Chapter Sixteen: The Fourth Level Ritual
Laylat al-Qadr—the Night of Power—fell on the 27th night of Ramadan, when the barrier
between worlds was naturally thinner, when prayers and rituals held greater potency.
For Majid, it represented the culmination of months of preparation, the opportunity to
collect the final component needed for the Fourth Level ritual.
The holy city of Mecca was crowded with worshippers, pilgrims from around the world
gathered to pray at the Grand Mosque during this sacred night. Majid had traveled there
with his family, as they did each year during Ramadan, though his purpose was different
from theirs. While they sought spiritual connection through prayer and reflection, he
sought a specific physical substance—water from the Well of Zamzam, collected during
this night of power, to serve as the catalyst for his advancement as a Traveler.
Moving through the crowded mosque after the evening prayers, Majid made his way to
the well, the small glass bottle concealed in his pocket. The area around the sacred well
was packed with people filling containers with the holy water, believed to have flowed
since the time of Ibrahim and Ismail. Majid joined them, using his Third Level abilities to
create a subtle temporal pocket around himself—not to manipulate time, but to mask
his temporal signature from any Door Keepers who might be monitoring the holy site.
As he filled his small bottle with the water, Majid felt a resonance through his enhanced
perception—a subtle vibration in the temporal currents that suggested this substance
was indeed special, connected to the thin places between worlds in ways that ordinary
water was not. The Observer had been right to identify it as the missing catalyst for the
Fourth Level ritual.
With the water secured, Majid rejoined his family for the night prayers, participating with
genuine reverence despite the dual nature of his presence in the holy city. His journey as
a Traveler had not diminished his spiritual beliefs; if anything, his glimpses beyond
normal reality had deepened his sense of cosmic significance, of forces greater than
individual human experience.
They returned to Al-Khobar the following day, Majid's precious bottle of Zamzam water
carefully protected throughout the journey. That evening, he met with Layla and Rana in
the secure apartment above the spice shop, the temporal dampeners activated to mask
their presence from any Door Keepers who might be monitoring the city.
"All the components are now assembled," Layla confirmed, reviewing the materials
spread across the table. "The herbs and minerals described in your grandfather's book,
the prepared solutions in the vials from the hidden library, and now the water from
Zamzam collected during Laylat al-Qadr."
"And you've decided which certainty you'll sacrifice?" Rana asked, her expression
reflecting concern for the profound nature of this particular offering.
Majid nodded, his face solemn. After months of contemplation, of weighing different
possibilities against his core motivations and goals, he had made his decision. "My
certainty about the righteousness of my revenge," he said quietly. "My absolute
conviction that reshaping my destiny to punish those who betrayed me is morally
justified."
Layla and Rana exchanged surprised glances. "That's... central to your original purpose
in this timeline," Layla observed carefully. "Are you certain you want to surrender that
particular conviction?"
"I'm not abandoning my plans," Majid clarified. "I still intend to reshape my destiny, to
prevent the betrayals that occurred in my original timeline. But I'm willing to surrender
my absolute certainty that this path is righteous, to open myself to the possibility that
my actions might be driven by something other than justice."
It was a profound choice—to maintain his course of action while surrendering his
conviction about its moral justification. But as the Observer had explained, the sacrifice
of certainty wasn't about changing behavior but about creating cognitive flexibility,
opening space for alternate perspectives and possibilities.
"The ritual will be performed tomorrow night," Layla said after a moment's
consideration. "The new moon provides optimal conditions for the transition to the
Fourth Level. We'll use the abandoned quarry again—it's isolated enough to avoid
detection and has natural stone walls that will help contain the temporal energies."
The next day passed with excruciating slowness for Majid, each hour seeming to stretch
into eternity as he maintained his facade of normalcy—attending school, interacting
with family, giving no indication of the profound transformation he would undergo that
night. He told his parents he would be staying overnight at a friend's house to work on a
school project, ensuring they wouldn't expect him home until morning.
