The Mysterious Shop

My name is Shawn and I'm your normal eighteen years old guy or, well, I was. Now I'm nothing more than a pink puddle.

It all started during an hot normal day of summer. I wanted to take a break from my studies and so, against all judgment, I decided to go for a walk. I was strolling along my usual path, the one that went through the forest, when I noticed a small shop. Yeah, a small shop. Pretty strange to find one amidst the trees, in a place frequented only by me and small random beasts, right? Well, it's exactly what I thought.

"A shop in the middle nowhere. What kind of person would build a shop where there are no buyers? And what kind of name is that? Magics for fools? Really? Well, let's find out..."

Intrigued by this small shop appeared out of nowhere and it's strange name, and not the least scared by the dark aura surrounding it, I decided to enter.

The first thing I saw as soon as I entered was the numerous row of shelves, full to the brims of strange objects and, surrounded by them, a counter placed exactly at the center. The poor lighting and the numerous strange objects, between whom I can swear I saw some torture instruments and even some human parts, like an eyeball and a brain, gave the shop an air worthy of the best horror films. It was even more accentuated by the look of the man behind the counter, who was probably the shop owner. He was an old, really really old, bald man with a skinny appearance and a long white beard. He seemed to be of Asian ancestry, probably Chinese, and was staring directly at my eyes with its dark blue ones while doing a dark smile, which accentuated even more his wrinkles.

"Welcome, dear costumer. I'm Xia Kong, the proud owner of this humble shop. Please, give a look at my stuff and see if there's anything of your interest. Oh, and since you're my first costumer, I'll give you a special discount!"

I must admit I was pretty creeped out by all that strange objects and the disturbing owner and so, wanting to do nothing run away from the shop as fast as I could, but not wanting to make a bad first impression, I took the nearest object even though I didn't want to buy anything and shoved it on the counter.

"I'll buy this!"

"...Are you sure? You haven't even looked at the other things yet" Xia Kong said while looking at me with doubtful eyes, his face looking even more wrinkled than before.

"Yes, I'm sure. I have an urgent appointment and don't have enough time to see the other things" I lied hoping he wouldn't insist. I was so frightened by him I couldn't find a better excuse.

"If you say so then no problem, it's twenty dollars"

"Tw-Twenty dollar?!"

"Yes, is there any problem? I'm even giving you an 80% discount!" he said, his tone becoming darker and even creepier than before.

"N-No problem, sir! Here t-take it" I said while taking a twenty-dollar bill from my wallet with trembling hands and giving it to the man.

"Th-Then I'll take my leave" I began to walk stiffly toward the exit door but, before I could even reach it, the man called to me again.

"Wait!"

Hearing the man shout my back instinctively tensed and, struggling against the feeling that was telling me to run away, I turned around and said "Wh-What is it, sir?"

"Don't you want a bag?" said the man while taking a plastic shopping bag from under the counter.

"...Yes please"

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

"Pfft"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" after Shawn left the shop Xia Kong exploded in an uproarious laugh and the dark aura that before surrounded him seemed to disappear.

"Tricking young men is too simple! You only need to fill your shop of disturbing garbage, lower the light and wear a fake beard and they'll buy whatever they see, even if it has a crazy cost hihihihihi" he grumbled while taking away his fake beard.

"The best people are those who think that this is really a magic shop and that buy whatever crap you say them. One time I've even sold an invisible cat!" he continued to laugh, spittle flying anywhere.

Xia Kong was an old man, but he wasn't stupid. So, you might be asking, why did he build a shop in the middle of nowhere? Well, he heard they would soon build a road passing through this forest. So he decided to buy a piece of land here before the price would skyrocket and transferred his shop.

He continued to laugh between himself for a bit more until he noticed another man approaching and, with a sly smile, donned his fake beard and assumed his scariest expression.

"Welcome, dear costumer. I'm Xia Kong, the proud owner of this humble shop. Please, give a look at my stuff and see if there's anything of your interest. Oh, and since you're my first costumer, I'll give you a special discount!"

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

"I can't believe I've bought some crap like this" mumbled Shawn while holding the thing he bought from the disturbing man.

He gave it another look. It was an ancient looking bottle and he would have believed it was really one and that he had made an affair... if he hadn't seen the mark with the inscription 'MADE IN CHINA' placed on the bottom.

