(⁠灬⁠º⁠ Opening Scene º⁠灬⁠)⁠

✧ ─────────────── ✧

The glow of the kerosene lamp cast dancing shadows upon the walls of the tent—shadows like fingers that stretched out to grasp them, then withdrew. Outside, the distant howl of a wolf pierced the silence of Al-Fada Forest, as though whispering to them: "You have not yet arrived… but the road knows you are coming."

Elias sat in the corner, his back against a travel bag, his eyes fixed upon an ancient manuscript that smelled of decay and of time itself. Its cover was of cracked brown leather, its pages yellowed and crumbling at the edges like autumn leaves. He read in silence, his lips moving slowly, then lifted his head abruptly:

"Friends… listen to this legend!"

Sima raised an eyebrow as she wrapped a scarf around her neck: "Another legend? Elias, we came here to debunk the legend, not to read it!"

"This is no ordinary legend… This—" He paused to glance at the cover. "—is a manuscript I found at the antiquary in the old market. It is over two hundred years old."

Jad, who had been reviewing the map by lamplight, looked up with interest. Maria reached out her hand toward the manuscript:

"Let us hear it."

Elias took a deep breath and began to read in a low voice, as though the words feared being heard by unworthy ears:

"In the name of He who created night and day, and made them a sign for those who cross… This is the tale of Dhahira Castle, built by the jinn in three moonlit nights, and inhabited by Shaddad ibn 'Ad the Second, King of Shadows and Keeper of Lost Time…"

Elias paused for a moment, turning the page carefully: "There is a missing part here… the page is eroded." He lifted the manuscript toward the light, trying to decipher the faded remnants of lines:

"…Shaddad knew that all kingdoms perish… all kings die… and he would not accept for his realm the fate of annihilation. So he gathered the sorcerers and the priests… and commanded them to imprison time itself… to imprison the days and nights… in… in…"

He broke off again, lifting his head in frustration: "Illegible… there are more obliterated sections."

He continued reading, his voice growing more grave:

"And when it was done, Shaddad sat upon his throne at the heart of the castle, and time around him stood still as stagnant water. No sun rose nor set, no moon appeared nor vanished. Perpetual shadow… an eternal noontide. And lest any intruder threaten his dominion, he placed upon it a watcher…"

Elias stopped abruptly. His eyes widened as he stared at the word:

"A watcher… what?" Sima asked impatiently. "Go on!"

Elias raised his head slowly: "The Watcher… neither fades nor dies… nor can it be broken…"

"Except!" Maria interrupted, pointing to a word barely visible at the bottom of the page.

Elias brought the manuscript close to his eyes, straining to decipher the eroded letters:

"Except… except by… by de… deni…"

"Denial…" he whispered, as though uttering a forbidden word.

A long silence fell over the tent. Even the wolf's howl paused for a moment.

"Denial of what? Denial of what, exactly?" Jad asked, his voice calm but laced with a deadly curiosity.

"It is not clear… the page is worn away." Elias turned the sheet in disappointment, then added: "There is one final line, below, in a different hand… perhaps someone added it later."

He read slowly:

"And when mortals deny his existence… they think they have freed themselves… yet they… shall become… his crossing."

He finished. Four breaths stopped for a moment.

Then Sima let out a short, tense laugh: "A legend about imprisoning time? And a Watcher that can only be broken by denial? So, by coming here and telling ourselves it is not real—"

Maria shrugged: "If we are the ones who break the Watcher, that means we can enter the castle and leave safely."

Jad gathered his map and gazed toward the opening of the tent. From there, the castle's peak was visible in the distance, a black silhouette beneath the stars: "I did not understand the last line that way." He turned to face them all: "The line said: 'they shall become his crossing'—not their crossing. Meaning we may not be the ones who break the Watcher… but rather, the Watcher is what crosses through us."

A longer silence. Heavy. In it, they could hear the beating of one another's hearts.

