This year, Almighty God have decided that he will be chained along with devils in that particular month. Of course, there is only one month where devils are chained up.

I have no idea where the sky angels got the revelation from. It was not properly revealed. Traditionally, the revelation was accompanied by hymns from the virgins, and Archangels would flap their wings like butterflies when they descend with the blessings from High Heaven.

Some said it was a whisper from a prophet sitting on the third orbital layer of the sky. Others said, with a patristic tone, a maniacal murmur from a forgotten prophet meditating on the fifth layer of the sky.

He was a good man. A monk, a teacher and an ex-king. The angels were shocked to hear the news. Atd and Raq, the two recording angels, debated about this issue, days after days.

Atd opens his scroll and read out his records: “To whom it may concerned, he to be named as Zul-zuluk had read many scriptures from sun set to sun rise. He taught mankind values, spirituality and arts of mysticism. His very hands had forged many kingdoms, assembled empires and raised civilisations. The demons and the jinn often despised him when he reads scriptures aloud. The recitation sparked fire in their hairy ears, stabbed needles in their cloudy eyes and threw brimstones at their body. He has a temple next to his house where he prays again and again, all day and night.”

Raq then opens his scroll with a key. He then reads the handwritten text: “To whom it may concerned, he to be named as Zul-zuluk has stolen gold and silver coins from the kings, thus disturbed their afternoon nap. He also emptied poor people’s rice bowl, forcing them to suffer immense thirst on rainy days and hunger even when the palm dates bear bunches of globular red fruits. Weevils and worms feed on their carcasses the next day. At night, he also disturbed many wives of many men. The women became lecherous and craved to lovemaking, henceforth they snuck out from their chambers, seeking young men which were not their husbands.”

Zul-zuluk offers both his wrists and his ankles to the angel. His wrist is no bigger than the spathe of a date palm. A shackle made of nickel and cadmium, extracted from the ores of Hell, is fastened on his limbs. Another shackle made from boiling iron and sulphur derived from the soil in Hell, is yoked to his neck. He is then placed next to a pile of devils.

The man stands up and walks around with his shackles and chains. He saunters into the convoluted cave and serves himself a puddle of fresh water and tree roots. Overnight, the dangling chains clang and resound through the underground cell, alerting the other devils from their sleep.

Curious, a skinny devil asks him, “To whom it may concerned, why a man like you is chained?” He leers at the man with its eyes as sharp as arrows.

“To whom it may concerned,” he smirks, “I am not a man.”

Another devil crawls out from a burrow and asks him, “How on earth do you know the way around here so well? It took days for me to find a drop of water!”

The man replies, “I do not need a map for the darkness I know so well.”

Header image by Scott Umstattd on Unsplash