Djinni in a Bottle

Deep in Kolima Forest a Mars Adept made his way through cracked branches and twigs, rustling leaves, and the harsh sunlight, panting the entire way. Tyrell had been separated from his friends quite some time ago and needed to find his way back to them. His Psynergy was nearly depleted from his aggression and anger - burning hollow logs he tripped over - and he spotted a felled tree. He walked over to it and sat down, taking a much needed break from venturing.

Tyrell lay across the wood, closing his eyes, resting. He breathed in and out deeply to try relaxing himself and recover some Psynergy. His mind raced back and forth from the present to the past when he was with his friends. He told them he needed a break and lay down on the ground for a few minutes - he must have fallen asleep. But why didn't his friends come get him?

The leaves from the tall tree above him rustled noisily and a strange object rolled around the branch. The wind howled, bringing an eerie song to the object. It rolled around more and found a way through the branches, falling through the air. Tyrell opened his eyes just as it was about to make contact with his forehead.

"Gah!" he yelled, bringing his arms up rapidly and clasping his hands around the object, running them along it. It was glass. It had no cap. This shape… he thought. It's a bottle! He sat up, firmly grasping the glass treasure with one hand and fumbling around with his other hand in an attempt to find the cap. Suddenly he saw a bright glow out of the corner of his eye and turned towards it. Thinking it was the sunlight reflecting off of the bottle cap, he reached for it with his hand only to yank it back, frightened, once an indescribable warmth crept onto it.

"What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a Djinni before?" a voice asked. Tyrell stared, dumbfounded, at the light until a creature burst from it. It was brown, had blue eyes, and in fact, Tyrell thought, was a Djinni.

He continued to stare at the Djinni for a while, contemplating what to do. It wasn't a Djinni of his element, Mars, but was he supposed to keep it for Matthew? He shook his head, overcome with the two different options. Maybe he could apologize to Matthew and the rest of the group for falling asleep if he brought the Djinni to them - but then he realized they left him! He didn't have to do them any favors!

Satisfied that he had come to a conclusion, Tyrell crossed his arms and turned away from the Djinni, putting on a snooty look.

"Hey, hothead!" the Djinni cried, hopping twice.

Tyrell turned back around to stare at it, his normal expression replacing the snooty one.

"You're an Adept, right?" it asked.

He nodded, not sure where this was going.

The Djinni smiled. "Good, good. Now, are you the only one here? I remember Laurel said something about there being more Adepts - "

"Who's Laurel?" Tyrell interrupted, uncrossing his arms and leaning down to the Djinni's level. It definitely knew something of importance.

"Who's Laurel?" it mocked in response, shaking its body. Tyrell assumed it to be a headshake considering the Djinni didn't have a neck.

"Laurel is a forest elder! She knows a lot of yackity-shmackity that you need to know!"

"Yeah, yeah," Tyrell interjected. "I get it - she's an old person or something." He realized he had to somehow bring this Djinni with him, but he couldn't for the life of him remember how Matthew had gotten all those other Djinn to join them…

The Venus creature hopped twice more. "What!" It sighed. "Look, are there any other Adepts out there? Like, do you have any other friends - if any at all?"

He grimaced. "Of course I have friends!" This Djinni was making him angry. He suddenly remembered the bottle and grinned to himself as an idea crept into his mind. "Hey, help me find the cap to this bottle."

"Why would I do that?" it inquired.

"Because I'll take you to my friends and you can tell all this boring stuff to them!"

It sighed again but otherwise ignored his comment about 'boring stuff'. "Fine." Something glimmered above it and it looked up abruptly. "Something's about to hit you, you know."

Tyrell looked up as well and, sure enough, something small and metal fell down from the tree above him and made contact with his forehead. Once he recovered and stopped rubbing his head he looked at his assailant, the yellow, metal bottle cap.

"Ha! I found it!" He glanced down to the Djinni. "What's your name?"

It hopped some more and put on an angry look. "Why?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Umm…because I wanna know your name! Because, uh, you can talk and all, and you're kinda special!"

"I'm Laurel's trustworthy Djinni, Pewter!" it said matter-of-factly, still wearing the angry expression.

Tyrell grinned. "Pewter?"

Pewter nodded. "H-hey…" it trailed as Tyrell grabbed it and shoved it into the bottle. It made squeaking noises as it was pushed farther and farther into the depths of the glass, being smashed by its own body; its eyes had no choice but to close as both of its feet would have been jammed into them.

He set the bottle down on the ground for a split second, searching around for a sharpened stick. His search lasted mere seconds and he found himself carving Pewter's name in scratchy, messy capital letters on the bottle's polished outside.

The Mars Adept laughed as he realized the poor Djinni couldn't do anything to object.

So he skipped happily through the rest of Kolima Forest, whistling while carrying the present for Matthew, the Djinni in a bottle.

A/N: AHH~ I was on my forums(the adepts of weyard to be precise)and one of my fellow members made a little companion art for my fic! It's so awesome - you should totally check it out! (The link's on my profile.)