Door of Doom

Picture 1 - The Doors of Doom 

Chapter 1 - Sunny Days into Gloomy Nights

 Just a normal sunny day in the Sahara. Not an amazing place to live. It has its perks. You get used to the sweat in your eyes. My dad’s a travel guide. However, I think his passion is Camel Racing. My mom doesn’t like the idea of Camel Racing. She says, and I quote, “No way am I letting you run around on a humped elephant like a madman. Nuh-uh.”. It’s quite funny because they’ve actually never seen me listening to their conversation. My mom’s a dinner lady at the ‘L'école Internationale du Sahara’ which is French for ‘The International School of the Sahara’ which is the school I go to. We’re not exactly rich but we have enough money to live. My brother’s just three so he basically just runs around and sometimes I find him licking his toes. Not very sure how he does that.

The night is the time that I dread. Our camels have a bit of a temper so they’re always making some kind of noise. However, at night they’re completely quiet. It was just one day, only one day when I plucked up some courage to go outside and see what was happening. I saw all the camels peacefully standing looking at the Moon and then, a shadow, darkness flew past my eyes and I was left unconscious. I woke up when the Sun was rising and immediately went to do my daily chores to try to divert my mind from that horrid spook. It’s been almost three years since then, and I have never ever gone outside our tent at night again, and I never will.

Chapter 2 - The Shadow Strikes Again

 The day had gone perfectly and I was having a very lucky one. I found a Ten Dirham note on the ground and gave it to my father after I got some water from the well. Legend says that the deadly shadow comes out of the well at midnight and takes one victim from the Sahara each night. I know that’s not true because when I saw the shadow it was around nine at night and not midnight. How do I know this you ask? Well, my father got a gift from one of his customers and it turns out that it was the watch that I had used to see the time. It was too small for him so he gave it to me. I wore it ever since then until one day, when our camel was sinking into a quicksand dune, I grabbed it and pulled it out. Unfortunately, the watch must have slipped off my hand and into the dune because I never saw it again.

You may say that I am the strong kind of guy but not the very courageous type, and you’re quite right. I’m only strong because of all those buckets of water I bring to our tent from the Bandit base camp well. They are way too heavy, I mean, we have trucks nowadays! Well, not we but… You get the point. 

Out of the blue on a clear - skyed Saturday I decided to look for my lost watch. I had no idea what triggered it but I asked my dad if I could borrow a camel. He said ok but told me that I would have to be back before the next day at lunchtime. I agreed and rode all the way to the sand dune where I had lost my watch. 

I had packed some tools, food, and water as you never know what death wishes await you in the Sahara. I climbed off the camel. It was getting dark. My camel was slowly closing its eyes as it went to sleep. I searched for about one hour until it was dark and I was exhausted. I walked over to the bag I left with my camel and searched inside for the torch I stole from my dad’s secret stash of dropped goods from tourists. 

Picture 2 - The Qicksand Dune Area, Taking out a Torchlight 

It was completely quiet in the vast desert and not a sight could be seen, until, suddenly, my camel started screeching and in a few seconds, it lay on the ground, dead. I was stunned. I was shocked. I was horrified. No words can describe the terror I felt at that very moment. I took a glance at the head of the elegant and innocent creature’s head. 

While I was mourning, I heard a whoosh behind me. ‘Zhoooonghe. Ting! Clang! Tang! Tong!’. A loud battle began. I took out the dagger from my shoe and fought the invisible beast in front of me. The battle seemed to go on forever. 

The thing struck me, right in the side of my stomach. A man couldn’t do much in a fight with only a dagger in hand. It slashed away at my left and right hand as I screamed in agony. It grabbed my legs and tied them together with some rope that appeared out of nowhere and threw me on my stomach. It then tied my hands and dragged me closer and closer to the giant quicksand dune. With one strong swing, I was flung into the sand and pulled into the depths of the Sahara. I couldn’t survive this. I wouldn’t.

Chapter 3 - The Drop to The Land of Memories and Misery

I took a deep breath before the dune swallowed me into the sand. I held my breath until I started choking and just had to breathe. Just when I was about to open my mouth, I was thrust into what looked like the sky. I started breathing like crazy until I finally looked around at my surroundings. It was beautiful. There were floating Islands everywhere and I even saw a never-ending waterfall. 

