“It’s not funny but all your pieces of evidence are fake!! don’t you know who I am? I’m the daughter of the Azmi family! We are well-known in the country! I want to call my father right now.”
“You already called him. No need to tell more lies. We know that you’re not his daughter.” Nadine couldn’t believe her father denied her existence. The door opened; it was an officer. “What is the update with him?” the prosecutor said to the officer, who also shared the same steady comedic face.
The officer eyed her disgustingly — They looked like robots, Nadine thought — “Nothing,” the officer answered, cutting Nadine’s thoughts.
The prosecutor shot Nadine the same disgusted look and said, “Did you show him the evidence?”
“I did. He said he doesn’t know how he got here,” the officer said and shrugged his shoulders. The prosecutor looked deeply into Nadine’s confused face and told the officer to bring Adam.
In seconds, the officer was back with Adam. “I will leave you two alone for a moment, and you better confess,” the prosecutor said, looking at Adam and Nadine before he closed the door behind him.
Adam sat next to Nadine; he was terrified, and his face was burning hot with his sweat running over the sides of his face. “What brought you here!? And that clip! How and when did it happen?!” — Nadine grabbed his hand strongly; her eyes moved from his face to his arm. His t-shirt sleeve moved upwards showing his upper arm — “you have a tattoo?” she asked suddenly and looked closer at it.
“I don’t know how I got here!” Adam said loudly, making Nadine move her hand, and the sleeve moved back, covering his arm again. “I was at home and suddenly found myself here,” Adam said, looking at his hands. “I’m scared.”
Nadine sighed and clenched her fists. “But the videos! They looked exactly like us! When did—”
“It’s your fault!” Adam shouted and stood up fast, pointing at her.
“What?” Nadine said, looking more confused than him.
“They said it’s your fault! You took something from them!” Adam walked back and forth in the small room, freaking out. “It’s your fault!”
“Who?! I took what from whom?! What the hell are you talking about?”
“You should have stayed where you belong! You shouldn’t have taken it; you don’t deserve it!” he jumped over Nadine, strangling her with his bare hands.
Nadine struggled from his tight grasp over her neck, his sudden strength shocked her. “I won’t let you drag me into this! You should die for us to live.” He raised her from the chair, slamming her body on the wall behind her, choking her to death.
Nadine tried to stop him, to get out of his deadly hands, but couldn’t. Her body was letting go of her. She couldn’t fight him any longer. The air was slipping out of her, losing more into his grasp, accepting her coming fate.
A spiral of glowing black wisps rose from sudden darkness filling the room. Nadine glimpsed someone’s hand slipping out of the spiral wisps reaching for Adam’s body. Rayan grabbed Adam by his neck and crushed his head into the wall. He immediately lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Liam caught Nadine before falling, she was coughing hard grasping for all air that left her lungs; he hugged her moving her hair behind her ears, and quickly scanned her face for any injuries.
Camellia squatted next to Adam’s body, moved his left sleeve, and saw his tattoo. “They imprinted him with lunacy.” Rayan moved Adam to lay him on his back, then held his head. Black wisps came through his veins and slowly covered Adam’s forehead.
“He’s still mundane. They only imprinted him for a couple of hours. I’ll purify his soul till you finish.” Liam kept hugging Nadine, who was shaking, and Camellia went outside the investigating room with her sword forming between her slim fingers.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
A few moments passed, followed by tremendous screams and lustrous light breaking through the thick walls. Camellia went back to them; Rayan was done with Adam.
They all looked hesitant when their eyes laid on Nadine’s shaking body, yet none of them could stop what was going to happen.
The blood pounded in Nadine’s ears; her heart thudded in her chest. Her body shook uncontrollably. Her mind couldn’t process what happened and what she saw.
Nadine’s hands wrapped so tightly around Liam’s forearms that her nails dug into him. The level of fear and anxiety was becoming unbearable for her shaking soul.
