The Eye of Torment

     The baggage I carry now is a much larger weight than any anyone else shall ever hope to face.  For now, I serve as an eternal slave to the most powerful and cursed Jinn known to existence; Shaytan.  How did it come to this?  Well, it came to be through a series of rather terrible mistakes.  I was not blessed as a child and always had a fear of being cast an evil eye, so I would always wear the proper symbols to protect myself against the curses that arise out of such a thing.  And for many years, I believed I had been protected against such things, until recently.

     I was at the marketplace, escorting my sister around the various stands when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.  The shadow of a figure, face concealed in a hood, was staring directly at me as my sister picked out fresh produce from a stand.  I gripped onto my Hamsa Hand talisman and kept my head lowered, as to not make eye contact.  My sister continued to move from cart to cart, unaware of what was going on.  I continued to notice it out of the corner of my eye, slowly moving from shadow to shadow, just out of view from the light that permeated the market square.

     I prayed to Allah that my sister wouldn't look up from what she was doing, but just as I feared, she ended up looking up and glancing down the alleyway where the Jinn was for a brief moment.  The strange thing is, she never saw the Jinn like I did.  I looked back into the alley, gazing into it and looked around.  The Jinn was gone from view.  I let out a sigh of relief and made my way back home with my sister.  I slowly released my grip on my Hamsa Hand talisman, feeling safety returning, but before I entered into my home, the Jinn who was staring at me earlier came into view down the street.  My sister stalled outside of the door, not noticing the Jinn.  "Brother, will you be coming inside."

      I hesitated to respond to her, horrified by what stood staring at me.  "Yes, sister.  I will come inside soon."  She went on ahead of me into the house, while I walked closer to the Jinn.  I gripped into my talisman once more, knowing that it was already too late and that the cursed eye had been cast upon me.  The Jinn spoke to me in a snarling tone and sent my body into panic as he spoke.  "You have been delivered a curse by one who hates you.  To remove the curse, you must find one with the power of a thousand priests to absolve you of the curse.  If you cannot find such a being to save you by coming of the next full moon, you shall face torment for a thousand years."  And with that, the Jinn vanished from my plane of existence.   The message he came to share with me was pronounced and clear:  To remove the eye of torment and prevent an eternity of torture, I must find a powerful being to absolve me of my curse.

     I searched far and why, as far as I could see, marching out on foot with nothing but a flask, some food, and materials to start a fire.  I marched across the many grains of sand and pursued salvation.  From the tops of the tallest mountains to the deepest trenches of sand, I sought out any angel, human, or jinn that could free me of my ailments.  I traversed the deserts of many lands, spoke with strange apparitions, but ultimately failed to absolve myself of my curse.  All of my other resources had been exhausted.  There was no other choice.  I made my final preparations and journeyed out to a far away cave, believed to be a portal to the Jinn realm.  If anyone could free me of this curse, it would be one of their own.  I had taken the final week of the month to journey out to the cave within the forbidden mountains.  From the direction of the sun as I arrived at the cave, I could tell that I had only a few hours before the curse would claim my soul.

     I quickly made my way into the cave and made my way along the back of the walls.  I tripped and fell down amongst the sand and rocks, but instantly recognized the feeling of wood and fire rocks.  I took out my supplies and began working the wood in my hands, slowly bringing an ember to a glow.  I placed the ember back into the small pile of wood and watched as a small fire began to blossom.  The smoke began to fill the cave and along the side of the wall, a door began to appear.  It was hard to see through, but I could see a large figure, shrouded in smoke.  I knew, without a doubt in my mind, that this was a powerful Jinn.  He would not help me unless I offered something in return, so I braced myself to speak with the figure.  The figure from the Jinn world spoke with a powerful voice, one that struck me immediately with fear.

     "Speak, mortal!  You have summoned me, so now I demand that you explain your motives."

     "Yes, powerful Jinn!  I beg of you to remove a powerful Jinn curse from my mortal soul.  I was cursed by another Jinn to face 1000 years of torment by the end of this night.  I beg of your assistance."

      The Jinn pondered over the thought of helping me for a brief moment but gave a clear and concise reply.  "I will relieve you of this curse, but you must serve me till the debt has been paid in full."

     I saw that the sun was already beginning to set in the distance.  I was running out of time, and in a panic, I agreed.  "I agree to your conditions."  The smoke from the fire began to rise and circle around me, the smoke became more and more violent and began to move my body, almost as if each part of my body were moving by strings.  I was forced through the portal and forced down upon my knees to slowly face the Jinn that I agreed to serve.  I slowly began to lift my head in the horror of realizing that I was to serve Shaytan, the king of the evil Jinn.  Before I could scream, he willed a muzzle across my face and set me down upon a contraption, where I am to walk in a circle with a chain strapped to my back.  I have slowly walked, pulling the weight of this machine behind me ever since, silence by my dark master.  I can feel the Eye of Torment watching over me again, the same eye that was watching me back at the marketplace.  I feel the tides changing, however.  I heard that word of someone spreading messages to the human realm that some humans had been captured by Jinn.  Hopefully, my message is received by someone.  However, if I am to be sought out and found I want one thing to be profoundly clear:  beware the Eye of Torment!

*If you have any issues with what is depicted in this tale, please email me at justask2015@gmail so we can discuss it.  I want this story to be accurate to the depictions what is mentioned in this story, so please don't hesitate to contact me if you want to discuss that or anything else.*