"The first rule is that you can't wish for the lamp to stay with you. You can't wish for it to become invisible to anyone else, for it to be magically bound to you of for it to be teleported somewhere. And I can't help you protecting it in any way as well, in fact, even in my corporeal form the lamp would just fall through my fingers if I tried to hold it. If you want to keep it, you'll have to find mundane ways of hiding it... Or be very creative with your wishes..." Beldazarr winked as he said that.
"So I could wish for a lamp-sized indestructible safe with a lock that only I have the key for?"
"Yes, you could. You're not the first to think about that though, but in my experience keys always end up getting lost or stolen. Besides, you'd still have to take out the lamp every time you wanted to make a wish."
"Ok, I can see how that would be kind of inconvenient... I'll have to think more about that later. What about the other rules?" Drake asked, pretending to be reading the book while talking to himself.
"Second rule is that I can't grant what is not mine to give. That is to say I can't meddle with affairs that are above me."
"What does that mean? You're a Djinn, what in the world could be above you?!"
"Oh, many things, m...Drake. For a mere human I may appear omnipotent, but in truth there are many beings far more powerful than me or any other Djinn. As an example: I wouldn't be able to break a curse cast by a God or even make or free another Djinn. This is also the reason we can't travel through time. Although 99% of the time that rule has come up it was because of someone trying to resurrect someone else: I can't do that either."
"Wait so I can't wish for you to be free?"
"Sadly, you cannot. The powers that made me are far superior to my own, if I could overpower my makers I wouldn't be here."
"Has anyone ever tried to set you free?"
"Yes, none of them for charitable reasons though. They wanted to set me free so I could serve them better and for longer. The risk of the lamp getting stolen was always a liability. In a way, that aspect of my curse has probably worked out for the best, overall." He said with sadness and resignation in his voice. Clearly his past experiences with his masters still hurt him somewhat, even to this day.
"So, what's the third rule?"
"Third rule is what I had already told you: when you rub the lamp I'm bound to grant you wish, and I'll stay out of the lamp until you do. I can stay in my corporeal or incorporeal form for as long as it takes. But the moment that you make the wish I have to return to the lamp, so if you left it in your room, in that safe you mentioned and went on a holiday far away, you would have to return to the lamp before you could summon me again, and therefore make another wish."
"You really don't like the safe thing, do you?"
"I really don't."
It was already getting late. Drake decided to return to his dorm. He looked at the sky starting to turn orange when-
"Oh shit!" He looked at his watch: 6:21 pm. "Crap! I completely forgot that me and Ethan were gonna eat out tonight!"
Drake then noticed Beldazarr, that had been besides Drake in his incorporeal form on his way to the dorms, looking at him expectantly.
"Fine... I guess I could use a wish. I wish..."