Hello everyone out there!
First thing for you to know that I only own my OC's and the pictures I post! Magi is the work of Ohtaka Shinobu, may there be more volumes and an end before she reaches 700 chapters! Anyway, the original plot and the characters belong to her and it's great she shared Magi with us.
Second, my main OC speaks with British accent while I use a kind of American English, so those are no grammar mistakes but intentionally done.
Third, for those who haven't read that far: this work will contain spoilers.
Fourth, and references to other manga, games, songs, books, goods you use in daily life etc. They will be set italic so you can sort them out. I do not advertise them, it's just that my OC and I are kind of nerdy.
Even so, please have a fun time reading!
Second chance
Day 1 Meeting my first djinn
"How dare you!"
That stupid smartphone had no reception in underground tunnels. Lenka whined and shook the device furiously. She had taken a peek at the raws of Magi Chapter 260 for fun just to see the first page showing her favorite villain – and then the site had no connection to the server anymore. Maybe it was a sign of god for her to stop being obsessed with manga and anime and gaming. Or maybe it was just the imbecile tunnel under London.
Her long blonde hair was tied into low twintails with three different colored scrunchies on each side and a creme-white bobble-beanie with two red badges sat loosely on her head. The bobble shook as Lenka tilted her head to stare at the device more intense.
"Please do what I order you to do, you stupid phone. I even watched the Japanese anime to hear his name pronounced right. Please let me read further, I want to know if he dies or not."
The elderly lady that sat opposite of her gave Lenka a strange look before she stood up and sat down a few meters away from her.
"That's rude, Ma'am," Lenka smiled at the other woman then she continued to torture her phone.
The subway stopped, the doors opened, people swarmed outside and even more into the carriage. A redheaded girl in a black trench coat and red Doc Martens sat down on the empty seat across from Lenka. Her cheeks were flushed pink after standing outside in the cold air for so long.
"Morning Topaz. How long did you play yesterday? You look tired. It really is bloody cold for February."
Lenka shook a streak of blonde hair out of her eyes and glared at the other girl.
"I do not look tired, Micaela. I played until eleven o'clock, that's not night yet."
Micaela chuckled and played with her lip piercing.
"Skyrim, wasn't it? What's the matter with your phone? Did it crack?"
Lenka shook her head and put it in her bag.
"I surfed the net and the stupid tunnel made it loose connection to the server. I have got my charger with me, so I will to load it during the lesson. So, what's more important," Lenka leaned forward, Micaela did as well, "My father wants to marry me off."
"He wants to do what?" shrieked the redhead and Lenka flinched backwards while other passengers stared at the couple and started to murmur. Yet this wasn't a reason for Micaela to lower her voice.
"This is not eighteen hundred and so on, he can't do as he pleases! You're eighteen already, nineteen in a few months, aren't you?!"
Lenka nodded furiously.
"I know, I came home yesterday and he called me into the office and that woman, you know, my stepmother, was there too. I just heard him say blah blah blah noblesse oblige blah blah stop studying blah blah blah old enough blah blah going to marry. And then he told me I had to meet the first candidate this evening! That was like - bang! And now it feels like my life is kind of over, you know?"
Micaela sharply sucked her breath in and scowled.
"What has he against you studying medicine, my ass? You didn't even have to wait a semester! What does he want from you? Plus, don't you have a boyfriend, haven't you?"
Lenka shrugged and started to play with her scarf.
"Obviously me marrying a rich guy and giving birth to the future heir of the company. And no, no longer. Cal dumped me. Yesterday. Via SMS."
"That is really greedy and incredibly dumb. Blockheads, both your father and Cal. Don't worry, Topaz," the friend grabbed her hand, eyes sparkling. "You can move in for living with me in my flat anytime! Or we could move to New Zealand or Alaska and make a living there!"
"You would abuse me with making me wear your self-made outfits, Ruby-style," Lenka agitated. Micaela pouted.
"That's so not true! I've won a competition with that turquoise dress! You're wearing the wooly hat I made as a present for you for last Christmas!"
The blonde stood up and stretched. The long green pullover skidded upwards to reveal the jeans skirt Lenka wore underneath. Micaela sighed envious.
"I'd hang you up for that jacket. And those shoes."