As darkness fell, Majid made his way to the abandoned quarry, taking a circuitous route
to ensure he wasn't followed. Layla and Rana were already there when he arrived,
having spent the day preparing the ritual space according to the detailed instructions in
his grandfather's book.
The pattern was more complex than those for the previous rituals—concentric circles of
interlocking symbols drawn in a mixture of crushed bone, ash, and powdered minerals
that glowed faintly in the darkness. Nine black candles stood at specific points around
the pattern, their flames unnaturally still in the night air. In the center lay a silver bowl
containing the prepared solutions from the vials his grandfather had left, now dissolved
in the water from Zamzam as the Observer had instructed.
"Are you ready?" Layla asked as Majid surveyed the preparations. The question had
become a ritual of its own, asked before each advancement, a final opportunity to
reconsider before committing to the irreversible transformation.
"I'm ready," Majid confirmed, his voice steady despite the apprehension coiling in his
stomach. He had come too far to turn back now, had committed himself to this path with
full awareness of its risks and potential rewards.
He removed his shirt and shoes, as he had for the previous rituals, and stepped into the
innermost circle of the pattern. The chalk lines seemed to respond to his presence, the
faint glow intensifying slightly as he knelt in the center.
Layla and Rana took their positions at the eastern and western points of the circle,
respectively. They began the chant—the same unfamiliar language Majid had heard
during the previous rituals, but with an even more complex rhythm, a cadence that
seemed to resonate not just with his heartbeat but with the very fabric of reality around
him.
As the chant intensified, the chalk lines began to glow more brightly, shifting from a faint
luminescence to a deep indigo light that pulsed in synchronization with the words. Majid
felt the familiar pain beginning—a burning sensation that started in his entire body
simultaneously, as if every cell was being consumed by fire from within.
But unlike the previous rituals, where he had maintained his focus by visualizing his
consciousness as separate from his physical form or by identifying specific memories or
emotional connections to surrender, this time Majid was instructed to direct his
attention to his certainties—the absolute convictions that shaped his understanding of
himself and his purpose.
He needed to identify and isolate his certainty about the righteousness of his revenge, to
prepare it for extraction by the ritual vortex. This proved more difficult than he had
anticipated. His conviction about the moral justification of his actions was intertwined
with his broader motivations, his sense of identity, his understanding of justice and
fairness.
Separating this specific certainty from the larger tapestry of his beliefs required intense
concentration, a precision of thought that was challenging to maintain through the
escalating pain of the ritual. But gradually, he managed to isolate it—his absolute
conviction that his plan to reshape his destiny and punish those who had betrayed him
was morally justified, was righteous in some cosmic sense.
The indigo light of the ritual pattern intensified, and Majid felt a pulling sensation at the
center of his being—the temporal vortex forming, preparing to extract his chosen
sacrifice. He focused more intently on his certainty about the righteousness of his
revenge, visualizing it as a distinct thread in the fabric of his consciousness, ready to be
severed and surrendered.
The vortex pulled harder, and Majid felt the certainty beginning to unravel—his absolute
conviction that his actions were justified, that his revenge was righteous, that he
occupied a moral high ground in his conflict with those who had betrayed him. These
beliefs began to dissolve, threads of certainty being drawn out of his consciousness by
the relentless pull of the vortex.
But unlike the previous rituals, where unexpected complications had arisen during the
sacrifice, this time the process proceeded smoothly, cleanly. The certainty was extracted
without pulling at connected beliefs or convictions, leaving Majid's core motivations
intact while creating space for alternate perspectives, for doubt about the moral nature
of his actions.
The ritual pattern flared with blinding intensity, the indigo light shifting to a brilliant
white that seemed to contain all colors simultaneously. Majid felt a tearing sensation, as
if something was being ripped from his consciousness by force rather than surrendered
willingly. The pain peaked, transcending physical sensation to become something more
fundamental—a cosmic agony that seemed to exist at the level of his very being.
Then, abruptly, it was over. The light faded from the ritual pattern, the candles guttered
and went out, and Majid found himself still kneeling in the center of the circle, gasping
for breath, his body drenched in sweat.
