It was a night unlike any other.
The air shimmered with tension, and if you listened closely enough, you could hear it—a faint, melodic hum, like the world itself was whispering secrets just beyond the reach of human understanding. Ahmed felt it, even though he couldn't explain how. He stood on the edge of an old, forgotten ruin, the moon casting long shadows across the crumbled stones beneath his feet. Something was different. Something was coming.
Ahmed had always been sensitive to things others ignored. As a child, he would wake in the dead of night, drenched in sweat, feeling like eyes—unseen but very real—were watching him. His grandmother would calm him, murmuring ancient words that somehow made the night feel safe again. But as he grew older, he had learned to suppress it, to silence the whispers in his head. Until now.
A sudden gust of wind tore through the trees, and for a brief moment, the world seemed to tremble. The wind carried with it a scent Ahmed didn't recognize—an odd mixture of burnt wood and something metallic. It filled his lungs, making his heart pound in his chest. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
He wasn't alone.
There was a tearing sound, like fabric being ripped in two, and the air around him split open. Ahmed stumbled back, eyes wide as the veil between the worlds tore apart right before him. Through the gap, he could see something... another place. A vast desert under a blood-red sky, where the sand swirled unnaturally, as if alive.
Then they appeared—two figures stepping out of the rift, their forms flickering like shadows in a flame. Jinn.
Ahmed had heard the stories. Everyone had. Tales of creatures from the unseen world, beings of fire and air, who lived in realms that ran parallel to the human world. But those were just stories, right?
The taller of the two figures spoke, its voice a low rumble that reverberated through the air. "The Veil has been shattered. The time has come."
Ahmed's mouth went dry, but before he could speak, the second figure turned its gaze on him—burning, ancient eyes locking with his. In that instant, Ahmed felt something awaken inside him, something long dormant. Memories not his own flashed in his mind, visions of battles fought in places he had never seen, with faces he didn't recognize.
"The war is not yours yet," the second figure hissed, its voice like wind through hollow bones. "But it will be."
And just as suddenly as they had appeared, the two jinn vanished, the tear in reality sealing behind them with a sound like thunder. Ahmed was left standing in the ruins, his heart racing and his mind spinning with questions he couldn't yet begin to answer.