Grinning Lenka inspected her new high-top sneakers and brushed imaginary dust off the short black jacket. She gripped her backpack tighter and stepped to the door.
"Let's get going, Ruby. We will be able to get some coffee before the lessons start."
"That sounds great to me."
The doors opened when reaching the next station and the young women were swept outside the carriage. Going with the flow of the commuters leaving the station they took the long escalator upwards to the surface. Micaela was still riled up. Her agitation made Lenka smile. Both of them were friends since kindergarten and hadn't lost contact since then, even though they went to different high schools and had different courses in university right now; Micaela studied fashion design. So they still used the code names they had for each other since childhood. She had been her support, in good times and in not so good times.
"Lenny."
Lenka looked down to her friend.
"I said that we should consider you traveling to Japan and searching for the dimensional witch's shop," Micaela said with serious voice. Lenka cracked a smile as she saw the reference to xxxHolic.
"Darling, that is not reality. It's fiction," she said with a soft voice.
"This is not," a male voice answered from a step higher. Lenka received a strong push in the back that made her stumble forward. Someone pushed her legs up and Lenka felt cold air on her face as she lost contact to her footing. The floor raced towards her or she raced towards the floor and the last thing she was able to notice was Micaela screaming her name. And then everything went black.
Lenka was floating in darkness when she woke up. Was she dead? Please not, she thought.
"I don't want to be dead! OnePiece still isn't finished and Magi as well! I wanted to start reading Bleach and finish Skyrim's main campaign! I haven't seen my siblings grow up and Mica opening the fashion week! I don't want to die!"
Wake up, child, a soft voice susurrated. Start your new life protecting the light.
She groaned and raised an eyelid. There was something shiny floating before her. Lenka sat up so fast she nearly lost her beanie. The floating thing was a glowing bird's figure.
"Is this... Rukh?" she whispered with amazement.
Stretch out your hand. Accept my request, the voice continued. It seemed to be male to Lenka's ears and she thought of having a guess.
"King Solomon?"
More Rukh appeared and started to flutter around her. Lenka swallowed and stretched a hand out to touch them. The white birds landed on her fingers, her sleeves; their touch was warm and friendly and reminded her of her mother's touch. A tingly sensation shot through her body; a burst of energy. Memories stared to pop up in her mind and some of them weren't her own. The voice chuckled.
You are loved by them but not a chosen one protected by them. Change destiny to the light's favor and see your wish granted. Protect the ones choosing kings, my warrior.
"Wish? Wait! Hey!"
Lenka jumped forward against something hard that gave in when she hit it and she stumbled from the darkness into a vast room. A room she was somehow familiar with. At least she had seen it before. Her jaw dropped.
"Holy fucking shit. The sacred palace."
She threw her hands up in amazement.
"Tell me I'm dreaming. Am I really fucking standing in the sacred palace..."
"You do," an amused voice confirmed.
Lenka swirled around to see a huge blue giant sitting atop of a stair. He wore only a loincloth and was kind of handsome. And she knew his face.
"This... Oh my god. You're Ugo, aren't you? And you still have a body. Is Aladdin here? Or did you send him off already? I can't believe it," she shook her head in disbelief, then took a few steps and kicked a pillar with her instep. The pillar cracked and Lenka yelped.
"Goddammit! That bloody hurt!" she hissed. Then her face brightened up and she turned back to the djinn.
"It's reality! Or I'm drugged really well! Great!"
Ugo smiled gently yet a bit afflicted.
"This is reality, so please refrain from damaging this pillar any further. King Solomon's will and the Rukh brought you here, dimension traveler, to have you and your knowledge helping Aladdin and the other Magi to prevent the downfall of this world."
Lenka stared at him with saucer-eyes.
"I'm really here and hearing this. That's so unbelievable."
She shook her head really fast, then remembered the wooly hat she was wearing and tugged it back in the right place.
"Do I have to conquer dungeons? Can I conquer dungeons? As an alien, I mean."
The djinn nodded.
"I expect you to do so. Even if you call yourself 'alien' the quantity and purity of your magoi rivals that of a high-ranked magician of this world. Feel free to capture as many dungeons as you can."
"Yes!" Lenka pushed her fist up. "Conquering dungeons and beating evil people up! I'll love this world! So," she tilted her head. "Where can I finds the exit please?"
