My obsession with ancient artifacts had led me to this remote oasis, a place of shimmering heat mirages and towering dunes, whose golden crests were caressed by relentless winds and bathed in the merciless sun. The parched air seemed to crack with each breath, while the sand beneath my feet shifted treacherously, as if trying to swallow my very existence.
My Bedouin guide, Karim, moved with fluid grace across the dunes. His skin, weathered by years under the harsh desert sun, was the color of burnished copper. His eyes, dark as the deepest night, seemed to hold the wisdom of millennia. He navigated the endless sea of sand with an innate sense that I could only marvel at, his every movement a testament to his harmony with this unforgiving landscape.
The oppressive heat and the monotonous expanse of sand had begun to wear on my spirits, while Karim’s constant murmuring of ancient legends grated on my nerves. “One more tale and I’ll leave him here!” the thought flashed through my mind, but the stark reality of my dependence on his desert craft kept me silent.
“The djinn never travel alone in the deep desert,” he said, fixing me with his penetrating gaze. For a moment, I thought I saw the shimmer of magic in the air around him, but it must have been the heat playing tricks on my eyes. Clearing my throat, I asked:
“Why don’t they venture out alone?”
“Because they fear encountering the Ghul.”
I had never heard the term before, and Karim continued his tale without prompting.
“The Ghul is a malevolent spirit that appears as a mirage. Even the djinn cannot always distinguish it, but they know that if they meet a lone traveler in the deep desert, they should flee to avoid being ensnared.”
“And what happens if the Ghul catches them?”
It seemed far-fetched, but I was familiar with the rich tapestry of myths woven into the fabric of desert culture.
“First, it drains their essence, and then it transforms them into soulless wanderers, forever cursed to lure others to their doom.”
As Karim’s words faded into the whisper of the wind, I found myself questioning the wisdom of this expedition. Yet, the promise of uncovering ancient secrets drove me forward, even as the sands seemed to conspire against our every step.
In the distance, a shimmer caught my eye. Was it the legendary lost city I sought, or merely another trick of the merciless desert? As we pressed on, Karim’s tales of djinn and ghuls echoed in my mind, blurring the line between myth and reality in this timeless realm of sand and sky.
