Eleven's Ghost

Chapter 16: Cherry

Ihdaachar picked the ring up and squeezed it, rested his forehead on his fist. He lowered his head and gave the ring to a hand of shadows that held it and retreated in the darkness.

Shams stared at him, worried. “Um… Are you… okay?”

He sat next to him and touched his arm. “Are you… sad?”

Ihdaachar eyed him and smiled. “No. Not really.” He stood up. “More importantly, I must train you a little. I need to help you to summon your own jinn. You won’t be able to survive without mastering this skill.”

“Wait…” Yayis spoke. “You were dying just now… What happened?”

Ihdaachar touched the crest on his chest. “When you reach a certain level of magic mastery, you’re allowed to make custom spells,” he paused, “A more advanced format of this is making a custom power. That’s what I did. My power is invincibility.”

“Invincibility?”

He nodded. “This power is purely offensive. I dislike using it a lot. When I designed it, I had other circumstances that required a power like that. Now, things changed. I only use it when I’m on the verge of death.”

“Wh-Why? It looks like a great power! So strong!”

“No.” Ihdaachar pointed at the trees around them. Yayis gasped, seeing that they all died. Ihdaachar smiled weakly. “My invincibility comes with a price. It’s a soul. It’s the reason why instead of killing my enemies, I gather their souls. That too has its secondary effects, but it’s effective, possibly the most effective power I came up with so far. Lesser souls like animals and plants all die within the radius of a few kilometres. It’s another aftermath of activating this power.”

He glanced at the sky. “I’m not fond of death though. That’s why I learned more standard magic spells like gravity and elemental magic and focused more on defence rather than attack.”

Shams looked down sadly. “You can’t… get rid of this power?”

Ihdaachar shook his head. “Never.”

“So… Is that why you were alive for three hundred years?”

He nodded. “Short answer is yes.”  He walked ahead. “Let’s go back.”

They followed him. The entire way back home was filled with dead trees and flowers. Shams blinked, seeing his parents waiting outside. He was about to run to them, but Ihdaachar stopped him. He stood in front of Shams’s parents. “You two aren’t explorers… How did you get here?”

They both pointed at Shams. “We don’t approve of this. We don’t want Shams to be with a dangerous suspicious man like you. Give him back to us. We’re his parents. We know what’s best for him.”

Shams shook his head. “I don’t want to go! I want to stay here and train!”

“You’re too young to understand. Don’t be foolish now. You were already a burden to begin with. Don’t make it worse.” His mother glared at him. “What an unruly child.”

He hissed at her and hid behind Ihdaachar. The black-haired turned to him and smiled. “Do you want to stay here?”

Shams nodded. “My parents always say they don’t want me, and they always call me a burden. They will feel better if I’m gone! And then… I still have to save Zultan. And… I have to find a way to save Raven.”

Ihdaachar’s eyes widened. “Why… would you save Raven?”

Shams hugged him. “Because I know you miss him a lot, and you’re only pretending to be strong in front of us. I know you love him a lot. I promise I will study hard and find a way to bring him back. You still have his soul, so I’m sure there’s a way!”

Ihdaachar he whispered, “I… lost.” He caressed the teen’s brown hair. “I lost.”

Yayis glanced at Shams’s parents and frowned, seeing their eyes rolling up. He gasped. “Jinns?! I smell… jinns?”

“Yes. I have an idea about who sent those.” Ihdaachar turned to the parents, and a black circle appeared underneath their feet. Shams glanced up at him, a bit worried. “W-Will you…”

“Those aren’t your parents.” Ihdaachar patted his head. “Your parents are safe and sound. I just checked. They’re worried sick about you, but they want you to go on your journey and find your purpose in life.” He hugged the brown-haired protectively. “Certainly, there are bad parents, but yours aren’t. They must have told you horrible things. I hope you can forgive them one day. Do it for your own sake, not theirs.”

“But… They aren’t my parents,” Shams whispered nervously, and the others didn’t hear him.

