Solomon's Three

The words before me appeared blurry as my eyes strained to make out the sentences. I had been at this for what seemed like hours.

“I understand that Mr Rolento is new to doing security work for our company but unfortunately due to the negligence displayed on the security tapes and damage caused to the property the decision is out of our hands and we will have to let Mr Rolento go.”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. It bewildered me how some people think they can get away with pure idiocy in the workplace. When I started working for the city Library I thought it would be an easy gig, apparently I was mistaken and now not only am I having to work overtime cleaning up this mess, but I have to explain to my boss how a donated antique lead glass bottle ended up in pieces.

Closing the lid of my laptop I moved towards the restroom nearby. The light inside flickered in the corner of the tiled room as I approached the sink to splash water on my face. I never thought I would be here at this point in my life. I had so many dreams that now seemed like distant guilty fantasies. I looked up and scanned my face in the mirror. The dark rings under my eyes betraying my lack of sleep to the world around me. A slight breeze slithered through the tendrils of hair lying stagnant around my neck, raising my skin and producing a shudder up my spine. “Odd” I thought. There were no windows in this bathroom. My gaze hovered over the mirror scanning the small space behind me, my eyes freezing as I witnessed a decrepit hand slide over and behind the far stall door, seemingly betraying all physical laws. The light suddenly gave in, coating me in darkness. “Hello?” my voice shook, my eyes struggling to adjust to the sudden blackness. Silence. My eyes deceiving me I used my hands to feel my way to the closest stall promptly locking myself inside. I grabbed for my phone and whipped it out, turning on the camera flash and focusing the light in front of me. “That’s impossible” I blurted out. Looking through my lens. The once plain stall door was now adorned with writing. Lowering the phone to get a better look, I saw only a blank surface in front of me. No writing, diagrams, scribble or graffiti. Raising my camera again the inscriptions returned. My hand shaking, I took some snapshots on my phone so I could get out of there. Reaching for the lock and swinging the door open I was startled when the lights flickered back and I was greeted by something that turned my blood to ice. A malformed translucent humanoid blocked the path in front of me, Its face…my god…its face appeared to be etched from dark metal which gave it the resemblance of a mask similar to that of the old torture device the iron maiden, it’s mouth, a scream frozen in this cold element for all time. The open empty space for its eyes seemed to burrow straight into my own, its mouth, a wide rip across the surface ,. The whole entity, flickering, much like a struggling fluorescent light before it illuminates fully. The creature stopped blinking as it refocused into reality. Its arm raising and only now I realized how twisted it’s limbs were, unnaturally bending at indiscriminate points along it’s long delineated arm allowing them to move in any direction. Pulling the appendage back towards it tawdry body it raised the end of its extremity showing a fist. Unfolding from its skin 3 long claw like tentacles raised, dripping in what looked like molten lead. “Three” a strained rasp surrounded me. I stood silent, too frightened to move.

An unnatural clicking resounded in my ears as my eyes moved down it’s body. The skin was as white as snow except for the dark unhealthy contours it’s skin adopted. It’s shrunken features appearing to make it void of life. The white fabric of the membrane dipped into itself unnaturally where the waist would be, allowing the rib cage to show disfigurements. The hips sat at differing heights to each other and joined onto one very thick and one almost anorexic leg. Sharp black lines seemed to cut into the skin around this things body. “Wh…what?” I stammered, too frozen to move. “You get three” the voiced spoke as the body flickered again before disappearing. I peered around the corner of the cubicle, my heart pounding. Nothing there. I stood, motionless, trying to comprehend what had just happened. A loud noise made me jump as I realized I was receiving a phone call, snapping me back into reality. PRIVATE NUMBER it read. Probably my boss. I answered the call as calmly as possible. “Hello”. Nobody replied. “Hello?” I tried again. An unnatural clicking resonated down the phone line as I pulled the phone from my ear in horror. The clicking continued even with the speaker so far away, it almost sounded as if it…as if it were behind me. I spun around to find the creatures face millimeters away from mine, its gouged skin pulsating with thick black veins. Everything then went black.

Opening my eyes, the surroundings slowly coming into focus. I groaned as I raised my head, feeling groggy and faint. Remembering what had happened I jumped up from my chair and turned.

Nothing was amiss. “It must have been a dream” I thought trying to control my panic. I let out a laugh and released a big sigh of relief. “It was a goddamn dream” I repeated, aloud this time. Reaching for my phone to check the time one of the pictures I took earlier stared back at me. The scribbling of words etched across the small 5 inch screen sent chills up my spine. “Three” the voice surrounded me in a whisper. Startled, I whipped around expecting to see the creature behind me, there was nothing, save the lined bookshelves of the library. Looking back at my phone I zoomed into the picture, my heart pounding in my chest.