Ugo seemed to be amused of her joyful outburst.
"I will send you into a dungeon right away. That one seems to be appropriate. I wish you well."
She gave him her brightest smile just to see his face blush a bit.
"Thank you, Ugo. I hope we will meet again."
"Two things are to mention before you will leave the sacred place. First, you have been reborn without loosing your old body and have therefore obtained wisdom."
Lenka swallowed.
"Solomon's …?"
The blue giant raised a corner of his mouth.
"And the second: please look after Aladdin for a bit. He's a stranger in this world as well and I'm a kind of... worried about him."
"Don't worry, my brother is about the same age; plus, I'm good with children," she nodded. Ugo raised this hands and Rukh started to pour in from every corner of the room. They filled Lenka's field of vision until everything was white.
"Good luck with your first dungeon, dimension traveler Lenka."
It was hot. Lenka opened her eyes and immediately started to pull off her vest, scarf and pullover. She stuffed everything into her backpack while carefully observing her surroundings. Apparently she was at the end of a dark cavern, but after reading and watching the Magi series she knew that dungeons came in every kind of form. She heaved up the bag to close it while walking and strapped it to her back. God bless those skateboards-wear designers. Their products were big and good for stuffing things. And bless Solomon for letting her keep her personal belongings.
Lenka walked for nearly twenty minutes until she arrived in the first big cavern. Two basins filled with strange white and blue flames filled the room with light. Multiple door frames covered the wall on the other side. A stone board with strange symbols stood in the center. Lenka walked up to the monument. She was sure she wouldn't be able to read toran language but she knew her arithmetic.
The cavern was shaped like a half circle up on a equilateral triangle, like a wafer; she turned up from the tip of the triangle, point A, that was on the same line as the stone board, point M like middle. The triangles other points B and C were where the fire bowls were located. They produced light. The stone block produced shade. Lenka walked around the monument, then ran back to make a photo of the inscription; toran inscriptions could be very useful if she ever had the misfortune to meet certain characters of the known Magi universe.
Lenka took the only door fame right behind the stone block following line g that divided the room into symmetric counterparts; and that was the correct one. The inscription she was unable to read had said: there is a narrow path between true and false, black and white, good and evil. The light might deceive you and so does the darkness.
Her new path led her down further into the dungeon and grew hotter with every meter she descended. Soon she reached the next cavern. It was a burning tar pit. The whole cave was filled with white and blue flames that burned on each side of a small path. Another toran table stood in front of her; the inscription was pictured as well. Lenka sighed.
"I'm sure you want to test how brave I am, because the other should test logic thinking," she told the dungeon while tying her hair up in a high ponytail, then pulled her scarf out of the bag and tied it like a mask over her nose. Prepared like this she stepped on the path.
Hot. Hothothothot. Lenka started to run. Years of training martial arts, ballet and rhythmic gymnastic had made her fast and raised her stamina to nearly unknown heights. She zigzagged through the sea of fire until she was breathless. She continued to run. Stopping would mean smoke poisoning. Stopping would mean defeat. Stopping would mean surrendering to the hellish fire of the dungeon. Death. Lenka hated defeat. Being useless was the worst thing she could imagine. Unable to do something. She always thought she would resemble a manga hero if she followed her own codex. Never surrender. Oaths once given shall never be broken. Choose your fate instead of letting someone else choose.
She would never die in a place like this.
Lenka burst through a cloud of smoke and raced into the next tunnel. Unable to stop she skidded forward until she met a wall. Feeling a slight breeze she pulled the scarf away and inhaled deeply. Coughing the girl sank down on her knees, unfastened her bagpack and crawled a few steps away to throw up into a corner. She had always hated the procedure of being physically sick, but knowing that her body used this to get rid of the poison and smoke particles she endured. After a while she wiped off her face with a clean spot of her scarf and threw it against the wall; it was ruined after protecting her face from the smoke. In her bag she found her full pink one and a half liter Tupperware bottle and drank a few gulps. Then she continued walking.
Slowly the tunnel changed. It didn't look like a cave anymore but rather as if it was made from red bricks. Other tunnels joined hers and made it bigger; when she looked into one of them she saw the skeleton of something... really nasty. At least there were no fire skeletons, she would really have to improvise to kill fire skeletons. Not for the first time in her life she thanked her mother for having her train tae kwon do, judo and fencing. She had done ballet and rhythmic gymnastic for almost fourteen years now, the other for twelve, but she nevertheless had mastered all of them. Like a good daughter of the Sensenmacher household she had endured hellish training to become the perfect heir to the company... perfect heir... Why did she remember this now?
