"Ah, you flattered this hinn too much, Ezlām." She smiled. "That was purely my brute force, the fruit of my hard work all this years. Wasn't related to gawhar el-ḥayā at all. Anyway, back to the topic."
"There was a variety of rituals and methods that could be resulted this guy's condition." She pointed her finger to the king cobra in Ezlām's lap. "It was so many, that every shei' around the globe, despite our difference in any way possible, agree to left it behind.
"So, if you expect answers from me, I couldn't grant you that. I didn't know either. You should figure out yourself."
"Why you left them behind? I mean, we could get anything unbelievable if we harness this technique."
She sighed heavily, it felt like she couldn't believe that this shayṫān in front of her defended that useless technique to the death.
"It's time consuming, Ezlām. We need to figure out everything ourself; the conditions, the restrictions, even our imagination should be very wild to emphasize the impact.
"In the other way, To utilize the astral energies we had, there was a lot more rituals and techniques that could be done in a very short time. Let me show you."
She raised her hand slightly, facing her palm up.
"Ya dāmset eṣ-ṣaḥra elly mabterḥamsh, hāti en-nār elly matṭafāsh lel 'abd el-miskīn elly 'albuhā nār!¹"
Suddenly, a bloom of crimson light kissed her palm, danced upon her outstretched hand, casting a warm and ethereal glow.
Ezlām's eyes darted from the flame to her face, a silent question etched in every line of his stunned expression. "You did a magic?!"
"Of course!" She raised her other hand to show off her skill. "It's called siḥr, by the way."
"Ya ṣaḥrā el-'āsiya elly mabetraḥamsh, eddi el-'abd el-ḥa'īr ṡaleg mayen'amsh ḥatta law en-nār etla'b bīyah!²"
A whisper of winter, a big fragile star of ice, floating above that palm with its fleeting grace, sending a colder chilling sensation then the air itself throughout Ezlām's spine.
"You could even cast two type of different magic in one time?! What a mastery!"
What he had just seen made him think. Based on his experience reading novels and comics in this type of tropes, something like this would be achieved after having a very great understanding of magic and mana itself.
Which means, she is strong as she claimed.
She waved her hands. The flames and ice flowers on her palms disappeared. "There was a ton of stronger shei' that could do something more incredible then what you witness. And none of them used manifestation technique.
"I was aware that our deal not included this. But, since I was interested in you a little bit, I can teach you one or two techniques you could use for combat."
He touched his chin. "There must be something I should do to perform those type of techniques, right?"
She smiled slightly and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she looked so obedient. Like some loyal servant in front of her master. "It was so simple. The very first thing you need to do was to worship one of the seven gods."
Ejrām opened her eyes and fixed her lewdly gaze to Ezlām's eyes excitedly. "I recommend you to worship Balsameth, the god of lust and desire. He would make you strong by bestowing many incredible spells. You didn't need to do your own research to find out which spells suits you. He would bestow you all of that."
"And what was the costs?"
She smiled, her fingers touched her private body parts excitedly. "That was very easy. The first condition is that we must rape the enemy we have defeated. This is the first condition that must be done so that he counts us as his worshipers.
"Then the second, we must have sex regularly in a certain period of time. In my case, I have to enjoy the warmth of a man's body at least fourteen times in a week."
That mean twice a day, snake head! That's why you act like a whore!
"That was very simple, right? And also, that could fulfill our desires. For human, it's like eating at a restaurant, but instead of paying, you are being paid!" Her smile widened. "Were you interested in my offer? If you so, I can take you to the nearest Balsameth shrine right now, and met his apostle."
He didn't have to think too much about the answer to that question. When "worship" was mentioned, the answer immediately came into Ezlām's head.
A big no no.
He knew that he wasn't a very religious man even back in his world. But, There was and always be one God that he would pray to. The one who created everything and anything from nothingness. The true God that has the right to be worshipped.
And take a look at the conditions.
Raping a corpse? That was some immoral deeds that could lead to a mental disorder that worsen one's life. Had sex twice a day? That was contra productive.
If you mingle your life around this kind of stuff, then your entire life and decisions could be based on your lust.
It must be great to not become a virgin anymore. But became a mental Ill sex addict? Big no no.
"I'm sorry but I wasn't interested in your offer. I'll carve my own path. I couldn't tell you the exact reason, but to conclude it all, that was because of my believe and background."
She crossed her arms over her chest, making her large assets squeezed and look even more terrifying. "Well, that was understandable. You're basicly a new born shayṫān after all. At the end of the day, Balsameth him self never forced anyone to worship him."
He changed the subject before Ejrām could bring some sexual related one. Or any worship related one off course. "You mentioned about shei' and hinn before. Can you tell about that?"
