The smell of fresh bread and boiling tea filled Sami's house in the city of Basra, weaving a tapestry of warmth and intimacy. In the modest living room, his younger sister, Noor, sat by the unlit fireplace, reading a story in a soft voice, while their mother, Reem, hummed an old song she loved in the kitchen.
This was the life Sami knew after his father's mysterious death. A simple and quiet life, yet it was not without a strange sense of incompleteness. Sami always felt the presence of something bigger than their small world, a secret yet to be unveiled.
Amidst this peaceful atmosphere, Sami was cleaning the room. His hand touched the old things his father had left behind, stopping at a dark wooden box, decorated with strange symbols no one understood. As he lifted the box to place it elsewhere, it slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a resounding crash.
Instead of breaking, a side of the box slid open, revealing a secret mechanism. There was only a small button, engraved with the same strange symbols. A surge of curiosity overcame Sami, and without hesitation, he pressed the button.
A faint clicking sound came from inside the box, and then a part of its bottom slid away, revealing a very small compartment. The compartment glowed with a faint blue light, and in its center, there was a small bottle containing a shimmering blue liquid.
Sami stared at the bottle, bewildered. What was this bottle? It was a bottle made of clear blue glass, which did not shine but glowed as if it were pulsating with life.
What was inside was not an ordinary liquid; the bottle felt as cold as ice, even in a warm room, as if it were a piece from another world.
When Sami lifted the bottle, he found that the bottom was not empty. The bottle sat in a precisely carved hollow, and underneath it was a carefully folded piece of black velvet cloth.
The letter was folded inside this piece of velvet, as if it were a precious treasure protected from dust. It was a sheet of old, yellowish parchment, but it wasn't brittle. Instead, it was flexible and smooth to the touch, as if it had been preserved from the ravages of time.
The letter was folded in a complex and secure way, held together by thin threads of black silk. As Sami carefully untied the silk knot, and felt the weight of the paper in his hand, he felt for a moment as if it were heavier than its actual size, as if it carried with it the weight of history and secrets.
"Hello, my son. If you are reading this, know that I have failed.
I tried to bury this box, to hide it from you and the world, but it refuses to be buried. Inside it, you will find our family's curse. That clear blue bottle, cold as ice, is nothing but a gateway to the unknown. It contains a potion of truth that the human mind cannot bear.
When I drank from it, I did not find power, but I found a voice echoing in my head that never stops. I found a world behind this one that I cannot return from. The strange letters you see on the bottle are the language of that world, a language that will begin to whisper in your mind, trying to pull you into madness.
I beg you, my son, be stronger than I was. Throw this box somewhere no one can find it, and do not open that potion. For if you open it, you will become the echo, and you will become the victim."
The letter was like a heavy stone in his mind, refusing to leave him any room to think of anything else. The next three days passed like an eternity.
In the car workshop, where he was working on an old engine, the sounds of wrenches and hammers were no longer what he heard. The words echoed in his head: "What happened to my family?"
His hand touched the iron parts, but his mind was elsewhere, wondering about the world his grandmother was talking about. Whenever he held a metal part, he imagined it might turn into something else, into a symbol, into a bottle.
At home, the smell of his mother's bread, which had once been a source of safety, now reminded him that this world he knew might not be real. He would sit at the dinner table, his eyes not seeing the food, but contemplating the walls, wondering about the curse the letter was talking about. He would look at his little sister, Noor, and ask himself: "Will the curse afflict her like it did my father and grandmother?"
When he was smoking a cigarette in the evening, he would look at the sky of Basra filled with stars, but he no longer saw just stars. He remembered his grandmother's message.
What were the events she witnessed? And what happened to his father that he died in a mysterious way? Each drag of his cigarette increased his confusion, and each puff of smoke increased his sense of loss.
The letter had lifted the curtain on a new world, a world he was completely ignorant of, leaving him alone with intense confusion.
After three days of hesitation, Sami made his decision. He grabbed the small bottle and began cautious attempts to open it. The lid would not budge, so he increased his force. The bottle looked like a piece of ordinary glass, but it was harder and more solid than metal.
