Chapter One: The Dead End
The Path of Fools
Every person has a path, and every path has an end...
But are we truly the ones who choose the road, or does the road choose us?
From the moment we are born, we find ourselves walking a trail already drawn—shaped by circumstances, family, society, and even the decisions we believe were made by our own free will.
Some walk a straight line, certain of their destination from the very beginning. Others stumble through tangled crossroads, tossed around by fate like wanderers in a maze with no exit.
There are those who believe destiny is sealed, written in ink that cannot be erased. Others cling to the idea that each step has the power to reshape fate. Yet no matter the belief, the question remains:
Are we the masters of our journey, or just pawns in a far greater game?
In every era, some followed the path of heroes, others were swallowed by the roads of darkness, and many drifted somewhere in between—neither hero nor villain, just souls searching for a way out, for meaning, for a reason that makes the struggle worth enduring.
But what if the path itself is a lie? What if the road we walk is nothing more than a string of illusions, while the truth lies far beyond everything we know?
> "This is not a story about choosing between good and evil…
It is the tale of fools who stepped into the unknown, chasing something that may not even exist."
And caught in the middle of all these questions… was me.
---
My name is Yousef. I'm twenty-five years old, a young man trapped in a country that seems to slowly devour our dreams.
A place where connections and money decide your future more than your talent ever could. Where tomorrow isn't a promise, but a vague shadow growing dimmer with every passing day.
When I graduated with a degree in Business Administration, I thought it would be the start of a steady life. I was certain that hard work would be rewarded, that I would land a job fitting my qualifications.
But reality was nothing like I had imagined.
I applied to dozens of jobs, sent out my résumé everywhere I could, sat through countless interviews—yet the result was always the same: "We're sorry, another candidate has been chosen." Or worse… complete silence.
Every time I put on formal clothes for an interview, I felt like an actor playing a script I'd rehearsed too many times. The same questions, the same smiles, the same polished answers that had lost their meaning.
And always… the same ending.
I would walk out of every interview with a fresh layer of disappointment, as if I was carrying a bag of failures strapped to my back.
---
But I wasn't ready to give up—not yet.
If no one would give me a chance, I would create my own.
I started looking for a business idea, something that would let me take control of my future instead of being chained to circumstances.
That's when I came up with the idea of a small company to market local products. I believed I could make it succeed. I believed I could create something meaningful.
---
Obstacle One: Money.
I began drafting plans, calculating expenses, searching for suppliers, studying the market. Excitement stirred in me again.
But soon, I crashed into the first real wall: funding.
I had no capital. Banks weren't an option—they only lend to people with collateral, and I had none. Just a jobless young man with an idea.
I looked for investors, sat in meetings, pitched my plans. I met people who promised support, but their promises were hollow.
Some smiled politely as they dismissed me. Others told me to "come back once you've achieved some success first."
I almost believed one man who said, "Your project is brilliant. I'll back it." But he vanished, as if the earth itself had swallowed him whole.
---
Obstacle Two: Fear of Failure.
It wasn't just money that stood in my way—it was something deeper, more dangerous: doubt.
The more I planned, the more risks I saw. I couldn't stop imagining the worst-case scenarios—failing, losing everything, the cruel words of people around me.
What if it all collapsed? What if my dream ended as just another forgotten idea buried under the weight of life?
One night, I lay in my room staring at the ceiling, replaying everything in my head.
Months of planning, and yet… I was still standing in the exact same place.
I didn't know if I was moving forward anymore—or just running in circles.
---
The Slow Surrender.
After endless hesitation, I gave up.
It felt like I had cut away a piece of myself—like I had abandoned the last fragile thread of hope I was holding onto.
That day, I sat on the balcony, watching the street below.
Children were playing. Cars passed by. People hurried off toward their destinations.
The world kept moving… while I was stuck.
---
But failure alone wasn't what truly terrified me.
There was something worse—something heavier, always lurking in the shadows behind me: the fear of debt.
It wasn't just a passing thought—it was a whisper, constant and sharp:
"What if you make the wrong move? What if you chain yourself to debts you can never repay? What if your life becomes a desperate race to feed a monster that only grows?"
This fear wasn't baseless. It had roots.
I had seen what debt could do. How it strips away freedom, how it makes every step a calculation, every choice a prison, every opportunity a risk too dangerous to take.
I had watched it turn lives into cages.
And I knew—I could not let that be me.
---
But in truth, my story didn't begin with questions of destiny.
It began with something much simpler…
A single moment.