đź“ś 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.
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.
***
The flower mist still clung to their hair when the world changed color—ZURQ began to rise, casting a pale green light that crept over everything like a curtain being drawn.
Rafi pulled his bisht tighter, jaw clenched.
"Bro… let's not wait for another creature to pee near us. We—RUN."
Sahim looked back at the softly glowing Nabat al-Muhayyil.
"But… Bro… the flowers are aesthetic. Pretty. Fragrant. Healing content—"
Rafi smacked him hard on the head.
"That's exactly the problem, ya Bahlūl!
Every creature here ALSO likes what's aesthetic!"
Sahim's hands shot up.
"NA'AM! AGREED! We run!"
They didn't just run.
They panicked and started picking flowers.
Sahim grabbed flowers.
Rafi grabbed flowers.
Sahim's sling bag was stuffed with flowers.
If a botanical judge walked by, they would've been jailed for garden crimes.
"Bro… why are we taking so many?"
"Aroma bombs, Bro."
"…what kind of bombs?"
"If monsters come—we THROW HALLU AT THEM."
Sahim nodded quickly, though his face clearly said:
"This is the dumbest idea yet somehow the most logical one this second."
They'd barely made it a meter out of the flower garden when nature gave its first warning—not with sound… but with a silence that suddenly froze.
The glass leaves stopped trembling.
The wind held its breath.
ZURQ stretched their shadows into three overlapping layers.
Rafi yanked Sahim back.
"Bro… stop. Stop. Something's watching us."
Sahim opened his mouth to crack a joke—
krikk—KRAKKK—
Something stepped on a tree trunk.
Heavy.
Rhythmic.
Like long legs pressing into soft ground.
Sahim swallowed.
"Bro… bro… bro… that is not the sound of a cute animal.
That's the sound of something that… pays dominance tax around here…"
Rafi didn't get to answer—
because the creatures emerged from the mist.
And they were…
Not dogs.
Not wolves.
Not deer.
THREE.
THREE AT ONCE.
They appeared together, heads low, bodies slender like desert gazelles—but their fur—YA RABB, their fur changed color with the shifting of the three suns, as if repainted with every breath.
Pointed ears.
Sharp yellow eyes—not the euphoric white of flower mode.
And the way they moved…
Calm.
Patient.
Like professional hunters doing distance calculations.
Sahim wanted to faint and become a tradable commodity in someone's dream.
"Yaa Rabb… what even are you…?
Not wolf… not deer…
not even a proper predator cosplay at a festival…"
Rafi froze.
His back burned.
His throat felt as dry as eating gravel at noon.
The creatures moved… circling them.
Slow.
Coordinated.
Like they'd trained three hundred years for this lunch break.
Sahim tried to breathe but only managed the sound of a depressed duck.
"Aminaa… ya habibati… forgive your future husband…
our engagement is delayed because your man is currently surrounded
by animals that don't even exist in the fiqh books…"
Rafi panicked.
"Okay, okay! Distraction!
Distraction!
DISTRACT—ASTAGHFIRULLAAAH THEY'RE CLOSE!!"
The nearest creature—its fur reflecting ZURQ's light into a green-silver sheen—stomped once, kicking up dust. It wasn't a threat.
It was… a coordination signal.
Rafi shook.
"BRO… THEY'RE SYNCHRONIZED. THEY HAVE FORMATION!"
At the worst possible moment—
the creature sniffed.
Not the ground.
Not the air.
Not the trippy flowers.
Straight at Rafi's bag.
The bag he'd been hugging like a family heirloom manuscript. Rafi froze. Slowly… very slowly… he looked down. And only then realized:
It wasn't just Nabat al-Muhayyil inside.
There was also a small box of shredded meat—his Ummi's cooking.
His favorite meat since he was six.
The dish that, if there were a worldwide competition, would—according to Sahim—win without voting.
Sahim glanced at the bag.
Then at Rafi's face, which was turning pale, torn between heartbreak and readiness to die for cuisine.
"Bro… throw it…"
Rafi's voice broke.
"Bro… that's love, Bro…
Ummi woke up in the middle of the night to pack that in…
it's not just food—that's prayer…"
The creature sniffed harder.
Its glassy nose was inches from the zipper.
