment on.”

“Asss you wisssh” She looked glum.

I still felt a bit uncomfortable. I was beginning to sense the deceit this creature was capable of. I couldn’t think of any way this D’Jinn could get around my wishes so far but... My train of thought was interrupted by a flash of light and to my utter surprise, my wife was standing in from of me.

“Wha…? Robert? Is that you?” She was obviously dazed and confused after being instantly transported almost half a world away. I shared in her confusion.

“What the hell are you doing?” I glared at the D’Jinn. Without a response and with startling speed, the D’jinn moved towards my wife. Before I could react, the vile beast had sunk her teeth deep into my wife’s neck. There was blood everywhere. The gurgling sound coming from my wife made me ill.

“Stop!” I shouted. “Stop that this instant!”

“Asss you wisssh massster.” She grinned bloodily as she backed away from my now throat-less wife.

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.

“Don’t you recall your vowsss with your wife when you married?”

“No.”

“Let me remind you,” she said. “You promisssed to your deity that you would ssshare your livesss for the ressst of eternity.”

“So?”

“By doing ssso you gave me the power to feed on her life inssstead of yoursss. Her life isss forfeit in your place.”

“No! You can’t do this!”

“But I already have. Unlesss you wisssh me to undo it...”

“Yes. Yes, undo this horrible thing you’ve done.”

“Asss you wisssh”

Before me eyes, the neck of my wife miraculously reconstructed itself. My wife was alive again. But there was still something wrong. Her eyes were cloudy and lifeless. While she was now breathing again, she didn’t move.

“What’s going on?” I asked in panic. “Why didn’t you bring her back?”

“But I did bring her back,” She replied. “Asss I told you before, I have no power over the fate of sssoulsss. Her sssoul wasss ripped from her body when I fed. That I cannot undo but physssically ssshe is unhurt.”

Oh no! This vile thing had twisted my wishes just as the Muqarribun had predicted. I needed to think. To think of some way to undo what had happened. My wife stared blankly at me. She looked as if she were in some kind of deep trance or coma. I found it difficult to concentrate. I turned my back to my wife and tried to think. My head was spinning and I could feel the menace of the D’Jinn’s toothy grin behind me.
Just as I felt most helpless, an idea struck me. It seemed like a crazy idea, but maybe that was just what I needed. I turned to look at the D’Jinn.

“I want you to take me back in time. Back to a point before you summoned my wife.”

She looked at me quizzically. Clearly she didn’t expect this. “Asss you wisssh.”

There was a flash of light, and I found myself and the D’Jinn in the chamber. My wife was nowhere to be found.

“Is my wife okay?” I asked.

“Yesss ssshe isss,” The D’jinn replied. “I have not yet fed on her.”

“Then I...” before I could complete my sentence, her massive fangs found their way around my throat. The pain was beyond anything I thought was possible. I remember reading about near-death experiences once. I remember many near-death patients reporting that at the moment of death, an overwhelming sense of peace and calm overcame them. They felt no pain. My experience couldn’t be further from that truth. I could feel myself dying, yet I didn’t die. The pain was excruciating beyond words. I could think of little else.

“Deliciousss” I could somehow hear the D’Jinn's thoughts.

“How... How could you defy my wishes like this?” I could barely think coherently.

“From thisss point forth, you sssaid. It isss now a thousssand yearsss before you sssaid that. In a millennia, I will not feed on your remainsss. Jussst asss I promisssed.”

So that is how I met my fate. The D’Jinn fed on my body and soul for a thousand years before I finally succumbed to blissful death. In the short time my mind was still coherent, I laughed at the irony. She had just finished feeding on me when I arrived in her chamber. Those bones sitting in the corner of the chamber were my own. And with that final thought I slipped into madness.