The Advent of True Magic

["In a world of promising distinction, there was never the question of whether or not good or evil existed. Whether right or wrong was subtle or profoundly understood. It melded there, lurking in the surface, and for me, it had lied in the Rukh, the golden butterflies. They fluttered helplessly around my frail stature, and the world became all too clear.

I took measures to change it, to protect it, to fear it, and to end it. Only if but the sound of his voice were there to stop my dormant depravity, to stop me from creating lives that were bound to end. My Titus, he suffered so. I hope that with this new blessing, he lives to see the world differently than I."]

"Worry not about young Alexius, he will thrive as a magi. For now, we focus on you, and the telling's of your story. There's only so much that one can do in one life, let the past crumble beneath the promise of the future," The sound of his voice boomed heavily in my ears. Ugo, it seems. Who'd of thought a simple Djinn was the answer to so many questions?

["Dear Aladdin always kept that flute with him, I'd always wondered if he were going to use the Djinn I had been told were inside it, who'd knew it'd be here? I hope he takes care of my children, that he and Titus stay embroidered in the friendship they so cherished. I admired it heavily. As magi in such a broken world, they will suffer the burden of creation or destruction. But that's neither here nor there. It's about time I go, let's truly live in this new life."]

"Lady Scheherazade, it's time to send you back, in this life, to the next," Rukh fluttered and whistled everywhere as the world faded to an obscure blue, chanting ensued and the sound of Ugo's voice faded.

I began to feel the memories of my Rukh fading, all the people I'd met, all the stories I'd told, all of the lives I'd deigned to protect. They struggled behind my visage as I became something new, or maybe something old, or maybe something forgotten?

Who was I? Why am I?

I feel so constricted, like my body is folding and crumbling under intense pressure, despite this, everything felt so warm and...safe. I'd never felt this before, or had I? I couldn't remember. 

Who was I again?

The silence pervaded for what seemed like eons, for what seemed like just beyond what i could bear. I could think, but I could not know. I could feel, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was that I was feeling. I was conscious, but astutely not. And then a rumbling occurred, and a pin drop rushed through the silence like a siren call. Light seeped through, until all that was left of it was the big bright world ahead. I cried as a giant hand gently pulled me to the surface of that drowning lake, and then the arms of life itself took me into her grace.

She was so beautiful, Her amber colored hair framed my vision until the glowering crimson formed a landscape of flowing red waves and horizons. Sweat dripped from her forehead and the radiance of her light brown eyes cornered me with their love and care. It felt so right, so inherently fulfilling.

And then her lips parted, her voice slid into my ears like honey, sweet and smooth, "Hi Sherry," She smiled so bright that the world seemed to turn golden.

"Im your mama," I could hear my heart beat proudly, drumming against my small ears, "Im gonna take care of you!"

And in that moment, I knew she meant it.

...

In a space devoid of much other than the promise of stars and dust, there stood a man, made of golden light, the Rukh gathered around him in such dense droves that he seemed to brighten the entire universe. With each step echoes formed, and the world framed itself beneath the wreckage.

Slowly, as if sensing something, he turned around, and in the bright golden light you could almost see a smile forming upon his visage.

"Let my blessing do you well, it's beyond my control at this point. Be free of that burden I lent you, and see much more clearly than I had. No soul so giving as to give the blessing of the Rukh to their child deserves the solace of death, this is my prize to you," With that he turned around, and the Rukh followed him into what seemed like Eternity.