A World Gone Wild

The Genie Appears
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Things ha been rough for me for the past few years. After graduating High school, college just didn't stick with me as my grades dropped and I found myself back at home within a year. With the way things were going, I could already see myself in some dead end job for the rest of my life despite my attempts to go back to college, hopefully getting a degree in the progress. My life seemed to be going down the drain, at least until I met...her.

Walking the streets of Detroit from my job in a nearby factory, I could only wonder what had brought on the bad luck I had been dealt since high school finished as it had been pretty much like night and day as soon as I left for college down in Chicago starting with my car breaking down along the way. As i ran my hand through my brown hair with slight frustration, I looked down to find a small ring on the ground. It wasn't anything special, not even made of gold or platinum, the black colored ring seemed to grow oddly warm as I picked it up. Looking at the black ring, I couldn't see any markings on the outside or inner edge of the band, only finding an indentation from where I assumed a jewel or diamond used to go. Feeling slightly curious, I put the ring on my own finger, surprised to see that it fit perfectly.

I decided to sate my own curiosity about the ring by taking it to a local antique shop near where I lived, the only one left in the area. Thankfully I knew the old woman that owned the shop as I used to go and look at the things she had on display back when I was younger, always intrigued by the works of art or decorations that she had found or things that had been donated.

"Mrs. Yun? Are you in today?" The delayed chime echoed through the small store as the door closed behind me.

"Ryan, how have you been? Here to look at more of my wares? Sorry but I don't have anything new yet." Mrs. Yun was an older Chinese woman in her mid 50's that ran the shop with her husband, though he was hardly in the store.

Walking over to the counter, I set the ring down in front of her. "I'm not here to look this time. I found this ring and I was wondering if you had any idea what it could be since it looks weathered and similar feel like some of the older rings you have here, other than the color at least."

As the woman looked at the ring, she gave a mysterious smile before disappearing into the back of her store, coming back nearly an hour later with a small box. "This is what you are looking for, now head home." No matter how much I tried to get a word in after that she would just shoo me away, telling me to head home. Seeing as I wasn't going to get anything more out of her, I did as she had said and headed home.

Arriving home, or my mother's to be more precise after my dad left us years ago after an accident, I headed up to my room and placed the box on my bed and began to try to find out what could link it to the ring. The box looked to be of some kind of wood and very durable despite it's aged appearance and had a small red jewel in the middle of the lid. When I tried to open it, no matter how hard I tried, the lid wouldn't budge. I spent hours trying every possible angle that I could until I saw the small depressions in the jewel, similar to that of the grips on the ring. Seeing nothing wrong with at least trying, I was surprised to find that the jewel fit perfectly into the ring. Slowly turning the ring like a key, I could hear a clicking sound, hopefully something that would open the box. After the few full turns of the ring, the lid popped open and let out this odd dust that filled the room and room.

Coughing from the dust that entered my lungs and obscured my vision, I could slowly make out a figure as the dust began to disapate. In front of my was a slightly tanned woman with shoulder length blonde hair in a single pony-tail, wearing only a simple white dress. As I looking into her green eyes, my own eyes traveled down her body, taking in her c-cup breasts and long slender legs. She looked to be close to his age, maybe 18 or 19, and maybe 5'6" or 5'7".

"Hello Master, it is nice to finally meet you after waiting for so long. You can call me Aria. I'm your personal genie, to serve you from here on."