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The attack did not begin with screams. It began with a strange shiver in the earth, as if the soil had suddenly taken a breath.Then one explosion…Then another…Then a chain of blasts that sounded as though the sky itself was being hurled from the mountain's peak.Boom… boom… boom.
Aws ran without knowing what awaited him. The air ahead was packed with hot dust and a smell he could not name, a scent like rain mixed with something foul. As he neared the entrance to the square, he heard a thud above him and saw a barrel plummeting down at a murderous speed.
A short cry slipped from him:— "Waah!"
He bent aside instinctively. The barrel slammed into the ground beside his feet, bursting its water across the dirt.But the water… was not water.
Its color began to drain away, turning into a dense blackness, as if a shadow had liquefied and spilled onto the earth. A stench rose from it—sharp and rotten—something the soul rejects before the nose does.
Part of Aws's mind froze for a heartbeat.That freeze vanished when he heard rapid screams from inside—screams that were not the screams of weapon-wounds… but the screams of something else entirely.
He threw his thoughts aside and rushed in.
And when he arrived, he saw a scene he did not know how to receive: civilians and soldiers collapsing as their limbs darkened, their bodies trembling, their faces contorting as if something inside them was being squeezed.
He stepped forward to help one of them, but before his hand reached—
"Do not touch them!"
It was Master Hilal's shout, powerful enough to cut through every sound of war.
Aws stopped immediately.His heart was pounding so violently it felt ready to tear its way out.
Hilal gestured sharply:"Keep away from the projectiles… and do not touch any of the affected. If this liquid touches you, we won't be able to save you quickly."
Aws noticed the armor pieces—some of them had begun to melt and crumble.The metal itself could not bear the substance.So what of flesh?
He stepped back, sheltering behind a broken wall while the bombardment continued for several more minutes.The sound felt like someone hammering on the world itself.
Then it stopped… abruptly.
The silence that followed was heavy in a way he couldn't explain, as if the attack had left behind not just noise, but an after-effect hanging in the air.
Once Aws felt the projectiles had ended, he ran out to find Hilal again.
He found him supervising the evacuation of the wounded, but the method was… strange.
The least-injured carried the more severely afflicted.Their comrades kept distance from them, as if the victims carried an invisible plague.
And they were being taken to a distant tent—not one of the usual medical tents.
The whole scene delivered one clear message:There was something terrifying… something no one wanted to get near.
A commander rushed forward, face tense, pointing toward Aws and Hilal:"Commander Salam wants you both."
They entered the command tent.Salam stood stiffly, hands behind his back.Beside him stood the other trainees—Shams, Zahra, Firas—all silent.
Salam spoke in a voice Aws could not help but obey:"From now on… any movement without direct orders is a violation. This battle is no longer a battle of weapons alone."
Then he lowered his voice slightly:"The enemy is invoking sorcery. And this type of sorcery cannot be crafted by humans alone."
He looked toward Hilal."Tell them."
Hilal drew a breath, the kind someone takes before saying something that should not be said, yet must be:"The liquid hurled at us is not water. It is water imbued with a sorcery of destruction. And this kind of sorcery cannot exist without the help of high-ranking devils."
Zahra's face tightened."A-and… does sorcery have different effects?"
"Yes," Hilal replied."Some kinds provoke hatred. Some harm the body. Some block sustenance. But this… this is total annihilation."
Shams stepped slightly closer, her voice unsteady:"But… when we first met you, you were cleansing a house from lesser demons. There was nothing like this blackness."
Hilal spoke with a strange calm amid the turmoil:"Because devils fall into two categories. Some only stir negative emotions… these are widespread. And some can take form and possess bodies. Those capable of destruction… are from the second category."
He turned to Firas:"And all of these belong to a single race… called the jinn."
He paused briefly and added:"But that is not what matters now. What matters is that there is a cure… but it requires sanctity. Water recited over with specific words, in the correct manner."
They headed to the prepared courtyard.
Cauldrons of water stood in rows, the air still carrying traces of that suffocating stench.
Hilal instructed each of them to take a cauldron of their own to avoid mistakes.
He stood among them and said:"Understand the words… feel their meaning… do not merely repeat."
He began first.
His voice was calm, yet carried something indescribable—something that made the heart slow down… then awaken… then settle.
The others joined him.Eyes closed… heads bowed… and the air shifted.
It no longer felt like the air of a battlefield.It became something heavier… yet purer.
As for Aws… the world around him changed.
It was as if the place drifted away.The noise of the earth faded slowly, then vanished.And what remained was him… and a place like a void… but not a void.
A small golden aura formed in his hands—glowing without light, warm without heat.It sank into the water without making a sound.
Aws returned to himself suddenly, breathing a little hard, his heart thudding with a fear he did not know… and another fear that felt like serenity.
After finishing, he carried his cauldron to Hilal."I want to try it."
Hilal directed him toward a patient with mild corruption.
Aws dipped a cloth into the water and began wiping gently.
He asked in a low voice:"Didn't you say touching the afflicted is dangerous?"
Hilal answered steadily:"Those who walk close to the divine path are affected less by sorcery."
He had barely finished speaking when the patient's body jerked violently.Hilal looked quickly and saw the blackness shrinking, retreating… then vanishing.
He made the patient drink a little.The man gagged out a chunk of darkness, then breath returned to his chest.
He stood.Simply… stood.
Aws could not understand how.But Hilal understood.
He gripped Aws by the shoulders, as if confirming something he had long suspected.Then he ran to the large cauldron and poured the rest of Aws's water into it.
When the medical teams used it… everything changed.
Healing became faster.Recovery clearer.The expected treatment time dropped to half—if not less.
And in that moment…Hilal understood completely what he had been unable to say until now.
Aws was not just a trainee.Nor merely talented.Aws carried something different.Something that made sorcery crumble.Something beyond what they knew of war… or the world.
And there Hilal realized that Aws was the hidden weapon against the enemy's demonic forces.