You of clay and I of fire

Your dreams and hopes you can desire

Though only three may come true

These three may bring a life anew

Solomon once ruled with a lead filled fist

Upon his ring a stone persists

And in a box we were placed

Until the day our cage erased.

The words resounded in my head. King Solomon? I remember briefly discussing him whilst studying the dead sea scrolls in university. Pouncing into life my fingers tapped the keyboard. Solomon, King. “Great” I thought, “only 589 different references in this library alone”. Scratching my head I narrowed the search typing in a few extra words. Scrolls, desire, lead. No references found. There must be something. Clay, Fire, Ring I typed. Perfect, one major reference, 13 smaller ones. Scribbling down the location of the book I walked into the endless rows of information, tracking down my reference number, DJN363. Spotting the rather large treasure shoved amongst equally large books I pulled it down and blew off the layer of dust that had settled on it’s cover. I moved back to my table, preparing to dig in, the fear I once felt seemingly nonexistent. Flinging open the cover I let out a cry as something skittered out from between the pages and made a break for it. This library was renowned for its roaches who liked to dine out on the books, particularly those in the forgotten section of the library, where volumes went unread for years. Neglect, it was you get when funding is withdrawn. Most of the pages from what could be seen had either been chewed or defecated on making the pages barely readable. Using a pencil, I lifted a chunk of the sheets from the corner and turned them, hoping to find something salvageable. Every page apparently destroyed. Slamming the book and picking it up roughly in irritation I then heard a riiiip, the pages falling out of my hands smashing onto the floor. “great” I thought, “something else for my boss to be excited about”. I breathed out heavily trying to release my tension and bent down, picking up the tattered pieces. Weird, I thought, noticing a small tear on the inside cover. I gently pulled at the paper opening the gash, revealing what looked to be a small black book. What the? I pulled the book out examining it’s cover. Small rune like symbols patterned the border. Running my fingers over the surface -I felt more symbols that were not discernable. My love of Nancy Drew novels paid off as I grabbed a piece of paper from the desk and placed it on top of the book and, taking a pencil, rubbed over the -surface revealing what had been inscribed there. IBLIS. I spoke the word aloud, trying to make some sense of it. Iblis? Nothing about it seemed familiar. Frowning, I decided to flip open the book to see if there was anything of interest inside. Scrawled out on the first few pages were etchings, random words and grey stains. Nothing seemed to make sense, most of which in a language not my own. Iblis was scratched here and there amongst other words. Flipping through the book the writings started forming sentences and were cast in various dialects. “Massari” which I recognized as money in Arabic seemed to repeat quite a bit. Almawt, Mort, Muerte and Mowet I recognized as the word death. Scribblings of seemingly reptilian creatures, human figures on fire and wolves adorned the corners of these pages. Finally, I saw a word that jumped out at me. Three. The same word which had been uttered to me earlier. Three what? Flicking the page revealed a sketch of the creature I had witnessed causing my heart to jump into my throat. Looking over the page I saw “The Djinn” written. An entity who offers you your desires for a cost too steep to pay. Djinn? I was sure they were fictional. Over time they had been changed from cautionary tales into children friendly creatures which pop out of lamps and grant you wishes. Three wishes to be exact. My heart tried again to leap into my throat. Could I have really come across a Djinn? I continued reading.

If you have found this book then find this warning,

for the Djinn brings nothing but death and mourning.

Only thee who holds the stone

can command their power as thine own

but beware the lesson learned by Solomon

For vengeance has a sure way of following

though if your heart be true and brave

wish this being back to its grave

yet if you’re tempted to let it in

hide this book and never look again

for only hurt follows sin

and to this evil a birth will reign.

I traced the words as I read them, my fingers coming to rest on a stained yellow envelope taped to the opposite page. Pulling it from the book I opened the top pulling out the contents. Jesus Christ, there must be at least twenty thousand dollars here! My hands shook as I fanned out the money unable to comprehend so much. I unfolded a ragged piece of paper that was amidst the treasure revealing a map of The Judaean Desert. A small cross pinpointed a spot next to The Dead Sea. My eyes scanned the words scrawled next to the x. “Find Solomon” it read. If this referred to King Solomon, I understood his tomb to be in the Atlas Mountains which was not even in the same country. My mind raced, could any of this be real? I knew there was only one person to ask and if she was keen, we were about to have the greatest adventure of our whole lives.