writing commission for ryderthewolf or khr

Unexpected results

It was a late afternoon day outside the small desert town of Shardane, when out from the
town’s gates stormed a tall lion man. He stood just over six feet tall, wore a royal blue embroidered
vest, baggy white paints and wooden sandals. Atop his head sat a white turban with a single feather
pined to it by a simple broach. His fur was a very light brown that was just shy of being golden, and his
thick mane was the color of copper. A tail with a tuff of equally brown hair at the end swished side to
side as he trotted farther into the desert. His name was Falvaine, and he was angry. Only a few days
ago, his older brother, Fehnvir, had mysteriously gone missing. He had gone out for a walk, and no one
had seen him since. It seemed that no matter whom Falvaine had talked to, no one had any idea why
his brother had left or where he went.

To calm himself from the frustration he was feeling over being able to find his brother, Falvaine
had decided to take a walk around outside Shardane in hopes of easing his troubled mind. He just
couldn’t understand how a lion as big as his older brother, could just up and vanish overnight without
anyone seeing or hearing anything. He felt that someone had to be lying about not knowing what
happened to his brother, but he just couldn’t figure out why they would lie. That wasn’t the only thing
that annoyed him, as he also felt a sense of betrayal from his brother’s disappearance. Just by going
missing, he was shirking his duty to protect the town from harm. They were the cousins to the princes
of their village. This meant that if anything were to happen to the royal family, he and his brother would
be next in line for the throne.

As Falvaine continued his trek over the sands, he became lost in thought. Suddenly, his foot
caught on something, causing him to pitch forward and slam his tan muzzle into a sand dune. He quickly
pushed himself up and out of the grains and turned to see what had tripped him up. In the gradually
dimming light he could see a metallic object glinting amongst the sands. Pushing up onto all fours,
Falvaine turned around and pulled the object free of the sands. It was a curiously tall golden lamp.
Normally lamps would be squat things with long spouts, but this one was very tall, almost like a pitcher
of some sort. Falvaine only knew it was a lamp from the tell tail burn stains around the mouth of the
lamp’s spout, and the slightly oily smell it emitted.

At first, he thought it was just something that had fallen off the back of a merchant’s caravan,
but then he began to wonder if it had belonged to his brother. It was a bit of a stretch of logic, he knew
this very well, but since his brother did go missing while out on a walk, it was possible he had taken one
of the lamps from their home to use to see while walking in the dark. The only thing was that Falvaine
wasn’t sure if he recognized the lamp. It could easily have been something that had been shut away in a
closet until his brother found it. The only way to really tell if it had belonged to their family was to check
for the royal crest somewhere on the lamp’s body.

Falvaine turned the lamp around in his large hands, searching for the crest. It wasn’t on the
bottom of the lamp, not on its flip lid. He did see something inscribed on the round base of the lamp,
the part where the spout flowed out of. However, it was caked in so much sand that he couldn’t quite
make it out, and the sun slowly going down did not make it any easier to see. Without any thought, he
used his thumb to rub at the lamp’s surface, doing his best to dislodge as much of the sand as possible.
He could just make out face engraved in profile on the side of the lamp before it began to violently
shake in his hands.

With a start, Falvaine let the lamp drop from his hands. It landed at his feet, but remained
perfectly upright as it shook more and more, to the point it was little more than a golden blur. First a
wisp, and then a cloud shout out, from the spout, spiraling around and around in the air before the
surprised lion. In the center of the mini whirlwind of smoke a form began to solidify. From the fog
emerged a being unlike any that Falvaine had ever seen before. It looked as if someone had thrown
several animals together into a blender, the body of a human, the snout of lion, the ears of a fox, the tail
of a demon and his legs were a mix between canine and human, ending in three toed paws. His body
was covered in a uniform salmon pink fur that was interrupted only by the shock of fluffy white fur
covering his chest from the base of his neck to just above his pelvis. Atop his head was long brown hair
that was parted in the middle by a single curved ivory horn.

The very instant after the creature had appeared, clothes condensed around him out of what
was left of the smoke, giving him a bright red vest, baggy pants that ended just above his knees, earrings
and matching golden armlets, one engraved with a moon, the other with the sun. For a few minutes,
the creature simply floated in the air in front of Falvaine, before he opened his startling green eyes to
look upon the lion.

“Hello there!” said the creature, flashing a bright smile. “I am Solomon, pleased to make your
acquaintance.”

Falvaine swore before asking “what are you? Some sort of guardian of the desert?”

Solomon let out a musical chuckle. “Ah, I’m afraid not. I am merely a simple djinn.”

“A Djinn?” gasped the lion in awe. “Does that mean I get three wishes?”

“Ah, sorry” said Solomon. “You only get one from me.”