“As for you two…” Shadow hands dragged the jinns down into the circle and ate them alive. The circle then disappeared.

Ihdaachar then sat on the stairs in front of his house and stared at Yayis. “You’re nobody’s jinn. However, you were assigned to Zultan as his servant.” He narrowed his eyes. “You already belong to someone, yet you’re free. This is an advanced summoning. This much freedom requires remarkable summoning mastery.”

Yayis pushed his chest forward, proud. “See? Zultan is awesome!”

Ihdaachar nodded. “I see she learned so many things while I wasn’t looking.”

They both glanced at him. “Who?”

Ihdaachar ignored them and moved his gaze to Yayis. “You sit with me for now.”

He gazed at Shams then lifted his hand, pulling out an orange-haired jinn from behind Shams. They both screamed as they bumped into one another. Yayis rolled his eyes. “Yeah. That’s definitely Shams’s jinn.”

Shams and his jinn exchanged fearful glances then poked one another. They started laughing.

Ihdaachar smiled, watching them.

Yayis glanced at him. “Did you meet Raven like this?”

Ihdaachar shook his head. “I was one of the people who failed to summon their jinns. I was given an in-vitro jinn. They’re much weaker than normal jinns, but they’re given to those who fail like me. That’s why we never agree for long. We didn’t spend a lot of time together when I was younger, and then, he was born before Iblis was held captive. He used to be a Sheitan, an evil jinn. His transition was never quite complete.”

“Oh…” Yayis looked away. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Ihdaachar stood up and walked towards Shams. “I see that this little jinn is born good. He’s a good jinn.”

Ihdaachar picked up the jinn in his arms and lifted him so their eyes meet. The orange-haired blushed and covered his face. “Aaaa! Chewwy is not good with stwangews!”

Shams smiled happily. “Ah! He’s so cute!”

He hugged the orange-haired tightly and rubbed his cheek against his hair. “So fluffy… So soft! What this cute creature? Why is he so cute?”

“Aaaaaa!” The orange-haired blushed more and hugged him back. “Mastah! You’we squishing Chewwy! Mastaaah!”

Ihdaachar glanced at Yayis. “It looks like you will stick around him for a while. His jinn doesn’t seem very reliable.”

Yayis huffed. “I never intended to leave anyway.”

Ihdaachar rested a finger on Shams’s forehead and started charging a black ball.

“AAAAAA!” The orange-haired bit Ihdaachar’s hand and wouldn’t let go. “I pwotect mastah!”

He shut his eyelids and started crying. “Chewwy… not scawed!”

Ihdaachar patted his head. “It’s okay. I won’t attack your master. You can relax.”

The orange-haired sighed in relief and sat down on the grass, wiping away his tears with the back of his hands. Shams smiled and sat next to him, caressing his long orange hair. The orange-haired stared at him, cheerful. He was much shorter and smaller than Shams. Yayis smiled faintly. “It seems like he’s fourteen. He’s still a baby jinn. However, jinns grow much faster than humans, especially if given enough blood.”

“N-No!” The orange-haired pouted. “Chewwy… not baby! Chewwy… vewy stronk!”

“What’s your name?” Shams asking, pulling the orange-haired’s cheeks with a grin.

“Chewwy! Chewwy is Chewwy!”

Yayis narrowed his eyes. “Chewwy?”

“No!” The orange-haired became angry. “Chewwy! Not Chewwy! Chewwy!”

“Ah…” Ihdaachar folded his arms. “Cherry?”

The jinn nodded several times. “Scawy vampiye is wight! Chewwy is Chewwy!”

Ihdaachar laughed. “Okay, Cherry. You’re been listening to us this whole time. Do you agree to go to the academy to study and get stronger?”

Cherry stared at him with his big blue eyes and grinned. “Chewwy is… excited! Chewwy… goes on an adventuwe!”

Ihdaachar nodded. “All right. Would you go back now? You can go rest.”

Cherry nodded and waved goodbye with his both hands before disappearing in an orange flash.