A New Genie

Genie's eyes fluttered open, and saw darkness. He felt swaying and sniffed in the stench of brine and salty sea air.

Sea air?

He gasped as he realized he wasn't where he last remembered. The last memory he had, before entering a deep unconscious state, was sitting within Kairo's Spiritual Sea as a soul form. Suddenly, a force tugged at his being and he was sucked into a vortex. He landed into a dark space where his consciousness was sealed.

Kairo. I hope he's okay.

His heart raced with longing to see the man's face, and see that he was safe and sound. The man had done so much for him.

I want to keep doing more for him, and be his rock, and his...

Genie thought back to the time he spent with Kairo and how much he had grown to adore him. Kairo had stopped being an interesting Earthun and became someone precious to him, to the point he couldn't deny his feelings of being in love. He had loved before, so he understood what he was experiencing. It both frightened and excited him.

But would Kairo accept my feelings? Would he understand?

After all, they were two beings from different planets, despite having acutely similar anatomy. He wondered if love was the same on Earth: where soul bonds forged a union that surpassed physical connection. As both of them carried cosmic powers, their soul bond could literally reshape worlds. Genie's heart began beating unevenly as the troublesome thought of being rejected by his love surfaced. But he wouldn't be angry, if anything he would understand.

His eyes widened with surprise when he realized he was physically hearing the sounds of his beating heart, and feeling a myriad of aches and pains throughout his body.

My body. I'm in my body!

He struggled to move his hands, but felt they were bound by magic. His fingers traced the feeling of sackcloth and slimy cold sensations of water magic restrictions.

Abrupt movements, jarring bangs and the sound of stomping boots made him realize he had been picked up and was being carried up a flight of stairs. The stench of brine was more overpowering. Pins and needles broke out across his limbs as blood began flowing through to them again.

He yelped when he was crudely thrown to the ground, suffering small bruises. Fortunately, he was still acclimating to his body: the pain was overridden with numbness.

The sack over him was yanked away. Harsh squawking of birds overhead rang through his ears. Blinding daylight burned at his eyes, making him recoil. Strong chills and wind instantly hit him. After a moment of stillness, he was able to feel a soothing warmth wash through him as he felt more control over his body.

"Welcome back." Yanmu smirked as stepped toward Genie, who was slumped at the center of his ship's main deck.

The ship's pirate crew either continued with their duties or surrounded the demon-specter with weapons raised.

Genie blinked fiercely to normalize his eyes to the daylight, eventually he saw billowing black sails on a mast, bearing the Crud Pirate emblem.

"Where…" Genie struggled to speak.

Yanmu knelt before him, and lifted the man's clammy face with the tip of a dagger. "I guess you're still fitting back into your body."

My body? So he knows I'm free of the Soul Bells contract.

"Leela. She's dead." Genie managed to say, with more steadiness to his voice.

Yanmu rose, unphased by the fact. The girl was nothing more than Valerr's stepping stone. His eyes narrowed, thinking that it was the alien who caused her death. The girl was stupid and that's why she was dead. He relaxed his expression.

"Matters not." Yanmu gave an order for his men to carry Genie.

Genie was trying his best to move, but he lacked full control of his body. His Spirit Network was still rebuilding. From what he knew about soul resettling, his magic would take some time to come into effect. But replenishing from Kairo's Spiritual Sea had helped his soul's reconnection to his physical body process seamlessly.

Kairo. I hope you're safe.

The men followed Yanmu up some steps to the poop deck, dragging Genie with them. They headed into the captain's cabin.

Genie cursed when he was tossed to the floor boards like a sack of potatoes. His heart raced frantically when he saw he had landed next to Kairo, who was laying flat and face-up on a slab of blue meteorite. His eyes were closed.

"Manfred-nun." He hissed, feeling complete control of his body rapidly recovering.

"Relax, lover boy. He's unharmed."

Genie's expression changed to shock, he glanced at Yanmu who had eased into an armchair near Kairo's feet.

"Oh, come on, you're not that subtle. Besides, you have a rather active fan club." He casually commented while masking his emotions.

Genie sighed and regained his composure. "I guess you have plans for us that need our cooperation?"

Yanmu eased back into the chair as his smirk widened to reveal a devious expression.