The vast desert altar where the animals had taken refuge suddenly fell into a silence that was not like the absence of any sound—it was as if all sound had been forcibly stopped.
The kind of silence that gradually unsettles the human mind,
that feeling—
"Something is coming… and it's not normal."
Ayes and his group moved further, seeing many human skeletons there. They were all frightened.
Ayes first noticed that the wind was not blowing, the birds' wings were still.
The wolves' breath seemed to have penetrated the ground.
Not even a leaf was moving.
Ayes didn't move his head. He just held his breath and looked up at the sky.
They were standing in the center of a green valley deep in the desert—
filled with light all around, but a feeling of collapsing under the pressure of silence.
It was as if the earth had stopped beating its own heart.
Then…
The ground suddenly shook.
At first lightly, like a child's tremor, then gradually more strongly—desert sand, rolling, trees swaying, animals raising their heads in terror and looking around.
Kai whispered, "What's is happening? "
There was an unknown pressure and fear among everyone.
"Should we wait here?"
"Since all the animals have taken shelter here, we have to wait and see what happens."Ayes replied calmly.They were all waiting to see what was happening.
In the middle of the desert, there were the ruins of a huge ancient altar,
in front of which were two huge statues, all the animals stared at the gate.
Thousands of animals, amazing wolves, huge deer with wings, two-headed oxen, strangely shaped birds—and there were fish too. The fish were jumping and jumping with their fins inside the huge altar. Fish are aquatic creatures, why would they come to the shore? Now if their phones hadn't been broken, they would have recorded their jumping and jumping on their phones.
Everyone stopped and looked at the gate with one look. They didn't say anything.
The same feeling in their eyes—
Fear. Deep, ancient fear. The fear that animals naturally know.
Kai said in a trembling voice,
"They… are they afraid?"
Melissa said,
"Violent animals are afraid? Together? What kind of thing is this?"
Ayes said slowly, "They see what we can't see. They feel it. So we have to act like them."
Nipa hugged her daughter tightly.
And the sun?
The sun was sinking below the horizon. Half of it was visible under the sky, its light casting long shadows over the desert.
The darkness was approaching very slowly. As if it wasn't sunset—it was a huge shadow approaching.
Ayes saw an invisible wall—a barrier—glittering with light in front of the gate. A transparent layer, invisible to the eye, but making waves in the air.
Kai said in surprise,
"Is this… a wall of energy?"
Ayes stepped forward. Standing in front of the wall, he raised his hand. As his hand approached the invisible layer, he felt a slight vibration.
Suddenly,
the entire valley was covered in darkness. No—not the darkness of the horizon. It was—
a wave-like darkness that rushed in and crashed in front of the barrier.
It was as if a monstrous wave was pounding against an invisible wall. The darkness melted in front of the barrier, and then a terrible battle began—the darkness trying to penetrate, and the barrier trying to hold it back. The power in the darkness struck again and again. Each time, that power took on strange forms—
Sometimes sharp claws like knives, sometimes a snake of smoke, sometimes a storm of thorns, sometimes a faceless human figure.
Everything was vague, like a shadow,
changing form from form to form.
Ayes saw this and said to himself,
"It is alive… the darkness is alive too. It must be consuming the life force of the creatures. That is why all the creatures have come running to this huge altar like this."
Kai stepped back. Nipa held the child tightly. The creatures bowed their heads and fell to the ground. They did not move, did not roar, they were just afraid.
Such fear…
The fear that is written in the innate nerves of the animal. Suddenly—the darkness stopped, a strange, irrational, terrible silence.
The darkness was no longer attacking,
It just stood there. No breath, no air, no sound.
It seemed that the world had lost its sound again. The invisible barrier began to tremble slightly.
Then slowly, very slowly, as if it were moving in front of some huge thing.
The darkness began to solidify at the barrier's location, gathering into a point, then that point began to expand…
Expand…
Expand…
And finally—a shape like a face was formed.
Not a human face. Not an animal's face either. It was a huge face, with its forehead touching the sky, and its jaws resting on the ground of the valley.
A face that is neither that of a living being, nor that of a statue, but rather an empty entity made of darkness.
The face was empty,
but countless shadows were swirling inside it.
Kai was about to scream in fear—Ayes held his hand.
"Shut up… don't look over there." As soon as the face took shape, all the creatures lay down on the ground. They lowered their heads. No one dared to look up.
As if they were bowing down to some ancient monster. If they didn't—they would die.
Ayes, Kai, Melissa, Ovi—they all felt that power. As if the face standing in front of them looked at them—their existence would be erased.
Ayes felt his right hand ache with great pain.
