Kings of Shadows (Chapter 1)
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Chapter 1
At that moment, Lina was living an internal struggle; the idea of facing invisible creatures in their own territory—if the story were true—struck terror into her soul. She told herself that these words seemed impossible and no mind could believe them.
The sky was filled with heavy, thick gray clouds that completely blocked the sunlight, preventing it from reaching the earth. The weather became gloomy and rigid, bearing no good tidings at all.
Strong, cold winds blew, striking the dry branches of the trees and making them sway violently left and right. The weather as a whole foreshadowed a relentless, heavy downpour, so Lina preferred to stay in her room today and decided not to go to the university.
Lina lay on her bed, silently watching the window as she drowned in deep thought about the recent events that had turned her life upside down. The first thing that reached her ears was the sound of raindrops falling monotonously and hitting the window glass, which brought back to her imagination the image of that strange friend who had appeared in her life recently.
His nature sparked an endless confusion within her. Sometimes he would sit next to her on the university lecture hall seats and begin explaining vague and complex philosophical ideas that seemed to have no connection to the real world she lived in. At other moments, he would completely change his tone and ask her with sincerity and humility to teach him more about human nature and how their feelings interacted, as if he were discovering this world for the first time.
Despite that intense strangeness she felt in his presence, he was always frank in his speech, loving in his interactions, and helpful to her in the finest details of her life. In fact, he was the only person who, with his charming words, could pull her out of her worries and make her forget her sorrows. But this friend suddenly cut ties with her and disappeared for a whole year without prior notice, before suddenly reappearing a few days ago.
However, circumstances did not allow her to catch up with him or ask him how he was and the reason for his long absence. He quickly vanished from sight among the narrow alleys, disappearing completely as if he had evaporated into thin air.
Lina tossed and turned in her bed, anxiety gnawing at her soul. Her heartbeat accelerated whenever she thought about how to face Shaimaa and explain the bitter truth to her. She secretly swore that she had no idea about the suitor's identity, and never imagined that coincidence would lead the man who secretly resided in her friend's heart to be the exact same person forced upon her by her father's harsh will. She wondered bitterly about the reason for Shaimaa's rejection, her refusal to listen to any justification, and how long years of friendship could collapse in a moment of suspicion and betrayal. She felt her hot tears burning her cheeks as they flowed abundantly, so she wiped them with a trembling hand and tried to dive under her covers to escape the reality that was closing in on her.
At that moment, her phone suddenly rang, breaking the silence of the night and her train of scattered thoughts.
When she saw Shaimaa's name lighting up her phone screen, her heart leaped between her ribs with joy, thinking the hour of reconciliation had finally arrived. She eagerly and quickly answered the call, saying with a voice trembling with hope:
- Shaimaa, my dear, are you alright?
A heavy silence prevailed for a moment on the other end, in which Lina heard nothing but troubled breathing. Then Aunt Susan's voice came, trembling and choked with crying, cutting the thread of joy she had woven in her imagination. Lina was surprised, her facial expressions changing as she asked in a tone filled with suspicion and anxiety:
- Aunt Susan, how are you? Is Shaimaa okay? What happened? Please tell me, what's wrong?
Susan answered with broken words, asking her to come immediately because they desperately needed her for Shaimaa. Lina grew confused and her face turned completely pale. Words stammered in her throat as she tried to inquire about what had happened to her friend, but Susan did no more than ask her to come see with her own eyes and discover the matter for herself.
Lina could not bear the wait. She jumped out of bed, dressed in extreme haste, asked her parents for permission with quick words, and went out running in the cold, silent streets. The sound of her footsteps on the wet ground was the only noise breaking the stillness of the night as she headed towards her friend's house.
Upon her arrival, Aunt Susan received her with obvious gloom and took her directly to Shaimaa's room. But she suddenly stopped her at the threshold, placing her hand on Lina's shoulder and asking her with a suspicious calmness to prepare herself mentally and not allow fear to take hold of her no matter what she saw inside. This warning made terror seep further into Lina's joints, yet her feeling of guilt and deep love for Shaimaa pushed her to open the door.
Very slowly, she advanced towards the bed of her friend, who seemed surrendered to a deep sleep. She swallowed hard and asked in a faint, weak voice:
- Shaimaa, are you alright?
At that moment, Shaimaa's body violently convulsed and began thrashing on the bed with unaccustomed force. She opened her eyes with a strange, rigid stare, then spoke in a harsh, gruff voice that sounded nothing like her usual gentle tone, saying:
- Get away from here, you fool.
A cold shiver ran through Lina's body, paralyzing her movement and tongue. Her limbs trembled as she backed away in sheer panic, before fleeing out of the room, struggling desperately to catch her breath that had tightened in her chest.
Aunt Susan pulled Lina into an adjacent room, trying to calm her fright. She offered her a glass of water, her hands trembling as she held it. Lina took it and drank it all at once, as if extinguishing a fire inside her. Then she raised her tear-filled eyes and looked at Susan, wondering about the secret behind the state Shaimaa had reached.
