Genie of the Lamp
(Friday, 17th of Lover's Harp Moon)
"Thank you all for not only delivering my lovely daughter but also rescuing her from my little bitch of a brother!"
"No problem, you officially mustached man."
Jack's group was standing inside the place known as the Sunset palace, the place where they were supposed to deliver Princess Hina to. The person Jack was talking to was the emperor of the Hinode Dynasty, who was only slightly taller than his daughter. Speaking of his daughter, Jack noticed that she gave a piece of paper to Rasputin. Meanwhile, Jojo was still eating the rotting corpse of that Kira guy from earlier.
"How could I ever repay the four of you?" The emperor thanked Jack's group of four.
"Money." Jack answered without a second to waste, but the emperor didn't appear to have heard him. "Cold hard cash."
"Say, why don't I give you a slayer weapon that has been doing nothing but collecting dust in my personal armory?" The emperor offered, completely ignoring Jack's earlier request. "I have heard that you can use any artifact you get your hands on, so I would like for you to use an artifact I could never use."
"You deaf?" Jack asked the man before Leia suddenly forced her hand over Jack's mouth. "MPH?!"
"I believe this is the effect of Story Teller, just roll with it." Leia whispered as Jack was forced to smile and agree to the Emperor's reward.
A servant then walked out holding a long box, and bowed before Jack with it. Jack awkwardly opened the lengthy box to reveal some kind of bow. Its design made Jack feel as though it would fit right into any sci-fi film. Jack picked up the bow, and saw that it was a sci-fi longbow made with silver steel and a glowing gold string.
"Silent Princess, that bow can turn any spell into an arrow, and when that arrow hits its mark, the spell will activate." The emperor informed Jack. "While that may not sound all that useful, it actually increases the range of many spells, and completely gets rid of recoils."
"Dope, too bad I only know like 10 spells total." Jack was grateful for the bow, but money would have been better in his opinion. "What about my companions?"
"I'm getting free shit." Luna spun around on her heel while looking up at the massive ceiling.
"They're building a church in the name of my lord in the country!" Rasputin cheered.
"I have no need for most items, so I'm not asking for anything." Leia informed Jack whilst she began to walk away from the royal family. "Come on, our mission is complete, we need to return to sanctuary."
"Wait, earlier you said that something was the result of Story Teller, one of my artifacts if I recall correctly." Jack reminded the robot, who nodded. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Story Teller, like all slayer weapons, can attract others like it towards the user." Leia informed Jack as the four of them walked away from the royal family towards the exit. Rasputin and Luna weren't listening to Leia. "However, Storyteller made a trade off. It's ability is only usable when the user has at least one other artifact, but in exchange, its ability to attract other artifacts is twenty five times stronger than all the others."
"Weird, now I kinda wanna know where it is..." Jack's only odd possession was the lantern he brought from home, which he thinks may be Doomed Prince. "Hey, what's Doomed Prince's ability?"
"It summons a genie-like entity." Leia informed Jack. "It lives in that lantern, and in some cases, it can store objects in it for people it likes."
"Cool..."
(Sunday, 19th of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
"Okay...so how does this thing work?"
Jack and Jojo were in their dorm room, sitting on the couch with the lantern, which Jack now learned is called Doomed Prince sitting on the table before him. Jack lit the lamp and nothing happened, but the room now smelled like vanilla, so at least there's that. At the side of the room, the phantom was trying to write something, but was struggling on account of its hands being blades. So he duct taped a washable marker to its hook. Also, the phantom now has a friend, a crow that was perched on it's shoulder.
"You know what I noticed, Jojo?" Jack turned his head to look at his badger companion, who was chewing on the bone of Kira, the last thing to remain of the guy. "All these artifacts are named after fairy tales or characters from stories. Maybe they're connected."
"Gnargh grrr..." Jojo growled while viciously chewing into the bone.
"Yeah, probably not, but worth a shot, right?" Jack leaned towards the lamp and rubbed it with his thumb. "If it doesn't work, I'll just barge into Herakles' room and have him help me."
After rubbing the lamp, a purple smoke enveloped the room. Jack coughed, and Jojo hissed at something he couldn't see. The crow began to caw at nothing. The smoke soon cleared, and Jack could see a kind of muscular man standing on the other side of the coffee table where the lamp lay. The man was extremely muscular, and almost rivaled Maui and Matt in terms of muscle mass. He wore Atitihad-style clothing, and had a beard.
"Finally, I've been released." The man then looked at Jack. "Greeting Master, it's been a couple months, has it not?"
"Who are you and why are you calling me master?" Jack asked the muscular man, who looked at you for a moment before snapping his fingers.