Lenka stopped and turned around. She had walked into the next bigger room. It was very high, fire bowls enlightened the bricks. Lenka sighed and pulled her phone out of her skirts pocket to take a photo of the next inscription. Surprised she put down the device. She was able to read what this one was saying!
"Tell the truth to show your dignity."
Lenka frowned. Should that mean she had to tell verity every time she encountered someone in this dungeon? She shook her head and read out further.
"What is your wish?"
She gave the stone a light headbutt.
"Seriously? And I feared you would have me telling my darkest memories here! Idiot me for not reading the text fully at first!"
Taking a step back the girl exhaled slowly to calm down.
"I don't know if I have a particular wish right now. I'm just doing King Solomon a favor. Or rather I would have done everything he wanted me to do to escape the future that might await me back in my world, so, yeah, I do what he wants me to do and save this world I reckon. Maybe my wish is to become strong enough to oppose my father and protect my siblings or fall in love with someone who truly loves me and have a really nice family when I'm older or-"
The ground began to move and a stone staircase up to the next level appeared.
"Did you do this to tell me to stop talking? You should have kept me silent from the beginning if I annoy you," she complained while climbing upwards. Lenka opened the door she found a few steps behind the stairs and stepped into bright light.
Lenka lost track of time. She wasn't able to say how many hours she had spent walking through the dungeon's necropolis, the empty city, after she had finally passed the main dungeon. Luckily she had managed to keep her clothes intact and nearly clean. They smelled just a little as if she had been too near to a fire. Actually the dungeon had been really soft on her, as if the djinn wanted her to clear it. Or Ugo or Solomon had their fingers in the play. Lost in her thoughts she nearly passed by the giant golden door with the jewel inlay and the eight-pointed star until she realized what that meant and hurried back.
"Okay," she said to the door, "I know that I have to say the right word for you to open. I just can't remember what it was. Let's be friendly: please open up."
Nothing happened.
"Please."
"Alohomora."
"Aperite porta."
That started to annoy her.
"Mellorn."
"I don't know the true name of my soul and I don't want to open the door with blood like they did in Harry Potter! I'm Marlene-Karen Sensenmacher and I live in London, for Fuck's sake!"
Lenka felt anger boiling in her blood. She was really pissed off now.
"Stupid magic door! Stupid me! Forgetting the code word!"
She kicked the door but that did nothing more than making her foot hurt.
"Stupid Arabic manga adaption! … Wait. Arabic. One thousand and one nights."
A grin appeared on her face. She had found the answer.
"Open sesame," she demanded. The door opened slowly. Lenka huffed and stepped into the treasure room.
Gold. Jewels. Swords made from gold and jewels. Lenka feared her eyes would pop out any second. She knew what it meant to be rich. But this treasure was like... wow. Dazzling. She felt a mad giggle rise in her throat but suppressed it; she had to find her djinn first. Lenka turned her head until she saw the stone table on the plateau in the middle of the room and hurried to it. A massive necklace made of gold and platinum with a golden jewel pendant laid on it. The yellow gemstone had the symbol of the eight pointed star on the surface. Lenka swallowed. No turning back now. She reached out and touched the necklace.
An explosion shook the treasure room. After years of training the girl instinctively did a back flip and landed in defensive position, ready to attack.
"WHO IS THE ONE WHO WILL BECOME KING?" a male voice boomed. The djinn was a warrior, that Lenka could see, even though he wore one of that strange stole-like flying cloth things. At least it was on fire on the ends, so it didn't look feminine but rather magical. His torso was bare except for the golden chains that fell down from the horns that grew out of his white spiky hair. His face was really hot, ha ha, pun, his expression a mixture of happiness and dignity. He seemed to be younger than Lenka, around seventeen, but looks were misleading. And freckles as well.
"Ah. It's you. I am the fifty-fifth djinn, Orobas, a spirit of faithfulness and truth, often described as incense. And you will be King."
"Queen," Lenka deadpanned. "I'm a girl. Say, can I really keep all that treasure?"
