by Rain Oxford
We were taken past where we had started. Everyone had deserted the streets, as if the appearance of the robed men was scarier than ours. Instead of ascending another level of steps, we reached a wide lake, surrounded by trees and flowers. The trees were no different than Earth’s, but the flowers were huge and obscenely colorful. Across the lake was a pleasant-looking park, very different from the sand and stone we had seen thus far. An arched stone bridge connected the land and we took it without being ordered. Mist over the water had made the stones slick, and there was no rail. I got the impression it wasn’t supposed to be welcoming.
From there, we followed a stone path through the trees until we reached another building. While the light, polished granite walls were flat like the other buildings, it had a slightly angled roof of terracotta tiles.
A ten-foot by twenty-foot covered porch greeted anyone who survived the trek. The floor of it was made of granite and the ceiling was painted with Egyptian art. This was even more Egyptian than the pyramid, as Anubis and Horus were pretty easy to recognize. The front door was made of dark wood and stained glass.
“Five bucks says this is a church,” Luca said.
“I’m not stupid. Of course it is.” It was the fanciest structure we had seen so far and that told me it was a temple or castle. From what I remembered of Ancient Egypt, there wasn’t much of a difference. Then again, I wasn’t a history major.
At this point, the pyramid was so massive and close that I knew it had to be on the other side of the building, no more than fifty feet away. I really didn’t want to go inside the pyramid. I had watched the Mummy movies and I didn’t want to add any new curses to my collection. A sexy girlfriend was another story, but I was pretty sure all I would find in there was a mummy.
And danger. Lots of danger. “Whatever you do, don’t touch any bracelets, sarcophaguses, canopic jars, or… just don’t touch anything.”
“You suck the fun out of everything. I want a cursed mummy.”
“Everyone wants a damned cursed mummy. What are the cursed daddies supposed to do for work?”
“Maybe we’ll find out. Under the circumstances, I think it’s a good time to bring up that I’ve changed my mind about wanting to be mummified and cursed when I die. I choose a Viking funeral instead. It’s looking more and more like we’re being arrested.”
I didn’t have an answer that would be helpful. We were led inside. The entryway included a wall to our right and to our left, each with centered, iron doors. Across from us, the wall was open to another room. Every inch of the walls were etched and painted with animal-headed gods, people, and hieroglyphs.
One of the masked men prodded me with his staff and we entered the larger room. This was a round room, thirty feet in diameter. The only objects in the room were seven marble statues in a wide circle, some with the heads of animals, some without. Between each statue was a torch sticking up out of the ground. The statues all had some color in the way of jewels or colorful stones in their eyes or on their clothes. What I found strange was that the white clothes they wore were actual clothes, indicating that they were sculpted naked.
The walls of this room, too, were covered with art. It should have been overwhelming, but since they alternated in where they used color and where they didn’t, it seemed more elegant. There was something mathematical about it, and I didn’t just mean geometric.
“This is beautiful,” Luca said. I could tell he wanted nothing more than to run over to the wall and start analyzing the art.
I wanted to soak it in and let it become inspiration for a novel based on Egypt, but I had to focus on getting us home alive, because Luca wouldn’t. He relied on me for that part.
“Call for the Keeper,” one of the masked men ordered.
“I am here,” a man said, walking in.
He wore a black robe with his hood up, but his mask only covered his mouth and didn’t have any paint to make him look sinister. His crystal blue eyes were surrounded by pale, wrinkled skin. He was old, yet his posture was that of a strong, youthful man.
“Thank you for coming, Keeper.”
“I don’t want thanks; I want an explanation. My dinner is getting cold.”
“These two appeared in the middle of the city.”
“Then the gods must have sent them. Get them warm meals and present them to the seers so that we can learn the meaning of their arrival.” The man turned to leave.
“Please, Keeper. It would only take a moment for you to test them and then we will leave you to your dinner in peace.”
The old man sighed, turned, and reached for Luca. I pulled Luca away. “Leave him alone.”
“Oh,” the man said before turning back to his comrades. “You didn’t tell me he was a native.”
“That was why we wanted you to test him. The other one seems to be foreign.”
“I don’t understand what you two are talking about, but we’re not from this country and I don’t know how we got here. We didn’t come here on purpose.”
“Then this must be very confusing for you,” the old man said patiently. “I’m sorry for the behavior of my fellow priests, but we do not get visitors very often. Especially not visitors who are our own people.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said.
“If you let me examine you, we can explain.” He reached for me and Luca flinched. “I wouldn’t hurt either of you. You won’t even feel it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Touch your forehead and determine if you have magic.”
“Magic?” I stepped back. “Okay, now it’s getting ridiculous.”
“Then letting me touch your forehead should do you no harm.”
