Chapter 1:
The traveller comes across a person who is hurt. His feet are burned and cannot walk. Tells the traveller that a relic hunter sent him to retrieve a very rare relic and when he tried to pick up the relic he noticed that his feet were so burned from walking in the desert that he could not continue. He asked the traveller to return the relic to the hunter in the city nearby, get his gold and send help as soon as possible. If the adventurer agrees they can split the gold. The adventurer agrees and travels to the city nearby to give the relic hunter his relic, retrieve the gold and ask for help from the wounded man.
The relic hunter gave the adventurer the gold for the relic and was devastated to hear about the traveller and the incident. He promised to send help immediately. The traveller reminded the relic hunter to keep half of the gold for the wounded man when he returned.
Before the traveller could leave the relic hunter winked at him and asked him if he was in need of more gold. With a promise of gold, the relic hunter asked that the traveller go to a nearby pit to retrieve a second relic.
Convinced by the promise of gold, the traveller agreed. The relic hunter was very excited and reminded the traveller to take a rope.
Chapter 2:
The road to the pit was harsh and warm, but eventually, the traveler arrived at the location the relic hunter indicated. A man stood by the edge, looking down into the pit. The traveler greeted him and asked what he was doing there. The man replied that he was sent by a relic hunter to retrieve a relic, but the relic was down in the pit and his rope was too short to reach it. Looking down into the pit, the traveler noticed figures below that looked like people. A little startled, the man noticed the look on the traveler’s face and told him that it looked like people who had turned to stone. The traveler was shaken and said he was not willing to go down, but the man could have his rope if he really wanted the relic and gold so badly. Without a second thought, the man took the traveler’s rope and tied it to his own, making it long enough to descend into the pit.
Once down in the pit, the man got very excited and ran to the relic, not even looking at the dozens of stoned men and women around it. Once the man touched the relic, a burst of air was released from within. The traveler could feel the cold air from atop the pit and asked the man if he felt the cold air. As the man turned to answer, he turned to stone.
The traveler was so frightened that he fell backward and tried to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. As he got up, the relic hunter stood beside him and told him how sad he felt for the man down in the pit. He explained that the relics were cursed and that he was trying to collect them to break the curse. The traveler had many questions about what had just happened, but the relic hunter assured him that all his questions would be answered once they retrieved the third and final relic.
The relic hunter told the traveler that it should be safe to retrieve the relic now and handed him a purse of gold. With a hungry belly and a family at home, the traveler climbed down the rope and retrieved the relic from the pit. The relic hunter told the traveler not to worry and that he would accompany him to the final relic. As the traveler and the relic hunter walked away from the pit, he looked back and stared at the man in the pit with his devastated expression, carved into stone for eternity.
Chapter 3:
After a few days of traveling, the relic hunter and traveler entered a cave carved into a mountain. “We are close by,” the relic hunter said. As they traversed through the cave, the traveler started to become more and more nervous as he heard the sound of running water close by. Maybe a waterfall? “Finally, we have arrived,” said the relic hunter. They entered a giant room that felt like it was in the middle of the cave. To the right of the giant room was a waterfall, with the shimmer of light coming from the ceiling shining onto the pool of water. In the dead center of the room was a box. On top of the box was the figure of a girl sitting next to it, holding the lid as if her life depended on it.
Getting closer to the box, the traveler saw that the girl’s eyes were pitch black, as if she had looked into something very bright and got burned. She was so thin and malnourished that she must have died of hunger.
Rattled, the traveler moved the girl from the box and tried to open the lid, to no avail. After a few attempts to open or move the box, the relic hunter told the traveler that the box would only open when exposed to something bright. With the little light coming through the ceiling of the waterfall, the traveler asked the relic hunter how they would be able to get the light to the box.
Smiling, the relic hunter said, “With a riddle, of course. Riddle me this: I don’t speak, can’t hear or speak anything, but I will always tell the truth. What am I?”
After some thought, the traveler finally said, “A mirror? Am I right?”
“You are correct, sir,” said the relic hunter. “Maybe there is one in my bag.” The traveler, too tired and nervous to ask questions, took the mirror from the relic hunter’s bag and walked to the waterfall. The traveler placed the mirror in the light, shining the beam cascading off the mirror onto the box. This was easier said than done, but as he moved the light towards the box, for a split second, the light shone over the relic hunter, and what he saw was not human. With giant horns and no legs, the traveler got such a fright that he fell into the pool of the waterfall. As the traveler rose his head out of the water, the relic hunter stood right in front of him.
“See, my friend,” said the relic hunter, “to be set free, I had to deceive you. You were not supposed to see what you just saw.”
“What are you?” the traveler screamed.
“I am what you humans call a djinn or a genie. A granter of wishes, as they say. The thing is, I cannot grant a wish without consequences. Nothing in life is that simple or that easy, you see. To be set free, I had to grant three wishes.”
“The first man wanted to be fast, with blazing feet. I told him to retrieve a relic and I would grant his wish—but never to speak of my true identity. The second man wanted to be as strong as a rock, fearless and powerful, so I told him to retrieve the relic by the pit but tell nobody of my true identity.”
“And the poor girl at the box?” asked the traveler.
“She wanted all things shiny—gold, silver, and diamonds.”
“So she was blinded when she opened the box,” said the traveler.
“Correct,” replied the genie.
“You, my friend, will free me and rid this world of my kind—just open the box.”
“Why not do it yourself?” shouted the traveler.
The genie sighed and said that as there are three wishes, there are three rules. He must grant three different wishes to three different people, retrieve the three consequences of the wishes, and never assist humans directly in solving the consequences. They must figure this out themselves. If you fail to follow these rules, you will stay a genie forever.
The traveler now understood why the genie gave him the riddle and did not tell him directly about the mirror.
“Why would I free you if this is how you deceive humans?” said the traveler.
“If you do not, more people will suffer the consequences of their wishes.”
After giving it some thought, the traveler decided to let the genie free if he promised that he would not hurt any other human beings.
“Is that a wish?” asked the genie.
“No, it is a demand—do you agree?” answered the traveler.
The genie agreed, and as the traveler shone the light onto the box, the box flipped open, and with a whoosh of wind coming from the box, the genie disappeared into thin air.
“I must be dreaming,” said the traveler. “What just happened?”
As the traveler walked quickly to his belongings to retrieve his bag, he felt it was much heavier than before. Inside the bag were three pots of gold, silver, and diamonds…
Inspired by the quest line in Diablo IV.
