2. Genjo Sanzo— Meike

“I,” I replied archly. “I would be the High Priestess of Buddha, most holy in all of China! And I would be your rescuer.” Yeah, that last sentence was definitely sarcastic.

The small monkeyish man-like being crouched in front of me blinked in the bright light and in confusion.

“Who?” he croaked.

I kneaded my forehead with my thumb and index finger for a second before restating my profession.

Wait, hold up. I should probably explain how I got here.

It all started when I received an unexpected visit from the excruciatingly sweet First Aspect, sage of Wind and Flame. We had a long and vehement conversation in which she ordered that I labor and create a magic golden circlet that when accepted and willingly placed on the recipient’s head, would cause instant enslavement. But the catch was that I couldn’t just enslave whomever I wished. She explained that if I did that the Aspects would rise up and strip me of my powers and title.

Damn, I thought, there goes that idea. I’d had a particularly annoying junior priest in mind. I had kinda liked the idea of being able to control him.

But no-o, she told me the only one I could enslave was some demon exile from five hundred years ago. And not only was he and exile, but he had been imprisoned under a mountain. And that meant safeguards and other things I had to figure out without blowing myself up. Seeing as only a god or goddess can imprison someone under a mountain, because that takes some serious magic, the chances of blowing myself up were far higher that I would have liked.

For months I worked on designing and creating that circlet. I didn’t realize until I started how difficult some of the spells were. Finally, in May, I completed it. Now I had to find this demon exile.

Aside from being excruciatingly sweet, Aspect number One is also a trifle forgetful, and this time she forgot to tell me under which mountain my exile was imprisoned. Believe it or not there are quite a few exiles underneath mountains. It must be a popular punishment among the gods. And I’ll tell ya this much, you meet some pretty interesting beings (as most of them aren’t quite human) in a month’s time of searching the depth’s of a mountain range.

Now as I stand here, staring at the crouched figure in front of me, I wondered not for the first time if it was a good idea to follow the wishes of the Aspects. Remembering the circlet, I rummaged around in my robes until I found it. It gleamed in the sunlight, and my soon-to-be-slave’s eyes watched it in fascination. I smirked to myself as I held it up.

“I have brought you a gift to celebrate your release from your dank dungeon,” I lied. “Do you accept my gift?”

“Yes,” he croaked, and he held up his hands, as would a small child waiting for its mother to lower a treat to just within reach.

You’d think, that for being part demon, he’d be a little more careful about accepting obviously valuable gifts from a High Priest, I thought to myself as I placed the circlet on his head.

He smiled as he felt the gold circlet set gently on his head. But that smile quickly changed to an expression of alarm as the circle visibly tightened. He began to pull off, only to find that it didn’t want to come off. He pulled and pulled, to no avail.

I laughed at his antics and then how easily I had claimed him. I watched as he continued to pull for a few more moments, and as he gave up and sat down to play nervously with his monkey tail.

“Comfortable?” I asked, indicating the circlet.

He shook his head. “What is it? Why won’t it come off?” He asked plaintively, his face worried.

“It is a magic circlet that I labored for months to make. And it won’t come off until I decide to free you. Happy now?”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean ‘free me’?” he asked, obviously confused.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? The circlets magic works like this, if the person who receives it accepts it willingly, when placed on his or her head, he or she becomes the victim of automatic and absolute bondage. Essentially, a willing slave.”

I chuckled; this was just too much fun.