Written by: Al-Ahmadi Ibrahim

I didn't understand Djan's behavior as he smiled his creepy smile at Ammar's corpse lying on the ground. I screamed at him angrily, "Why did you kill him?" He replied coldly, "Did we come here to play?" I said angrily, "I didn't want to kill him!" He responded calmly, "If I hadn't killed him, he would have killed us." I stood silently for a moment, feeling sadness for Ammar, but it began to fade as I remembered what he did to my mother. After a few minutes of silence, Djan said, "Are we leaving now?" I told him, "Wait, I want to visit someone before we go down." He asked in surprise, "Is this the right time? Who is this person?" I said firmly, "It's none of your concern, just wait here." He laughed and said, "Don't take too long; I'm not good at flying at night." I took the path to the house of the man who had taken me to Ammar's house on my previous visit. It was morning when I arrived. I knocked on the door, and his young daughter opened it. I asked her, "Where is your father?" She looked at me silently and then rushed inside. I stood at the open door, waiting. A man who wasn't the one who had brought me previously opened the door. I looked at him in surprise and asked, "Where is the man who lives here?" He replied coldly, "There is no man in this house other than me." I said confidently, "Impossible, I am sure this is his house." He smiled and said, "Feel free to search the house if you want." I told him, "No thank you, but I am sure he lives here." He asked me, "What is his name?" I said hesitantly, "I don't know." He responded in surprise, "Describe his appearance to me." I described the man's features to him, and his facial expression changed with astonishment. "That's my father!" he said. I smiled and told him, "Didn't I tell you I was right? It seems he was visiting you during that period." He told me the location of his house, and I decided to go there myself. He looked at me for a moment and then said, "Follow me." I walked behind him for a while until we stopped in front of a large extended fence. He said to me, "My father is behind this fence; go and talk to him." I asked him anxiously, "How will I recognize him?" He said to me, "Ask for Salem." I couldn't find a gate in the fence, so I walked until I reached a large gate guarded by a keeper who prevented me from entering. I told him, "I want to meet Salem." He said, "Come in, he is inside." So I entered and was shocked by the sight; I saw a group of graves, and the man's grave was among them. I was in the village cemetery, and the man had been dead for ten years. I asked the cemetery keeper about the man I had seen and asked him, "How did he die?" He told me his story. The cemetery keeper said, "Salem was a pure and righteous man, loved by everyone in the village. When he was young, he and his older brother were responsible for the mosque, taking turns in calling to prayer and leading prayers. People trusted them very much. Until one day, a strange man came to the village, bought one of the houses for sale, and moved in. At first, people didn't know he was a sorcerer; he pretended to be righteous and devout, offering services to treat magic and possession and read for the possessed. But no one in the village suffered from these things, so no one visited him or requested his services. After several months, strange symptoms and psychological problems began to appear on some people, and medicine could not find a solution. Desperate and helpless, some people started going to that man. Whenever someone visited him, they left healed. Over time, his reputation spread among the villagers. This situation did not please Salem and his older brother, as the man was exploiting and draining people's money unjustly. They decided to go to his house and confront him. Salem knocked on the door, and the sorcerer opened it, asking, "What do you want?" Salem replied angrily, "Get out of the village with your nonsense!" The sorcerer laughed and said, "Who are you to expel me?" Salem said, "I am the village sheikh, and you are committing a great sin against yourself and the villagers, and I will not allow you to continue this wickedness." The sorcerer said, "I and the villagers know our affairs best, so do not interfere in what does not concern you." The sorcerer closed the door in Salem's face. Salem's older brother, angry, knocked on the door forcefully. The sorcerer did not open, so Salem's brother broke the door and entered forcibly. Salem followed him to find the sorcerer among a group of talismans, and the place reeked of a foul odor. The sorcerer shouted at them, "Get out of here before you regret it!" They attacked him and beat him until he almost died, then dragged him to the village center, blood pouring from his face and his clothes torn. The people gathered around them, and Salem said loudly, "This man is a sorcerer, deceiving you, and he is the reason for your illnesses so that you seek him out."