The Jinn

Chapter III

As Akilah's eyes flickered open, she was greeted to a splitting pain across her forehead. Grasping her head with one hand, she weakly forced herself up to her knees with her other.

"What happened?" she asked herself, her vision still blurry and the pain in her head throbbing with each movement of her lips. As she moved around, she felt sand crusted across her entire body. "The others... Salman... he ran off ahead. We all... we fell. The others?"

She looked around, but even with her vision hindered, she could tell that there was no one here with her, wherever here was. A series of lanterns lit up what appeared to be a small room with a wooden door at the right wall. The floor beneath the thin layer of sand she found herself in felt smooth but hard, like the polished marble one would find in the houses of the wealthy, and the walls appeared to be made of the same substance. The ceiling, however, was pitch black, blocking any light from the torches, with what appeared to be a dark mist seeping in through it. Just looking at it was enough to give her the shivers.

"That darkness. It's the same darkness we all fell into." she hugged herself, a sense of dread overtaking her as she stared into the abyss hanging above. A part of her wanted to reach out and touch it, but her phobic mind fought tooth and nail against any such urge. "Is this some trap by that ghoul? Did the others make it out okay?"

She recalled hearing Asif screaming as the two of them fell into this abyss, but his cry was soon drowned out by the overwhelming darkness, which seemed to extinguish all sight and sound like a swift breath extinguishing a candle. Even her calicomel appeared to have gotten separated from her, along with the various supplies she kept on it.

She was truly alone, and this feeling of loneliness was slowly, but surely, sinking in. She noticed her heart speed up, just enough that she found herself having to catch her breath every so often. She felt chills all across her skin, but also a sticky dampness, save for her mouth, which felt as dry as the desert she'd traveled across for the last couple of weeks.

Clutching her chest, her sweaty palm sticking to, and smearing, her robe, she bit her lip in a vain attempt to try and stop her breath from leaving so quickly. "I still don't even know how I got here. I remember falling, but I don't remember hitting the ground." she glanced up at the ceiling, the dark aura still emanating from it. "What even is this stuff? Giving me the creeps is what it's doing. Wait? How could I have even fallen into this room? There's no opening in the ceiling. That must mean..."

The realization hit her like a rainfall of bricks. She felt around her body. To her shock, she still had her sword, dagger, and even her bow on her.

"What's that about?" she asked herself. "If someone really put me here, why would they leave my weapons with me? Doesn't make sense it does."

This new conundrum, which at first had brought a hint of peace, was now racking her brain back and forth as though it were a ball being tossed back and forth between two athletes. She clutched her dagger tightly, feeling the curved hilt against the skin of her sweaty palm. Taking it out of its sheath, she eyed the grey blade, shining as it reflected the light off of the torches.

"Still in pretty good condition all things considered. I forget to sharpen it more times than I'd like to admit. If it wasn't for Salman checking all of our belongings... Salman. That's right. What would Salman do? He'd work through this rationally. Can't afford to lose your cool in this kind of situation. What matters now is survival."

Even as she told herself these words in her trembling voice, her mind still focused on her friends. She'd eyed the door at the front of the room. Unlike the rest of the room, it was made out of several planks of rather weathered wood, kind of like something you'd find washed up on the shore. She could see some dim glimmers of light shining through the cracks, almost giving the illusion that it was leaking amber.