Susan bowed her head toward the floor and began crying bitterly, her tears covering her facial features. Then she raised her head and said in a shaky tone filled with brokenness that her daughter had fallen victim to a stubborn jinn. He had taken advantage of a moment of intense anger upon her return from the university two days ago, possessing her after she accidentally stepped on him. She explained that the Sheikh assured them it was impossible for him to leave except under one condition, before which they stood helpless.
At that, Lina narrowed her eyes in extreme astonishment and asked in a low voice:
- A condition! What is this condition the Sheikh is talking about?
Tears welled up in Susan's eyes once again. She stepped towards Lina, placing her trembling hands over Lina's warm ones, and stared into her eyes with a look of deep plea, saying:
- The Sheikh demands that one of us enters his realm to beg him to leave my daughter. This matter requires an agile, young person for the transfer process he will perform to succeed. And you know, my dear, that my bedridden husband and I lack the strength, my son is away traveling, and we have no one left to trust but you.
Lina slowly and calmly withdrew her hands, feeling a sense of awe taking over her being. She secretly wondered about the logic of these words, and how a human could set foot in a world they cannot see. Then she asked aloud, trying to grasp the situation:
- Is it conceivable that they have a completely separate world from ours?
Susan nodded in confirmation, explaining that they have their own dimension through which they can be seen clearly and their presence felt. Then she returned to begging her eagerly to volunteer for this mission to save Shaimaa's life.
At that moment, Lina was living an internal struggle; the idea of facing invisible creatures in their own territory—if the story were true—struck terror into her soul. She told herself that these words seemed impossible and no mind could believe them.
But Susan left her no room to back out. Instead, she asked her to stay for a few minutes until the Sheikh arrived to explain the details. Indeed, only a few minutes passed before a man wearing old, worn-out clothes arrived. His appearance was suspicious and did not inspire reassurance in the hearts, but he began speaking as soon as he sat down, explaining the situation in a calm, serious tone, saying:
- The jinn refuses to leave the prey because he was harmed when she stepped on him while angry, and a direct apology must be offered to him in his world for him to accept leaving.
Lina looked at him in astonishment, furrowed her brows, and asked:
- And why don't we offer him this apology here in our world and among us right now?
The Sheikh moved his head slowly, looked at her with a mysterious gaze from under his thick eyebrows, and said in a deep voice:
- Because the leader who holds the decision to leave is not present here in her room; rather, he only sends his followers to execute his orders. The apology must reach the person in charge in his original place for him to accept granting forgiveness.
He then assured Lina with absolute certainty that she would find nothing to terrify her in that other dimension if she decided to go. He explained that his followers and friends, whom he described as good and lovers of humans, would be waiting for her. They would appear to her in a familiar human form to protect and guide her swiftly to the leader to offer the required apology.
Although the story sounded in Lina's ears like a myth far from logic, confusion drove her to ask the Sheikh, furrowing her brows:
- Why don't you bring someone else to do this task? Someone strong with composure, who knows no fear or tension. Isn't that a safer guarantee for the success of the mission and Shaimaa's return to her former self?
At that moment, a sudden confusion prevailed. Susan stammered and moved her hands nervously, while the Sheikh busied himself adjusting his turban a few times, exchanging quick glances with the mother. Then they said in unison:
- We need a loyal person, someone connected to the girl by a spiritual bond and extreme closeness. They must be kind-hearted and pure, and we don't find these qualities combined in anyone but you.
The Sheikh continued, leaning his body towards her, his voice taking on a sharp tone of warning:
- We have no time to look for an alternative. The condition is worsening as the minutes pass, and Shaimaa might pass away tonight if the apology is not made before dawn.
At this point, Lina's heart softened. Feelings of sorrow for her friend lying in the next room mixed with feelings of anxiety about this mystery in her chest. While her mind swayed between believing this strange tale and doubting its truth, Lina stood up and slowly pulled herself together. She then looked at Susan and the Sheikh with eyes filled with exhaustion and a difficult decision, saying no more than two words before leaving the door:
- I will return tonight.
Lina had not settled the matter with explicit words in front of them, but storms of hesitation violently battered her depths as she left the house. On the one hand, a guilty conscience gnawed at her heart, portraying this risk as her only chance to atone for her sin against Shaimaa and erase the impact of the engagement story that separated them. She decided in secret that she was ready to lend a helping hand to her friend even if it cost her life, getting lost in the labyrinths of that strange world. On the other hand, a deep doubt whispered in her ear that the story might be completely fabricated, and that this whole theatrical display might just be a trap to bewitch her into forgetting her fiancé or leaving him against her will. Nevertheless, she did not feel afraid of this possibility. Instead, she bitterly told herself: if the purpose is to bewitch me into forgetting or leaving him, so be it, for in any case, I do not want this marriage, nor do I want the man who drove a wedge between me and my best friend.