I considered the people surrounding us and Luca, who was watching me. He was ready to run if I wanted to or surrender if that was what I thought was best. The staffs the men carried were twisted wood and metal, somewhat like a wizard’s staff, with painted metal animal heads. The animal heads had jewels for eyes. The elegance of this did not take away from the deadly spikes on the other ends. If we ran, there was a good chance Luca could be hurt. “Fine.”
The man didn’t give me a chance to change my mind; he put his pale, wrinkly hand on my head. His skin was dry and delicate, like parchment. Combined with the Egyptian feel to the place, I felt like I was being touched by a mummy.
“I see,” the old man said, removing his hand.
That was the least encouraging thing he could have said.
Before I had a chance to respond, he put his hand on Luca’s head. Luca held still, and after a moment, the old man lowered his hand and stepped back. “This one has very powerful magic, but he is untrained,” he said, pointing to me. “The other one has no magic.”
“Neither of us have magic,” I argued.
“What’s going on?” Luca asked.
“As soon as I find out, I’ll let you know.”
“Did anything happen to you before you appeared here?” the old man asked.
“Like what?”
“A flash of light? A battle? Anything unusual?”
“No. Actually, yes. We walked over some graffiti on the ground.”
“Graffiti? What is that?”
“It was a star painted on the ground with two circles and some symbols.”
The masked men all tensed up. “Caster magic?” one of the men asked.
The old man nodded. “Then I am afraid you being here is a mistake.”
“Where are we?”
“You are at the High Temple of Syndrial. From the looks of it, you came from a different world.” He gestured to my clothes.
I looked at Luca, who did not make the joke I expected him to.
“He doesn’t understand me,” the old man said.
“He speaks English just fine.”
“We are not speaking English; we are speaking the language of Syndrial, which every native can understand, read, and speak flawlessly. It is a gift of Thoth. You are able to speak our language because you were bo
rn here.”
“That’s impossible.” I looked at Luca, who was staring at the walls. “You understand me, right?” I asked.
“I do now,” he said. “Not when you’re speaking a different language.”
“Different language?”
He frowned at me. “I tried to ask you where you learned another language.”
“I was speaking in English.”
He scoffed. “I think I know when you’re speaking English or not. The first time you talked to the masked guy, you started using another language. You use English when you’re talking to me.”
“It doesn’t sound any different to me.”
He glanced at the walls. “Maybe it’s magic.”
“Not you, too.”
“Huh?”
“This man keeps talking about magic and gods.”
“Did he name any of them?”
“He said Thoth gave them a gift of language.”
“Thoth? Wow. That actually makes a little sense then. Thoth is the Egyptian god of scripture and wisdom.”
Although Luca changed his degree every other semester, he was not a slacker. My brother loved everything ancient, especially ancient civilizations. Whereas I knew random facts and grammar, he could teach courses on every major aspect of the ancient world, such as the writing, daily life, and religion.
“How are you able to understand it?” he asked.
“The man says I’m a native.”
He pursed his lips. “Well… that makes sense too.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Yesterday, I would have said the same thing, but you saw how easy it was to accidentally get here. You were found in the woods.” Although he often teased me about my birth parents offering me to some pagan god, nobody else was allowed to speak about it without him threatening them to within an inch of their lives. “Who would abandon a baby like that?”
“Lots of people.”
“Not the point. Ask them to show you more evidence.”
“I don’t want more evidence.”
“Please come with us,” the old man said.
“Where to?”
“You will meet with the High Council, and they will decide your fate.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“If you mean no harm, as you said, you should be fine.” Two of the men grabbed Luca.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“He is an outsider, and outsiders are not allowed in the temple of the gods. He has seen too much and must be destroyed.”
“Get your hands off my brother or I will kill you all!”
“Threatening priests will get you killed as well,” the old man said.
“Nathan?” Luca asked, confused and worried.
I shoved the man closest to me and grabbed his staff. He wasn’t expecting it. I swung it and bashed the arms of both of the men who were trying to restrain my brother. “Run!”
Luca did. He ran straight for the door, only to stop and wait for me.
“Go! I’ll catch up!” The men surrounded me, pointing their staffs at me, but none seemed to be willing to make the first move.
“The hell I am!” He turned just as another masked man entered and while the stranger was distracted by the commotion, Luca snatched his staff. The man reached for it, only to receive a blow across his stomach.
Luca beat two more men on the way back to me. “Why aren’t they attacking?” he asked.
The old man lowered his hood and mask. “You are making this harder on yourself, young caster,” he said, his tone full of regret. “To harm someone in the temple is a grave sin and you---”
“You want to kill my brother!”
“We will take him outside.”
“You’re not taking him anywhere!”
“What’s going on?”
“They want to kill us, but they can’t hurt us in here. Run.”
Just as he reached the exit, the door opened and a priest blocked his path. Luca turned left and threw open that door, which led to a hallway.
