Part 1

Shadows Over Soravin - Part 1
The ruins of Soravin had not breathed in decades. Wind curled through the stone bones of its shattered towers, singing through rusted arc-gates and fire-scorched walls. Beneath the silence, deep below where light could not reach, something stirred.
By Richard Bailey9 months ago in Chapters
The Hajj: The Return
The last Tawaf is a slow bleed. You circle the Kaaba one final time, pressing your forehead against the cool stone of Hijr Ismail.
By Mahdi H. Khan9 months ago in Chapters
The Hajj: Eid in the Desert
Place: Mina, Saudi Arabia Time: Dawn, 10th Dhul-Hijjah The Morning That Smells of Iron and Earth You wake in Mina’s tent city.
By Mahdi H. Khan9 months ago in Chapters
The Hajj: Dust, Blades, and Bare Souls
Place: Mina, Saudi Arabia Time: Day 3 of Hajj, after stoning Jamarat Under a makeshift tent in Mina’s desert heat:
By Mahdi H. Khan9 months ago in Chapters
Chapter 02 | Starbuilders
Deciding that he must take a calculated risk, Nothaar stepped out from his hiding place and presented himself. He positioned his hands into the universal gesture of peace, demonstrating that he was not brandishing a weapon. After making a noise with his throat to ensure that the strangers would notice him and not be taken unawares, Nothaar began in the dialect he had heard from them, "Greetings be to you, fellow travelers. Me hear you speak Language of Children, too. You speak Language of Children good; me very impressed. Language of Children very difficult for people not children!"
By J.P. Prag9 months ago in Chapters
Shadows in Velvet - Part 1
The city of Verashtel didn’t sleep. It dreamed. Gilded bridges arched over canals where swan-headed gondolas glided silently, their lanterns glowing in shades of rose-gold and sea-glass green. Perfumed smoke curled from rooftop hookahs. Courtesans and spies wore mirrored masks that shimmered with spells to hide their true faces. Even the moon, pale and proud above the city’s spires, seemed half-masked behind silver clouds.
By Richard Bailey9 months ago in Chapters
Part One: Manifestation
Me and my husband left Winter Park, Florida back in the summer of 2012 due to him making the decision to drop out of college. He wasn’t having fun in the film degree in Florida. With no money left, being that we were living off of his financial aid, we moved back to Houston, Texas with his mom. We were living in his old bedroom that was never meant to be a bedroom. It was built to be a dining room. So, we had curtains in the doorway between the kitchen and the bedroom and between the hallway and the bedroom. Before he was married to me, he never had any curtains in his bedroom for privacy.
By Rachel Velez9 months ago in Chapters
The Hajj: Arafat Where the Sky Listens and Knees Tremble
Remember the sea of white? On Arafat, it stops moving. It just… breathes. The 9th of Dhul-Hijjah. The desert heat shimmers. You’re not standing on Arafat; you’re dissolving into it. This isn't the climax of Hajj; it’s the raw, exposed nerve of it. And it changes you. Not abstractly. Viscerally.
By Mahdi H. Khan9 months ago in Chapters
The Hajj: A Journey of Faith, Unity, and Submission
Hajj is not merely a trip to Saudi Arabia; it’s the answering of a call whispered in the heart of every Muslim, the ultimate journey home.
By Mahdi H. Khan9 months ago in Chapters
Chapter 01 | Starbuilders
Nothaar Akii had left the village near the southern edge of the world tardier in the spring than he would have preferred. Over the long, dark, and cold season, the settlement's Keeper, Baubu Yoordi, had finally succumbed to his advanced age in the middle of his eighty-third winter. While Nothaar had originally found the geriatric man to be spritely and full of life, spending more time with Baubu had revealed how precarious his health situation really was, and how scared he was for his people's future. It seemed like all his actions were an intentional feint, trying to manipulate me into staying and taking over for him, Nothaar divisively thought as he continued his lonely trek through the now fully blooming woods. He even waited to die until he met me, using his passing to the next world as a way to get me to supersede him in this one!
By J.P. Prag9 months ago in Chapters
Brewing Destiny
In the heart of the old quarter of Marrowick stood a tea shop that didn’t appear on any map. Locals called it The Steeping Spell, and though its wooden sign creaked in the wind and ivy curled around its cracked windows, the inside glowed with the warmth of candlelight and herbs hanging from every rafter.
By ibrahimkhan9 months ago in Chapters
The Line and the Cow: A Tale of Boundaries and Belonging
In a valley nestled between two low mountains, there lay two villages—Varan to the east and Mekla to the west. The villagers shared the same river, breathed the same mountain air, and prayed under the same sky. But between them ran a line.
By ibrahimkhan9 months ago in Chapters