Afterward, he felt the light diminishing gradually behind him.
He glanced at his watch and found it approaching five in the morning. He realized that the moon had begun to wane, and he didn't know what would happen next.
The book mentioned that the Basement remains illuminated only during the presence of the moon and didn't mention anything else. Soon enough, the illumination of the basement gradually faded away.
He didn't pay much attention to it and continued to advance further.
Until he found an image engraved on one of the walls of the basement of a person who seemed to exude wealth from their features.
He spoke to it with a smile, "Surely, you must be Forik. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Khaled Hassani, the discoverer of your magnificent basement, which will bring joy to someone's life because of you."
Then he took out his phone to take a picture. But as soon as he snapped the photo, he felt a violent tremor beneath his feet that nearly threw him off balance.
He quickly turned to find the walls of the cavern collapsing behind him, debris hurtling towards him, the collapse approaching him fiercely. He took a few steps back, his heart pounding, and then ran to find cover.
Khaled ran swiftly, the collapsing walls chasing him like prey pursued by a predator. He couldn't believe his eyes. It felt like a dream, and he ran.
He could hear the sound of the massive rocks of the walls crashing. If one rock hit him, it would surely kill him.
Even his backpack fell off his shoulder, but he didn't care. He continued his escape, his long strides and wide steps aiding him. He was running towards the unknown, screaming inside himself, "How do I return home now? I'm doomed.
The cavern is collapsing. What happened above?" Until he found himself faced with two paths that split the cavern.
He rushed towards one of them, not by choice, as the other path collapsed before he could reach it. It was as if the collapse dictated his course. Then he found himself running towards a higher ground.
The darkness and the collapse chased him relentlessly. He struggled against the difficulty of the ascent, pushing forward. Until he found a faint light ahead, resembling daylight, a familiar sight that he rushed towards, the darkness and the collapse pursuing him. He reached the opening and leaped out of it just as it collapsed from below, closing shut as if the earth had ejected him out.
Khaled found himself lying on the ground, his head buried in the sand.
He lifted his head, cleared the sand from his face and eyes, and looked at the sky.
He laughed and thanked God, thinking he had returned to the surface. He believed he had escaped the collapse of this cursed basement.
Until he looked at the sky again, noticing its blue and clear expanse unlike anything he had seen before. He looked around and saw sand everywhere within his sight. He stood up, turned around to see his surroundings, but found nothing but an expansive desert shaded by a clear sky.
He hit his head with his hand and whispered to himself in disbelief, "Wake up, Khaled. Are you dreaming or what? Where are you? That's it! The basement was built for us to live in the desert!
And the treasure and Forik, was it all just a prank? Am I in the Eastern desert or the Western one? Or in Sinai? Maybe I crossed the borders and ended up in Libya or Saudi Arabia?"
Then he screamed as if madness had seized him, "Where am I?!!"