Shirk in Disguise

PART ONE>>>>>Prologue

It was a strange sensation. She felt as if her head was in turmoil – like she was in a dark swirling tornado with no control over her own self. She looked around her but couldn't accurately place her surroundings. The mere look of the place gave her the creeps, what with skulls everywhere and an assortment of animal skins and fetish masks scattered all over the place. She felt woozy.

At first, her ears were numb to all sounds but then she seemed to hear a voice calling her name in a very slow motion. The sound made her sit up abruptly and her head throbbed with the effort.

"Azeeeemaaaa..." the voice drawled.

However, Azeema had no control of herself so she couldn't even answer the call even if she so desperately wanted to. She felt her temperature go up as fear further gripped her. An iron grip on her shoulder that shook her very being brought her back to her senses, but not without a splitting headache.

"Aaaaargh..." she groaned, holding her pulsating forehead with her right hand and looking around, taking in the seemingly strange surroundings in the process. Her left hand instinctively reached out to cover her mouth as a wave of nausea hit her, a reminder of her 'regrettable condition'. As if back from a trance, realization dawned on her – she must've fainted!

That single realization almost made her slump into another blackout. But for a terrifying screech she heard which gave her goose bumps and almost scared the life out of her, she'd have been in another swirling tornado. She remembered another fact which she had almost forgotten in her reverie – she wasn't alone.

As if that wasn't enough petrifaction, the piercing screech was followed by a laugh that seemed out of this world. This made Azeema, who was frightened out of her skin, turn around. With trembling limbs and sweating pores, she found herself facing the ugliest and most repulsive human being she'd ever seen in her whole twenty-seven years on earth. Or perhaps he wasn't naturally ugly per se, but his appearance made him look really hideous.

The man who stood before her was dressed in a simple loincloth and looked like he badly needed a bath. His hair was dirty and unkempt while his face was covered in squiggles made with chalk of different colours. With his blood-shot eyes trained on her, he grinned. She wasted no time in turning away from his foul mouth and piercing gaze as she tried to wrap her heavily embroidered veil, which accentuated and beautified rather than modestly covered, around her shoulders.

Seeing how he'd obviously inflicted terror in her soul, the hideous creature smiled smugly and satisfactorily. His kolanut-stained teeth were made apparent by his demonic grin. He began speaking in a gritting, highly unpleasant voice.

"What brings you to our abode, young lady?" he asked her.

Azeema's mind was still foggy. Earlier on, she'd heard the man call her by name. How did he even know it?? She was sure she didn't get to introduce herself before slipping into unconsciousness.

"I... I... was directed here... t-t-to...to...seek your help, Master!" she mustered up enough courage to reply the menacing man.

"I was informed all about you and your plight by the spirits," he stated with a knowing look.

Did he just read her mind and answer her unspoken question???

Without warning, the man let out another bone-chilling laugh that pricked Azeema to the core. He then quickly halted the laugh as suddenly as he'd started it, making his face look grim for a moment before proceeding to speak.

"Whoever sent you should've drilled the rules of this sacred abode into your head first! How dare you break a sacred rule within moments of your arrival?" he queried her reproachfully.