The city had become a hollow echo of its former self.
Once a bustling metropolis full of life and promise, now it stood as a mere shell — crumbling, suffocating, yet somehow still breathing. Gibreel stood at the edge of what used to be a marketplace, now abandoned. The sound of his footsteps was muffled against the worn cobblestone streets, and the wind carried the faint scent of decay. He had spent hours wandering these streets, searching for answers that no longer seemed to exist. The city itself had abandoned him, and perhaps he had abandoned it in turn.
It wasn't just the city that was dying.
It was the world itself, as if some unseen force was tugging at the very fabric of reality, threatening to unravel everything that had once been whole.
For the first time since he had arrived in this strange place, Gibreel felt small.
A single man, lost in an abyss of his own making, surrounded by shadows and ruins.
But then, out of the corner of his eye, something moved.
He turned sharply, instinctively reaching for his coat, the cold air biting at his skin. A figure emerged from the darkness, cloaked in shadow, her face hidden by a veil. Gibreel squinted, trying to make out her features, but it was as though she didn't belong to this world at all. Her presence seemed… ethereal, like a dream slipping through his fingers.
"Who are you?" Gibreel's voice cracked, his throat dry from the hours of wandering. He hadn't spoken in what felt like days, and even now, his words seemed hollow.
The woman stepped closer, her movements fluid and graceful, almost as though she were gliding. She didn't speak, but there was a shift in the air, a heavy silence that enveloped them both. She reached up, lifting her veil with slow, deliberate movements, revealing eyes that gleamed with an unsettling wisdom.
"I am the keeper of forgotten truths," she said, her voice low, yet it seemed to echo in the empty streets around them.
Gibreel's heart quickened.
Keeper of forgotten truths?
What did that even mean?
"You're not real," he muttered, more to himself than to her. "This is just another illusion, isn't it?"
The woman's lips curved into a faint smile.
"It's not an illusion, Gibreel. Not entirely. Reality is a fragile thing, and you are not as lost as you think."
His mind raced.
How could she know his name? How could she know anything about him? It was impossible. This was madness.
"I don't understand," Gibreel said, shaking his head. He tried to step back, but his feet felt rooted to the ground. "This is all… I've lost everything. I've seen things I can't explain."
"You've seen the veil," she said, her gaze unwavering. "But what lies beyond it?"
"What do you mean?" Gibreel asked, his confusion growing.
The woman reached out a hand, her fingers brushing the air as if she were weaving something invisible.
"You've been searching for something your entire life, Gibreel. But you haven't been looking in the right place. You've looked to the stars, to the people around you, to the world itself, but all you've found is emptiness."
"Then where am I supposed to look?" Gibreel demanded, his voice rising. "Where do I go from here?"
The woman's eyes softened, but her expression remained calm.
"Not out there," she said, gesturing to the city around them. "In here," she whispered, placing a hand gently on his chest.
Gibreel's heart pounded.
In here.
Was it that simple?
He looked down at his hands, the same hands that had once gripped the power of the heavens, the same hands that had destroyed and built. He could feel the weight of the world pressing against him, pulling him in all directions. And yet, there was something in her words that struck him, something deeper than the chaos that had surrounded him for so long.
"You're saying I have to find peace inside?" Gibreel asked, the words tasting foreign on his tongue.
"Not peace," she corrected gently. "Truth."
"Truth?" He shook his head. "What truth could possibly exist in a world like this? A world where nothing makes sense anymore?"
The woman's smile faded, her eyes growing distant.
"Truth is not something you find outside yourself. It is something you remember. It is the key to unlocking everything you have lost."
Gibreel's mind raced as the woman's words echoed in his ears.
Truth is not something you find outside yourself.
It is something you remember.
What was she trying to tell him? He had spent his entire life searching for meaning, for purpose, and yet the answer was something so simple, so intimate, that he couldn't grasp it.
The woman's form began to shimmer, as though she were fading into the air itself.
"I cannot stay long," she said softly. "But remember, Gibreel. You already know the truth. You just have to accept it."
Before he could respond, she was gone, vanishing into the air as if she had never existed at all. The city, too, seemed to fade, the streetlights flickering, the buildings distorting and melting into the night.
Gibreel stood alone once more, the weight of her words pressing down on him like a mountain. What had just happened? Was it a dream? A vision? Or had he really encountered something — someone — from another realm?
He stumbled back, collapsing to his knees. His breath was shallow, his mind reeling.
Truth.
He had to remember the truth. But what was it?
He closed his eyes, trying to silence the chaos in his mind, and for the first time in a long time, he was still.
---
Somewhere, deep within him, the pieces began to fall into place.
But the truth was not what he had expected.
It wasn't about the city.
It wasn't about the people.
It wasn't even about him.
It was something far deeper, something that had always been there, hidden beneath the surface of his existence. And as he began to grasp it, Gibreel realized the answer had been staring him in the face all along.
It had always been within.
---