Alchemy Of Abyss

Chapter Nine~5

The Duat was a peaceful realm. Everything and everyone moves in a rhythm and order. The realm is divided into two main golden gates, each one responsible for one role. Inside each gate, the other two deep, green-colored gates each led to an enormous office under the control of a human who helps the dead soul with its quest.

Like the mundane airport, it has a welcoming gate with two beautiful ladies sitting behind their desks welcoming each soul and directing them to which gate to go through. After the soul directed, led to another lady walking them to their gate.

Nabil never saw what happened after they went through the gates. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, wanting to forget the painful memory resurfacing across his eyes. He still remembers his parents' loud argument with the elders, defending their son and defending their bloodline.

He still remembers his father's words of how innocent his child is, that he isn't a curse, he is simply a child. He couldn't forget how cruel his elders were. They wanted to banish him, move him away from his family, and erase any evidence of his existence.

His mother stopped their moves, threatening to destroy anyone hurting her son. He remembers how scared he was of her threatening tone. She is a powerful woman, even her family won't risk angering her.

The elders agreed to let her son be yet could not step foot in the Duat and never witness any of their powers. He would live a normal, mundane life away from their other identities forever. His family thought he had forgotten that incident, but he never forgot how disappointed his elders looked at him.

He opened his eyes and looked at Jalila, who was smiling at him fondly. Like what his parents told him about her, she was as powerful as they described her. A strong woman with a sacred aura slipping easily from every move she makes. She tapped on his shoulder and said, "I know how painful it is for you to come back here."

"I thought I wasn't allowed to be here ever again," he said and looked at the welcoming ladies sitting behind their desks at the end of the large hall they were standing in. "Why am I here? What is happening?"

"An important memory you must get back before I tell you anything," Jalila said and walked toward the two golden gates. He followed her silently. She raised her right hand; a glow came from her palm shining in the middle wall between the two gates forming another one.

The gates were the same in size and aura, but it was different. A blinding silver-colored gate opened, allowing them to go inside. The gate closed after Nabil stepped inside, an ethereal space with silver trunks surrounding the shining white space. In the middle was a round glass table, it had thousands of roots coming from within the luminous ground, forming the enormous round table.

A small spark hit his left palm, he eyed it and saw a faint trace of a key glowed under his skin.

"I understand how terrified you must be," — Jalila stood on the other side of the table while Nabil stood still across the gate. She looked him in the eyes, forcing him to stop blinking. He was indeed terrified — "what I am about to tell you is something beyond all of us. We're not alone in this universe. Other creatures exist, and they are among us, taking our world by the second, and it all started with your daughter."

Nabil blinked, finally, not able to grasp the last thing Jalila said. They had been trying for years to have children but stopped two years ago when the doctors told them he could never have children. Nabil swallowed his spit and said in an almost not-heard whisper, "I can't have... children."

"You can. You have three daughters, but that heinous divine stole that destiny from you," Jalila said, frowning angrily. "These results from his greediness and stupidity." Nabil stepped closer to the table, not believing his ears.

Dark wisps formed slowly next to Jalila. It was cold and warm at the same time. Nabil's eyes shifted from Jalila to the strange wisps next to her. It turned into a dark figure and slowly faded into a standing man wearing a luminous white robe and a hood covering his face.

When the black wisps all disappeared, the man removed the hood back. Nabil's eyes widened; he had seen this man before. Heavenly handsome man with fierce clear eyes, short wavy jet-black hair, and a full even beard. His face was symmetrical, and his beauty was surreal. His dark skin shines with every tiny move he makes. He smiled at Nabil's shocked eyes and said, "Good to see again, kid."