Siega and the Shadowed Sands

The day the door appeared was not remarkable in any way. I was sitting at my desk, grading a few papers, when it happened. It looked like a normal wooden door, but I could tell that there was something different about it because it seemed to be vibrating ever so slightly.

I got up and walked up to it, curious. The closer I got, the more obvious it was that the door wasn’t like any ordinary one I had seen before. It didn’t look quite real and there did not seem to be any hinges on it, nor on the wall where it should have been attached to. I put my hand on the surface of the door and suddenly heard a low humming sound starting to emanate from somewhere behind me.

I turned around just in time to see the door seeming to dissolve into thin air. A swirling vortex appeared in front of me instead, and through the dense fog that surrounded it, I could make out what looked like a sandy desert landscape with some kind of city in the distance.

Intrigued and still incredibly curious, I stepped closer and peered into the vortex. Then I stepped right into it, stepping over some invisible threshold.

As soon as I had entered the other side of the portal, everything changed - yet nothing changed at all. All around me were sand dunes and rocky mountains with strange plants growing all over them. Even though they looked somewhat familiar, they were also very different from anything I had ever seen before. There were no cacti or cactus-like plants anywhere; these plants were green, with long leaves that hung down towards the ground. There were also no animals anywhere in sight; if this world bore life similar to ours back home on Earth, then there should have been plenty of wildlife about here somewhere. Yet in spite of that absence of animal life, I felt that there was something vaguely familiar about this place - almost as if what I saw should have been familiar to me somehow...

As if drawn by some invisible force, I started walking towards an enormous city in the distance on top of a hill. As I got closer, more details came into view - tall obelisks made out of black stone dotted around everywhere; large statues depicting creatures that resembled humans but with scales covering their bodies instead of skin; people wearing long robes who stood either outside or inside large buildings made almost entirely out of white stone; and then suddenly - a man dressed in light brown clothing who walked straight past me without even looking at me at all! He had dark hair and dark eyes like mine! Where am I? What is this place? And why do these people look like they belong here? This is bizarre! They can't possibly live here! What just happened?

I turned around to see whether anyone else would pass by too - but nobody did! Instead what greeted me was an old woman leaning against a wall close by talking very excitedly about something with another person! She looked rather odd dressed as she was - she wore a large white headdress that covered her ears and forehead completely along with loose-fitting clothes made out of coarse linen cloth wrapped tightly around her body so that nothing could be seen except for her hands clasped together underneath her chin as she listened intently to whatever was being said by her companion who sported long hair with two thin braids running down his back reaching almost all the way down his waist! He too wore rather peculiar clothes which he wore across his entire body except for his legs which were bare apart from the fact that he wore some leather straps across them instead!

I approached them slowly and quietly so as not to disturb them while trying my best not let them notice me until I had reached within hearing range. Still puzzled about what might have just happened to me only moments ago, my curiosity grew tenfold as I inched closer towards this strange duo!

“I don’t know how we are going to solve this latest crisis Yati bin Jammal!” sighed the woman exasperatedly after finishing what sounded like an epic tale full of action and intrigue by the way she spoke about it! “We will never find enough food left for us anymore now that we have lost our granaries during those raids last month! The people are already starving in every corner of our land... We will surely face famine unless we can find a solution soon!”

Yati bin Jammal responded thoughtfully after some time as his eyes darted towards distant mountains covered partially with dark clouds hanging ominously above them... “Have you considered asking your father again?” suggested Yati bin Jammal suddenly. “He might be able to help us if we ask him nicely enough... Perhaps he might be willing to lend us an army or two again... Might help us get rid of these raiders once for all...”

The woman shook her head sadly again and gazed away thoughtfully at some faraway point beyond Yati bin Jammal’s shoulder... “My father is always busy fighting wars against our enemies along our borders... He has no time for things like this anymore since he has grown old... So old now... Time has caught up with him finally and he cannot fight battles anymore without getting tired easily now... Besides which he cannot move very fast anymore due to his age too... He is slowing down Yati bin Jammal... And there are no more armies left anywhere near here whom we could ask for help either... They are either too far away or they have already been defeated by our enemies first.... And then we do not even know where our enemies even are located exactly now either.... They come from everywhere at once nowadays.... Somebody needs to take care of them once for all if we want peace back in our land again.... Only then will we be safe again.... Otherwise we risk losing everything.... Everything.... Everything.... Including our lives....” Tears formed in her eyes as she continued speaking softly while gazing at nothing concretely in particular ahead of her while thinking aloud..... “But we need your help Yati bin Jammal if you really want us all to survive somehow.... We do not know what else can be done anymore...... None of us know how to defeat these invaders this time.... Nobody does.... Not even my father knows how anymore..... But you do..... You always have known how..... You always know how...... You always find a way...... Without you, there is no hope left for us all....... For any of us left alive out there today...... That is why you must find a solution soon...... And please hurry....... Time is running out fast...... Too fast....... F-A-S-T......... F-A-S-T........... F-A-S-T.......... F-A-S-T............... FASTFASTFASTFASTFASTFAST!!!”