Chapter 1: The Image That Shouldn't Exist
The desert was never truly silent.
Abdellah knew that.
The wind always whispered across the dunes, shifting grains of sand like a living ocean. But tonight… something felt different.
He adjusted his camera, steadying the lens against the cold night air of Merzouga.
Click.
Another shot.
Nothing unusual.
Just desert… endless… empty.
Or at least, that's what his eyes told him.
He lowered the camera and exhaled slowly."Khoya… we're done," he muttered to himself.
It was late. Too late.
The kind of late where your thoughts start playing tricks on you.
Still… something inside him refused to leave.
A strange pull.
He checked the screen.
First image. Normal.
Second image…
He froze.
"...what the hell?"
He zoomed in.
There—beneath the surface of the sand—was something.
Faint.
Glowing.
Lines.
Perfect lines.
Abdellah frowned.
He looked up from the camera… then back at the desert.
Nothing.
Just sand.
Dead. Empty.
He looked again at the image.
The lines were still there.
Not random.
Not natural.
Symbols.
His heartbeat slowed.
That wasn't possible.
He took another shot.
Click.
Checked.
Nothing.
Back to the previous photo.
The symbols remained.
Clearer now.
Almost… intentional.
A cold sensation ran down his spine.
"Maybe… glitch," he whispered.
Yeah.
It had to be.
Camera error.
Light reflection.
Something logical.
He turned the camera off.
Waited.
Turned it back on.
Opened the same image.
The symbols were still there.
But now…
They had changed.
Abdellah's breath stopped.
He hadn't touched anything.
Yet the lines… had shifted.
Rearranged.
Like they were… responding.
"No…"
He stepped back.
The wind grew louder.
Or maybe… closer.
Slowly… carefully… he raised the camera again.
Pointed it at the same spot.
Hands shaking.
Click.
He didn't look immediately.
He couldn't.
Something deep inside him was screaming:
Don't.
But he did.
The screen lit up.
And this time…
There was no doubt.
The symbols were no longer beneath the sand.
They were above it.
Standing.
Forming a shape.
A silhouette.
Not human.
And in the center of it…
A single line appeared.
Bright.
Sharp.
Alive.
Then—
The screen flickered.
And a sound came from the camera.
Not mechanical.
Not digital.
A whisper.
"You finally see."
Abdellah dropped the camera.
Silence.
The desert… was no longer empty.