I don't know how long my cousin and I were in that strange place, searching for the Jinn. As we progressed through the cave-like world, we encountered obstacles, all merely illusions, growing weaker and weaker one after another.
The Jinn's trickery is running out now, I thought.
As we walked, the cave around us seemed to fade away in the dimness, swallowing us whole. When it spit it us back out, the scenery changed; around us hung a thick, soggy mist. The laughing, hissing, whatever it was that we had been following all this way had echoed away and did not seem to return. Standing there in the mist, it felt like we were alone.
"Which way do we go?" I whispered aloud.
"I think we're here," Sam replied. "He's got us right where he wants us."
My cousin's lank hair hung dampened to his shoulders. The humidity around us was overwhelming, yet cool.
I looked into Sam's beautiful golden eyes. "The Jinn is afraid of us. He won't come out; I can feel it."
Sam gazed around us into the fog. "I think you're right."
"Sam—can I ask one thing?"
He raised his eyebrows. "What?"
As I opened my mouth to answer, a strange noise suddenly sliced through the mist between us, like a blade. Sam gripped his sword, and readied himself for an attack.
"There's no use in fighting anymore," said the Jinn. His voice came through the mist, but we couldn't tell from which direction. It surrounded us.
"Sireen, cover your eyes," my cousin whispered.
I pulled the cloth over my eyes as the Jinn's voice rung around us, "The boy knows too much," he hissed. "The boy with the lamp damned me. The girl with the lamp tricked me. But now we are all trapped here together at the end of things, no matter who crossed whom."
"I will give you a swift and merciful death," said Sam, "Even though you stole everything from me and promised to kill me and everyone I loved slowly. I know you are nothing now."
"Nothing," the Jinn hissed. "is all that you have left."
"You lie, filth. You've always lied. Now show yourself!"
There was a short silence before the Jinn replied. "Step forward and behold me."
I caught hold of Sam's hand and shook away the cloth from my eyes. Together we stepped forward, hand in hand.
"You will see the truth of what I am," the Jinn hissed.
Enshrouded in mist, whatever was left of the Jinn stood before us. A skeletal form of a man, sunken and hallowed, withering away before our very eyes.
His eyes…
The Jinn's gaze fixed upon me like steel from a thousand flaming daggers. I gasped in pain as the evil light from his eyes held me.
"Sireen!" Sam's voice seemed very far away. As the Jinn held me in his gaze, it was as if we were alone. I could barely perceive my cousin anymore.
You know why I came, I said to the Jinn in my head. Undoubtedly he could hear me there.
Your cousin is already damned. Why sacrifice yourself for a lost cause?
His gaze could've—and should've been killing me. But it was not just me under a spell; I, too, was producing magic, and it had been waiting inside of me all of this time. The Jinn, too, was trapped in my gaze.
Take me or have nothing, I said. But my cousin will go free.
"Look away! You must look away!" Sam's voice echoed desperately from far away.
He is mine. He is still mine…. Before me, I could see into the Jinn's dark, corrupted soul. It swirled with unrest and damnation; from deep inside there were screams, the sound of someone trapped. A lightness trapped inside the dark, evil mass.
Take me! I urged the Jinn, screaming into the darkness silently. Take me, and may your soul swiftly rot!
The Jinn seemed to grab me, but not physically. I could feel my insides being pulled and prodded. My inner strength was still too strong for the Jinn to seize control of, but he was trying. The more he tried to seize me, the less of a hold he had over Sam. I could see inside of the Jinn, and the last piece of Sam still left there were beginning to loosen, to abandon its captor. It glowed like the rising sun—so that's what a pure heart looks like? The sun.
Free yourself! I urged Sam's fragmented soul as it struggled to release itself from the Jinn's grasp. I could feel my hand stretching out towards it. Come to me!
Just as we had fallen down the well, mine and the Jinn's soul now fell through all time and space. Through him I saw through Sam's eyes, everything he had experienced. Through him I could even see my own face, regarding Sam with distrust when he first returned. I saw Aladdin and I upon the carpet, flying away the night Sam fell into the darkness.
The Jinn laughed as he felt my sorrow. Is this the darkness you are asking for, girl? We can share it, you and I, we can BE it….
Sam's soul still gleamed, bright as ever, within the Jinn's confines—but now it was undoubtedly beginning to break through.
This piece is poison, spoke the Jinn. It will corrupt you if you take it.
If only I could've just reached out and grabbed it—but that was not possible. The piece was listening to my voice, following my words.
Into me! Into me! I urged it.
"Sireen! Stop it, you are dying!" It was Sam's voice again, wherever he was. He couldn't know what was truly happening.
No….No! The Jinn growled. I could feel his grasp weakening as Sam's soul tore away from his, fluttering ever nearer to me.
Good—closer now! I called to it. I am just here! Come to me and I promise I will never let go!
I saw its light and felt its warmth, I sensed its longing and hope as it drew nearer. The Jinn was in a rage of despair; with his remaining strength he wrapped his evil around me and squeezed. I didn't look away from the light, but now I was truly suffocating.
Beautiful, beautiful soul… I said. Come to me and we will be free.
The Jinn's horrible screams were the last thing I perceived before the darkness consumed me.