With every night, Suffocating Darkness plagued these mountains, everybody was hiding from the big ogre looking for another soul to consume.

staying inside, hoping he's no longer hungry was the way to wake up another day.

This ogre is called cold, and here, there is no decisive way to fight him.

Except for Ourar village, this night, he refused to fit in the context and decided to run wild: lamps and neons lit, laughs, talks adorning the ambiance.

In the old days, those kinds of vibes were only allowed for a governmental figure –mostly corrupted–.

but things had changed; Now, criminals receive the same treatment.

This quiet part of The Grand Atlas mountains was forced into it, from the time liberals took over the ruling class, bills promoting a lax approach to criminals were forcely passed, people said at the time it was a plan to assassinate the middle class, and turn the population into uneducated savages eliminating any opposition and putting the country completely in their control.

The plan didn’t go as intended. quickly, criminals got out of the authorities hands who initially tried to use them as extra judicial enforcers, bit by bit, rural areas became unmonitored forcing the governing authorities to cut aid, finances, and life essentials, leaving organized crime as the sole provider.

And this is how a criminal found himself sharing the same room with wise, religious and educated men.

Feets laying next to each other were enjoying tea and dried fruits in this large rectangular room with low windows which serves as a living room for Berbers –North African natives–.

Everybody was having a fun time except one, who was holding his tea cup without drinking it, glaring deadly at the Jinn and his interactors: it was Saïd's dad -Ali-.

He was an old school guy who still believed in the central authorities, not on a principle basis, but the central authority gave him an important role in the region; granting him power, reputation and some money from time to time; a position passed down from his patriarchal predecessors.

His grandfather was the first to start it by working as a spy for the French during their occupation of Morocco.

After retreating, Him and multiple people who served them were given properties and governmental positions; But it was all spent on alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes.

Ali’s grandfather started losing his influence, forcing him to prompt his son Hassan -Ali’s dad- for the authorities as a replacement.

Hassan, who was one of 17 legitimate and illegitimate kids, understood that this was his chance to take over his father’s remaining wealth and cut the road for his siblings.

As soon as he took position, Hassan started his campaign by using falsified documents, threatening with murder and rape, and probiting his siblings from any heritage after his dad’s passing.

That moment was getting closer and closer. Hassan’s father was soon in his bed unable to move, and in order to do so, he needed a surgery that costs a lot and can only be done in Europe. Hassan left his father to rot with one of his wifes, and kept providing him with enough alcohol until he died.

After a fierce battle in court with his siblings, Hassan won. But they still had another card on their hand: a large rumor that he purposely killed their father.

He survived that also, but his reputation was shattered, prohibiting him from any support by the ethically driven Muslim Berbers.

Hassan spent years without having any kids consuming cheap meat to fulfill his sexual needs, afraid of being done the way he did his father.

At his 50’s, a torrent of regrets and guilt started hunting him as the fountain of youth started to dry out, he softened bit by bit and got married, then gifted with his first child: Ali -Saïd’s father-.

At this point, Hassan was far from having any influence or authority in the region, surviving his brothers and sisters was enough.

He owned a cozy farm where he wanted to spend his remaining days.

his siblings' progeny on the other hand had a different idea.

Ali will be his only child. coming at a moment when his father was not as tough, he grew up spoiled, and it quickly took a turn for the worse, resulting on his first rape accusations profiting of the innocence of rural young Berbers girls.

Hassan’s life soon consisted of fighting rape accusations that his son was accumulating using corruption and threats to the girls families. This got people heated, and reminded them of his previous deeds with his siblings.

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Now, His nephews were going after him and his properties taking advantage of the population's anger.

Hassan who wanted to spend his last days in comfort is now facing his son’s action plus the nephews' set of lawsuits to regain what belonged to their parents.

He watched bit by bit his properties taken from him and given back to them.

He already spent a lot of money trying to corrupt the court, pay the fees and lawyers. This time, it seems to be the one he’s not getting out of.

He managed to save his son, but he was doubting if it did matter?...

The answer will come soon as His physical health and his mental health started to decline, and like he did his father, he rotted alone in his farm house. but unlike his father, his wife wasn’t there for him, and he quickly found himself transported to the hospital where he died one month and a half after.

This whole time, Ali was in the Khenifra region seeking as many prostitutes and drugs as possible, until he got slapped with the news and found himself the inheritor of a disputed amount of wealth he needed to fight for in order to keep.

He got the call while seeking pleasure in a red lighted room surrounded by “friends” and prostitutes.

and there he sat, shocked and naked with his penis in a female’s hand.

everybody was having fun, except him, the one who paid for everything.

even the one who was cuddling with his genitals felt something was wrong, and silently left.