Orobas stared at Lenka with big eyes while she started to collect gems and stuffed them into her wooly hat. Then he shrank to a size where he was five times larger than her.
"You should be thankful I chose you," he demanded. Lenka turned, walked up to him and petted his big blue hand.
"Thank you for choosing me, Orobas," she smiled. "I am Lenka, actually Marlene-Karen. I'm from another dimension, King Solomon took me here because I was going to die and he seemed to want me protect his Magi and change destiny and stuff. But I know nothing about life, especially living here," she trailed off to inspect a piece of white cloth hanging from a marble statue's arm. "All I have been doing in my world was gaming and reading and shipping."
Orobas blinked.
"Knowing how to navigate a ship is more than other people can do."
Lenka dropped the cloth that unfolded and floated at the height of her belly.
"Not that kind of shipping, but, hey, a magic flying scarf! Lucky me! Stay put, will you?"
She started to pile bags of jewels and gold coins on the fabric while talking to the djinn.
"So, I'm still clueless of what to do. You can give me a hint, can't you? And as my djinn and a spirit of faithfulness you won't lie, isn't that so?"
Orobas pouted.
"Of course I won't lie to my queen or betray her! You shall find a kingdom and destroy the evil of this world!"
"Does this 'evil' has names? Like, particular guys who deserve a good beating or the usual seven sins stuff like envy, hunger, discrimination and sexual harassment? Names please, Orobas," Lenka demanded. The djinn looked pleased. This queen was straight-forward and strong-willed as well as honest and caring, as far as he could assume. A good candidate. A pure vessel.
"The evil organization Al-Thamen. They are mages and warriors fallen into depravity. They want the world to fall as well."
Lenka stared at Orobas for a second then shrugged. He really did tell her the truth, even though she knew everything about this already.
"Okay. You know that I knew this already, did you?"
"I thought so. Your intention of checking how trustful I am being was pretty obvious."
The girl hived another bag of treasure on the flying device.
"Okay then. Al-Thamen. Let's destroy an evil organization. Have they, you know, a kind of emblem or shady bandage with dubious symbol around their arms to show that they belong to Al-Thamen?"
"They do look suspicious," the djinn nodded eagerly. "And their Rukh is black and impure. And they will fight you."
Lenka followed a white Rukh fluttering by with her eyes and poked it. Tingly energy filled her arm.
"How luck I can see Rukh. Okay, let's go kick their impure butts then!"
"Wait, my queen!" Orobas pointed at the necklace. "You need to have a metal vessel so I can travel everywhere with you. If you touch it the dungeon will crumble, though."
"Are you serious? Oi, magic flying scarf, come here, come to mommy!"
The cloth floated to her side, heavily loaded with treasure. The girl hopped on it and sat down on the makeshift seat she had piled.
"Move forward to the necklace please."
Lenka grabbed the jewelry as the magic device was near enough. Instantly the walls began to crumble and Orobas disappeared. A transfer magic circle appeared underneath Lenka's makeshift flying throne and a portal sucked her up. Lenka sighed and ordered the cloth to land on the magic floor. The dungeon grew smaller under her feet while she flew through the dimension. Then she opened the fastener of the necklace, hung it around her neck and hid it under her top. The golden jewel with the eight-pointed star, warm and humming with power, dangled between her breasts now and she could have sworn she heard a pleased sigh.
"Maybe I am imagining things," she mumbled darkly but her eyes sparkled. She had conquered her first dungeon! Lenka had never imagined such a thrill was possible. The danger, the adventure... Dungeon diving had to be considered more dangerous than any other drug.
"When we arrive at the other world we will start training djinn equip! That is going to be fun!"
Then she heard a clinking noise and turned towards it.
"Oh dear."
Apparently the djinn trusted her enough to teleport all of the dungeon's treasure with her. Lenka sighed and stood up to check what she had received.
Thank you for reading! I'll upload the next chapter as soon as possible!
For those who have wondered what Lenka told the door to the treasure room, Alohomora is the unlocking spell from Harry Potter, Aperite porta is Latin meaning 'Open the door' and Mellorn is the password to Moria in Lord of the Rings while the reference with 'the true name of my soul' belongs to Eragon.
Nerd ahoy!
Yours,
TheMultipleMeExperience