📜 READER RULES
"A Realm Where Cowards Get Lost Twice"
1. This story uses a system structure.
Not a tax system, not a coding system— a choice-based survival system.
And every choice has consequences. (Yes, even the stupid ones.)
2. You must be as honorable as a grandmaster in desert chess.
Once your finger touches a pawn—no takebacks.
No crying. No "I didn't mean it."
Live with your decision.
3. Do NOT read all paths.
You're not an omniscient deity. Choose one route and stay loyal.
If you peek at the others, the jinn will judge your commitment issues.
4. The protagonist's fate is now in your hands.
If they die, that's between you and your conscience.
Do not DM the author at 2 a.m. to blame the plot twist.
5. Confused? Terrified? Regretting your choices?
Perfect.
That means the system works.
Proceed.
6. You may laugh, scream, or re-evaluate your life choices.
You may NOT go back and redo the chapter.
This is not a dating sim.
This is destiny—with lag.
***
Rafi landed hard, lungs crushed by a slap of cold wind. He lifted his head slowly—and the world unfolded like a book no human had ever written.
The sky was wrong.
Beautiful, but wrong.
Three suns hung at different heights, their lights overlapping like layers of wet gold ink:
VENA: a red-gold sun pulsing like an ember.SAFRA: a white-blue sun rotating slowly, as if thinking.ZURQ: a pale green sun, giving the gentlest light—yet it felt the most alive.
Rafi drew a long, heavy breath. The air tasted sweet, cold, and strangely "thick"—as though the air itself remembered something. He was still kneeling when Sahim's voice exploded behind him:
"BROOO—Subhanallah! This is premium Bollywood lighting! Wallah I NEED to record this!"
Rafi turned. Sahim was already standing tall, bisht fluttering lightly, phone screen wide open, capturing left angle, right angle, 0.5x angle, cinematic vertical angle—rapid-fire like an influencer who just found literal heaven's lighting.
Rafi wanted to scold him… but the world was still shifting before his eyes:
Diyār al-Khafā'—
a vast land with cliffs like black glass,
deserts changing color when the wind passed,
slender trees with transparent leaves scattering the light of three suns into shards of color.
Everything moved slowly, like the world itself was breathing. Rafi hugged his arms around himself, his feelings a chaos.
"…this isn't Earth."
Sahim kept filming.
"Rafi, bro, LOOK at this natural filter. Look! No editing needed!"
"Aren't you scared?"
Rafi stared at him, disbelief cracking his voice—uncertainty, fear, beauty that felt wrong all mixing at once. Sahim lowered his phone slightly. His face was bright like a child's—but his eyes trembled.
"Scared? Of course scared, Bro… I'm not a rock."
He swallowed hard, then lifted his chin—a fake confidence pose he usually did when he was panicking internally.
"Rafi… my Bro… trust me."
He thumped his chest and pointed at the three-sun sky like he was pitching real estate.
"We just got EARLY BETA access to a Hidden Gem Place that even Google Maps wouldn't dare touch, ya rajul."
Then in full TV-presenter mode:
"Fear? Later. Content? NOW."
His crooked smile returned—meant far more for calming himself than Rafi.
"How can I NOT be excited? Even my fear is lagging."
Rafi covered his face with both hands, breath stuttering.
"Wallah… I see my Ummi's face… If she saw me here, she'd pray AND scold me in one breath."
Sahim stopped recording, though his hands still shook slightly.
"Bro… I remember your Ummi too."
He mimicked an older woman in theatrical dramatics:
"'Raaafiii! Laa tukhawwifni! Don't make your Ummi die young!'"
Then, grinning:
"And I SWEAR… if we survive, your Ummi will like all my videos."
Rafi stared at him, half stressed, half offended.
"Sahim… focus."
His breath came short, panicked.
"If we can get OUT of here. Whenever—or IF we even CAN."
He looked up at the sky of three suns, face pale.
"And there's no signal… so please… SAVE. OUR. BATTERY."
Sahim paused. Then slowly raised two fingers like negotiating peace.
"Listen to me, Rafi."
He pressed one hand to his chest dramatically.
"I brought a 30,000 mAh power bank. Two of them. TWO, akhi."
He announced it like a royal decree. Rafi stared at him long, as if considering a Prophet-level moral dilemma.
"…that—Sahim—THAT IS NOT A SOLUTION."
Sahim shrugged, voice small.
"I know it's not a solution… but it's the last piece of our world that still keeps me calm, Bro…"
Rafi froze.
So did Sahim.
For a split second, their fear met—then Sahim immediately patched it with another stupid joke.
"Also… if we die here… leaving full batteries would be a waste."
"SAHIM."
"Yes?"
"By Allah, please shut up for five minutes."
Then—
as if the world heard the request and twisted it into something else—the wind stopped.
The light of the three suns dimmed half a shade.
And in that sudden stillness…
the scent appeared.
Not arriving like an attack, but like someone whispering behind their ear:
sweet,
warm,
stroking the mind
in a way that wasn't heard—only felt.
Sahim stiffened instantly.
"Bro… bro, do you SMELL that? Astaghfirullah… is this the scent of Angels?!"
Rafi inhaled—and half his logic evaporated. The scent was like an invisible hand brushing his thoughts.
"I—I…"
He swayed a little, then held his breath.
"What is this smell…?"
Sahim didn't answer. He was already walking.
Not walking—
Pulled.
"SAHIM!"
Rafi chased him, sand scraping like a thousand fine needles. They reached a small field. And the world seemed to open a second veil.
A spread of blue-green shimmering plants,
their leaves like soft feathers,
their petals reflecting Vena's light into thin streaks of emerald.
They didn't move with the wind—
they moved with the rhythm of light.
Nabat al-Muhayyil (The Bewildering Bloom).
Sahim was entranced.
Completely.
"MasyAllah… if only I had a 4K camera—"
"Sahim… DON'T TOUCH—!"
Rafi grabbed his friend's shoulder, but Sahim didn't react. His fingers reached out, trembling—as if the whole world narrowed into a single glowing petal.
"Sa—HIM!"
Rafi screamed.
Too late.
The moment the petal was touched, the flower pulsed rapidly—
dup-dup-dup
like a frightened heartbeat.
A silver mist burst out. Sahim staggered. His body weakened. His eyes flickered like a faulty light.
"Bro… this smell… ya Allah… I… wanna sleep…"
"DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES!"
Rafi held him up, pulling his collapsing body.
And then—
from behind the transparent trees—
something ROARED.
Low.
Heavy.
Deep.
Close.
Rafi froze. His blood vanished. He tightened his grip around the barely-conscious Sahim.
"Bro… just a sec—"
Rafi clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Quiet. QUIET. For your life."
The ground vibrated softly.
The glass-thin leaves chimed.
A massive shadow moved between the trees.
Rafi swallowed hard.
Even through the gag, Sahim managed a muffled:
"B-ro… I'm… s-l-eepy…"
Rafi whispered, lips barely moving.
"There's a predator…"
The shadow stopped.
Silence.
Stillness.
Heavy.
Too heavy.
The world froze.
Rafi felt every hair on his body stand—in that moment, he knew:
whatever it was, they must not be seen.
He pressed himself to the ground, dragging Sahim into his arms, breath shallow and fast. The shadow shifted slightly.
What should he do…?
1 — Stay Hide.
Rafi drags Sahim deeper into the Nabat al-Muhayyil, despite the hypnotic mist. They stay here, unmoving, praying the creature cannot smell them.
2 — Run Away.
Rafi pulls Sahim and sprints out of the bloom field. The ground trembles from the beast's steps.
—To be Continued—