“What?” exclaimed Falvaine as stood up. It was then that he realized that the Djinn before him,
though floating at least a few inches off of the sand, had to be at least a good head taller than the proud
lion was. “All legends of your kind state that you must give whoever sets you free three wishes. I
demand my due!”

“Well that’s the thing,” said Solomon as he flicked his long and unusual tail so it was in full view
for the lion to see. “I’m not a full blood djinn. I am actually half efreet too. That means I am far more
powerful than others of my kind, so much so that what they find impossible to grant, is mine to give.
Thus, to avoid destroying the very fabric of reality, I only offer one per master.”

“I see,” said Falvaine as he scooped up Solomon’s lamp, brushing the fresh sand off of its sides.
He had heard of these creatures too. But none of it was good. Although they were similar to dijnns as
creatures of fire, efreet’s were known as more malicious creatures. However, the being before him did
not match any description that Falvaine had ever heard used to describe efreet’s. Then again he didn’t
quite match what a djinn should look like either. Dijnn’s , as Falvaine had been told, should be a simple
trail of smoke from the waist down, yet Solomon clearly had both of his lower appendages, along with
that impish tail. Also, the only thing efreet like of Solomon might have been the horn on his head, and
his impish tail, but the rest of him didn’t look even remotely demonic.

“So, what will it be, master?” asked Solomon as he stretched his arms out behind his head.
“Wealth? Riches? Adventures? Immortality? True Love? Bring someone back from the dead? Gender
swap? I can do it all!”

At first Falvaine wanted to wish for his brother to appear by his side. But before he spoke the
command, he thought better of it. His brother had disappeared of his own accord. Wherever he was,
he probably had his reasons for leaving. This still enraged Falvaine. However, he now saw an
opportunity. Without his brother, it would fall to him, the only remaining royal cousin, to take up his
place as the guardian to the throne. He had been so occupied with trying to find Fehnvir the past few
days that he hadn’t considered what his disappearance meant to his own standing in the town. With
such a massive responsibility falling upon his shoulders, he realized that he knew exactly what he should
wish for.

“Alright Solomon, I am ready to make my wish” announced Falvaine.

Solomon’s ears perked up and his smile widened. “Great! So, what will it be?”

With a deep breath, the lion spoke his wish. “I wish that you grant me power as great as yours,
if not greater, without any restrictions so I may serve and protect my people from danger.”

“As you wish, my master” said Solomon in a sing-song voice. Then he rose both of his hands in a
graceful gesture, and from their tips shot an electrical current that arched into the very heart of
Falvaine. It was so strong that it lifted the lion up off the ground and held him in the air, his body
shaking all over from the current flowing through him. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the
electrical blast ended, dropping the lion hard upon his rump.

“Ommph” he moaned as he held his sore head. “What was that? I thought you were supposed
to grant my wish, not strike me with lightning!”

“Give it a moment to kick in,” grinned Solomon mischievously.

“Give what a-” started Falvaine before he felt energy explode inside his body. It was unlike
anything he had ever felt before. The closest description of the feeling was that of a water skin being
filled to the brim. As he struggled to stand back up, Falvaine realized that he was now the taller of the
two that he now was a good head taller than Solomon, and that wasn’t counting the lion’s turban. His
entire body had started to emit a golden glow, lighting up the sands around him in unnatural light. He

could feel his clothes strain against his swelling body as his muscles doubled and tripled in size. Falvaine
could only moan as the power continued to grow within him, forcing him larger and larger. Soon he
towered over Solomon, who floated upwards to keep within eye contact of the growing lion.

“Such- ppp-ower” stammered the lion through clenched teeth as the building might inside him
forced his body to tense up, making him crouch down and draw his knees together in a fetus position.

“What you wished for, master” said Solomon. “Your body isn’t quite strong enough to hold all
that magical might, so it’s changing you from the inside out until it is able to. Think of it as a forced
metamorphosis. I promise, when it’s over, you will feel a lot better.”

Soon Falvaine had grown so large that he could have easily held Solomon in one large thick
hand, yet he still continued to swell. The power inside him was becoming painful in how much pressure
it exerted on him. He wanted to explode, to free him from all that energy, yet his body still held it all
within him, growing and stretching ever bigger. His clothes somehow grew along with him, either as a
side-effect of the magical transformation, or a bonus gift for Solomon to make sure the massive lion
remained decent throughout his ordeal.

Finally, when he had grown so large that he could have easily covered his entire home town
with one foot paw, Falvaine felt the power inside him reach an apex, and was at last able to relax his
tense muscles. He raised his mighty head up and out of his chest and looked around at the desert
around him. He was shocked by how large he had grown, and immediately became drunk on the power
he now felt. He quickly rose out of his crouched position and raised his head to the heavens. By now
the sky was filling with stars as the last rays of day faded away. He reached out his right hand and tried
to see if he could touch the twinkling lights, but found that even at his new colossal size, the stars were
still far beyond his reach.

