Genie story back up

  Eric is flabbergasted as he paces his living room. The blue belly dancer genie is back, and a woman walking through doorway portals dressed in a buisiness suit had brought her back as if she was assigning Shanna community service.

  "There is one thing," says Eric I want to ask, "when we first met you said you couldn't alter the timeline to grant a wish; yet when I wished tha New York be freed from those demons over running it like it never happened; you did; no one remembers any of it, everywhere they destroyed was restored, and even everyone killed by them was alive again. So you can alter history?"

  "Oh no," says Shanna, "I simply banished the overlords back to their own realms, removed the excess monsters or destroyed them in the target area; so many low level crawling things easier to just exterminate; restored damaged structures, revived the dead linked to death by supernatural forces within the time frame; simple enough to access the Ledger of the Dead to figure that out; and altered the memories of those involved. Which has been trickier than expected, there were some lingering hold outs protected by magic and technology that should not have been on this world. However as I had acted against beings even more powerful than myself while they were in demon avatars and thus vulnerable to me; some of the overlords not all of them of course; I was removed from this world till they decided what to do...and The Traveler has brought me back. So we can continue on as if none of that ever happened. Even those men who attacked your home before now have no idea I am here and lack the means they had before to be alterted to the presence of and track beings such as myself.

  "So, there are no more monsters in the world?" asks Eric

  "Oh, of course there still are, I just cleared up the demons of the nether realms that were pouring into this reality. There are plenty more monsters in this world." answers Shanna

  "So," says Eric, "could I wish for no more supernatural creatures...I mean..." he pauses a moment remembering who is talking to is a supernatural creature and the rule against any wish that is intended to try and harm her, "ones that prey on human beings."

   "Sorry no," says Shanna floating in the air crossing her legs, "that goes against the rules."

  "I...how?" asks Eric remembering the rules Shanna told him.

  "Oh, right,:" says Shanna mocking a thoughtful expression, "I only told you the rules that would produce strikes against you. There are other rules, alot actually, but humans making wishes seldom hit them; I never said I was going to tell you ALL the rules after all. Well to be precise, I am not permitted to directly or knowingly indirectly cause the extinction of any species. On that subject there is a newer rule come to think of it where I cannot directly or knowingly indirectly cause the rise or fall of any mortal civilization. In short you can't wish to destroy a country or create a new one. If you were to wish to be king for instance I would have to get very creative unless you tried to be really specific, in which case some of those I would have to tell you I couldn't grant that wish. Of course I could always turn you into a talking dog named King or send you to another reality where that rule doesn't apply for instance; among various options."

  "Got it," says Eric, "if I may...why is that a rule?"

  "I am not alone," answers Shanna in an ominous tone, "as you saw. If one were to break that rule, others may be permitted to as well, and you would have beings that could rightfully declare themselves GODS backing specific nations, cultures, and going to war against each other; in such cases as these gods cannot be perminently harmed or killed it would be the mortals that suffered. I was sealed away before this rule was made, so yeah, given how often mortals wish for money and power i probably should have mentioned that rule up front."

   Eric thinks for a moment and speaks aloud seemingly to himself despite Shanna floating there, "I remember there being a rule about not altering the past, so I didn't think you'd answer my wish to have none of that happen; so to be clear you granted the wish for none of that demon lord stuff to have happened by instead restoring structures, reviving the dead, and altering people's memories. But what about this new rule about not helping or preventing civilizations from rising or collapsing?"

   Shanna *shrugs* and rolls over in the air, a blue mist forming around her feet and under her like a bed of blue clouds holding her aloft, "The Overlord Tournament is held so that demons and underworld gods can compete to decide whose realm of death and or torment coincides with a specific location, a country, land mass, planet; and so on; there was no guarantee their battles would cause this civilization; albeit I am conflicted if it really qualifies as a single civilization for this rather large and diverse country; but I digress, to collapse. That isn't their goal. They could fight in secret or make sure everyone knows what horrors await them in the here after making their name known to the people. How some myths of terrible under world gods get started despite their absence in the day to day lives of the people. So no, undoing their damage didn't qualify; that and the stipulation is being directly trying to do either thing with a mortal civilization; trust me Eric, I just had this long discussion with...well...beings you are better off not knowing about directly to prevent any, shall we say, narrative reason for them to pop into your life. Ignorance can save you after all."

  "I don't wish for ingnorance," says Eric, "I wish to know, are there any monsters near us right now."

  Shanna smiles, "wish granted, yes. Also heads up that word is very vague and extremly poorly defined, so is the word near if I am being honest."

  Eric thinks for a moment before replying, "Okay, I wish to be able to sense when supernatural beings are within thirty feet, as in the measurement feet, of me in any given direction; as well as able to tell what they are and how powerful they are; and along with that I also wish to be able to see supernatural things that have turned invisible and have a mental filter so I know they are invisible."

  Shanna smiles and does a little dance wiggling her hips and claps her hands, a blue mist comes over Eric and when it clears his eyes go wide and he takes a step back, "oh..oh that's you I am sensing; holy shit and..."

   He looks around, "what, what are those, they're small, weak...my sense is telling me they are small invisible things and mostly harmless; animals; but no name."

  "Knowing what something is," says Shanna, "and knowing what others have named them is not the same thing. You know that they exist, that they are small, animals, and harmless. That is knowing what they are. Personally I have found such creatures when known about are often refered to by locals by a wide variety of names based on their actions and local lore. They slip in and out of dimensions."

  Eric blinks, "guess that will take some getting used to."