The dark-face let out a trembling roar like a deep breath. Seeing this, Ayes's entire body went cold. It was as if darkness was about to suck his body.
Not a sound—but rather like the shaking of the earth. Three huge eyes appeared in the darkness within the face. They felt that if it somehow broke through the wall of energy and entered the altar, they would die.
Niva said in a trembling voice,
"This… what is this?"Ayes didn't answer.
He just stared—
This being was trying to break through the bonds. Suddenly—a long, deep sound was heard from inside the mouth, which was not a human language.
Suddenly, words came out of the mouth of darkness,"Me hu, ji mu, ha mo sa, ke ba re bo re sa mo ha , ki ke mu bo re sa ma ha ra ..." It said in an unknown language in its deep, trembling voice.
The voice was vibrating because it sounded as if multiple voices had come together to create it. A strange energy was emanating from the voice, causing the ground of the ruins to constantly shake.
As if the ruins would collapse at any moment. Cracks and other signs of decay on the palaces and pillars scattered across the desert continued to grow, causing many to collapse due to the tremors. When debris began to fall from the gate due to the tremors, it was clear that it would not last any longer.
But, at that very moment, a bright light came out of the sitar. Spiritual energy spread around.
The sitar was flying in the air, a brighter golden light was emanating from it. Everyone, including Ayes, was looking at the golden light. It was as if it was rebuilding their depleted power gape. Ayes looked back and told everyone, "Look back."
They could not believe what they saw behind them. The bones that had been lying here and there were being put back together. The bones were put together and the skeletons were standing in a row. With spiritual power, the skeletons were no longer skeletons.
They looked beautiful, like flesh-and-blood maidens, with rosy pink lips and bright, glowing clothes! These maidens were right where the skeletons had been, right where their leader was. The one who had previously been like a huge statue, was holding the bright sitar that was now slowly floating in the air.
The smaller statues around her collapsed. They took the form of maidens like the rest, all of them holding binding instruments. Like the faces of darkness, the maidens began to chant in a strange language that was not quite understandable. The sound of darkness gradually grew louder, the tremors throughout the valley intensified.
As the darkness around the ruins began to attack from all sides, the maidens' voices became clearer and stronger. Musical instruments began to play, from where another group of maidens came and began to dance to the rhythm of the chanting of the mantra.
Ayes and everyone moved to one side, so as not to cause any problems in their dance. They did not say a word.Ayes was trying to understand their mantras. His hand started to hurt more.
The bright sitar floating in the air then released waves of light that shone in the darkness, spreading like smoke. The voices of darkness and the combined voices of the virgins were like a verbal duel between gods and demons, with both sides constantly winning and then losing. At the same time, darkness and light were visibly clashing with each other! This unimaginable battle overwhelmed Ayes' mind. After he was confronted by the purple lightning, it was the second time he had seen such an extraordinary scene.
"This voice..." he whispered, a stunning realization washing over him.Because the right hand seemed to be sucking in the words of that incantation.
The devil's voice echoing from the darkness was intense and terrifying, while the collective voice of the virgins was divine, harmonious, and unwavering. Whenever the devil's voice seemed as if it was about to seize the advantage permanently, the virgins were always able to decipher its spell and overcome it.
On the other hand, the devilish voice would always return after losing the advantage, retreat, and then burst forth like a wild, majestic flood. Both voices were unique in their own way.
As Ayes listened to the combined voices of the maidens, absorbed in their endless struggle . The voice of the devil was fighting with the voice of the god. Ayes was excited and terrified to see what would happen next. It was a good fortune to see who would lose and who would win among these unique sounds. And if the wall collapsed, they would all die here.
The struggle between words continued. The night got closer. Ayes thought to himself whether it is here every day or at a certain time. They sat quietly together. A few are asleep at the moment. All of their eyes are tired from their sleep.
All the animals around are asleep. Some of them fell asleep after a while. Ayes and Kai were still awake. They were talking to themselves.
Kai said, "It seems like spirituality exists here."
Ayes said, "Spirituality exist everywhere. some place have more and some place have low. In this strange place, spirituality is very high. As a result, something so supernatural is happening here."
Kai said "Absolutely right. That's what one can expect from you. Because you can't get anything out of your eyes."
Then they both burst into light laughter. Ayes thought about his home. About his mother, father and sister, how they was now, whether they were looking for him.
Even in this sadness, he found some peace. Because his childhood friend Kai was with him. Kai and he had grown up together since childhood. But after finishing their first year of university, they separated. Kai went abroad with his father. They had not spoken directly for three years. They only texted each other on the phone.