The Chwafa
I was a technician in the Toujda desalination plant, engaged to a girl I thought I loved and never saw again. Suddenly, in one night, everything fell on me. My world had totally disappeared in a blaze of fire and flames. When it stopped, everyone around me was gone. All traces of the past were gone. I found myself alone in the night, drowning in the dark night. Around me, there was not a single building standing, the cities and roads were gone. There was no electricity, no communication, no army, no contact with the rest of the planet. Water covered everything. I swam to the mountains. There too, the villages had collapsed, the roads had slid down the slopes. I walked, dizzy, until I couldn't go any further. I had nothing to eat or drink. This was the end. Some mountain men came down from nowhere. They gave me a drink, carried me to the Chwafa. She healed me by placing her hands on me and speaking magical words. She spoke to the winds, the demons, the forces of the un...