Lina returned home, a gloomy expression covering her face. She stopped at the threshold of her room's door, her fingers visibly trembling as she pressed the handle to close it behind her.
Silence enveloped the place, save for the sound of her heartbeat, which seemed loud in her ears. She sat on the bed and whispered a question to herself, wondering if she still had her sanity. Everything she had heard tonight went beyond the bounds of logic; a stubborn jinn, another world, and a transfer process between dimensions.
These words seemed to her like sheer absurdity that consciousness could not accept. For if it were true and available in such a manner, the world would have been filled with news of those worlds. And if it were possible, they wouldn't have needed a scared girl like her to carry out this mission.
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to organize her scattered thoughts, and a bitter internal dialogue began wringing her mind:
- Perhaps it is just an orchestrated act, a play they prepared carefully to make me forget or object to the engagement.
But which would be worse for me? To be deceived on this strange night? Or to spend a whole lifetime with a man I do not want and feel nothing for?
Lina's eyes opened slowly, but the doubt had not left her completely. There was another voice in her depths whispering more terrifying possibilities:
- What if it wasn't a deception? What if Shaimaa was actually dying under the weight of that unknown possession? And what if this was my last and only chance to prove to her and to myself that I never betrayed her?
She felt a sharp prick in her chest, like a cold blade. For a moment, she imagined her end on that unknown path, and asked herself bitterly:
- If something bad happens there, will I regret agreeing to go? Or will I regret it for the rest of my life because I stayed in my place and didn't try to save my friend?
She raised her head towards the ceiling and inhaled the cold air deeply to draw some strength. Then she made up her mind and said in a single word that came out firm despite everything:
- I will go.
Her decision did not stem from pure courage or absolute belief in what the Sheikh had said. Rather, it was a complex mixture of a heavy feeling of guilt, an overwhelming desire to rebel against her reality, and an escape from a life mapped out for her, of which she had chosen nothing.
She began packing her essential items in a small bag. Once finished, she headed to her parents to bid them farewell, telling them in a hoarse voice that Shaimaa was very sick and needed her to be by her side all night. Her parents agreed to her going out of appreciation for her friend's circumstances.
Tears welled up in Lina's eyes as she gave her parents a long farewell look. A sudden, harsh feeling overcame her that she might never see them again, and that this step she was about to take might be a point of no return. The idea of backing out of the decision to enter that unknown world crossed her mind repeatedly as she stood at the threshold of the house. Every instinct inside her pushed her to retreat and flee, but the image of Shaimaa thrashing in her room was stronger than her fear. She picked up her bag and walked with heavy steps towards her unknown fate awaiting her at her friend's house.
When Lina arrived, the atmosphere in the house had grown heavier and more mysterious. Silence dominated the situation except for faint whispers coming from the living room, where the Sheikh was sitting with Susan. The lighting in the hallway wasn't as strong as usual; rather, it appeared dim and yellowish, which increased the tightness in her chest.
Susan received her with a look combining gratitude and anxiety,
while the Sheikh was preparing some censers and papers whose content Lina didn't understand. She felt that the air in the place had become thick, hard to inhale, but she didn't utter a word. She settled for nodding her head to indicate readiness, realizing that the moment she feared had come, and that she now had to cross that gap between reality and beyond to save whatever could be saved of their lost friendship.
The Sheikh began muttering incomprehensible words as he moved the censer around the room. A thick, pungent smoke spread, covering the place. Then he asked Lina to sit on a wooden chair in the middle, and looked at her with sharp eyes, saying:
- You must close your eyes now, and do not open them no matter what movement you feel around you. The followers will take care of transferring you. Remember that they look exactly like us, and are kind, so do not panic.
Lina closed her eyes, feeling a strange coldness running through her limbs and permeating her body, despite the heat of the smoke emitting from the Sheikh's censers that filled the room. Suddenly, she felt the ground beneath her fading and slipping away. Her body became so light that she no longer felt her weight or her contact with the wooden chair. In that moment, when reality mixed with imagination, she heard a very familiar voice whispering in her ear with a calm, warm tone that sent a different kind of shiver through her soul, saying:
- Do not be afraid, Lina. I am right here beside you, as I have always been.
Lina opened her eyes against her will due to the shock and the impact of the voice she knew so well, only to find herself having completely left Shaimaa's room. She woke up in a place resembling a long, narrow alleyway with no end. The light there was pale, leaning towards a cold blue, as if the place were submerged in deep water. Standing right in front of her was her strange friend who had disappeared a whole year ago, wearing the exact same clothes she was accustomed to, facing her with that same mysterious, calm smile that used to confuse her in the university hallways.
Lina could not comprehend his presence in this place or understand how she was transported here. She felt her head spinning violently while the friend's features gradually faded before her eyes. Not a few seconds passed before her strength completely betrayed her, her limbs went limp, and she fell into a deep abyss of darkness, losing consciousness before uttering a single word.