"My apologies, it appears you have amnesia." The man then bowed before Jack. "I am the Djinn sealed inside of Doomed Prince, and my name is Aladdin."
"Dope, so what can you do?" Jack was way past the point of anything being able to surprise him anymore, so a genie doesn't surprise him all that much.
"I am afraid that my skills are very limited compared to other artifacts, but out of all the animate slayers, I am the most knowledgeable thanks to me retaining my consciousness." Aladdin explained. "If you don't mind me asking, I have some questions of my own."
"Shoot." Jack gave the man permission, so the man turned his arm into blue smoke, and the blue smoke entered the lamp. The arm room reformed to gesture to three objects on the table, a gun, a book, and a sword. Jack recognized the book and sword as Nursery Rhyme and Story Teller, which means the gun must be 12 Months.
"Do you remember these three?" Aladdin asked Jack while gesturing to the different weapons.
"12 Months, Nursery Rhyme, and Storyteller." Jack pointed at the revolver, book, and wavy sword. "While I don't remember them, a friend told me the basics of their abilities. 12 Months changes into 12 different guns, Nursery Rhyme grants the user magic spells based on the user's soul, and Storyteller attracts other artifacts to the user."
"Two out of three, not bad considering your amnesia." The man picked up Storyteller and handed the blade to Jack. "Storyteller's main ability does revolve around its fellow artifacts, but it's weak without its fellow weapons."
"Thanks for giving the gun back to me, I found the sword and book in Ebony Horse." Jack thanked the man. "So what do you wanna do now? I can't imagine living inside the lamp is all that fun."
"Amazingly, the world inside the lamp is a perfect mirror to this one, with the same people going about the same lives, unless I interact with them." Aladdin enlightened you. "Of course, the obvious difference is that there are no artifacts in that world."
"Are artifacts exclusive to this world exclusive?" Jack asked the man, and Aladdin nodded. "Weird. Say, how did I get you and the other artifacts?"
"Storyteller was a gift from your father before he left, so the rest of us are the result of Storyteller's attraction." Aladdin crossed his arms before looking out the window. "So I must ask you something else, since it has been far too long since we have seen each other; How are things?"
After that, Jack explained everything that happened ever since he woke up from the coma. From the attack on the salamander, riding to Sanctuary, getting Fire Maiden, the whole deal with Hero, making friends, somehow getting roped into some mystery, how everyone appears to be just giving him artifacts, how Herakles appears to be scared of some kind of ominous threat, Jojo showing up, the whole deal with the Lady of the Candle, and how Jack is gathering ingredients for the librarian to help him make a potion to restore his memories. As Jack did so, the phantom somehow made green tea for both Jack and Aladdin. As Jack explained all these little details to Aladdin, he looked more and more concerned and confused.
"Jack, I'm beginning to think you're a magnet for problems." Aladdin sweatdropped while looking Jack dead in the eye. "Still, this Hero fellow you mentioned...I'm afraid I don't know about him."
"Well of course you probably don't know him, you probably don't know anyone other than Alice, Nico, Rico, Zane, and Othelia." Jack commented before sipping his tea.
"No, I know everyone in the mirror world, and in short, that means this world too." Aladdin's expression was now fearful. "Are you sure you didn't make this Hero character up?"
"No, are there any instances of people in this world not showing up in the mirror world?" Jack wondered out loud, and Aladdin had to think for a moment.
"Yes, but they weren't mortal." Aladdin then looked serious. "Are you sure this Hero character is a mortal?"
"No clue, but I know that he's got good intentions." Jack thought about Hero. "If he did have bad intentions, then we'd be screwed, because I know no one can stop him."
"Well, we need someone to at least keep an eye on him." Aladdin suggested, and the two of them thought about possible suggestions. "I don't think any of your friends would do that, especially since neither of them know about Hero being an oddity, nor do they know everything you know. So maybe it should be your familiar?"
"You really expect this hairy bag of rage and sass that smells like hot garbage to be even somewhat stealthy?" Jack picked up Jojo with one hand and raised her up and pointed at the badger with your remaining hand. "Why not that phantom?"
"Who?" Aladdin looked around the room, his eyes even looking straight at the phantom, but it appears he couldn't see the entity. "There's only you, me, and Jojo?"
"Weird, it's just like Freya's new axes." Jack noticed that Aladdin looked confused. "Oh yeah, Freya can summon axes that apparently no one else aside from me and her can see."
"How peculiar, maybe this phantom should spy on Hero." Aladdin crossed his arms, and the phantom hovered ominously in the room like a ghost, awaiting orders.