Sami ignored his grandmother's words, believing it was nothing more than an old trick. What he wanted most was to know what had happened to his father and grandmother.
He began to hit and shake the bottle forcefully, but it was unaffected. The lid was tightly locked, and after several desperate attempts, Sami lost his temper.
He grabbed a small knife that was next to him and tried to pry open the bottle's lid with it. The knife slipped accidentally and cut his hand. Drops of his blood fell on the lid of the bottle, and suddenly, something strange happened.
The bottle glowed, and runic letters appeared on the lid with a brilliant blue light, and it began to tremble slightly. Then, with a single press, the lid opened. A faint blue light emanated from it, and a strange smell Sami had never smelled before spread. The smell was a mix of sweetness and bitterness, as if it were summoning something deep from within him.
Sami looked at the glowing blue liquid inside the bottle. It wasn't just a liquid; it looked like a small sea of shimmering stars. Colors began to dance before him, and strange shapes formed in the air. He saw ancient faces smiling at him, and complex geometric shapes moving and intertwining. Faint whispers began to sound in his head, words in a language he did not understand, but they pierced his consciousness deeply.
Sami felt a mysterious force pulling him toward the bottle. His mind screamed a warning, trying to stop him, but his body was no longer his own. His hand rose slowly, as if enchanted, carrying the bottle toward his mouth. He tried hard to resist, to lower his hand, but an unseen force was stronger than him, forcing him to get closer and closer.
In a moment of despair, Sami managed to push the bottle away slightly, and for a brief moment, he felt a weak control over his actions. But the blue liquid began to glow more intensely, and the whispers in his head became commanding voices, ordering him to drink, to immerse himself in this new world that awaited him.
Without his will, Sami tilted his head and sipped from the blue liquid. The moment was decisive, and as soon as the liquid touched his lips, Sami lost control completely. He opened his mouth wide and began to drink the liquid greedily, as if an irresistible force was driving him to do so.
As soon as the liquid touched Sami's mouth, his world collapsed. He was no longer in his room, or in his house. He was in a place that could not be described with words; an endless black void, where colors and sounds danced and disappeared. His body became a mere illusion, and his soul became a small, lonely entity floating in a sea of emptiness.
Suddenly, Sami felt a presence. It was not an entity that could be seen, but a vast, cold consciousness, filling everything around him. An overwhelming feeling of acceptance began to spread inside him, a temptation to give up on everything, to be absorbed into this vast cosmic existence.
"Finally... a new vessel I have found. I have waited for a long time..."
This was the cosmic entity, which had no form or features, but was pure power. The entity began to flow into Sami's consciousness, like a tide, pulling him toward surrender. Sami felt a strong desire to merge with this entity, to let go of the burdens of his life, his fears, and his hopes. The idea of unity with this cosmic existence was unbearably tempting.
But in the depths of this void, flashes of his life appeared: his mother's worried face, his sister's innocent laugh, the warmth of his modest house in Basra. These images were a force of resistance, pushing him to cling to his own consciousness and identity.
A violent inner struggle began. The cosmic entity was pulling him strongly toward integration, promising him absolute tranquility and knowledge. "Leave this mortal body, these fragile emotions behind. Come and join me, where there are no limits and no pain."
In contrast, Sami's memories were pushing him away, reminding him of his life, his love, of everything that made him human. He felt as if there were two taut ropes pulling him in opposite directions: the temptation of cosmic annihilation and the call of life.
Will Sami be able to resist this cosmic entity? Will the temptation of absolute unity win, or will the power of memories and attachments overcome it? Even Sami himself believes the opponent has the upper hand.
While Sami was being pulled and struggled between the call of the cosmic entity and the memories of his life, something unexpected happened. In the real world, where his body lay on the ground, the letter his grandmother had left began to burn on its own.
The fire was not an ordinary flame, but a cold blue fire that consumed the paper quickly. And with every word that burned, the runic letters carved on the letter floated in the air, like glowing particles. Then, these small letters gathered and headed toward Sami's body, seeping into him through the wound he had previously inflicted on himself.