"Ah, right. I was distracted. So, shei' was a common nickname given by humans to creatures like us. Like humans call themselves humans. Among us shei', there was a ton of kind."
"Like the djinns, right?" he asked.
"Yup. Actually, hinn is the closest relative to djinn among other shei'. I don't know which one of us 'appeared' first, but we share some common traits like can be seen or unseen to the normal human eyes, able to possessed human, so on, and so on.
"Also, we had a lot of differences here and there. And the most different one is, we hinns had an animal form."
He furrowed his bold eyebrows. "Hold up. If I'm not mistaken, the djinns could transform into an animal too, right?"
She shook her head. "At first glance yes, it sounds similar. However, we hinns could only be transforming to one type of animal that bound to our souls from our birth." She pointed to the thousands of rattlesnakes around them.
"Like me and my people around you. We could only transform to a rattlesnake. No matter how hard we tried, how strong the god who we worshipped, nothing would be changed. And the hinns our self, had so many tribes based on-," she stopped mid sentence, and darted her gaze to the king cobra at Ezlām's lap.
"Could you repeat, little guy?"
Ezlām, who was confused, immediately gave a response. "I said nothing."
"I wasn't talk to you. I'm talking with this cute guy right here." She pointed her finger to the king cobra on Ezlām's lap.
"You could talk to a snake?! What kind- oh," then he realized something. "nevermind. I forgot that you were a snake yourself."
Ejrām seemed to not care about what the man said. Her attention was focused on the king cobra for some solid seconds.
"It's kinda out of topic, but this little guy said that he could be vanished too if you, the one who manifest him and even gave him the gawhar el-ḥayā, didn't gave him a name and more astral energies," she said as she fixed her gaze towards Ezlām. "wow, this is something new for me."
"Not just for you, I guess. Can you ask him the reason behind?" he asked.
"What was the reason, little guy?"
From this moment, Ezlām could hear the very soft hiss that came out from the snake in his lap.
"He said he didn't know either. He had this strong feeling about that after he consumed the gawhar el-ḥayā," she said. "Like he had his awareness unlocked after that."
"Okay. The naming part, it was easy. But how to gave him an astral energy?"
She raised her shoulders slightly. Her face saddened a little bit."You remember that I wasn't a manifestation technique user, right? And even he himself didn't know either."
"Great!" He sighed frustratedly. "Maybe I could figure out something after this. For now, let's begin with the easy one." He rubbed his chin.
After sometime, he found the name that in his opinion, suite this snake very well. He petted the king cobra's head firmly. "How about Gassār, good boy? That name suits you very well."
"Really? Your naming sense was a bit dull."
"He said that?!"
"Of course not. That was me. How could you name this cute little guy by fearless man? Gosh! Even he love the name you gave him so much. Take a look at his blushing face. What are you guys really? A herd of chumps or something?"
"Well, I couldn't see it," he said as he fixed his gaze towards Gassār. "But, since you like this name, I'm gonna call you Gassār from now on, good boy."
And after that, there was only a silent for some solid minutes. Not in an awkward situation. Every one seemed enjoying their time.
Suddenly, Gassār's head raised a little bit, darted his gaze at any directions, slithered down Ezlām's lap, standing and opened his wide shield-like hood.
Not just him.
Every snakes around Ezlām seemed to go alert by something. Including Ejrām. Even some of them slithered fastly to escape that place.
"What happened, guys?" Ezlām asked as he standing.
Ejrām's eyes are wide and darting, pupils dilated as if trying to take in every detail of a perceived threat. Her eyebrows are raised high and pulled together, forming deep furrows on her forehead. Her mouth is likely open slightly, perhaps with a gasp caught in her throat, or the lips might be stretched taut and trembling.
"We attracted the predator." She slapped her head twice. "Damn! Why this stupid brain didn't work sometimes!?"
Well, the side effects of your own worship I guess.
"What? The predator? There's someone dare to hunt a strong hinn like you?" he said.
"The natural predator of my kind. Rakham, a very rare kind of shei'. The gigantic eagles." Her voice began to crumble in fear.
Oh shit.
***
Notes:
(¹) Ya dāmset eṣ-ṣaḥra elly mabterḥamsh, hāti en-nār elly matṭafāsh lel 'abd el-miskīn elly 'albuh nār!
(Translation: O dense, merciless desert, grant unquenchable fire to the poor servant whose heart is fire!)
(²) Ya ṣaḥrā el-'āsiya elly mabetraḥamsh, eddi el-'abd el-ḥa'īr ṡaleg mayen'amsh ḥatta law en-nār etla'b bīyah!
(Translation: O cruel, merciless desert, give this lowly servant snow that will not melt even if fire plays with it!)
***