"Jesus Christ! this thing is fast and dangerous. Dear Lord, I miss you Heimdall." Liam muttered in annoyance. Not having his basic powers and just a stronger body and healing factor wasn't helping him at all here.
The spear detonated against the mountain behind him, splintering stone like glass. The Djinn was already in motion again. It expanded, its form swelling into a massive swirling vortex of lightning. Liam knew he couldn't just defeat the Djinn with raw power. He had to contain it.
The runes carved into his staff weren't just for show. They were binding sigils. Liam raised his staff high and roared, his voice slicing through the howling winds:
"Nai eänar, rina i tyelma! Ná caimassë arwa!"("By the will of the sky, be bound! Let this prison hold!")
Runes ignited in sequence, forming a cage of glowing symbols around the Djinn.
The entity screeched, its form thrashing as it resisted the spell. Bolts of lightning erupted from its body in all directions, scorching the mountain's cliffs and blasting chunks of ice into the void. Liam gritted his teeth, pouring every ounce of his will into the incantation.
But the Djinn was too strong. The binding started to crack, the runes flickering and distorting. Liam staggered, the force of the resistance nearly knocking him down. Liam and the Djinn soon started what to be stated as a game of cat and mouse.
Both of the parties weren't able to hurt each other and whatever hurt each other caused they were able to heal pretty fast. Liam had even used a combination spell of three elements and threw huge chunks of rocks at the Djinn but it was only to be side-stepped.
The battle went on for 3 hours with no conclusion in sight.
But at the end he was able to put on a prison like runes over the Djinn. Not enough to hold him, but enough to keep the Djinn down for a minute or two.
"Listen to me!" Liam's voice boomed. "You are a being of the storm, of power untamed. But power without purpose is wasted! Instead of being trapped here, forgotten—join me. Reside within my staff, not as a prisoner, but as a force of destruction and creation alike."
"YOU WOULD MAKE ME PART OF YOU?"
"Together, we could shape the very forces of nature. You would be free within the staff, your power growing with mine." Liam said in Quenya. Djinns inherently were childish in nature and since they were very isolated, they tend to very irritated most of the times.
Djinns were also known to fulfil wishes if they are caught. Not a earth shattering wish, but a wish that could at least be on par with the magic ability of its own. Geralt had wished once to be with Yennefer for the rest of his life.
Though at the end, the curse was lifted but till then both of them had been together, even though Geralt once lost his memories and went with Triss. Eventually they still came together. It showed how powerful the curses of Djinns were. Thus Liam wanted to exploit this factor of Djinn and see if this Djinn could be his companion since he had already proven that he was powerful enough to battle on toe to toe. They might be childish but not dumb.
The storm rumbled, the winds slowing. Then, slowly, the Djinn's form contracted, swirling into a spiraling vortex of lightning and mist.
"Human, what makes you think you can hold me?" The Djinn asked.
"This staff of mine is the most powerful staff ever to be made by humanity. I have arrived here from a very distant land and wish to be more powerful. You are the only being that could battle against me and I am not old like those old bones who will wither away in any storm or adversity. Be with me and I will show you a much wider world than the peaks of this godforsaken lands." Liam said.
Djinn contemplated for a minute. It could feel that Liam was special. He was young, powerful and could feel the breath of Aen Elle within him. It had been in these mountains for thousands of years and essentially it was bored out of its mind. Most of its lifetime had been spent sleeping. It wanted to go out but something told it that if it did so it would be enslaved as weapons.
It didn't mind to be used as a weapon unlike most of the Djinns, who had their pride come in between their ambitions. It wanted to roam around and see the world, but none came to it. A very old man came once to it, trying to enslave it. The Djinn blasted that old man off the edge of the mountain, never to be seen again.
When Liam showed up, it thought that this human was weak too but reality proved otherwise. And once Liam proposed the mutual help, it was excited. It drifted toward the staff, its energy wrapping around the carved runes like a living force. The sigils glowed fiercely.
A final pulse of energy erupted from the staff, shaking the mountain itself.
Then—silence.
Liam exhaled, sweat beading his brow despite the freezing air. The staff now pulsed faintly, arcs of blue lightning occasionally flickering along its length. Liam smiled. Cathbad didn't deceive him here. He had said that this Djinn was much younger and would be more welcoming than most of the Djinns out there.
"Now I have the source of lightning too." Liam smiled. The staff rumbled. "Yes.. Yes... We have the source of lightning."
Soon Liam descended the frozen slopes of the Kovirian mountains. The wind howled around him, but it no longer felt hostile—it was as if the very air recognized him now, attuned to his
As he approached the secluded hut nestled between the snow-laden trees, a flicker of warmth brushed against his senses. Magic—not his own.
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