Rafi screamed inside his soul, clutching the bag like a baby.
"YA RABBBB… NOT THIS ONE YAA ALLAH—take me instead!!"
Sahim panicked.
"RAFIII!!
THE BOMB!!
NOW!!
OR WE TURN INTO KEBAB—
AND YOUR UMMI'S MEAT BECOMES THE APPETIZER!!"
The creature stepped half a pace closer.
Ummi's shredded meat shook along with the fate of Nations.
Rafi finally screamed:
"I'D RATHER DIE, BRO—BUT NOT THE MEAT!!!"
And then—BOOM—
Sahim grabbed a fistful of trippy flowers like an emergency grenade. His IQ spiked instantly under imminent death. He yanked a handful of blooms without thinking—
—and THREW THEM STRAIGHT INTO THE CREATURE'S FACE.
Silver mist burst gently.
Flowers shattered like confetti at a jinn graduation party.
Every creature stopped.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds—
…
…
The creature didn't rage.
Didn't roar.
Didn't jump for their throats.
It… licked the flowers off its face.
Slowly.
While… sighing in satisfaction.
Rafi and Sahim froze like two dates in a freezer.
"Bro…" Sahim whispered,
"…it's…
it's enjoying life…"
They stared—horrified, disgusted, and relieved all at once.
The creature suddenly SPUN—like a cat in a 3 a.m. zoomies episode—
leapt twice into the air, then ROLLED all over the glassy ground.
Rafi squeezed his eyes shut.
"Bro… that's a predator high on flowers.
YA ALLAH THIS HAS TO BE ILLEGAL."
The second creature—taller—came closer, curious, lowering its head…
Sahim, on reflex, threw another flower.
PUFF.
The second one immediately did a gymnast-level flip.
The third creature—the calmest of the three—
stepped in…
Rafi and Sahim panicked…
Sahim threw three flowers at once.
BEDUFT—BEDUFT—BEDUFT.
The creature—
FELL—
but not dead.
It flopped down.
Flopped down hugging the flowers like five-star hotel pillows.
Sahim covered his face.
"Bro…
did we just become…
illegal fragrance dealers for monsters??"
Rafi grabbed his shoulders.
"DON'T ASK.
RUN.
R-I-G-H-T N-O-W!!!"
And so they—
RAN.
As fast as two humans who had just assaulted a synchronized predator pack with illicit aromatherapy.
Their shoulders crashed through glass leaves.
Their feet slipped over moss.
Their bag clinked and rustled, overstuffed with flowers.
Behind them:
Heavy footsteps thundered.
Some half-wolf creatures realized something was off.
Some only wanted to join the fun.
Some were just curious what brand of perfume these humans were carrying.
Sahim screamed:
"BROOO THEY'RE CHASING US!! THE SCENT IS WEARING OFF, BROOO!!"
Rafi screamed back:
"ALLAHU AKBAAARRRR!!"
They ran like their entire bloodline depended on it.
They burst through the forest curtain—breath ragged.
ZURQ's light slashed through the darkness of the trees.
Ahead—
The forest opened.
A cracked-glass clearing spread out before them.
And—
Two paths split the land.
Rafi stared at them, eyes reddened from all the fear he'd been swallowing.
"Na'am. This choice isn't about living,
it's about how we die."
Behind them—the half-wolf footsteps grew closer.
Sahim swallowed hard.
"BROOOO… CHOOSE!!! CHOOSE NOW!!
I TRUST YOU!!
I DON'T WANT TO BE THEIR DINNER CONTENT!!"
Rafi stood tall. Sweat dripping. Resolve hardening.
"Bismillah. We choose one."
1 —Al-Mashraqat, The Radiant Expanse
A stretch of crystal flora rising like small towers. Their leaves reflected golden-white light—not from the suns, but from veins of radiance pulsing inside their rigid stems. The end of the path glowed bright, gleaming like dawn even though it wasn't morning.
2 —Dhul-Wujūd, The Forest That Swallows Light
Not just a dark trail. A forest that refused the touch of Vena, Safra, and Zurq. The light of all three suns stopped midair, never daring to kiss the ground. Black-green trunks stood like pillars of shadow, coated in deep-blue moss that shimmered faintly like countless tiny watching eyes.
—To be Continued—