Foreboding Storm - Chapter 145

“Illusionary Fiery Paradise? That’s where the Jinns originated from?” Princess Qamari’s eyes narrowed and a cold gleam flashed in their depths.

The Dark Jinn dared to attack her, if she said she didn’t want vengeance, then she’d be lying.

“Hmm! The Illusionary Fiery Paradise is the birthplace of the Jinns. Their heart, though one of fire and almost non-existent, beats at the sound of this name. Due to their desire to conquer other realms and universes, the Jinns left behind their home. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to return again because they underestimated their opponents.”

“Leader Ku, why weren’t the Jinns able to return to their homeland? Is it because of the curse?”

“The curse, as powerful as it is, can’t stop the Jinns from returning home. From what I learned the elder Jinn Hunters say, it seems the pathway the Jinns traveled through to reach our world got cut off and destroyed by another outside force. Unless a Jinn or other force unblocks the pathway on the other end, the Jinns will be trapped in the Dark Forest.”

“They are undefeatable, un-killable. If the Jinns manage to free themselves from the Dark Forest, how will mere humans stand up against them?”

“Haha…Qamari, you must remember that there’s always a balance in the world. The Jinns are trapped in the Dark Forest and they can’t leave from there without assistance or more specifically, without a Marikeen’s help. But even if they do, humanity isn’t without hope. The maiden of kind nature and innocent heart has the ability to banish any darkness or curse. She also has the ability to end a Jinn.”

“End a Jinn? Do you mean a Marikeen has the ability to kill a Jinn?” Princess Qamari was shocked. Before today, she’d never heard there was a being that could kill a Jinn. In the entire Seven realms, the Jinns were the most dreaded beings, even more so than the magical beasts, because they were practically un-killable.

But Leader Ku was saying a Marikeen could kill a Jinn…? Was that even possible?

“I didn’t say kill, but said end. There’s a difference. A Marikeen doesn’t possess formidable powers or outstanding force that could kill a being made out of fire. In fact, no one possesses this ability. A Marikeen’s greatest power is her golden heart that allows her to see through deception, sense the ill-intentions of other beings, and her ability to banish anything dark, evil, and vile without conscious thought.”

“Since a Marikeen loves every creature, she won’t raise a hand to kill a Jinn…unless she had no other choice.”

“Leader Ku, it means she can…end…a Jinn when her hand is forced, right?” Princess Qamari stammered the word, wondering if there was a hidden meaning to it that she couldn’t understand.

“I can see you’re conflicted. You don’t need to overthink the matter. If a Marikeen is forced, she has the ability to return a Jinn to its original form, fire, without killing it. The Jinn will no longer have a physical body. They’ll be placed in a spiritual sort of existence where they would only be able to float around. But their conscious and previous life memories remain intact.”

“A Marikeen can’t kill, she can only remove the vile…”

“Correct. A Marikeen’s greatest ability comes from her golden heart, which heals, mends, and restores damaged hearts, injured bodies, and shattered souls. With a golden heart like that, she wouldn’t have what it takes to kill. But she can manipulate her magic to end a Jinn by returning him or her to the state they were born in. The state before their corruption and vileness. She can purify him.”

Princess Qamari’s eyes lightened. If she can’t kill, then she won’t kill. But she wanted to find someone that could place the Dark Jinn in its place.

She thought about how she was practicing to be a Marikeen, but she doubted that she was the one. After all, in the Budh Village, she’d cold-heartedly executed the Village Head for his heinous acts.

Moreover, she’d killed wild beasts and magical beasts without care multiple times, placing her own survival, rather than theirs as a priority. So, she wasn’t disillusioned and didn’t believe herself to be a Marikeen.

“Alright, the first lesson today is how to trap a Jinn. As you know, Jinns are creatures of fire. They feel no pain nor get injured by magic or ordinary weapons. In the Seven realms, all magicians can hunt magical beasts, but no magician can trap a Jinn, no matter how powerful.”

“Huh? No magician can trap a Jinn? You’re kidding, right?” If no magicians can trap a Jinn, then how was she going to face the Dark Jinn?

Wouldn’t her training here be all for nothing? A great waste of time?

As if seeing through her thoughts, Leader Ku smiled.

“No magicians can trap a Jinn, but a Jinn Hunter can confront a magical beast. Don’t worry. The training you’ll be undergoing is to become a Jinn Hunter, so you’ll have hope of confronting the Dark Jinn.”

“Good to know…” Truly! If she couldn’t even trap the Dark Jinn, why would she waste time learning about Jinns? Princess Qamari was actually thinking of leaving when Leader Ku’s voice had sounded.

“Let’s go over why the magicians can’t trap the Jinn. This is very simple. Magicians use elemental magic. Without their elemental magic, they’re nothing. When confronted with Jinns, beings who are made out of elemental fire magic, their abilities fall short. Because no matter how powerful their elemental ability is, it can never match the density and concentration of the elemental fire magic the Jinns are made out of.”

“It’s because the disparity between the elements is too huge to deal him any harm.”

