After almost an entire day travelling aboard my camel, I was almost to the city of Rayy. But just before I got there, a sight caught my eye. Amid the desert sand stood a dome-shaped structure. Sitting in between two poles, it was a beige color and about twice my height. I could see an archway a few feet past it. Confused, I tied my camel to one of the poles, intent on taking a closer look. I took a few steps forward, an I finally saw what this was the entrance to. There lay a small plateau, and at the top stood a cylindrical tower. The same color as the dome, poles, and archway, it appeared to have no top. Wondering what such a tower was doing in the middle of the desert, way outside any city limits, I started to climb up the stairs to the top.
The steps were mercifully shallow, likely made out of the same bricks as the entrance. They were lined with rocks on either side, like tiny walls that barely reached my ankles.
About two-thirds of the way up, my legs started to give out. I decided to take a break and sit down, admiring the view. The desert looked much more spectacular from above. Almost all conceivable hues of gold and tan and orange blended together amid the lights and shadows created by the radiant heat of the sun. Dunes, hills, and valleys stretched out as far as the eye could see, with little ripples woven into the sand by passing winds. Every once in a while a particularly strong breeze would come and sweep grains of sand into the air, dancing in the sunlight as they fell. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, with only curiosity and the water left in my canteen guiding me up.
When I was almost to the top, I could see that it was not one tower but five, with four outermost small ones and a larger central one. I also began to sense peculiar things. I heard the sound of desert vultures, as well as a crunching noise as if one was stepping on bones. And I smelled something so awful, so putrid, that it could only be rotting flesh. My running up the last few steps scared the birds away, but there was no mistaking what was right in front of me.This was a burial site.
I have never seen such a thing before. There appeared to be three sections: the outermost ring was composed of only male bodies, the middle females, and in the center lay young children. Mostly stripped of any meat, the remaining bones were here for who knows how long, as evidenced by their bleached appearance. Confused and disturbed, all I could do was stare.
As the horror of what i had just seen sank in, I hurried down the steps, trying to forget the scene I just witnessed. Before long I was halfway down. Then two-thirds, and soon after three-quarters. When I reached the bottom I ran as fast as I could through the sand, past the archway, and back to the pole to which I had tied my camel. Sweating, panting, I quickly untied the rope and got onto the camel’s back. I took a deep breath, and began to head once again towards Rayy.