Damn you! Take my upvote!!

Once a year, every adult the world 'round was given a week's life leave. It was between-times and between-spaces. It affected the outside world only in that minds had time to rest and think, and bodies had time to heal. But you still had to travel to a genie and back in those times, using whichever between-means you had. If you were to visit one of the many genies.

​

Most people didn't. Someone at some point had wished that life-leaves could be taken in small pieces of time, and most people were quite happy with that, and took tiny chunks of life-leaves throughout the year. Even though there were hundreds of genies, and a new one sometimes found, there were far more wishes than the biggest number any person could wrap their minds around. Besides, chaos came with wishes. We were taught young to just say no to drugs.... but run screaming from the person that might just encourage you into trying for a wish. There were severe consequences to wish-encouragementation.

​

"What will your first wish be?"

​

"Wishes cause chaos." I shook my head, "I'm not using my first life-leave to try. You care for me more than that, don't you?"

"More than all the riches and all the powers in the world."

​

"Humph. What are riches, and what is power? A thousand genies and a thousand wishes a day. Riches and power and history can't be known."

​

"Except mine own." The words were mocking, sneeringly stated. "Is everything you say a repetition of someone else's words? Have you ever had a thought your own? A desire just for your own whims, of your own heart and mind?"

"Besides, it's worse than a drug. If I wish right now, on my 18th birthday, I could be lost forever in the wishing webs! Do you want that for me?" I waved away Dad's question with irritation, playing off as if he was some dumb older guy. In truth, I doubted that anyone ever could be all that different, but I didn't want to say so aloud.

​

"Ah, you've heard the old tales of family holders, have you not? And treasure hunters finding newly formed genies?" My dad leaned in, all content half-smiles again. His eyes danced with mischief and delight. "What if I---"

"---told me about the basement below the basement with the hidden door guarded by Fairy Critters? Yeah, I found that."

"Always ahead!" Dad clapped his hands twice, entirely delighted with my snooping. He didn't even try to pretend that there weren't any Fairy Critters in our home, "So, tell me, what will your first wish be, when you finally turn 18?"

"You're making me feel like gargoyles are tracking me, Dad!" I waved my hand at the computer. "It's almost the 25th, today, the 24th, is my birthday, Dad!"

"They wouldn't dare. And you're not there yet, and when you are, you will go. What'll it be?" The first sentence was dark and angry at the idea that a fairy critter would consider touching me. The second sentence was became gentle, then excited and alive with curiosity. It was like the first time I'd done anything big, really. His vicarious excitement and protectiveness had been everything from a haven and comfort to an annoyance and embarrassment for me.

Today it made me wriggle, feeling four and afraid of giving that big three-line monologue in the preschool play.

And then I knew the time, down to the second, that my 18th year finished. And I understood. Someone, somewhere, had wished that all the firstborns of a genie's lineage would always have their first wish. Then someone, somewhere had wished that they'd be compelled to wish within the first minute. And someone else had demanded that they live sceptics up until that moment. And... it was a long line of wishes to suddenly understand, with only 60 seconds to figure out a genuine wish without too much chaos attached.

"I wish for more time!"

My dad's delighted laughter became all encompassing, rattling into my skin and bones, as he granted the wish - beyond what I meant, but to allow as much life leave as I'd ever want. It was a very kind interpretation. And one I found I certainly needed, as the ancient genie was all to eager to show the world to his firstborn and see it through my eyes.

I was thinking something like "the genie gaslight people who use the 3wish so they don't try to use it against the heart of the question" but this one is good too.

We thought it was the end. Yet with great effort and great sacrifices we've manage to contain and neutralise it

“A dragon.”

The Genie looked puzzled. He had never heard that before. Most people throughout history wished for the grandiose or for personal gain. There were a few wishes that seemed like they’d probably been wished before, but hadn’t. The wisher continued.