The next day, Ali was alone in his car driving back home, all his “friends” refused to accompany him knowing that the prostitutes were paid for 1 week in advance….. At the end of the day, Ali was their milk cow for free sex and alcohol.

The only thing on his mind during the entire ride was how to handle the lawsuits considering his lack of experience and knowledge.

His mind snapped towards nightmarish thoughts: losing everything and living on the streets, getting criminals paid by his cousins to kill him, getting attacked by the population as soon as he got to his native region….

His fingers started itching to take any other turn than the one he was supposed to take, but to where?

The roadsides stopped being flat and got higher and higher: He was getting closer to the mountains.

At this point, the anxiety had already consumed all his mental energy. Now, he felt nothing, and just kept going forward.

For the first time, Ali understood he had no other way other than facing it himself, his father was gone, and for good.

The car stopped at Ait Ourir —the central town of the surrounding villages— Ali was out of gas for a long time and kept driving with his electrical hybrid motor, he stepped out, took a look at all the people surrounding him, nobody knew who he was, nobody cared about him. he was supposed to feel safer after all his overthinking, but some kind of way, that made him feel uncomfortable.

He took a look at the coffee shops, they were all old, Only one had a modern digital facade.

This one had a hot lady on it, but she was still wearing more clothes than the ones in the city

Ali got in, sat on the table, then kept playing with the touch screen covering its surface.

These dudes are so greedy that they still didn't set up the menu to order from here.

He raised his head, looked at the waiter for a moment. the waiter finally turned, flashed a professional smile and shook his head mimicking: i’ll be there.

As Ali finished smiling, he felt a presence behind him holding the chair, he still didn’t turn, but a hand appearing next to his face made him do so.

A tall guy with a mustache was reaching out, He wore cyclops smart glasses, the newest single lensed version, But the temples next to the ears were too big than the normal ones, it was doing more than just giving the time and the weather.

Ali kept looking at him without reaching back.

The guy took back his hand and pulled the chair in front of him, sat, then said in a hurry “ i knew your dad, well, i didn't knew him but i knew of him, that….”

The guy shut up when he heard the waiter approaching:

“Hot milkshake please,” he said.

The waiter smiled with a head gesture, then turned to get Ali’s order, but Ali was fixing the table trying to process what was going on around him without answering.

The stranger then intervened “And an ice tea for my partner here, thanks” then threw a quick smile.

The waiter smiled back then got away feeling something was wrong, the stranger then turned back to Ali and continued “That why i’m here, we need you and you need us”

He kept talking, and during this moment, Ali got all kinds of scenarios going through his head about who the “we” are supposed to be, without paying attention to what the guy was saying.

Then got back to the conversation when he noticed the word (lawsuits) being thrown around.

He then murmured out of his anxiety “the lawsuits? you mean the one my cousins have against my father's properties?”

The stranger stopped, looked at Ali as he realized everything said before had not been heard, then answered in a clear tone “Yes.”

Ali pulled his chair closer. The stranger was sure now he got his full attention.

He connected his glasses to the smart table, and showed documents he turned around with a hand gesture to Ali “Here the 23 lawsuits held against your father’s properties, i can get rid of 15 of them just using my relationships, and for the rest, we need to figure out other ways”

Ali glanced at the man's face, he couldn't see his eyes, but his tone made him confident,

“Ok, what do I need to do?”.

“Just take your father's previous role with the government” the guy followed.

Ali thought for a second, “isn’t There anyone taking care of that at the moment?”.

The stranger hesitated, then confessed in a lower tone “I mean… we've run into some issues with the population here lately…”

Ali noticed his reluctance to elaborate further, but it didn’t matter, this was Ali’s only way out.

“Ok then, when do I start?”

The guy suddenly cut him “BE-FORE, you need to pay a visit to Marrakech, there is …. Let's call them ‘procedures’ to do. after that your welcome to your new post”

Ali suddenly woke up from his memories to The Jinn talking loudly.

He got disappointed realizing he was still in the same living room, where an uneducated criminal is getting all the attention, and where he lost all his power.

Ali tried to take a sip out of his tea, but found it was already cold, so he left the cup on the ground, and kept following the conversation:

“Hey, you're still on that collecting satellite fall offs, C’mon man, you’ve been on the same thing for years now. If you still ain't getting nice girls and some sick weapons after all those years, get yourself another job buddy haha” said The Jinn addressing one of the attendants.

“So what the deal man, tell me some.”

The Jinn slid his hand inside his jacket and pulled multiple things.

Ali was able to see them from a distance, And was completely shocked:

wires, chips…..and BLOOD……EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE INSIDE MY HEAD!