Colin's posts

"......" Sharp was silent as he beheld the orb, and sighed.

'Accursed 'ownership'...' he thought.

He then placed his hands over the orb, and funnelled his own mana into it. As he did, everyone in the room could feel the strength that it was gaining... rapidly.

Just when it felt like it would overwhelm everyone, he stopped, and looked at Hailie.

They nodded to each other, before they both grabbed the orb and sent it flying upwards, a monstrously large... but at the same time, subtle... pulse of mana erupting from it, causing the orb to dissipate.

"Your wish is granted." Sharp said to Peyton.

"...." Sharp was silent for a moment, before nodding.

"I think that works." he said.

"What about you?" he asked Hailie.

"Does that work for you?" he asked her.

"If so, I think we're ready to grant this."

"Simple." Sharp responded.

"We need someone pure of heart to make a wish of this scale, if we don't want to have any unintended consequences or underlying negative outcomes." he told her.

"A large part in a djinn granting a wish is the person making said wish." he continued.

"Which is to say, the more innocent they are, the purer the wish will be when granted. Yes, intent is a very big factor as well, but I'd rather not get into the logistics of it." he then admitted.

"The point is, if you make this wish, then this problem will go away, without any repercussions."

"Ah, Peyton." Sharp greeted her.

"Come in, come in." he said.

When she did so, and shut the door behind her, he sighed.

"Peyton, a way to fix the situation with dreams and corruption has come up." he told her. "And it is a deceptively simple solution." he went on.

"But we need your help."

"............" Hal was silent as he heard the answer.

"....I see." he said.

"So whomever you're here on the behest of... I assume they also wish to remain anonymous." he commented.

Hailie just nodded.

"Hmph." he muttered.

"I don't like that you're still under someone's thumb, so to speak." he commented.

Hal didn't even have to think for a moment, before he pressed a button on the comm speaker that was on his desk.

"Attention." he said over the P.A. system.

"If Agent Rivera is in the building, could she please report to Agent Sharp's office, ASAP." he said further, before taking his finger off the button.

"To answer your question, yes." he told Hailie.

"Now... you answer some of MY questions." he then said.

"How... are you even here right now?" he asked. "How did you know to come here? Or... even better, how did your trinket get into Kiah's hands, to have her bring it here?"

"......" again, Sharp was silent, before snapping his fingers.

"That's right!" he said.

"Djinn magic is cumulative." he told Syraene.

"Which is to say, the more of it you have, the more is possible." he went on.

"But... well... djinn usually don't play nice with each other, so that never ends up happening." he then said.

"Until now, anyway."

Sharp was speechless. For a number of reasons.

He could see that something was... off... about all this, but he was more stunned by seeing the woman before him.

"....Hailie?" he asked again.

"Is... that really you?" he asked her.

"Christ, it's been... I can't even count how long it's been since we've seen each other." he commented, before shaking his head slightly.

"What are you doing here, suddenly?" he asked.

"......." Sharp was silent as Kiah came in and said all she did, as well as showed him the box.

"...wait..." he then said.

"Wait, wait, hang on a moment..." he mumbled further, looking at the box.

"That box..." he muttered, looking at it again, seemingly studying it hard. After another moment or two, his eyes popped open wide, as it came to him.

"....it can't be..." he whispered.

"Hailie!?"

Both Aly and Ryker smiled as they heard that.

"Heh. Nice one." Ryker said.

"I'm so happy to hear that, Eke." Aly commented.

"Here, though." Ryker then said, handing Eke the water, and a couple of tablets.

"It's great that you're feeling better and ignoring the headache, but these'll help you blast it to oblivion, so it doesn't try and interfere." he chuckled.

"Huh?" Jake muttered.

"Back already?" he asked.

He then reached for the buzzer door, pushing.

"Go on in." he told her, his tongue assessing the situation, and finding the person to be who she looked like.

"How are you doing?" he then asked.

Aly and Ryker looked at each other for a moment.

"I guess we're following." Ryker said.

"It would seem so." Aly agreed.

With that, the two of them left the house, following Eke.

'....hm.' Ryker thought.

'Well, this is better than before, at least.' he reasoned. 'Seems far more like his old self, which is nice.' he added.

"Yo! Where we going!?" he called out to Eke.

Without a word, Sharp snapped his fingers.

"Done." he said.

"We'll see what happens." he told her.

"Admittedly, I don't control exactly WHAT happens with wishes like that." he then admitted.

"But we'll see what happens." he repeated.

He then sighed, and shook his head.

"....thank you for making that wish." he told her.

"I know." Sharp replied.

"But... she's already been here and offered assistance. It was little, but helpful." he went on.

"...I doubt she'd be in any hurry to return." he commented further.

"And we have no way to contact her or find her, or anything." he went on.

"...frankly, if I were to see her again, I would... well, I don't know what would happen, admittedly." he then admitted further, before taking a large gulp of coffee.

"Damn it." he cursed, setting the mug down.

"She really IS our best hope right now, but she may as well be a legendary cryptid; said to exist, but impossible to prove or find."