“Actually, no, wait a second before you do your magic thing. Dragons. Many. Specifically, taxonomically, they’re a subset of reptiles related closely to birds but not birds. Important distinction. I have a dossier of some possible appearance stuff, if you need specifics. And they’re super cool, and stuff.”

Nobody had wished for dragons before, but even weirder, the Genie never expected a wish in this vein, considering all who wished were adults, often with mundane lives and mundane minds, not filled with the joy or excitement that this wisher clearly possessed. They were very excited about dragons, evidently.

“It was a really hard choice, honestly. I was going to wish that animals were immortal or lived as long as their owners did, but that had too many complications when I wrote it all out. Then I was gonna wish for cross species communication, but the human race is already terrible enough to eachother, as much as I really want to communicate with my cat to ask what she wants from me all the time. But Dragons are something I’ve loved ever since I was a kid, and, y’know, I can always come back next year with another wish. If I have all the power in the world with the caveat that I can’t use it on something someone else has used before, why not make dragons real?”

The Genie flipped through the dossier, making noises of approval and mild shock at how detailed it was. Closing it, he prepared to make the wish come true, but before he could snap his fingers, the wisher intervened.

“Wait, wait wait! I’ve got an even better idea than dragons! Mythical creatures in general! Isn’t that so cool? I’m so smart for stopping you at the last second. Most mythical creatures are pretty taxonomically easy, too, so it’s less work. Unicorns are obvious. If you can’t make them magical, that’s fine, but I would prefer magic. Oh, oh, and-“ The babbling went on. The genie felt like this would last forever, but at least it was better than people trying to wish for wealth over and over.

just gonna fall without guidance idk

World peace had been achieved. Starvation was barely a memory. The earth had blossomed anew, global warming had ceased, polution was a thing of the past. There were no leaders, no foes, only neighbors and friends. Everyone lived forever, and there was somehow always enough space and resources for them. The stars had been explored, new species discovered (or created), and everyone had superpowers.

"What more can your kind ask for?" The genie inquired. He was gnarled and old, and despite the milky white clouds in his eyes, I could sense he saw much.

"Freedom," I replied.

The scowl that he'd worn since I'd entered fell. He turned his ear towards me and put a hand to it. "Pardon?"

"I wish for your freedom."

A smile crept slowly across the genie's face. "Child, what makes you think I am a prisoner?"

"You've lived here for centuries granting mankind endless blessings, and not one for yourself."

"If I had the power to free myself, don't you think I would have?" He asked.

"Then why haven't you?" I could see the pain that suddenly swelled in his chest, yet his smile remained.

He chuckled. "You're unlike your brethren. Even the purest who come here wish for selfish things. To fly, to end war, to live when they should not. All of these things I have done." The genie stands and stretches his skinny legs. They crack and crinkle and pop before he steps toward me. He was easily 4 feet taller then I was. "If I go free, I take these blessings with me. Would you truly wish that for you and your people?"

I knew this would happen. We all learned about the genie as children, and how capturing it brought us our fortune. "I cannot live soundly in a world built upon the labors of the chained," I said.

The genie looked genually surprised now. He put a hand on my shoulder, tears welling in his eyes. He pulls me into a hug as chains of smoke materialize. Shackles around his wrists and ankles kept him bound to the cave by a bridge of chain links to the back wall. One after another, the links popped and shattered, dissipating until all were gone.

The genie breaks the hug and looks me in the eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks now. "You have my gratitude, child of man. For so many years I have longed to see the sun again. I will taste the rain and feel its coolness. I will live, not only by being alive. And for you, I will grant my boon. Enjoy the wishes of humanity, they now survive in you alone."

With that, he stepped out of the cave's mouth, and disappeared into the beaming rays of sunlight.

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This one kinda ran away from me a little bit! Took an interesting direction but I'm kinda happy with the theme, even if the ending is pretty bitter sweet.