"Hey Phantom, you think you could go spy on Hero?" Jack asked the spectral entity, who nodded before handing Jack a piece of paper with horrible writing. "What's this?"
The phantom tapped the top of the paper, which read 'abilities'.
"Ah, neat." Jack commented while reading the paper. "No offense buddy, but your handwriting is bloody terrible."
(Tuesday, 21st of Lover's Harp Moon)
Despite Jack's role being the gear, his class was primarily a magic using class, so Jack was in the mage's class for class training. In his class with Jack were Alice, Damini, Eve, Caroline, Rasputin, Angelo, and three other classmates Jack hasn't met yet. The classroom all of them were in was twice the size of a gymnasium, with a designated half to practice magic while the other half had a whiteboard and a series of desks for lectures. The lecture half was surprisingly well furnished, and looked like an actual classroom. Jack's class was on the training half, with Alice and Caroline shooting eldritch balls of energy and lightning respectively at silver orbs. Eve was testing making some potions or something at the classroom area. Damini and Rasputin were sparring against one another in the center ring, with sand and light escaping parts of the arena. Angelo was meditating, but as for Jack, he was still trying to summon a fossil of something in his own corner of the room while Jojo rested on the floor beside you.
"Still no luck?" The professor of this class, Nikola Tesla, walked up to you while a white dove sat on his shoulder. Nikola was a pretty relaxed professor, but Jack always thought he didn't exactly belong for some reason. Nikola wore a white dress shirt, black slacks, suspenders, dress shoes, and black leather gloves. His hair was short, black, and slicked back. He also had a neat mustache. "Not even a prehistoric insect?"
"If I did summon one, don't you think there'd be a giant insect in here by now?" Jack asked and gestured to the insect-less room. "You'd probably have a panic attack if I did though."
"Fair point." Nikola was a germaphobe, and EXTREMELY OCD, and Jack felt as though Nikola only became a professor because Herakles threatened to break everything in his lab. "Have you tried using material components or a conductor?"
"Material components? Conductor??" Jack asked the man, and he could see the disappointment on Nikola's face. "Oi, amnesia, don't judge me."
"Material components are components that help manifest the spell." Nikola explained the first thing first. "While a conductor is an object, like a wand, that helps the spell work. Usually an object close to you, that you've had since birth?"
"So what you're saying is; I could cast spells with my dick?" Jack asked the professor, and he was almost going to strangle him.
"Remember Nikola, do not strangle this student, your paycheck is on the line." Nikola calmed himself down whilst breathing in and out. "Hypothetically, yes, you could. However, you're not a bard, you're an archeologist, which is closer to a necromancer than bard."
"You know, I feel like I have an idea as to what kind of object would work as a conductor for me." Jack still noticed the mildly concerned expression on Nikola's face. "Don't worry, it ain't my dick, just a sword my father gave to me."
"Ah, good, finally you're thinking." Nikola sarcastically remarked as Jack summoned Storyteller. "Wait, is that?"
"An artifact? Yes." Jack twirled the sword around, noticing how natural wielding the sword felt to him. It just felt right in Jack's hands. Like the weapon was made for him.
Jack twirled the blade and planted the tip of the sword into the ground. Jack's fossil magic circle began spinning even faster and glowing a brighter orange. Jack focused all his magic into the blade, and the magic circle's spin only grew in intensity. Jack could feel sweat run down his cheek, fall down onto neck and land on the inside of his collar. Jack stood still with both palms on the hilt of his sword like a cane. Jack's eyes were closed, so he couldn't see Nikola's expression of genuine surprise. The circle glowed brighter and brighter until the light was blinding to reveal...nothing. The magic circle was all just for show, there was nothing there.
"Damnit!" Jack fell onto his knees in exhaustion, even after all that work he couldn't even summon a bug. "Sorry for wasting your time, I'm sure there are others who need your help."
"It's fine, just keep practicing." Nikola was curiously looking at the spot where Jack's summoning spell failed.
After that, the class was dismissed, and everyone left the gymnasium. Everyone except for Nikola that is. Nikola went to the classroom half of the room and went to the main desk. Nikola reached into the top drawer and pulled out a pair of steampunk goggles. With the goggles in hand, Nikola walked back to where Jack's spell failed, and put on the goggles. Nikola adjusted a knob that was on the side of the goggles, and the goggles flickered to life with a light blue glow. Nikola continued to adjust the knobs on his goggles, adjusting his vision of the floor until he could see something clearly. Bacteria.
"This bacteria...it dates back to prehistoric times." Nikola was able to identify the bacteria right off the bat. Weirdest of all though, is that this bacteria was now alive. "Fascinating, perhaps the spell did work after all, but he still has much to master. The Masked King was right about him after all."