But something was profoundly different. His perception had expanded beyond anything
he had experienced before, beyond even the enhanced awareness of his Third Level
abilities. He could see—not with his physical eyes but with some deeper sense—the thin
places between realities, the points where alternate timelines intersected with his own.
And through these intersections, he could glimpse other versions of himself, other Majid
Al-Harthis living different lives, making different choices. Some were still in their original
timelines, never having experienced temporal displacement. Others had traveled back
as he had but had taken different paths upon arrival. Still others had advanced further as
Travelers, had reached the Fifth Level or even joined the Observer.
It was overwhelming, disorienting—a kaleidoscope of possibilities, of lives that might
have been or might yet be. But the stabilizing catalyst had done its work. Instead of
being lost in this multiplicity of perspectives, Majid maintained his core identity, his
sense of self amid the expanding awareness of alternate possibilities.
"It is done," Layla said, her voice hoarse from the extended chanting. "The Fourth Level
transformation is complete."
Rana moved to help Majid to his feet, supporting him as his legs trembled with
exhaustion. "How do you feel?" she asked, studying him with a mixture of concern and
professional interest.
"Different," Majid replied, his voice sounding strange to his own ears, as if it contained
echoes of other voices, other versions of himself speaking simultaneously. "I can see...
everything. All the possibilities, all the paths not taken, all the lives I might have lived."
His entire body was glowing now, not just with the luminescence that had marked his
Third Level status but with a shifting, iridescent light that seemed to contain all colors
simultaneously, that followed not just the pattern of veins beneath his skin but extended
slightly beyond his physical form, as if his very being was expanding beyond the
constraints of ordinary reality.
"Can you control it?" Layla asked, her expression reflecting both awe at his
transformation and concern for his stability. "Can you focus your perception on this
timeline, this reality?"
Majid closed his eyes, concentrating on centering his awareness in his current existence,
on filtering out the kaleidoscope of alternate possibilities that threatened to overwhelm
his consciousness. Gradually, the multiplicity of perspectives receded, not disappearing
entirely but becoming background awareness rather than foreground experience.
When he opened his eyes again, the world around him appeared more stable, though
still overlaid with faint impressions of alternate versions—ghost images of what the
abandoned quarry might look like in different timelines, under different circumstances.
"Yes," he said, his voice steadier now, more fully his own. "I can control it. The stabilizing
catalyst worked as the Observer said it would."
"And the sacrifice?" Rana asked carefully. "Your certainty about the righteousness of
your revenge?"
Majid probed the space in his consciousness where that absolute conviction had been,
finding not emptiness as with his previous sacrifices but a new flexibility, a capacity for
questioning and doubt that hadn't existed before. He still intended to reshape his
destiny, to prevent the betrayals that had occurred in his original timeline. But he no
longer felt absolute certainty that this path was morally justified, was righteous in some
cosmic sense.
"It's gone," he confirmed. "Not my motivation, not my plans, but my certainty about
their moral nature. I can see now that my actions might be driven by something other
than justice—by pain, by fear, by a desire for control rather than righteousness."
This new perspective was unsettling but also liberating. Without the burden of absolute
moral certainty, Majid felt a new freedom to examine his choices, to consider alternate
paths and possibilities that his previous conviction might have prevented him from
seeing.
And his Fourth Level perception enhanced this flexibility, showing him glimpses of
alternate timelines where different choices had led to different outcomes—some where
revenge had brought satisfaction, others where it had led to emptiness and regret, still
others where forgiveness had opened paths to healing and growth that vengeance had
closed off.
"We should leave," Layla said, gathering the ritual materials with efficient movements.
"The Fourth Level transformation creates a significant temporal signature. If Door
Keepers are monitoring this region, they'll detect it and investigate."
As they drove back toward the city, Majid sat quietly in the back seat, absorbing the
profound changes in his perception and consciousness. The Fourth Level abilities were
more complex, more disorienting than those of the previous levels. The ability to
perceive alternate timelines, to glimpse parallel versions of himself and others, was both
fascinating and overwhelming.