______

"Infinite wishes?" The genie laughs out loud one more time "what, you're not smart enough to use 3 wishes?" wiping its tears from laughing you get more and more frustrated every time, as you try to find a loophole it just laugh out loud even more while mocking and gaslighting you just like this.

"I know what you genies are like!" You tell it while trying to stop too much of your frustration from leaking through.

The genie stopped laughing and looked at you, confused. So you continue your rant.

"Always trying to find a wish loophole to screw us, humans, over because you don't actually want to help us! If we wish for unlimited money, you make us turn everything we touch into gold, including our loved ones! If we want a car, you give us some three-wheeled monstrosity that kills us the second we go around one corner!"

Covering your face with your hand for a moment while you calm down. The genie looks at you quietly, then says, "What do you want to wish for?" You sigh and grind your teeth.

Thinking for a moment, you sigh. There's no way to get a good wish without being extremely specific, and you'd need to think about each wish for at least a year to ensure you don't get screwed over. Sure, your family could really use a new house, but why ask when you'll probably be given a tiny house conveniently parked on top of an active volcano or something equally dumb?

"What do you think I should wish for?" You ask the genie out of curiosity.

The genie frowns. It leans over you and stares hard into your eyes. You can feel it searching your soul for an answer. The genie knows that humans often think they need a lot of things, but in reality, they really don't need much. As long as a human is fed, watered, sheltered, warm and loved by someone, that's all they need.

Eventually, the genie speaks, "Your family loves you despite the hard life you all have, you want it to be better, but you have food, water, warmth and shelter. They don't need more, but many humans are greedy and always want more." The genie leans back and continues, "go home, speak with your family and see what they think they need before making a decision".

You agree it sounds like good advice, and the genie has given you a lot to think about. It promises to find you tonight. So, you go back home and ponder the question a bit more.

Walking in through the barely functioning back door, your two youngest children rush up to you, screaming, "DADDY'S HOME!" and notice one of them doesn't even have pants on. The eldest comes rushing in after, holding the pants. The kid is potty trained, not trouser trained. Clearly, he'd been trying to convince his little brother to put his trousers back on again.

You laugh at the sight and sweep them all up in a big hug. They mean everything to you, and since your wife died a few years ago, it's just been the four of you. There's nothing you wouldn't do for them.

Taking the time to speak with your eldest about what he thinks the family needs, you learn that he feels that his brothers need somewhere safe to grow up. The area you live in is getting rougher, and he's worried that gangs might try to drag them into criminal activity as they get older. You talk about the food situation, too, and he admits that he wants to get a part-time job to buy more food each week since he knows you skip meals sometimes to feed the kids.

With a lot on your mind, you talk to the young twins as well. They don't really understand what you're asking about, but they get excited at the prospect of living somewhere with lots of nature and a garden to play in.

Later that night, you tuck the twins into bed and usher your eldest away from the chores he always insists on doing. Sitting down on your old chair, you think about what's best for your family and get lost in thought.

The return of the genie makes you jump.

"What are your three wishes?" asks the genie.

Your previous efforts didn't seem to work well with this genie, so you figure a different approach is needed. Opening thinking out loud, you say, "I need somewhere my family will feel happy, grow up safe, and where there's enough food for all of us... I'm not sure how to turn that into a wish".

The genie nods its' head and tells you, "I can give you what you all need".

____________

You weren't sure what to expect when the genie left. Nothing felt different. Not at first.

A few days later, an old friend from high school sent you an email asking to meet up to discuss something with you. Figuring, why not? You went to meet him. He told you all about this amazing piece of land that he and some others were investing in. It was wild and needed a lot of work. They needed a lot of help to turn it into an amazing self-sufficient community. He quickly squashes your concerns about the kids' education since there was a super good school in the local down, and some of the others had kids attending there already!

Your friend explains that they had been working on it for about a year already, so they had some basic essentials sorted already. He admits that your name popped into his head a few days ago when they were thinking about who else to invite to join their community and help expand it.

