The Second Djinn Remnant

**The Second Djinn Remnant** shows herself to Arthur shortly after he reached the Second Ruin.

## Appearance

The second Djinn that Arthur met has glowing purple eyes. She was barely five feet tall, and so thin as to be frail. Her skin was a muted pinkish-lavender color, her short-cropped hair more amethyst, and she wore only white shorts and a chest wrap that displayed the interlocking patterns of spellform runes that covered every inch of her body. Where the first djinn projection Arthur had met was placid in both movement and attitude, this woman’s unflinching gaze and noble grace carried a furious intensity that seemed to radiate from her like heat off a bonfire.

## Personality

She does not share the pacifistic nature of her people and would rather fight for her race survival than do nothing.

## Background

The Djinn are believed to be entirely extinct, and what remains of them are a few consciousnesses stored in crystals. The Djinn were capable of storing their personalities, some of their power, memories, and physical appearances in purple crystals. This is the second remnant that Arthur Leywin has met in the Relictombs, which belongs to one of the few Djinn who were willing to fight against the Indrath Clan for survival.

When it became clear that the Indrath Clan would rather destroy their people than accept the fact that the Djinn could not give them their insight into Aether, she attempted to form a resistance against them. The very few who were willing to fight back helped her to forge the Armour Relic, but it was too little, and much too late. Rather than donning it herself and charging alone into a lost battle, she designed the zone where Arthur found it in the hopes that it might one day be claimed by someone willing to fight against the asura. Nevertheless, she never expected Arthur to recover her creation. In truth, she expected it’s shrine to sit undisturbed until the end of time.

The irony of her placement here as a guardian of the keystone is that she was tasked to administer a different kind of test instead of fighting. Punishment for declaring her race inaction against the dragons to be folly and failure as opposed to peace. Nevertheless, they did not forbid her from passing on the martial techniques she developed in her life. By tasking her with a mental test instead of a physical one, they perhaps assumed that she would simply do as instructed and nothing else. However, she chose to teach Arthur instead how to create and maintain perfect Aether Swords, which is a big improvement to his Aether daggers that he was able to create on his own.

## Abilities and Skills

**Spellform:** The runes covering her body are used to control the flow of aether and give her Aether-based abilities.

**Aether Weapons:** From twin sabers to a long staff, a warhammer or even a glaive, she can create aetheric weapons out of thin air. There also seems to be no limit to the amount of weapons she can create at the same time. During the spar with Arthur in the thought realm, she once conjured four Aether swords one after the other without a break.

