As Alester rushed through the door, he shouted, “Do not kill the host body…” a reminder of one of the many lessons he had imparted upon them about the Jinn. The sword of the mysterious stranger stopped at the base of Fredrick’s neck. As blood trickled from a small nick of the flesh, the group began to withdraw. Alester called to Leo, who took off towards Helen, after remanding Liza into Alester’s care. Brit rushed out and delivered his best hay-maker, followed by a solid knee, to Fredrick’s head. Brit continued to bear-down on his target, driving him to the ground by force alone, so that he might find purchase to break his opponents back. In the mean time, Leo had run over to employ his new found strength and the fiery power burning within him. In fact, he had never felt such power before, and even as he grasped the chain it began to glow from the heat pouring out of his hands. Leo pulled as the heat softened the metal, now stretching in his hands like taffy, before it finally snapped apart. Leo absorbed the remaining heat from the end still attached to Helen, before lifting her into his arms and carrying her towards the door. It was almost over, as soon as everyone made it back through the door, they would all be safe.

Alester had told all of them everything he knew about the Jinn. He stated that they where once prideful beings, who reveled in their identities. At the center of this pride was not the power they commanded to perform miracles, but the names that had been given to them by God. They wish to be known for their deeds, for their names to be recognized. This desire for personal glory would cause them to act according to their own will, and eventually give in to their own desires. At first, they began to interpret the will of God as they saw it. They interpreted the instruction given to them, and took initiative on what they imagined to be God’s intention. Before long they began to act on their own. Though they continued to carry out the task assigned to them, they also did as they pleased when they were not occupied by their duties. It seemed God was unconcerned with this, until they took wives from among the daughters of men. This act split the loyalty of the Jinn between their own desires and God’s will. In time, God appeared before the most powerful of their descendants, the Nephilim known as Solomon, and offer him a choice. In return, he gave Solomon the names of the Jinn and the knowledge to use them.

It is believed that Solomon bound 144 Jinn. 78 were bound by Arcana and sealed away. The strongest among those were bound into the 22 extra-dimensional prisons forged by god and sealed by Solomon, while the remaining 56 were sealed with elemental magic into various vessels. The weakest among them numbered 66, and were made subservient to Solomon, who was a great magician. He could subjugate them by name alone, and would ultimately bind those names to the book of Solomon. Though weak compared to other rebel Jinn, they were still powerful and dangerous creatures by human standards. At Solomon’s command they could be used in mass to capture his larger prey. Though many would be consumed in the attempts, they would be restored by Solomon’s power over them. Though the loss of their true bodies meant that they could only exist if summoned by a powerful mage, which at the time further enslaved them to Solomon. At least this was true of the lowly order of Jinn which Solomon commanded. However, those bound by Arcana were so powerful that they could exist for a time even under their own power. This was also true of the Jinn who had possessed Fredrick, and though Leo had stolen a substantial amount of his power… he still possessed enough to unleash a terrible wrath if released from his host body.

Fortunately and unfortunately, the nature of possession was such that the remnants of the host’s life force was the mechanism by which the Jinn was bound in demon form. Jinn had a way of preserving this, even if great harm were to come to the host body, and the more powerful the Jinn the more harm they could endure without losing their host. However, this Jinn was losing interest in preserving the host life force. In fact, he was on the verge of consuming it, if only to unleash his vengeance on the fools who had dared to take such actions against him. At the very least, he imagined a few of them to be Arcana bearers. If he could kill them here, there replacement might be easier prey for his brothers.

The Jinn had made a decision, and soon his host fell lifeless as the body burst into flames. Brit and the swordsmen fell back, as the demon rose from the ashes like a phoenix being borne anew. “Hurry, everyone hurry!” Alester screamed, fore he knew these fledglings were not yet prepared for the fight to come. “Iya…” he called. As if on queue, Iya’s puppets appeared to distract if not hold off the monster making its appearance before them. These were full manifestation, not the paper dolls which she had toyed with until now, dolls which would have burned away in an instant. Dragons of the sky and the sea, forming before them, and bringing with them a rising storm. The sky was even now beginning to darken, further infringing on the Jinn’s advantage. But even this would not be enough to gain them victory, instead they hoped only to occupy their foe and avoid losses, they hoped only to escape… and as the Jinn tangled with the two pets that Iya had conjured, escape is what they did. Leo and Brit were the last to pass back into the halls which lied beyond the doorway, as furious gouts of steam continued to fill the air as the two elemental forces clashed. Each time, sundering large portions of the dragons’ bodies, and rendering the Jinn ever more exhausted. They wouldn’t stick around to witness the final outcome of this battle, as it was already clear, and the dragons had served their purpose already. They would regroup back at their sanctuary, reflect on how fortunate they had been, and of course settle up with Double Down… the mercenaries duo Ace had enlisted to act as backup.