Suddenly, my face went pale and I wondered how I was floating in the air. I looked down and started to fall. In the distance, I heard a male voice calling out to me and shouting “Stop thinking you’re gonna fall! Think of clouds and you floating in outer space!”. I tried to think about the exact words the voice said and I was soon floating in the air. 

I was starting to get used to this new power and soon was landing on the island from where I heard the voice. There I saw a camel and a man polishing its hoof. I walked over to the man and asked “Excuse me, but were you the voice that called out to me?”. The man looked at me, and then at the camel, and at me again. 

This alternative looking seemed to go on for some time until both of them burst out laughing. “Oh no,” The man wheezed “I’m just Rider’s servant. He’s the life-saver you’re talking about.”. I was quite annoyed after being laughed at and kind of yelled - asked the man where I could find this ‘Rider’ character. He gave a quiet laugh and said that I was looking at his shoes.

 It took me a while to understand that Rider was not the man but the camel. I snorted and burst out with laughter. “You’re joking. This camel’s Rider? Ha! Ha! Ha! You’re a hilarious man.”. I stopped laughing when I saw the confused face of the man and understood he wasn’t joking. “Wait, this is just too much Halabaloo. Where am I?” I asked. “In the Land of Memories and Misery, where dreams come true and then die.” The camel answered with an evil smirk on its face.

Chapter 4 - The Three Doors

I spent the night at the camel’s place. He seemed nice enough. I was quite surprised to see that he was actually my camel. Remember? The one that was killed by the shadow? Either way, he told me about all his adventures in this foreign land. Not much of his stories entered my mind. The only thing that did was about Three Doors. It sounded like a place where you would die but I had to go there.

The next morning, I packed my bag and the camel took me all the way to the Three Doors. It seemed to be a cave at the corner of the land of Memories and Misery. The dark walls of rock were sinister and sharp. I had a bad feeling about this. As soon as I entered, I heard a quiet moan and that’s when fear struck me. I was being led into a hallway. The rocky walls started to smoothen and some lamps appeared on them, floating in the air. 

We soon reached a dead-end where three doors were seen. “Choose one. Two will kill you and one will let you escape. Here’s a clue. Countdown”. I didn’t need time to think. I knew what was happening. I screamed at the camel to jump and ducked down as a sharp knife flew at my head. It was the shadow. Also known as Rider’s servant. How did I know this you may ask? Well, here’s the proof...

Chapter 5 - The Final Countdown

I first saw the tooth. When the shadow had laughed and wheezed, I saw a completely black and glitched out tooth at the back of his mouth. Then I noticed his hands. However, I couldn’t have seen them as he was wearing gloves. I didn’t see them. I saw his wrists. Black like the night sky and rotten like mud. Those were the main proof. I finally overheard his conversation with himself saying, and I quote, ‘That foolish mortal is done for. Just a few tweaks at the Door of Doom and I will get rid of that thorn. I better...’, and the rest I couldn’t hear as a loud dragon was screaming in the distance.

Picture 3 - The Shadow at The Three Doors

The ground started to tremble as the darkness overcame the body of the servant. It grew dark and black until I could see a four-handed beast roaring at us. It grabbed the camel’s neck and threw it out of the way. I was cornered. I knew the truth but I couldn’t escape the consequence. What could I do? I frantically looked around the body of the monster to find a weak spot and there it was. It couldn’t see. It was blind. It could only smell. I knew what to do from then. “Come on!” I roared at it. It heard me and threw its hand to hit me. I ducked as fast as I could but I was too late. The hand hit me, right on the wound in my stomach and I was thrown away like a rag-doll. My plan wasn’t working. It was hopeless. I had nothing to help me. Not even the watch beside me. That was when I noticed the watch.

 I made a plan and soon was hitting the watch with a rock while the shadow was smelling the air to find me. The watch clicked open and I tore some wires with my uncut nails. They snapped off and that alerted the giant. It ran after me but I connected the two opposite wires and then a deafening boom was heard. The shadow was dead, and I may have been too.

Picture 4 - The Watch Going Boom 

I woke up soon and the body of the dead monster greeted me. I was able to figure out what countdown meant. It meant how long it would take for the shadow to die. It was also the key to the right door as the third door was open and there was a blinding light in it. I walked through it to finally be back in the Sahara. However, things were much darker than I thought. And that’s when I understood. I saw that I was completely black and invisible like a shadow. I was the new one. It was my destiny. I was the new shadow…