But with concentration, he could control this perception, could focus on specific
timelines or possibilities rather than being lost in the multiplicity of options. And he
could sense that with practice, he might eventually develop the ability to move between
timelines, to transition his consciousness from one reality to another as Tariq had done.
"What happens now?" he asked as they approached the city limits. "What's the next step
in my journey?"
"Now you learn to control your Fourth Level abilities," Layla replied, her voice reflecting
both pride in his progress and concern about the path ahead. "Particularly the
perception and navigation of alternate timelines. It's the signature ability of the Fourth
Level, but also the most disorienting if not properly managed."
"And once I've mastered that?"
"Then we can attempt to open the Gate beneath your grandfather's house," Rana said.
"According to the scrolls you retrieved from the hidden library, it requires a Fourth Level
Traveler to perform the opening ritual. With Samir Al-Zahrani as its Guardian, the
confrontation will be dangerous, but your new abilities should give you advantages he
won't anticipate."
As they drove through the quiet streets of Al-Khobar, Majid gazed out at the city—at the
ordinary people living their ordinary lives, unaware of the alternate versions of
themselves existing in parallel timelines, unaware of the cosmic struggle between Door
Keepers and those seeking connection with the Observer.
He had advanced another step on his journey, had gained new abilities and insights at
the cost of his certainty about the moral nature of his actions. The path ahead remained
complex and dangerous, filled with opponents whose powers and motivations he was
only beginning to understand.
But Majid Al-Harthi, Fourth Level Traveler and heir to a legacy that spanned multiple
timelines, was more determined than ever to see his journey through to its conclusion—
to reshape his destiny, to exact his revenge (righteous or not), and perhaps to transform
humanity's understanding of reality itself in the process.
The weeks following his advancement to the Fourth Level were filled with intense
training and careful experimentation with his new abilities. The perception of alternate
timelines was initially overwhelming, a constant kaleidoscope of possibilities that
threatened to fragment his consciousness. But with Layla's guidance, he learned to
control this perception, to focus on specific timelines or possibilities rather than being
lost in the multiplicity of options.
He discovered that certain timelines were more accessible to his perception than others
—those where events had unfolded similarly to his own reality, where the divergence
points were relatively recent or minor. Others were more distant, harder to glimpse
clearly—realities where fundamental aspects of history or physics differed from his own,
where the very nature of consciousness or time functioned differently.
Most fascinating were the timelines where other versions of himself had also become
Travelers, had also advanced through the levels of temporal mastery. He could perceive
these alternate Majids more clearly than other entities, could sense their progress and
choices with a specificity that suggested a connection beyond ordinary temporal
perception.
In some of these timelines, his alternate self had reached the Fifth Level, had either
returned to physical existence with enhanced abilities or transcended entirely to join the
Observer. These versions of himself seemed to be aware of his perception, would
sometimes acknowledge his presence across the barrier between realities with what felt
like recognition and encouragement.
But the most valuable aspect of his Fourth Level perception was the ability to glimpse
potential futures in his own timeline—not with certainty, as the future remained
undetermined, shaped by choices yet to be made, but with a probability assessment
that allowed him to evaluate different courses of action based on their likely outcomes.
This ability would be crucial in his confrontation with Samir Al-Zahrani, in his attempt to
open the Gate beneath his grandfather's house. He could perceive multiple potential
approaches, could evaluate their probable success or failure before committing to a
specific strategy.
The ritual to open the Gate was described in detail in the scrolls he had retrieved from
the hidden library. It required specific components—some common, others rare and
difficult to obtain—and a precise sequence of actions performed by a Fourth Level
Traveler at the exact location of the Gate itself.
Most challenging was the requirement that the ritual be performed in the physical
presence of the Gate, not from a distance as Majid had accessed the hidden library. This
meant entering the Al-Zahrani house, reaching the sealed cellar beneath the eastern
corner, and performing the ritual before Samir could intervene.
"It's too dangerous," Layla