Before a Once Upon A Time

A Single Lamp - An Implied Happily Ever After

Story 2 - A Single Lamp

Part 9 - An Implied Happily Ever After

He felt himself leaving the lamp again. The man stood there again. He looked pathetic now. He clutched the lamp like it was his prized possession - a greedy light in his eyes. Genie had been right. It had brought negative things down upon him - and it was his own fault too. That didn't mean he didn't feel pity for the man. To be that obsessed, that led a tray. It was sad. Especially since he had been such an honest, kind man before.

"I- I want something different. I want a cure. For a disease."

"What disease do you seek a cure for?” Genie asked dispassionately.

"A bad one. She keeps withering. She keeps getting worse. She looks like - like someone is sucking out her soul and it's clinging so hard to her body that it's pulling her body away with it."

Something about the description made Genie think of Arty. It fit. It did. He wondered a moment and consulted the lamp before he answered.

 "It can not be done."

The answer why was simple- the lamp did not have the magic to perform more than one miracle and it would kill both ward and lamp, taking all their  combined magic and leaving them empty husks. No matter what other instructions the lamp was given it's first priority was it's ward - it was within the original spell - it was to protect its ward forever  or until it was informed otherwise by its master. Too bad because if the fairy had known that she probably would have launched an attack and ordered the lamp to kill its ward after the first time he came out. To late for that now. She would just have to deal with the consequences of what she had done. He almost chuckled.

The man glanced around "Can you bring back the dead?"

"No."

Another miracle. Too much energy. Just like making someone fall in love. The lamp might be capable of it on its own but it wasn't on its own. It was protecting a ward and the ward required energy to maintain his sanity, which was draining the lamp’s magic also.

The man sighed and said" Then I need a way to die."

The genie looked at him and said "Wish it."

"I wish I could die."

"As you wish." Genie disappeared into the lamp and never saw what happened to the man. He had seemed too unhappy there at the end. Maybe this was best. It was his last wish anyway.

*No one actually knew the three wish rule because he didn't think to say it the first couple of times - the lamp only made him say his name and why he was there - to grant their wishes. It didn't make him state how many and the thought didn't even enter his head until much, much later. Of course this wasn't because he felt spiteful. It was simply that the thought never entered his mind. Poor guy. He caused a lot of misfortune this way too and the pressure weighed on him forever- even after he was released. He was just too old for his age. He was like an ancient, thousand year old creature in the body of one who was only 23 or 24. Oh fiddlesticks. There goes my mouth again. Never mind. Forget I said anything. In fact, I'll delete this note. That's what I’ll do. But wait- I'll have to rewrite it because you do need to know this- or else really want to. That seems like a lot of effort, especially for something that has already been a problem in the past. If I did that, I’d have to go back and correct those notes I messed up before too...maybe I should just stop leaving notes. Or stop worrying. Most people who read these will only read them after their first read. Right? Okay. Reassurance over. Back to the story.

Still, the rumor quickly spread. Three wishes. A lamp, a magic lamp that granted these wishes. Of course, he helped a peasant get a princess but that isn't all he did. He did much more - however, those records have been lost to time. The only event other than the first and the most documented one is the last- and this was a document written by Genie himself.