Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 3 🏃🏻‍♀️

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu•

Disclaimer- The picture above is not mine.
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The evening of that day was a normal one. The sisters were feeling the shift within them, but the world around them remained as it was. Adara and Amiza looked around them and thought about their life here. Each and every incident meshed with each other in a kaleidoscope of memories. Amiza was upset about leaving everything behind but Adara had painful memories of punishments and silence from a mother who had not deemed her worthy of showing love to her. Adara was excited for a life that lay ahead of her, away from a father who had shadowed her life with pain.

She had often wondered why it was that her father had pressed his ideals on her. Now she knew that her father expected her to inherit his magic and enslave herself to something that ate away the humanity from the heart of a person. She sighed as she watched the sun go down.

When the night arrived, they all sat in a circle to have their food. Ratfa served Thuraiz who watched Adara with narrowed eyes. Adara remained silent throughout. She watched him once and lowered her head as she gently tore the bread and dipped it in the meat stew before placing it in her mouth. Thuraiz frowned. Something was rubbing him in the wrong way and he didn't understand what was happening with his eldest daughter but he understood that she wasn't behaving in normal way.

Thuraiz loved Adara since her birth but it was for his own selfishness. For him she was the first daughter of his family, who are usually the inheritors of their Aunt's magic. He had been grooming Adara for the same. His sister was going to teach her the intricacies of magic. But that wasn't the only reason why she was special. Adara was supposed to be sent on an important mission that was supposed to bring them an honor, but Adara had never become what he expected her to become.

Perhaps, in the whole world, he was the person who knew his daughter very well. He was her father after all. Regardless of how she hadn't turned out how he wanted her to be, he was still proud of her. His daughter was an enigma in her own right. She was so unpredictable in her thoughts and actions that he, who could bet on understanding her the most, remained unknown of what the very next moment would bring from her. Adara Thuraiz would say and do whatever she wanted to. The society and it's regulations didn't faze her at all. She was the definition of her name. When she rebelled, a fire lit in her eyes and he would usually hold his own head in exasperation. But her headstrong nature was what made her the best for the mission. She would have been an awesome person to lead this but now he couldn't wait more. He had exhausted every method by which he could force her to learn. He had even tried to use his skills of magic on her. It hadn't worked due to his own faults. Some silly mistakes that had just thrown away all his hard work in a loop.

Amiza was a very demure child. Even though she had not been his pride, she was still a comforting presence. She had never caused him any trouble and been very docile in her bearing. Thuraiz didn't expect her to lead like Adara did but she was his only option now and he was desperate. If he didn't handle this matter quickly, the honor if the head priestess would go to some other family. Their family had been involved in this for many generations now and he couldn't let this slip away. Amiza was intelligent and she would learn things quickly. He sighed and lifted his head as he watched the sisters together. They were so different from each other in looks and character both.

Twenty years ago, when Ratfa had become pregnant for the third time, he had warned her that if this time it wasn't a girl, he would divorce her and take another wife. He still remembered that night.

Ratfa watched her husband as he laughed in joy. He lifted her and swirled around. Thuraiz chuckled again and kissed her forehead before cupping her face.