The Djinn of the Dead Sea
Reading time: 6 min
About this story: The Djinn of the Dead Sea is a Myth from Palestinian set in the Ancient. This Poetic tale explores themes of Good vs. Evil and is suitable for Adults. It offers Historical insights. A forgotten legend, a broken seal, and an ancient Djinn’s return—can history’s mistakes be undone?.
The Dead Sea. A place of stillness, of silence, where the air is thick with salt, and the water reflects the sky like a sheet of polished glass. No fish swim beneath its surface. No plants take root in its depths. It is a place where life refuses to exist.
But not all things that exist are living.
For centuries, whispers have carried through the desert winds—tales of something ancient, something bound beneath the sea’s lifeless waters. A curse. A secret. A being whose name was lost to time, imprisoned by hands long turned to dust.
Tonight, that secret will be unearthed. And the world will tremble.
The Scholar’s Discovery
Yusuf Al-Faris had always believed that legends were born from truth. Somewhere beneath the exaggerations, the cautionary tales, and the whispers of old storytellers, there was a kernel of reality. He had dedicated his life to finding that truth.
The manuscript lay before him, its pages dry and crumbling, ink faded with age. He traced the unfamiliar script with reverence, his eyes adjusting to the dim light of the ancient library in Jericho.
_"Beneath the dead waters lies the darkness bound."_
Yusuf sat back, frowning. He had been researching King Solomon’s legends for years, piecing together half-forgotten stories of how the king, known not only for his wisdom but for his mastery over spirits, had imprisoned powerful Djinn in objects inscribed with divine sigils.
But this manuscript spoke of a Djinn unlike any other.
The words described an entity so dangerous that even fire, the natural bane of Djinn, could not consume it. It had taken not just Solomon’s magic but the combined power of priests, sorcerers, and scholars to seal it beneath the Dead Sea—its prison held firm by an obsidian slab carved with incantations too sacred to speak aloud.
Yusuf’s pulse quickened. If this was true…
Could the seal still be there?
His mind raced with possibilities. This was more than a myth—this was history. A history buried beneath the thick, unmoving waters of the Dead Sea.
Three days later, he stood on the shore, staring into its mirrored surface.
Into the Depths
The sun was setting, painting the water with shades of copper and gold. Yusuf’s team had assembled the diving equipment, their hushed voices carrying across the still air.
“This is madness,” Omar muttered as he adjusted his oxygen tank. “No one dives in the Dead Sea for a reason.”
“The reason is physics,” Yusuf said, forcing a confident tone. “The salt makes buoyancy a problem, yes. But we’ve compensated for that.”
Omar shook his head. “That’s not the reason I meant.”
The others were silent, exchanging uneasy glances. The locals in Jericho had warned them. Not just about the difficulties of the dive, but of the curse. Yusuf had waved off the warnings as superstition, but now, standing at the edge of the blackening water, he felt the weight of those words pressing against his chest.
Something about this place felt… wrong.
The team began their descent.
The water was thick, resisting their movements as though reluctant to let them pass. Visibility was low, the world around them reduced to shadows and the narrow beams of their flashlights.
Then, out of the murky darkness, something massive appeared.
A ruin.
The seabed was littered with crumbling stone, pillars that had long since fallen, half-buried beneath layers of salt. And in the center of it all, standing tall like a monument to something forgotten, was a slab of pure black obsidian.
Yusuf’s breath caught. The seal.
He moved closer, running his gloved fingers over the ancient carvings. The symbols were unlike anything he had ever seen. They pulsed, faintly, as if still alive.
The moment his fingers made contact—
A shockwave burst from the stone, sending him flying backward.
The sea screamed.
The water churned violently as a sound—low, guttural, and filled with rage—rippled through the depths. The obsidian cracked, glowing veins of fire spider-webbing across its surface.
And then—
Something moved beneath them.
Something awakened.
The Awakening of Al-Muhtazir
Yusuf gasped for breath as hands dragged him onto the shore. He blinked against the night, coughing up water, his chest heaving. The air hummed with energy. The world around him felt different, heavier—as if something unseen had settled over it.
Then he heard the screams.
He pushed himself up, his body aching, and turned towards the water.
And there, rising from the Dead Sea, was Al-Muhtazir.
He was towering, his form shifting between shadow and fire, adorned in bands of ancient gold that gleamed under the moonlight. His eyes burned like molten embers, his presence warping the very air around him.
He inhaled deeply, as if tasting freedom for the first time in centuries.
“WHO DARES BREAK THE SEAL OF SOLOMON?”
The sound of his voice made the very ground tremble.
Yusuf swallowed hard, forcing himself to stand.
“I—” His voice cracked. “I did not mean to free you.”
Al-Muhtazir’s golden gaze locked onto him. A slow, chilling smile spread across his face.
“Then your ignorance shall be your undoing.”
He raised his hand, and the wind exploded outward, sending Yusuf and his team crashing to the ground.
But before the Djinn could strike again—
A voice rang out, strong and unwavering.
“Enough.”
An old woman, draped in white, stood at the edge of the sea. Her presence was radiant, her aura humming with power.
She was a Guardian of the Seal.
And she had come to finish what Solomon started.
The Final Stand
The Guardian stepped forward, her staff sinking into the sand. “You are bound by the old laws,” she said, her voice commanding. “You may take one soul, but no more.”
Al-Muhtazir tilted his head, considering. Then, to Yusuf’s horror, he smiled.
“Very well,” he mused. “Let the man choose.”
Yusuf’s stomach twisted. His life… or another’s.
He knew what he had to do.
“I will stay.”
But the Guardian turned to him, her expression unreadable.
“No,” she whispered. “That is not your fate.”
She raised her hands, and the sigils from the broken seal burned into her skin. Golden fire erupted around them, forming a vortex of light that pulled Al-Muhtazir back.
The Djinn roared, his body thrashing against the magic’s grip.
And then—
He was gone.
The sea stilled. The night was silent once more.
The Guardian collapsed, her duty fulfilled.
Yusuf caught her before she fell. “You saved us.”
She smiled faintly. “No, child. You did.”
Then, like dust in the wind, she vanished.
Epilogue: The Curse Remains
Yusuf returned to Jericho, forever changed.
The world would never know what had happened that night. But as he sat in his study, staring at the last remaining fragment of the seal, he felt it.
The symbols still pulsed.
The Djinn was not gone.
He was merely waiting.