“Correct! The elemental fire the Jinns are made of is at least a thousand times greater in both quality and quantity to be damaged by the measly elemental abilities the magicians wield. Now let’s talk about the Jinn Hunters. Why do you think that a weak Jinn Hunter can confront a Jinn better than a fire attributed magician, or any other magician, that is ten times stronger than the Jinn Hunter?”

“It can’t be because of their elemental abilities. There must be something in the chains the Jinn Hunters wield that restricts the Jinns?” It was the only thing she could think of…

“You’re right. This is the reason why Jinn Hunters can confront Jinns. Because the chains the Jinn Hunters wield contain a property that can restrict and injure the Jinns. This property is actually the water elemental ability. It is only changed and magnified in a way that could restrict and harm the Jinns.”

“The water elemental ability? This…the magicians with water elemental abilities won’t be able to harm the Jinns?” If water was the property in the chains that restricted the Jinns, couldn’t the elemental water ability magicians surrender and confront the Jinn in greater numbers?

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s the same I thought when I took my first lesson, but no. Greater numbers of elemental water magicians and higher elemental energy levels won’t make a difference in confronting a Jinn. Because the elemental water energy in the Jinn Hunters chains isn’t the only elemental ability in the chains. Light and Dark elemental abilities are mixed in as well.”

“Light and Dark. Then the Jinn Hunters chains are made out of the three elemental abilities?”

“The Jinn Hunters chains are made of the three elemental abilities. I know you’re a magician. As an apprentice, by now you must have realized the scarce number of light elemental ability wielders there are. Dark elemental ability is very easy to find, but light…?”

Princess Qamari recalled the way the Magical Stones allocation elder had looked at her when she said she was a light elemental ability. Because of the scarce number of light elemental abilities, Princess Qamari had even received greater quantities of Magical Stones because there wasn’t anyone else to compete with her for them.

“Because of the shortage, or lack, of light elemental abilities, the Jinn Hunters chains are crafted by the Association of Jinn Hunters. They are magicians that graduated from magical academies and focus solely on hunting down Jinns. The highest members of their association are three, thousand-year-old light magic ability wielders. These three monsters have been consuming longevity fruits to extend their lives because there are no other light elemental magicians to replace them.”

“Are you serious!?” Thousand year old? They might as well be as old as Snow!

“Hard to believe, right? But that’s the truth. The changes in the Seven realms Heart of Realms might have a hand in it, but the elemental light has decreased by a great margin. Now, light elemental abilities are as scarce as Marikeens, because only one seems to appear in a thousand years.”

Princess Qamari remembered that the elders of the Sealand academy always looked strangely at her. At that time, she thought it was because of her stunning healing abilities.

But now…she couldn’t help but shiver.

If those old fogies were planning to send her to the Association of Jinn Hunters to replace those three-thousand-year-old monsters?

“The chains of the Jinn Hunters also have ancient runes on them that amplify the elementals water, light, darkness contained in it to a thousand times. When we throw the chains on the Jinns, the amplified elemental abilities pass through its natural physical shield and douse the flames raging in its heart. This causes them to experience real pain and could weaken them to the point where we can chain for eternity. But that’s only if we’re successful in capturing the Jinn.”

Leader Lu withdrew his chains and flung them in the air. A violent gust of wind blew, lifting Princess Qamari’s white robes and headcover in the air.

The princess was caught off guard by the leader’s sudden action, but remained calm and held her headcover in place. Then she lifted her head and gaped.

There, floating in the center of the sky was the long Jinn Hunters chain. It radiated might and a formidable force that wasn’t any lower than the one she perceived from the Dark Jinn.

What was breathtaking was the way the chains coiled and swirled on their own, as if they were sinuous serpents in a realm of their own, responding to an enthralling melody only they could hear.

“The chains are very difficult to activate because they require the infusion of elemental energy. But any Jinn Hunter, no matter what their elemental ability is, needs to possess at least one of the three elemental abilities contained within the chain to activate it. As a water elemental ability user, I can use my elemental water to activate the chain.”

Princess Qamari smiled.

She was a light elemental ability so activating the chains wouldn’t be a problem for her. But the chains were so complex and overwhelming. She wondered if her level 1 Stage 3 Elemental Flushing would be enough to wield them.

As if hearing her thoughts, Leader Ku responded in an eerily gleeful tone.

“Another reason why magicians can’t confront Jinn Hunters, but Jinn Hunters can confront magical beasts is because, to face magical beasts, a magician only needs to be level 2 Stage 1 Elemental Drawing to face magical beasts. But a Jinn Hunter needs to be at least level 2 Stage 4 Elemental Fusion magician to face a Jinn.”

Lev…level 2 Stage 4!?

Princess Qamari’s eyes went wide as she stared at Leader Ku like he was a lunatic. At that moment, she couldn’t help but suspect the man’s sanity. Otherwise, she didn’t have any other explanation for his decision to train her when her elemental ability was so low.

But…

“Leader Ku…you, are you above level 2 Stage 4 Elemental Fusion?” She suspiciously asked.

“Of course. Why else would I lead a team of Jinn Hunters to the most nefarious of Jinns, the Dark Jinn.”

The heavens! She wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t said it…

“Anyways, these Jinn Hunter’s chains are yours from now on.”

“M….mine!?” If she was only shocked earlier, she was now shocked senseless!