This time, we both ran, and although the men tried to capture us, none of them could use the staffs they threatened us with. The priests outside the room didn’t have masks on or staffs, and they seemed surprised to see us. The hallway had doors, but no branching halls that I could see. After ten minutes of running, we rounded a ninety-degree corner and encountered younger boys wearing wine-colored robes without masks or hoods. The boys all jumped back as if we were fugitives. As far as I knew, we were.
I opened several doors, only to find they were ceremonial or classrooms with no exits. Finally, I grabbed one of the boys by the shoulder and turned him to me. He was only about ten. “How do we get out of the temple?”
He squeaked. “You’re scaring him,” Luca said.
I let the boy go. “Tell me, and we’ll leave you alone.”
He pointed to another door. I opened it and found it led to a garden. Luca rushed out the door before I could stop him, so I followed. It was a courtyard garden surrounding the pyramid. I shut the door behind me and we ran. “If we find a bush or something that’s thick enough to hide in, it would buy us a little time,” Luca said.
“We need more than that,” I argued. He looked back at me, no doubt to say something sarcastic, and gaped. I looked behind me and didn’t see anything, but when I turned to him, he was still gawking. “What?”
He pointed up. I looked where he was gesturing and gawked as well. In the sky was a massive, colorful planet. It actually resembled Jupiter without the spot. Next to it was a smaller planet or moon … that was molten red.
“We’re on an alien world.”
“We can’t escape,” Luca added. “What if we can’t get home?”
“How did we even get here?”
Luca sniffled. “I’m gonna miss class tomorrow.”
While the gravity of our situation was sinking in, five priests found us. “Surrender,” one of them insisted. “Your death will be honorable and swift.”
“They can kill us out here, can’t they?” Luca asked.
The priests aimed their staffs at us.
“I think that answers your question.”
Chapter 3
The jewel eyes of the staffs started glowing.
“Dude, don’t look!” Luca said. “They got them hypnosis staffs like Jafar’s!”
“You watch too many movies. Those are ordinary magic staffs.”
Light filled the garden, making everyone cover their eyes. When it faded, a woman stood in front of me. On a scale of one to ten, she was about a thirteen. Although I normally favored dark-haired women, her long, golden blond hair was beautiful. My favorite eye color was green, yet her light gray-blue eyes were stunning. Her skin was flawless and her facial features were symmetric. She wasn’t wearing makeup and she didn’t need it. It didn’t seem to matter what I was into; she was it. She was just beautiful and there wasn’t a single aspect that made her so.
The priests dropped to their knees and bowed until they were practically kissing the dirt. The woman didn’t even acknowledge them. “Hello, Nathanial.” Her voice, though soft and feminine, held power. When she spoke, everyone shut up and listened.
“How do you know my name?”
“I know all names.”
“What is she saying?” Luca asked.
“I said that I know all names,” she repeated.
Luca’s eyes widened. “I understood that. Are you Isis?”
“If you like.”
“Or is it Aset?”
“My name cannot be spoken by mortals, so any word you call me is acceptable. I know when you are speaking to me.”
“But you’re the goddess we know as Isis?”
“Yes.”
He shrugged and blushed. “Well, Isis is the Greek’s name for you, because feminine names ended in ‘s’ in Greek, whereas the Egyptians ended feminine names in ‘t’ so it makes more sense to call you Aset or Iset. Some have pronounced it Ast or Uset. If you don’t have a
preference…”
My brother was rambling. He constantly made jokes and had a way of making people like him, but I had never heard him ramble. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he was crushing on her.
And since I had never seen him show the slightest interest in a woman, I didn’t know any better.
The goddess smiled warmly at him. “I do not. You will now fluently speak the native language of Syndrial, which means when you hear my name, it will be as you are most familiar with it.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She smiled at me patiently, but differently than she had at Luca. “You know what is happening; you simply think that by feigning confusion, you can avoid the truth.”
“Then what is the truth?”
“You were born on this world and your power is greater than any of the priests can imagine.”
“If I was born here, why did I grow up on Earth?”
“You were lost.”
“What about my mother?”
“She is dead. She was only able to look upon your face once before she was taken from you. Now that you have returned home, you can learn to control your magic as you should have when you were a child.”
“I don’t believe in magic.”
“You do believe in it. You have seen evidence of it your entire life.”
Is she referring to the horrible things that happened to everyone close to me or who pissed me off?
“Yes,” she said, obviously having heard my thoughts.
The truth was that I had watched too many movies, read too many books, and played too many games involving magic not to at least be desensitized to the concept. Magic was a part of my daily life, so accepting that it was real shouldn’t have been a big deal. Accepting that I could do magic was another thing altogether.
There was also the part about there being gods. I was going to have to reject that idea at a later time… when I wasn’t staring at one right in front of me. The presence of Isis made it quite difficult to deny her existence.
“Okay, supposing that magic exists and I have the ability to use it, why in the world would I want to learn it? It hasn’t done me any good.”
“Denying your power is not going to stop you from having it.”
“Well, denial is just a river in Egypt. Did you bring us here?”