“So, what do you think?” said a voice just to his left. Falvaine turned to see Solomon, now
miniscule compared to the lion’s new mighty body, floating at eye level. “Is it as you wanted, my
master?”

“Mmm,” purred Falvaine as he looked over at his thick arms, flexing them to see how massive
his biceps had become. “I must say, I did not expect anything like this! I am positive I must be the
largest being in the entire known world! I am more than a match for anything now. Why, I think with
just a puff of air, I could cause a sand storm!”

“That is true, no doubt about that” agreed Solomon.

“Maybe, I should go out into the desert and convince the other towns to join with mine, to
make ours a mighty empire? In fact, I believe I am powerful enough to lead my people. I should take
the place of my uncle as our king. With this power, I will usher in a new golden age for my people.
None can stop me!”

“Well, that’s not entirely true” said Solomon with a devious smirk”

“What?” demanded Falvaine as he reached out with a mighty mitt of a hand and snatched
Solomon out of the sky. “Speak djinn, are there others greater than I?”

“No, that’s not it” said Solomon, the look of mirth still on his face despite the tight grip of the
titanic lion.

“Then what is it?”

“Well, you asked for power as great as mine,” said Solomon. “That means the restrictions too!”

Suddenly, Falvaine became extremely dizzy. He swayed about on his gigantic feet, creating a
new valley underneath his paws as the sand shifted under his considerable weight.

“What is happening to me now?” he demanded.

Before Solomon could reply, Falvaine felt a strange sensation on his wrists, that of something
suddenly constricting into the fur and flesh so tightly that it ached. He looked quickly to his wrist to see
matching silver bracelets appear on both of his wrists. Before he could ask what was happening, he
began to feel himself diminish, and fade. Looking down he saw his legs start to turn to smoke, with the
tip of it rising up towards the djinn that he still held in his hand.

“I made you like me” said Solomon. “Well, like the rest of my kind. That includes the whole
lamp and rules thing.”

“You will pay for this” said the lion as his body continued to be forced into a cloud of vapor, his
grip on Solomon rapidly weakening. “I shall throw your lamp as far as I can, before I have become
completely entrapped! None shall find you ever again!”

“Oh, that’s okay, I’ll find it later” said Solomon with a playful smirk. “Unlike you, I don’t have to
return to my lamp unless I want to. Just one of the perks of being part efreet, my friend. My lamp is
merely my home, not my prison.”

“This… isn’t the end” said the lion the moment before the rest of him suddenly dissolved into
smoke. Solomon was instantly freed from the lion’s grip, and his golden lamp fell to the sand far below.
The last of the lion flowed into the ball that had been gathering in Solomon’s left hand. Within seconds,
a liquid began to condense on his palm. It rose up around the gaseous ball, consuming the lion’s
essence. The liquid spread and warped, filling out into a new shape, hardening as the process neared its
completion. It took on the form of a brand new lamp, the new home of Falvaine the djinn. It was silver
in color with a floral pattern spiraling out from its body to the tip of its spout. It was more like a
traditional lamp, with a squat body and long spout.

With the show over, Solomon floated down to the sands and retrieved his lamp. He let out a
content smile, knowing that he might not have granted the wish exactly the way the lion had wanted,
but that his “master” would come to thank him one day for the transformation. The life of djinn was
very fulfilling, being able to make others happy through the granting of wishes. However, something
needled the back of the djinn efreet’s mind, something that he had forgotten.

Suddenly, the new lamp in his hand began to violently shake.

“What’s this?” he asked, holding it aloft, sure he hadn’t rubbed it by accident. As he took a
closer look at it, he saw to his shock that cracks were spreading all over the silvery surface. The cracks
rapidly deepened and shafts of golden light shot out of the growing holes.

“This is impossible!” exclaimed Solomon as he tried to use his magic to repair the lamp, but to
no avail. With a sound similar to a loud thunderclap, it suddenly shattered in his hand, pieces of it flying
all over as the gas that it contained shot out and rapidly reformed into the gigantic form of Falvaine the
lion. He loomed high above Solomon, standing with his back to the surprised genie imp. Solomon
noticed at this moment, that the lion’s tail had changed. Instead of the brown tuff of fur on the end, it
ended in a spade almost identical to Solomon’s own. He wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but he had
a feeling that maybe he put a little too much oomph into the lion’s wish.

Falvaine, without turning around, flexed both his arms, causing the muscles to bulge and strain
against the silver bracelets that were meant to bind him to the rules of the djinn. However, these rules
didn’t seem to be applying to the lion, as the bracelets began to strain and crack, until they gave under
his might and broke apart, falling to the sand in massive scraps of ruined metal.

With his bindings gone, Falvaine finally turned around to face Solomon.

“None shall be my master” he roared into the night.

Solomon looked back at the massive lion before him. “Well now,” he said, his head tilting in
curiosity. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

The end?