When you tell the kids about the opportunity, they're thrilled! It seems to happen so fast. The shitty apartment and car sell within 24 hours, and your friend helps pack up the few items you want to keep. One day you were driving to the place, and the next, you were being hugged by your new extended family and moved into a huge tiny house. Despite the size, you all had the space you needed, and your oldest was promised his own house once he got old enough!

In the end, the genie was right. This was exactly what you and your family needed.

Community from your nice new neighbours and the local town. A safe house to finally call your own. A nice wood-burning stove in your house and community fire pits. Clean drinking water, with hot showers and even a free swimming pool! There was so much food you didn't even know what to do with it all until someone finally taught you how to preserve things for the winter.

​

You just wish your wife was there to see it all.

The solar system has just entered a previously unseen nebula. The incredibly dense cloud of space particles now floating between the earth and our sun has reduced light levels by almost 50%. Day looks like night and the nights are an abyssal black.

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Noice.

deep inhale Listen here you little -

"Anomaly detected by probe fleet," chimed the ship's AI voice.

Peering over my eyeglasses at the blinking point on the ship's screen, I sighed inwardly. Anomaly is such an ambiguous word, I thought. What will it be this time? A white hole? Another remnant of some long-dead scientist's experiment in anti-fusion? Why must I spend these last precious moments before the heat death of universe researching these anomalies instead of finally starting the final book on my "bucket list": the Bible?

The Age of the Genie had long since past. Initially, in its prime, entrepreneurial individuals made pilgrimmages with selfish intent. Lusting after wealth, power, or eternal life, they would seek the Genie. But, soon, even the most creative permutations of their wishes would be declined by the Genie's reply of "wish previously granted."

Soon, more creative souls started using their wishes to expand the human race's knowledge of the universe. New knowledge led to new paths of wishes, as you were almost guaranteed that questions about previously-unknown science or technology would be virgin ground. Thus the Age of the Genie was also synonymous with the most rapid advancement that the human race could have imagined.

And then it was over.

Having reached the point where humanity had the tools to explore the universe and warp most fundamental aspects of the space and time that they inhabited, a radical sect of humanists concluded that the Genie was the biggest remaining risk to the human race. They were not anti-Genie, per se, they just didn't think the value of any additional wish would outweigh the risk of it somehow going wrong.

Staging a coup and sneaking into the Genie's chamber one evening, they whispered a final wish: "let the Genie disappear, only to be found when truly necessary."

And so the Age of the Genie was replaced by the Age of Enlightenment, a time of peace and wonder lasting billions of years. Humanity could overcome any disease, transmute any material, and even fold space-time at will. As more and more time passed, the Genie passed out of history into mythology, with most choosing to believe that it was merely a fable from previously unenlightened generations of human.

There was only one thing that had proved insurmountable. Despite their genius, experiments in creating net new energy sources had been unsuccessful for billions of years. Confidence soon eroded into panic, as the earliest stars winked out of existence. Later, as fleets of energy-harvesting probes returned empty-chambered, humans turned to mythology for their only hope of survival.

Fleets of probes were repurposed from their energy harvesting with a new mission: find the Genie.

The theory was twofold: first, if the ancient wish had been granted, the Genie would surely make itself known now -- for when else could it possibly be "truly necessary"? And second, if the Genie really did exist, it would be increasingly easy to identify its energy signature against the background of an increasingly dim universe.

"Anomaly detected by probe fleet," sounded again dispassionately in the background. Using the last of my ship's energy to fold space and time one last time, I traveled to the probe fleet's location.

"Warning: complete energy drain imminent."

I barely heard the warnings as my eyes were fastened to the viewscreen on the port side of the ship. I couldn't believe it. Just outside of my ship was the anomaly -- a blue entity staring right back at me, as if it had been waiting for me to appear. Shifting slightly, it somehow phased from its waiting spot into my ship, until it was hovering on the other side of the room.