"I can't believe I've spent twenty dollars for something like this. Oh well, better than nothing" he tried to console himself while placing the bottle on a shelf and... seeing another old looking bottle.

"Oh, right. I totally forgot about that bottle. I found it the other day while I was walking along the beach. I should sell it, who knows maybe it is worth a fortune" he smiled, thinking of what he would do with so much money. He saw the bottle was full of dust since before he hadn't had the time to clean it, so he took a handkerchief and after damping it he began to stroke it.

After stroking it four times a blue smoke emerged and after it filled all the room making it hard to even see, it began to coalesce and transformed into a woman, a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

She had blue hair and yellow eyes that made an incredible contrast with her tanned skin. She only wore a leather red bra that made her huge bust seems even more huge and a red skirt that at the end transformed into a smoke trail connected to the bottle. She even had a collar made of metal around her neck connected to the bottle through a chain.

The first thing she did as soon as she appeared was stretching, a huge stretch like those you do after a long sleep, and then directed her beautiful blue eyes towards Shawn and, after making a huge smile, said with a lively tone something that made him completely dumbfounded.

"Hello, master. My name is Shaina, I'm a genie! And I'm here to fulfill three of your wishes!!"

"..."

"..."

Shawn, speechless, stared at the beautiful girl that not only had appeared in his living room literally out of thin air but that had even proclaimed of being a genie who came to grant him three wishes and she, in response, stared back at him with an apparently dumb smile on her face.

"...What have you said? Can you repeat please?"

"Yes, master, no problem. I'm Shaina, I'm a genie and I'm here to grant you three wishes"

"...What is this, some type of candid camera? Some type of joke?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what a candid camera is, master"

"WHAT?! You CAN'T not know what a candid camera is, I mean it's common sense"

"Well, I've remained in that damned bottle for a very looooong time and, from what I can see from this room, it seems a lot of things changed from the last time I come out"

"...Presuming that you really are a genie and that this isn't a joke, how long is that looooong?"

"Well, I don't know. You know, it isn't simple to take count of the time while you are entrapped in a bottle. Let's see, is the Roman Empire still existing?"

"...No, it fell"

"How long ago?"

"I think it's been at least 1500 years ago"

"So it's at least 1500 years"

"... You're not kidding right?! You have really slept for 1500 years?! Holy cow, that's a really long time! Then how came we are speaking? You shouldn't know English, right?"

"I don't know it but I'm a genie, don't you remember? We are talking thanks to magic, Master"

Said the genie with a tone like it was a totally normal thing and, after giving Shawn some time to calm down, she said "Now tell me what is your first wish, Master".

Hearing her words Shawn fell into a dilemma. There were many things he wished to have and he wasn't even sure if what the genie said was true so he wished for the thing he wished to have more than anything else "I wish to be immortal". Yes, he wished to be immortal. He had seen many people die and he could say with absolute confidence that the thing he feared the most was death. An unbeatable foe that everyone sooner or later need to face.

Hearing his words Shaina made an apologetic face before saying "I'm sorry, I can't make you immortal. That goes over my powers. But I can make you near-immortal if you wish so"

"...Then I wish to be near-immortal?"

'SNAP!'

Shaina made a huge smile and after snapping her fingers said "Wish granted".

"...So now I'm immortal? But I don't feel any difference from before".

"Not immortal, near-immortal and no, you aren't yet. You need to make all your three wishes before they are granted"

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's the rule"

"...okay"

Shawn began to think about another wish but the only important wish he had was to be immortal and he couldn't really think of something else. Sure, he could wish of becoming rich or to dominate the world but...is it really what he wanted? If now he was really immortal well, near-immortal, then he had plenty of time to became rich and, thinking about all the political struggles and other things like those, controlling the entire world seemed really boring so, instead, he decided to wish for something funnier and to use his last one to do something he thought would have made the genie happy.

"My second wish is to have supernatural powers and my third is for you to be free from that bottle!"

'SNAP'

"Wish granted!"

[You will now be transferred to the Dragon Ball World and reincarnate as a Majin]

"...what?"

Shawn didn't even have the time to be surprised since as soon as he heard those words the world around him was surrounded by darkness and he lost consciousness.