The world seemed to halt, tense emotions swirled through the room and followed Celene as she stormed through the halls of the tribe's chieftain house. Tears ran down her face as she blindly paced through the halls her arms raised up to wipe her sniffling face time and time again. Her mind raced, being dragged back down to times she tried to forget.
"There's more over here! Round em all up the canines will pay a fortune for this many Djinn!" A lizardman shouted.
Flames ravaged what used to be a small peaceful village in the depths of the deserts of Novas, a desert country inhabited mainly by beastmen. A race of demihumans, one of the twelve species hailed as true and right. They populated the entire world in abundance, a race seen as barbaric and the symphony of screams that accompanied them supported these views. As the fires grew and grew so did the sounds of distorted wailing and the fearful cries of the Djinn. The screams echoed into the ears of a small girl, her once shimmering silver hair covered in soot and dirt. Her tanned skin covered in bruises and singes as tears streamed down her face into the soft chest she was being pulled into.
"It's alright Celene, Mama's got you." The woman assured as she rocked a young Celene against her chest.
The two found themselves huddled behind the debris of a collapsed building. Flames raged around them as the mother cradled her child shielding her from the harsh reality that was erupting around them. As they hid huddled away from the raid that clashed around them the rubble beside them began to crack and crumble, the already feeble wall crashed down on itself and a large lizardman burst through, his long forked tongue slithering out of his mouth as his ravenous gaze locked onto the mother and child.
"Two more, if it isn't my lucky day!" He jeered as he lunged at the duo
Celene's mother's eyes went wide as the wall crashed down beside them, she cluthced her daughter to her chest and began to run. Her feet stumbled across the ground as she fumbled to her feet. The sound of a wicked laughter rang out from behind her as Celene jostled around in her hold. She ran through the flames her heart pounded in Celene's ear, the weight of her own child's life heavier than the weight of her own death and yet her legs bore through the pain, the weight, the fear that tried to paralyze them until a sharp pain shot through her leg. A cold wetness began to run down her thigh, her face winced as she looked down to see an arrow lodged in her leg. The weight on her was becoming debilitating and yet she ran, her hobbled run barely faster than a toddler's sprint and more painful that anything she had experienced and yet she ran. The cries of her daughter rang out in her ear as those small hands tugged and tugged on her tattered clothes.
"I-it's gonna be alright Celene Mama is-" Her raspy, battered reassurance was cut off as another arrow pierced through her other leg.
The stalwart mother continued to trudge along, her vision began to spin. Her sprint and been hobbled to a labored walk and it continued and continued until her knee buckled. Her hobbled sprint turned into a tumble, her body rolled and mingled in the rubble and dirt beneath her as she crashed to the ground gripping the back of Celene's head shielding her as best she could but even the strength in her arms faded and Celene tumbled out of her arms.
Celene was shaking, her body trembled and her vision went haze. She frantically crawled to her crippled mother, she shook and pushed against her collapsed frame.
"Celene stop it, you have to run." Her voice wisped out as she weakly took her daughter's hand in her own.
Celene's tears came down even harder, her wails only acted as a beacon of their location. "No! No! I run with mama! I stay with mama!"
Her mother's heart stung with the pain of hearing her daughter's wails only to be met with worse and worse fate.
"You boys are being too rough on the merchandise."
"They don't need their legs it's fine. Aren't they supposed to be in lamps or something anyways."
A group of lizards descended upon them, the sounds of their laughter and banter rang through the ears of the mother and daughter. "Alright take the kid and put her with the other, she'll sell for more. Weird canine superstitions." The lizard chuckled as he commanded the others.
The lizards towered down upon them, Celene was grabbed and thrown over a shoulder as she kicked and screamed. The lizard growled and threw her against a pile of nearby rubble. Her body recoiled form the pain, blood shot out of her mouth and her vision went hazy. Her body fell limp as her mother's voice rang in her ear.
"Don't touch her! Let go of my daughter! Give her back to me!"
Her mother's voice was the last thing she heard before Celene pulled herself out of her memories. Without her own conscious decision Celene had found herself standing alone in a large garden. She wiped the last bits of her tears from her face and plopped herself down on a nearby fountain.