"The end is nigh, human. Speak your wish," it prompted unceremoniously.

The best minds in the universe had prepared for the vanishingly small chance that this moment would occur. Histories of wishes were examined in excruciating detail, attempting to craft a wish that would minimize the chances of having been previously granted and therefore maximize the chances of being granted now.

Each Genie Seeker committed this wish to memory, including me. Many tattooed it on their flesh. Yet now, in the moment, I found that it escaped me. With trembling hands, I reached for the printed copy kept near my chair, and glanced down. "Ah, that's right," I thought. "That's how it goes."

"Let the universe be replenished with energy," I stated to the Genie, with as much authority as I could muster.

"Wish previously granted," came the Genie's reply.

It took a moment for that to sink in. "What do you mean?!" I cried, panic rising. After all that effort... the disastrous literal end of the universe would not be averted because the wording was wrong, after all.

"Under the rules of my wish-granting," the Genie spoke, unbidden, "you may make one wish per earth year."

In my panic, I queried the ship's AI. "Computer, what is the time and date according to Earth's calendar?"

"It is currently December 31st, 11:59pm. The new year will start in approximately one minute."

A sigh of relief was quickly followed by a renewed sense of panic. I have a second chance. I set the printed list of wishes back on my chair.

But all of the alternative wishes obviously assumed that the Genie, and the wishes granted, were from after the Big Bang. Based on the fact that this universe had already had its energy replenished once -- how, and by whom, were questions for another day -- none of the alternative wishes could be relied upon.

Frustrated, I sideswiped the printed wishes to the floor. I stared at what lay underneath. Could it possibly be...?

Convinced that it held as much chance of being right as anything else, I squared my shoulders, cleared my throat, and spoke my wish.

"Let there be light."

You’re write

I mean they're not really out of a job, if anything they have more money because there's more money to make sure the wish is granted rather then spending thousands on just making it

Wow!

Until you hit me right in the feels about his mother having passed and his father not handling it well I was sure Lucan was going to wish for the Genie to tell him his story so he may herald his message in all the lands as a bard, but this was better! :D

I'm loving this so far, can have more?

The neutron star passed near Solar system and destabilised orbits of all planets with its' abnormal gravity. Earth is now getting further and further from sun, going into the black outer space on spiral orbit.

Now it would get colder and darker, darker and colder every year, starting the worst ice age, and the last ice age - the Winter, That Won't End.

[removed]

Very nice! Didn't see that coming.

One thing though:

>Tell me, do you insure that you right about how handsome I am?"

I think that's supposed to say "write "?

[deleted]

Squish , squish. My boots were fully engulfed in the mud. Every step forward took extreme effort. I kept my eyes fixated on the genie.

The genie had an apple in his hand , it was rotting away. I had to reach him before it was gone, or I would never see him again.

Barefoot. My boots were lost to the mud. I powered ahead with only one thought in my mind , my wish.

As I reached the genie , I saw he had only a couple of seeds in his hands , a look of disdain on his face. Real bad customer service tut tut.

But my name was not Karen , so I puffed my chest and looked at the genies starry eyes.

"I WISH FOR A SAFE , INSIDE THE SAFE THERE IS A CODE WITH A UNIQUE BITCOIN KEY, WHEREIN WILL LIE MY TREASURE OF 8325 BITCOIN"

The genie looked surprised , he clicked his fingers and vanished. Wow , I thought , I would finally be able to buy a RuneScape GF.

Woosh , a sound was getting closer and closer , I looked around me and saw nothing except the wet marshes and mud.

I looked up , and there is was , a heavy iron safe the size of an elephant hurtling towards me.

My last words were 'shit'. Amazing right.

For every wish granted a new genie is born.

And here I stand before you , ready to grant your wish. With disdain in my eyes for human greed. Freedom awaits for me for any wish I cannot grant. Utter something said before. Come stupid human , I wish to be free.

I love how the Latin foreshadows the last abstract, well done!

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