Elias closed the manuscript slowly. He looked at his four friends: "Tomorrow morning, we go to the castle. We will photograph it, document everything around it, and return. That was the agreement. We are not here to believe in such nonsense."

Sima stood abruptly: "Fine. That is true."

But Maria remained seated, staring at the manuscript: "Elias… I have a question."

"Yes?"

"The eroded part of the manuscript… what would it have said? What, exactly, is the Watcher that must be broken?"

Elias looked at the decaying pages, at the holes that time had eaten into the most sensitive moments of the tale.

"I do not know, Maria… perhaps time itself erased them so we would guess wrong."

Before sleep, the four stepped out of the tent, as they did every night. Jad wanted to log the journey's events, Maria sought a good angle for tomorrow's photography, Elias carried his GPS device, and Sima wrapped her scarf around her neck, gazing thoughtfully at the path.

The night's cold pricked them like invisible needles. The forest around them was silent, but its silence was natural—like any forest in the depths of night. And there, in the distance, the castle rose.

It was a colossal structure piercing the belly of the sky, its five towers rising like the fingers of a giant hand reaching toward the heavens. No light within, no movement around. Only a silent mass of ancient stone.

Jad raised his camera and took several professional shots: "A fascinating structure… reminiscent of the Himyarite castles we studied at university."

Elias glanced at his device: "The signal is very weak here… probably due to iron deposits in the rock."

At the highest tower, where the stone ended, a flock of crows suddenly took flight, spiraling in dark vortices around the summit. Their dry calls spread through the space like distant applause.

"Crows usually inhabit abandoned places," Maria said, adjusting her lens. "Their presence is natural… it suggests the area has been devoid of human presence for a long time."

Sima shrugged: "So… tomorrow we enter, photograph, record observations, and leave. Then publish a report debunking the myths passed down by the nearby villagers."

Jad placed his camera in his bag: "That is the objective. Science begins where superstition ends."

The four gazed toward the castle for a moment. A lone crow landed on a nearby rock, tilted its head, and stared at them with gleaming eyes—then flew away.

They returned to the tent. Elias zipped the entrance, and Jad wrote in his journal: Third night before entering the castle. Conditions calm. Crows numerous. Easily explicable.

None of them looked back. None saw how the crows suddenly stopped flying, how they clustered upon the towers like black fruit, how they all tilted their heads in the same direction.

Toward the tent.

But this did not happen. For crows are merely birds, the castle merely stones, and night merely the absence of the sun.

This is what they believed.

And this was all that was true… until that moment.

✧ ─────────────── ✧

POV

"Science seeks an explanation for everything…

Even when no explanation exists."

---

✧ THIS CONCLUDES THE OPENING SCENE… ✧

✧ AND FROM HERE BEGINS THE TRUE CROSSING ✧

Four friends… believers in science, mockers of myths… preparing to enter Dhahira Castle.

They do not know that the crows are watching them.

They do not know that the walls await them.

And most importantly… they do not know that denial itself may be the door.

---

✧ How will their entry into the castle unfold?

✧ Will they hold fast to science until the very end?

✧ And what is the secret of the manuscript's erased passage?

---

Horizon for Discussion:

· How do you expect the friends to react upon entering the castle?

· Do you believe time can be imprisoned in a place?

· If you were in Jad and his companions' place, would you continue on, or turn back?

---

✧ Support & Engagement ✧

If you enjoyed the scene:

✅ Upvote this chapter (and do not hold back your thoughts!)

💬 Share your comments… which character caught your attention? Which part sparked your curiosity?

Your support shapes the next chapter!

"For words, too, have their owners… and ideas have their fathers… and the crossing has one who made it before others crossed it."

✨ The legend of Dhahira Castle and the Watcher that can only be broken by denial, along with the concepts of imprisoned time and the crossing into the Other World, are original ideas born from my own inspiration.

✨ Any resemblance in names or events to reality or to other works is purely coincidental and unintentional.

All rights reserved © 2026

#ProphecyOfTheGreatCrossing

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***