Rayan held her head after whispering some words in between his hands. Thin black wisps swirled through his long fingers, circling her head. Her shivers stopped, and her breathing calmed. She slowly closed her eyes, drifting into a deep, peaceful sleep. Camellia checked her clock again and said, “We must move now. Jalila is waiting for us.”
Liam held Nadine and carried her with one arm supporting her back and the other supporting her legs. Nadine slightly moved, clutched her hand on Liam’s shirt, and leaned her head closer to his neck, breathing his scent. Liam froze, looking at her peaceful face, almost tearing up. Camellia glimpsed his sadness and said, “Liam…”
“I can’t believe I won’t hold her again” — he rested his chin over her head, shutting his eyes and clenching his jaw, stopping any tear from dropping — “I… can’t believe she’s gone.”
“We don’t know that we were all thrown at his hidden war without knowing what would happen. Maybe she would remember at the binding.”
Rayan looked at both and said, “I don’t wanna ruin the moment, but isn’t this Nadine snitched out before you met?”
Liam opened his eyes and said, “Three years exactly, we won’t live that again. That reality is long gone.”
“But she might regain her memories at the binding. We still don’t know what will happen,” Camellia said.
“How? This Nadine didn’t live any of their memories. The moment she was taking out their reality erased, now their reality was only a reflection made by Liam. How will she ever get those memories back?” Camellia punched Rayan’s stomach. He groaned at her sudden powerful punch. “I’m sorry. I don’t want him to have fake hope.”
Camellia glared at him and raised her hand to punch him again, but Liam stopped her when he said, “He’s right, as much as I want her to remember us, I can’t see her in pain again… we have no other choice now.”
Rayan and Camellia looked at each other, not knowing what to say. She looked at her clock again and told Rayan they must move now.
Cold black wisps moved from Rayan’s open balms, filling half of the room with jet-black darkness that slowly began moving toward their bodies, swallowing them in the cold swift wind.
…
The Botanical Island, Aswan, Egypt.
Peace and quietness overcome the sounds of the moving branches of the palm trees avenue. Nabil was standing at the beginning of the long avenue. Brown hair and beard, board shoulders, and remarkable muscles. He was wearing a black Oxford shirt and dark gray jeans.
Quiet despite the nervousness washed over his face. He looked at his watch before putting both hands in his pockets.
A few seconds passed; a small black circle appeared in midair couple of steps away from him. The circle expanded into an enormous one filled with cold dark wind and strong energy wisps. The man smiled when the circle halted and revealed the standing bodies behind it.
Rayan walked, followed by Camellia and Liam, who was still carrying Nadine. The black circle vanished through the air when the four of them stepped out. The man’s smile disappeared when he saw Nadine and said, “What happened?!”
“Don’t worry, she’s okay, sleeping actually,” Rayan said and looked back at her. “They imprinted lunacy on a mundane, and he tried to kill her.”
“They’re losing their identities, killing people, and draining their souls and powers,” Liam said. Nabil walked along with them until they reached the end of the avenue. They stood before a gigantic gate with two papyri form capitals on each side of a silver door.
Between each capital were large cartouches with hieroglyphics written in pure gold. The door had an inscription in hieroglyphics and Tamazight.
Nabil placed his right hand in the middle of the door. It opened slowly, letting them in. They walked inside to a riad courtyard and two small buildings on both sides. Nabil told Liam to leave Nadine inside the house on the right, while he informed the rest of their arrival. Camellia looked at her watch and sighed. “Another one?” Rayan said, looking at her.
“Yeah, just a couple of minutes to end them all. I hope this works and we can end this nightmare,” Camellia said.
“You don’t sound bragging. What is it?”
“This one is different… I just don’t feel it would be as easy as the rest.”
“Have you ever thought about what will happen after the binding?”
Camellia looked at Rayan thoughtfully and said, “I don’t know… having the Heka sword made me feel a little of the pain she went through in every reality,” Camellia said, looking again at her watch. “I hope she can survive… she must survive, or it will be the end of the entire universe.”