Fate of deception

Chapter 26 - Z

Amir sat on the edge of the bed, the silence of the house pressing in on him. He had just returned home, the scent of dinner still lingered in the air—roasted spices and warm bread—but the kitchen was accompanied by Layna and Umaizah, whom he didn't want to speak to after the tiring day.

His stomach rumbled faintly, reminding him he hadn't eaten yet. The ache of hunger was dull, almost distant, like everything else lately. Amir tried to focus on it, to use it as an anchor to the present moment, but it slipped away just as quickly it came. Something else was gnawing at the edges of his consciousness, something much more urgent than hunger.

For hours, his mind had been a fog, clouded with thoughts that weren't his own. Every decision, every action had felt as thought it were being pulled from him by invisible strings, guided by a hand that wasn't his. But now, the fog was thinning, revealing thoughts and memories that had been hidden from him. They were just out of reach, like shadows flickering at the edge of his vision.

He closed his eyes, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples as if he could force the memories back into place through sheer willpower. Faces flashed in his mind—people he should remember, places he had been. But the images were fragmented, disjointed, and before he could make sense of them, I distracted him.

"Stop." I commanded. "Take your hands away from your temples."

Amir's heart pounded against his chest as panic began to rise. He's starting to control his own body. He could feel the weight of the spell that bound him, something dark and ancient pressing him down on his mind, smothering his thoughts. Now, cracks were forming in that oppressive force, through cracks, pieces of him were slipping back from the past day.

His breath became faster, his pulse quickening as he struggled to hold onto those fleeting fragments of his past. He knew that if he could just remember, he would fight back. He could be free.

I wouldn't let that happen.

Before he could grasp anything solid, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, heat and sudden, like a blanket being thrown over a flame. His eyelids drooped, his body swayed. The fight draining out of him with each breath.

Somewhere deep inside, Amir felt a tug—I needed to command him one more time before he holds himself back.

"No," Amir whispered, his voice was weak and desperate. He tried to stand, to shake off the drowsiness that was pulling him down, but his limbs felt like lead. The more he fought it, the heavier the weight became, dragging him deeper into the darkness.

"Sleep." I pierced my voice inside his ears, this time it was more insistent as Amir's resistance crumbled.

His vision blurred as he sank back onto the bed, the world around him fading into shadows. The last thing he felt was the remnants of hunger, a hollow ache that echoed in the emptiness of his mind before he slipped into oblivion.

As Amir drifted off, the pieces of his memory that had begun to resurface were buried once again. They were lost beneath the thick, unyielding fog of the spell that held him captive.