"What am I doing? Remembering all of that now?" She questioned herself as she looked up and gazed upon the starry night sky that stretched out above her.
A deep sigh left her lips as the memories of her past finished washing over her, the screams that she could never forget. The heat the brought her back to worse times. As she sat with her own thoughts and stared up at the starry sky a lone jackal approached her.
"You must be one of those guests my useless brother brought in." A voice echoed out.
Stood in front of her was a jackal that resembled Nadir except for the taller stature that presented itself and a longer tail. As he spoke Celene rolled her eyes and stood herself up.
"I am, and I was just leaving." She grumbled and went to brush past him.
As she attempted to make her way past the jackal he growled and grabbed her arm. "Where do you think you're going? Show some manner to the people graciously hosting you, and don't you know it's rude to wear a hood when speaking to someone." He growled as his clawed hand raised up and grabbed at her hood.
Celene smacked his hand away and glared at the jackal. "Well you're not gonna host me for much longer so don't worry about my lack of respect." She scoffed.
As his hand was smacked away the jackal's brow furrowed and his jagged teeth chattered. "Oh you fucking bitch." He'd snap.
Lunging forward her grabbed Celene, her eyes going wide as his palm covered her entire face and her feet started to get lifted off the ground. She punched and kicked at his arm and was met with flashes of her past. The flames, the screams, the feeling of being lifted as she kicked and screamed, it all flooded back into her. Her eyes watered as her body began to go limp. As her body submitted the jackal smirked and his free hand went to her hood and tore it off, as her hood got flung off of her head that long shimmering hair accompanied by her flattened and pointed ears caught the attention of the jackal a devious grin spread across his face.
"Oh? You're a Djinn, maybe that idiot brother isn't so useless. Go on, give me a little light show." He commanded, his grip on her face increased and his claws dug into her face.
Blood started to run down Celene's face as she whimpered out, the magenta tip of her hair began to shimmer and sparkle and even her skin seemingly began to fizzle and shimmer before suddenly a loud voice rang out.
"Brother! This is no way to treat guests!" Nadir's voice rang out as he suddenly appeared and grabbed his brother's wrist prying it away from Celene's face.
His brother chuckled. "Oh I see, you wanted to surprise father with a Djinn so he'd finally notice you huh? You really think that's gonna-"
"I had no such plan! I was unaware of her being a Djinn!" He confidently replied.
His brother looked at him dumbfounded and rubbed the temples of his head. "I swear you get dumber everyday. You ruined it, bring her to father in the morning regardless."
"I will not!" He replied.
A scowl appeared on his larger brother's face. "The fuck did you just say? I'm giving you the opportunity to do something useful here. You have no right to go against us after killing our mother like you did."
"That may be so but she is not mine to do with as I please! Plus she is my guest I am treating her in accordance with Rastis tradition."
" It doesn't fucking.... ugh. I'm sick of this, talking to you makes me wanna tear your lungs out." He growled before he turned and stormed off.
As his brother stormed off Nadir crouched down to be face to face with a Celene who had huddled against the ground clutching at her own knees.
"I apologize for my brother! Had I known you were a Djinn I would have made precautions!" He added.
As he spoke Celene took deep breaths and let go of her knees as she sat on the ground. "N-no I should've known better than to wander around by myself like this." Her voice shook and cracked.
"Nonsense! You should be free to do as you please without worry!" He responded
She let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah I should be able to. But you desert beastmen make that impossible. What did you save me so you can ask for a wish to?"
"Why would I ask you for a wish!?" He questioned in his same obnoxiously loud voice
Celene blinked a few times. "Wait are you serious? You don't want me to try and grant some wish for you."
"I shall make my own wishes come true! A woman such as yourself should be asking me to make your wishes come true!"
As she heard his response Celene's eyes went wide before she burst out into laughter.
"What is so funny!? Did I make a joke?" He questioned as he plopped down and sat with his legs crossed on the ground with Celene his hands firmly on his knees as his head tilted to quizzically look at her.
"No, no, you're just another idiot I'm gonna have to deal with." She said with a giggle.