(Author's Note: This story is actually from "http://enterthemall.com", which seems to be going away soon. I wrote quite a bit of it there (usually going back and forth with another writer), so I didn't want it to go away soon too and not have the chance to add more. I figured that since that site was supposed to be a Fiction Branches Beta of sorts, that this site should be the place to make a copy of it. Also, this episode was previously, for the most part, written by EL Refresho, with some minor errors fixed.)
John had finished his invention - the invention that would solve all of his problems.
He had created a magic lamp, like the kind one would see in any number of genie stories. It probably didn't have quite the beauty of some of those lamps and instead looked rather plain, almost like a cheap toy. But then, it wasn't what was on the outside that mattered, but what was inside that counted. That's what the movies said anyway. There was one last ingredient that was missing - the genie herself. According to the ancient scrolls he used, though, the lamp would take care of that itself. All John had to do was get someone to rub the vessel and they would become a genie, bound forever to the lamp, forced forever to serve and obey the lamp's owner, whoever that may be.
John carefully put on a pair of gloves and grabbed the lamp. Then he stepped outside and went looking for his new genie.