In the world of consciousness, Sami suddenly felt a strong surge of energy. It was not the energy of the cosmic entity, but a familiar, warm energy, carrying the smell of old soil. The runic letters that had entered his body in the real world had now reached his consciousness, strengthening his resistance.
Sami was no longer a small point in the sea of emptiness. He became like a tree whose roots extend deep into the earth, holding onto his being and resisting the overwhelming pull of the cosmic entity. He felt as if he had inherited the power of his ancient family, not a magical power, but a power of resistance rooted in heritage and blood.
With the flow of the runic letters into Sami's consciousness, the cosmic entity felt a change. Sami was no longer a fragile vessel that could be easily swallowed, but had become an opponent, albeit a small one. This change was not anger or defeat, but something else entirely.
A strange feeling seeped into Sami's consciousness, not in words, but in cold impressions. It was a feeling of pleasure, of satisfaction, as if the entity had found a new game after a long time.
"I find this... amusing."
This cold thought was transferred to Sami's mind. "I thought you were just another empty vessel, but you carry some resistance within you. And this... is good. I haven't felt this in a long time.
Thoughts began to flow into Sami's mind, as if they were a clear message from the void:
"I am not your enemy that you must defeat. I am a part of you now. Every moment of hesitation, every slip of thought, every fear that drives you, will bring me closer to your body. This is not a battle that will end, but a long-term struggle. Your life from now on is the battlefield."
Sami felt absolute terror. This was not a promise of destruction, but a promise of eternal suffering. He was condemned to fight for life to preserve his body and soul.
His consciousness slowly returned to his body in the real world. His body was still lying on the ground in his room, but he was no longer the same. He was now a disputed vessel, and the greatest enemy resided within him.
What will Sami do now after he wakes up from this terrifying experience? And how will he deal with this struggle that will last with him forever?
When Sami regained consciousness, the world was not the same. He opened his eyes, but what he saw was not his modest room in Basra. The walls were still there, but they were swaying like specters, revealing other layers of existence.
The furniture was surrounded by faint halos of colors, and he heard faint whispers coming from everywhere. He looked out his window and did not see the blue sky, but saw a deep black void, filled with giant stars that glowed and moved slowly, as if they were cosmic entities surrounding the Earth, waiting for something.
But the most terrifying vision was in the familiar places. The palm trees in the street were not just trees; their roots extended deep into invisible layers of the Earth, and their branches stretched toward the sky as if they were arms begging for something. In the sky, he saw inverted pyramids, spinning slowly around themselves, and radiating a strange energy. The mountains floated in the air, connected to the Earth by thin threads of light.
Sami felt dizzy, as if his mind could not comprehend all these truths at once. He saw that the world he had lived in was nothing but a thin curtain, and that the absolute truth was more terrifying and beautiful than a human mind could bear.
He heard his mother's voice, Reem, calling him from the kitchen. But when he looked at her, he did not see her familiar face, but saw layers of colors and halos surrounding her being, as if she were burning with an inner light that could not be seen with the naked eye.
And so, Sami woke up in his new world. A world both real and terrifying, where magic and cosmic entities are the truth, and humans are mere specters in a great cosmic play.
The effect of the potion on Sami was profound, and now he had to learn how to control this new vision.
While Sami was struggling with the madness that his new vision was about to cause him, a faint, very familiar voice pierced the silence of the room. It was not a voice heard with the ears, but an echo in his mind, as if it were a whisper coming from the depths of his memory.
"Don't look at everything, Sami... close your eyes..."
It was his grandmother's voice. It was not just a memory, but a reality, a force speaking to him from behind the barrier of time.
"This vision is a power that the human mind cannot bear. You must close this door before madness takes over you. Follow me, and make a circle."
Sami felt his consciousness being pulled toward certain thoughts, as if his grandmother was guiding him step by step. She was telling him: "Remember the runes I gave you... gather them in your mind... turn them into a circle of light around you."