## Quotes

* (To Arthur): “I will judge your worthiness as we battle.” She spun on her heel and the room vanished, melting away both his armor and everything around them into a blank white nothing-space. “Don’t dawdle now.”
* (To Arthur): “Your mind seems to have connected this godrune with the deviant mana element of lightning. It explains much about your tendencies when using aether.”
* Arthur furrowed his brows in confusion. “My tendencies?” The djinn waved his question away, stabbing her aetheric sword into the ground and casually leaning against it. (To Arthur): “Before that, I would like to ask first what it is you want from me, Arthur Leywin,” she asked, her tone harsh.
* “Is this a part of the test?” he wondered, but out loud, he said, “I’m not sure that’s the right question. What I need is to learn how to control Fate.” (To Arthur): “If Fate were something that could simply be taught, passed on from person to person, then our universe might as well fit within a snowglobe.” She rested her chin on the back of her hand as she continued to devour him with her eyes. “No. What you want is power. The power to protect all of your loved ones and defeat your enemies.”
* Arthur crossed his arms. “But isn’t that the same thing? Even with all four elements at my disposal, I couldn’t defeat even a single Scythe. I want—need—something stronger. From what I’ve been told, that’s Fate.” She stood tall once more, prying her aether blade out of the ground. (To Arthur): “Then you’ll have to open your mind to new ideas. You are blinding yourself by attempting to see aether through the lens of mana, equating one to the other. Only after you understand aether as itself can you begin to understand Fate. Now form your blade. Show me that you understand.”
* She held up a hand before Arthur could attack again. (To Arthur): “Focus. You are trying to win, and perhaps you even could, but you should be trying to learn. Why does your weapon collapse whenever you use it?”
“Because I’m not strong enough to maintain such a complicated form,” Arthur answered honestly. She frowned at him as though he were a foolish child. (To Arthur):“Wrong. You are stronger than you should be. Stronger than me—at least, this remnant of me, contained with the memory crystal. And yet…”
* She glowered at him, and all four blades pointed at his face. (To Arthur): “It is not power you lack. It is perspective. As a human, you have always been expected to build on what you already know. Crawl, walk, run, yes? To wield aether, you must forget that there are rules to things. Constraining yourself to a system that already exists around you only holds you back. Do not seek to walk or run. Ignore gravity and simply fly.”
* Arthur frowned at her. “You claim to want to teach me, but also that I should simply pull this knowledge from the air, manifesting it as if by magic.” (To Arthur): “Exactly,” she said, giving him a single, sharp nod. “But I can sense your frustration, and I recognize that you are not a djinn, even if you share a drop of our essence. And so I will attempt to explain this in a different way.”
* She paused, her searching eyes peering deep into his own. (To Arthur): “I mentioned your tendencies earlier. You fail to form a true aether weapon because you treat the aether just as you would mana. You feel a constant, ever-burning need to be in control, Arthur Leywin. Of your body, your magic, your life. With mana, this desire coupled with the depth of your confidence allowed you to progress at a remarkable speed. But with aether, you succeed only at building a barrier between yourself and your desire.”
* (To Arthur): “Aether is not mana in the same way water is not a stallion. One may be controlled, the other must be guided. Trusted. A bond formed. But aether is not a stallion, either. It should not be broken. Further, your aether is not my aether. While, through the very careful application of spellforms and decades of practice, I learned to slowly guide aether to assist me, absorbing and directing it, because of your core and your ability to easily absorb and refine aether within your own body, your relationship to aether is more akin to a parent and child.”
* “So you’re saying that the aether I absorb and purify within my core…I can exert such a strong influence over it because it’s…what? Bonded to me?” Arthur asked.
(To Arthur): “Exactly!” she exclaimed, focusing on his sternum as if she could see through his flesh and into his core. Then her face fell into a little frown, almost a pout. “While your spatium technique earlier was impressive, I still find myself underwhelmed—disappointed even—that this is all you have managed to accomplish considering the immense potential of your body and core combined. You should be able to form an aether weapon with a thought—no, the aether should react to your intention before you even fully articulate it into a conscious thought.”
* Arthur scratched the back of his neck, both frustrated and a little stung by her rebuke. “I think I’m beginning to understand.” The djinn woman laughed and shook her head as a single blade appeared in her hands. (To Arthur): “No. But with more practice and less conversation, you will.” Her face as emotionless as stone, she lunged, her blade aimed at his core.
* (To Arthur): “You have performed well, descendant.”
* (To Arthur): “It is unfortunate that I did not have the energy to continue, but manifesting the thought realm is taxing. However, I believe you have made enough progress to continue training your aether blade technique on your own.”
* (To Arthur): “Do not try to force the world into a shape to suit your needs, but you should also not accept the limitations of this world as it is. Your path is yours alone, and only you may walk it. I genuinely hope my creation aids you on this path. It will draw aether to you, making it easier for you to then absorb, and will protect you from nearly any attack, but it is not impenetrable. A strong enough opponent, with potent control over mana or aether, will still be able to harm you. Do not let them.”
Arthur nodded to the crystal. “Thank you.”

## Notes & Trivia

She is the creator of both the Armour Relic and the Blood Relic Zone.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 9- Chapter 360
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 The Beginning After The End Novel: Volume 9- Chapter 361