Beware the fake smiles, beware the long nails that once caused your scars, and beware of their return; the return of those who longed to diminish your powers and take away your brightness, the return of those you naively thought they loved you, but they didn’t, sometimes it’s right to leave them behind, and sometimes it’s urgent to resist them. Which path should be taken tonight?
***Chapter two: The disappearance of Aba***
Everyone started looking restlessly for Aba, but she’s not anywhere around, Asham was captured by the congregation, since she disappeared on his watch, and will be interrogated abruptly, he blamed Sidra, and took an oath that he saw a vision of her betraying the congregation and staying behind in human form. Sidra denied everything and that she has no reason to take Aba, and everyone in the congregation believed her except Asham, he was cuffed and jailed until they learn a new detail. And Sidra was feeling partially guilty for sinning, she thought that she could have more powers to rescue Aba right now if she didn’t sin.
She will go to Aba’s room and inspect her belongings, the only relevant object was Aba’s diary but once she opens she finds nothing, she starts to run her fingers over the blank pages, to find delicately carved alphabets on them, she tried using a pencil to cast a shadow over the words but it didn’t show anything, he powers were enough to sense a hidden context but weren’t enough strong to what they entirely say!
Sidra went back to the congregation and tried to use their help, but none of them could sense or see anything, she went back to her room, laid over her bed in agony and despair of the whole situation, she decided to go to Odam’s farm, she entered his warm hut and told him about the diary, he was the only one who believed her, he also learned about her divine degradation and the symptoms she started to suffer after she sinned, between memory fogging, and muscle fatigue, but she still liked the forbidden affair between the artisan and the angel, that wasn’t supposed to happen, part of her liked the feeling of lust and freedom than just serving and guarding, part of her liked the fragility she acquired and the pleasure in pain. Odam apologized for her while holding her hands and thought he could stop the fire igniting between them both by promising her, but the more they try getting further from each other the more they fire gets hotter and spares none of them.
Odam started visiting the orphanage more often, spending more time with Sidra in her room, giving each other pleasure that shortly vanishes, causing both of them to be hungrier than before, while she was softly moaning between his arms her nose started bleeding heavily causing her to shock, Odam suddenly stepped of the bed and tried to give her water, he was concerned about the repetition of this symptom, she tried to cool him down, covered in silk and looking like a female roman sculpture, she held the piece of cloth wrapped around her shoulder and wiped the blood that was coming out of her nose, she told him about feeling guilty for wasting her powers and decided to exert more efforts to find Aba, therefore, she took him and went down at night to the archive, she checked the address where Aba was taken from and the name of her rescuer, Huda, the one who established the orphanage and made pacts with devils, humans and angels to co-exist, tame themselves and use their powers only for mending, she died before Sidra existed, died with answers Sidra and others are in need of.
Even though it’s been a week since Aba’s disappearance and the congregation already checked the address where Aba was found, baby in a cradle, and nothing was found, Sidra still believes there’s something she might find there, she pledged not to sleep with Odam again as she thought she’s becoming more humane than possessing divine powers she used to have, she went where Aba’s family resided, entered and Odam was with her, striving not to fall for her beauty, he entered the father’s room, it was a dark room where he used to make photos, Odam found a photo of Aba when she was in her mother’s arm, the devil that tempted a human artisan and conceived a baby from, Aba followed him to that room and ran her fingers on the photo, she had a scene playing before her eyes, where paranoia took over Aba’s mother (the devil) and killed her husband, and before she approach Aba, Huda breaks into the apartment on a perfect time and take away the baby, the mother was jailed for a while and then she died by committing suicide.
Sidra’s eyes were white, and it was Odam’s first time seeing Sidra’s eyes emitting light while she sees through time, he took two steps back in terror and admiration, then he called Sidra multiple times until she came back, she told him there was nothing she saw was connected to the current events, but the only think she could think of, is that the mother was the lure to a young orphan girl, nothing else helped to track Aba.
She asked Odam not to come to her room anymore, fearing for the life of the little girl, and deeply introspecting and praying so that she can regain anything back.
Despite Odam’s frustration and sadness beyond their terminated relationship, he respected the will of Sidra and decided to focus only on the little girl than running after their lust. He stayed one other week without meeting her, until he saw a dream, where he can vividly grasp and see what was written in Aba’s diary, he ran to Sidra’s room at night and begged her to open the door, she thought at the beginning that it’s about making love, but she opened the door once he mentioned Aba.
He showed her the context that she sensed before, but in full form, written and well described, Aba is trapped in the forest behind the cemetery, she visited that place more than once and her mother(who obviously wasn’t her real mother) was her guide, Sidra was suspected by the congregation shortly after she lost some of her powers, like healing the diseased, and traveling through time, only short visions remained, she was hesitating to tell the truth and she was still pretending that she can do things even though nothing happens.
She gave Odam a wrong timing to go to the forest, and went there alone, she smelled an aroma of a rotten flesh lying nearby, she checked it cautiously but it was a dead goat, she kept going deeper and deeper, reciting the verses she could remember and trembling like a real human would be in similar situation, she reached to an old hut, removed the barbed wire around its door, causing herself a tiny scar on her palm, dripping few blood drops on the floor,
As the evil entity was slowly demonstrating before her, lifting her up from her neck and controlling her brain, “Your blood is incredibly sweet, young lady, I can’t wait to suck all of it all at once and show you how weak, despicable, and utterly shameful, but here’s just a glimpse”, he tells her while showing her a memory of the past, she was conceived by Huda, the founder of the orphanage, in human form, and given to one of the angels to transform her and make her serve the community as she also made a pact with the devils to co-exist only if they use their powers correctly, but the devil didn’t like the fact that a strong gifted child of an artisan and an angel could one day challenge him or even defeat him, it’s a long lasting grudge that was frowning him and keeping him busy with young talented kids that went gone shortly after each other.
The powers Sidra possesses started to diminish more as soon as she was learning the truth, until she heard Aba talking to her, saying,
“He is deceiving you, he is scared of you, don’t listen to him”, her tears dropped as she was apologizing to the little girl, then she fell from a high point on her back, fainting as a result, and waking up on Odam’s voice while he was shaking her, he had to recite some faithful verses to ditch away the evilness that was controlling her, but he sensed a greater power than both of them which will require an intervention from the congregation and even members of the tamed devils, Sidra had a thousand question, before she went to Asham and tell him the truth and that she needs help, she testified to the congregation about everything and that Asham’s vision kept him away from watching over Aba but it wasn’t the reason why Aba disappeared, she could’ve disappeared in his hands anyways, it’s the pact between the orphanage and the devil world that kept the mundane world sensitive and easily accessible to evil entities, hence, it’s a power of dominance, and it requires adequate equal powers to challenge it, and since Sidra sinned with an Artisan, he powers diminished, and only Asham who knows the secret to open that one closed portal between the two worlds in the forest.
While the head of the congregation was gathering groups of talented humans, devils and angels to all unite and have a plan to get Aba back, Sidra approached her suspiciously and asked about her past, Lydia, told her that devils deceive the weak, and she is weak, the reason why he could get into her brain and she needs to only focus on praying and regaining her faith to regain her powers, but Sidra still felt incomplete with that answer.
The angels gathered behind Asham, praying, and reciting, Sidra took a small bag of heaven dust in her pocket, and took Odam with her to exact point where Aba says she saw herself, the devils were ordered to help Sidra, Asham and Odam inside the portal and the angels will stay outside praying in front of it and guiding the lost souls.
Asham stood by the portal gate, whispered and closed his eyes, then his recitation gradually became louder until the gate opened…
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