I was lying on a huge oriental carpet straight out of an Arabian Nights account and it was as if I were in a dream within a dream... and I heard muffled footsteps. An elderly person walking on carpets with slippers.

I rubbed my tears, which couldn't stop flowing because I was so sad.

Then I heard a table being pulled up and straightened my head.

Darkia? Is that you?

But instead, I saw a man in his sixties, maybe even older, sitting on a kind of couch running the length of the room.

It was made of stone, but the whole interior was decorated with fabrics, as if a Bedouin tent had been set up inside, and all sorts of luxury objects were arranged as if in a kind of Middle Eastern-style salon, but more Indian than ever.

It was a palace from the Arabian Nights.

The bearded man's head was adorned with a turban, and a pin made of precious stones held it all together.

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Was he a king? A sultan? A maharajah? I didn't know, but he looked at me without emitting any malevolent emotions.

"Would you like some tea? Mir?"

I crawled over to the table and looked at a carafe and bowl with a handle to match the cup and teapot he'd just used.

I looked at the old man, all teary-eyed.

"She's gone..."

He put down his teacup.

"My boy...love is the most beautiful thing in this world, but when it runs out, it's a pain that's hard to fill."

"Darkia...can you bring her back? "

The human had a small wand. and held it out to my heart.

"Darkia is still there...she's with you forever...but it's a dream, a dream and here, dreams come to life like nightmares."

"Are you the Sultan? Are you the Vizier?"

He took his cup of tea.

then beckoned me to drink too.

I did, and all at once my sadness subsided and I shivered.

"Do you see all this? Mir... this is your home... this is your palace, your dream house, your astral. Whatever comes from your heart can manifest here..."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"But who are you?" I dared to ask.

"You just said it... I'm... the caliph of A'arnateth, the city of a thousand veils where lost dreamers meet. It's an end and a beginning in itself, a meeting point where the impossible becomes possible and what no longer exists can meet what will exist."

"Darkia... what did you do to her? She told me you tried to kill her, to eliminate her many times... If you're her enemy, then you'll find me in your way..."

The Caliph put down his cup for a refill.

"Mir... Darkia is the shadow and I am the light... There must be parties, there must be activities, and there must always be a bad guy and a good guy in a fairy tale. Darkia destroys, punishes and devours insolent, cruel and wicked dreamers... she has her role as gardener in this world of wonders. She has her place here, as do I, who welcome and distribute the missions. Of course, both I and Darkia are immortal and indestructible in this world. She can't come into my secret palace, just as I can't enter her Neolithic cave/palace. It's all politics and showmanship. I don't hate her, because even if she's part nightmare, she has a heart and never preys on children or the weak. She educates, straightens and highlights weaknesses. She devours fears, but it's to teach courage and keep her reason for living. You've discovered a side of Darkia that few have been able to appreciate.

She truly loves you, and so do you, even if you're from different worlds and eras. Souls know no bounds. And I'm sure you'll meet again in due course."

I looked at the repeating patterns on the carpets... and a tear came to darken the color a little.

"Darkia.. sniff.."

"Mir... you have a family who adores you, a wife and concubines and ....The destroyer who loves you... don't forget that."

"Why are you telling me all this? And who are you really? What do you want from me?"

I took another sip of excellent tea, then the Caliph rose and invited me to follow him.

"You see there's no one here and no one on the surface either? You've got to know something's up, don't you?"

I nodded that I didn't.

A'arnateth is at the end of time..and many worlds have disappeared but your world proves that there's still a place that exists.

But here, it's empty and depopulated. The dreamers have gone. The missions, the adventures, all gone. My struggle with Darkia is over and I'm the guardian of an empty tomb now."

I didn't understand the meaning of his words... Yet a little... the Professor Brilliance in me understood but it was a thought like any other and my barbarian self took over every time.

Then he looked me in the eye.

"Mir... This world is yours and yours alone. If you want it to die, then so be it. I'm a tired old man.

But you still have to discover yourself and meet yourself.

You have many egos, many you's within you, and they're part of you, whether you like it or not. But know that other people love you, and wherever you are or go, you're never really alone.

"You mean the Demon Lord who martyred me???"

Grand Caliph: "No... not demon lord... I'm talking about you... Demon lord is just a title, not an ego."

"After all, Mir, this is your home. This is your infernal palace. Darkia is on the Isle of Storms, and I have a palace near Lion Square."

Me: "What's the Lion?"

Grand Caliph: "Mmm It's hard to explain, but if Enka is night and shadow, Leo is light. Not to be confused with good and evil, which are only representations of the mind, because everything is relative... I'd say the lion represents order and Enka chaos, but they both have a bit of each other in them."

"Are they at war?" I asked.

No, they limit themselves, but their appearance can change..."

I was afraid of the lion...

"Should I be afraid of the lion?"

The Caliph smiled.

"Yes, Mir... But that doesn't mean he wants to annihilate you...Think of him as a teacher and you'll feel better."

I didn't understand ... everything was crazy and didn't make sense, well it did, but to them.

It was time to pull myself together and wake up. I wanted to see Mom and Dad and my darlings again...

Great Caliph: "Mir, I know you've had enough, but before you wake up you still have to meet your egos.

"What? I'm stuck here? I can't get up? I can't wake up?"

Caliph: "Oh, yes, you'll wake up. But time here and time there are very different... An eternity here is sometimes just a few minutes' sleep in the waking world. Just as the reverse is possible. Here everything is possible, even the impossible."

a hiss of sadness came from my animal nature.

Caliph: "Mir.. Mir.. you are so young...and you have so much to learn... "

Then he poured me some tea and stood up. I drank more of his tea and he began to turn on himself, again and again and again, singing.

My head began to spin with vertigo and everything spun around me and I collapsed to find myself in a huge ice cave.