Sami focused all his energy on the runic symbols that had merged with his consciousness from the letter, and gathered them in the shape of a glowing circle in his mind. As soon as the circle was complete, Sami felt the world around him begin to calm down.
The specters of colors began to fade, and the walls returned to their familiar shape. The trees became ordinary trees again, and the sky returned to its blue color as it had been. But something had not changed; there was a feeling inside him, as if he was seeing the world through a thin curtain, which he could lift and drop whenever he wanted.
"This is your key, my son... this is how you will protect yourself from madness... use it wisely."
His grandmother's whispers faded, leaving him alone, in his room. His world had returned to its nature, but he was no longer the same. He had now become a guardian of a great secret, and a master of a vision no one could understand.
The days passed, and life returned to its apparent course. Sami sat at the dinner table with his mother Reem and his sister Noor, eating the dinner his mother had prepared. The familiar smell of okra stew filled the place, and Noor's innocent laughter as she talked about her day at school was weaving threads of safety and tranquility.
But for Sami, that was not an ordinary moment. Every bite he took and every word he said was part of a continuous struggle. He felt the presence of the cosmic entity watching him, pushing him toward madness, and lurking at every moment.
"Look at their weakness... at the fragility of their existence..."
These cold thoughts echoed in his mind, trying to shake his confidence. "Their world is just an illusion. Why do you insist on staying in it? Why do you cling to these false feelings?"
Sami felt an inner urge to drop his spoon, to stand up and scream, to tell them the terrifying truth. But he looked at his sister Noor's face, saw her smile, and remembered why he was fighting. This family was the anchor of his existence. It was the reason he refused to surrender.
And inside him, Sami began to form the mental runic circle his grandmother had taught him. The circle glowed slowly in his mind, trapping the strange thoughts, and repelling the attacks of the cosmic entity.
He realized that his life would now be like this. A natural and quiet facade, hiding behind it an endless internal war, a war he was fighting to remain human, to preserve what he loved.
Sami sat at the dinner table, contemplating the plate of okra stew with the smell of wet soil that had been familiar to him since his childhood. In his mind, it was not just a smell, but an echo of thousands of previous dinners, a memory of a safe existence that no longer existed. His sister Noor's laughter, like clear raindrops, scattered in the quiet evening, but for him, it was like a glass wall separating him from the world he loved.
"Sami, are you okay?"
His mother's voice, mixed with worry, pierced the curtains of his dark thoughts. Her eyes contemplated his pale face, and she had the same look with which she had watched his late father.
"I'm fine, Mother, just thinking a little."
These words were a white lie he was trying to hide behind, as if he were hiding behind a thin curtain of normalcy. At that moment, he felt the cosmic entity laughing silently in his depths, "Look at their weakness... at the fragility of their existence..."
These thoughts were not just whispers, but strong blows on the wall of his consciousness, trying to penetrate it. He felt a cold shiver pass through him, as if the cosmic entity was holding a piece of ice and slowly moving it on his spine.
But Sami resisted. He did not have magical power, but he had memory. The memory of the smell of fresh bread, the warmth of the living room, and his sister's laughter was his weapon. In his mind, he began to form a runic circle, but this time it was not just a circle of symbols. Each symbol in it represented a memory, each letter carried his mother's voice, each line represented his father's touch. The circle glowed with a white light, not the light of magic, but the light of hope.
As Sami was spending his days in his internal war, he felt something strange. Whenever he approached certain places in Basra, the runic circle in his mind would glow more intensely. One day, he found himself drawn to an old library, full of books no one had opened for decades.
Inside the library, as he ran his fingers over the dusty books, he suddenly felt a strong push from the cosmic entity, "What are you doing here? Leave this place. There is nothing for you here." But Sami ignored this voice, and felt something strange pulling him toward an old book, a huge volume with symbols similar to those on the box.
When he opened the book, he found that its pages were completely blank, but when he held it, it glowed in his hand and words written in an old script began to appear on it, "O gatekeeper, listen to the call of the shadows..."