Al-Nourani: The Opening Story from Adam in the Parallel World by Saber Elganzory

Tawasul News is proud to launch a new weekly literary series, published every Thursday, from Adam in the Parallel World, the short-story collection by Egyptian writer Saber Elganzory. It is a cultural series we are honored to present, celebrating a distinctive narrative voice shaped by symbolism, inner tension, and deeply human questions.

Saber Elganzory is one of the notable voices in contemporary Egyptian literature. A member of the Egyptian Writers Union and the Egyptian Story Club, he is the author of several published collections, including Another Face of Love, My Atheist Friend, and Coming from the Sky. His literary path is also enriched by a scientific background in geology and geophysical engineering, as well as two cultural grants in the field of fiction.

In this first installment, we present Al-Nourani, a compact and haunting story in which fear, darkness, power, and salvation move through a charged symbolic landscape.

Al-Nourani

He woke in terror to the thunder of artillery and aircraft tearing through the silence of the sky. Explosions shook the earth like a devastating earthquake. He lurched left and right in total darkness pressing in around him. He ran in every direction, unable to see, unable to hear, until he cried out in horror:

• You brood of vipers...

He left the house, using the stair rail as his guide, and ran toward the tunnel where those fleeing death had gathered. Groans, sobbing, and screams pierced him. Voices crashed into one another. No one could see, no one could hear, as though they were all blind and deaf. The chaos was hysterical: infants crying, women wailing, men trembling, young men collapsed, girls screaming, old men dying. No one paid him any mind as he searched for a wall to lean against. He tried to move through them without colliding, but found himself knocking into an old man’s head or nearly trampling a child. At last he reached the wall. He wept, struck his head against it, and kept repeating:

• You brood of vipers...

Time stopped inside the tunnel, though outside it seemed already dead. He could no longer see or hear. He shouted at the top of his voice:
Why have you all gone silent? Why are your tongues tied? This is what your own hands have brought upon you. Answer me. Are you dead? Have you suffocated? God’s curse be upon you.

Then deafness took him too. His voice would not rise from his chest. Muteness seized him, just as it had seized them.

He pressed his back to the wall and sat with his legs stretched out. His tears dried. Then he saw a patch of light cutting through the darkness. It widened and grew until a man stepped out of it and suddenly stood among them.

Everyone forced their eyes shut, then opened them again. The man was tall and broad-chested, and light poured from his face. His body was naked except for a strip of camel hair cloth covering his loins. He was the one I had seen crying out:

• You brood of vipers.

He was the man inside me, speaking with my tongue. He was me.

The luminous man said nothing. Before long, armed men appeared, seized him, and led him out of the tunnel. He surrendered to them and left light behind.

In the far corner of the tunnel, on a broad wooden platform raised slightly above the ground, a cluster of figures appeared. The one seated on a golden throne seemed to be a king, with a woman to his right, his queen, and courtiers all around.

A beautiful dancer stirred their instincts and inflamed the lust of their bodies. She danced while cups of wine circled among them. Their heads spun, and they sank under the weight of ecstasy. The king clapped and said to the dancer:

• Ask of me, O most beautiful of beauties. Whatever you desire shall be granted. Even if you ask for my throne, I will give it to you.

She swayed and flirted, then leaned against the king’s chest with a moan and said:

• The head of the luminous man, my lord.

The king grew sorrowful and heavy with grief, then signaled to the executioner to bring him the luminous man’s head on a golden platter.

Jealousy had already devoured his body.

He took his wife by the hand and went toward her chamber while she laughed loudly, for the queen was the dancer’s mother.

Then everything vanished. The darkness returned in force. The patch of light appeared once more, took shape again, and out of it emerged the luminous man.

Awareness returned to them. They cried out, wept, and sang. The man spoke, stretching out his hands toward them:

• Come. Let us leave the tunnel. Dawn has broken outside.

They all followed him out. The black clouds were dead, replaced by white clouds and crimson rays. The light of a March morning swayed toward them in proud splendor. Hunger had nearly killed them, but the luminous man saved them. He brought them bread, locusts, and honey. And once they had finished eating, he cried out to them:

• You brood of vipers, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Short author bio in English

Saber Elganzory is an Egyptian writer and a member of both the Egyptian Writers Union and the Egyptian Story Club. With a background in geology and geophysical engineering, he has built a literary voice that brings symbolic depth and human tension into contemporary Arabic storytelling. His published works include Another Face of Love, My Atheist Friend, and Coming from the Sky.