Dawn crept shyly between the distant mountains of Mecca, but it was not enough to dispel the shadows of the previous night. Smoke and dust still lingered over the village, and the air was thick with the scent of scorched earth and stagnant water, as if the land itself had not yet healed from the cries of the rift.
Inside the small hut, Saqr held his infant son, Sultan, as the child shifted between the warmth of fire and the cold of water. The four elemental marks on his skin were not merely lines—they were living pulses of nature itself. Each flicker of flame, each streak of water, moved with the child's heartbeat, declaring that this little boy was no ordinary child, and that the power of the earth had chosen his body as its vessel.
Sheikh Abdulrahman approached cautiously, his eyes scanning the child as if reading the future of the world from the glowing marks. The boy did not yet understand words, but he could feel the heat and cold, the mystery and the flicker, and his tiny muscles trembled with every surge of the power flowing inside him.
The Sheikh whispered to Saqr in a low voice, heavy with awe:
"This child… he carries the four elements of nature… fire, water, air, and earth… He is no ordinary boy… he is the beginning of the Shift, the start of a prophecy that will change the face of the world."
Saqr, his heart heavy with grief over the loss of his wife, looked up at the Sheikh:
"How… how can I protect him?"
The Sheikh gave a sorrowful smile, a mixture of wisdom and fear:
"You will not protect him with your hands alone… but with faith, with love, and with vigilance. Every great power comes with a price, and every prophecy has its own path… and the second child, born of the shadows, has his role to play as well."
In the corner of the hut, the infant Khalid watched the world with wide, dark eyes, as black as a moonless night. He did not yet understand what was happening, but he felt fear and curiosity, and a dark power within him that he could not yet name. His tiny hands trembled, as if something mysterious were reaching out to him, something from the shadows unseen but undeniably present.
Saqr gathered both children in his arms, keeping them warm amid a world angry and torn. The fissures in the earth, the eerie silence, and the faint light seeping from the dawn made each moment feel like a scene from an ancient prophecy, warning the world of what was coming.
Sheikh Abdulrahman raised his hands to the sky and prayed:
"O Allah, protect these two children… make them light in the darkness, strength in the weakness of the world, and wisdom in the harshness of days… shield them from the evils of the Shift, and from the eyes that watch from afar…"
Despite their young age, the children felt the tremors around them. Sultan sensed the heat of fire intertwining with the cold of water, a gentle breeze brushing his skin, while Khalid felt shadows surrounding him, faint but real, dancing without shape, as if waiting for the right moment to reveal their power.
Saqr whispered to himself, more than to the children:
"O Allah, make me worthy to protect you… make me a guide on the path…"
Outside the hut, the world continued to watch silently. The fissures in the ground slowly began to heal, but the strange whispers emanating from the shadows, and the red eyes yet unseen, were a reminder that these births were no mere passing events… they marked the beginning of a new era, the era of the Shift, the era of the prophecy, and the era of the Child of the Marks.